FEATURE: Survival - The Feature, based on our Timefest Entry...

majikfraug said:
I'll have to do a "braided beard" pic on set just for you Zaza!
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Make sure you put some beads in there too! ...and hang in there, waiting does suck.

My main gig is developing interactive technologies that go with college textbooks (educational publishing)...Our saying has been (for years now), "Hurry up and wait....now we need it yesterday!"
Happens all the time. Dealing with some of these authors is like hurding cats. It's hard to build something without the content!
 
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ZazaCast said:
Make sure you put some beads in there too! ...and hang in there, waiting does suck.

My main gig is developing interactive technologies that go with college textbooks (educational publishing)...Our saying has been (for years now), "Hurry up and wait....now we need it yesterday!"
Happens all the time. Dealing with some of these authors is like hurding cats. It's hard to build something without the content!
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When I was in the Navy, "hurry up and wait" was a way of life :thumbsup:

It's funny that you mention the beads, I was Captain Jack Sparrow for Halloween a few years back. I had a pretty massive beard back then (not this big though). I was taking a makeup class in college and we had to do fake beards so I had to shave. No lie, the next day it was posted on our call list that Pirates of the Caribbean was casting extras for Dead Man's Chest and they were looking for men with big beards. Missed my 15 minutes by a single day :crybaby:
 
Still sorting out details. The investors would like to hold the money in their account and distribute the funds as needed. Anyone know if that is typical for an indie production?
 
It's not typical for any business venture I've known of. They're basically saying "I'm the boss and you'll run every purchase by me so I have a record of whats being spent. Oh and I'll have to approve every bit."

Which means possible delays for your production or even back outs at an inopportune time. And for us, after rolling the first shot it all becomes inopportune.

Sounds really risky or flakey.

Maybe there's a common practice like this though?
 
I have a feeling it are those kind of guys that say "why the hell do you need a soundguy ?? Every camera has an onboard mice ???" and "Why the hell do you need 2 boom operators ???"
 
Well they have the budget, and it is extremely detailed. Judging from the pieces of conversations I'm privy to, it seems like they just want to see where all the money is going and have everyone on their payroll. Paying out other expenses based on invoices or whatever up to $3M for the total budget. Seems like it would waste time and personnel on our end of things though since instead of just going out and paying for things, we would have to go back and forth between the investors and the producers. But hey, as long as the money gets paid, who am I to complain about who's doing the paying? -Unless it affects filming, obviously.

BTW dre83, the Production Sound budget is $23,980. I think the investors are more concerned with things like airfare, hotels and expendables then personnel. At least, I hope so... :)
 
so that's 23.980 / 18 = 1332 each day

600 for the production mixer, 300 for the boom operator 300 for the 2nd boom operator and some spare money :-p
 
dre83 said:
so that's 23.980 / 18 = 1332 each day

600 for the production mixer, 300 for the boom operator 300 for the 2nd boom operator and some spare money :-p
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Pretty close to that. Except we really don't need two booms for 90% of the movie. Much of the film is on just one character at a time.

EDIT: and don't forget to add on equipment rental fees
 
Wel 600 with equipment /day.

But it's a fair trade. When you watch the rushes in the edit room you will see the benefits of it (and also the investors).
 
So now, apparently, the only thing the investors want are locked in A-list actors. Provide that and they provide the full budget. Catch-22: we need some of the money in order to lock in the actors with a pay-or-play agreement.
 
majikfraug said:
So now, apparently, the only thing the investors want are locked in A-list actors. Provide that and they provide the full budget. Catch-22: we need some of the money in order to lock in the actors with a pay-or-play agreement.
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What's the next step then?
 
Well, first we wait until they give us a final "yay or nay" with stipulations. The deal we want is that they would lock in the full budget in an escrow account to prove that they have the funds and to affirm their intent. The funds would be unavailable to us until we provide actors that they approve of. As soon as we have approved actors locked in, they would be obligated to release the entire budget. If they agree to that, then we do whatever we can to raise the approx. $100K needed to lock in the actors.

Current offer is: seed investor provides approx. $100K, $50K of which will sit in escrow for the actors actual payments, $50K will be used for attorney fees, etc. (seed money budget is available to potential investors). Upon acquiring the full budget (which, in this case, would be assured since we would only be pursuing actors they have agreed on and the funds would be released upon securing one of them) seed investor would receive 120% of their investment (ie: $120K), an "associate producer" credit, and a small back end percentage.
 
As an update to my previous post:

We are now actually seeking smaller portions of the necessary seed money.

The funds to secure all the needed elements is in the ballpark of $50K-$100K (more is better since it allows us to make better "pay-or-play" offers to the actors we will be approaching). We need to raise this money ourselves. Obviously, none of us has a chunk of change that big. However, many of us know people who can afford to invest a few thousand. So, here is what we can offer potential seed investors:
  1. Their money will be locked away in a private account that the producers/other investors do not have access to.
  2. Their money will stay there until the investors lock their $3 Million into an escrow account which will be released to us as soon as we secure an A-list actor from the list they will provide (they are picking their favorites from a list of our top 10 picks for our leads).
  3. If the investors don't sign the escrow deal, our friends and family get their money back, penny-for-penny.
  4. If the investors do sign the escrow deal, their money will be used to pay for whatever fees are associated with securing the A-listers.
  5. When we do sign an A-lister, the investors must release the $3 Million. At this point all of our people will get: 120% of their seed-money investment back, an Associate Producer credit in the film, and a small percentage of the back-end (the more they invest, the larger their portion of that small percentage). This could realistically take as short as a few weeks to as long as a few months.
Here are some possible outcome scenarios to be aware of:
  1. We get an A-list actor on their list. They release the funds, everyone gets their reward (as stated in point #5 above). We make our movie.
  2. We get an A-list actor not on their list. They could then reconsider and invest the $3 Million anyway. Or, we would have to seek out new investors with a much stronger package than we now have. It might take as long as several months.
  3. We do not get an A-list actor. This is unlikely in the current economy (Our producers RJ Louis and Jordan Wagner have both stated that, scheduling conflicts aside, they feel that we should have no problem getting a name involved with what we have to offer). However, if this happens, the money will still be used to push the movie forward and it will still get made -either with lesser known actors, or we might just have to wait on availability of an A-lister.
  4. The investors do not sign the escrow agreement. Everyone gets their money back.

If anyone is interested, or knows of anyone who might be, please PM me and I can set you up with a phone meeting with the producers (or in person if you are in the LA region) to answer any questions/concerns. I can also give you a list of the actors we will be pursuing with the seed money, I just can't post that info for the general public. :thumbsup:
 
It's been really neat reading about the business side of the film business through your thread. Thanks for keeping us updated!
 
El Director said:
It's been really neat reading about the business side of the film business through your thread. Thanks for keeping us updated!
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I know it's something I've always wondered about. I never thought I would have to worry about it, since I always figured our first feature would be no-budget/self-funded. Now that I'm involved firsthand, I find it alternatingly frustrating and fascinating :) But I'd be happy if our experiences help out anyone else, or at least provide an interesting read. I know I'm much more interested in the actual process of making the movie, but apparently this stuff has to happen first...
 
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