what the hell am i doing?! can i get some money please!

P

Paunch

Well-known member
I've been working with video for the past 6 years since film school, did a 40 minute surf doc which i released in april (made about -$49,300) and now just shoot & edit farking wedding videos on the side while wondering WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING!?

This really isn't where I pictured I'd be after all this time, i'm sooo far in debt, can barely pay rent, not getting paid on time for the work I've been doing and just want to get out of canada and move to hawaii, surf and make videos. Of course i'm like 30k in the hole and can't find enough work to make "it work"....I almost feel like a career change or something or i'll be stuck where i'm at forever...how hard can it be to get funding for a film if i already have one under my belt??
 
Paunch said:
how hard can it be to get funding for a film if i already have one under my belt??
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Very.

You have only one, self-produced film in only 6 years since film school. The reality is, it takes years, sometimes a decades, to get where you think you should be - if you even get there.

Neither film making nor the funding to drive it are simple or easy. No one is going to look at you and say, "Well, he has a film school degree and produced a 40 minute doc. Okay, let's give him some money." And if you find a person who will do that, please get me a phone number.

You really need to work on working first. (Wedding videos, by the way, can be incredibly profitable if you do them correctly. That can help you pay your debt down and fund other smaller projects you want to do.) But work also on getting experience on other sets, other films. Network. Meet people. Make connections.

As for not getting paid on time, you need to start asking for a deposit up front, and contract for a 30-day net on the balance. But again, try to get paid work on other productions. You may have to start at a lower rung on the ladder, but after a few projects and the right attitude, you can work your way up to 1st AC, AD, DP, etc.

Once you have a decent resume with some legitimate film credits under your belt, and you've met the right people and you have caught some one's attention... then you can look at getting funding for your own film.

Or win the lottery.
 
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Don't be too harsh on wedding videos. It's not what most of us necessarily want to do, but it's $$$ when more and more people every day are failing to earn any, doing anything at all...
 
Sorry, that was actually posted in the wrong thread. I meant that for the movie quotes thread...carry on...
 
Mark Harris said:
Sorry, that was actually posted in the wrong thread. I meant that for the movie quotes thread...carry on...
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Yeah, you should have filed it under H for "toy."

Paunch, you'll get funding for a film when the right person is confident enough that what you intend to do will at least bring the money back. For that, you either need a proven track record of financial success with your work, or a powerful hook. You have to demonstrate an ability to deliver something that's going to get people to pay to see it. That can mean a lot of things, but no one will fund a project just because it's meaningful to the person who wants to make it. It's a business proposition, first and last. If they think they can make money on you, they'll fund you.
 
As for the OP, if you've already made a doc you're ahead of about 90% of the people here, so I don't know that any of us will have any advice.

However, one thing I'm learning and learning and learning from the past year of studying what's up in indie film distribution is, you will not really get anywhere by just making your film and throwing it out there. Not sure what you mean by "released," but it's a lot more work to find and build your audience.

In fact, it's a task we're starting before we even start shooting.

So if you have a film already done, you might start thinking about leveraging that, and get it out there, find groups to partner with(surfing shouldn't be too hard, as it's a hard-core and focused group) and start figuring out how to get it in front of the kind of people who'd want to watch it.

Lot of tools out there for filmmakers to do this now.

But as I said, if you have a film made, you're ahead of the game already so start hustling it.
 
I studied film and I shoot weddings, I know how you feel, I also shoot stock footage. It allows for more of my learned creativity and it's residual income....
 
you got it jet a big fat loss. great education but man am i paying for it now., btw how did your flick turn out??
 
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