1:36am and a ton to do still on the latest project. Looks like this one might actually have a chance at getting on a screen somewhere. Right now I would love to have a Line Producer or two. It's funny I ironic that I put that down since "two" is exactly how many LP's we have gone through in the last two months. I am the UPM/Producer/EIC on this project and I can't seem to keep my LP's. It would totally help if I could pay them. HAHAHA, this is an indie feature nobody get's paid till they get paid.
One of the craziest parts of this are the people that are fighting to stay with the project. I've got these guys whom I have vouched for that have made me look bad by bailing on me just before crucial budget dates and the one person that is sticking with me I have not even considered to be an LP.
We are supposed to have interns after the first of the year. I am in need of help with the nuts and bolts of what I am actually doing but it's not going to come. The pressure is somewhat relieved in that we have other people on this show and some fairly competent associate producers. The director has produced before so he is a big help. Also his savings and good credit are a huge boost to us have some cash on hand.
I guess my issue is that I want to be able to focus on other aspects of actually producing and doing UPM work but I now have to sit down and work the budgets for: the whole film, the trailer, the kickstarter.
This is not just 3 budgets, I have to start with a "Dream" or template budget for the the Feature and the Trailer. Then I plug in and change things in accordance with things that are donated or monies that we actually receive. I also have to make multiple budgets for what we are most likely to actually end up with. Then I do budgets for investors at different levels, so a budget for: $25k, 50k, 100k, 250k, 500k, 750k, 1m, 5m, 10m. So in all right around 17 different budgets. I have to do a cost analysis sheet for the kickstarter because paying out the rewards actually has costs that you have to calculate. This is what I want a person to be doing for like the next 3 weeks, just this. And now I have to do and sit down and write a bunch of contracts.
The contracts I have to write: Location Agreement(templates are a good base but the contract should be specific to your specific needs), Deferred Payment Agreement(a head to toe original work), Signatory Contracts with SAG and any other Unions that make sense for us to use. Partnership agreements, Offering Memoranda(with regards to selling units in the LLC that is the film).
Now on top of this I have to arrange for an intern program to be created, hire the rest of the department heads, get the bids from vendors about camera packages, lighting packages, hire crafty, get a location manager but I can't do any of that without a budget so I can at the least have a number to promise people money and then take forever to pay them. FML
Additionally I've got set up investment meetings, distribution meetings, potential product sponsor meetings. At each one of these meetings I should have ready multiple "3 page" , "5page", and "10page" proposals. We need to be able to pitch and close with no more than a 3 person team at any meeting.
WE(meaning production) has to have an Investor event and a movie theater.
Then after all of this I still need to try to chase studio's for funding/distribution, and try to get name talent to replace the already great cast we have. Why you say, well that is a valid question. I have to try to get a name for multiple reasons only two of which actually involve having a name attached to the project directly.
One of the secrets to sale and networking is the art of the "no or pass". People may pass on your offer/project but they might remember you for years. Also if you conduct yourself professionally you may make an impression on them and this could lead to many things. One of which is that you call a hundred people in high positions in the industry and they all say know but now 100 people in the industry that are in a position to say yes know your name and will possibly take your call on the next one. Often if you work hard enough this creates buzz about the project and somebody who is looking for what your selling finds you first. And if none of that works when you go looking for a job(or it come for you) you've got a foot in the door.
If I can get through this project and get it distributed I will be able to walk into any studio in the world and say something that instantly separates me from 90% of my current peers. I can point to a DVD on the shelf in a store, or a Poster at theater and say "That's my name".
Not in the "We got it into A theater kind of way" more like I can take someone somewhere and they can buy a copy, rent a copy, or rent a seat in a theater. Any way I look at this, when BUP is done I will be ready for the next level of film making. It's at this point that I can take what is in my mind and make it happen.
Oh yeah, to top it all off. I have a company asking me for numbers on a cooking pilot, an outline for a radio show that I want to host, and I am acting this weekend in my friends short. There is a wall in my bedroom with the list of pending projects on it, the current feature is at the top, I stopped putting them down after I got to 8 projects. If I can get a little more help this is going to be an amazing year.
The best part about all of this is that it's what I have been waiting to do for the last seven years. I am so happy with where my life is going that sometimes I have to pinch myself. Eventually something is going to work, and then a bunch of stuff is going to start working and their will be no looking back.
