Author Archives: Amanda Rogers

And the Emmy Goes to…

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…Greg Yaitanes!  Yep, the former Invisible Man director has won an Emmy for best director of a drama series.  The series is House and the episode he directed is entitled “House’s Head.”

There are a couple of versions of a story going around that when it came time to go to the press tent after the awards ceremony, none of the reporters had a question for Greg.  Strange.  You would think the reporters would be better prepared, after all, this is the Emmy’s. 

Here’s the LA Times version of what happened:

Greg Yaitanes, one of the directors of “House,” won an Emmy for his work on the first part of last season’s finale. But when he walked into the press tent, no one jumped at a chance to ask him a question. Just as the director was going to leave, one reporter jumped up (out of pity?).

Before she asked her question, Yaitanes said, “Wouldn’t it have been better and more uncomfortable if I didn’t answer any questions?”

The reporter asked, anyway: “It seems House becomes more and more unlikable as the seasons go on. Do you think there’s going to be redemption for him this season?”

Yaitanes said, “I am not a writer. I’m a director.”

The reporter tried to ask the question again in a different way but then just gave up.

“It’s OK,” Yaitanes said. He left the stage.

Hollywood Today had a slightly different version of what happened:

Greg Yaitanes director of ‘House’ won for best director of a drama series. Unfortunately when Yaitanes came to the stage there were no questions until one clueless reporter asked him what it was like to win as the writer in the series. “I’m not the writer I’m the director,” Yaitanes said scolding the reporter. He abruptly walked out of the press tent.

Well, that was awkward.  Too bad none of the reporters asked him a question about the actual directing of the episode. 

Also, which version do you believe?  This reminds me of something I learned many years ago:  Don’t believe everything you read in the press.  You’d be amazed how frequently reporters get their facts wrong.  Now I’m not trying to paint reporters as evil or incompetent, although I’m sure there are some in the bunch.  But I’ve known a few reporters in my life and even briefly worked in an ABC newsroom many, many years ago; and I’ve got to say I really liked the reporters I’ve known.  But the nature of the job is so deadline driven that it is often difficult to find the time to make sure the facts are precise.  The above is a good example of this.  We have two different versions of the same event and, because of the way they are worded, we have one that paints Greg in a more flattering light than the other. 

Anyways, if you haven’t seen the House episode that won Greg the Emmy, you can watch it below.  It’s a complex episode filled with numerous flashbacks and dream sequences.  I can see why Greg won for this episode.  He definitely deserved it.

Coming Up for Air

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Well, folks, I apologize for being away so long.  My screenwriting class sucked up all my time and I was forced to put my nose to the grindstone to catch up and get my homework and outline done.  The good news is that I now have a complete first draft of my outline done!  I also got an A in the class.

In addition to the outline, I have the first 15 pages written.  The teacher had us outline one act of the story and then write a few pages of the script each week (starting with week four).  So an unexpected bonus is to have a first draft of the first 15 pages done.  I found that alternating between writing the outline and the script is a great way to develop a story.  They feed off each other and it really helps the process.  And the cool thing is that if this is the story we end up developing, I can just hand over the pages I’ve already written to the writer and she can take it from there.

I was interested to see what kind of reactions I would get from people who had no idea that I was writing for a specific cast and project.  Nope, I didn’t divulge that info to them.  I just went in as a student with a story I wanted to get outlined.  I wanted to see if the story would stand on its own terms.  The story is still a bit rough, but the overall response I got was good.  One classmate in particular was very enthusiastic about it.

So I’m feeling pretty good about the story.  However, it’s only the first draft.  I need to continue working on it, but I’m going to take a break from it for now and tend to other pressing matters. 

I’m still negotiating an agreement with the writer.  Yep, still.  We would have been finished with it by now if her lawyer hadn’t been called to jury duty and then immediately following that took off on vacation.  But we’re back working on it and it looks like we’re getting close to wrapping it up.  In addition, I have unanswered emails that are piling up.  If you’re reading this and I haven’t answered your email yet, I apologize.  I’m working my way through them and hope to get caught up soon.  I also have story submissions from two other writers that I really need to give feedback on.  And now I can finally get back to blogging regularly.  I’ve got a bunch of news that is piling up.

Stay tuned.

Random Thoughts on Financing and Distribution

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I just got back from a lecture on independent filmmaking this evening.  The speakers were a husband and wife.  She runs a local film festival and he runs a local film production studio and is the son of a very famous football coach.  It was really interesting to hear about their jobs, how they got into the film industry, how they met, and the projects they have worked on.

One interesting story he told was of a film that he had invested in.  It had been a real attention getter at Sundance and had been nominated for two Academy Awards.  You would think that with credentials like that they would make a real nice profit on this film, but the highest price a distributor was willing to pay was only a third of the film’s budget.  Needless to say, he and all the other investors lost money on that film.

This is the kind of story I’ve heard over and over again.  Most people think that producers who get their films picked up by major distributors make a lot of money, right?  Wrong.  In most cases it’s the distributors who make the money.  And who ends up getting screwed?  The investors.  So why would anyone want to sell their film to a major distributor?  Well, because the opportunity to get the kind of exposure that comes with a wide release is very tempting to a producer.  It means that they will become known and that could give them more clout in future negotiations which lead to greater profits for subsequent films.

There’s only one problem with that:  you’ve screwed your investors.  Why in the world would anyone want to invest in a film where they knew they would lose money?  Now some investors love film or believe in a specific project and just want to be a part of it so they’re willing to take the risk.  But most are in it to make money.  It’s an investment and they want to see a return on their money.  I can’t blame them for that. 

Some producers justify accepting these distributor deals by saying that their investors are rich and can afford to lose the money.  Yes, they do have to have a certain amount of wealth to qualify as an accredited investor.  But does that justify taking their money knowing full well they will never see a return on it?  My view on this is no.  I find it unconscionable that producers would screw the very people that helped to make their film possible.  I may get labeled idealistic or naive for this viewpoint.  Fine.  But I won’t compromise my integrity for anything or anyone. 

I strongly believe that producers have a fiduciary responsibility to their investors.  It’s not only the job of the producer to make a quality film that is appealing to the audience, but it is also the producer’s job to try to the best of their ability to make a profit on the film and, at the very least, pay back the investors’ money.

Getting a distribution deal with a major distributor is every producer’s dream and I’m by no means against it if they are willing to offer a fair deal.  But the more I hear about how tough it is to get a fair deal, the more I have begun to explore other options.  I’ve heard that sometimes a smaller distributor will offer a more equitable deal and it’s something I want to look into further.

A question I asked the producer tonight was whether he thought that self distribution was the way to go.  He said yes, but he said to be sure to team up with someone who has done it.  Self distribution is something I definitely want to explore.  From everything I’ve heard it’s a huge amount of work.  But if you are going to spend huge amounts of time and effort to get your film made, why woudn’t you spend the effort to make sure your film gets distributed and makes money?  It’s what any business in any other industry would do. 

In every other industry out there businesses make sure that they have a plan and work that plan for getting their products distributed.  But in the film industry I’ve seen filmmakers shrug in defeat when they say they couldn’t get their film picked up by a distributor.  Seriously?  My jaw drops whenever I hear this.  This is a business!  Treat it like a business! 

The film industry is the only business I’ve seen where many people give all their attention to making the product and no thought to distributing and marketing it.  Granted, if you’ve got a bad product, you’re just not going to find many customers who will want to buy it.  But that’s no excuse for not trying. 

I do want to qualify what I just said and emphasize that not all filmmakers drop the ball when it comes to distribution.  There are many savvy producers out there who do know how to maximize profits on their films.  Unfortunately, there also seem to be a lot who don’t.

 

Writing and Financing Updates

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Sorry for being so quiet lately.  When I got back from Comic-Con I was really looking forward to getting caught up with blogging, among other stuff.  Instead, a nasty virus caught up with me and had me down for the better part of a week.  This put me so far behind with everything else that I’ve been scrambling to catch up ever since.

So let’s talk about the film project, shall we?  I’m way overdue on giving you all an update.

Back in January I mentioned that two treatments were being worked on.  One by the writer I’m working with and one by me.  So how are they coming along?  Well, slowly.  The writer has the first revision of her treatment finished and ready to send to me.  I just haven’t seen it yet because we are busy negotiating a producer/writer agreement right now.  It’s a bit of a time consuming process and, ideally, it’s something that should have been done right at the outset of our working relationship.  But once we get the agreement hammered out and fully executed, she’ll be sending me the next revision.  I’m looking forward to seeing what she has done with it.

My version of the treatment is coming along much more slowly.  Instead of writing, I got sidetracked with financial matters, namely, my own.  Now I’m not one to talk about my personal finances on a public blog, but in this case my own finances are very much a factor in this project because all of the money that is keeping this project moving forward right now is coming out of my own pocket.  I need to get this project to the point where it is packaged so that I can pitch it to investors and get presales.  If I get lucky, maybe I can find an angel investor who is willing to come aboard the project early and help out with seed money.  But, in the meantime, I’ve had to get creative and find ways to stretch my own money.  While I make an okay living, I’m not by any means a wealthy person, so this has been a challenge. 

A couple of years ago I had refinanced the second on my tiny condo.  Then, at the beginning of this year, as I watched real estate prices plummet and people lose their homes, it didn’t make sense to hang on to my riskier loans any longer so I decided to refinance both my first and second into one fixed-rate loan.  Fortunately for me, I was in a position to refinance.  There are a lot of unfortunate people in this country who got into risky loans and didn’t have a clue what they were getting into.  I really feel for them.  But having a little bit of a background in real estate, together with my propensity to do my homework and make sure I understand what I’m getting myself into, really gave me an advantage.  So I’m not in any danger of losing my condo even though it’s not worth much anymore and I have virtually no equity to speak of.  But I have a roof over my head and that’s the important thing!

Refinancing allowed me to get my monthly payments lowered a bit and pay off my car.  It’s not a huge amount, but it’s freed up enough money to allow me to keep the project moving forward.  For now.  Eventually, in the not too distant future, I’ll come to the point where I’ll need equity and/or debt money.  So even though the writing got put on the back burner for a while, I’ve been moving the project forward by taking care of some necessary financial matters.  And speaking of financing, I’ve met a few investors over the last few months who have shown some interest, so maybe something will come of that…we’ll see.

Getting back to the writing has been a challenge for me.  When developing a movie there always seems to be a ton of other things that need to get done and are demanding my time, so I found a way to basically force myself to focus on the writing:  I signed up for a screenwriting class.  The goal of this particular screenwriting class is to have an outline or beat sheet of one’s story finished by the end of the semester.  This is exactly what I needed because once the outline is done, writing a treatment from it should be a snap. 

Getting the feedback of my classmates and especially my teacher is a real help.  My teacher has worked in the industry for years as a writer, story analyst, studio executive, and executive producer; and has been involved in the making of such movies as Silence of the Lambs, Platoon, and Bull Durham.

Each week we are required to write a three-page scene.  Rather than try to come up with a random story idea each week, I decided to take the story I’m going to outline and use the characters and setting to fit the scene.  Most likely none of the scenes will actually be used in the story because I had to change some things to fit the homework requirements, but it does give me a chance to explore the characters and the story and really makes me think about where I want the story to go.

The first week’s scene assignment was to have one character follow another, so I had the protagonist follow the antogonist in an interesting setting.  My teacher liked it so much that he posted a note on the bulletin board and told the whole class to go read my “very instructive scene in the vein of I AM LEGEND.”  He also said I “include(d) so much action and suspense and communicate(d) the flow of action with some real clarity.”  I’ve never seen I Am Legend, but from the trailers I’ve seen of the movie, I can see where he would get that comparison even though that’s not really the tone I was shooting for.  Now, mind you, this scene was far from perfect.  The formatting was too “Old Hollywood,” but considering that we had just read an old Hitchcock script, that’s what I was using as a guide.  Also, the ending fell short.  Nevertheless, I’ll take the compliment, especially coming from someone with his experience in the industry, and considering that, so far, I’m the only one in class that has been singled out for praise.

Going on my trip and then getting sick afterward has really put me behind in this class, so if you’re wondering why I’ve been so quiet lately, it’s because I’m scrambling to get caught up on homework.  There are only about four weeks left before the semester ends and I’m determined to get the most out of this class, not just in terms of getting the outline finished but, also, in terms of learning as much as I can about screenwriting, which will make me a better producer.

In the producer/writer agreement that I’m currently negotiating, we’re setting deadlines and right now we have asked for a completion date for the treatment of October 31.  However, since the negotiations are currently eating into our writing time, I’m pushing to move the date back to November 30.  This means that all treatments, both hers and mine, need to be in final form by that date.  In addition, I’ve been accepting story submissions from another writer and if I feel that one of them is worth developing, I’ll have my attorney draw up an agreement with that writer also with the same timeline.  The goal is to get all the treatments done at the same time so they can be submitted to the cast at the same time.  After that it will be the decision of the cast as to whether they like any of them.  If they do, then we’re looking at a six-month timeline to get the script completed.  If they don’t, I start all over again looking for more stories.

So that’s where we are right now.  If things go well, we are looking at having a finished script by next fall, hopefully sooner.  I know that seems like quite a ways off, but getting the script right is absolutely vital.  According to Dov S-S Simens, you don’t just need a good script, you need a great script.  Yes, the standards need to be that high because the competition is intense.  Nothing less than great will do.  Hollywood may be able to get away with mediocre scripts, but independent filmmakers can’t.      

Back From Comic-Con

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Hey, everybody, I apologize for being so quiet lately.  For the past week I’ve been in San Diego at Comic-Con.  What fun!  I got home last night and I’m trying to get caught up with stuff today, thus the reason for this short post. 

Some things coming up in the near future:

  • I’ll be posting a con blog.  I took quite a few pictures and I’ll be getting those up too on the website.
  • I’m really overdue on giving all of you a film project report.  Things are moving along and I’m sure you want to know the latest happenings. 
  • I’ve got cast news and other miscellaneous items I need to blog about too, so I hope to get caught up within the next few weeks.

This is it for today though.  Gotta run!

Registration Now Required

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Well, I held out for as long as I could.  I really did.  When I first started this blog, the comment spam was none to minimal.  But as time has gone on, the spam became more frequent until, now, I am being bombarded with it almost every single hour. 

I’m tired of getting nonsensical ads for watches, purses, jewelery, promises to increase the size of body parts that I do not possess, or spam that is just plain lewd.  The sneakiest offenders are those who try to pass themselves off as legitimate readers with “Hey, I love your blog” comments, but when you look at the link to their website, it is obvious that they are a spammer trying to sneak in a link to their dubious website and up their search engine ranking. 

I’m a patient person, but enough is enough.  So, effective immediately, you must now register to post a comment on this blog.  I’m sorry I had to do this.  I really am.  I’ve never wanted to discourage comments from legitimate readers so I’ve always tried to make commenting as easy and painless as possible.  Unfortunately, I can’t be so accomodating anymore.

The registration process may not entirely stop spammers but, hopefully, it will slow them down a bit.  And I’ll still be moderating comments to make sure no spammers try to sneak in.

I hope this won’t discourage you legitimate readers from commenting on my blog.  I really love reading your thoughts and I would be sad if nobody ever commented anymore. 

The registration process is pretty simple and only takes a minute.  Just scroll down to the Meta section (on the right side of the blog), click on the Registration link, and follow the instructions.

Thank you for your understanding!

An Evening With Lew Horwitz, Part 5

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Can you believe that we’ve finally reached the end of this series?  Yep, this is the last installment.  If you’re a new filmmaker, perhaps you learned a thing or two?  If you’re a fan, you’re probably wondering when I’m going to write about something more exciting, such as the next cast appearance.  I don’t blame you.  While I find this all extremely interesting, I realize that it can be rather dry for anyone not interested in the subject of film financing.

So on to the dry stuff…

The Three Components of Film Financing

These are three components of film financing:

  1. Presales
  2. Gap Financing
  3. Equity Financing

We’ve already covered presales in a previous post, so I won’t go into that again.

Gap financing is a loan against your unsold rights.  If you haven’t sold all of your rights yet, the bank can loan you money against those unsold rights.  Now, of course, they have no way of knowing for sure exactly how much those unsold rights will sell for, so they estimate (in other words, guess).  But don’t count on getting the full value of those unsold rights.  Nope, banks will only lend you about half the value of those unsold rights and no more than 20% of the total budget of the film. 

Equity financing, which I briefly mentioned in a previous blog, can be expanded to include the following:

  1. Investors
  2. Production deals with foreign distributors
  3. Studio deals (split rights)
  4. Tax incentives from states and foreign countries
  5. European subsidies

Lew didn’t go into any detail about the above types of equity financing.  He only mentioned them so that we would be aware of them.  I guess it’s up to us filmmakers to do our homework and learn more about them.     

There is one other type of debt financing that Lew mentioned and that is bridge financing.  Bridge financing is very expensive.  You can expect to pay an interest rate of 25%.  Ouch.  But if you can’t get all your money together in time, a bridge loan can help.

The Real Budget

So you’ve got your budget done and you think you’ve got everything covered, right?  Wrong.  Lew explained to us why our budgets aren’t always sufficient.  See there are all these extra expenses that come up when you presale your film and sometimes they can be an unexpected surprise for an inexperienced filmmaker.  So what are some of these added expenses?

  1. Interest – Yep, you’ve got to pay interest on those loans you take out.
  2. Force Majeure – Insurance for events that are beyond the control of the producer or guarantor and that cause an interruption or suspension in the production or delivery of the film to distributors.
  3. Loan Fees
  4. Attorney Fees – The bank hires an attorney when you take out a loan with them and guess who pays for their attorney?  You do. 
  5. Post Delivery Interest
  6. Gap Fee

I was trying to scribble this down on my notepad as quickly as possible, but I’m sure I’m missing a few more expenses in there somewhere. 

Anyway, that pretty much wraps up most of Lew Horwitz’s workshop on debt financing for independent films with the exception of one last piece of advice:  Try to keep your Internet rights.  Don’t sell them off just yet.  While it is currently quite difficult to make a profit showing your film on the Internet, Lew predicts that eventually that will change and that the Internet will someday become a viable outlet for independent filmmakers.

So while this wraps up Lew’s workshop, it didn’t wrap up the evening.  After Lew was finished, a panel of investors took the stage.  I’ll talk about that in a future post.