03.02.08
Posted in Classes/Books, Scripts/Screenwriting at 8:44 pm by Amanda Rogers
I’ve been reading William Martell’s daily script tips for quite some time now and always find them very worthwhile. I really would like to take one of his screenwriting classes. But in order to get him to come to the Bay Area to give one of his classes, a minimum of 20 people is needed. So I thought I’d ask around and see if there are any local screenwriters, aspiring screenwriters, or anyone else interested in screenwriting that might be interested in attending.
If you’re not familiar with William Martell, you can check out his bio at http://www.scriptsecrets.net/products/authorbi.htm. The class he teaches is a two-day class called Character First. You can check out the content at http://www.scriptsecrets.net/lecture/secretc2.htm. The price is $199.
If you’re interested, please contact Mr. Martell via his website or myself and I’ll pass the info on to him. I’m hoping that there will be enough interest to make this happen.
Permalink
02.17.08
Posted in Classes/Books, Film Financing at 3:53 pm by Amanda Rogers
Last Saturday, I ventured across the Bay Bridge again to attend a film financing workshop featuring IFP (Independent Feature Project) founder Sandra Schulberg. Sandra has a very impressive resume that her IMDb profile barely touches upon and that includes expertise in international financing and co-production. Getting to spend an entire day listening to her was an incredible learning experience. Some of what she covered I’ve heard before, but I always count a class or workshop worthwhile if I come out of it having learned something new. By those standards, this workshop was an unmitigated success. I almost never put my pen down the entire day. It was eight hours jammed packed with information…too much to try to summarize in one post, so I’ll just hit on some highlights.
Grants
Do you think that grant money is only available for documentaries? Think again. If your feature film contains subject matter that is relevant to a cause or issue (e.g., the environment, social issues, etc.) that a grantor is interested in supporting, your project may be able to get funding from grants.
Depending on your budget, grants may not cover all the costs of producing your film, but here’s a little known fact: You can mix PPM (Private Placement Memorandum) money and grant money. Sandra called projects that mix funding from these two sources hybrids. Of course, the paperwork gets more complicated when you go this route, but it is quite doable.
Some grants are more like a loan. They are called Program Related Investments (PRI). This is a grant that the grantor wants back. Some may charge interest.
Private Placement Memorandums (PPM)
PPMs, also known as offering memorandums, are legal documents that state the objectives, risks, and terms of an investment. Here’s what must be included in an offering memorandum:
- Story synopsis.
- Chain of title–The script rights must be assigned to the LLC.
- Bios of key people.
- Talent agreements.
- Who controls final cut? This can be a touchy and difficult subject, but one that must not be avoided.
- Budget summary. This should include development budget.
- Production schedule.
- Bond (if required).
- Describe overall financing plan.
- Deal structure. Usually, profits are split 50-50 with investors, but this is negotiable.
- Minimum threshold to break escrow. Examples: When there are enough funds to shoot the film or enough funds to shoot and do a rough cut. Advantages to shooting sooner is that the film gets into the market sooner.
- Distribution/marketing plan.
- Risk factors–Never ever try to hide the risks from an investor. Disclose all risks. Be transparent.
- Tax treatment. This section must be written by an attorney.
- Wind-up provision–You want to put a cap on your relationship with investors. In the past, the usual cap was seven years. Nowadays it can vary greatly.
- Define accredited investor–Currently a qualified investor for a private offering must earn a minimum of $200,000 per year or have a minimum of $1 million in assets.
- Financial projections–Do three sets of projections for realistic scenarios.
Whew! Got all that? As you can imagine, a lot of work goes into creating a PPM; and the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) has very strict rules about how PPMs are distributed.
International Financing/Co-Production
Looking for money for your film project? Consider going international. There is money out there, especially in Europe where many governments subsidize film productions. Interestingly, the U.S. is one of the few governments that doesn’t subsidize films. Go figure. Though you can find tax incentives in various parts of the U.S.
But if you’re willing to give up some parts of your copyright to get your film made, partnering up with a foreign production company may be a way to go. Rules may vary, but, most likely, you will be required to do at least some part of the work in that country, such as shooting or post production. You might even consider teaming up with production companies from several of the countries under the European Co-Production Treaty and taking advantage of the subsidies from each country.
Pre-Selling Foreign Rights
Pre-selling foreign rights is one of the most common ways to raise funds for a feature. Foreign sales account for more than 50% of a film’s revenue, so by pre-selling your film to foreign distributors, a large portion of your budget can be raised from this market and you’ve also set up distribution in the foreign market.
Hiring a foreign sales agent is great if you can afford it. At 12% to 40% commission plus costs, they can be quite pricey. But Sandra recommends selling the foreign rights yourself. It’s a great experience that she encourages filmmakers to try for themselves.
So how is this done? By attending international film markets and selling your film to the foreign distributors who attend and are looking for films to buy. Here’s the list of the film markets she recommends attending in the following order:
- IFP Market–This takes place in the fall.
- Toronto–This takes place right after IFP.
- Rotterdam–Focuses on indie films.
- Berlin–A little more complex, but compares to Cannes. IFP has a booth there.
- Cannes–Much more difficult to navigate, so you’ll want to take advantage of the resources of the IFP booth.
Collection Agencies
When selling your rights to the world (excluding the U.S.), you’ll want to be sure to use the services of a collection agency. A collection agency, in this sense, is not the type that you would normally think of that hounds you if you’ve fallen behind on your credit payments. No, these collection agencies function as funnels for all the various countries in which you may have sales agreements. They collect and distribute the various funds and can provide you with peace of mind in that you don’t have to worry about keeping track of funds from each country. They charge between 1% and 2% and are well worth the cost. The two collection agencies are:
- National Film Trustees–A British Company
- Fintage–A Dutch Company
Permalink
02.07.08
Posted in Classes/Books, Scripts/Screenwriting at 9:16 pm by Amanda Rogers
Last week found me making the jaunt across the Bay to San Francisco twice. Once was for a filmmakers/financing meeting and the other was for a screenwriting class with screenwriter/teacher Lew Hunter. Lew is a very pleasant elderly gentleman who loves to rattle on about screenwriting. It’s quite obvious that he loves to teach.
The class was only three hours long and was geared more for absolute beginners. After taking the semester-long course in script development and story analysis last year, this felt like more of a review to me. One little tidbit that I did find useful dealt with character development. Lew suggested writing a half-page description of each of the main characters in our stories in the first person. He read us a sample characterization and I can see how this could be quite helpful in finding the voice of our characters, as well as fleshing them out. I’m going to have to give this a try.
The first part of the class was a lecture, then we had a short break. After the break was a question and answer session. So everyone was raising their hands to ask their questions and, one by one, Lew answered them. One of the attendees, who came in quite late, wanted to read a couple of paragraphs of something he had written. Lew was kind enough to indulge him. But shortly after he started reading, I wondered if this might be a mistake. The subject matter was…you guessed it…about his experience neutering a pig.
I would liken listening to this story as akin to driving past an auto accident. It’s horrible to look at but, somehow, you just can’t seem to take your eyes away from it. So I sat there listening to how this poor pig is forced onto its back with its legs forced apart and….well, I’ll spare you the gruesome details.
The story seemed to go on and on and on. What was supposed to be only a couple of paragraphs turned out to be a little over a page long and, thankfully, Lew called him on it. But the guy was just about to the end, so he was allowed to finish. So what was his question about what he had written? He didn’t have one. He just wanted to read what he had wrote. By that time I was figuratively pulling out my hair. I felt cheated. Some of our valuable time with Lew had been spent listening to a story that had nothing to do with writing screenplays. What in the class description gave this guy the idea that this was a writing circle?
After the class, I purchased Lew’s book entitled Lew Hunter’s Screenwriting 434 and since I had the author right there, I just couldn’t resist getting my copy autographed. I’m looking forward to getting started reading it.
Permalink
01.12.08
Posted in Classes/Books, I-Man Cast Film Update, Scripts/Screenwriting at 6:49 pm by Amanda Rogers
Back in October I told you about the screenplay treatment that the writer had turned in. So you might be wondering what’s happening with that. Well, it got put on hold for a while. Why? Because I got sucked into the homework cyclone and it wouldn’t let go. That Story Analysis and Screenplay Development for Film and Television class I was taking ended up eating just about every free moment I had and then some for the past few months. While I regret that it slowed down the project, I think the benefits outweighed the negatives.
For the past three months I’ve been completely immersed in learning to analyze the basic elements of a story: premise, plot, structure, character, and dialog. Our teacher would assign a script for us to read and then we would have to write a log line, a synopsis, and an analysis of the script covering each of the basic elements. We would have to comment on what works and doesn’t work and then give an explanation why. Then we would give our recommendation as to whether the script should be considered for development or not. This is the exact same process a reader goes through for each script he or she analyzes for a producer or studio. For someone who loves to read stories and then pick them apart, it’s a good job. The downside is that you end up having to read a lot of stories that may not be to your liking. It can be quite a challenge to put your personal taste aside and try to look at a story objectively.
Some of the most interesting assignments we were given involved reading a script that had been produced and then watching the finished movie. We then had to write a comparison/contrast where we identified what had changed from the script to the screen and how that had affected the movie, for good or for bad. It’s amazing how much some movies changed, while others stayed fairly true to the script. Films are such a collaborative medium with so many people having an input that it can sometimes be hard to discern where the changes are coming from. Sometimes it can be due to decisions the director makes. Other times it’s due to decisions made in editing. Sometimes the acting isn’t there. And sometimes it’s a combination of various factors. But whatever factors influence the final product, I found it to be disappointing to read a promising script and then watch it get poorly executed on film.
So these past few months have been extremely busy and educational for me. I’m happy to say I got an A in the class. I’m not going to claim to be an expert, but I do think I’ve got a decent grasp of the basics. So would I ever want to become a reader/script analyst? In one word, no. The reason that I say this is because whether you enjoy the story or not, as a reader you still have to read and give feedback on it. Producers don’t have to do that. Sure, they will get stories that don’t interest them, but they aren’t required to read them. Usually, reading a short synopsis, treatment, or the first few pages of a script is all they need to do to know whether or not it is a story they should invest some time in. Of all the stories I read in the class there was only one that I would have been interested in producing.
As a producer I would much rather spend my time looking for that special story that I can get excited about or else working on one that has the possibility to be really good. This brings me back to the treatment. About three week’s ago, I was finally able to sit down and start writing development notes. Development notes, for those of you who may not know, is feedback that producers give to screenwriters to help guide them in developing the story. In the notes, the producer points out areas that work, areas that need work, and can even offer suggestions and ideas that the screenwriter can use or get inspired from.
In my enthusiasm for this project, I offered a ton of ideas and suggestions. At that point, the writer suggested that we write two treatments. It’s an idea that makes a lot of sense. As I have said before, I’m not the only one who decides which story we do. The decision also belongs to the cast. I have to like the story, but so do they. So writing two treatments gives us twice the odds that at least one of them will be something they are interested in doing. What happens if they don’t like either story? Well, then it’s my job to start all over and look for another story. I keep looking until I find the right story.
Because the writer is busy working on the original treatment, I’m taking on the job of writing the second treatment, which will be a co-authored venture. The treatments are basically two different versions of the same story. The goal is to get both versions in tip-top shape before the cast reads them. After they have gone through as many rewrites as needed to get them in great shape, I will then be getting at least a couple of outside opinions on them from experienced, professional writers/analysts. Getting feedback from pros in the field is absolutely vital and I wouldn’t even think of submitting anything to the cast that hasn’t been thoroughly looked over.
So stay tuned and as we make progress on the stories, I’ll keep you posted.
Permalink
11.22.07
Posted in Classes/Books, Contests, I-Man Cast Film Update, Internet, Mike McCafferty at 8:10 pm by Amanda Rogers
I apologize that this piece of news is over a week late, but I’ve been snowed under with homework. It’s the middle of the semester and our assignments are getting more complicated and, thus, more time consuming. In addition, I’ve also taken a business plan class and a cash flow analysis class within the last couple of weeks. Busy. Busy.
But I don’t want to talk about my classes tonight. Let’s talk about The IT Room! This is a brand new webisode series starring Mike McCafferty. It’s a cute little show that pokes fun at IT problems. I think a lot of us can probably find something to relate to here. I know I sure can. You may, also, find it fascinating that this show is completely improvised.
Look around the site and you’ll find lots of ways you can interact and help out. They are looking for IT horror stories, which you can submit via a video or their blog. You can even submit a design for the official IT Room t-shirt. There’s a couple of contests with some pretty cool prizes too.
The first episode went online on November 11 and is ready for you to watch. Simply go to http://www.theitroom.com to view it!
Permalink
« Previous entries · Next entries »