HOLLYWOOD MONEY: WHAT MOVIE TV PEOPLE MAKE.

  Illustration by: Wren McDonald

Craftservice people do fair; 2nd Assistant Directors get by; Studio Executives make killings; Completion Bond Agents do great; Writers re-writing do so-so; Writers with a hit do more than okay; Writers with a Franchise, who become Directors, think about buying the state of Delaware…

Last week Hollywood Reporter (a movie Trade) had a great article on what everyone makes and you absolutely should peruse it (see below) and here are 25 of their salary examples.

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KICKSTARTER & INDIEGOGO A MOVIE

MOVIE MONEY: Crowd Funding is an excellent way to finance your first independent feature film and whether you decide to fund via the Donation-Route or via the Equity-Route you should know that Crowd Funding is not a new phenomena…However, this financing concept has been around for at least 100 years…

Again, Crowd Funding for movies, feature films and documentaries is also not new…And it did not start with donation sites like Kickstarter,

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15 HOLLYWOD AGENCIES (Part 2: #16-30)… with 100-200 Literary Agents: SELL YOUR SCRIPT

(Don’t forget to read the very important Screenwriting Teaching Point #2 after the list)

(Quentin in process of grabbing-the-reader with a hook & great dialogue)

LITERARY AGENCIES #16-30 (A to Z):

(16) ABOVE THE LINE AGENCY, 468 N Camden Drive, Suite 200, Beverly Hills, CA 90210

(17) ABRAMS ARTISTS AGENCY,

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WRITE & SELL A GREAT SCRIPT

Here’s your list (see below) of literary agents that actually might (no guarantees) take a call from a first-timer

Now write your script. Make sure it is great. CYA.

Register & Copyright it & keep the receipts.

Next, write a 1/2 page Cover Letter (Query Letter) saying “why it is great” with some sort of line like “once you peruse the first page you’ll know why it’s great”.

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FILM FESTIVALS and DEALMAKING

For a filmmaker, with an independent film, the purpose of a Film Festival, other than social validation, is to demonstrate to distributors (assuming their Acquisition Executives are in attendance) that your film is (A) Marketable, (B) Sells Out screenings, (C) Makes Money,  (D) most important, has “Buzz”…. so you may get some cash (E) to pay back your investors and (F) launch your career.

Straight. Honest. To-the-Point.

 (Enjoy the premiere but make sure the Acquisition Executives are in attendance)

(A) MARKETABLE: You’re accepted to Sundance,

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FILM FESTIVAL PREMIERES

Why premiere at a film festival? Plus,  is your premiere a World Premiere, North American Premiere, USA Premiere, English Premiere or simply a California Premiere and why are premieres and festival screenings so allegedly important?

Lets go step-by-step.

First, 99.5% of all festivals are near useless in procuring a “sale” or a “deal” where as at the most there are 12-15 Film Festivals which have merit.

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YOUR 1st FEATURE FILM

Hollywood is waiting and with 4K cameras and only $3,000-$300,000 launching a film career, with a profitable independent feature, although not easy, is nowhere as difficult as it is made out to be…when you are realistic.

However, just having talent and a great idea is not enough… for you must be not only talented but be “talented…and realistic“.

And being realistic means starting at the bottom…

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REAL-TIME MOVIES!

Anyone can make a movie in 90-minutes for only $1,000 to $10,000 with todays superb 4K portable cameras…. But make-sure you improve the lens that comes with that camera and double make-sure your audio track is perfect.

I love seeing creative juices flowing into tangible products when artistes have no money and my 3 favorite real-time, no-budget, feature film movies are… “Run Lola Run” (Germany), “2LDK” (Japanese) and “UNFRIENDED”

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$20-$30K FEATURE FILM

The $20,000 to $30,000 Shot-For Feature Film… With, “Shot-For” being the key phrase.

Why?

Because “Shot-For” is most common phrase heard after someone states a movie’s micro-budget of “$20,000 to $30,000”.

Now, assuming you have $20,000-$30,000 to make a 90-minute, narrative feature film what (A) camera format do you use, (B) how long is the shoot, (C) what type of script do you make,

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THE $3-5 MILLION MOVIE: The Product Placement Feature Film

Last week’s post (MOVIE MONEY: Part 1) outlined the wonderful financing source or revenue stream for Hollywood called “Product Placement” and I wrote about utilizing 25-95 Logos, once a distribution deal is in place with a minimum of a 500 print release, to secure $3-$5 Million to make what you will likely market as a “just-under” $12-$15 Million Feature

And although Product Placement revenues have been around since the 40s with films like “It’s A Wonderful Life”

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