Cannes Dispatch: When Do You Need A Sales Agent?
Last week we left off talking about Cannes… & Financing Your Film. Now that it’s been a few days of on the ground intel gathering and things are starting to wind down a bit, I can talk about a few...
View ArticleCan You Over-Package A Project (& the magic of just shooting)
I was having a conversation with a producer friend of mine yesterday and we got to talking about a few projects we’re working on together and the status of each…. One of the projects we’ve been trying...
View ArticleThe Magic Of Just Shooting
I want to pick up the story where we left off last week on Over Packaging A Project. To refresh your memory I recounted the story of a project I was working on that had been packaged too much to the...
View ArticleDo Post Deals Still Work?
In working with a handful of clients over the last few months on finance plans, I’ve noticed one area where you can get ‘creative’ is with post deals and several of them have included that as a...
View ArticleDo Distributors Help With Finishing Funds?
So we left off in my last newsletter discussing if Post deals still work, and I got some interesting email responses from you guys sharing your experiences on that. To sum it up, it seems Post houses...
View ArticleWhat I’m Up To + Building Your Film’s Package (from the ground up)
It’s been a couple weeks since my last newsletter and I actually received a couple of emails from readers asking if everything is OK. Yep, everything’s fine… just got super busy on a few projects and...
View ArticleOverspending On Your Film (& confusing your sales agent w/ a magician)
In Wednesday’s newsletter I told you a little about what I’m up to and talked about starting to build your film’s foundation by attracting a solid team around you. I said I’d go into this more in my...
View ArticleAre You Trying To Be Your Own Producer (or pitching to early?)
Last week we left off talking about overspending on your film (and then blaming the sales agent) and I gave you a workaround on that. (hint: don’t spend more than the market will support for your...
View ArticleAnd The Hardest Part Is….Finding A Director (& other realities)
Last week we continued the discussion on the importance of building your film’s foundation and not trying to act as your own producer and/or pitch your project to the market prematurely. Aside from...
View ArticleTeam Building To Talent Packaging (& introducing Film Launchpad)
Yesterday I sent a newsletter/blog post about finding a director for your project and the realities involved with that part of the process. If you’re at all in the throes of packaging a film right now,...
View ArticleWhy Sit In Development Hell For Years… If You Don’t Need To!
Last week we left off talking about transitioning from team building to talent packaging on your project and what to expect during that process. I also introduced a new online program I’m leading...
View ArticleWhy Most Projects Won’t Make It To Production (but yours will)
Yesterday we talked about the dreaded development hell and why you don’t want to be caught up in that (and how to avoid it!) To say most projects die a slow death in development would be an...
View ArticleThe ‘Waiting For Other People’ Problem
Alright, we left off yesterday talking about why most films won’t make it into production, and in short most projects fizzle out during development with the two most common failure points (that I see...
View ArticleCan You Get Funding At AFM?
As August begins to wind down I’ve started getting more questions come in about AFM so I thought I’d address a few of them and maybe help some of you who are struggling with the same issues. In one...
View ArticleDoes Traditional Distribution Still Work?
Wow, summer is officially over now that Labor Day is behind us! For my international readers, I understand your holidays are all over as well…. so here we are, smack dab in the home stretch to the end...
View ArticleQ4 Plans, What’s In Production, & more…
Q4 is a great time to start planning for the New Year and focus on getting stuff in motion rather than waiting for Jan 1 to try and get things going from a standing start. Better to have some rolling...
View ArticleThe Different Faces Of Distribution
On Monday we talked about Q4 Plans, What’s In Production, & more…. and since then I’ve gotten a few emails from filmmakers who are embarking on distribution and want to know how much money they...
View ArticleWhy Netflix & Amazon Won’t Be Financing Your Film
I’ve had a few discussions this week with producers that all revolved around the same topic – Netflix and Amazon. Basically, there’s the impression out there that Netflix and Amazon are financing indie...
View ArticleWhen You Say Your Film Is Packaged But It Isn’t…
With just a few days left before Christmas, things are really starting to quiet down… it’s kinda nice, right? One of the big lessons I learned in 2016 was a doozy… to sum it up, unless I’m packaging a...
View Article2016 Review + What’s In Store For 2017
I hope you had Happy Holidays no matter what you celebrated this past weekend! :) Now talk about the home stretch…. I mean, we’ve got only a few days left of 2016. Yowza! Over the last few days of...
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