Wednesday, August 27, 2008

RE: Film Financing


To follow up on the topic of financing, the current issue of MovieMaker (Issue 76, Vol. 15) has a good article on the subject. The author, Cole Drumb, outlines a strategy for using credit cards. Basically he says that with a lot of discipline and vigilance you can use credit cards to finance a film without ruining your life in the process. My friend Chance is a big fan of credit cards, but I do want to stress that if you aren't on top of things (like Chance) you can really screw yourself over. For the few credit card success stories, I've also heard of failed marriages and haunting debt.

In the second half of the article, Drumb comes up with a simple strategy for using your immediate network of friends and acquaintances to find potential investors beyond your immediate network of friends and acquaintances.

It's a short and practical look at two methods of financing that your average aspiring filmmaker can actually employ.

Unfortunately I can't find the article on line, but this just gives you another excuse to buy the issue with that gorgeous photo of Ben Stiller on the cover.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Little Bits of Progress.


Just a few updates:

Finally arrived at the First Final Cut. Don't be surprised if I start talking about a second and a third and so on. I figure it's fair game 'till it hits the screen! Next step is sound editing, mixing and color timing. Oh, and reconstructing the film with some newer higher quality transfers. I'll try to write about our post production workflow in a future blog. Just as soon as I get a handle on it myself!

Since we're at a final cut and since the festival submission season has started we just sent out our first submissions to Sundance and Slamdance. It'll be several months before we hear anything, but it's crazy to think that end of things has already started. Cross your fingers!

In the shoulda said something sooner category, I posted my last short, "Small Little Thing" on imdb. Still not crazy about the quality, but I'm too lazy and frustrated with the uploading process to try and improve it. I guess it's pretty standard for web video that you don't host yourself, so I really shouldn't complain.

That's it in a nutshell!