Meeting with Dyson Lovell

I am currently on my way to meet the producer Dyson Lovell , more recently famous for producing Comanche Moon but with TV productions like Alice in Wonderland, Don Quixote, Arabian Nights, A Christmas Carol etc. Together with the writer we're hoping to get a useful reaction to our script and more broadly to the idea behind Diamond Diver.

Some months ago we met Stuart Fenegan of Liberty Films, at that time we didn't have a polished script to show so we just talked through the idea. I don't think we'd be misrepresenting Stuart if we said he thought our film had a lot of potential and was interested to continue talks with us. Stuart is no doubt enjoying the success of Moon, which I'm guessing is the reason why we haven't heard back from him yet!

At that meeting we learnt some good lessons in terms of how to prepare and what to expect. The main lesson we took from that meeting which we carry into this one is being crystal clear on our key objectives. Last time we didn't know what we wanted and therefore didn't know what to aim for.
This time we're clear: We want a reaction to our script (good or bad), we'd like some tips on what we need to do to maximise the chances of people taking a serious interest in what we've got. Bottom line this is a learning opportunity.

So what's in it for Dyson? I don't know yet so I be checking that one out at the start.

Will let you know how it went in a few hours!

PhD in Film Distribution

After grappling with the complexities of feature film distribution I've arrived at the conclusion that the independent film producer needs encyclopedic knowledge of this back-end process to enable him or her to make some important decisions. Either that or a trusted advisor to help navigate this critical aspect of film making.

But does it really need to be that complex?

Imagine you, the indie film maker has a product - call it a widget. You're confident there are people in your home town that would derive a benefit or high degree of pleasure and satisfaction from your widget. This is your potential domestic market right?
You're also fairly confident that your widget reaches beyond domestic geographical boundaries and has a broader appeal to markets world wide, this being your international market.
The only challenge you have is to let all those people know about your widget and the full range of pleasures that can be derived from using it, as many times as they like in fact (if they buy the DVD, say).
So providing the cost of;
1) making the widget
2) telling the world about you widget, and
3) getting your widget delivered to all those people
is less than the money people spend buying your widget then, happy days.

Anyone in business should be able to understand this concept, even I can get my head around this until it comes translating this model to film distribution. All stop! This is where the conventional supply and demand model falls apart.

In my next post I'll be translating my widget concept into feature film distribution.

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder!

It's been a while since I last posted and to be fair a lot has happened since. Writing blog posts is something that doesn't come naturally to me and I find myself starting many posts that seem to have no end, consequently they remain in draft gathering dust in the hope they will one day be resurrected and finally make it into the bright lights of the Diamond Diver blog.

So in this post I will share my list of the posts that have been banished to the archives. One by one I shall edit them, complete them and post them with the aim of re igniting the momentum I created for myself in the earlier batch of posts.

These are just some of the features to look forward to;

•Distribution Dilemmas

•Making the right first impression with principals and professionals

•To produce or not produce that is the question

•Film Distribution - thinking creatively

•Viral marketing - swine flu for films

•How to make a feature film - course review

•Building a team - sending a man to the moon

•Having a game plan -

•Getting it out there - Meeting the Producer of Liberty Films

•First Draft complete

•It's all about eyeballs


I'm back on the bike!

Diamond Diver - Shifting Gear

I feel like a stranger to the blog, despite visiting on a regular basis and accumulating posts in draft form I wanted to write to let you know that Diamond Diver will soon be moving to it's natural home. http://www.diamonddivermovie.com/

We're all very excited about this step, first it's an indication that our proposition is evolving and second it also means the beginning of a new phase in the promotion and development of the film. For the first time we will be releasing unseen footage that will reveal the story behind Diamond Diver along with a whole host of other useful resources.

The Movie - Update

After glancing through my most recent posts it occurred to me to write something about the progress we're making with he film. Some of our twitter followers have also inquired into our progress, so here's an update.

SCRIPT
After overcoming our selection dilemma with a script writer we've received the first 40 pages back - which I have to say were outstanding. I got them by email late one night, around midnight as I was just powering down my PC for the night. Curiosity got the better of me and so I decided to print them off ready to read through over breakfast! I glanced at the first page and before I knew it, 80 pages later (it was that good I had to read it again!) I was excited and also reassured - knowing we made the right choice with this writer.

2-MIN PROMO
We've developed a 2-min promotional video incorporating footage I shot myself and other material to give investors both a feel for what the film's about and also the story. It's awesome! The reaction to this has ranged from excitement to disbelief and without fail all have been extremely positive. We've shown it to investors, producers, and a range of other key contacts in the film and finance space. It's proved to be a winning ingredient to get people's attention right away to the fact that we are serious and second of all own a great story.

MARKETING CAMPAIGN
Our organic on-line marketing campaign has started. We have in the region of 2500 followers on twitter, most of which we hope have an interest in this genre film. We plan to ramp this effort up in the next few months so that we can hit our goal of 30,000 followers by Christmas. Ambitious I know but I think it's achievable. If we can achieve this while still in development, we are confident when the time comes to negotiating distribution deals we'll have over 200,000 eyeballs on the film - each one we hope will be interested enough to go see the film (and take a friend)! Not a bad box office target don't you think?

FUNDING
Our search for film funding is ticking along nicely given the development stage of our film. We are actively speaking to and meeting investors on a weekly basis, all of which are now eagerly anticipating the script. We floated the idea of raising some 'seed' or development finance to shape up our proposal but in the end opted against doing so at this stage. We feel we are able to cash flow the development phase ourselves.

So all in all we are making progress and advancing toward our December milestone at a steady pace.

Networking - Getting Your Foot In The Door

For some people networking is something that they'd rather avoid for others they can't get enough of it. For me I enjoy it and it is a fundamental business activity. It can however be easy to waste your own and other people's time without a clear strategy. It is only through my networking that I have ended up with the capacity to put together some key creative talent and some principal investors to get this film off the ground.

So let's examine my strategy;

Mindset is key when it comes to networking - I am focused, transparent and always willing to ask for what I want and without exception always thinking about how I can be useful to those that I meet. Those I'd say are key attributes of any effective networker.

As I think about this I need to differentiate between the kind of networking one might do at a conference or event say, and the activity of meeting a contact either through a referral or 'cold call'. Let's start with the former. Picture the scene, you are walking into a big hotel lobby or conference location as you attend the latest Film Financing Conference and you hear the distant rumble of conversation as the doors swing open to reveal 250 people busy chatting away to each other - do you go left, right, straight on, over to the bar or coffee station or rotate 180 degrees and leave without speaking to anyone? So what should you do?

• Clear Puropse - Whenever I attend any event I always have a clear purpose in mind and if possible a clear idea of who I want to meet at said event. I say if possible because it's not always possible to get hold of a delegate list in advance.
• Start With the End in Mind - I'll set myself three very specifc goals and focus my energy and attention on achieveing those at the same time being open and flexible to other opportunites and conversations that might come my way.
• Be Curious - When meeting and talking to others I advocate the Colombo (Peter Falk) school of curiosity and inquire into other's interests and ambitions before talking about myself. I find this approach allows me to gather so much more information about others.
• Contact Details at the Ready - I always go armed with business cards but am selective when handing them out.
• Follow Up - I always follow up no matter who I speak to and try and contribute some value in my follow up emails or calls.

My strategy is no different to a speculative meeting. I prepare thoroughly largely because I want to maximises the usefulness of the meeting for me and the other person. Because let's face it, one could easy waste a huge amount of time meeting people and not move closer to one's goals, dreams and aspirations.

Finally always remember to stay in touch with all your contacts; some you'll find touching base once a month will be enough, others once a quarter and others maybe twice a year.

Copyrighting Your Film

If you were wondering whether at all in these early posts we intend to reveal the plot, main characters and any clever twist then you'll be disappointed. And therein lies one of our first dilemma - how much do we reveal about our ideas before we have a first draft of a script?

You see on the one hand we have our desire to blog about the making of the film, warts and all and on the other we are concerned about sharing what we believe to be a unique story and film, lest we become the innocent victims of unscrupulous screenwriters! First of all I'm not suggesting that the thousands of readers we get reading our blog are unscrupulous nor screenwriters for that matter. Nor am I suggesting screenwriters are an unscrupulous bunch. I am simply concerned about the possibility of our idea appearing on the side of a London bus as the next feature premiering in the capital. Could happen right?

We have spent many hours deliberating over this single issue and I have started to wonder whether we are slightly paranoid and a little delusional. But then I don't suppose we are the first to ponder this and we certainly won't be the last. So how do other independent film-makers approach this dilemma? There didn't seem to be many film-makers that we looking to blog about their films during the embryonic stages. (Probably too busy with more important stuff) So I thought about the issue in its broadest sense. How can a film-maker share their ideas with others for whatever reason and at the same time sleep at night safe in the knowledge that their IP is protected? It also got me thinking about all the feature films out there that perhaps were once allegedly the idea of someone else.

Copyrighting

When you copyright something you claim ownership of that intangible asset in much the same way the deeds to your house give claim of ownership to that tangible asset. Copyright arises automatically on the creation of the material and is conditional upon the material being original; being recorded in a permanent form; originates from the author; and involves a substantial amount of independent skill and labour by the creator. What is meant by substantial skill is open to interpretation. Copyright in the film industry is slightly more complex than other industries due to the many different aspects of a film meaning therefore there are numerous contributors to a film and no one single creator of a film. Copyright in film can exisit in the following;

>Artistic
>Dramatic
>Literary
>Musical
>Film
>Sound recordings
>Broadcasts
>Performance
>Published editions

For a film, the period for copyright extends to 70 years after the death of the last to die of the writer, director, producer or composer.

Protecting Your Work

Copyright occurs automatically when a script is created but proving it was written before another similar work can sometimes be difficult. You can email or post the script back to yourself to show the date it was created or alternatively there are a number of script registration services available. To show others, in the most simple way, that you have copyright in a work, you can add a © to the work along with your name and the date. You may also choose to register your copyright with a copyright registration service such as the UK Copyright Service or The Script Factory has a registration service. Another useful service that allows you to register your work is http://www.digiprove.co.uk/index.aspx

Films Allegedly Plagiarised

Surprisingly there was quite a lot of data available on the information superhighway that related to films that have allegedly been plagiarised, the first one that sprang to mind was the DA-Vinci code where it was claimed that Dan Brown, the author of the bestselling thriller The Da Vinci Code was accused of stealing the plot of his novel. Two authors claimed breach of copyright on the grounds that the "architecture" of their book 'The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail which was written over 20 years ago was plagiarised in Dan Brown's successful thriller.

Check this site out for more claims of plagiarism.http://www.weirdwildrealm.com/f-amistad-plagiarist.html

Diamond Diver's Dilemma

To conclude I think at this stage we'd be foolish to divulge our ideas, concepts, characters, plots until our script is complete and we are in discussions with our investors. Our aim is reach this stage by late autumn. So expect a lot more then.

Lesson No.5# Cover your ass and keep your cards close to your vest until you've got a polished script.

A Winning Strategy for Achieving your Film-Making Goals

I'm guessing I'm not the first aspiring indie film-maker to hold down a day job while at the same time trying to get a film made. So how do you look after your P&L while strengthening your Balance Sheet - which is essentially how I view it.

I've never thought about making a film so that I can pay the bills (at least at this stage in my film making career) - frankly in my opinion there are too many variables outside of my control. I see making this film as an opportunity to create and market a product that is of exceptional quality, an interest to a broad audience and also inspires people - if you can do this then you increase the likelihood of yielding a highly favourable return.

I'm also thinking that if I can create a success recipe for film production then that's got to be worth something right?

So developing this film has and will require a huge amount of discipline and effective time management, given that I run another business that demands my time, energy and concentration. I don't think my strategy is rocket science nor do I think its revolutionary, it's just something that works for me.

Here's my strategy in three easy steps;

End, Performance & Process Goals

Step 1 - Create a compelling End Goal, one that when the chips are down will keep you focused, committed and motivated.

Step 2 - Figure out your Performance Goals, the key milestones that are mission critical. For example, a polished script is mission critical - without one I have nothing to produce a schedule, budget, nothing to show investors that I'm serious and that I have a knockout product. Without a script I'm unable to get a Director or any serious minded cast on board.

Step 3 - Plan your Process Goals & Daily Disciplines. What activities can you do that are within your control that will move you closer to achieving your Performance Goals and in turn your End Goal. So if one of my Performance Goals is to get a polished script then I need to start reading about how to get that done, I need to pick up the phone and start calling writers agents, I need to start researching all the resources available on line to help me with my endeavours (Script Factory etc.) Your daily disciplines are the things you have direct influence over; make a phone call to an agent; write a blog; read a book; go on a course. These are the only things that you can control, have influence over and crucially the only things that will help you manifest your goals into reality.

By applying this strategy to the different goals I have in my life it becomes easier for me to organise and prioritise my time and my activities and do the things that create and sustain the momentum to move me forward.

Lesson No. 4# The things in life that are easy to do (like your daily disciplines) are also the things that are easy not to do. So focus on the actions that drive you to your goal.

Once you know where you're heading and the road you have to travel it just makes the whole journey quicker and smoother.

Sources of Production Finance

Once you've sucesfully raised enough money to transform your idea into a script, produced a business plan attractive enough to lure an investor and have signed up your Hollywood A-list cast then you are ready to rasie Production Finance. Out of this money you will fund the film's production right through until you have a finsished product ready to sell. Unless of course you plan to sell and distribute the film yourself, in which case you might need to aacount for this in your plan.


Where to Find Production Finance

There are numerous sources of production finance available to the independent producer and most independent film funding will be made up from a number of these different sources, broadly speaking they are;

Private Equity/Venture Capital – This is recoupable investment provided by individuals, specialist funds, VCT’s, or Enterprise Investment Schemes in return for a share of the profits.

Co-Producer Financing – A partnering producer may provide some equity finance in return for certain distribution rights. Co-producers are often sourced from different countries so that they are able to access a wider pool of Soft Financing options.

Soft Finance – This is finance that often doesn’t require recoupment and comes in the form of Grants, Product Placement, Tax Incentives, Crowd-sourced Funding;

• Grants – There are a number of grants available for British Films but these quite often involve jumping through a number of hoops. (Which one would naturally expect)



• Product Placement – This is sought from companies that provide cash or in-kind services in return for screen-time or marketing associate with the film. Examples include Aston Martin and Omega whose products are associated with the Bond movies.



• Tax Incentives – This is funding that is based on legislative tax breaks aimed at producers. Currently in the UK there is film tax relief offered to British Qualifying Films - Films that must be certified by the British UK Film Council. (This will be the subject of a blog entry as soon as I can get my head around all the details!)



• Crowd-Sourced Funding – Some producers have successfully raised finance for their films via the web by offering credits or roles as extras in a film to all that donate say $10. Your success at raising this type of funding largely depends on your creativity and web-savvy.

Gap Financing – Banks often provide a gap loan to help the producers get the production across the line. Banks will typically use projected sales income as collateral.

Pre-sales – This is where a distributor is willing on the strength of the proposition to offer to buy the rights to distribute the film in a certain territory before the film has been made. This can be used as collateral to borrow money and put towards the finance of the film.

Deferments – This is where cast and crew part-finance the film by deferring their fees to the end and recovering them from sales revenue, naturally with an enhancement for taking some of the risk.

I've said this before; the key is to maximise your Soft Financing streams so that you and your investors move quicker into Net Profit Distribution. Each one of these sources of revenue deserves a separate post and I shall endeavour to write about my experiences with each one as we move forward.

Getting Started - Finding Funds to Get Your Film Off the Ground

There are many avenues open to producers who are trying to raise finance for their films, securing funding is on the other hand another matter. When raising finance for your film you will generally be looking for it in two tranches; Development Finance and Production Finance.

Development Finance

Getting that all important helping hand during the early stages of a project can sometimes be the most difficult source of funding you will ever have to raise. Having raised finance for other projects in the past - that has been my experience at least! In other industries this stage of finance is often called 'Start-up' or 'Seed' capital.

The film equivalent is called 'development funding' and is used to develop your idea into a fully polished proposition that an investor can evaluate. You will then aim to raise Production Finance on the strength of your proposition. As you might imagine on a feature film, the Development Finance makes up only a fraction of the total funding raised. Investors that would typically put up the Development Finance include the Producer themselves, friends, family and people from your close network. They might invest because they believe in you, believe in your idea or have some desire to be involved in an exciting and unusual project. They will and should expect a decent return on their investment because quite often they take the biggest risks. Investors bank rolling the Development Phase will expect to recoup their initial investment along with a 50% uplift on their stake. In other words if someone invests £1,000 they will expect to get this back and another £500 for taking the risk. Investors will recoup their Development funding from the Production Funding and might also be given option to roll their stake over and/or contribute further to the Production pot.

As a Producer you should also be clear to your investors when they can anticipate receiving their return because if your plan is to start looking for Production Finance in 15 years when the idea is fully developed that might not seem like such a good rate of return! It also helps you to focus your mind on an end goal.

So what do you do spend your development money on?

Here are some of the cost items that will come under your Development Budget;

•Script option fees

•Writer's fees

•Producer's fees (the most important one!)

•Travel & Entertainment

•Location scouting

•Budget & scheduling

•Script reading with cast

•Script editing

•Duplication & postage

•Website

•Legal (yes they get involved early!)

•Casting Director

•Director final script

•Office overheads

..the list goes on but you get the idea, there is a lot to think about. You will have noticed at the top of this list I referred to the Development Budget and the reason for this is simple. When planning any project it is crucial to be aware of any and every potential cost that one might incur and budget for this in your financial plans and cash flows. It doesn't necessarily mean that you will end up spending or indeed be compelled to spend every penny of it, so for example it might be desirable to receive a Producer's Fee whilst developing your idea. The reality however is you would normally forego this fee or at least an investor is likely to expect you to do that. Unless of course you can provide sufficient reasoning and justification for it's inclusion, otherwise be prepared to compromise.

So what's the lesson?

Lesson No. 3# Get as far down the track as possible before you ask anyone for any money - doing this will demonstrate to any investor your initiative, commitment and work ethic.