Market Minded
More mainstream publications are writing about neuroscience in the courtroom.
During the course of any week there are a mountain of activities I try to accomplish. From pitching media, potential marketing partners, additional distribution outlets, theatres and investors. It’s just part of the world of independent filmmaking and making your voice heard in a literal sea of other projects. The word “filmmaker” means a bit of everything these days.
Just this week Jon Reiss published a post on Seed & Spark that claimed 30,000 – 50,000 films are produced on an annual basis with limited (if any) distribution options. Yes, I have come across filmmakers that after the “one big screening” you never hear about that film again. Or, worse, they thought film festivals were going to be the answer for revenue. At the end of the day, there really isn’t a right or wrong answer because every film is different. For me, it just comes from a near obsessive drive to market my projects and controlling my rights. I’m fine with signing some rights away if the deal makes sense—but it has to make sense not only for the film but for the wallet as well. Bottom line, I, along with so many others, have worked too hard to see something disappear.
In a nod to both First World and SOS United States, an article was published in China Topix claiming “China’s Space Program Will Block U.S. Military Communications”.
When I was publishing magazines, my former staff can attest to my determined push to give the magazines their widest possible distribution. The same holds true for my film projects. I’m not going to wait for opportunity, you present an opportunity for someone to consider. The world of filmmaking, is getting more competitive and involved from a technical and logistics point of view. But in my opinion, it’s also opening a world of opportunities. It’s just like auditioning. You might go for fifty auditions, get five callbacks and maybe one gig. The same is true when I presented Justice Is Mind for our theatrical release. I probably pitched fifty plus theatres. In the end a dozen picked up the film and we had a theatrical release with reportable revenue.
This weekend I finished some editing updates on In Mind We Trust the sequel to Justice Is Mind. My next steps in the process are the development of a business plan and laying the ground work. But like I do for First World and SOS United States, I present these projects in multiple levels. Yes, all three of these projects can be produced on the “indie” route or could involve a “mid-studio” level budget. It really just comes down to what makes sense.
If there is one thing that came out of the Academy Awards this year was that independent films were front and center. The studio system is sadly leaning primarily towards tent poles and super hero films. While I have no issues with that (I loved the Man of Steel), it will, simply by market demand, create opportunities for smaller films. As one of our supporters who saw Justice Is Mind in a theatre said on Facebook this morning, “I thoroughly enjoyed Justice is Mind and am certain that the sequel will be just as good, if not better. I also feel that Justice is Mind was far superior to many of the films that hit local theaters.”
While any filmmaker loves comments like that, I also know that Justice Is Mind has not been for everyone. That’s the world of filmmaking or any performance art, you develop a thick skin that accepts both accolades and admonishment.
This week should start pretty interesting. I’ll be testing Variety Insight & Vscore’s service for the next couple of days. I had a demo on Friday. It’s a fascinating and comprehensive service.
New opportunities.
Convergence
This weekend I hit page 110 of the sequel to Justice Is Mind. For the last several pages the characters and related plot points have been converging to an end point. It’s moments like this in my writing that I find myself going back to the beginning of the script to make sure I haven’t left anything out. But this is the first draft, and like any first draft, there will be edits.
As some may know, one of my favorite authors is Barbara Taylor Bradford who wrote A Woman of Substance. I came across an interview she did in Gotham last year on what some of her writing secrets are. She makes an outline that doesn’t go more than 10 pages. That’s generally about the same practice I employ. For me, I want to have an idea where the characters are going, but to give them flexibility if some new idea or plot twist comes up. In fact, I already adjusted the ending a bit for the sequel.
In line with my First World story, a service module from China arrived in orbit around the Moon this week.
The one thing I don’t do is over edit. I really believe you can edit too much and water down what may have been OK in the first place. But this is all personal preference. Of course, if a project has been green lit there are those adjustments that sometimes you just need to make for a variety of reasons. I was looking at my first draft for Justice Is Mind back in 2010. I’ll just say this, thank God I changed the last ten pages!
But like Emma Harte in A Woman of Substance had her “Plan with a capital P”, I have the same thing with the “Justice Is Mind” project. It may take some time to implement, and I certainly won’t divulge it all here, but with a short and feature film completed, a sequel in development and notes for the fourth leg of this project, it’s moving. With each leg the goal is to continue to increase the profile of the project. Ambitious? Sure. But so was the feature film.
Speaking of the feature film, I’m pleased to report that Justice Is Mind can now be streamed on Roku through the new VHX channel. VHX just announced it last week. It’s certainly a great development and it just gives audiences more viewing options. I’m hoping to announce some additional distribution options for Justice Is Mind shortly.
On the political front I was more than delighted to read last week that relations between the United States and Cuba continue to thaw. In my political thriller SOS United States, it’s Cuba that comes to the aide of the United States. When I think of the number of times I have travelled in the Caribbean (mostly by cruise ship) only to see Cuba just over the horizon. It’s time this failed embargo is lifted.
And just as I was finishing up this blog post one of our supporters said, “You know when folks see a movie I don’t think they really get the work, the really hard work the writer has thinking up every word and making it come out sounding natural.” Suffice to say I appreciate those words!
From the writing of the screenplay, raising the money, producing, directing and marketing, audiences really have no idea what goes into the production of a film. And as Emily Best of Seed & Spark said in an article this week, “Every film is a business.” Because in today’s day and age of independent filmmaking, there is one thing you need to have.
A Plan.
The Ashton Times 