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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

An Offer to Disgruntled Filmmakers Who Feel They Missed Out on a Cheap SCARLET....

The update is...

I received three new projects this week, and have 2 which I received right at the holidays and still need to review. Projects take some time to review, and I didn't expect the thread to turn into something akin to a contest. It morphed from an individual thing to a group thing.

I'm going to put a deadline on this thread of December 9 - so if you're thinking about submitting and you have a project that fits the original description, that's the date.

The issue right now isn't finding good projects. I have found several which fit the bill of my initial offer - but I can't say that I have found the one that will connect with everyone on the thread who has offered resources - the international extravaganza is not a simple matter to find or develop. I have not found THE ONE project to bind us all (unless it is lurking on the shelf, still).

But I have been mulling over how we can best take advantage of all of these remarkable offers - I think Detlev has the right idea, it would be great if we could have an ongoing list or a forum to put collaborators in contact with one another, on a longer-term basis, beyond this thread. But I find that it is very challenging to migrate users from one forum space into a new forum space.

I wonder if we could do something right here on reduser, where people already participate. This would be a question for Jarred.

We can of course leave these offers on the table and the thread open, to anyone who wants to connect with other filmmakers and take advantage of them. Or resurrect the thread if something changes.

I would recommend that filmmakers who may have submitted to this offer, go ahead and start their own thread, stating their project, and trying to similarly inspire people here by what they are offering, in terms of an excellent experience. I have no doubt you will find a ton of people with resources, ready to help, if you do it right.

I've seen filmmakers come on here, saying silly stuff, like "help me finance my film" - and get jeered at. The trick to getting good help on your projects is to say not what you want, but what you are offering...an opportunity, an experience, an amazing work environment, a chance to be part of a team, an opportunity to learn and expand your skill set - that sort of thing.

I would love to see a forum here where we could have every work-in-progress that needs a hand, on display. That would benefit everybody. And it would certainly remove the issue of my personal taste from the equation, so that we could see all kinds of films, from all kinds of filmmakers, get made.
 
I love this thread, and thank you Meryem for your generosity and vision. I love the passion you sparked. It is truly remarkable!
Decades ago, Francis Ford Coppela spoke of essentially putting together a collective able to make high quality films.
I hope that the time, with the help of social networking and information centers like Reduser and DVINFO, is almost upon us.
Eventually, I too will be working to have the movie I am currently writing made AND distributed. This thread has been very inspiring.
Best wishes!
 
I think starting individual threads, on a film-by-film basis, is a good idea.

It's inspiring to see a number of like minded people, infused with a little bit of the pioneer spirit, who are willing to stop complaining about the lack of interesting projects/opportunities and do something about it.

The offer of a helping hand is truly a breathe of fresh air - but also a promise, by me and those involved with project, to make something worthwhile.

We didn't go to film school and/or spend years learning a craft for nothing, right?

Keep your eyes open - I'll be starting a new thread regarding "Teddy Boy" in the next day or two.

Best,
Sean
 
The working title of my script is, "The Bedmate." It's a psychological thriller - horror movie that explores a young woman's mental illness - or is it demonic possession? I have forty five pages now and believe it will be about ninety five when the first draft is completed within the next six months. My day gig is a full time job running The University of Michigan Video Studio, which is why it will take six more months to finish the script. My previous effort, a self-produced nature documentary I co-directed, won a Michigan Emmy and garnered a Finalist Award in the International Wildlife Film Festival. I fully intend on making "The Bedmate" - slow and steady determination with a clear plan wins the race.
 
Meryem Ersoz said:
... the international extravaganza ...
Click to expand...

LOVE THIS!

Meryem Ersoz said:
... the international extravaganza is not a simple matter to find or develop. I have not found THE ONE project to bind us all ...
Click to expand...

... i would think, such a project must be developed, from the resources given .... and it needs to have a way to make the offers reliable, committed.



Meryem Ersoz said:
... I think Detlev has the right idea, it would be great if we could have an ongoing list or a forum to put collaborators in contact with one another, on a longer-term basis, beyond this thread. But I find that it is very challenging to migrate users from one forum space into a new forum space. ...
I wonder if we could do something right here on reduser, where people already participate. This would be a question for Jarred. ...
Click to expand...


... good stuff takes time .... :-)


first, i think it is important to acknowledge, that this forum is REDs home and it is not the intention to migrate FROM x - TO z ....
this is important in terms of how we approach this.

FilmCollaboration.com is meant to be an extension to reduser.net (and hopefully others) - to spin a wider net, into areas that are production related .... (say catering and so forth .... ;-)

So, i would be happy, if we - through massive visibility and reach - could introduce the wider "image creation community" to the wonders of RED technology ... :-)

FilmCollaboration.com could be a home for our filmmaking family and an "ease in" entry for the novice, volunteering service (as in making coffee and carrying cables ... :-)

As i see it, it may offer projects of all sizes, big shot productions may be inspired by small guerilla shooters and juniors may be able to learn from the seniors ... and one or the other may be inspired by some crazy "auteur" ....

The key is to create and protect a quality experience and cater to the individual needs ... while keeping it open to attract resources from all walks of film related life. ....

generally, a forum, as it is in use here, is not the right format to ORGANIZE COLLABORATION ... it is great to spark it ... but not to execute and coordinate, manage, produce.

My vision goes way beyond a simple discussion thread. discussion threads are part of it .... and reaching into the various filmmaking communities, crowd sourcing and funding is crucial.

Here are some quick ideas, on what we may need in terms of functionality:
Profiles, Skills, Self Assessment Skill level, Portfolio Showcase, Links to other profiles on the web, Contribution Offers (skills, gear, assets, props), pro bono availability, rates, project pitches, calls .... scheduling, calender ....

As we see in this loose collection, in order to simplify the whole enterprise, it needs the proper concepts and structure ....
there is "some" thinking work involved .... not a side job ... ;-)

in order to work,
it goes on into project management land, tailored to film production .... (which is complex) ...

Having said so,
The system does not need to be complete and with that, infinitely postponed for launch .... ;-)
it must have core functionality and a few initial users to populate it ...

... as in, we shall use it ... to organize what we have from this thread.


It´s in the nature of "classic forum software" is, to loose most of the valuable and ACTIONABLE information and create tons of noise.

The nature of filmcollaboration.com is more like a specialized app, that can be extended with functionality as we see fit and need.

This is a major project and i have been working on the core technology ... for the last 7 years ...
we can all imagine, that there are the same challenges involved like in any major film project.


Meryem Ersoz said:
We can of course leave these offers on the table and the thread open, to anyone who wants to connect with other filmmakers and take advantage of them. Or resurrect the thread if something changes.
Click to expand...

... this thread is great ! ... let it live .... :-)

Meryem Ersoz said:
I would recommend that filmmakers who may have submitted to this offer, go ahead and start their own thread, stating their project, and trying to similarly inspire people here by what they are offering, in terms of an excellent experience. I have no doubt you will find a ton of people with resources, ready to help, if you do it right.
Click to expand...

... a forum section "Film Collaboration" may be interesting ...

the problem is, most good ideas get lost in the forum noise .... i say: FILTER, FILTER, FILTER ....
A good idea does not need thousands of participants ... it needs to bring together a core group of people ... and then help to organize the work among them and spin a wider web ...

It needs a better solution -
Working on it ... :-)
 
Meryem Ersoz said:
I've seen filmmakers come on here, saying silly stuff, like "help me finance my film" - and get jeered at. The trick to getting good help on your projects is to say not what you want, but what you are offering...an opportunity, an experience, an amazing work environment, a chance to be part of a team, an opportunity to learn and expand your skill set - that sort of thing.
Click to expand...

Meryem, I understand the passion and generous offer you're trying to push forward in this thread. But again, for the sake of the director/producer who is trying to set up a feature film project, I strongly advice them not to go this way. Most of the people of this thread, who are offering their help, may not understand my point of view. Again, it's not the point of view of the technican/crew/cast members, its the point of view of the producer/director. The only persons who are preparing the movie during several years before the shooting, who still have to work once the shooting is completed and the technicans/actors have left for other projects.

It's, in my opinion, a huge mistake/bad understanding of how a movie is being made, of who's really taking the risks and doing all the shit work. I fear that this way of seeing things can lead to huge disasters. For the director/producer, of course, not for the people who are kindly offering their help and who can disappear into the wilderness as quickly as they came by.

Saying things like "Help me finance my film" isn't silly at all, in fact it's all the contrary : it's the only serious and secured way to ensure, from a director/producer point of view, that you'll be able to hire decent and reliable people. It's not to the director/producer to say what is has to offer, but to say what he needs and to find the good ones who will fit his project.

To be honest, I don't really care if most of the readers here think I'm always trying to be negative or pessimistic. If my opinion can prevent a young director/producer from running into huge problems afterwards, it's all that matters. I've seen and helped enough directors who ran into these nightmares to remain silent.
 
That's one set of experiences, Kristin, and I appreciate the counter-balance.

But I live in a place in the US where almost every single feature film gets made on some degree of goodwill from the participants....through trade, or minimal wages, or yes, free labor. So not only can it be done - it is being done every day. I have done it myself and have enabled others' projects to get done as well -- there are good people out there with passion and commitment.

Getting a good indie film made is one of the hardest challenges imaginable. No one ever said it was easy, just possible...which is actually the sentiment underlying my original post.

I have worked with people who have been paid and still under-performed -- and I have also worked with people working for free who have over-performed. It is about the individual and their expectations for their participation in the project, not necessarily always about the money.

Like all endeavors that involve creative team-building, indie filmmaking has a lot to do with chemistry of the individuals, their commitment to telling the story, the strength or weakness of the leadership, etc.

When I said that the "help me finance my film" statement was silly - it was only because everyone here is trying to finance a film, and the threads that I have seen started here, in that vein, are unsuccessful because they're uninspired or asking for a hand-out, not offering an exchange. Kickstarter or Indie-go-go are better places to find a hand in that regard, where people occupy that space because they are actively looking for project participation. Even there, the underlying message that filmmakers need for a successful campaign is "Inspire us to participate in your vision."

And Detlev, I hope you don't think I was trying to be discouraging of your efforts - it was an observation, not a challenge. I think that you are putting together a long-term solution, and I think that's wonderful. There is an immediacy to these forum threads, where people want to know outcomes sooner than later, or the momentum -- the juice -- dies a bit. Good producers follow through on their word (failure to do so is the first place where projects fall to pieces), and I fully intend to complete what I started here.

That's why I feel I have to put a limit on this thread, announce a project which I can commit to, per the original offer, and find other ways to help put people in contact with each other, who might work well together.

The desire is strong, I am humbled by the response, and I would like to help everybody - the reality is that "helping everybody" is a long-term project, and you're on the right track.
 
Kristin Stewart said:
... It's, in my opinion, a huge mistake/bad understanding of how a movie is being made, of who's really taking the risks and doing all the shit work. I fear that this way of seeing things can lead to huge disasters. For the director/producer, of course, not for the people who are kindly offering their help and who can disappear into the wilderness as quickly as they came by.

...

I've seen and helped enough directors who ran into these nightmares to remain silent.
Click to expand...

... guess, the point is, that there are infinite ways to get a movie made, and multiple infinites .... ;-) .... to get them NOT made or destroyed ...

Meryem is offering one way to get one made .... and that gives her what she is interested in in the first place, a good story to tell ... :-)
(just guessing ... ;-))

Regarding the nightmares ... and the auteur and so on ...
a novice film enthusiast is well adviced to find someone like Meryem to avoid mistakes ....

some people think, they can make a movie, including the crucial part of editing, because they are good or even excellent photographers ....
this will end in failure, delusion or nightmares ... because the images will not connect .... i made that mistake in the late nineties myself on my first time director / producer / self funded .... music video - after years of being one of the highest paid post artists in europe land .... hehe .... lesson learned. I had an excellent editor that saved my but!

Since then, I always say, one needs to have editing EXPERIENCE, one needs to have the painful experience of missing shots .... to be able to direct shots .... crucial. ... (or the experience of way to many shots, that drain the creative process equally ...)

I am not afraid, that any director / filmmaker / auteur with some experience .... or with years of working out the intrinsics of a project is in danger - as you put it, Kristin.

This thread was addressed at people that complain, they can´t make the wonderful movie because the camera went up from a 3k dream ... to whatever.
this is silly. foolish. as everyone knows.

But it does not mean, that there aren´t scattered dreams, people that wanted to work on the dream with a professional camera at discount pricing.
they wanted to give it a shot. And this is admirable, too ....

So,
Meryem offers a deal. cool. anyone loosing anything? no!
all free contribution, free will. great stuff (!)


Type A leaders (as directors and producers are) ... have no problem seeing, that the camera is just a tiny part in the whole .... crucial. the heart of the operation - but it needs legs to run the marathon ...

I would say, the Type A movie folks will ...
... most likely budget one or many EPIC(s) into the package .... and buy or rent when everything else has come together.

And quite frankly, a SCARLET Package is not out of reach for no one, that needs it desperately. there are ways. Organizing the funding is the best exercise to get into producer mindset ... lol ...


Meryem Ersoz said:
And Detlev, I hope you don't think I was trying to be discouraging of your efforts - it was an observation, not a challenge. I think that you are putting together a long-term solution, and I think that's wonderful. ... .
Click to expand...

no worries Meryem ... lol ... i am undiscourageable .... ;-)

I am just following my guts here ... and would like to help talent and energy to connect ... in the first place
then, i love the challenge of creating "... the international extravaganza ..."

:-)
 
Not sure if this posted the first time (there may have been a post reply vs. post quick reply issue) - but I just started a separate thread regarding the project I'm getting off the ground, "Teddy Boy."

Hope to see some of you there.

Direct link to the thread here.

Best,
Sean
 
Meryem Ersoz said:
as I keep harping on - making the film -- as hard as that actually is -- is the easiest part of making a movie and most filmmakers, since we are creatives, tend to be over-focused on it, to the detriment of the EVERYTHING ELSE, which is the point of my original post, to bring it full circle.
Click to expand...

Ok, I've wanted to chip in for a while and have been really enjoying the varied and intelligent views here.

First of all funding is different between Europe and the US, in fact funding is different between the UK where I am, and France where public subsidy is even stronger. Ours (subsidy) seems to be on the wane here which isn't necessarily a bad thing but it does focus ones mind on HOW DOES MY FILM MAKE MONEY? And perhaps more importantly CAN I PROVE IT WILL MAKE MONEY?

In the UK at a certain budget level you cannot fund without some solid sales estimates from a reputable sales agent that is bankable, estimates that you can take to the bank and get gap funding of say 20%. How do you get sales estimates that are bankable? You have to have stars OR some incredibly sell-able element that gets you a dependable audience ie. famous book, tv series, graphic novel and so on. The only way to get bankable cast is a pay or play deal. Got 100K in the bank for that? Then you can enter the pay or play game and boy is that stressful. Fail to finance the other parts of your movie and the pay or play goes south and you lose 100K and go back to working in the bookstore/Macdonalds/etc. If you can line all those babies up then pulling a distribution deal is not that hard as Meryem suggests because you have bankable project, unless you completely fuck up the movie and it's a pile of horse manure which we all know Hollywood can still make a buck out of . . . because it has stars. It may take years but eventually it will pull it's budget back.

Ok, that's one scenario that many of us are not going to enter. Where I think Meryem is right is that if you somehow manage to make your movie on a shoestring, through private investors, etc without putting the project through a sales agents assessment to even get a feel of it's marketability then you probably will have a big problem when it comes to finding a distributor. Think of it like this. If you're a distributor and you find some sweet little movie made for under 50K how do you assess whether it's worth inking a deal on it? When a distributor buys into a movie they are calculating how much it's going to cost to distribute and that is going to be way above the 50K it cost to make. So really the distributor is looking to spend anywhere between 500K to over a million to get it out there worldwide. That means they have to roughly see a take of 2M to 4M before they see a profit and before the filmmaker sees a penny (and probably nothing at all). Now these costs are coming down so that's good news. Digital is helping us in some ways (and hindering in others, piracy can kill small releases).

So what do we have left? I love this thread because it is offering something very valuable. There are various talents being offered here and they all help us make the movies we want to make, regardless of differences in cultural financing strategies (by the way I do love the American energy of making a movie from nothing. Doesn't happen here in the UK as much as I would like and have even considered shooting low budget films in the US just for that reason).

I have thought about this a great deal and this is the road I eventually went down. I worked in script development for a while here in the UK and in Hollywood, I used to be a 1st AD, and I shoot my own things on a 5D, more for convenience and cheapness than anything else as I don't have a desire to be a cinematographer. I edit and have even taught myself a little bit of 3D, tracking and colur grading. These are all talents that give me a good understanding of what is required (and are useful when developing projects) rather than a career in those roles. Primarily my energies are spent as a writer and director.

So I thought how do I remove those obstacles that are perceived as negative by distributors, sales agents etc.

Not in order of importance.

1. Develop material in a strong genre that defines the audience that will watch it.
2. Can you bring an audience to the table? (more of that in a minute)
3. Bring professionalism to the table (technically make the film look and sound good)
4. Have a huge hook for the audience in your story that is easily described
5. Make damn sure you are legally and contractually covered (deliverables are in order and you have rights to everything you have produced)

Those are just the basics and I'm sure you all could add to it. So this is what I am doing now considering the above. I am creating a story universe, not a film, not a tv series or graphic novel, those will come later. I thought up a story structure spanning the entire time the human race has existed and why it exists. It's science fiction and has at it's core a major conflict to do with why consciousness developed in man and where it is taking us. The interesting thing is that because of this central story core I can dip into history or look into the future and it's still science fiction even though a hundred years ago we did not realise it was something scientific affecting us. We are developing story lines that can be produced in almost any media. Ok, that's all well and good but what about the audience? Now this is where I think a lot of indie filmmakers are missing a trick or two. We are piling our energies into giving stuff away for free. I wont go into how this will pan out as it will take an age. We tried Kickstarter and failed but that taught us some valuable lessons and forced us into thinking a little more strategically.

The development package we will be pitching to investors in January are through financing the short film investors get a percentage in the feature film, a portion of the merchandising from our first feature, an iPhone app we are developing to market not only our story universe but other movies (that could make more money than anything else!), and a portion of money made through a graphic novel based on the same story as our first feature. Now that is just the development package for starters. We absolutely need that money to really start this thing off but I need professional, competent collaborators.

That's why I love threads like this. I need people in post production anywhere in the world, graphic or comic book artists from anywhere in the world, production people based in London and so on. What we are producing has a very large scope but it is being produced from the ground up. Take what Hollywood does very well and adapt it for the indie scale world. Who says you can't develop a grass roots kind of franchise? One film does not make a sustainable business.
 
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JPSendall said:
One film does not make a sustainable business.
Click to expand...

Great points JP.
At the end of the day, USA movie making is a business. It usually involves more than one biz collaborating
on trying to PUT A DEAL TOGETHER. And YES, real distributors want STARS so they can get financing for a deal.
A good friend, who's _only_ been in Hollywood writing now for twenty five years, co-wrote a script that was presented to a
*well known rapper* who was looking to star in a movie HIS production company would shoot.
Even with his millions of records sold and MTV videos all over the place, it wasn't enough.
A true superstar was needed, hunted down and hired for THREE MILLION FOR THREE DAYS OF FILMING.
The Superstar's presence meant that the distributor could then get SIX MIL upfront from Europe to MAKE the movie.
Let's not kid ourselves, this biz take BUCKS and LOTS of them. A camera? As others have mentioned, that's EASY!
To make a real movie and get it distributed ... for a little guy ... to do alone - closer to impossible.
Even with all that, my buddy's movie WAS NOT RELEASED IN THEATERS in USA - DVD only. Total cost? $10MIL +
That said, ONE GOOD film that SELLS can start a business. Here in Michigan, EVIL DEAD was one movie that
found a cult following and now look where Sam Rami is. It can be done, but it is one hell of a challenge.
 
What has been touched a few times here is how the business is changing. We all know that. Distribution platforms are evolving, shooting costs at high quality are drastically improving (thanks Red). But talent stays the same. Abilities and methods to raise finance are not evolving fast enough though. Crowd sourcing is great but we're not there yet. Also crowd sourcing is a little skewed towards certain things such as heavy interest groups. That's why doc's are very popular in crowd financing. Doc's have a very identifiable agenda, can be issue driven and people are concerned about issues these days and quite rightly so.

But my interest is in science fiction, fantasy and to a lesser extent horror. The first feature we plan to do is science fiction but it is very much about the imbalances we face in society, the division of wealth and how some sections of society turn a profit and feed of those in misery and pain. I'm not selling a message in the film but observing a state of affairs that has existed a very long time. The film still is exciting, thrilling and thought provoking. It deals with racial memory loss and inter-dimensional beings that feed of our psyches. The title is 'Cuckoo'.

Anyway back to the threads main purpose. My hope is to build a team of people that can assist with VFX, music, colour grading, legal work even. Just pool this talent together in one place. I even thought about getting followers of our stories to lend a little bit of their processing power to help render VFX sequnces, a community render engine if you like. One thing though really pisses me off is producers who short change a lot of crew with deferred agreements that don't mean jack. I really think if people who are passionate about what you are doing assist you to make your dream at a low budget and receive little or no pay themselves then at least structure a deal that put's them in a position equal to investors or close to investors positions. No we can't make our projects without investors but we can't make great projects without all you "guys" out there either.

So here is a suggestion. This is what needs to be pulled together for us entrepreneurs and self starters.

An anonymous database of talent. What they can do and what gear they have and what country/city they are in. No personal addresses or names as that means they get hassled. Somebody comes into the room/forum/database and says "Hi all, this is what we are doing. Here is the script. Here is the project, here's some visuals. Here's a storyboard". They basically pitch their project to the community, say what specifically they need in terms of help, talent, resources and then let the people on the database offer to help or not. There was some argument a few pages back that said why should a camera/DP type of person be choosing the project and not the other way round. Well, I have news for you. DP's already do. They are already choosing who they work with so I feel that argument doesn't make sense. It's a collaboration and not a one way street. But let's bring other people into this database and don't grown when you hear this as these people are the toughest to bring on to projects. Lawyers and accountants. Even students who are still studying law and accounting who wish to specialise in media/entertainment should be welcomed with open arms. These relationships can be forged now and bear real fruit at a later stage. We need more business oriented professions in that database I feel.
 
One more thing to add. I think this kind of database is most helpful in the development of projects rather than the production. It helps directors and producers put together packages that they can raise finance on. Development money is always so tough to get so costs by their nature have to be low. For instance I recently helped a director friend (for no money) to shoot some stills and video on the 5D for his science fiction motion comic, a mixture of drawn and moving images. Not really a trailer, not previs but a mixture. Did it for nothing but I know he will help me out in the future with some of his old legal contracts he used on his first feature. That could save me a lot of money down the line.
 
JPSendall said:
One more thing to add. I think this kind of database is most helpful in the development of projects rather than the production. It helps directors and producers put together packages that they can raise finance on. Development money is always so tough to get so costs by their nature have to be low. For instance I recently helped a director friend (for no money) to shoot some stills and video on the 5D for his science fiction motion comic, a mixture of drawn and moving images. Not really a trailer, not previs but a mixture. Did it for nothing but I know he will help me out in the future with some of his old legal contracts he used on his first feature. That could save me a lot of money down the line.
Click to expand...

I'm all the way up here in the NW of England and have found that young filmmakers have really struggled to get enthusiastic and reliable assistnace for their projects. Funding for them is few and far between, and there doesn't seem to be the 'network' that other geographical locations have enjoyed. I'm starting to pull together some of these like-minded people and am creating the very sort of database of which you speak (at least for the North West) - If you're ever up here, or know of people in the North West who are looking to connect I can add them in to the network and start hooking them up with names and email addresses

EDIT: **Apologies to all for the thread-jack**
 
Hey Gary

This needs to be a simple and cheap affair. I don't mind trying to build the London data part. In fact it needs a person in each area to be responsible for their region/city/town. We need some help structuring it as I don't know enough to do it. Some suggestions?

What we need is tagged metadata that means if someone is looking for some talent or resources in a certain area then it goes out only to those relevant. But if I'm looking for a comic book artist then someone in another country then my project gets sent out worldwide. The database of names and skillset and resources doesn't need to be visible on the net but projects being pitched to collaborators does. Even if it is an entry with links to material they already have up on the net. People can be cagey about scripts and so on so which I sympathise with completely so it needs to be protected only allowing those they want involved the ability to look at it and maybe make a appointment or phone call to firm up their involvement or proffer more details such as a fully written script and so on.
 
Sorry, Meryem, is it ok to chat about this on your thread?
 
you all are very courteous for asking...by all means. it's a great discussion...chat away. It's interesting to hear how things are done differently around the world.

I'm convinced that somebody should start a Kickstarter designed for gear/crew/services. You could save a lot of money and get involved in a lot of interesting work. I always thought crowd-sourcing a film was a dumb idea (because films are so complex that they do benefit from strong leadership at the top). But now I'm not so sure.

If only I wasn't so busy currently...maybe if no one has taken this on, in six months or so, I'll take a crack at it. Although it would probably be a distraction from my real passion. But with the right partners, it could be something amazing.

My inner producer is always happy when I can facilitate putting people together to make stuff happen!
 
Thanks Meryem. This is where a Kickstarter campaign is much more useful for this kind of project rather than funding a film I think. My guess is that it will take less than 5K USD to set up, maybe as little as 3K. It needs to look and feel professional, even if low end. What is needed is a web portal and a database. I'm based in the UK so I can't start the Kickstarter project but IndieGoGo might be just as good as their rules are different and I can start it from the UK. On Kickstarter if you don't hit your funding target you get nothing, on IndieGoGo you get everything that is pledged. To be honest I think most people here on Reduser will help. I know I'll chuck in $50 right of the bat and I know others here in the UK will chip in too.
 
JPSendall said:
So here is a suggestion. This is what needs to be pulled together for us entrepreneurs and self starters.

An anonymous database of talent. What they can do and what gear they have and what country/city they are in. No personal addresses or names as that means they get hassled. Somebody comes into the room/forum/database and says "Hi all, this is what we are doing. Here is the script. Here is the project, here's some visuals. Here's a storyboard". They basically pitch their project to the community, say what specifically they need in terms of help, talent, resources and then let the people on the database offer to help or not. There was some argument a few pages back that said why should a camera/DP type of person be choosing the project and not the other way round. Well, I have news for you. DP's already do. They are already choosing who they work with so I feel that argument doesn't make sense. It's a collaboration and not a one way street. But let's bring other people into this database and don't grown when you hear this as these people are the toughest to bring on to projects. Lawyers and accountants. Even students who are still studying law and accounting who wish to specialise in media/entertainment should be welcomed with open arms. These relationships can be forged now and bear real fruit at a later stage. We need more business oriented professions in that database I feel.
Click to expand...

This is actually some what similar as to what I was hoping to turn my company/website into:
http://www.makethemoviehappen.com/ after I finish the current project we're trying to raise money for.

It would basically be film development/production fund + and networking site. Here's a brief overview of what it'll become: http://www.makethemoviehappen.com/index.php?funding
 
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