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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 :)

5 WORST AND 5 BEST Business Decisions

Also - two more advices (even thou it may sounds cheezy):
- Believe in Yourself and don't let anyone tell You that You can't do it...
- Keep focused and establish for Yourself a specific goal, that You can reach within a reasonable time-frame. This way, if You get lost along the way - You can always get Your bearing. If You don't know where You are going - You will never get anywhere... Also once You have reach the goal - set another one. The more realistic Your goals are - the faster You will progress...
 
A lot of discussion on companies here, so the question becomes 'why?'.

Most feature film projects start an LLC as the legal vehicle of the film. Investors buy shares in the LLC, it's basically an unlisted security and there are laws that must be followed there.

A Production company is the legal vehicle of a person or people that get these projects started. They are used to shelter the individuals from liability, applying profit to purchase equipment while writing off on taxes, and various other things.

One person cannot make a feature film; it takes teams of people. Decide where you want to be positioned in the team and let your decisions flow from there.

Now onto the advice...

Best advice for someone who is pre-college age: go to college for something other than film, something more practical (like a business degree). Then move on with your life and amass as many experiences in the real world as you can. If you still have the passion for film 5 years post college then make the move.

During that time STUDY anything you can lay your hands on (Story by Robert McKee, anything by Syd Field, Directing the Film by Sherman, ). Get the best cam and NLE you can afford and shoot on weekends. Live a life and take notes; meet people and amass experiences. Watch good movies and skip the dreck. Avoid serious relationships unless the other person is as dedicated to film making as you are. Stay focused.

If you truly have a passion for it you will come back to it. You'll have a college degree and career to help fund your obsession and to fall back on should you fail.

Best of Luck,

Bob
 
#1 you are only as good as your last work Thats all anyone will be interested in.
#2 Dont be afraid to do everything under one hat at the start, you need to know it all anyway. You will need to communicate and know what can be done for how much and what can't.
#3 make sure it is your purpose in life to follow this path, because you will be tested and will only endure if you are certain. Well that is how it seems to me.
 
My first suggestion is taking into consideration that we're on reduser, the list could go in any order:

Avoid gear lust at all costs. I've wasted more time and money waiting and saving for expensive tools that didn't teach me as much about filmmaking as taking two days to make this short video on my $240 digital camera's video mode and then edited on a bootleg copy of avid xpress:

http://www.oldchildprojects.com/videos/middle school lil.mov

I have to constantly remind myself that reading about new technology is not film making :nerd: . Film making, to me, is problem solving. The problem being there's a story in my mind and I for some reason want to capture it in light and sound to get an audience reaction.

And it only takes three bits of technology to get started: a video camera, any damned video camera when you're getting started, a mic, and an nle. I like and suggest avid media composer. I own a legit copy now, (see piracy works.) Although, final cut studio is more flexible and easier to get a bootleg copy of. Oh yeah, I guess I'm taking for granted that you need a computer too.

But anyway start now. Go into your mind. Pick your favorite story to tell. And use whatever camera, mic and nle you've got to tell it. Now! RIGHT NOW! Don't even finish reading this post. Go make your story and show it to everyone and watch their reaction. If they don't react how you want them to, you've done something wrong. Go back and do it again till you get the reaction you want. There's no better how to guide, than getting it wrong. I used to be afraid of getting things wrong. I thought it meant I didn't have talent. That life was telling me to quit. I thought it was a bad sign. But, in hindsight it's the best sign. It means you're trying. And the sooner you're trying the sooner you're getting it right.

The next lesson I learned. I need people. Find the most talented people in your neighborhood. At your school, at work, online, wherever. And collaborate with them. Don't waste too much time trying to inspire folks that just don't want to. Find the folks that already "are" and work with them. It's helped me break out of boring patterns, depressions and inspired me. Especially when all of a sudden the most creative and talented people I'd ever met started suggesting we work together. Damn, that just makes you feel like a unicorn full of rainbows. But don't let them over power you. The sooner you learn to trust your own voice and wield it in the face of dogged adversity from folks with more experience or reputation or tirelessness the sooner you'll make something you're proud of. And the more you'll trust yourself.

I didn't go to film school. I hate debt. And I kind of hate college teachers. They play oblivious accomplice to the banks and indebt young folks that don't even really understand what debt is. Then we're forced to take any damned job we can get which more often than not decides our fate. That being said d. mullen makes a good point about going to college. You're more likely to meet people who already "are" there. And that's worth something. I wouldn't say 100 k of debt. But something.

I'm with kalon's economics professor. The banks and their debt money are the bane of all our existences. So much so that my hatred for their merciless shell game has crept into my work. Too bad kalon's economics professor doesn't realize he's upholding the banker's second favorite institution behind real estate, college. But like tupac raps in Changes, "i made a G today, but you made it in a sleazy way, sellin' college to the kids, but i gotta get paid, well hey, that's just the way it is." :ranting2:

uh anyway, boobs and chicken wings. go team. hopefully you're not reading this because you've been so inspired, you've run off to make your favorite story. If not go now, get off the damned forums and make a video.

Of course when you try to ingest your footage and avid tells you that the camera you just connected via firewire is not connected via firewire
or (to be equitable,)
when you're in fcp and you can't figure out why your keyframes look like they've jumped and all you did was move the timeline, then come back to the forums and start asking questions again.

I love the forums. They're wonderful.

uh yeah that's probably enough for now. oh yeah and when in doubt, have fun. :biggrin: jayson.

www.oldchildprojects.com
 
Best decisions:
1. team up with a business partner who is good at the stuff I am not good at (and don't like to do by the way). This is not only good in dividing work, it's especially good for the balance in the business. For example: I would have bought 4 RED One's at the first drawings, and be completely bankrupt by now. My businesspartner helps me to wait until the first images are actually out, and finally only order one RED camera. Now we still have a business and cashflow. I do also read negative stories here about business partners. So be careful and trust your instincts.
2. thinking out a strategy and think out what we want to accomplish, before actually starting the business (just like you are doing now I think, very important)
3. talk about our plans all the time (as long as they don't hold any 'secret stuff') to many many people. Almost anyone has something clever to say about it, or might have some interesting contacts. All of this really helps in what I said at #2. Talk to your uncle, talk to your hairdresser, the hotdog vendor... you name it. You will be surprised.
4. Starting when I was 24 and my business partner 22. The help you receive when you are young is amazing. So don't be afraid to ask for help if you believe someone could help you (don't push it though :) )
5. Representing ourselves in exactly the way we are. And then try to make that look sort of professional.

worst decisions:
1. being too patient with people that do not deserve it.
2. doing business with people you don't really feel like doing business with. We had an interview for a job once, where afterwards we walked away with a really bad feeling about it. But.. they had a job we wanted, and a budget we could use. We decided to do business with them and it was the most frustrating job ever. Not worth the money. Be decisive about who you wish to do business with. Having the right contacts and goals set when you are young, play a vital role in this. Trustworthy people like doing business with people like themselves. So guess what about their network...it's filled with more people that you can rely on. And if they hear from their reliable contacts, there is a new reliable contact in town to help them in the movies/videos, they want to meet you too. Great stuff. So try to make a proper start and meet the right people now. The ones you don't like but 'might come in handy to get you started'? Forget about them, you don't need them and they will only help you down.

Good luck man. And have fun!
--

yohenk
 
supernovafilms said:
#1 you are only as good as your last work Thats all anyone will be interested in.
#2 Dont be afraid to do everything under one hat at the start, you need to know it all anyway. You will need to communicate and know what can be done for how much and what can't.
#3 make sure it is your purpose in life to follow this path, because you will be tested and will only endure if you are certain. Well that is how it seems to me.
Click to expand...

Oh yea very important
#4 The people you work with are the most important element in any creative endeavor. Choose wisely. I have worked with the most proffesional that have just stuffed up my work and i have worked with the most inexperienced that have saved my neck, and everything in between. Beware of the "yes" man, he is the one that pulls out when you least need it. He's there for some other reason than you.

The quiet dutiful people who have knowledge, they are the keepers...
 
and you will learn one or two gems in film school that you won't learn four years on the job...
 
supernovafilms said:
and you will learn one or two gems in film school that you won't learn four years on the job...
Click to expand...

lucky. i learned how to blow through cash really fast and get nothing out of it.

funny story tho..
I went to brooks (the film making division in ventura)
was only there for a year before i peaced out on it due to it losing accreditation.. anyways..
sitting in class, teacher is showing us photos from his personal computer (projected onto the screen). He has his iphoto open and its just running through a playlist.. out of nowhere some home made pornographic pictures pop up on the screen. Him and his chick or something. he quickly shut his computer screen down and everyone was just like "WTF"..
so yeah.. that was fun
 
Joseph Hutson said:
:help:

I am a young filmmaker(17), and have started my own videography business(link to my website).

I went to a business meeting last night, and was told to "ASK QUESTIONS". So here I am. Though you might think your advice is'nt the greatest, I would like to know what some of the best things you did for your business, and the worst.

What would you suggest? FilmSchool? Just make short films on your own? Both? What else?

I think many other people here on RedUser have the same questions, so, thanks for your invaluable advice in advance.
Click to expand...

Cultivate relationships. Collaborate with others who have already achieved a level of success far greater than yours and pay attention to how they do what they do. Ask questions every day of your life. You will tend to get more answers than most people.
 
Stephen Gentle said:
That's for sure... Anyway, how's the business going?
Click to expand...

It's going fantastic!

I had the privilege to work on an independent feature film called "Greyscale" which featured a few actors from Hollywood. You may have heard me talk about the movie, but if not, I started out as a Behind the Scenes videographer/editor but before the end of production the director liked my work so much he had me running the A-cam. To find out more, go to http://www.greyscalemovie.com/

I think the biggest benefit of me working on this movie (other than the experience on a film set) was getting to work with "Doug Jones" who played "Abe Sapien" in Hellboy 1&2 and the "Angel of Death" in Hellboy 2; the "Faun man" in Pan's Labyrinth; and the "Silver Surfer" in Fantastic 4. Doug Jones is also expected to be seen in "The Hobbit".

I got to make friends with "Dougie" and while he was on a road trip down the famous Route 66 a couple weeks ago, he took time out to stay the evening at my house and just hang out.


Other than the actual film business which is what I want to do as a living, I have been doing weddings, TV commercials, and a number of sporting events for both TV stations and individual schools and universities.

Though I have done a lot, I consider myself to know nothing compared all that I need to learn though. That's why anytime people that are at least one step ahead of me, I want them to talk so I can hear their invaluable experiences.
 
My two cents:

It's easy for a cameraman to want to capture anything and everything at a one-time event, but it's hard for a cameraman to give lead room to everything on the field at the same time without only shooting a boring master shot.

Find out what aspects you love, ask people what the best equipment/software for those niches are, and why, then read those user manuals; they will teach you both the commonalities between all competitors and the specific traits of the best. You don't need to know how every device works, nor how the last build/version worked; you just need to live on the bleeding edge so as to give enough lead room to get the single good shot a single cameraman can get in an event that doesn't allow for re-takes: life. Best-
 
Mark L. Pederson said:
Cultivate relationships. Collaborate with others who have already achieved a level of success far greater than yours and pay attention to how they do what they do. Ask questions every day of your life. You will tend to get more answers than most people.
Click to expand...
Mark, How'd you get OffHollywood to be where it is today ?
 
Joseph Hutson said:
It's going fantastic!

I had the privilege to work on an independent feature film called "Greyscale" which featured a few actors from Hollywood. You may have heard me talk about the movie, but if not, I started out as a Behind the Scenes videographer/editor but before the end of production the director liked my work so much he had me running the A-cam. To find out more, go to http://www.greyscalemovie.com/
Click to expand...

That's pretty awesome - I saw the bit about that film on your website but it didn't mention that story!
 
Stephen Gentle said:
That's pretty awesome - I saw the bit about that film on your website but it didn't mention that story!
Click to expand...

thanks. I didn't want to brag too much about myself. :laugh: But when there are potential clients talking to me first hand about all of my involvement, then I say something.
 
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