Very courageous email / post of you Marty.  Not many want to hear that some think they are just "playing" at being a filmmaker.  Yup... Truth hurts.  I suppose that's the case with just about any endeavor, whether it be an artistic one or not.  Some people are really serious about it... Some just play at it hoping to get lucky without really doing any hard work.   That's why we see so many names come and go.  How many filmmakers from SIFF of, say, 10 years ago are still working at it today? …

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Here is a recent post to the LA Producer's Group in comment on how to use projection comparable data in a film business plan:

"Most projections serve as a disservice because they are just based on comps

which don't accurately reflect the reality of a project's profitable

prospects. Saying that, if you want a more realistic tool... especially to help

with negotiations and contracts, make sure the projections includes a

sources and uses regressive analysis with proven… Continue

Happy to report The Studio Center's and Frank Casanova's "Beatrice & The Bike Thief" has been accepted in the 7th Annual San Diego International Children's Film Festival and will screen on Sunday afternoon August 15th. Also, we've just received an invitation to a New York Film Festival... We'll keep you posted.

It's called "Runaway Productions"...Making movies (of any significant budget) has been moving our of California for the past few decades. Now it's getting critical for those who make their livings making movies... Mostly folks living in Los Angeles. I had to repost the following commentary from the LA Producers Group Forum:



It is not just runaway production, it is the general dumbing down of America and the screamingly constant increasing stupidity of on-screen content driven by… Continue

How many times to do I hear that one? Happened again last week. It's really beginning to become a burr under my saddle. It's becoming a euphemism for "do you know any suckers who will give me a gift of money?". These filmmakers rarely have a business plan, which means they have no idea how they will ever return the money lent to them, much less give the "investor" a return on that "investment". That's really fraud. That's why there are laws against these types of scams. These… Continue

What I've been predicting has just been announced at the Consumer

Electronics Show ( CES). Intel has unveiled its new WiDi device... or

Wireless Display Technology. This device, along with Netgear's

Push2TV Adapter, allows an Internet download to be transmitted from

your computer to your big LCD screen in the living room where you now can enjoy a movie download from the internet with the push of a button. The device

is a bit pricey right now ( as ALL tech breakthoughs… Continue

An article in the 2-19 internet issue of IT Solutions tells of a deal struck between Warner Bros. and Netflix, where Netflix will refrain from renting new Warner releases for a month, in exchange for Digital Download rights in the future... What does that tell ya? Netflix sees the future of distribution to be in the Internet Digital Download. And so far Netflix has been right on most of the time.

So much so, we may be seeing the slow dissolution of Blockbuster with their incompetent… Continue

- Internet & Cable VOD as revenue streams are NOT as advanced as

they are in the U.S

- Of all the European countries, Germany still has the strongest market

with acquisition prices not dipping much in the last few years (unlike

other European countries where acquisition prices have been in

decline...)

- The most 'commercial' genres internationally are still Action,

Thriller, Horror, Sci-Fi

& Family... So don't try to make a Romantic Comedy.… Continue

Been getting personal invitations to this meeting as if it's THE most IMPORTANT event concerning Indy filmmaking in Sacramento. What??? I cannot understand exactly what effect the California Film Commissioner (Amy Lemisch ) would have on Independent filmmaking in Sacramento. Is she going to get me money? No. So can somebody explain that to me? Am I missing something? This seems like a great waste of time, like the last meeting at CFAA with the So Cal Assemblyman who basically… Continue

Some numbers are in for distribution offers at Sundance (as reported by Stacy Parks from Film Specific):



"In terms of ALL RIGHTS North American deals we're seeing ranges from the low to mid six figures up to the top price of $5 million (of course the $5 million acquisition has several A-list stars and director) with most acquisition prices hovering in the high six figure/low seven figure range.

The biggest question people want to know is this - will… Continue

Now reading "Thinking Outside the Box Office" by Jon Reiss. Probably one of the best of the current thinking for Indy filmmakers. One huge point...Today's Indy Filmmaker must be 50% Businessperson / Marketing Exec to even have a chance. Gone are the days when you can say "I'm a filmmaker...I leave the business side to others".



Unfortunately, that's mostly what I see in Sacramento.... People who enjoy the art of filmmaking, but then in the next breath say they want a distribution… Continue

This month we've seen some interesting developments in the Exhibition business... the people who own the theaters. Naturally, this directly relates to Movie Making since these are the people we want to show our products. The big challenge has always been "How do we get our products (movies) to them". Traditionally, the only way was through a distributor. The Distribution Deal became the Holy Grail. But as of recently, the distributors have not been buy much of Indy Movie product ( for a number… Continue

What is it with all these people here who say they are in the "Film Business" in Sacramento??? I suspect they would "like" to be in some sort of "film business", but I'm sure most of them all have "day jobs". Come on...There are only a handful of people who make their FULLTME living using a camera...and that would be in professional video production. There is no film business in Sacramento.

So this site needs to come up with more catagory choices.... like: MovieMaking Afficianado, or maybe… Continue

But WTF are your talking about... for seven and a half minutes... and why should we care?