On Acquiring Rights,
For more information, visit Where the Wild Lawyers Are: knocking sequels off Kickstarter
Well that's one thing they get right in the text books: Get the rights. If you're going to take money for the intent of putting something on the market that has anything to do with a pre-existing franchise, you better have a nice long chat with the current property owners. Even works of love and appreciation are still of financial consequence when they may even potentially impact an existing property and, through it, it's owner.
Lets get what we came for,
C.M. Sanchez III
Monday, July 8, 2013
Thursday, July 4, 2013
On Why a Press Kit,
On Why a Press Kit,
For more information, visit, 7 Essentials For A Press Kit
A fantastic read about turning even the lo-to-no approach into a savvy professional statement. The truth is you could have spent 6 years in film school and read any number of books on the craft of writing, directing and producing. You could have gone to industry panels to hear on-set experiences or memorized any number of technical terms or acting methods or even ways to save money on cheap but healthy and filling meals for your crew. You're production muscle is strong and that alone won't make anyone watch your film.
If you're going to be a filmmaker you should should be strongly aware that you are also going to be an entrepreneur creating a service to your audience in the form of art, education, or entertainment. The appropriate agents galvanizing the market for such wares need the appropriate filter to judge your work and they can't know what that filter is if you don't. Follow the essential steps listed here early on in pre-production with your producer (or your writer/director if you are producing) to get a handle on how you intend your end product to be of any definable value to the audience ultimately responsible for your validation as filmmaker. It's a lot of work, but if you're vision is worth filming, (for the sake of everyone involved) the movie should be worth buying.
Lets get what we came for,
C. M. Sanchez III
For more information, visit, 7 Essentials For A Press Kit
A fantastic read about turning even the lo-to-no approach into a savvy professional statement. The truth is you could have spent 6 years in film school and read any number of books on the craft of writing, directing and producing. You could have gone to industry panels to hear on-set experiences or memorized any number of technical terms or acting methods or even ways to save money on cheap but healthy and filling meals for your crew. You're production muscle is strong and that alone won't make anyone watch your film.
If you're going to be a filmmaker you should should be strongly aware that you are also going to be an entrepreneur creating a service to your audience in the form of art, education, or entertainment. The appropriate agents galvanizing the market for such wares need the appropriate filter to judge your work and they can't know what that filter is if you don't. Follow the essential steps listed here early on in pre-production with your producer (or your writer/director if you are producing) to get a handle on how you intend your end product to be of any definable value to the audience ultimately responsible for your validation as filmmaker. It's a lot of work, but if you're vision is worth filming, (for the sake of everyone involved) the movie should be worth buying.
Lets get what we came for,
C. M. Sanchez III
On the Spec Script Today,
On the Spec Script Today,
For more information, visit TO SPEC OR NOT TO SPEC: NEW REALITIES MAY MEAN MORE OPPORTUNITIES FOR WRITERS
Bottom-line: if you must write, write. The strongest content will have a balance of passion and strategy and there must be some time sacrificed against the instability of the market, meaning you must write knowing that there isn't so much of a guarantee as there are narrow pathways to opportunity that a good spec-script can exploit. Those of you who are inclined to hope and have reason to believe you have a raw skill should not hesitate to create a schedule for yourself, even if it is simply to have solid writing samples in the end. Should the right listener happen at your table, it's a good idea to have something in your back-pocket with some time invested.
The article below is part of a series that acknowledges the cyclic variances of the market in terms of how originality is prioritized against franchises. Moderation is the anchor for all extremes. Regardless, non-studio financing has risen and is following in all the trends the studios have drawn away from for one reason or another. Now the specialty divisions of yester-year are also the independents of today and since they are more inclined to bring acquisitions into production, your work is more likely to be taken seriously. Nothing is stagnant, build your craft and stay aware of the market.
Let's get what we came for,
C.M. Sanchez III
For more information, visit TO SPEC OR NOT TO SPEC: NEW REALITIES MAY MEAN MORE OPPORTUNITIES FOR WRITERS
Bottom-line: if you must write, write. The strongest content will have a balance of passion and strategy and there must be some time sacrificed against the instability of the market, meaning you must write knowing that there isn't so much of a guarantee as there are narrow pathways to opportunity that a good spec-script can exploit. Those of you who are inclined to hope and have reason to believe you have a raw skill should not hesitate to create a schedule for yourself, even if it is simply to have solid writing samples in the end. Should the right listener happen at your table, it's a good idea to have something in your back-pocket with some time invested.
The article below is part of a series that acknowledges the cyclic variances of the market in terms of how originality is prioritized against franchises. Moderation is the anchor for all extremes. Regardless, non-studio financing has risen and is following in all the trends the studios have drawn away from for one reason or another. Now the specialty divisions of yester-year are also the independents of today and since they are more inclined to bring acquisitions into production, your work is more likely to be taken seriously. Nothing is stagnant, build your craft and stay aware of the market.
Let's get what we came for,
C.M. Sanchez III
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
On the Masters, the Majors, and Financing,
On the Masters, the Majors, and Financing,
For more information visit: Why Are People Frustrated with Film Financing? Maybe They Aren't Going After the Right Investors
As a case example I'd like to reference:http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/martin-scorseses-silence-gets-funding-will-shoot-in-july-2014-20130419. < It's the story about Marty campaigning for a dream project at Cannes. Assuming he'll need to find new investors, or has found them already, it begs the question if more niche projects wouldn't get press if the big-wigs came down and opened up shop with the rest of us trying to get in. It's my belief that career progression should stay grounded. I believe it's to our credit to work in the local communities, with the youth, and with emerging professionals with less experience while we work and push ahead. It controls egos and keeps problem-solving fresh. Teaching is a major component of becoming a master.
This often means mitigating setbacks associated with weak-links. So diversify the production elements. Some can be passion projects built on good will. Some can be high-stakes gambles where only the professionals come together. But if you build your income around ego alone then it may become a prison when you're brand has to compete against an existing franchise. Spielberg is big, but is he bigger than the Avengers? No, not in this generation. Yet many film students will look to him, the Cohen brothers, Coppola, Hitchcock and Scorcese as the model for the auteur, even though the auteur is a phenomenon of the past, preceded by star power and succeeded by the spec script - all of which Hollywood has gambled upon to explosive ends and subsequently pulled back from.
Now is the age of the franchise and the global package. For these nuanced directors to work they have to use the stencils and stay within the lines (this is an exaggeration, but the pressure is certainly there as Studios now look to popular content to please shareholders and one name can't be worth more than a pre-existing universe of content and fandom). Were they to look and reinvest in younger and more daring filmmakers and make partnerships, they would find all the resources needed to reinvent themselves several times over - well as long as they could contain costs or put some skin in the game, and they may not have had to do this in a long time. So we can come away with "Beware the frankenstein complex" warning about our own futures. Stay scrappy and classy, know where you came from, keep connected with the builder's community, and when you make it and the machine tries to compress the very heart of what got you there in the first place, you have an industry of support independent of it to come to your aid and help you do what you want without burning your carefully crafted fiscal persona.
Let's get what we came for,
C. M. Sanchez III
For more information visit: Why Are People Frustrated with Film Financing? Maybe They Aren't Going After the Right Investors
As a case example I'd like to reference:http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/martin-scorseses-silence-gets-funding-will-shoot-in-july-2014-20130419. < It's the story about Marty campaigning for a dream project at Cannes. Assuming he'll need to find new investors, or has found them already, it begs the question if more niche projects wouldn't get press if the big-wigs came down and opened up shop with the rest of us trying to get in. It's my belief that career progression should stay grounded. I believe it's to our credit to work in the local communities, with the youth, and with emerging professionals with less experience while we work and push ahead. It controls egos and keeps problem-solving fresh. Teaching is a major component of becoming a master.
This often means mitigating setbacks associated with weak-links. So diversify the production elements. Some can be passion projects built on good will. Some can be high-stakes gambles where only the professionals come together. But if you build your income around ego alone then it may become a prison when you're brand has to compete against an existing franchise. Spielberg is big, but is he bigger than the Avengers? No, not in this generation. Yet many film students will look to him, the Cohen brothers, Coppola, Hitchcock and Scorcese as the model for the auteur, even though the auteur is a phenomenon of the past, preceded by star power and succeeded by the spec script - all of which Hollywood has gambled upon to explosive ends and subsequently pulled back from.
Now is the age of the franchise and the global package. For these nuanced directors to work they have to use the stencils and stay within the lines (this is an exaggeration, but the pressure is certainly there as Studios now look to popular content to please shareholders and one name can't be worth more than a pre-existing universe of content and fandom). Were they to look and reinvest in younger and more daring filmmakers and make partnerships, they would find all the resources needed to reinvent themselves several times over - well as long as they could contain costs or put some skin in the game, and they may not have had to do this in a long time. So we can come away with "Beware the frankenstein complex" warning about our own futures. Stay scrappy and classy, know where you came from, keep connected with the builder's community, and when you make it and the machine tries to compress the very heart of what got you there in the first place, you have an industry of support independent of it to come to your aid and help you do what you want without burning your carefully crafted fiscal persona.
Let's get what we came for,
C. M. Sanchez III
Sunday, June 30, 2013
On Internships (bleh)
On Internships (bleh),
For more information, visit http://variety.com/2013/biz/news/alien-dawn-intern-files-class-action-suit-against-producers-over-unpaid-work-1200502786/
Funny thing about internships now, since Black Swan, is that they actually have to be internships. Go figure. Newcomers to the work field used to be desperate and happy enough to go through a day or two, or possibly several weeks without even THINKING to ask for pay, just because they were surrounded by professionals and had the chance to let their face be seen on set. This is surely the way things have been done in a lot of places for a long time. And the time you put in can be so brutal that the last thing you want to do is turn on the company of folks you developed the work-bond with over a couple hundred bucks.
But then again, that could be a bill, or a very big chunk of the rent due that month and the time that could otherwise have been spent creating that stability was used being exploited, essentially. If you are able-bodied and have your own allowance of common-sense, you either have the capacity to work or the right to self-invest in an educational opportunity without the two being confused and the proper reward forgotten. Sure these situations might make production companies less attracted to intern programs in the future, but the alternative of earning paid positions out of, what, pity? - You've paid dues (worked for free and burnt yourself out) and have finally earned the right to proper compensation? For the people that accept this without question, you deserve to look inward and remember yourself.
Lets get what we came for,
C. M. Sanchez III
For more information, visit http://variety.com/2013/biz/news/alien-dawn-intern-files-class-action-suit-against-producers-over-unpaid-work-1200502786/
Funny thing about internships now, since Black Swan, is that they actually have to be internships. Go figure. Newcomers to the work field used to be desperate and happy enough to go through a day or two, or possibly several weeks without even THINKING to ask for pay, just because they were surrounded by professionals and had the chance to let their face be seen on set. This is surely the way things have been done in a lot of places for a long time. And the time you put in can be so brutal that the last thing you want to do is turn on the company of folks you developed the work-bond with over a couple hundred bucks.
But then again, that could be a bill, or a very big chunk of the rent due that month and the time that could otherwise have been spent creating that stability was used being exploited, essentially. If you are able-bodied and have your own allowance of common-sense, you either have the capacity to work or the right to self-invest in an educational opportunity without the two being confused and the proper reward forgotten. Sure these situations might make production companies less attracted to intern programs in the future, but the alternative of earning paid positions out of, what, pity? - You've paid dues (worked for free and burnt yourself out) and have finally earned the right to proper compensation? For the people that accept this without question, you deserve to look inward and remember yourself.
Lets get what we came for,
C. M. Sanchez III
Saturday, June 29, 2013
On Opportunities for Innovation
On Opportunities for Innovation,
For more information visit http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffbercovici/2013/06/26/is-21-year-old-samantha-shannon-the-next-jk-rowling/
It's absolutely critical for emerging filmmakers to put said facts on the table: Amazon Studios is now accepting short concepts into their submission system. They also are holding rights to popular media franchises for new writers to create fan fiction in which Amazon can share a profit, see: Amazon Publishing. There is also the self-distribution mantra echoed in the article below for writers, and that which is explored by Marc Schiller at Bond Strategy and Influence (subscribe to his e-mail list). Teen fantasy, fan fiction, short concepts, self-distribution, original franchises and you, the innovator, in the mix of it all and at the helm of an endless assortment of digital tools along with google search. Organization and self-development are the keys to economic mobility. There is no end of venues and probably the only real competition is for audience attention. It used to be people had to be home by a certain time to watch a show, or they had to get a book early to avoid back-order. With e-books, audio books, dvr and mobile entertainment, netflix and other roads to instant gratification, money comes in early and bigger than before because it's easier to legitimize emotional spending. See: Sara Chritchfield at Up Worthy talk about emotion here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUtjLym4u_E&feature=youtu.be.
I'm now going to say a lot of stuff I am not educated enough to talk about, let's call it a wild hunch:
Civilizations that can provide basic needs like hospice, shelter, and food allowances efficiently don't attain that stability without some confusion. Survival is such a desperate affair that one generation to the next may not realize it's arrived. So here we are with young and old out of work and not realizing that technology has allowed more companies to work with less man power. So the question for people that had long thought they should find a place where they can work for others and determine their value in a trade service is how are they supposed to matter, make a living, find their way?
A basic Utopian vision is a world where people spend most of their time doing what they love. Sure the caveat is that commerce becomes a relic but until we get there, the missing link is the general education of the marriage between art & commerce so that individuals are encouraged to explore their greater capacity when overall labor requirements have diminished. Health, education and pure expression, as in writing/film/music, or investment in politics/science/engineering take up the focus where before the paycheck and those that provided it were the only goal. The technology and the services becoming available now presuppose an evolutionary lean towards self-sustenance and economic equilibrium as long as the lessons can be acknowledged and upheld. If we do not adapt to the times and the greater responsibilities we can claim, as individuals or concerted groups, to wealth and peace then, in ignorance, we may suffer a dangerous downturn as an aimless race unaware of the bounty before us. Learn and grow and accept the powers bestowed. The industry is changing to accommodate the imagination at an exponential rate. Its a grand time for a creator.
Lets get what we came for,
C. M. Sanchez III
For more information visit http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffbercovici/2013/06/26/is-21-year-old-samantha-shannon-the-next-jk-rowling/
It's absolutely critical for emerging filmmakers to put said facts on the table: Amazon Studios is now accepting short concepts into their submission system. They also are holding rights to popular media franchises for new writers to create fan fiction in which Amazon can share a profit, see: Amazon Publishing. There is also the self-distribution mantra echoed in the article below for writers, and that which is explored by Marc Schiller at Bond Strategy and Influence (subscribe to his e-mail list). Teen fantasy, fan fiction, short concepts, self-distribution, original franchises and you, the innovator, in the mix of it all and at the helm of an endless assortment of digital tools along with google search. Organization and self-development are the keys to economic mobility. There is no end of venues and probably the only real competition is for audience attention. It used to be people had to be home by a certain time to watch a show, or they had to get a book early to avoid back-order. With e-books, audio books, dvr and mobile entertainment, netflix and other roads to instant gratification, money comes in early and bigger than before because it's easier to legitimize emotional spending. See: Sara Chritchfield at Up Worthy talk about emotion here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUtjLym4u_E&feature=youtu.be.
I'm now going to say a lot of stuff I am not educated enough to talk about, let's call it a wild hunch:
Civilizations that can provide basic needs like hospice, shelter, and food allowances efficiently don't attain that stability without some confusion. Survival is such a desperate affair that one generation to the next may not realize it's arrived. So here we are with young and old out of work and not realizing that technology has allowed more companies to work with less man power. So the question for people that had long thought they should find a place where they can work for others and determine their value in a trade service is how are they supposed to matter, make a living, find their way?
A basic Utopian vision is a world where people spend most of their time doing what they love. Sure the caveat is that commerce becomes a relic but until we get there, the missing link is the general education of the marriage between art & commerce so that individuals are encouraged to explore their greater capacity when overall labor requirements have diminished. Health, education and pure expression, as in writing/film/music, or investment in politics/science/engineering take up the focus where before the paycheck and those that provided it were the only goal. The technology and the services becoming available now presuppose an evolutionary lean towards self-sustenance and economic equilibrium as long as the lessons can be acknowledged and upheld. If we do not adapt to the times and the greater responsibilities we can claim, as individuals or concerted groups, to wealth and peace then, in ignorance, we may suffer a dangerous downturn as an aimless race unaware of the bounty before us. Learn and grow and accept the powers bestowed. The industry is changing to accommodate the imagination at an exponential rate. Its a grand time for a creator.
Lets get what we came for,
C. M. Sanchez III
Noteworthy
Noteworthy,
Forbes Thought Of The Day
“ The empires of the future are the empires of the mind. ”
— Winston Churchill
Let's get what we came for,
C.M. Sanchez III
Forbes Thought Of The Day
“ The empires of the future are the empires of the mind. ”
— Winston Churchill
Let's get what we came for,
C.M. Sanchez III
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