But if you have to use a camera to negotiate, you're basically saying that you aren't skilled enough to do it without that, and anyone else with the same camera and slightly more talent and gab can take your position.
To boot, noone with any serious leverage cares about cameras. At all. Not as a bargaining tool, anyway. The people who do are still stuck in the same small circles with tiny dollars, paying 100/day for crew etc.
It seems like hyperbole to me. I mean, at this point, you're basically becoming the same person that says "Story is King"
When in truth, if you're talking money, none of this stuff matters as much as one single thing.
And, yeah, I know you might say or at least think "Hey, you use RED MX ritually... are you being a hypocrite?"
IN some sense, yes. At the same time, even now, I'm considering using 5D's to shoot the next feature. Even though I could easily break out a pair of MX's and get an infinitely better image. There are reasons behind that.
I'm not using the camera to negotioate, I'm using the fact that they want something from me, whatever that may be.
It really does change the game. My old pitch "help me, I'm weak, can I has some money" My new pitch "I can help you, if you have the money"
Doing a lot better with the new pitch. Everybody loves the underdog, but investors don't. Whoever has the most money, is who they give the most money to. They are basically so stupid as to see only your holdings as evidence of your skill. I challenge any genius level polotician to run against Sarah "Repudiate" Palin with her millions of idiot dollars.
I actually have skill, but I couldn't get it noticed because they kept saying "if you're so skilled, where's your money." I'd say back "I'm trying to get money for the first time, all I have is this DSLR timelapse footage" They say "so you are loosing money, and you want us to join you in that pursuit?" I say, "Look at my quality, it's way above average" They say,"We are impressed by your work, but since you aren't gaining financially without us, we think you won't gain financially with us"
So the camera is not a camera, it's proof that I'm succeeding, and that's what they want to see. They want to back a winner, not a filmmaker. Never use the word "art" at a business meaning. You can literally see their eyes gloss over.
And where does that success come from? From business deals. From shooting pro work that is within my means. As a guy that can pull constant money, via rentals, offsets, tax initiatives, etc, I am far more attractive to potential investors than someone with a great story. I know that's not applicable to crowd funding type stuff (well, I know now) but it definitely applies to regular investors.
Bottom line, if you want to work your way up, impress money people on their home territory. The season is mostly away games. It's rare to get a neutral investor, much less an adverse one, to play on your home court (filmmaking skill in this case).
Ultimately, my pitch is not that I have an Epic, my pitch is that I've gone from $0 to 100k on my own. Then I add in a metric ton of personality, energy, and financial charts. I'll often show up at a meeting in a suit and tie, and hand them a 35 page PDF explaining the numbers down to the decimal.
