I've got a feature drama script for sale... message for details. Looking for $6000 to $12,000; will take best offer over $6000 by December 15th.
These days that would be about the entire budget of the whole movie.I've got a feature drama script for sale... message for details. Looking for $6000 to $12,000; will take best offer over $6000 by December 15th.
I don't know any good DPs that go for less than $2500 a week.
I don't know why I even bothered posting this here... this probably the worst Film Making forum on the net, with some the most arrogant pricks (not directed at the previous poster) I've ever come across.
I don't know why I even bothered posting this here... this probably the worst Film Making forum on the net, with some the most arrogant pricks (not directed at the previous poster) I've ever come across.
with some the most arrogant pricks I've ever come across.
I don't know why I even bothered posting this here...
I don't know why I even bothered posting this here... this probably the worst Film Making forum on the net, with some the most arrogant pricks (not directed at the previous poster) I've ever come across.
Years ago I sincerely tried to help him. He has almost completely ignored me ever
since.
Except that many of us arrogant pricks here on probably the worstAlmost seems just like a straight up con.
Just about a month ago (Nov 12) his Indiegogo campaign raised $3,465. Being
Indiegogo he got that money. Not enough to make the movie. I wonder what he
did with that three large...
If he would take the advice
offered and stop making excuses he would be able to make movies.
Andrew, you need to wake up and accept reality.
You talk a really, really big game. But when you are actually asked to play, you always - ALWAYS - have a long list of reasons why other people are keeping you from doing so. For example:
"No one will hire me." (Because you don't apply, which leads to...)
"There's nothing anywhere near me." (Which is nonsense, as there are plenty of businesses near you; you just have to get there. Which leads to...)
"I have no transportation." (Unless you're physically disabled, you have feet, and a mile is hardly a difficult walk.)
"No one will give me money." (You resort to crowd funding, but no one knows you and folks won't invest in an unknown... except that there's plenty about you all over the 'Net, which doesn't help.)
"No one will give me gear." (You had a camera, enough to do something with your time, and you sold it.)
The cycle that you run on these forums is astounding. You come in with a delusion of grandeur, touting some multi-million-dollar project that you know is a real winner and is sure to get you lots of backers. The crowdfunding campaign flops, as people ask you for something - ANYthing - to back up your claims: a demo reel, a link to a completed short/feature, some mark that you've actually accomplished something. And you cannot provide, so you move into the next phase which is to complain that the world just won't listen and no one will give you a chance so it's everyone's fault but your own that you aren't where you think you should be right now. When you're called out on that, you take your jacks and balls and go home, and resort to condemning the web forum for your failure while asking for the mods to delete your account (read: attempting to cover any trace of your nonsense so that it won't follow you). Rinse, repeat.
In the mean time, you were sitting on a very useful camera that you could have used to produce something, anything, to hone your skills and build a reel. Write, shoot, and edit a short. Do something. But wait, apparently you have now sold that camera since you weren't using it for anything productive.
What foundation do you really have on which to build an 8-million-dollar feature film, or to attract A-listers to star in it? The only trace of anything you've ever produced is "Roswell: Case Closed", which is 10 years old and is a terrible pile of rubbish. (If you really want a breakdown of everything that's wrong with that, I'll be happy to discuss it in another thread.) You blame the horrendous results of that short "film" on having a crappy camera. You also blame the lack of VFX support, and thus having to cut a few of the planned shots, for the film not making sense. Again, it's certainly not due to lack of talent or skill... passing the blame as usual. And you were 14 at the time... you have produced nothing since then, at least not that you're willing to show. And why not? Have you actually done nothing else, or is it the same level of production as your "Roswell" masterpiece?
The only other video you have out there is a "test" video for a variable ND filter that you shot with your (now sold?) HV30. It's 9:20 of absolutely nothing. As much as I hate "test" videos, which seem to be the big thing for folks who don't do anything else, there are at least some folks who take a new piece of gear for a spin and make something out of it. Look around Vimeo. There are test videos for everything from cameras to lenses to filters to _______. And many of them are actually watchable because they were shot and edited to be watchable. And those aren't 9 minutes long, either. Yours is just a string of meaningless shots that don't tell the viewer anything about anything, except what I assume is your street (and even that doesn't have any visual interest the way you've put that video together). So either you really have no usable vision, or you were just too lazy to make something out of it. Neither explanation bodes well for you handling $8mil of someone else's money.
Your bio, which you post everywhere (including IMDb and Linkedin), touts "Roswell" as a major accomplishment. "As only a [high school] freshman, he produced and directed the 8 minute short film, 'Roswell: Case Closed', which had to be shot in two days." That line is just plain silly. First, if anyone actually bothers to look it up, they'll waste 4 minutes (it's 4, not 8, at least on the YouTube version) of their time watching it. Second, I think you're expecting that and you add the "had to be shot in two days" as yet another defense for why it's terrible and you aren't responsible for it being that way. Find a 48-hour film festival and watch the results. You'd be amazed at what can be done in 2 days.
Your bio also touts your extensive knowledge and experience in all facets of the industry, from script to post. But based on what? Again, you have no professional experience, and your "production company" that you say was founded in 2003 has done absolutely nothing in almost 10 years.
One of the top Google results in a search of your name is your mind-boggling slide show/sales pitch for Area 51 Entertainment. (LINK HERE) Despite having absolutely no completed projects, no features, no marketing track record... somehow, you have identified companies like Sony, Paramount, Walt Disney, and Lionsgate as your major competitors. Really? On what basis? These companies have nothing to worry about from you.
Your personal website offers all sorts of video production and film editing services, but you don't have a camera (anymore), and I recall a post somewhere a while back in which you claimed to have no means of editing video at home. So how are people going to hire you to do these things? Are you going to charge them up front to buy/rent what you need, spending the money before it has been earned? That's a terrible business model, and I hope that's not what you had in mind. What if the project falls through?
Your Linkedin profile lists you as owner/CEO of several other companies that have done exactly nothing. If some one were to look at that profile in serious consideration of your achievements, it wouldn't take long to uncover just how much you haven't done. No one has heard of those companies outside of your Internet postings. Many of those "companies" are well over a year or two old, so shouldn't they have done something by now?
Andrew, I'm not trying to shame you here. It needs to be pointed out, for your benefit more than anything else, that you are all talk and no action. You've been asked, not just on this forum, to offer some concrete evidence of yourself, and you cannot. Rather, you will not. It has nothing to do with ability, and everything to do with ambition, motivation, will power... do you see where I'm going with this?
If your IMDb credits are to be believed, you've gotten some PA work on some recognizable projects. Why hasn't there been more of that? It takes only one freelance PA gig to start the ball rolling on lots more, so why hasn't that lasted? That's a question only you can answer.
The best thing you can do for yourself right now is to stop. Put all these incredibly lofty (and unattainable) dreams aside, or at the very least on extended hold. Get a job - any job. There are more than a dozen businesses (restaurants, drug stores, markets, landscaping, hardware stores) within a 2-mile radius of your house, not to mention a transit stop within 1.2 miles where you can take a bus to anything else. We're also in early December, which means that several places are still beefing up their work forces for Christmas sales... so at the very least you can find seasonal employment to get you through the first week of January. The best time to find a job is when you have a job, and a seasonal gig at Old Navy will buy you some time to find something more permanent. Make a living, or make excuses. You can't do both.
Once you have an income and steady work, if you really still want to go back into this at all, get a small camera. Make some shorts. Make some contacts in the area. Jump in on 24/48-hour film festivals. Hone your skills. Got more freelance work where you can. Build up reels and a resume that you can actually show people.
If you really can write, direct, and produce even half as well as you say, it will be obvious and you'll be able to go somewhere with it. When you reach that point, then it's time to consider quitting another steady job to pursue your own production. Or not: it's tough to make a living as a film maker. Most of us have steady employment, whether in the industry or not, that allows us to support our indie productions on the side.
Delete and rework your IMDb bio and your Linkedin profile. Make them realistic, and avoid all the talk that obviously tries to make you sound much bigger than you actually are. If you're CEO of a company that's actually doing something, and a potential client or employer can ask for legitimate samples and get them, fine. Has anyone actually heard of Deseni Cymbals? Do you actually have products to sell on the shelf right now? Are you actually moving stock on a regular basis? No? Then get rid of it.
You're also "CEO" of "Make the Movie Happen, LLC", a crowd funding website that you created in 2007... and? What's it done? Obviously, it's gone nowhere. The website isn't up anymore: it redirects to IndieGogo, which you use for your attempts at crowd funding. Why is this "company" still listed as one of your active "companies"?
Your Linkedin profile right now paints two possible pictures of you: either you're completely full of it, or you're spread too thin. Which one will people assume considering none of those companies can provide results at this point? Likely both, with emphasis on the former, and neither will be of benefit to you. The picture you paint can help or hurt you, and often less is more. By the way, drop the use of "CEO" for a "company" that consists of only you. You may be the "owner" or the "sole proprietor" or even the founder or director, but you are not a "CEO" for stuff like this.
As for your bio that you post in so many places, delete it completely. The first line reads like you're writing a long autobiography; forget it. You can summarize anything people really need/want to know within a paragraph. You went to a high school for creative arts where you focused on film/video production, and you've crewed on several projects. There: that's all you need to provide.
Last, don't assume that people don't put pieces together. The trail you have left on film making forums is astounding. You'll post in one place that you're going to have to file bankruptcy over $3000 in credit card debt (really?!), and on the same day and in another section of the same forum you post that you're planning to purchase three cameras in the next couple of months and aren't sure whether to go with RED or Alexa or the C300. Later, you're trying to raise the first $25k of an $8mil project, and in another concurrent thread you cannot even acquire the $600 you need to make a short video for your crowdfunding campaign. People can do the math, and you're giving them plenty to work with. So think before you post. Really, think before you start a project.
I'm new on this forum, but not on film-making forums in general. And while this one does play rougher than some others (though not the roughest I've seen by far), what I've seen here in relation to you is people who aren't falling for your delusions anymore. That doesn't make them "arrogant pricks," it just makes them realistic and honest. And, to be honest, you need to hear what's being said. Not just hear, but listen, inwardly-digest, and do something about it. Your failures are not anyone else's fault; you set goals that you cannot reach, and refuse to take the necessary and smaller steps needed to get there. And when you fail, you find anything and anyone else to blame.
Why did I take so much time out of my day to post this? I cannot stand to see someone beat himself senseless and to dig such a deep hole for himself. You do this to yourself, Andrew... over, and over, and over again. Remember the adage about the definition of insanity: doing the exact same thing over and over again, expecting a different result each time. I also see that you've wrapped someone else up in one of your impossible dreams, and I don't want to see another person taken down with you.
These forums connect lots of professionals, amateurs, and hobbyists alike from your area. If you really work at it, you can find projects to help with... as long as you go into them intent on working on those projects and not rambling about either how big of a project you actually have going on right now or how you're still only a PA because the world is out to get you. Take those jobs both with pride and humility: pride that you got that job and want to be the best damned PA you can be for that day/week/month, and humility to know that you don't know much at all and can learn from those around you to better yourself.
But again, I'd look at getting any steady employment you can right now and then using that as a time to pay off some debt, save a little money, and come up with a new and more realistic plan for yourself. Walk, ride a bike, or take the bus. You're the only one stopping you.
THANK YOU ACOUSTIC! I've been wanting to tear this guy a new one, stating everything you've said and more (only with A LOT more insults)