Alchoholism, and the Myriad Benefits of a Trainwreck Persona

[Scoopicman]

Probably not the best metaphor, because you do, in fact, build a staircase "all at once"

Okay, I should have said Jenga blocks, or something else stackable.

 

[Nate North]

SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION is my model for what goals can be achieved. Andy used a small rock chisel to carve through a huge swath of concrete, in 20 years. The X factor was "Time."

This is how I look at my day job; I don't make much, but I can save a bit here and there. Once in a while, I get side tips. I put those in a stash and consider those separate from my income. Over years, the stash builds up. I had a camera break, so I used the stash to get a Blackmagic 6K Pro. I just shot a feature with it. "Time" allowed it to happen.

We've covered "Time," now lets cover "Goals," or rather the loftiness of goals. I've had investors drop, left and right. Investors dropped out of both TERRARIUM and EXILE. I ended up paying for them, 50K, each. I used home equity for the 2nd one. Point being, I wasn't going to plan a project that an investor could break. I planned doable projects.

I don't spend money like that, anymore. Recently, I took on EVIL DWELLS WITHIN. I'm doing it for free, so I'm a partner on it. It's a gamble, but a cheap one. "Time" has allowed that. While it's not finished, the social media hype of making it led to being given a 7K production budget for DRONE DOWN. (Tiny, I know, but not my money.) We just wrapped after 9 days of shooting. My goal is feature filmmaking, so how do I make 7K doable? Shoot mostly in the day time (no lights), keep the crew small, and keep the days and locations to a minimum. Done. Now, I have 2 simultaneous hype machines, and I've been offered some bigger projects. A rolling snowball starts small. Hopefully it doesn't hit a tree.

I know you have a huge infrastructure and world to build with SAVE POINT. I probably would have done some smaller projects, first. Something finished that investors can see. You don't build a stairway all at once. You start with the first step, then the second. People see those first two steps, and they believe that you can go higher. I know you're probably in too deep to think about smaller things, but the beauty is that you can keep the lofty dream. You may need a few steps to fill in, first.

Actually I pretty much agree with you. That's my mentality as well most of the time. I actually talk about chiseling my way out of prison in another thread, and I was thinking about that same scene in Shawshank when I talked about it, What can I say, great minds think alike.

I do understand why people drop out of indie film investments, they aren't really a good investment for the most part, from a bankers view, but I'm trying to be inventive about repackaging that investment into a forum that makes more sense from their perspective. I've recently had this really cool guy join that I think is going to be able to help a lot with that, and if I do manage to solve this puzzle, or if he does, I'll be sure to bring that information back here to the forums to try and help everyone.

As far as going minimalistic, I know it must seem like I've done the opposite, but in a way that's not true. Live action filming was going to put me in a position where no matter how much work I did, I'd still be prevented from creating something that lined up with my imagination. So I scaled down to animation, and while it's slow without any funding to speak of, I can at least progress steadily towards a goal.

Anyway, I'm really impressed with the work I've seen you doing, and I'm looking forward to seeing your new film.

 

[Scoopicman]

Actually I pretty much agree with you. That's my mentality as well most of the time. I actually talk about chiseling my way out of prison in another thread, and I was thinking about that same scene in Shawshank when I talked about it

I do understand why people drop out of indie film investments, they aren't really a good investment for the most part

In both of my cases, it had to do with the other investor not getting their way with the story. With TERRARIUM, the co-investor wanted to inject derivitive bits of comedy, such as a Russian astronaut quoting American rap (like BEHIND ENEMY LINES), and another astronaut taking the wrong drug in the med lab, then getting really big like The Hulk. Really preposterous things I said no to, so he took off.

With EXILE, I was supposed to make the movie, while investors from LA and Chicago did the FX, etc. When it came time to pitch my story, the phone call went like this:

Me - "Okay guys, I've got a story. It's about a blinded pilot who is helped by a female android."
Investor 1 - "Me too" (He then pitched a plot that was just like my previous film, TERRARIUM, and was all about the gory body count.)
Investor 2 - "Me too." (He pitches a story about planet regeneration that is just like Genesis, from STAR TREK 2 & 3.)
Investor 3 was one of the producers of THE DEVIL'S REJECTS, but was not on the phone.

They never said that they would be pitching stories, so it was a surprise. Needless to say, I stuck with my story and they all bolted.

I'm really impressed with the work I've seen you doing, and I'm looking forward to seeing your new film.

Thanks! I'm actually working on two features; one done around Halloween, and the other around Christmas Here's a spooky SCENE from the other. Not the final sound or color grade, yet.