Anyone interested in an NYC film collaborative?

Hi all, I've been thinking about starting a film collaborative based in NYC for quite some time now. I was going to start it last summer, but, you know, global pandemic. Now that things are back to normal (mostly), I'd like to start it this month. Here's the breakdown of what I'd like to do:
  1. The collective exists to shoot films written by collective members. If you are a member, you are guaranteed the chance to write something that the rest of the group will help shoot at some point.
  2. Each week, the collective meets (in person or virtually). There will be several things on the agenda, but in a nutshell the group will decide which project to shoot, revise, shoot, storyboard, etc.
  3. The group shoots every week. I am assuming that everyone in the group has a full time job (I do), so shoots will be limited to weeknights and weekends.
  4. Members must live in NYC or somewhere in the Tri-state area that wouldn't make in-person meetings and shoots difficult.
  5. Members collectively buy into and own a share of the camera. If at any time a member would like to leave the group, she/he sells their share back to the group or to another person looking to join. The camera would be stored at a third party TBD by the group members. I'm committing as much as $1000 to this, though members wouldn't have to buy-in nearly that much. The price of the buy-in share would be determined on the first collective meeting. Obviously, the more buy-in, the better the camera.
  6. Members must be vaccinated for COVID. (seriously, WHY HAVEN'T YOU BEEN VACCINATED YET?)
  7. No egos. Everyone in the collective is there to learn and improve the craft of filmmaking. You are not James Cameron, and this is not the set of Titanic.
  8. We will make shitty films. They will suck. Badly. I am okay with this, and all members of the collective must also be okay with this. But maybe, as we improve and learn to work together, the films will get better. If we get good enough, we can submit to competitions.
About me: I'm a 30-something who's always wanted to make films. However, something always came up that prevented me from deep diving into it. After a couple Masters degrees and a stable (but boring) career, I am now in a place in my life where I have the time and resources to commit to this project. I have a working knowledge of film theory, the latest version of Final Draft (12), some financial resources, and a fucking fantastic work ethic.
 
Good luck with it. I'm about 5000 miles outside your catchment area, so won't be signing up, but in some way understand where you're coming from, as I've had a similar idea sloshing around in my head for quite a while. In fact, had planned on putting it up for discussion in the next week or two when I'll have a lot of downtime that can only be spent on the Net!

So bearing in mind that I'm not in the right place or the right time, two things about the proposal above would bother me:
  • No. 8 - setting a low bar from the off? Ooooh - that really goes against the grain for me. :seeya:
  • Nos 2 & 3 - a weekly commitment could be difficult. On the one hand, yes, it might mean that anyone who didn't need to be on site wouldn't necessarily need to attend every week; but on the other, if decisions are being made on a rolling basis from week to week, there'd be an implicit pressure to turn up for what could be a very long but unproductive evening/weekend.
Still, these criteria - and the financial participation - would probably enforce a self-selection of members who'd be highly motivated and prepared to prioritise film-making over other interests, so if you can reach a well-balanced critical mass of contributors, it should be a successful venture.
 
That’s a really great idea man.
Shoot me a message and let’s exchange numbers I’d love to be involved and help out.
 
I had a similar idea I wanted to try, but ultimately I couldn't muster people under my banner in the Milwaukee area... And I'm just not that great at leading people yet. Need to do more work in my own abilities first! But I will cheer for your project anyway!!! Woot woot!!!!!
 
Testing, testing... Anyone out there?

I absolutely love this idea! Anyone who stumbles across this thread, anyone who still has eyes on this project, let us know! We'd love to offer our studio space to help turn this into a reality 🤩🤩
 
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Testing, testing... Anyone out there?.......................anyone who still has eyes on this project, let us know!................

This is perhaps the right time to voice a concern I have.....Since reading IT (mostly as a guest) for just over 2 years now, I've noticed that some new members post once (or twice) with creative ideas or valid questions.....and then IT members respond to those ideas and then "poof" the new member disappears, like magic.

Please don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to offend anyone.......I understand that some just join to make an announcement or to sell their services once to IT readers......and some just want to DM back & forth and not post publicly, that's fine........but what I'm referring to are those new members who ignite your interest and then we never hear back as to that person's progress, failures, problems, etc....they just disappear.

I'm coming solely from a reader's viewpoint (as a guest and then a member), but I would like to encourage those who request help & advice from IT's professional, experienced members to keep the rest of us in the loop and to follow up with us on how things turned out.... successes, failures, problems, holdups, etc.......even if it's 6 months later.....that's how we all learn, guests and members alike.....thanks in advance.
 
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I love the idea of a film collective.
Right now I only check box 8 in your checklist.
I would live to have a world wide collective where we could collaborate on a feature film that features many exotic lications without breaking the bank.
Lets say we make a spy movie that features locations all over the world.
We have a lot of members here from a lot of exotic locations where scenes could be filmed.
The only thing breaking the bank could be the fact that the lead actor should be flying to all locations, unless we use deep fake tech to place our main lead's face on alocal stand-in for instance...

Man. I ambursting with ideas!!!!
 
I love the idea of a film collective.
Right now I only check box 8 in your checklist.
I would live to have a world wide collective where we could collaborate on a feature film that features many exotic lications without breaking the bank.
Lets say we make a spy movie that features locations all over the world.
We have a lot of members here from a lot of exotic locations where scenes could be filmed.
The only thing breaking the bank could be the fact that the lead actor should be flying to all locations, unless we use deep fake tech to place our main lead's face on alocal stand-in for instance...

Man. I ambursting with ideas!!!!

Playing for Change is a non-profit music group that does that, but for music. I am glad you are bursting with ideas, which show your enthusiasm, but don't forget the hard part is implementing those ideas. Everyone has lots of ideas, though they're not as energetic as you, but most of those ideas will fall by the wayside.
 
I agree that implementing is the hard part. But you know what an even harder part is? Maybe even the hardest part in moviemaking. Getting it financed.
Luckily I have experience in both.
Our epic war movie made for 200.000 euro has its premiere coming april.
Amd yes, it was hard, but not undoable.
The main thing is being commited to the project.
 
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