I've been approached to make a documentary about a group of power lifters. At first I thought it was a stupid idea, but I try to explore all opportunities that come my way. I initially thought that I would do the film as long as they had enough budget to either pay me decently or make a good movie.
Through a series of meetings I quickly came to realize that these guys have no clue how much it costs to make a movie that's worth showing to people. At the budget meeting, they informed me that they could come up with $2,000.00. We're talking about a film that will take 5 months to shoot and longer to edit. I told them that there was no way that I would do it for that because I would end up having to pay for everything out of my own pockets.
Two rather large names in the sports world are going to be at the gym where the lifters work out next month and one of them is going there specifically to work out with one of the guys. The other one is a legitimate cross over star with real name recognition outside of the sports arena. The owner of the gym thinks that he can get these guys to do interviews for the movie. The first guy would give the film considerably more marketability, the second guy would pretty much guarantee distribution (possibly major theatrical). Since the two guys know each other and will be in town for the same event, I'm hoping that the first guy will do the flick because he's cool like that and the second guy will bow to peer pressure and do it so that he doesn't look like a dick.
I asked the lifters about possible sponsorship and one of the guys kinda knows the owner of a fairly large equipment manufacturer. I told him to call the guy and see if he would be willing to listen to a sales pitch from me. While we were discussing the project, a friend of mine asked me what we were talking about. My buddy used to own a franchise of a major international fast food chain and knows just about everybody in that organization. He said that he would call the guy in charge of the corporate region and see if the parent company had any interest in the project for cross promotional purposes.
Yesterday I got a phone call informing me that the fast food chain is "officially interested" in the film and that I will be assigned a corporate consultant to evaluate the merits of the project. I was told that the company guy was already talking about cross promotional commercials.
I don't want to get my hopes up about mid-six figure sponsorship, but I've put a bit of time and thought into this idea and have come to realize that I want to make this movie. I have already come up with the preview video concept and the story arcs that I want to explore. Any of you experienced documentary types have any sage words of wisdom for me?
I need to crew up for a one day shoot in case the sports stars agree to be in the movie. They will only be in town for a day or two at most and I will need to catch them at the gym. If any DPs, grips, and sound guys are in the New Orleans area and want to apply to be part of this shoot with the hopes of getting fully funded for a real shoot schedule drop me a PM or reply here. This will be a paid shoot.
I figure that since the TV show is stalled in development limbo I can chase this rabbit down the hole.
Through a series of meetings I quickly came to realize that these guys have no clue how much it costs to make a movie that's worth showing to people. At the budget meeting, they informed me that they could come up with $2,000.00. We're talking about a film that will take 5 months to shoot and longer to edit. I told them that there was no way that I would do it for that because I would end up having to pay for everything out of my own pockets.
Two rather large names in the sports world are going to be at the gym where the lifters work out next month and one of them is going there specifically to work out with one of the guys. The other one is a legitimate cross over star with real name recognition outside of the sports arena. The owner of the gym thinks that he can get these guys to do interviews for the movie. The first guy would give the film considerably more marketability, the second guy would pretty much guarantee distribution (possibly major theatrical). Since the two guys know each other and will be in town for the same event, I'm hoping that the first guy will do the flick because he's cool like that and the second guy will bow to peer pressure and do it so that he doesn't look like a dick.
I asked the lifters about possible sponsorship and one of the guys kinda knows the owner of a fairly large equipment manufacturer. I told him to call the guy and see if he would be willing to listen to a sales pitch from me. While we were discussing the project, a friend of mine asked me what we were talking about. My buddy used to own a franchise of a major international fast food chain and knows just about everybody in that organization. He said that he would call the guy in charge of the corporate region and see if the parent company had any interest in the project for cross promotional purposes.
Yesterday I got a phone call informing me that the fast food chain is "officially interested" in the film and that I will be assigned a corporate consultant to evaluate the merits of the project. I was told that the company guy was already talking about cross promotional commercials.
I don't want to get my hopes up about mid-six figure sponsorship, but I've put a bit of time and thought into this idea and have come to realize that I want to make this movie. I have already come up with the preview video concept and the story arcs that I want to explore. Any of you experienced documentary types have any sage words of wisdom for me?
I need to crew up for a one day shoot in case the sports stars agree to be in the movie. They will only be in town for a day or two at most and I will need to catch them at the gym. If any DPs, grips, and sound guys are in the New Orleans area and want to apply to be part of this shoot with the hopes of getting fully funded for a real shoot schedule drop me a PM or reply here. This will be a paid shoot.
I figure that since the TV show is stalled in development limbo I can chase this rabbit down the hole.
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