Category: Entrepreneur

One of those career affirming weeks...

1/4/2014

One of those career affirming weeks

…had the cast and crew screening of Cancer Hair last night which went well. Everyone said lovely things. Thank you very much for the support guys.

…we’re screening 50 Kisses at Bafta on Friday to coincide with a very special announcement.

…got the concept art in for Invisible Girl and it looks great – onwards to the next one!

…great feedback on Project O concept/treatment

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50 Kisses Premiere

8/3/2014

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So, on the 13th Feb 2014 this year I stepped onto the red carpet and attended the premiere of the first feature film I produced - 50 Kisses.

We describe 50 Kisses as the first crowdsourced feature film.

We sourced 50 scripts - all containing a kiss and set on Valentine's Day - from an entry pile of nearly 2000. Then we opened these scripts up to be made by filmmakers around the world.

Around 130 entries later, and we were ready to start stitching the film together into a feature.

It was an amazing adventure for me. One hell of a learning experience. And bad double chin photo of me and my other half aside, it was a career affirming evening to be on the red carpet and celebrating the feat of human engineering that was 50 Kisses.

Well done to all involved. Especially well done to Judy, Maureen and Chris who put on a great evening of entertainment and celebration at the Genesis for the 50 Kisses gang. Kudos!

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Passion versus Pocket

1/7/2013

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I've just spent five very pleasant days at the Edinburgh Film Festival. Many interesting and insightful things have come out of this but one of the ones I have taken very much to heart is the fact that everyone - from Oscar winning producer down is in the same boat.

What do I mean by that? There are very few people who manage to have a sustainable and financially rewarding career in film. It is a lifestyle job. But you know what, that's OK.

It doesn't matter that you cannot support yourself 100% with writing or producing or industry "stuff". If you can find a way of doing what you love at the same time of doing something you have to to pay the bills then that's OK. It's the game everyone in town plays.

There are probably about 1000 people max that are able to sustain themselves to any reasonable degree within the industry. So temping at a bar, or as in my case doing interim communications contracts is OK. Whatever you need to do to make your lifestyle work for you is what you do.

Interestingly at almost every session I attended a question was asked which was along the lines of "how are you managing to live?". The implication being that there is a secret way of doing things that some of us aren't being told.

There is no secret. This shit is hard. Pay the rent with what you can and try to sustain the energy, and money, for being a filmmaker on the side. When you are in filmy company, like I was this weekend, then just play the "I'm a filmmaker|" routine like everyone else and STFU about your day job.

Similarly, where possible in your day job STFU about your film life, nothing breeds annoyance like an individual with a life outside work. Two worlds, never the two shall meet, as long as one of them pays then you can keep them in balance.

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Sometimes I feel like giving up...

13/4/2013

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The Year I became a Producer - or, if the cap fits, wear it.

20/11/2012

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This year, I inadvertently became a film producer.

It’s not quite what I set out to do but it seems to suit me.

Here’s the thing. I’ve always seen myself as a creative person and have channeled that creativity into writing but there is an obvious white elephant I’ve been ignoring. It is namely that I spent 12 years in very corporate sales and marketing environments learning to hustle a deal and promote three legged Rocking Horses as thoroughbreds.

Now while corporate doesn’t automatically mean producer and creative doesn’t automatically mean writer or director, I find myself with both skillsets and wondering which way to turn. I’m 35 and don’t want to fuck around anymore waiting for people to say yes to my scripts and ideas, hence, I’m saying yes to myself.

How did this start? Well, earlier this year I attended the Producers Masterclass with Chris Jones and Stephen Follows. The information here, plus the great seminar from Jon Reiss about distribution and marketing a few month later, blew my mind as to the possibilities producing had to offer. Yes, you are starting from scratch on the project and are there until the rights dry up years down the line but it is your baby. You can mold it anyway you want. Be it your original idea or an original script by someone else. If you want to have the creative and commercial control in a project, you have to be the producer. End of.

I produced my first short film this year – Spare Change, written by me, directed by Andy Carslaw. You’ll need to ask Andy how well I did divorcing myself from the writer in me on that! But it all seemed to go well. We are getting ready for some final sound work and then the film will probably be ready for early next year.

Further to this I am midst producering of 50 Kisses. 50 Kisses is the Screenwriters Festivals feature film initiative and is the world’s first crowdsourced feature film. I’ve been developing the scripts with writers, sending out contracts to the filmmakers, watching all the films coming in and am now talking distribution and premieres.

Amazing things happen when you turn your head in one direction or another. As well as my own Directing debut for next year, Time for Oneself, I already have a fairly full “slate” for next year with the 50 Kisses sequel and a potential low-budget feature film. While I’m not at the Weinstein stage yet, I’m certainly heading in the right direction and the best bit, it is making me a more educated critic of my own work.

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The Artist Entrepreneur

5/9/2012

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Art and Commerce have never been easy bedfellows. Mention having a sales strategy to your average artist – be they a filmmaker, musician, dancer, painter or writer – and they will, very likely, not want to sully themselves with the details of what happens at the end of their artist process. This ostrich approach means great artists miss out on great opportunities. Here’s why.

We are no longer living in the information age, but the attention age. There is so much information and stimuli out there that it is difficult to rise above the noise and get your art – in whatever form you chose to display it – noticed. In order for you to get noticed, or get attention, you have to engage with your audience way earlier in the process than ever before. You have to develop them, engage them and bring them with you from project to project.

Social Media tools like Facebook, Twitter and Blogs can help you do this but in order for it to be successful you have to see audience engagement as an integral part of what you do, not something to be suffered in order to make a sale at some point down the line.

Those who are managing to incorporate building and engaging their audience into their artistic process are not selling out. They are choosing to invest themselves in the whole process of their art. From concept to sale. They are becoming an Artist Entrepreneur.

I heard this gem of a phrase a few weeks ago when at a seminar run by Jon Reiss, author of the book “Think Outside the Box Office”. Although primarily referring to what is happening within the film industry, Jon’s remarks have as much pertinence with the rest of the art world.

Right now in Film, the old methods of distribution are crumbling. Like the music industry before it, the model that existed for almost the entire 20th Century is becoming obsolete. Stars don’t guarantee box office. Studios aren’t the only ones funding films. The cinema isn’t the only place you can see a film. The internet means that artists can go directly to fan – for funding, for distribution, for sales - without passing through a studio or a cinema.

However, they can only do it if they are willing to put the graft in and build their audience first.

For me, the reason the phrase “The Artist Entrepreneur” works, is that it keeps the success of the project entirely with the artist. That is a very powerful concept. If your success is entirely within your own hands, it comes down to how pro-active you are willing to be to make it work. By acknowledging that if you want to continue making great art, then finding a sustainable, engaging and ultimately profitable way to do it is entirely sensible.

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One of those career affirming weeks...

50 Kisses Premiere

Passion versus Pocket

Sometimes I feel like giving up...

The Year I became a Producer - or, if the cap fits, wear it.

The Artist Entrepreneur

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