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Every person in production I know just kept spending their weekends working on productions with like-minded individuals they met through various means which is a poo poo ton easier in LA than Denver I admit. Then after a while it burned out the casuals (like me) who found being on set every weekend for ungodly hours tedious and unfulfilling and only sharpened the lifers who now all work on serious productions after a decade of that poo poo. Some left town, some transitioned into other parts of the industry, some remained small indie directors which can be rewarding and some are straight up rich now. Some are writers, some are producers, some are directors and some work at breweries in the midwest now. CelticPredator what exactly is your end goal? And what is your immediate goal? I think it's hard to answer because the question is a bit vague.
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Oct 31, 2024 14:58
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I will answer the question on the previous page a bit later because it requires more thought but my end goal is to have making films be my career or at least make it sustainable enough that I can do it without falling into a hole. The immediate goal is to move on to the next step and actually make a film which would either lead to said career or not. I won’t know until I try. The question is like I said maybe not right for this thread, but it’s just who are the people that are financing films and where can I find them lol. There’s a billion tubi movies and someone gives them money. I want to find these people and pitch them my ideas in hopes that I can get a chance. I’m too far removed from Hollywood to pitch to like….idk shudder.
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Oct 31, 2024 19:37
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Finding financing for films is a specialty that managers and agents do. I have no idea where they find these people who have an extra million and want to be an executive producer. Maybe someone in this thread knows those people? But I personally have to say my experience ends here. My brother has sold four movies this year (he's a screenwriter and a producer) and he has an agent and a manager. Even he recently told me on a run I don't know where they find these people. Like executive producers who need more money find other wannabe executive producers all the time but it's a complete mystery to me how. Maybe they have shadowy agents scouting country clubs across the country. Maybe the first step is getting an agent or manager? Or maybe an even earlier step is getting enough experience to get one?
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Oct 31, 2024 19:45
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CP, to be clear—is your goal to be a writer/director who exclusively makes their own material, do you want to be a director in general, do you want to be involved the industry in any creative capacity, or do you just want to be employed in the industry in any production capacity? The way I'm reading it, you seem to be conflating "getting outside funding to write and direct your own films with creative control" and "be employed in the film industry in a career capacity," but those are two wildly different questions.
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Oct 31, 2024 21:14
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That’s correct. So yeah not the right thread. And that’s fine! I’ll just end the convo here because I am conflating it the two. That’s my bad. But imma keep reading what goes on here because I find all of it fascinating and interesting.
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Oct 31, 2024 21:29
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I'm pretty sure at least half the people financing low budget films are random dentists or car salesmen. People with deep pockets and big egos.
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Oct 31, 2024 23:12
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CelticPredator posted:That’s correct. So yeah not the right thread. And that’s fine! I’ll just end the convo here because I am conflating it the two. That’s my bad. But imma keep reading what goes on here because I find all of it fascinating and interesting. This is the most posts this thread has gotten in months don't feel sheepish
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Oct 31, 2024 23:21
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FreudianSlippers posted:I'm pretty sure at least half the people financing low budget films are random dentists or car salesmen. All I know about lower budget film financing I learned from movies like Ed Wood and American Movie. You gotta trick the religious or the senile into giving you their money. Nah but seriously, I'm sure a really good script, the right connections, and luck are the actual way to make good low budget movies. So getting into the industry in a production capacity is a good way to start getting the connections. The rest will depend on if you are a good writer and if you end up meeting the right people who will be interested in reading what you are writing. Personality has got to play a big part, in addition to persistence. I'm in vfx so I only work on bigger movies with directors who have run the gauntlet of doing successful indies and then being given hundreds of millions and a crew of thousands of vfx workers around the world to make a film with. So I don't have much insight into how the smaller stuff really works. Maybe as vfx continues to get faster and cheaper more small movies will be able to utilize it. For now it's still pretty inaccessible for all but the luckiest indie directors, especially if there's creature work. Ccs fucked around with this message at 01:05 on Nov 1, 2024 |
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Nov 1, 2024 01:01
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Ccs posted:Personality has got to play a big part... Yeah, seems like you’d have to be a great networker and salesperson. Like monorail salesman level
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Nov 1, 2024 01:04
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CP you could always try moving to Europe where there's public funding for films. Note that this process involves insane mountains of paperwork and is largely factored towards people who already have connections in whatever country's industry. So maybe it could be more complicated.
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Nov 1, 2024 01:15
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CelticPredator feel free to stick around! As mentioned this is a pretty slow thread, so even E/N posting gives me something to look at.CelticPredator posted:The immediate goal is to move on to the next step and actually make a film which would either lead to said career or not. I won’t know until I try. I think you need a more immediate goal than "be awarded a million bucks to make your vision." Many would consider such a thing the goal of a lifetime! What's your current job sitch? You mentioned it being unstable upthread. Are you delaying any other professional plans while chasing directorial ambitions? If so, I'd definitely recommend any job you can get that can get you closer to your goal. Many jobs in the film industry give you more familiarity with the craft and put you in contact with producers who can help you achieve your dreams. Times are tough right now, but the industry has to rebound eventually, and a lot of older folks are leaving. People still break in even now. And hell, even a regular-rear end job can get you closer to a film job. It might make you feel a little less antsy, too.
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Nov 1, 2024 10:20
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kiimo posted:Finding financing for films is a specialty that managers and agents do. I have no idea where they find these people who have an extra million and want to be an executive producer. I am a producer and executive-producer. I make a living structuring, closing and to a lesser degree procuring financing for indie films (often UK, sometimes European, occasionally US). I say procuring to a lesser degree because I also don't know how to meet the rich people who put money into films. The financing/packaging departments of agencies like CAA and WME have got huge rosters of equity investors (usually US-based) - I just don't have those contacts. I know how to find people to lend against pre-sales and tax credits - that part is easy, and I know how to put all the pieces together - just not at finding them all. I am based in the UK. I worked at a production company for a very established producer and its sister sales agency for ten years before going freelance about 12 years ago.
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Nov 1, 2024 11:01
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Yeah it's a lot of hard work too. Today The Daniels are coming to the studio to pitch a two hour thing to the marketing department. So like, even if you won Best Picture recently you still have to work hard. Or like, invent an entire philosophy like the Daniels have
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Nov 1, 2024 15:54
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That’s wild, I went to college with Tall Daniel.
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Nov 1, 2024 16:28
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TadBradley posted:CelticPredator feel free to stick around! As mentioned this is a pretty slow thread, so even E/N posting gives me something to look at. Ok I'll answer! Yeah so job sitch currently is looking for new work, with some uber eats on the side. I'm impossibly broke. I was a video editor for this company for 2 years doing mostly corporate videos. Also did a lot of free freelance work for other filmmakers and friends. (I love editing so I don't mind). But last September I got into a car accident that totaled my car, and hosed me over and around that same time the company I worked for ended up hiring an in-house editor so they didn't really need me any more. That could've been a lie but regardless, they just stopped giving me work until I finally reached out which is when they told me. I was blind sided by that and wasted time not looking for more work. I've been applying for local editing gigs but not one even emailed me back. I did have a bad resume which I've fixed so that could've been it. Or my portfolio sucks. Which is also possible. So sorry to get a bit E/Ny, but right now I'm just in a frustrating spot. I probably won't be able to score another editing gig, so I'll have to find something else. Filmmaking was like my main outlet and I just feel like If I'm not making a feature film at this point, I'm just wasting my time and money. Which is why I'm just antsy and trying to figure it out.
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Nov 1, 2024 23:25
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CelticPredator posted:Filmmaking was like my main outlet and I just feel like If I'm not making a feature film at this point, I'm just wasting my time and money. Which is why I'm just antsy and trying to figure it out. Given the state of everything, I think it's natural to feel defeated and aimless. Especially after suffering a major setback like a car crash, even without medical complications it's a financial setback and life disruption made worse by our awful urban layout. Let's start from basics and work towards a full feature! Do you have a script? Do you have friends willing to do a reading? If you have friends willing to do a reading, could you rework the script into a stage play? Can you record the stage play? What about an audiobook? What about puppets? Any interest in stand-up comedy or storytelling? If all you have is a camera and a desire for attention, there's always slam poetry. Either way, I think you will stand a better chance at meeting these mysterious funders if you document at least part of your journey online. People are much more likely to hop along for the journey if they think you're already driving their way. PHIZ KALIFA fucked around with this message at 04:37 on Feb 24, 2025 |
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Feb 24, 2025 04:34
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I think the latter part is a good idea. Over the past few months I decided to give things a bit of a hard try. I wrote a smaller feature. Found footage. Pretty cheap. I know localish people who would be willing to help. I’m going to shoot a 2 minute proof of concept this week. And then beg family and friends for money. After that, I’m going to any business I can find in this college town I used to live and see what I can get. I wrote things vague enough that I can slot in local spots to advertise if they’re willing to sponsor or something. I don’t know if this would work. But I feel like I spent a while thrashing at the wind not knowing where to go, and if I just say gently caress it and go in a direction…well it’ll work or it won’t. Maybe it’s worth documenting when I get the ball rolling.
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Feb 24, 2025 09:44
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CelticPredator posted:I think the latter part is a good idea. Over the past few months I decided to give things a bit of a hard try. I wrote a smaller feature. Found footage. Pretty cheap. I know localish people who would be willing to help. it 100000% is. keep us posted!
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Feb 24, 2025 13:43
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Just realized this thread existed. I'm a DP when I can (have a feature on Tubi but I'm not gonna link that) but what pays the bills is being a camera operator or CLT/SLT (currently non-union). I work on a lot of EPK material but the most consistent work that pays the bills at the moment is... verticals  While I hate all these vertical productions, it's basically where all the non-union money went. All the stuff that you used to find on Hallmark or Lifetime went here.
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Feb 24, 2025 18:37
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So MPC, the largest vfx studio in the world, collapsed today, taken down due its parent company Technicolor going into bankruptcy/administration/receivership in all the territories it resides. During the height of the streaming boom it employed around 12k people, but recently that number has been around 5k. They were the main vendor for all the Disney remakes and worked on parts of most big movies and streaming shows, so this is a big upset for the industry. Of course all these places are vendors, so new and existing vendors will grow to fill the void, but its still pretty dramatic for everyone who works in post-production to see this place that existed for 20 years fall apart.
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Feb 24, 2025 23:45
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The Mill went down too
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Feb 25, 2025 00:02
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BonoMan posted:The Mill went down too Yep. Apparently most of the staff have been rescued by Dream Machine FX and are forming a new advertising studio. But thats another dramatic brand to see fall.
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Feb 25, 2025 00:48
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What the heck happened???
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Feb 25, 2025 02:02
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Every VFX company no matter how successful or large is a wobbling tower of spinning plates that might come crashing down at any moment.
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Feb 25, 2025 02:07
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Jesus loving Christ the company called Technicolor is like Jason Voorhees trying to destroy everything in revenge for making for making his mom three-strip obsolete.
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Feb 25, 2025 02:24
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ILM might be the only truly "secure" vfx company, as Disney owns it and always needs someone available to work on their tentpole brands. But Technicolor was a valuable tool for them to bludgeon all the other vendors into doing high end work as cheaply as possible. That allowed a lot of people to get their feet wet in the industry as who is cheaper to hire than recent graduates? But it also set some really bad precedents in the industry. A very conflicting place to work. The most fun I ever had in the film industry was working with a large crew at Technicolor on Cats. It felt like summer camp, working on a ridiculous film until late into the night and then partying every evening with studio-provided alcohol that they used to keep the young staff in the building until 11 pm. But it was also a place that caused a lot of the more senior people to quit the industry from stress and a supervisor and a producer killed themselves in the 4 years I was at Technicolor companies because of the extreme hours/stress/abuse from management. And the head of production looked so tired, the rings under his eyes started to look like growths.
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Feb 25, 2025 04:15
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Ccs posted:Yep. Apparently most of the staff have been rescued by Dream Machine FX and are forming a new advertising studio. But thats another dramatic brand to see fall. Yeah I saw that too... Arc Creative. But Dream Machine is just another holding company soo... probably will just rinse/repeat.
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Feb 25, 2025 04:30
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Ccs posted:Cats. okay. i'm going to be normal about this. i imagine you hear this question often. however. is. the "butthole cut" real. do you know someone who knows something. i don't need to see it i just... wonder.
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Feb 25, 2025 04:58
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Ccs posted:ILM might be the only truly "secure" vfx company…
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Feb 25, 2025 05:06
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They went from post-production to post production.
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Feb 25, 2025 08:17
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PHIZ KALIFA posted:okay. i'm going to be normal about this. i imagine you hear this question often. however. There were a few shots where the fur groom was clumping in an odd way on the backside, so the cfx artists had to go and clean that up because a supervisor said it looked too much like a butthole. But then a disaffected person in another department got it into his head that there was some sort of version of the film where that was in every shot, and went on the internet to complain. He left the production soon afterwards but hey, damage done haha. Since this was a large scale production and it wasn't exactly Avengers, in terms of films people want to work on, there were a bunch of odd ducks on the crew. Including an extremely pro-Trump girl from south america who had grown up in a cult, a guy who got fired mid production for complaining that people giving him notes was infringing on his human rights, and a guy who would steal everyone's food from the fridge and sleep under his desk. We were rid of most of them after the trailer delivered, but the Trump girl stayed the whole time because the true extent of her insanity took a while to come out. Ccs fucked around with this message at 18:16 on Feb 25, 2025 |
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Feb 25, 2025 18:13
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I can offer you my second-hand tale from a guy I knew who was at Mill Film at the time who told me he'd worked on fluid simulation for a cut shot of Rebel Wilson's character urinating in the cockroach sequence.
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Feb 25, 2025 18:18
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Oh yeah i saw that shot. Notes were all about dialing up or down the viscosity. Fun times.
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Feb 25, 2025 18:48
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When I was at MPC, I remember hearing that Cats was crippled from the start because all the mocap they did on set was broken, so every character had to be manually tracked,
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Feb 25, 2025 21:51
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From what I remember they knew they'd need manual track from the start, because the original pitch required top-notch rotoanim to get the desired look (and that was a controlled situation where they could have done mocap properly, but it just wasn't accurate enough.) But they had some vague hope that mocap would at least be able to help the roto-animators to do the work faster. It ended up not being any help, especially because the actors didn't t-pose properly at the start of the capture session. But all the suits they were wearing on set were geared toward making 3d Equalizer roto-anim tracking easier, the x-sens suits were kind of an afterthought. They had recently bought a matchmove/rotoanim company in India called Trace and the idea was those 300 guys would be enough to do all the shots. Then animators in Montreal and Australia would handle the tail and ear animation. But when a film has an average of 20 characters per shot all in dim lighting and the roto-anim has to be spot on, 300 isn't nearly enough for all that body tracking. I think in the end there were 1000 animators around the world using a combination of Maya and 3d Equalizer to match all the performances, as well as the development of a new toolset to automate the facial capture from plate performances so they wouldn't need to hand key it. At least in Canada we got overtime pay for the work.
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Feb 25, 2025 22:17
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im glad tom hooper will never work again
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Feb 25, 2025 22:46
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Yeah the way I heard it was pretty much as Ccs describes, Tom Hooper had little to no experience with full character replacement, latched on early to the idea that rotoing everything would mean the performers didn't have to wear bulky tracking equipment and that was that.
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Feb 25, 2025 23:43
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The vfx notes podcast has a good episode about it. Ian Failes reporting of what went down is pretty accurate. The other host Hugo's opinions on the matter are mostly editorializing, and stuff he didn't bother to fact check. Whoops. But the video includes the original pitch that was done at The Mill which I didn't think anyone outside the production would ever be able to see. That was the ideal for how the characters would look, but that pitch was done in neutral lighting with one character by skilled artists in the UK as opposed to handed off to a bunch of people in India who were trying their best but to be honest weren't very adept with the software and were under crushing deadlines. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeBY__OD09I&t=1035s Anyway sorry i really sidetracked this thread into Cats but it sure was the kind of film that only comes around rarely. And most of the team on it was really great to work with. The tragedies at that studio only started happening after that show had wrapped and the financial fallout from it caused extra stress to fall on the next shows to try to make up for the shortfall, and then covid started, and everything went to hell. Ccs fucked around with this message at 00:14 on Feb 26, 2025 |
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Feb 26, 2025 00:11
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God that's fascinating. Thank you for sharing! My screenwriting group read my latest short and liked it.  They especially liked the logline, "A stranger in search of a phone meets a party in need of a murderer," but I'm still struggling to nail the title? Let me know if any of these appeal:- The Horror at Strife Lodge - A Death in Belgrade - The Awaited Killer I was hoping to do something in the vein of "how to die" but there's a few shows and films with similar titles. I am leaning towards the first, because in-universe "Strife" is a drug and the only thing that grows around the cabin this is set in. It's a reference to the history of violence and colonialism that etc etc you get the idea.
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Feb 26, 2025 17:37
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A Death in Belgrade sounds exotic, it’s the one I’m gonna click on as an American.
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Feb 26, 2025 18:04
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