The Fun Of Film Financing

Hey guys!

Today I'm going to talk about an aspect of the funnest part of Indie Film - Finances.

As student film-makers you really have three immediate easy options on how to finance your productions:

1. Get a rich friend/family member to throw money at you.
2. Do work to fund your productions/Use your production company as a business.
3. Choose productions that you can make for nothing/almost nothing.

There is a fourth option of external funding, but I'll cover that in a later post as it easily qualifies as its own topic.

The first suggestion I presented is a bit of a weak one, most directors won't have people who are willing to throw money at a production where they won't make that money back, if you do have someone close to you that has the money to pour into your production then count yourself lucky, and make them aware of what you're doing and how you're spending the money.

The next option is the option I initially went for with my web-series, I was lucky enough to already have a job, and I picked up as many shifts as I could get to gather for my web-series, I have even gone as far as to get another job so that I could have one job that personally funds my life expenses (Such as my car which is a rather essential item when film-making), and another job that I use to fund my productions, it's a system that does work, but it takes a lot of passion to work a job knowing that the only reward you'll get out of it is your film getting made.

The second option in point two is what I've recently been doing, fortunately I've had the contacts to get paid work through my production company (Grumpy Hobo Films) and though I do have crew members to pay from these all money that I would have from my cut I put back into the company (As does the other co-owner of GHF) this means we have extra money for expenses such as productions, and we enjoy making film so we're willing to put in the time and effort for no personal reward, but that the company is better off, and we can do more with our passion which is making film! 

The third option is to make productions that require little/no budget, it requires a lot of begging, borrowing and favors, but it is possible, and it really comes down to knowing the limit of your resources, and being clever enough to make intriguing stories within confines, but doing so in a way that the stories don't suffer for them. Look at everything as an opportunity to make a film rather than a burden on your production and you'll have a much better time. 

Thanks for reading!

-Geraint

Practical Film School: - Pre-Production - Selecting Your Team (Lesson 1)

Hey guys

So as a quick intro "Practical Film School" is going to be my series of posts which will act as a guide for indie film-makers to help them progress projects, it'll be in several parts and I'll start with Pre-Production tips, but from there It may become more rounded, and will bounce around various aspects of film production (But I'll try to group them together somewhere on here when I learn how to do it!)

In these I'll try to cover areas that are generally left untouched by most other sources, though as we're all talking about the same topic (The Production Process) there will be overlap.

Selecting Your Team

At first this may seem simple, and even trivial/irrelevant, but selecting who you work with on a film project is the most important part of Pre-Production, without the right people in the right roles you won't move your project forwards no matter how good your concept is, or even how good your script is.

There are 4 main questions you need to ask when looking for your production team:

1. Can you completely trust them in their role?
2. Are they willing to learn/diversify?
3. How well do they play with others?
4. Will they put the project before their own ego? 

In my experience people who show these four qualities are the best people to work with in the stressful, yet rewarding process of producing a film/series, and people who don't have these qualities have a tendency to stall projects as they're incredibly difficult to work with, I'll explain.

• Can you completely trust them in their role - This is important as a film production can be hectic, so as a producer/director you need to be able to trust them to get the job done on time, and you need to trust they can do it well and not have to completely rely on you, they're in a creative industry so there's no reason they can't use that creativity to solve problems!

• Are they willing to learn/diversify - This is extremely important, especially if you're an Indie film-maker, as it's extremely likely you'll be doing more than your listed roles, you should be prepared to do everything, and they should be prepared to step in to help out anywhere on set/during pre-production. (Extra credits to crew who go out of their way to develop their weak points - They're the best people to work with)

• How well do they play with others - Lets face it, someone who constantly makes arguments out of everything is not only going to stall your production, but that person is more than likely an asshole, in my experience they shoot down ideas and rubbish them without any solution or intent to develop them, pre-production is a bit like sculpting, you constantly make little changes to get to your finished product, which looks completely different to what you started with, there are exceptions that prove the rule, but most of the time it's an evolutionary process that's the beautiful brainchild of collaboration and teamwork. 

• Will they put the project before their own ego - The film industry is a tough industry to break into, so it's no secret that you need an ego to make it through and be successful, but when you're collaborating on projects you need to put your own ego aside and do what's best for the project. It sounds ridiculous but I've worked with people who will bring a completed idea to the table and will refuse to make any changes to the idea, out of what I can only imagine is the notion that their own ego will be damaged by not getting it perfect on the first pitch.  No idea is perfect at first, the more development you put into it the better it becomes, it's that simple!

My advice if you're a debut film-maker, or you're gathering a new production crew is that you should go out with your crew and film a short, put a bit of pre-production into it, but go out and film! The only way of telling if a crew is compatible is to go and make something, that way you know who you can work well with, or who may be problematic! It also gets people used to roles they may have in your major production, and will allow them to develop any skills they lack!

Thanks for reading!

-Geraint

Introductions

Hey guys!

So seeing as this is my first post on my new suave blog I thought I should take the time to introduce myself before delving into my blog content!

Firstly I'm Geraint! I'm an aspiring Director/Producer who's currently starting out, yes I have a ridiculously Welsh name (Thanks to my parents for that one) but I'm currently delving into the world of Film, and I plan on documenting that journey on here!

So Why "An Indie Film Adventure"?

Basically I've wanted to start blogging for a few years, I've made a few posts on my Tumblr account - But you all know what Tumblr can be like, you're never too far from extreme social activism, or a post so funny that it's caused people to die... As well as that Tumblr isn't such a great place for a blog, as I found posts would get lost among the horde of reblogs, but enough about that!

The reason I started this now is that I'm currently in a place in my life personally and professionally where I am happy, I've never felt better about myself, and my self-made career in film production is really beginning, last weekend I did my first paid work, with the prospect of more coming my way in the near future from a variety of people/organisations! 

The reason it's called "An Indie Film Adventure" is that I am an Indie Film maker, and I'm just starting my adventure into this crazy, tiring, fast paced world that I'm loving more each and every day!

Tell us about your work!

Well overly enthusiastic reader! I'm a Director & Producer for my company Grumpy Hobo Films which myself and my good friend Liam (Links at the end of the post) co-founded 2 years ago, since then we've been working on a project called "Holmes" which is a contemporary take on the story of a young Sherlock Holmes, this production has had a difficult time getting into filming, I guess you could say it has been stuck in what's known as "Development Hell", but as of now we're moving that forward.

Following a change in the organisational structure of the company it allowed us to do other projects and search for external work to bring in funding to the company for our other production (E.g. Holmes) with no objection. And since we've had a fantastic time, and we're currently working on 3 adverts for a stage schools production, and we have 2 music videos in the pipeline! 

The idea for this blog is that I'll post updates on what I'm doing with my Indie Film projects, write advice posts for new film-makers, and give aspiring film-makers and general audiences a window into what it's like to get started in the film industry, and hopefully I can help a few people out!

Thanks for reading!

-Geraint

My Twitter Page: https://twitter.com/Geraint_Thomas

Liam's Twitter: https://twitter.com/liam_matt

Grumpy Hobo Films (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/GrumpyHoboFilms

Grumpy Hobo Films (Facebook): https://www.facebook.com/GrumpyHoboFilms