Producing

You're right, Michael Fitzer. Making movies is hard! And lonely. I tried to make two feature films way back, and that's how it was for me. I did get producers/etc. on my team eventually. I didn't have a lot of resources back then (like the resources on Stage 32 and this podcast), which made it harder. I just followed Liz and Alrik's podcast. Thanks for sharing it. I don't plan on getting back into producing, but who knows. Hope you get your features into production and the funding!

For an unproduced animation writers, what’s the most likely amount paid for first script sale?

Xochi Blymyer good question to Geoffroy. I would say I'd want script notes from a Producer, but who I'd done my due diligence on and was a match for the project. Just my ten penneth worth.

Thanks so much for sharing RB. I'm from the Caribbean and I'm in pre-production for a movie based on a screenplay that made it to the semifinals of a respected Hollywood screenwriting contest. My fellow producers and I have a 25-minute movie demo based on 4 scenes in the movie (my proof of concept). We're currently working on building an online and offline following to show potential investors that there's a demand for the movie. In terms of distributors, how do I go about connecting with them? I'm looking at distributors in countries with large Caribbean diaspora populations (e.g. the US, UK, Canada).

Producers can be very market-oriented. They aren't necessarily looking at the craft like a reader would do. They each have their respective specialty, expertise and skills. Take each comment for what it's worth.

Thank You, RB!

Great interview Geoff Hall and Sandra! Alexia really knows her stuff and is always so generous with her experience.

Leonardo Ramirez that’s right, Leonardo. We had a great time together. Alexia has great energy and light.

We are really proud of this interview, aren’t we Geoff Hall? Alexia Melochi is first female filmmaker who accepted our challenge and it took us months to set up agendas, so we are really proud of it. Second, she is “the Masterclass” of filmmaking and her insights about Women in Film are precious.

Seeing Rachel it’s a female driven screenplay and to have Alexia was the cherry on top, for now. There is still more to come!

Thank you also Stage 32 for all of this connections and linked us!

Sandra Isabel Correia indeed we are very proud of it, Sandra. And yes, it took a lot of setting up, but your perseverance was the key. Yes, with thanks to Stage32 for the connections. Our community is precious to us.

Thanks for your persistence and focus Sandra Isabel Correia and Geoff Hall. It´s a great opportunity for me to get to know so many different things. Congrats you both.

Pat Alexander hi Pat, Hartlepool is my home town.

As a kid, this area of Lynn Street and Whitby Street was a vibrant shopping area until the 80s suffered an industrial decline.

My apprenticeship as a Sparky was in Church Street, which is at the top of those two streets and Church Street appeared in Ridley Scott’s first film, The Boy and Bicycle back in the early 60s, I think.

I was up there a couple of weeks ago and Northern Studios were having an open weekend event, asking people to visit and share their views on the new developments.

I loved this linking with educational institutions, as the young people of the area need to have hope, when they leave school.

"By linking with the colleges the production village will benefit from their views and skills and be able to prepare them for the future."

This could potentially resurrected the economic situation in the town, which has suffered greatly since those dark days of Margaret Thatcher. Here’s hoping for great things!

Thanks for the share!

Amazing Geoff Hall, never realized you were from there! As someone from Louisiana who saw in the late aughts/early 10s how building film/TV infrastructure can evolve a community and provide large economic impact, it really is an exciting thing so long as the investments are focused on long term growth in tandem with short term rebate-driven profits.

Pat Alexander thank you Pat. Yes, it is much needed investment for the town, which has suffered years of asset stripping. Let's hope it stimulates the economy long-term.

Pat Alexander here’s how it was covered in the local paper.

Great question Elmare. The best lesson was the "Rule of 3" Give someone something 3 times before you ever ask for anything in return. This business is so hard and people want to work with people that they like. You want to give selflessly to people to gain support and trust. Then, once you develop a relationship, then you can ask for something in return. It's about the long term relationship, not the short term gain.

Amanda Toney This actually really good. Thank you for this this. It will help me to place boundaries around my giving as well. Being a Business owner , you are the brand and by giving too much, your business suffers. I love this advice Nugget. Thank you

Hi, Elmare Hendricks. I was a producer way back. I learned that a producer needs to learn about the different areas of the industry and stay up to date on what's going on in the industry.

Ma mentor at his best the big RB!see you in Cannes

Movies will come back in full when they respect their audience.

When you go to Burger King and ask for a burger, do they say, "No, hey, wait, you don't want that burger. You should want and like this one better because it deserves to be our best burger." The guy would say, "Dude, you just sold me this burger I liked yesterday no problem, and I want it again, why can't I have it?"

This is what's happening with film. "Here, here's a movie that worked for an exact audience already, now I'm going to take it, re-create it, make it political, and you're expected to like it just as much if not more even though it's not the same product. And if you disagree that we wasted $400 million while other writers were starving, well you're just wrong and angry!"

That shit doesn't work. In an industry where you're selling things and trying to make money, like movies, your audience's opinion is twice as important as yours. It's everything. They're the ones paying you. If you piss them off, say goodbye to success.

I ask you...how many studios or streaming services do you see asking their audience what they want to see and then acting on it? I watch movies each day, yet I'm never asked what I want to watch. I'm force-fed what studios believe I want to watch or SHOULD want to watch.

I'm speaking as a fan, not a writer. It's simple. People want fun, crazy, dramatic, loving, thrilling stories and characters. They don't want people trying to tell them how to lean politically, or ethically, but there's traces of that in every movie nowadays. Almost all of them.

I don't think these people realize it comes across as telling you you're wrong about the world when you're just trying to sit down on your couch after work and enjoy some movie entertainment. That's where they lost everybody. A huge chunk of their audiences felt a certain way and they didn't realize it, yet they still want them to go to the theater and give them money of course.

When I say that I get yelled at or viewed a certain way! Buddy, you're proving my point. You're not listening to me.

You're not listening to your audience.

Been calling for Netflix and Amazon to do this for over a decade, Dwayne Williams. And Netflix has claimed a few. But, for many of the same reasons already expressed here, I wouldn't hold your breath. Yet.

See you there, Darwin Reina! Looking forward to it, my friend.

Its interesting to see how we got to this position. Studios used to spend less on movies and make more daring decisions, because the risk was spread out. But if a top exec needs to justify spending $200+ million on one project to shareholders, they're going to go for a safe bet. Most headlines in the trades about big movies talk about their opening weekend box office or breaking some financial milestone rather than if the movie is actually any good. Hopefully post-strike and post-pandemic behaviours will show audiences fatiguing of soulless "spectacle" and craving good storytelling. The last Oscars had a glimmer of hope with titles like Conclave and A Real Pain making waves, and if the Neons and A24s of the world stay true to their values we may see more movies that occupy the mid-budget range and place good storytelling (and storytellers) above all else.

Must-read blog for indie filmmakers and everyone since the industry is changing so fast and so much, Randall Scott White! Mental health is such an important topic, and I'm glad you're shining more light on it!

Randall Scott White this is an amazing blog article, Randall. Thank you very much for writing it.

I was on The Pitt and in January, production actually brought in several Assistant Directors to do background work, because there was so little production happening.... The president of WB came out to set and implied openly that if the government didn't make more money available to the major studios, they would be going to Atlanta. I certainly like additional funding for film, but the California funds only benefit studios who already have enormously deep pockets...

Thanks for sharing this, Geoff Hall, it’s definitely a challenging moment for California’s production landscape, but I’m hopeful that this push for expanded incentives could be a real turning point. The industry there has such deep roots, and with international competition getting fiercer, there are more and more opportunities for creatives to grow elsewhere.

Ashley Renee Smith I think California’s problem stemmed from their original reticence about tax incentives. Whilst they were procrastinating, the rest of the world got on with it.

Welcome, Michael Fitzer! We’re so lucky to have your experience and energy in the Producing Lounge. Three decades in and still loving it is such an inspiration. I’m always excited to learn from members who’ve seen the industry evolve firsthand and still find ways to grow with it.

If you want to make your own projects and have most of control over what's being made you have to produce. I would say producing is a necessity for any true filmmaking artist. I produce but often don't take credit for it. In that way I can focus better on directing. Having that said, finding a good producer to work with is still very hard. If you compare the work of a producer with most other disciplines its far not that creative and very much alike a management position in regular business. So its about taking a lot of risk, having to deal with non creative work and if your unlucky you work with creatives blaming you for a potential malaise. If you want to be a true producer in film you have to have access to money, money you can spend on production, but also on R&D. There are only few who are in that position, which often makes the business of film very dodgy and a lot of us lonesome dreamers instead of hardworking actual producing members of the community. I advice everybody to watch the movie Bowfinger, which is really funny and contains a lot of truth about the reality a producer faces. Also The Player by Altman might be of your interest and Living in Oblivian. I choose for producing at filmschool and was trained by some of the best producers in the business, including in the VS and UK.

Willem Elzenga, Thank you for sharing your vision, your experience, I really appreciate that and your insights. Producing truly is the backbone of filmmaking, even if it often goes unrecognized. Balancing creativity with leadership is tough, and finding the right collaborator is even harder. The financial hurdles are real, and access to funding can make or break a project.

I love your film recommendations: “Bowfinger” and “The Player” capture the chaos and challenges producers face. I’d love to hear more about your training with top producers in the U.S. and U.K. What was the most valuable lesson you learned?

Most valuable lesson's learned:

1. Everything is possible

2. Don't assume to much

3. Stay true to yourself

4. Make sure you have not got a bad bank

5. It's show business

6. Hollywood is a small town

7. Some producers made over thousands of films

8. People come and go

9. IMDB you can reach by phone in L.A

10. Your either in or out of the loop

Willem Elzenga , these lessons are invaluable; thank you for sharing them! "Everything is possible" is such a powerful mindset to have in this industry, and staying true to yourself is essential when navigating the ups and downs of filmmaking.

The financial side is definitely one of the toughest aspects of producing, and having the wrong banking situation can be a real setback. Relationships are everything, and the industry can feel smaller than it seems from the outside.

I had no idea you could reach IMDb by phone in L.A.—that’s an intriguing tip! I will ad all of them to my list :))