I have been away for quite some time.
I've been working on a short I made and casting mainly. I did want to note on here for the few that do read this blog that I will be packing up shop at blogger and moving things over to the blog on our official site: glowmovie.net.
I'll be taking this blog down entirely in the next month or two but wanted to give our followers on here a little notice to help you stay in the loop.
Happy New Year!
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
The Road Less Traveled
Hello all,
I wanted to give an update as to where I am in the process of getting funding.
I won't get too specific with business details and won't make this post too lengthy either. However, I did want to let everyone know that I am in currently in the thick of pitching to would-be investors. Some might feel discussing any business details in a blog is a bit tacky, and maybe it is. However, aside from personal interest in me, I consider the primary appeal that this blog provides to be a step-by-step, inside look into how a film is getting made. Growing up with aspirations of becoming a filmmaker, I was always curious as to how some of the great directors wound up making their first films. I'd always ask, "how did they 'do it?" While there's no set playbook for becoming a director (or breaking into show business in general for that matter), I do think there's some value in reading how someone else is trying to do so. Maybe it'll provide some level of insight into the current landscape of independent film financing, or maybe due to my outsider status, it'll convince others to try going inside the industry first. Who knows? It's up to you.
With that said, I will share some insight into what I've experienced thus far. In my early beginnings of trying to get the movie funded, I confined what an investor was to "rich guys." I figured there were people out there with so much money, they were just looking to give it away, invest in something, blow it on a coke binge weekend in Vegas. I don't know. Anyways, in my mind, I was thinking there are going to be the smart version of "rich guy" and the dumb version. Through a year of networking, I believe I only met one real "rich guy," and he was the dumb kind. Unfortunately, upon reading 20 pages of my screenplay, he told me he was too bored to finish the rest of it. Who knows? If my movie had a violent shootout set in a strip club at the beginning, I could have a movie made right now. I digress though.
The bottom line is that either I am terrible at networking, or I'm just not in the best place to network to potential investors. There's probably a little truth to both. I probably could improve in branding myself, in speaking persuasively, in being likable. On the other hand, even if I was the better version of myself at all those things, I still might be in a similar place to where I am now. Maybe a trip to LA or New York...or Vegas would be a better place to find all these hypothetical "rich guys."
Needless to say, that fairytale moment in Entourage where Nicky Rubestein says "Fuck it," and writes a phat check to cover the budget of an entire movie never came for me.
So my mind got to wandering. $100,000 is a lot of money, but it's not a lot, alot. It'd be hard to come by, but it's within the realm of possibility. At this point, with my drive, possibility is all I need to say, "go."
And so I went. I have now redefined what a potential investor looks like to me. Now, a potential investor looks like my buddies I went to college with, my old friend from third grade, the girl I was in the friend zone with in high school's dad, basically anyone I know that will listen to me.
Thus far, I have begun calling old friends, new friends, some family, just to kind of explain the investment opportunity I'm offering.
To those I haven't called, expect one. To those I have, thanks for listening (hopefully).
To anyone who's curious, here are the basics of the opportunity. The budget for the film is around 100 grand. I'm selling shares in the film for $1000 a piece. There are incentives to get in early. The first 20 shares are worth 1% of the annual gross per share. The following 40 shares purchased are worth 0.75% of the annual gross per share. The last 40 shares are worth 0.5% of the annual gross per share. I plan on buying around 30 shares myself from my copier sales money. I believe in the movie that much and honestly enjoy the accountability to succeed that a personal investment provides.
Since I plan on shooting the film next Spring, I then need to sell about 70 shares outside of my own by then. I worked out that I need to sell 10 shares per month to stay within that timeline. Last month, I accomplished that goal. Thanks be to God.
Now, I have another push for October going on. It will never end until it ends.
I am happy to share this information for those curious about the process. However, I also share because I will honestly talk to anyone about this project or the investment opportunity. If you or anyone you know might be interested in that, I'll cook dinner for you, take you out for coffee, talk to you on the phone, whatever you prefer. I believe in this thing, and I think I can make you believe too if you would just give me the chance. So to any readers, please don't be bashful to ask questions or show this to friends.
The last thing I'll write in this entry relates to attitude. I'll shamefully admit my attitude hasn't always been the most positive throughout this process. It's hard to remain optimistic and upbeat when you feel lost, and when you're failing at a given task. However, only in the past few months have I realized that there's never a reason to be angry or upset about trying to make a dream happen. Have a goal. Make a plan to reach that goal. Recognize the resources you have access to. Reach out to people and use your resources to the best of your ability. Remain humble, honest, and positive throughout all of that. That's all you can do. Again, not saying I'm perfect in any of that, but that's the road I want to take. We'll see how it goes.
Please don't be shy to leave comments if you have anything to say/suggest as it pertains to the blog or my efforts. Please subscribe to the blog to get a reminder when a new entry comes out, and please share, share, share! Thanks!
I will leave you with the Nicky Rubenstein scene I referenced earlier. If only...
I wanted to give an update as to where I am in the process of getting funding.
I won't get too specific with business details and won't make this post too lengthy either. However, I did want to let everyone know that I am in currently in the thick of pitching to would-be investors. Some might feel discussing any business details in a blog is a bit tacky, and maybe it is. However, aside from personal interest in me, I consider the primary appeal that this blog provides to be a step-by-step, inside look into how a film is getting made. Growing up with aspirations of becoming a filmmaker, I was always curious as to how some of the great directors wound up making their first films. I'd always ask, "how did they 'do it?" While there's no set playbook for becoming a director (or breaking into show business in general for that matter), I do think there's some value in reading how someone else is trying to do so. Maybe it'll provide some level of insight into the current landscape of independent film financing, or maybe due to my outsider status, it'll convince others to try going inside the industry first. Who knows? It's up to you.
With that said, I will share some insight into what I've experienced thus far. In my early beginnings of trying to get the movie funded, I confined what an investor was to "rich guys." I figured there were people out there with so much money, they were just looking to give it away, invest in something, blow it on a coke binge weekend in Vegas. I don't know. Anyways, in my mind, I was thinking there are going to be the smart version of "rich guy" and the dumb version. Through a year of networking, I believe I only met one real "rich guy," and he was the dumb kind. Unfortunately, upon reading 20 pages of my screenplay, he told me he was too bored to finish the rest of it. Who knows? If my movie had a violent shootout set in a strip club at the beginning, I could have a movie made right now. I digress though.
The bottom line is that either I am terrible at networking, or I'm just not in the best place to network to potential investors. There's probably a little truth to both. I probably could improve in branding myself, in speaking persuasively, in being likable. On the other hand, even if I was the better version of myself at all those things, I still might be in a similar place to where I am now. Maybe a trip to LA or New York...or Vegas would be a better place to find all these hypothetical "rich guys."
Needless to say, that fairytale moment in Entourage where Nicky Rubestein says "Fuck it," and writes a phat check to cover the budget of an entire movie never came for me.
So my mind got to wandering. $100,000 is a lot of money, but it's not a lot, alot. It'd be hard to come by, but it's within the realm of possibility. At this point, with my drive, possibility is all I need to say, "go."
And so I went. I have now redefined what a potential investor looks like to me. Now, a potential investor looks like my buddies I went to college with, my old friend from third grade, the girl I was in the friend zone with in high school's dad, basically anyone I know that will listen to me.
Thus far, I have begun calling old friends, new friends, some family, just to kind of explain the investment opportunity I'm offering.
To those I haven't called, expect one. To those I have, thanks for listening (hopefully).
To anyone who's curious, here are the basics of the opportunity. The budget for the film is around 100 grand. I'm selling shares in the film for $1000 a piece. There are incentives to get in early. The first 20 shares are worth 1% of the annual gross per share. The following 40 shares purchased are worth 0.75% of the annual gross per share. The last 40 shares are worth 0.5% of the annual gross per share. I plan on buying around 30 shares myself from my copier sales money. I believe in the movie that much and honestly enjoy the accountability to succeed that a personal investment provides.
Since I plan on shooting the film next Spring, I then need to sell about 70 shares outside of my own by then. I worked out that I need to sell 10 shares per month to stay within that timeline. Last month, I accomplished that goal. Thanks be to God.
Now, I have another push for October going on. It will never end until it ends.
I am happy to share this information for those curious about the process. However, I also share because I will honestly talk to anyone about this project or the investment opportunity. If you or anyone you know might be interested in that, I'll cook dinner for you, take you out for coffee, talk to you on the phone, whatever you prefer. I believe in this thing, and I think I can make you believe too if you would just give me the chance. So to any readers, please don't be bashful to ask questions or show this to friends.
The last thing I'll write in this entry relates to attitude. I'll shamefully admit my attitude hasn't always been the most positive throughout this process. It's hard to remain optimistic and upbeat when you feel lost, and when you're failing at a given task. However, only in the past few months have I realized that there's never a reason to be angry or upset about trying to make a dream happen. Have a goal. Make a plan to reach that goal. Recognize the resources you have access to. Reach out to people and use your resources to the best of your ability. Remain humble, honest, and positive throughout all of that. That's all you can do. Again, not saying I'm perfect in any of that, but that's the road I want to take. We'll see how it goes.
Please don't be shy to leave comments if you have anything to say/suggest as it pertains to the blog or my efforts. Please subscribe to the blog to get a reminder when a new entry comes out, and please share, share, share! Thanks!
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
The Intro
Hello, listening audience!
For those of you who don't know me, my name is Andrew Allen. I'm a Dallasite, a UT grad, and a filmmaker....or at least, that's what I'm trying to be. I'm currently in the process of funding and developing my first feature film currently entitled Glow.
This blog will be devoted to communicating with and updating interested parties on the progress of the film. This film is going to be extremely low budget and will purposefully cast no stars, so I can honestly use any support/word of mouth possible to generate excitement about the project.
This blog will be of interest to anyone who knows me/cares where I am in life, anyone who enjoys following and supporting quality artistic endeavors, and anyone who wants to learn about film and all the work that it takes to make one. I have no idea what I'll do with this blog, how much detail I will share, how much of my personality I will reveal, etc. I've never written a blog, and to be honest, I'm hesitant to even write this one simply because I hate the trend in my generation of oversharing and self-advertising. Whatever though, this is about my movie, not me, and I figure I have to play the game of online media to some extent especially when I am banking on a grassroots marketing effort to make my film a financial success.
So with all that said, I will catch you up on where the film stands.
I have a script, a good script. The movie is a multiple protagonist drama similar to Magnolia, Crash, Babel, Grand Canyon, and many more if you've seen any of those. However, before you get all jaded and cynical about that subgenre being overdone in the past decade, I have to say my film is different from all of them in a few ways. I won't say what they are. You'll just have to take my word for it.
Now what's next? Money.
I know it's rude to talk about money, but I have to convey this sad reality to all the aspiring filmmakers out there. Without money, you don't have a movie. You have a bunch of words on a page. They can be great words, but if you want to turn those words into pictures, you're going to need some green stuff.
The budget for my film is give or take $100,000-$110,000. I'm 22 years old, one year out of college. I don't have near that much money. So... what's my plan? Or what's been my plan?
Well part of it has been to earn a good portion of the budget myself. When I graduated from school a year ago, I was fortunate enough to find a job selling Xerox copiers. This is not a glamorous gig whatsoever, but I am genuinely thankful I'm getting a chance to pursue my dream in a very proactive way, earning money to invest in the movie myself. Why wouldn't I? I believe it will be a huge success!
Even though that's great and all, I'm still moving rather slowly in coming up with the rest of it. I've tried my best to network with friends and family members and talk up the movie to anyone I get a chance to, hoping to reel in that big fish of an investor eventually. However, that just hasn't happened. I do plan on doing a Kickstarter and opening up to smaller investors in the very near future though. I will keep you posted on that as it develops. Also, should you or anyone you know be interested in hearing about the investment opportunity that is this film, let me know. I'd be more than happy to talk with you about that.
So I don't have enough money. Where does that leave the film? For now, stuck. It's stuck in the poor-man's preproduction, indie hell of "how do I get this financed?" I won't say I have the answer to that question until I see five zeros staring at me in Glow LLC's bank account. But I'm constantly moving towards making it happen. If something doesn't work, I try something different. I have faith I will figure this out.
I have so much faith that I have perhaps made the reckless decision to decide I'm going to shoot the movie late Spring 2013 regardless of how much money I get by then. You can drag out funding an indie film for years if you want to, but if you want to make something happen, make it happen. That's my philosophy for now. I'll make the thing for whatever I can and accept it for what it ends up being. Maybe it'll be a little less cash than I originally wanted. Maybe it'll be right on the money... no pun intended. Who knows, and who cares? There's no law that says the $60,000 or $70,000 version of this movie is inherently worse than the $125,000 version. Now, one version might require more people skills and creativity to get it done than the more expensive version, but to borrow a phrase from the great Ron Washington, "That's how filmmaking go."
So that's where I am. I am no longer waiting to find a trail. I'm blazing one. I'm a runaway train at this point. Anyone who wants to hop on, please do. It should be a crazy ride.
For those of you who don't know me, my name is Andrew Allen. I'm a Dallasite, a UT grad, and a filmmaker....or at least, that's what I'm trying to be. I'm currently in the process of funding and developing my first feature film currently entitled Glow.
This blog will be devoted to communicating with and updating interested parties on the progress of the film. This film is going to be extremely low budget and will purposefully cast no stars, so I can honestly use any support/word of mouth possible to generate excitement about the project.
This blog will be of interest to anyone who knows me/cares where I am in life, anyone who enjoys following and supporting quality artistic endeavors, and anyone who wants to learn about film and all the work that it takes to make one. I have no idea what I'll do with this blog, how much detail I will share, how much of my personality I will reveal, etc. I've never written a blog, and to be honest, I'm hesitant to even write this one simply because I hate the trend in my generation of oversharing and self-advertising. Whatever though, this is about my movie, not me, and I figure I have to play the game of online media to some extent especially when I am banking on a grassroots marketing effort to make my film a financial success.
So with all that said, I will catch you up on where the film stands.
I have a script, a good script. The movie is a multiple protagonist drama similar to Magnolia, Crash, Babel, Grand Canyon, and many more if you've seen any of those. However, before you get all jaded and cynical about that subgenre being overdone in the past decade, I have to say my film is different from all of them in a few ways. I won't say what they are. You'll just have to take my word for it.
Now what's next? Money.
I know it's rude to talk about money, but I have to convey this sad reality to all the aspiring filmmakers out there. Without money, you don't have a movie. You have a bunch of words on a page. They can be great words, but if you want to turn those words into pictures, you're going to need some green stuff.
The budget for my film is give or take $100,000-$110,000. I'm 22 years old, one year out of college. I don't have near that much money. So... what's my plan? Or what's been my plan?
Well part of it has been to earn a good portion of the budget myself. When I graduated from school a year ago, I was fortunate enough to find a job selling Xerox copiers. This is not a glamorous gig whatsoever, but I am genuinely thankful I'm getting a chance to pursue my dream in a very proactive way, earning money to invest in the movie myself. Why wouldn't I? I believe it will be a huge success!
Even though that's great and all, I'm still moving rather slowly in coming up with the rest of it. I've tried my best to network with friends and family members and talk up the movie to anyone I get a chance to, hoping to reel in that big fish of an investor eventually. However, that just hasn't happened. I do plan on doing a Kickstarter and opening up to smaller investors in the very near future though. I will keep you posted on that as it develops. Also, should you or anyone you know be interested in hearing about the investment opportunity that is this film, let me know. I'd be more than happy to talk with you about that.
So I don't have enough money. Where does that leave the film? For now, stuck. It's stuck in the poor-man's preproduction, indie hell of "how do I get this financed?" I won't say I have the answer to that question until I see five zeros staring at me in Glow LLC's bank account. But I'm constantly moving towards making it happen. If something doesn't work, I try something different. I have faith I will figure this out.
I have so much faith that I have perhaps made the reckless decision to decide I'm going to shoot the movie late Spring 2013 regardless of how much money I get by then. You can drag out funding an indie film for years if you want to, but if you want to make something happen, make it happen. That's my philosophy for now. I'll make the thing for whatever I can and accept it for what it ends up being. Maybe it'll be a little less cash than I originally wanted. Maybe it'll be right on the money... no pun intended. Who knows, and who cares? There's no law that says the $60,000 or $70,000 version of this movie is inherently worse than the $125,000 version. Now, one version might require more people skills and creativity to get it done than the more expensive version, but to borrow a phrase from the great Ron Washington, "That's how filmmaking go."
So that's where I am. I am no longer waiting to find a trail. I'm blazing one. I'm a runaway train at this point. Anyone who wants to hop on, please do. It should be a crazy ride.
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