My Learns While In The Middle of Film Finance

In Film, The Challenge Is To Negotiate

I’ve done film challenges before, with their pressure-cooker deadlines and getting know and then love/hate all the team-members you’re stuck with as you spend almost 48-hours straight with them. And as grueling and stressful as this can sometimes be, it is all done for the love of creating a story through film. But not many film-makers can love, or even appreciate the art, of making a successful negotiation.

I’ve found in the last month, from taking my Negotiation and Deal-Making class online, that the love for the craft and the passion behind making a deal go hand-in-hand….If you want to be a successful indie film-maker. The biggest take-away I go from this class is that even if I don’t like a person that I’m about to work with, I can at least find a way to work with their passions. It is said in that it is important to “separate the people from the problem” in any negotiation.

This tactic was mentioned in Getting to Yes, a very smart, negotiation tactic book. This ideal very recently helped me out when I met a potential financier in NYC. He was smart and Harvard educated. But looking behind the title and seeing this man for what he’s really worth (or why he was there meeting me that day) I knew that we could make a deal. He was there to make money and gain experience producing a film and I wanted to get a responsible hedge-fund manager that knew how to “talk money” to investors.

What I loved the most about my real-life negotiation this month is that I got the instinctual feeling that both this financier and myself can learn a lot from each other and ultimately make each-other more successful. Although it seems everyone wants to be a director in this business (ask the film students I went to school with), I’‘m finally getting the handle of what it is to be a savvy negotiator in this business.

And although I’m not filming this spring, which I outlined in my learning timeline, I’m much happier with where I’m at now as part of being a good negotiator is not rushing anything!

Know Your Audience! -How Blumhouse Does It...

What does J Lo have in common with the horror movie industry? Well, a lot whether you readily know about it or not. You've heard me mention before how A-List actors and celebrities are no longer shying away from horror movie projects? But why do we see actors like J Lo, more and more, grace the silver screen under a well-known horror movie label? Well, Latino audiences are apparently the 'silver lining' to a sometimes dwindling box office. This fact made news in Variety a couple of weeks ago as the article explains how latinos tend to line-up for a good scare when looking for a movie.

The movie Boy Next Door that features Jennifer Lopez along-side a hot and young male lead may just be the formula to success when ticket sales are low. At least this is how Jason Blum of Blumhouse Productions looks at things. Earlier last year in 2014, Jason is getting accolades for his indie-produced flick Whiplash which demonstrates the breadth of expression that Blum plays with as far as his taste in movies. In short, he takes calculated gambles with what projects he chooses to associate his brand with.

For nearly 8 years now, Blumhouse Productions made their name (and money) for advertising themselves as "that horror movie company" that makes, well, creepy movies. But what incentives can you enjoy when you become successful in the box office? Well, if you choose your projects carefully like Jason Blum, you get to continue on, branching out from the horror genre, and sign major deals with Universal Studios, etc. to make whatever kind of movie you want! This is just another reason why a chose to make horror movies first and then branch-out into other genres. And, as always, it will work because I won't have any qualms about choosing the best stories to be adapting to the big screen.

Novelist JK Rowling Speaks About The "Benefits of Failure"

While perusing the best of Ted Talks, I found one of the most-inspiring writers of all time, J.K. Rowling, has a optimism and a fresh take on how failure helped pave the path to where she got to award-winning novelist today. She mentions in her blog, "There's an expiry date on what you can blame your parents for around your own failures in life." Poverty is only romanced by fools, she goes on to describe as the harsh conditions around her upbringing was not the focal point of her speech...

As she speaks at a commencement speech at Harvard, she acknowledges how many of the students she's speaking to are not too "well-acquainted" with failure. -She shares her own personal experienced poverty growing up, a short-lived and imploding marriage and then the coffee shop she escaped to to write. Failure helped Rowling feel "set-free" as she was truly aware of who she was without any delusion and get down to the bare-bones at what her passion is in life.

"Failure helps you realize your strengths to survive," she goes on to speak. Personally a very recently, I found myself standing at a precipice of what I thought was a fulfilling life: a steady job with a paycheck, benefits and friends.... Or who I thought were my friends at the time. I was afraid if I jumped off from this rock of a what I considered a very stable existence that I would fall, get injured and never recover. I thought my day job was everything to me. In truth, I think I was brain-washed to believe that it was the best part of my life. I let myself get brainwashed.

After being un-employed (just doing odd jobs) for 8 months, I came to realize the things most important to me... My husband and our growth as individuals and a couple, our 7 zany but wonderful pets and my passion to tell good stories. If I was asked to strip away all the layers around who I am and introduce myself I would say, "I am Stephanie and I am a writer who loves to tell enigmatic stories." And like J.K. Rowling, I hope my stories will be as inspiring as the giving and helpful life I've lived.

"We make a life by what we get, but we make a life by what we give." - Winston Churchill

Become The Master of Review - Research Topics You Want To Make Into Movies

So last I checked in, I told you guys about how I became a movie-reviewer for horror-movies.ca. Well, I one-upped myself and started reviewing activities centered around Zombie and Surviving the Zombie apocalypse for The Zombie Education Alliance which is a pretty cool site for all things zombies... Not just the Walking Dead... which is going to have a new spin-off series called "Cobalt", by the way.... Probably so Robert Kirkman (creator) can kill-off more characters we care about... I digress.

The important thing here is, if I haven't mentioned it before (and I apologize if I did), it's important to constantly review the subject matter that you want to make your movie "in-the-vein" of... Sure, you don't want others ideas to taint YOUR vision... Or your movie/script idea is so art-housy that no comparison can do it justice, but you're in the BUSINESS of making a movie. So it's important to check the film market catalogs every once and a while to see if your type of movie is actually getting picked up by sales agents and if your idea is sell-able internationally.

Most importantly, when you become a critique in the horror-movie or TV business, you're getting it out there how you - as a viewer - like certain things and can see how blatantly some ideas or genres (yes, even zombies) can be played out. Often times we're so harsh on ourselves as writer/producers (I am, anyways) that we don't even take the time to let enough people that aren't family to review our work. Opposite problem - you're too afraid your idea will get taken because its so fresh, so original, you would simply DIE if someone stole your idea...

NEWS FLASH - You aren't a real writer is you have only ONE IDEA or story in your head to tell the world. And if you do have just one... Keep thinking about it....When you're done thinking about all the cool moments and things you've experienced in your life or "what if" scenarios - you'll realize you have a dozen great ideas.

The reality is, films with almost the exact same story-line get released in the theaters sometimes in the same year! -Massive stream of consciousness or conspiracy theory? -I don't think so. We all instinctually have great stories within us that we just KNOW the public will want to see. The questions is, "Do you have the balls (or lady balls) to tell a unique story or like it is?"

Feel free to leave your comments on my Walking Dead Mid-Season 5 Finale Recap or on my Blogger below:

http://www.zombieeducationalliance.com/walking-dead-mid-season-5-finale-recap/

Don't Just Write, Podcast! - MAD Podcast3

My husband and I have been working on a "Mad About Comics" podcast as we love to also talk about successful comic-to-movie cross-overs and not-so successful. What we like about our podcast is that it really is a video cast that includes pictures around the subject matter we are talking about.

Our latest episode has been a little delayed as I've been super sick with the flu that's been going around. But we finally edited the damn thing and here it is!

Adding Marketing Value With Zombie Comic Book

So yesterday marked a mile-stone in my career as I have my first published work finally available on the comic digital platform site, ComiXology. Just one year ago, I was wishing to be a writer that attended Comic Cons, but not only as a fan you see. I wanted to be a part of the creative world of artists that get to motivates and share their stories.  And in the world of comics-turned-movies, its not a bad idea to start with a written work first before jumping in and making your film dream project.

This is just one leg in the long marathon that is making a feature film, always keeping marketing in-mind first. And while we're no "Walking Dead" zombie series, we are the first series that explores different type of corpse anamolies and exposes the idea of "what ifs" when people get fun moments turned upside-down in a blink of an eye.

The story is basically about a 5k Zombie race gone horribly wrong and what regular civilians do to survive during a secret military recruitment program. -So my story begs the questions that I will ask any reader that check it out, so I will ask them, "What would you do if this happened to you?"

Here is the full synopsis shared from the ComiXology site:

"Go on a zombie run," they said. "It'll be FUN," they said.

Well, a group of friends discovers just how unreliable "they" can be when they participate in a 5k zombie race and encounter genuine maniacs who take to being zombies a little too literally.

Dead Last is a short concept version of a feature-length film currently in pre-production. Some might say it's The "Hunger Games" meets "28 Days Later", but all you'll be saying afterwards is, "When can I watch the feature?"

Check out more about Dead Last here and continue doing what you love. :)

When Making Films, Make Time For Philanthropic Work!

Reflecting back on my class and classes I’ve taken in my Entertainment Business program (I am a "serial student" with 2 Undergraduate degrees and 2 Masters Degrees), I realize that I’m on pare with my goals I’ve outlined for myself when I created a video timeline of what I wanted to accomplish. Why do I do video timelines? Well, the video part is so its fun to re-review every once and a while and creating timelines, lists and diaries is a way for you as a filmmaker to keep yourself accountable.

During one class in particular (as I'm currently taking a Project & Team Management Course), I wanted to learn how to effectively manage a team and include everyone in class exercises such as creating a team project while leveraging each individual’s strengths to get a project done even better than I would have originally imagined. Taking this class has also inspired me to continue building me team for my feature film and reach out to my mentors continually for feedback to make sure my project is on-track and have the viability it needs to return a profit once my team gets to the production phase of things. I also collaborated with a local film director in my home-town to get perspective from a filmmaker that I feel has great instinct for shots and would make a great assistant director on my feature. You can see him, Jamie Rivera, pictured above with one of our cast members and we shot at a historical site in downtown Phoenix. I let the site manager know that we were shooting for educational purposes as I was “auditioning” team members to round out my crew. You can save a lot of money on locations if you're a student! But then you have to worry about the paying the loans later. But hey, everything is an investment in your professional career. Even if your not making any money as an artist YET, you have to have full-faith that it will all pay-off someday.

Also, I’ve been keeping myself sharp and (as I promised myself in my goals and timeline), I’ve had Sales Agents cover my script to see if there’s anything I could add to the story to spice it up a bit and I also attended a 5K Zombie Run this month that went to a good cause titled “Hoofbeats With Heart” which helps people rehabilitate themselves by pairing them up with horses! I get excited about these causes because I love animals and can attest to the healing powers that these friendly creatures can have in our lives. While I love philanthropic work as I offered free news coverage as I work for horror-movie.ca, I also used this opportunity to take notes for my feature project as my story is about “a 5K zombie race gone bad”. Priscilla Barney, the event coordinator, has agreed to meet with me to see if we can bring more attention to the race and also do a collaboration that would help promote my movie “Dead Last” as we would love to interview people that come “dead last” during these races as its not about what place you come in, but how you finish and what your race represents.

My experiences so far during my class coupled with my drive to better myself outside my scholastic works is indicative of what I think my project represents. We’re all in this “human race” together and if I can eventually make my feature movie dream come true, my passions and marketing sensibilities that highlights teamwork will eventually come to the forefront.