What's next?

When talking with numerous amounts of people about my first feature the comment or stories that were constantly brought up was what's next? What is next on the plate for the aspiring writer/director or writer or director? I was told by many people stories of people who finish their first feature and begin to shop it around the market and the questions that always arise are, "do you have anything else?"

I tend to wonder if these questions are because they don't like what they see. Although we often times may assume this result I believe that it is for a different reason. Filmmaking is an art but whether you like it or not it is also a business. Producers, distributors, finaceers want to know if you are going to be a good business investment. Are you a one time fling or can you build a lasting relationship with these people to continue making movies?

So what is next? I may be more fortunate then some in the fact that I feel like I have a limitless supply of ideas; some may be good others may be horendous. I have learned, though, that I don't know if they are any good unless I write them down. I have heard tell that the great horror/suspence writer Stephen King writes his ideas down and puts them in a drawer, if he still is thinking about it a year or so down the line then he decides it is at least worth a try in writing it. This may not be true but the idea helps me tremendously. I have found that if I can just put something down on paper then I at least have it out of my head and can move on to something else. Often times this is how I am able to determine if the idea is good or not. If I only get a few pages into the script and reach a block the forget about it the I am not always inclined to continue.

I have about 10 scripts in a folder on my computer that I have started, some completed 1st drafts others one or two pages long other are the entire 1st act. One thing I have discovered is that if I have an idea in the middle of another story I am working on, it may interfere. My conclusion normally ends up where I write down my idea and then go back to what I should be working on.

Every artist has their own method of writing, directing, composing, acting, etc. But the key is not necissarly in the process but owning your method and making it work for you as best as possible. So what's next? You don't neccisarily have to have the script, it is a good idea to at least have some clue of an idea. In this business you never know who you'll meet or who you will be able to pitch to, so always be ready and always have some options for what's next.

The Catch 22

It is often said that to get money for your film you need to have names attached to it and to get names attached to your film you need to have money attached to it. The good ol' catch 22, right? Well maybe there is a way around that. In the preliminary stages of Bounty I learned a few things that I did not realize until after I had completed production. Budget, funds and attachments are often times suggestions before they are ever realizations.

For the next project I can say I will do quite a bit differently. First being with the budget. When creating your budget, don't undercut yourself - you don't have to be realistic when creating the 1st draft of the budget. Think of it like script writing, there will always be revisions. The budget is to help you determine how much money you will need, it is not necissarily saying how much money you have. I would suggest putting in the full price of everything when creating the budget, save the deal making for your prep month/week. Put your crews wages at union standards, locations at full amounts, every permit that you will need. You may even want to put your talent at around $5,000 a day - who knows you may get that A-list actor attached.

Once you have completed your preliminary budget start calling up the talent and crew you want to have involved. A good place to be able to get in contact with these people is by subscribing to the website, WhoRepresents.com, this will give you access to an exahustive database of talent and who they are represented by. Start calling up the agents and managers of the talent you want to work with. In the little bit of experience I have had, I would recommend talking with the managers as opposed to the agent - agents are looking at the dollar value while managers are more open to the project/idea. This is where your budget comes into play. Often times you will be asked what your budget is; now if you were realistic when creating your budget, believing you would only get $500,000, the response you may get is that it would be a waste of their time. Imagine the difference if you told them it was a $10mil budget. They would be more interested in the project, right? Well your first thing is to be able to send a script their way and you would only be able to do that if they let you.

So by making your budget with everything at full price you may be able to tap into that talent that you want to get attached. Once they have an expressed interest, turn around and start using that to raise funds. Go to the studios, go to distribution companies and tell them what you have. It worked for Snakes on a Plane, didn't it?

What's there to lose? I am in the proses of giving it a try so if it works I will deffinately share my experiences.