A quick blog today and I promise to get back into it…This is an amazing book that breaks down how the studios creatively account for their income and profit participants. ANYONE who ever gets a percentage point on a movie should read this it is quite amazing… No wonder things need to change…

Hi, remember me? Yes I’ve been absent for a little while with my blog. Things have been quite hectic. So hectic in fact that I’ve had two movies green lit in the last six months. A $15M L.A. based thriller which I co-wrote and will direct called SIN OF MAN and a $4M classic horror called 9TH PASSENGER that LionsGate UK are involved in…

I’ve popped the champagne twice… we’ll three times actually. The third when I found out that a major ‘A’ list actor said he wanted to play the lead in SIN OF MAN… The highs have been enormous… and then the lows, when a few weeks before pre-production begins I get told that the project is dead, have been cavernous.

It’s a tough old world out there. But all is not lost. Both projects are in better shape than ever to get made and I have a well known actress’ production company interested in getting me to write a screen adaptation of a well know play. It’s a project I have wanted to do for years and it may, at last, be happening.

Sometimes it is tough to know how to deal with set backs at such a late stage. Especially when you have put in such enormous amounts of work for a financier who then backs out at the last minute. On SIN OF MAN I had put together budgets, schedules, scouted locations (all for no pay yet :-)) only to find out that they actually had no money. An interesting dilemma. And whilst I have been kicking myself saying ‘why didn’t you spot it before’, I have solace in knowing that the company had another movie who were already in pre production with pay or play offers to some very heavy hitters who were dupped too!

With 9th PASSENGER, things we’re a little different. Days away from transferring the rights to the screenplay the financier said they didn’t want to be involved with a WGA production. They had known all along that it was the only way to make the film. But at the last minute they pulled a fast one and tried to get the writers to go behind the WGA’s back… It was a shoot out… They pulled out their gun thinking that we would roll over… But instead they lost one of the best projects they have ever been involved with.

This town, this industry, is full of bullshitters. People who don’t treat this industry as an ‘industry’. It’s very frustrating. There seems to be a complete lack of worth, or at least understanding of someones worth/a projects worth. People are just blinded by the excitement and sexiness of making movies. They either pay far too much for something or don’t pay enough. Very rarely does something have a correct market value.

I watched Richard Attenbourgous CHAPLIN the other night with Downey Jr in the title role. A great movie. But what got me was the simplicity of the industry. How easy it was to see the chain. One day I’ll build a filmmakers community where we can go back to those days of simplicity… where we can all earn money for the work we do… and have a regular stream of income… where we can work to support each other and grow as a team… and where we can make many great movies each year at a low cost point so that the investors can get their money back and feel as if they are involved in a business that understands it’s market, it’s price point and keeps it’s costs lean. That community with be called FILMMAKERS RANCH…

It’ll take a number of years and, at the moment it seems like it will be based out of England. For the filmmakers I’ll have 30 films that will be made over 3 years, and for certain investors I’ll have a structure whereby I can reduce their risk to 0. Watch this space… As with everything, it will take time but you just have to keep pushing.

We like to see a lot of space on the page so will only be requiring around 125-175 words per page and we’ll probably be getting someone else to re-write what you have done anyway… maybe 3-5 people actually.

$1,200 per page, $6 per word, now that’s not bad is it? Well that’s what a new writer gets on a studio movie. Now, I get sent a lot of scripts and I can assure you that every page isn’t worth $1,200. I’ve got sent a lot of spec scripts that have sold for around $600,000 – that’s a staggering $6,000 per page / $30 per word. When you start to look at it like that, you’d better make sure that you have something really special on each page, something which I won’t cut out in the edit room because it is redundant; each page needs to push the story or develop the characters. But it’s amazing how still I get sent projects that fall flat, it’s like the writers aren’t thinking.

For me, and I know this can be a matter of taste, I don’t just want to know the action: “Character x walks into the room” I want to know how, I want a little detail, I want something interesting that makes me believe I’m in the hands of an accomplished writer who is worth the money. For action line “Character x walks into the room” you have been paid/ or want to be paid $36 dollars or if it’s a good spec sale $180!!!! You can also flip it on the head and use this for characters. Let’s say there are 36 speaking characters in your master screenplay, which works out at $3,300 per character, each character better be well rounded, have their own unique voice and actually have a purpose. For $3,300 I should be able to read the script without any character headings and know instantly whose dialogue it is.

Now I know this is all very simple, and some might say crude, boiling each page and character down to what they are worth, but I’m amazed at the amount of scripts where writers have been lazy. So, all you writers out there, please, once you’ve finished your script just go through each character and ask yourself: “Should I be paid $3,300 for this character and his/her dialogue?” Go through each line of action and ask “is this line worth $72”!!! If they are not, come up with something that is… come up with a line that you are proud of… that you would like to be on the wall of the WGA corridors ranking you as one of the greatest writers of all time.

My rant is over… Back to reading scripts…

Since most of my resent day-to-day work has been writing with writing partners, I’ve been using Final Draft’s ‘CollaboWriter’ function. What a genius idea! With this tool, and the use of skype, you can co-write a screenplay with anyone in the world!!! It really is truly marvelous!

I’ve been using Final Draft for five years or so and really do love it. But in using the ‘CollaboWriter’ function I’ve found a load of bugs in the system. It seems crazy that Final Draft hasn’t sorted these out, but here are the problems I encounter:

• In CollaboWriter mode you can’t undo!!!
• No commands work – I’m so used to using short cuts that this takes a while to get used to!
• Can’t change settings – i.e. elements need formatting and revision modes  need to be set before hand.
• Randomly changes format… Formatting (Character, Action etc) Stays okay with the person in control but the person watching will have dialogue as action, action as scene headings etc etc…

That aside, the program has really helped me enormously.

Over the last 12 months I’ve been working with three different writing partners. With one, we have to use the program. He’s based out of England and earns his main ‘bread and butter’ as an airline attendant. As a result we have been writing a screenplay with him sitting in different parts of the world each week! My next writing partner, Ms Kathy Fischer, lives just fifteen miles down the road and yet 75% of the time we sit in our respective offices and write using the program. For us we find that it is extremely focusing. When we come up against something that has us stumped I jump in the car and we will work face-to-face to sort it out. But, even then, sitting next to each other, we’ll use CollaboWriter - we’ve just got used to seeing what each other types. And then there is Nick Maggio, with whom I wrote SIN OF MAN which the Willis Brothers are currently taking out. Nick HATES collaboWriter. And I mean HATES!!! He can’t stand me being able to see the words as he types - he gets very self concious. He wants to get his thoughts on a scene down before I can begin to formulate my ideas and punch ups… I’ll write a scene, he’ll write a scene, and then we will go back and review - for me, this way of working is just as fun and productive as using CollaboWriter.

So, Final Draft CollaboWriter might not be for everyone, but it certainly makes my life easier… I just wish they’d sort out some of the bugs.

If anyone else has any experience working with writing partners, or software to aid the process, then feel free to chime in!

Over the last few months I’ve had a few people ask me if I had any scripts that could be made for between $400,000 - $500,000. I find this really exciting! Historically when I heard someone wanted help on a film of this budget range I cringed! Firstly most people who talk about making movies in this budget range are people starting out. They write the scripts themselves, produce and direct. More often than not the scripts are dreadful so no matter how the production goes they will not get a good product out of it. And, 99% of the time they will not listen when you plead them to work on the script more!!!

But recently the people who have been asking me about making a movie in this budget range have been people with whom I have a degree of respect for. They are making projects happen, they understand the importance of a solid script to start with, and (the big one) they understand the market.

Having put a few feelers out last week I’ve read a few wonderful scripts which have really made me think. At $400,000 no one is going to earn any money up front, but you do have real chance of making your investors money back. If you can do this you have more of a chance to make another movie and another and another… And then, providing you are making good movies with great scripts, it won’t take long until one of the movies gets noticed.

In my view, the key to making movies at this budget is to make them indie! Don’t try and make anything that the studios or mini majors would want to make. Find a distinct voice and do something different.

I was sent a brilliant script with two female leads. Sending it off to one of the investors with $500,000 he said that movies with female leads don’t make money. And he’s right, when you are spending millions they have not been working of late! But with only $500,000 all those rules go out of the window. Make something quality and I can almost guarantee you that you can make your money back… Over $650,000 and that is when it gets tough - the risks get higher (but so do the possible rewards!)

So, providing you have a great script where would that $500,000 go?

Well first off I think you could shoot for 4 x 6 day weeks at 12 hours per day with 4 weeks to cut the movie. You’d be shooting on two Red Camera’s with a good lens package and you’d take advantage of an all-in one truck like Kelly’s ( www.all-in-one-truck.com ) who turns up with almost everything you would need to shoot.

Shooting just outside Los Angeles here is a hypothetical budget. Depending on the script figures will then change. For instance the movie that I threw this together for only had three cast members. Remember, it’s a shoe string and everyone is working on the project because they love it…

And to get you excited, here are a few films made for under $500,000 that have gone on to do GREAT business:

THE STATION AGENT written and directed by Thomas McCarthy. Produced by Kathryn Tucker and Robert May of SenArt Films. Studio, Miramax. Released Oct. 2003. 1 hr. 28 min. Rated R for profanity and some drug use. Genre, mixed: drama and comedy.

Plot outline: A man born with dwarfism and with a passion for trains inherits a train station in rural New Jersey, where he moves in the hopes of isolating himself from lifelong ridicule, only to find relationships that challenge him to come out of his shell and love in order to heal and be healed.

Starring Peter Dinklage, Bobby Carnavale, and Patricia Clarkson. 10 locations. 21 actor roles. 63 total crew.

Business: Estimated production cost: $500K. Estimated Theatrical Marketing Cost: $1 mil.
Estimated Theatrical Distribution: $1 mil. Opened Oct. 2003 in 3 theaters to an average of $19K
per screen. Max screens was 198 in the US. Total US Theatrical Box Office $5.7 mil. Total
Overseas Theatrical Box Office $2.9 mil. Estimated Total DVD sales and rentals to date $8 mil.
Estimated DVD marketing $550K. Estimated profit after production, exhibition, marketing and
distribution deducted: Profit $9.6 mil.

PIECES OF APRIL written and directed by Peter Hedges. Produced by John S. Lyons, Gary Winick, Tami Reiker of InDigEnt. Distributed by MGM/UA. Released Oct. 17, 2003. 1 hr. 20 min. Rated R. Genre: Drama.

Plot Outline: Rebellious daughter April has moved from the suburbs to a lower east side New York apartment, but decides to attempt to make a positive memory before her ancer stricken mother passes away by fixing her first meal, Thanksgiving dinner. When her oven reaks she is forced to rely on the kindness of her new neighbors to avoid another April created
family disaster.

Starring Katie Holmes, Patricia Clarkson, Oliver Platt, Derek Luke, and Sean Hayes. 10 locations. 29 actor roles. 51 total crew.

Business: Estimated Production Cost:$300K. Estimated Theatrical Marketing Cost $750K.
Estimated Theatrical Distribution Cost $500K. Opened October 17, 2003 in 6 theaters to an
average of $8K per screen. Max screens was 101 in the US. Total US Theatrical Box Office 2.5 mil.
Total Overseas Box Office $750K. Estimated Total DVD Sales and Rentals to date $4.3 mil.
Estimated DVD marketing $500K. Estimated profit after production, exhibition, marketing and
distribution deducted: Profit $6 mil.
BETTER LUCK TOMORROW written by Ernesto M. Foronda. Written, Produced and Directed by Justin
Lin. Produced Patrice Lucien Cochet. Distributed by MTV Films/Paramount. Released April 11,
2003. 99 min. Rated R. Genre: Drama.

Plot Outline: A group of over achieving Asian Americans experience a downward spiral when they decide to add extra curricular criminal activities to their lives.

Starring John Cho, Parry Shen. 20 locations. 95 actor roles. 39 total crew.

Business: Estimated Production Cost $250K. Estimated Theatrical Marketing Cost $200K.
Estimated Theatrical Distribution Cost: $750K. Opened April 11, 2003 in 13 theaters to an average
of $28K per screen. Max screens was 387 in the US. Total US Theatrical Box Office $3.8 mil.
Overseas Box Office: $0. Estimated Total DVD Sales and Rentals to date $14 mil. Estimated DVD
marketing $1 mil. Estimated profit after production, exhibition, marketing, and distribution
deducted: Profit $15.8 mil.

MEAN CREEK written and directed by Jacob Aaron Estes. Produced by Rick Rosenthal, Susan
Johnson and Hagai Shaham. Distributed by Paramount Classics. Released August 20, 2004. 89
min. Rated R. Genre: Drama/Revenge.

Plot Outline: A group of friends plan revenge on a school yard bully who has beaten up Sam. When their plan goes too far they have to decide whether to hide their act or confess and face the consequences.

Starring rory Culkin. 10 locations. 16 total actor roles. 43 total crew.

Business: Estimated Production Cost $500K. Estimated Theatrical Marketing Cost $200K.
Estimated Theatrical Distribution Cost: $200K. Opened April 11, 2003 in 13 theaters to an average
of $7K per screen. Max screens was 49 in the US. Total US Theatrical Box Office $604K.
Overseas Box Office: $ Still running. Estimated DVD Sales and Rentals to date $1.8 mil.
Estimated Total DVD Sales and Rentals when fully penetrated $4 mil. Estimated DVD marketing
$500K. Estimated profit after production, exhibition, marketing, and distribution deducted: Profit
$2.6 mil.

If after reading all this you have a spare $500,000 lying around… let me know…

I’ve just come off the phone with the US distributor of my movie FAKERS. We’ve just placed the DVD with Hollywood Video and a number of other rental chains. We’re also expecting our first payment from Starz who have a 12 month license and are currently showing the movie in their regular programing and video on demand. He asked me if we used SAG (Screen Actors Guild) contracts. As a UK production we didn’t. We used British Actors Equity. The UK equivalent.

Apparently if we had SAG actors, a WGA (Writers Guild of America) writer and I was DGA (Directors Guild of Ameria) then the distributor would be paying nearly 10% of the gross income they recieve to those unions before I, as the production company, get any money. Well, this just seems bloody crazy to me!!!!

We’re lucky in that our theatrical release actually made us money so all of the distributors expensis for getting the movie out there have been covered. Any money in now, as far as the US rights are concerned, is split between the distributors profit (or overhead) and my investors. But imagine if we hadn’t been so fortunate to cover our theatrical expenses. The actors on my movie were the best paid out of everyone on the crew. By at least 100%. I myself still have credit card debt from the movie. And yet, they see 5% of the income before I even clear the expense to get the movie out there in the first place. Come on!!!!

I’ve always had a problem with unions. Don’t like them. Never had. The bottom line for me is that we shouldn’t need them. Employeers should be responsible and look after there staff, the market should set the rate for employement (above a minimum wage) and the government should over see the working conditions and the support for it’s people.

In the UK the only real film union we still have is the actors union. The rest just publish rate guides and try to help it’s members as best they can, but in reality don’t really have too much clout. Who needs unions? What the hell are they good for anyway?

Ah… But wait a moment… I was once an Equity member. Yes indeed. And, it made it very very simple for me. There was a straight forward contract that was negiociated on my behalf where I knew I wasn’t going to be taken advantage of. And… are you ready for this… I’ve just become a member of the Writers Guild of America!!!!!! You heard it boys and girls. And now I am so for the union!!!!

Why? Health insurance… First off, I have a family to support including two young children and for the past two years my health insurance payments each month have been crippling me!!! Now… I’ve got amazing coverage for the whole family for $50 a month! In the UK we don’t need this. We have the National Health Care system. Which, although we like to moan about it, it is AMAZING!!! No cost to see a doctor or to go to a hospital, $10 for any prescription, no cost for an ambulance… I’ve just paid $14,000 (because my insurance was so basic and they had tons of loop holes) for the birth of my son here in America. In the UK… Free AND they would have sent a nurse to the house to check up on us when we got home.

For me that is the biggest reason that we need unions here in America. The government doesn’t look after the people. So the people have to organize to fight for their own rights. It would be great to think it could change, but that is a HUGE wheel to turn!!!

The other reason we need unions over here is that AMERICA FILM and TELEVISION is big business. Millions and millions of dollars are made. It’s tough for one man to fight against a studio. In the UK there really isn’t that much money going around. Even in TV, so it all finds a good playing field. Of course the talent argue they would like more and the producers argue they want to spend less but that is the name of the game. But, at the end of the day, with the help of UK employment law, it all finds a good playing field.

Now with the WGA I am begining to turn pro Union. They have an AMAZING support network set up and seem to do so much for their members. They have a very good pay scale for low budget movies which make using WGA writers not out of the question (It seems to me that the DGA is a little tougher on indies although I’ve got to find out a little more information on that). But, this new news on distributors income gets me all torn again!!!!

I want to pay my investors back. I want them to be happy. I want more investors to look at the film industry and say I’ll put money in. Not see the people who made the movie take a salary then money at every step of the way before the investor gets to recoup…

But what to do??? I know why the unions do it… Because of the studios. They can’t trust them to report accurately. The only way the unions know money is going to be shared out is by Starz telling them they’ve paid Warner Brothers money. It’s just that this then screws the indies from making money back!!! 10% is still 10%…

Ah well… enough of a rant. It’s good to be back blogging. Sorry for the long break. I’ve been writing on this Disney movie (hence the WGA membership) and we’ve been trying to build up traffic and bloggers for this website and the FoodBloggers.co.uk that we launched in December. All busy, busy, busy. But I’ll make sure I’ll blog a little more regular from now on.

Cheers for now, Richard

I think the main problem is that we speak English. As far as I am aware the likes of Australia and New Zealand have the same problem - our product tends not to have a real unique separator from American product that controls much of the distribution. In France there is a real movement to make home grown movies because… the audience wants to watch movies at the cinema that are in their own language. So what do we need to do in order to elevate British films and to build a sustainable British Film Industry???

Well, first lets look at what we do have:

Bankable actors. Actors sell movies. No question about it. And we have plenty of great names. Daniel Craig, Christian Bale, Jason Statham, Gerard Butler, Kate Beckinsale, Helena Bonham Carter, Keira Knightley, Hugh Laurie, Kate Winslet, James McAvoy, Simon Pegg, Ewan McGregor, Gary Oldman, Alan Rickman, Wentworth Miller, Judi Dench, Clive Owen, Sienna Miller, Rachel Weisz, Orlando Bloom, Ian McShane, Emma Thompson, Kiefer Sutherland, Jude Law, Colin Firth, Daniel Day-Lewis, Sean Bean, Ralph Fiennes, Anthony Hopkins, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Helen Mirren… okay, okay. So you get the point. There is enough bankable UK talent to fill at least 24 high profile movies a year. At least!

What about bankable Directors… Er… Okay… Ridley Scott, Danny Boyle, Christopher Nolan, Sam Mendes, Tony Scott, Edgar Wright, Paul W. S. Anderson, Mike Leigh, Matthew Vaughen, David Yates, Paul Greengrass, Mike Newell, Ken Loach, Stephen Daldry, Stephen Frears, John Madden, Michael Apted, Alan Parker, Joe Wright… Again I’ll stop. I think we’ve established the ‘A’ list British directors out there… (One day you’ll read Richard Janes on this list :-)) But there are more than enough bankable directors to direct at least 24 high quality, unique and entertaining British movies a year.

So that leaves the crew… Don’t worry I am not going to list some of the amazing crew we have. However, some people in Hollywood seem to think that British movies have a small ‘look’ or ‘cottage industry’ feel about them. Ignoring the obvious examples like ‘James Bond’, ‘Indianna Jones’ and ‘Harry Potter’ there have been a number of movies made over the last few years that the audience would think were American. Movies like ‘Derailed’ or ‘The Up Side of Anger’.

So we have the ‘A’ list actors, the ‘A’ list directors and a crew capable of making blockbuster movies. So what next. Writers…

Ah… here is where we hit our first problem. Don’t we don’t have talented writers???? We have amazing writers. But their are two problems: Television and Producers.

Television: We have AMAZING television in the UK. From my traveling it is the best in the world. Brilliant, Brilliant entertaining stories - and lots of one hour specials, two parters or series where you can ‘dip in and out’ so to speak. Most of our great story tellers are writing there. And, they do it so they can pay the bills, so they can, almost for certain, see what they write get made AND because some UK television writers have created household names for themselves. On the other side of the coin, so few British films get made, their is a stigma associated with lots of British films, invariably it doesn’t pay great - or it pays the same as TV (unlike the US where a spec script can sell for $600,000 against $1,000,000 which makes it worth writing specs in between other work as the reward, if you can sell it, is so much greater) AND there are so few places that will pay for the development of a screenplay. There have been some wonderful television that would have made excellent, excellent movie material which could have done brilliantly at the world box office. I’m talking of Horatio Hornblower, Sharp, some of the Mi5 / Spooks episodes, Gulliver’s Travels, Shackleton, Man and Boy, The Second Coming… (I’d even LOVE to see the BBC allow a feature version of Dr. Who with Pierce Brosnan in the lead - I have it from a good source he’d be up for it!!) Again, I could go on and on. Some really great writing that would have suited the big screen really well and would have been unique enough to break away from American product both at home cinemas and internationally.

Producers: There is an enormous lack of them! I don’t mean the people you bump into in Soho House who claim to be producers! It’s always amazes me how many UK producers will introduce themselves as a ‘Creative Producer’. Meaning they aren’t really good with the money side of things, or perhaps putting together a unit, or perhaps working with the director to lead an army… No they are really good at developing story… Hummm… In fact, most producers who have claimed this ‘Creative Producer’ title went on to given me dreadful scripts to read. There are, of course, a hand full of really great producers who know how to put together movies and understand story - some names you’ll know and some names you won’t. But their aren’t that many. This is where Hollywood really gets one over on the British system. WE NEED GOOD PRODUCERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If we could establish a way to nurture talented producers we would be on the road to creating a sustainable film industry. We need people who understand story and the value of writers, who understand how distribution and sales work and ultimately who understand business!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There are a lot of ways to find financing for British movies you just need to be devoted and creative in your approach - (But also have the cash to do it!!!)

Two Great British Producers. Tom Bevan & Eric Fellner of Working Title

So in summary… I, Richard Janes, believe the first thing we need to do to build a strong, vibrant and profitable British Film Industry is to find/train more quality producers and then fund them, even to a small degree, to work with writers, develop stories and buy options. Our British writers are more than capable of writing movies the cinema audience will LOVE!!! Funding films can come later down the line. The most important thing now is to have viable projects with someone at the head who can drive projects to success. I’ve got ideas on how this can happen, but this I will have to save for another day… But the idea doesn’t cost a fortune. Some one please send me a UK project so I can move back and be a part of the UK Industry resurgence!!!

I’m going to email a number of UK agents, producers and financiers now and invite them to comment on this blog (see comments below and feel free to add to them). Perhaps they can offer another side to the story. In the mean time, I’ve got a very busy week this week. Last week, we turned in the full treatment on the Disney Superhero movie I am writing - so I am eagerly awaiting their notes, I’m working on a new treatment for a thriller based on the international water crisis, we are trying to put together the financing paperwork for my Errol Flynn movie (it looks like it will be a UK/Australian Co-Production so the paperwork is huge!) AND ‘Fakers’ suddenly seems to be selling like hot cakes - so we are trying to deal with the paperwork on that. Very soon, when I pluck up enough courage, I will write a whole blog on the mistakes I made with both producing and directing my first movie!!!! Oh my!!!!

Have a good week,

Richard

Lets make her proud!!

A bit of good news for the industry at large is that the cinema remains the first choice for U.K. consumers to watch movies, according to research published today. A survey conducted by legal eagles Olswang in conjunction with research giant YouGov finds that the theater is the primary place to watch movies. The popularity of watching movies on the big screen continues because it offers a unique “experience” in a society where choice and control are becoming increasingly important. DVD came in second with 53% spending at least an hour a week watching movies from DVD’s and 41% watching TV shows from DVD for at least an hour a week.

This is all great! But, what we have been failing to do is to get our home audience interested in home grown movies. With such a great market (historically the UK has been one of the best markets for a growing cinema audience when other territories like the US see a decline) we really NEED to get people seeing British movies.

So for my next few blogs I’m going to look at how the British film Industry can become the GREAT BRITISH FILM INDUSTRY… I really believe it can be done - we’ve got BRILLIANT stories to tell, perhaps the best crews in the world, a huge amount of talented ‘Star’ actors who mean something to financiers AND an audience who loves movies and spend money going to the movie theater - and yet the British Film Industry is a part time beast that fails more than it succeeds.

And my fix isn’t bringing back the days of HUGE tax incentives that Prime Minister Blair and Brown cut down with out any notice - my fixes are long term. One day, if it hasn’t been sorted out before I can get to the level I need to be, I’ll rejuvinate the British Film Industry… Then it’ll be Sir Richard Janes…

Toodle Pip for now.

P.S. - Sorry for the two week break. I’ve been working hard on the Disney screenplay and we’ve also been working on a new advertising format for the blog site. As you can see from above my page is the test page and we haven’t got it right just yet. Oh… and we’ve just launched a new blog community in England. You can see it here: www.FoodBloggers.co.uk - next month we’ll be launching a community for music, gardening and the fashion industry. It certainly is ALL happening

For Filmmakers there is some hope in the economic turmoil that we are experiencing. Yesterday the UK announced a drop in Gross domestic product of 0.5 percent from the second quarter, the first contraction in 16 years. Why is this a good thing? Well in many  ways is it not. However, if you a British and have a film to sell internationally, you’ll have a big smile.My first movie, Fakers, cost a total, all in, of just under a million pounds. After the Sale and Lease back of the movie, which accounted for 20% of my budget, and the investors utilizing a tax deferment credit called the Enterprise Investment Scheme which yielded them around 40% of their original investment; this leaves a break even point for the film of around £480,000. But what does that have to do with GDP????

All films are sold in dollars! Yep, that is right. So for the past few years in order to break even I’ve had to recoup $960,000 on sales. But with the announcement that the UK will be the first to officially hit a recession, the exchange rate has shifted dramatically. So now I only have to sell the film for $748,800. And our expected sales doesn’t change. I’m currently waiting on around $150,000 of income on the movie and I am very very pleased I wasn’t paid it two months ago.

So, if you’ve got a film and (at least this week) you are British, the down turn is great! But what about other filmmakers? I believe you are in luck too! What do people do when they can’t afford expensive sports tickets, holidays, nice meals out? They go to the movies! So, hopefully we’ll be seeing an increase in global ticket sales. England is one of the only countries that has seen an increase in movie theatre attendance in recent years. Every other territory outside of the Asian markets are falling - so this could be a real boost for filmmakers. We just have to hope that the studios, who are now owned by huge conglomerates who are really struggling, will not hold the studios back from meeting the demand.

Always look for the silver lining.

I have just come back from five weeks living in Michigan. Clean air, cheap cheap property (a four bedroom home fifty meters from the lake front was $300,000), fresh fish with low mercury content and wonderful wonderful small villages where people don’t honk their horns, drive at a good pace, and nearly always smile and wave as they see you walking. So do you really need to live in Los Angeles?

After my first trip to La La Land in 2003 and finding representation with CAA I commuted back and forth between London and LA on a fairly regularly basis. When ever my agent felt it would be good for me to go pitch in a room I would jump on the plane and fly over for a week. Often that week would then stretch to three. It was expensive, but thanks to friends and friends of friends I had places to stay and lots of things to do in the little downtime I had. I love LA but I also love London and had never seen myself living full time over here. That was until I met my wife, whose job meant she could only be based here. So I made the move. Two children later and my wife now directing documentaries which means she doesn’t need to be based in LA I find myself asking the question, ‘Do I (we) need to live in Los Angeles?’

So I’ve experienced both sides of the ‘Do I need to Live in Los Angeles’ question. The main problem with living in London is that there just aren’t that many movies made. I’ll go into that whole UK situation in another blog. But needless to say my own personal thinking is that the UK has an amazing talent and infrastructure, it just needs to work out what voices make it unique and create a viable distribution outlet so that it isn’t relying on US companies or competing with US product. If I had stayed in England and never made it out to the US I would probably be making TV right now.

So for me coming out to Hollywood was a must. But I never thought I would live here and, to be honest, I think, more often than not, that its better (career wise) that I don’t. And here is why:

1.) As I was only here for a week it created a ‘we’ve got to see him’ mentality. When you restrict someone’s access to something they feel they need it more.

2.) I was different. A real British director. Therefore I think there was an element where executives felt I could be discovered!

3.) When I lived in London and flew to LA for a week I’d be seen as a person you can not reschedule.

But I do live in Los Angeles. Right slap bang in the middle. Three blocks east and two blocks south of Beverly Hills. Don’t get me wrong the past three years living here I have achieved things that I would never have been able to back in the UK and I would 100% suggest that, if possible, other directors come out here to live. But why then would I suggest they come out here:

1.)    Rather than just meeting the executives you meet and begin to socialize with the assistants and junior creative execs. People who will be making the decisions in the future. People you can grow with.

2.)    There is so so so much work out here. Admittedly, you can spend a lot of time, as I have, in the development process (or development hell) but you get to learn a lot about developing all types of projects. A skill that only a hand full of people in the UK have.

3.)    You get to spend time with other writers, directors, actors. People whom you can bounce ideas off of and, again, grow with. It’s like being back at film school again where you all have a common goal… But this time it is a city!

4.)    It can make you more valuable back in the UK. You know and have contacts with most companies developing, funding, distributing movies in the US. (Although one British agent once said I shouldn’t be in LA just sitting by a pool waiting for my career to happen - hummmmmmm, a nice insight into some of the established old school in Britain.)

5.)    And, if you are really really really lucky you can find yourself and AMAZING life partner as I have.

So, has my time living in Los Angeles come to an end???? Hang on… that’s the phone… Disney want me to write a movie for them… What, I’ve got to be in Los Angeles for the next four to six months… Right then… I guess I’m going to put off thinking about any move until March. I’ll keep you posted with how the script is going.

As always feel free to post comments, suggestions or questions…

P.S. - Sorry for the lack of blogging over the last 5 weeks. Whilst the house we stayed in in Michigan was amazing the internet connection was not. After loosing two blogs I thought I’d hold off until I got back to LA!