Ten Beats & Funding Feats

“To avoid criticism say nothing, do nothing, be nothing.”  ― Aristotle

This week we delivered 10 main beats for our feature idea.... and then threw them out the window.

By setting aside the constrictions of the beat-sheet structure, we can approach the story from another angle, with methods that will flesh out the character's emotional through-line, finding new ways to apply pressure to the situation, upping the stakes and jeopardy with every event. 

This means research and specifics, mood-boards and soundscapes. Not what the protagonist is like, but what they do, habitually, off camera. What makes them attractive, why do the characters fall in love and why should we, as an audience, fall for them? Every major beat should make our characters reassess each other.

In the afternoon we talked negative pickup, soft money, equity and debt... and how if you want to get your film made, you should be thinking about how to get your film sold.... it's the same thing. 

Fun fact [see also very sad fact]: The individual to make most profit from a single film was *drumroll* Mel Gibson for Passion of the Christ, because he put the money up for production himself, and distributed it himself through his own company, Icon. He made $650m from that one film. So the moral of the story is that if you want to make money in this industry, try being a rich anti-semitic movie-star.