Category Archives: Training and Networking

Victoria represents at Storyhive!

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Following up on my recent post about Storyhive, here’s a list of all the projects from Victoria, B.C.:

Best of luck, everyone!

My take: If you think of projects as stores, these would be funky shops in a fashion-forward mall. Indy films would be independent retailers. TV offerings would be chain stores. Hollywood fare would be big box stores. Ask yourself, where do you like to shop for your entertainment?

$60K up for a web series in BC or Alberta

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Storyhive is changing things up and looking for web series for its next round.

Season two is open to creators in Victoria, Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton. Fifteen teams in each province will receive $10,000 to produce the pilot episode of their web series. One winner will be chosen and receive $50,000 funding for the remaining episodes. Everything gets streamed on TELUS Optik TV On Demand.

The deadline to submit is November 3, 2014. See the FAQ.

My take: this is a derivative of CineCoup, without the on-going missions. I think one of the most interesting aspects of Storyhive is the Creator Directory. This has a great potential to build collaborations between artists.

Infographic: What’s wrong with your script

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What scripts get positive notes?

An anonymous script reader has crunched the numbers and summarized the results in a fascinating screenwriting infographic.

profound_whatever goes on to explain it all in this reddit post: I’ve covered 300 spec scripts for 5 different companies and assembled my findings into a snazzy infographic.

“I give a RECOMMEND if I can’t find anything to criticize. The script has a great idea (or a great execution of an okay idea) and took chances. A RECOMMEND script doesn’t have to buck the tropes; it just has to use them well, and has to have some self-awareness as it’s using them. Edgar Wright and Rian Johnson are both aware of the tropes of their genres (film noir, cop movie, caper flick, zombie movie, sci-fi), but know how to use them in a fresh way. Tropes are tropes for a reason: they work.”

In descending order, the problems are:

  1. The story begins too late in the script
  2. The scenes are void of meaningful conflict
  3. The script has a by-the-numbers execution
  4. The story is too thin
  5. The villains are cartoonish, evil-for-the-sake-of-evil
  6. The character logic is muddy
  7. The female part is underwritten
  8. The narrative falls into a repetitive pattern
  9. The conflict is inconsequential, flash-in-the-pan
  10. The protagonist is a standard issue hero
  11. The script favors style over substance
  12. The ending is completely anti-climactic
  13. The characters are all stereotypes
  14. The script suffers from arbitrary complexity
  15. The script goes off the rails in the third act
  16. The script’s questions are left unanswered
  17. The story is a string of unrelated vignettes
  18. The plot unravels through convenience/contrivance
  19. The script is tonally confused
  20. The script is stoic to a fault
  21. The protagonist is not as strong as need be
  22. The premise is a transparent excuse for action
  23. The character backstories are irrelevant/useless
  24. Supernatural element is too undefined
  25. The plot is dragged down by disruptive lulls
  26. The ending is a case of deus ex machina
  27. The characters are indistinguishable from each other
  28. The story is one big shrug
  29. The dialogue is cheesy, pulpy, action movie cliches
  30. The script is a potboiler
  31. The drama/conflict is told but not shown
  32. The great setting isn’t utilized
  33. The emotional element is exaggerated
  34. The dialogue is stilted and unnecessarily verbose
  35. The emotional element is neglected
  36. The script is a writer ego trip
  37. The script makes a reference, but not a joke
  38. The message overshadows the story

My take: this makes a great list to check your script against.

Web Series Best Practices

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Canada’s Independent Production Fund has just published the Guide to Web Series Best Practices.

In many ways, this 30-page PDF is a good primer for any digital production: web series, short or feature.

The dozen chapters range from financing, to working with micro-budget crews, to marketing and to distribution platforms.

The tone is even-handed and not sky’s-the-limit. A sample:

“Always think of your audience and what makes sense for them – will this be interesting for them? Will it be a positive addition to their overall consumption? Will they share it? If it doesn’t make sense and there isn’t a “yes” to these types of questions, it may not be a good use of your time, money and resources.”

My take: listen to this IPF advice; they fund web series!

 

$10K to show ‘Movies Matter’

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The CFC‘s Reel Challenge is back.

This year they want you to show how movies matter to Canada.

“In 2011, the film and television sector supported 262,700 full time equivalent jobs, while contributing over $5 billion to the Canadian economy through production and distribution alone. From special effects studios and soundstages that create jobs, to film festivals that bring in tourists and all of the jobs and people that are supported by the film industry, movies are more than just entertainment.”

The rules: keep it clean and under 60 seconds. There are no categories this time.

The prize: $10K to the winner, $5K to the runner up.

The deadline: Sunday, January 26 at 11:59 PM EST.

The details: here.

My take: Always fun! Nice that they’ve limited them to one minute. Enter if you’ve got the chops. Disclosure: I am not bitter for not winning with my animation: Right to Copy.

The new 10 commandments of low budget filmmaking

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Elliot Grove and the Raindance Film Festival have issued ten new commandments of low (no) budget filmmaking.

They are:

  1. Thou shalt have a fantastic screenplay.
  2. Thou shalt understand keywords and SEO tools.
  3. Thou shalt secure some development finance.
  4. Thou shalt spend proper time in pre-production.
  5. Thou shalt understand the shoot and exploit it to maximum advantage.
  6. Thou shalt not fix it in Post-Production.
  7. Thou shalt clear all music in your film.
  8. Thou shalt prepare professional publicity and marketing materials.
  9. Thou shalt use film festivals to launch your film.
  10. Thou shalt create a distribution strategy.

See the annotated version.

My take: I can get behind all of these except number nine. Seems to me that’s really part of number 10. Not having much, if any success, at film festivals, I’m not convinced. I guess what I really need is a paid-for-performance film festival agent. Any suggestions?

Maureen Bradley blogs about micro-budget feature production

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CineVic recently invited Maureen Bradley to speak about her micro-budget feature project, Two 4 One.

She’s cobbling the $250,000 budget together from a number of sources: the Telefilm Micro-Budget Program, the BC Arts Council, the Jim Murphy Filmmkakers Bursary, an IndieGoGo campaign and private sources, for a February 2014 shoot.

She’s blogging about the experience at microbudget.org where she gives a more detailed answer to one of my questions on Saturday.

Regarding this year’s Telefilm Micro-Budget Feature competiton, Maureen’s advice was: have a great story and really think through an innovative digital platform strategy.

My take: Thank you, Maureen, for sharing your knowledge and experience and — your insights! It occurs to me that Telefilm is in the business of making million-dollar movies, so they’re really taking a flyer with eight to ten projects for one million, and hoping that one breaks out. In the old model, a film’s profile was amassed through festival exposure, critical reviews and box office, to be augmented by media coverage as it worked its way through the standard windows. Today, a project’s profile starts with the first online exposure, carries on through the pre-production, crowd-funding, production and post-production stages and hopefully snowballs when more people can actually pay for it. The old model was mediated by distributors, whereas with the new model, the producer does it all. I foresee more creative cooperatives coming together: teams of producers, each specialized in different parts of the new paradigm — concept, marketing, social media, production, exploitation.

Emerging Producers: Apply for Rotterdam Lab 2014

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Telefilm is inviting emerging feature film producers to apply to CineMart‘s Rotterdam Lab 2014.

“The aim of the Rotterdam Lab, a 5-day training workshop, is to give starting producers the opportunity to develop international market experience and knowledge through privileged access to CineMart participants (sales agents, producers, distributors, television buyers, private investors and national funds).”

Telefilm will choose three producers. The trio will receive accreditation to CineMart and the 43rd International Film Festival Rotterdam and five nights accommodation but must arrange their own travel and food.

The deadline is October 25, 2013. Apply through Telefilm.

My take: if you have a feature in development that could be an international co-production, you should check this out.

Enter Pitch 360 at Merging Media 2013

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You have until 5 p.m. on Monday, September 30, to enter Pitch 360 at this year’s Merging Media fourth annual conference in Vancouver.

Twelve contestants will then compete on Thursday, November 7, at the Creative BC Pitch Parlour by pitching their concepts for cross-media or transmedia projects in development. They are looking for:

“…a cross‐media property that ‘crosses­-over’ into at least one other medium e.g. a multi-platform story that extends onto more than one platform, a television series with mobile App, a webseries with a mobile game element, an e-book with an Alternate Reality Game etc.”

Up for grabs is $10,000. If you live on the right side of the tracks, you might also qualify for an additional $5,000 from Telus.

Note: you need to be based in Western Canada and there is a $75 fee if you’re chosen to pitch.

My take: of course, if you’re developing a cross-media or transmedia project, you must enter!

 

CineCoup goes public and why you should care

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CineCoup just went live and you should care.

I blogged about CineCoup.com last November and last week it opened to the public with 90 projects, each vying for $1,000,000 and guaranteed screenings at Cineplex.

CineCoup is applying the tech accelerator model to film-making in Canada. Over the next three months, they’ll be challenging the teams to complete a number of ‘missions’ which the public will then rate.

That’s right — you’ll decide the fate of the filmmakers.

This is a fresh model for film financing in Canada. Other than direct crowd-funding, I don’t know of anything else here that shifts the power from industry insiders to the general public. After all, why not ask the audience directly what it wants to see, rather than leaving that decision to committee after committee?

My take: Sign up! Visit CineCoup often. Watch and rate the trailers. Add projects to your watch lists. Follow along for the next few months. Get involved.

Disclosure: I’m providing some production management services to Transmission by Tyler Moore and Clay Bartel.