What: Exclusive 3-day Seminar/Workshop taught by Chris Wyatt. Teaching everything from getting Hollywood talent to finding financing to producing to getting a sales agent and distribution and more.
Plus receive a Certificate of Completion for completing the course.
When: Friday-Sunday November 30-December 2, 2012,
9AM-5PM Friday, Saturday. 11:30AM-6PM Sunday.
Where: Feathered Serpent Gallery, 1018 Central Ave., St. Petersburg, FL 33701
How Much: $299 per person,
Chris Wyatt's Bio: Chris Wyatt is the producer of eight independent feature films including the 2004 cult hit NAPOLEON DYNAMITE, the 2006 festival multi-award winner COYOTE, and the 2011 drama CAFÉ, starring Jennifer Love Hewitt.
NAPOLEON DYNAMITE holds a record as one of the most successful independent films on all time, having been
produced for only $425,000-- but having made almost $45 Million at the US box office.
Wyatt served as co-producer of the NAPOLEON DYNAMITE animated series that aired on Fox this year, and has cowritten TV episodes of IRON MAN: ARMORED ADVENTURES, AVENGERS: EARTH’S MIGHTIEST HEROES, and ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN for Marvel Studios Animation.
Wyatt is currently in post-production on a thriller called MURDER IN THE DARK shot on location in the ruins of a medieval Italian cliff village, which he produced and cowrote. Wyatt holds a MFA in Feature Film Producing from the elite Peter Stark Producing Program at the University of Southern California (USC) where he also serves as an Adjunct Professor of Cinema.
Details:
INDEPENDENT FILMMAKING FOR FUN AND PROFIT
A 3-day seminar
DAY ONE
Before Making the Movie
WHAT A PRODUCER SHOULD BE DOING: (1 hour)
• How I started producing.
• The paths to producing.
• Profiles of indie producers (Bender, Coppola, Johnson)
• What a producer does.
• What a producer IS.
• The kinds of producers.
• What producing credits mean.
• Who you know vs what you know (networking).
WHAT MOVIE ARE WE MAKING?: (1 hour)
• Why make a movie at all (creative reasons, financial
reasons, and agenda-based reasons).
• Where good ideas come from.
• Sources of development material.
• Developing the story.
• Breaking the story.
• Basic story structure (3-act structure vs. nontraditional
storytelling).
• Working with the writer.
• Getting notes from others.
• The table read.
BUILDING THE PACKAGE – First Elements: (1 hour)
• Creative Team (writer, director, DP, Designer).
• Choosing a director (what you need in a director, and
what a director needs in you).
• The ups and downs of working with a first time
director).
• The ups and downs of working with an experienced
director.
• Location, Location, Location! (The un-credited star of
every movie).
• Incentives, tax breaks, crew base, and other locationbased
financial considerations.
BUILDING THE PACKAGE – Casting: (1 hour)
• The value of casting.
• Creative casting considerations.
• Business casting considerations.
• Indie film casting pros and cons.
• Working with the agent.
• Working with the manager.
• Personal-connection casting (networking).
• Tales from the trenches of casting.
RAISING THE MONEY: (1 hour)
• The ways films can be financed. (Institutional money
vs Equity Financing).
• Pitching to the studios.
• Finding techniques for private investment (personal
contacting versus finders).
• Preparing the pitch – Budget.
• Preparing for the pitch – Schedule.
• Preparing for the pitch – Exit strategy.
• The 3 kinds of investors (“smart” money, “dumb” money,
third party).
THE PITCH: (2 hours)
• A sample pitch (30 mins)
• Research and revenue projections.
• The pitch “Do”s.
• The pitch “Don’t”s.
• How do you know if it went well?
• Following up on the pitch.
• Getting to “yes”.
DAY TWO
Making the Movie
THE FIVE THINGS YOU MUST KNOW BEFORE YOU TAKE THE MONEY:
(30 mins)
• Accredited vs non-accredited investors.
• Investor’s RISK tolerance.
• Investor’s reasons for investing.
THE THREE THINGS YOU MUST DO BEFORE YOU TAKE THE MONEY: (30
mins)
• Legal paperwork (Incorporation, operating agreement,
subscription documents).
• A plan for investor relations (horror stories versus
best case scenarios).
• The first team meeting.
PREPRODUCTION: (1 and a half hours)
• Making banking arrangements.
• Building film commission relationships.
• Building local filmmaker relationships.
• Opening the production office.
• Hiring the crew (the value of the Line Producer).
• Where you should be 6 weeks before picture.
• 5 weeks before picture.
• 4 weeks before picture.
• 3 weeks before picture.
• 2 weeks before picture.
• 1 week before picture.
• 1 day before picture.
PRODUCTION: (1 hour)
• Managing the circus.
• Moving from “fire to fire”.
• Supporting the director (Building “the bubble”).
• The director’s VISION and ART.
• Crew relations and morale.
• Keeping your eye on the goals.
• CONTINUING Investor Relations (production reports and
dailies).
• Putting it in the can.
• THAT’S A WRAP (closing down the show).
POST-PRODUCTION: (1 and a half hours)
• Working the cut.
• Reviewing the cut.
• Post-production personnel (the value of the postproduction
coordinator).
• What to do with your rough cut.
• What to do with your fine cut.
• What to do with your director’s cut.
• The Test Screenings (gulp).
• Re-shoots and recutting?
• The Final Cut.
DAY THREE
After Making the Movie
SALES: (1 and one half hour)
• Who is a sales agent and what do they do?
• Good sales agents (and producer’s reps).
• How to spot a BAD sales agent (or producer’s rep).
• Commissions and sales fees.
• Worldwide vs split rights (bifurcation).
• Theatrical vs non-theatrical.
• Conventional vs digital.
• Sales projections.
• Sales reporting.
• The major sales windows.
• Important sales categories.
FESTIVALS: (1 hour)
• The sales values of festivals.
• The publicity value of festivals.
• The investor relations value of festivals.
• The A-list festivals.
• The B-list festivals.
• The C’s and D’s.
• A festival survival guide.
• Tales from the festival circuit.
PUBLICITY: (1 hour)
• The golden rule of film publicity.
• What is the GOAL of your publicity campaign.
• Reasons to do more publicity.
• Reasons to do less publicity.
• How to choose a PR rep.
• How to optimize PR.
• Social media and emerging media.
• Festival poster vs theatrical poster.
• Sales trailer vs consumer trailer vs foreign trailer.
DEAL POINTS TO CONSIDER: (30 mins)
• Minimum guarantee (sales price)
• Backend (net proceeds)
• Box office bumps (and other bonus structures)
• Credit, copies, festivals and premieres.
• The vital importance of the P&A spend.
• Pass along con
DISTRIBUTION: (1 hour)
• One you’ve secured distribution… how do you work with
your distributor?
• Communicating with distributor.
• What to ask from the distributor. What to tell the
distributor.
• How the money FLOWS (a complete breakdown of profit
waterfall for an indie theatrical film).
WHAT TO DO NEXT: (30 mins)
• Yet MORE continuing investor relations.
• Using this film… TO MAKE THE NEXT FILM.
• Sequels, TV adaptations, and videogames.
• Building a career.
• The BIG goals.
Q&A (1 hour)
