Running out of time

December puts me into panic-mode. It's probably the end of year thing, there's a finality to it. We haven't found all the money that we need and the year is rushing towards the finish line. Well, not really, we decided a few months ago that February-March would be much more realistic and given that it's a winter shoot, I'm not worried that the Manitoba winter will suddenly turn into San Diego weather. We could probably shoot winter well into April.

But there is a stronger sense of urgency, compounded by the beginning of a new year. In a way, it has the potential of a new beginning and investors are likely to look at our project with fresh eyes.Then there's Dane, the Manitoba partner who's bringing in the tax credits and some equity. I will be traveling to Winnipeg December 11 to meet with him as well as Rachel, the Eh Channel executive and some other companies as well.

The trip also allows me to visit my 86-year old mother who lives in the town I was born in many decades ago. It will be a white Christmas most certainly for me, and a rush of nostalgia from my childhood which continues to inspire and motivate me, nearly 2000 miles away in California.

They say that the person you are at seven is the person you become. At seven, I was going to movies with my parents as often as I could. Not that there was much of a choice, we had one movie theater in town, a rebuilt church hall. By 8 I was going alone. So I am the person I was at seven and I think that's a good thing.

But what about Travel Day?


While it was Black Friday for America last week, the whole week was pretty bleak for me. The Thanksgiving holiday really started the week-end before and it was pretty much impossible to talk to anyone about our movie. Even the Europeans I had pitched didn't reply and, apart from friends, I had literally no contact with the movie industry.

Christmas is the same, it begins here around December 15 and doesn't start up until the 2nd week of January.

This week I have a few calls to make and at least one meeting and possibly more. The major event of the month will be my meeting with Dane in Winnipeg as this is where we  outline our separate entities, meaning what each of us brings to the table. The contradiction there is that Dane will bring the tax credits and a letter from a bank that indicates they will be able to advance us a loan of perhaps 90% of around $300,000 of tax credits on Manitoba labor. This money is in effect, first in, as they say.

By doing this, other investors get a stronger sense of security in Travel Day. Investors notoriously dislike being the first one in and this money even comes from a major bank so it's even more solid than the investors themselves.

My duty is to offer what I can in the way of confidence by having several elements in place at roughly the same time, these being;

• A "star" name actor

• At least half my side of the budget (around $200k)

• Names of several of key creative crew (DP, Editor)

• Distributor Interest

All of these will help, but the name actor and distributor are the hardest to get. I have my work cut out. It's times like this I wonder why the hell am I even trying, now being 8 months without any pay whatsover, spending my money and time, and Shirley offering her expertise in graphics, art, conversation and just being there.

But then, what else is there to do?


After all, I missed Stoogefest this week-end, I've attended for the last 5 years and this time didn't have the time to do my annual 3 Stooges festival with my friends. It's times like these I take comfort in a pie in the face or a poke in the eye.


Don't try this at home and wish me luck.

Thanksgiving, the lost week & Ghostkeeper

Well, forget any business this week, it's only one day till Thanksgiving and you can't get anyone even on a twitter as Americans race to the supermarkets and shopping malls for deals. The day after Thanksgiving is known as "Black Friday", in which the retail businesses throw out every discount and sale they can think of. It's known as the biggest shopping day of the year. And it's also the premonition of Christmas sales. Needless to say the last few years were dismal but it's expected this year will actually go up by 16%.

So nothing is really going to happen this week for Travel Day except that I contacted a few producers who might be able to bring some needed investors. The only bright spot was a British distributor who wants to re-issue my Ghostkeeper movie in Great Britain as well as a potential sale to Netflix, the rental-by-mail DVD giant. The movie is nearly 30 years old and somehow has gotten a cult following up to the extent that a British web reviewer called me on the phone to interview me about the 29-year old movie.

It just goes to show that it's really true that if you wait long enough, someone will say something nice about you.

But my head isn't spinning too much, frankly it's not that great of a movie, we had budget problems and couldn't shoot the second half as I had written and it barely got finished. I had a great DP, John Holbrook and a legendary editor Stan Cole, both of whom made magic with it somehow.  Here's the good reviews:

• Ghostkeeper is a pretty creepy and atmospheric horror film which will keep you guessing until the end. The acting is solid and the atmosphere of fear and total isolation is well-captured.
• Ghostkeeper is one of those unknown horror gems that are hard to come by, but rewarding when discovered.
• There's a very odd eeriness here that keeps it worthwhile and better production values than most other films of it's calibre makes it a film I recommend to true horror films.
• An underrated horror gem and one of the better early 80's horrors.
• A remarkably eerie and very atmospheric horror film... a pretty top notch 80's horror flick. 
  

Well, those reviews made me feel almost ready for a Manhattan on the rocks. But I'm not accepting the award yet... 

•  "The Shining" for dummies. 

• Ghostkeeper is not as good as others would have you believe. 

• I simply don't know what this movie is about because there is hardly any story in this film, even at the very end you don't have a single clue to what was going on. 
• Dull, derivative and unmemorable.
  

Well, you can't win everyone.

You can read these and more on www.imdb.com  and just enter Ghostkeeper in the Search box and scroll down.

Given that most of these people saw a badly aged video with poor color and, to my taste,  barely watchable. I figured the least I could do is give them a decent copy of the movie, even to the ones who steal it. More on this as it happens.

So to my American relative and friends, have a safe and happy Thanksgiving, I plan to indulge in as much food as I possibly can with my friends with a promised warm 82F day.

Help us find an actor

This week I am blasting (in Shirley's expressions) to at least 50 distributors and producers as a Hail Mary play (my old football expression) to convince them that Travel Day is indeed worth it. I'm also updating the handful of potential investors we've had for the last 3 months.

We also are looking for your help.

We've added one new element this week, a famous actress who we're hoping to interest in playing the lead role. As I've mentioned in the past, lead roles for women over 40 and who aren't offered mother or grandmother roles are few and far between. Even Winona Ryder is playing a mother these days.

We think we have a great role for a woman leaning towards 60. If you can't think of any actress in the 50's - 60-ish  range, how about these:

Diane Keaton
Faye Dunaway
Jane Fonda
Jacqueline Bisset
Meryl Streep 
Susan Sarandon
Glenn Close
Sally Field
Jessica Lange
Catherine Deneuve
Helen Mirren
Lauren Hutton
Sophia Loren

and of course...Cher.

Which one would you pick?

This is where you come in. I want you to choose one of the above, or even a new choice not on the boards yet.  Why? Because you're the audience and we want to know who you'd prefer. You can leave your suggestion(s) in a comment or email me directly by going to  my "About me" profile, my email is right there.

One thing that was spelled out numerous times at AFM was this; there is a shortage of good films and whatever you make, it will need a "name actor" that is recognizable not only in U.S. and Canada, but world-wide. So this probably eliminates most of the younger TV actors.

What or who is a "name actor".

After excluding anyone younger than 40, you have quite an impressive list. Matt Damon is 39, Will Smith is 41, Johnny Depp is 49. Same goes for women as noted above. They are all considered name actors in that their movies are seen all over the world. Michael Madsen, on the other hand, is not a name actor due to the fact he's been in too many bad movies that were distributed mostly outside of the USA, and he has been overexposed.

The trick is to get to the actors you want. We tried it before with Faye Dunaway through someone who "knew Faye quite well". That is until that "close friend", Casandra, stopped emailing me for some unknown reason.

Shirley has been thinking more about other actors as have I and I, being the producer, has the job of trying to connect with one or more of the above. The problem is this: If we go through an agent,  he/she will ask 2 simple questions:

• Is the movie fully funded? They don't want to waste their time, nor their client's time if we're still looking for money. Which we are. Because we need a name to get the rest of the money. Catch 22. This business is full of Catch 22's.

• Is this a valid offer? Same as above, are we actually offering the part to this actress? Well, not really, we're "considering" her which again is something an agent doesn't like.  But we're not sure our choice will be the distributor's choice or the investor's choice. Another catch.

• "Our client gets $300,000 for her role." Assuming we make an offer, I have to remember one thing, the agent's job is to get the best price they can. How do you figure that one out. 
  

Well, fortunately the standard practicefor the last one  is to go by the last job that actor had. The trick is to find out what they really made as agents lie through their teeth. We had one very famous actress whose last job on a TV show paid her $875 a day for 3 days. That's SAG minimum scale, the fee starting actors get. But a job is a job. Yet the agent would probably ask for $300,000 or more.

I mentioned distributors above. Why are their choices considered? Because they know who will sell in foreign territories and who is this year's flavor.  Cher is always hot, Glenn Close necessarily isn't. There's actually a star value system that is done by Hollywood Reporter and goes by movie grosses and matches them with particular stars. Hollywood Reporter is one of the 2 big industry daily magazines, the other being Variety.

The "Star Chart" is purchased for around $20 or so and used to be included in the weekly edition but not any more. The trouble with it is that, by the time the chart has been completed, it's out of date. All it needs too change the hottest #1 actor, is that his or her last movie flopped.
Remember that old saying, "why do you think they call it show business. 

Now you know why.

So it's gonna be a big week of work. And I have to hurry because Thanksgiving is approaching fast and after that Christmas. Meaning all the big guys are once again...

... off to Aspen.

Don't forget to email or leave a comment on your choice of actresses. 

Surviving AFM

You may have thought I was cynical about distributors and sales agents when I said Wednesday that they have a instinctual propensity to steal. And as I walked up to the hotel, I noticed several people holding big signs, almost like they were on strike. Well, you can see what they were there for. They even had a sign truck with the same black sign driving back and forth in front of the hotel.

It was pretty quiet when I was there, just before lunch and I gathered a stack of industry magazines which would help me find out who might be interested in Travel Day. The lobby of the hotel is sort of a meeting place for everyone, where deals can be made or just reacquaintiing yourself with the same people you might have seen last year.

The way it works is this; the hotel rooms and suites are rented by sellers who can be distributors or sales agents. They are looking for buyers who make their way through probably 300 different rooms and suites, each of them filled with posters and DVD trailers and DVD movies. There are screenings held several blocks away at the 3rd Street Promenade but most buyers settle for the DVDs.

All of this happens over 8 days with the most feverish activity happening in the middle. It's kind of like a big flea market with movies being the only thing sold.But there isn't just buying and selling... there's also considering. That's why I'm here, looking for some of the people I know, and hoping to meet other people... all of them are potential buyers and/or investors in Travel Day.

They just don't know it yet. 

Because while they have product and the buyers need product, they also are interested in new films, ones that are in development or production, or nearly finished. Or maybe need some extra money to finish. This is where the game happens for me, and it's quite a challenge.  In fact most of the contacts I make will be contacted in the weeks following AFM. After all, you don't want someone yakking at you with their upcoming movie when someone is offering to buy your movie or "Bag o' Films.

Besides, in this town, everyone has a movie "in development".

But it's also a chance to meet old friends, amazingly enough.  I meet an old friend and producer Pierre Sarrazin whom I hadn't seen in 20 years as well as the Presales producer I met 2 weeks ago. We had a very good conversation and both joked about AFM and even though we're not working on anything together, the potential is always there. Besides, both of these producers are smart and good and that's a combination you value.

But the truth for the market, at least at this point, is that business is very slow. Part of the problem is that there aren't a lot of good new films to sell and much of their catalogs are films that have been hanging around for years. The feeling is that anyone who has a reasonably good film in 2010 with a name star and a reasonable budget, could get a pretty good price. Who's a name star?

George Clooney. Matt Damon, Will Smith (arguably the biggest commercial movie star in the world), Meryl Streep (one of the few women in this category along with Julia Roberts), and a few others. Now naturally none of these actors will be looking for jobs. In fact they are most likely booked now until they die.

But it's a starting point. Can't get George? Well, how about Guy Pearce or Hugh Jackman or even Brad Pitt (only a star when he does an Ocean's 11 movie). The irony is that the distributors want only the A-list actors but when faced with a decision will accept lower names.

But names like Michael Madsen, Eric Roberts and others are out for now. They've made too many bad movies.

And where does that leave me? Well I have a few names to consider also, and since TD is primarily a woman-driven story, I'm back to trying to get a name. Because as of this week, our Manitoba producer, Dane, is pushing ahead with his end, and getting the paperwork that will indicate what is referred to as "first money". In other words, Dane will be getting a Canadian bank to put in the first amount of investment through tax credits.

What does that do?

It indicates confidence in the project and that means it will become easier to get the other half of the budget from investors in the U.S. Nobody wants to be the first in the pool but once someone is, others are likely to follow.

At least it's supposed to.