notes from successful young people everywhere
The top grossing director of all time. Check out the talk he gave at TED that inspired him to make his Hollywood blockbusters
Check it out: Cameron talking at TED
To see other talks by incredible people visit TED’s website : TED: Ideas Worth Spreading
There’s a new resource out there called SCRIPT SHADOW which reviews some the latest studio scripts out there.
Check it out: Script Shadow
Everyone who pitches a movie in this business will automatically associate it with proven successes. For example, “this is 300 meets DARK KNIGHT” or “This is SUPERBAD meets THE HANGOVER”. Its a common technique because of course people want to show where a similar movie had success. The problem with that mentality is that EVERYONE will begin to follow that trend, therefore after a movie like the Hangover is successful, every producer in town will be trying to sell something similar. The result? the market becomes saturated with hundreds of movies that are trying to be like the Hangover. The only way to have this kind of break out success is to be ahead of the pack. SET THE TREND! don’t follow it. Your idea should explore new territory and break the mold of typical material out there. Why do you think District 9 was such a success? It broke new ground.
Ticket prices are higher than ever. It’s no surprise that the bar continues to be raised for highest grossing film. Back when Titanic hit the record tickets were roughly between $5-$9. Nowadays its upwards of $15 a ticket. Therefore is it fair to call Avatar the most successful film ever? There’s a great article in the LA Times today that discusses how box office records should be based on ticket admissions rather than dollar gross. I would have to agree.
Check it out: LA Times Article on Avatar Number One Record
Every now and then young people from around the industry learn how to centralize information to make it easier to look up. A recent one popped up around town that helps you keep track of the latest specs being shopped around town or open writing assignments (OWA). As for open directing assignments (ODA) that changes very frequently around town. These are projects already set up at studios that need a writer to come in for a rewrite. Really good resource if you want to know what new specs executives are reading around town.
Check it out: Its On The Grid
This group called La Blogotheque in France has the most interesting music video project. They basically film spontaneous concerts from a wide variety of groups. It definitely feels fresh! Looks like they will be getting signed to William Morris Endeavor (WME)
Check it out: LA BLOGOTHEQUE VIDEOS
It’s a time for Hollywood to descend upon the snowy town of Park City, Utah. For those who are not familiar with Sundance, it’s a festival that began in 1978 with the help of Robert Redford in order to attract American filmmakers to film in Utah. Over the decades it has grown into one of the most famous film festivals around the world. The most notable indie filmmakers from around the world premiere their work in this week long festival. It’s transformed into a bidding ground for studios and mini majors to acquire films. It’s also a great place for agents and managers to scope for new talent. The majority of the festival can be described as non stop partying, films, and great skiing. I’d recommend making plans early if you plan to try to attend because this little town gets flooded with people.
Most notable movies to watch out for are THE RUNAWAYS, BLUE VALENTINE, ANIMAL KINGDOM, BURIED, and ABEL. I’m sure people will hear the echoes of these titles after the festival is over.
It’s important to understand box office grosses. What does a movie that cost $30 million in production need to make overall to turn a profit? Well something important to remember is that a studio doesn’t just calculate the production budget, but as well as what the film costs in marketing and distribution.This can easily make that $30 million budget into $60 million.
Let us take for example the Universal film Public Enemies. It had a physical production budget of at least $110 million. The marketing of the film cost roughly another $75 million. Finally to distribute it worldwide cost another $70 million. At the end of the day this film costs $255 million. So in order to turn a profit the film would of course have to surpass this number to be considered a box office success. According to Box Office Mojo, Public Enemies made $214 million worldwide. It’s safe to conclude this was a loss for Universal.
Now a common misconception of film budgets are that people only look at physical production costs. It’s a little known fact just how much costs goes into marketing and distribution. Therefore if you would like to roughly assess what a film is going to cost just double the number of what you believe it would cost in physical production alone.
There’s a lot of aspiring young directors around the world. Everyone tries to create their calling card with a really cool short. It’s a new generation of filmmaker out there that now has the capability to make visually stunning shorts. No company will just hand over a film to a director whose never made one before. Therefore a method people take is to be “godfathered” by a trusted creative player in the business. Consider Niell Blompkamp and Peter Jackson. Another is Shane Acker who had Tim Burton and Guillermo Del Toro. The latest, Federico Alvarez has Sam Raimi. It’s important to know the cool shorts out there that are getting people excited.
Now the bar has been set by guys like these. It’s clear that when you look at these visually stunning shorts these guys know what a commerical movie should look like.
Ataque de Panico
Cup of TearsHere is something that is getting people around town pretty excited. Check out here Adidas Star Wars by director Nima Nourizadeh. Keep an eye on this guy; he’s going to get some heat. Check out the other one he did with probably the coolest house party there is Adidas House Party
