So You Want to Make a Movie - Setting Up Shop

You’ve caught the bug, and you’ve decided to make a movie. But where do you start? The good news is today there are fewer barriers to overcome in order to produce a film. Thanks to digital filmmaking, the costs have dropped dramatically. In reality, practically anybody can become a filmmaker. There is no shortage of books, videos, and online resources to help get you started. No one article can answer all of your questions or take you through the entire process; however, I want to offer you 20 key steps that will at least steer you in the right direction. Think of these steps as the big picture or the 30,000 foot view.

Step 9. Setting Up Shop

Filmmaking can be fun and exciting; however, this next step is neither. There are a thousand and one things you have to do before you ever turn on a camera, and most of them are quite boring but necessary to the process. You are now moving from development to pre-production, and that means, its time to open up a production office. Whether you rent space or have it donated, you need a central command center. You can’t do this from the back of your car. In reality, you are running a small business that’s responsible to account for every dollar that comes in and how it’s spent, that means paperwork, accounting, meeting payroll, and all the other things necessary in running a business.

Your office should be open for business at least three months prior to the start of production. At this point, you should apply for a film permit, which is basically a license to conduct a temporary business and set up a film production company in the city where you are about to shoot. Also check with the municipality where your office is located to obtain all other necessary permits and licenses. Setting up shop is essentially about getting organized and planning your shoot. It’s a place where you have meetings with potential crew, cast, investors and other interested parties. Most important, don’t forget to obtain liability insurance and workman’s compensation. And you should make a call to your local or state Film Commission that you are planning on shooting a movie in their area. They will be more than willing to assist you with all types of compliance issues and possible tax breaks.

Step 10. Marketing and Promotion

Marketing and promotions does not start when you finish your film and secure distribution. You need to generate a buzz NOW and get the word out about your film. Find a good web developer and build a website for your movie. It’s not as expensive as you think, but it’s necessary and expected in today’s media environment. Use social media to engage your potential audience and keep your investors informed of your progress. Find a host who will do a weekly video blog and podcast about your film. Once production starts, you should produce daily updates on your video blog through your website. Encourage people to help by promoting your movie through Facebook and Twitter by asking them to re-share your post and updates. This is Gorilla Marketing 101. It’s inexpensive, easy and highly effective, especially if it goes viral. This may help you find a distributor if you can create an online sensation about your movie.

Weekend Report: 'Wolverine' Bleeds, But Still Easily Leads

From Box Office Mojo

The Wolverine easily took first place this weekend, though its opening weekend was a far cry from the last few X-Men movies featuring Hugh Jackman as the immortal hero. Meanwhile, The Conjuring had a fantastic hold for a horror movie, while Fruitvale Station did good business in its nationwide expansion.

Overall, the Top 12 earned an estimated $158.3 million, which is up 25 percent from last year. While overall box office in July 2013 won't set a new record, it is on track to become the second-highest-grossing month ever with around $1.35 billion.

At 3,924 locations, The Wolverine clawed its way to an estimated $55 million. That's off 35 percent from the widely-maligned X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and it's very likely that movie's poor reception negatively impacted this new outing. The Wolverine was about on par with 2011's X-Men: First Class ($55.1 million), and was slightly higher than the original X-Men movie ($54.5 million). With 3D premiums inflating ticket prices, The Wolverine had the lowest initial attendance yet for the franchise.

This underwhelming opening can first-and-foremost be attributed to the reputation of X-Men Origins: Wolverine; while it does have a fine IMDb rating (6.7), the general consensus does seem to be that the movie was painfully bad. Fox recognized this, and spent a solid amount of their marketing and publicity trying to convince audience that this go-around was a major improvement. And word is that it was—the movie is fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, and received a good "A-" CinemaScore—but for opening weekend, at least, the damage was already done.

It also didn't help that The Wolverine looked like a smaller, more contained movie, which kept it from reaching "event movie" status. Finally, the July release date plays a role as well: X-Men Origins: Wolverine had no competition on the first weekend of May, while The Wolverine had to fight with lots of other options this weekend.

The good news is that The Wolverine's long-term prospects are fine. Using other late July releases as a guideline, the movie should leverage its solid word-of-mouth in to a final total around $140 million. Add in great overseas grosses (see the Around-the-World Roundup below for details) and The Wolverine will ultimately be a minor win for Fox.

The Wolverine's audience was 58 percent male, and 58 percent were 25 years of age or older. In comparison, X-Men Origins: Wolverine's crowd was only 53 percent male, and also skewed a bit younger (52 percent were 25 and up).

Fox did not reported a 3D share for the movie. Out of the five 3D movies released so far in July, the studios have only formally reported a 3D share for one of them (Pacific Rim), which is the latest sign that the times are changing for 3D.

In second place, The Conjuring dropped 47 percent to an estimated $22.1 million. That's a great hold for a horror movie—typically, they drop at least 50 percent in their second outing, if not much more (for example, The Purge fell 76 percent). Chalk this up to very strong word-of-mouth for director James Wan's supernatural horror hit, which is already the highest-grossing horror movie of 2013 with $83.9 million. By next weekend, the movie will have earned over $100 million, and should eventually make it past $120 million.

In its fourth weekend, Despicable Me 2 eased 36 percent to an estimated $16 million. On Saturday, it became the sixth animated movie ever to reach $300 million, and is the first since Toy Story 3 in 2010. DreamWorks Animation's Turbo also dipped a light 38 percent to $13.3 million this weekend. Unfortunately, it has only grossed $55.8 million so far, and faces tough competition from The Smurfs 2 beginning on Wednesday.

Grown Ups 2 fell 42 percent to an estimated $11.5 million. On Sunday, it's expected to pass $100 million, which makes it the 14th Adam Sandler movie to reach that milestone. In comparison, Tom Cruise has 15 $100 million movies, while Will Smith has 13.

Red 2 dropped 48 percent to an estimated $9.4 million this weekend. Through 10 days, the action sequel has grossed $35.1 million, and it's on pace to wind up well below its predecessor's $90.4 million.

After Pacific Rim's disappointing debut, there was hope that the movie would leverage good word-of-mouth in to long-term success. After its third weekend, it's clear that's not going to be the case: the movie plummeted 53 percent this weekend to an estimated $7.5 million. To date, it's earned $84 million, and is on track to ultimately close just over $100 million.

Fruitvale Station expanded in to 1,064 locations and took 10th place with an estimated $4.66 million. That's a very strong expansion for the drama, and suggests that word is getting out across the country about this Sundance hit. Assuming the movie isn't weirdly front-loaded, it should be in line for a very successful run (at least $20 million).

The Way, Way Back also expanded this weekend. The coming-of-age comedy grossed $3.3 million from 886 locations, which translated in to a slightly lower per-theater average than Fruitvale Station. That's a fine tally, though it's not really indicative of long-term potential given how much Fox Searchlight has been marketing it. To date, The Way, Way Back has earned $8.9 million.

Opening at 591 locations, The To-Do List earned just $1.54 million. That's disappointing considering the movie has received a solid marketing and publicity push; it is receiving good word-of-mouth, though ultimately it's going to be tough for it to break out during a crowded August.

Writer-director Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine opened to an estimated $613,000 at just six locations this weekend. That translate to $102,167 per-theater, which is an all-time best for Allen ahead of 2011's Midnight in Paris ($99,834). Still, Allen's movies always play well in New York and Los Angeles, and it remains to be seen whether it will get any mainstream traction.

Around-the-World Roundup

While it missed the mark at the domestic box office, The Wolverine clawed its way to a great $85.3 million in 100 countries this weekend. According to distributor 20th Century Fox International, that's 13 percent stronger than X-Men: The Last Stand, which closed with $225 million.

The movie's biggest market was Russia with $10.5 million, followed by France ($7.4 million), the U.K. ($7.1 million), Brazil ($6.5 million), Mexico ($6.3 million), Australia ($5.6 million) and South Korea ($5 million). It was less impressive (but still fine) in Germany ($3.3 million) and Spain ($2.8 million). It's worth noting that it doesn't open in Japan until September; considering the movie is set there and has a largely Japanese cast, there's a good chance it's going to do disproportionately well there.

Fast & Furious 6 finally reached China, where it took first place with an excellent $24 million this weekend. That helped push the movie past $500 million overseas; on a worldwide basis, Fast & Furious 6 ranks second in 2013 with $741.1 million.

Despicable Me 2 added $24.5 million from 50 markets this weekend. To date, it's earned $354.5 million overseas and $661 million worldwide, and still has a handful of territories (including Russia) left to open.

Fast & Furious 6 and Despicable Me 2 now combine for over $1.4 billion worldwide, and are on track to wind up around $1.6 billion. Combined, that makes this a very successful Summer for Universal Pictures (even if they do have to take a huge loss with R.I.P.D.).

While it has so far failed to garner much attention overseas, White House Down earned a surprising $18.5 million in China this week. To date, it's now grossed $45.6 million.

Monsters University added $15.6 million from 46 markets this weekend, which represents 86 percent of its international potential. It's now earned $321.6 million, which makes it the eighth Pixar movie to pass $300 million overseas. The movie still has Italy and China coming up next month, and could ultimately wind up over $400 million.

Pacific Rim fell 59 percent to $14.3 million for a new total of $140 million. The movie expands in to China on Wednesday and Spain, Japan and Brazil on August 9th.

Finally, Turbo added $12.2 million from 29 markets for an early total of $42.8 million. The movie has yet to open in most major markets.

Day 18 - Last Lunch Fun

Day 17 - Sunset Singing

Day 15 - Production Office 500

Hope Bridge Day 18—it’s a Wrap

It’s official. At 8:00 p.m. on Thursday, July 25, 2013, the production of Hope Bridge came to an end. IT’S A WRAP!

But, before we get to that, let’s go over how Day 18 played out. The cast and crew moved back to Lawrenceburg for our final day. We started shooting early at Smith’s Gas and Grocery near Lawrenceburg, Ky. I know this is sounding like a broken record by now, but today’s shots featured our famous Jeep Cherokee, along with our main characters Jackson (Booboo Stewart) and Sophie (Rebeca Robles) .

After the gas station scene, the cast and crew broke for lunch. It was starting to sink in. This was our final day and our final lunch together. By midafternoon, part of the cast and crew shot a few scenes with our Jeep Cherokee crossing the Lawrenceburg Bridge over the Kentucky River. The remaining crew started cleaning out our production office on Main Street.

Shortly before 4:00 p.m., we closed the production office for the last time. I got the feeling that people were feeling a little sad when we locked the doors. By 5:00 p.m., everybody was together for our final scene, which was to take place on a residential street in Lawrenceburg. What made the final scene so special is that it actually is the final scene in the movie. It seemed only fitting. It was an exterior shot with Jackson and Sophie driving her Jeep Cherokee up a street and parking outside a house.

After a few takes, the crowd grew increasingly larger as several neighbors came out to watch the action. We knew the end was only minutes away. The final shot ran for three minutes as Sophe and Jackson entered the house. All that remained was our Jeep Cherokee over which would role Hope Bridge's end credits.

Soon our director, Josh Overbay, would utter the final words.” It’s a picture wrap for Hope Bridge.” With that it was truly over.

I asked a few crew members how they felt about the conclusion of Hope Bridge. Hudson Barry, Key Set Production Assistant, said, “I feel depressed, but I am excited to move on to the next thing.”  Jennifer Silver, Second Assistant Director, told me, “It won’t hit me until a couple of days later. It’s sort of a bittersweet feeling. A lot of these people I’ve worked with I won’t see again.” As for Thomas Green, our gaffer, who’s been on a number of these types of productions said, “Afterwards it always feels like a funeral.”

Joe Battaglia, First Assistant Director, offered these comments. “It sure feels like a lot of stress has been lifted off of my shoulders.” Joe was like a lot of people on the production of Hope Bridge. He worked over 80 hours per week. I’m sure you can imagine what kind of stress that can cause. We all realized that everything was riding on these 18 days. There was no room for error. It seemed to be a common theme that was on everyone’s mind that finally the stress was over and that there would be a chance to get some rest. And, I might add, some well-deserved rest at that.

David Eaton, one of our producers and visionaries, told me this. “It’s going to be hard to go back to my day job to find anything meaningful. It will be sad. It was awesome to see God’s work taking place.” Many others felt the same. Production Designer, Theresa Strebeler, stated, “It seems like we just started, but it also feels like we’ve been going on forever. Now I’m going to have to start thinking about what the next job is going to be.”

Craft Coordinator, Stephanie Kruthaupt, had an interesting comment. “It felt like we were going to war together. It was a shared experience, and, in the end, I found myself hugging people that I had not connected with during the production.”

But, perhaps, Anna Phillips, Second Second Assistant Director, summed it up best. “I am sad. I will not see a lot of these people again. I’m going back to school for my senior year. But a lot of the people that I went to school with and worked on this film together with will be gone.”  Anna’s right. After today, everybody will be going their separate ways. And the truth is many of the people who have worked together for the past month may never see each other again.

Hope Bridge was a shared experience that nobody will soon forget. For now there is a wrap party on Friday night to look forward to.

What comes next for Hope Bridge? There is still a lot of work ahead. The film must be edited, scored, and color graded. That process can take up to a year. But, in the meantime, Rebel Pilgrim Productions will be releasing A Strange Brand of Happy in September in a theater near you.

Well, no more to come. No more updates. No more stories. You’ll just have to go see the movie in September 2014. 

Forecast: 'Wolverine' To Go Berserk On Box Office This Weekend

From Box Office Mojo

This weekend's only brand-new nationwide release is The Wolverine, which features Hugh Jackman once again reprising his star-making role as the titular immortal hero. Playing at 3,924 locations (3,063 of which will show it in 3D), the sixth X-Men movie should open to at least $60 million, which will easily be good for first place.

Meanwhile, The To-Do List opens in moderate release, while Sundance hits Fruitvale Station and The Way, Way Back expand nationwide. Finally, Woody Allen's latest, Blue Jasmine, opens in six theaters ahead of a likely nationwide expansion in August.

While the X-Men franchise has never reached top-tier comic book levels (Spider-Man, Iron Man, The Dark Knight, etc.), it has generally performed well at the box office. The high point so far is X-Men: The Last Stand, which concluded the original trilogy by earning $234.4 million in 2006.

The Wolverine isn't the first attempt at a stand-alone movie for the X-Men's most popular character: that honor belongs to 2009 prequel X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Despite a nearly complete version of the movie leaking online a month early, it still wound up opening to a strong $85.1 million on the first weekend of Summer 2009. Unfortunately, it was generally disliked (38 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, 6.7 on IMDb) and dropped off quickly before closing with $179.9 million.

Typically, when audiences aren't thrilled with a movie, they turn out in smaller numbers for its sequel. While that will likely be the case on The Wolverine's opening weekend, a handful of factors should mitigate that a bit. First, consumers have warmed up again towards the X-Men brand following 2011's well-received X-Men: First Class; there's also already a lot of excitement surrounding next Summer's X-Men: Days of Future Past.

It's also possible that the Wolverine character is so popular that one awful outing doesn't entirely sour audience. This could be referred to as the "James Bond" effect—Quantum of Solace was widely maligned, but Daniel Craig's incarnation of the legendary character was so well-liked that four years later Skyfall still set a new record for the franchise. While Wolverine doesn't have quite the same pop culture cache as James Bond, it is pretty clear that Jackman's version of the character is popular-enough to recover from one poor outing.

Fox has also executed a solid marketing campaign for The Wolverine. Previews suggest that the movie takes place after The Last Stand—always a positive to move the story forward—and clearly present Wolverine's struggles with his immortality. They also showcase the unique Japanese setting and the action that goes along with that, while hinting at a major showdown between Wolverine and the formidable Silver Samurai. Finally, the marketing has attempted to get audiences to forget about X-Men Origins: Wolverine by including a critic quote on most commercials that declares that this is the Wolverine movie people have been waiting for. And that might be true: the movie is currently at 65 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, which is a noticeable improvement over Origins (38 percent).

It also helps that The Wolverine faces next-to-no competition. It's been a full five weeks since a live-action movie opened over $45 million (World War Z), and during that time a handful of would-be blockbusters have faltered. The Summer isn't over yet, and The Wolverine is well-positioned to fill the pent-up demand for big-budget spectacle.

Currently, distributor 20th Century Fox is expecting between $60 and $65 million for the weekend. Online ticket seller Fandango suggests the movie could open even higher; through the same point, The Wolverine is outselling X-Men: First Class by 39 percent, which would translate to a weekend around $75 million.

The Wolverine is also opening in around 60 foreign locations this weekend, including all major markets except Japan and China. With the addition of 3D and the international setting, it's likely that the movie tops X-Men Origins: Wolverine's $193 million total.

The To-Do List is opening at 591 locations this weekend, which is just below the threshold to be considered nationwide (over 600). The movie has an appealing cast made up of television personalities like Aubrey Plaza and Bill Hader, and has received decent reviews (as of Thursday afternoon, it was barely fresh on Rotten Tomatoes). CBS Films is expecting around $2 million this weekend, which would keep the movie outside of the Top 12. If it opens around that level, it will likely expand past that nationwide threshold in the next few weeks.

After earning $1.6 million in two weeks of limited release, Fruitvale Station is expanding in to 1,064 locations this weekend. That's a very aggressive move for a movie that's getting great reviews and strong word-of-mouth—typically, a studio would attempt to platform for another week or two before going big. Still, there's enough momentum behind it that Fruitvale Station should earn at least $3 million this weekend.

The Way, Way Back is reaching 886 locations this weekend. Through less than three weeks in limited release, the coming-of-age comedy has grossed $5.4 million; with good word-of-mouth and a decent marketing push, it could crack the Top 10 this weekend with around $4 million.

Writer-director Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine opens at six locations in New York and Los Angeles this weekend. Allen's movies always start strong, and this should be no exception: with very good reviews, expect it to at least match last year's To Rome with Love's opening theater average ($72,272).

Forecast (July 26-28)
The Wolverine - $72.5 million
The Conjuring - $20.7 million (-51%)
Despicable Me 2 - $14.7 million (-41%)
Turbo - $11.7 million (-45%)
Grown Ups 2 - $11 million (-45%)

Bar for Success
At a minimum, The Wolverine should be matching X-Men: First Class's attendance figures. With a slight boost for 3D ticket pricing, that translates to at least $60 million this weekend. Meanwhile, The To-Do List needs $2 million this weekend, while The Way, Way Back and Fruitvale Station really ought to be hitting $3 million in their nationwide expansions.

Hope Bridge - Day 17

When you are a producer, you get to do a lot of fun and interesting things. Today, I had the privilege of taking Tantoo Cardinal from her hotel to the set of Hope Bridge. Ms. Cardinal plays the role of Lana, a long lost grandmother of our lead character, Jackson (BooBoo Stewart). Tantoo Cardinal is a veteran actor, who has an impressive resume of film credits. She’s been featured in Dances with Wolves, Legends of the Fall, and, in one of my personal favorites, Smoke Signals.

Ms. Cardinal is from Canada’s First Nation. As we drove out to the set, she shared her personal experiences about being in the movies. It was really a treat to hear her share her story as we drove along the backroads of Kentucky. Her passion for film was very obvious. She also has a love and respect for the land. In recent years, she has directed her attention toward environmental issues and has become a spokesperson for the movement.

I couldn’t help but wonder what would draw her to come to Kentucky and be part of a low-budget, independent film. After all, she has never been here before and has not worked with anyone on the set of Hope Bridge. She said she was drawn to the character of Lana. It’s obviously a part she has played before. Without giving away too much of our story or plot, her character helped to bring healing and restoration to Jackson.

Watching her work was a pleasure. She obviously knows how to get into character and find the right mood. On the way back to the hotel, we had an opportunity to talk about today's work, and I asked her how she does that. She came in for only one day and had no opportunity to run lines with the other actors but somehow, magically, she finds the character. She said, “It’s a process. You develop techniques over time. You just kind of go into a place, and you find it.” Hope Bridge is fortunate in having actors like Tan too Cardinal, Kevin Sorbo, and Booboo Jackson. A lot of Hollywood films don’t have the impressive cast our little independent feature offers.

Here on Day 17, we shot at Robert Myles’ farmhouse in Shelby County. Ky. Robert is the city attorney for Lawrenceburg, KY. This guy deserves a medal. He has really helped make the production of Hope Bridge go smoothly. He knows everybody in Lawrenceburg and Anderson County.  We shot most of our film in areas where Robert knows people in the community. Whenever we needed something to happen, he made it happen.

This farm was the perfect backdrop to serve as Lana’s farmhouse in Tennessee. It is extremely picturesque with rolling hills and plenty of cows. Hollywood couldn’t have scripted this any better. It’s without a doubt the most remote location we have shot at so far. If you want to know where the middle of nowhere is, we found it.

Robert was so gracious in letting us take over his house for the entire day. We shot a number of scenes both inside and outside of his house, which happens to have been built in 1820. Our thanks to Mr. Myles for all of his assistance and support.

One of the things I believe will make Hope Bridge a great movie is we have found “killer” locations. Every one of them has been a home run. I had said early on that, in my opinion, Hope Bridge is a “road movie”. That certainly has turned out to be true. That’s why our locations needed to be spot on.

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but tomorrow is the last day of the movie shoot. So far, we’ve been on time and on budget. We’ve captured every shot we needed. I’ve checked with the Director, the Line Producer, and the Director of Photography. They are all pleased with the results.

To tell you the truth, most movies at this point could not say that. People are getting along. There’s been no personal conflict or any problems of any sort. I think it’s something everyone can be proud of. The cast and crew have done their job and have exhibited a “can do” attitude. Some people might accuse me of being overly positive. I’m not going to tell you that everything has been perfect; however, the positives have just been overwhelming and have outweighed the negatives.

More to come. 

Hope Bridge - Day 16

Back to high school. That’s right. The cast and crew of Hope Bridge returned to high school today, to shot a number of key scenes at a local school here in Lawrenceburg, KY. This was perhaps our biggest production day so far. We had over 100 extras on set. It required a great deal of logistics and management to keep the production on schedule. As I said, it was a big day.

The film industry calls extras "background actors". When we watch movies, there are a lot of things we don’t think about that give movies a sense of realism and plausibility. For example the things that are happening in the background during a scene. How boring it would be to see two actors having a discussion on a street corner without people walking in and out of the frame.

We also shot our big action scene today. It’s the first time we used a real stunt coordinator. Staging a fight scene may seem easy, but it’s not. It has to look real without people getting hurt. In this case it really looked like someone was getting beaten badly, even to the extent of spitting out blood. Notice I said “it looked like”.

We were fortunate to have veteran stunt coordinator, Nils Stewart, who has over 100 film credits, working on Hope Bridge. He helped to make the scene look like the real deal. It’s hard to believe it took six hours to shoot the fight scene that will only run no more than about a minute and a half in the movie. And you thought making a movie was easy.

And what about the 100 high schoolers who showed up as extras? There’s no guarantee that any of them will make the final cut of the film. Why would they give up a perfectly good summer day to wait around for hours? Kera from Corbin, KY said she did it for the experience. She wants to work in the film business some day. Kim from Harrisburg, KY is majoring in theater. She found it to be interesting and fun. And Laura said she couldn’t believe how much went into shooting just one scene.

Everybody I talked to was positive. It was fun playing Hollywood for a day. However, I did talk to a number of students like Kera who are looking into the film and media industry as a career. Thank you guys for coming out and being part of our movie. Without you, our high school scenes would not of been a success. You brought life and energy into today’s production.

With so many people on set today, the crew really had to step up their game. Our plan worked. Everyone knew where they needed to be and when to be there. When you pull off a day like today, there’s a real sense of satisfaction.

I had a chance to chat with Isaac Pletcher, Director of Photography. Isaac is an interesting person to talk to. You might be wondering what a director of photography actually does. It’s obviously a very crucial role. A DP is responsible for the visual look of the film. You have to understand lighting, lenses, focal lengths and F-stops.

Isaac gradated with a film degree from Regent University. I asked him why he wanted to be a cinematographer. He said, “When I started at Regent, I had every intention of being a director, I discovered I really didn’t enjoy it. I fell in love with cinematography because I enjoy the creative aspect. It’s challenging to take the vision of the director and make it a reality.”  

I wanted to know about Isaac’s lighting style and how it applied to Hope Bridge. He stated, “Like Josh our director, I primarily like to work with natural lighting if possible. Instead of using artificial lights, I’d rather redirect existing light to the subject. It’s been my approach for Hope Bridge. With our budgetary limits, natural light was our best option.” Isaac went on to say that he’s pleased with the results he has achieved with Hope Bridge. With the film’s subject material, the lighting style he chose has helped to create a more atmospheric mood, which helps push the story forward.

Only two days to go with more to come.