Over the past few days, I've been working on the budget. In fact, I'm still working on it.
How tough can it be to punch in the numbers? Well, pretty much easy, really, unless you come out with such a high figure that you know it's impossible to start the production anytime soon.
Speaking about starting the production, Eng Tiong and I have made a decision. We are not going to rush this production.
The initial plan is to finish the shoot this year so that we could enter this film for the Singapore International Film Festival. But the deadline, for at least some sort of a rough cut, is mid-January.
That pretty much means that we have to shoot by November. With such a timeline, that means that getting investors and/ or sponsors will have to be all ready by end October. In turn, that means that we have to get the package up by, erm... yesterday? Or was it last week?
If we're to rush out a rough cut for "Exposed!" by December, it'll probably mean that we can't secure enough sponsors or investors. So that means the numbers I've punched in are less likely to be reduced and therefore we'll need to strike lottery and 4-D at the same time to make the film.
So we decided to forego the SIFF 2006. We're going to postpone the shoot to 2006 so that we can have more time to find investors, partners and sponsors.
It didn't feel good that our 2005 New Year resolution is going to be delayed a year. I was looking so much forward to making our first movie, to finally making our dreams come true. But we have to be realistic with our timeline.
There's a saying:
"Good, cheap, fast". Choose only 2.
The most important thing is to get it made cheap but great! Even if it takes a little longer, it'll be worth the wait.
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Friday, September 23, 2005
Packaging
"Package" - film term for whatever you put together into a production entity to make it attractive to potential investors, financiers, etc...
We are now packaging Exposed!
The screenplay's completed. Just freshly out of the oven, really. It's the 5th draft. I know, I said in a previous post that we've got to get the production off the page asap but a story is not set in stone. It shouldn't. If there's room of improvement, we'll go for it. This version will be the one that's locked in for production. Of course, I'll be expecting some changes along the way.
So the screenplay is element number #1 in the package. Just let me repeat the 1-liner:
[Amended as of 24 September 2005 -
"A reporter becomes the subject of scrutiny when an assignment takes her back to the neighbourhood she ran away from 10 years ago."
This new 1-liner has just been thought of this morning. Sort of like an "Eureka!" moment for Eng Tiong and I. We know the importance of getting the 1-liner right.
Till we find a better logline, this is it!]
"In a neighbourhood she ran away from 10 years ago, a TV reporter has to keep her own skeletons in the closet while unearthing a most shocking story. "
Element number #2 - the producer
Jen Nee (yours truly) will be the producer. The credit is important because we want to own major rights to the movie. It's also a great opportunity to learn the ropes. If not now, when?
Element number #3 - the director
Eng Tiong will be the director. Similarly, we've to put to use what we learn in school and all those years of slogging out in the wedding videography industry thinking on our feet. The time to perform is now.
(As a side note, we may switch roles for the next movie. Yes, we've more story ideas in the pipelines. That's why it's important that this project is not going to be our first and the last!)
Element number #4 - main cast
Female Lead for Renee Donovan, TV reporter
We've long had our female lead in mind. When we first seriously sit down to draft out the treatment early this year, the first actress we've thought of is her. In a way, the story is written with her very much in mind.
We've contacted her and just sent her the script this morning. We're definitely keeping our fingers crossed.
Male Lead for Old Teo, old neighbour
There's also 1 particular actor we have in mind for some time now. We've yet to approach him.
Male Lead for Damien, cameraman
Finding a suitable actor for Damien is harder. Originally, Damien's character is very much in the shadows but sometime in the 2nd or 3rd draft, we flesh him up and he got "promoted" to a leading role.
We're still searching for Damien. If anyone's interested, give us a call! (Damien needs to be lean-built and about 36 years old.)
Element number #5 - budget
I've just completed breaking down the script and a preliminary shooting schedule. We're giving ourselves 10 shooting days at an average of filming 9 to 10 screen pages a day. It's quite a lot to accomplish in 10 days but remember - we only have 1 location. Most of the scenes take place in the same block of flats or a couple of metres away.
I'll be working on the budget today. We will be pumping in our own money. It's probably not going to be enough but let's see what's the shortfall. That's what packaging is mostly about anyway - finding more money.
To be perfectly honest, a lot of things are not working in our favour. Nobody's heard of Lim Jen Nee or Teo Eng Tiong. We're wedding videographers. We've never garnered any prestigious awards in short films like the others do. We've not much money. The story genre's a drama, not the hottest favourite of Asian horror.
But what the heck. We have to start somewhere. And nobody's going to tell us what we can't do. At this point in time, nobody believe in us. But we do. We're not going to give up.
We'll create our own destiny.
We are now packaging Exposed!
The screenplay's completed. Just freshly out of the oven, really. It's the 5th draft. I know, I said in a previous post that we've got to get the production off the page asap but a story is not set in stone. It shouldn't. If there's room of improvement, we'll go for it. This version will be the one that's locked in for production. Of course, I'll be expecting some changes along the way.
So the screenplay is element number #1 in the package. Just let me repeat the 1-liner:
[Amended as of 24 September 2005 -
"A reporter becomes the subject of scrutiny when an assignment takes her back to the neighbourhood she ran away from 10 years ago."
This new 1-liner has just been thought of this morning. Sort of like an "Eureka!" moment for Eng Tiong and I. We know the importance of getting the 1-liner right.
Till we find a better logline, this is it!]
"In a neighbourhood she ran away from 10 years ago, a TV reporter has to keep her own skeletons in the closet while unearthing a most shocking story. "
Element number #2 - the producer
Jen Nee (yours truly) will be the producer. The credit is important because we want to own major rights to the movie. It's also a great opportunity to learn the ropes. If not now, when?
Element number #3 - the director
Eng Tiong will be the director. Similarly, we've to put to use what we learn in school and all those years of slogging out in the wedding videography industry thinking on our feet. The time to perform is now.
(As a side note, we may switch roles for the next movie. Yes, we've more story ideas in the pipelines. That's why it's important that this project is not going to be our first and the last!)
Element number #4 - main cast
Female Lead for Renee Donovan, TV reporter
We've long had our female lead in mind. When we first seriously sit down to draft out the treatment early this year, the first actress we've thought of is her. In a way, the story is written with her very much in mind.
We've contacted her and just sent her the script this morning. We're definitely keeping our fingers crossed.
Male Lead for Old Teo, old neighbour
There's also 1 particular actor we have in mind for some time now. We've yet to approach him.
Male Lead for Damien, cameraman
Finding a suitable actor for Damien is harder. Originally, Damien's character is very much in the shadows but sometime in the 2nd or 3rd draft, we flesh him up and he got "promoted" to a leading role.
We're still searching for Damien. If anyone's interested, give us a call! (Damien needs to be lean-built and about 36 years old.)
Element number #5 - budget
I've just completed breaking down the script and a preliminary shooting schedule. We're giving ourselves 10 shooting days at an average of filming 9 to 10 screen pages a day. It's quite a lot to accomplish in 10 days but remember - we only have 1 location. Most of the scenes take place in the same block of flats or a couple of metres away.
I'll be working on the budget today. We will be pumping in our own money. It's probably not going to be enough but let's see what's the shortfall. That's what packaging is mostly about anyway - finding more money.
To be perfectly honest, a lot of things are not working in our favour. Nobody's heard of Lim Jen Nee or Teo Eng Tiong. We're wedding videographers. We've never garnered any prestigious awards in short films like the others do. We've not much money. The story genre's a drama, not the hottest favourite of Asian horror.
But what the heck. We have to start somewhere. And nobody's going to tell us what we can't do. At this point in time, nobody believe in us. But we do. We're not going to give up.
We'll create our own destiny.
Monday, September 19, 2005
Film is Business?
Like everything else, the money (or rather, the lack of it) gets in the way.
About 10 years ago, as a film student, I always thought that film is art. That's why we study film theory and everything else about filmmaking.
I remembered a lecturer used to tell us that film is business. I didn't believe him. How could it be? Explain to me Battleship Potemkin and The Birth of a Nation or Citizen Kane and tell me that it's business.
Fast forward to January this year - Eng Tiong and I attended Dov Siemen's 2-Day Film School. He's from Hollywood and taught people like Quentin Tarantino. So he's invited by MDA to be here in Singapore to conduct his famous seminar. Eng Tiong and I've been out of school for some time so we thought we should attend the seminar to revive that student spirit and passion we have for filmmaking.
At the seminar, Dov Siemen, too said that film is business. Now much older (and hopefully, wiser), I totally agree.
As a student, there's this romanticised idea of what an independent filmmaker is. It's not much of a difference from a struggling artist who believes and sticks to his ideas and ideals at all cost. It's about personal expression. I didn't think money mattered.
Until I grow up and realised that there're bills to pay. Oops. Welcome to the real world.
Not that I don't believe in film as art anymore. I do. But that comes after I've gotten my 3 square meals a day, pay for the roof over my head, transportation expenses, business overheads... Then let's talk about pure film art.
I think we can balance art with commerce. It need not be one or the other. In fact, it's important that both work hand in hand. We can make a great movie that lots of people love to watch and that ensures our survival so that we can make another one. And the cycle continues.
Ultimately, I realised it's about telling an engaging story.
After the Dov Siemen's seminar, we decided that we're going to make our movie. It has always been our dream to go into filmmaking. What stopped us before is money, money, money.
We still lack it but let's work with what we have.
So instead of film, we're going to shoot on high definition. Just make sure we light properly!
In terms of the story, Exposed! will be a great movie for us to start with because:
1. The story takes place in 1 location.
2. The story happens within 12 daylight hours - i.e. no night scenes
So that would save us quite a bundle!
The story is great! It's definitely engaging. I can't reveal much of the plot here but as the screenwriter, it's definitely a work of love, passion and damn hard work!
About 10 years ago, as a film student, I always thought that film is art. That's why we study film theory and everything else about filmmaking.
I remembered a lecturer used to tell us that film is business. I didn't believe him. How could it be? Explain to me Battleship Potemkin and The Birth of a Nation or Citizen Kane and tell me that it's business.
Fast forward to January this year - Eng Tiong and I attended Dov Siemen's 2-Day Film School. He's from Hollywood and taught people like Quentin Tarantino. So he's invited by MDA to be here in Singapore to conduct his famous seminar. Eng Tiong and I've been out of school for some time so we thought we should attend the seminar to revive that student spirit and passion we have for filmmaking.
At the seminar, Dov Siemen, too said that film is business. Now much older (and hopefully, wiser), I totally agree.
As a student, there's this romanticised idea of what an independent filmmaker is. It's not much of a difference from a struggling artist who believes and sticks to his ideas and ideals at all cost. It's about personal expression. I didn't think money mattered.
Until I grow up and realised that there're bills to pay. Oops. Welcome to the real world.
Not that I don't believe in film as art anymore. I do. But that comes after I've gotten my 3 square meals a day, pay for the roof over my head, transportation expenses, business overheads... Then let's talk about pure film art.
I think we can balance art with commerce. It need not be one or the other. In fact, it's important that both work hand in hand. We can make a great movie that lots of people love to watch and that ensures our survival so that we can make another one. And the cycle continues.
Ultimately, I realised it's about telling an engaging story.
After the Dov Siemen's seminar, we decided that we're going to make our movie. It has always been our dream to go into filmmaking. What stopped us before is money, money, money.
We still lack it but let's work with what we have.
So instead of film, we're going to shoot on high definition. Just make sure we light properly!
In terms of the story, Exposed! will be a great movie for us to start with because:
1. The story takes place in 1 location.
2. The story happens within 12 daylight hours - i.e. no night scenes
So that would save us quite a bundle!
The story is great! It's definitely engaging. I can't reveal much of the plot here but as the screenwriter, it's definitely a work of love, passion and damn hard work!
Friday, September 16, 2005
Flashback: About Us
We've been running Pilgrim Pictures, our video production house, for nearly 4 years now. The stuff we've been doing are mostly wedding videos and a couple of corporate jobs. In fact, our very first job is a wedding video.
I have a love-hate relationship with producing wedding videos. Eng Tiong has no qualms about it. He actually enjoyed them tremendously.
We came from Ngee Ann Polytechnic's School of Film & Media Studies. Specifically, the Film, Sound and Video programme. We were amongst the top graduates. And that explains my grudge in doing wedding videos - ego, pride, snobbery.
In the world of video production, wedding videos (in most people's minds anyway), are the most lowly. I thought we were meant for "bigger" things.
The change in mindset came. Rather gradually, I might add.
Doing wedding videos is one of the most challenging productions. If you think about it, many things can go wrong - getting lost enroute to the bride's place, running out of tape, dirty tape head, waiting for the condensation in the camera to go away, lost of the sound signal in the middle of a speech or sermon, failing to capture that most important "pronounced husband & wife" kiss, etc, etc, etc... Even with the best preparations and intentions, shit happens. We just have to deal with it there and then. There's no retakes. Everything is "live".
I still get jitters doing wedding videos. It's stressful. Especially for someone like me who needs everything to be perfect, screwing up, even just a little, is very hard to stomach.
In contrast, Eng Tiong thrives in such situations. He thinks very well on his feet. He always tells me to relax, "It's a wedding, for goodness' sake!"
Before, I always have difficulties telling people, especially professionals in the industry, that we do wedding videos. I hate to see that look on their faces - like it's a loser's job.
But today, I'll gladly tell people that we are wedding videographers because I bet a lot of them can't take such working conditions and do a really fantastic job out of it.
We know what it takes to do a wedding video and do it well. We've won 3 international awards for the wedding stuff that we do at the Wedding & Event Videographers' Assocation (WEVA) Creative Excellence Awards - in the United States. We've received lots of compliments from our wedding customers and many have become our friends.
Like what Eng Tiong always say - "Even for the most "lowly" production like a wedding video, we put our hearts and minds into it and do it really well. Just imagine how it would be when we put our hearts and minds into making our movies..."
I have a love-hate relationship with producing wedding videos. Eng Tiong has no qualms about it. He actually enjoyed them tremendously.
We came from Ngee Ann Polytechnic's School of Film & Media Studies. Specifically, the Film, Sound and Video programme. We were amongst the top graduates. And that explains my grudge in doing wedding videos - ego, pride, snobbery.
In the world of video production, wedding videos (in most people's minds anyway), are the most lowly. I thought we were meant for "bigger" things.
The change in mindset came. Rather gradually, I might add.
Doing wedding videos is one of the most challenging productions. If you think about it, many things can go wrong - getting lost enroute to the bride's place, running out of tape, dirty tape head, waiting for the condensation in the camera to go away, lost of the sound signal in the middle of a speech or sermon, failing to capture that most important "pronounced husband & wife" kiss, etc, etc, etc... Even with the best preparations and intentions, shit happens. We just have to deal with it there and then. There's no retakes. Everything is "live".
I still get jitters doing wedding videos. It's stressful. Especially for someone like me who needs everything to be perfect, screwing up, even just a little, is very hard to stomach.
In contrast, Eng Tiong thrives in such situations. He thinks very well on his feet. He always tells me to relax, "It's a wedding, for goodness' sake!"
Before, I always have difficulties telling people, especially professionals in the industry, that we do wedding videos. I hate to see that look on their faces - like it's a loser's job.
But today, I'll gladly tell people that we are wedding videographers because I bet a lot of them can't take such working conditions and do a really fantastic job out of it.
We know what it takes to do a wedding video and do it well. We've won 3 international awards for the wedding stuff that we do at the Wedding & Event Videographers' Assocation (WEVA) Creative Excellence Awards - in the United States. We've received lots of compliments from our wedding customers and many have become our friends.
Like what Eng Tiong always say - "Even for the most "lowly" production like a wedding video, we put our hearts and minds into it and do it really well. Just imagine how it would be when we put our hearts and minds into making our movies..."
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
FADE IN: So what's the story about?
A shot at a one-liner:
[Amended as of 24 September 2005 -
"A reporter becomes the subject of scrutiny when an assignment takes her back to the neighbourhood she ran away from 10 years ago."
This new 1-liner has just been thought of this morning. Sort of like an "Eureka!" moment for Eng Tiong and I. We know the importance of getting the 1-liner right.
Till we find a better logline, this is it!]
"In a neighbourhood she ran away from 10 years ago, a TV reporter has to keep her own skeletons in the closet while unearthing a most shocking story."
It's strange. I find one-liner's the hardest to write. The story gist in 30 words or less. Someone somewhere said not more than 25. It's so much easier to tell the gist of other people's films but when it comes to my own, I'm at a lost.
The story takes place in a single location - a particular block of flats in Tiong Bahru. The inspiration for this story isn't hard. Eng Tiong, the other pilgrim in Pilgrim Pictures, grew up there.
The initial story is actually a horror film. Through the many intense discussions and really heated arguments, the story's genre has evolved into a drama with a touch of mystery/ suspense.
[Amended as of 24 September 2005 -
"A reporter becomes the subject of scrutiny when an assignment takes her back to the neighbourhood she ran away from 10 years ago."
This new 1-liner has just been thought of this morning. Sort of like an "Eureka!" moment for Eng Tiong and I. We know the importance of getting the 1-liner right.
Till we find a better logline, this is it!]
"In a neighbourhood she ran away from 10 years ago, a TV reporter has to keep her own skeletons in the closet while unearthing a most shocking story."
It's strange. I find one-liner's the hardest to write. The story gist in 30 words or less. Someone somewhere said not more than 25. It's so much easier to tell the gist of other people's films but when it comes to my own, I'm at a lost.
The story takes place in a single location - a particular block of flats in Tiong Bahru. The inspiration for this story isn't hard. Eng Tiong, the other pilgrim in Pilgrim Pictures, grew up there.
The initial story is actually a horror film. Through the many intense discussions and really heated arguments, the story's genre has evolved into a drama with a touch of mystery/ suspense.
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
We're Making a Movie!
We're making a movie!
Yay!
That was our new year's resolution....
Not that we haven't been doing anything about it. We did. Just that the story is stuck in development hell. We re-wrote the treatment at least 4 times. Changed the storyline & characters at least numerous times more.
The screenplay is at the 4th draft. It'll probably be the final one because, hey, it's September! We need to get the damn thing off the page!
So that's where this blog starts...
(SCREENWRITING TIP: Enter a scene as late as possible.)
Yay!
That was our new year's resolution....
Not that we haven't been doing anything about it. We did. Just that the story is stuck in development hell. We re-wrote the treatment at least 4 times. Changed the storyline & characters at least numerous times more.
The screenplay is at the 4th draft. It'll probably be the final one because, hey, it's September! We need to get the damn thing off the page!
So that's where this blog starts...
(SCREENWRITING TIP: Enter a scene as late as possible.)
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