Monday, October 31, 2005

The Ball is Rolling - Finally!

We've accomplished quite a lot this last week - we've finished the business plan and most importantly, met up with even more wonderful people.

The Business Plan
Eng Tiong and I always wondered how the hell do we do the damn business plan. Even after attending this and that course about film financing, we're pretty much left more confused than ever.

A moviemaking business plan is slightly different from a traditional business plan people do to start a business. I've a thick book on entreprenuership that has a sampled business plan but I can't exactly use that verbatim.

So Eng Tiong trawl the internet and found some! And they are for sale! Unbelievable! It really takes a lot of guesswork out of the equation. Of course, the plan is based on the independent American film market. So we have to change that to reflect the local scene.

I basically do some research, reading up on the Media Development Authority's policies, schemes, press releases, etc, etc, etc. I've even compiled a database of local films made since 1991. ("Medium Rare" started the next wave of moviemaking in Singapore since the Shaw and Cathay Keris moviemaking days in the 1970s.) Most of the information are gathered from MDA's website but it isn't updated so we've added in the latest figures/ productions that we've found from other sources.

Meeting People
We've met up with really wonderful people, including a very popular actress who used to act alot for TV. The feeling we get is - the ball is finally rolling!

Meeting Actor for Old Teo's Role
We've met up with a really experienced actor for the role of Old Teo. And it's all thanks to the earlier meeting we had with the popular actress (sorry about the mysteriousness but I can't risk getting sued). And that meeting with the popular actress is all thanks to a really wonderful artiste management company that we got acquainted with.

Old Teo is one of the 2 lead roles. Like our main character Renee's role, we already have someone in mind for Old Teo even before we pen the script. And that someone is this actor that we are meeting. It's great that we've got to see him face-to-face, telling him about the story and our convictions for making this movie.

We will hopefully hear from him in a week or so.

The next step is to find the rest of the supporting cast and the key production people. That's part of packaging. Once completed, we'll go out and find investors. The budget is now set slightly higher because we're taking into consideration the cost of transferring the final cut to film. (Cos' most cinemas still show movies the tradtional way.) But all in all, we're relatively comfortable with the new figures because we're confident that our movie will be great and therefore, it'll be picked up for distribution and you'll get to watch it in the cinemas (and DVDs, cable TV, etc, etc, etc)!

Thursday, October 20, 2005

A Detour

Eng Tiong has finished translating the dialogue in the script to Mandarin. (Oh, I didn't tell you? The story is mostly in Mandarin, unless otherwise stated.)

I can't write Chinese for a living. I wrote the script in English with Movie Magic Screenwriter. There's no Chinese input. So I have to output the script as a text file so that Eng Tiong can input the Chinese dialogue next to the English ones in Word. It does alter the screenplay format a little bit. The margins seem not quite right but other than that, we're happy with those 99 pages.

This past week sees us doing less of "Exposed!" but for a good reason.

We're busy working on developing new projects for the upcoming SuperPitch and Animation SuperPitch, and the Singapore Film Commission Project Development Scheme. All the submission dates are due either this week or next week.

We may get something out of it or we may get nothing. No problem. At least we try. We'll keep trying till we get it someday.

Also, in the pipeline is a short film. The working title is "Dollhouse." I'll probably set up a separate blog for it sometime in the future. So I won't reveal much here. The only thing I'll say is that this story has been languishing in my ideas book since April and we thought we'll do it now as some sort of a prep for making "Exposed!" We haven't done a drama for some time now and this short film is like a refresher course. It's also a good time to try out and explore the technical aspects. Afterall, we haven't put HDV cameras to the test yet.

I'm looking forward to doing it! If anyone out there is interested to join in as crew, just email us! We don't mind if you don't have any production experience whatsoever as long as you are willing to learn. We are all still learning. So attitude is the key!

Friday, October 14, 2005

Guerilla-Style

We spoke to Juan Foo of Ground Glass Images who had made films such as Return to Pontianak and most recently, Perth. He's also our senior in Ngee Ann Polytechnic. So it was great catching up with him.

It's even better that he didn't paint a rose-tinted picture of the independent filmmaking scene in Singapore. He's been there and done that.

We definitely get the idea that it's a long and tough road which may not lead to any light at the end of the tunnel. So we must be very sure what we want to achieve out of this.

One thing for sure - we want to make at least 1 damn movie so that we can decently call ourselves filmmakers and die in peace. That is truly and sincerely our most basic wish.

4 movies, 10 movies a year? We hope so but that will probably take a very long time.

It's been a really trying period for Eng Tiong and I. There are so much frustrations. It's been a rollercoaster ride through the emotional realm and a zig-zagging decision-making process. I'm sure there will be more to come.

One thing we now know for sure... there is no hard and fast rules to go about making a movie. If we want to get it made the way we want to, just do it. We don't have to play by the system. The biggest consequence is that it may not get screened and earn the kind of money and prestige that others do.

What the hack! Stick with our basic wish of dying in peace with a movie in our name. Whatever comes after that is pure bonus.

So we may not want to seek more funding. We're going to do it guerilla-style - the way we know it. Let's get rid of all the rubbish about pre-sales, agreements, ya-da, ya-da that clog up our creative channels.

Let's just get the movie made!

Monday, October 03, 2005

Learn how to Write a Business Plan... (Yes! Even for Making Movies!)

We've just been through a steep learning curve last week. We attended a seminar on "The Business of Film Financing and Exploitation" by Ted Perkins.

The most valuable is knowing how to write a business plan - for movie-making. For all those filmmaker-wannabes out there, yes, you've heard right. We have to learn how to write a business plan. Unless, of course, you're really rich or have ready money to make your movie straight away. For the rest of us, we'd better get going with the business plan. That's the first step in sourcing for money.

But like any other business plans for other fields, I feel that having a business plan is really a good start whether I'm sourcing for funding or not. A plan makes my idea clearer and helps me develop a strategy. It will also spell out the kinds of risk involved for the investors. So everyone chips in with eyes wide open. That's very important.

I'll be working on the budget, the package and the business plan. I find that they go together hand in hand.

So for anyone (including Kee) who's interested to partner up or something, please be patient. Drop me an email if you're seriously interested. It's a huge learning process and the last thing we want is to get everybody into trouble - financially or legally - and doom the project forever.

We have more movies in the pipeline, remember?