In last week’s post I talked about Finding A Producer For Your Film, but what if you’re like me and you ARE the producer of your film – not the writer looking for a Producer, but the ‘buck stops here’ one responsible for raising financing for your film Producer?
Well I wanted to share with you some things that I’m focusing on right now with my own projects and hopefully it will help others of you out there too. To refresh your memory on my story and how I got here – I’m a former foreign sales agent turned Producer. I’ve Produced in the past and have now come full circle after several years on the sales side of things. I have to say, I feel very lucky to come back to Producing after my experience in sales – not least because I now have all the necessary relationships with buyers to pre-sell my movies. Prior to being a sales agent I worked in the Talent Agency world, so I also know how to package my projects with talent without having a stitch of financing in place.
The winning equation that’s really working for me right now is this:
Relationships with buyers + Packaging talent = A killer combo!
OK enough about me – I just wanted to give you a context of where I’m coming from. I’m not a Producer coming up through the ‘creative’ ranks per se….. I’m a producer coming up through the sales, financing, and packaging ranks.
So what am I focusing on right now?
A Diversified Portfolio – Web, TV, and Film … yes, all at once
Several Irons In The Fire – 6 projects on the development slate? Check. Out to multiple talent at once? Check Check.
Letting Go – I think perhaps the most valuable quality a producer can have is the ability to let go and move on when something doesn’t work out. There’s always the next project!
What about you? What keeps you sane as a Producer and what are you choosing to focus on right now?
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I like your attention to diversity within the differing market places. I need to be reminded of that. I would like to nuance the concept of “lettIng go” . As a creative producer some projects just can’t be entirely let go. They go on the shelf awaiting some sort nudge by some outside force to get them on target again. The original concepts can also get recycled into another incarnation or adaptation of the original idea too. All this brings into the importance of being able to envision the content on other platforms instead of the holy grail of the mighty film… As opposed to TV or web-based. The trick is to move forward… Always.
So true! Entertainment, platforms, financial markets, genre preferences, ie audience tastes and preferences are changing constantly. If you have a project that’s been in development for years, (as most of us usually do) you must take stock of where your project stands with each new area. What might have worked in the past (big budget, pay or play offers for instance) might not translate to today’s reality for example. On the other hand, a project that may not have appealed to audiences or market conditions in the past, may now have a chance on the web or as a short conceived for the digital marketplace.
“Attention to diversity.” What a wonderful concept. Especially when it’s applied to race and not simply differing market places. Motion pictures are arguably the single biggest influence on the human mind. It turned an entire generation into users of tobacco, didn’t it? Pushing diversity is what keeps me going.