Timeline for Séance
Before starting a film (or any project), I do a timeline. I buy a big piece of paper or poster board and break down the entire project into a reasonable, doable timeline. Even if I don’t know exactly when I’ll be starting principal photography, I make up a date to force myself to put this step on paper. Even if it is just the highlights to get me focused, I find it helpful in many ways. It gives me something tangible that I can actually see before my eyes. It takes the project out of the world of hopes and dreams and makes it real. It makes it look very doable. In our heads, the process can feel daunting, but on paper, broken down over a period of time, it is surprising how easy it begins to appear. Most important, it forces me to become accountable and totally responsible for my project. This part sounds scary, but it’s actually a good thing because it has you “put your butt on the line,” and the more real it becomes for you, the more real it will seem to everyone around you.
I truly think that this step is part of why Kate and I were able to raise the funds and produce these films so effortlessly. We were so clear that it was going to happen that everyone around us got the same message. It was real! We weren’t kidding. We weren’t hoping or wishing or dreaming. We were making a movie and we had a timeline to prove it.
I am going to give you a detailed timeline to help you with this exercise (not that yours should be this detailed at first). The following timeline is a look back at our SAG ultra-low-budget film, Séance. I found that when I was teaching the “Indie Film Producing” workshop, people were really having a hard time with this exercise. I typed up this timeline for Séance to give people a little upfront information so they could get an overall look at the specific aspects of making a film and breaking it down into chronological segments and steps.
Don’t worry if you don’t understand all the terms and language used in this chapter. It is just a brief overview of the timeline. I will go into detailed explanations of each section in the following chapters.
TIMELINE FOR THE FILM, SÉANCE
September/October 2005: Optioned Screenplay
a. Optioned and developed screenplay. (Note: Séance had already been registered with the copyright office long before we did the option. If the script that you are optioning has not been send to the copyright office, please do this first.)
b. Did a table read so that the writer/director and I could hear the script out loud and make any necessary changes at this early stage. We had some actor friends do the read for us as a favor (also smart of them, as it’s a great chance to meet the director). Given that we were going to be doing this project as a $200,000 SAG ultra low budget, we were really listening for places in the script to cut without affecting the integrity of the story. If you can have your line producer there for the table read to give feedback, that would be excellent.
c. Got the budget done. I know it seems early, but I wanted to be sure that the script could really be done for the $200,000 budget we were aiming for. This preliminary budget and shooting schedule might cost between $750 and $1,500 to do, but Kate and I felt that it was an investment. We reimbursed ourselves for the cost when we started preproduction on the film. I just want to point out here that in regarding to spending money, there are four places that you will need to spend money up front:
1. Budget/schedule (I have paid anywhere from $750 to $1,500).
2. Opening your Limited Liability Company (in California it’s $70 to open your LLC).
3. Script clearance report (the prices vary, but it’s approximately $1,500).
4. Legal advice (this will vary depending on what you need at this early stage).
Note
Producing this film today, I would add an additional expense: social media. This could include a number of items, such as a website, one-sheet poster, trailer, and the like. I recently did this for a current project, Omarr the Camel, and that cost came to $1,000. So this cost is something to keep in mind today; even if you are going the traditional route of sales agents and distributors, you will still need to do a certain amount of self-marketing. In addition, having an online presence today also helps attract investors at this early stage in the process.
November/December 2005: Business Plan and PPM
a. Did the business plan. As you will see from my chapter describing our business plan, we kept it quite brief. It may only take a few weeks, but because there is a certain amount of research involved, allow yourself the time.
b. Did the private placement memorandum (PPM), the operating agreement, and the subscription agreement. We read a number of PPMs and operating agreements that we borrowed from other producers. We pulled out the best from all of them, typed up our own versions, and then had our attorney look them over.
Note
As I mentioned earlier, if I were producing Séance in today’s market, I would begin a serious, well-planned social media campaign using every possible online networking platform to help launch the brand that is my movie. I would make a concerted effort to begin the process of building a dedicated fan base. Jon Reiss stresses the importance of “creating a dynamic website” (“My Adventure in Theatrical Self-Distribution,” Filmmaker Magazine, Fall, 2008). He urges us to do this long before we produce our movie. He cautions that “old-style film websites are out and blogging and a constant flow of information are in. Blogging and tagging is what the little bots out in cyberspace will recognize and bring you up in the rankings. A great website also helps you cultivate your niche audience.”
I interviewed JC Calciano for my chapter on alternative forms of distribution, but one of the items he suggests is worth mentioning here as well. “What I do,” JC says, “is start with grassroots and free marketing like Facebook and Twitter. The Internet is the best value for an indie film producer looking to build an audience for cheap. So I concentrate my efforts there. One thing I’ve done which has been extremely successful for me is to create a webisode. I figured I’d make something simple and sexy that would draw my target audience weekly. I started the webisode a year before my first movie and I’ve build a fan base on the Internet to market my movies through my webisode. Each of my webisodes average between 20,000 to 50,000 views a day!” Okay, so JC started a year before his film, and if you’re reading this book, chances are you want to start getting ready to producing now, but I think what JC is saying is brilliant advice. So why not start something now – something that is different and unique and will grab an audience and expand your fan base long before your film comes out?
January 2006: Opened an LLC
a. Opened an LLC. There were three steps involved. The first was going online to the California secretary of state’s site and doing a name search, which was free. Our first choice, “Séance, LLC,” was available. The second step was to download the application to apply for our Séance, LLC, filing number. I mailed it off, and less than two weeks later it was back with an assigned number and a red stamp. Now it was time to get our federal Employer Identification Number (EIN), which was free. That took a few minutes online filling out a one-page application; an hour later, I got the EIN number. You need both numbers to open your bank account. I will explain this in more detail in Chapter 5.
b. Completed packages. It was time to type up some professionallooking labels with Séance, LLC, written on them to stick on the front of the professional-looking folders that we had put together with the business plan, PPM, operating agreement, and subscription agreement. We did not include a one-sheet poster of the film in the package. However, for Candy Stripers, we did create a poster, which was very visual and gave a great depiction of the film at one glance. So it was worth the additional cost ($40) in that case.
c. Created a detailed timeline. The timeline took us from early January through to the American Film Market in November; we included in the timeline how many units (shares) we needed to sell given our start date for principal photography: May 21, 2006.
d. Created a list of possible finders and investors we were going to be calling and a list of people to whom we wanted to mail our business plan/LLC packages.
January/February/March: Funding the Film
a. Began the calls and mail-outs.
b. Scheduled and prepared for a sales presentation. In the case of Séance, we actually didn’t need to do a sales presentation because we had over 50 percent of the investors from Candy Stripers come back on board, and our writer/director took on selling units as well, so there was not as much work involved as there was with our first low-budget film. With Candy Stripers, we scheduled and held two sales presentations. A total of 110 packages went out to potential investors on Candy Stripers, and only 35 went out on Séance. Raising the money for Candy Stripers took five months; for Séance, it took less than one month. So please keep that in mind when you are doing your timeline. You will probably need several months (or more) to reach your goal the first time you raise money.
c. Script clearance. This is the time to get your script off to a script clearance company. The script clearance paperwork will be needed for delivery when the time comes, so the sooner the better. This step may cost as much as $1,500, but it is required. We reimbursed ourselves for the cost out of our delivery costs budget when we started production.
March: Finalized Details
a. Met with our line producer and director to do additional work on the budget and schedule. We also discussed location ideas and some of the keys (department heads) that we all wanted on board and scheduled an early April table read with as many keys as possible. Because we were going to be a SAG signatory production, our line producer sent in the SAG signatory paperwork. Getting your number can take a couple of weeks, so it’s important to do the paperwork early.
Note
We are just about to enter the soft prep stage; in today’s market, I would be getting my fans (from Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and so on) involved. I would be doing fun YouTube videos sharing about the fact that we are going into soft prep and what that entails. I would really be taking advantage of every social networking avenue at this point. We’re about to get in to the really fun stuff – what a great opportunity to get fans on board! In fact, I would continue this intense social networking throughout the entire filmmaking process.
b. Met with the director regarding his storyboard for the film.
April: Soft Prep – Four Weeks
a. The beginning of soft prep: four weeks.
b. Did a table read of the screenplay (again with actor friends) for the line producer, writer/director, director of photography (DP), visual effects supervisor, and 1st assistant director (AD). Anyone else you may have on board should be there as well. There is no money being spent at this time, and you may lose some keys to other projects, as they are not locked in financially, but it is still extremely valuable to have an early table read. The feedback is invaluable.
c. Posted Séance production start date in the Industry trade publications (Hollywood Reporter and Variety, for example).
d. Started pinning down locations and getting that paperwork ready to sign.
April: Casting
a. Began the casting process.
b. Received our SAG signatory number from SAG.
c. Started my weekly email to the investors to keep them posted. This email continued throughout principal, postproduction, and delivery.
d. Contacted the Humane Society to inform them that we would be using an animal in our film.
e. Week of April 3: Typed up and sent in the Character Breakdowns to Breakdown Services.
f. Week of April 10: Breakdown services headshots started to come in by email, so I forwarded them on to the director. He forwarded his choices back to me for each role and I started booking auditions for a week out. In other words, on Monday I booked the following Monday, and on Tuesday I booked the following Tuesday, and so on.
g. Week of April 17: Casting was done with the director, a reader, Kate, and myself. Chapter 8 will explain clearly how I organized every detail.
h. Week of April 24: April 24 and the morning of April 25 were actors’ call-back days and the afternoon of the 25th was for “chemistry call-backs.” These are necessary to see what the chemistry is like between the actors. For example, you will need them for boyfriend/girlfriend, college roommates, sisters, and so on. I used Wednesday through Friday (April 26–April 28) to get the deal memos off to the agents/managers or to the actors themselves who were not SAG. Because Séance was SAG ultra low budget, we were able to use a certain percentage of non-SAG actors.
May 1: Preproduction Begins – Three Weeks
a. Now I officially started spending money. Our line producer, Mike Tarzian, moved into my office with his production coordinator and an assistant. It is the beginning of official preproduction. At this budget level and with a 14-day shoot, three weeks of preproduction is what works – and with a good deal of work accomplished in soft prep, it works perfectly.
b. Mike began confirming and hiring the rest of the keys.
c. Mike and I signed off on the location deals we began in soft prep.
d. Booked our parrot and did the paperwork with the bird’s owner.
e. Mike and the 1st AD scheduled a table read meeting for all the keys for the week before principal photography.
f. I set up a table read for the actors, director, and head of wardrobe.
g. Talked to our editor about any suggestions/requests he might have to ensure we got everything he needed.
h. Met with Chris Robbins, our stills and “Making Of” photographer, to discuss what was needed and prepared the schedule for his days on the set.
i. I also finished up some last-minute cast deal memos, met with my director about his storyboard, worked with the director and 1st AD on any changes to the schedule, worked closely with Mike as he confirmed his keys and finalized with him any permits needed for our locations, and went over the budget again with Mike to make sure we were ready to roll.
j. Kept the actor’s agents/managers updated with revised schedules.
k. Emailed our investors the film shooting schedule with suggestions as to which days they could come to visit the set.
May 21: Principal Photography – Two Weeks
a. Was on set constantly to ensure that everything was running smoothly.
b. Kate and I prepared for postproduction by interviewing and hiring our composer, color correction specialist, and sound designer.
c. We sent press releases and still shots to horror/thriller websites and magazines and started looking into possible film festivals.
d. We also started planning for the wrap party.
e. Talked further to possible sales agents/distributors.
f. Sent daily still photos off to our investors and was available to meet the those investors who came to the set.
Note
Making Séance today, I would absolutely get my actors supporting my online social media campaign. I would request that they each use their own fan base to help get the word out as well.
June 5–September 29: Postproduction
a. During the week of June 5, Mike moved back into my office and tied up all the loose ends, paid bills, did the SAG delivery book, and created wrap books for the director, DP, and producers.
b. June 5–June 9: editor’s assembly.
c. June 11–June 23: director’s cut.
d. We scheduled our audience testing.
e. July 5: audience testing.
f. July 10–14: final pickup shots and director’s and producer’s final edit.
g. July 15: lock picture.
h. July 17–September 29: it was in the hands of the composer, color correction, and sound designer. The director and I did spotting with each of them during that time.
i. I used the DVD with temp music to send off to interested sales agents and to film festivals with a note to both that the final version was forthcoming.
j. We were preparing our front and end roll credits and hired our “Making Of” photographer to design a great opening and closing sequence for the titles. We made sure our ten-second WindChill Films company logo was ready. We hired Power Design, who had created our Snowfall Films logo a few years earlier, and they were fast, brilliant, and professional. WindChill was going to be the overall brand name, so we wanted the best possible logo.
k. We started to assemble some delivery items, as we were very close to the American Film Market (AFM) start date.
l. We signed a deal with a sales agent. Sent them a DigiBeta to send off to the film market.
Note
Today, self-distribution is an alternative option that film producers are taking full advantage of. I address this topic in greater detail in Chapter 13.
October: Prepared for Market
a. Our sales agent scheduled a screening during AFM and prepared the posters, one-sheets, and trailer.
November 1–8: Attended the American Film Market
a. Went to our AFM screening and were available if our sales agent needs us or anything else from us.
November 9–December 15: Delivery
a. Kate and I really got to work on the entire seven-page, singlespaced list of delivery items we received from our sales agent. We made an extra copy of everything for ourselves and because we sold Séance to a domestic distributor during the AFM, we researched E&O insurance companies as well during this time period.
Exercise
Now that you have a sense of the timeline for Séance, get some poster board and do a brief timeline for your film. Obviously, you don’t have to be as detailed as we were here, but it is really important to get something on paper now!