Category Archives: Producing

22 May, 2014
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Art, Producing, Screenwriting, Series

Things that are in the works 22 May 14

So it occurred to me yesterday while driving, I haven’t written what my series is about as far as a treatment or synopsis. You would think it would be obvious, however everything has been in my head and I have been doing research for it.   I have talked and bounced off ideas with trusted people. I found someone who will be responsible for music. Constantly working things out in my head and taking notes, but never wrote the thing out.  So I am going to be writing the synopsis and treatment. Now this is terrifying for me and here is why. I have always ran away from writing even though I am a writer at heart. So I am crash coursing it and will tell you what I learned.  I also have to crash course into screen writing. Something I have been very intimidated by, which is is why I have found screenwriters instead of writing it myself. With this project I have to write it, at least at the beginning, because there is a certain theme and tone I am trying to convey.

So what else I am doing? I am working with an author who has put out a book that I am going to have edited and then release it. I also am looking into a film which I will produce. I have always wanted to be a publisher and here is my chance. I am currently looking for a editor so if you are an editor please contact me.  I think it is a great opportunity to become an independent publisher and a great way to put out great literature and non fiction publications.

So is there anything you guys want me to talk about? Write me and let me know. I would love to look into something for you. Oh, one more thing, I am going to be writing about subjects other than film here like the creative endeavors that I am taking on. I am going to start making artworks again as well as to get into photography which is what I started doing in 97.  I started studying fine art photography in the summer of 97. After that I got into sculpting and painting. I really enjoyed doing that and have been wanting to get back into.  I think you should always be moving and creating. For me there is so much out there to get into:  Art, film, writing, theater, and whatever. It is exciting.  Why should you limit yourself.  I am a filmmaker and creator of content.  To me having no limits on what I can do makes the most sense to me.  I say go out and try different things and see which one sticks.

 

Til next time.

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16 May, 2014
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Film, Filmmaking, Producing, Sex Trade, Sexual Violence, Tampa Film

So here is what’s coming up

So I am developing a series that is to be shot here in the Tampa Bay Area. My plan is to shop it to networks and if that doesn’t happen then I will turn it into a web series. I have shared t the idea to some people and I have gotten a lot of good feed back. I have a ton of research and work to do but it is very exciting for me. The series will have many niche  groups and will be substantive as you might except from me.  I love a ton of books to read and the list gets longer. Plus, I read slow so yay for me.  I believe many will groups will enjoy the series while others will hate it. But I have a lot of things to say and it will be honest.

So as for the film on sexual violence and sex trafficking, it is on hold while Semone is off studying at the American Film Institute Conservatory. I am starting to talk about these issues in my blog Notes From Outpost 187. Doing this I raise awareness to the subject and build an audience for the film. An Audience that will be with me through funding,  production and release. I am talking on a very serious subject, and making the film and getting it distributed will be a challenge, so I need to start working on building an audience now. Not to mention, I might be able to find people who will back the film financially.

So I have a stack of films I need to watch. I have 9 films from the library and I haven’t gotten to any of them. I have a bunch from Akira Kurosawa who is my favorite director. I am hoping to knock out as many I as I can this weekend and throughout next week. We will see.

I also am going to be diving into writing. It is something that I should have been doing years ago. I will be, of course, writing here but in my other blogs.  I feel I need to be a writer first and for most. Yes, this means I have to get good at it; as well as my grammar, which I know is lacking. And that is being very kind to myself.

Ok so you all have a great weekend.

Peace, Love and Nappiness

 

 

 

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10 May, 2014
1 Comment
Directing, Leadership, Producing

Leader v Boss

There is a difference. Which one will you be?

boss v leadreship 1

BOSS V LEADER ADSAS

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8 May, 2014
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Feature Film, Filmmaking, Producing, Sex Trade, Sexual Violence, Uncategorized

Film on Sex Trafficking and bloging about sex traffing

Yes, I am still making this film. No, I didn’t forget.

Tim Schroyer's avatarNotes from outpost 187

So I am a filmmaker, multidisciplinary artist, thinker writer. In film I am a producer and director. Back in 2011, I decided to produce a film regrading sexual violence. I teamed up with the very talented screenwriter Semone Fournillier who is currently attending AFI American Film Institute. We did  lots of research and eventually Semone came up with a good screenplay. In it, it dealt with underage prostitution, rape and a predator; which lead me to going deeper into those subjects.

At the same time, I was starting to read post by Dr. Brook Bello on Twitter and Facebook. She is the founder of More to Life and a woman who has been waging war against the sex trade for a very long time, which restarted my interested in the sex trade and how it could be turned into a film. I say restarted because in 2004 I heard…

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15 April, 2014
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Directing, Feature Film, Film, Filmmaking, Producing, Production Company, Screenwriting

I came across this while looking for a document. It is Ted Hope’s 99 Recommended Steps For Making Good Movies. I copied and saved it when it came out so I would always have it.  Ted Hope has been he most influential person when it comes to filmmaking. I never went to film school, so I decided to teach myself. I taught myself how to drive a car and swim, why not film?

I found Ted’s Blog when I first started and have followed it ever since.  Filmmaking and media is changing so fast it is about impossible to see where it will end up. If it ends up anywhere, but instead an ever evolving. He has many great guest writers that give great insight into to today’s film landscape and culture.  If you are reading his blog you are falling behind.

 

This is how I do it, generally speaking.

Or rather, this is how I try to do it. There really is no template; I have to adjust the plan for each project. And it doesn’t always work. Sometimes I fail (at least to some degree).

And yes, I have left out the details. After all, that is where the art, experience, & innovation is. And of course as this is a collaborative endeavor, there is always — and thankfully — that “other” factor.

1.    Maintain wonder & love for the world & most/some of the people.

2.    Recognize the barriers & be empowered by my desire for change.

3.    Find an inspiring idea & the correct collaborator for it.

4.    Maintain love & respect for the film industry.

5.    Develop script.

6.    Fall in love with project.

7.    Get non-financier, non-buyer industry types to give feedback on script.

8.    Maintain wonder & love for the process.

9.    Further develop script.

10.    Maintain respect for collaborator(s).

11.    Identify audience & market for project.

12.    Enhance my enthusiasm for potential of the results of audience engagement with ambitious cinema.

13.    Develop additional materials to properly contextualize project, like image books (aka look books), reference material, blog posts, etc.

14.    Try to locate audience and key influencers for the project.

15.    Develop transmedia extensions (I know I should do this earlier).

16.    Encourage Filmmaker to engage with True Fans (i.e. build community).

17.    Strategize production process.

18.    Ballpark budget.

19.    Evaluate potential cast for project.

20.    Consider possible shooting locations.

21.    Introduce Writer/Director to US Talent Agencies if necessary.

22.    Have Director meet wide range of actors.

23.    Strategize financing.

24.    Strategize casting process.

25.    Develop financing plan.

26.    Execute casting process strategy.

27.    Attach lead actor.

28.    Attach another actor (or two).

29.    Revise financing plan as necessary.

30.    Revise script as necessary.

31.    Estimate possible profit & losses.

32.    Revise financing plan as necessary.

33.    Approach sales agents.

34.    Get foreign sales estimates & foreign sales deal terms.

35.    Revise financing plan.

36.    Budget, ideally in multiple variations.

37.    Approach private equity.

38.    Revise financing plan.

39.    Revise script as necessary.

40.    Get verbal commitments from private equity.

41.    Determine most appropriate & then secure sales agent.

42.    Continue to source additional financing.

43.    Revise financing plan.

44.    Revise script as necessary.

45.    Develop initial outreach, engagement, awareness strategy.

46.    Consider and possibly secure a presale or three.

47.    Revise financing plan.

48.    Revise script as necessary.

49.    Revise Budget.

50.    Consider and possibly secure gap & mezzanine financing if necessary.

51.    Finalize financing structure & partners

52.    Consider & secure key crew collaborators.

53.    Scout primary location.

54.    Revise script as necessary.

55.    Revise Budget.

56.    Secure tax credit/rebate.

57.    Lock all financing.

58.    Lock talent deals.

59.    Lock Location.

60.    Revise script as necessary.

61.    Revise & Lock Budget.

62.    Revise initial outreach, engagement, & awareness strategies.

63.    Prep.

64.    Revise script as necessary.

65.    Initiate initial outreach, engagement, & awareness strategies.

66.    Shoot.

67.    Celebrate completion of shoot.

68.    Wrap production.

69.    Ponder the big picture.

70.    Edit.

71.    Revise outreach, engagement, & awareness strategies.

72.    Initiate revised outreach, engagement, & awareness strategies.

73.    Build awareness.

74.    Ponder the big picture.

75.    Complete “Movie”.

76.    Wrap post.

77.    Further revise outreach, engagement, & awareness strategies.

78.    Take to festivals.

79.    Win awards.

80.    Celebrate.

81.    Further revise & implement outreach, engagement, & awareness strategies.

82.    Sell & license “movie”.

83.    Celebrate some more.

84.    Deliver “movie” to licensors.

85.    Further revise & implement outreach, engagement, & awareness strategies.

86.    Market some more.

87.    Screen, screen, screen.

88.    Publicize.

89.    Market some more.

90.    Distribute.

91.    Harvest, aggregate, & analyze, data.

92.    Ponder the big picture.

93.    Share the knowledge with the community.

94.    Win more awards.

95.    Collect profits.

96.    Share the wealth the partners.

97.    Ponder the big picture.

98.    Plan the next one.

99.    Do it all over again, but do it a little bit differently.

 

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17 February, 2013
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Directing, Documentary, Domain Picuters., Feature Film, Film, Film Making, Jonglei Peace Initiative, Producing, South Sudan

South Sudan Documentary

In case you haven’t heard I am doing a full length documentary on South Sudan.  This project fell into my lap about a month, month and a half ago. A friend of mine has been working on something called the Jonglei Peace Initiative which had ended years of ethnic civil war in the state of Jonglei, South Sudan and will bring development to the region and a plan for the rest of South Sudan.  JPI was started by the Diaspora of South Sudan who live here in the United States and Canada.  These men are also known as the Lost Boys of South Sudan and  much has been written about them as well as a documentary done on them.

My documentary will cover many topics: JPI, which is a very important issue to South Sudan’s future,  the tensions between South Sudan and Sudan, which could lead to full scale war, women’s right, freedom if the press, development and education, the rebel leader David Yau Yau and his tyranny and the how does a young democracy survive and grow. I am sure there is more to talk about. Through my research I have become very interested in this project. I and my crew get to document the history of a young  country as it too experiments with democratic rule.

The first leg if this journey is to get to Washington D.C. at the end of March for a conference that is being held with the leaders of JPI and the Vice President of South Sudan.  Then we have to plan our first trip to South Sudan. I am now looking to get this funded. That is the big part now, getting it funded. Where that is going to come from I do not know but I am confident it will come.

My crew; I do have one.  I have Brandon Hyde as our Cinematographer, Tony Tartaglia as our sound guy and William, Billy, Wright as our go to guy for whatever it is we need at that moment.  Tony, Billy and myself have served in the Army. Tony was in Vietnam, Billy in Iraq and me in the 82nd Airborne.  So we have that covered.

I will be writing a lot about this documentary and would love here hear what you have to say and please spread the word. We need to bring awareness of this film and I need your help to do that. Thanks

 

 

 

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17 February, 2013
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Film, Film Making, Producing, Short Film

Why I am doing five shorts this year.

Last Night a colleague of mine, Ron Borders  asked me “Instead of doing 5 shorts why not just do a feature?”  Which is a valid question, which deserves good answer.  First off I have never been to film school, so I do not have the experience of producing and making films that one who went to film school has.   For me it has all been OJT, reading and a lot of listening.  So for me, this is like a year of film school with 5 thesis projects plus a full length documentary on South Sudan.  I will make a lot of mistakes, learn a lot and at the end have a body of work to go off of.  So with that I will have a body of work that I can say to an investor “Here is what I have done, these are the awards I have gotten and yes I seem to know what I am doing. Please trust me with your money.” Also I have to think 5, 10 years down the road. What I mean is that with this year of short films it is a building block to the next level, which if you know me is all the above.  I want to produce and direct in whatever medium I can, meaning Film, TV, Web, Theater, Graphic Novel or in whatever it is.

Yes I have bitten off more than you or I can chew, but I do it knowing I can do it somehow.  I have a company I know I can grow. I have a vision for what I want kinds of material I want to produce and what kinds of people I want to work with.  I also want to be able to help other artist and filmmakers. Right now I am in Tampa and I want to help change the culture of film into something that is well respected and received.   So yes this is the year of short films but it is with a purpose.

 

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16 January, 2013
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Film, Film Making, Producing, Short Film

You can now get paid on Vimeo

Really good news, Vimeo is going to make available to it upgraded members  a way to make money off of their content.  In a short while you can have a tip jar on your page that will allow people to donate money and soon after that they will able to charge for your content. This is a great new platform to monetize your work.

http://www.indiewire.com/article/attention-vimeo-filmmakers-make-money-on-your-films-today#.UFpVW067s_o.mailto

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12 January, 2013
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Directing, Film, Film Making, Producing Image

This will be at the beginning of all my films.

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10 January, 2013
4 Comments
Producing, Production Company, Short Film

I am now the Vice President at Domain Pictures.

I have been asked by Preston Walden to be the Vice President of his production company Domain Pictures.  It is an incorporated company here in Tampa, Fl and as many of you know, Preston and I have been working on Grey Room which I am producing.  We have a number of solid projects, which I will share in my next post, and are working on a strategy on how we want to proceed with these various projects. There is a logical order by which we move on various projects. That will be another post as well.

As you know we live in a different world now. We are too aware that either you change or die off.  We live in a transmedia world where we tell our stories on many different mediums on many different platforms. Preston and myself understand this and are proceeding according with our projects.

We  are really excitied about the future.  We have a lot of projects. Good projects. and we keep coming into one all the time. We have been blessed with talented upcoming writers and directors.  This year alone will make 3 to 4 shorts and a documentary.  Great times ahead.  Now lets get to work.

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