Hi folks. As excited as I am that one of my published novels,
“Murder on the Naval Base” has been picked up for possible film development, I
must remind myself to remain level headed.
I have no experience in developing a movie and I am beginning to
learn how long a process it actually is. My message to other first-time movie developers is to be cautious. I have made mistakes and what
I perceived as mistakes. I hope by sharing my story, others can avoid making
those same mistakes.
After my novel was published, media attention and reviews started
coming in. It soon became apparent that many of the reviewers wanted to see the
novel made into a movie. With this type of interest, I went ahead and had a
professional movie treatment done. The fee for the five-page treatment was $3000.
After it was completed and registered with the Writer’s Guild, all the
publicist did was write up a press release and mentioned my novel along with
other novels in a few publications in the hope of getting picked it up by
Hollywood.
Having very little experience in these matters, I thought I had
been swindled out of the $3000. Fast forward two years. I saw an ad looking for
projects to develop and I took a chance and replied. I sent the movie treatment
of my novel and it was accepted.
That $3000 I paid for the movie treatment? Well, I now realize it
was money well spent. The reason? When I met with the movie developer to sign a
partnership agreement, I asked him if it had been worth spending the money on
the treatment. His answer was a simple, “yes.” Among all the other projects
that had been submitted to him, mine was chosen because it was professionally
prepared.
Wahooo!! Lesson learned. I will never submit another movie project
without a professionally done treatment.
The biggest mistake I have made is telling my friends and
reviewers the novel has been picked up for possible production. Now, I am
constantly being asked when is the movie coming out?
Since I have let the proverbial “cat
out of the bag,” to my friends and reviewers - this is the hard part. A movie
is not done overnight. Yes, I have partnered with an experienced and respected
movie developer, but, nothing is guaranteed.
For “Murder on the Naval Base,” the
first step was the production of a professionally produced twenty-page business
portfolio which is currently being submitted to investors. This process will take anywhere from
three to six months before we hear anything back. Supposing we manage to secure
our funding for the film? It is just beginning to move forward, my friend. I then
must form a LLC for the film and submit how the funding will be spent
But,
I am getting ahead of myself, again. So, while the portfolio is being submitted
and we anxiously wait for an answer, I am working with a professional screen writer
who is finalizing the actual script. This, in itself, is an arduous process. Once
it is completed, and we have secured the financing, the script will be
submitted to agencies such as CAA or WMA. Here’s the part to choke on - just to
submit a script carries a fee of over 2 million dollars or whatever percentage
they take.
Since
the script can only be submitted to one agency at a time, this again, is a
time-consuming part of the project. These agencies get back to you in their own
leisurely time as to whether or not they are interested in the project. They
could take up to a year just to read the script before deciding to accept or
reject.
Then
what? If they are not interested, the $2 million fee is gone. But if, ahhh, the
big if, if they are interested in packaging the film, they provide the talent,
that is the director and major stars. This process takes between two three
years, sometimes even longer.
Moving
forward, once an agency has packaged the project, the next stage is
pre-production. The production company hires the full cast and crew, and detailed
preparation for the shoot begins. All heads of departments are hired, such as
location manager, director of photography, casting director, script supervisor,
gaffer, production sound mixer, production designer, art director, set
decorator, construction coordinator, property master, custom designer, key
make-up artist, special effects supervisor, stunt coordinator, post production
supervisor, film editor, visual effect producer, sound designer. The shooting
script is circulated to all of them as pre-production begins.
The
next stage is the actual filming of the movie. Then comes post-production with
all its myriad details including, a digital cinema package-hard drive which
contains the final copy of the film encoded so it can play in cinemas, a
dialogue script so that foreign territories can dub or subtitle the film, and which
has the precise time code for each piece of dialogue so the dubbing artist
knows exactly where to place their dialogue, a campaign image (with titles and
credits), and a 90 to 120-second trailer.
To
sum it all up, it is a very long and tedious process. To my friends and
reviewers, please be patient. I am learning as I go. Sometimes not all films
fit into agency packaging, but if a project is big enough to submit to an agency,
it really is just the beginning.
And,
again my advice to first time movie developers. If you have a book that you
believe could be made into a movie, just don’t get too excited and tell the
world of your success. Calm down! Don’t even tell your wife until you are
firmly into the project. Even then, it is better not to tell anyone. Let them
find out through the media.