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  #1  
Old July 7, 2007, 02:20 AM
Dien Rice Dien Rice is offline
Onwards and upwards!
 
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Posts: 3,357
Default Learning About Business From Independent Movie Producers

You can learn a lot of business tips from independent movie producers. It's amazing what you can learn!

First, what is an independent movie producer?

An independent movie producer is the person who organizes all the resources to put the movie together. They are different from "producers" at the major studies. With an independent movie producer, it's much more like a small entrepreneurial operation. They need to make every cent count, and in the end, the movie has to make money.

The independent movie producer organizes everything. They get the money from somewhere to make the movie. For example, to make his first movie, "Evil Dead", Sam Raimi had to go around and get money from a lot of independent investors. Kind of like the movie equivalent of "angel investing". (More recently, Sam Raimi is known as the director of the "Spiderman" movies.)

An independent movie producer also hires the director and the casting director. It's the casting director who then screens and hires the actors to star in the movie.

In short, the independent movie producer is the top person who organizes the whole thing. In a business, that's the same role played by the entrepreneur.

So how exactly does this relate to business?

Well, there are two types of businesses. There's the type of business where one or two people do all the work. Robert Kiyosaki calls this being "self-employed". You can see it most often with doctors, dentists, and lawyers. Many freelance copywriters and other freelance writers also have this type of business. One of its hallmarks is that you have to do a large part of the work. If you go away or take a holiday, the money-making stops.

The other type of business is where one person organizes it all, but only does some of the work, or sometimes even none at all. However, they are the person who brings all the "pieces" together so the business can function. That's the role of the entrepreneur. Robert Kiyosaki calls this being a "business owner", as opposed to being "self-employed". He sees this as essentially the ultimate goal in business.

By the way, Michael Ross's book "The Art of Leverage" is a great book for learning more about how to put this into action. I especially like his concept of a "control center". Check out the "Art of Leverage" to find out more www.artofleverage.com .

Now, the independent movie producers I'm talking about have to make a profit. In some places, people who want to make a movie can get government grants to finance the movie. These movies don't need to make a profit in the end for them to survive, because the money was a "gift" to them (they never have to pay it back). In this article, I'm not talking about these people who get gifts of government money, but instead about independent movie producers who raise money from private sources, and have to make a profit or they go out of business.

Making a profit means they have to take in more money than they spend. That's exactly like an entrepreneur, organizing any other type of business.

Here are a few examples of these movie producer/entrepreneurs you can learn from...

One of my favorites is Roger Corman. He's known as a bit of a "cult" movie director, but although he was a director earlier on in his career, for most of his life he's been a movie producer. However, many of his traits as a movie producer were already there when he was a director.

He gave many Hollywood stars their first big break - by paying them peanuts. For example, people like Ron Howard (in his capacity as a director), Francis Ford Coppola (as a director), and Jack Nicholson (as an actor) got their first big breaks working for him (and getting paid peanuts in return).

Corman is known for being "very cheap"! He doesn't pay much. But he's able to attract great talent, very early in their careers, because he offered people an opportunity to get "their foot in the door" in the movie business.

Roger Corman knew he had to be "cheap" - because he had to make a profit in the end. And the more money he spent, the less likely it was that he'd make his money back, with some profit added on as well.

He even "reused" some of the sets for one movie in his later movies. In one case, he shot a movie, "Bucket of Blood" - and he was a few days ahead of schedule. Most people would pack up early and go home. Not Roger Corman. His writer quickly wrote a whole new movie. He then shot it with the same cast as his earlier movie - in 2 days! That movie was the "cult classic", "Little Shop of Horrors". (The original 1960 version, not the 1986 musical remake.)

One of his movies, "The St. Valentine's Day Massacre", was about Al Capone and Chicago gangsters. But he was able to get the movie set from the movie, "My Fair Lady", really cheaply. Only problem was - "My Fair Lady" is set in London! So - even though the movie was set in Chicago - the buildings all looked like they were from London! But - he saved money - which made it easier for him to make a profit in the end, because he didn't waste so much money.

Roger Corman is probably one of the most prolific independent producers. According to IMDB, he's produced 379 films to date, and he's still producing new movies today, at age 81.

If you want to learn more about Roger Corman, you can read his autobiography, called "How I Made a Hundred Movies in Hollywood and Never Lost a Dime".

Another independent movie producer is Myrl Schreibman. He wrote a book about independent movie producing, called "Creative Producing From A to Z".

Schreibman has only made a few movies, unlike Roger Corman. However, one of his movies was a very low-budget science fiction movie made in the 1970s, called "The Clonus Horror". The plot from this movie was allegedly copied by the recent (2005) big-budget movie, "The Island". Schreibman sued Dreamworks and Warner Bros. over that, and eventually reached a 7-figure (that is, over a million dollars) settlement.

Another independent movie producer is Christine Vachon. She's mostly notable for having produced some very controversial movies. For example, one of the movies she produced was "I Shot Andy Warhol" - which was the story of Valerie Solanas, who tried to kill the artist Andy Warhol in the 1960s. Her book about movie producing is "Shooting To Kill". According to IMDB, she's produced over 50 films.

Another great independent movie producer to mention is Herschell Gordon Lewis (though he's better known as a director). He's known for his "schlock" horror movies from the 1960s. He's sometimes known as the "Godfather of Gore" - that tells you something about what his movies are like. They say he started the "splatter film" genre.

Nowadays, though - Herschell Gordon Lewis is better known as a copywriter! He's written over a dozen books about copywriting. You can see his web site at www.herschellgordonlewis.com. Yes, it's the same guy!

So, in conclusion, studying independent movie producers can be an interesting way to learn more about how business works - especially the "non-self-employed" types of businesses. And this kind of knowledge could become even more useful and important, as the web has become used as a way to distribute short films and movies!

- Dien

P.S. Hope you found this "alternative" take on business interesting and stimulating!
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  #2  
Old July 7, 2007, 02:32 AM
Goldblogger
 
Posts: n/a
Default Great Post Dien!

Thanks Dien! That was a great post!

I already own a copy of Michael's "The Art Of Leverage". Now I am going to have to print it out and re-read it!

Aloha,

Jason Cain
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  #3  
Old July 7, 2007, 03:16 AM
Dien Rice Dien Rice is offline
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Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 3,357
Default Re: Great Post Dien!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Goldblogger View Post
Thanks Dien! That was a great post!

I already own a copy of Michael's "The Art Of Leverage". Now I am going to have to print it out and re-read it!
Hi Jason,

Glad you liked my post!

"Weird movies" have long been a "passion" of mine... I know a bunch of friends who like to gather 'round and watch low budget movies. One of the "best" I saw once was a Japanese movie from the 1960s, kind of like the "Godzilla" movies, called "The X From Outer Space". The "monster" looked like a giant chicken. Man, it was so (unintentionally) funny... Some of these low-budget movies can be a riot.

Partly my interest is because I wouldn't mind producing a movie or two of my own one day.

Anyway, that probably partly explains my interest in this topic!

Cheers,

Dien
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  #4  
Old July 7, 2007, 03:41 AM
Ankesh's Avatar
Ankesh Ankesh is offline
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Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Mumbai, India
Posts: 692
Default Re: Great Post Dien!

Excellent post Dien.

I'll have to get one of those books by a movie producer. If you have read them, which one is the best?
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  #5  
Old July 7, 2007, 04:06 AM
Dien Rice Dien Rice is offline
Onwards and upwards!
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 3,357
Default Re: Great Post Dien!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ankesh View Post
Excellent post Dien.

I'll have to get one of those books by a movie producer. If you have read them, which one is the best?
Yes, I've read all 3 of the books I mentioned (by Roger Corman, Myrl Schreibman, and Christine Vachon).

Roger Corman's book is more of an autobiography. It's interesting mainly to see just how low he could scrape the bottom of the barrel in getting as low-budget as possible! Could be good if you're a big spender.

The other two books, by Myrl Schreibman and Christine Vachon, are more about the "nuts and bolts" of movie production. I thought both were about equally good for the info they give.

Some of Christine Vachon's movies are very controversial, so some may not want to read her book for that reason. I think Myrl Schreibman is contactable via his web site at www.indieproducing.com.

Other books on this topic that I haven't read yet are... Robert Rodriguez's book, "Rebel without a Crew: Or How a 23-Year-Old Filmmaker With $7,000 Became a Hollywood Player". (He's now better known as a director, for films like "Sin City" and the "Spy Kids" movie series.) Another two books are written by Lloyd Kauffman, "All I Needed To Know About Filmmaking I Learned From The Toxic Avenger" and "Make Your Own Damn Movie". He's best known for the movie, "The Toxic Avenger", and other movies in that genre!

Cheers

Dien
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  #6  
Old July 7, 2007, 09:26 AM
GordonJ's Avatar
GordonJ GordonJ is offline
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Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: West Palm Beach, FL
Posts: 3,471
Default The SECRET society of SowPub...or You should dive into the archives...

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dien Rice View Post

Nowadays, though - Herschell Gordon Lewis is better known as a copywriter! He's written over a dozen books about copywriting. You can see his web site at www.herschellgordonlewis.com. Yes, it's the same guy!


Yes, and in a communique to SowPub HGL told us that Copywriting and Scripting a movie, even schlocky ones, were very much alike.

He also made comments about today's so-called horror film, Dien, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think "excrement" was in there somewhere...

A good movie captures your attention right away and takes you on a roller coaster ride, and then, hopefully, you exit and have had a good time.

In the archives somewhere, and in older forums, like Dave Bancroft's and Bill Myers and others, we discussed a lot of these elements.

My friend Dien Rice is a modest man, but he is one of the World Class brainiacs with a passion for horror movies, Entrepreneurship, and swimming with sharks. YIKES. By day, meek mild mannered Physicist, but at night...he let's Fred out to play. HA!

Perhaps someday, we can persuade him to pull back the curtain and let us take a peek at all those great "communiques" SowPub has had with the well and lesser knowns of the world.

Thanks Dien, great post for thought. I second the recommendation on Michael Ross LEVEGAGE and also would point out that in Bill Myers archives, there are some articles about this "Producer" type operation.

You don't have to do everything all by your self...Gordon, put down the cheeseburger and LISTEN up...OK?

Assemble a team and then stay out of the way, be the coach, not the Quarterback, runner, pass catcher, blocker and tackler trying to play the game with yourself (as opposed to playing with your self...you know, like solitare or free cell...what did you think I meant?)...

GJA

PS. As an afterthought, another lesson from the Rich Jerk/Playboy fiasco is this: sometimes (most?)...it is best to simply FLY LOW AND COLLECT THE DOUGH.

You'll see more on that along with some insight to the UNDERGROUND ECOMONY very soon.
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  #7  
Old July 7, 2007, 07:55 PM
Doc Jakson
 
Posts: n/a
Default Re: The SECRET society of SowPub...or You should dive into the archives...

Apropos of nothing.. I just want to say that this forum is a really fantastic place..I don't know of another place that informs, amuses, entertains and educates all at the same time...Thanks to all who are here ....I consider myself lucky to be aboard..

all the best,
Doc

Last edited by Doc Jakson : July 8, 2007 at 10:59 AM.
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  #8  
Old July 8, 2007, 04:47 PM
Duane Adolph
 
Posts: n/a
Default Re: Learning About Business From Independent Movie Producers

Dien,

Thank YOU! I DID find your "alternative" take on Business both interesting and stimulating.

Let see you combined some Rich Dad quadrants, with Internet marketing, all layered in the Context of Independent Movie Producers and Topped it off with a famous copywriter that lives in both worlds, and "BIG SHOUT OUT" to The Art of Leverage by Michael Ross.

SWWWEEET!

There are so many things to comment on. I'll just bullet point them for now.

- Richdad has a diagram, showing the major players in the second type of business you described ie. Business Owner, Specialists, Employees and Investors.

Question: WHO IS THE MOST VALUABLE PLAYER IN THIS GAME??
WHO Contibutes the most Added value??

OR stated differently

Which of these players IS IRREPLACEABLE in producing an Independent film?

Owner?
Specialists?
Employees?
Investors?

- For those of us that purchased Michael Ross's Success Report. Which of these players is using the "Secret" to the Maximum (think O factor :-> and DON"T spill the beans here for those that have not gotten the report yet )

- There's a saying that says the Greater the Risk, the Bigger the Reward.
WHO has the greatest risk out of these players

- What role are YOU currently playing in your own business? What role do you want to or should you be playing? Are you playing to your Strengths?

- Are you playing ALL of THE positions?? YIKES! Imagine if business were like baseball, and you had to compete against the other team. They have a full Roster of Talent to play all of the positions. All you have is YOU.

HOW THE HECK are you going to WIN THE GAME..within the current rules of baseball?
So I ask again Are you REALLY playing ALL of the positions in your business?

- What if the Independent film producer had to play all the positions in his film. Would he everGet Started? Or would he still be trying to get the start up capital?..Would he THEN go and take acting lessons? So he could be the star?

- So You have No Money? Again, I ask What ROLE are you playing in your business? As the owner, you would FIND THE MONEY or Raise the capital.

Just a few quick thoughts. THANKS DIEN. I'm currently at a public library and it is now closing.

More thoughts later.

Duane








Quote:
Originally Posted by Dien Rice View Post
You can learn a lot of business tips from independent movie producers. It's amazing what you can learn!

First, what is an independent movie producer?

An independent movie producer is the person who organizes all the resources to put the movie together. They are different from "producers" at the major studies. With an independent movie producer, it's much more like a small entrepreneurial operation. They need to make every cent count, and in the end, the movie has to make money.

The independent movie producer organizes everything. They get the money from somewhere to make the movie. For example, to make his first movie, "Evil Dead", Sam Raimi had to go around and get money from a lot of independent investors. Kind of like the movie equivalent of "angel investing". (More recently, Sam Raimi is known as the director of the "Spiderman" movies.)

An independent movie producer also hires the director and the casting director. It's the casting director who then screens and hires the actors to star in the movie.

In short, the independent movie producer is the top person who organizes the whole thing. In a business, that's the same role played by the entrepreneur.

So how exactly does this relate to business?

Well, there are two types of businesses. There's the type of business where one or two people do all the work. Robert Kiyosaki calls this being "self-employed". You can see it most often with doctors, dentists, and lawyers. Many freelance copywriters and other freelance writers also have this type of business. One of its hallmarks is that you have to do a large part of the work. If you go away or take a holiday, the money-making stops.

The other type of business is where one person organizes it all, but only does some of the work, or sometimes even none at all. However, they are the person who brings all the "pieces" together so the business can function. That's the role of the entrepreneur. Robert Kiyosaki calls this being a "business owner", as opposed to being "self-employed". He sees this as essentially the ultimate goal in business.

By the way, Michael Ross's book "The Art of Leverage" is a great book for learning more about how to put this into action. I especially like his concept of a "control center". Check out the "Art of Leverage" to find out more www.artofleverage.com .

Now, the independent movie producers I'm talking about have to make a profit. In some places, people who want to make a movie can get government grants to finance the movie. These movies don't need to make a profit in the end for them to survive, because the money was a "gift" to them (they never have to pay it back). In this article, I'm not talking about these people who get gifts of government money, but instead about independent movie producers who raise money from private sources, and have to make a profit or they go out of business.

Making a profit means they have to take in more money than they spend. That's exactly like an entrepreneur, organizing any other type of business.

Here are a few examples of these movie producer/entrepreneurs you can learn from...

One of my favorites is Roger Corman. He's known as a bit of a "cult" movie director, but although he was a director earlier on in his career, for most of his life he's been a movie producer. However, many of his traits as a movie producer were already there when he was a director.

He gave many Hollywood stars their first big break - by paying them peanuts. For example, people like Ron Howard (in his capacity as a director), Francis Ford Coppola (as a director), and Jack Nicholson (as an actor) got their first big breaks working for him (and getting paid peanuts in return).

Corman is known for being "very cheap"! He doesn't pay much. But he's able to attract great talent, very early in their careers, because he offered people an opportunity to get "their foot in the door" in the movie business.

Roger Corman knew he had to be "cheap" - because he had to make a profit in the end. And the more money he spent, the less likely it was that he'd make his money back, with some profit added on as well.

He even "reused" some of the sets for one movie in his later movies. In one case, he shot a movie, "Bucket of Blood" - and he was a few days ahead of schedule. Most people would pack up early and go home. Not Roger Corman. His writer quickly wrote a whole new movie. He then shot it with the same cast as his earlier movie - in 2 days! That movie was the "cult classic", "Little Shop of Horrors". (The original 1960 version, not the 1986 musical remake.)

One of his movies, "The St. Valentine's Day Massacre", was about Al Capone and Chicago gangsters. But he was able to get the movie set from the movie, "My Fair Lady", really cheaply. Only problem was - "My Fair Lady" is set in London! So - even though the movie was set in Chicago - the buildings all looked like they were from London! But - he saved money - which made it easier for him to make a profit in the end, because he didn't waste so much money.

Roger Corman is probably one of the most prolific independent producers. According to IMDB, he's produced 379 films to date, and he's still producing new movies today, at age 81.

If you want to learn more about Roger Corman, you can read his autobiography, called "How I Made a Hundred Movies in Hollywood and Never Lost a Dime".

Another independent movie producer is Myrl Schreibman. He wrote a book about independent movie producing, called "Creative Producing From A to Z".

Schreibman has only made a few movies, unlike Roger Corman. However, one of his movies was a very low-budget science fiction movie made in the 1970s, called "The Clonus Horror". The plot from this movie was allegedly copied by the recent (2005) big-budget movie, "The Island". Schreibman sued Dreamworks and Warner Bros. over that, and eventually reached a 7-figure (that is, over a million dollars) settlement.

Another independent movie producer is Christine Vachon. She's mostly notable for having produced some very controversial movies. For example, one of the movies she produced was "I Shot Andy Warhol" - which was the story of Valerie Solanas, who tried to kill the artist Andy Warhol in the 1960s. Her book about movie producing is "Shooting To Kill". According to IMDB, she's produced over 50 films.

Another great independent movie producer to mention is Herschell Gordon Lewis (though he's better known as a director). He's known for his "schlock" horror movies from the 1960s. He's sometimes known as the "Godfather of Gore" - that tells you something about what his movies are like. They say he started the "splatter film" genre.

Nowadays, though - Herschell Gordon Lewis is better known as a copywriter! He's written over a dozen books about copywriting. You can see his web site at www.herschellgordonlewis.com. Yes, it's the same guy!

So, in conclusion, studying independent movie producers can be an interesting way to learn more about how business works - especially the "non-self-employed" types of businesses. And this kind of knowledge could become even more useful and important, as the web has become used as a way to distribute short films and movies!

- Dien

P.S. Hope you found this "alternative" take on business interesting and stimulating!
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  #9  
Old July 18, 2007, 01:21 AM
Unregistered
 
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Default Re: Learning About Business From Independent Movie Producers

Great article. I stumbled across it while looking for entrepreneurial lessons. Here's one you might be interested in:

http://smartstartup.typepad.com/my_w...-go-from-.html
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