Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Introduction p.3
Story Outline p.4
Production Plan p.5
Marketing Plan p.8
Budget p.13
Cash Flow and Financing p.15
Investment Considerations p.17
Director’s Statement p.19
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INTRODUCTION
A good story can make a lot of money. Film production is a lucrative
way to go from having a great story to owning part in a bountiful revenue
stream. Ideally Planned Productions, LLC (“IPP” or “the Company”) is
currently seeking investors to finance the production of a short film entitled
“The Irresistible Offer” (“TIO” or “the Short”).
“TIO” probes the depths of the human condition, contrasting our
potential for the best and the worst within the span of 17 thrilling minutes.
The short film seeks to maximize ORIGINALITY, ENTERTAINMENT, and
PRODUCTION VALUE and is designed to achieve success at the highest levels
of international festival competition in order to be a contender for an Oscar.
This high concept film deals with cutting edge debate topics that will
serve to provide word of mouth advertising - the bedrock of a good marketing
campaign. In addition the Short’s innovative
marketing plan will utilize the latest developments PROJECT LOGLINE
in Internet promotion as well as more traditional A homeless man is offered
means of promotion such as festivals and print. $100,000 and a new identity
Furthermore shot on HD and ready for Internet and in exchange for participating
mobile distribution, this film takes advantage of all in a terrorist plot to detonate
an explosive device in the
the emerging digital technology. Research is middle of Times Square, NYC.
showing that there is a lucrative niche for well-
produced short form entertainment. While the internet is flooded with
“shorts” they are done by amateurs and do not have inherent commercial
value, in other words customers are not interested in paying for them, while
they don’t object to being subjected to advertising messages. Currently
companies like Apple, Fox, and Amazon are moving into providing feature
length films, to buttress and test their models they also require well done,
high quality shorts. Aside from the Internet and mobile devices, the
traditional modes of distribution such as home video, television, and
theatrical are also part of the marketing plan. IPP has extensive contacts in
all these branches and will utilize them to get the project in the best possible
commercial vantage point.
Another potential and lucrative revenue stream may come from sale or
optioning of the story rights. The film as it stands now is planned to be a
mini-blockbuster, with the possibility of expanding it into a full feature using
footage shot (like the British Oscar nominated short “Cashback” – now a
feature) for the short or allowing another team to re-imagine the story in a
remake, a currently popular trend in Hollywood.
Aside from the story and the talented human capital, the project’s
greatest asset is the relationship with an established production company
that will serve as an umbrella providing use of it’s office space, production
and post-production equipment, and insurance.
Investment in IPP’s production of “The Irresistible Offer” will provide
good returns because the film will look as if it was made for considerably
more. In the entertainment industry, this greater percieved value directly
translates to greater sales.
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STORY OUTLINE
CHARACTERS
CHARLES: Homeless man in his late 40s early 50s. Diabetic, drinking
problem, intelligent but has given up hope.
OFFICER MICHAELS: NYPD beat cop in his mid to late 30s. Likes his
job, whether it means saving the day or being aggressive in order to
maintain status quo.
PLOT
The film starts off with our hero, CHARLES, unconscious on the
pavement of a midtown street during the morning rush hour. He is confronted
by a cop, MICHAELS, who uses intimidation and mild physical violence to
force CHARLES to get up and move out of the area. CHARLES’s situation is
further worsened when he is beat up and robbed by another homeless, PETE.
At the end of his line CHARLES is approached by a charismatic stranger,
SYLVAN VERLOC, who keeps feeding CHARLES $20s and invites him to
dinner. In a deserted restaurant undergoing renovations and staffed by
VERLOC’s cohorts, the “irresistible offer” is made to CHARLES. Even though
CHARLES is hooked after he accepts the first $20 bill from VERLOC, his
resistance and acquiesce serves to build dynamic tension and segway into
the last scene – the execution of the plot to detonate a bomb in the middle of
Times Square. CHARLES follows the plan, but at the last moment has an
epiphany, a moment of frozen time where he has a vision of the LADY IN
WHITE. When time revs back up, he has changed his mind. Too late though,
the bomb is triggered remotely by a cell phone. VERLOC’s men begin dialing
in to detonate – but they can’t get a signal! CHARLES takes off running away
from the Times Square crowds. A thrilling chase/man-with-a-bomb sequence
follows. Just as the bomb is finally about to go off, MICHAELS appears on the
street. He’s on the beat, patrolling. He senses that something is not right, and
reads CHARLES’s body language (CHARLES wants to get rid of the bomb, but
can’t decide where). MICHAELS yells to CHARLES to throw him the package,
CHARLES does when it starts beeping. Fortunately, there’s an open truck
double parked on the street, MICHAELS throws the bomb inside and closes
the doors. The film ends with the bomb going off.
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PRODUCTION PLAN
This section seeks to outline for the lay investor the general process of
film production. Special considerations and challenges to the production are
outlined towards the end of this chapter.
Film production falls into three categories: pre-production, principal
photography, and post-production.
QuickTimeª and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
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film production and generally marks a point of no return for the financiers.
Once a film concludes principal photography it is said to have wrapped, and a
wrap party may be organized to celebrate.
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Polanski’s “Oliver Twist”, Bryan Singer’s “Superman”, Mel Gibson’s
“Apocalypto” and Robert Altman’s “Prairie Home Companion” have all been
shot using this format. As can be glimpsed from the selection, HD now is not
just a sensible solution for CGI heavy productions, put works great for any
story. In general, the artistry of Cinematographer working in concert with the
Art Director is what results in that feeling of high production value that
people have to expected from Hollywood entertainment. HD just means the
expense of working with emulsion film is illuminated. The debate of HD vs.
35mm is moot at this point and will not affect the commercial desirability of
the product.
FX: As maybe gleaned from the script there are going to be a number
of special effects shots, the most elaborated ones being the frozen time with
the Lady in White and the explosion. A green screen studio will have to be
rented, but that will be the only expense as the actual special effects labor
will be done for free as part of IPP’s coproduction deal with Run Cycle
Productions.
NYC: The film was written for the city. While shooting on location in
Times Square will be no doubt challenging, the director has 6 years of
shooting on the streets of the city and New York City’s Film and Television
Commission is extremely accommodating to insured productions (MTV shoots
in Times Square daily). Furthermore, NYC has a great source of acting talent
willing to work for free to get a chance at exposure. The numerous film
programs offered by New York’s universities provide a sizeable pool of behind
the camera talent as well interns.
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MARKETING PLAN
Film marketing is an art onto itself. It is standard practice for studios to
budget 25%-50% of the film’s production budget in order to promote and sell
to the public. Indies, whose budgets are considerably smaller, had to come
up with innovative “guerilla” tacticts to get the word out about their
productions. But the truth of the matter is, like with any product, a good
project speaks for itself and nothing beats word of mouth advertising.
IPP has come up with an innovative strategy to promote this unique
short film. The backbone of the campaign will be the festival push towards
the Oscars, but a hedging strategy, using the internet in conjunction with the
founding partners’ extensive connections with media industry and NYC
cultural and nightlife luminaries, will also be implemented.
The film will have a site and a blog, as well as a promotional
trailer/teaser will be made available. The film will be promoted to other blogs
in order to get a buzz going about the project. Furthermore, screening parties
will be held at stylish spots in order to directly promote the project to the
trendsetting audience. All this, of course, can be done without any expense to
IPP.
One good write up in the right place will launch the project into the
mainstream creating interest from established distributors.
$120,000
$100,000
$75 Bn
$80,000
$60,000
$40,000
$20,000
$0
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
With approx. 450 theatrical releases per year, the US cinema business
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is worth in excess of $1.45 billion a year in box-office ticket sales alone.
Home VHS/DVD sales and rentals account for an additional 250% of box
office receipts.
Apple’s iTunes sold over 1 million videos for $1.99 each in the first 20
days of the service being offered. And as of writing this, Amazon has
launched their own analogous service as well. Youtube gets 80 million visitors
a month. And there are currently 100-200 sites that offer video on demand.
"In EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) online subscription services and
video streaming services are entering the market. Together they will reach
$2.2 billion by 2010 from only $216 million in 2005, averaging 59.1 percent
growth compounded annually." Source PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
REVENUE POTENTIAL
There was a time when shorts were screened in movie theaters before
features. This changed in mid 80s when advertising replaced this classic
entertainment and shorts were relegated to festival slates and an occasional
appearance on television. They became merely calling cards for aspiring
directors and most were the results of film student productions that lacked
the maturity and production value of the long-form Hollywood fare.
Fast forward to 2006 where thanks to digital filmmaking and emerging
internet and mobile device distribution models the Short is making a
comeback, and in a big way!
Due to The Irresistible Offer’s high concept and budgeting for a high
production value the film will be poised to take advantage not only of the
traditional successful path for a short – festival screenings, major festival
recognition, followed by television and DVD distribution, but will also be sold
as a high resolution internet download and a scaled down and trimmed down
5 minute version that can be purchased for viewing on a video capable cell
phone (like Verizon’s Vcast phones) or a portable media device like Apple’s
iPod.
But that is not all, the film will also become a calling card for the
feature length project that can incorporate the already shot footage, on the
model of the Oscar nominated short Cashback. IPP will own the story rights to
the project and naturally whose sale or optioning revenue will go to investors.
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SHORT FILM DISTRIBUTION POTENTIAL
PossibleDistributionMarkets
10%
2%
25% 1%
Cable &Pay-Per-View
Worldwide TV/Cable
Theatrical
Internet
Domestic Home Video
30% International Home Video
7%
Portable Electronics
25%
Short films fall under the category of short form content. This is the
predominant form of video content on the net and mobile devices, it has
advantages over the long format such as features because download times
are smaller and the content can be digested without commitment, say over a
coffee break.
BUZZ
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FESTIVALS
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San Francisco Intl. Film Festival Tampere Film Festival
Santa Barbara Intl. Film Festival Toronto Worldwide Short Film Festival
Short Shorts Film Festival Turin Intl. Film Festival of Young
Shorts Intl. Film Festival Cinema
Slamdance Film Festival Uppsala Intl. Short Film Festival
St. Louis Intl. Film Festival USA Film Festival
Sundance Film Festival Venice Intl. Film Festival
Sydney Film Festival
TELEVISION
The following excerpt from the New England Film journal sums up IPP’s
strategy:
“Most of the short films DeVine licenses on behalf of IFC are negotiated directly
with the filmmaker. IFC recognizes lots of "up-and-coming talent" through short film
submissions, which can lead the channel to seek to other projects from a filmmaker.
Because IFC and its competitor, the Sundance Channel, are the largest markets
for short films in the U.S., the variety and volume of short films they are able to
showcase is larger than other outlets. This is good news for filmmakers of short
projects, who may find a shortage of appropriate ways to submit work, especially for
television. "Filmmakers should feel more relaxed about submitting short films to IFC,
because there isn’t the kind of network for short films that there is for features," says
DeVine. Because competition is less intense in the short film circuit (between
filmmakers, distributors, outlets, and promoters, for example) filmmakers should not
feel as if they need connections to get exposure for their work. Creators of short films
have a much more equal footing in this quest than in the selection process for
feature films; credentials and networking mean less, while talent and originality
mean more.” – New England Film
INTERNET
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iTunes prefers to deal with major distributors, it has a precedent of dealing
with independent music distributors and it is probable they will adopt the
same strategy for licensing desireable video content from indies. Revver,
Google Video
Films that win the Oscars always get to be on DVDs currently being
distributed by Magnolia Pictures. Furthermore there are several prominent
DVD collections of shorts and magazines that are interested in licensing
shorts for home video.
THEATRICAL
Over the next 3-4 years, Technicolor plans to digitize 5000 screens.
PORTABLE MEDIA
While devices like Sony’s PSP and iPods can handle fairly long and
highrez content and will have no problem playing the full version of the film,
IPP intends to have a shorter version of the film made especially for cell
phones. This shorter version will be recut and reframed for cell phone
screens. Currently companies like Mobizzo and Verizon offer content for cell
phones.
Due to the high concept of the film and its potential for buzz we are
including this revenue stream in case another producer wishes to develop the
idea into a feature or we get financing to incorporate the footage into a
feature length project. The writer has several ideas about expanding the
film’s themes and characters and framing the key events in an equally
exciting feature length script.
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BUDGET
THE IRRESISTIBLE OFFER
SUMMARY BUDGET
02-00 Script 0
03-00 Producers Unit 1,100
04-00 Direction 0
05-00 Cast 0
TOTAL ABOVE-THE-LINE 1,100
37-00 Insurance 0
38-00 General & Administrative 0
TOTAL OTHER 0
Total Above-The-Line 1,100
Total Below-The-Line 22,450
Total Above and Below-the-Line 23,550
Contingency @ 10 % 2,355
IPP will be co-producing this short with Woo Art International and Run
Cycle Productions. Woo Art International will contribute general &
administrative support (office space, etc.), certain production equipment +
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expendables, and the use of its facilities for post production. Furthermore, at
a big savings to the production, IPP will use Woo Art’s umbrella insurance for
securing locations and equipment rental. Run Cycle will provide special FX
consultation and implementation.
IPP will acquire IFP sponsorship for the project. IFP sponsorship
provides a means for individuals and companies to grant tax refundable
donations including cash, materials, and services. This will further allow for a
decrease in expenses.
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CASH FLOW and FINANCING
In the following scenario the “Director’s Purse” represents a 20%
ownership of the comapany by the founding partners. While the time and
energy invested by the Producers warrants such a stake, in reality the 20%
will be parlayed into deffered payments to the crew, hence it is a means for
investors as well to minimize their investment.
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Revenue Summary
As can be seen from the scenario, the first revenue of $30,000 (120%
of the investment) will be split between the investors only, allowing them to
recoup their money and take a good profit. All the moneys coming in after
that point will be split between the 20% “Director’s Purse” and the investor’s
80% share of the company.
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INVESTMENT CONSIDERATIONS
The following points sum up some of the benefits of investing in Ideally
Planned Productions, LLC production of “The Irresistible Offer”:
Andrew Yakovlev and Tina Mohanty will be the Managing Members of the
company and will be responsible for making any and all creative and business
decisions regarding the motion picture project, The Irresistible Offer.
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PROFIT ALLOCATION
In the profit participation deal, the time frame depends on the purchase of
the short by the outlined distributors. Since IPP will be licensing the film to
these companies, the money will be received as soon as negotiations are
finished, money is received and masters are delivered.
SUBSCRIPTIONS
RISK TO INVESTORS
Investing in the film industry is a high-risk venture. The sole business of the
limited liability company Ideally Planned Productions, LLC will be the
production, promotion and distribution of the short film. In such a venture,
the risk of loss is especially high in comparison with the prospect for any
profits. Company interests should not be purchased unless the investor is
prepared for the possibility of total loss of investment.
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DIRECTOR’s STATEMENT
For lay investor this is a great opportunity to invest in a great little
project and make a modest $ while also supporting art. For industry investors
this is a great opportunity to test the waters to get involved in something that
really seeks to take advantage of those buzzwords that people here all the
time, but don’t really now what to do. Well as this proposal shows, well
planned out and acted a short film can be great way to make money, but also
to inject fresh blood into the industry.
NOTES
The dramatic triangle of this story is between the three men: CHARLES
(motivated by desire to get back into the social pyramid, the status quo),
VERLOC (motivated by desire to shock the status quo for personal material
gains), and MICHAELS (motivated by the desire to maintain the status quo
and preserve the social pyramid). Furthermore, CHARLES goes through an
important transformation through the course of the story. In the early pages
he is on the lowest levels of the social rungs, and by working with VERLOC,
he sinks even lower – his desire for material gain and revenge on society
motivates him to agree to commit mass murder.
The historical source for this scheme came from the terrorist acts in
France and Russia. The bomb in the garbage can has been a staple M.O. in
those two countries. What makes this story unique, and the Russian tragedies
different is that in certain terrorist acts, there is a record of participation by
Russians. This contrasts sharply with the current image of Al-queda trained
jihadists and fanatics. In acts like the Nord Ost and Beslan, bribery was used
to secure complicity of Russians.
Furthermore, in Russia, there is a law that offers a pardon to anyone
involved in terrorist activity who changes their mind and prevents an attack
from happening. This coupled with a personal belief that sometimes a wisest
decision a man can make is to change their mind and be flexible, are the
reasons why CHARLES makes his decision in the frozen time landscape. In
that nick of time, CHARLES comes from being a socially worthless traitor to a
real hero. He proves it, because he holds on to the bomb and tries to get it
away from the crowds.
A good story should give the audience what they expect, but not in a
way they expect it. Our twist is MICHAELS helping CHARLES save the day. In
the beginning and the ending of the film MICHAELS does his job which is
being a cop, sometimes it means using the threat of violence to maintain
social order, in other times it is sacrificing himself to violence in order to
maintain social order. I think a nice aspect of the script is that our perception
of MICHAELS changes, and that can be just as rewarding as a character going
through a transformation.
The LADY IN WHITE is a symbolic element; it can imply a number of
things and is there for the audience to ponder. For dramatic, stylistic, and
visual purposes she is a means to pause the tension in a feverish climax and
redirect the story towards a more satisfying, and even more intense ending.
Furthermore, it’s a good opportunity for some special effects work to
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heighten the production value of the short.
The final sequence is an intercutting of the cell phone dialing,
CHARLES actions, and the recording of the terrorist’s video camera. Terrorists
often record their acts ad proof and means of securing further finances, for
the purposes of a film it is a great stratagem to show off the explosion
without actually going the expense of blowing up a truck in the middle of the
city. Using the pixilated and grainy image of an exploding truck (miniature)
will give all the BANG of an expensive shot, without sticking it to our budget.
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