VIP Drinks & August AGM
I’m sad to announce that we simply haven’t had enough RSVPs to be able to put on a full AGM this month as we wanted to. Despite putting the word out twice, we’ve had a total of 10 responses for both! An AGM is a big affair considering we have 700+ people who have invested in the movie, and 30+ big contributors who have given more than £300. A huge thank you to those who took the time to respond, but it looks like we’ll have to extend that always-open invitation to anyone who has invested to come round to the flat to discuss things, view plans and meet everyone involved.
Line Production
We’re just finishing up line production (otherwise known as budgeting and scheduling) for the new 250k production structure. Andrea Farrena is our new LP who is going through the script line by line to log detail as small as light blub fitting costs and the like, in tandem with our 1st Assistant Director (AD) Matt Lawson. At the end (17th Aug) we have a set of Excel and PDF sheets detailing our every move and expenditure which is then incorporated into the Ltd company’s accounts for management, investors, crew, HMRC and more. For the nerds, we line produce with EP Budgeting (http://www.entertainmentpartners.com/products_and_services/products/ep_budgeting/) and the scheduling is done via the fantastic WattWenn software (http://www.wattwenn.com/).
Locations
Next-up is finding the places to shoot. Ben O’Farrell is our new Location Manager, who will be spending the next few weeks scouting properties like studios, offices, flats, streets and pubs and reporting back to the director with possibilities that we then have to lock in for production. Design for the locations (props, lighting, shots etc) is then produced as storyboards using Frameforge 3D (http://www.frameforge3d.com/newsite/). The whole team will then a long series of tech recces around these places to look at potential lighting, sound, security and logistical problems in advance so they can get the best footage.
After that it’s rehearsals, recces, insurance and rock n’ roll.
Shareholding Structure
We’re currently working with our auditors Tenon Group (http://www.tenongroup.com/) to put together a new “pyramid” shareholding structure for the film that accomodates all the different levels of investment and personnel involvement we’ve accumulated. Tenon are entertainment specialists with a focus on UK Film Tax Relief and the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS). Generally speaking, lots of people tend to put small lumps of money into big companies (stock market) or big lumps of money into small companies (limited co/private investment), whereas we are combining the two, with lots of people putting small amounts of money into a small-ish company. In short, no-one has ever done anything like this before to their knowledge, and the whole blueprint package will be reported and published in the accountancy press. We’re aiming for a “waterfall” approach as the big issue is who gets paid back first.
Post-Production
It looks like, subject to contract, that we’ve seriously got one hell of a post-production (editing/colouring/dvd etc) deal. The company who will be doing the “chopping” and “piecing” of the film are Sequence Post Production (http://www.sequence-post.co.uk/), and you’ll know them from their work on James Bond’s “Quantum of Solace” titling, BBC title sequences and the latest Danny Dyer click “Jack Said”. They are run by 28 year old Ben Foakes, who has created a company with 400% growth whilst every other post house has been going under – very impressive people who are also looking to grow with external investment. For the nerds, they will ingesting about 30TB of 4k resolution RED footage into Apple G5s using the latest “Red Rocket” cards and editing in the latest Final Cut Pro HD 7 software. The final master will be a 5TB .mov file ready to go onto Blu-Ray (via DoStudio), DVD (via Scenarist) and digital cinema output. The latest RED gear (”Epic”) can handle up to 28k resolution (28,000 pixels – standard TV is 720 pixels).
Our colourist is considered by many to be the best in the business as he’s one so many awards. Vince Narduzzo is so well known that sidtware companies design their products around him. To see his credits, check his IMDB entry: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0621402/. His last project was the BBC2 drama “Freefall” which, ironically, was the story of a banker going a little mental in the recession!
Investment DVD
A DVD will soon be available (end of the month) for private viewing that contains interviews and footage with the director (Phil Walsh), Director of Photography (DoP, David Meadows), Exec Producer (Peter Reed), as well as everyone’s showreels and previous work. It’s been produced for external investors but is privately and confidentially available for anyone who has bought units in the movie as well. We’ll be putting it online as a password-protected set of videos.
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