Promoting Your Film by Monkey Osmosis

Any chance you have to promote your film, take it. Sometimes it's a lot of effort for little return but you never know when you might just tip the scale with that one person. You know the story of 100 monkeys? Once 100 monkeys on one side of the island know how to peel bananas.. all of a sudden all the monkeys on the island know how to peel bananas.. by some kind of Monkey Osmosis.

This week we're having a "demo" party.. to screen the demo of the film (aka proof of concept that we shot to entice investors), maybe raise a little money, and primarily, get the word out. It's given us an excuse to send out press releases, post on our Facebook Fan page, send out emails and essentially just get people excited about the film. We got an article in the Examiner.com out of it, so...so far so good! With enough persistence you can find sponsers for events like this. It gives them a chance to promote their stuff to a new audience and of course you want to offer them as much credit as possible.. on your website, if you have one, that kind of thing. Unfortunately, we only had a month to plan so it was hard finding sponsors for this event, but we were lucky enough to get Don's & Ben's to donate a case of wine and some tasting chocolates from Schakolad Chocolate Factory. Add a little cheese and crackers, some sweet music by our friend and fashionista by day, DJ by night, Agosto Cuellar and you have yourself a lovely little shin-dig!

Here's the links, if you want to check out the demo and the article:

Demo:

http://www.vimeo.com/9591867


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2dHYQsR6v4 (Watch this version if you use a Mac or have trouble with the previous one.)

Examiner Article:

http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-33520-San-Antonio-Film-Industry-Examiner~y2010m3d16-Local-SA-Feature-Film-Production-Ekstasis-Sets-Sights-for-Big-Time

Networking

I was just thinking how important it is to take risks in life... not risks like skydiving, although I admit I've been thinking about that one again lately. Have I gotten to the age where that's just off the table? Flip that! So... it's on the table but kind of far away. Still risks are necessary - all the ways that we risk ourselves - our emotions, our ideas, our insecurities. I love, truly love, the idea that mistakes are how we grow. I love it because I think it's true. You have to risk being wrong to get it right. Right? How many times have I heard that it took what's his name... um...lightbulb guy.. shiz... I'm gonna have to google this, be right back.. okay.. it was Thomas Edison, but now I find out he didn't even technically invent the first lightbulb.. he invented a version of one and looks like he used some other guy's invention to work off of. And I couldn't find out how many times it took him to do it. But I think by now you get what I'm saying. The guy had over 1,000 U.S. patents. Not all of those were genius, you can bet on it. But if even one... Oh and another interesting tidbit - he was friends with Henry Ford. So risks. Which brings me back to the topic for today and that's Networking.

Networking is a vital, sometimes annoying aspect of the film industry, most industries, I'd imagine, especially one where you're trying to get people to look at your ideas and think it has at least a modicum of promise to it. It always comes down to sales. You're trying to get people to believe, not just in what your selling, but in you. Networking is how people find out about you... otherwise, you're just like any other shmo writing your version of Star Wars locked away in your bedroom with incense and a poster of Harrison Ford up on the wall. (No, really, that wasn't me!)

For people to believe in you.. you have to believe in you. And that can be hard sometimes.. I'm a doubting Thomas (but not Edison) when it comes to my own ideas. What I'm learning is just to focus on having fun, relaxing and having a good time, then I'm more myself and feel more comfortable sharing naturally. When I'm nervous I over-analyze, stress and contract and then everything probably comes out forced. I think it's also good to trust that the right people for your project will come... and the ones that don't work out, well then they just weren't right. Yes, everything does happen for a reason, even what we call the bad stuff. Networking can and should be fun, so enjoy getting to meet new people, regardless of their role in your life. Everyone has a gift for you and you a gift for them if you take time to find out what it is.

Today I got a chance to meet with the San Antonio Film Commission Director, Drew Mayer-Oakes, for lunch. From afar, he's always been a little intimidating, but again, I decided I would go into the meeting with an open mind and an open heart and it ended up being a really interesting, informative and even fun experience. It's just always a lovely time meeting people that share a passion for what you love. Where will it lead? Who knows and who cares. The point is put yourself out there and trust the universe to do the rest. Also a quick shout-out to the wonderful Janet Vasquez of the SA Film Commission!

Best of luck to all of you on your creative journey!

The Offer Letter to "Named Actors"

So we're approaching different "named" actors about a few of the cameo roles we have. It's a tricky thing approaching an agent (I mean shark) for a well-known actor when you don't really have any money yet for the project. Of course if we could get a named actor attached to the project it would make getting the money a lot easier, or so I presume.. bit of a catch-22, but then Hollywood seems rife with those. So I'm basically not telling them we don't have the money. I guess it's not exactly lying because they haven't asked either. I'm including (below) the letter we sent to actor/comedian (one of my all time favs, in fact) Eddie Izzard, who I'm offering the part of Martin - the gay art rep. Haven't heard back yet but I'm not holding my breathe.

March 15, 2010



Scott Schatchter
ICM
10250 Constellation Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90067

Re: Eddie Izzard
Dear Mr. Schatchter,
Please accept this letter as an offer to Eddie Izzard for the cameo role of “Martin” in the independent feature film, Ekstasis. I have admired Mr. Izzard’s comedic talent since ‘cake or death’ and have since developed a deep admiration for his acting talent after seeing his work in The Riches, one of the best (and sadly under-appreciated) series ever to grace the television. Although I highly doubt the role of Martin will be a terribly challenging part for Mr. Izzard, it will give him plenty of latitude to ply his comedic genius and breathe some real depth and authenticity into a character that could be played too stereotypically by the wrong actor.
Shooting will require one, possibly two days. Although we are still ironing out specific dates, we should begin principal shooting in June 2010 in the San Antonio/Austin, TX area. We will certainly try to work around any scheduling conflicts he may have. We have budgeted $5,000/day plus travel/expenses for him but there may be a little latitude here. Please let me know if he has any specific requirements.
I understand Mr. Izzard is of the caliber of actor who can pick and choose which projects he is interested in. Although we are, in fact, a small independent production company, we have a beautiful project that I hope you both will see has immense promise. Also, if it’s any incentive whatsoever, we are known to have the best Tex-Mex this side of the border!
Please let me know if I can answer any further questions for you. I anxiously await your response.
Thank you,


Kimberly A. Suta,
Director

The FilmBaking Experience

This is my first post on the new FilmBaking Blog. I can't promise how useful this will be or even how much I'll be able to post, but I'll do my best. I've been reading a bunch of books, which I'll list here at some point but there are things... many things that come up along a filmmaker's journey that are not listed in the books and even if they are, well, sometimes they just don't apply to me. I'm sure others out there have similar blogs. Truth be told, I haven't searched for them yet, though maybe I will after this. More than anything this is a journal, for me, of my trials and tribulations of making my first feature film.

So what's my story?

I guess I think of myself mostly as a writer. I've been writing since I was like two years old... okay maybe not quite that young but I have a journal floating around out there in the ether - a pink and white Hello Kitty journal where I first began my forray as a writer... keeping tabs on all the crushes and cruelties of my fellow classmates. I was, maybe 7 or 8. I wrote poems about bubble gum and jellybeans. I was not the greatest writer but I liked it enough to keep trying. I didn't go to the right school probably to make the kinds of contacts I needed to get a head start in the world, and I didn't make enough of an effort to get published early on. I was insecure, intimidated and mostly, my words, my stories stayed safe inside my desk. But eventually I got over that and started sharing, started growing more confident, kept writing - now screenplays instead of novels, kept reading, began submitting my work to agents and competitions. Still, nothing really came of it. Finally I said, screw this, and decided I'd produce my own script. So I did. Thus was born The Theory of Everything, a 30-minute short, neo-noir film about the unrraveling of a relationship and a bit of a murder mystery. Here's the link, if you want to check it out:

http://www.veoh.com/browse/videos/category/drama/watch/v12038561cccfyT2n

I've done a few other things - commercials, documentaries but my heart lies in fiction. I came back to a short story turned script I wrote several years before, Ekstasis. At first I thought maybe I could do a play... that wouldn't be terribly expensive. So I started looking for actors and I found my Ekstasis in the actor/artist/beautiful spirit, Ukwanni Warumbe - a man who speaks five languages, has traveled the globe, is a mystic and a sage and not terribly far off from the 3,600 year old Alchemist. Then somehow along the way we all committed to making it into a movie... myself and the other three, amazing, producers. 

So here we are... I might skip around, but I'll try mostly to keep you posted on what I'm working on at the moment... let's just see how this goes...