Marketing the Mob

The gases expelled from developing a film contain an aroma of "Catch 22". You can't raise money until you have attachments and you can't get attachments until you raise money. Therefore, the film development process is greatly helped along by some savvy marketing.

BUSINESS PLAN
A first step in marketing is the creation of a Business Plan. I'm happy to say this step is now complete. I worked with Starline to develop this 24-page document and it was interesting reading to say the least.

Besides the projection figures which have a first-time writer salivating, there is an impressive outline of Starline's plan of attack to get Mobbed Up fully financed and gain top attachments.

I encourage anyone interested in investing in Mobbed Up to read it. The Business Plan is considered confidential so anyone interested should reach out to Kevin Leckner of Starline Films.

MOVIE POSTER
I've made my living as a graphic and web designer for over a decade so the opportunity to develop a movie poster for my own film was not taken lightly. View the Mobbed Up movie poster.

I think it looks pretty professional and probably could hang in a lobby today. Of course all the impressive bottom credits are missing.

Looking at the poster, I get the sense that the film is "real". That's the point isn't it? The poster should convey a sense of what the movie is about and the feelings it stirs within. It will hopefully have this positive effect on those actors, director and investors we hope to impress.

I may make a couple more alternate poster designs and similar designs for other uses are also forthcoming.

WEBSITE
Again, I'm calling into service my creative visual skills and experience. MobbedUpMovie.com is registered and online in Under Construction form. In the coming weeks it will be outfitted for a Flash animation, News, Links, Photos and lots more.

Websites are becoming increasingly vital in both the box-office success and the production "buzz" prior to release. Most films that make it to the theater don't have a substantial website until the distributor gets around to it. It is my intent to get MobbedUpMovie.com online in such a fashion as to attract the attention of movie-goers, investors and top talent. It will often be used as our point of contact so it must be all that it can be.

I'll of course post updates when the website is on its feet.

Hopefully it is clear that we producing Mobbed Up are making some unique efforts here. I think there's a definite advantage to having someone with an extensive graphics background on board to try to communicate our ideas visually. If it so happens that person also writes the script--all the easier it will be.

--- --- ---
I also want to extend congratulations to Starline Films for having their film 4CHOSEN: The Documentary accepted into the Garden State Film Festival. Good luck!

What is "development" anyway?

The best case scenario for some screenwriters is to sell his sweat-soaked script to a big studio for gobs of cash. If you're a screenwriter, you know how difficult it is to get through Hollywood's front door. And the still-active WGA strike has pretty much closed off all side doors for now also.

Enter independent film making. Starline Films loves my script and has pledged to help me raise a development budget. The production budget has not yet been determined, but is expected to be between $1-5 million dollars. While the development budget is included in that, development is a separate process that precedes full production when the director yells "action!"

Development is really the pre-production process. Steps taken to package the movie in such a way as to attract the bigger money and gain distribution.

We're going to need about $80-100k to develop Mobbed Up. What is this money used for? I wanted to know too. Here's what I found out:

• Talent
  Name actors, while not essential, certainly help any film to have greater appeal to both investors and audiences. While it is too early for me to mention names here, Starline definitely has direct contacts to much of the talent needed to make Mobbed Up successful. This also includes attaching a name director. Money here is spent on issuing deposits to these talented people to show we're serious and to book production into their schedules. This can be a significant portion of the budget.
  
• Trailer/Short Film
  Often a log line doesn't do enough to attract the money. So a trailer (similar to what you may see in the theater before a film) or a short film (a visual synopsis of the story about 15 minutes in length) can help get the creativity across. These would usually be shot with local actors whether name actors have signed on or not.
• Story Development
  If any enhancements or rewrites to the script need to be made, they are often taken care of in pre-production. This would often mean bringing in another writer to handle such edits. Bringing in a name writer can also be a good attachment and add more credence in the mind of investors. In the case of Mobbed Up, Starline feels (and I certainly agree) that my script is very near to shooting quality so this a road we probably won't need to go down, saving some money in the process.
• Securing Locations
  Wanna make a movie--you need to shoot it somewhere. Many locations require a deposit or donation. Locations are a cost that can significantly increase the full production budget due to the costs of changing locations, travel etc. We are again fortunate that Mobbed Up could conceivably be shot entirely on one boardwalk.

Clearly, a lot needs to be done and it is going to cost real money. But people who know are confident Mobbed Up will attract top actors. Even some I was considering as I was writing the script. Attaching top talent goes a long way to get your film the attention it needs during pre-production and ultimately its showing at the box office (or off the DVD shelves).

In coming days/weeks I'll share further thoughts on the development process and keep you informed as to what's going on. After all, that's the point of this blog isn't it?

By the way, if you're interested in investing in Mobbed Up, please contact Kevin Leckner at Starline Films.

Mobbed Up Now in Development

I've just sent a signed agreement to Starline Films retaining them to develop and package my Mobbed Up script.