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IFH 841: What a Real Film Producer Actually Does with Marc Bienstock · Indie Film Hustle® - A Filmmaking Podcast

0:03
Speaker 1: You are listening to the ifh podcast Network. For more
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Speaker 2: Welcome to the Indie Film Muscle Podcast, Episode number eight
0:15
Speaker 2: forty one. Cinema should make You forget. You're sitting in
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Speaker 2: a theater, Roman Polanski.
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Speaker 1: Broadcasting from the back alley in Hollywood. It's the Indie
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Speaker 1: Film Hustle Podcast, where we showed you how to survive
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Speaker 1: and thrive as an indie filmmaker in the jungles of
0:31
Speaker 1: the film biz.
0:32
Speaker 3: And here's your host, Alex Ferrari.
0:35
Speaker 2: Welcome, Welcome to another episode of the Indie Film Huscle Podcast.
0:38
Speaker 3: I am your humble.
0:39
Speaker 2: Host, Alex Ferrari. Today's show is sponsored by Rise of
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Speaker 2: the Film Entrepreneur How to turn your independent film into
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1:49
Speaker 2: Enjoy today's episode with guest host Dave Bullis.
1:54
Speaker 3: So on this episode, my guest, as I said before,
1:57
Speaker 3: I've actually worked with him. I was here ta and
2:01
Speaker 3: I actually think he is the first person I actually
2:04
Speaker 3: worked with on this entire podcast. I'm going through my
2:07
Speaker 3: mind right now and I can't think of anybody else.
2:10
Speaker 3: So if I had missed somebody, please forgive me. Somebody
2:13
Speaker 3: email me and tell me, hey, you had somebody else on.
2:15
Speaker 3: But this person, I think is the first person that
2:17
Speaker 3: I've worked with. This guy is a phenomenal producer. I
2:21
Speaker 3: mean just phenomenal. I will link to his IMDb in
2:24
Speaker 3: the show notes because he's not on social media, so
2:27
Speaker 3: that will be the only link I have for him.
2:29
Speaker 3: This guy has produced some really really cool things. Twelve
2:34
Speaker 3: Rounds two reloaded. He's produced the remaining See No Evil
2:39
Speaker 3: Too with the Saskas Twins, The Visit and Split with
2:43
Speaker 3: m Night Shyamalan with guests Mark Bienstock. Hey, Mark, thanks
2:49
Speaker 3: for coming on the show.
2:51
Speaker 4: Thanks for having me, Dave glad to be here.
2:53
Speaker 3: You know, Mark, You're actually one of the a handful
2:56
Speaker 3: of people that I've actually met in real life. Was
3:00
Speaker 3: everybody else in this show I've never actually met anywhere else?
3:05
Speaker 5: Well, I'm I was a pleasure to meet you and
3:08
Speaker 5: uh and glad to be part of a small, small
3:10
Speaker 5: group of privileged folks there.
3:12
Speaker 3: Oh, and we're gonna we're gonna talk to about you know,
3:15
Speaker 3: how we know each other, uh, which is I think
3:17
Speaker 3: it's a great story, but uh, you know, just to
3:19
Speaker 3: get started, Mark, And it's a question I asked everybody,
3:21
Speaker 3: and that is, you know, how did you wind up
3:24
Speaker 3: in the film industry? You know, did you always like
3:27
Speaker 3: movies as a kid and and you know, and you
3:29
Speaker 3: knew from a young age that you wanted this is
3:30
Speaker 3: something that you wanted to do.
3:33
Speaker 5: I did always like movies as a young kid, and uh,
3:36
Speaker 5: but I was also a huge music fan and and
3:40
Speaker 5: and so I you know, I bounced back and forth
3:43
Speaker 5: between uh, a career in music and and a career
3:47
Speaker 5: in film and UH ended up at n YU at
3:51
Speaker 5: the School of the Art, and was bouncing around there
3:54
Speaker 5: between you know, visual medium and working in radio and uh.
3:59
Speaker 5: And you know, on the film side of it won out.
4:04
Speaker 3: So what point mark did you you know, did you
4:06
Speaker 3: start knowing that you wanted to be on that producing side? Uh?
4:10
Speaker 3: You know, as as a career.
4:13
Speaker 5: Well, well, funny enough, when I was n y U,
4:15
Speaker 5: I was directing actually I directed Mprody. So I directed
4:18
Speaker 5: a a music video there that was a grant from
4:22
Speaker 5: RCAA Records at the time, and that was a really
4:26
Speaker 5: you know, monumental experience for me. And after that experience,
4:30
Speaker 5: I knew that, you know, I had to do it again.
4:33
Speaker 5: And then I ended up also producing a thesis film
4:39
Speaker 5: for a fellow student that was a grant from HBO.
4:42
Speaker 5: So I had both experiences and they were both, you know,
4:46
Speaker 5: really satisfying. But when I came out of school, I
4:50
Speaker 5: initially you know, went down the road of directing. That
4:55
Speaker 5: was a little bit more interesting and enticing to me
4:58
Speaker 5: at first.
5:00
Speaker 3: So, you know, so you went down the directing road,
5:02
Speaker 3: you know, at first, and you know, when was it
5:05
Speaker 3: that you finally decided, you know, you wanted to be
5:07
Speaker 3: that producer, you know, just you know, producing all these
5:10
Speaker 3: all these films.
5:12
Speaker 5: Yeah, great question. I decided somewhere in the mid to
5:16
Speaker 5: late nineties, I was offered an opportunity at an independent
5:20
Speaker 5: company to come in and run production there. And at
5:22
Speaker 5: the same time, I was finishing my second feature film,
5:27
Speaker 5: which is the TV Movie, and that experience was was
5:31
Speaker 5: somewhat trying, and decided that I would prefer to be
5:35
Speaker 5: the producer for other directors that I never had, so,
5:39
Speaker 5: you know, and at the at the at the advice
5:42
Speaker 5: of many friends, they thought that that was a good move.
5:44
Speaker 5: So I certainly, you know, chatted with you know, many
5:47
Speaker 5: people close to me, he knew me well, and they
5:50
Speaker 5: all thought that that the choice of segueing and moving over,
5:55
Speaker 5: you know, and favoring more the producer than the director
5:57
Speaker 5: was was a good choice. That's what I did.
5:59
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know that's something you and I talked about
6:01
Speaker 3: before too. Was you know, when when people would say
6:04
Speaker 3: things to me like, oh, you know, you're really good
6:06
Speaker 3: at this. I wish you would produce my movie. I know,
6:09
Speaker 3: I kind of took that as like I kind of
6:12
Speaker 3: was like insulted in a way about that. I know
6:14
Speaker 3: it sounds so weird, Mark, but I was kind of like,
6:16
Speaker 3: I want to make, you know, my own movies. I
6:18
Speaker 3: think it was a temple I said this to you.
6:19
Speaker 3: You know, I I like, you know, I like movies,
6:23
Speaker 3: and I like everything about movies. I know, I've pretty
6:26
Speaker 3: much held every job. But then I said, you know,
6:28
Speaker 3: it's like I said to you a temple at one time,
6:29
Speaker 3: I said, I, you know, I want to produce my
6:31
Speaker 3: own stuff, you know what I mean? And I and
6:33
Speaker 3: but but it's interesting you had that that you know,
6:35
Speaker 3: that that journey, and it's so people must have seen
6:39
Speaker 3: at some point that you know, you were really really
6:41
Speaker 3: good at producing if they you know, everyone keeps asking
6:44
Speaker 3: to do it again and again.
6:47
Speaker 5: Yeah, you know, I never I never have people what
6:49
Speaker 5: they thaw on me or why they thought that I
6:52
Speaker 5: would I would be a good producer, you know, but
6:55
Speaker 5: I you know, I had the opportunity and and so
6:59
Speaker 5: I took it and ran with it, and you know,
7:01
Speaker 5: and for me, my perspective was that not only could
7:05
Speaker 5: I hopefully be the producer for other directors that you know,
7:08
Speaker 5: I never found for myself when I was directing, but
7:10
Speaker 5: also that I would I would enjoy the collaborative process
7:15
Speaker 5: and learn from working with other directors and find you know,
7:18
Speaker 5: if much satisfaction and supporting other directors and breeding like
7:22
Speaker 5: and into those films as I would into you know,
7:26
Speaker 5: the projects that I directed. So you know, and and
7:29
Speaker 5: for the most part that's been true.
7:31
Speaker 3: So you know, Margaret's I actually liked you know, we
7:34
Speaker 3: just said there where it's about you know, you wanted
7:36
Speaker 3: to be the producers that other directors could, you know,
7:38
Speaker 3: other directors couldn't find. Uh Yeah, I think that's very
7:42
Speaker 3: important because I think now you have that perspective of Okay,
7:46
Speaker 3: you know, as a struggling director, how hard it is
7:49
Speaker 3: to find a solid producer. So you know, what what
7:52
Speaker 3: were you know, what were some of the things, you know,
7:55
Speaker 3: as you know, you've produced all these all these movies,
7:57
Speaker 3: you know, what were some of the things that that
7:59
Speaker 3: you did to make sure, you know, to make sure
8:02
Speaker 3: that you always were sort of on point, you know
8:04
Speaker 3: what I mean, like making sure that the director was
8:06
Speaker 3: always being helped. If I'm sorry, I don't know if
8:09
Speaker 3: I've said that right, but I did? Do you don't
8:10
Speaker 3: you know what I'm trying to get at Mark? I
8:11
Speaker 3: don't know. I don't know if I said that right.
8:13
Speaker 5: Story Yeah, no, no, no, no, it's a good crush. You know.
8:17
Speaker 5: It really varies and it evolves over time, you know.
8:20
Speaker 5: I think I think just like you know, anyone in
8:23
Speaker 5: any in any percussion, you know, we'd be hopefully we
8:27
Speaker 5: become better. You know, our experiences make us better at
8:29
Speaker 5: what we do, and over time, you know, we we
8:31
Speaker 5: evolve and become you know, the best at what we do,
8:35
Speaker 5: or the best version of ourselves of what we do.
8:39
Speaker 5: So I you know, for me, it's really about transparent
8:43
Speaker 5: and open communication with the director, especially in pre production
8:46
Speaker 5: and even prior to pre production. You know, once once
8:49
Speaker 5: you're once we're out there making the movie so much
8:51
Speaker 5: as happening so quickly, so it's it's really in pre production,
8:57
Speaker 5: I have spending a lot of time together and having
8:59
Speaker 5: a lot of die and understanding creatively, you know what
9:04
Speaker 5: the director wants for each seeing sometimes for each shot,
9:08
Speaker 5: and then you know, how can I support that and
9:12
Speaker 5: how can I have you know, the team that we've
9:15
Speaker 5: assembled support that. And it's all about supporting, you know,
9:17
Speaker 5: the director's vision and so whatever we're doing it with,
9:22
Speaker 5: you know, our crew, or we're doing it with our
9:24
Speaker 5: financial resources, when you know all the things that that
9:28
Speaker 5: in the world will support that vision, you.
9:32
Speaker 3: Know, and you know that that's amazing, you know, Mark,
9:34
Speaker 3: because that is it's so true because you have to
9:37
Speaker 3: be supportive of one another. You know, you have to
9:39
Speaker 3: build that team. And I think this is another thing
9:42
Speaker 3: and I talked about where you know, everyone has to
9:44
Speaker 3: have a good attitude on set because if you have
9:46
Speaker 3: one person who has who sort of has like a
9:49
Speaker 3: bad attitude, it spreads like a virus.
9:51
Speaker 5: You know.
9:53
Speaker 2: We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor
9:59
Speaker 2: and now back to the show.
10:02
Speaker 5: Yeah, well, uh, I agree with you. However, not everyone
10:07
Speaker 5: is required to have a good attitude. You hope everybody
10:09
Speaker 5: brings a good attitude. And you know, I I think
10:13
Speaker 5: that you know, we all have good day from bad
10:15
Speaker 5: day whom but yeah, hopefully for the most Quoe. You've
10:17
Speaker 5: assembled a team of people who you know, have fun,
10:20
Speaker 5: enjoy what they're doing, you know, believe in the project
10:26
Speaker 5: and and bring their best every day. And you know
10:28
Speaker 5: and that it makes it makes it a more pleasurable
10:31
Speaker 5: experience for everyone. And so you're right, if there's you know,
10:34
Speaker 5: if there's a bad attitude that will affect everyone. And
10:38
Speaker 5: and just like in you know, in our personal lives,
10:41
Speaker 5: if you encounter, you know, someone who is aggravating, the
10:45
Speaker 5: potentially can make you upset and then you know you're
10:48
Speaker 5: aggravating to someone else, and so on and so on
10:50
Speaker 5: and so on. So you hope to put together a
10:52
Speaker 5: team of people that are that are all pleasant and
10:57
Speaker 5: polite and good natured people who are also really talented.
11:01
Speaker 4: Yeah.
11:01
Speaker 3: That that that's That's a great way to put it, Mark,
11:04
Speaker 3: And uh, you know I wanted to actually, you know,
11:06
Speaker 3: and as we talk about, you know, building this team,
11:08
Speaker 3: you know, I wanted to ask you as you started
11:10
Speaker 3: off your producing career, uh, you know, just looking at
11:13
Speaker 3: your IMDb you know, uh, you know, by the way, Mark,
11:17
Speaker 3: I've seen about just about every movie you've produced, uh,
11:20
Speaker 3: which I think I mentioned to you also is just
11:22
Speaker 3: a small world I you know, I actually remember going
11:24
Speaker 3: to Hollywood Video and renting Bloody Murder.
11:28
Speaker 4: I remember.
11:29
Speaker 3: I'm sorry, Mark, Yeah, I know, I actually remember that.
11:33
Speaker 3: I remember the cover and I remember everything about it.
11:36
Speaker 3: And then when I met you, I was like wait
11:38
Speaker 3: a minute, I was like hold on, and then I
11:40
Speaker 3: looked up your IMDb. So you know, I've I've pretty
11:43
Speaker 3: much seen every movie he's done. And uh, you know,
11:45
Speaker 3: as I want to talk about, you know, building a team.
11:48
Speaker 3: So Mark, when you were first started, you know, starting out,
11:50
Speaker 3: you know, what were some of the you know, how
11:52
Speaker 3: were you first approached for projects or did you go
11:56
Speaker 3: out to find projects to produce?
11:57
Speaker 6: At that point when I first started out, I was
12:03
Speaker 6: developing projects and and you know, looking for projects, and
12:08
Speaker 6: people were bringing projects to me, and uh.
12:14
Speaker 5: And then I was also an executive at a at
12:16
Speaker 5: an independent company here in Los Angeles, and so we
12:20
Speaker 5: were you know, projects were brought to us because we
12:23
Speaker 5: had the ability to partially finance movie. So that was
12:26
Speaker 5: a you know, it was a really good place for
12:28
Speaker 5: me to be at the time. So, you know, opportunities
12:30
Speaker 5: presented themselves because of that. So we had to go
12:34
Speaker 5: out and find the other half of the money. So
12:36
Speaker 5: it wasn't you know, it wasn't an automatic. And then
12:40
Speaker 5: over time, I I decided to spend less time developing
12:46
Speaker 5: material and more time making movies, and so I started
12:50
Speaker 5: to partner up with other producers who spend more time
12:53
Speaker 5: developing projects. And so so now you know, studios and
13:00
Speaker 5: other companies come to me when they have a project
13:03
Speaker 5: that is I would say, you know, two thirds of
13:06
Speaker 5: the way there and just about ready to get you know,
13:08
Speaker 5: they're they're seriously considering making the movie, and that's when
13:11
Speaker 5: they would bring me on. So my expertise now is
13:15
Speaker 5: about making the movie. Where to make the movie, how
13:19
Speaker 5: to make the movie, the best way to make the movie,
13:22
Speaker 5: as opposed to developing the script.
13:25
Speaker 3: So you know, you built your team, so I like
13:29
Speaker 3: that too, where you know, it's almost like you had
13:31
Speaker 3: you know, you were It's almost like ability network, right.
13:33
Speaker 3: You know, one person is sort of the person in
13:35
Speaker 3: there making contacts in this direction, and one person is
13:38
Speaker 3: another person making contacts in this direction. And I think
13:41
Speaker 3: you know that that that teamwork there helps, you know,
13:43
Speaker 3: you helps all the producers out because they're each finding
13:47
Speaker 3: different ways to sort of find find the money, whether
13:50
Speaker 3: it's investment. Angel investors, you know stuff like that, am
13:55
Speaker 3: I correct?
13:57
Speaker 5: Yeah, in a perfect world, whether at your fellow producers
14:01
Speaker 5: or anyone else on the project, I always try and find,
14:06
Speaker 5: you know, and being business with individuals, where where our
14:08
Speaker 5: skill sets compliment each wee ou as opposed to being
14:12
Speaker 5: having redundant skill sets. So whether that is you know,
14:15
Speaker 5: what we each do as a producer, or who our
14:18
Speaker 5: contacts are. You know, so we're you know, we're much
14:22
Speaker 5: stronger as a team if we all compliment each other
14:27
Speaker 5: as opposed to we all do the same thing.
14:30
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a very good point.
14:31
Speaker 5: Mark.
14:31
Speaker 3: And you know, just as we know we go along,
14:34
Speaker 3: you know, following your your career, you know you're sort
14:37
Speaker 3: of doing some you know uh I, you know obviously
14:39
Speaker 3: the sort of more the more more movies you produce,
14:42
Speaker 3: excuse me, the more movies to produce, the the you know,
14:45
Speaker 3: the bigger the budgets are getting. You know, was there
14:48
Speaker 3: ever a point where you got a budget and you said,
14:51
Speaker 3: oh my gosh, we do we have how do we
14:53
Speaker 3: get this much money? Was there ever like a moment
14:55
Speaker 3: when you knew you sort of entered that next level
14:58
Speaker 3: and that you were making and you were like, wow,
15:00
Speaker 3: this is I mean, it's just you know what I mean,
15:01
Speaker 3: like that moment, that Aha moment you had where you
15:04
Speaker 3: were just you just knew this was it and you
15:07
Speaker 3: were and you were just sort of doing this for
15:08
Speaker 3: the rest of your life.
15:14
Speaker 5: I think the AHA moments have come when I when
15:18
Speaker 5: I've seen versions of the movies when they're finished, not
15:21
Speaker 5: so much. I mean, it's always exciting to know that
15:23
Speaker 5: we have the finance and to be able to make
15:25
Speaker 5: a movie. It's always exciting to have the experience of
15:27
Speaker 5: actually making the movie and getting really close with that
15:30
Speaker 5: group of people you make the movie with, and then
15:33
Speaker 5: it's incredibly gratifying. And you know, I think the AHA
15:37
Speaker 5: moments occurs when you're sitting in a screening room and
15:39
Speaker 5: you're watching the finish park and you know, and that
15:42
Speaker 5: for me is what is ultimately, you know, truly satisfying.
15:47
Speaker 5: So you know, the AHA moment happened when I when
15:50
Speaker 5: I recently saw you know, uh Split, which comes out
15:55
Speaker 5: which will be released in January by Universal, so you know,
15:58
Speaker 5: that was that was the latest moment, and uh, you know, yeah,
16:03
Speaker 5: so that's when it happens. You know.
16:04
Speaker 3: I remember when we were we were in Philly and
16:07
Speaker 3: we were at the post production house. I forget the
16:10
Speaker 3: name of that post production house we're at, but we
16:13
Speaker 3: were out there and I remember you you were in
16:14
Speaker 3: the screening room and you were saying that you know,
16:17
Speaker 3: you made it if you can get one of the
16:18
Speaker 3: heath in your in your in your house and you
16:20
Speaker 3: can just have everyone come over and that's what you
16:22
Speaker 3: watch cuts of the film and right, and you're so
16:26
Speaker 3: you're so right, Mark, because that is true. You know
16:28
Speaker 3: that that's what sort of everybody is aiming for. That
16:30
Speaker 3: way you can come over, Hey, look, we're gonna kill
16:32
Speaker 3: all the lights and we're just gonna watch a cut
16:34
Speaker 3: of this film. And uh, you know actually that you know,
16:37
Speaker 3: I wanted to actually talk about you know, you coming
16:39
Speaker 3: to PA to to film.
16:41
Speaker 1: Uh.
16:42
Speaker 3: I wanted to ask you know, you know you you
16:44
Speaker 3: first arrived, you know when you you work on M.
16:46
Speaker 3: Night with M. Night Shaman on the visit. So you know,
16:49
Speaker 3: I wanted to ask, you know, how did you meet M.
16:51
Speaker 3: Knight and how did you how did you too start
16:52
Speaker 3: working together?
16:56
Speaker 5: You know, we were we were you know, Night decided
16:59
Speaker 5: you you want to make the visit and he was
17:03
Speaker 5: looking for a producing partner and someone who had experience
17:07
Speaker 5: working with budgets, you know, below ten million dollars. And
17:11
Speaker 5: we were put together my agent and his business partner,
17:16
Speaker 5: and fortunately we hit it off and uh, you know,
17:19
Speaker 5: and we went and made a really good movie and
17:21
Speaker 5: uh and the rest is you know the I guess,
17:24
Speaker 5: as I say, the rest is history.
17:26
Speaker 3: So what and when you were working on the visit,
17:29
Speaker 3: you mentioned too in that in the class that it
17:31
Speaker 3: was like one of the first times where you know,
17:33
Speaker 3: we talk about the PA you know, the PA film
17:35
Speaker 3: tax credits, and you know we talk about that, and
17:38
Speaker 3: you know, one of the things was, you know, you
17:39
Speaker 3: never had before a writer who was able to get
17:42
Speaker 3: the tax credit because they live in the same state
17:44
Speaker 3: as the movie is getting produced. So I wanted to Yeah,
17:47
Speaker 3: so I wanted to ask, you know, Mark, you know,
17:49
Speaker 3: in today's you know, film industry, it was today with
17:52
Speaker 3: everything that's going on, you know, do producers is like,
17:56
Speaker 3: is like, are the tax credits like the top three
17:59
Speaker 3: things that producers look for now when they're about to
18:01
Speaker 3: make a movie or or I know they're important, but
18:04
Speaker 3: I mean where I'm trying to ask us, you know,
18:05
Speaker 3: how important are they now for making a film?
18:08
Speaker 5: Yeah, tax credits are very important for film and television.
18:12
Speaker 5: You know, if you look around the country, there are
18:16
Speaker 5: a number of states that offer these, you know, Georgia
18:19
Speaker 5: being one, and it's one of the most popular spots.
18:21
Speaker 5: Atlanta has become one of the most you know, popular
18:23
Speaker 5: cities for film and television, and that's because of the
18:26
Speaker 5: incentive they offer. New York and California now offers a
18:30
Speaker 5: very competitive incentive, so and Pennsylvania has one in New
18:36
Speaker 5: Mexico and lots of production in Vancouver and Toronto. So,
18:41
Speaker 5: you know, to give you an example, if you have
18:42
Speaker 5: a ten million dollar budget and you go to an
18:46
Speaker 5: incentive state and the incentive is twenty five percent, then
18:50
Speaker 5: let's just say, for you know, the sake of argument,
18:52
Speaker 5: you're getting twenty five percent of your ten million dollars.
18:56
Speaker 5: So now the cost of your movie, which was ten million,
18:59
Speaker 5: the cost is seven point five million. So if you're
19:02
Speaker 5: an investor, you you want your movie or you want
19:06
Speaker 5: your TV show to go to an incentive state because
19:08
Speaker 5: the hard cost, the recoupable cost is less twenty five percent.
19:14
Speaker 5: So you made a movie for ten million, but you
19:17
Speaker 5: only need to recoup seven point five million. So from
19:19
Speaker 5: a business perspective, that's.
19:22
Speaker 4: An ideal scenario, and that's why the incentive states are
19:24
Speaker 4: so popular.
19:26
Speaker 3: And also two work deal as. I've had other producers
19:29
Speaker 3: on you know, they talked about, you know, just the
19:32
Speaker 3: different concerns now because you know, everything is changing, you
19:35
Speaker 3: know with Netflix and and the foreign sales are some
19:39
Speaker 3: are still there, some are aren't. They're saying that, you know,
19:42
Speaker 3: because of that, it's a little bit different now with
19:44
Speaker 3: how you package and pre sell your movie.
19:48
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's you know, the world has changed, and so
19:52
Speaker 5: there's no more DVDs or video so home entertainment and
19:55
Speaker 5: all the ancillary dollars that you know, investors look for,
19:59
Speaker 5: study look for.
20:02
Speaker 2: We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor,
20:08
Speaker 2: and now back to the show.
20:11
Speaker 5: You know, those revenue streams have changed, and they constantly
20:14
Speaker 5: are changing, you know, not domestically as well as you
20:18
Speaker 5: know in the international market. So yeah, you you it's
20:23
Speaker 5: always changing. It's never easy, and this is why you know,
20:28
Speaker 5: you think of incentive dollars as really free money. Someone's
20:32
Speaker 5: giving you money. They're saying, come to our city, we'll
20:37
Speaker 5: give you this much money and you don't have to
20:39
Speaker 5: pay us back. So you know, that's that's why it's
20:43
Speaker 5: attractive and you you know, you minimize your exposure.
20:48
Speaker 3: Yeah, and you know, and that's something we were talking
20:50
Speaker 3: about as well. And uh, you know, in the in
20:52
Speaker 3: the class at drugs or university because you know, it's
20:55
Speaker 3: more important than ever. And you know that's something too
20:58
Speaker 3: because pa, uh you know, they do have a tax credit.
21:01
Speaker 3: But you know, like we were saying, everyone goes to
21:03
Speaker 3: Pittsburgh because you know, the the union fees are a
21:05
Speaker 3: lot cheaper. And also and like you mentioned too, Philadelphia
21:09
Speaker 3: there's like only one one, you know, crew that usually
21:13
Speaker 3: does pretty much every movie and you know they and
21:16
Speaker 3: you you know, if they're out doing one another movie,
21:19
Speaker 3: it's kind of hard unless you have to bring other
21:20
Speaker 3: people in. And like you were saying, all that stuff
21:23
Speaker 3: affects the budget.
21:25
Speaker 5: Right right, absolutely, I mean everything there, you know, everything
21:30
Speaker 5: has an impact on the budget. But you know, in
21:31
Speaker 5: all in all fairness to filion, I love Philadelphia. You know,
21:35
Speaker 5: Pittsburgh has been very busy, and it is predominantly because
21:40
Speaker 5: it's less expensive to produce a movie or a television
21:44
Speaker 5: show in Pittsburgh than it is in Philadelphia. For a
21:47
Speaker 5: number of reasons, however, and and so that's why there's
21:51
Speaker 5: more crew there. So if Philadelphia were to become financially competitive,
21:56
Speaker 5: then the crew base would grow. But right now, you know,
21:59
Speaker 5: can't support a larger crew base, which is why there's
22:01
Speaker 5: only you know, one to one and a half, you
22:04
Speaker 5: know clues, you know in Philadelphia.
22:07
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I remember that you know something we were
22:09
Speaker 3: talking about and actually you know, just to you know,
22:11
Speaker 3: I keep alluding to this. Well, I'm just gonna say
22:13
Speaker 3: as you'll get to the to how we met. Uh. So,
22:16
Speaker 3: you know, Mark, you and I met. Uh it was
22:18
Speaker 3: right as you were getting ready for pre production for
22:20
Speaker 3: Split and you had you had agreed uh to work
22:24
Speaker 3: for you know, because I think you came in to
22:26
Speaker 3: I think you approached Trexel to to maybe come in
22:29
Speaker 3: and teach this production class. Is that? How did Drexel
22:33
Speaker 3: approach you or did you approach Trexel.
22:36
Speaker 4: I spoke with the film.
22:39
Speaker 5: Commission in Philadelphia and expressed my interest in in teaching
22:44
Speaker 5: at the universities in Philly, so Temple and Drexel and
22:48
Speaker 5: and a number of other universities, and then it was
22:50
Speaker 5: it was just a matter of aligning my schedule with
22:54
Speaker 5: their semester. And Drexel was a turned out to be
22:57
Speaker 5: a terrific bit and uh, you know, and then also
23:02
Speaker 5: you know, Temple just for a lecture because their semester
23:05
Speaker 5: had already started. But so I was, you know, something
23:07
Speaker 5: that it was. It's my way of trying to give back.
23:11
Speaker 5: And and I you know, recall when I was at
23:14
Speaker 5: film school and thought, uh, how I would have appreciated
23:19
Speaker 5: and benefited from the experience of of a producer coming
23:24
Speaker 5: in and you know and speaking about what they do
23:26
Speaker 5: and offering some insight to their experience and how they
23:30
Speaker 5: do it. So so, you know, it was something that
23:33
Speaker 5: I wanted to do, and Direxel was kind of up
23:35
Speaker 5: to present me with an opportunity.
23:38
Speaker 3: And it's also too because you know, you're actually a
23:41
Speaker 3: producer out there doing stuff, you know, and because people
23:44
Speaker 3: could right now, we can go on Amazon, we can
23:46
Speaker 3: go into Netflix, we can find your movies. Uh. And
23:49
Speaker 3: you know that's why I was, you know, I was
23:50
Speaker 3: saying too before, was that's why your experience is you
23:54
Speaker 3: know that you know that a list level because you've
23:57
Speaker 3: actually made you know, uh, movies that have been you
24:00
Speaker 3: know in the theaters, movies that have been number one
24:02
Speaker 3: at the box office. You know, all this stuff, and
24:04
Speaker 3: I think that right there that is irreplaceable, you know, experience.
24:08
Speaker 3: So when you come into a classroom like this and
24:10
Speaker 3: you talk about, you know, how you did this and
24:13
Speaker 3: in the process it that is that is absolutely key
24:17
Speaker 3: because you know you have again because you're at the
24:20
Speaker 3: top of the mountain and you know what I mean.
24:22
Speaker 3: And that that that's why I'm so glad that you actually,
24:25
Speaker 3: you know, did decide to do that whole class at
24:26
Speaker 3: Drexel and do that one day at Temple because again,
24:29
Speaker 3: not only did I mean I learned just ton just
24:31
Speaker 3: you know, talking to you. Uh and and obviously I
24:34
Speaker 3: was in the class with you as your TA. But again,
24:36
Speaker 3: you know, I think that is an amazing, amazing opportunity
24:38
Speaker 3: for allow those students involved.
24:41
Speaker 5: Well, I appreciate that it was it was really my
24:43
Speaker 5: pleasure and and uh and I was, you know, happy
24:46
Speaker 5: to have the opportunity and and hopefully you know, everyone
24:50
Speaker 5: got something from it. Yeah.
24:52
Speaker 3: So, so how Mark and I actually met was like
24:54
Speaker 3: we have a mutual friend, uh, you know Dave, you know,
24:57
Speaker 3: Dave Rayner and h Dave actually asked me if I
25:00
Speaker 3: could if I was interested in helping out a producer
25:03
Speaker 3: at Dreux University and it wasn't I said yes, I said, yeah,
25:08
Speaker 3: I'd be very interested to help somebody out. And then
25:11
Speaker 3: when we got introduced Mark, I actually looked you up
25:13
Speaker 3: and I said, okay, I will definitely help this guy.
25:15
Speaker 3: And uh, because I know, because again I was like,
25:17
Speaker 3: this guy is you know, a level producer, and you know,
25:21
Speaker 3: just being at Drexel with you, I think the class
25:24
Speaker 3: was awesome. And you know, and also because again you
25:29
Speaker 3: went over an entire movie. I think you want to
25:31
Speaker 3: The movie you talked about was The Remaining Correct? How
25:33
Speaker 3: you produced a whole movie from start to finish correct.
25:36
Speaker 5: What we did is we simulated, you know, we refimulated
25:43
Speaker 5: the actual production of The Remaining Yeah. So Estonia was
25:46
Speaker 5: kind of up to allow me to share, you know,
25:49
Speaker 5: some documents with the class, and and you know, we
25:52
Speaker 5: went through it from start to finish where we actually
25:55
Speaker 5: from the point of finding an intellectual property, securing the
25:58
Speaker 5: intellectual property, pitching the intellectual properties, selling it, figuring out
26:03
Speaker 5: where to make the movie, how to make the movie, staffing, scheduling, budgeting, Yeah,
26:09
Speaker 5: through all.
26:09
Speaker 3: That, and again that was so enlightening. And one thing
26:13
Speaker 3: I took away from that class Mark, and I think
26:15
Speaker 3: I said this to you as well, but I'm going
26:17
Speaker 3: to repeat it for the listeners, and that is you
26:20
Speaker 3: said your producing policy is everybody gets one mistake, and
26:25
Speaker 3: I have kept to that. I was like, that is
26:27
Speaker 3: a great way to look at it, because everyone gets
26:30
Speaker 3: one mistake, and you know, if it depends on what
26:32
Speaker 3: it is, you know, but that's the way to keep
26:36
Speaker 3: people at least honest, right.
26:38
Speaker 5: Well, it's it was my lesson. And you know, their
26:42
Speaker 5: production is such an intense experience. When you're making a
26:48
Speaker 5: movie and you start shooting, you know, everything is very
26:53
Speaker 5: is heightened because happening so quickly in such a relatively
26:57
Speaker 5: short period of time, there's a lot happening. And if
27:00
Speaker 5: you have one hundred people working on a movie, and
27:04
Speaker 5: you know, people make mistakes. And so the realization is,
27:07
Speaker 5: you know, just you just can't no matter how prepared
27:11
Speaker 5: you are, no matter how hard you work, no matter
27:14
Speaker 5: what you try and do, it's impossible to prevent people
27:19
Speaker 5: from making mistakes. You can hopefully minimize that, but you
27:22
Speaker 5: can't prevent them. So it was really my realization at
27:25
Speaker 5: some point as a producer that we're all human, we're
27:29
Speaker 5: all imperfect, and so might. Yeah, So my rule is
27:32
Speaker 5: and I say it allowed to remind myself. You know,
27:36
Speaker 5: it seems reasonable that each person is going to make
27:39
Speaker 5: one mistake or they have one hundred people Abo's one
27:41
Speaker 5: hundred mistakes over the course of the movie. Now maybe
27:44
Speaker 5: some people will make none and others will make you know, two,
27:47
Speaker 5: or they'll be bigger or smaller.
27:48
Speaker 4: But yeah, that's the general rule.
27:50
Speaker 5: To remind me that, regardless of how frustrating it gets
27:54
Speaker 5: when people make mistakes. But this is just the reality
27:57
Speaker 5: of what we do. And so you know, it's my
27:59
Speaker 5: job and it's my team's job to come up with
28:04
Speaker 5: solutions for those you know, those mistakes, those challenges.
28:08
Speaker 3: So you know, as you talk about, you know, making
28:10
Speaker 3: mistakes and minimizing those mistakes, Mark, I wanted to ask,
28:14
Speaker 3: you know, what was your most your your biggest challenge
28:19
Speaker 3: as a producer. You know, what was what was you know,
28:22
Speaker 3: did something ever happen on set that that was took
28:24
Speaker 3: a lot of creativity or or some I mean there's
28:27
Speaker 3: always unforeseen problems, But what was that biggest problem that
28:30
Speaker 3: you had to tackle and how did you overcome that?
28:35
Speaker 5: I honestly, the thing that comes to mind is is
28:40
Speaker 5: is a really unfortunate experience where it had to do
28:43
Speaker 5: with with, uh, you know, individuals on set who were
28:50
Speaker 5: you know, not in their right mind because they were
28:53
Speaker 5: under the influence of of of substances. And so that's
28:58
Speaker 5: an incredibly significant challenge because you know, those those particular
29:04
Speaker 5: individuals were a were vital to the production and we
29:09
Speaker 5: couldn't just you know, dismiss them. So that was, uh,
29:13
Speaker 5: you know, that was incredibly challenging because it's not just
29:17
Speaker 5: solving a problem, but you're dealing with, you know, with
29:19
Speaker 5: the human being, and you're dealing with someone who isn't
29:22
Speaker 5: necessarily reasonable, and you have to try and reason with them,
29:27
Speaker 5: and you have to try and motivate them, and you
29:29
Speaker 5: have to try and get them right so they can
29:31
Speaker 5: participate in the movie and and hopefully not embarrass themselves
29:37
Speaker 5: or anyone else. So that was probably the greatest challenge.
29:40
Speaker 5: But other otherwise, you know, there are challenges on every movie,
29:44
Speaker 5: and oftentimes the beauty of those challenges are there's you know,
29:48
Speaker 5: you discover something. You know, more often than not, you
29:51
Speaker 5: discover something great from those challenges, and you know, if
29:55
Speaker 5: if everyone is prepared.
29:59
Speaker 2: Will be I back after a word from our sponsor
30:05
Speaker 2: and now back to the show.
30:08
Speaker 5: And has really thought about what we're going to do.
30:10
Speaker 5: When those challenges present themselves, as a group, it can
30:13
Speaker 5: usually come up with some pretty pretty good satisfying solutions.
30:19
Speaker 3: Well, you know, that's you know, a pretty big challenge, Mark,
30:23
Speaker 3: because I've actually I've never I mean, that might be
30:26
Speaker 3: one of the worst, you know, challenges I've heard of
30:28
Speaker 3: producing because you're right, you know, they're key and you
30:31
Speaker 3: can't dismiss them, so you know, yeah, that that's unbelievable.
30:36
Speaker 4: You know.
30:36
Speaker 3: Just as a side note, Mark, I had a friend
30:38
Speaker 3: of mine one of his biggest producing challenges was he
30:41
Speaker 3: was going to film a movie and there was this
30:44
Speaker 3: old like wooden bridge that he was going to film on.
30:46
Speaker 3: It was just going to be like, you know, it
30:48
Speaker 3: was an old, tiny bridge and he wanted to use
30:50
Speaker 3: it for a couple of things. They had a storm
30:52
Speaker 3: the night before, right well, the everything was washed away,
30:56
Speaker 3: the whole the bridge was just demolished. And he got
30:58
Speaker 3: there the next day with everybody and it was gone.
31:02
Speaker 3: And he goes, well, well here we go. Uh so
31:05
Speaker 3: here we are now with uh you're trying to find
31:07
Speaker 3: a plan B. Another friend of mine he uh there
31:12
Speaker 3: was poor planning in the production. They got to the
31:14
Speaker 3: location the first day and they realized he didn't have
31:17
Speaker 3: the key to the building to get in. Uh, stuff
31:20
Speaker 3: like that, Uh, which makes uh, I'm sure you know,
31:23
Speaker 3: as you hear that the second story, you're probably like,
31:26
Speaker 3: how do you make how do you not have the key?
31:28
Speaker 3: Come on? But but yeah, he he uh that that's
31:31
Speaker 3: just some of the producing stuff that I you know,
31:32
Speaker 3: other other producing challenges that I've heard from friends. Uh,
31:35
Speaker 3: you're just thinking of the top of my head. But
31:39
Speaker 3: but but yeah, it's if there's all you're right, if
31:41
Speaker 3: there there is creative ways to solve challenges, except for
31:43
Speaker 3: that one with the key in the in the building
31:44
Speaker 3: that that I don't think there's any excuse for that.
31:48
Speaker 5: That's that's when you call a locks myth or you
31:50
Speaker 5: hope someone on the crew has uh has had a
31:52
Speaker 5: prior life as a as a burglar.
31:57
Speaker 3: Exactly. Just that's where you channel your inner verse or
32:00
Speaker 3: hurt Sog and just just figure out how to go here.
32:06
Speaker 4: Uh.
32:06
Speaker 3: Because he actually he said in his pitch for his
32:08
Speaker 3: master class, he said, uh uh uh he would teach
32:12
Speaker 3: kids learning how to pick a lock is more important
32:15
Speaker 3: than anything else in filmmaking, and I think that's uh,
32:18
Speaker 3: that's where you have to challenge your just sorry someone
32:21
Speaker 3: your heart sign for that.
32:24
Speaker 5: There you go.
32:25
Speaker 3: So now you know, so Mark, you know, as we
32:26
Speaker 3: were talking about the class and we were talking, you know,
32:29
Speaker 3: we're talking about Split. You know, uh, you know obviously
32:32
Speaker 3: you and m Night you know works so well together
32:34
Speaker 3: on the visit that you know, he he eventually, you know,
32:36
Speaker 3: he when he was done writing the script for a Split,
32:39
Speaker 3: he asked you to come back. I mean when when
32:42
Speaker 3: you read a script from I know you mentioned this
32:45
Speaker 3: in the class, you read a script by m Night.
32:47
Speaker 3: You said you were just blown away and you were like, wow,
32:49
Speaker 3: this guy's a writer. And you know, uh now that
32:52
Speaker 3: that's something I've heard from other producers as well too,
32:55
Speaker 3: where they've read a script and they're just like, holy shit,
32:58
Speaker 3: this you know, this is a this is this guy
33:00
Speaker 3: can do it. So I mean when you read the
33:03
Speaker 3: script for Split, I imagine you were probably probably even
33:06
Speaker 3: more blown away than when you read the visit.
33:09
Speaker 5: They're both I mean, I love them both. I mean,
33:12
Speaker 5: and they're very different, but they I was excited, you know,
33:15
Speaker 5: to read the visit and uh, and was excited to,
33:20
Speaker 5: you know, to be a part of that, and then
33:21
Speaker 5: was equally excited to read Split. Yeah, he's an incredibly
33:26
Speaker 5: accounted writer. You know. I think it's it's uh, making
33:31
Speaker 5: movies are are you know, very challenging, you know, and
33:34
Speaker 5: it starts with finding a good script. And you know,
33:37
Speaker 5: to find a good script, you need a good writer.
33:39
Speaker 5: And I think there's a lot of people that do it,
33:41
Speaker 5: and there's a few people that do it really well.
33:42
Speaker 5: And he's one of those guys who, you know, he
33:45
Speaker 5: does it really well. He's a he's a he's a
33:48
Speaker 5: great writer, he's a great director. You know. I love
33:52
Speaker 5: working with him.
33:54
Speaker 3: Yeah, and uh, you know, and you know, I actually
33:57
Speaker 3: have seen all of his movies and uh, you know,
33:59
Speaker 3: I I actually took a special interest in you know,
34:02
Speaker 3: in the visit and I am going to see Split
34:03
Speaker 3: when it comes out because obviously because of the connection,
34:06
Speaker 3: well you know, I of knowing you and plus you know, actually,
34:09
Speaker 3: you know, it's funny Mark m Night lives like thirty
34:12
Speaker 3: five minutes away from me, and it's like, you know,
34:15
Speaker 3: I you know, it's just funny because he's still one
34:17
Speaker 3: of the guys that still lives in PA. He doesn't
34:19
Speaker 3: live out in La right, And it's just funny though,
34:22
Speaker 3: But yeah, I also wanted to help him out obviously
34:25
Speaker 3: by supporting him, because obviously he's a p a guy
34:28
Speaker 3: like me, you know. And but but it's always but
34:30
Speaker 3: it's always good, you know, to hear that, you know,
34:33
Speaker 3: because you know, you're always whenever I hear producers, whether
34:36
Speaker 3: they're giving interviews or you know, or just you know,
34:39
Speaker 3: didn't just talks with them, you know, that's what they're
34:41
Speaker 3: always saying. They want to script that speaks to them,
34:44
Speaker 3: you know what I mean. They want to script that
34:46
Speaker 3: sort of you know, uh, really tells that story. And
34:49
Speaker 3: you know, I don't know. One of the things Mark too,
34:53
Speaker 3: And I want to ask you is what are some
34:56
Speaker 3: of the things that you've noticed that maybe you know
34:58
Speaker 3: m Night does, whether it be about the story or
35:00
Speaker 3: is it in is it in the the actual description
35:02
Speaker 3: and you know, uh, in the script? What are some
35:05
Speaker 3: of the things that he does that really sort of
35:06
Speaker 3: leap off the page at you and you know and
35:09
Speaker 3: others who read the script and make it so that
35:11
Speaker 3: way back Dan, we got to film this thing tomorrow.
35:15
Speaker 4: That's a really good question.
35:16
Speaker 5: Well, I I think it's you know, I think it's
35:20
Speaker 5: really challenging for for writers to speak in in multiple voices,
35:27
Speaker 5: and if you're writing a screenplay, you know, it's a requirement.
35:31
Speaker 5: And uh and he he does an excellent job, whether
35:36
Speaker 5: it's you know, writing the voice of as in the
35:38
Speaker 5: Visit he wrote these two kids who were you know, adelucence,
35:42
Speaker 5: and then he wrote two grandparents and you know, and
35:46
Speaker 5: and in Split he has you know, three teenage girls
35:49
Speaker 5: and then he has an older woman who's a therapist,
35:52
Speaker 5: and you know, the main character has split personalities and
35:57
Speaker 5: you know, these are all these voices are all really
35:59
Speaker 5: o us and really accurate and uh and that's not
36:03
Speaker 5: an easy thing to do, so that that really resonates.
36:07
Speaker 5: And then he's just a master with with story. So
36:10
Speaker 5: in addition to having these characters that you like or
36:13
Speaker 5: dislike for the right reasons, you know, he's he takes
36:19
Speaker 5: you on a ride and and you know, and the
36:21
Speaker 5: story is just as compelling as the characters. And uh
36:24
Speaker 5: and you know that's when you when you consider all
36:27
Speaker 5: those ingredients, that's pretty complex and it's not an easy
36:30
Speaker 5: thing to do, and it's you know, it goes the
36:32
Speaker 5: same as someone who writes, you know, a novel's there's
36:35
Speaker 5: lots of writers, but there's you know, a few good
36:37
Speaker 5: few good novels. And this is all subjective, but so's
36:42
Speaker 5: he's just a rip and creating characters and and then uh,
36:47
Speaker 5: you know, and then giving them a story and a
36:48
Speaker 5: road to travel.
36:49
Speaker 4: That we all want to go down with them.
36:51
Speaker 3: Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. Mark. You I
36:54
Speaker 3: had on Aaron Kaufman who worked Rob Rodriguez, and I've
36:58
Speaker 3: had on you know, our mutual friend, uh, an acquaintment
37:01
Speaker 3: quains casting OVAs, you know, Uh, And then you know
37:03
Speaker 3: they were saying similar things. You know, they will they
37:05
Speaker 3: read a script and it would be like you know,
37:08
Speaker 3: a certain a certain script that stands out from them,
37:10
Speaker 3: you know, and uh, you know you know, I mean,
37:13
Speaker 3: because you know how it is. Mark. You know, when
37:14
Speaker 3: you send it to whomever, usually have readers. They go
37:17
Speaker 3: through and you know, probably have a pile out of
37:19
Speaker 3: one hundred, maybe one or two gets through, and you know,
37:23
Speaker 3: maybe at the end of a month you maybe have
37:25
Speaker 3: ten scripts that have gotten through out of a pile
37:27
Speaker 3: of like, you know, a couple of thousand, and those
37:30
Speaker 3: ten scripts are all excellent, well written scripts, but maybe
37:33
Speaker 3: only one of them will actually speak to you whether
37:36
Speaker 3: you're saying it to like a producer like yourself, or
37:38
Speaker 3: maybe you were sending it to an agent or even
37:39
Speaker 3: a manager. And like you said, it's all subjective.
37:42
Speaker 5: You know.
37:42
Speaker 3: Maybe one person likes Stephen King, the next person likes
37:45
Speaker 3: you know, Dean Kotz and uh, you know, and you
37:48
Speaker 3: know again, you just build those relationships up and uh,
37:51
Speaker 3: you know, then you find yourself in a situation like
37:53
Speaker 3: you where you now you're making another great movie, you know,
37:57
Speaker 3: with m knighton. Uh, I'm gonna guess you're probably for
38:00
Speaker 3: another one after this.
38:02
Speaker 4: You know, I hope.
38:03
Speaker 5: So I think that I think we had a good
38:06
Speaker 5: experience and you know, hopefully, uh, Split will be well
38:10
Speaker 5: received and we'll find ourselves back together and to make
38:13
Speaker 5: in a movie sometime next year.
38:15
Speaker 3: So, Mark, when does Split come out?
38:18
Speaker 4: January twenty first? Split will Uh, we'll be in theaters everywhere.
38:24
Speaker 3: And you know, Mark, I know we're starting to run
38:26
Speaker 3: out of time, and I want to I'm gonna actually
38:28
Speaker 3: I'm also to link to that in the showings everybody,
38:30
Speaker 3: so we'll linked to the date and also link to
38:32
Speaker 3: the trailer. By the way, the trail looks really good, Mark,
38:34
Speaker 3: I saw that when I came out and I wanted
38:36
Speaker 3: I just had a few Twitter questions come in. Do
38:39
Speaker 3: you want to answer you just a few questions before
38:41
Speaker 3: we call it.
38:41
Speaker 5: A night, Yeah, go for it.
38:42
Speaker 3: Sure, what advice would you give to filmmakers you know
38:47
Speaker 3: who are producing their first film? And obviously that's a
38:50
Speaker 3: little bit of my own verbiage because obviously that question
38:54
Speaker 3: always comes in work whenever I ever asked these things,
38:57
Speaker 3: so I always taste sort of taking combined it. So,
38:59
Speaker 3: you know, what, what sort of advice would you have
39:01
Speaker 3: for somebody producing your first film?
39:04
Speaker 5: The advice that I would offer someone producing their first
39:07
Speaker 5: film is to surround themselves with people that have more
39:12
Speaker 5: experience than they do. So if you can associate yourself
39:18
Speaker 5: with a producing partner who has made a number of films,
39:22
Speaker 5: you should do that. So in any way you can,
39:24
Speaker 5: you know, if you can, you can find a mentor,
39:27
Speaker 5: and if you can finding a producing partner that that
39:30
Speaker 5: has more experience than you, then you just want to
39:32
Speaker 5: make sure that the other people that you're bringing on,
39:34
Speaker 5: whether it be your first ad your production manager, all
39:38
Speaker 5: these other folks, you want them to have experience so
39:40
Speaker 5: you can benefit from their experience.
39:43
Speaker 3: Yeah, I like that answer, Mark, because again that's something
39:47
Speaker 3: I've always tryed to do too. Was you know surround
39:49
Speaker 3: my genius surround is you know, the way I heard
39:52
Speaker 3: it way back was if you genius around yourself, shound
39:54
Speaker 3: yourself with the smartest people, more experience with what you can.
39:57
Speaker 2: And we'll be right back after a word from our
40:00
Speaker 2: sponsor and now back to the show.
40:07
Speaker 3: You know, when everything goes well, uh you know, you
40:10
Speaker 3: you know, you can figure out, you know, all the
40:13
Speaker 3: things that we know went right and uh yeah again
40:15
Speaker 3: because that way they can guide you along the way,
40:17
Speaker 3: you know exactly. And another question came in through Twitter,
40:22
Speaker 3: and this is by Roger Coach, uh called Roger Coach
40:25
Speaker 3: b Films, and that is, you know, Mark, how do
40:27
Speaker 3: you find stories? Are they pitched or they throw books?
40:30
Speaker 3: Or are they throwing like inspiring news stories.
40:34
Speaker 5: All of the above. You know, you look every which way.
40:38
Speaker 5: If you know, books are really competitive. Everyone chases books,
40:42
Speaker 5: so you know they're either writers who have ideas, they're
40:46
Speaker 5: written scripts, you read an article, so all of the above.
40:52
Speaker 3: And and you know that that's great too, Mark, because
40:54
Speaker 3: that's also the other the second question that always comes
40:57
Speaker 3: in is people love to you know, talk about you know,
40:59
Speaker 3: pitching to producers and then when I had like you
41:02
Speaker 3: and and I've had Aaron and I've had kazin on
41:04
Speaker 3: and uh, you know, that's usually the question is, you know,
41:07
Speaker 3: how do you guys get pitched? And uh, you know
41:10
Speaker 3: that I think so I thank you for answering that question.
41:12
Speaker 4: Work because uh yeah you should.
41:15
Speaker 5: You know, the one the one piece of advice i'd
41:17
Speaker 5: offer someone who's trying to get something pitched. If you're
41:21
Speaker 5: not established and you don't have an agent and you're
41:24
Speaker 5: trying to get someone's time, you know, keep in mind
41:27
Speaker 5: that people's time is you know, is their greatest commodity,
41:30
Speaker 5: and so have a concise pitch, you know, have a
41:34
Speaker 5: synopsis that someone can read, whether it be a half
41:37
Speaker 5: a page or a page, and know that that synopsis
41:40
Speaker 5: is going to be attractive and get their attention and
41:43
Speaker 5: leave them wanting more. So, you know, be prepared and
41:47
Speaker 5: be able to do be able to pitch quickly and
41:51
Speaker 5: uh you know, and spark some interest.
41:55
Speaker 3: And you know that's why Mark, I want to say
41:57
Speaker 3: thank you, you know for all your time and coming
41:59
Speaker 3: on the podcast and you know, I know you're an
42:01
Speaker 3: extremely busy guy and just when I ask, you know, Mark,
42:04
Speaker 3: in closing, is there anything that maybe we didn't touch
42:07
Speaker 3: upon that you wanted to say, or is there anything
42:09
Speaker 3: else that you wanted to discuss to sort of put
42:11
Speaker 3: up period at the end of this whole conversation.
42:15
Speaker 5: Uh, No, I think you've covered everything, Dave. You've done
42:17
Speaker 5: a great job. And I appreciate the invitation to h
42:21
Speaker 5: to be on your blog and and they appreciate your
42:23
Speaker 5: assistance with the class, and uh, and this has been
42:26
Speaker 5: a lot of fun.
42:27
Speaker 3: Oh my pleasure. I had, Like I said, Mark, I
42:30
Speaker 3: had an absolute blast with that class. And by the
42:34
Speaker 3: way that the smart students in that class, uh, they
42:37
Speaker 3: were always they were always trying to I was going
42:39
Speaker 3: to tell you this, and I'll tell you this now.
42:40
Speaker 3: They were always coming to me and they were asking
42:42
Speaker 3: me questions like, you know, how's Mark? Is he a
42:45
Speaker 3: real nice guy? You know this and that, because they
42:47
Speaker 3: were always like I think they were a little intimidated
42:49
Speaker 3: you at first, and uh, you know, as they sort
42:51
Speaker 3: of got to the through the class, they all, you know,
42:54
Speaker 3: they all knew, okay, Mark's a good guy. And and
42:57
Speaker 3: basically at the end, the smart students all network with
43:00
Speaker 3: me and you know what I mean, like they made
43:01
Speaker 3: sure to get my contact info, right, I mean because
43:05
Speaker 3: because because somebody said, well, you know, they said to me, well,
43:07
Speaker 3: if you're with Mark, you must obviously know somebody. And
43:10
Speaker 3: I said, yeah, I don't. I know a lot of
43:13
Speaker 3: cool people. Uh but uh but yeah. Then they fact
43:15
Speaker 3: they said, oh, you do your own stuff too, and
43:17
Speaker 3: I said yeah, and I said, I you know, I
43:18
Speaker 3: have a pretty crappy podcast that I do, and uh,
43:20
Speaker 3: you know, they said all right, so uh but uh,
43:23
Speaker 3: you know, it's just it was just funny. And I
43:25
Speaker 3: applaud those kids because that's how you gotta do it.
43:27
Speaker 3: You gotta hustle and grind. And those kids understood you
43:30
Speaker 3: have to network wherever you can and don't just blow
43:33
Speaker 3: past somebody because you don't think there you know, maybe
43:35
Speaker 3: you don't think that there's somebody you should con network with,
43:38
Speaker 3: or maybe you know they're they you know, you know
43:40
Speaker 3: how some maybe some you know, just I didn't want
43:42
Speaker 3: to network with me or what have you. But that
43:44
Speaker 3: that that was the key mark is that they they
43:46
Speaker 3: under the smart kids understood that.
43:49
Speaker 5: I ever, remember, you know, you never know where someone
43:53
Speaker 5: you know who you meet today will beat tomorrow so
43:55
Speaker 5: it could be someone who's the top today, isn't it
43:57
Speaker 5: the top tomorrow? And someone who you know is only
44:00
Speaker 5: halfway there today will be at the top tomorrow. So
44:03
Speaker 5: you know best to to be kind to all and
44:08
Speaker 5: and speak to all because you know those all those
44:11
Speaker 5: relationships will benefit you.
44:13
Speaker 4: In some way.
44:14
Speaker 3: Yes, I completely concur Mark, you know, That's why I
44:18
Speaker 3: try not to burn any bridges. I try to be
44:21
Speaker 3: you know, I'm always as nice as possible to everybody,
44:24
Speaker 3: And like you said, everyone gets one mistake and then
44:28
Speaker 3: and and that's it. And because we're trying to minimize problems.
44:31
Speaker 3: But you know, Mark, you know where if people finds
44:33
Speaker 3: you out online? Say that again, Dave, Where if people
44:37
Speaker 3: find you out online? I mean, do you have any
44:39
Speaker 3: any online presences or anywhere you want to send people
44:41
Speaker 3: just to either contact you or maybe for the movie.
44:44
Speaker 5: I don't have an online present other than you know,
44:47
Speaker 5: people can search in on LinkedIn. But other than that,
44:50
Speaker 5: I do not have a I don't tweet, I don't post,
44:55
Speaker 5: I don't instagram, I don't snapchat. Well I will do
45:03
Speaker 5: any of it, but I appreciate those that did so. Yeah,
45:06
Speaker 5: so I have a LinkedIn account. That's it and uh
45:10
Speaker 5: and I'm sure if you know, if folks want to
45:12
Speaker 5: get in touch me or seek me out, that's the
45:14
Speaker 5: way to do it. And otherwise, you know, go see Split.
45:19
Speaker 3: And I will link to the trailer and the website
45:22
Speaker 3: for Split in the show notes Mark ban Slack, I
45:25
Speaker 3: want to say thank you so much for coming on
45:27
Speaker 3: and it's so great to talk to you again.
45:29
Speaker 4: Thanks, Dave, appreciate it anytime.
45:31
Speaker 3: My friend. I wish you the best. Will Split and
45:34
Speaker 3: let's talk again soon.
45:35
Speaker 4: Sounds good, Be well, take.
45:37
Speaker 3: Care, bye bye.
45:39
Speaker 2: I want to thank Dave so much for doing such
45:40
Speaker 2: a great job on this episode. If you want to
45:42
Speaker 2: get links to anything we spoke about in this episode,
45:44
Speaker 2: head over to the show notes at any film uncle
45:46
Speaker 2: dot com Forward slash eight forty one and if you
45:49
Speaker 2: have it already, please head over to Filmmaking podcast dot com.
45:53
Speaker 3: Subscribe and leave a good review for the show.
45:57
Speaker 2: It really helps us out a lot, guys.
45:58
Speaker 3: Thank you again so much for listening.
46:00
Speaker 2: Guys, as always, keep that hustle going, keep that dream alive,
46:03
Speaker 2: Stay safe out there, and I'll talk to you soon.
46:07
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to the Indie Film Hustle Podcast at
46:10
Speaker 1: INDIEFILM hustle dot com. That's I N D I E
46:13
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46:16
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