Latest / Bulletproof Screenwriting™ Podcast / BPS 461: What a Real Film Producer Actually Does with Marc Bienstock

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BPS 461: What a Real Film Producer Actually Does with Marc Bienstock · Bulletproof Screenwriting™ Podcast

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