Even in a world where self -made Creators build empires Before Hollywood comes begging, pay-by-play institutions have its place. Not everyone has the entrepreneurial spirit needed to build a Youtube channel; Some demand infrastructure that lets them know that they are not alone.
Removal straight fraudPay-for-play is available in a spectrum of cost and legitimacy. Lower cost with high legit, lower sends a function to Sundance Film Festival ($ 125) or a script for Nicholls Fellowship ($ 130). High-Legit, high cost is a degree from USC Film School ($ 40,000 and up).
And then there are casting director-workshops, the manual competition to sell for “guaranteed readings”, smaller minor film festivals. Judging their value becomes an exercise in YMMV, but here is a metric: provides the support that keeps you going, at a price you can afford?
Go into Matt Boda and Sylvie Dang Boda. They are founder of Get it doneWhere members pay to gain access to an online platform and development. In addition to its collection of former and current production managers who are screenwriters through the TRE act structure, storytelling and line-by-line workshop, Get it done Also offers a network of financiers – people who Matt describes as “dentists, doctors, the people who earned a Zillion dollar in finance.”
Matt was an IATSE grip and electrician before he started producing brand content with ambitions to make films and television. He said that Get it Made came out of his dismay with many manual competitions: “There are millions of people who submit to this thing, and I don’t see a single movie coming out of this.” The inspired creation of a platform that offers screenwriters both development support and access to funding.
Author applies ($ 59) and after acceptance (get it does not accept everyone, more if later) they pay $ 99 per month. It buys access to a development process for meetings with history producers and packaging (led by Sylvie, a marketing eke that came out of Samsung, Disney and Beats by Dre) with pitch tires, letters and market strategies.
Until then, the author retains and can leave with all rights. They can also sign an option agreement that makes it possible to sell the script and take a applicant fee or, to finance and produce proof of card or function. If Get It Made gives capital, it takes a project share of 10%-30%.
Get it made will not accept everyone’s money – namely people who do not show patience for the process. “We can say that they just don’t have the time or commitment to do what it takes to actually do something,” he said. “Or they say to us,” Hi, I thought you would make my feature movie for $ 59. “”
Matt said the members span “the guy who packs boxes at Walmart in Ohio all the way to a radiologist who makes a lot of money. Our youngest guy right now is 19.”
But the demographic who continues to show up is Midlife Professionals who revolve back to a dream. “We see many older people coming up against their mortality, and they are like, it is now or never,” he said.
Get it made recently completed its first feature, “Plight.” The script came from member Ronald Sandoval, who owns Tesla Solar in Miami. Boda, who directed, described it as a dystopian “stand by me” with an all-autist role. It was shot in 11 days on a budget of $ 170,000; 60% came from Get it Made, the rest from Sandoval.
According to any definition, it is a scary movie. But, right with the name and without lack of benefits from Boda’s IATSE days, they got it. Oscar-winning filmmaker Sean Baker and Samantha Quan, which Boda met when he was an important grip on Baker’s 2012 “Starlet”, even appeared at the premiere “Pight” to moderate Q&A.
The company is now collecting $ 500,000 for “She who Walks Between”, a modern indiandrama Written by Get It Made member David Rasch and directed by Native American filmmaker James Bird. It is in a fundraising round; Get it Made currently has about 100 members and hopes to scale to accommodate up to 500. It is also to prepare a proof-of-Concept initiative that provides production services to the author’s laboratory, the non-profit organization supported by Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman and Natalie Portman.
So where does it fall to get it on the pay-to-game spectrum? It is no surprise that membership skewed against pensioners; Most young and struggling screenwriters do not have $ 1,200 per year to spend. But for value, you can make worse than gaining access to a community of members and mentors who want to support your work. When it comes to financing, the same advice always applies: talk to a lawyer.
Pay-for-play is never a guarantee. Best case-scenario is that it sparks progress, leading to people who want to pay you. The second best case: using it as long as your ROI is real and not a moment anymore.
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dana@indiewire.com; (323) 435-7690.
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