Producing

In this 90-minute webinar, Academy & BAFTA Award-winning Producer Gareth Ellis Unwin will use his background as an experienced producer to showcase his approach to creating a successful international co-production.

Using examples from the various projects he has co-produced under Bedlam Film Product...

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No one likes to see a production company shut down, especially an independent film studio that is beloved or even an offshoot of a major studio. I’ve been employed in both of these when they’ve shut down and it’s never a pleasant day even when you know it’s coming.

But there are many factors that go...

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But there are many factors that go into these decisions, and very rarely are they a reflection of the industry as a whole. In the case of Participant Media, its founder and CEO Jeff Skoll has not been an active “participant” in the day-to-day running for sometime; for various personal and professional reasons he left others in charge. He has billions of dollars — it’s not as if he was bankrupt. However, a handful of years ago the person he had running it started a streaming channel long before everyone had one and lost $250 million. Skoll was more than willing to operate at a loss of 10 or 20 million dollars a year depending on Box office for his specialty titles. But this loss just made no sense even for someone who had the cash to spare and just wanted to do good in the world. He’s still going to run the library of all of the wonderful films that they made over the years, it’s just no longer going to be footing the bill. But they hadn’t been footing the bill for quite some time; the past several years Participant has only come in with partial funding for the films that had their name on them. As much as I admire the intent behind the content that participate media helped bring to life, the actual impact of these films was not as great as it could’ve been. Skoll still has his foundation, and he funded the Social Impact Entertainment Society.

Like most documentaries or narrative films that are heavy-handed about an issue they tend to limit their reach because most people that go see them are already in tune with the issue. In other words, they’re preaching to the choir. That is the problem with “cause cinema” in general. However, it doesn’t mean , that Hollywood can’t make an impact and entertain at the same time. I like to use a case study between AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH (2006), which Participant produced, and THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW (2004). AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH was extremely successful for a documentary bringing in just shy of $50MM at the box office, and earning all kinds of awards. But it didn’t have a measurable environmental impact. THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW brought in over a half $1 billion in box office money, and a study among all Ivy League Universities showed that as a result of seeing that film, enrollment in environmental studies increased, and according to Yale, the film also increased consumer perceptions on how their day-to-day activities impacted climate change. Now that is an impact and it certainly was not due to the fact that A DAY AFTER TOMORROW used it as a recruitment tool to universities or a soapbox for the crisis. But, imagine if ten-cents of every ticket sold went to scholarships for people who could not afford these academic endeavors or even just went to fund research into the effects of climate change. Ten cents of every ticket sold would have been over $9MM, that by now, 20-years later — we may be in a much different place.

Another case in point more recently, THE SOUND OF FREEDOM had its audiences screaming from the rooftops to save the children, that people must see this important film for the sake of the children. Yet not one cent of the hundreds of millions of dollars that film made went to actually help victims of child trafficking.

Participant Media and Hollywood in general are well intentioned in their philanthropic endeavors, but until the stories we tell actually do more than bring brief awareness — until they actually support change within the very communities and issues that they focus on, we’ve not made a strong enough impact.

When one door closes another one opens and I am stepping through.

Gareth Ellis-Unwin

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3 people like this
14 hours ago

Looking forward to hosting tonights webinar and getting to tell you a bit about the films I've produced with co-production partners over the years.

Ricki Linksman

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2 people like this
- Maurice Vaughan
- Ricki Linksman
14 hours ago

Hi Gareth, I am a screenwriter and looking forward to this webinar. Last week, I attended a webinar and spoke with Joan Lane who wrote the screenplay of The King's Speech so I am looking forward to yo...

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Sydney Summers

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1 person likes this
- Maurice Vaughan
14 hours ago

Looking forward to the webinar today!

JK Presnal

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1 person likes this
- Maurice Vaughan
10 hours ago

Whoever was looking at Estonia or based in Estonia, would love to connect with you.

Stephanie Moore

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1 person likes this
- Maurice Vaughan
3 days ago

This sounds like an amazing producing class!

Would love to have you a part of it Stephanie :)

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- Sydney Summers
- Maurice Vaughan
14 hours ago

I will schedule it! :)

Here to help answer any questions, best email for myself and the education team is edu@stage32.com :)

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2 people like this
- Laurie Ashbourne
- Maurice Vaughan
3 days ago

This is so incredibly important to understand and thank you for shining the light into the "behind the curtain" Laurie Ashbourne, as to how things are truly working. Its important to have the corporat...

Laurie Ashbourne

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2 people like this
- Maurice Vaughan
- Stephanie Moore
3 days ago

Thanks, Stephanie Moore - the "light behind the curtain" isn't always about exposing a charade (although it often is) from my perspective, I prefer to look at it as keeping us all on a path that is tr...

Laurie Ashbourne thanks for being one of those that takes time to educate! It is so important to understand and innovate, be that positive change!

Dan MaxXx

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1 person likes this
- Maurice Vaughan
2 days ago

Highest paid bosses & the companies they're running should pay; not freelance employee-creatives.

The worse WBD stocks sink, the more the bosses make

Lindbergh E Hollingsworth

5 months ago

Hey mate, I don't know of any. If you're in LA, just head over to Craigslist and build your crew ... if you need financing, then it's up to you.

Fernando Balzan

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1 person likes this
- Maurice Vaughan
5 months ago

Thank you my friend

Amanda Toney

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2 people like this
- James Hoey
- Maurice Vaughan
5 months ago

Hi Fernando! I'd recommend networking with people here in the Stage 32 community. If you have an idea for a film and a script, I'd recommend putting it up in our JOBS section (top menu bar: https://ww...

James Hoey

Hey Fernando Balzan! My name is Jim Hoey and I am a new moderator here in the Producing Lounge. Amanda Toney said it all. Networking here on Stage 32 will not only get you pointed towards short film p...

Thea Touchton

I do! Suenitomedia.com send script to theatouchton@gmail.com

3 days ago

Very cool, so sorry to have missed this AMA but I would love to catch what you said if it is available! You never can have too many insights into things to avoid, and things to open armed run to!

Mike Boas

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3 people like this
1 week ago

Certain equipment and facilities rentals require insurance. So if your production is above no-budget, you’ll probably need it just to get what you want.

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7 days ago

Mike Boas absolutely, and with E&O insurance it is needed to make sure that someone doesn't decide that something about the project is theirs, or that paperwork wasn't done correctly or something like...

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2 people like this
- Sam Sokolow
- Maurice Vaughan
6 days ago

Sam Sokolow same! I am excited to see what I can learn from those on the insurance front lines!

Pat Alexander

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2 people like this
- Stephanie Moore
- Maurice Vaughan
4 days ago

Yup, always want insurance for proper film shoots. So much stuff can always happen! The cost is never not worth it!

Nope. IT is such a big risk to ignore the coverage of liability! Too many risk factors.

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1 person likes this
- Maurice Vaughan
5 days ago

WOAH. This is shocking, truly shocking. Participant's films are thought provoking and their choices have always been bold. This is a blow to the studio system. I'm sure we might see a creation of a ne...

Maurice Vaughan

5 days ago

Ah man. Participant has impactful films, Pat Alexander. “Green Book” is my favorite. Participant "won 21 Academy Awards out of 86 nominations, and 18 Emmy nods across five television series. Its title...

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1 person likes this
- Maurice Vaughan
4 days ago

It's crazy. They were behind so many amazing films, including Roma, which is one of my all time favorites!

It will be fine. Trust me....

Stephen Folker

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2 people like this
- Stephanie Moore
- Maurice Vaughan
6 days ago

I approach it with the mindset of 'don't overthink everything'. Just go for it. There are always hurdles to overcome. Work with what you have and don't let everyone's opinion overtake your process. Have fun, make art. Rules are meant to be broken. :)

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2 people like this
- Stephen Folker
- Maurice Vaughan
4 days ago

I approach producing with the mindset of prepare, prepare, prepare. It may seem overly cautious but I would rather have backup plans to the backup plans than to be unprepared. I live in color coded plans!

Just do it. You prepare as best you can and make sure you can ride the waves that come!

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CRAFT AND BUSINESS

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