Hi there. My name is Daniel and I'm a Filmmaker from Italy. I'm writing a script for a very dark and quite original Horror/Witchcraft feature. By the way it's coming out I can envision half of the cast, and consequently half of the crew to be International. It will also I think, from a creative point of view that is, help the project to be more effective and break the boundaries of countries, cultures and races. To make it clearer to you so you might want to give opinions and/or advice about it, I'm thinking of developing this project very similarly to the way Italian film director Dario Argento developed his Suspiria back in 1978, where he had half of his cast all International; Joan Bennett and Jessica Harper (Usa); Udo Kier (Switzerland); Rudolph Schundler (Germany) Alida Valli, Stefania Casini and Flavio Bucci (Italy) Miguel Bose' (Spain). He also had a few key crew members that were from abroad and of course the films was shot in various European locations, prominent of which were Germany and Italy. In analyzing the plan for my film I see a lot of similarities between that development and the one that I will have to go through, especially on the logistics of it, the creative approach and the aesthetic flavour. What about it now? Do you think it is too ambitious to aspire at something like this? Do you think it is a possible plan for a first timer? Has anyone among you already done something like this? If yes can you tell me what logistical, technical and production problems you had to overcome? Any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you all. Daniel
Producing : First feature film with international cast, crew & locations -pros and cons- by Daniel Latteo
First feature film with international cast, crew & locations -pros and cons-
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A first-timer? Attaching name cast? How's that working out?
Hi Daniel :
Ciao !
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First of all thank you for the invaluable advice. I especially appreciate Dan's advice because every time it gives me solid ground and material which I can and will put in use when the time comes. Definitely he stands out, you can feel he has been there and knows what he is talking about. So thank you again Sir. Too bad we are so far apart geographically, or who knows we might even have had a collaboration on this film, as I feel you have organizational and production skills and knowledge which are far superior than mine, and that could have been real instrumental for my project, especially on the get-go. Well, hopefully when I have the script all ready to go and pre-production is about to start if you are willing, we will talk again. As for all of you who can share this experience and have some similar background based on what I have written on my post, please do share; any help at this point is good help. But for all of you instead who just want to use my project as target practice for all your negative, no-can-do, impossible, forget-it-boy kind of comments I will tell you once and for all; I do not need that kind of advice! It is not constructive, I heard it all before and I am 100% committed to make this film, so please do not do it. I firmly believe that if it was up to naysayers Movies wouldn't even exist today. Some of you keep insisting on the track record. I see a lot of people gravitating on this platform who have a track record far worse than mine, and yet they keep trying and going for it, and I completely support their dreams and efforts. So, why shouldn't I try it? True, I haven't directed any feature as yet but I have 3 or 4 shorts made already (half of them shot on film and some of which were finalists in some important festivals of genre, National and International). I have an MA at the London Film School. I have a lot of corporate videos I shot for business companies. And it's all out there in the open on my Vimeo link. Sure it itsn't Francis Ford Coppola's track record but I think it is the right time for me to move on to my first feature. The infos I have put on my post about cast, crew and locations' requirements are extrapolated by the way my script is coming out, with little or no compromises, and I have described it properly so that your suggestions can be more spot on and helpful to my endeavor. Thank you and I hope to hear more from you. Daniel
You ask, "Why shouldn't I try it?". When you ask for opinions you will get all sides. That's why some talk abut having a track record and others urge you to go for it. Did you expect everyone to have the same, encouraging, positive advice? I don't think it's negative of someone to offer advice based on their experience when you ask for thoughts. Perhaps in the future you should state at the beginning of a post that you do not need that kind of advice.
It sounds like you have a strong background and you are motivated to try this. You know how difficult this will be. I'll say "Go for it!" and hold back my more cautions opinions.
Thank you D Marcus. I agree with you to one extent. I think when you open up to seek advice and write down your story you naturally expose yourself and are left open to any kind of suggestions, even the more bitter and harsher ones. I can certainly accept that. I guess though what I was trying to say about negativity is, in going down a path which per-se will already be extremely hard (like the making of a film) if you have something from your experience which can help a fellow filmmmaker do better or tread that path safer, you should just give him that. Share that little piece of you with him. To discourage him and bring him down with hard words when he has not even started yet, to me sounds just like putting more weight on an already very unstable bridge. At the end of the day I think many of us desire that big chance to emerge; to get bigger; to get more recognition from our work. That is certainly why some of us are here. So I think sometimes it would just be easier if we were to unite forces. But that is just my way of thinking.
That is precisely what I'm counting on; passion, persistence and the confidence that I have good stories to tell, some of which could even make it really big commercially. I hope it will become contagious at some point. I know if I can get there they will like what I got to offer, and it's not arrogance, but complete faith in some of my stories and in my approach as a director. I have a kind of playground approach when directing, I mean "the serious kind of playful" and I learned with time that the adrenaline rush you can get in those moments, when working on a film, are unsurpassable and not comparable to anything else. And it doesn't really matter what kind of project I'm directing, as long as it is directing. The script is coming along well Sir, I am even preparing a back up one, and not because I don't trust my main one mind you, but because that way I have options if the first one doesn't work out, for whatever reason. Also, speaking with colleagues of mine who already been there and failed multiple times miserably, I have come to learn that it is a ruthless business when you pitch to break for the first time, a bit like when a newcomer partecipates at the MR. Olympia for the first time; no matter how good you are, at best you're gonna get the 2nd place and the current champion is going to get the title. Why? Because most of the times they'd rather pick the established brand over the newcomer. It ensues that for a first-timer it's twice as hard to break through and prove his/her worth. So, that is also what I'm going to have to do.
Well, do not get me wrong here. Like I said it is not that I do not believe my main project, it is just a back-up script, besides I wrote the both of them in parallel so it didn't take much time and energy off either one. The main reason though for the why I am preparing multiple stories is that I have learned from my experience. I have been observing colleagues of mine putting all of their time and efforts into only one script, and they have been pitching that same script for 10-12 years now with no apparent results, hanging between development hell and just plain hell. Or worse the movie that they made turned out terrible and they did not have anything else to offer after that. I think that is just wasting your time and fixating too much on something that buyers won't buy and audiences won't see. So I'm trying to not make that happen to me. Having said that I thank you again for all the advice and please if you have something else you can share at a more concrete level I'd be glad to hear it. Daniel
Thank you Sir. That is all great. However Dan, you mentioned recently in one of your posts that you have been through the process of developing a feature film. I would really be interested if you have the time to spare in knowing all the the various steps you had to go through, in order to have your script off and running; all the technical and logistical steps, that brought your project from conception, to financing, to its final release, and everything in between. Did you have a team? Entrusted people in the crew key roles? If yes how did you get ahold of them? Has your film made it big? What means did you resort to to finance it? Did you do it yourself as an Indipendent? Was it crowdfunded? That would be very helpful to me. By the way, I wanted to mention that I will probably be at the AFM 2017, so for anyone who is going to be there and would like to meet and discuss projects, it would be real great. Thank you.
To be honest with you I don't know what my final and total finances are going to be. I know that maybe I can raise through some sponsors 15-20 K all mine, but other than that I was considering to pursue different avenues as far as getting the money is concerned. In case I go the Indipendent route there's Tax credit and some incentives available here in Europe, and of course crowdfunding. But on the other hand I haven't discounted yet the possibility of presenting my projects to Film Studios, since I'm confident they might like what I have to offer. "If you want the ultimate, you gotta be willing to pay the ultimate price. It's not tragic to die doing what you love." I love that line Sir. That is exactly the attitude I have in confronting this dream venture ahead of me. Here in Italy the current attitude from average film directors is "Making the same genre over and over completely risk-free". That way they give to the audience always the same little comedy-drama or trash-comedy farce, and they feel some comfort in it, because neither they earn big, nor they lose big. That is why it has been a while since we have done something real groundbreaking here in Italy. Well, that is a bunch of doo-doo if you ask me. It is fear for the most. Fear to break new grounds. Fear of acting period. Fact is that in my opinion 95% of established Italian filmmakers could not hack it with a Sci-fi big-budgeted blockbuster script such as Star Wars, Alien, Mad Max Fury Road and Lord of the Rings. They would be scared to handle all that CGI, big numbers, big names. In time I hope I'll be among the ones who will try and change that. Boxing teacher used to say "if you stay in the pocket for too long hugging and clinching, but throwing no punches, it's unlikely you'll get any rewards." Thank you Dan and thank you all. I appreciate all the help and the advice.