I'd be remiss on this series of diatribes if I didn't hark back to the tactics that got me this far in launching the micro-budget festival award-winning indie film of my 7th feature script, that has enabled me to reinvent myself this year from screenwriter to filmmaker.
Writing 7 feature screenplays from 2009 through 2022, I finally created an adventure/comedy ensemble concept "Super Turbo Jet Boats" that already had 3 strikes against it as far as any Hollywood industry people were concerned:
> "Industry picture" about filmmakers (students in LA) making films
> Boats on the water, expensive and dangerous
> Ensemble cast, thought to be overreaching for a spec writer
So after getting some script reads from pros here on Stage 32 at some point I realized and accepted that it was not likely to get immediate traction, but the 4-quadrant appeal, fun adventure/comedy tone and Genre niche and high-energy fast-paced script was my favorite and I became determined to analyze how to advance it.
Hence "Multiple Pathways To Production":
I looked at every budget range, possibilities from studio to production company to indie to micro-budget, various possible production designs and channels including animation (although probably lucky for me this was just before AI became available!), formats and target audiences, etc., and finally figured that doing any type of 'proof-of-concept reel' no matter how short or humble would be a great step forward.
Industry executives would rather watch a short film than read yet another screenplay, and it is a step beyond a pitch deck so I saw a way to mount it using miniature action figures and remote-control toys to create a limited stop-motion animation concept from my script and continued location-scouting and shooting exploratory photos and video clips.
Seeing a way to divide the feature script into 4 episodes gave me an entry point to develop and plan and build sets for Episode 1. Getting out in front of the work, I determined to create multiple pathways to production and develop indie-style sequences where I could concurrently work on Pre-Production, Production and Post-Production of sequential episodes, for momentum and continuity, and as challenging as it is this model is working!
