It is Florida Film Festival time and filmmakers, artists,
and fans are gearing up for an exciting weekend. Celebrating its 23rd
year, the Florida Film Festival draws a lot of attention to the area because it
is an Oscar-qualifying festival. This means, if selected, a filmmaker can automatically
be qualified to submit their film for the same category for the Academy Awards.
It’s every filmmakers dream to get acknowledge for their creative work, but it’s
an even bigger dream for them to be able to get their film into the Academy
Awards. This can only mean one thing, and that’s open doors. Filmmakers submit their
films to festivals across the world to get acknowledged for their work. They do
this in hopes of that big investor coming on board to help produce their next
big project, or to even take their film into distribution to theaters around
the world. On the Florida Film Festival site, you can find all the wonderful
updates for the weeks amazing festivities. From parties, to discussions, to the
amazing showcase of films, the Florida Film Festival keeps the week alive. This
is a great time for filmmakers to mingle with other filmmakers and other artists.
Like artist management, a filmmaker is looking for a big producer to take them
under their wing and provide that next big thing, which would be distribution
or funding towards the next big project. The big difference is, artist mangers
are looking for new artist. In the film business the executive producers are
looking for new material and new talent. Film festivals are a perfect way to
showcase that talent. The Florida Film Festival always brings in special guest
that keeps their week even more exciting. According to the website, Academy
Award Winning Actor, Jon Voight said, his heart was touched by the Winter Park
community bringing so much love of film to this new generation of youth. This is
just one of the great reasons of why you should consider checking out this year’s
Florida Film Festival. It will be going on this April 4-13 in Winter Park,
Florida. I hope to see you there!
Saturday, April 5, 2014
Saturday, March 8, 2014
Interview With Producer: Warren Kohler
Warren Kohler is
an independent film producer, with credits such as Cover and The Shrink Is In.
He also has associate producer credits on Kissing
a Fool and Do Me a Favor. Kohler
is currently co-owner of What Exit Films with partner, actor, William Baldwin.
They focus on producing feature films for distributions to secondary markets.
Although, Kohler had a couple of challenging experiences that he shared with
me, the one that stood out the most was the one on his second production. While
producing his second film, one of the investors that were supposed to provide
equity funding for half of the production, backed out at the last minute.
Kohler had to secure debt-gap financing from an entertainment bank, all of which
needed to close within thirty days. He said it was an extremely tedious
experience, however it required a 24/7 attitude to make it happen. Having a
great can do attitude helps you close deals when everything is on the line.
Kohler’s focus and attitude helped him close that deal a week before principal
photography ended. The end result was the movie was completed on time and
budget and ultimately was purchased and released on 1735 screens by a major
studio.
Going into any
negotiation, you have to set your personal parameters. Kohler said he usually
makes a list of everything he is trying to get out of the negotiation, most
importantly positioning and setting precedence for future deals. Among this
list, is everything he wants to get out of the overall deal and everything that
he knows he probably won’t get out of the deal. He usually starts with the list
that he knows he is not going to get first. Kohler states, “every deal you do
in the industry should be followed by the next with an even greater deal.” A
producer should always ensure they set the bar for the next level.
Now days,
although Kohler has an attorney that negotiates producer’s agreements with the
studios on his behalf, he continues to play an active role in the negotiations
by laying out the parameters in advance. Kohler says, negotiations need to
always be friendly as possible, because the investors and the executives at the
studio won’t forget how things were handled during production. Precedence is
everything in the entertainment industry.
Negotiations
can get really tricky when separating the people from the problem. Kohler says,
while producing a film, if investors back out of a project, it puts a
producer in a tough position. When that happens it almost always puts the
producer at an extreme disadvantage when negotiating replacement funding and is
at the mercy of the banks and/or equity investors. In cases like this the bank,
will usually elevate the cost of funds by increasing loan fees and interest and
they have been known to seek an adjusted net profit participation. When structuring
and negotiating deals such as this, Kohler says, stay as firm and strong as
possible and don’t give in too easy. Eventually, you have to give in, but don’t
make it easy.
When
it comes to mutual benefit, Kohler says, it is best to get very familiar with the
operating structure of the various unions such as SAG, DGA, Teamsters and most
importantly fully understand the rules and regulations, otherwise the
production and incur fines for not being in compliance. During production you
must set the tone of the production office and promote a “No Drama” environment
and allow the people you hire to do what they excel at.
One lesson learned is that if you want
the cooperation from the Teamsters for example to secure favorable hiring of
their members, meet with them at their headquarters and layout your budgetary
needs. Most importantly work with them without whining and complaining about
rates. That is not the way to negotiate or befriend them. He said knowledge, a positive attitude, and a
great personality is the key to successfully working with agents, managers, unions,
and crew.
When
it comes to banking interest and loans, Kohler says there is a set formula in
the entertainment world. The
interest is usually set at prime plus. You can negotiate and fight the plus
percentage, but unfortunately it’s impossible to negotiate the prime, but it
never hurts to ask. At the end of the
day the interest is going to be the interest
Once the
interest rates are set you can focus on negotiating the loan fees, which is
where the producer (based upon Kohler’s experience) has more of an opportunity
to drastically reduce through hard fought negotiations.
Interview Retrieved: March 7, 2014 with Warren Kohler.
Other Resources:
Hollywood,
Bollywood, Nollywood: Business Careers In The Film Industry, Keying In, The
Newsletter of the National Business Educational Association. January 2014.
Thursday, March 6, 2014
"The Girl Who Cried Out Father" Celebrates Ten Years
https://vimeo.com/28284479
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
Thursday, February 13, 2014
Audre Lorde
When
I dare to be powerful – to use my strength in the service of my vision,
then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid. - Audre
Lorde
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
Mary McLeod Bethune
If we
accept and acquiesce in the face of discrimination, we accept the
responsibility ourselves and allow those responsible to salve their
conscience by believing that they have our acceptance and concurrence.
We should, therefore, protest openly everything... that smacks of
discrimination or slander. - Mary McLeod Bethune
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
The Heart Of A Diverse Filmmaker
How has diversity worked to my advantage? As a African
American Film Director I have been faced with the challenges of being a leader
in my short films by leading the artistic and dramatic portrayal, visualization
of the script, and by guiding the technical crew and actors in the fulfillment
of my creative visions.
As a young boy, my school and community peers participated
in a host of anti-social behaviors, setting themselves up for failure. My
family dynamics strived for structure and nothing but excellence. Although I
was raised in a middle class neighborhood, my African American family was still
faced with diversity challenges. At an early age I knew I wanted greatness, and
I wanted to make a positive impact in a variety of human societies in all
regions of the world. I attended predominant African American schools, playing
sports, and making above average grades. Among all of that, I had a greater
love for the performing arts, which instantly became my passion and allowed me
to stand out amongst all my peers.
In my later years, as
a minority college student, I also struggled in finding ways to make a cultural
difference. Therefore, I gravitated towards studying in Engineering at the
University of Florida, which was very challenging. I constantly found myself
studying harder than my class peers to only get average test results. There
were many times I felt loss and a lack of belongingness. This shattered my confidence and I was still
dealing with my passion for theatre. It was not until my junior year that I
found myself in the college of Performing Arts. It was then, I began to focus
on my passion in life, and my journey in finding ways to impact diversity on
all different levels. I felt a sense of relief studying theatre, however one
thing still stood out to me; I was a minority theatre student. Though I enjoyed
the productions I was cast in, I still felt that I didn’t totally belong. I
wanted more. I wanted more productions for minority students. That hunger led
me to explore other production options.
As an inspiring African American Actor, in 2004 I was given
the opportunity to write, produce, and direct my first play, The Girl Who Cried Out Father. I took
this opportunity to express the need for more minority productions on all
levels of diversity. The Girl Who Cried
Out Father production was a huge success. Most importantly, this production
had learning experiences that would later grow me into the leader I am today.
On that stage I drove and found my passions in writing and directing. Finally, I
found a place I belonged. That experience has been the experience that has kept
me going and moving forward.
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