Fund raising, traditionally, is the Producer's job. However, these days, the lines sometimes blur. This is especially true in the case of lower budget indie fare.
I, like you, wanted to simply write. I did not want to produce, direct, and all the rest. Yet after years of my screenplays getting favorable coverage and a couple of options but no actual sales, I decided to take the bull by the horns and produce/direct one of my scripts.
I learned a lot. It was film school 101, and by learning what concerns a producer has, and by learning what a director needs in a script when he's on set at a remote location twelve hours into the seventh day of a nine day shoot, it not only opened my eyes to the real-world needs of a production company, it ultimately made me a better writer. Now I understand how one sentence of stage
directions can either send a budget skyrocketing, or save thousands of dollars and keep a shooting schedule on schedule. This experience is something I NEVER would have gotten any other way.
So keep polishing your script, throw out, rewrite, or change anything and everything that will send your budget higher, and go ahead and help produce the movie. The experience will only help you, and if your movie is a hit, maybe it can help land you a literary agent. Then, you can set up shop with your laptop in the local Starbucks, and concentrate solely on writing.
Hope this helps.
All the best,
Mark Allen
CEO
Forsaken Media Group
San Diego, CA.
www.forsakenmediagroup.com
--- On Thu, 8/6/09, ladysaffire70 <ladysaffire70@...> wrote:
From: ladysaffire70 <ladysaffire70@...> Subject: [Film_F_and_I] New here, just seeking advice To: Film_F_and_I@yahoogroups.com Date: Thursday, August 6, 2009, 6:58 AM
I'm a screenwriter with a director (not well-known)
interested in directing one of my scripts - there
is a sequel which he's also interested in - and one
Adrian Taylor sent contact for a potential investor
who requested the budget, talent attached, shooting
schedule, logline, script, etc (but we've not heard
back from the investor). Am I wasting time trying to
find investors when we don't have a 'name' attached?
Basically, I have five complete scripts and several
half-finished, and I'm finding it very hard to get
even a small amount of money from any investors...
Should film fund-raising be the screenwriter' s job,
or the director's? (He wants to produce it as well.)
To be honest, all I want to do is write and sell my
screenplays - I have no desire to direct or produce.
I'm a screenwriter with a director (not well-known) interested in directing one of my scripts - there is a sequel which he's also interested in - and one ...
Fund raising, traditionally, is the Producer's job. However, these days, the lines sometimes blur. This is especially true in the case of lower budget indie...
Mark - one of the best stepping stones to directing, as well as to script gaining sales, is to learn how to be a motion picture script supervisor. That is how...
... Then just write. ... However, I highly recommend learning as much as possible about the other aspects of filmmaking. If you are being asked/pushed into...
Ladysaffire - Fund-raising is not the normal function of a Writer! A Producer normally compiles a presentation package which is composed of the elements asked...
I agree with Jim on one level. If you really want to concentrate on writing, you need to team up with a producer who will raise money for the project or have...
Thank you, Rachel. You opened one of the most frequent failings of countless entry-level Writers! The Writer loves his story, always! To the point that many...
Thanks are mutual Jim. Glad you got the gist of what I was trying to say. My advice as a producer and a writer is you need to have someone experienced on your...
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