Sunday, August 24, 2008
Current TV
Current TV is an interesting site which will pay you to produce specs for commercial companies. You could make up to $25,000 if it is commercially viable. I will have to discuss it with my people later.
Welcome Dark Lion
I am getting back to my entrepreneurial roots and starting a production company its name -
Dark Lion Entertainment.
I plan on eventually becoming the anti-christ to Rupert Murdock. Having access to enough minds to bend them towards the side of PROGRESS rather than mediocrity.
So here starts the adventure.
To begin with I think it's important to start small... You can't eat an elephant in one bite, you need to cut him into smaller pieces.
At first Dark Lion is going to have to commit to doing commercials and industrials on a local level. Perhaps web commercials could be in the mix as well. This is going to require a lot of cold calling and producing a reel and specs to gain consumer confidence.
There doesn't seem to be very high quality local commercials around these days, bringing Dark Lion's professionalism in the mix with the advent of new digital technologies which drastically reduce the cost of productions, I believe we can produce high quality material at an affordable cost to local businesses. The market is ready for the new generation of production.
We - as Dark Lion - must identify the weaknesses of existing production companies. On a local level, it is obvious that the quality of the productions are low and severely undermine the confidence one might have in the product... I am curious about the big boys... the establishes commercial companies I have long worked for. I need to find out what is their fallacy. What makes them successful and what are their weaknesses, and can they be exploited.
I was thinking that using viral video techniques would be a good marketing tool to get into the next stage... but that is a distant thought... I must concentrate on more immediate matters.
The first step before anything else - write a business plan. A business plan is like the constitution of a government. It will be the roadmap to the birth and operation of the business. Just like the constitution, it is designed to be malleable as time goes on. It needs to be changed to reflect the changing needs of the business. Not only that, but a good business plan will make us viable candidates for financiers.
I must figure out a company structure... It is a tight rope act, careful not to insult anyone but careful to keep all my ducks in a row.
I'm thinking an L.L.C. might be the best way to go for the ownership structure, although it might impede our ability to receive loans. On the other hand it protects us from costly lawsuits.
more on that here
I will have to get a EIN or employer identification number after completing the business registration with the state. Apparently I will also have to look into the Trade-name registration process. The IRS website has an online application process to obtain an EIN.
I' m going to have to look into employer registration processes. Perhaps get a program like Quicken to help manage accounting sides of the business.
The final step is a marketing plan. Figure out how to reach people who would want to use Dark Lion for their production needs.
ok so that training primer from the SBA was useful. I shall view more of them... and get started on writing Dark Lion business plan.
I also have to start with Babylon-set at the same time. Oh so much work!
- J
Dark Lion Entertainment.
I plan on eventually becoming the anti-christ to Rupert Murdock. Having access to enough minds to bend them towards the side of PROGRESS rather than mediocrity.
So here starts the adventure.
To begin with I think it's important to start small... You can't eat an elephant in one bite, you need to cut him into smaller pieces.
At first Dark Lion is going to have to commit to doing commercials and industrials on a local level. Perhaps web commercials could be in the mix as well. This is going to require a lot of cold calling and producing a reel and specs to gain consumer confidence.
There doesn't seem to be very high quality local commercials around these days, bringing Dark Lion's professionalism in the mix with the advent of new digital technologies which drastically reduce the cost of productions, I believe we can produce high quality material at an affordable cost to local businesses. The market is ready for the new generation of production.
We - as Dark Lion - must identify the weaknesses of existing production companies. On a local level, it is obvious that the quality of the productions are low and severely undermine the confidence one might have in the product... I am curious about the big boys... the establishes commercial companies I have long worked for. I need to find out what is their fallacy. What makes them successful and what are their weaknesses, and can they be exploited.
I was thinking that using viral video techniques would be a good marketing tool to get into the next stage... but that is a distant thought... I must concentrate on more immediate matters.
The first step before anything else - write a business plan. A business plan is like the constitution of a government. It will be the roadmap to the birth and operation of the business. Just like the constitution, it is designed to be malleable as time goes on. It needs to be changed to reflect the changing needs of the business. Not only that, but a good business plan will make us viable candidates for financiers.
I must figure out a company structure... It is a tight rope act, careful not to insult anyone but careful to keep all my ducks in a row.
I'm thinking an L.L.C. might be the best way to go for the ownership structure, although it might impede our ability to receive loans. On the other hand it protects us from costly lawsuits.
more on that here
I will have to get a EIN or employer identification number after completing the business registration with the state. Apparently I will also have to look into the Trade-name registration process. The IRS website has an online application process to obtain an EIN.
I' m going to have to look into employer registration processes. Perhaps get a program like Quicken to help manage accounting sides of the business.
The final step is a marketing plan. Figure out how to reach people who would want to use Dark Lion for their production needs.
ok so that training primer from the SBA was useful. I shall view more of them... and get started on writing Dark Lion business plan.
I also have to start with Babylon-set at the same time. Oh so much work!
- J
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Holiday Lull and Reality Gripes
Well Well... Time sure goes by fast, I keep thinking about this blog, but realize that I haven't written anything in about a month... how am I ever going to get anyone to comment like that??
The problem is when I'm juggling my 12-14 hour days with a high maintenance woman and a social life, there doesn't seem to be much time left for creativity and expression.
This year, I was afraid of going broke because it took me a bit to get over the "holiday lull". In the production business, work slows down rapidly in December and doesn't pick up until at least mid January. If you aren't playing your cards economically, it could spell real trouble! The reason for this lull is that it's not worth it for a production company to start pre-production in December only to have to pay the crew double for shooting during the holidays. Not only that but it's usually cold and dreary weather which makes outdoor shooting unpredictable. Adding to the mess this year was the writer's strike... It was blamed for having caused a larger lull than usual.
So I hadn't worked in over a month, I went to London for a weekend, and Florida for Xmas. If you guys know London with it's 8 dollar subway rides, 20 dollar sandwiches, and 600 dollar a night hotels, you might guess that my bank account wasn't feeling too good. I did what I felt needed to be done, I put myself out there, re-wrote my resume, and contacted everyone I could to find work. Eventually I landed a sweet commercial gig doing the Diane Von Furstenberg's American Express commercial. It was a beautiful three day shoot in the winter wonderland she calls her farm. It's a 300 acre piece of property she bought when she was 26. This gave me a renewed taste for the commercial world, something I strongly believe I must pursue. More on this in another post.
But then, I got bit by the reality bug. I got hired on a show (which I am not legally allowed to name - they made me sign a contract that I could be sued for one million ($1,000,000) dollars) that featured a person trying to make it in the fashion world, meeting with all the top designers, and getting mixed up in the over all chaos of New York City's fashion week. The real problem with these types of shows is the sheer lack of organization. We never knew what we would do next, when we would EAT next (Food is a supremely important part of production), and when we could go home. We had a team of Californian Producers that thought it would be OK to take on the title of Production Coordinator and Assistant Director. In fact I don't even know why they hired a Director because they were watching and listening to the shoot wirelessly while calling all the shots to the Director into the walkie. He would in turn tell the Camera Ops.
It was ridiculous. I will say this once and probably many times more - Californian crews do not understand the way New York City productions work. Again - more on the Cali - NY rift later.
After this fiasco was over, I got onto another month long reality shoot which was one of the worst production experience I've ever had. We would put in our regular 12 hour days, watch the entire crew get wrapped, and then have to sit there for 2 hours waiting for the Assistant Director to figure out the next day's schedule and give us our call times. It did not foster morale at all. It resulted in us getting home so late, there wouldn't even be 8 hours between the time we entered our door and the time we had to get up for the next day's shoot. That meant no sleep, low morale, and a diminished work ethic.
Productions are like buildings, and PAs are the foundation. If the foundation is weak, the rest crumbles. It was a 6 day a week, 12-15 hour days, for a month straight. I know I'm paying my dues, but damn that was hard to take.
I got another pitiful offer for a reality gig and went on an interview for yet another one where they promised 18 hour days, low pay, and what they described as "grueling, but a good learning experience". This time I resisted and decided to get my ducks in a row and geting back into the commercial world. Although I haven't yet succeeded, I have just finished working on a documentary and starting work on another one. It is not often in my career that I get to work on something in which I truly respect the content, but this is one of those times. They pay decently, are very upfront and honest about the hours, and have respect for my professionalism. What more could I ask???
The problem is when I'm juggling my 12-14 hour days with a high maintenance woman and a social life, there doesn't seem to be much time left for creativity and expression.
This year, I was afraid of going broke because it took me a bit to get over the "holiday lull". In the production business, work slows down rapidly in December and doesn't pick up until at least mid January. If you aren't playing your cards economically, it could spell real trouble! The reason for this lull is that it's not worth it for a production company to start pre-production in December only to have to pay the crew double for shooting during the holidays. Not only that but it's usually cold and dreary weather which makes outdoor shooting unpredictable. Adding to the mess this year was the writer's strike... It was blamed for having caused a larger lull than usual.
So I hadn't worked in over a month, I went to London for a weekend, and Florida for Xmas. If you guys know London with it's 8 dollar subway rides, 20 dollar sandwiches, and 600 dollar a night hotels, you might guess that my bank account wasn't feeling too good. I did what I felt needed to be done, I put myself out there, re-wrote my resume, and contacted everyone I could to find work. Eventually I landed a sweet commercial gig doing the Diane Von Furstenberg's American Express commercial. It was a beautiful three day shoot in the winter wonderland she calls her farm. It's a 300 acre piece of property she bought when she was 26. This gave me a renewed taste for the commercial world, something I strongly believe I must pursue. More on this in another post.
But then, I got bit by the reality bug. I got hired on a show (which I am not legally allowed to name - they made me sign a contract that I could be sued for one million ($1,000,000) dollars) that featured a person trying to make it in the fashion world, meeting with all the top designers, and getting mixed up in the over all chaos of New York City's fashion week. The real problem with these types of shows is the sheer lack of organization. We never knew what we would do next, when we would EAT next (Food is a supremely important part of production), and when we could go home. We had a team of Californian Producers that thought it would be OK to take on the title of Production Coordinator and Assistant Director. In fact I don't even know why they hired a Director because they were watching and listening to the shoot wirelessly while calling all the shots to the Director into the walkie. He would in turn tell the Camera Ops.
It was ridiculous. I will say this once and probably many times more - Californian crews do not understand the way New York City productions work. Again - more on the Cali - NY rift later.
After this fiasco was over, I got onto another month long reality shoot which was one of the worst production experience I've ever had. We would put in our regular 12 hour days, watch the entire crew get wrapped, and then have to sit there for 2 hours waiting for the Assistant Director to figure out the next day's schedule and give us our call times. It did not foster morale at all. It resulted in us getting home so late, there wouldn't even be 8 hours between the time we entered our door and the time we had to get up for the next day's shoot. That meant no sleep, low morale, and a diminished work ethic.
Productions are like buildings, and PAs are the foundation. If the foundation is weak, the rest crumbles. It was a 6 day a week, 12-15 hour days, for a month straight. I know I'm paying my dues, but damn that was hard to take.
I got another pitiful offer for a reality gig and went on an interview for yet another one where they promised 18 hour days, low pay, and what they described as "grueling, but a good learning experience". This time I resisted and decided to get my ducks in a row and geting back into the commercial world. Although I haven't yet succeeded, I have just finished working on a documentary and starting work on another one. It is not often in my career that I get to work on something in which I truly respect the content, but this is one of those times. They pay decently, are very upfront and honest about the hours, and have respect for my professionalism. What more could I ask???
Friday, March 7, 2008
Back to One
A year and a half ago I was sitting around my house, unemployed, hanging with a bunch of friends, and altogether pretty happy with my life. It was nearing midnight, the phone rang - it was a number I didn't recognize. I told my friends to be quiet and picked it up. A woman with a slight British accent said "I work for the food network, a friend of yours gave us your number... are you available to work tomorrow morning at 8:00?" It had been three months since I did anything considered work. I said I was available, still not knowing exactly what I was getting into. 8 hours later I'm sitting behind the wheel of a 15 passenger van sipping coffee asking people what their 20's were... This is how it all started.
Gone are the days of carefree idleness, I now have a high maintenance power woman as a girlfriend (she's a lawyer for a hedge fund) and a career in the entertainment industry. The pressure is mounting to make money, and gain power. Will I find happiness and success? Or fail and have to regress in life? Time will tell.
This blog will be my story. There will be production anecdotes, short stories that I am inspired to write, insight into my relationship, and anything else that I deem note worthy to you readers.
It will be a unique window into the life of someone starting out in Television Production and making it in New York City.
Gone are the days of carefree idleness, I now have a high maintenance power woman as a girlfriend (she's a lawyer for a hedge fund) and a career in the entertainment industry. The pressure is mounting to make money, and gain power. Will I find happiness and success? Or fail and have to regress in life? Time will tell.
This blog will be my story. There will be production anecdotes, short stories that I am inspired to write, insight into my relationship, and anything else that I deem note worthy to you readers.
It will be a unique window into the life of someone starting out in Television Production and making it in New York City.
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