Swap Meet Great Success

Wow...It was great fun...and we sold a lot of stuff... Although I was the first to break my first rule: We shouldn't just sell stuff to each other. Craig Witter had a Matthews BeefyBaby light stand that retails for $200 and he was only asking $10 since it had a broken set screw ( I knew I could fix )... My 10 bucks came out of my wallet so fast... and it was only 8:30! Didn't realize it later that some others were running to get some cash to buy these bargains. Ya know, it's the Quick and the Dead at these sales.

Seriously, my thanks to all those who participated since the weather turned a bit cold on us, but no rain. We had people coming from the Bay Area and Lake Tahoe. CFAA made a few bucks selling coffee and donuts! Plus great networking. We all decided we have to do this again this summer... AND WE WILL !!!

Jim Finnerty in doing a spot

Well known Northern California on-camera talent Jim Finnerty was in the studio last week doing a green screen spot with our High Definition Sony EX1 camera. The guy is amazing. Not only does he nail the spot on the first take, the subsequent takes are all about giving the producer a number of different reads so they have a great choice when they get to post production edit. This is the prime example why people say it pays to hire a pro... Ya get it right the first time... and it looks more than right, it's great!!
You can also catch Jim on KVIE's "America's Heartland" where he is now a Producer besides being an on-camera host.

Gotta Love This One

How to price a video... It's always a tough call. My on-going joke is: It's like asking "How long is a string?". Obviously, the answer is it could be anywhere. Usually a prospect calls and asks how much it costs to do a video. After biting my lip, I go through this explanation. What they're really saying is 1) they have no idea where the pricing ballpark is, and 2) they want you to say a number first so that if you're foolish enough to cut your price to the bone, they may take you up on it.
More on all of this in a later post.
My biggest laugh today was when a law firm emailed me and said they wanted to do a short video for their website, but two things: 1) they wanted it very professional, and 2) they wanted it very cheap! Duh, yeah, sure... I just emailed them back... "Hey, that's exactly the way I shop for an attorney!"

Where is Indy moviemaking going now?

Just when you thought was getting good....The old rug pull! Latest info from the film markets is the fewest number of indy movies are being pick-up... and for the lowest prices. Why? Simply because there is now a glut in the marketplace. The very things that made it easier for all of us to make good looking movies, i.e.; Hi-Def cameras like the Sony EX1 and fantastic editing systems like Final Cut Pro with the Studio II bundle, have also allowed a bunch of other folks into the pond. Many with marginal talent, yet they get to muddy the waters. I'm even reading posts where video guys are bemoaning that falling marketplace and saying they think they'll get into feature moviemaking as a what to make some money?!?! What? That's truly a grasping at straws. Let's see... you have falling income now, so let's go out and spend, spend, spend on a high risk venture that has a history of not making the investment back? Duh... Yeah, that's the ticket! And there's the message. From the outside, moviemaking looks profitable, but I ask you, who do you know in Sacramento that has made "profit" from making movies. Maybe one or two I can think of, but that's it.
Now I didn't say I'm going to quit making movies. What I am saying is, I have to be even more careful on the budgets in order to even have a chance to make a profit. I'm not going to look at those inflated $750k to $2million budgets because if I have to self distribut (which is most likely going to be the case), I pretty much have guaranteed I'm going to have a substantial loss. My thinking is to keep the budgets around $80K to $150K and I might have a chance.

Piano Disc Product DVD

PianoDisc was in this week doing another DVD production. These are essentially "music videos". But rather than a single extremely over produced song, PianoDisc does a whole album of material. The purpose is to produce a product that they sell to their customers of their "customized" grand pianos. The pianos are outfitted with an electronic device that essentially converts them into "player pianos". Then they are hooked up to a High Definition DVD player where the customer can see the music video, but the sound is, in fact, coming out of the piano! So you're getting a personal performance on the piano in your living room and are able to see that performance on your big screen TV. Quite a product...but alas, only if you have the money!

Stan, Frank, and the Ducky

Bumped into Stan Atkinson at the Sacramento Home and Landscape show... OK, OK, Stan was a cardboard cut-out. But I couldn't help tormenting his ducky... especially since Stan didn't do his last commercial at The Studio Center like he had planned. That ducky will pay dearly for that!

Is Hollywood Leaving Hollywood?

In a word... Yes. Those of us who have followed the Film Industry for years already know this, but it was underscored in this weeks CFAA (Capital Film Arts Alliance) meeting with Burbank Assemblyman Paul Krekorian. He mentioned that 43 other states have some film industry incentives...California is not one of them. And I'll bet we won't get some anytime soon with this current legislature. How can lawmakers be persuaded to cut a deal for one group in the face of the catastrophic deficits? And especially most Republicans will block any such attempt. So as Assemblyman Krekorian said, "It's a dead issue". Just as the aerospace industry left LA, wave goodby to the film industry.
That being said, the big studio lots will still be there, but mostly to do Television, which will stay. Movies will still be financed out of those big building in Century City, just as Redwood Palms finances movies out of Folsom... But they won't be made there, as they are not here.
Don't forget... The the movie industry moved to LA from New York indeed for mostly economic reasons. And that's why they will now move out of LA to more receptive places like New Mexico, Louisiana, North Carolina, along with Vancouver, etc.
What does that mean for us here in Sacramento? Pretty much nothing. We haven't seen a big budget Hollywood movie up here for years...and that probably won't change ( remember, we're still in California). What can we do about it? Pretty much nothing (remember, we're still in California).
More comments about Sacramento Filmmaking to come !!!