
With the help of all my professional friends, I intend to share the experience and the proceeds with each and every one involved in the production. Essentially everyone becomes a share holder in the venture. If the film makes a million bucks, we all split it. If it makes only 50K, we split it. I want the experience to feel like a jolly good season of summer stock. A project that everyone has a vested interest in, gives them a chance to flex their creative muscles and remember what it is like to work as an ensemble. No star system here.
I’ll use the term “no frills” so everyone can visualize the scope. I’m not interested in this feeling like a normal movie. The shooting of the film must be different, so the end result will be different. Pure, not self-conscious or precious. It cannot follow the same list of rules or this experiment will yield the same mediocre results as a Hollywood movie. However, the end product will be polished and professionally received.
This format does not break any new ground. Lars Von Trier created the Dogma 95 rules of digital filmmaking and Indigent, in New York, patterns their films with an eye toward profit sharing. It is in the spirit of these trailblazers that I have affectionately borrowed and then personally modified the method. We’ll see how it turns out but for now, the entire process shows great promise, at least for me it does. I’ll keep you posted.
