ASPIRINGHOLLYWOOD

You may think of the development phase of a feature film production as a creative sanctuary. You sit in a coffee shop agonizing over your screenplay, the dialogue, the structure, the world, and the characters. You know the drill. I’ve done it, and thousands of other hopefuls do it. I soon learned that development is not about the creative work, not entirely, not even mostly. Development is about the economics of your project. 

 

It is a phase in which you can either guarantee the success of your project or you guarantee its financial ruin. If you transition from development to pre-production without a conservative distribution plan that is endorsed by a viable distributor or sales agent, you’re not preparing to shoot a movie; you’re on your way to produce a financial disaster. 

 

Remember this: your primary role as a filmmaker or a producer is to protect your investors. If you’re responsible for your investors’ hard-earned money, you’ll keep producing movies. If not, they may trust you the first time, but will not be there when you’re ready to develop your second production. 

 

In this article, I’ll talk about some elements you can consider during pre-development and development to make sure you give yourself a chance at success. Nothing is guaranteed, but by taking certain precautions, you’ll increase your success probability.

 

As you start on the filmmaking journey, it would be helpful if you can picture the filmmaking process in various phases such as pre-development, development, pre-production, production, wrap, post-production, distribution, and revenue management. The last phase can last for as long as the film generates sales. The filmmaker is on the hook for managing the funds that come in from sales, reporting to backend participants and industry guilds, not to mention generating annual income tax returns on behalf of the production company.

 

The old saying in Hollywood is that if a filmmaker did their job during development, the physical production phase, or principal photography, as it is often called, should run itself. I believe that statement to be true. 

 

That said, let’s take a look at what the development phase is all about. In my book Aspiring Filmmaker, I talk about the need for a period of time, or a phase if you prefer, called pre-development. This is the time when the idea a filmmaker has for a feature film starts to blossom, it’s put to the test, and it’s prepared for the brutal reality of development.

 

That means that before you officially get to your development stage, make sure that your film concept is needed in the marketplace, it can be produced within your budget constraints, it has worldwide appeal, meaning that various cultures around the world would identify with your concept, and that a seasoned distribution executive gave you a thumbs up on the marketability of your product.

 

During pre-development, you should start thinking about the cast. Which renowned actor would be drawn to your project? Keep that in mind for when you’re writing the script. Remember that reverse engineering plays a key role during the pre-development stage. It is during this time that the filmmaker must strategically plan all the production moves that will take place several months or even years into the future. 

 

Are you planning to write the screenplay or will you hire a screenwriter? If you decide to hire a screenwriter, will you go to the pool of professional guild members at WGA or will you hire a non-union writer? These are good thoughts to have at this early stage. The same thing applies to when you consider a director for your project. Are you planning to direct the film? Do you have the talent or the instinct to direct if you haven’t done it before? 

 

Once you’ve made firm decisions about who will fill key roles like writer, director, unit production manager, and assistant director, and you’ve received confirmation that your project is marketable, you’ve identified a few popular actors both domestically and internationally, and you have a written screenplay or at least a rough draft, you’re ready to move on to the official development stage.

 

One more element of pre-development I should mention is seed funds. You will need to have some money available to cover certain expenses. I can’t speak for other filmmakers, but in my case, I always used personal funds to pay for copyright registration fees, lawyers, accountants, lunch meetings, and travel expenses. Some filmmakers do raise seed funds, but at the pre-development stage, the expenses should be kept to a minimum.

 

What happens during development if all this work was already done in pre-development?

 

Don’t worry, there’s plenty of work to do during development. Start development with taking care of a few housekeeping items such as legal and accounting. Use your available seed funds to hire a lawyer and an accountant to help you form a legal entity which will be your production company. Register your screenplay with the copyright office and develop a short list of actors you might want to approach. Hire a casting executive to give you ideas of who on your list might be available for your project.

 

Work on raising the funds necessary to produce your film and get script notes from a reputable distribution executive.

 

You’ll need a budget and a schedule. You’ll need to know how many days of production are necessary, how many actors you need, crew members, props and sets, and so on. The earlier you have this information, the easier it will be for you to create a document that informs your potential investors.

 

During the development phase, a filmmaker will negotiate with unions, industry guilds, agents, and managers of cast and crew members. This is the time when you put your team together.

 

If you wait until pre-production to discuss your projected principal photography date with the actors’ guild, it’s too late. Guilds require time to evaluate and approve your project. There might be budget considerations in the union agreement of which you must be aware. Waiting until pre-production will be too late. By the way, the gathering of information is different than starting the signatory process. The signatory process can be done during pre-production. The same applies to other team members. If you start considering your cinematographer after pre-production begins, it’s too late. I’m not suggesting that you’ll hire every crew member during development. In fact, you don’t typically hire crew and cast during development, other than your UPM, attorney, and perhaps the accountant. However, you must at least initiate conversations with individuals on your short list to ensure they share your vision for the project and discuss their availability two or three months down the road, or perhaps the following year, depending on your timeline. 

 

Once the development phase is over and you have all of the elements in place, you can transition to pre-production and actually make official written offers and hire the cast and crew.