Another 48 hours competition

Recently I had the pleasure to put together a team of talented individuals to complete in the 48-hour film project in Atlanta. For those of you reading this that are not aware of what the 48 hour film project is a competition that pits many teams against each other in a 48 hour, hence the name, race to make the best 7 minute film possible. Many of the people I chose this year are veterans of the competition, and we have competed together before. However I extended the offer to compete in this competition to several new comers. Three of the people that I extended the offer to accepted. Our journey began on Thursday a day ahead of the competition, because we were traveling into a much larger city than our own we needed time to organize as well as get settled in to our lodgings for the weekend. The plan was for the four organizers to travel ahead, and prepare for the others arrival on Friday evening. We met in the early morning and had a pre trip breakfast, sharing our hopes and wishes for this year’s competition. Speculation on what genre we would receive raced between our minds. Everyone had his or her own favorites and hopes for this focal point of our short film. We discussed the latest films and the previous years winner in the market we were traveling to. After a few good laughs and filling up our tanks, both belly and car, we began our trip.
The kick off for the competition wasn’t until Friday at 6pm so we used the extra time to scout possible locations get a feel for the area that we were in and rest up. This competition was the largest that any of us had ever competed in. There were a total of 55 teams ready to lose sleep for the next two days to submit the best film in their genre using the line of dialogue, prop, and genre provided. As we all sat waiting to have our turn to pull our genre from the hat the anticipation began to mount as many of the teams pulled and became official entries into the competition. As our turn grew closer it was my job as the team leader to choose our genre from the hat. Wouldn’t you know that I lowered my nervous hand into the hat and pulled one of the hardest categories for us, Science Fiction! A little intimidated I wanted to choose a wild card immediately, but my team was content in the choice, and felt we could do it effectively, and maybe they felt we needed the challenge of doing something that we would not have normally done. What ensued for the next 48 hours was lack of sleep, writing, and rewriting, pick up shots, last minute plot changes, last minute location changes, and finally the night before we are supposed to turn in this film, a complete meltdown. Then in the wee hours of Sunday morning things began to come together the film began to take shape and we had a story that we felt made sense. However the drama was not over. Upon reviewing for the final edit we had some last minute changes. This was where the three new team members shined. Putting together last minute details, shooting extra scenes, and editing them in a timely manner. Due to their hard work and dedication to this project we were able to do what 11 other teams were not. We finished on time. If you are interested in seeing what we made the screening for the film will be Saturday the 18 at 7:45pm at the plaza in Atlanta. Shortly after the screening we will post and share this film online with the rest of our fans. Here is last year’s entry from us it was a Mockumentary called Adam’s Apples.

Joel Silver Vs. Goldman Sacs

In keeping with the times, and to give many who want to enter the entertainment industry a realistic focal point of the behind the scenes deals that go on, I have decided to post this blog article. It reads like the beginning of a movie that could have very well been produced by the plaintiff in this legal drama. In December of 2010 Joel Silver filed a lawsuit against Goldman Sachs. Goldman Sachs is a large investment bank, for those that do not know. Mr. Silver claims that the Wall Street giant was fraudulent and misleading in a deal that was brokered orally between Silver and Goldman. This is what it would sound like in terms everyone can understand. Let’s say that you and a friend that you knew were talking. Your friend wanted to get into the same business you are in, even though they are already successful at what they are doing. You agree to connect your friend with the person who helped finance your business venture, for a small fee of course. So you now you have an oral contract with your friend that upon the financing of his or her venture you would be paid what ever the amount is that you agreed upon. So now time passes your friend’s new deal has gone through and he is flourishing in his new venture. Everything should be great right, right? Except for one thing, you have not been paid yet. So you go to your good buddy and ask him about the money, he agreed to pay you. Without blinking an eye your friend says wait just a little longer until we raise a little more money. So you, ask can you at least be compensated a percentage, even if the deal did not go through like it was supposed to. So your friend agrees. Long story short you never see any of that money. Essentially that is what happened, and now we get to see it play out in the courts like a John Grisham novel. This brings to mind a couple of tips. Always get it in writing, no matter what, or whom the agreement is with. Never give up your assets without compensation. Finally learn from the mistakes of others, remember that even though we are in the business of entertaining, let’s not forget the business that goes along with it. Just in case you think Goldman Sacs gets a bad wrap check out the video.