By Jamie Santamore
When I started Wicked Carnival Productions three years ago I was bright eyed and bushy tailed about being a film maker and at 33 years I had finally decided to chase my dream, I knew I could make this happen I just had to get my foot in the door.
I looked for any and all information I could find about making movies, I did all my homework, I had scripts, a camera a light and ideas all I needed was the money, a cast and crew and I was ready to make movies, right ? Wrong , very wrong.
I needed a hard lesson in how this industry works and I got it over time and I'm still learning. This is where I have issues with the indie film industry it's the ONE verses ALL mind set that hurts the industry way more then it helps it. and the majority of people in this industry have this mindset and it's frustrating to me. I understand we are all "completing" for viewers, their DVD dollars and their support for our campaigns etc. but what does any of that have to do with what goes on behind the scenes ?
I understand that competition is not only a fact of life but it's NEEDED in every industry but my opinion is that it doesn't have to go to the extreme of cutting each others throats to get ahead.
No one in the indie film industry is making millions and if they are great we all have to start somewhere, right ? I had no friends in the industry, to money, a mind full of ideas and really had no idea how to start so I decided to look into crowdfunding, I researched Kickstarter and Indiegogo trying to decide which one to use. I wanted to make the right choice and I went with Indiegogo .
I launched the campaign and did as much promotional work as possible, I appeared on radio shows, podcasts and nothing was working and after the campaign failed I was left thinking "what do I do now" ? because I already had my cast booked how can you make a movie without any money ? I had TWO campaigns FAIL prior to shooting Sins of Man : RIse of Mortis .
It can be done if you have people willing to donate their time to your vision, if you can surround yourself with the right people you can make a movie with no money. we made Sins of Man : Rise of Mortis with a minimal budget most of which came from my personal bank account . I had a third campaign FAIL to cover post production costs so I had a finished film with no way to make the DVD's that issues was solved by my friend and business partner who paid for the DVD's to be made out of his own pocket.
I made friends in the industry via my working on and completion of Sins of Man : Rise of Mortis and we have helped each other with promoting each others work as much as we can which brings me to my next point. Wouldn't the indie film industry be in a better place if we used the three musketeers motto "All for one and one for all" We can lift each other up and make more movies, support each others projects and help them grown. I'm in no way saying that we shouldn't compete with each other because competition is what drives us to be better film makers, better writers, better artists etc.
It doesn't hurt your film project to share or retweet about your friends movie. if your pitch is on point, your script / story is good and you have the confidence in your abilities as a film maker why not help someone who is just starting out ??
Wicked Carnival Productions has only made one movie and I'm helping other people just starting out weather it's giving some one their first film role or helping someone work on their script or hooking someone I know up with a contact to someone that might be able to help them and by doing these things it not hurting the Wicked Carnival Productions brand at all.
Maybe I'm just foolish to think that people are good at heart and even in business you can show kindness to people but I'd like to think I'm on to something here. Everyone has to start somewhere no one just walks onto a movie set a made man, come on people you have to work for everything but whats the harm in giving someone a hand when they need it ?
We are working to MAKE SLASHERS GREAT AGAIN Please help us do it by making a donation to Sins of Man II : Vengeance . we have 25 days left in the campaign it would mean so much to us to have your support, THANK YOU so much !! STAY HUMBLE, STAY HUNGRY MY FRIENDS :)
I looked for any and all information I could find about making movies, I did all my homework, I had scripts, a camera a light and ideas all I needed was the money, a cast and crew and I was ready to make movies, right ? Wrong , very wrong.
I needed a hard lesson in how this industry works and I got it over time and I'm still learning. This is where I have issues with the indie film industry it's the ONE verses ALL mind set that hurts the industry way more then it helps it. and the majority of people in this industry have this mindset and it's frustrating to me. I understand we are all "completing" for viewers, their DVD dollars and their support for our campaigns etc. but what does any of that have to do with what goes on behind the scenes ?
I understand that competition is not only a fact of life but it's NEEDED in every industry but my opinion is that it doesn't have to go to the extreme of cutting each others throats to get ahead.
No one in the indie film industry is making millions and if they are great we all have to start somewhere, right ? I had no friends in the industry, to money, a mind full of ideas and really had no idea how to start so I decided to look into crowdfunding, I researched Kickstarter and Indiegogo trying to decide which one to use. I wanted to make the right choice and I went with Indiegogo .
I launched the campaign and did as much promotional work as possible, I appeared on radio shows, podcasts and nothing was working and after the campaign failed I was left thinking "what do I do now" ? because I already had my cast booked how can you make a movie without any money ? I had TWO campaigns FAIL prior to shooting Sins of Man : RIse of Mortis .
It can be done if you have people willing to donate their time to your vision, if you can surround yourself with the right people you can make a movie with no money. we made Sins of Man : Rise of Mortis with a minimal budget most of which came from my personal bank account . I had a third campaign FAIL to cover post production costs so I had a finished film with no way to make the DVD's that issues was solved by my friend and business partner who paid for the DVD's to be made out of his own pocket.
I made friends in the industry via my working on and completion of Sins of Man : Rise of Mortis and we have helped each other with promoting each others work as much as we can which brings me to my next point. Wouldn't the indie film industry be in a better place if we used the three musketeers motto "All for one and one for all" We can lift each other up and make more movies, support each others projects and help them grown. I'm in no way saying that we shouldn't compete with each other because competition is what drives us to be better film makers, better writers, better artists etc.
It doesn't hurt your film project to share or retweet about your friends movie. if your pitch is on point, your script / story is good and you have the confidence in your abilities as a film maker why not help someone who is just starting out ??
Wicked Carnival Productions has only made one movie and I'm helping other people just starting out weather it's giving some one their first film role or helping someone work on their script or hooking someone I know up with a contact to someone that might be able to help them and by doing these things it not hurting the Wicked Carnival Productions brand at all.
Maybe I'm just foolish to think that people are good at heart and even in business you can show kindness to people but I'd like to think I'm on to something here. Everyone has to start somewhere no one just walks onto a movie set a made man, come on people you have to work for everything but whats the harm in giving someone a hand when they need it ?
We are working to MAKE SLASHERS GREAT AGAIN Please help us do it by making a donation to Sins of Man II : Vengeance . we have 25 days left in the campaign it would mean so much to us to have your support, THANK YOU so much !! STAY HUMBLE, STAY HUNGRY MY FRIENDS :)
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