What's the story?

What's the story?

So here's how it goes. I'm a young film-maker from London, trying to break into the industry. I've made a few shorts, had a few little successes, but it's very much early days.

I've got a movie I want to make. It's got a good hook, it's going to be fairly cheap to make, and the main roles should be exciting enough to get big actors interested.

Only two problems:
1) I haven't written the script.
2) I haven't got the money to get it off the ground.

This blog's going to be about how overcome these obstacles. And here's how I plan to do it.

The writing side is taking care of itself. I'm a student on a Screenwriting MA, and I'm gradually developing the script I want to film. I'm confident that that's under control.

The money side is slightly unusual. I love cricket. Watching it, playing it, thinking about it. I obsess over cricket statistics whenever I'm trying to find something to distract me from my writing. I'm hoping that this obsessive interest means that I've got a good understanding of how a cricket match ebbs and flows. And my theory is that this understanding can give me an edge in the betting markets. I'm going to start off gently, placing small bets and hopefully making some profit. And see how it goes.

What's the plan?

This year I went with some other film-makers to the Cannes Film Festival. It was great fun. But what I learned from talking to the established industry professionals there is that it's not that difficult to get a movie made. All you need is a strong generic hook to attract an audience, a low budget to attract finance, and a great script to attract serious actors. And, if possible, a short teaser trailer to show people how you want it to look.

So that's where I want to be. I've got the concept, and I'm developing it at school. I'll have a feature script up to scratch by the end of 2008. In the meantime, I want to raise enough money to shoot a professional looking teaser trailer at the start of 2009. I'm thinking in the region of £10,000.

From there, the idea is to take it to Cannes, market it like crazy and see if I can get funding to shoot it as a feature.

Wish me luck.