THE PLAN TO GET THE GREEN LIGHT: STEP 3

Welcome to STEP 3! You’re almost there!

You’re in the last phase! If you come from article STEP 2, congratulations! We would love to know how it went and if our advice was helpful. Let us know by joining our community of creators here >>

In Filmarket Hub we know how hard the first steps within the industry are and that the path to the greenlight can be arduous and tempestive. In addition to that, as the path to follow is not clear and hard to define, you will in all likelihood waste time, money and the motivation to go on.

Which is why we made you a plan!

In this series of articles we will structure for you 3 steps that a screenwriter should follow to get closer and be prepared when the time comes and they give you the greenlight. These serve as a guide for you to better planify and adjust your expectations, they’re not the only path to get your project past development. These are tools you do with them what you want.

STAGE 3: THE GREEN LIGHT

In these instances, your project is solid enough to sit face-to-face with an executive. The time has come to do an all-in, and trust that your project is what executives are looking for.

In Filmarket Hub, we give you the opportunity to do just that, by organising mediums to get your pitch set out in person (or online) in front of a leading executive of the industry. We recommend you to keep an eye on our open calls >>

Without any further ado, here are the last stages to check out in our plan to get the green light. To break it down clearly, we’ve divided along the following lines: budget, finance, work-time, crew, development stage and objectives.

Let’s be done with this!

CREW

You have reached this step thanks to the hard and joint work of the screenwriter, director and producer of the project. If you are here, it’s because you have met the objectives in STEP 2 and a co-producer has joined your team.

Co-productions are quite interesting financing strategies and, above all, a model that is gaining more and more strength. This is due to the large budgets required to make content with the quality demanded by platforms.

Most professionals count on co-production as an optimal business model without really knowing what it means in most cases. Today more than ever, the term “co-producer” is coined for new production companies that actually do the development work but not the production work itself.

So what does co-production really mean?

A co-production is the intervention of several producers in a cinematographic work, each of the media contributing and participating in the distribution and sale of the product. The “means” are understood as the strategic and economic resources that each party must contribute according to the corresponding percentage.

Laws, regulations, and access to public funding for co-productions vary notably between territories, making it even more challenging to actually find a co-production that makes sense at a strategic and narrative level.

In a panel we recently held with ROADMAP WRITERS, on co-productions and development with professionals such as Janet Jeffries (Development and Production executive at Lawrence Bender Productions), Carlo Dusi (Endor Productions Executive Producer and Strategy Director), Glen Geller (Producer at Sony TV) and Alex Boden (Chair of the Production Guild of Great Britain PGGB), it was discussed how an international co-production could take place and, what are the challenges of producing today to a more global audience. If you’re interested in see the full interview, click here >>

DEVELOPMENT STAGE

At this stage and to achieve the final objectives, it’s important to polish the project’s document to make it look as solid as possible. To achieve that, you have to count on the following materials:

1. Cast: It’s important to have a letter of commitment to the project, especially if the cast is made up of prestigious actors or actresses. When an executive can visualize the characters with actors, it is easier to empathize with the project. In the absence of recognized actors, it’s important that we can justify in some way which standards are the best option for our project.
2. Crew: In the same way as with the cast, we must have letters of commitment from those who will be team leaders. In addition to having their biography and filmography to support the value.
3. Final script: By now, the script should be in its final stage so that there are no weak links or room for doubt. This doesn’t mean that this is the script that will be filmed. In the event that the project has opted for a platform, it will most likely go through some revision and modifications (this could vary according to the platform and the project).
4. Packaging: Making the ‘package’ of your project is quite simple when you know your project in depth. Here you will collect all the relevant and sales information for your project. The most important thing is that the result is not seen as a glob of nonsense but as a harmonious presentation of that fantastic story that everyone should be interested in buying. To make a consistent and attractive packaging, we leave you a couple of tips here >>

WORKING HOURS

At this point, things are done more quickly, you’ve established a rhythm, there is less hesitation as you now know your project inside-out. Making the decision-making easier. However, this still depends on the experience of the people who lead it.

You should be done with this stage in 6 months. But each project has its times, and you should not feel overwhelmed if it takes you a little more or a little less. Of course, you should speed up. Especially now that you have a committed team and cast and, surely they have already made a hole in their agendas. Use it as additional motivation to close deals.

BUDGET & FINANCE

The budget for this stage is around 50’000€. Detailed below are some of the concepts in which this amount should be invested:

1. Elaboration of the script, writing and rewriting, external advice on the script and/or translation of the script into another language.
2. Design and updates of promotional graphic material (teaser poster, pitch deck/dossier)
3. Expenses in translations of the sales material (pitch deck/dossier, script).
4. Travel and accommodation expenses to search for co-producers and attend markets.
5. Location scouting expenses.
6. Expenses incurred by the technical team during the development stage: Executive Producer, Production Director, Development Producer, casting manager, storyboard director, etc.
7. Legal and tax consultancies.
8. Communication service with the press (optional).

To reach this amount, the financial strategy is to go after public development funds.

For projects with Ibero-American co-productions, consider applying for funds such as Ibermedia. For European-oriented projects, apporoach those from MEDIA, but don’t forget those offered by the different territories and countries from your film and audiovisual organisms.

OBJECTIVES

This endurance race reaches its final phase, don’t stop! The objective is basically to GET THE GREEN LIGHT. You already have all the materials ready, as well as the entire human team that supports your project, now it’s time to polish your commercial skills and sell your project like a PRO.

Here is a list of objectives according to the strategy you have defined in the first steps.

1 — I want to finance my project with public funds: This type of strategy will be adjusted to projects with reduced budgets. It’s the path that producers take if they have the resources and experience to bear the weight of the project’s production. To achieve full financing, it is necessary to follow the following steps:

• Close co-production agreements.
• Close international sales and distribution agreements.
• Apply co-production programs (Ibermedia, Media, EuroImage, etc).
• Apply to calls for public funds.
• Apply to calls for television channels.

2 — I want to sell my project to a platform: The question that our users ask the most is, how do I send my script to Netflix? There are several ways to connect with a platform:

• Recommendations: Only a few access this opportunity, most because they have a great connection with the industry and are already in a good position within it. This is why we insist that you work on your personal brand.
• Connect with an aggregator producer: These producers have agreements with the platforms to produce content, either originals (coming from the development teams of the platforms) or in-house content (projects developed by the same aggregator producer). At Filmarket Hub we help you connect with them through our calls and at our online market. If you want to know more about how to access our marketplace, click here >>
• Connect with an Executive: If you are a producer with the capacity to carry out all the management of the development and production of a project, you could become an aggregator producer. Reaching an agreement with an executive, in any case, is not an easy task. Accumulating a couple of credits that validate your professionalism is the first step. If you are a screenwriter and you want to sell your project, you can do it at Pitch events. Visit our calls section from time to time to find opportunities >>

Additionnally, you may find insightful what Catherine Freeman (Development Exectuive at Ruby Rock Pitcures) & Malak El Gonemi (Development Editor at Film Nation UK), members of our Screenwriting Feature Film 2021 Contest’s advice is.

That’s all folks! We hope you have a better idea of the steps you have to take to reach the green light. We would love to see it on the screens!

Do us a big favour, and if this series has been helpful, send it to a friend who may need it. You can find us in Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn & YouTube.

We are waiting for you at Filmarket Hub. Thanks for reading!