Producing : Ask Me Anything (AMA) 12/13-12/14 - Producing an Indie Feature by Tim Ogletree

Thanks for having this AMA, @Tim Ogletree. Hope you're doing great. What's the first step for producing an indie feature?

Hey Maurice, honored to and I'm great, thanks! Hope you're crushing life. The first step is always the idea. What's selling right now? Family, action, horror/thriller? It's part anticipation through sales experts who attend the different markets all over the world, and part finding the right material. If you're a writer, pitch your idea/script to people you trust to get some honest feedback. Try to connect with sales agents, reps, other producers, etc to see what's hot with buyers all around the world. Your number one job as a producer is to protect your investors, so knowing what can be sold, or ideally pre-sold, is crucial!

Tim Ogletree Thank you for taking the time to share your knowledge. I am coming from this from print and PR writing eyes. We've seen projects that were not edited enough but, other than second guessing, how do you know when a project is edited too much? When do you decide that it is complete and ready for the next stage?

Thank you for making yourself available today, Tim Ogletree! What advice do you have for approaching distributors with your indie film?

Debbie Elicksen great question! if you're talking about a screenplay, I always have a trusted circle of note-givers that I know will give honest advice. find people who know story, character, dialogue, etc and collect notes. and don't be insulted by them or take them personally because everything is subjective and a script can change up until the second it's captured on camera if it's best for the film. I'd also stagger the drafts amongst so you have fresh eyes if you can! but in short, if a script moves a little too fast, beats are missing, or a character's arc doesn't feel fleshed out enough, it may be over-edited. be conscious of page count, but don't cut important moments just for the sake cutting pages

Ashley Renee Smith of course, and that's a very important question! depending on how your movie is developed (with/without a company involved) there are a couple ways, but at the end of the day it comes down to connections old and new. a lot of distributors don't take unsolicited submissions, which you'll find out when sending the screener and info out in cold emails, but it's important to send them to any and every distributor you can find. look at similar movies on imdb and see who their distributor was because they'll be receptive!

the best way to get your film to distributors, however, is through a sales agent. you should never get a "we don't accept unsolicited material" response from them because they have to or they'd never find enough movies to sell. having an experienced sales agent is great because they'll have a lot of great ins that you may not, plus it's no longer "unsolicited" when it's represented by a sales agent. you can find these companies on imdb as well, but definitely do your due diligence because there are a fair share of snakes who don't pay up or give you a bad deal. having an entertainment attorney definitely helps in this area, ,as well as vetting distributors.

Hey Tim Ogletree, thanks for giving us some of your time! A question I imagine others would want to know the answer to: what makes a script the right fit for an indie producer, beyond just budget?

You're welcome, Tim Ogletree. Thanks for the answer. "Hope you're crushing life." I like that saying! Yeah, I'm crushing life. Do indie films usually have co-producers or is it just the one producer?

David Abrookin honestly it's similar to an actor getting involved, it's always best when the producer loves the material! we've all done things for the money, but at the indie level the money is rarely enticing enough to be the only reason. plus someone who genuinely loves the script will put their whole heart and soul into every second of the process because they want it to come to life in the best way possible. i've seen producers lose interest and bail just a couple months into the process because they thought it would just be an easy paycheck and didn't want to actually work to make the movie great. audiences can also tell the difference between a movie that the entire team genuinely loved making and a movie that was just a paycheck or credit stacker

DT Houston man that sounds like an awesome project! very cool to have so much interest already. i would say if you're choosing between a well-known musician and a lesser-known but poised to break out musician, you've gotta go with the better acting chops. obviously the director will want a say so it's good that you're patient with that, but with music-centric films, and maybe even moreso with biopics, they've GOT to be the character. musical talent is great and will make for a killer soundtrack, but you can always surround a lesser-known talent with name talent that sells. I've definitely faced that dilemma when casting. had a VERY valuable name that would get the movie financed in a matter of days but just wasn't the right fit for the role she wanted. she actually pulled a fast one on our director when they met and said she wanted a different, bigger role than the one we had already negotiated. i wanted her gone more than ever but obviously still wanted the movie made as soon as possible. then the pandemic hit and bought us about 3 years to decide what the best move was and we ended up moving on from her. it was definitely scary but we're headed down a good track now! i always recommend trusting your gut unless you're betting on the Dallas Cowboys haha

Maurice Vaughan heck yeah, love it! indies usually have a team of producers, and the credits are determined by the capital-P Producers depending on the responsibilities taken on by the others brought in. for example, i was brought onto something a few months ago where I was mainly dedicated to talent and was given an Associate Producer credit, and that producing team was about 8-deep on a $3M movie

Hi Tim. Have you had any luck with pre-sales to distributors or is that a thing of the past?

Also, do you ever talk to distributors before casting to determine which actors have better sales value later? How early do you hire a casting person?

Good to know, Tim Ogletree. I tried to produce two features way back, and I went at it alone. I definitely should've had producing partners.

Hi Tim Ogletree - thank you so much for this AMA today! When putting an indie film together, do you find that you need to have meaningful cast locked in before you can approach financing or try to get any pre-sales going or can the strength of the script and maybe a filmmaker be enough to get the process started. Thanks, again!

Mike Boas hey Mike! so pre-sales aren't a thing of the past, but you definitely have to have a great package with talent that has known international value. talent being not just actors, but the director, even the writer(s) if they just had a festival darling that sold big or something. sometimes they just throw their name on as an executive producer.

I will say though, based on a project I came aboard after it was already shot because the producing team was an absolute mess, you have to make sure the pre-sales are REAL. a shady sales agent promised a mid-six figures MG based on presales but never paid up because they didn't actually exist!

Sam Sokolow happy to! by far the best/fastest/easiest way to raise financing, whether independent or through a production company, is to have meaningful cast attached. that pretty much opens all the doors you'll need if the material is solid. filmmaker of note definitely helps too! the annoying part is it's always a catch-22. you need cast to get money, but you almost always need at least some money to get cast. reps have become wary of pushing projects that aren't fully financed, but they also understand the nature of indie film for the most part. at the end of the day, somebody just has to be the first one to be brave and say yes! those are the people you want to work with anyway--the believers

Have you used credit cards to fund your movies?

I have 3 projects I would like to produce 2 series and 1 movie production. What is your advice on how to connect with people as I am making my rounds and fortifying my scripts and pitches and also taking classes which have been helpful. I have a set location on my 30 acre ranch and my husband and son are actors as well as myself so I could shoot the concept with just the family and friends we could round up. I want to see the films come to life and any advice is appreciated. it’s very kind of you to volunteer advice and thank you in advance.

Tim Ogletree I am developing an idea for a new martial arts animal movie with my producer friend Danial Zakaria. It will be an animated feature about these pets that hope to become martial arts masters. We are looking for financiers to help raise money for our budget, but we're having trouble finding them. Would you like to help us?

DT Houston An interesting idea.

Dan MaxXx i have not but I would love to see the points of someone who has haha

Cyreita Drummond that's awesome! always gotta have a few concepts in the bag. as far as connecting, this site is honestly the best platform i've used to make connections and talk about projects. if you're located near a film-friendly city (LA, NYC, Austin, Atlanta, NOLA, OKC, Nashville, etc) it's definitely worth trying to connect online, even in Facebook groups focused on film or whatever you can find, because you can find out about events, get-togethers, mixers, and meet-ups and go meet people in person! social media has helped me a ton as far as making random connections with people I probably wouldn't have crossed paths with professionally.

if you haven't done a consult on here or gotten feedback on your concepts/pitches, there are a ton of really cool people with valuable expertise that you can have a more in depth conversation with. as far as shooting with friends and family, that's always my favorite thing to do! But i would definitely go about it in the right way as far as producing it because the last thing you want to do is spend a ton of money and not get what you envisioned, especially if it's independently financed by you and your friends/family!

Cee Whirx that sounds super marketable and checks a ton of boxes for sales and distro! i'm not in the animation game so this one might not be for me but I can talk to a couple people who may be able to help and DM you if i get any interest!

Tim Ogletree I would really appreciate it. I thought about making this an anime film...

Tim Ogletree thank you so much everything noted. Thank you for taking the time to host this

Thank you all for your questions, can't wait to see your future work!

You're welcome, Tim Ogletree. Thanks again for having this AMA! It was incredible!