I have always wanted to make a feature since I saw Toy Story as a 12-year-old. I think Eddie and James felt the same way and that’s how we started the business we have now. As of last week, that dream to make a feature was realized when we were selected as 1 of 4 teams to make a A$350,000 feature film by the SA Film Corporation (our state government’s film funding body for those of you outside of Oz). I’m not giving away too much now other than the title of our film, “Guys in bands get laid”
The project is part of the SA Film Corporation’s FilmLab initiative. It’s a bold plan that will give 8 teams A$350,000 to make a low-budget feature over the next 4 years. The program also includes workshops with expert film developers and puts us in touch with distributors and experienced producers who have successfully made low budget films. We’re in the first group of 4 teams, but they have selected another 2 teams who will not receive the funding but will participate in all the workshops.
It’s exciting while at the same time daunting. At first it didn’t hit me that someone was giving us money to finally make a feature. We had been skeptical about whether it was a good fit for us and had taken the position we weren’t going to apply until quite late. Needless to say, it was far from the most well-prepared pitch we had done. I had been thinking that at best we might get a chance to be selected as one of the 2 “observing teams” and have the opportunity of getting our project developed to a market ready stage. I certainly wasn’t prepared for being one of the funded teams.
The first workshop, running for 3 weeks, will be grueling. About a month ago, Eddie and I went to a 6-day workshop run by the same people and were exhausted by the end of it. Making a feature on A$350,000 will be a challenge that can’t be underestimated. The lowest budget features I have seen released have been made on US$500,000 – about twice as much as we have. These were my first thoughts when they told me over the phone we had been selected. It wasn’t until a few minutes later that it finally sunk in we were making a feature and I started to get excited.
I’ve spent a lot of time in the last couple of years working out how we would make our first feature, but I never planned it would happen like this. We have a lot of work to do, but this is a golden opportunity that I’m sure other filmmakers trying to make their first feature are envious of. We’re all pumped!
Tags: Animated Feature, Feature Films, FilmLab, The People's Republic of Animation
June 29, 2009 at 3:44 pm |
[...] of Whack By Hugh Nguyen With my usual schedule thrown out of whack due to a unique professional opportunity, I’ve been missing a whole bunch of volleyball commitments. thankfully some reliable [...]