IFH 805: Why Your Film Isn’t Getting Made (And What to Do About It) with Ron Newcomb
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You are listening to the IFH Podcast Network. For more amazing filmmaking and screenwriting podcasts, just go to ifhpodcastnetwork.com. Welcome to the Indie Film Hustle Podcast, episode number 805. Cinema should make you forget you're sitting in a theater. Roman Polanski.

Broadcasting from the back alley in Hollywood, it's the Indie Film Hustle Podcast, where we show you how to survive and thrive as an indie filmmaker in the jungles of the film biz. And here's your host, Alex Ferrari. Welcome, welcome to another episode of the Indie Film Hustle Podcast. I am your humble host, Alex Ferrari. Today's show is sponsored by Rise of the Filmtrepreneur, how to turn your independent film into a profitable business.

It's harder today than ever before for independent filmmakers to make money with their films. From predatory film distributors ripping them off to huckster film aggregators who prey upon them, the odds are stacked against the indie filmmaker. The old distribution model of making money with your film is broken and there needs to be a change.

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If you want to order it, just head over to www.FilmBizBook.com. That's FilmBizBook.com. Enjoy today's episode with guest host, Dave Bullis.

So glad to talk to my next guest. We talk about all this stuff. We also talk about a very hot topic, which is how the hell do you make a film while working a full-time day job? How do you do that? How do you go work a job and it's 8 to 12 hours? You come home, you get family responsibilities, you got people always asking for your attention, you got people constantly asking

And I'll tell you a little side story here. The other day, I actually had a friend of mine who I hadn't talked to in years asking me to help him with different projects. I mean, you know, as soon as I go on Facebook Messenger, man, it's over. I get dinged like crazy. And a friend of mine was telling me to remove it. And I one time I actually suspended my Facebook and I was just I got people then bombarding me on Twitter or my email.

Um, that's why whenever I tell people, if I don't get back to you, trust me, there's a reason I'm not ignoring you. But we were going to talk about all that stuff. Uh, this is a really, really cool episode with guest Ron Newcomb.

Yeah, no, definitely appreciate it. Yeah, Scott is awesome. You know, I'm a fan of Scott's and yours, and there's so many other guys and gals out there doing at a level that we're all kind of doing it at. And I just love what Scott was doing. So, yeah, I connected with him and have gone on to kind of help with doing a few of those. But, you know, it kind of gets to a point where when you're working full time and you have your full time job, you have your family and

And really, the podcast becomes such a lift. And I know you know this, but filmmaking started to take second seat. So I've even reevaluated just, OK, what is my why? You know, what am I doing and why am I doing it? And then what's the goal? And so I even recently and I know a lot of people out there can relate. We're always having to kind of

reinvent ourselves. You know, that's the whole mantra of the start of the new year. We're all setting goals and resolutions. And, you know, 2018 definitely for me is about leveling up. I want to level up my filmmaking game. That's the goal. Yeah. So when you say like level up, I mean, do you mean just like the scope of projects, the amount of projects? Is that what you're referring to? So really what I want to do is I realized I kept being very

about my filmmaking career. And so, you know, as an, I consider myself an indie filmmaker, but I'm not anti-studio. You know, if the studio was willing to come in and jump in and fund some of my projects,

Hey, game on. You know, I think even Kevin Smith and Tarantino and Rodriguez, look, you know, they all started out independent, but the studios funded their dreams, you know, and got their stories told. And it really goes down to the why. And I think why are we all

in this storytelling thing? Why are we all in this business? And it's because filmmaking is powerful, right? As Americans, our number one export is our culture. And we predominantly do that through the power of film. Just go to anywhere outside the States and you see the impact and influence of things. And you see Nike and all these different things. And film can also reflect culture

at times, but it can also dictate culture. It's powerful. But it must be a calling. It can't just be a want or a desire. And I started to realize that I'm getting ready to turn 45. And

You know, every film that I've ever been a part of feature, it's taken five to seven years. So the math doesn't add up. You know, I'm not going to get to tell all the stories I want to tell. I have over 25 treatments ready to go. I literally just yesterday typed The End on a screenplay, man. And that was, you know, it took about a little over six months to write this latest feature that I've done.

So when you start to look at those things as an indie, because we don't get to do this in a full time capacity for most of us. I've had intermittent moments where I've been able to do filmmaking full time at three year intervals, ironically enough. But right now I've had to go back and get a another nine to five job. And so I've realized that, OK, Ron, you have three predominant paths as an independent filmmaker, I believe, that you can take.

One is you can try to go get a manager, you know, as a director, as a writer and level your career up that way. And so that's one path that I'm pursuing going, seeking representation to try to get into that whole studio system. Cause the likelihood of you breaking in on your own is, is, you know, almost non-existent. And then two is,

It's to find the right production partner that can help team up with me and get the stories that I want told out there. And those are hard to find as our managers, but there are production companies producing partners rather that are out there that are looking for that next right thing. And then thirdly, I,

could look at bringing on investors to do my own projects. And I think I'm going to bang the drum on all three of them. And again, I think that's the, the indie way that's the indie spirit is I'm going to try to seek about securing a manager. I'm going to try to be getting a producing partner that can bring me to that next level. And then I'm also going to be trying to seek out my own investors on, I have two,

Two projects and wrapping up on a third project that is packaged, if you will, not in the context of the studio package per se. Like I have a named writer, director and an actor because I wrote it. I want to direct it.

but I've packaged it in the sense of got all my comps done and all these, the business plan done and ready to go. And so the next step would be trying to get on that producing partner that can then bring in those relationships where I might be able to, let's say, bring on an A-list or B-list talent level. So when I talk about leveling up, those are the

three things that I've identified that I'm going to be trying to do this year. So much so, Dave, that I actually, I live in the D.C. metro area. And on August 25th, I just signed the paperwork. I'm going to do an event because I think I'm the only one. I'm not the only one out there that feels like this. And I'm going to invite managers, producing partners and investors to D.C.,

to host an event where we can pitch them. You know, think of it as Shark Tank meets the independent world. And it's not like you get five minutes, you get 90 seconds to pitch. I went to this other pitch event, entrepreneurial pitch event, and it was so well done.

that it was such a light bulb moment. And so I talked to a few investors and they were like, yeah, you know, we, we like to see something like that. There's no guarantee that we'll all walk out with something, but you know, I think a lot of independents, man, we just want up the bat. Just give me the shot, you know, put me in the game. Yeah. You know, it's funny you mentioned that event because a couple of years ago, I was actually part of like a producer's group here in Philly and we were going to do something similar and,

and it just all fell apart for a ton of reasons. But that's why I'm glad you're doing this, Ron, because I think it's awesome. Ours was probably going to be a little bit different. Yours is probably going to be 10,000 times better. Just because... I won't go into it. I'll start going off on a tangent. But basically... See, this is what I'm talking about. We were just talking about all these different projects, and they take seven years...

I mean, the biggest problem that I find too, Ron, is not only you have to work a full-time day job, and then you got to come home, and you have all these family commitments or what have you. We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor. And now, back to the show.

And then you want to get to working and by the end you're either too tired or you're so stressed out you can't work. I fall into that latter part, by the way. And I just can't concentrate on it. Like I got 10,000 other things running through my mind. But like I think that, you know, just events like this, you know, should become more commonplace because...

There are people out there that feel that way. And if you could say to these investors, these producers, these channels, what have you, and say, look, this isn't going to be a free-for-all kind of like AFM. This is going to be more of a structured, hey, look, there's going to be a certain level of quality, a certain barometer that people have to pass.

And you're only going to get, you know, people who can actually generally do stuff. It's not going to be like, hey, a first time filmmaker or maybe even a YouTuber who's trying to, you know, raise $50,000 or whatever. Yeah, exactly. You know, there is a kind of levels, tiers, if you will. Like I've had some marginal success. I've done some features. And hey, by the way, I think anybody out there listening that has done a feature film should win an Oscar, man. We should just go to walk up and accept our award.

It takes an act of God. A film will fight you every step of the way. You have to pull it into existence. So for all the people that have finished a feature, bravo. But there are, I do believe, kind of different levels, different tiers. And I really want to do it at a high-end professional level, just simply in the

indie market. So I'm definitely not talking about running around with a handy cam on my backyard, you know, trying to film my daughters and turn it into a feature. Although, see, that might be an idea right there we can film. We can write that down. Yeah, I will. No, it definitely is

you know, about one of the things that I find is there's, there's not a ton of opportunities for us. And so people always, you're, we're waiting for someone else. We're waiting for someone else. And I just said, you know what, this year, I'm just not going to wait for anybody else. I'm just going to do, and I'm going to, you know, we live in a day and age of, you know, Gary Vaynerchuk and all these others where you got to do more, you got to do more, you got to do more. And so you walk away feeling a little bit defeated, like,

man, I like, I can't do more. You know, I'm staying up. I don't have a full-time job and then a part-time job. I have two full-time jobs, you know, filmmaking, independent filmmaking is a full-time job. I stay up till nine, 10 o'clock every night, you know, trying to work on something. I don't give, try to give myself too many luxuries of watching this or that. Um,

Although I do think it's important as a filmmaker to watch stuff, don't get me wrong, but I'm really trying to spend the time to put myself in the best possible position and yet have enough grace for myself not to be all consuming because...

You know, film can be defeatism, man. I mean, you could get completely defeated and wiped out. Like, you know, why am I doing this? And I think that's the important question. Why are you doing this? If it's for fame or fortune, you know, if I can deter anybody to get out of it, I don't want to come off as a, you know, a pessimist. I hate it when you listen to podcasts and people are like, man, that dude's a downer. But I do want to be, this is the school of hard knocks.

Indie filmmaking, true indie filmmaking, trying to do it vocationally and make money at it and do a full time is not for the weak at heart. You know, there's a tax to be paid and it's not paid by you. It's paid by your family. And it's a challenge, you know, um, it, and, and this is just one man's point of view. This is just the way I've done it. And I also reserved the right to change my mind later and might even contradict myself. But, um,

It is something that I believe at 45 that I have been able to look back on and say, OK, if I can give some thoughts, guidance and insight into something and try to pull people up at least to where I'm at and push them beyond, you know, hopefully I can give some little nuggets to people to make it happen because it's not, you know, it's not easy.

Right. And we all know that. But I do think there is a pathway to make it happen. You know, there's a great resource out there that I'm a big fan of is Stage 32. I think that they're doing a really good job out there for filmmakers. And I got to interview RB, the CEO of Stage 32 and just a real sharp guy. And there's so many other great resources out

to get information from like yourself Dave you know Jason Brubaker Jason Buff Alex Ferrari you know Scott of course Ashley Tom Aloy you know we can go on and on about people that are equipping us to get out there but one of the things I've realized Dave is that

One of the best things I can do for my sphere of influence is really do a film. That's what really people want. You know, they want opportunity. And it would be great if I could call you up, Dave, and say, hey, man, you're in Philly. You know, you're just a couple hours up the road from me. Come on down here and let's do a feature for the next three weeks.

You know, and by the way, I'm paying. Yeah, that would be absolutely amazing. And this is what I was alluding to earlier was, you know, I think this is why a lot of guys get burned out because, you know, again, just to go back to the seven-year time span or even the three to five-year time span, you know, people join projects and as a producer most of the time or what have you, and it goes...

through these cycles where it's like, okay, we're feel like we're putting something together. Oh, then it falls apart. Then we're going to put it back together again. And then it falls apart. And then that's why people get so burned out in this industry because it's so much, it's, it's one step forward, one step back. Yeah. Usually you don't get anywhere, you know? Yeah. And then you start going, well, God damn, you know, we've wasted a year. And, and, and also on the flip side of that,

I've been a part of projects where a few years ago, I actually swore off producing other people, other people's projects, because as I was getting, I was putting all this together, spending all this time. And the person was getting cold feet, the person who was going to direct this. And I said, I don't tolerate that stuff. I said, I, if you're not a hundred percent into it, I should not care about this project more than you should like you, you know, you know, and, and, and cause it was his thing. And yeah,

Eventually, I just bowed out, and then we had a bad falling out, and he blamed me for the project falling apart. And I said, I told you this was going to happen if I left. I need you to be all hands on deck. I need you to be 110% into this. It just...

And it's happened before, too. I mean, there's numerous projects I've been involved with where something like that's happened. And it's not an isolated incident. And finally, I just say, you know what? Why am I even doing this? You know, what's the point of all of this? You know, and then, you know, I decided to start a podcast, which was another bad idea. And now here I am, Ron. I'm so far deep. I can't stop.

No, man. But it's because you know why, Matt, because, you know, you're bringing strong value add to the community that you love. And I totally agree, man, if you're not all in. And let me speak to that for a second, because I believe, you know, tonight's talk is about like the 20 percenters.

The 20 percenters that are really going to make it happen. I kind of believe and I don't mean this this arrogantly or to to devalue all the people out there wanting to do film. But I want to esteem the filmmakers, those that have done it. All right. That have completed a film because it is difficult to finish a film that the try and true film.

You know, again, school of hard knocks filmmakers that have to get out there and grind it out because there there is a lot of hurdles. And again, the film will will fight you. And there's a lot of people that simply just talk, you know, they talk.

They are not going to follow through. This has to be about the doers. If I can do anything and do you a favor tonight, it would be to try to deter you. If you're not all in, then you shouldn't try to dip your toe in the water. I talk to, look, actors act, writers write.

I talk to actors and they'll say, cause that, that's the lens that I wear. That's how I got into this whole thing is through the vehicle of acting. And I say, you know, are you acting right now? And they go, no, I'm not. Okay. Well, are you doing shorts or plays? No, no, no. I just do features.

When was the last feature you did? Oh, well, that was five years ago. So you're not really that serious then, because it should should should breathe within you, ignite something in you so much that you have to go and do it. And it doesn't matter if you're doing it on stage or for a short or in on a feature film. Actors act.

Or I'll see actors, they'll fire off one email and wonder why people aren't getting back to them or why it's not happening for them. Or they don't seek a manager out or they're not doing these other things. And you need to go beyond just the simplicity of things and do your passion, your calling. And if it's not a calling, then...

You know, there might be other things that you can do to be a part of it. And this is another thing that that a acting professor told me that is is hard to hear, but I believe is wisdom. And he says sometimes we'll be right back after a word from our sponsor. And now back to the show.

If a person's not getting cast, that's the industry speaking to you. And I know that's hard to hear. I know that's hard to hear. But if you're not getting cast over and over and over and over again...

And you're still trying to do the same thing without trying to level up, taking a class or getting a manager or securing things, then you got to wonder why, right? I mean, isn't that the definition of insanity? There's a lot of other ways that you can be involved with filmmaking. And that's another thing that I think as indies we need to do is never see yourself just as one thing. You're never just an actor. You're never just a writer or just a crew member.

you know, do we do this thing collaboratively? And there's usually one person that kind of spearheads it and takes it on. And then we all get to live out our callings and our passions. But if, if, if we could all just leave ego aside for a moment, I believe that

all of us could all get what we wanted. You know, I find it funny that there's a bunch of indie filmmakers that I know, and each of them kind of know a few, not major investors, but they know like someone that could give 10,000 here or 15,000 there. And I'm like, guys, gals, you know, if we all just came together, we got about 150 grand here and nobody wants, they all want to do their project. No, no, no. I'm saving that, that person for my own project. And so years and years go by when nothing getting done.

And so this year, you know, kind of like you, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm trying to produce my own stuff, you know? Um, now I will say, uh, Hey, I'm always up for looking for the right project, you know, to come along, um, to maybe to jump in and be a part of, but it needs to be the right project. You can't keep doing stuff, uh, for free, you know? Um,

So, so yeah, I mean, it's, it's a challenge and we should be going beyond that challenge and not expecting, um, you know, an easy road. You know, it's another thing that I see a lot. Um, it's usually a rate of revolved around working out, but when you, when you hear the rock and Mark Wahlberg, you know, I hear guys saying, well, if I had their money, I would look like that too. And, you know, I laugh, right. Uh,

These guys, if you've seen really, you know, drill down and got to see some intimate interviews with those guys and others, too, you know, both of them get up at 4 a.m. in the morning and go work out for like several hours. They eat like extremely strict. And these guys are just amazing.

They're beyond passionate. It is a calling for them, and it's why they continue to work. And we should use that as an inspiration to level up ourselves and to go the distance. I don't know that we need to do more because, again, as Americans, that's what we keep telling ourselves. Like, man, I'm not doing enough. I got to do more. And you white knuckle it and try to force it into success. And I don't know that that's right.

What I think you have to do is the right thing and you got to keep doing the right thing. Yeah. But, you know, as you mentioned,

going to sleep 9, 10 o'clock at night. I was going to ask Ron, what time do you wake up in the morning? Because I know I read a book last year that was just completely life-changing, and it's called Extreme Discipline. Yes. I may tell you, it's absolutely a life-changing book. And I wanted to ask, what time do you get up in the morning? All right. So first of all, Dave, I listened to that podcast that you mentioned that book. I

I went out and got that book as a result of your podcast and read it. And you're totally right. It is completely like life changing. Jacko and Leaf are just phenomenal warriors. But I tried to get up at at six. And, you know, one of the things that they talk about in the book, of course, is don't hit that snooze button. You know, don't give in. Hit that snooze button.

Um, cause that's one of the things great leaders do is, is you, you get up, they don't waste a minute. So it's not like, um, you know, they, they need more. They're going to do what they can within the, a lot of time. And they're going to just suck every nutrient out of that time slot that they have. So I've been trying to get up at six and, you know, I do try to get my workouts in and I do have a nine to five. So I go to work and I'm, I'm getting home. Um,

around, you know, 630. And then I had dinner with the family and I have family time, you know, that is a priority for me. And then I'm back in front of the computer. We start getting them down, the kids down about 830. And then I'm in front of the computer from, you know, let's say nine to 10 or 11. Now, some days I'll get motivated and I'll wake up at not often, but I will wake up at like four.

If I really want to get some writing done. Um, but I don't know that I'm like a, a great writer. I'm just tenacious and I know I'll get a draft done and get out there so that someone can basically rewrite, rewrite me, you know, rewriting is the easy part. Um, but anyways, I, I, I am trying to do that. I don't always get it right, but, um,

I do seek value in what they're doing in that book on so many levels, extreme ownership, taking ownership over things. And certainly that's one of the things that I'm talking about, about leveling up is that, you know, this is your life.

And don't live it passively. No one's going to come up and hand you something to give you something. And it doesn't mean you've got to go in and break the doors down and the barriers down and all that stuff. Because, you know, one of the things that that I had to wrestle with is, do you realize that only two percent of people in SAG are doing acting full time? Or what about, you know, I can't it's a professional football. How many athletes do?

hope that they would end up in the NFL and yet didn't make it in the NFL. Several people that I played football with growing up with, I thought were going to go on and the ones that didn't,

And, you know, I I was just shocked about. And yet did their did their life in did their life have no meaning? You know, and the and the answer is no. I'd like to point out, you know, The Rock didn't make it into the NFL and he pivoted and turned it into something pretty powerful. Right. You know, pretty, pretty successful. And so this thing called film.

One of the things that I want to caution people out at is trying to do it at any cost. Because again, many times you're not the one paying that cost. A lot of times it is your family paying that cost. So

You know, it shouldn't be at your your peace, your contentment. And that's something at 45 I've definitely have learned is learn that life is the journey. Contentment is done in the process of filmmaking, not necessarily the end result, because once I'm done with one film, I'm ready to go on to the next film. And if I.

never make a studio film. If Ron Newcomb never does that, am I okay with that? As long as I get to tell stories and I get to have a conversation into storytelling,

then I'm okay with that. And my contentment no longer in my peace and my joy doesn't have to come from that. But I got to tell you, man, I, you know, for the longest time I was feeling, I was trying to white knuckle it and force my way into success and trying to make it happen. And success was very, very defined in a very particular way. And, you know, I had to realize that that's not what life's about. It isn't what it's about.

And so, yeah, you know, I'm trying to take ownership on leveling up to that next filmmaking level.

Yeah. And that's the thing, too, is not only just extreme ownership and the fact that, you know, hey, whatever happens to us, you know, we have to own that. We have to own these responsibilities. But also, it's just about, you know, toughening up, because one of the things that I was getting into a real bad habit of was whenever something would happen.

I would just lose my shit. I would just go, oh my God, another roadblock, another problem. And I started to realize, I was like, you know what? If I just would accept the fact that there's going to be problems, I think I would be able to... If I go in there expecting it to be a... Do you know what I mean? Like, expect the worst. Prepare for the worst, expect the best. So if I went in there and did that, it wouldn't be such a problem. You know what I mean? And it's just like, that's what I do nowadays. It just feels like...

Half the time, man, I don't know about you, Ron, it just feels like...

forget about there not being enough hours in the day. We all, we all say that. I just feel that it's almost like the days are getting so shorter where it's like you go, you wake up, you pound coffee, you go to work, you just work through lunch, you come home and then you got, obviously you're, you're still answering your cell phone or whatever. You're, you're, you're allowed to be answering emails. And then as soon as all of a sudden everyone wants to talk to you, as soon as you get into the door, um,

And then it's like, you know, six, seven, eight at night. And it's like, all right, well, I have now about an hour to be by myself to work on this thing. You know, does that happen to you? Oh, man. I mean, all the time. I mean, yeah, I think that is definitely a lot of the tenacious effort that an indie filmmaker. We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor. And now back to the show.

has to find within them the fortitude to be able to kind of carry on. And I think it's important to answer that. Why? You know, what is your why? To understand your why? Because, again, if you can be talked out of this crazy thing, you should be. Now, that doesn't mean you won't make your little 48 hour film hour, you know, film projects and have fun telling some stories. But I'm talking about truly trying to make independent filmmaking as of it

full-time vocation because it takes a full-time effort. And a lot of times, you know, the world doesn't have to respond. It doesn't have to reply to you. And so it can be a challenge out there. And, and, and yet we know though, that when it does, there's a reason why we are so tenacious is that there's beauty in the end result of what we create. And I got to tell you, I love

the filmmaking collaboration process too. I love working with other artists and, you know, it's kind of like Zorg and fifth element. If you remember that scene when he drops the glass and then all these little things start to come out and clean up the, the glass, you know I was also, I was a cop for a little while, Dave here in Alexandria, Virginia. And I,

There was one person on the squad that would usually go out and get the rest of the squad into something. And that guy was me. I was going out trying to be the one of like, all right, let's go find somebody selling drugs or doing something wrong. And we can get into to deter or protect this city. And as a filmmaker, I kind of carry that same mantra into what we're doing is that

be the one to do the film project because that in and of itself creates opportunities. But trying to do it at this other second tier, this other level, you know, again, we're not newbies and yet we're not able to do it potentially 110% full time all the time just yet.

And so we have this balance that we have to take on. And I do believe that you also have to find yourself, just like the filmmaking process is collaborative, life is collaborative. Life is not meant to be a solo sport, neither is filmmaking. And when you're feeling that way, you got to be able to reach out.

You know, you got to be able to reach out to others and to remind you of that dream. And so when people are doing filmmaking in isolation, they're

Um, that is such a mountain to climb. I'm not saying that people can't do it, but I'm certainly not wired that way. I'm not a one man shop where I write film edit, you know, color sound is I'm not that type of filmmaker. Um, I, I like the collaborative part and yet I also liked you like you, Dave, I've lost friends along the way, brother, you know, I have lost friends along the way. Um,

for not being clear enough or frankly taking extreme ownership over things and have unfortunately wiped out on a few dreams. I was on a feature film and our ROI, our return didn't come back the way we all necessarily wanted to. And then next thing you know, fingers start to get point and people leave. I've been on other projects where expectations weren't laid out and people stopped

doing or working in an efficient enough manner to where someone that thought they were secure, you know, wasn't. And these are hard things to have to live out. But if you know your why, then and you have surrounded yourself with like minded people that know what you're going through. And I think that's that's the deal, right, is you have to be able to

Find people. One of the challenges I think people are trying to do as filmmakers is level up so far that the person they're trying to reach out to is such at a high level that the likelihood of them joining you on your project is not likely. So find someone who's at your level or maybe just slightly above you. Right. Yeah. Maybe don't swing for the fences in that context for a partner.

Find people that are doing like mindedness. You know, I think you and I are kindred spirits that way. And again, that that list I gave earlier, Tom, Scott, Ashley, Alex, Jason, you know, the other Jason Buff.

All of us are... We're rowing, man. We're rowing hard because we know our why. I think the best thing I could do for you guys, like I said, man, I would love to be able to call you guys up and be like, hey, guys, I got funding. We're rolling. We're rolling cameras, man. Do the podcast live on set here. We're making a movie. I think it gets to a point where that's the best gift that I can give people. And

When those moments do get tiresome and tight and it's, you know, it's I'm ready to go to bed and I'm trying to get a few more pages checked off the script. It's pulling back to those things. And, you know, again, it is finding contentment in the process, finding contentment and grabbing a beer with some friends, you know, and hanging out or talking shop, you know, or talking movies because it is such a passion that we all have.

Well, Ron, if you get funding for your movie, I'll do the podcast on set. But at that point, I'd be like, hey, look, Ron, I'll come back to produce the thing. Let's just do it that way. Let's do it. Yeah, I like it, man. No, you know, and, you know, be a doer, man. Be a finisher. There's so many filmmakers that, again, that call themselves filmmakers and and they haven't finished anything. They've wiped out, you know.

You know, be a finisher. You know, I think that's why, frankly, Kickstarter has become such a challenge for all of us filmmakers. We kind of did it to ourselves. We didn't finish and do things and come in on promises of different things. And so people are like,

You know, I'm not giving to that. Or... Yeah. Now, granted, the life cycle of a film is long. It always is. You know, like I said, the average for me has been five to seven years. I mean, we all saw Guillermo del Toro get up there and accept his award. And they were, like, raising the music up, you know? And you heard what he said. He was like, hey, guys, it took me 25 years to get up here. Give me a little grace here. Give me a moment to speak, you know? And I just was like, yes, right? Because...

Everyone thinks it's an overnight success and it's not. And yet people do it. But I, you know, I have a thing where when I first started to try to get into filmmaking, it was right after the Marine Corps that I was trying to get on a set. Now, this is pre digital. Right. So this is, you know, a good time ago.

And no one would even let me come in and just, you know, get work for free or come on and grab coffee or, you know, like a pre-PA almost. And I told myself, man, if I ever get a set that I'm not going to do that. So if people are willing to come on now, you know, there's no passive viewers on my set. You're going to work. But I want to create opportunities. That's what I get jazzed about. That's why I got into the whole film education component of it.

um, you know, with, with the podcast and Scott does a super job over at film trooper, uh, there, um, is I really do believe that opportunities and, and storytelling is what we all want to do. And that's the best gift that we can give each other. Cause if, if I'm doing a project and you're doing a project and then you hire me, you know, and then it,

It all works. And I know we see this. And frankly, it's just difficult to raise capital. You know, it's difficult to raise the amount of money you need. And there's no guarantees out there. But I do believe that we could do better by each other. I do believe that. Yeah. And you mentioned to the people that don't finish.

And Kickstarter, you know, I've donated to a shit ton of Kickstarters and I started to realize a lot of these filmmakers just stop the communication process. And I actually got really, really burned out when I when this guy that I knew donated like Tony actually raised like 20 grand to make a short film.

And he never did it. And he never did anything with it. And people were like, hey, where the hell happened to the money? You know, $20,000. Like, what did you do with this? He took down his Facebook and I've never heard from him since. And a lot of people have been burned by stuff like that.

Yeah. You know, I, you know, I have a project out there that the whole goal of the project was to level up the project. And part of me doing this, uh, event, um, is part of that fulfilling that mission is that now I've had some good meetings, but I didn't sign anybody. So I've been trying to knock on doors with managers and producing partners. And we have a short of it out there that we did as a result of it. Um, and,

It's a little 12-minute, 12-and-a-half-minute thing. We put it out on Facebook, and we have over 300,000 hits on it.

but I've yet to kind of been able to take it to the next level. It's this steampunk Western sci-fi, very a la Firefly fans. And got some nice traction with it, but nothing, you know, people got to write checks, right? I mean, that's the stuff that gets it produced. So, no, I hear people all the time talking about Kickstarter. We are in a funny kind of age. We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor.

And now back to the show. That way with how to do financing and raising capital and then just how long it takes. You know, that's the other thing is setting people's expectations.

Now, I will say I used to not do shorts. And you know what happened, Dave? Years went by and I did nothing. I didn't film anything. And so I went from not liking shorts. And frankly, it was because you couldn't monetize them. So now I really like shorts because as filmmakers, if as an artist, we know that 10,000 hours, you know, it constitutes you to technically be an expert. Right.

at what point are you going to get your 10,000 hours in? You know, it filmmaking is one of the few things that you got to knock it out of the park, your very first film. So I think, you know, put it in the context of Kickstarter. It, it, if filmmakers just got it finished, that there's value in that saying something, you know, there's a lot of films that I have on my website, the Ford studios.com. If you go to the Ford studios and,

There's a lot of shorts out there that they it didn't turn out exactly the way I had written it. And we all know as filmmakers, you know, it's made during writing, filming and editing. And there's some out there that I look at and I and I cringe. But I think of, you know what, that's my 10,000 hours that I'm putting in as my 10,000 hours. You got to get out there and film something. You got to get out there.

and tell a story. That's how we're going to get better. And nobody's going to come up and just give you the opportunity to go and do it. You know, Spielberg and Lucas, those things are rare, you know, and luckily they hit it out of the park. There were plenty of opportunities for them to wipe out and they were able to do it. So,

I'm trying to level up not just with opportunities, but to also every year get out and do what I call an intentional epic short film. This is one that is an intentional film, something I can do in a weekend. Because then when you ask people to do it for free, when you're doing a short, they can sprint two days. So basically I can film about five pages a day. So that's about a 10 minute short.

What can we do with the resources that we have around here? And I tend to focus on fantasy and sci-fi. And so that's what I try to do are these intentional epic short films. And I treat my sets professional so that when we do get the feature, you know, we've got people ready to go. I vetted crew that way. I vetted actors that way. It's a really good way to do something.

And we talked about this too on Facebook where people will say things like, you know, maybe, you know, if you, if you do something wrong, I'll try to show up. Or they'll say things like, Hey, when you're doing, when you're casting, make sure you remember me. And, and, and you and I were laughing about that. Yeah. And cause, cause you hear all the freaking time. You're like, well, well, you're going to try to show up. What the hell does that mean? Yeah. I don't even know what that means. I honestly don't. You're either going to show up or you're not. Yeah.

And when people say things like, hey, remember when you're casting, remember to reach out to me. It's like, really? Like, I have to... Should I go pick you up, too? I once had that. I once had an actor who actually asked me if I could pick him up for auditions, to audition for me. And I said, are you fucking crazy? I mean...

I mean, what the hell? I mean, it's just unbelievable. By the way, Ron, I curse a lot on this show, so I'm sorry if... Yeah, no, I'm a fan. I've heard you before, brother. March on. Okay, all right, good. It's Philly. It's like, you know, we curse. It's like in a Christmas story where some people's fathers use paint. Well, we use curse words here as some other fathers use paint. But, I mean, you know, see, I didn't know that, Ron. You were a Marine. You were a police officer. See, I didn't know any of that stuff until now.

Yeah, man. And, you know, I gave all that up. And that's kind of my, you know, my own personal point when I'm sitting there at night and I'm, you know, again, looking back over things. I'm like, Ron, you didn't give up those things. Great career paths to stop now, to wipe out, to quit. And I do believe that, you know, I believe in a higher power and that I'm called to filmmaking and the world needs to hear our stories. The world needs the lens, the voice that we can give it.

you know, filmmaking immortalizes, immortalizes you and the story itself. And so I want to have a conversation in that. So, so yeah, you know, I'm hoping those, the, the things that, uh, experiences that I've had and things that I've given up will hopefully parlay into, uh, filmmaking and my storytelling, but you know, it, it doesn't necessarily have to, there's, there's that other side of sounding a little contradictory. You know, it's funny. We, we,

As America, Americans, we're graduating people from college at an alarming rate with film degrees, with the expectation that there's all these great opportunities out there. And I'm seeing young people all the time graduating. And I'm like, wow, man, they've really kind of set them up, you know, because it's just a money thing for the school. Not not just and not all schools. I mean, there are some great film programs out there. But.

there's, you know, point a school point to a school and I'll show you a film program. I guarantee is there. And it's because they just saw an opportunity to monetize, not an opportunity to really teach people the craft of

of telling story. Now I do think there's a strong place for, for film school. It's a great way to meet your peers, people that are serious and are paying for it. You're going to find your, your peer group. And it's a great way to get gear and other, and other people. But when I watch a film, nobody knows if you're, you graduated from film school or not. Right. Nobody knows if I was a cop or a Marine. Nobody, nobody knows any of that. It's whether or not they liked it or,

or didn't like it. And like I said, there's several shorts that I look at and I go, that wasn't my best work. But that doesn't mean you're like, ah, you know what? I'm not a filmmaker then. And if that can deter you, it should and do it early. And they say fail fast, fail often, right? If you can fail and get out of it, do it.

But if it's got you, if you're the 20% and you know who I'm talking about, if it's got you like it does Dave and I, there's nothing going to stop you anyway. So the best thing I can do is equip you and then create opportunity.

Yeah. And also to what I'm doing this year, Ron is, uh, I'm actually exploring other mediums too. And I, and what I mean by that is I'm not just, you know, and obviously doing the podcast and obviously doing film stuff, but I do want to release a graphic novel this year. I actually putting, I don't want to, I know I talked about last year and a few people actually followed up and said, are you still doing that? And I said, yes, I remember. Yeah. I, I still, I, I, I'm going to, I have, I'm putting all my ducks in a row. Let's just call it like, let's just say that. Um,

And so I am going to use Kickstarter probably just to get a little bit of seed money if necessary. Otherwise, I would just find it in my own pocket. But I mean, just getting used to being a storyteller because I was talking to a couple different people who are out in Sundance right now. And they were just talking about different things. And they said, basically, now, if you and I run or were to write a spec script, basically,

that's where you would go with it. Because basically, you know, all Hollywood wants to do is make superhero movies. Right. And you kind of start to realize, like, you know what? It's all, you know, existing properties, whether Marvel, DC, Star Wars, Disney, whatever. And the actual movies that are made from original scripts, they hardly ever place. Right. And I'm not really sure, by the way, but I...

I'm going to go look through the number one movies at box offices and just to see what was based on an actual existing property and what was completely original and new. Yeah. But I already know it's going to be an existing property.

No, there's no doubt about it. And I'm glad you said that, man, because that is something that I learned to kind of change the lens is that I'm not just a filmmaker. When I was really trying to drill down of my why, what's my why? I really figured out I'm a storyteller. That's really what I am. So I, too, I remember you've talked about it a few times on some previous podcast about the graphic novel potential. Yeah.

So this year I have teamed up with a local DC area comic con called all star comic con. And I'm like their filmmaking, um, uh, lead guy. And the, one of the reasons I did that is the guy that one of the guys that runs it, Kevin, he's a phenomenal artist. So as a, um, as a, as a payout, I was like, Hey, would you be willing to do a comic for me for my steampunk Western? Um,

And he's like, yeah, let's do it. So I have that comic coming out this year, hopefully. And I definitely have another one around. I did this fantasy called the Rangers. And it's very much like, you know, it sounds it started from when you see Aragorn and Lord of the Rings.

sitting in the end at the Prancing Pony puffs on the pipe and it's like, who are these Ranger guys? Well, let's take that idea and kind of run with it and created my own IP in a completely different world. But it's hard not to get compared to Tolkien when you do a fantasy. But I have a 60 minute pilot that I did and then a different cut. We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor. And now back to the show.

and have done some web series, some shorts around that. I've teamed up with some other guys, some guys on Instagram called Felon Fair.

And anyways, I'm doing a comic around the Rangers as well. So there's a term called transmedia. Have you heard of that, Dave? Transmedia? Yes, I have. Yeah. So you know that, right? What it really means in its pure definition is how you view stuff over different platforms like your iPad and your phone and your tablet and, you know, but I the Indies are

are defining that even further to say that transmedia also means how many ways my story is getting out there. So I have the script. I've got the graphic novel. I've got the novel, the comic, the video game. For the Rangers, we did a card game. I've got a board game that I'm coming out with the Rangers. So it's the same story and IP and these different mediums, these different platforms that

And I just find that fascinating, man. I'm super excited about all those ways. And I agree. I, too, I would say I'm a storyteller. You know, and you mentioned college to run. And I have to kind of take a step back just to go into that. You know, when I see all the filmmakers, the film majors and I sit there and I think if I was going to run a film school.

What I would do is this. I would not, first off in your freshman year, you'd, you'd be given a camera, no ends, ifs or buts about it. Like you got to make it. I were, where I used to work and I, and, and forced to teach. They didn't give you a camera until your senior year. And I said to the teachers who, who obviously nothing about any of this stuff. I said, do you not realize that this is like completely counterintuitive? Like there are senior SEM projects is when you're finally putting a camera in their hands.

There's senior SEM projects. It was madness, Ron. It was. And then they finally, I mean, all the kids were like, if it wasn't for Dave, we would not know anything about any of this stuff because it was all theory based. It was all, you know, it was all, you know, complete fluff. So anyways, if I was doing it freshman year, you'd be given a camera, bar none, and you

I would show you movies that you could make and how to improve from them. Because here's the rub with all them. If you go to a film school, they show you these big budget films and go, oh, look at this movie, blah, blah, blah. It doesn't matter. Because, Ron, their donut budget is bigger than any budget you're going to have for the next 10 years. Right. And so they have a huge...

army, you don't have that luxury. You got to show them movies that they could go out right now and make. And you see what they did. This is what you shouldn't do. And, you know, if we talked about the film school kind of tropes and the film student kind of tropes, let me just, let's just name a couple. So I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll start us off.

if you like, Hey, actors against a white wall or actors against a bland wall, you know what I mean? Uh, they do that. Uh, they do a lot of closeups and they started on a, on a, an alarm clock going off, uh, the whole black and white thing. Uh, you know what I mean? And it just, yeah, it goes on and on. And it's just that type of stuff. I mean, if you wanted to make a larf of a movie, Hey, go for it, my man. But you know what I mean? I, there's so much more. And that's one of the things I would do is you, you can make these movies and,

And that's what you're here for is to learn how to make a movie. You're not here to learn how to work on a big budget movie because you don't need to go to school for that. You can get a job as a PA and be right as rain. Yeah, no, I mean, I've been working on this book for like five years. And the reason I started writing this book is because I found that there's a niche specifically that's kind of wide open about the business of indie filmmaking is not taught at colleges.

And it just baffles my mind. I agree. I think I would add to not only do they get a camera, which I love that idea. I think that's exactly right, is that they should have a business plan

by the time they're graduating. They should know how to do a complete business plan and they should know the business around it, how to go and raise capital. I get so many questions about that. How did you raise the money and where do you go and how legally? There's a whole legal parameter you got to be careful of, of how you go about doing that. I know a lot of these

These are our counterparts are doing that or teaching those things. But yeah, you know, you wonder sometimes what these what they're doing at at college, what what they're they're teaching. And it is a lot of theory, not wrong in and of itself. But look, you know, one of the most famous that didn't go to film school, of course, Quentin Tarantino, right?

And that dude is a mastermind. So he self-taught himself all the theory. And you could just see the passion that he has for film and film history and film, you know, French film. And he knows it. Right. So there's a there's a place for it. But if I'm paying 20 grand a year.

Is that at the end of it? What I'm hoping to get out of it is to impress my friends at some party that I can tell them, oh, that's the French New Age film. No, it's, hey, I finished the film. I got it funded. I raised money for it. And it's coming out in two months. Please be there. Yeah, it's kind of like you ever see Back to School?

Oh yeah. You remember when Ronnie Dangerfield is sitting in class and the one teacher's like, this is how you start a business. And Ronnie Dangerfield goes, oh, you left out a bunch of stuff. And the teacher goes, what do you mean? He goes, well, first off, the concrete isn't going to be free because the teams isn't going to have work for you. And there's this group and let me tell you who they are. They ain't the Boy Scouts. Like,

And he's a Mr. Mellon mafia kickbacks and, and underhanded bribes. It's like how you do business, but not how we do business here. But it's like Thornton's actually, he's a multi multi self-made millionaire. And so he's telling you straight up how it is. And, and there's professor is just, you know, telling you, well, this is what the book says it is. And this is what the theory of it is.

You know, maybe it's because I've worked at a college before, but I mean, I've become I'm sure as most people can tell, I've become kind of a blase about college. The more I live and the more I especially working there at a college,

I just became very like, what's the point of all this? You know, half the time you go out into the real world, quote unquote, the real world, and you don't even need that degree that you got. And you spent all that money for, um, you spent all that money to become learned, but you're sitting there saying to yourself that I have to spend a hundred thousand dollars to become, to learn how to learn or, or any of that stuff. I mean, yeah.

I could have just done it. And that's why I'm glad this podcast exists. I mean, honestly, if I can help one person out and just say, hey, listen, Dave, I'm not going to send my kid to college forever.

I'm just going to have him or her listen to your podcast. I'm going to set them up with a, with a, they can use their phone to start off with, which is not a bad idea at all. And, and just go from there and start teaching themselves filmmaking. I mean, this lecture is like, I mean, I mean, this is like a lecture every week. You give a different person on and it's like a different teacher teaching you this stuff. And, and it's not theory based because every single solitary person I've had on here is

Has done still has done a movie, still works in the movie business. And then we discuss how things are changing, what they grew up with, how they made their movie. I mean, all this stuff. I mean, there's in fact, this is probably what college should be. Ninety percent application and then 10 percent to allow some kind of philosophical theory, if you'd like.

Yeah. Sign me up, man. Where do I sign me? I have a master's degree in counseling and, you know, I don't even work in that field. So it's not that I dislike education and it sounds like you're the same. It's what kind of education? Like at the end of it, what am I getting out of it? And that I believe you're spot on with, man. Sign me up for that. I'll help teach that.

I think in the next 10 years, Ron, I think you're going to see a huge, huge downfall in a lot of colleges. I think all of the, I think you're going to be left. And in 20 years, if even at that, that, if even at that time, you're going to be left with two versions of college.

state school, I mean, I'm sorry, your community colleges, which are probably going to be now a two-year, I think bachelor's degrees, they could maybe stay at four, maybe they should be at two, and now the micro-masters are becoming big, and they're a year-long program instead of two years for a normal masters. And

And then on the flip side of that, you're going to have your big Ivy League schools. So here's how they're both going to... Everything in between is going to go to shit. Everything in between is not going to exist anymore. So if I said, hey, Ron, I went to Gudgeer College up in Tallahassee or whatever, or down in Tallahassee rather, that college isn't going to exist anymore. What's going to happen is...

The community colleges are paid for by the state and they'll be fine. The Ivy League schools have already seen what's coming and they're already hedge funds that just dabble in education. They're going to be fine. And what you're going to do is you're going to have everyone else who just goes, you know what? I'll go on to Udemy or even YouTube or Khan Academy. I can learn all this stuff for free or at most $10.

And then I can test out if I even like it or not. I always tell kids, I say to people, if you really are dead set on sending your kid to a college, take a gap year, have them study Udemy, YouTube, whatever, and see if they even like the course or see if they even like that subject to devote not only the rest of their lives, but just the next four years. We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor. And now back to the show.

to pursuing that. And if they decide they don't like it, hey, look, you're only out 10 bucks. If they decide they do like it, hey, guess what? You're now ahead of the game going into college when all these other kids just blindly just went into a full force.

Yeah, no, absolutely, Matt. I think that's the time where you can take risk. You know, if I was looking back and was going to talk to my 18 year old self, you know, that would be the time I would do, you know, try to do a film. I would pull people in and try to do it. Yeah, I tell a lot of young filmmakers that are getting ready to go to college that I would consider getting a degree in, let's say, marketing.

Because that's, you're basically telling the story of a company. So there is some storytelling. Every marketing department now generally has an in-house video department and you set yourself up for a nice career path that you can parlay the indie world and do filmmaking on the side versus, you know, I've got a buddy of mine who went to film school, has a film degree and he works at a motorcycle shop. And, you know, not that that he, and he loves motorcycles, but he's,

The point is, is that he's not doing the very thing he set off to go to school to do as as most of us don't. You know, and I think there is going to be a backlash. I totally agree. And I think it's going to be because all the alumni, as they get older, they start thinking about, you know, man, that didn't really help me out all that. But they're going to be upset and bitter and they lose the alumni support.

And we know as filmmakers, the crowd is a finicky bunch, but so goes the crowd, so goes the eyeballs. That's the power is in the crowd. And that's the one thing that no matter what you do when you're trying to level up, that the studios can't take away from us indies is that we have a voice just like anybody else. And if the crowd goes with us,

then we can do whatever we want to do because we've won the crowd. We've got to stick together in this. And it's not an us versus them. It is a we. It's a we. And, you know, speaking of the Alumni Association, like when I had, for instance, Liz Manischel on here from Sundance Institute, her and I talked about that because,

The Alumni Association for a lot of these colleges will only call you to ask for money. And they just call up and they say, hey, Ron, listen, we see you're in film. Do you have any internships you could give some of our kids? Because all they care about is the next incoming class of freshmen. There you go. And what they do is, I don't know if you know this, Ron, but once you become a sophomore or

Once you get into essentially your third year, what is that, junior or sophomore? Yeah, junior. They essentially stop caring about you because your credits won't transfer. You're pretty far in there. They got you. Yeah, and then once you become a senior, forget about it. They don't want to do anything for you. And they always go, oh, well, the seniors don't care anyway. They just want to get out of there. Well, that's partly true anyway. So it's kind of like a win-win for the school because they don't have to do anything to retain you.

And you just want to get out of there. So, so a freshman, freshman and sophomore, they're, they're kissing your ass. They're doing all this cool stuff. Oh yeah. We're the best college ever. Cause they want to keep you there. So you can't leave. You see all this stuff I've learned from working at a college.

Man, I see it, brother. I so see it. I'm hoping some young filmmakers will listen to this and striking some wisdom up. I've got a buddy of mine, Errol Avellino of Avellino Studios. And instead of going to college, man, he did what we were talking about. He went out and just started filming stuff. And he got really good at filming stuff. And like I said, when people watch this stuff, no idea whether or not he went to film school or not.

Yeah, exactly. No one's ever going to stop you. No one cares. Yeah. And they're not going to stop you and say, hey, Ron, did you have a degree? No one knows you're going to care. They're going to say, hey, do you have a degree or do you have an MFA? I mean, it's just ludicrous, man. And I think that whole thing is going to go away very, very fast, particularly with how things are moving in terms of technology, in business.

I think if you're going to get new skills, and that's the other thing too. I know, I'm sorry, everyone listening to this, I'm going off on a tangent here, but just one more quick thing. And then I want to get to Ron. I want to talk about this seminar in DC. You know, I think as we talk about, well, you know, we don't invest enough. I hear people constantly complain about this. Well, we don't invest enough in education. And I say, Jesus Christ, if we already are like, what, $2 trillion in debt from student loan debt, how much more education do we

Freaking new man. Well, we, I would say, you know what is if you, if people would be able to, to, if you could actually teach people how they learn and, and, and just try to make it where if you were to take an online class or something like that, and you'd be able to write it off on your taxes or, or, or if you bought a lot of books, you could write that off for your taxes in one way or another, that would solve the problem right there. You wouldn't,

I always run, I always cringe when somebody says the answer is more college because I just cannot agree with that.

Yeah, no, man. I like I mentioned already mentioned stage 32. I think they're doing a lot of good and breaking down barriers for us. And, you know, and a lot of times when you're talking college and, you know, a lot of your listeners out there, they're 30, 40 somethings, 50 something. They don't that's that's not an option anymore. You know, I'm not going back to college again to get my degree and stuff.

That's not an option. It's these little one-off, these little things. Or, you know, I'm devouring podcasts all the time. You know, they yield some great information. So, yeah, I think if I'm training and I'm getting educated, that's what I think we're after. But the institutionalized foundation of a college and the structure of that, it comes off because it is just a monetary ends to the means there. Yeah.

Yeah. It's really, truly true. And, uh, all right, everyone, I'll stop talking about college now, but, uh, but, uh, but Ron, I want to, I know we're starting to run out of time here. Yeah. I'm going to talk about this seminar that you got going on in DC. Um, you know, so, so again, I think it's an awesome idea. It's something that I was trying to do a few years ago that fell apart, but, uh,

I mean, I wish you the best of luck with this. I really, really do. And so, you know, what are the dates for it? Do you have everything down in terms of location and stuff? I do. So we're going to be at the Dulles Marriott in Dulles, Virginia on August 25th. You can go to the Forge Studios dot com website.

and I'll at least have a link on that. I have the website ready to go. I haven't launched it yet because I want to get some fancy URL to make it easy to remember, and I haven't locked that in just yet, but you'll certainly be able to go to the Forge and find it, and you can join my newsletter as well to kind of get it. But the primary point of the event is to take a proactive approach

I'm not in Hollywood. I'm not in LA. And I'm not going to be moving there. I'm from DC. And I believe that I have a voice.

in the space of storytelling that I want to be able to do. But I can't take this passive approach like somebody is going to come to me and say, oh, yeah, Ron, this is it. You know, I'm going to represent you. That rarely happens. And so my goal of leveling up is to get an opportunities to put filmmakers in front of managers that can represent them.

particularly in the area of screenwriting and directing. So I'm talking like, you know, that is your full-time job, like legit job. There are management companies out there that find work for you that way is to pitch the managers. And then second would be the strategic producing partners. These are production companies that have the relationships with the majors and can work with them. They usually have distribution outlets and they usually help

with financing and securing talent. Get your eyeballs in front of them. And then lastly is to talk to investors, people that can write a check that are accredited investors. And we're going to do panels of around five of them per section and then have 10 people

people are going to get up and pitch a 90 second pitch for it. We're going to have a huge networking event at the end of it because, hey, look, let's face it. You know, if if you're if you're guys are working on a project, you've got a project funded. I want to be a part of that and vice versa. You know, that's how we can all continue this this filmmaking journey together as a full time vocation. And so I've

put a networking opportunity, the foods included and on it. You know, you can stay for the weekend and also hang out where stones throw away from, from DC, but really it is meant to,

to create opportunity, to not be passive and to explore if this is an option. Like, can I secure a manager? Can I find these proper producing partners and to make it happen? And then it also, sometimes we just need a reason to get that business plan completed or that script finished. Or if you're not ready and you just want to observe, you can still come and you don't have to pitch, right?

So you would come and not be a pitcher. Only 10 people are going to get chosen to pitch anyways. And so you can sit there and be a part of it, but you could still network. You can still meet the people. You could see what they're looking for. We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor. And now back to the show. And I'll tell you this, Dave.

Look, this is coming out of my pocket. So if the crowd doesn't get behind it, I've always said I'll give people what I believe that they want, but if they don't want it, then I can't do it. So if we don't get a minimum sign up, then the event won't go forward. So it's kind of as simple as that.

is that if people are like, man, I'm digging this idea, let's do it, and they sign up, sign up early. There's definitely going to be an early registration discount. But the point is, is that if I can't get these people and fly them in, then I'll have to cancel the event anyways. But I'm really excited about this event. I do think that a lot of filmmakers, when I start to talk to them about it and say, what do you guys think of this idea?

Hands down, they all are like, oh my gosh, why hasn't this happened before? And I do believe in LA and New York, to some degree it has. But I want to do it for us Indies. DC area is a prime market. We have a nice big airport you can fly into. We're a stone's throw away from Philly. So you can just come on down, Dave. And there's a lot of people...

In this whole region, this whole area where there's no film we can't do. We have the people, we have the gear, you know, we have the desire, we have the passion. We just need the opportunity. And that's what I want to look to create.

Yeah, I definitely have to come down for this event, not only just because, you know, it's so close, but also because it's just, again, this is something that an event I was trying to do years ago and it just fell apart just for a bunch of reasons. And it's kind of like this is like a make good. That's why I'm really, really excited.

interested in this event, Ron, as we were talking about this, is there a website that I could go to? Yes. I'll definitely send you the link, but right now, if people went to theforgestudios.com and got on my newsletter, I'm definitely going to have a link off of that. I do have the website. Like I said,

that it's ready. I just want to get a very simplistic URL. And that's what I don't have right now is the simple URL. And then I'll make sure that I get that out there as well.

And when you do Ron, let me know. Absolutely. Not only will I put that in the, in the show notes, uh, I can always edit it later on, but I will link to your, your website in the show notes. And also I'll promote that on, on social media. Cause there's a lot of people on the East coast, um, who, who, you know, I, you know, who follow the podcast, who I'm friends with and, uh, anyone in the area too. I mean, there's a, there's, there's a ton of different people, but, um,

Ron, I see by the clock we're actually out of time. I know you've got to run, as do I, actually. Just in closing, Ron, where can people find you at online? The biggest thing is thefordstudios.com. Certainly, I'm on Instagram and Twitter and

Facebook, those are definitely the areas to go. But if you go to the Ford studios, I've got some videos up there as well. I've got a few things in the work that I'm excited about, but you know, Dave, this is our year brother. No one's going to come and hand it to us. So if we could stick together, we can make this thing happen, man. I definitely appreciate you allowing me to come on and let me have a voice on your podcast and people listening. And I do hope people get fired up and excited, man. Cause I'm ready to roll.

Yes. I know what you mean, man. And it's do or die time. It is. If you sit around talking about it, sometimes you get a little blasé and you talk yourself out of it. And then you still talk about it and people, you finally realize, I got to do something. Either I got to stop talking about it or I got to go do this. Yes. It's one of those things, man. I head on really quickly. I just want to say one quick antidote.

anecdote, not antidote. But I had on the Shaker brothers and they did the same thing. You know, one, one brother hit 35 and he said, you know what? I've been talking about making this movie for years. I'm not going to wait anymore. And he actually quit his day job and he actually, they actually made the movie and it's, it's called Christmas. And I actually had him on the, the show. I think they're like one episode, like one 98.

And it was just a hell of an episode, man. Two Jersey guys. They got all that stuff in the movie. It's on Google Play. It's on Amazon. It's on iTunes. But yeah, and that's what they did, man. They got tired of just sitting around talking about it. And they went and they did the thing, man. That's right. Don't talk about it. Be about it. That's right. That's true, man. Ron Newcomb, thank you very much. Yes. Thank you, Dave. Thank you, man. Great show.

I want to thank Dave so much for doing such a great job on this episode. If you want to get links to anything we spoke about in this episode, head over to the show notes at indiefilmhustle.com forward slash 805. And if you haven't already, please head over to filmmakingpodcast.com. Subscribe and leave a good review for the show. It really helps us out a lot, guys. Thank you again so much for listening, guys. As always, keep that hustle going. Keep that dream alive. Stay safe out there, and I'll talk to you soon.

Thanks for listening to the Indie Film Hustle podcast at IndieFilmHustle.com. That's I-N-D-I-E-F-I-L-M-H-U-S-T-L-E.com.