Well, I've been working through the Final Reel script and at the moment its still fairly big budget. Simon Bovey and I are about to re-draft and find the best way to bring down the cost without compromising the story. Thankfully, Simon has always kept this in mind that its a lower budget movie so there are no "herds of Wilder beast galloping across the open plain" shots to film.My initial guess is that it will cost around £140K to make. I'm hoping that Screen West Midlands will come in for 25% which means that we only have £105K to raise. As I sit here, I really have no idea how we're going to do this. Only that I want to shoot in October of this year, aiming to have it complete for Cannes in May 2010.
One idea I have had is to sell 10,500 copies of Written in Blood. Is that likely? Who knows? I could sell signed artwork, Tee shirts, memorabilia, even sell Final Reel DVD's in advance. I am also thinking about selling Associate Producer credits on the end of the film + an invite to the premier etc. I don't really want to get into searching for big time investors and selling shares etc, as I got into that carrot chase with Kaleidoscope Man (although, if you do want to invest in the film, please do give me a call!!) - + 44 (0) 7791 890669.
As a coincidence, I'm cutting a Screen West Midlands funded short film called STUDS, directed by Simon Bovey, and I have to say the experience has been quite revealing. This is a superb little film and Simon is a visionary director. It's not quite finished yet, but do check it out. The website address is: http://www.studsthefilm.co.uk/
