Eat your peas!
That's it! The toys are out of the pram! I got my business cards - hark at me - for LSF and they're like something the optometrist gives you to see if you're vision impaired. So, if I run short and you get something that makes you close one eye and squint slightly, you'll know why. Maybe that's how Patrick Moore got that 'Sky at Night' gig.
So much for 'Vorsprung durch teaching' how they cook your take-away at 'Chop Chop' and not apparently, how the company that sent my business cards works.
Anyway, on a happier note I've devised another card with a darker text and a lighter background. It's got no fancy curly wurly bits... (Where's that chocolate? Hang on. May settle for Birthday cake, it's closer.) ...and you can read them without fear of instant myopia and thinking you've lost your marbles after one two many at the closing party.
Well, it's a week to go until London Screenwriters Festival. A WEEK! Huzzah!
Excuse the flag waving, I escape the housework.
So, while I'm in imminent danger of death from an overhanging ironing pile (and at least it's that kind of pile) I've cast it aside in favour of a quick blog and doing my budgeting homework.
Budgeting!
Who do you think you are? HMRC.
Wait! You don't have to hide under the couch. Also, there may be something wiggly with longlegs under there, I tried to trap it on a coaster but it was stronger than I was.
Right, where were we?
Not the taxman. Repeat. Calm your breathing and step away from the custard pie. There you go. Better?
The reason I'm thinking about budgeting is I'm going to pitch and if I go to pitch, it's best if I know what level of movie I'm pitching.
Lucky swine that I am, I scored one of the twelve places for 'Meet the Experts' and I'm expecting to be; grilled, diced, hung, drawn and quartered by the executives who turn up.
So, I figured I better at least go in there with my pistols at hand, my stetson back from my face and my spurs ready to kick up the dust. If that means, one pagers, loglines and a decent budget strategy, then so be it.
I've never done anything like this before but at the end of the day, I look at it like a job interview, (although I have mentioned euthanasia and cried at one of those), so maybe best to just go in enthusiastic and try, or die doing.
I didn't appreciate how much money was spent making movies until I actually investigated the nitty gritty. If you look on-line, you can find out how much it cost to make your favourite, or least favourite movies and you may just get a shock. Some flicks you think are crackers may have totally tanked and the reason you don't get that much wanted sequel? It can run into millions on outgoings and little to no take at the box office. Sometimes, I think it's down to script, sometimes casting, direction and sometimes the movie simply comes out at the wrong time. Like everything else, in a lot of respects, it's down to luck.
Like running a home, a movie has to have a parent in charge, someone willing to say, 'This is our budget, this goes to that, this goes to the next and we've no more until the next pay cheque, so shut up and eat your peas, there are starving children in Africa!'
On that note, happy travels. Do your homework. Good Luck with your pitch and for goodness sake 'Eat your peas, there are starving children in Africa' and there are, so if you do get lucky, remember to pay it forward too.
Enjoy LSF and stay safe. See you there!
Eileen
