BUSINESS OF FILM 13054

FALL 2016
M/W 3:15-4:35pm
ROOM 3231
Office hours: TBD

Clay Liford
clayton.liford@austincc.edu

No assigned text. Sample budgets and materials handed out as pdfs.

Optional reading:

Independent Film Producer's Survival Guide: A Business and

Legal Sourcebook by Gunnar Erickson and Mark Halloran

Produce Your Own Damn Movie! (Your Own Damn Film

School {Series}) by Lloyd Kaufman

Feature Filmmaking at Used-Car Prices: Second Revised

Edition
by Rick Schmidt

Grading:

30% Attendance. 1 unexcused, 2 with permission, after 3 total: drop 1 letter grade
for each missed class.
30% Class Participation.
40% Final Project.

Week 1: Introduction
Class 1: Intro of course, meeting people, exemplars of previous work, overview of
course materials and syllabus.
Class 2: How to analyze a script. What are the material components of a screenplay?
Overview of terms and departments.

Homework: Find a physical or online copy of a Hollywood or PRODUCED indie

screenplay you really like. Try to limit the budget to < 10/20 million. Use IMDB to check
budgets.

Week 2: Parts of a Script/Film Department Heads

Class 3: Continuation of screenplay breakdown analysis for "constituent elements."
Breakdown of various departments continue.
Class 4: Finish up breakdown basics and department head basics. Introduce order of
events for pre-production.

Homework: Take a scene from your chosen script and determine all the constituent
elements within. List and detail these elements on a spreadsheet with annotations.

Week 3: Pre-Pro Basics

Class 5: Order of events detailed. Focus on initial design/fundraising. Introduce
Prospectus. Use either SLASH (pref, but maybe problematic because of pending sale)
or WUSS/EARTHLING.
Class 6: Breakdown of Prospectus. Start with non-legal. What does a prospectus/look-
book need to accomplish? Also, more detail on the Pre-pro role of a producer.

Homework: Find a successful Kickstarter campaign for a movie that raised over 50k. Be
prepared to discuss your findings in class.

Week 4: The Line Producer and "lining" the script

Class 7: How to itemize constituent elements of script. Intro Movie Magic EP and
possibly Gorilla. Also show how to set up a simple Excel spreadsheet.
Class 8: More EP/Excel setup examples.

Homework: Buy/Install Movie Magic. Begin Excel spreadsheet for script breakdown
assignment.

Week 5: Step back to look at creative producing. The creative "look book"
Class 9: How to talk about your movie. How to determine the angle that will get other
people excited. Use examples from chosen scripts. Use SLASH.
Class 10: Look Book analysis. What to include/leave out. Continuation of class 9.

Homework: Continuation of Week 4 assignment.

Week 6: Raising funds

Class 11: Go over traditional models and new models (crowdsourcing, etc). Business
structure of a typical indie film.
Class 12: How to determine your budget. Introduction to the budget/schedule model.

Homework: Categorize your elements of broken down script to the scheduling hierarchy
chart.

Week 7: Hiring Crew

Class 13: Review crew dept heads and give broad idea of fees involved.
Class 14: Review the full breakdown of man power on a budget line item sheet.

Homework: Determine simple crew, days needed and rates for broken down script.

Week 8: The Schedule, Part 1

Class 15: The Strip Board. Use pen and paper to create a strip board in class as demo.
Class 16: Moving pieces around on the strip board.

Homework: Create a sample strip board for a portion of your script.

Week 9: The Schedule, Part 2

Class 17: Digitizing the strip board. Movie Magic EP?
Class 18: Continued…

Homework: Digitize your elements to create a strip board with moving parts.

Week 10: The Budget, Part 1

Class 19: Use the digitized schedule to produce a working budget.
Class 20: Continued…

Homework: Begin final projects (TBD)

Week 11: The Budget Part 2

Class 21: Items not covered by the schedule. Insurance, Contingency, one-time fees,
etc.
Class 22: Continued…

Homework: Finals continued...

Week 12: Implementation

Class 23: The flux budget in production. Contingency.
Class 24: Post Production and Budget

Homework: Finals continued...

Week 13: Marketing & Sales, Part 1

Class 25: What is the responsibility of the producer after picture lock? Festivals.
Strategy.
Class 26: Sales agents. More from Class 25.

Homework: Turn in finals.

Week 14: Marketing & Sales, Part 2

Class 27: Marketing and working with your distributor.
Class 28: Continued.
Week 15-16: Finals deconstructed in class
Step by step breakdown of each student budget/schedule. Peer reviewed, teacher
supervised.