JMS doesn't have the shooting rights to the script

[Flounder]

JMS doesn\'t have the shooting rights to the script

EDIT: Forget i said anything. While JMS retains the rights to a B5 theatrical movie, the TMoS script shooting rights are not his. He only has the right to publish it as a raw script.

Original subject: keepB5alive Stage 2

So, how do we finance the film?

Option 1: Convince some other company to do it?

Option 2: Pre-order movie tickets and DVDs in such a volume that it finances the movie and get a company to produce it?

Option 3, the "Nuclear option": We get an entertainment lawyer or producer to set up a company, in such a way that the investors actually get to see some of the income. Net profit points won't cut it.
We sell stock in it to fans and other people.
B5: TMoS gets made
We queue for premiere tickets in Ranger and Lurker costumes, go home, shower, bring our friends and family.
Profit.
?

I've helped finance an "indie" production, but this is in a whole other league. We'd need lots of people or a few rich people to put their money into this. And let's face it: The movie industry is a high-risk one. Even if you get big names together, the result may fall to the floor at the box office.

 

[Flounder]

Re: keepB5alive Stage 2

I've allready been contacted by a small European comics publisher who would invest provided we have the legal contracts set up correctly and an experienced entertainment lawyer or producer running the company.

The main hurdles here would be
- Setting it up correctly
- Getting investors. If there are no legal obstacles, we could take investments from $20 to the tens of millions.
- Not appearing to be another stock-pushing-scam

Movie studios make a hell of a lot of money, that's true. But a lot of that money is sunk into the production of the next big project. Starting from rock bottom and getting enough money for producing this thing is certainly a challange.

We need a good pitch to the fans: JMS has creative control, and it's going to be a good movie. We're not running away with your money. If it's a success you can earn money on it.

And we need a pitch to speculants: Here's the market research. Here's JMS's history of going under budget. We're not running away with your money. You're stupid for not investing, since the ROI is higher for this than it is for this other deadbeat project you're investing in.

 

[A_M_Swallow]

Re: keepB5alive Stage 2

To raise say $40 million you need 40,000 people to pay $1,000

That is a lot of fans.

 

[Flounder]

Re: keepB5alive Stage 2

Hey, we know Karl Rove is a fan. Doesn't he has a lot of business buddies from back in the day before he sold off his investments?

Also, Paul Allen has been mentioned...

As I said, we need to attract big money for this to work...

Reality check, somebody? JoeDM, colonyearth, Bueller? Am I just off my rocker here? Or is there a first time for amything? The idea wasn't really mine. If Trek fans are rabid enough to want to give away their money to Paramount for a new season, surley we/they could be convinced to invest in a project that could actually make money? Or just pre-order?

 

[sleepy_shadow]

Re: keepB5alive Stage 2

As requested, reality check:
-------------------------

Novel financing models are prominently featured among my pet topics... and I have often wondered if something currently done top-down... could be feasibly launched the other way around.

In the field of software... under the GNU Public License... it seems to work. Someone starts an interesting project... developers enlist... satisfied users donate resources for improvement... and the project moves ahead without institutional investors being needed.

But software is a *quite* different animal from movies -- with different project lifecycle, different cost structure... and different risk. With software, initial success on small scale... can fuel further improvement towards large scale. With movies... when you publish, you either fly or fall. There is no "soft entry" into the movie market.

As of currently... I think you may be under-estimating some organizational complexities. I *seriously* doubt if, even under ideal conditions... this would work yet (in today's society, with today's human ability of checking and organizing things).

However, the *idea* of demand directly creating supply... is an attractive one. Such a possibility will not easily disappear. Someone will try -- but I have serious doubts if *this* situation is suitable.

P.S.

In risky business... to initiate a big project... one needs a person with notable reputation. It must be someone whose business depends on his/her reputation.... someone who wouldn't risk reputation for a foolish venture.

Currently, there is an obvious candidate... someone whom we should expect to initiate things, and likewise select the best operating model. That is JMS.

P.P.S.

Silly Flounder. Please don't mention Karl Rove. We don't want people drawing sharp objects, and turning this into a cut-throat political mudbath.

 

[Flounder]

It IS dead.

Forget i said anything. While JMS retains the rights to a B5 theatrical movie, the TMoS script shooting rights are not his. He only has the right to publish it as a raw script.

Check the news-only thread in B5.World

 

[A_M_Swallow]

Re: It IS dead.

Forget i said anything. While JMS retains the rights to a B5 theatrical movie, the TMoS script shooting rights are not his. He only has the right to publish it as a raw script.

Spending a couple of a million dollars buying the shooting rights, or the entire production company, may have to be JMS’s first expenditure if he wants to make the film this year. The resale value of the current production company is dropping by the hour.

 

[RMcD]

Re: JMS doesn\'t have the shooting rights to the script

Am I imagining that JMS once claimed that George W was a fan?

Couldn't he pull a few strings?

 

[LightNZ]

Re: JMS doesn\'t have the shooting rights to the sc

Which by the way may be why the script was what it was and not the Telepath War that many have been hoping for. I think Jo (the one here) made a post about the movie ideas - about the one with Galen being done first and using the other for later. Anyways, it means that the other one is still free as it doesn't exist or is owned by anyone

um, did that even make sense? lol

 

[hypatia]

Re: JMS doesn\'t have the shooting rights to the sc

LIghtNZ: you are saying that JMS might not have wanted to chance his Telepath War story, so he wrote one involving Galen and shadow tech to test the waters first, eh?

I have no idea, but it did come across clearly.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Re: JMS doesn\'t have the shooting rights to the sc

Am I imagining that JMS once claimed that George W was a fan?

He was passing along something Bruce Boxleitner told him. Bruce accompanied wife Melissa Gilbert (president of the Screen Actors Guild) to a meeting at the White House on the subject of "runaway productions" - Hollywood's version of "out-sourcing" where productions with American actors are shot in other countries (like Canada, Yugoslavia and - The U.K.) to save money. At one point Karl Rove did indeed pop in for an unscheduled visit and he told Bruce that both he and the president were fans of the series. Which I don't find implausible in the least, but which pretty much horrified JMS.

Having reported all of the above I now ask that everyone refrain from any of the entirely predictable, teidous and "we've heard this all 1000 times before" political comments about this little anecdote, just as I have.

Regards,

Joe

 

[hypatia]

Re: JMS doesn\'t have the shooting rights to the sc

I find it interesting that LightNZ offered an opinion that you seem to support, JoeD. (In another thread here.)

So this might have been a bit of an experiment, a testing of the waters. It does indeed make sense not to risk the one big story you have been holding out on, but to offer a stand-alone story instead, under these circumstances.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Re: JMS doesn\'t have the shooting rights to the sc

I find it interesting that LightNZ offered an opinion that you seem to support, JoeD. (In another thread here.)

I noticed that. What can I tell you? Great minds think alike. Right LNZ?

Joe

 

[hypatia]

Re: JMS doesn\'t have the shooting rights to the sc

Indeed.

I know nothing about how these things are done. But it is a very plausible explanation.

Which leads me to think it can't be true... isn't plausible outlawed when it comes to making films?

 

[A_M_Swallow]

Re: JMS doesn\'t have the shooting rights to the sc

Which leads me to think it can't be true... isn't plausible outlawed when it comes to making films?

No. You just have to remember that they were trying to do something else.