Film Courage: Once [screenwriter] Jennifer Goldson got you this script to read [for Jay's movie OFF THE MENU], how much time passed
before you finally read it and then finally said okay to it? Jay Silverman, director/producer: That's a
wonderful question because I don't think that Bethany or Jo Gamache who is also one of my
other producers and even Will could have believed that I believe we bought
the property in like October and we were in pre-production in January and we shot
the movie and August or September or something it's just unheard of but you
know that's the way I work and the outcome of it is at this rate we can
produce a movie every couple years and in success use the the moderate success
of these movies to finance the next movie are you okay with talking about
what the next steps were once you all agreed that we really loved this film
and we think we can do it for a reasonable budget what were some of the
next things you did to actually secure the deal well once we made a deal with
the screenwriter you you basically option the script and you pay a certain
amount of money and thus that gives you the comfort of writing the script
modifying the script and then actually making the decision to greenlight it
that happened in just a few months for me on this movie versus buying a script
off the shelf spending two years in pre-production and then actually going
out and shooting it there's so many there's so much equity in experience
here because first-timers including myself you make a lot of mistakes and I
just mentioned one of them I mean we just got a bill for the last movie from
sag that was unaffordable and the movie hasn't even I don't know what I don't
want to complain about it but the movie hasn't even you know broken even and
we're getting bills from sag for residuals and the movie never came out
of theaters I'm not complaining right now what I'm trying to say is I'd never
anticipated that so for my next film I'll have to put away funds rather than
having to borrow funds in order to pay for the my last
movie sag because the way the financials work in independent filmmaking if you're
lucky enough to get a distributor and I mean that honestly because there's so
much of a flood of independent filmmaking now if you're an lucky enough
to get an independent distributor you have one thing conquered but what you
don't have is the concept of how Hollywood works you know first you're
the last person to get paid and then in itself is troubling because I financed
the movie myself I can't even conceptualize what it must feel like and
I do know somebody recently who made a movie I believe Netflix wanted to buy it
for a substantial amount of money and but not enough to break even and and the
filmmaker had no choice in the matter because he was a hired hand even though
he directed the movie and produced it all the money was borrowed and he really
you know had to acquiesce to the sale and the I don't think the movies ever
broken even and he doesn't even talk to the people that he borrowed the money
from and this is not a negative or a positive it's just an observation of
just how you know perception reality I had a guy yesterday tell me wow your
movie just came out yesterday it came out and he goes are you gonna buy a new
house I'm going you read People magazine yeah and I don't mean that as a joke
because it's the first thing you see in the news
Star Wars made X amount of money no one including myself has any context to
understanding what that means and the outcome of it is is that you know I
think it's pretty critical to understand that the business is changing my last
film in this film it's totally different we didn't have a distributor when we did
the first movie we had a sales rep and then he interns sold at the Fox he
interns sold it to Sony domestically and it's not a question of good or bad it's
just a question of understanding and this
around rather than sell it internationally first we did what most
people do which I didn't know we sold domestically first you know and now
we're selling Europe and all the other territories so we're doing it probably a
much better way now than we did the first time wanted to go back to what you
said about putting away reserves you know I've heard this with people that
have business issues with payroll taxes different things I don't think people
realize the the value of reserves or saving yourself
well I'll kill two birds with one stone here because I know you're gonna talk
about tax credits and I also talked about the question you just asked me I
don't think you can ever really be too prepared for how much money this stuff
all costs it is an extraordinary thing that I made two movies now with a
non-union crew am i bragging about it not at all but it made me afford to do
the movie I couldn't have done the movie my first movie if it was a sanctioned
Union movie this is independent filmmaking you know when you I just saw
a movie the other night that was all shot on an iPhone of people traveling
from from Syria to to Berlin at a film festival was brilliant all shot on an
iPhone and and I'm sure it's all his family members so he doesn't have the
burden of the stuff I'm talking about I actually make movies and I'm a signature
to sag so I want the best talent I can get to
make these movies but with that comes a lot of little surprises you know and
they're not surprises by deception they're just ignorance and as a
filmmaker and a producer yeah I am and as the world changes you know month
leaking in in this business I can tell you right now most distributors that
distribute independent properties that existed three years ago half them don't
exist anymore because it's just not the business
models changed and when I made my last movie DVDs were actually an interesting
proposition now it's a fragment so Hantz and Lee is changing
you