Film Courage: When you're thinking about an idea, how important is it
for you to think about the budget or are you not even entertaining that just yet?
Sean Reid, Producer: I don't really entertain that when I'm trying to imagine a story or think
about what I'm going to do in that sense. I try to let it be what it's going to be and then try
to figure out how to do it. I think that's the only way to really do it because if not you're
I think you can and people do and I'm around people who do it all the time
and we've done it. I've done it where you have these certain amount of resources and
you do it for that and yes you can reverse engineer and kind of put yourself into it
but I think that this type of exercise or this type of thought process where it's kind of
coming more internally being broken down to your taste has more potential to have a sustaining
sustaining feeling that you can get from a project that will sustain you through making
it whether you have to make it on your own or you are going to get 5 or 10 or 20 or 30 or 100
million dollars to make it because we know there are stories of all kinds of movies that have taken
many many years for producers to get done so the most important thing is for them to
be passionate about it and care about it and want to see it go all the way through
especially when you're we're talking through this type of process anyway.
Film Courage: I don't know if we have a title for this yet but I love the two cards that you've
chosen. Maybe we could call it the Untitled Sean Reid Project? I don't know if you have a name for
it but I think let's call it The Internal Butler as a working title so it's just being a Hollywood
factory we'll just call it The Internal Butler. We don't want to say The Butler because there's
already been a movie that's been The Butler so we'll just say The Internal Butler and we just
know that it means the internal life of the butler but we don't know really what that means yet
okay love it so and The Internal Butler how much do you envision this movie would cost to make
I would love to make this type of movie for
five million dollars because I'd like to be able to have the cast around it
and the scope around it but not too much but just the scope of this storytelling to
be able to have that that vision it doesn't have to be that huge I don't see us
hunting the dinosaur thing and I don't see us doing the the spy thing per se
but I do see some adventures or some things where he had to save or help or rescue or bail
out the family he was working for five million dollars because i'd like to be able to have the
cast around it and the scope around it but not too much but just the scope of this storytelling
to be able to have that that vision it doesn't have to be that huge I don't see us hunting the
dinosaur thing and I don't see us doing the the spy thing per se but I do see some adventures
or some things where he had to save or help or rescue or bail out the family he was working for
and in whatever way that is especially once he goes on his journey and decides to leave this
kind of insular family environment that he's discovered now that there's a secret that he
actually does have maybe he has some money and maybe he is going to get
it or maybe they're or maybe there's more family somewhere whatever it is
so he's going to start out on that journey carrying it maybe it's even just kind of like
butlering for free just kind of helping people you could turn it into like a
what is that the tv series was where is it the wandering angel right he says or kung fu he's
just a wondering person now who's trying to find through helping people who he's supposed to be
he's not a priest he's not a he's not a kung fu guy he's a buffer but and even in that
comedic part of it it could be it's still serious because people still need to like
learn how to like especially if they're going to get a better job and they come from a lower
strata to have a butler in your house for a week you'll learn how to dress properly
so that you could show up for that because that butler could show up and get that job
he could show you how to dress and tie your tie and get yourself together to be able to go
enjoy if you've never had it and never learned how to tie a tie never knew how to eat a proper meal
never know how to drink tea properly or whatever it was at the time he would be able to show
you those things sure what fork to use manners manners get used a very long way still in society
sure even today oddly enough well they're often forgotten but anyway cultural graces are something
that still can get you a lot further than not even just having a good tone on on the phone
can get you more than not very true and plus if he's helping this family who knows if it's a
a scandal maybe it's in the paper and he ends up sort of helping them through that anyway I'm just
there there could be many there exactly so there could be chapters of this thing that's why I see
because that's why it's easily a bbc show to me like I see it as a be because it's like so it's so
he's just going and wandering around and going and each week he ends up where each door each season
he's helping first the first season he essentially you find out the deep dark family secret and he
leaves the next season he's now on his first town or wherever he's ended up and maybe it's
it's really like he's not even a butler anymore he's literally fallen out of his life his comfort
shell now what will he do as he a factory worker is he drinking too much is he has he tumbled so
low that now he is not even that clean picture of that person who is organized and can do that
you have all these things that can be happening to someone who lose
loses that protective downtime abby ish shell sure if I'm but I'm making it beverly I don't
know what era I'm going to make this but I'm kind of leaning towards when it's good
when people leave the corporate space they they can also change because now their schedule
changes now they're not seen by their title so kind of loses part of his identity maybe
yeah he loses he loses a lot of it he loses a lot of it so you said five million possibly
how did you come up with that budget or just I know it's just one small it's based on several
things it is based on the level of talent I would like to have so if I take that and I go okay I'm
going to probably i'd want to shoot for four weeks at that level I would want
mainly to shoot on possibly in a studio I would need some physical effects so I'm thinking 2.5
towards casting and I'm thinking 2.5 that's 2.5 towards physical production
and then that's kind of how I end up deriving it by usually in my brain and is much of the
movie going to be him discovering himself or will it be in his role as this butler
with that identity I think it's going to be with him discovering himself through not having an
identity to be that have that identity again or whatever that is or whatever he chooses to
choose so it's like I think it's like that's why I like the internal butler idea because it's like
regardless of where he actually is he's still butlering on some level and that's
something that he's trying to break out of that in some levels he needs to
not be thinking so much about everybody else but discover who exactly he is and then if
he decides he wants to do that then he could do that many butlers get married and have fame but
he's decided to be this diligent anthony hopkins character and which way I forget when that was but
where he just kind of just goes his life just being dedicated to the to the life
and never getting married or doing those types of things and being the best butler they can possibly
be almost like they've got to be priests or something sure yeah I guess it creates less
complication to the family that hires them if they have no family then there's less they don't have
to worry about they're there they can go away for a day or two and then they come back and they're
fine or you also become almost part of the family when you work with absolutely people that even
though you where you stand sort of but you're drawn into some of the dilemmas and squabbles
and things yeah absolutely and obviously this type of character will be drawn into many of those sure
okay and maybe he's a peacemaker a little bit in a sense do you think this idea is ready to pitch
to investors from all the wonderful things that you've said and these ideas you've fleshed out no
not yet no not at all there's no there's no I have no sense of what the who I would put into in it
how that would actually generate or be worth that budget I haven't had a chance to break down
whether it be worth distribution wise for that those types of moves this movie is not probably
unique enough if it's a movie to get theatrical just based on what it is so we would have to find
a streaming service that would be looking for this type of thing and are they really
looking for this type of thing so i'd do some i'd have to do some i'd vet it a lot more
and i'd probably look to have more of if it was something I really wanted to do i'd look to at
least have a script he moved the first draft on it just because then I have a little bit more of
I can say this is mine type of thing especially with what we've done because we've taken
essentially we've brainstormed anything that we could brainstorm right now anybody else can
so the only reason that maybe somebody could be able to go in and pitch is because they
have immediate availability to be able to do that where I don't necessarily have to do that
I have to figure out who it's going to be and make a play and strategically get to that person and it
could take time so I want to do it properly where someone else who's in that type of environment
they could come up with that on the eat an oatmeal tomorrow and go in and pitch that idea
so it's kind of understanding how big a pond we're in and how immediate it is for someone
else to be able to do the same thing so I would look to how do I make it more mine
maybe now it's because it's like okay well there's been the black butler but I am a black filmmaker
so maybe it's still got to be a black butler maybe it's a black butler who's like that era
of like right after the Jim Crow-ism era and maybe that becomes okay so who is that maybe
I could actually finance it through doing a grant through the pba oh there's a lot of different ways
if we start to do it certain things so that's why I start to think about it as a development
process then how could I get somebody to conceivably say yes to this movie do you
have an age range for the butler it's definitely going to skew a little bit older it's definitely
the art the art audience I think it's definitely probably my my age range which is that problem or
the 34 to 45 55 type of thing maybe some maybe you draw some of those really artsy millennials but
more than likely they may or may not be interested in that I think they
need to a little bit more explosions or something not sure maybe I like those types of movies when
I that's what I was going to see merchant ivory movies at 22 23 years old but I was also going
to go see wim wander's movies when they were opening but get that period too so
i'd go see i'd go see almost anything if it was drawing me to see it and i'd love to being
in a theater by myself even then so can you give us a little more of your vetting process
what would that entail in terms of something to be worthy of taking it in or an idea or a project
ultimately for me a project there's a a few things that you have to check off one of them is is that
do what's wrong with project or do what someone else is going to point out about the project
it's essentially being a good salesperson like I want to knock down your objections so if you
have if some people are going to have trouble with well the butler didn't do so well and
whatever well I'm going to make it for less money and we're going to do it this way and
this is how we get around it we're doing it do this with the casting and open it up this way
oh okay so just like the question why should you make the project that's usually the first thing
it's not a it's not a challenge it's just that there are a lot of reasons why somebody should
be making a project but if exactly why you should be making a project you convince that person very
quickly that you should be making that project so understanding so it's like having a checklist
and taking knocking off those objections and knowing for yourself okay am I one am I committed
to this script would I be willing to deal with this for the next five ten years of my life I've
got a script I've been working on for that long five ten years of your life and it's still working
and I'm still gonna get that movement and and it's really like even the script is like I'm so futsy
and kubernetes that I want to develop and develop and develop where I have friends who are just go
they write the first draft and they develop it a little bit more and then they're ready
to make it and I'm just not that type of person so as a filmmaker as a director as a producer
I can work with somebody who does it however they do things that's kind of I think what's especially
if I'm a producer for hire I'm hired to produce for you and that's how you're the director and
you've already been picked I don't really have a choice anyway right I can try to get you to do a
shot list but you're already been hired I can't really fire you we're kind of stuck together
but if I hired you where I've had situations where I've hired the director like I've been
the client has hired me to hire everybody so I've brought the director and or even said
if you want you could I'm like I don't think the client's gonna take me to what I even told them
look my reel's not good enough your client's not gonna take me but I have somebody I just work with
they'll take him I guarantee it and I know he'll work at my rate because I know he needs money
so you figure it out and and you do those types of things and so there's all those different
levels so when you're vetting it one of the big things is is that who's attached to it
already if someone's if you're bringing me that project what does that package look like already
I want a package to be perfectly honest at this point it would take a lot for me to look
at something that someone else is bringing me outside of my own circle mainly because
it's just so much work and it's just so much personality and it's just so much dealing with all
of those different moving parts and I've seen I've been a part of things where there was 100 percent
that should have been made or should have gotten sold or shouldn't gone and because there were too
many executive producers on the project too many people who had influence on the project there's no
way it'll ever get made and I was just a creative entity and being told that breaks your heart
but you go through that and so you see it so why would I push anything that I already know is
overloaded with too many people right so then the other thing is is it attached to something
else is it an original piece of property is it an ip that has is it a comic book is there something
that has a value well I now have the reach where I have a lawyer where yeah I could vet something
and I could get clearance I could figure it out and I could make an offer so that doesn't
preclude me from doing something is it based on something historical like what I'm working on
that won't stop me because you got newspapers you've got all these things if it's a real
historical event there's all this information that you can create you don't need the book necessarily
and do I see can I is it something that I personally want to see
do I want to see it and if if I can't say I want to see it or I'm excited about it
then that would be the number one disqualifier I would gather for anybody I feel like I like
this character already and I want to see his journey do we have a name possibly for him
no we don't no no i'd have to because I know we haven't decided on an era even because and that's
where the budget could go up like if we make it a historical piece and we go like if winter butler
is really active and are we making it in the united states are we making it we're going to uk
and making it so there's a lot of different things there's a lot of factors there that
can we make it all in a studio and say it's like because they didn't make movies in ireland until
the the quiet man so they made a lot of movies about ireland and europe before that and they
were all shot in the united states so we could we could do that so there's a lot of things to
consider I think on that like or who would the cat like casting might dictate that as well
sure I guess it could be a house manager here in l.a a lot of these people have house managers that
arrange things and and sort of run the place yeah it would be interesting to be they're definitely
like if we the 70’s is still a doable 70’s 80’s 90’s is still very doable as a period piece
and definitely by the 70’s there were still people who were very rich enough and especially
in beverly hills and in different places to have and have and stars and actors had butlers
and they certainly had them in New York they had doormen they had butlers they had all of those
things especially upper east side individuals and in Europe they're still alive and kicking
so it's just really I think discovering what what that sweet spot would be.