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[Gary McClurg]

1) Know who your going to sell your film to before you make it... don't take a studio film to a company that only promotes low budget features... or find the buyer who promotes the type of film you want to make...

2) Your production team is of prime importance... a good dp and a gaffer who can light like a pro and of course sound makes your film stand out... and that means it shows that it was done by pros... more sales for you... or the greater chance that your film will get picked up and sold...

3) You need known actors.... and more than just a quick cameo at least in a couple of scenes at different locations... get actors on the way down... for example older actors who a few years ago carried studio films... but who are not making them or up and coming actors from hot TV shows...

3) Spend as little money as possible without harming the integrity of the film... so get free stuff from your friends to add to the production values, hot cars, planes, other things that looked like they cost you money... and don't tell people you got them free... always keep your budget a secret...

4) One seller said instead of making your movie for $1m... just make it for $500k... there is not much difference in sales... unless that other $500k goes for a really big named actor...

5) Horror is out... you can get sales on creature features, but zombie (except Germany, is that kinda of like France loving Jerry Lewis), clones of Saw and other violent films are really out...

6) Sci-FI or disaster films seem to be the hot ticket...

7) Cover your bets by mixing genres, such as sci-fi thriller or a sci-fi/diaster movie for examples... gives the seller more ways to promote your film...

My friend also posted this at another site...

This was a tiring and very invigorating experience. It is obvious that the market is changing rapidly and no one really knows where it will land.

Here is what I have observed.

1) More than ever foreign producer are now making films in the English language, knowing that English truly is the global langauge of cinema

2) Horror films are not getting the play they used to and buyers and producers are staying away from them.

3) Science fiction and science fantasy are coming on strong

4). There are rumblings of the return of the Western

5) Lower budget films and HD shot films are now widely accepted.

6) You need television names to make sales in low budget

Its been interesting.

Just read this from Lloyd Kaufman... the head of Troma and now the president of the AIFTP... or something like that... I think its the association of independent film and television producers... in other words the people who run the film market...

From Lloyd...

The AFM wrap up meeting just finished...bottom line the studios has flooded the market with product and the independent market is getting very tough...not a good AFM

[purpleStyx]

Very cool information. Thanks for posting it. I hope one of these days I can go to the AFM.
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Education is what remains after you've forgot everything you learned in school.
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[playday09]

wow ok ok, man it looks like i have some work to do thanks so much.. all of them are great: i guess i wont have to think for myself for a long time lol. keep em coming... well, maybe we should wait on the ideas for a bit... give me some time to make my way through these first lol