About

MAKE MY MOVIE (MMM) is an innovative multi-platform project that utilizes graphic design, social networking, a webseries and the public to decide which idea should receive $100,000 to be used to create a low budget feature film.

 

That sure sounds like the usual toss that ends up in successful proposals to funding bodies doesn’t it?  Well it is and it was. So what does all that crap up there actually mean?

What it means is that anyone can enter MMM. All they need to do is upload their movie idea with the following; a title, a logline, a poster and a synopsis.  The entries then get culled down to a top 12 with some help from social networking and a panel of industry types. When we are down to the final 12, then the public really gets involved and backs the film they want to see made. 

We may have a Rocky-type scenario with a professional going head-to-head with a rank outsider.  We eventually end up with a winner who then gets to make their film. Throughout this online process we have an online webseries that will be fly-on-the-wall coverage of the entire project; from launch through to finished feature film.  MMM will then provide as much assistance (produce/ distribute) as humanly possible through our incredible sponsors/partners to guarantee a very large audience an ultra low-budget indie that usually would struggle to get much traction in the cluttered marketplace.

"In New Zealand there’s a slow revolution happening in indie feature film."

 

Thanks to the accessibility of excellent digital equipment and talent, there are a lot of independent digital features being made. Possibly over two dozen in the past 18mths. You might have heard of a couple of them but it’s likely you wouldn’t have heard of most of them. And this is the state of independent cinema in NZ today.

Many of these micro-budget films have budgets way below NZ$250,000, which is the amount that the New Zealand Film Commission are funding parties through Escalator, their low budget feature film scheme.  There’s been a lot of interest in that scheme but only four each year are funded out of the hundreds of projects being submitted. So where are those other projects? Where do those unsuccessful and possibly brilliant pitches end up? 

"Well some simply just get put back into a closet never to be seen again"

 

Some actually go on to be made on a shoestring by fearless determined filmmakers and then unfortunately end up not being seen by anyone outside of a few cast and crew. And that’s not even taking into account all the “amazing” projects that are talked about in cafes nationwide every single day. It all can be rather depressing....  but it really shouldn't be, as there's some incredible talent out there and a very supportive local scene.

What is very true though is how tough it is to get your work seen in todays cluttered market. Not only do you have to pull every favour in the book, exploit every friendship and blow every cent you own, you'll still end up in a position of desprately trying to find an audience for your completed film. That’s really the soul-destroying part. Killing yourself creating something and then realizing you’re only at the half-way mark, because when we’re talking about feature films..

"the end game must always be an audience to view the work".

 

That’s when we thought...... Wait just a cotton-picking minute!  Why don’t we make the potential "audience" a significant partner in the process. So that the audience actually have a direct connection to the film from its inception, right through to its release.

"To invite the audience earlier into the process and not at the end when it could be too late."

 

Where the audience as one collective individual can root for an idea to be made and actually have a say in what gets the money. But let's get even crazier for a second, lets open this whole strange world of filmmaking right up and ask talented individuals to put these ideas out to the world at large for examination and provocation. By creating a poster image and having to visualize your idea in marketing terms to an intended and very real audience, it takes all these café conversations and forces them to be cemented as a very possible potential project to be funded.

But don't good films come from good scripts? And don't good scripts take years of development? Well yes many do. But not all of them.  There’s more than one way to skin a cat. We think great ideas can be helped by being but under pressure and that you can get diamonds from coal. We also think how many horrible clichés can we use in one paragraph.  Over the years we have seen many admirable films born from scenarios that you’d never expect. Miniscule budgets have transformed into wonderous finished films through sheer talent and bravura filmmaking.  Films like the 90s indie foursome that really blew open the floodgates to a new wave of low-fi independent cinema; Richard Linklater's Slacker, Nick Gomez's The Laws of Gravity, Gregg Araki's The Living End & Robert Rodriguez's El Mariachi all paved the way to an entire new form of cinema that continues to this day.

"These films are a wake up call. That great talent can work miracles with little to no money."

 

In recent times films like Primer, Tiny Furniture, Supersize Me, Shifty, Mom and Dad, George Washington are all examples of the power of ultra low budgets. Closer to home we have Florian Habicht whose inventive Love Story was initially shot for peanuts before getting NZFC post production assistance. So it can happen.

Will it happen with the film that wins MAKE MY MOVIE? We hope so. It's why we're spending all our time devoted to this project. Obviously this is not the only route out there for filmmakers in NZ, we’re simply offering another avenue that we hope many decide to take part in. And by participating in the MMM project, the side benefits will be that other projects may gain some momentum and go into production on their own accord.

"Insane. Dumb. Dangerous. Looney Tunes"

 

These may be some of the terms that some may shout as this project gets underway. Who in their right mind would put an idea out for others to see and possibly steal?  Well for starters, people who want to make a film and not just endlessly talk about the one that got away. It’s highly unlikely that a synopsis and a title for a low budget feature film will suddenly cause someone to don a virtual balaclava and run off to produce your idea in Mexico. 

There's absolutely no use bitching about your great idea that was hidden away in your third drawer being stolen by Oliver Stone and produced.

The more you put out there in the public domain, the more you 'own' that material.  Then of course there’s the ether. Humanity is one giant collective mind that produces ideas every single second of every day and that your seemingly original precious idea is actually being born in one thousand other minds around the globe at the same very instant. The difference comes down to who can execute the idea. MAKE MY MOVE offers one solution to fast track this idea before anyone else gets a chance. From whoa to go, one lucky winner will have made a feature film in a few months. And this entire project may just inspire some of the others involved to move forward with their projects. 

"We want to light a national creative fuse and see what blows up"

 

This project was created by Ant Timpson (V48HOURS, New Zealand Film Festival) who partnered with Hugh Sundae (nzherald.co.nz Entertainment Editor) to produce the webseries and house the entire operation on nzherald.co.nz.  The nzherald.co.nz is acting as our broadcaster and promotional partner. We are indebted to them for their support and assistance. The project is being funded via the Digital Content Partnership of NZONAIR with additional funding from the New Zealand Film Commission.