A do-it-yourself method
The Blueprint
Fourteen steps to lower the risk on a film and improve its chance of earning money.
Built on a hundred years of Hollywood practice. Sized to fit a real schedule, and to a budget that is not yet committed.
Free. Tell us who you are and it downloads immediately.
Fourteen steps you run yourself
This is the whole method. Fourteen steps, in order, that lower the risk on a film and improve its chance of earning money. Nothing is held back — the paid version is us doing it, faster, with a buyer list we already have and a phone that already gets answered. What follows is that same method, stripped to what one producer can do with a laptop, a few hundred dollars of ad spend and about three weeks of attention before the money is committed.
What is inside
The fourteen steps, grouped into the four stages they belong to. The document explains how to run each one yourself.
Validation
Genre, audience and buyers, established and tested before the money is committed.
| # | Step | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Establish the Movie's core genre | Easy |
| 2 | Test the genre against established genre rules | Easy |
| 3 | Establish the Movie's core audience | Medium |
| 4 | Test the audience assumption | Medium |
| 5 | Establish the Movie's core distributors | Medium |
| 6 | Test the distributors' demand for it | Hard |
Producing
Holding the film to the specification the validation work produced.
| # | Step | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|
| 7 | Produce that Movie | Hard |
Audience testing
The film tested with a real audience, and the campaign built from what they said.
| # | Step | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|
| 8 | Test the Movie with a recruited audience | Hard |
| 9 | Test the Movie with a focus group | Hard |
| 10 | Screen to press and industry creatives | Medium |
| 11 | Create the Movie's marketing material | Medium |
| 12 | Test the marketing material | Medium |
| 13 | Collate the evidence and make it presentable | Medium |
Market execution
The film taken to market territory by territory, and the deals closed and accounted for.
| # | Step | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|
| 14 | Execute — take the film to market | Hard |
31 pages. One PDF. Yours immediately.
Get the Blueprint
It is free. We ask who you are because we would rather know which producers are working through the method — and because it means we can send you the document rather than only handing you a link that expires with your browser tab.
Or talk it through against your actual film
The document is general because it has to be. Your film is not. $50 buys the first 30 minutes and the second 30 are free — 60 minutes on one film, against a consulting rate that works out at $187.50 an hour. And paying for the call is what earns you $500 off Stage one.
Questions
What does it cost?
Nothing. It used to be sold. It is now free in exchange for your details, because a producer who has read it is a better conversation than one who has not.
What format is it?
A PDF, 31 pages. The download appears immediately after you submit the form.
Do I need a finished film?
No. Start at step one whether you are in development, in production or in post.
Is this the same as what you do for clients?
Yes — the method is identical. What you are buying at Stage one and above is me running it, and the buyer list.