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on January 19
Ryan Koo
Posted project update #12Big News: a Grant from the Tribeca Film Institute!
Post CommentHey all,
I concluded the previous "No updates" update with "hopefully I’ll have bigger news to share soon." And sure enough, soon after I wrote that the Tribeca Film Institute announced their 2012 All Access Grantees, and Man Child is among the ten projects selected! There's an initial grant of $15,000, and then I'll be participating in a career development workshop in April (as part of the Tribeca Film Festival) where I'll have an opportunity to meet more producers and make other valuable connections. The $15k should help with the ongoing budgetary challenges... and both the grant and the connections should make the film even better, and give me more fuel for the rewriting fire!
Some more details and a couple of other things (I guess this is an "actual updates" update):
- According to The Hollywood Reporter, there were 690 submissions for 10 slots (this marks not only my first appearance in THR, but also my first appearance in a story alongside the multi-talented James Franco). I’m extremely grateful to the folks at Tribeca for believing in me and I can’t wait to participate in the program in April (and beyond). When the selection committee called, all I could say was “yes, I accept!”
- For the people have asked whether it's possible to back the project even though the Kickstarter campaign is officially over: first of all, thanks for asking! And second, yes, I've created a Paypal page at Koo.co that allows new backers to come on board for the same rewards -- minus the unique frames that only those of you who participated in the Kickstarter campaign will be getting. Feel free to forward this link to anyone who wants to support the project -- and thank them for me!
- I mentioned in the last update that I'd invested in a new camera, with which I plan on shooting Man Child. We put the camera to use on a test short recently, and though it has nothing to do with MC storywise and was more of a test than a proper short, I thought you might be interested. It was a dialogue-free exercise (I termed it a "tone piece" for my collaborators) used to familiarize ourselves with the new camera... after all, I want to ensure Man Child film looks as good as possible. More details at NoFilmSchool. Here it is:
Thanks as always for your support! Back to the script! All best,
Koo
- According to The Hollywood Reporter, there were 690 submissions for 10 slots (this marks not only my first appearance in THR, but also my first appearance in a story alongside the multi-talented James Franco). I’m extremely grateful to the folks at Tribeca for believing in me and I can’t wait to participate in the program in April (and beyond). When the selection committee called, all I could say was “yes, I accept!”
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on January 4
Ryan Koo
commented on a project updateThanks for the support guys! And yes, I'm working on the health insurance thing!
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on January 3
Ryan Koo
Posted project update #11The "No Updates" Update...
Hey everyone,
It's been a couple of months since the Man Child campaign ended, and I've been itching to do an update. I was waiting until I had something big to relay, but despite a lack of earth-shattering news, I figure it's been long enough that I should check in with a progress report... just to let you know that I'm hard at work on the project and have not escaped to the caribbean with the funds! (that sounds fun though)
So, what's new?
I've been getting notes from producers and others, and it's been a new challenge as a screenwriter to get this much input. Everyone has a different version of the finished film in their head, and what matters most is your own vision... but you have to be cognizant of good notes, while simultaneously casting aside notes that could damage or take the story in an unintended direction. For a project that's lived in my head for a year, it's ultimately very helpful to hear from others... but deciding which notes to incorporate is a very different challenge from staring at the blank page by yourself.
With that in mind, I've been working on a new draft of the script, and I have not lost any of the excitement over the project. In fact, I'm more excited than ever about it, but there are a number of new challenges. First off is finding the right producer -- it's a passion project, and despite the size of the Kickstarter campaign, it's still a very small budget as far as sports films are concerned. I've heard numerous concerns about whether we can make it for the Kickstarter funds or whether we should try to raise additional private investment. At this point I'm 100% focused on the script, but real-world logistics are starting to creep up -- for example, basketball is a winter sport, can we really shoot it in the summer and fake it? Time will tell... ultimately we're going to make this one way or another, it's just a matter of when and how.
Here are some other things that have happened with the project since the (amazingly successful!) conclusion of the Kickstarter campaign.
- The project participated in the Emerging Narrative and Emerging Visions programs put on by IFP and the Film Society of Lincoln Center. I met a lot of producers as a result of these (amazingly helpful) programs, and I had an opportunity at the latter to meet with director Doug Liman (Swingers, The Bourne Identity, Fair Game) to chat about Man Child. Doug famously made Swingers for $200k, and amazingly shot it on film for that amount -- today's digital tools bring production costs down even further. His experiences were very instructive, as he talked about the most important aspect of making your first feature: finding your personal voice as a filmmaker. In many cases, having a smaller budget can make for a better environment for this, as you have less cooks in the kitchen. Noted!
- I've made a slight revision to the title, going from Man-child to Man Child. One concern I've heard from folks is that the title makes people think of an immature grown man (living at home, playing videogames, not getting a job, etc.) instead of a young athlete who's bigger and stronger than his peers. The term "manchild" can mean either one, of course, but I think separating the two words will make it more thematically relevant to the maturity and growth of our protagonist, TJ. That's my thinking at present, at least. This isn't an earth-shattering change, but that's why I called this the "no updates update!"
- If you're ever thinking about running your own Kickstarter campaign, I wrote a post on my website that may be helpful about how I raised $125,000. There is no "right" or "wrong" way to approach a fundraising campaign -- the magic and uncertainty of a creative pursuit is what makes these projects special, in my opinion -- but I certainly did a lot of research before running my own campaign, and in that light perhaps this post could be interesting or helpful.
- There was a minor controversy on my website over my decision to purchase a RED camera to use on Man Child. As a backer you may recall that I'd sketched out a rough budget that included $15k to rent a RED camera, but after the campaign ended RED announced a newer, cheaper camera called the SCARLET that sells for about the same amount. If you're a filmmaker who plans on making more than one movie in your life, if the prices are the same it makes sense to buy rather than rent a camera, so you can use the camera on future productions... but the whole controversy was startling to me because I didn't use any of the Kickstarter funds to buy the camera! My idea is I can use the camera for many productions and write it off over several years, and "rent" it to Man Child for free, thereby spending more of the Kickstarter funds on actors, locations, etc., enabling us to put more of your money on screen. Some people apparently did not understand this -- nor do they understand the concept of putting something on a credit card and paying it off over the time -- but... water under the bridge. I'll be using the camera over the next several months to prepare to make MC, and it's already very nice to be able to test something ahead of time and work out the kinks, thereby helping to make a better film.
I'm sure there are plenty of other minor updates to share, but these are just the first things that come to mind. I find it difficult to share anything interesting about the writing process -- it's just you, your notes, and the script spending some quality time together. Hours stretch into days, days into weeks, new lines are added, entire scenes are thrown out, and all that matters is you end up with the best possible script. How you get there is a murky process that is sometimes teeth-gnashing and sometimes triumphant. When writer's block sets in, however, I've found that the absolute best motivator has been the success of the Kickstarter campaign. You are all responsible for the outpouring of support that gets me past the speedbumps along the way! Thank you again and again, and hopefully I'll have bigger news to share soon!
Koo
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on January 3
Ryan Koo
backed a project
THE IRAN JOB by Sara Nodjoumi & Till Schauder
A professional American basketball player accepts an offer to play in one of the world's most feared countries: Iran.
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200% funded $100,466 pledged
- 744 backers
- Funded Jan 09, 2012
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on January 2
Ryan Koo
backed a project
WELCOME TO PINE HILL: Slamdance World Premiere! by Keith Miller
Playing himself, Shannon Harper journeys from Brooklyn to the Catskill Mountains. Now it's time to journey to our Park City premiere!
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171% funded $20,630 pledged
- 244 backers
- Funded Jan 17, 2012
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on December 15
Ryan Koo
backed a project
Explore The Underwater Realm by Realm Pictures
A series of five films set entirely underwater exploring our oceans like never before!!
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169% funded $101,610 pledged
- 1,128 backers
- Funded Jan 01, 2012
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on November 9
Ryan Koo
backed a project
A Year Without Rent - Thanksgiving by Victoria Westcott & Jen Westcott
Lucas McNelly has 4 months left to complete his "A Year Without Rent", in which he works on film sets for FREE.
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107% funded $5,397 pledged
- 142 backers
- Funded Nov 19, 2011
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on November 1
Ryan Koo
backed a project
The Methuselah Generation: The Science of Living Forever by David Alvarado and Jason Sussberg
Do you think that science can eventually defeat death and aging? Even if we could, should we? Find out in this 3D indie doc.
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105% funded $31,632 pledged
- 143 backers
- Funded Dec 26, 2011
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on October 27
Ryan Koo
backed a project
Research. - A Web Series by Adam Hall
Research. Everything you ever wanted to know about anything ever.
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115% funded $8,081 pledged
- 87 backers
- Funded Nov 15, 2011
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on October 27
Ryan Koo
backed a project
ELDER'S CORNER by SIJI
Elder’s Corner is a musical journey through the colorful history of Nigeria.
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105% funded $21,015 pledged
- 244 backers
- Funded Oct 31, 2011
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Ryan Koo
Brooklyn, NY
Koo co-wrote, directed, shot, and edited the "urban western" web series The West Side (http://thewestside.tv), which won the Webby Award for Best Drama Series; he was also selected as one of Filmmaker Magazine's 25 New Faces of Film. With his ... view more
Great! Thanks for the update, even though it might be just small things I find it super interesting to read about it! Btw. I really do not understand why people are getting mad about the RED camera thing, I really don't. But I guess it's a good sign how the business works. ;-)
I LOVE to hear the small details - it brings the process alive for me, so I'm looking forward to lots more "no update" updates ;-))
Hey Koo -- thanks for writing this. I get a lot of backer updates and other messaging from folks I've supported, but (I admit) this is one of the few that I actually took the time to read. I know it doesn't seem like much, or very exciting, but getting to hear about the nuts and bolts of this process means a lot. Thanks for keeping us in the loop -- and best of luck!