Money and Ideas

I spoke with another relative bigwig the other day. Though his initials are BS, his advice certainly isn't.

BS entered the industry after a successful career making money (for himself and for others). He leveraged his connections to wealth by bringing his friends and former clients to invest in new films. His perspective, "if you can bring the money, you're a player, and you're in." He then described his own latest project, and invited me to find investment capital for it. I haven't got the kinds of connections he had, so I doubt his approach will work for me, but I don't mind giving it a try.

Of course, though BS didn't emphasize it, he acknowledged that money isn't the only way to get in to a project. Content, or ideas, or any sort of creative property that catches a producer's attention can also be used, though it's much less versatile than money. Since I am still, at heart, creative rather than entrepreneurial, I think this approach may be a better fit for me. It's also in line with what SL told me a couple of weeks ago over the phone.

So, I've got a screenplay, "In the Image of Man". Here's the logline:

"A Hassid is killed on a Friday night. People whisper about a giant in the dark. Detective Landesman, who left their world long ago, is thrust back in to the heart of the Jewish community by a case that threatens the foundations of her modern, secular life."

When SL spoke to me, she was very clear: "No Jewish overtones!" I've got to come up with something commercial, she said. While I'm working on that, I might as well put what I've written out there, to see if anyone's interested, right?

So, to start, there's the logline above. I'm no expert in writing loglines. Let me know if you think I could do better with that one.

-Arnon