Special Guest Jeremy Lang

Started by J.A.F._Doorhof, August 16, 2004, 16:36:32

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J.A.F._Doorhof

This week we will have Jeremy Lang as a special guest.
Jeremy is the Vice President of Production of Radiant pictures Amsterdam.

Welcome to our forum, our visitors can ask you some questions and please take the time to answer them in your time.

I will start:
Please tell something about Radiant Pictures and what your goals are for the future.

Hope you have some fun over here.

Greetings,
Frank
www.hometheater.nl   /   ISF & HAA certified
Custom installer

Volledige ISF calibraties inclusief HDR en 4K.

"Omdat je je iets niet kan voorstellen betekent dat niet dat het niet kan gebeuren"

Erik

Waarom ineens engels? Als hij in adam werkt zal hij toch wel wat nederlands kennen.
"You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life."
- Winston Churchill

J.A.F._Doorhof

Erik,
Jeremy's native tongue is English so we try to keep it in English, if you don't mind :D.

Greetings,
Frank
www.hometheater.nl   /   ISF & HAA certified
Custom installer

Volledige ISF calibraties inclusief HDR en 4K.

"Omdat je je iets niet kan voorstellen betekent dat niet dat het niet kan gebeuren"

Erik

#3
Alrigth then i try to talk englisch too, but i had a 4 for it in my schooldays    :-[
"You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life."
- Winston Churchill

garmtz

For starters, the URL to the Radiant Pictures website: http://www.radiantpictures.com

Jeremy

Hi everyone, Jeremy here.

Radiant currently has three films in development and we hope to make them between now and june of 2005. we are a new compnay and as such it often takes a couple of years until you aquire material and then put through the development and packaging stages. This is where you attach the cast and key parts of the crew, director, cinematographer etc...

The company was started by lisa st aubin de Teran who is an english author and has written over 19 books, some of which have been translated into Dutch, her newest is now out in the book stores and its called Otto. She started the company because too many people tried to make her books into films unssucessfully so she decided to do it herself.

if anyone has any questions about filmmaking in europe or in general please don't hesitate to ask.

en Erik mij nederlandse schrijven is so slecht het is pijnlijke dus het is veel makkelijker in engelse maar als julie nedelandse vragen heeft dan is het geen problem maar de antwoorden zal in engelse zijn.

to de volgende/until next time

jeremy

SiR-ROUND

Hello Jeremy,

Welcome...

I would like to know what the media will be. Are you planning to shoot on HDcam?

Thanks,

Manfred

jaco

Jeremy,
Thanks for participating in this thread on our forum.

English should not be a problem for most of the readers of this forum, as almost everyone has taken English in school (nowday english is given to 10 year olds on primary school i believe)

Can you tell us how long a movie takes in avarage to make. I mean from the time someone has the idea to do so, until the audience can see it in the cinema ?

Nice Dutch by the way, that is sufficient to speak to non English Speakers in general  ;D

Jaco

Jeremy

Hi everyone,

Let me answer some of your questions. The films we are shooting will all be shot on 35mm film as that for us is still the best format. We have looked into shooting one film on DV in a kind of dogma style but we have chosen against it because of all the problems with transfering the DV to film. We were going to do it on DV because the director wanted to shoot in an intimate format whereas with HD he would need the same big cameras as with shooting 35mm.

The next question, as to how long a film takes really depends. it can take years for films to go into production, i've heard of films taking more then 10 years to get to the screen. this is usually only with big studio films as they have larger development budgets and they tend to make films that undergoe five or six, sometimes even more rewrites. This of course is one delay. On average when starting a production company they usually say it takes three years for a film to get made. The first year is spent getting the material, which then goes through a screenwrter, unless the project is an original screenplay to begin with. Then the second year is spent putting together the financial struture and fund raising for the film. the third year is reserved for production and post. So on average it takes about two to three years to get films off the ground. In some cases studios as i said can move quicker or slower. there is the example of mission impossible 3 which was in preporoduction now at studio babelsberg in Berlin. The script was ready and they were building sets and Tom crusie was living in Berlin. The first director was fired because of 'creative differences'  and then they brought in a second director who wasn't available until next summer because he was working on some TV series. As a result the film wasn't happening so paramount the studio behind pushed it back, since Tom's schedule opened up he was then able to do a remake of war of the world's that spielberg will be directing. as this film was rushed into production, they will start shooting in november, it will probably be done around fall of 05. so sometimes it can happen within a year if the project is all set top go.

sorry for the long winded answer, i tend to get carried away.

j

patrick_vdb

Hi Jeremy,

First of all welcome to the nicest/best dutch-based Home Theater forum on the internet :D

Will Radiant Pictures focus on production only or will they also do the distribution of the final product? Are there already any ideas on how to make an entry on the home entertainment market (i.e DVD's)?

Best regards,

Patrick

Johan Van Gompel

Hi,

Lisa's books are mainly 'human interest' material. How difficult do you find it to translate them to the big screen? Does she write the screenplays herself? And if so, does she have carte blanche -- after all, she is the president of your company and you did indicate that it was founded because she wanted more control over the book to film translation process --  or is the film creating process a little bit more intricate than her writing the story and (quite preverbially, of course - and please do not mind my flair for negative wording) shoving it down her minions' throats and letting them do her bidding?

Being more of an 'alien interest' afficionado I never read any of her books. Any particular one you would recommend?
Johan Van Gompel
Video: HTPC | Barco Graphics 1200 | Draper M1300 16:9 scherm
Audio: Jungson AV-1000C | Canton LE109 fronts | Canton LE102 rears | 2 x Focal 15K8711 subwoofer

Raf1

Hello Jeremy,

This forum is a gathering place for those who want more out of Home Theater equipment, then straight out of the box preformance.
From simpel basic adjustments to a dedicated room totaly black, with scaled DVD, projection en grayscale calibration.
As a film maker, the comming of DVD has given new oppertunities, and challenges, in what way are the practices of consumers like us here, effecting ore influencing you and your colleague's.
Whit an emphasis on our technical capabilities?
And have you expierenced Home Theater bases on the rules and basic's whe here practice?
Did you like it?

Geetings,

Raf. 


garmtz

Nice one Raf, we are a Home Theater Forum after all... ;)

My question would be: what would you recommend to artists who are wanting to make their own movie on a budget? Where to start, hoe to get it published? Are there any 'cult' companies out there that are willing to look at these kinds of experiments? Looking at the success of movies like 'The Blair Witch Project' and indeed the earlier Dogma films, it should be possible to get the attention some way or another. Or were the people making these movies just 'lucky'?

Oracle

Hi,

I don't have a direct question, but rather some remarks about your website...

- under 'Films' several films don't display the corresponding poster
- under 'Films' several lead to a non-existant page (i.e. The Thread)
- under 'Documentaries' the same applies
- under 'Documentaries', 'The Enemy Within' is re-titled as 'Hearts and Bones'..

Finally, none of the books display any information when clicked..

Maybe something to look into?  :)

Kind regards,
Mark

Jeremy

Hi,

Lots of questions. To begin with the web site is still being constructed as we speak, the one on line is the so called beta verison so we hope to have the kinks ironed out soon. Thanks for the notes Mark I will pass them along to our web designer.

Garmtz, in response to your question. I would always encourage people to go out and make a film, if of ocurse they are not in it to score a big hit.  The dogma films although shot on DV in fact cost a lot of money and were shot by some of the best in danish cinematography. The heads of the departments were all top professionals and all the films had a major sales agent behind them as well as a distibutor, which is why the films did well. In order to make a film all you really need are a really good script, good actors, DV camera and an apple or an avid. This doesn't mean though that the film will get picked up and sold. there are about 1000 films amde each year in america and only about 200 of these ever get out into theatres or DVD releases. There aren't really any cult distributors per say that are looking for product but if the film is good enough it always has a chance to be picked up for distribution. the key is to have an angle, to do soemthing that no one has ever seen before. Also with DVD's today it always possible to go out and sell your own film online. There is a movie called American Movie, its an american documentary about a filmmaker trying to get his first feature off the ground. Its  a great film and a good example of what can be accomplished.

Hi raf, I have indeed had a calibration done to my TV (thank you Frank) and it was fantastic. As far as your question goes as a producer we have very little control about what happens afterwards. To a degree we can control the material that goes onto a DVD but in the end its the distribution companies that make those decisions usually based on cost. An example of this is the TV series Twin Peaks, the first season was released but not the second. this was because the studio that owned the rights was in the process of being sold and the first didn't do well enough as they felt that the costs involved with preparing the DVD (mastering etc..) far outway the potential profits they would make from releasing it.

From Lisa's books we are mostly deeling with her novels, like the Bay of Silence which is one of the film's that we are coming out with first. In this case the script was written by another writer who is an actress and will also act in the film. She does have carte balnche but she works with a very gifted script editor and her goal is to make the best possible films, she wants to make films that perform well at the box office. Once the films are made though they have to go through the usual channles, we have to find co-producer that want to make the film with us, so i wouldn't really call it shoving it down people's throats as if they don't like the script they won't collaborate with us.

Right now Radiant is only concerned with making our own films and doing some financial packaging for other interesting films that are brought to us. we have no plans as of yet to enter the distribution market as here in Holland it is a market that is flouded and heavly controlled by A-Film. Its just not worth it yet. the DVD gold mine period is coming to an end.

hope this helps guys and keep those questiosn coming and i'll keep the answers flowing.

j

patrick_vdb

Hi Jeremy,

I can understand that Radiant Pictures is momentarly not interested in distribution and will focus their main targets to the production-side of movies, production and or distribution are complete opposites. However, is Radiant Pictures targeting on the DVD-market as well, perhaps through the sales and distribution-channels of a major player (in the Netherlands) like A-film? In my opinion the DVD-market will be terrific oppertunity to enhance the market for movies of companies like yours and make it known to the bigger audience...I'm not sure what you mean with the gold mine period being coming to an end for the DVD market?

Best regards,

Patrick

Jeremy

Dear Patrick,

Of course DVD sales make up an important  aspect of the ancilliary market, the secondary market outside of theatrical distirbution. All films for the most part that sign a distirbution deal often sell the same distributor the rights to both theatrical and DVD. As we need what is called pre-sales in order to make films here in europe several markets will be sold before the film even goes into production. DVd sales, TV sales both network and satellite as well as many other ancilliary markets do in fact make up for a large amount of a film's revenue stream. What I meant by the goldmine period being over is that it is increasingly difficult to open up a distribution company now that specializes in DVD distirbution as the market is already cornered especillay here in holland where the market is smaller then say the UK or the US (in terms of population). Also most DVD business being done, in terms of profits, is coming from the purchase of back catalogues and re-releases, as the studios still for the most part handle their own home video departments. A-Film got lucky with the lord of the rings as did many indie distributors in europe as the film was picked up by independants because of the studio that made Lord of the rings. They don't have their own releasing arm in most of europe. the chnace of a film like that coming along agagin is small. Then you look at the films that are left and they are smaller art films which make smaller profits. Therefore to begin something like that now here will be difficult. the move is to actually purchase a compnay that already is in existence and has aytrack record and a catalogue.

hope this informs.
j

Johan Van Gompel

Quote from: Jeremy on August 18, 2004, 15:24:58
[...] her goal is to make the best possible films, she wants to make films that perform well at the box office [...]

Aren't those things mutually exclusive, especially with the kind of junk that performs well at the BO nowadays? ;)
Johan Van Gompel
Video: HTPC | Barco Graphics 1200 | Draper M1300 16:9 scherm
Audio: Jungson AV-1000C | Canton LE109 fronts | Canton LE102 rears | 2 x Focal 15K8711 subwoofer