Tom Malloy discusses film financing, his new movie, & his educational website

Filmmaker Heather Lenz interviews Writer, Director, Producer, & Actor Tom Malloy about film financing, his educational website for filmmakers, & his new film, "Ask Me to Dance." 

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Love South Radio.

SPEAKER_01 0:13

Hi and welcome to the Art of Film Funding. I'm your co-host, Claire Capan, along with Carol Dean, author of the best-selling book, The Art of Film Funding. Carol is also the founder and president of From the Heart Productions and the host of this show. Today we are joined by our guest host, filmmaker Heather Lenz. She's a filmmaker best known for Kusama Infinity, a feature-length documentary about artist Yayoi Kusama that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and received international distribution. Tom Malloy is an independent filmmaker who writes, produces, directs, and acts. As a producer, he's raised over 25 million and produced 17 films. Recently, he wrote, produced, and acted in Ask Me to Dance, which was also his dictorial debut. Tom has written over 30 screenplays, and the majority have been made into movies. He's also written Bankroll, a book about film financing, and co-owns an instructional site to teach and support filmmakers. More information can be found at his website, filmmakingstuffhq.com. I'm so glad both of you could join us today, Heather and Tom. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 1:45

Oh, thank you, Claire, so much for the lovely introduction. And Tom, it is a pleasure to have you here today. I had the opportunity to take a class with you through From the Heart, and I know that you are just an absolute wealth of information. So I would like to start with you. Oh, yes. Yeah, thank you. And I'd like to start with your new film, Ask Me to Dance. And I would love it if you would just tell us a little bit about what it's about.

SPEAKER_04 2:14

Sure, yeah. Ask me to Dance uh was I had wanted to like years ago I wrote and and produced a film called Love and Dancing. That was uh I was in it, uh Amy Smart was in it, Betty White, I got to dance with Betty White in that movie. And because I used to teach bar dancing going back years. And so I always liked the dance films and the and and love and dancing was kind of a light romantic comedy. So I through a series of events, I never felt that that got the correct release and the correct response that I wanted. It was timing and uh all kinds of factors into that one. I I always wanted to try to do it another dance film romantic comedy. So Ask Me to Dance was born out of that. And what I wanted to do with this one was really make a laugh out loud dating comedy, like as funny as 40-year-old virgin, you know, those types of movies, and but just have some great dancing in it. And that was Ask Me to Dance, which is kind of um, you know, to summarize the plot about uh the a guy and a gal are told separately uh at the beginning of the film that they're gonna meet the love of their life within five days. And five days happens to be New Year's Eve, um, and it all culminates then from that point on, they're told by this gypsy lady that's gonna beat the love of love of their life, and they go on a series of the absolute worst dates ever, you know, just just striking out and failing one after the other, one after the other, until hopefully towards the end, they cross paths and meet the love of their lives, which would be each other. So, yeah, that's uh that's the quick plot song.

SPEAKER_02 3:47

Well, that sounds great. I have to say, at the beginning, especially of the pandemic, my husband and I were binge watching romantic comedies because it was such a depressing time. And so it's always nice when you can bring some light into the world and give people some laughs, so that sounds great, especially with the dancing.

unknown 4:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 4:07

So you're laugh out loud funny, and I kind of took all kinds of stories from my own dating life and other people's dating lives before I even wrote it, reached out, tell me your worst story, you know, to friends and stuff like that, and put all of that in the script.

SPEAKER_02 4:20

So yeah, well, that sounds great. Uh so I guess in some ways uh you're like a documentary filmmaker doing research for your script.

SPEAKER_04 4:30

Uh oh, it's so you have to do that with every script. Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_02 4:35

Yeah, get the juicy stories from real life. So you have just an absolute tremendous amount of experience as a producer, but um, as mentioned, this is your directorial debut, and I just wondered if you could tell us a little bit about what you like most about directing or anything you found surprising about that experience.

SPEAKER_04 4:54

Well, you know, I I really think that if anybody can produce a couple films before they direct, that makes them uh maybe say stronger as a director in that regard, you know, because we've seen, and I've I've done so much around films for so many 20 years now that I've seen every aspect of different positions on the film. So that that gave me a confidence going in. My strength is definitely working with actors and timing and dialogue. That's my main thing. And so the script was so good. I remember I think it was Ron Howard who was saying uh, you know, if the script's great and the actors are great, then it's like the film directs itself. So the one thing that I'll I'll just write up say is my weakness or something that I don't focus on is the shots and the you know the lighting and stuff like that. And in that regard, you want to hire a great DP. We had a great guy named Pascal Combs Canope, and he was you know fantastic. So you work together. So as a director, I would just say, for anybody listening, if they were to direct, if you have weaknesses, just hire somebody that's gonna fill in those weaknesses. And it for me, it wasn't that it was a weakness as much as that's not what I wanted to focus on. I wanted to focus on the comedy and the timing of the comedy, you know, and so I had a lot and the the way the edit would kind of play out. So I had a lot of that in my head going in, and that helped, you know, to the point where I was very efficient. That's that's kind of my goal in life, too. But I was very efficient in the movie set and the actors would say that. And I was the only time I would get frustrated was the when the actors didn't know their lines, because that would just kill my efficiency. But when the actors were knowing their lines and nailing them, there was nothing was better. I mean, they were so happy to be there because I let them play and and uh and gave them the space to just bring their A game. And as long as they brought their A game, it was super smooth in that regard.

SPEAKER_02 6:45

That sounds um wonderful, and I think it's so great that um you know you think of it in that way in terms of bringing people that have um strengths that can supplement your strengths to make everything even better and stronger. Uh so could you talk a little bit about the pros and cons of acting in a movie that you're also directing?

SPEAKER_04 7:08

Yeah. Yeah, no, that was a challenge in in some ways. Um because I initially when I put the film together, I did well, let's say this. When I first wrote the film, I had thought, all right, I want to write a great role for myself because I had done that for so long. But that was some years back, even pre-pandemic, you know, that when I first wrote the script, so maybe 2018 or so, um I uh when we started, when I had decided that I wanted to direct the film, I didn't even say that I would play the role. I said, let's look for the role. And we got um for the female lead Brianna Evigan, Brianna Evigan, who was um the star of the step-up movies with Henning Catum. So she had that dance kind of fan base, and she's a great dancer and a very funny actress. And we tried to fill this role. We we got submissions for the role that I ended up playing, but it there was a four-pronged effect that we couldn't match up, and that four-pronged was had to be funny. That's easy. You can find funny actors everywhere. Uh, you know, I'd I've had comedy training my whole life, but you could point to, you know, a thousand actors, the same thing. But they also had to know how to dance. That narrows the field, all right. Then you had to have some name value. So now if we had that, then we had to have somebody that would do it for our budget. And all of our budget went to the other stars that are in the movie, Mario Cantone from Section of the City, uh Joyce DeWitt from Three's Company, uh Catherine Murray Stewart, all these things, Kurt Angle, all these other people that were in the movie. So it's like we spin out the budget for that role. And so I was the only one that filled all of the boxes and would do that. And so, yes, it did to answer your question more specifically, it was a challenge uh to do that. But thankfully, I again filled in that weakness there with a guy named David Josh Lawrence, who also works for my company as my uh my Glasshouse distribution company as the head of acquisitions, but he's also an actor and he uh functioned as kind of a second unit director, and basically was my eyes and ears if I was on camera. So the scenes where I wasn't on camera, I could direct them and I could be there, and I did I didn't need him as much. But then when I was on camera, he would help and kind of whisper things and you know, and and give me uh tips on how it looks. So I don't know if I could have pulled it off without uh David.

SPEAKER_02 9:22

Well, it definitely sounds like you were wearing a lot of hats on this production, and yeah, it sounds like you sounds like you um thought of everything. So I wonder what tips would you offer new filmmakers.

SPEAKER_04 9:40

As far as directing goes?

SPEAKER_02 9:43

As far as I'm gonna say anything in the movie business because I know that you just have so much experience. I've heard you talk a little bit, for example, about maybe doing five shooting days instead of six, things like that.

SPEAKER_03 9:56

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_04 9:58

Well, you know, uh I think that on a general note, partnering with people that are very experienced and and good at what they do is smart. And well, I'll say that you should do that over partnering with friends. You know, like it's I it's very easy to partner with friends, but um, I've always said that the number one person you want is the friend that's extremely talented and good at their job. The number two person is the person you're not friends with that's extremely talented and good as their job. And then you gotta put the friend way below that, you know. Like you should never work with a friend unless the talent exceeds the friendship or is at least equal to the friendship. Um, so that's something that it took me a while to learn because sometimes I'd I'd throw friends in crew positions or roles and or nice guys and then nice gals in these roles. And they it was like, uh no, they didn't bring the A game that we needed. So ultimately, when you're directing a project or producing a project or making a project, there comes a time where everybody leaves. Like, right, so when you start, you have this idea in your head, you write your screenplay, uh, and you get it to the point where now you're gonna start adding people to that uh that team of you, you know, and so then you start putting together, then you shoot, and when you're shooting, there's 50 people on set, and there's extras. And I mean, at one point we had something like 70 extras, or this wedding scene, and so you have all this all this big band that you're putting together, the big team, and then it's over, and then it's back to just you, you know. Now you plus the editor, plus the post uh supervisor, you might have a colorist, you might have a composer, all these people that hear, but you're the person, uh, especially if you're a director and you're one of those kind of roll up your sleeves, finish till the end director, um, it that you're managing now. So it becomes what I'm getting at here is that note that, yeah, it'd be so great to work with your friends, but it's that's only for a small period. Production is such a small period of it. The development could be an unlimited amount of time, and then post happens to be the months after. I mean, it's now September. The film rap shooting end of May. I'm still working on it every single day. Every single day I'm working and doing stuff, and it's still not finished. I would say about a month more, and we'll have finished everything on this film. So uh, you know, give partner with great people that are talented that can help you get to your goals as quick as possible. That's my overall note.

SPEAKER_02 12:20

Well, that's great advice. I've heard you compare producing a movie to wedding planning, which I thought was a really great analogy and also kind of funny, too.

SPEAKER_04 12:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:30

Um, very much so.

SPEAKER_04 12:32

And but but to note, that's planning a wedding every day for the amount of days you're shooting. If you're shooting 20 days, that's planning 20 weddings in a row in a way, just so you know. So it's not like one wedding is is equal. So that's like equal to one day of shooting.

SPEAKER_02 12:48

That makes sense. And so you you're in post-production now. Could do you have any tips about the editing process or about post-production in particular?

SPEAKER_04 12:57

I would say try to find an editor who you trust. Um, in this case, we had Frank Reynolds, who was a friend for a long time. Uh, he had edited one film that even got nominated for Best Picture called In the Bedroom. He I had worked with him as um on my movie called The Alphabet Killer years ago. And he is also a kind of a fireman editor for me that I would bring in, you know, to touch up a movie and you know, for one week or something like that, and just uh, you know, fix it. And so you again try to work with the best people in that regard. And also one thing that I would say is to try not to make too quick decisions, you know what I mean? Like, meaning, say you're sitting with a friend and he's like, yeah, edit, you know, and and for you to be like, great, and you know, edit my next movie, that's not the smartest thing. And maybe years ago I would have done things like that. And now I'll look. Obviously, if I have a uh uh somebody like Frank that I trust, that's one thing. But even with in this regard, there was one or two other editors that I talked to that were also super experienced that I'd work with. Um so I wouldn't like with the sound mix, I made I talked to several people on that. Um, you know, so yeah, I would just say don't just jump into something because somebody says they're an actor and somebody says they're an editor or something like that. Really take it, take time to make uh the best decision on what's going to be the best for your movie.

SPEAKER_02 14:16

That's great advice. Could you talk a little bit about how the financing came together for Ask Me to Dance?

SPEAKER_04 14:25

Sure. We have had some development financing, which I you know I highly recommend people look into. Um I have a course that uh I teach on filmmaking stuff HQ called funding secrets. And it's about it's about raising a portion of the money, uh a small portion of the money, just so that you can develop the movie, meaning get a casting director on, get the legal paperwork done, and kind of push it forward to the next level. And that's what we did on this one. But then the actual finance of the movie came from uh connections, uh a new business partner of mine. Um, I'll, you know, giving specific tips. I'll just say that people that happen to be in the crypto space seem to be gamblers in a way. Um, years ago, I mean, there's always been in my kind of career different people that I went to for financing when it was kind of the hot thing. I remember when poker, online poker is hot, you can get these poker players that were worth millions that would invest in movies. And I'll just say that crypto kind of is the new poker in a way because there's so much uh uh you know, that there's so much uh money that's that's increasing. Uh people that just you know invested a thousand dollars in in uh 2011 are now multi-multi-millionaires in crypto space. So uh it that happened to be it, but at the same time, with all investors, no matter what you're raising, you're raising a hundred thousand dollars, you're raising uh five million dollars, it takes a lot to get them attached and trust you. And so ultimately, the best tip that I can ever give to anybody in in trying to get financing, no matter where you're going, is focus on the project. You know, the project itself was so smart, and we we just kept adding more and more value that it became irresistible. So no matter who I had financing it, it made sense at that time. So um just keep, I've always said that um development and and prepping the project and adding more value, adding more value. If you if you're stuck and you can't get a financing, keep adding more value, whether it's cash, locations, um crew positions that are smart and talented, just keep adding all of that to the project, and sooner or later it just becomes a financial project.

SPEAKER_02 16:35

Well, that once again, great advice. So the American the American film market is coming up, and I was wondering if you could offer some tips for filmmakers, especially newer filmmakers who are interested in attending and hoping to find financing for their projects there.

SPEAKER_04 16:55

Well, uh, you know, uh the the one thing I'll just say, the caveat being it is virtual this year, that was kind of a shock to all of the sales companies uh in a way. This would have been my 17th year in a row attending the American Film Market. And uh so I did 15 years in a row, and then 16 was uh virtual last year, and this year's virtual as well. We were really hoping this was going to be the first physical uh return to markets. I would think it's more likely looking like Berlin in 2022, uh, which is in February. And so, but as far as AFM being virtual this year, I still believe there's value for filmmakers. Um, there's first off, there's value in the fact that it's cheaper than to you don't have to go to Santa Monica and get a hotel if you don't live there, or and the even the passes themselves are cheaper. But the even if you didn't take any meetings, just going to uh seminars and conferences that they're doing that they're doing online now, you know, wealth of information. You could just have the value alone by buying a pass and listening to a couple of those um conferences. But taking meetings and stuff like that, the key with this is just to look at Zoom like a physical meeting. So try to, and I know AFM has their own kind of online portal, but once you sign up, you'll get a list of people and just start reaching out to them and kind of hammering emails and trying to set up uh meetings that way, and then just have your your pitch in place. So I would say more and more you can look at Zoom like an actual physical meeting and just look at it that way. Just like I would for if I was a filmmaker going to AFM year the years when I did that, I looked at the list of everybody attending and put together emails and just reached out, reached out, reached out, and then prior to the actual market, and then walked around the market, and the I had warm meetings already set up uh from that point. So, you know, it's it's I would just say get the list, uh, sign up, get the list, and just reach out to all the exhibitors and and and see if you can set up meetings that way.

SPEAKER_02 19:04

And you also have your own distribution company, Glasshouse. And so I would love it if you would share some information about that and the kinds of movies or content you specialize in, what you're looking for, things like that.

SPEAKER_04 19:20

Sure, sure. Um, well, yeah, glasshouse distribution has been around for almost six years now. Um, I believe in June it'll be six years. And it's we we started, I I mean, gosh, I started with myself and a guy named Brian Glass. That's where the glasshouse comes from, but it became a double entendre that's just kind of full transparency. You could see everything that's going on inside. And it came from so many years as a filmmaker where it didn't know what was going on distribution-wise, or they were you know hiding things and they were unreachable and not transparent. So I wanted to go with that, and that kind of uh hit in a way, you know, filmmakers are so happy to be able to text and and call the people that that work at the company and and get responses and get information, get reports and stuff like that. So now I believe we were up to seven people uh at some point in the company, and now I think it's six people um because of you know just COVID and going on and just uh a little bit of restructuring in that regard. But uh, you know, the the company's going great. Last year was fantastic for people watching movies. So it was a good time to be a filmmaker because there's even a lack of product out there because nobody that that hole when no one shot movies in 2020 is is really hitting right now. So the market's tough, but we figured it out to a certain extent and and how we can make money on films. So we have almost I think we have 97 films in the catalog, so almost 100 um that we're dealing with on a regular basis. And uh and just to note that those are not films that I've produced, but they're films that we've licensed from other people and that we're selling. I usually don't sell the films that I produce. They're usually I usually deal with different sales companies for that. Um but yeah, no, good glasses is going great. We sell internationally, we do distribute in the US, and um it's it's really kind of been a fun ride.

SPEAKER_02 21:13

Well, that's exciting, and I must say uh the the name of the company is great, and I think what you've said about transparency and distribution is something filmmakers are you know eager to work with a company who has that mindset. And so that's wonderful. Yeah. And so um you have written a book, Bankroll, and I wondered for anyone interested if you could just maybe share one of the gems from the book or uh talk a little bit about the book.

SPEAKER_04 21:47

Well, the book so the first edition of Bankroll came out in Gush in 2008, and then the second edition is 2012. And just so to note that the book is out of print, so because people find it online, hey, I paid $100 and some auto. For your book, and I'm like, great, I don't I don't get any of that money. I have no idea why you would, you know, they if uh go and try to pay that much because all of the information now is at filmmakingstuff.com or filmmakingstuff h2.com. Uh because it really I remember when the publisher approached me to write a third edition, and each time you had to write about 30% new stuff. And the everything changes so fast. And and it I the problem with uh getting a book out there is that we write something and then it's gotta go through an editor and it's all this stuff, and it's like the book is a year and a half before it's actually in Barnes and Noble, you know. And so at that point, the things would be different, and especially, gosh, with COVID, that would have d really would have made the book irrelevant. So we switched it to an online thing. I partnered with uh Jason Brewbaker, uh, who's a digital marketing guy, and we uh put everything online now. So the the information is still there, even on the filmmaking food YouTube channel. I give all kinds of tips uh for free videos. People can check those out. But ultimately, it you know, the tip that I could give maybe to anybody is to uh really, really, really focus on making the project as good as possible. Again, I kind of I know I kind of said this before, but to expand on a little bit is making sure you have the script that's that's killer that everybody wants, or the documentary idea that's just everybody wants to do, and you can pitch it and people think it's great. So work on your pitch, work on making a realistic budget, working on getting a beautiful business plan, all of those components. The more that you can focus on sharpening those and making them better and better, uh, the closer you'll come to getting a movie made.

SPEAKER_02 23:39

Well, I think it's great that you decided to move towards having this website, filmmakingstuff.com, that you mentioned where you have all these resources. So I know one of the things that you offer there is um uh help or assistance for people who need to make a business plan. Would you like to talk about any of the other kind of categories that you're focused on there?

SPEAKER_04 24:02

Well, yeah, yeah. No, we have uh Movie Plan Pro, which is the same business plan that I use, created years ago, and um yeah, so people can literally download Movie Plan Pro and and plug and play their business plan into it. But uh once you can, you know, that that's uh Movie Plan Pro is so specific for the film business plan, but then there's things like you know, video modules like fine film investors, like the funded development that I talked about, the um casting name actors, um there's a whole bankroll masterclass that's really from idea in your head all the way to writing the script, uh developing, financing production, uh pre-production, production, post-production, and then selling the movie. So there's all of those aspects of it. And we try to cover, you know, with all the video series, try to cover every aspect so that you, you know, if you look at that, you can really figure out a way to produce your film. And that's invaluable. We've always felt um all that information up there because that's 20 years of experience of doing that and and physically doing it. Um you know, so I I would just say we we try to cover every aspect of making a film.

SPEAKER_02 25:11

Yeah, that's wonderful. And um, as I mentioned, I had the opportunity to take a class with you, so I know you're just an absolute wealth of information. And one of the stories that you told that really stood out to me was about problem solving and about, you know, there's just so many obstacles in filmmaking, and you can really get knocked down on your feet. And I don't know if you'll remember this particular story, but you told a story about ants. Does that stand out?

SPEAKER_04 25:38

I love that story.

SPEAKER_02 25:39

Yeah. I would love it if you would have to be able to do that.

SPEAKER_04 25:41

Yeah, I can hear it again if you'd like. Yeah, sure, sure. It was uh I that's my kind of philosophy on making films and and and being a producer. Um, it was an old Brian Regan is a comedian, and uh he had had a joke that he used to watch these ants building an anthill, and then when he was a kid, and every once in a while he'd just swipe his hand across and destroy the anthill, and he'd be like, Rebuild! And he said, There was never a moment where the ants were like, Come on, we we did all this work. Like they literally just started rebuilding, like without even a hesitation, just started grabbing stuff and putting more stuff together. And I remember thinking about that and thinking, that's the way I am in film. Like if um, you know, I just signed a deal today, but if that deal had fallen through, there would not have been a moment where I'm like, oh man, you know, like in two weeks late in my bed and worried about that, I would have just went, okay, what's next? Where are we going next? You know, who do who do I have to go to now? And so you have to really sharpen yourself and really uh dull your emotions so that you don't get emotionally attached and just keep pushing forward like an ant. Like this changes, all right. That actor fell out. Okay, now who do we go with now? Now this this didn't happen, we gotta push till January. Okay, now what do we do now? And each time try to react as an ant would react and just keep building that anhill, and sooner or later you'll have this incredible anhill.

unknown 27:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:02

Well, I think that's a great story, and it does um I can see how that has been a huge factor in your success because it's it's um you know, there are so many obstacles in filmmaking. So I'm wondering if you I know you're still um in post on this film, and even when someone has just finished a film, I always feel a little uh guilty asking them, oh, what's next? But I do sounds like you did just sign a deal for something new. And if you want to talk about what's next on the horizon, or if you have a new movie that you're working on that you are able to share details on and you want to, I want to give you the opportunity to do that.

SPEAKER_04 27:41

Well, I I'll just say that yeah, no, we signed the deal for an action film that we're I'm trying to produce on a uh more of a studio level on this one, and so that'll be a pretty uh a much bigger film, uh, you know, uh 10 10 to $15 million film. And so we'll see, but again, it's really much of the same, you know, once you if you make a a film for a hundred thousand dollar film or something like that, or even a fifty thousand dollar film or less, it you should always be playing by the quote unquote rules, you know, of filmmaking in the right regard. Um, I've always brought up this this story. There's this scene from the movie Hoosiers, with Gene Hackman movies from years ago, where they're the they were the the team in the movie, the Indiana, I believe, um, Hoosiers, the they got intimidated. They were such a great basketball team that they got intimidated when they went to the finals and they're they're playing in this gigantic stadium. And what happens is is the Gene Hackman as the coach comes out and he has to measure the three-point line and measure the foul line and shows them that it's the exact same specifications that they've been playing with all this time. It just looked bigger, there's more audience, you know. And that's the same that applies to films when you're going to the bigger steps and you're making the bigger films, it's the same thing. You know, it's just there's there's more salary and there's more people involved, but ultimately you want to play by the rules to begin with. So if you're making a film for $50,000 or so, try to do the right things as far as casting great people and getting great people and these things and asking for favors and stuff so that ultimately when you go to the next level in your career, that you're not going, I have no idea. You know, when we shot the last time, we had, you know, everybody would call and cable, even the actors were setting up the lights. It's like, no, no, no, don't do that. Actors shouldn't be setting up lights. Like, you know what I mean? Like, so try to follow the same rules that you would um like if you were playing basketball on a playground. You wouldn't take the ball and just run with it and tackle people down because when you got to a college level, they would say, You can't do this. You're not playing by the rules. And so play by the rules to begin with, and expanding from that uh becomes simple.

SPEAKER_02 29:52

Well, once again, great advice. And I'm wondering, I know you're not yeah, you're not quite done with asking me to dance, but soon, and I wonder um if you have any news about when we can expect to see it or where, or is it just too early to have those kind of details?

SPEAKER_04 30:11

We're still well I'll say that the the one with this, we have a great sales company called XYZ Films that'll be selling the film, and uh they're fantastic, they're huge, and their uh goal is to uh finalize the trailer and then go to all the streamers and the majors with that to see if we can get a sale off the trailer. So we're not sharing any uh of those elements yet because we want to see what we can do with it, but I would say most likely it'll be out uh you know before the summer of next year. And so we'll see where what it does. I think hopefully it'll make a lot of people laugh and uh and they'll have a great time watching it.

SPEAKER_02 30:50

Well, that sounds great, and again, much much needed in the world um these days. So would you uh I would love it if you would share. I know you have multiple websites, and if you want to share, if you have a I don't know if you already have a social handle for this particular movie or hashtags or anything, but if you want to share any of that in kind of information so people can follow both um your career and also follow up on this movie, I want to give you the opportunity to do that.

SPEAKER_04 31:18

Sure, sure. Um the the website for the film is askmetadance movie.com. And so uh that that's there'll be updates on there. Um askmedadance movie.com. And so uh so that's that's one aspect of it. Again, you can always check me out at filmmaking stuff or filmmaking stuff HQ, which I'd love to point out, filmmaking stuff HQ also has the YouTube videos tied in there, so you can go in there and just binge watch all kinds of free videos um on uh filmmaking and different aspects of filmmaking. And so those are the main two. Uh as far as glasshouse goes, if anybody listening has completed films, you can feel free to reach out to our head of acquisition, David Lawrence, and uh and send him the film and we'll see if we can what we can do with it if it if it's something that we can sign and sell. But uh that's about it.

SPEAKER_02 32:07

Well, great. And um I wondered if there's anything else that you would like to share that I haven't asked you about already.

SPEAKER_04 32:16

Oh gosh. Um I don't know. I mean that was there's there's a lot there. I mean, I tried to be super efficient with uh everything I do, and and one thing that I've learned over the years is to be as focused as possible. So the main things for me are now are really glasshouse distribution and making that a bigger and better company and always improving, always looking for great movies, filmmaking stuff, always trying to give the best uh information, filmmaking stuff HQ, trying to give the videos that are up to date and and help people along. And at the same time, for me, it's looking for the next film, but not spreading myself too thin. I mean, I could easily have five, six, seven, eight movies in development, but I don't want that. I want one or two. And in this case, I have a film that I was uh a hired gun producer on that was supposed to shoot in October, but I believe it's gonna be pushed till uh later in the year or January of next year, but that's just kind of a hired gun thing. And uh, but this other action film, so hopefully that'll be going in the next year. So I would say to the filmmakers out, but try to focus and not put your um spring yourself too thin by developing too many films at the same time.

SPEAKER_02 33:30

Well that that makes a lot of sense. And Claire, were there any questions that you wanted to ask that I overlooked? Well, that's strange. Uh I don't think so. I guess that's a note.

SPEAKER_04 33:43

That's a no I guess so.

SPEAKER_02 33:46

All right. Well, thank you again so much, Tom, for joining us. I'm not sure we must have a little technical issue there. So uh thank you so much. It was a pleasure chatting with you, and thanks for sharing all of this valuable information.

SPEAKER_01 34:00

And you know, I have the mic muted. I I just have to say I had the mic muted. I'm so sorry. What I was saying was you guys covered it pretty well. And so thank you again, both of you, for joining us on the show.

SPEAKER_04 34:15

That's great. Well, thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_01 34:17

All right. Sure. Take care, both of you. Bye-bye.

SPEAKER_04 34:20

Thank you. Okay, bye-bye.

SPEAKER_01 34:23

Now, in its second edition, Carol Dean's popular book, The Art of Film Funding, has 12 new chapters to cover all areas of film financing and how to avoid expensive pitfalls. Learn how to start with an idea and end with a trailer. How to make an ask for money. Create your story structure and your trailer, legal advice, fair use, successful crowdfunding, how to ask for music rights, and what insurance you can't shoot without. Available on Amazon under Carol Dean and at FromTheHeartProductions.com. I want to remind our listeners that David Rakelin is a brilliant and talented award-winning musician who scores films and can compose music for a trio or for a full orchestra. David is a very good friend to the independent filmmaker and comes highly recommended by From the Heart Productions. If you need music to help tell your story, please contact him at DavidRakeland.com. That's david R-A-I-K-L-E-N.com. And Carol and I want to thank you for tuning in to the Art of Film Funding. Please visit our website at FromTheHeart Productions.com. You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter. Good luck with your films, everyone.

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