Kevin Geiger is an artist and film producer. He is known for works such as “Reign of Fire,
Species and Chicken Little.” He has
become as instructor on the methodology and the business of feature films. One point that Geiger makes is that
organization is a key point in developing a company.
Geiger has not been very active in terms of IMDb since he
debuted as the producer of “Roads to Home.”
He has had a very dynamic career in the film business. In 1995 he did computer animation work on the
film “Species”” and digital artist on “Reign of Fire.” He has had a good work history as CG
supervisor at Walt Disney. In 2009 he
co-founded a small animation company named Magic Dumpling.
Geiger has a four part video lecture on YouTube about
independent film business plans. After
watching said videos I took away from them these points…
The most important point that I came away from these videos
is that as creative people we always have our creative pitch and it is
wonderful, but don’t’ forget that you have to have an equally impressive
business side of the pitch.
He then talked a lot about the business side of the business
plan. When developing your funding pitch
you need to have an accountant. They
want to know how they are going to get their money back and how you are
spending the money they are going to give you.
He suggested to get an advisory team and to pick carefully and to not
pay them because then their advice becomes tainted. Which I thought was a very interesting point
to take into consideration.
He also talked about your investor pitch and that if you
cannot do it in ten slides then you don’t know what you are talking about. As he says “boom, boom, boom and then your
done. As anyone creating a business plan
knows or should know there is a lot of preparation involved and you need to
spend time on it to do it right and then do not deviate from that plan, unless
things are not working out then to reassess your plan.
He then talked about the research part of the plan. Ask the question, how will pay to see this
movie and are they going to so. Do
research on about 5-6 other relatable movies and see how much they make and
other similarities to your film.
Lets change gears here a little from the business side to
the creative side and talk about Kathleen Kennedy. She is an American film producer whose net
values is about $150 million. She was
born in California and went to San Diego State University and majored in telecommunications
and film. She started working at a local
television station and worked her way up to production coordinator. After which she produced a talk show and then
moved to Los Angeles to do more work in film.
Her first job was a secretary position with Steven Spielberg. She quickly moved to the production end of
film. She then co-produced “Poltergeist”
and was then the primary producer on “E.T.” and the “Indiana Jones”
series. Since than she has gone on to
produce a number of “high profile projects” such as the very first “Jurassic
Park” and “Schindler’s List.” She then
formed her own production company, but moved on to co-chair Lucasfilm,
Ltd. She is now the president of
Lucasfilm, Ltd.
In an interview with Hollywood TV she talks about the
business of film in Hollywood. She talks
about how to be successful you have to protect your characters and allow them
to grow. When she is looking at a movie
to produce the thing that she looks at are great characters that have a hopeful
message that instills values. She also
likes personal and dramatic films. She
also says that film markers need to take responsibility in what they make. You also need to have a steady stream of
product and to always be a part of the hiring process. Her last piece of advice was to be honest
with yourself and have strong values.
