The Future of Film Funding: Predicting Audiences Before You Shoot

Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_02 (01:12):
What if you could see what studios and streamers
find wrong with your script?
Well, you'll learn how to dothis today.

SPEAKER_00 (01:23):
So glad you could join us on the Art of Film
Funding, where we exploreinnovative strategies, creative
insights, and the evolving toolsthat help filmmakers bring their
visions to life.
I'm your co-host, Claire Capan,and today Carol Dean with From
the Heart Productions and I arediving into one of the most

(01:45):
transformative shifts happeningin our industry right now, how
artificial intelligence isreshaping the way films are
developed, financed, andpositioned for success.
Imagine being able to understandyour audience before you even
shoot your first scene, to testyour story, to evaluate casting

(02:10):
choices, and anticipate marketperformance all from your
script.
That's no longer sciencefiction.
It's happening now.
Benjamin Schnell is amultilingual actor, producer,
host, book author, and publicspeaker, native in English and

(02:31):
German, plus conversationalfriendship, who also built a
successful career as a businessdevelopment and account
executive.
He's now overseeing clientaccounts globally within the
film and streaming division ofAI tech company Largo, the

(02:52):
platform that turns creativeintuition into strategic impact
through audience predictions,AI-powered content tests, and
simulated focus groups.
Combining his tech backgroundwith his experience as an actor,
working on feature films and TVshows himself, he is now

(03:16):
leveraging his experience tosupport producers, directors,
and filmmakers taking the nextstep in getting their project
off the ground with theassistance of AI.
Benjamin has a uniqueperspective that's incredibly
relevant for filmmakersnavigating today's competitive

(03:37):
landscape.
And now I am delighted to turnit over to Carol Dean.

SPEAKER_02 (03:43):
Thank you, Claire, and welcome everyone.
This is such an importantconversation because filmmakers
are constantly looking for waysto reduce risk and strengthen
their projects.
Many studios and streamers arenow using AI for script
decisions.
So the main benefit for you isfor you to be able to see your

(04:06):
script through a Largo reportwhere it shows you areas that
you can make importantimprovements before submitting
to anyone.
And this is so important for thewriters of today.
Benjamin, welcome to the show.

SPEAKER_01 (04:26):
Thank you so much for having me, guys.
I really appreciate it.
I'm excited to be here.

SPEAKER_02 (04:30):
Good.
Well, let's start at thebeginning.
Where is Largo based and whatinspired its founding?

SPEAKER_01 (04:38):
Right.
Oh, how much time do you guyshave?
Oh my goodness, that's such along story.
But to make it really short in anutshell, um, the company uh
Largo was actually founded inSwitzerland in 2018 by Sammy
Arpar, who is the CEO of thecompany.
And we're now kind of likeworking globally, right?
So that means we have people inthe UK, in the US, obviously,
even working with people inAustralia.

(04:59):
And at the very beginning, wealways had the idea: yes, we
knew AI is coming and AI is notgonna stop, right?
But we wanted to make sure thatwe give the right tool to any
kind of aspiring, likefilmmaker, independent
filmmakers, producers,screenwriters, even actors who
want to shoot their own projectsto analyze their script, to

(05:19):
analyze their stories to makesure they're going the right
direction.
And that's kind of the startingpoint for us back in 2018.

SPEAKER_02 (05:26):
Great.
So tell us how you train Largoto review scripts.

SPEAKER_01 (05:31):
Yeah, absolutely.
That's a great question.
Thanks for asking.
Uh, and I and I see it everytime when when uh new clients
joining us, right, they'realways asking also the same
question.
You just ask me, so how does itwork, right?
How can it make sure that we goin the right direction, as I
just explained?
And it's very interestingbecause what Largo does in a
nutshell is as soon as youupload, let's say, your script,
or even just the treatment,right?

(05:52):
So it doesn't even need a scriptat the very beginning.
Let's say you're like a newproducer in the market, right?
And you want to work on yourfirst feature film, let's say,
and you have a treatment, youhave an idea, and you have all
the beats laid down on paper.
You can even just upload atreatment, and the system will
then run the analyses, find themost similar projects in the

(06:12):
marketplace that have beenreleased and pulls in all these
historical data points and runsit against your story.
So the idea is to really findcomparisons that are closest to
your narrative and yourstoryline.
Because at the end of the day,it all starts with the story,
right?
And that's really also whatLaura was focusing on at the
beginning.

SPEAKER_02 (06:31):
My heavens, that's incredible.

SPEAKER_01 (06:33):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (06:34):
I love Largo reports, but I didn't know you
could take an idea and put it inthere.
That's brilliant.

SPEAKER_01 (06:41):
Absolutely.
And it's and I appreciate we'retalking about this because a lot
of people always think, oh myGod, you know, I have, and I
talk to people every day, andthey're always telling me, you
know, I don't have the scriptready right now, and I'm still
working on the dialogue and thecharacters and the description.
And I was like, don't worry.
If you have the main beats laiddown, right, the system still
has to identify the story fromthe beginning to the end.

(07:02):
That is still very, veryimportant, right?
But if you have all the beatsdown, which is normally how a
good script starts, right?
You have all the beats in yourmind and you put it down on
paper, you can already uploadthat because for the system, it
can still identify and read thewhole story and can still run
these comparisons in themarketplace and pull in those
data points.
So very, very effective.

SPEAKER_02 (07:23):
Right.
So uh I've seen it whatwonderful job it does with
scripts.

SPEAKER_03 (07:28):
Yes.

SPEAKER_02 (07:29):
Walk us through the process when you upload a
script, yeah, what actuallyhappens behind the scenes with
Largo?

SPEAKER_01 (07:36):
Right.
Oh, yeah.
Also, how much time do you have?
No, but uh, the thing is, it's avery good question too.
So, what really happens is solet's say you upload the script,
right?
At the very beginning, as you goon the platform, you will create
your project, right?
So that's how it starts.
And the very important thing forum the system is to really learn
at the beginning, okay, what isthe project about?

(07:57):
What is the feature about?
And by the way, we also workwith people working on
documentaries, we're workingwith people working uh with
animation even, right?
Or even uh short, short filmsalso work too.
Um but uh let's say we focus ona feature film right now.
As you upload the project, let'ssay you want to work on your
project the first time, it'svery important for the system to

(08:18):
understand, okay, what are theproject details, right?
That means, okay, what's thecountry of uh the producer,
right?
What's the country of uhrelease?
Uh also what are the financials?
What are the characters?
And what really helps, right?
It's not necessary, but whatcould help is let's say you
worked on your treatment and youhave a very early pitch deck
ready, that you can upload thepitch deck to the platform and

(08:39):
the system creates the project.
And that's kind of thefoundation of the first
analyses, right?
So that's what we need tounderstand, okay, based on the
budget that you now put downyour first estimate, your
characters, your country ofrelease, country of producers,
now uploading your script oryour treatment, the system will
now identify those most similarmovies in the marketplace based

(09:03):
on this foundation and thescript and runs it again against
your script and your project tomake sure that we can now even
go into detail and show youexactly.
Okay, this is like from acreative standpoint, the
analysis, but also the financialforecast.
Because just so you guys know,Largo is not just giving you
creative insights, it alsoprovides you with financial

(09:24):
forecasts for box office andstreaming and runs these numbers
against your budget to show youuh a return on investment, even.
So you know, hey, with thisbudget I put down today, with
the script that I uploaded rightnow, with the numbers that the
system is providing me with, andnow running it against my
budget, I can see, okay, amalready in the plus return on

(09:46):
investment.
Would I make money off of myproject right now?
Or should I still tweak maybethe script a little bit?
Maybe working on the budget alittle bit, maybe running
different scenarios to make surethat you find your sweet spot,
as I always call it, right?
So Largo is really good andflexible to then just find the
sweet spot.
So you know, at the end of theday, I want to be the creative,

(10:06):
I want to be the producer, but Ialso have to make sure, as the
filmmaker per se, that I'm alsokind of having a positive
outcome so I can work on my nextproject moving forward, right?
So that's also what filmmakingis about.
So it's also like a financialaspect to it.
And we combine all of this uh inone platform, if you will.

SPEAKER_02 (10:25):
Fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 (10:26):
Long answer, I know, but I have to say it.

SPEAKER_02 (10:29):
Okay, well, one concern, most of the filmmakers
who are very creative, they haveone concern they have is losing
the art to technology.
So, how does Largo balancecreative intuition and feelings,
etc., with data-driven insights?

SPEAKER_01 (10:46):
That is, I mean, honestly, uh Carol, I really
appreciate you asked thequestion.
I mean, as uh as Claire uhpointed out at the very
beginning, I'm a creative guymyself, right?
So I'm an actor in the firstplace, right?
I also worked on productionsmyself, and I'm I'm a creative
guy.
So and I want to keep that,right?
That's very, very important forme, working even on my own
projects.
The beauty about Largo is, and Ican't stress this enough, Largo

(11:08):
is not here to replace thecreative, let's say, input that
you can have as the creativeperson.
That is very, very important forus, right?
So you can see Largo more as anassistant to your creative work,
right?
So I give you an example.
Um, again, let's say youuploaded the script to the
platform, to your project,right?
The system runs the script andgives you now analyses from a

(11:31):
creative standpoint and also thefinancial forecast standpoint.
But let's focus on the creativeside of things.
So one of the analyses that thesystem is giving you is called
genre recipe, right?
So it breaks kind of breaks thescript down into different
sections to show you exactly,okay, what section is
representing what genre.
And that's kind of veryinteresting.

(11:51):
So the system is kind of likeidentifying all of this and it's
kind of like showing you as itstands today.
The system will not then tellyou, okay, based on what we now
analyze, we now recommend you,Benjamin or Carol, that you now
put in this or that line or thisword or this dialogue.
So the system, we try to keepourselves out of the creative

(12:13):
process because we want to letyou be creative.
We want to have you being thecreative person in this whole
process.
So what you normally do is whatour clients do is they can now
see the results on the recentscript they uploaded and then
can just go back within theirscript and just have some
changes and now just upload anew draft of that script based

(12:34):
on the changes they made and canjust see now the comparison,
right?
So they run the first one withthe old script with the first
draft.
Now they run a second analysiswith the second draft, and they
still keep the first one,obviously.
Everything you run on Largowithin your project, you will
keep.
So you always have a great viewon the different analyses and
can just compare.
Okay, that was with the firstdraft, that's now with my

(12:56):
changes.
How did that impact the overallgenre recipe?
And also, for example, theemotion analyses by the
audience, right?
So a lot of different factors.
But just to give you an idea,that's that's how it kind of
works.

SPEAKER_02 (13:10):
That's incredible.
That's very good.
So who is Largo built for?
Are we talking indie filmmakers,studios, producers, or all of
these?

SPEAKER_01 (13:24):
Pretty much all of the above, to be honest, Carol.
I mean, we have uh, I mean, yes,we have a lot of people like
independent producers,independent filmmakers for sure,
right?
Uh, especially people who areworking on budgets between,
let's say, one to five million.
We have a huge range of peopleworking within this kind of
budget range, but we also havemid-sized studios.
We also have uh, you know, alarge studio who kind of use it

(13:44):
already in certain departments,right?
I mean AI to the big studios.
AI is not a new thing, right?
Um, I mean, you have to be, youwould be ignorant to believe
that the studios, the bigstudios, right, do not use AI
yet.
They do obviously use it, right?
So we even work with studioslike that because they still
want to have an external toolthat they can use to compare

(14:07):
even their own numbers thatthey're already running in the
background, right?
But for us for Largo, the ideawas always like, hey, if big
studios already have leverage,they already have access to uh
technology like this.
We want to open up the door toindependent, independent
filmmakers, making sure, hey,you know what, you can use the
same technology.

(14:28):
You can use us, for example, andget kind of these insights that
you need to make sure you're onthe right path to create your
movie that you believe in,right?
So that was really the core ideaof how we even started at the
beginning.

SPEAKER_02 (14:40):
Okay.
Now you mentioned somethingabout focus groups, which is
fascinating.
So, what are they and how dothey compare to traditional
audience testing?

SPEAKER_01 (14:52):
Yeah.
No, that's also a greatquestion.
Thanks for asking.
So we we call it SFGs, simulatedfocus groups, right?
And uh, as the name is alreadysaying it, it's the simulated
focus group, but it's based onreal results of focus groups
traditionally, right?
That you kind of had sitting ina movie theater.
And then at the end of themovie, uh you gave them a
certain questionnaire and justasked for feedback, right?

(15:13):
So what we basically did is wehave access to all these public
data points of already run focusgroups, right?
So let's say if you are a clientof Largo and you uh come on the
platform and you have thefeature of a simulated focus
group, you can again upload yourscript, upload your project,
right?
And run a simulated focus group.
And what it does, it will thencompare similar movies again

(15:37):
that you have focus groups forthat have been run
traditionally, and we still kindof simulated those feedbacks now
into our platform.
That means I'll give you anexample.
Let's say you watch a very um uhyou know romantic scene uh
between a couple, right?
That very romantic scene, and umyou had a similar movie, a
similar storyline, and you havea focus group for this movie

(16:00):
that came out, let's say acouple years ago, and you had,
for example, a guy calledRichard.
Um he watched that scene and hewas very moved by the scene,
right?
He really felt that it was veryemotional for him.
Um and this movie was so closeto the storyline and very
similar maybe to the storylinethat you know uploaded to the
system.
That could mean that somebodylike Richard could be simulated

(16:23):
for the same kind of feel thatyour scene is giving now to the
audience as well, right?
So that could mean Richard, he'sin like a demographic of like 40
to 50.
Um, he's like, you know, a blackman works in an office, for
example, and he was so moved bythis particular scene, which has
similar patterns than your sceneright now that you uploaded,

(16:45):
which is an indication for us atLargo that your scene has the
same kind of feel to it that'sgoing to be perceived by the
audience, specifically likesomeone like Richard.
So that's how we kind of connectthe dots.
That's how we simulate it.
It's still down to the scene andthe scenario and what's
happening within your script,but then finding similar
patterns of focus groups thathave been run in the past and

(17:07):
then kind of pull in those datapoints and run it against your
scene that is closest to thescene that they even watched,
right?
And that's how we kind of createit because we came to the
conclusion at some point to makeit very simple, also, that um,
you know, everybody was alwaystrying to get a feel for, okay,
am I going the right directionfor marketing purposes, right?
For demographics.
Um, am I hitting the right uhtarget, the right country even,

(17:31):
right?
Um, and we want to make surethat people now have the chance
to do not spend all that moneybecause running a focus group
traditionally costs a lot ofmoney, right?
You have to rent the movietheater, you have to get the
people together, you have to sitthem down, you maybe have to
entertain them, obviously, notjust watching the movie.
You have to get quality results,obviously, and feedback, and you
have to consolidate all thatdata.

(17:52):
This is now all combined withinLargo, makes it so much easier
for you guys to just run thisSFG as a simulated focus group
to get the same results and evenmore accurate than ever before,
because it's kind of not justone focus group that we run
against your project, it'smultiple focus groups,
obviously, at the same time, andthen finding the average,

(18:12):
obviously, and building kind ofa average um you know feedback
line that we then um you knowpresent to the client.
I think you know it's a verysounds very complicated what I'm
trying to say, but I hope itmakes sense in a way that you
can now just use everything thatyou might heard of and know of
you know historical ortraditional focus groups and
just do it in the platform injust a couple of minutes.

SPEAKER_02 (18:32):
This is much cheaper, much more efficient
because you don't have yourfriends and family in the focus
group.
That's true.

SPEAKER_01 (18:40):
I mean, that can be part of it, yes, but you just
don't want to have your family,obviously, right?
And I think people, and it'sfunny that we talk about it,
Carol, because I see it everyday working very closely with my
clients.
Clients normally are verysurprised about the results, you
know, because as you know,you're writing, let's say you're
writing your script, right?
And you kind of like at somepoint, it always happens, right?

(19:01):
You end up in your own bubble,right?
And you perceive your own scripta certain way and you believe
about the scene a certain way,but that doesn't mean that, you
know, Richard, let's say that Ijust mentioned, is feeling the
exact same uh way that you feltbecause watching a movie,
listening to a song is all verysubjective, right?
Just because I like the moviedoesn't mean that you like the

(19:22):
movie, Carol, right?
So it's very, very subjective,very specific.
So that's what we want to makesure that you just don't have
your family, but giving you nowthe opportunity to even go and
kind of explore differentdemographics, even.
And our clients are surprisedand even changing strategies
very often, feeling, oh mygoodness, I didn't realize that
this movie is even for Gen Znow.

(19:42):
That's even comes up veryrecently that people realize, oh
my God, even like the new, thenew kids, the new generation
would even watch it.
So let me just work on mystrategy, even working with my
sales agent, maybe to try tofind different path now, maybe
even increasing the market, youknow.
So it's a very interestingjourney for most of them.

SPEAKER_02 (19:59):
Oh, that's wonderful.
That's a great analysis of whatit does.
Great.
Now let's talk about uh the mainreport.
What kind of analysis does thatdo?
Once it reads your script, itcomes back with a uh first
analysis, right?
Can you tell us more about that?

SPEAKER_01 (20:20):
Absolutely.
And I tried to summarize itbecause what happens is running
one analysis will then give youaccess to kind of like I call
them sub-analyses, if you will.
That means the system isbreaking down the main analyses
into different sections.
And I give you a very briefoverview so everybody in the
audience who's listening inright now is kind of getting a
first feel for it.
So, as I mentioned already, thefirst one that you're gonna see

(20:42):
is the genre recipe, right?
As I just mentioned, the systemis breaking it down into those
different genres that can gofrom, let's say, thriller,
crime, drama, romance, right?
Whatever you work on, obviously,the system will break it down in
percentages and gives you anidea.
And it will also already giveyou a comparison button, too.
That means at that point, youwill even see, as I mentioned

(21:04):
earlier, the most similar moviesin the marketplace already lined
up in Largo.
So you can see, oh, my dramaright now, as an example.
I just made this up.
My drama now, this romanticbetween this couple scenario, is
a little bit like La La Landbecause Largo is now
recommending La La Land beingvery close to my idea.
And it kind of now compares,even okay, what's the different

(21:27):
genre that comes up in La LaLand and also in my movie?
How does that really compare?
You can see it line by line inparallel, which is really,
really important, reallyhelpful.
Um, the next one is also, as Ialready mentioned, we talked
about the audience, is umemotion analysis.
And that again is also very keyfor most people really getting
an idea.
You know, you want to putyourself into the audience

(21:49):
shoes.
Hey, how do they feelemotionally about every single
scene that my script isproviding them with, right?
So we can have a breakdown.
The system breaks it down againinto different sections and now
has feelings of like positiveemotions like joy, trust,
surprise, all the way down tomore negative emotions like
disgust, sadness, fear, right?

(22:10):
So all the all the emotions thatus as human beings can
experience, right?
Um, and that's also veryinteresting to for a lot of
clients, to be honest.
That is always an eye-openingmoment for most people
realizing, oh wow, I didn'tpersonally, I wrote it that way.
So I felt a certain way, but nowseeing that 50% of the audience
would actually feel like uh sadabout this moment, it's very

(22:32):
surprising for most people,right?
So that's the moment where mostpeople go back into their script
and maybe want to have someadjustments on certain scenes,
right?
Um, anyway, so that's uh thesecond one, the third and
fourth, I just summarize them alittle bit.
We also have uh thensub-analyses when it comes to
character analyses, for example.
That's also very interesting.
And I definitely want to stretchthat a little bit and also

(22:54):
stress the fact that you canalso add actors and actresses to
your characters.
Uh, I give you a quick example.
So let's say you work on this, Imake this up, right?
You work on an action movie, andum you have a guy called
Michael, he's the lead, right?
And uh, you're like a big fan.
Mission Impossible.
You love Tom Cruise.
I mean, who doesn't, right?

(23:14):
Tom.
Everybody loves Tom Cruise.
So you love Tom Cruise, but youkind of know already, you know,
it's my first feature, let'ssay, but I have this idea for
this action movie and I can, youknow, do it even cheaper.
I don't have to have a lot ofbudget.
But I would love the idea tohave Tom Cruise attached to it,
even that I know he's tooexpensive.
So what you can do with Largo isyou can still add Tom Cruise,

(23:37):
for example, to characterMichael, right?
You save it and you then run theanalyses.
What the system will do, um, itwill give you an idea what the
content match is of Tom Cruiseto the character Michael.
So you will see if Tom wouldactually fit the part of
Michael, or maybe not, right?
So the system will tell you incertain percentages how much

(23:58):
does Tom fit the character ofMichael.
But on top of it, and that'salso more important for most
people, is uh who else does thesystem recommend?
Because the system will give youadditional actors besides Tom
Cruise, right?
So the system will take TomCruise's metrics into account,
you know, maybe his look,obviously, his experience,
working in these action movies,uh, connecting it to character

(24:21):
Michael.
And then besides Tom Cruise, youmaybe have people coming up
like, you know, Owen Wilson, Imake this up, but Owen Wilson or
whoever, right?
Who might be uh somebody thatcould fit the part.
And I definitely want to stressthe fact because I always talk
to my clients about this, andI'm telling them, you know what?
Um, with my acting backgroundand uh, you know, living in LA
for so long, I was working forproduction companies myself.

(24:43):
And because of my actingbackground, I was responsible
for casting at some point.
And it's really, really hard tofind actors that fit your
budget, right?
You can go on IMDB, but it's notreally as easy to just do a
little search or something onIMDB to find maybe five guys who
could fit the part of Michael.
So what I'm trying to say is thesystem can help you to uncover

(25:06):
hidden talent that you mightnever heard of, right?
A guy that is probably like inthe range of your budget, has a
great look, is like an upcomingstar, right?
And would be perfect forMichael, right?
The idea is for Largo to helpyou finding these people that
you can then use and just reachout maybe to management and um,
you know, agents and just have aconversation about the project,

(25:27):
which I think is very valuable,right?
If you if you basically uh havea certain budget in place.
So that is also something.
And the last bit, obviously,last but not least, is the
financial forecast, right?
I mean, honestly, I think thisis one of the key things for
people also who normally joinus.
They want to get an idea, as Imentioned at the beginning.
What is the financials tellingme?
Am I on the right trackfinancially?

(25:49):
Does it make sense even for meto work on the project, right?
I mean, you can have the bestidea on the planet, you gotta be
honest, you can have the bestscript on the planet.
If the numbers are not workingout, it's gonna be really,
really hard to you know turnyour dream, your idea into
reality.
We got to be honest about this.
So for us at Largo, uh with thewith the system, with
technology, but also with myhelp, with the team's help, we

(26:10):
really helping the clients toidentify, hey, what's your
budget right now you have,right?
That's always my first question.
But then the second question isokay, is that the budget that
you know you need as a minimumto shoot the project to actually
get the production done?
And most of the time, peopletelling me, oh, you know what?
I, you know, we were talkingabout three million right now.

(26:31):
I I know that I can also do itfor one and a half or one
million, you know, I know.
And I'm like, that's great.
That's good that you're tellingme this, because I would
definitely recommend for you tonow, with me, with my support,
to change the budget to onemillion and just run another
analysis because we want to seehow that how does that turn out

(26:51):
now for you just lowering thebudget to one million, adding
the same countries, right, ofterritories that you want to
release it in, right, for boxoffice and for streaming, and
then really see how it wouldmove the needle in your return
on investment.
And most people are reallysurprised uh a shift of 500k or
a million can have a huge impacton your return on investment,

(27:14):
depending on your strategy,right?
So that's how we kind of work inthe numbers uh to make sure that
they have a good package becauseum coming full circle, the idea
with Largo is also to then usethose analyses and even being
able to download them as a PDF.
So you can download everythingthat I just mentioned as a PDF
and uh, for example, create yourown pitch deck, right?

(27:35):
So if let's say you have anupcoming um uh meeting with an
investor, right?
A lot of people, our clientstalking to investors, they want
to make sure they provide theright numbers, they run those
financial forecasts as I justmentioned, uh, and they feel
like, okay, Ben, that's it.
I got it now.
I think we worked on thenumbers, it makes sense.
Um, let me just present that.
They simply download it as aPDF.
They take this document, theytalk to investors, they're

(27:58):
running the numbers, everybody'ssatisfied, they're coming back
and usually get some funding in,right?
Or maybe go into the second one.
And you know how it is,investment is a journey too,
right?
You have to talk to many people,obviously, to get your project
funded.
But that's how we want to makesure to create this foundation,
a very stable, uh, accuratefoundation to make sure that the
people get to the next level oftheir project, right?

(28:19):
That's the bottom line.

SPEAKER_02 (28:20):
Yes, well done.
Well, as far as casting, yeah,Largo told one of my people uh
here's some suggestions, andthese two men will have a
better, will bring you moremoney in foreign distribution.

SPEAKER_03 (28:36):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (28:37):
They were equal in um popularity in the US.
But I thought that was terrificbecause look, this will enhance
your foreign distribution if youconsider these people.
That's way outside our thinkingnormally.

SPEAKER_01 (28:53):
Absolutely.
You hit the nail on the head.
I appreciate you you mentionedthat.
Uh absolutely.
So that is really something.
And I and it's interesting, wewe had the session last night,
and you know, I talked tosomebody from from Canada,
right?
And uh one of my clients, andand we talked about something.
And uh, you know, she alsomentioned uh we have a lot of
Canadian talent that maybepeople never heard of before,

(29:13):
right?
So it's it's also something thatyou have to take into
consideration.
And she was already thinking,okay, we have certain talent in
Canada that uh people that areknown in Canada, but what does
it mean for my project if I wantto release the movie in the US
or even in Europe, obviously,because most people also want to
go to the UK, right?
So it makes maybe sense even tohave an idea if your strategy is

(29:36):
your release country, your mainrelease country that you pick in
Largo is the United States, thenI would definitely recommend
that you uh try to add certainpeople that are kind of known in
the US.
It doesn't mean that it has tobe an A-list star.
Don't get me wrong, it doesn'thave to be that.
But somebody who's maybeupcoming, somebody did a couple
of TV shows, maybe maybe one ortwo feature films that created

(29:58):
some buzz, right?
And the system will provide youwith that.
And that's the beauty.
Because honestly, I mean, Carol,the bottom line is I and I talk
from personal experience, Iremember being in LA working
with production, and it neverchanged really.
When you're kind of sitting in aroom with people and you kind of
brainstorm about certain namesthat you want to attach to your
project, everybody always hasthe same names in mind.

(30:19):
Always.
It's just five to ten names thatwe all seriously, right?
Because they're kind of likehype right now.
They're hot, hot people, right?
So you always think about thesepeople.
But what about the 50, 100, 150people that are kind of more
under the radar right now thatyou might have heard of, but you
just forgot about them?
And Largo basically just remindsyou of these people, making sure
that you take them intoconsideration.

(30:40):
And I think that could be hugebenefit, obviously, if you if
you want to go, as you justsaid, foreign distribution,
especially the UK market,European market, Australia,
obviously, too.
We have clients in Australiatoo.
They're thinking about releasingit in the US.
And they're thinking, yes, wecannot just maybe focus on
Australian talent.
We want to make sure that wehave at least one or two people
that are known in the US, right?

(31:01):
So um we're coming always uhfull circle with that.
So um thanks, thanks for sayingthis.
I appreciate that.

SPEAKER_02 (31:06):
And there is a documentary called um what's his
name?
question mark.
And it's all about actors thatwe all recognize, but we don't
know their names.

SPEAKER_01 (31:19):
It's so funny you say that.
It's so, I mean, I I have thisconversation again as my acting
background.
I talk to actors, obviously,have a lot of friends who are
also actors, right?
And it's just so funny you saythat because don't we know like
these police officers always inthe second row, right?
Always behind the main guy.
You look at the face and you youhe's always a cop, right?
You know the guy, but you don'tknow the name, but you know the

(31:40):
face for decades.
And it's it's funny becausethose people uh are
recognizable, right?
They they're recognized byaudiences.
And yes, they they have acertain yeah, they have a lot of
solid work and they're veryprofessional and they know what
they're doing.
And you can probably, and again,it's not about money per se, but
again, if you have to watch yourbudget and you can get somebody

(32:01):
like this, right, instead oflet's say Tom Cruise, I make
this up, then yes, you shoulddefinitely go for it.
You should definitely try that,you know.
That's what I'm always saying.

SPEAKER_02 (32:10):
It works, I'll tell you.
We also had a report that camein for a woman who had been in
the industry for a long time.
And she had put down where sheuh what studio she thought would
be the best for marketing.
And Largo said, no, this otherstudio would be better for you.

(32:31):
And when she researched it, shewas shocked and said, Largo's
right.
I never thought of that company.
Right.
So you do have marketingconcepts in there for the
absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 (32:42):
Yeah, yeah.
You can do like even we have asearch bar, if you will.
So what you can do is the systemis uh also asking you at the
beginning, right?
I skipped a couple of steps, butpart of the country of main
release, country of producers,the system also has a feel, for
example, when it asks you aboutthe distribution company.
If you have a certaindistribution company, you can
already add the company, or youcan even add a company that you

(33:04):
feel like, okay, I would like tohave them releasing my movie.
You can do that too, right?
And on top of it, you even havea search bar where you can kind
of navigate the budget of moviesyou want to have come up to see,
okay, what kind of distributioncompanies actually work on these
movies within the same budgetrange that I have.

(33:25):
So you can do your research,which I think is a great tool,
you know.

SPEAKER_02 (33:28):
Oh, that's worth a lot of money, right?
Absolutely.
Right.
That's a that's a weak researchto find that.
Well, um, speaking of findingplaces, how do people find your
Largo website?

SPEAKER_01 (33:44):
Yeah, absolutely.
You can just find us atwww.largo.io.
So Io.
And uh you can basically justget in touch with us, right?
You can also send us an email,info at largo.io, info at
largo.io.
Um, and we're more than happy.
Normally, what happens at thebeginning, guys?
Uh, we have a first demo, right?
So obviously, what I just toldyou right now, we also want to

(34:05):
show you in the first place,right?
We want to get you kind of afirst feel for the platform.
So we have certain demos ofprojects that we can show you,
right?
To really get you uh all theinsights uh in like in the first
demo that I just explainedbriefly today.
Um, and then uh we're gonna talkabout certain packages that we
have, right?
So that is something that you'regonna discuss with us with the
sales team, um, and more thanhappy to give any insights and

(34:27):
any kind of recommendations,obviously, on that point.

SPEAKER_02 (34:29):
Great.
So basically, let's recap howfilmmakers actually use the
data.
What decisions does it help themmake that they couldn't
confidential confidently makebefore?

SPEAKER_01 (34:45):
Absolutely.
So if I would summarize it in anutshell, right, what Largo
helps with is definitely twocomponents.
The first component is thecreative insight, right?
When it comes to, okay, do youmaybe still want to adjust your
script based on genre recipe,based on emotion analyses of
what the audience perceives?
That's the first thing.
The second thing, obviously, isalso the financial forecast

(35:06):
section.
We have to say this, right?
When it comes to, hey, you don'treally have a feeling yet what
countries you want to go for.
Um, you know, for box office andstreaming, you have a budget in
mind, but you do not really haveany strategy.
The system will show you, basedon the countries you pick, what
kind of revenue you can expect,right?
That's the beauty.
The system will show you percountry, this is the revenue

(35:29):
stream that you can expect.
And based on that, I would saythe creative insights to move
your story forward if you stillwant to improve it creatively,
plus the financial forecast toget the numbers ready to a good
stage, to find your sweet spot,to then present it to investors,
to get the money you need, tomove it from pre-production into
production as an example.

SPEAKER_02 (35:50):
Wonderful.
Well, it's and I what I like isuh financing because this is
what I do.
I help people raise money uh fortheir films.
So the financing, I hate to say,but it it was it's a challenge.
You really have a lot of work todo there.
So what what do you think arethe greatest benefits that uh

(36:14):
give filmmakers that you givefilmmakers for them to show to
investors and distributors toclose a deal?

SPEAKER_01 (36:23):
Yeah, no, absolutely.
I mean, yeah, you hit the nailon the head.
I mean, the bottom line is yougot to close a deal at some
point, right?
So I think what what we seehappening, and you probably know
this better than I do, right?
When it comes to investors, umuh they always obviously have
certain questions, right?
I mean, what about the number?
Where did you get the numbersfrom?
So how can I believe thosenumbers, for example, right?
And I still have to come back towhat I said at the very

(36:44):
beginning.
Uh, we used to just really justlike wig it, right?
So we just like wing thenumbers.
So we kind of like do not reallynow know really the numbers back
in the days.
We just wing in it.
We just try to make up certainnumbers of projects that we know
made this amount of money.
The idea with Largo is to getaway from this kind of just
winging it, but have it moreprecise, have it more accurate

(37:06):
based on real numbers thatmovies generated at the box
office, also streaming numbersbased on certain behavioral,
like you know, customerexperiences that we now pull in
to show you those numbers arepredictable, those numbers are
accurate based on real datapoints.
Because the question will comeup how do you know that this

(37:26):
movie will make this money inthis country?
Then you can go back to youranalysis and say, you know what,
we run the numbers.
We know our movie, our storylineis closest to movie A, B, C, D,
and we analyzed it with Largo,and we can tell you movie A, B,
C, D made this amount of money,let's say, in the United
Kingdom.
And based on the numbers, webuild the average and run it

(37:47):
against our project based on thebudget that we have.
And we can, for example, tellyou now that we have a return on
investment with the money we putdown, with the revenue we expect
coming out of these countriesof, let's say, 75%.
And Largo will show this as adocument fully combined and
summarized for theatrical, boxoffice, uh, or yeah, box office

(38:09):
streaming, but also not juststreaming and theatrical, even
TV distribution long-term too,right?
So three elements plus ROIsummarized in one document that
you can present to effectivelyclose a deal with an investor,
right?
Or even what we do have comingback from investment is also
like talking to sales agents,maybe having some pre-sales

(38:31):
coming up, uh, you know, havingcertain sales agents working
with you, finding distributioncompanies, working with you,
maybe commission-based.
This is also something that wesee happening that sales agents
just like the project so much,they believe in the numbers,
they get the numbers, they feellike, okay, we want to work with
you, finding distribution, oryou have a minimum guarantee
even by certain distributioncompanies based on these
numbers, right?

(38:51):
So we we see all three.
As you probably know, Carol,it's it's kind of a never-ending
story when it comes toinvestment.
It's always like, okay, chickenor egg, right?
So what comes first?
And we have people that werestraight to investment firms,
uh, or let's say privateinvestors asking for money based
on the results and based on thestory and everything.
We also do have people they gothe round maybe having sales

(39:13):
first, having minimum guaranteesfirst, and then based on this
guarantee, also going toinvestors to get them even more
attracted to the project.
So we see different scenarios,if you will, right?
So there is no right or wronganswer.

SPEAKER_02 (39:25):
Okay.
Well, I love the new thing youhave with the storyboard and the
chip breakdowns, becausestoryboards are expensive, and
it means somebody else has tosee your vision.
Uh, and I think Largo'sstoryboards are brilliant.
So tell us about that.

SPEAKER_01 (39:44):
No, I I appreciate it.
Thanks for saying that.
That's really awesome.
That is uh one of the newestfeatures we also have, uh, the
storyboard.
So it's also very nice becauseagain, we have scenarios where
people feel like I have thisscript, right?
And I have an idea in my head,but I'm I'm not a uh I can't
really draw, I can't really knowhow to do like a mood board or
like a storyboard at thebeginning, right?

(40:05):
To get certain visuals.
Or we even have people who wantto use it for pitch decks, even
also really great tools.
So the storyboard featureprovides you even with different
illustrations at the verybeginning.
So you can pick how it shouldlook like, different designs
that you can pick from.
And it's very simple.
You upload your script, right?
And the system, based on whatyou picked as an illustration,

(40:26):
will provide you for everyscene, provide you with a like
visual, like an image, if youwill, with the characters that
are in the scene, and itprovides you with the kind of
scenario that you see on animage.
And the beauty is if you stillfeel like, you know, um, okay,
that's already very close towhat I was expecting, what I had

(40:47):
in mind, but let me just tweakthe description a little bit
because what you still have, youhave the option to then click
into the edit button.
You can now tweak thedescription a little bit and
then save it, and the systemwill be regenerated.
So that means you always havethe power, you have the control
to even kind of change yourimage in the moment, if you

(41:07):
will, on the spot.
Yeah, uh, which I think is is ispowerful, you know.
So um you can kind of still workit as you kind of uh go along
the process, which is great.

SPEAKER_02 (41:16):
But see, that's that's your communication with
your director photographer.
Yeah, right.
This is your uh way to talk toall of your cast, your crew.
Say, look, here's what we plan.
Any ideas?
You know, they have meetings,and that's uh uh this
coordination between producersand people on the crew and cast

(41:40):
it uh enhances the film.
So now they have visuals to workwith.
This is clear absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 (41:48):
I mean, it's so it's so key at the very beginning,
right?
I mean, you have a you have agreat script, but I think most
people, and and we I see thisevery day.
Most people, and not everybody,but most people are very visual
people, right?
Um they they want to see, okay,well, what do you mean by this
line?
What do you mean by the scene?
Like have you have you have yousomething to show, right?
And yes, you do now.

(42:08):
You can use largo to create thatscene as a visual, which I think
is nice, right?
Even for your pitch deck, as wejust discussed.
So it's also great to createthat.

SPEAKER_02 (42:16):
It's wonderful.
Yeah, now the pitch events arewhat I love.
So tell the audience about howkind you are.
You choose people to pitch theirfilms at the three top film
festivals in the world.
So explain that.

SPEAKER_01 (42:33):
Yeah, absolutely.
I really appreciate youmentioning that.
So um, yeah, we just have Cannesactually coming up, right?
Funny, we we would talk aboutthe pitch events.
We have Cannes coming up, Southof France, right?
Cannes Film Festival, one of thebiggest, right, uh globally on
the planet, I would say, butvery popular also in Europe.
Have a lot of Americans evencoming, right?
So Australians and uh what wedo, we offer our clients with

(42:55):
certain packages to be able toapply to submit for a seat to be
eligible to a pitch deaf projecton stage, on site, in real, in
real life, to people in theaudience at those festivals, um,
which I think is a greatopportunity.
I did it so many times, right?
When uh coming to Cannes, uh wedo an EFM in Berlin and we also

(43:16):
do AFM in LA, back in LA now.
Um, and it's always very nice tostill have this kind of
face-to-face interaction, right?
Because yes, we working, we talkabout it like technology and
using systems and stuff likethat, but we're still
filmmakers, we're still creativepeople.
We love working with people,right?
And um for us, that was alsolike a key component that

(43:37):
besides the technology, you havemanagers like me working
directly, like as a human being,with my clients, right?
So not just giving them like thetechnology, but still a person
that they can talk to, but ontop, providing you with the
opportunity to apply for a seaton stage so you can pitch your
event to producers, investors,filmmakers, co-producers in the

(43:57):
audience, distributioncompanies, sales agents at CAN,
right?
At AFM, at EFM, which is a hugeopportunity for uh all of our
clients, right?
To make sure, hey, we have nowthe stage for us.
We can pitch our project topeople that we want to get close
to.
Um, and that is a really rareopportunity, right?
And people really appreciatethat.

(44:18):
And um, that's really how wecombine all the effort, right?
And we also, on top of that, Idon't want to miss that, we also
have uh like an online platformthat's called Largo Connect.
So what nobody happens is so uhas you let's say come on board,
uh you run your first project,right?
You run your first analyses, andthen you run a couple more.
At some point, you maybe foundyour sweet spot, right?

(44:38):
And you're ready to go.
What we also offer is that youcan now publish your project on
the Largo Connect, we call it Icall it Marketplace, if you
will.
That means uh this uhmarketplace is open to different
people uh in the industry,right?
Could be investors, producers,everybody who has access can now
look up all these projects byour clients and can dive into

(44:59):
those analyses.
So what you see in the firstplace on the back end, you can
now publish that to people thatyou wanna reach out to and have
those people look at youranalyses, making sure that they
feel hey, I love that.
The numbers look good.
I love the story.
I connect with the storyline.
Let me reach out to them.
I want to talk to the guys.
I want to make sure that I'mgoing to be part of the project.

(45:20):
Um, and those are the two thingsthat we offer on top of the
technology part, if you will,which I think is a great
opportunity.

SPEAKER_02 (45:27):
Exactly.
Well, I love the pitch events.
I think it's it's uh and itgives everybody something to
strive for, you know.
It's like uh prize, just gettingto pitch is a prize, and then
you get to go to these placesthat you wanted to go to anyway,
but you didn't want to spend themoney.

(45:47):
Now you have a reason and awrite-off.

SPEAKER_01 (45:50):
Very true.
I mean, yes, I mean you have tohave to be honest about this.
Yes, to it in order to getaccess to those festivals,
right?
Yes, you have to you have to paymoney for it.
And me going to those festivals,right?
I mean, it's always great toconnect with people, reconnect,
meeting new people, right?
But it is also like a huge crowdof people, right?
And I think the hardest part foreverybody, not just like our

(46:14):
client, everybody, is like howdo you stand out?
How do you make yourself heardor seen?
And I think having theopportunity to be on stage in
front of like people who are atthe festival as you speak, is I
mean, you know, that's reallyhard to get, right?
If you're not part of Largo,it's really, really hard to
become like part of the pitchevent uh within the industry,
within the festival.

(46:35):
So, but we uh we kind of likeidentified that very early, and
that I think that's why we addedthat to our packages too, right?
I mean, you are even like youknow, from the heart
productions, right?
You're like part of us, youknow, they're like you've worked
with us for so long already,too.
So we always appreciate alsoyour input, your insights as
well.
And I think uh us together, uh,you know, partnering also when
it comes to pitch events is is agreat benefit, even for our

(46:57):
clients, right?
So we also appreciate what uhfrom the heart production is
doing that.
Thank you for that.
That's so good.
Absolutely, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 (47:05):
Well, I just want to allay some fears here for people
who aren't technical at all.
Do they need a tech backgroundto use Largo?

SPEAKER_01 (47:16):
Yeah, you know, the funny thing is that that was
also my biggest fear because I'mnot a tech savvy, I'm not a tech
guy, I'm gonna be the techieguy.
So, and the answer is no, youdon't.
That's the beauty of Largo.
You do not need to be a techperson or tech savvy, even like
the the beauty is just so youknow, uh, before you get like
your first, you know, you'reputting hands uh uh on on the

(47:36):
platform yourself, you even havelike an onboarding training,
which is with me or some of mycolleagues, right?
So that means you're never gonnabe left alone.
So that means you talk to uh thefirst demo with one of our like
people in the sales team, youknow, with my colleague Alex or
Keely, for example.
Um, and then if you decide tojoin us, then you will be uh,
you know, transferred to to meor like to somebody else within

(47:56):
my team.
And then we give you like anonboarding training.
And that is very, very importantfor us.
We want to make sure that youget comfortable with the
solution, with the technology,right?
But there is no coding.
I have to really have to stressthat because people always ask
so do we have to code or programsomething?
Or do you no, no, no, no, no,no.
Just so you guys be restassured, don't have to do any

(48:17):
coding, no programming.
It is basically very simple withjust a couple of clicks, right?
And that's on purpose,obviously.
So you can edit it.
We have edit buttons, you clickon the edit button, the fields
open, and you just put in yourdetails, you save it, and that's
pretty much it.
And as soon as you fill outcertain mandatory fields, you
click on the button which iscalled new analyses, you upload

(48:38):
your script with one click, yousubmit it, and then you will get
the answer uh as an analysis.
That's all you have to do at theend of the day.
So very nice.

SPEAKER_02 (48:47):
Very easy, very easy.

SPEAKER_01 (48:48):
Oh, yeah, super easy.
I mean, if I honestly, honestlycare, if I can do it, I really
mean that.
If I can do it, anybody can doit.
Seriously.

SPEAKER_02 (48:56):
Okay.

SPEAKER_01 (48:57):
You know, seriously.

SPEAKER_02 (48:58):
Looking ahead, tell us what's next for Largo.
How is the platform evolving?

SPEAKER_01 (49:04):
Yes, absolutely.
Thanks for asking.
That's also very interesting.
So um, you know, you probablyheard we we got even like uh
some partnership, someinvestment uh by Sylvester
Stallone, even that happenedjust a couple of months ago,
which is really nice, right?
So we had the chance to presentthe platform to him, and he
really loves the idea.
I think he's a very progressiveperson when it comes to

(49:25):
technology, but he also lovesthat it's kind of like a very
hybrid form of technology thatmeans we provide it as an
assistant, but still have thecreative side.
He loves that idea.
And what we're also working onright now for uh many times uh
for a long time, actually, isalso we want to open up even to
branding too, to to certainpeople who maybe want to work on

(49:46):
certain marketing tools orcommercials or want to present
uh certain ads or something,like brand agencies, for
example, is something thatpeople are very interested in,
especially when it comes to nowbeing able to run your simulated
focus groups, right?
So our core clientele isobviously filmmakers.
We want to work with independentfilmmakers, but we also uh

(50:07):
realize by having a lot ofrequests coming in that the
brand side, agency side is alsohuge and they have a huge demand
uh for technology like this,especially again, as I
mentioned, building audiencesthemselves, you know, selected
micro focus groups that they runto really kind of get an idea
first.
Okay, would that add, thatadvertising, that commercial,

(50:28):
whatever it might be, thisproduct, would that even work
for the demographic that weanalyzed in the first place?
And if not, what can Largo tellus about this, right?
So, and that is really somethingthat we um that we uh focused on
and we uh even acquired tocompanies.
Uh, I can tell this are uh wethat this already happened a
couple of months ago.
Uh we uh brought a companycalled Score, eScore uh out of

(50:50):
LA, and then also a company inthe UK called QMind, uh, and
working heavily, obviously, tokind of increase uh the features
that I just mentioned, alsoputting it all together to
consolidate that all into oneplatform, right?
So that is the kind of goal tohave even more, give people more
access to even more data points,right?
So, and that is it's reallyexciting what's what's ahead of

(51:12):
us, to be honest.
So you definitely uh stay tunedand just see what happens, I
guess.

SPEAKER_02 (51:16):
So, would you, if I put my script in, then it might
come back to me and say, there'sa scene in the kitchen, why
don't you have them open thecabinet and we'll put some
general mills products on thereso you can talk to them for
branding?
Is that the kind of thing youwould you're thinking of?

SPEAKER_01 (51:34):
Yes, that's a good, that's a good point when it
comes to product placement, forexample, right?
So that is definitely um, that'sdefinitely something we want to
increase even more because wehave a lot of demand, especially
from brand agency, but alsofilmmakers, right?
Especially when it comes toinvestments, when it comes to
product placement to maybe fundyour movie based on that.
This is definitely somethingthat we are already working on,
right?
Uh, one of the key features thatwe see on the in the like

(51:57):
filmmaker side, but also on thebranding side, because we have a
lot of, it's kind of interestingwhat I even realized we have a
lot of overlap too, right?
We have certain features thatwork for both sides, right?
And I think this is one of thekey things that you just
mentioned that we want to havefor both sides moving forward,
right?
So that is definitely indevelopment right now as we
speak.

SPEAKER_02 (52:14):
Well, this is so important for filmmakers, for
writers, because when they'rewriting a script, they're really
into it.
But then the producer has tocome along and say, wait, when
they drive, you've got all thesecar shots.
Which company do you want touse?
Let's go after Chevy or Ford orsomebody and get the cars in

(52:38):
here.
Um something uh uh something bythe sea.
There was a film uh titled that,and they I think 20 to 30
percent of their budget was paidfor by branding.

SPEAKER_01 (52:53):
Right.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So wasn't that uh yeah, I Ithink I know what you mean.
Wasn't that the movie with uhwith Ben Affleck's brother?

SPEAKER_02 (53:01):
Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_01 (53:02):
Um uh Casey, Casey Affleck?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I know what you mean.
I know what you mean.
Interesting, I didn't even knowthis.
So this movie was predominantlyuh funded by product placement.

SPEAKER_02 (53:12):
Yes.

SPEAKER_01 (53:13):
Oh, interesting.
Okay.

SPEAKER_02 (53:15):
There's so much money there for filmmakers,
yeah, they don't think of thatwhen writing the script.
So to have Largo say, hey,here's an opportunity.
Uh you know, and thenabsolutely.

SPEAKER_01 (53:29):
I mean, this is not happening as of today when it
comes to let's say, okay, thesystem would tell you in what
like what situation where weshould that add to the script.
But what we also feel like whatwe um what we had coming up uh
also when it comes to questionsis uh, okay, is there any way to
to kind of like make sure thatwe kind of like consolidate the
script a little bit, right?
So what we normally even do asaccount managers sometimes is

(53:52):
what I do is like working withmy clients and just kind of
identify, hey, you know, when itcomes down to the budget and
we're looking at the scriptright now, the scenes that you
have in your script right now,do you need all the scenes to
tell the story actually?
Because it's interesting, andyou know how it is.
If you like writing yourself,I'm a writer myself, obviously,
too.

(54:13):
You have a lot of great ideas,right?
And you have a lot of things inmind.
And wouldn't it be great to dothis scene to this this would in
that location or whatnot?
So um, this is all great, butdoes it move the story forward?
And maybe sometimes it does notreally move the story forward,
it would be a great shot, but itwould also increase the budget
for maybe half a million, right?

(54:34):
So um the question is do youneed that now?
And I always like, and I'm um,you know, maybe there's my
German side in me, to be honest,right?
So I just talked to to clearabout this, you know.
I'm I was born in Germany, but Iwas also like coming up in the
US, so I have kind of like ahybrid mode in my head.
But um I think when it comes tostuff like that, I'm trying to

(54:55):
be also uh maybe realistic andalso more rational.
And I have this kind of very umdirect conversation with my
clients and I ask them, socoming back to the budget,
because we have certainfilmmakers at the beginning,
they feel like, you know what, Ican do this movie for 15
million.
You know, I just make this up.
Uh and I said, okay, well, yeah,50 million.
Uh and then and then I'm asking,so this is your first feature,

(55:16):
right?
Your first ever feature moviethat you're producing right now.
And they say, Yeah, yeah, yeah,that's my first movie.
And I said, Okay, I totally getthat.
I just wanted to ask you, justwant to be open to the idea.
So, is that the budget that youdefinitely need as a minimum?
Coming back to what I saidearlier, right?
And as I'm talking to people,they realize, and you know what,
if you're asking me now, I thinkwe we don't really need to do

(55:38):
this or need to do that.
And we kind of end up reallybeing able to go down in budget.
Um, and I think it's almostsometimes like a reality check
for people too, because I wantto make sure, obviously, that my
clients are successful.
And um, and I'm realistic,knowing the industry, that if
you have a 15 million budgetmovie uh moving forward, um, as

(55:59):
a first-time filmmaker, it'spossible.
It's not impossible.
That's not what I'm saying.
But having a positive return oninvestment straight away, it is
obviously easier to achieve byhaving a budget that you could
have as a minimum and can stillget your movie done and complete
it and release it, right?
And still get your money backand even make money at the box

(56:20):
office and streaming and thenmove forward maybe to your
second and third project.
So that's how we kind ofnavigate the conversations, uh,
especially myself with myclients to make sure that
they're going to be successfulat the end, right?
Financially too.

SPEAKER_02 (56:33):
That's so important to do.

SPEAKER_01 (56:34):
Oh, absolutely.
Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 (56:36):
Because in closing, if uh somebody is listening
today who wants to get started,what's the first step?

SPEAKER_01 (56:44):
Yeah, no, absolutely.
So the first step is you canjust uh reach out, you can go on
uh www.largo.io.
You can send a direct email toinfo at largo.io, uh, and then
my colleague Lawrence uh uhreaches out to you and we'll
schedule a uh meeting so you canhave a first demo, but probably
with my colleague Alex or Keelyuh to just give you kind of a

(57:05):
visual idea of what I explainedtoday.
So you can get a first feelbased on a demo, and they can
just pretty much show you indetail what this is all about
that I just mentioned today.
And then uh we're gonna againexplain certain packages with
you.
Um, and if if it's all good,everybody's uh is fine, then you
can just um you know sign upwith me or uh one in my team,
you get your onboarding andwe're ready to go.

(57:25):
And we walk you through theplatform and work on your first
project.

SPEAKER_02 (57:30):
Fantastic.
That's basically what we do.

SPEAKER_01 (57:31):
Very straightforward.

SPEAKER_02 (57:33):
It's very straightforward.
It sounds wonderful.

SPEAKER_01 (57:35):
That's how I like it.

SPEAKER_02 (57:37):
They're gonna love it.
I know that.
So this has been an incrediblyenlightening discussion.
Thank you very much.
Because what you're offeringfilmmakers is something they've
never really had before.
That is a way to validate theircreative instincts with real,
actionable insights.

SPEAKER_01 (57:58):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (57:58):
And this is an industry where so much comes
down to risk that gives thefilmmakers a powerful advantage.

SPEAKER_01 (58:06):
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
I very well said.
Thank you so much forsummarizing it so well.
I mean, you know, at the end ofthe day, and that's why I love
working with my clients uh somuch, because you know,
obviously most of my clients arelike creative people, right?
Yeah, creative producers, right?
But at the core, very creativepeople.
And seeing them really havingthis idea and having the dream
of like turning that intoreality, um, it's just it's just

(58:29):
great.
It's very exciting, right?
Even for myself, obviously,working on my own projects for
so long already.
I get it, right?
I totally really connect to it.
But again, coming back to nowhaving the foundation down and
having the technology with alike rational even approach to
it now when it comes to runningthe numbers correctly, combining
it with your dream, I think isthe best, most effective way

(58:52):
moving forward, right?
And that's what we providewithin Largo.
That's the bottom line.

SPEAKER_02 (58:56):
It's it won't, it's a powerful advantage.
Okay.
Absolutely.
Thank you so much, Benjamin, foryour time and for your
enthusiasm and your love offilmmaking.

SPEAKER_01 (59:08):
A hundred percent.
I mean, we all thank you somuch, Carol, for having me.
I really appreciate it.
I mean, what you guys do at Fromthe Heart Productions, I mean,
uh, as I mentioned, also workingwith us closely when it comes to
pitchments and everything.
So really appreciate that.
And yes, you're absolutelyright.
I think we all need a purpose inlife.
Um, not everybody finds thepurpose in life.
I think I did, and I'm sharingit with my clients every single

(59:29):
day.
So, and that's uh what keeps meuh grounded.
But uh I never want to you knowlose my creative side and also
my background in technology.
And for me, Largo combines itperfectly.
Uh so that's why that's why I'mhere.
So uh thanks again.
Thanks for having me, sharing mystory and also uh the platform.
And uh yes, guys, if you if youif you want to hear more, if you
want to see a demo, you want tosee it live, reach out.

(59:50):
Um, www.largo.io or info atlargo.io and um one of my uh
colleagues who reaches out toyou to schedule a meeting.

SPEAKER_02 (59:59):
Thank you so much.
Claire, would you like to closethe program?

SPEAKER_00 (01:00:06):
Sure, Carol.
And uh yes, I I do want to alsothank you, Benjamin.
I think that Carol absolutelysaid it correctly when she said
your enthusiasm.
Definitely your enthusiasm.
And I want to thank you toeveryone listening to the Art of
Film Funding.
If you found value in today'sepisode, please be sure to share

(01:00:29):
it with your fellow filmmakers,producers, and creatives because
the future of filmmaking isn'tjust about great storytelling,
it's about making smarterdecisions that bring those
stories to life.
Until next time.

SPEAKER_02 (01:00:47):
Thank you from all of us.

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