February 10, 2026 • 46 mins
Marc Bienstock shares an honest look at what producing really means, drawing from decades of experience on both independent and studio films. From his early days at NYU and directing features to becoming a trusted producer on projects like The Visit and Split, Marc explains how preparation, communication, and team building form the foundation of every successful production. His philosophy centers on supporting the director’s vision while navigating budgets, schedules, and inevitable on-set challenges.
The conversation also explores the business realities of modern filmmaking, including tax incentives, financing strategies, and why producers must be problem-solvers above all else. Marc discusses working with M. Night Shyamalan, teaching future filmmakers, and the lessons he’s learned about leadership and collaboration. His journey offers a practical, no-nonsense blueprint for anyone who wants to understand how films actually get made — and how to survive doing it.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/indie-film-hustle-a-filmmaking-podcast--2664729/support.
The conversation also explores the business realities of modern filmmaking, including tax incentives, financing strategies, and why producers must be problem-solvers above all else. Marc discusses working with M. Night Shyamalan, teaching future filmmakers, and the lessons he’s learned about leadership and collaboration. His journey offers a practical, no-nonsense blueprint for anyone who wants to understand how films actually get made — and how to survive doing it.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/indie-film-hustle-a-filmmaking-podcast--2664729/support.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
You are listening to the ifh podcast Network. For more
amazing filmmaking and screenwriting podcasts, just go to ifhpodcastnetwork dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Welcome to the Indie Film Muscle Podcast, Episode number eight
forty one. Cinema should make You forget. You're sitting in
a theater, Roman Polanski.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Broadcasting from the back alley in Hollywood. It's the Indie
Film Hustle Podcast, where we showed you how to survive
and thrive as an indie filmmaker in the jungles of
the film biz.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
And here's your host, Alex Ferrari.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Welcome, Welcome to another episode of the Indie Film Huscle Podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
I am your humble.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Host, Alex Ferrari. Today's show is sponsored by Rise of
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www Dot filmbizbook dot com. That's film bizbook dot com.
Enjoy today's episode with guest host Dave Bullis.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
So on this episode, my guest, as I said before,
I've actually worked with him. I was here ta and
I actually think he is the first person I actually
worked with on this entire podcast. I'm going through my
mind right now and I can't think of anybody else.
So if I had missed somebody, please forgive me. Somebody
email me and tell me, hey, you had somebody else on.
(02:15):
But this person, I think is the first person that
I've worked with. This guy is a phenomenal producer. I
mean just phenomenal. I will link to his IMDb in
the show notes because he's not on social media, so
that will be the only link I have for him.
This guy has produced some really really cool things. Twelve
Rounds two reloaded. He's produced the remaining See No Evil
(02:39):
Too with the Saskas Twins, The Visit and Split with
m Night Shyamalan with guests Mark Bienstock. Hey, Mark, thanks
for coming on the show.
Speaker 4 (02:51):
Thanks for having me, Dave glad to be here.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
You know, Mark, You're actually one of the a handful
of people that I've actually met in real life. Was
everybody else in this show I've never actually met anywhere else?
Speaker 5 (03:05):
Well, I'm I was a pleasure to meet you and
uh and glad to be part of a small, small
group of privileged folks there.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Oh, and we're gonna we're gonna talk to about you know,
how we know each other, uh, which is I think
it's a great story, but uh, you know, just to
get started, Mark, And it's a question I asked everybody,
and that is, you know, how did you wind up
in the film industry? You know, did you always like
movies as a kid and and you know, and you
knew from a young age that you wanted this is
something that you wanted to do.
Speaker 5 (03:33):
I did always like movies as a young kid, and uh,
but I was also a huge music fan and and
and so I you know, I bounced back and forth
between uh, a career in music and and a career
in film and UH ended up at n YU at
the School of the Art, and was bouncing around there
(03:54):
between you know, visual medium and working in radio and uh.
And you know, on the film side of it won out.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
So what point mark did you you know, did you
start knowing that you wanted to be on that producing side? Uh?
You know, as as a career.
Speaker 5 (04:13):
Well, well, funny enough, when I was n y U,
I was directing actually I directed Mprody. So I directed
a a music video there that was a grant from
RCAA Records at the time, and that was a really
you know, monumental experience for me. And after that experience,
I knew that, you know, I had to do it again.
(04:33):
And then I ended up also producing a thesis film
for a fellow student that was a grant from HBO.
So I had both experiences and they were both, you know,
really satisfying. But when I came out of school, I
initially you know, went down the road of directing. That
(04:55):
was a little bit more interesting and enticing to me
at first.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
So, you know, so you went down the directing road,
you know, at first, and you know, when was it
that you finally decided, you know, you wanted to be
that producer, you know, just you know, producing all these
all these films.
Speaker 5 (05:12):
Yeah, great question. I decided somewhere in the mid to
late nineties, I was offered an opportunity at an independent
company to come in and run production there. And at
the same time, I was finishing my second feature film,
which is the TV Movie, and that experience was was
somewhat trying, and decided that I would prefer to be
(05:35):
the producer for other directors that I never had, so,
you know, and at the at the at the advice
of many friends, they thought that that was a good move.
So I certainly, you know, chatted with you know, many
people close to me, he knew me well, and they
all thought that that the choice of segueing and moving over,
you know, and favoring more the producer than the director
(05:57):
was was a good choice. That's what I did.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
Yeah, you know that's something you and I talked about
before too. Was you know, when when people would say
things to me like, oh, you know, you're really good
at this. I wish you would produce my movie. I know,
I kind of took that as like I kind of
was like insulted in a way about that. I know
it sounds so weird, Mark, but I was kind of like,
I want to make, you know, my own movies. I
think it was a temple I said this to you.
You know, I I like, you know, I like movies,
(06:23):
and I like everything about movies. I know, I've pretty
much held every job. But then I said, you know,
it's like I said to you a temple at one time,
I said, I, you know, I want to produce my
own stuff, you know what I mean? And I and
but but it's interesting you had that that you know,
that that journey, and it's so people must have seen
at some point that you know, you were really really
good at producing if they you know, everyone keeps asking
(06:44):
to do it again and again.
Speaker 5 (06:47):
Yeah, you know, I never I never have people what
they thaw on me or why they thought that I
would I would be a good producer, you know, but
I you know, I had the opportunity and and so
I took it and ran with it, and you know,
and for me, my perspective was that not only could
I hopefully be the producer for other directors that you know,
(07:08):
I never found for myself when I was directing, but
also that I would I would enjoy the collaborative process
and learn from working with other directors and find you know,
if much satisfaction and supporting other directors and breeding like
and into those films as I would into you know,
the projects that I directed. So you know, and and
(07:29):
for the most part that's been true.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
So you know, Margaret's I actually liked you know, we
just said there where it's about you know, you wanted
to be the producers that other directors could, you know,
other directors couldn't find. Uh Yeah, I think that's very
important because I think now you have that perspective of Okay,
you know, as a struggling director, how hard it is
to find a solid producer. So you know, what what
(07:52):
were you know, what were some of the things, you know,
as you know, you've produced all these all these movies,
you know, what were some of the things that that
you did to make sure, you know, to make sure
that you always were sort of on point, you know
what I mean, like making sure that the director was
always being helped. If I'm sorry, I don't know if
I've said that right, but I did? Do you don't
you know what I'm trying to get at Mark? I
don't know. I don't know if I said that right.
Speaker 5 (08:13):
Story Yeah, no, no, no, no, it's a good crush. You know.
It really varies and it evolves over time, you know.
I think I think just like you know, anyone in
any in any percussion, you know, we'd be hopefully we
become better. You know, our experiences make us better at
what we do, and over time, you know, we we
evolve and become you know, the best at what we do,
(08:35):
or the best version of ourselves of what we do.
So I you know, for me, it's really about transparent
and open communication with the director, especially in pre production
and even prior to pre production. You know, once once
you're once we're out there making the movie so much
as happening so quickly, so it's it's really in pre production,
(08:57):
I have spending a lot of time together and having
a lot of die and understanding creatively, you know what
the director wants for each seeing sometimes for each shot,
and then you know, how can I support that and
how can I have you know, the team that we've
assembled support that. And it's all about supporting, you know,
(09:17):
the director's vision and so whatever we're doing it with,
you know, our crew, or we're doing it with our
financial resources, when you know all the things that that
in the world will support that vision, you.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
Know, and you know that that's amazing, you know, Mark,
because that is it's so true because you have to
be supportive of one another. You know, you have to
build that team. And I think this is another thing
and I talked about where you know, everyone has to
have a good attitude on set because if you have
one person who has who sort of has like a
bad attitude, it spreads like a virus.
Speaker 5 (09:51):
You know.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor
and now back to the show.
Speaker 5 (10:02):
Yeah, well, uh, I agree with you. However, not everyone
is required to have a good attitude. You hope everybody
brings a good attitude. And you know, I I think
that you know, we all have good day from bad
day whom but yeah, hopefully for the most Quoe. You've
assembled a team of people who you know, have fun,
enjoy what they're doing, you know, believe in the project
(10:26):
and and bring their best every day. And you know
and that it makes it makes it a more pleasurable
experience for everyone. And so you're right, if there's you know,
if there's a bad attitude that will affect everyone. And
and just like in you know, in our personal lives,
if you encounter, you know, someone who is aggravating, the
potentially can make you upset and then you know you're
(10:48):
aggravating to someone else, and so on and so on
and so on. So you hope to put together a
team of people that are that are all pleasant and
polite and good natured people who are also really talented.
Speaker 4 (11:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
That that that's That's a great way to put it, Mark,
And uh, you know I wanted to actually, you know,
and as we talk about, you know, building this team,
you know, I wanted to ask you as you started
off your producing career, uh, you know, just looking at
your IMDb you know, uh, you know, by the way, Mark,
I've seen about just about every movie you've produced, uh,
which I think I mentioned to you also is just
(11:22):
a small world I you know, I actually remember going
to Hollywood Video and renting Bloody Murder.
Speaker 4 (11:28):
I remember.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
I'm sorry, Mark, Yeah, I know, I actually remember that.
I remember the cover and I remember everything about it.
And then when I met you, I was like wait
a minute, I was like hold on, and then I
looked up your IMDb. So you know, I've I've pretty
much seen every movie he's done. And uh, you know,
as I want to talk about, you know, building a team.
So Mark, when you were first started, you know, starting out,
(11:50):
you know, what were some of the you know, how
were you first approached for projects or did you go
out to find projects to produce?
Speaker 6 (11:57):
At that point when I first started out, I was
developing projects and and you know, looking for projects, and
people were bringing projects to me, and uh.
Speaker 5 (12:14):
And then I was also an executive at a at
an independent company here in Los Angeles, and so we
were you know, projects were brought to us because we
had the ability to partially finance movie. So that was
a you know, it was a really good place for
me to be at the time. So, you know, opportunities
presented themselves because of that. So we had to go
(12:34):
out and find the other half of the money. So
it wasn't you know, it wasn't an automatic. And then
over time, I I decided to spend less time developing
material and more time making movies, and so I started
to partner up with other producers who spend more time
developing projects. And so so now you know, studios and
(13:00):
other companies come to me when they have a project
that is I would say, you know, two thirds of
the way there and just about ready to get you know,
they're they're seriously considering making the movie, and that's when
they would bring me on. So my expertise now is
about making the movie. Where to make the movie, how
to make the movie, the best way to make the movie,
(13:22):
as opposed to developing the script.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
So you know, you built your team, so I like
that too, where you know, it's almost like you had
you know, you were It's almost like ability network, right.
You know, one person is sort of the person in
there making contacts in this direction, and one person is
another person making contacts in this direction. And I think
you know that that that teamwork there helps, you know,
you helps all the producers out because they're each finding
(13:47):
different ways to sort of find find the money, whether
it's investment. Angel investors, you know stuff like that, am
I correct?
Speaker 5 (13:57):
Yeah, in a perfect world, whether at your fellow producers
or anyone else on the project, I always try and find,
you know, and being business with individuals, where where our
skill sets compliment each wee ou as opposed to being
having redundant skill sets. So whether that is you know,
what we each do as a producer, or who our
(14:18):
contacts are. You know, so we're you know, we're much
stronger as a team if we all compliment each other
as opposed to we all do the same thing.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
Yeah, that's a very good point.
Speaker 5 (14:31):
Mark.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
And you know, just as we know we go along,
you know, following your your career, you know you're sort
of doing some you know uh I, you know obviously
the sort of more the more more movies you produce,
excuse me, the more movies to produce, the the you know,
the bigger the budgets are getting. You know, was there
ever a point where you got a budget and you said,
oh my gosh, we do we have how do we
(14:53):
get this much money? Was there ever like a moment
when you knew you sort of entered that next level
and that you were making and you were like, wow,
this is I mean, it's just you know what I mean,
like that moment, that Aha moment you had where you
were just you just knew this was it and you
were and you were just sort of doing this for
the rest of your life.
Speaker 5 (15:14):
I think the AHA moments have come when I when
I've seen versions of the movies when they're finished, not
so much. I mean, it's always exciting to know that
we have the finance and to be able to make
a movie. It's always exciting to have the experience of
actually making the movie and getting really close with that
group of people you make the movie with, and then
it's incredibly gratifying. And you know, I think the AHA
(15:37):
moments occurs when you're sitting in a screening room and
you're watching the finish park and you know, and that
for me is what is ultimately, you know, truly satisfying.
So you know, the AHA moment happened when I when
I recently saw you know, uh Split, which comes out
which will be released in January by Universal, so you know,
(15:58):
that was that was the latest moment, and uh, you know, yeah,
so that's when it happens. You know.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
I remember when we were we were in Philly and
we were at the post production house. I forget the
name of that post production house we're at, but we
were out there and I remember you you were in
the screening room and you were saying that you know,
you made it if you can get one of the
heath in your in your in your house and you
can just have everyone come over and that's what you
watch cuts of the film and right, and you're so
(16:26):
you're so right, Mark, because that is true. You know
that that's what sort of everybody is aiming for. That
way you can come over, Hey, look, we're gonna kill
all the lights and we're just gonna watch a cut
of this film. And uh, you know actually that you know,
I wanted to actually talk about you know, you coming
to PA to to film.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
I wanted to ask you know, you know you you
first arrived, you know when you you work on M.
Night with M. Night Shaman on the visit. So you know,
I wanted to ask, you know, how did you meet M.
Knight and how did you how did you too start
working together?
Speaker 5 (16:56):
You know, we were we were you know, Night decided
you you want to make the visit and he was
looking for a producing partner and someone who had experience
working with budgets, you know, below ten million dollars. And
we were put together my agent and his business partner,
(17:16):
and fortunately we hit it off and uh, you know,
and we went and made a really good movie and
uh and the rest is you know the I guess,
as I say, the rest is history.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
So what and when you were working on the visit,
you mentioned too in that in the class that it
was like one of the first times where you know,
we talk about the PA you know, the PA film
tax credits, and you know we talk about that, and
you know, one of the things was, you know, you
never had before a writer who was able to get
the tax credit because they live in the same state
as the movie is getting produced. So I wanted to Yeah,
(17:47):
so I wanted to ask, you know, Mark, you know,
in today's you know, film industry, it was today with
everything that's going on, you know, do producers is like,
is like, are the tax credits like the top three
things that producers look for now when they're about to
make a movie or or I know they're important, but
I mean where I'm trying to ask us, you know,
how important are they now for making a film?
Speaker 5 (18:08):
Yeah, tax credits are very important for film and television.
You know, if you look around the country, there are
a number of states that offer these, you know, Georgia
being one, and it's one of the most popular spots.
Atlanta has become one of the most you know, popular
cities for film and television, and that's because of the
incentive they offer. New York and California now offers a
(18:30):
very competitive incentive, so and Pennsylvania has one in New
Mexico and lots of production in Vancouver and Toronto. So,
you know, to give you an example, if you have
a ten million dollar budget and you go to an
incentive state and the incentive is twenty five percent, then
let's just say, for you know, the sake of argument,
(18:52):
you're getting twenty five percent of your ten million dollars.
So now the cost of your movie, which was ten million,
the cost is seven point five million. So if you're
an investor, you you want your movie or you want
your TV show to go to an incentive state because
the hard cost, the recoupable cost is less twenty five percent.
(19:14):
So you made a movie for ten million, but you
only need to recoup seven point five million. So from
a business perspective, that's.
Speaker 4 (19:22):
An ideal scenario, and that's why the incentive states are
so popular.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
And also two work deal as. I've had other producers
on you know, they talked about, you know, just the
different concerns now because you know, everything is changing, you
know with Netflix and and the foreign sales are some
are still there, some are aren't. They're saying that, you know,
because of that, it's a little bit different now with
how you package and pre sell your movie.
Speaker 5 (19:48):
Yeah, it's you know, the world has changed, and so
there's no more DVDs or video so home entertainment and
all the ancillary dollars that you know, investors look for,
study look for.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor,
and now back to the show.
Speaker 5 (20:11):
You know, those revenue streams have changed, and they constantly
are changing, you know, not domestically as well as you
know in the international market. So yeah, you you it's
always changing. It's never easy, and this is why you know,
you think of incentive dollars as really free money. Someone's
(20:32):
giving you money. They're saying, come to our city, we'll
give you this much money and you don't have to
pay us back. So you know, that's that's why it's
attractive and you you know, you minimize your exposure.
Speaker 3 (20:48):
Yeah, and you know, and that's something we were talking
about as well. And uh, you know, in the in
the class at drugs or university because you know, it's
more important than ever. And you know that's something too
because pa, uh you know, they do have a tax credit.
But you know, like we were saying, everyone goes to
Pittsburgh because you know, the the union fees are a
lot cheaper. And also and like you mentioned too, Philadelphia
(21:09):
there's like only one one, you know, crew that usually
does pretty much every movie and you know they and
you you know, if they're out doing one another movie,
it's kind of hard unless you have to bring other
people in. And like you were saying, all that stuff
affects the budget.
Speaker 5 (21:25):
Right right, absolutely, I mean everything there, you know, everything
has an impact on the budget. But you know, in
all in all fairness to filion, I love Philadelphia. You know,
Pittsburgh has been very busy, and it is predominantly because
it's less expensive to produce a movie or a television
show in Pittsburgh than it is in Philadelphia. For a
(21:47):
number of reasons, however, and and so that's why there's
more crew there. So if Philadelphia were to become financially competitive,
then the crew base would grow. But right now, you know,
can't support a larger crew base, which is why there's
only you know, one to one and a half, you
know clues, you know in Philadelphia.
Speaker 3 (22:07):
Yeah, and I remember that you know something we were
talking about and actually you know, just to you know,
I keep alluding to this. Well, I'm just gonna say
as you'll get to the to how we met. Uh. So,
you know, Mark, you and I met. Uh it was
right as you were getting ready for pre production for
Split and you had you had agreed uh to work
for you know, because I think you came in to
I think you approached Trexel to to maybe come in
(22:29):
and teach this production class. Is that? How did Drexel
approach you or did you approach Trexel.
Speaker 4 (22:36):
I spoke with the film.
Speaker 5 (22:39):
Commission in Philadelphia and expressed my interest in in teaching
at the universities in Philly, so Temple and Drexel and
and a number of other universities, and then it was
it was just a matter of aligning my schedule with
their semester. And Drexel was a turned out to be
a terrific bit and uh, you know, and then also
(23:02):
you know, Temple just for a lecture because their semester
had already started. But so I was, you know, something
that it was. It's my way of trying to give back.
And and I you know, recall when I was at
film school and thought, uh, how I would have appreciated
and benefited from the experience of of a producer coming
(23:24):
in and you know and speaking about what they do
and offering some insight to their experience and how they
do it. So so, you know, it was something that
I wanted to do, and Direxel was kind of up
to present me with an opportunity.
Speaker 3 (23:38):
And it's also too because you know, you're actually a
producer out there doing stuff, you know, and because people
could right now, we can go on Amazon, we can
go into Netflix, we can find your movies. Uh. And
you know that's why I was, you know, I was
saying too before, was that's why your experience is you
know that you know that a list level because you've
actually made you know, uh, movies that have been you
(24:00):
know in the theaters, movies that have been number one
at the box office. You know, all this stuff, and
I think that right there that is irreplaceable, you know, experience.
So when you come into a classroom like this and
you talk about, you know, how you did this and
in the process it that is that is absolutely key
because you know you have again because you're at the
top of the mountain and you know what I mean.
(24:22):
And that that that's why I'm so glad that you actually,
you know, did decide to do that whole class at
Drexel and do that one day at Temple because again,
not only did I mean I learned just ton just
you know, talking to you. Uh and and obviously I
was in the class with you as your TA. But again,
you know, I think that is an amazing, amazing opportunity
for allow those students involved.
Speaker 5 (24:41):
Well, I appreciate that it was it was really my
pleasure and and uh and I was, you know, happy
to have the opportunity and and hopefully you know, everyone
got something from it. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
So, so how Mark and I actually met was like
we have a mutual friend, uh, you know Dave, you know,
Dave Rayner and h Dave actually asked me if I
could if I was interested in helping out a producer
at Dreux University and it wasn't I said yes, I said, yeah,
I'd be very interested to help somebody out. And then
when we got introduced Mark, I actually looked you up
(25:13):
and I said, okay, I will definitely help this guy.
And uh, because I know, because again I was like,
this guy is you know, a level producer, and you know,
just being at Drexel with you, I think the class
was awesome. And you know, and also because again you
went over an entire movie. I think you want to
The movie you talked about was The Remaining Correct? How
(25:33):
you produced a whole movie from start to finish correct.
Speaker 5 (25:36):
What we did is we simulated, you know, we refimulated
the actual production of The Remaining Yeah. So Estonia was
kind of up to allow me to share, you know,
some documents with the class, and and you know, we
went through it from start to finish where we actually
from the point of finding an intellectual property, securing the
(25:58):
intellectual property, pitching the intellectual properties, selling it, figuring out
where to make the movie, how to make the movie, staffing, scheduling, budgeting, Yeah,
through all.
Speaker 3 (26:09):
That, and again that was so enlightening. And one thing
I took away from that class Mark, and I think
I said this to you as well, but I'm going
to repeat it for the listeners, and that is you
said your producing policy is everybody gets one mistake, and
I have kept to that. I was like, that is
a great way to look at it, because everyone gets
(26:30):
one mistake, and you know, if it depends on what
it is, you know, but that's the way to keep
people at least honest, right.
Speaker 5 (26:38):
Well, it's it was my lesson. And you know, their
production is such an intense experience. When you're making a
movie and you start shooting, you know, everything is very
is heightened because happening so quickly in such a relatively
short period of time, there's a lot happening. And if
(27:00):
you have one hundred people working on a movie, and
you know, people make mistakes. And so the realization is,
you know, just you just can't no matter how prepared
you are, no matter how hard you work, no matter
what you try and do, it's impossible to prevent people
from making mistakes. You can hopefully minimize that, but you
(27:22):
can't prevent them. So it was really my realization at
some point as a producer that we're all human, we're
all imperfect, and so might. Yeah, So my rule is
and I say it allowed to remind myself. You know,
it seems reasonable that each person is going to make
one mistake or they have one hundred people Abo's one
hundred mistakes over the course of the movie. Now maybe
(27:44):
some people will make none and others will make you know, two,
or they'll be bigger or smaller.
Speaker 4 (27:48):
But yeah, that's the general rule.
Speaker 5 (27:50):
To remind me that, regardless of how frustrating it gets
when people make mistakes. But this is just the reality
of what we do. And so you know, it's my
job and it's my team's job to come up with
solutions for those you know, those mistakes, those challenges.
Speaker 3 (28:08):
So you know, as you talk about, you know, making
mistakes and minimizing those mistakes, Mark, I wanted to ask,
you know, what was your most your your biggest challenge
as a producer. You know, what was what was you know,
did something ever happen on set that that was took
a lot of creativity or or some I mean there's
always unforeseen problems, But what was that biggest problem that
(28:30):
you had to tackle and how did you overcome that?
Speaker 5 (28:35):
I honestly, the thing that comes to mind is is
is a really unfortunate experience where it had to do
with with, uh, you know, individuals on set who were
you know, not in their right mind because they were
under the influence of of of substances. And so that's
(28:58):
an incredibly significant challenge because you know, those those particular
individuals were a were vital to the production and we
couldn't just you know, dismiss them. So that was, uh,
you know, that was incredibly challenging because it's not just
solving a problem, but you're dealing with, you know, with
(29:19):
the human being, and you're dealing with someone who isn't
necessarily reasonable, and you have to try and reason with them,
and you have to try and motivate them, and you
have to try and get them right so they can
participate in the movie and and hopefully not embarrass themselves
or anyone else. So that was probably the greatest challenge.
(29:40):
But other otherwise, you know, there are challenges on every movie,
and oftentimes the beauty of those challenges are there's you know,
you discover something. You know, more often than not, you
discover something great from those challenges, and you know, if
if everyone is prepared.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
Will be I back after a word from our sponsor
and now back to the show.
Speaker 5 (30:08):
And has really thought about what we're going to do.
When those challenges present themselves, as a group, it can
usually come up with some pretty pretty good satisfying solutions.
Speaker 3 (30:19):
Well, you know, that's you know, a pretty big challenge, Mark,
because I've actually I've never I mean, that might be
one of the worst, you know, challenges I've heard of
producing because you're right, you know, they're key and you
can't dismiss them, so you know, yeah, that that's unbelievable.
Speaker 4 (30:36):
You know.
Speaker 3 (30:36):
Just as a side note, Mark, I had a friend
of mine one of his biggest producing challenges was he
was going to film a movie and there was this
old like wooden bridge that he was going to film on.
It was just going to be like, you know, it
was an old, tiny bridge and he wanted to use
it for a couple of things. They had a storm
the night before, right well, the everything was washed away,
(30:56):
the whole the bridge was just demolished. And he got
there the next day with everybody and it was gone.
And he goes, well, well here we go. Uh so
here we are now with uh you're trying to find
a plan B. Another friend of mine he uh there
was poor planning in the production. They got to the
location the first day and they realized he didn't have
(31:17):
the key to the building to get in. Uh, stuff
like that, Uh, which makes uh, I'm sure you know,
as you hear that the second story, you're probably like,
how do you make how do you not have the key?
Come on? But but yeah, he he uh that that's
just some of the producing stuff that I you know,
other other producing challenges that I've heard from friends. Uh,
you're just thinking of the top of my head. But
(31:39):
but but yeah, it's if there's all you're right, if
there there is creative ways to solve challenges, except for
that one with the key in the in the building
that that I don't think there's any excuse for that.
Speaker 5 (31:48):
That's that's when you call a locks myth or you
hope someone on the crew has uh has had a
prior life as a as a burglar.
Speaker 3 (31:57):
Exactly. Just that's where you channel your inner verse or
hurt Sog and just just figure out how to go here.
Speaker 4 (32:06):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (32:06):
Because he actually he said in his pitch for his
master class, he said, uh uh uh he would teach
kids learning how to pick a lock is more important
than anything else in filmmaking, and I think that's uh,
that's where you have to challenge your just sorry someone
your heart sign for that.
Speaker 5 (32:24):
There you go.
Speaker 3 (32:25):
So now you know, so Mark, you know, as we
were talking about the class and we were talking, you know,
we're talking about Split. You know, uh, you know obviously
you and m Night you know works so well together
on the visit that you know, he he eventually, you know,
he when he was done writing the script for a Split,
he asked you to come back. I mean when when
you read a script from I know you mentioned this
in the class, you read a script by m Night.
(32:47):
You said you were just blown away and you were like, wow,
this guy's a writer. And you know, uh now that
that's something I've heard from other producers as well too,
where they've read a script and they're just like, holy shit,
this you know, this is a this is this guy
can do it. So I mean when you read the
script for Split, I imagine you were probably probably even
more blown away than when you read the visit.
Speaker 5 (33:09):
They're both I mean, I love them both. I mean,
and they're very different, but they I was excited, you know,
to read the visit and uh, and was excited to,
you know, to be a part of that, and then
was equally excited to read Split. Yeah, he's an incredibly
accounted writer. You know. I think it's it's uh, making
(33:31):
movies are are you know, very challenging, you know, and
it starts with finding a good script. And you know,
to find a good script, you need a good writer.
And I think there's a lot of people that do it,
and there's a few people that do it really well.
And he's one of those guys who, you know, he
does it really well. He's a he's a he's a
great writer, he's a great director. You know. I love
(33:52):
working with him.
Speaker 3 (33:54):
Yeah, and uh, you know, and you know, I actually
have seen all of his movies and uh, you know,
I I actually took a special interest in you know,
in the visit and I am going to see Split
when it comes out because obviously because of the connection,
well you know, I of knowing you and plus you know, actually,
you know, it's funny Mark m Night lives like thirty
five minutes away from me, and it's like, you know,
(34:15):
I you know, it's just funny because he's still one
of the guys that still lives in PA. He doesn't
live out in La right, And it's just funny though,
But yeah, I also wanted to help him out obviously
by supporting him, because obviously he's a p a guy
like me, you know. And but but it's always but
it's always good, you know, to hear that, you know,
because you know, you're always whenever I hear producers, whether
(34:36):
they're giving interviews or you know, or just you know,
didn't just talks with them, you know, that's what they're
always saying. They want to script that speaks to them,
you know what I mean. They want to script that
sort of you know, uh, really tells that story. And
you know, I don't know. One of the things Mark too,
And I want to ask you is what are some
of the things that you've noticed that maybe you know
(34:58):
m Night does, whether it be about the story or
is it in is it in the the actual description
and you know, uh, in the script? What are some
of the things that he does that really sort of
leap off the page at you and you know and
others who read the script and make it so that
way back Dan, we got to film this thing tomorrow.
Speaker 4 (35:15):
That's a really good question.
Speaker 5 (35:16):
Well, I I think it's you know, I think it's
really challenging for for writers to speak in in multiple voices,
and if you're writing a screenplay, you know, it's a requirement.
And uh and he he does an excellent job, whether
it's you know, writing the voice of as in the
(35:38):
Visit he wrote these two kids who were you know, adelucence,
and then he wrote two grandparents and you know, and
and in Split he has you know, three teenage girls
and then he has an older woman who's a therapist,
and you know, the main character has split personalities and
you know, these are all these voices are all really
(35:59):
o us and really accurate and uh and that's not
an easy thing to do, so that that really resonates.
And then he's just a master with with story. So
in addition to having these characters that you like or
dislike for the right reasons, you know, he's he takes
you on a ride and and you know, and the
(36:21):
story is just as compelling as the characters. And uh
and you know that's when you when you consider all
those ingredients, that's pretty complex and it's not an easy
thing to do, and it's you know, it goes the
same as someone who writes, you know, a novel's there's
lots of writers, but there's you know, a few good
few good novels. And this is all subjective, but so's
(36:42):
he's just a rip and creating characters and and then uh,
you know, and then giving them a story and a
road to travel.
Speaker 4 (36:49):
That we all want to go down with them.
Speaker 3 (36:51):
Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. Mark. You I
had on Aaron Kaufman who worked Rob Rodriguez, and I've
had on you know, our mutual friend, uh, an acquaintment
quains casting OVAs, you know, Uh, And then you know
they were saying similar things. You know, they will they
read a script and it would be like you know,
a certain a certain script that stands out from them,
you know, and uh, you know you know, I mean,
(37:13):
because you know how it is. Mark. You know, when
you send it to whomever, usually have readers. They go
through and you know, probably have a pile out of
one hundred, maybe one or two gets through, and you know,
maybe at the end of a month you maybe have
ten scripts that have gotten through out of a pile
of like, you know, a couple of thousand, and those
ten scripts are all excellent, well written scripts, but maybe
(37:33):
only one of them will actually speak to you whether
you're saying it to like a producer like yourself, or
maybe you were sending it to an agent or even
a manager. And like you said, it's all subjective.
Speaker 5 (37:42):
You know.
Speaker 3 (37:42):
Maybe one person likes Stephen King, the next person likes
you know, Dean Kotz and uh, you know, and you
know again, you just build those relationships up and uh,
you know, then you find yourself in a situation like
you where you now you're making another great movie, you know,
with m knighton. Uh, I'm gonna guess you're probably for
another one after this.
Speaker 4 (38:02):
You know, I hope.
Speaker 5 (38:03):
So I think that I think we had a good
experience and you know, hopefully, uh, Split will be well
received and we'll find ourselves back together and to make
in a movie sometime next year.
Speaker 3 (38:15):
So, Mark, when does Split come out?
Speaker 4 (38:18):
January twenty first? Split will Uh, we'll be in theaters everywhere.
Speaker 3 (38:24):
And you know, Mark, I know we're starting to run
out of time, and I want to I'm gonna actually
I'm also to link to that in the showings everybody,
so we'll linked to the date and also link to
the trailer. By the way, the trail looks really good, Mark,
I saw that when I came out and I wanted
I just had a few Twitter questions come in. Do
you want to answer you just a few questions before
we call it.
Speaker 5 (38:41):
A night, Yeah, go for it.
Speaker 3 (38:42):
Sure, what advice would you give to filmmakers you know
who are producing their first film? And obviously that's a
little bit of my own verbiage because obviously that question
always comes in work whenever I ever asked these things,
so I always taste sort of taking combined it. So,
you know, what, what sort of advice would you have
for somebody producing your first film?
Speaker 5 (39:04):
The advice that I would offer someone producing their first
film is to surround themselves with people that have more
experience than they do. So if you can associate yourself
with a producing partner who has made a number of films,
you should do that. So in any way you can,
you know, if you can, you can find a mentor,
(39:27):
and if you can finding a producing partner that that
has more experience than you, then you just want to
make sure that the other people that you're bringing on,
whether it be your first ad your production manager, all
these other folks, you want them to have experience so
you can benefit from their experience.
Speaker 3 (39:43):
Yeah, I like that answer, Mark, because again that's something
I've always tryed to do too. Was you know surround
my genius surround is you know, the way I heard
it way back was if you genius around yourself, shound
yourself with the smartest people, more experience with what you can.
Speaker 2 (39:57):
And we'll be right back after a word from our
sponsor and now back to the show.
Speaker 3 (40:07):
You know, when everything goes well, uh you know, you
you know, you can figure out, you know, all the
things that we know went right and uh yeah again
because that way they can guide you along the way,
you know exactly. And another question came in through Twitter,
and this is by Roger Coach, uh called Roger Coach
b Films, and that is, you know, Mark, how do
you find stories? Are they pitched or they throw books?
(40:30):
Or are they throwing like inspiring news stories.
Speaker 5 (40:34):
All of the above. You know, you look every which way.
If you know, books are really competitive. Everyone chases books,
so you know they're either writers who have ideas, they're
written scripts, you read an article, so all of the above.
Speaker 3 (40:52):
And and you know that that's great too, Mark, because
that's also the other the second question that always comes
in is people love to you know, talk about you know,
pitching to producers and then when I had like you
and and I've had Aaron and I've had kazin on
and uh, you know, that's usually the question is, you know,
how do you guys get pitched? And uh, you know
that I think so I thank you for answering that question.
Speaker 4 (41:12):
Work because uh yeah you should.
Speaker 5 (41:15):
You know, the one the one piece of advice i'd
offer someone who's trying to get something pitched. If you're
not established and you don't have an agent and you're
trying to get someone's time, you know, keep in mind
that people's time is you know, is their greatest commodity,
and so have a concise pitch, you know, have a
synopsis that someone can read, whether it be a half
(41:37):
a page or a page, and know that that synopsis
is going to be attractive and get their attention and
leave them wanting more. So, you know, be prepared and
be able to do be able to pitch quickly and
uh you know, and spark some interest.
Speaker 3 (41:55):
And you know that's why Mark, I want to say
thank you, you know for all your time and coming
on the podcast and you know, I know you're an
extremely busy guy and just when I ask, you know, Mark,
in closing, is there anything that maybe we didn't touch
upon that you wanted to say, or is there anything
else that you wanted to discuss to sort of put
up period at the end of this whole conversation.
Speaker 5 (42:15):
Uh, No, I think you've covered everything, Dave. You've done
a great job. And I appreciate the invitation to h
to be on your blog and and they appreciate your
assistance with the class, and uh, and this has been
a lot of fun.
Speaker 3 (42:27):
Oh my pleasure. I had, Like I said, Mark, I
had an absolute blast with that class. And by the
way that the smart students in that class, uh, they
were always they were always trying to I was going
to tell you this, and I'll tell you this now.
They were always coming to me and they were asking
me questions like, you know, how's Mark? Is he a
real nice guy? You know this and that, because they
were always like I think they were a little intimidated
(42:49):
you at first, and uh, you know, as they sort
of got to the through the class, they all, you know,
they all knew, okay, Mark's a good guy. And and
basically at the end, the smart students all network with
me and you know what I mean, like they made
sure to get my contact info, right, I mean because
because because somebody said, well, you know, they said to me, well,
if you're with Mark, you must obviously know somebody. And
(43:10):
I said, yeah, I don't. I know a lot of
cool people. Uh but uh but yeah. Then they fact
they said, oh, you do your own stuff too, and
I said yeah, and I said, I you know, I
have a pretty crappy podcast that I do, and uh,
you know, they said all right, so uh but uh,
you know, it's just it was just funny. And I
applaud those kids because that's how you gotta do it.
You gotta hustle and grind. And those kids understood you
have to network wherever you can and don't just blow
(43:33):
past somebody because you don't think there you know, maybe
you don't think that there's somebody you should con network with,
or maybe you know they're they you know, you know
how some maybe some you know, just I didn't want
to network with me or what have you. But that
that that was the key mark is that they they
under the smart kids understood that.
Speaker 5 (43:49):
I ever, remember, you know, you never know where someone
you know who you meet today will beat tomorrow so
it could be someone who's the top today, isn't it
the top tomorrow? And someone who you know is only
halfway there today will be at the top tomorrow. So
you know best to to be kind to all and
and speak to all because you know those all those
(44:11):
relationships will benefit you.
Speaker 4 (44:13):
In some way.
Speaker 3 (44:14):
Yes, I completely concur Mark, you know, That's why I
try not to burn any bridges. I try to be
you know, I'm always as nice as possible to everybody,
And like you said, everyone gets one mistake and then
and and that's it. And because we're trying to minimize problems.
But you know, Mark, you know where if people finds
you out online? Say that again, Dave, Where if people
(44:37):
find you out online? I mean, do you have any
any online presences or anywhere you want to send people
just to either contact you or maybe for the movie.
Speaker 5 (44:44):
I don't have an online present other than you know,
people can search in on LinkedIn. But other than that,
I do not have a I don't tweet, I don't post,
I don't instagram, I don't snapchat. Well I will do
any of it, but I appreciate those that did so. Yeah,
(45:06):
so I have a LinkedIn account. That's it and uh
and I'm sure if you know, if folks want to
get in touch me or seek me out, that's the
way to do it. And otherwise, you know, go see Split.
Speaker 3 (45:19):
And I will link to the trailer and the website
for Split in the show notes Mark ban Slack, I
want to say thank you so much for coming on
and it's so great to talk to you again.
Speaker 4 (45:29):
Thanks, Dave, appreciate it anytime.
Speaker 3 (45:31):
My friend. I wish you the best. Will Split and
let's talk again soon.
Speaker 4 (45:35):
Sounds good, Be well, take.
Speaker 3 (45:37):
Care, bye bye.
Speaker 2 (45:39):
I want to thank Dave so much for doing such
a great job on this episode. If you want to
get links to anything we spoke about in this episode,
head over to the show notes at any film uncle
dot com Forward slash eight forty one and if you
have it already, please head over to Filmmaking podcast dot com.
Speaker 3 (45:53):
Subscribe and leave a good review for the show.
Speaker 2 (45:57):
It really helps us out a lot, guys.
Speaker 3 (45:58):
Thank you again so much for listening.
Speaker 2 (46:00):
Guys, as always, keep that hustle going, keep that dream alive,
Stay safe out there, and I'll talk to you soon.
Speaker 1 (46:07):
Thanks for listening to the Indie Film Hustle Podcast at
INDIEFILM hustle dot com. That's I N D I E
f I L M h U S T l E
dot com.
You are listening to the ifh podcast Network. For more
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Speaker 2 (00:12):
Welcome to the Indie Film Muscle Podcast, Episode number eight
forty one. Cinema should make You forget. You're sitting in
a theater, Roman Polanski.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Broadcasting from the back alley in Hollywood. It's the Indie
Film Hustle Podcast, where we showed you how to survive
and thrive as an indie filmmaker in the jungles of
the film biz.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
And here's your host, Alex Ferrari.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Welcome, Welcome to another episode of the Indie Film Huscle Podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
I am your humble.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Host, Alex Ferrari. Today's show is sponsored by Rise of
the Film Entrepreneur How to turn your independent film into
a profitable business. It's harder today than ever before for
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If you want to order it, just head over to
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www Dot filmbizbook dot com. That's film bizbook dot com.
Enjoy today's episode with guest host Dave Bullis.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
So on this episode, my guest, as I said before,
I've actually worked with him. I was here ta and
I actually think he is the first person I actually
worked with on this entire podcast. I'm going through my
mind right now and I can't think of anybody else.
So if I had missed somebody, please forgive me. Somebody
email me and tell me, hey, you had somebody else on.
(02:15):
But this person, I think is the first person that
I've worked with. This guy is a phenomenal producer. I
mean just phenomenal. I will link to his IMDb in
the show notes because he's not on social media, so
that will be the only link I have for him.
This guy has produced some really really cool things. Twelve
Rounds two reloaded. He's produced the remaining See No Evil
(02:39):
Too with the Saskas Twins, The Visit and Split with
m Night Shyamalan with guests Mark Bienstock. Hey, Mark, thanks
for coming on the show.
Speaker 4 (02:51):
Thanks for having me, Dave glad to be here.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
You know, Mark, You're actually one of the a handful
of people that I've actually met in real life. Was
everybody else in this show I've never actually met anywhere else?
Speaker 5 (03:05):
Well, I'm I was a pleasure to meet you and
uh and glad to be part of a small, small
group of privileged folks there.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Oh, and we're gonna we're gonna talk to about you know,
how we know each other, uh, which is I think
it's a great story, but uh, you know, just to
get started, Mark, And it's a question I asked everybody,
and that is, you know, how did you wind up
in the film industry? You know, did you always like
movies as a kid and and you know, and you
knew from a young age that you wanted this is
something that you wanted to do.
Speaker 5 (03:33):
I did always like movies as a young kid, and uh,
but I was also a huge music fan and and
and so I you know, I bounced back and forth
between uh, a career in music and and a career
in film and UH ended up at n YU at
the School of the Art, and was bouncing around there
(03:54):
between you know, visual medium and working in radio and uh.
And you know, on the film side of it won out.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
So what point mark did you you know, did you
start knowing that you wanted to be on that producing side? Uh?
You know, as as a career.
Speaker 5 (04:13):
Well, well, funny enough, when I was n y U,
I was directing actually I directed Mprody. So I directed
a a music video there that was a grant from
RCAA Records at the time, and that was a really
you know, monumental experience for me. And after that experience,
I knew that, you know, I had to do it again.
(04:33):
And then I ended up also producing a thesis film
for a fellow student that was a grant from HBO.
So I had both experiences and they were both, you know,
really satisfying. But when I came out of school, I
initially you know, went down the road of directing. That
(04:55):
was a little bit more interesting and enticing to me
at first.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
So, you know, so you went down the directing road,
you know, at first, and you know, when was it
that you finally decided, you know, you wanted to be
that producer, you know, just you know, producing all these
all these films.
Speaker 5 (05:12):
Yeah, great question. I decided somewhere in the mid to
late nineties, I was offered an opportunity at an independent
company to come in and run production there. And at
the same time, I was finishing my second feature film,
which is the TV Movie, and that experience was was
somewhat trying, and decided that I would prefer to be
(05:35):
the producer for other directors that I never had, so,
you know, and at the at the at the advice
of many friends, they thought that that was a good move.
So I certainly, you know, chatted with you know, many
people close to me, he knew me well, and they
all thought that that the choice of segueing and moving over,
you know, and favoring more the producer than the director
(05:57):
was was a good choice. That's what I did.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
Yeah, you know that's something you and I talked about
before too. Was you know, when when people would say
things to me like, oh, you know, you're really good
at this. I wish you would produce my movie. I know,
I kind of took that as like I kind of
was like insulted in a way about that. I know
it sounds so weird, Mark, but I was kind of like,
I want to make, you know, my own movies. I
think it was a temple I said this to you.
You know, I I like, you know, I like movies,
(06:23):
and I like everything about movies. I know, I've pretty
much held every job. But then I said, you know,
it's like I said to you a temple at one time,
I said, I, you know, I want to produce my
own stuff, you know what I mean? And I and
but but it's interesting you had that that you know,
that that journey, and it's so people must have seen
at some point that you know, you were really really
good at producing if they you know, everyone keeps asking
(06:44):
to do it again and again.
Speaker 5 (06:47):
Yeah, you know, I never I never have people what
they thaw on me or why they thought that I
would I would be a good producer, you know, but
I you know, I had the opportunity and and so
I took it and ran with it, and you know,
and for me, my perspective was that not only could
I hopefully be the producer for other directors that you know,
(07:08):
I never found for myself when I was directing, but
also that I would I would enjoy the collaborative process
and learn from working with other directors and find you know,
if much satisfaction and supporting other directors and breeding like
and into those films as I would into you know,
the projects that I directed. So you know, and and
(07:29):
for the most part that's been true.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
So you know, Margaret's I actually liked you know, we
just said there where it's about you know, you wanted
to be the producers that other directors could, you know,
other directors couldn't find. Uh Yeah, I think that's very
important because I think now you have that perspective of Okay,
you know, as a struggling director, how hard it is
to find a solid producer. So you know, what what
(07:52):
were you know, what were some of the things, you know,
as you know, you've produced all these all these movies,
you know, what were some of the things that that
you did to make sure, you know, to make sure
that you always were sort of on point, you know
what I mean, like making sure that the director was
always being helped. If I'm sorry, I don't know if
I've said that right, but I did? Do you don't
you know what I'm trying to get at Mark? I
don't know. I don't know if I said that right.
Speaker 5 (08:13):
Story Yeah, no, no, no, no, it's a good crush. You know.
It really varies and it evolves over time, you know.
I think I think just like you know, anyone in
any in any percussion, you know, we'd be hopefully we
become better. You know, our experiences make us better at
what we do, and over time, you know, we we
evolve and become you know, the best at what we do,
(08:35):
or the best version of ourselves of what we do.
So I you know, for me, it's really about transparent
and open communication with the director, especially in pre production
and even prior to pre production. You know, once once
you're once we're out there making the movie so much
as happening so quickly, so it's it's really in pre production,
(08:57):
I have spending a lot of time together and having
a lot of die and understanding creatively, you know what
the director wants for each seeing sometimes for each shot,
and then you know, how can I support that and
how can I have you know, the team that we've
assembled support that. And it's all about supporting, you know,
(09:17):
the director's vision and so whatever we're doing it with,
you know, our crew, or we're doing it with our
financial resources, when you know all the things that that
in the world will support that vision, you.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
Know, and you know that that's amazing, you know, Mark,
because that is it's so true because you have to
be supportive of one another. You know, you have to
build that team. And I think this is another thing
and I talked about where you know, everyone has to
have a good attitude on set because if you have
one person who has who sort of has like a
bad attitude, it spreads like a virus.
Speaker 5 (09:51):
You know.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor
and now back to the show.
Speaker 5 (10:02):
Yeah, well, uh, I agree with you. However, not everyone
is required to have a good attitude. You hope everybody
brings a good attitude. And you know, I I think
that you know, we all have good day from bad
day whom but yeah, hopefully for the most Quoe. You've
assembled a team of people who you know, have fun,
enjoy what they're doing, you know, believe in the project
(10:26):
and and bring their best every day. And you know
and that it makes it makes it a more pleasurable
experience for everyone. And so you're right, if there's you know,
if there's a bad attitude that will affect everyone. And
and just like in you know, in our personal lives,
if you encounter, you know, someone who is aggravating, the
potentially can make you upset and then you know you're
(10:48):
aggravating to someone else, and so on and so on
and so on. So you hope to put together a
team of people that are that are all pleasant and
polite and good natured people who are also really talented.
Speaker 4 (11:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
That that that's That's a great way to put it, Mark,
And uh, you know I wanted to actually, you know,
and as we talk about, you know, building this team,
you know, I wanted to ask you as you started
off your producing career, uh, you know, just looking at
your IMDb you know, uh, you know, by the way, Mark,
I've seen about just about every movie you've produced, uh,
which I think I mentioned to you also is just
(11:22):
a small world I you know, I actually remember going
to Hollywood Video and renting Bloody Murder.
Speaker 4 (11:28):
I remember.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
I'm sorry, Mark, Yeah, I know, I actually remember that.
I remember the cover and I remember everything about it.
And then when I met you, I was like wait
a minute, I was like hold on, and then I
looked up your IMDb. So you know, I've I've pretty
much seen every movie he's done. And uh, you know,
as I want to talk about, you know, building a team.
So Mark, when you were first started, you know, starting out,
(11:50):
you know, what were some of the you know, how
were you first approached for projects or did you go
out to find projects to produce?
Speaker 6 (11:57):
At that point when I first started out, I was
developing projects and and you know, looking for projects, and
people were bringing projects to me, and uh.
Speaker 5 (12:14):
And then I was also an executive at a at
an independent company here in Los Angeles, and so we
were you know, projects were brought to us because we
had the ability to partially finance movie. So that was
a you know, it was a really good place for
me to be at the time. So, you know, opportunities
presented themselves because of that. So we had to go
(12:34):
out and find the other half of the money. So
it wasn't you know, it wasn't an automatic. And then
over time, I I decided to spend less time developing
material and more time making movies, and so I started
to partner up with other producers who spend more time
developing projects. And so so now you know, studios and
(13:00):
other companies come to me when they have a project
that is I would say, you know, two thirds of
the way there and just about ready to get you know,
they're they're seriously considering making the movie, and that's when
they would bring me on. So my expertise now is
about making the movie. Where to make the movie, how
to make the movie, the best way to make the movie,
(13:22):
as opposed to developing the script.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
So you know, you built your team, so I like
that too, where you know, it's almost like you had
you know, you were It's almost like ability network, right.
You know, one person is sort of the person in
there making contacts in this direction, and one person is
another person making contacts in this direction. And I think
you know that that that teamwork there helps, you know,
you helps all the producers out because they're each finding
(13:47):
different ways to sort of find find the money, whether
it's investment. Angel investors, you know stuff like that, am
I correct?
Speaker 5 (13:57):
Yeah, in a perfect world, whether at your fellow producers
or anyone else on the project, I always try and find,
you know, and being business with individuals, where where our
skill sets compliment each wee ou as opposed to being
having redundant skill sets. So whether that is you know,
what we each do as a producer, or who our
(14:18):
contacts are. You know, so we're you know, we're much
stronger as a team if we all compliment each other
as opposed to we all do the same thing.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
Yeah, that's a very good point.
Speaker 5 (14:31):
Mark.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
And you know, just as we know we go along,
you know, following your your career, you know you're sort
of doing some you know uh I, you know obviously
the sort of more the more more movies you produce,
excuse me, the more movies to produce, the the you know,
the bigger the budgets are getting. You know, was there
ever a point where you got a budget and you said,
oh my gosh, we do we have how do we
(14:53):
get this much money? Was there ever like a moment
when you knew you sort of entered that next level
and that you were making and you were like, wow,
this is I mean, it's just you know what I mean,
like that moment, that Aha moment you had where you
were just you just knew this was it and you
were and you were just sort of doing this for
the rest of your life.
Speaker 5 (15:14):
I think the AHA moments have come when I when
I've seen versions of the movies when they're finished, not
so much. I mean, it's always exciting to know that
we have the finance and to be able to make
a movie. It's always exciting to have the experience of
actually making the movie and getting really close with that
group of people you make the movie with, and then
it's incredibly gratifying. And you know, I think the AHA
(15:37):
moments occurs when you're sitting in a screening room and
you're watching the finish park and you know, and that
for me is what is ultimately, you know, truly satisfying.
So you know, the AHA moment happened when I when
I recently saw you know, uh Split, which comes out
which will be released in January by Universal, so you know,
(15:58):
that was that was the latest moment, and uh, you know, yeah,
so that's when it happens. You know.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
I remember when we were we were in Philly and
we were at the post production house. I forget the
name of that post production house we're at, but we
were out there and I remember you you were in
the screening room and you were saying that you know,
you made it if you can get one of the
heath in your in your in your house and you
can just have everyone come over and that's what you
watch cuts of the film and right, and you're so
(16:26):
you're so right, Mark, because that is true. You know
that that's what sort of everybody is aiming for. That
way you can come over, Hey, look, we're gonna kill
all the lights and we're just gonna watch a cut
of this film. And uh, you know actually that you know,
I wanted to actually talk about you know, you coming
to PA to to film.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
I wanted to ask you know, you know you you
first arrived, you know when you you work on M.
Night with M. Night Shaman on the visit. So you know,
I wanted to ask, you know, how did you meet M.
Knight and how did you how did you too start
working together?
Speaker 5 (16:56):
You know, we were we were you know, Night decided
you you want to make the visit and he was
looking for a producing partner and someone who had experience
working with budgets, you know, below ten million dollars. And
we were put together my agent and his business partner,
(17:16):
and fortunately we hit it off and uh, you know,
and we went and made a really good movie and
uh and the rest is you know the I guess,
as I say, the rest is history.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
So what and when you were working on the visit,
you mentioned too in that in the class that it
was like one of the first times where you know,
we talk about the PA you know, the PA film
tax credits, and you know we talk about that, and
you know, one of the things was, you know, you
never had before a writer who was able to get
the tax credit because they live in the same state
as the movie is getting produced. So I wanted to Yeah,
(17:47):
so I wanted to ask, you know, Mark, you know,
in today's you know, film industry, it was today with
everything that's going on, you know, do producers is like,
is like, are the tax credits like the top three
things that producers look for now when they're about to
make a movie or or I know they're important, but
I mean where I'm trying to ask us, you know,
how important are they now for making a film?
Speaker 5 (18:08):
Yeah, tax credits are very important for film and television.
You know, if you look around the country, there are
a number of states that offer these, you know, Georgia
being one, and it's one of the most popular spots.
Atlanta has become one of the most you know, popular
cities for film and television, and that's because of the
incentive they offer. New York and California now offers a
(18:30):
very competitive incentive, so and Pennsylvania has one in New
Mexico and lots of production in Vancouver and Toronto. So,
you know, to give you an example, if you have
a ten million dollar budget and you go to an
incentive state and the incentive is twenty five percent, then
let's just say, for you know, the sake of argument,
(18:52):
you're getting twenty five percent of your ten million dollars.
So now the cost of your movie, which was ten million,
the cost is seven point five million. So if you're
an investor, you you want your movie or you want
your TV show to go to an incentive state because
the hard cost, the recoupable cost is less twenty five percent.
(19:14):
So you made a movie for ten million, but you
only need to recoup seven point five million. So from
a business perspective, that's.
Speaker 4 (19:22):
An ideal scenario, and that's why the incentive states are
so popular.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
And also two work deal as. I've had other producers
on you know, they talked about, you know, just the
different concerns now because you know, everything is changing, you
know with Netflix and and the foreign sales are some
are still there, some are aren't. They're saying that, you know,
because of that, it's a little bit different now with
how you package and pre sell your movie.
Speaker 5 (19:48):
Yeah, it's you know, the world has changed, and so
there's no more DVDs or video so home entertainment and
all the ancillary dollars that you know, investors look for,
study look for.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor,
and now back to the show.
Speaker 5 (20:11):
You know, those revenue streams have changed, and they constantly
are changing, you know, not domestically as well as you
know in the international market. So yeah, you you it's
always changing. It's never easy, and this is why you know,
you think of incentive dollars as really free money. Someone's
(20:32):
giving you money. They're saying, come to our city, we'll
give you this much money and you don't have to
pay us back. So you know, that's that's why it's
attractive and you you know, you minimize your exposure.
Speaker 3 (20:48):
Yeah, and you know, and that's something we were talking
about as well. And uh, you know, in the in
the class at drugs or university because you know, it's
more important than ever. And you know that's something too
because pa, uh you know, they do have a tax credit.
But you know, like we were saying, everyone goes to
Pittsburgh because you know, the the union fees are a
lot cheaper. And also and like you mentioned too, Philadelphia
(21:09):
there's like only one one, you know, crew that usually
does pretty much every movie and you know they and
you you know, if they're out doing one another movie,
it's kind of hard unless you have to bring other
people in. And like you were saying, all that stuff
affects the budget.
Speaker 5 (21:25):
Right right, absolutely, I mean everything there, you know, everything
has an impact on the budget. But you know, in
all in all fairness to filion, I love Philadelphia. You know,
Pittsburgh has been very busy, and it is predominantly because
it's less expensive to produce a movie or a television
show in Pittsburgh than it is in Philadelphia. For a
(21:47):
number of reasons, however, and and so that's why there's
more crew there. So if Philadelphia were to become financially competitive,
then the crew base would grow. But right now, you know,
can't support a larger crew base, which is why there's
only you know, one to one and a half, you
know clues, you know in Philadelphia.
Speaker 3 (22:07):
Yeah, and I remember that you know something we were
talking about and actually you know, just to you know,
I keep alluding to this. Well, I'm just gonna say
as you'll get to the to how we met. Uh. So,
you know, Mark, you and I met. Uh it was
right as you were getting ready for pre production for
Split and you had you had agreed uh to work
for you know, because I think you came in to
I think you approached Trexel to to maybe come in
(22:29):
and teach this production class. Is that? How did Drexel
approach you or did you approach Trexel.
Speaker 4 (22:36):
I spoke with the film.
Speaker 5 (22:39):
Commission in Philadelphia and expressed my interest in in teaching
at the universities in Philly, so Temple and Drexel and
and a number of other universities, and then it was
it was just a matter of aligning my schedule with
their semester. And Drexel was a turned out to be
a terrific bit and uh, you know, and then also
(23:02):
you know, Temple just for a lecture because their semester
had already started. But so I was, you know, something
that it was. It's my way of trying to give back.
And and I you know, recall when I was at
film school and thought, uh, how I would have appreciated
and benefited from the experience of of a producer coming
(23:24):
in and you know and speaking about what they do
and offering some insight to their experience and how they
do it. So so, you know, it was something that
I wanted to do, and Direxel was kind of up
to present me with an opportunity.
Speaker 3 (23:38):
And it's also too because you know, you're actually a
producer out there doing stuff, you know, and because people
could right now, we can go on Amazon, we can
go into Netflix, we can find your movies. Uh. And
you know that's why I was, you know, I was
saying too before, was that's why your experience is you
know that you know that a list level because you've
actually made you know, uh, movies that have been you
(24:00):
know in the theaters, movies that have been number one
at the box office. You know, all this stuff, and
I think that right there that is irreplaceable, you know, experience.
So when you come into a classroom like this and
you talk about, you know, how you did this and
in the process it that is that is absolutely key
because you know you have again because you're at the
top of the mountain and you know what I mean.
(24:22):
And that that that's why I'm so glad that you actually,
you know, did decide to do that whole class at
Drexel and do that one day at Temple because again,
not only did I mean I learned just ton just
you know, talking to you. Uh and and obviously I
was in the class with you as your TA. But again,
you know, I think that is an amazing, amazing opportunity
for allow those students involved.
Speaker 5 (24:41):
Well, I appreciate that it was it was really my
pleasure and and uh and I was, you know, happy
to have the opportunity and and hopefully you know, everyone
got something from it. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
So, so how Mark and I actually met was like
we have a mutual friend, uh, you know Dave, you know,
Dave Rayner and h Dave actually asked me if I
could if I was interested in helping out a producer
at Dreux University and it wasn't I said yes, I said, yeah,
I'd be very interested to help somebody out. And then
when we got introduced Mark, I actually looked you up
(25:13):
and I said, okay, I will definitely help this guy.
And uh, because I know, because again I was like,
this guy is you know, a level producer, and you know,
just being at Drexel with you, I think the class
was awesome. And you know, and also because again you
went over an entire movie. I think you want to
The movie you talked about was The Remaining Correct? How
(25:33):
you produced a whole movie from start to finish correct.
Speaker 5 (25:36):
What we did is we simulated, you know, we refimulated
the actual production of The Remaining Yeah. So Estonia was
kind of up to allow me to share, you know,
some documents with the class, and and you know, we
went through it from start to finish where we actually
from the point of finding an intellectual property, securing the
(25:58):
intellectual property, pitching the intellectual properties, selling it, figuring out
where to make the movie, how to make the movie, staffing, scheduling, budgeting, Yeah,
through all.
Speaker 3 (26:09):
That, and again that was so enlightening. And one thing
I took away from that class Mark, and I think
I said this to you as well, but I'm going
to repeat it for the listeners, and that is you
said your producing policy is everybody gets one mistake, and
I have kept to that. I was like, that is
a great way to look at it, because everyone gets
(26:30):
one mistake, and you know, if it depends on what
it is, you know, but that's the way to keep
people at least honest, right.
Speaker 5 (26:38):
Well, it's it was my lesson. And you know, their
production is such an intense experience. When you're making a
movie and you start shooting, you know, everything is very
is heightened because happening so quickly in such a relatively
short period of time, there's a lot happening. And if
(27:00):
you have one hundred people working on a movie, and
you know, people make mistakes. And so the realization is,
you know, just you just can't no matter how prepared
you are, no matter how hard you work, no matter
what you try and do, it's impossible to prevent people
from making mistakes. You can hopefully minimize that, but you
(27:22):
can't prevent them. So it was really my realization at
some point as a producer that we're all human, we're
all imperfect, and so might. Yeah, So my rule is
and I say it allowed to remind myself. You know,
it seems reasonable that each person is going to make
one mistake or they have one hundred people Abo's one
hundred mistakes over the course of the movie. Now maybe
(27:44):
some people will make none and others will make you know, two,
or they'll be bigger or smaller.
Speaker 4 (27:48):
But yeah, that's the general rule.
Speaker 5 (27:50):
To remind me that, regardless of how frustrating it gets
when people make mistakes. But this is just the reality
of what we do. And so you know, it's my
job and it's my team's job to come up with
solutions for those you know, those mistakes, those challenges.
Speaker 3 (28:08):
So you know, as you talk about, you know, making
mistakes and minimizing those mistakes, Mark, I wanted to ask,
you know, what was your most your your biggest challenge
as a producer. You know, what was what was you know,
did something ever happen on set that that was took
a lot of creativity or or some I mean there's
always unforeseen problems, But what was that biggest problem that
(28:30):
you had to tackle and how did you overcome that?
Speaker 5 (28:35):
I honestly, the thing that comes to mind is is
is a really unfortunate experience where it had to do
with with, uh, you know, individuals on set who were
you know, not in their right mind because they were
under the influence of of of substances. And so that's
(28:58):
an incredibly significant challenge because you know, those those particular
individuals were a were vital to the production and we
couldn't just you know, dismiss them. So that was, uh,
you know, that was incredibly challenging because it's not just
solving a problem, but you're dealing with, you know, with
(29:19):
the human being, and you're dealing with someone who isn't
necessarily reasonable, and you have to try and reason with them,
and you have to try and motivate them, and you
have to try and get them right so they can
participate in the movie and and hopefully not embarrass themselves
or anyone else. So that was probably the greatest challenge.
(29:40):
But other otherwise, you know, there are challenges on every movie,
and oftentimes the beauty of those challenges are there's you know,
you discover something. You know, more often than not, you
discover something great from those challenges, and you know, if
if everyone is prepared.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
Will be I back after a word from our sponsor
and now back to the show.
Speaker 5 (30:08):
And has really thought about what we're going to do.
When those challenges present themselves, as a group, it can
usually come up with some pretty pretty good satisfying solutions.
Speaker 3 (30:19):
Well, you know, that's you know, a pretty big challenge, Mark,
because I've actually I've never I mean, that might be
one of the worst, you know, challenges I've heard of
producing because you're right, you know, they're key and you
can't dismiss them, so you know, yeah, that that's unbelievable.
Speaker 4 (30:36):
You know.
Speaker 3 (30:36):
Just as a side note, Mark, I had a friend
of mine one of his biggest producing challenges was he
was going to film a movie and there was this
old like wooden bridge that he was going to film on.
It was just going to be like, you know, it
was an old, tiny bridge and he wanted to use
it for a couple of things. They had a storm
the night before, right well, the everything was washed away,
(30:56):
the whole the bridge was just demolished. And he got
there the next day with everybody and it was gone.
And he goes, well, well here we go. Uh so
here we are now with uh you're trying to find
a plan B. Another friend of mine he uh there
was poor planning in the production. They got to the
location the first day and they realized he didn't have
(31:17):
the key to the building to get in. Uh, stuff
like that, Uh, which makes uh, I'm sure you know,
as you hear that the second story, you're probably like,
how do you make how do you not have the key?
Come on? But but yeah, he he uh that that's
just some of the producing stuff that I you know,
other other producing challenges that I've heard from friends. Uh,
you're just thinking of the top of my head. But
(31:39):
but but yeah, it's if there's all you're right, if
there there is creative ways to solve challenges, except for
that one with the key in the in the building
that that I don't think there's any excuse for that.
Speaker 5 (31:48):
That's that's when you call a locks myth or you
hope someone on the crew has uh has had a
prior life as a as a burglar.
Speaker 3 (31:57):
Exactly. Just that's where you channel your inner verse or
hurt Sog and just just figure out how to go here.
Speaker 4 (32:06):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (32:06):
Because he actually he said in his pitch for his
master class, he said, uh uh uh he would teach
kids learning how to pick a lock is more important
than anything else in filmmaking, and I think that's uh,
that's where you have to challenge your just sorry someone
your heart sign for that.
Speaker 5 (32:24):
There you go.
Speaker 3 (32:25):
So now you know, so Mark, you know, as we
were talking about the class and we were talking, you know,
we're talking about Split. You know, uh, you know obviously
you and m Night you know works so well together
on the visit that you know, he he eventually, you know,
he when he was done writing the script for a Split,
he asked you to come back. I mean when when
you read a script from I know you mentioned this
in the class, you read a script by m Night.
(32:47):
You said you were just blown away and you were like, wow,
this guy's a writer. And you know, uh now that
that's something I've heard from other producers as well too,
where they've read a script and they're just like, holy shit,
this you know, this is a this is this guy
can do it. So I mean when you read the
script for Split, I imagine you were probably probably even
more blown away than when you read the visit.
Speaker 5 (33:09):
They're both I mean, I love them both. I mean,
and they're very different, but they I was excited, you know,
to read the visit and uh, and was excited to,
you know, to be a part of that, and then
was equally excited to read Split. Yeah, he's an incredibly
accounted writer. You know. I think it's it's uh, making
(33:31):
movies are are you know, very challenging, you know, and
it starts with finding a good script. And you know,
to find a good script, you need a good writer.
And I think there's a lot of people that do it,
and there's a few people that do it really well.
And he's one of those guys who, you know, he
does it really well. He's a he's a he's a
great writer, he's a great director. You know. I love
(33:52):
working with him.
Speaker 3 (33:54):
Yeah, and uh, you know, and you know, I actually
have seen all of his movies and uh, you know,
I I actually took a special interest in you know,
in the visit and I am going to see Split
when it comes out because obviously because of the connection,
well you know, I of knowing you and plus you know, actually,
you know, it's funny Mark m Night lives like thirty
five minutes away from me, and it's like, you know,
(34:15):
I you know, it's just funny because he's still one
of the guys that still lives in PA. He doesn't
live out in La right, And it's just funny though,
But yeah, I also wanted to help him out obviously
by supporting him, because obviously he's a p a guy
like me, you know. And but but it's always but
it's always good, you know, to hear that, you know,
because you know, you're always whenever I hear producers, whether
(34:36):
they're giving interviews or you know, or just you know,
didn't just talks with them, you know, that's what they're
always saying. They want to script that speaks to them,
you know what I mean. They want to script that
sort of you know, uh, really tells that story. And
you know, I don't know. One of the things Mark too,
And I want to ask you is what are some
of the things that you've noticed that maybe you know
(34:58):
m Night does, whether it be about the story or
is it in is it in the the actual description
and you know, uh, in the script? What are some
of the things that he does that really sort of
leap off the page at you and you know and
others who read the script and make it so that
way back Dan, we got to film this thing tomorrow.
Speaker 4 (35:15):
That's a really good question.
Speaker 5 (35:16):
Well, I I think it's you know, I think it's
really challenging for for writers to speak in in multiple voices,
and if you're writing a screenplay, you know, it's a requirement.
And uh and he he does an excellent job, whether
it's you know, writing the voice of as in the
(35:38):
Visit he wrote these two kids who were you know, adelucence,
and then he wrote two grandparents and you know, and
and in Split he has you know, three teenage girls
and then he has an older woman who's a therapist,
and you know, the main character has split personalities and
you know, these are all these voices are all really
(35:59):
o us and really accurate and uh and that's not
an easy thing to do, so that that really resonates.
And then he's just a master with with story. So
in addition to having these characters that you like or
dislike for the right reasons, you know, he's he takes
you on a ride and and you know, and the
(36:21):
story is just as compelling as the characters. And uh
and you know that's when you when you consider all
those ingredients, that's pretty complex and it's not an easy
thing to do, and it's you know, it goes the
same as someone who writes, you know, a novel's there's
lots of writers, but there's you know, a few good
few good novels. And this is all subjective, but so's
(36:42):
he's just a rip and creating characters and and then uh,
you know, and then giving them a story and a
road to travel.
Speaker 4 (36:49):
That we all want to go down with them.
Speaker 3 (36:51):
Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. Mark. You I
had on Aaron Kaufman who worked Rob Rodriguez, and I've
had on you know, our mutual friend, uh, an acquaintment
quains casting OVAs, you know, Uh, And then you know
they were saying similar things. You know, they will they
read a script and it would be like you know,
a certain a certain script that stands out from them,
you know, and uh, you know you know, I mean,
(37:13):
because you know how it is. Mark. You know, when
you send it to whomever, usually have readers. They go
through and you know, probably have a pile out of
one hundred, maybe one or two gets through, and you know,
maybe at the end of a month you maybe have
ten scripts that have gotten through out of a pile
of like, you know, a couple of thousand, and those
ten scripts are all excellent, well written scripts, but maybe
(37:33):
only one of them will actually speak to you whether
you're saying it to like a producer like yourself, or
maybe you were sending it to an agent or even
a manager. And like you said, it's all subjective.
Speaker 5 (37:42):
You know.
Speaker 3 (37:42):
Maybe one person likes Stephen King, the next person likes
you know, Dean Kotz and uh, you know, and you
know again, you just build those relationships up and uh,
you know, then you find yourself in a situation like
you where you now you're making another great movie, you know,
with m knighton. Uh, I'm gonna guess you're probably for
another one after this.
Speaker 4 (38:02):
You know, I hope.
Speaker 5 (38:03):
So I think that I think we had a good
experience and you know, hopefully, uh, Split will be well
received and we'll find ourselves back together and to make
in a movie sometime next year.
Speaker 3 (38:15):
So, Mark, when does Split come out?
Speaker 4 (38:18):
January twenty first? Split will Uh, we'll be in theaters everywhere.
Speaker 3 (38:24):
And you know, Mark, I know we're starting to run
out of time, and I want to I'm gonna actually
I'm also to link to that in the showings everybody,
so we'll linked to the date and also link to
the trailer. By the way, the trail looks really good, Mark,
I saw that when I came out and I wanted
I just had a few Twitter questions come in. Do
you want to answer you just a few questions before
we call it.
Speaker 5 (38:41):
A night, Yeah, go for it.
Speaker 3 (38:42):
Sure, what advice would you give to filmmakers you know
who are producing their first film? And obviously that's a
little bit of my own verbiage because obviously that question
always comes in work whenever I ever asked these things,
so I always taste sort of taking combined it. So,
you know, what, what sort of advice would you have
for somebody producing your first film?
Speaker 5 (39:04):
The advice that I would offer someone producing their first
film is to surround themselves with people that have more
experience than they do. So if you can associate yourself
with a producing partner who has made a number of films,
you should do that. So in any way you can,
you know, if you can, you can find a mentor,
(39:27):
and if you can finding a producing partner that that
has more experience than you, then you just want to
make sure that the other people that you're bringing on,
whether it be your first ad your production manager, all
these other folks, you want them to have experience so
you can benefit from their experience.
Speaker 3 (39:43):
Yeah, I like that answer, Mark, because again that's something
I've always tryed to do too. Was you know surround
my genius surround is you know, the way I heard
it way back was if you genius around yourself, shound
yourself with the smartest people, more experience with what you can.
Speaker 2 (39:57):
And we'll be right back after a word from our
sponsor and now back to the show.
Speaker 3 (40:07):
You know, when everything goes well, uh you know, you
you know, you can figure out, you know, all the
things that we know went right and uh yeah again
because that way they can guide you along the way,
you know exactly. And another question came in through Twitter,
and this is by Roger Coach, uh called Roger Coach
b Films, and that is, you know, Mark, how do
you find stories? Are they pitched or they throw books?
(40:30):
Or are they throwing like inspiring news stories.
Speaker 5 (40:34):
All of the above. You know, you look every which way.
If you know, books are really competitive. Everyone chases books,
so you know they're either writers who have ideas, they're
written scripts, you read an article, so all of the above.
Speaker 3 (40:52):
And and you know that that's great too, Mark, because
that's also the other the second question that always comes
in is people love to you know, talk about you know,
pitching to producers and then when I had like you
and and I've had Aaron and I've had kazin on
and uh, you know, that's usually the question is, you know,
how do you guys get pitched? And uh, you know
that I think so I thank you for answering that question.
Speaker 4 (41:12):
Work because uh yeah you should.
Speaker 5 (41:15):
You know, the one the one piece of advice i'd
offer someone who's trying to get something pitched. If you're
not established and you don't have an agent and you're
trying to get someone's time, you know, keep in mind
that people's time is you know, is their greatest commodity,
and so have a concise pitch, you know, have a
synopsis that someone can read, whether it be a half
(41:37):
a page or a page, and know that that synopsis
is going to be attractive and get their attention and
leave them wanting more. So, you know, be prepared and
be able to do be able to pitch quickly and
uh you know, and spark some interest.
Speaker 3 (41:55):
And you know that's why Mark, I want to say
thank you, you know for all your time and coming
on the podcast and you know, I know you're an
extremely busy guy and just when I ask, you know, Mark,
in closing, is there anything that maybe we didn't touch
upon that you wanted to say, or is there anything
else that you wanted to discuss to sort of put
up period at the end of this whole conversation.
Speaker 5 (42:15):
Uh, No, I think you've covered everything, Dave. You've done
a great job. And I appreciate the invitation to h
to be on your blog and and they appreciate your
assistance with the class, and uh, and this has been
a lot of fun.
Speaker 3 (42:27):
Oh my pleasure. I had, Like I said, Mark, I
had an absolute blast with that class. And by the
way that the smart students in that class, uh, they
were always they were always trying to I was going
to tell you this, and I'll tell you this now.
They were always coming to me and they were asking
me questions like, you know, how's Mark? Is he a
real nice guy? You know this and that, because they
were always like I think they were a little intimidated
(42:49):
you at first, and uh, you know, as they sort
of got to the through the class, they all, you know,
they all knew, okay, Mark's a good guy. And and
basically at the end, the smart students all network with
me and you know what I mean, like they made
sure to get my contact info, right, I mean because
because because somebody said, well, you know, they said to me, well,
if you're with Mark, you must obviously know somebody. And
(43:10):
I said, yeah, I don't. I know a lot of
cool people. Uh but uh but yeah. Then they fact
they said, oh, you do your own stuff too, and
I said yeah, and I said, I you know, I
have a pretty crappy podcast that I do, and uh,
you know, they said all right, so uh but uh,
you know, it's just it was just funny. And I
applaud those kids because that's how you gotta do it.
You gotta hustle and grind. And those kids understood you
have to network wherever you can and don't just blow
(43:33):
past somebody because you don't think there you know, maybe
you don't think that there's somebody you should con network with,
or maybe you know they're they you know, you know
how some maybe some you know, just I didn't want
to network with me or what have you. But that
that that was the key mark is that they they
under the smart kids understood that.
Speaker 5 (43:49):
I ever, remember, you know, you never know where someone
you know who you meet today will beat tomorrow so
it could be someone who's the top today, isn't it
the top tomorrow? And someone who you know is only
halfway there today will be at the top tomorrow. So
you know best to to be kind to all and
and speak to all because you know those all those
(44:11):
relationships will benefit you.
Speaker 4 (44:13):
In some way.
Speaker 3 (44:14):
Yes, I completely concur Mark, you know, That's why I
try not to burn any bridges. I try to be
you know, I'm always as nice as possible to everybody,
And like you said, everyone gets one mistake and then
and and that's it. And because we're trying to minimize problems.
But you know, Mark, you know where if people finds
you out online? Say that again, Dave, Where if people
(44:37):
find you out online? I mean, do you have any
any online presences or anywhere you want to send people
just to either contact you or maybe for the movie.
Speaker 5 (44:44):
I don't have an online present other than you know,
people can search in on LinkedIn. But other than that,
I do not have a I don't tweet, I don't post,
I don't instagram, I don't snapchat. Well I will do
any of it, but I appreciate those that did so. Yeah,
(45:06):
so I have a LinkedIn account. That's it and uh
and I'm sure if you know, if folks want to
get in touch me or seek me out, that's the
way to do it. And otherwise, you know, go see Split.
Speaker 3 (45:19):
And I will link to the trailer and the website
for Split in the show notes Mark ban Slack, I
want to say thank you so much for coming on
and it's so great to talk to you again.
Speaker 4 (45:29):
Thanks, Dave, appreciate it anytime.
Speaker 3 (45:31):
My friend. I wish you the best. Will Split and
let's talk again soon.
Speaker 4 (45:35):
Sounds good, Be well, take.
Speaker 3 (45:37):
Care, bye bye.
Speaker 2 (45:39):
I want to thank Dave so much for doing such
a great job on this episode. If you want to
get links to anything we spoke about in this episode,
head over to the show notes at any film uncle
dot com Forward slash eight forty one and if you
have it already, please head over to Filmmaking podcast dot com.
Speaker 3 (45:53):
Subscribe and leave a good review for the show.
Speaker 2 (45:57):
It really helps us out a lot, guys.
Speaker 3 (45:58):
Thank you again so much for listening.
Speaker 2 (46:00):
Guys, as always, keep that hustle going, keep that dream alive,
Stay safe out there, and I'll talk to you soon.
Speaker 1 (46:07):
Thanks for listening to the Indie Film Hustle Podcast at
INDIEFILM hustle dot com. That's I N D I E
f I L M h U S T l E
dot com.
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