I’m currently spending the weekend in Los Angeles attending Stacy Park’s Going Global Bootcamp hosted by Film Specific. Yesterday was my first day and was quite productive in the subject matters that were covered and what I’ve got to do.

It’s been a while since there has been an update on the progress of this documentary that I started a couple years ago. Currently the status of the film is that its on pause in the middle of post-production.

Updates I’ve Made Since:

If you go to the Tufaan website, you’ll notice there is a space to enter your name and email address to keep abreast on on the project itself.

Issues I’m Dealing With Currently:

I have release forms from some, and not from others who were in the film.

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A movie that does not have release form filled out by the people that are in it, then no distributor will want to touch it. Its a liability on sales agent and on the distributor as well as the company that is producing the film.

My only real course of action is to go back, trace my steps and get the release forms from the individuals who were on screen and interviewed. Anyone who does not sign the release, simply will have to be cut from the film.

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I’m not clear on what channels of distribution would be best suited for this film. Should I aim to distribute it online - fee or free? Via community screenings throughout North America? Sell it on DVD? Would the lack of release forms for all the people limit me from where I can distribute it?

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This is something that can be resolved with doing a 3×10 idea generation campaign. I’ll start this Monday night.

Some of the things that were suggested to me was to hit up “Muslim advocacy groups” to sponsor/support the film as a means of using it to educate people on Islam and Musims. The words that one of the producers gave me was “The movie website can be the premiere resource for Islam and Muslims”

Question is, who are the “Muslim advocacy groups” that we can know of. Some that come to mind are:

• CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations)
• IRW (Islamic Releif Worldwide)

What are some others that come to mind?

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This film in a way is a “side” project. To make this film I’m spending out of the company’s pocket while the client projects Leechon services is putting money into the company’s pocket. Its only natural that time and priority be given to that which generates revenue than to that which doesn’t.

In the mastermind session that took place yesterday, I simply need to find an editor to complete this film, and in all honesty will probably be on deffered pay - considering that it’s not in the budget currently. If an editor isn’t brought on board, then in all truth, I don’t see this film completing anytime soon.

Ideally, I’d probably be looking toward assistant editors who want to put their name as a credit on a project so that they may move up the ladder in their career. Some places that were recommended to me to seek out editors are as follows:

• ShootingPeople.com
• Mandy.com
• FinalCutUser.com
• FlashPointAcademy.com
• Local Film Schools

I have a choice of either experienced editors or un-experienced editors. As you can guess, experienced editors can cost anywhere between $1,500 - $2,500 a week which in truth isn’t in the budget, but perhaps the funds can be raised to have it be taken care.

One of the points that was made clear to me was the fact that we’re currently in a recession. People are looking for work and want to work. They’ll take a job that would pay less if it gets them a job. One of the people mentioned that putting together $5,000 would be a fair amount for the current times.

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I’m not clear what the final product of Tufaan would ultimately be.

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To start off, I need to get the releases down solid and cut those people who I cannot get a release from.

Once that’s taken care of, I’ll need to get my clutter organized as well. The footage isn’t all well organized to the point were another editor can come in and take off without much delay.

From that point forward, many international opportunities lay ahead. There are many TV opportunities that can be approached as well. Internationally, TV stations love multi-part series. On top of that, there are also many Muslim centered starving TV channels that can use the content as well.

Ultimately the goals of this film are:

• To establish my name as a producer within the North American Muslim community
• Get my name out on IMDB
• Build a database of 20,000 email addresses.
• Recoup my costs of making the film - Currently it’s $5,000.

A few questions that still remain unanswered for me - and will remain unanswered until the release forms are done are:

• What’s the likelihood this film getting into any of the Tier-One film festivals?
• What sort of cost am I looking at when it comes to running the festival circuit?
• Which festivals should I be aiming for on the different tiers.

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It’ll be great to get your feedback and thoughts on this.

Last year I wrote a rough proposal for a feature length theatrical MOVIE as a means to get the creative juices flowing. If you want to read the proposal idea, see this: First Impact Movie Proposal (this proposal is simply there to get creative juices flowing)

If I’m going to make a movie, I’m aiming for producing something THEATER WORTHY. I’m talking theatrical release in domestic and international markets worldwide.

In response to the AlMaghrib Movie thread and emails going back and forth on the back end, I figured I’d take the opportunity to drive the development of the movie and take this bull by the horns.

I created a thread which I’ll continuously be updating with possible story ideas worth looking into for further development.

• View the development thread here: AlMaghrib Movie :: Development Thread
• View the story ideas here (they’re actively being updated): AlMaghrib Movie :: Possible Story Items

Either contribute a possible story idea, and state what Marketable Aspect(s) it has (see below for details on what Marketable Aspects are) or simply expand on an a story with further details. I’ll be updating the document regularly so give your input regularly as well.

Marketable Aspects of a Story

In order to develop an AWESOME SMACK DUNKIN’ story, research needs to be done.

Stories should marketable and be of interest to people. The more aspects of the points below a story holds, the more interest and attention gravitates towards it. When sharing yours (or other’s) stories keep in mind the points below.

• :: Timeliness :: A story that really doesn’t get old/irrelevant over time.

• :: Human Interest :: Something that really appeals to people’s heart strings :: ie: Durbah starting the “visit the old folks” project a while back as a result of “Breach of Covenant” seminar and the tears of gratitute that came forth from those elder people.

• :: Prominence :: Producers usually fulfill this by featuring a known star in the movie (ie;Starring Tom Cruise). For documentaries, this is done by having someone of popular on screen (ie;Michael Moore, Leo DeCaprio) or someone with a very sticky personality (ie;Morgan Spurlock-Supersize Me). Also, featuring stories around some prominant people also helps in this area.

• :: Novelty :: Stories that really haven’t been told and are new in their nature. Michael Moore taking a serious issue of 9-11, politics and Iraq War and making it into a satire was very novel in his movie “Farenheit 9/11” No one really took that topic and presented it in such a way, and the stories presented in that movie were stories not covered by other filmmakers and/or media outlets.

• :: Weirdness :: Some stories can have such attributes to them (ie; jinn/black-magic experience of LOG and LUL students classes that can be relayed — like the taweez w/ a calling to jinn names)

• :: Conflict / Conspiracy / Controversy :: Fights always attract attention. The AlMaghrib student getting run over in Toronto seminar by crazy racist guy, the nutty sufi guy from toronto (all the conflicts are in toronto )

• :: Impact :: Gas prices going up or falling drastically, Fannie-Mae going defunct, Credit card companies going out of business — These are stories that affect a LOT of people. What specific story(s) of AlMaghrib or its students can be told that has affected a LOT of people.

• :: Proximity :: Stories can excite interest based on how they’re close to you geography. New Yorkers will give more interest to a story about 9-11 cops than people in Seattle Washington.

By the way, these elements of newsworthiness and marketability will be taught in detail in a future Message Mastery course launching March 09 inshaAllah.

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As much “hype” and excitement that goes into making a movie professionally for a theatrical audience — We need to have something REALLY developed in areas of:

• Story
• Budget plan
• Adequate Production Plan/Schedule
• Distribution Strategy

The STORY is the most important part of any production/movie/film. What’s the story(s) that we’re telling the audience that is really of any interest to the general muslim/non-muslim populous? The proposal that I had written up lacks tremendously in this area (but it helps in getting creative juices flowing).

Filming a documentary is a LOT of work. Doesn’t matter if its being made for a theatrical release or being made as something amaturish to pass around to family/friends — the work and time that goes into it is the pretty much the same. What’s different is WHERE (pre-production, production, post-production, or distribution) that time is spent.

In making a PROFESSIONAL Theater Worthy low-budget movie ($10,000,000 - $50,000), 80% of the work is in pre-production. This involves:

• Getting an idea
• Researching it for marketability and developing the story
• Outlining - Scripting
• Budgeting for producing the script
• Incoporating and funding/financing the movie
• Developing production schedule/plan
• Assembling team
• Executing plan officially moving into “Blink! Production“

For the moment we’re in the research phase and in the process of collecting story ideas that will be further looked into and developed based on the marketable aspects listed above.

Read this post again, see the thread I created on the AlMaghrib forums and the google document I made (both of which I’ll continuously be updating) and reply accordingly.

• View the development thread on AlMaghrib Forums: AlMaghrib Movie :: Development Thread
• View the story ideas here (they’re actively being updated): AlMaghrib Movie :: Possible Story Items