Film trade is no big production locally

Andrew Edwards

For an independent filmmaker, it can help to have friends who have a

lot of friends, who also have a lot of friends who have a lot of

money.

Filmmaker Stefan Marc produced, directed and appears in “Dating

Games People Play,” a romantic comedy set in Newport Beach, on a

budget that approached $5 million, he said.

Before producing his film, the former Newport resident worked as

the vice president of an import and export company, he said. Before

that, he was a partner of The Entertainment Channel, a company that

produced closed-circuit programming for Orange County hotels.

“Over the years, I had raised money for a couple of different

start-up companies, so I kind of knew what was involved as far as

raising money and how challenging it was,” Marc said.

He started filming in 2002, while he was still raising money, a

process he described as asking friends and people his friends knew to

invest in the production. Marc recalled making “thousands” of phone

calls, about 1% of which resulted in finding people willing to fund

the film.

Marc credited his executive producer Jeff Colvin as being a big

help in getting the film made. After Jeff came aboard, Marc tried to

find additional funding by selling an executive producer’s credit on

eBay, but did not receive a high enough bid.

Orange Coast College’s film and video curriculum includes a class

taught by adjunct faculty member Larry Riggins that focuses on how

aspiring filmmakers can find funding for projects.

Filmmaking is similar to other business ventures in that its

easier for someone with a track record, like a sold screenplay, to

find investors.

Riggins emphasized the importance of having a project with a great

story, and said that lining up a distributor is also a plus for

someone trying to find enough investors to put together a budget.

“You can go around and try to piece together pieces of the

puzzle,” Riggins said.

Marc had some unforeseen financial troubles, which included crew

members’ auto accidents and the time his lead actor, Austin Peck, was

bitten by a Rottweiler-pit bull mix the day before filming was

scheduled to wrap, Marc said. Filming was delayed for about one

month, and Marc had to scramble to find new investors.

He also experienced a setback when two people who promised money

backed out of the project. Marc remembered racking up credit card

debt in the low six figures before an investor agreed to make up the

shortfall.

Marc debuted his film in February at the World of Comedy

International Film Festival in Toronto. The feature is scheduled to

have its American premier April 26 as part of the Newport Beach Film

Festival.

“At this point now, we’re just doing the festival circuit,” Marc

said, noting he has yet to land a distributor.

Independent filmmakers seek to exhibit their movies at film

festivals in hopes of attracting distributors who attend screenings

like scouts evaluating an athletic prospect, said Ginny Laird, senior

programmer for the Newport Beach festival.

“It’s the same thing for a distributor, going to a theater and

seeing how the audience reacts to the film,” she said.

Making a movie the way Marc did is “like building your own 747,”

Newport Beach film liaison Joe Cleary said. “It takes a lot of

hustle.”

Cleary said only about a dozen features have been filmed in

Newport Beach over the past 20 years because of the costs related in

taking a film crew and equipment from Los Angeles to Orange County.

Though far from Hollywood, Newport Beach has its share of

production houses. One company, G-Force Productions, Inc., has a

portfolio that includes television commercials and music videos.

Partner Kimberly DuBois said her company chose this area since local

businesses represented potential advertising clients.

“We felt this market was strong enough for us to arrive on the

scene,” she said.

About 75% of local productions are made for businesses, rather

than audiences, Newport Production Co. president Dean Scott Hamilton

said.

“You don’t get as many entertainment projects in Orange County --

you get a lot of corporate communication projects in Orange County,”

he said.