TAMPA FILM BLOG
Where Tampa filmmakers unite. News. Opinions. Knowledge. Power.
PREVIOUS BLOG POST - BLOG POSTS - AUTHOR - POST TO BLOG - NEXT BLOG POST
Wednesday, April 22, 2009 - 9:00 AM - Tampa Indie Film Log for Filmmaker C. A. Passinault
When Will It Happen?
I always hear this question.
The question which I have to counter with is “Do you know enough
about business to
comprehend the importance of building a foundation to support the continuing
endeavors of dominating a market and retaining your lead over competitors?”
I’m on the right path, and I’ve always known that.
I don’t take shortcuts. I don’t believe in it. Shortcuts sometime
pan out to temporary success, but they backfire when they create a benchmark
of expectations which cannot be maintained. When subsequent follow-ups
to the “one hit wonder” fail to live up to expectations, the
credibility hit that results is often enough to end careers and businesses.
Taking shortcuts is bad business, period.
If it is worth doing, it is worth doing right. Even if it takes a lot
longer and costs more initially.
I’ve been building a foundation. It’s taking a long time,
but the end result, and the resources that will be available to me, will
be worth it.
Some may say that I am about ideas and investments. I’ve invested
a lot into infrastructure and support resources. For example, I own more
domain names and web sites than anyone else that I know of in the Tampa
Bay market, and that includes advertising agencies, incubator companies,
and web designers. Early results? Remarkable. This is the main reason
that my opinions are the most widely read in this market, and it is one
of the main reasons that Tampa Bay Film has literally become the voice
of Tampa indie film. Tampa Bay Film, the Tampa Bay Film Online Film Festival,
and the Tampa Film Blog have become powerful forces to be reckoned with.
The power of Tampa Bay Film has been unchallenged, and this will continue
in the future as that power increases exponentially, and other support
resources come online.
Of course, any investment has short-term drawbacks, regardless of how
good your ideas are. There is a long period, when you’re setting
up the playing field, where your assets go into what you are building.
This has kept me poor (I would have been making films a year ago had I
not went out and bought an expensive car, which had more of a drain on
me because a lot of my money was already going into my work. The car slowed
me down with my filmmaking efforts). I invest, invest some more, and invest
even more. I spend long hours every day working on support infrastructure
and resources. Any one of the concepts that I work on are gold mines in
themselves. Combine with other concepts, however, and it becomes another
story altogether. The power of each individual component is amplified
as they cross-support each other with a universally compatible format
of communication, and the sharing of resources.
I’ve taken the long way. I have a master plan, and it dictates that
I have an interconnected foundation in which to support it. Without a
foundation, your structure fails. It collapses. I do not aspire to merely
make indie films and to sell those films. What I am working on is too
important for me to accept being like everyone else, and taking the easy
path would sell myself short. It would also sell everyone else short.
I aspire to set the standards for indie film making and the business of
indie filmmaking, just not in Tampa, but every where else.
I do not agree with the widespread belief that Hollywood needs to be attracted
to Tampa Bay to form a “Hollywood East”. I do not believe
that Hollywood, and the politics that go with it, have the best interests
of Tampa filmmakers and Tampa indie film in mind. This is the main problem
that I have with the Tampa film commission and over-rated film festivals
such as the Gasparilla International Film Festival. In my humble, but
educated, opinion, the Tampa film commission humors Tampa filmmakers and
strives to attract Hollywood to Tampa for their film productions. Who
do you suppose was behind the formation of a certain film festival, and
what do you suppose the primary objective of that film festival is? Is
the mission of the film festival in line with the goals of the Tampa film
commission? I would like for you all to consider this, especially the
Tampa filmmakers who blindly jumped on board with supporting certain film
festivals when they were created. Those filmmakers, through either ignorance
or greed, worked to sell us all out, and they continue to do so!
In my humble, but educated, opinion, if Hollywood were to come
to Tampa, it would kill the Tampa indie film scene. Success here
through Hollywood would come at the expense of local filmmakers, because
Hollywood would compete with those filmmakers and take their resources.
Think that you can compete with Hollywood with the present condition of
the Tampa film scene? Think again. It would become much more difficult
to make films in Tampa Bay. Who do you suppose would have first priority
with local resources such as permits? Who do you suppose would take priority
in the media? When The Punisher filmed here in Tampa, the Tampa Bay area
turned into a zoo. The media covered the production extensively, and local
filmmakers were displaced from using locations that were already planned
(reference the production of Unearthed). Everyone went crazy over “Hollywood”
working in Tampa Bay, and lost their objectivity. Whatever. The Punisher
turned out to be a mediocre film, and after Hollywood used the Tampa Bay
market for what it could get out of us, it was forgotten, much like a
one night stand. I don’t know about you, but this pisses me off.
The Tampa film scene was used, and disrespected, by Hollywood. I don’t
know of a single person in the Tampa indie film scene who benefitted from
that fiasco. What do you suppose that I feel about efforts to lure Hollywood
here for a repeat performance? Is Tampa destined to be the whore of Hollywood?
I say no!
The same desperate, clueless Tampa filmmakers blindly supported the formation
of The Armory, too, which fell through due to a decision made by the city
of Tampa. I am glad that is failed. Why am I glad about that, especially
when it would have helped Tampa filmmakers? Because it wouldn’t
have. The Armory would have benefitted the video companies that were pushing
for it, and that’s about it. Do you really think that Tampa filmmakers
would have been able to go there to obtain inexpensive production resources?
Do not get lured into being used to attract your competition here, especially
competition which has more credibility and which financially outguns you.
Don’t let the selfishness and the short-sighted nature of others
sell out the Tampa film scene. Don’t let greed undermine progress
in Tampa film. Some may complain that the former Tampa film commissioners
(reference the one before Krista) did not give a crap about Tampa filmmakers,
but at least they were honest and up-front with how they felt. Has anything
really changed? Personally, I like Lindsey, but I have to question the
objectives of the city office which she is in charge of.
In my opinion, Tampa filmmakers are not respected, and the Tampa film
scene is a joke. This, however, can change, if we work together and take
charge. Don’t rely on others to “save us”, and do not
pray for Hollywood to swoop in and create a professional film industry
here.
We need to stand on our own two feet and find our own voice. We need to
forge our own path as filmmakers. We need to play by our strengths, and
succeed without falling into the false promises of emulating Hollywood.
There are films that we can do here which Hollywood can’t do due
to risk. We can be creative. We can be smart about filmmaking. We can
create our own Hollywood East, without Hollywood, and force the Tampa
film commission and Hollywood to respect us. If we form a professional
Tampa film community, and create a professional film industry here which
forces the world to notice, we can lure Hollywood here because they want
to invest in what we are doing, and not lure them here to compete against
us.
Nothing good comes easy. This is going to be difficult, and only the best
among us will survive, and thrive.
We will not, however, accomplish this by playing it safe and doing things
the way that everyone else does it. We need to do things differently,
and bring some exciting projects to the table.
I’ll get into how we can do that soon. For now, let’s go back
to building the foundation.
My work has taken years, but the main foundation is almost ready to support
what is to come.
I started out with an event planning company (which spun off a stage production
company due to the legal requirements of the business). I have a photography
company. I also have an advertising agency. These companies all support
each other, and become stronger than each is individually. This is one
reason that my photography and design services company has proven to be
unstoppable, and it has literally steamrolled the competition. It dominates
the market in every way. I piss of many people in the Tampa photography
industry every day, and it is a cost of doing business.
Of course, setting up businesses this way takes a long time. Aurora PhotoArts
was founded in 1994, four years after I started my event planning business,
and it took six years before I went pro and started making money as a
photographer. It took years to learn photography, get really good at it,
and to build my portfolio. It cost me thousands of dollars in film and
development to build that portfolio (I went pro back in the film days,
but these days, even with digital cameras, you still have other expenses
as well as the expenditure of time, and it could be pointed out that time
is more valuable than money). That portfolio now books me work as a result
of that investment. Building a foundation is hard work, and it sucks up
resources initially. It’s an investment, however, that ensures success,
and helps to achieve market dominance, once the ball gets rolling.
To make it in business, you must differentiate yourself from the competition.
Setting up a foundation of support infrastructure is a powerful way to
do that, as well as ultimately lowering your operating overhead, which
increases your profit margin.
The same goes for Tampa indie film.
When I begin my next generation of indie filmmaking, I will need a way
to market my films. Through my event planning company and my stage production
company, I now have four film festival properties in the works. Work is
progressing nicely. My main film festival, the Tampa Film Showcase, is
a monthly film festival and professional networking event series. It is
the main workhorse, and also promotes the others. The branding is strong,
and it will set the standard for not just monthly film festivals, but
all film festivals. It will even be able to compete with the large annual
Tampa film festivals, and will consistently demonstrate to their sponsors
that it is a better investment. The Tampa Film Showcase was inspired by
monthly Tampa film festivals such as The Tampa Film Review, and it fixes
the mistakes of that lost film festival series while bringing a lot more
to the format. It will be the first professionally produced monthly film
festival in the Tampa Bay market, and will have a lot of cool, even revolutionary,
features.
I have an annual film festival series, too, which ties into the Tampa
Film Showcase and serves as a “destination” film festival
for the competing films which will be showcased at the Tampa Film Showcase
throughout the year. The annual film festival would also show feature-length
films that were not in the Tampa Film Showcase film competition, especially
since the Tampa Film Showcase is not formatted for long films. Obviously,
I could not debut the annual film festival until the Tampa Film Showcase
had at least a one year run of monthly events (er... 10 events- I will
explain shortly why it is not 12). The name of the annual film festival
will be announced soon. The annual film festival will make other annual
Tampa film festivals obsolete, that is, if the Tampa Film Showcase monthly
film festival doesn’t do it first.
The third film festival property, which ties into the others just like
the others promote it back, is a new type of film festival for horror
films. Inspired by the legendary Saints and Sinners film festival series,
the Horror and Hotties film festival, and the Halloween Horror Picture
Show film festival series, this film festival is unique because it brings
a lot of cool ideas to the mix. So much, in fact, that it is a new kind
of film festival altogether, or rather, a new species. Why a horror film
festival, especially since I voiced seven years ago about how Tampa didn’t
need more horror films? Because I have grown to like horror films over
the years, and I’ve had a lot of fun attending these film festivals.
Also, because I have been noticing a decline with certain horror film
festival properties, and am fearing that some of them will go out of business.
The new horror film festival, again, will be an annual property, so it
may cut into one of the Tampa Film Showcase film festival events just
like the other annual film festival would. This means that there is a
chance that there would only be ten Tampa Film Showcase events a year
instead of twelve. I really don’t want to compromise film festivals
by doing two in a month, compete against myself, and overwork my event
staff. Since the horror film festival property will be a massive job,
it would displace a Tampa Film Showcase event (then again, maybe not...
I have decided on this, yet, and I may do 12 Tampa Film Showcases a year
as well as the others if it is not a conflict). The horror film festival
would be held in the fall, you can bet around Halloween, and it would
be special. The other annual film festival would be held early in the
year.
There is a fourth film festival property in the works, too, but it is
classified. I will say that there would not be a set schedule, and that
it would be initiated only as needed, kind of like the U.S. military has
spy satellites in reserve and deploys them (launches them into orbit)
as they are needed.
Oh, and there is another Tampa film event that I am working on, which
isn’t quite a film festival, but it will become very, very important.
It will be critical for the advancement of Tampa indie film, and will
help to put the Tampa film scene on the map. That’s all that I can
say about it, right now. I will have to invest in some more domain names
once I finish renewing the ten domain names on my list for next week.
I’ll also have to keep them a secret until we are ready to proceed
with them, and that could be as far as over two years from now.
I have some sophisticated, long-term plans.
Onto a related subject, and don’t think that I am putting the cart
before the horse, because this is not the case with setting up a foundation
for what is to come. The subject is filmmaking; primarily, my filmmaking.
I bought a DV camera back in January, and did some experiments with it
(some of that footage can be found on the Tampa Bay Film Youtube channel).
Although I was very happy with the camera, it was a standard resolution
DVD-quality model, and it also could not shoot at 24p. I also found that
I could not edit the footage easily because my hard drives were full.
Realizing that it would take me time to prepare editing computers, and
that I needed to step up to an HD 1080P, 24p camera, I sadly took the
camera back. Well, things are about to get interesting.
I am investing in a hard drive next week to back up and archive data.
I will be reformatting at least one of my computers for film editing work.
I will be buying the new HD camera next month, and already have it budgeted.
The camera is based on the one that I bought before, but it is the HD
model. It shoots at 24p, is a 1080P HD camera, and can shoot in a widescreen
16:9 ratio. I will be using this camera to shoot Reverence and some other
short films (the second short film script is almost done, and it blows
Reverence away in some ways. If nothing more, it will be very controversial).
I will be shooting films starting this summer. In another year or so,
I will have more indie films under my belt than most Tampa filmmakers.
I will also regularly be shooting more film footage than all of the Tampa
filmmakers combined (for some secret projects which will be revealed soon).
It is taking time. I know that some people out there have convinced themselves
that what I am working on will never happen, and a part of me actually
wants them to discount me. I want those who appose me to underestimate
me.
It will be worth the wait, however, and this will happen.
Someone once told me that I had no right to talk about Tampa indie film.
Another told someone that I was not a filmmaker (someone in the modeling
industry once told someone that I was not a photographer, either, and
look what happened there! They soon changed their tune). I disagree. I
am a filmmaker, and I have invested heavily in Tampa indie film. I have
as much of a right to address Tampa indie film as much as everyone else
does. Oh, and let’s not forget that Tampa Bay Film is the voice
of Tampa indie film. It really is, especially since no one can argue with
the logic of what is published on the site, and it dominates all Tampa
film web sites. The opinions on Tampa Bay Film are heard by most, and
respected by the smart professionals.
I try to respect everyone in the Tampa indie film scene, and I only ask
the same in return. Sure, we may disagree on some points, but half of
the fun is finding out, together, what works, and what does not. I have
an agenda, and it will benefit everyone, if you are only open to it. I
sincerely have the best intentions in mind, and really do want to help
those who deserve what I have to offer.
There is an excellent chance that what I am working on will not only benefit
the Tampa indie film scene, but it will set standards for indie filmmaking
everywhere else. A revolution in indie film? I’m betting for it,
and it will start with a fleet of some of the best film festivals in the
world.
When will it happen? Sooner, rather than later. Believe it. The only way
that these things will not happen is if I give up, and I’ve already
proven that I don’t give up on what I believe in.
I believe in what I am doing. Soon, many more will, too.
PREVIOUS BLOG POST - BLOG POSTS - AUTHOR - POST TO BLOG - NEXT BLOG POST
UPDATED 12/09/10
© Copyright 2009 Tampa Film Blog. All Rights reserved.
TAMPA FILM UPDATES - ABOUT TAMPA FILM BLOG - TAMPA INDIE FILM NEWS - TAMPA FILM ANNOUNCEMENTS - TAMPA FILM BLOG AUTHORS - FILMMAKER C. A. PASSINAULT - TAMPA FILM BLOG BLOG POSTS - TAMPA FILM SERVICES - TAMPA FILM BLOG FEATURES - POST TO TAMPA FILM BLOG
TAMPA BAY FILM - TAMPA FILM BLOG - TAMPA FILM REVOLUTION - TAMPA POP CULTURE
Tampa Pop Culture and Entertainment web site
Super Raptor Class web site by Tampa Advertising Agency Eos MediaArts. Tampa Film Blog originally online 02/28/08 as a Scroll Class site. Re-launched as the first Super Raptor Class site, optimized to become a part of the Tampa Bay Film site network, on 10/01/09.
The Tampa Film Blog covers, but is not limited to, the following Tampa Bay and Florida markets:
Tampa, Ybor City, Hyde Park, Westshore, Apollo Beach, Clearwater, Clearwater Beach, Saint Pete (St Petersburg), Palm Harbour, Brandon, Plant City, Lakeland, Orlando, Winter Park, Sarasota, Bradenton, Daytona Beach, Miami, Miami Beach, South Beach, Deerfield Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Key West, and Palm Springs.
© Copyright 2006 - 2012 Tampa Film Blog. All rights reserved. Presented as-is, with no guarantees expressed or implied. Informational use only. Tampa Bay Film is not legally liable for the content on this web site, and use of any content waives us from liability. Anyone using the content on this site or attempting anything described on this site assumes all legal and civil liability. Please be familiar with with your local laws before using this site. Information on Tampa Bay Film is not to be taken as legal advice or advice which may be covered under any licensed or regulated profession. Opinions expressed on this web site are those of the individual contributor and may not be shared by other contributors, models, photographers, or businesses who may be involved with this web site or our online community. Tampa Bay Film is a free, no-obligation professional independent film and talent resource web site operated from Tampa, Florida, by a team of professional freelance and agency-represented talent. For more, please read our Disclaimer.
Super Raptor Class Web Site by Eos MediaArts, a Passinault.Com company. Super Raptor Class 0001, commissioned 100109.1600 hrs.
Web Site Design by Tampa Advertising Agency Eos MediaArts. Main Tampa photography by Aurora PhotoArts. Tampa Bay events by Eventi Stage and Eventi Events. Our Tampa Film Showcase monthly Tampa film festival and networking event series by Eventi Stage, a Passinault.Com company.
TAMPA FILM BLOG SITE INDEX UPDATE LOG
Tampa Film Blog Site Directories Refreshed 06/02/12 - 10/29/25/2057/2108/
© Copyright 2008-2025 Tampa Film Blog. All rights reserved