Mike Will Downey

In my experience these are the top areas you must excel at during film production. This is just a short look into the business. I'll post more soon. Source First are you going to write your own, or are you going to go out and acquire one? If there is source material - say it's already a book or something like that needs to be adapted, then are you going to purchase the copyright of those rights, or are you going to option the rights? An option gives you a certain amount of time to make that movie before it becomes a purchase. The rights may or may not revert back to the original owner if that option is or isn't exercised. Development You need to hire your writers if you aren't already purchasing a screenplay. You need to do storyboards, package it, come up with a budget, hire a Director, and come up with a complete analysis of all costs. Now you need your financing. Either you are going to get it from a studio or you will get it independently from investors. I...

Entrepreneurship is essential to business today. Successful entrepreneurs exhibit key elements, disruptive ideas, and creativity. This can be tapped into with focus. Successful entrepreneurs solve a compelling problem; they come up with a way of doing something that does not presently exist. They might solve a problem that has never been solved before. Or they might come up with a better solution than existed before. But “better” can’t mean “just a little bit better.” It has to mean “enough better to compel customers to buy the product.” The most successful entrepreneurs have a protected idea. They have an idea that cannot easily be copied by their competition. This might mean the idea is covered by patents. Sometimes it means that portions of the process are trade secrets and cannot easily be reinvented or reverse engineered. One way, or another, the company should have a sustainable “unfair competitive advantage.” Successful entrepreneurs have a product or service that customers will...