Producing Your Indie Project

From left, MOVE L.A. committee member and moderator Tohoru Masamune, SAGindie Coordinator Amanda LaFranco, actor-director Ryun Yu, actor-writer-director-producer Brendan Bradley, actor-writer Kate Hackett, actor-writer-producer Saadiga Kamille, and actor-writer-director Rachel Avery

Actors no longer need to wait to be cast in the right part. Technology now allows performers to cast themselves by producing their own projects. As the process can often be overwhelming, the MOVE L.A. committee presented a panel of emerging filmmakers that shared their own journey of conceptualizing, developing, producing and distributing their indie “masterpieces,” describing the steps that will help members create their own content and have it seen by the right people. Panelists included a variety of filmmakers that successfully produced short films, features and their own web series.

The event on Aug. 4 began with clips and trailers of the projects, followed by panelists discussing how their projects originated and were developed, funded and completed. Panelists included actor-writer-director Rachel Avery; actor-writer-director-producer Brendan Bradley; actor-writer Kate Hackett; actor-writer-producer Saadiga Kamille, SAGindie Coordinator Amanda LaFranco and actor-director Ryun Yu. The panel was moderated by actor Tohoru Masamune.

LaFranco explained the role of SAGindie as an intermediary between producers and SAG-AFTRA. She described how easy the signatory process can be, and explained the benefits of becoming signatory. According to LaFranco, the New Media Contract allows for negotiation of salaries, the Short Film Agreement allows for deferred pay, and the Ultra Low Budget Agreement has minimum rates at $125 a day. All of these provisions showed the audience that going union will allow them to work with professional actors but still keep costs down. To download contracts, click here.

The panel also offered advice for film financing through various funding sources such as crowdsourcing.

For more information on upcoming MOVE L.A. programs, click here. For more information on SAGindie, click here.  

This item was originally featured in the September 2016 local newsletter.