Initially the idea was to produce episodes for webcasting which would generate revenues on an ongoing basis but the prospect of at least one private investor being interested has lead me to rethink the marketing aspect. If the funds could be made available through this investor then a budget might be put in place to truly plow ahead with a thorough and well conceived feature length pilot. To pique the investor's interest my contact recommends that a short film based on the "Nighthawks" premise be shot. From a marketing sense it seems like a good idea. There will be the short itself which can be screened at film festivals in front of would-be broadcasters and distributors. From that footage we can put together a kick-ass trailer/promo piece and there'd be plenty of material for web based marketing. However there are a few things about short films I'm not keen on. First is shorts give no time for subtle character development which is crucial for the stories I've envisioned. By necessity most shorts tend to club you over the head with blatant character traits to establish 'who they are'. Second, I always pictured this project as an ensemble piece and a short film is going to relegate important characters and good actors to cameos and bit players.. Third, there is little to no dough in the kitty for this at this stage( now's your chance to run. I'll understand). For those still interested it's quite likely that the short, at least, will have to be on a differed basis. I have no intention to ask for volunteer help on this but a deferred payment for the short is the best I can think of. If it makes money we all make money.
There's still the prospect of approaching a production company to be involved but there's a real chance that they'd want to use in house crew and talent which would mean we could all be out on our ear, including myself, after investing a good portion of time on the project.
Is it worth it? The scripts will tell. I'll address that issue in the next posting.
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