As a freelance producer, my job is to find projects and connect them to money. It’s a long process and not always successful. So sometimes it seems simpler to invest your own money to get a project started. It’s a risky venture, but to be a producer you’ve got to produce something.
I’ve always thought that an easy sell would be an exercise video because of the simple logistics and costs in producing it. It’s much like a game show, one set, one host and you can shoot multiple episodes in one day. So when a producer friend of mine, Catherine Gray, told me she made one, I asked her to share her experiences for this blog. The following is my interview with her regarding her exercise series, EMPOWERING PILATES aimed at the teenage market.
Liam Finn: Why did you decide to make Empowering Pilates?
Catherine Gray: I was working an unsatisfying temp(orary) job surrounded by paper clips and rubbers fingers. Will (husband) and I just got tired of doing things that we didn’t want to do. I was temping in an office. And Will at the same time was editing, which he loves, but he wanted to direct. So we came up with this thought one day, what if we were to come up with this exercise video, it would give him a chance to direct and me a chance to produce. And then we thought it would also be a good idea because we could make some money off of it. You know we have some friends who have made short films in the past…the ideas they came up with were great but totally unmarketable. And we thought well, an exercise video is marketable everybody can afford to exercise in their home; not everyone can afford a gym membership. We thought it would be a way to make some money, a way to survive a little longer out here (in Los Angeles) and it was a risk and we were ready to do that. We’re still paying on that risk it hasn’t paid off financially yet. But we feel like it still has great potential.
LF: So the goal was to give yourselves the jobs you’ve always wanted, to direct and produce, with the idea of making money back and not just a pure creative project.
CG: That’s correct, but I also wanted to make something I could get behind, something that could do good for teenagers and empower them or at least get them more excited about Pilates and exercise. Not only was it creative for us, but it would help other people too.
LF: Did you think about your market in anyway, who to sell too? Did you have any research? Or did you just go with a gut feeling.
CG: We thought of different markets like pregnant women and kids. However, our research on kids exercise videos showed they didn’t sell so well. There hasn’t been a lot for teens, and what is for teens is for 13 year olds. So we really wanted to pick something that wasn’t readily on the market. So we picked teens. That was a risk too, because we had some distributors say to us, “An interesting idea we like it. We don’t think it will sell, so were not willing to put anything behind it but it’s interesting that nothing like that has been done before.” That said to me, okay so that means that nothing is out there, this will be the only thing. We talked about marketing to high schools…we talked with a lot of high school physical education teachers and they all said, “I’d love to use an exercise video in my class. I use some already, but there for adults.” That also said (to me) this maybe a good idea, this may pay off for us.
LF: You mentioned talking with a distributor prior to production, how did that come about?
CG: I emailed some distributors and announced I was making this exercise video and it would be available in March and would your distribution company be interested in such a thing? I got several responses, most of them saying they never done that type of thing. A lot of them said, “It’s a very interesting idea and they would love to see it when it is done.”
LF: How were you thinking of it getting out into the world? We’re you seeking a distributor? What made you consider self-distribution?
CG: To tell the truth I didn’t even know there was such a thing as self-distribution. I had a friend who said, “Have you thought about self distribution?” And after she explained what it was, I said, “Yes, this is for us.” I knew where to market it and I didn’t want to have to give most of the money to the distributor. I wanted to be able to manage it myself.
LF: How long did it take to complete the project from inception to delivering it to market?
CG: We initially thought it would be four or five months. Unfortunately, it was longer than that - by a lot! Unfortunately, we had to push it back because of the school’s availability and my pregnancy. Then the post-production process took a long time. Will (husband) was editing on his spare time, he was also trying to support us with a new baby and I wasn’t working, so he could only work on it at night. So that slowed things down a lot. We had a few problems in post and had to go back and fix them. We thought it would take five months it probably took a year.
LF: Was there any unexpected problems that you encountered?
CG: To be honest we tried to cut corners. In some places it worked, but in others it cost us money. We should of paid $200 now instead of $2000 later. Frankly, Those are just learning experiences. I can tell you if we did this again, and I’d like too. We would know exactly what to do, exactly what the pitfalls are. A lot of the pitfalls frankly was filming in Los Angeles. That was a pain. It was all about the fees. It’s just so big business here. In Texas you don’t need a film permit and their extremely helpful, but you don’t have your crews. So what do you do? It’s a catch 22 sometimes.
LF: And did you stay on budget? Or did it morph on an as need basis?
CG: There was a budget and we would have done fine if we didn’t get messed up with sound. So we had to go back and do a little bit of ADR. And ADR costs a lot of money, so we had to reach into our pockets. The film fees were huge too.
LF: I know your just starting the sales process, but how has sales been going?
CG: Not great. I didn’t count on it being so hard to get people to purchase them. I can’t tell you how many people I know, even friends, who said, “I’m gonna buy one and they didn’t.” It’s hard to get people to purchase on-line and I didn’t realize it would be that hard. We had intended to market to schools but when it came out it was right at the end of the school year. We had to wait. Now school is back in session and it’s been okay, it was pretty good in the beginning. It tapered off in the summer and now it’s starting to pick up again. I’m getting a little more aggressive with my marketing at this point since school is back in session.
LF: And how are you approaching your marketing? How are you doing it?
CG: I am sending post cards to schools. I’ve been getting on-line and making my own mailing lists which is tedious but free. We’re approaching a distributor who can get us into bigger chains. However, we make a pitiful amount per DVD, its like one or two dollars a DVD. But they have the potential of getting us into Wal-Mart and (potentially) sell a many more.
LF: You’re using Neoflixs for your DVD fulfillment, ecommerce and customer service. How do you like their services?
CG: They’re great actually. As far as customer service goes they are wonderful. Their fulfillment house is so friendly. I love them their great.
LF: Do you have any advice for a filmmaker who may want to make a project to sell using the self-distribution model?
CG: My advice would be to talk to as many people as you can about the process. I kind of did, but I should have done more. I should have sat down with three people who had done it before and picked their brain asking them every single question. Because I found out things during the shoot, like filming fees that I didn’t know would be that hard. And if I had just sat down and talked with someone about that they could have told me about it and I could have had the option of filming in a different state especially if your funding something yourself, it would definitely be a lot cheaper. Every body is going to have a story to tell and you can learn from that. Talk to enough people and you’ll be able to make an informed decision. You’ll make wise choices because you have the experience of others behind you.
LF: Thanks Cat for sharing your experience. Anything else you’d like to say about Empowering Pilates?
CG: It’s been a very fun journey and a very exciting one. I would certainly do it again if given the chance. I learned so much; it was absolutely insane. It just prepared me better for the future.
You can purchase Empowering Pilates at www.empoweringpilates.com.
