Film Courage: You’re saying possibly this is not ready to pitch to investors because we don’t have a lot of things determined, but how can we make this idea better, The Internal Butler [our hypothetical case study]?
Sean Reid, Filmmaker: We started with a character and we’re looking for this character, a truly unique character we’ve never seen before on screen, is this a story we’ve never seen before on screen? If you keep asking yourself that question then I would say No. I’ve seen some versions of this. I’m still seeing the movie that I’ve seen, not the movie that we’re developing, it’s still not its own path. It’s something that I’m pouring out a world for but it’s not its own unique conceit, it’s not its own original thing ultimately. Until you see that especially when you’re dealing with we haven’t even written a sentence or a one-liner that says Okay, this is Who, What, When, Where and Why, this is what’s happening. We’re taking these little random pieces and we’ve pulled it together and gotten something that is going in a direction but it certainly still could go in so many different directions that it’s early development. That’s what’s great about early development is that at this stage anybody could get to this point. When you’re developing an idea you have to get beyond your first idea, anyone can come up with the first idea, it’s getting beyond that first layer of it and getting to your next idea and your next idea beyond that. Even with making a scene not just resting on the first premise or first idea that you come up with for a scene but actually pushing it beyond, coming up with more ideas for that scene, coming up with more ideas for how that story can work, that’s how you test and how you push your story development rather than…(Watch the video interview on Youtube here).
BIO:
Sean Reid is a 20-year veteran Producer/Director/Writer of feature films, television programming, news and music specials. His television experience includes management roles at E! NEWS LIVE (E!), as well as, producer positions on the THE ROB NELSON SHOW (Fox), and SQUARE OFF (TV Guide Channel). Reid has a well-earned reputation for combining his instinctual story skills and technical savvy to elevate the productions with which he is involved.
Reid’s Feature Film credits include the coming of age thriller drama REDEMPTION, featuring Brian White (Ray Donavon, Homeland), and T.J. Storm (Godzilla, Captain America: Civil War), on which he served as the Producer, Director and Writer. REDEMPTION was one of the first Indie features to be shot in HD with the Sony 900 camera. The movie screened in competition at the Reel World Film Festival in Toronto, and Playhouse West Festival in Los Angeles, and was distributed by LionsGate. Reid’s producer credits include the movies HORRORS OF WAR, distributed by Maverick; the festival hit PHIN; and the soon to be released feature, THE CAMPUS.
While at E! , Reid served as Assignment Manager (Supervising Producer) of E! NEWS, and was the Producer/Director of E! NEWS UNPLUGGED, a series of short music performances, and one-hour specials, shot on location in and around the E! News Studios, and featuring such performers as Robert Palmer, Lisa Loeb, Steel Pulse, Peter Frampton, Everclear, and Smash- Mouth. Over time, the performances grew from a few songs in the studio’s courtyard, to full concerts shot in front of an audience of 500.
Reid has produced over one hundred network promos and image spots, often working as a First Assistant Director. Campaigns included TYLER PERRY’S HOUSE OF PAYNE producing all of the network promos for the entire five seasons in one year. Other clients included: The NFL Network; PBS Sprout; Mothers. com; Fox’s SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE, HOUSE, and LIE TO ME; BET’s CELEBRATION OF GOSPEL with Steve Harvey and the DIY Network’s LET’S GET DIRTY Campaign, which ran nationally in movie theaters.
Reid directed and co-produced the pilot for Variety’s DVD Premiere Awards, with host Ben Stein and presenters included Vivica A. Fox and Quentin Tarantino. He also directed the pilots for The Guest House, for Executive Producers Tisha Campbell-Martin, and Monique Chennault; and #OWNIT for Oprah Winfrey’s OWN.
CONNECT WITH SEAN REID
Youtube for podcast with J. Horton
BUY THE GAME- PITCHSTORM: Card Game of Pitching Horrible Movie Ideas to The Worst Executives
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