The sculpting and shaping of the new screenplay (or at least the latest draft of the old screenplay), is rumbling along quite nicely now. In the process, another key character has bitten the dust. I realised that a sub-plot he was a key character in would be better served told from the perspective of another character, leaving him somewhat redundant. Although, it does leave me with a little bit of a plot hole that will need to be addressed. And so it goes…
Things also seem to be hotting up on the Web TV idea that I mentioned a few weeks ago. It seems now that the whole thing could become part of a much bigger project, incorporating the the old local regional film development service which has lain fallow for the past few months.
Unfortunately, because it will skew the business to be much more community focussed, the original plan of simply setting up a limited company won’t work. It also means that the business model is far more complex.
On the plus side it opens up a host of opportunities for funding and development far outside the original remit of the Web TV idea.
The problem is finding a way through it all and coming up with a sensible business model that satifies everyone.
The whole thing seems to fit together nicely: the Web TV side of things promoting the work and talents of local filmmakers, opening them up to a wider audience (albeit a local one), which opens up the potential for local business sponsorship and advertising revenue, which then filters back into the community aspects of the business and encourages more filmmaking in Kent. Everyone is a winner.
The catch is that the Web TV aspect and the filmmaking aspect are a little chicken and egg. They both need to arrive on the scene fully developed at the same to work effectively as a viable self sustaining business model that will be acceptable to the powers that be, yet are somewhat dependent on each other to get started. Where do you break the cycle? Tricky.
Lots of thinking to be done over the weekend, methinks, as we have just ten days to submit some kind of business plan to the regional funding body.