James Arnett provides freelance services in several critical areas of motion picture production besides Visual Effects and Cinematography; James also freelances as a Director and Screenwriter for hire.
Additionally, James also arranges sales and delivery of feature length motion pictures to international buyers, as well as providing personalized web design for motion picture and media promotion.
If
you are about to bet the farm on a motion picture director, you might
as well go for a director who knows every aspect of traditional and
digital production and what it takes to make it a commercial success
that ensures you ultimately have a marketable and profitable film.
Some
directors merely talk big while other directors make big pictures
through tireless, all consuming effort with attention paid to every
detail. It's
the director's job to set the example, demand excellence from themself
first, which inspires dedication from everyone else on set.
Leadership
and decisefulness are radically different from the aloof "thinker"
who comes to a decision on the best course of action months later
in the editing room when re-shoots can push you over budget and into
financial ruin.
Knowing
how the picture, sound and visual effects will be set up for post
production guarantees that setting up complex plate shots and other
provisional photography will work in post production where everything
has to come together seamlessly. There
is no substitute for experience, ability and sound judgment.
James
Arnett is a second generation filmmaker. He started in the business
in the 1970's, having worked his way up through every job on set and
in post production there is before producing and directing feature
films.
He
completed the filmmaking programs at Manhattan's School of Visual
Arts and the Art & Design filmmaking program with a major in filmmaking
and a minor in photo-sciences.
He
also taught traditional and digital filmmaking at LTU in Los Angeles
for a decade where he wrote the popular text book, "The
Guide Book For Guerilla Filmmakers".
With
a strong background in screenwriting, cinematograpghy, editing and
visual effects, James Arnett has a unique and diverse skill set developed
to make the whole greater than the sum of its parts when it comes
to how all of the bits and pieces of visual storytelling come together
to make an entertaining movie.
Maintaining
all that information on the fly during photography requires a brain
pan that can score really high on the Mensa test without breaking
a sweat.
He
also knows expedient methods of setting up action and lighting shots
to keep a production on schedule because always having a "plan
B" and the flexibility to adapt to actual conditions on the ground
means everything on a low budget production.
But
thiking fast on one's feet under pressure isn't enough, it also takes
a strong sense of visual story telling and a clear idea of how to
transform a vision into a motion picture.
Understanding
the conventions, the cinematic devices, the reasons why one choice
achieves the desired effect over another is essential to making a
film that ultimately finds an audience.
Extreme
competency, leadership, knowledgability in all areas of filmmaking
and highly developed creative abilities and vision make James Arnett
your best bet when choosing a director to helm your next independent
motion picture.
It's
the most ambitious and important project you've dared to attempt and
you want it to all go down by the numbers.
When
it's that important to you, and you absolutely need to succeed, look
over this web site and ask yourself if you can afford to gamble on
anyone less.
Day
rates vary per budget level. For filming locations outside of the
Tucson Metro area, travel and lodging per diem is required.
Next,
he adapted the Worldfest award winning film, Edgar Allen Poe's "The
Tell-Tale Heart" you can watch online here.
Following
that, he wrote the television spec pilot for "Happy Trailers"
a three camera comedy likened to "The Munsters" set in an
inbred trailer park where the adopted "Marilyn" character
falls in love with an outsider, who she is not directly related to,
which turns her into the [inverse] freak among her peers.
This
is not a comprehensive list but here are some other screenplays of
note:
In
1999, he wrote "Apocalypso" an over-the-top zombie feature,
withheld for in-house production.
In
2001, he wrote the memorial film collection for New York Law Enforcement
on the World Trade Center attacks, called, "September Eleventh".
You can watch those films online from the links on our motion pictures page.
In
2005, he wrote the "Mirage" trilogy of short stories. He
adaprted "Just Another Box", into the short film you can
watch online here.
In
2006, he adapted Mary Shelley's "The Last Man" for the in-house
production. You can watch the trailer here.
Other
feature screenplays include "Supertition Highway", "STASI-X", "New World Order", "Bikini Models Inc.",
"Carmine Street", and "Doomsday".
There are over 10,000 movies produced every year, worldwide, and almost 100 times more that never get completed, but only a few hundred of those completed films ever make it into distribution, and far fewer ever produce a profit. That's a very slim fraction of one percent of a financial success rate. Those are lottery odds, if you don't have an edge, a success rate multiplier. We have a few "edges" that sell our own films. Professionally written scripts are our foundation.
The primary reason for such a high rate of failure in independent film projects is the lack of a developed story. It's that simple of a problem that has an obvious solution.
When you read a movie review, it is always centered around the quality of the story, its pacing, its compelling themes, then branches out into the acting, the overall production, etc., yet its rating ultimately stands or falls, shines or blows, as a result of the story.
Despite something that obvious, thousands every year mortgage their homes to make a movie out of the screenplay they decided to sit down and write - as their first writing experience, thinking somehow, everything will work out if they download the right screenwriting software.
There's a frequently ignored, however true adage in film that says, you can pour millions into making a bad script into a movie but it will never be anything more than a bad movie. Story telling in literature or on the screen requires an engrossing, well developed story with memorable characters to have any chance of success.
A publisher never puts a book out without having an editor go over the manuscript because they can't afford many financial losses. How much more does an independent filmmaker stand to lose than a publisher when their future depends on the success of their one film?
That's the same crossroads where even big studio feature film producers decide to have a qualified editor go over a blockbuster screenplay before it's stamped "camera ready". They have their careers, assets and futures on the line too.
There are two kinds of screenplays: "spec" scripts and "shooting" scripts. You make a film against a shooting script as your blueprint.
Typically, a "spec" script is about twice as long as a "shooting" script because of the amount of prose necessary to successfully market and sell the script to producers. It is written on "spec", that is to say, on "speculation" that the script will find a producer to buy it for development.
A "shooting" script often has the prose and the adverbs removed by the director who has their own ideas regarding the details of the story. This process can cut a 120 page screenplay down to almost 60 pages of actual shooting script. A director may even rewrite a significant portion of the script to suit their own aesthetic sensibilities.
James Arnett writes shooting scripts, leaving the non-story related details up to the discretion of the director. He writes in several genres, writes to order, including budget level, available locations and within the resources of the production company. Writing to meet specific entertainment, practical and commercial goals is what he does best.
His writing style can be described as structured, dense, concise, where every sentence performs a function to advance the story, just like you're used to seeing in any professionally written feature film. He injects dialogue with undividualized attitude that brings the cast to life and polarizes them into memorable characters that can capture the attention of your audience.
Looking for Web design services for performers in the entertainment industry? CLICK HERE.
Designing an interactive site for the World Wide Web all begins with one foundational decision:
What will it be designed to accomplish?
That answer may be to create an online "Yellow Pages" listing, a presence, or it may be to promote and brand your particular product or service. It may offer direct, online sales where you need to close as sale as seamlessly as possible. Once you know what you want your Web site to accomplish, that foundation drives every subsequent decision in the design of your Web site.
James Arnett provides design, original artwork, animation and advanced coding
to create a Web site that achieves your goals using all the modern tools you would expect:
Dynamic HTML
CSS
Flash
Javascript
PHP for databases and blogs
The aesthetics and useability of your site projects the image you wish to put forth to the public. It's the hub of your marketing. We keep it clean, ad agency slick and unique for a memorable online experience.
Site
maintainence contracts are available for updates of content and design changes to grow your site along with your business.
You’ve
finished your feature film, you’ve contacted a few distributors, gotten
a few bites but don’t like the idea of giving away your movie for
free without any money up front, with only promises for potential
profits on the "back end" that rarely ever materialize.
If
you ’ve ever tried to sell a feature film before, you also know that’s
a very typical "distribution deal" for any one of the few hundred
distributed films out of the 10,000 independent films made every year.
Independent filmmakers need to do a lot better than that when it comes
to distributing their film at a profit so they can afford to move
on to financing their next feature film.
We’re
independent filmmakers too and we’ve spent the time to develop cash
paying outlets for our product. We can also help you translate your
finished product into tangible cash where foreign market sales garner
"advance fee" payments anywhere from ten thousand dollars and up,
depending on production value and commercial marketability of your
film.
We've
already made profit for other independent filmmakers we know and we
may be able to do the same for your film.
We’ve
got the relationships, the reputation and the business model to get
your product into the "right hands" of buyers worldwide who pay up
front for licensing films for in-country distribution. It really is
"who you know". But if you don’t know anyone, don’t worry, we do and
we might be able to help you too.
That’s
our edge, we have a select rolodex of in-country buyers that can open
the international film market to independent filmmakers who can offer
quality product that translates well into foreign languages and cultures.
That means Sci-Fi, Action, Horror, Thrillers, any genre that has strong
concepts and strong visuals that can intrigue an international audience.
If you have one or more brand name actors, your film has even greater
sales potential.
Unfortunately,
Relationship films, Romances, Chick-Flicks, Art Films, anything that
doesn’t have gunfire, explosions, wreckage or mayhem (i.e., "commercial
aspects") don’t seem to be in high demand by our foreign buyers of
independent films. But if that‘s what you‘ve got to sell, don‘t be
discouraged, there are other companies who may have a better rolodex
than ours, who might be able to help you. It's as easy as asking a
producer who successfully sold a film similar to yours.
If
you’ve got a film you think would make for a fun experience for international
audiences, we can look it over and quickly tell you if we have a reasonable
shot at getting your film into the hands of a qualified foreign film
market buyer. We’re not critiquing the artistic merits of your film,
we simply know from past experience what they buy and what they don‘t
buy. If it’s something that has a chance of appealing to an international
audience, we’ll give it our best shot for you.
That
won’t cost you any more than postage to Arizona for your DVD screener.
Only
when you have a sales contract in hand will you be required to assemble
your "deliverables" that are exported overseas. We can guide you through
the standards and requirements to meet your delivery obligations under
the sales contract.
Running
time for a feature film must be no less than 82 minutes. It must
be in color (hey, we love black & white photography
too but distributors won't touch them, unless it's a Robert Rodriguez
film packed with stars).
Above
all, make sure you have your audio broken into composite sound tracks
(with the English dialogue, music and sound effects) on stereo left/right
channels 1 and 2, and the M &E tracks on stereo left/right channels
3 and 4. That means "Music and Effects" only, so your film can be
dubbed into another language, recorded by a foreign voice actor. The
audio of your film should always be separated like this so you have
the ability to drop out every line of English and every grunt and
groan that a foreign actor needs to dub into the home language of
the foreign market in which your film sells.
We
can ’t guarantee that your film will sell but if it is marketable,
and our buyers want it, we can expedite your sale by getting your
DVD screener into the right hands then help negotiate and close the
sale for you, and get you paid.
What's
in it for us? Simple. We charge a 10% commission against sales revenue
only. If we make a sale for you, we get paid. Otherwise, you don ’t
pay anyone a dime. The same applies for any third party sales agents
"in-country" who speak the language, who always make the
difference between making a sale and getting passed over. It's typical
to expect about 25% paid out in sales commissions, unless you want
your product offered at an international film market. That can cost
more in table space commissions but it's still a lot less costly than
paying for your own table, travel and lodging just to sell one film.
Besides
our ten percent, we’re also benefitting by developing our position
in the international film market so we can continue getting better
and better cash paying distribution deals for other filmmakers as
well as for our own films that grows our brand.
But
be prepared to deliver to the buyer’s specification and pay the commissions
promptly so we don’t wreck the outlets we’ve developed and shared
with other independent filmmakers. It’s a very small business where
integrity in the distribution pipeline makes or breaks a filmmaker's
career. No matter what, we all have to deliver as agreed upon in the
sales contract.
If
you have a finished feature film that you think has foreign market
sales potential, we just might be able to help you. Contact us to
take a look at your film and we’ll quickly tell you if we think we
can help place your feature film with find the right buyer.
