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Monday 24 October 2016

Decisions, decisions always decisions.



I found myself with a decision of Solomon.

The struggle I faced was with David Nicholas Wilkinson the hard nosed producer, and David Nicholas Wilkinson the flamboyant arty director/ co-writer, and also the presenter of THE FIRST FILM.

When I was in New York at the historic screening of the film at the Morris-Jumel Mansions showing the Louis Le Prince films for the first time there, 126 years later than the Le Prince family had planned, John Duncan who is the Visitor Economy Business Development Manager at Visit Leeds introduced me to Mark Schubin a member of the Society of Motion Picture & Television Engineers an important behind the scenes organisation. It was founded by Charles Francis Jenkins, who also features in THE FIRST FILM because he was also a very important pioneer in the race to capture the moving image.





In 1930 the Leeds City Council regonised and acknowledged Le Prince's achievements by unveiling a plaque to him on the site of his former workshop in Leeds, now on the site of Leeds Beckett University.







In 1931 SMPTE gave him their highest award, an honorary membership.





For over 60 years these were the only bodies or organisations to offical recognise Louis Le Prince and his work.


Mark Schubin pointed out to me that in six weeks from those New York screenings it would be SMPTE's 100th Anniversary Gala dinner. He thought THE FIRST FILM would be the prefect film to play to the members. Therefore he asked if I  would allow him discuss if the executive committee to see if they would be interested.




Would I ?

I would LOVE it. This would be the perfect end of a long eighteen month odd elongated release that I have engineered with the film where I released it in both the UK and in the USA (rare for a very small UK company) via Belgium, Ireland and Russia.

After a few weeks they came back and they would be delighted to screen the film......but......why is there always a but.

But, I had to either put up the costs myself or find a sponsor.

If I had had three or four months I would have been able to do this, but I had less than a month.

The Leeds City Council had supported the historic screening in New York but since they made that award new UK Government cuts could result in the loss of around 2,000 jobs over the next few years.  One could hardly expect them to cover these costs.

I hit the phone and the internet. I tried an eclectic group of people from the obvious like Jim Jannard owner of Red Cameras who feature in the film and would attend the Gala on the night to very random people like Sir Tim Rice bizarre suggestion by Eileen Atkins pulling his name out of a hat. I even thought of asking those well off individuals that hail from Leeds - Barbara Taylor Bradford, Marco Pierre White, Alan Bennett, Scary Spice etc, but as I had tried them  over the previous thirty four years when trying to finance the film and they never came back to me, I felt it would be a waste of my time, and, as always somewhat humiliating having to go around with a begging bowl. Sixty years old and still I beg just as I had done when I started producing at twenty three.

It soon became apparent that the only way it would happen was if I put up the costs.

The Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, my airfare, hotel and car hire came to around £6,000,  and possibly more.




£6,000 is hardly a fortune.

Given I am not rich, it would have to be recouped from the income from the exploitation of THE FIRST, some of which is on its way, but has yet to actually hit the bank account. It also does not pay off that much of the investment, and even with SEIS releif for the investors, there is still a significant amount to recoup.

Making films is easy. Making those films profitable, is the really hard task.

David Nicholas Wilkinson the director and presenter would have such a gay old time at the Gala, swanning around with the likes of Douglas Trumbull (who comes into the film) and James Cameron both of whom were to be given honours by SMPTE. He/I would hobnob with senior employees of Warners, Paramount, 20th Century Fox, Universal, Walt Disney, HBO, Google, Canon, Netflix, CBS, Dolby, Sony, Amazon etc all of whom would be attending the Gala. He/ I could also raid the BAFTA LA membership to invite an audience for his late afternoon screening. He would no doubt be feted
by them all .... OK some of them ....... well maybe a few.

However.......and there is always a however.

David Nicholas Wilkinson the producer has a fiduciary duty to the investors of THE FIRST FILM. They had provided the production finance over three years before, and they have still actually to be repaid a penny of that money which they had entrusted to him.

I thought about it long and hard for over a week.

I was like Robert Mitchum in NIGHT OF THE HUNTER but instead of "love" and"hate" tattooed on my fingers I had "art " and "commerce" mentally on mine.





Yes it was a Hollywood screening to a very prestigious audience, the best the film would receive but it was an audience of technical people. No one in acquisition would be there. No agents or people who could have helped bring about a good US TV license. No journalists to review the film to  an influential buyers.

My team who worked so hard to bring the film about, for less than the going rate, Irfan Shah, Bill Lawrence, Don McVey, Christopher Barnett, David Hughes etc would appreciate such an audience.

The SMPTE audience were but backroom boys (and girls), but people who would greatly appreciate the film more than any other. An audience for whom I suppose I had really made the film for. If I could convince the current members of the SMPTE that Leeds was where the worlds first film was made, then the main goal for making the film would be achived, for these men and women would collectively ensure that no more would Le Prince and Leeds be excluded from the film history books.

However it was going to cost £6,000.

And that was the problem.

I could never have made the film without the support of my investors, and the conclusion I came to is that I could not spend any more money and that my duty now was to secure them as much return as possible on that investment.

The investors are all millionaires and in their 80's and the loss of £6,000 to them collectively is a small sum indeed but it is the principle. The film has had a far greater profile than I had hope for, and now there is only one more goal to achieve with THE FIRST FILM, and that is to make the film a profitable one.

I would love the film to have screened before this audience, and I am sure in time I might come to regret it, maybe. But it was just a screening.

If my investors had not supported me with the production funding, and the film had never been made, now that is something I would have most definitely regretted for the rest of my life.

I feel certain that Louis Le Prince would agree with me, that I made the right decision.












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