{"id":8311,"date":"2009-04-23T03:55:48","date_gmt":"2009-04-23T10:55:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wwwold.dreamloom.com\/?p=8311"},"modified":"2009-04-23T03:55:48","modified_gmt":"2009-04-23T10:55:48","slug":"the-fixer-indie-in-the-making","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dreamloom.com\/?p=8311","title":{"rendered":"The Fixer – Indie in the Making"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"fixer\"Twitter is an awesome thing indeed. Not only did I make my way to Dreamloom through Twitter, I also made the\u00a0acquaintance of Jon F. Merz, a published sci-fi author, of such titles as “The Fixer” and “Parallax”, his latest thriller. What popped out at me about Jon was his endeavor to push his vampire chronicles to the small screen<\/a> as an Indie production. With all my favorite shows (at the time) dropping like flies, I was interested in the process of what he hoped to accomplish, especially considering the fact Jon is aiming for production standard quality versus a more typical Indie, budget on a shoestring-type affair.<\/p>\n

What sets The Fixer<\/em> apart from other Vampire stories is that rather than being ‘undead’, vampires are a separately evolving species, secretly co-existing with humans for thousands of years. Lawson, the main character of the show, is a \u00a0cynical, jaded, anti-hero”.<\/a> His job is to protect civilization from rogue vampires who threaten the status\u00a0quo.<\/p>\n

I had the chance to interview Jon about the process and what he’s come up against as he’s tried to create and market his Indie production.<\/p>\n

Most Indie budgets are small and usually shot subpar to production standards. What motivates you to create The Fixer<\/em><\/strong> with production quality standards?<\/strong><\/p>\n

From the\u00a0start, our intention at New Ronin is to produce a “real” television\u00a0series that can be brought into networks ready-to-go.\u00a0 That means that\u00a0we need to replicate the production standards, union agreements, etc. in
\norder to sell to that networks.\u00a0 They’re obviously obligated to use\u00a0productions that comply with industry standards.\u00a0 Imagine if we showed\u00a0up and said, “hey, buy our stuff, it’s ready to go, but by the way, we\u00a0didn’t use union people or adhere to the same production standards.”\u00a0They’d laugh us out the door.\u00a0 At best, they want to reshoot the entire
\nthing.\u00a0 Our goal is to walk in, hand them the episodes, and say, “Have fun.”<\/p>\n

What do you think is the biggest roadblock to getting the financing\u00a0\u00a0needed to produce an Indie series with the vision you have?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Our location is one hurdle we’ve had to overcome.\u00a0 If we were in\u00a0California, we’d be able to find plenty of wealthy people who have made\u00a0money investing in the entertainment industry.\u00a0 But we wanted to find\u00a0people locally (since The Fixer <\/em>is based in New England) who would\u00a0invest.\u00a0 That’s tough.\u00a0 People in New England don’t make their money
\nfrom movies or TV, so they need to be educated on the potential that\u00a0exists for excellent returns.\u00a0 Each pitch meeting we’ve gone to has\u00a0involved, on some level, a very elementary breakdown of how movies and\u00a0TV shows make their money.<\/span>
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Have you considered shooting lower quality to build audience \u00a0following to\u00a0\u00a0attract the bigger dollars you need to do the things you really want, sort\u00a0of like a vanity press for the web? What stops you from doing this?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0We’ve shot some very basic footage that enabled us to present our\u00a0ideas better to potential investors.\u00a0 It was sort of an idea of saying,\u00a0“this is what we’ve accomplished with no money – imagine how good it\u00a0will look when we have your money backing us.”\u00a0 Everyone involved on\u00a0The Fixer<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0from the start has come on-board for the simple love of the
\nproject.\u00a0 Vampires have been done to death in so many ways, but they’re\u00a0all the same in that they’re undead.\u00a0 But\u00a0The Fixer<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0isn’t like that.\u00a0Living, evolving vampires are something new, and combined with the\u00a0espionage angle, it’s a fresh look at the mythos that has people really\u00a0excited.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0What program length are you looking at when creating The Fixer?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Our four sales channels\u00a0focus on domestic broadcast rights, international broadcast rights, DVD,
\nand digital downloads.\u00a0 As such, each episode will be approximately 44\u00a0minutes long to accommodate commercials, etc. that the networks will\u00a0need to position in order to earn money.\u00a0 That said, we are definitely\u00a0investigating web outlets and digital downloads as an important\u00a0component of our overall sales structure.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What’s the biggest lesson to date you’ve learned through the entire\u00a0process of bringing The Fixer<\/em><\/strong> to the web? What are your biggest fears?
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the biggest things we’ve had to overcome is the inordinate\u00a0amount of people who swear up-and-down they want to get involved.\u00a0 They\u00a0love the project, they want to sink some money into it, they really love\u00a0it, they’re telling all of their friends about it, etc. etc.\u00a0 Then when\u00a0we put the paperwork in front of them, they balk and we never hear from
\nthem again.\u00a0 People talk a great game, but when it comes time to\u00a0committing, they bail.\u00a0 It’s rather a sad commentary on our society, I\u00a0think.\u00a0 People are conditioned into accepted norms and paths through\u00a0their lives and they lose that courage to try something new or to take a chance.<\/p>\n

As for my biggest fears, I suppose it’s what any creator fears most: \u00a0that the public won’t gobble it up and ask for more, more, more!\u00a0 What \u00a0helps is that\u00a0The Fixer<\/em>\u00a0is part of a multimedia\/multiplatform \u00a0entertainment vehicle.\u00a0 The Lawson Vampire novels are coming back into print along with the long-awaited 5th book and three more besides. \u00a0We’ve got a great web-based video game debuting over the summer.\u00a0 And much more to boot.\u00a0 The goal is to extend the production across a wide swath of market segments, hopefully getting more and more of an\u00a0audience.\u00a0 Only time will tell if we’re successful.\u00a0 But I think we will be.\u00a0 Very much so.<\/p>\n

So, essentially then, you are looking to have the product in hand and\u00a0get\u00a0networks to buy what you’ve already produced? What sort of hurdle do you\u00a0expect\/have you planned for in getting networks to buy into it? Do you\u00a0have a network picked out? A dream network?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes, that’s it exactly. \u00a0It’s obviously a bit different from how shows are normally produced here in the US, but we feel the time is coming when this will be more the norm. \u00a0There’s no reason why independent production houses can’t create television shows of comparable or better quality than networks. \u00a0This already happens with indie films, so why not TV?\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Our sales team is comprised of veterans who know how to get us into the networks. \u00a0But even our worst-case scenarios have a built-in profit model. \u00a0As far as hurdles go, this entire process has been one big hurdle. \u00a0There is always opposition to anything that threatens the status quo. \u00a0Our job is to show those who oppose us how this can work out for them from every angle. \u00a0Once they see that, the reception should warm.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

As far as a dream network, I like what is being shown on FX. \u00a0They push the envelope and their shows reflect that. \u00a0Rescue Me is one of the best-written shows on TV. \u00a0Sons of Anarchy is a lot of fun. \u00a0Who knows, The Fixer<\/em> might be a good fit for it.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Twitter is an awesome thing indeed. Not only did I make my way to Dreamloom through Twitter, I also made the\u00a0acquaintance of Jon F. Merz, a published sci-fi author, of such titles as “The Fixer” and “Parallax”, his latest thriller. What popped out at me about Jon was his endeavor to push his vampire chronicles […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dreamloom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dreamloom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dreamloom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dreamloom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dreamloom.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8311"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dreamloom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8311\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dreamloom.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dreamloom.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dreamloom.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}