The Right Foundation: Mike Anderson OpenGate Entertainment Co-Founder

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Hi, guys, I'm going to
do you and my name is Joseph David

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Jones. Hey, this is Kevin
Sausman. Hey, this mew suit.

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You don't re stay this when you're
listening to script to scream. Script to

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screen, script, screen, scripts, screen, series green. Hello,

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screeners, and welcome back to another
episode of script to screen. Here we

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go. We are in the final
episode, the final part of our open

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gate entertainment journey on the show.
I chose very specifically to begin this brand

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new season, this relaunched this reboot
that I'm doing with scripto screen. I

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decided very, very strategically to begin
this reboot with open gate entertainment and and

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by having members of the open gate
entertainment team joined me on the show,

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specially because I am on this journey
with open gate as I work on my

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pilot inheritance, which continues to get
excitement from the open gate team, which

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which is awesome and and further affirms
and confirms the the Brilliant, supportive atmosphere

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that is very present at open gate
entertainment. Well, we've had someone from

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the Story Development Department, we've had
someone talk to us about the distribution,

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finance and production aspect of open gate
entertainment and we've we've basically left the the

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best for last, essentially with the
CO founder of Open Gate Entertainment himself,

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Mr Mike Anderson. Welcome to the
show. Well, thanks, Alan,

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thanks for thanks for having me.
I'm excited to share with you what I

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know and tell you a little bit
about where it is that open gate came

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from and what it is that we're
doing today and where it is that we

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plan on going in the future.
That is awesome, because talking about the

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future of open gate is something that
is very exciting to me because I know

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where you guys are at now and
as someone who is in the industry and

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as someone who is a creative there's
always that, you know, in the

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back of our minds, there's always
that okay, where am I taking my

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career? WHAT'S THE VISION FORWARD?
So to be able to talk to you

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about the vision forward for open gate
is a very exciting thing. But let's

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start sort of in the beginning.
Let's take, you know, take a

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step back and look at how you
got to where you are today as a

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CO founder of this of this company. You Yeah, sure, so it

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really all started in the latter part
of two thousand and seventeen. I'm based

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in Chicago. I am a technology
guy. I'm not from the entertainment industry

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and that's very interesting. Yeah,
and I was approached by a business partner

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of mine here locally about diversifying or
creating a diversified portfolio that would deploy funds

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into the entertainment world, whether it
be film, television or theater. So

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over the course of a couple of
months we did some pretty in depth analysis

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using hedge fun quantitative analysis type tools
on the entertainment industry and determined that content

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that was inspirational and aspirational, created, written, lead, driven, etc.

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By females, people of Color and
people from other underrepresented communities had an

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odds on advantage is compared to other
types of content for being profitable, be

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it at the box office or the
stream of platform or or Broadway. So

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we proceeded to fund that Entertainment Production
Fund and set out in early two thousand

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and eighteen to deploy those funds in
the entertainment industry. So basically I would

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go to la every two to three
weeks. I'd drive up and down Sunset

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Boulevard and I would meet with whomever
it was that was interested in gaining access

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to the funds that we had available. Suffice it to say, when you

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drive up and down Sunset Boulevard and
you've got a trunk full of cash in

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the car, you can get a
meeting with just about anybody in the industry

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and I had the good fortune of
meeting people that were very successful studio heads,

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decision makers at streaming platforms, independent
producers, directors, etc. That

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that all wanted access to that capital
to make the kind of content or to

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create the kind of content that this
fund was focused on. Along the way,

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what I was discovering was pretty typically, that these decision makers were being

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presented projects that didn't necessarily come to
them with all of the different elements of

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what a pitch package in their minds
should contain. Okay, and it was

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one of those things where, after
hearing that for the better part of a

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year, I kind of thought,
you know, look, I know the

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biggest, best, brightest, most
successful minds in this business. They've all

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told me that what they see is
not what they want to see. I

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know that there's a whole world of
creators out there that have really unique,

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interesting ideas, concepts and stories to
tell you know what, if I worked

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with a handful of these people to
kind of determine, you know, what

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does that ultimate pitch package look like, and how can I work backwards from

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that, and what kind of a
process can I build out to create those

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pitch packages that these decision makers are
really truly interested in acquiring and bringing to

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life? And that's really where it
is that the idea and the concept for

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open gate came from. Wow,
okay, so initially the company that you

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are working for, the hedge,
the Hedge Fund esque company, was an

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open gate. It was something completely
different. Credit was or was it?

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Well, okay, was not open
gate. Okay, and one thing,

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I think that it's that I found
very interesting that you said. You said

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that the project x that were actually
selling were projects that were led by women

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and people of color and diverse projects. Is that what you said earlier in

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terms of that? Yeah, I
mean, you know, we did some

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some, like I said, some
pretty in depth analytics on the entertainment industry

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and as a whole, the investment
thesis that we ultimately created was focused on

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that inspirational and aspirational content created by
those communities and on those voices that I

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mentioned. Wow, okay, that's
that's very interesting. That's a very interesting

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like. That peaks my interests as
are as a writer and and also as

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someone who's interested in the business side
of the industry. It really peaks my

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interest to see that that study sort
of resulted in in that kind of find.

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I guess you know. So think
of think of you yourself. You

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know, although although the the story
of inheritance may not necessarily be anything that

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unique, the world in which that
story takes place and the voice with which

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you are able to tell that story, that's what truly makes it unique.

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And all of the content acquisition folks
that we are associated with, that's what

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they're inner rested in. They're interested
in stories, again, that aren't necessarily

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unique, but take place in unique
worlds and are told by unique voices.

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So that, you know, really
is just a follow on to the investment

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thesis of that fund that we had
created and were a part of, that

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was focused on the inspirational and aspirational
content from the communities that I mentioned.

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That's that's super cool. So then. So, then, as soon as

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you learned that the concept of the
pitch packages and that people, these decision

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makers were not being presented with the
kind of material that they were seeking per

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se or the way that that material
was being presented. You then, how

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did then? What was that next
step to make open gate what it is

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now? Yeah, so, I
mean. So, if you think about

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the process that you yourself are going
through, you know what's the first thing

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that we start with? We start
with the beat sheet of the foundation,

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the outline, which determines how it
is that that script is going to look

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like. That sits up on top
of that beat sheet, that outline.

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It serves as the foundation. Well, it needs to be a solid foundation.

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All of the pieces, parts and
building blocks the that story is comprised

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of and how it is that those
things are ultimately going to come to life

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need to be present and they're in
that foundation, that Beatsheet, that outline,

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so that the script that sits up
on top of that can make use

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of those and you have the comfort
of knowing that it's built on a really

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solid underlying foundation. From there it's
really a matter of building out all of

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the ancillary components that these pitch packages
are comprised of. You need a really

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interesting and compelling logline. You need
a one pager you need a treatment or

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a series Bible. You need a
visually stimulating pitch deck. You need the

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creator to be able to allow the
the ability to introduce that story a little

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pitch video that allows them to produce
themselves in the story and where it is

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and why it is that this story
needs to be brought to life. All

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of those things comprised together, that's
the pitch package. And the folks that

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we were dealing with were were just
kept continuously voicing that these pitch packages didn't

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have the elements that they were interested
in seeing and that they wanted to utilize

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to make decisions. So, you
know, as a technology guide, you

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know what did I hear? I
heard slid foundation, I heard elements of

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a pitch package, and it wasn't
long before I thought, well, these

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are all just end deliverables. All
that's necessary is to put together a process

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that creates those end deliverables and do
it with what these decision makers, the

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studio heads, these people in the
corner offices, the the people that actually

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consume this content or finance this content
and actually bring it to life. Let's

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give them what they're asking for,
and that's what it is that we worked

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towards in these processes that we created. So the partner that cause you are

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a CO founder of open gate,
crack. Correct. Yes, so then,

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what was your next step after hearing, after seeing that you know,

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this is what I need to do
now. How what was the next step

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for you to Establish Open Gate?
Who was your week? Yeah, so

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we launched open gate in in September
of two thousand and nineteen and we spent

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the better part of six months building
out those processes that we take people through

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to the point where we were able
to launch targeted advertising across the different social

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media platforms in March of two thousand
and twenty, just in time for the

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pandemic, and we began to have
storytellers show up at our door with concepts

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or ideas or scripts or pictures in
a shoe box that were needing the process

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that we were going to take people
through to create these pitch packages and then

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get them out into a distribution,
financing and production network. Yeah, and

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I think one of the things,
and I you know, when we first

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when you and I have had our
first phone call, you know, back

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when I was still, you know, getting into the process of open gate.

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One of the things that I said
that, I absolutely love about what

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seems to have evolved into open gates
vision, which is giving a chance or

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opening a door for people that regardless
of of you know, race, creed,

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gender, whatever it's, as long
as you had a good story and

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a unique voice and you needed at
that door opened, that's where openate was

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able to sort of step in.
Yeah, so, whether you're the burist

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and West Hollywood, whether you're the
gun club owner in Birmingham Alabama, whether

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you're the farmer and South Carolina,
of the housewife and Almaha or, in

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your case, the writer and Lebanon
right in this industry, what are your

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odds of actually getting something brought to
life that you have this idea, this

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concept, the story, the script, whatever it is that you have?

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Were the odds of that getting brought
to life? There? There about one

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in a million. So what we
do is we get you to the point

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where it's truly pitchable, it's truly
saleable, we get it into a catalog,

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into a portal, and then off
and out and into a legitimate distribution,

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financing and production network. Right.
Yeah, all for the purpose of

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giving your project an opportunity to get
brought to life. So what does that

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ultimately end up looking like? That
could be an option agreement, it could

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be that writer gaining representation, it
could be somebody buying that property outright.

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It could be somebody entering into a
coproduction agreement. There's there's a lot of

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different ways in which things can unfold, but you, as the creator,

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will always be least at the termination
of our process, you will be the

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owner of that intellectual property. You
know, all we are as a company

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that provide services to you to get
you to the point where this thing becomes

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pittable and saleable. Once we get
it off out into the distribution, financing

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and production, it works and we
make those introductions how it is and what

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it is that ultimately happens, you
still retain all of that control. Any

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and all decisions are made by you
or your team of people that you've assembled

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as far as the terms of conditions
underneath which you know, you you bring

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that intellectual property or that Ip to
life. Yeah, I love that.

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You you went into all the different
sections that I wanted to actually talk about,

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which is awesome. You know what? The other thing that again,

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when you and I had first talked
about and now you just mentioned it as

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well, is that the creative remains
in control of their Ip, and I

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feel like a lot of companies that
sort of tout the Horn of doing what

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you're sort of doing, or something
similar to what open gate is doing or,

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you know, excit our set ex
are fill in the blank here.

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Somewhere along the line, I feel
like every single creative, specially when it

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comes to writers, the first and
foremost concern that we have is, do

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we still have control of our intellectual
property? Do we have control of our

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creative decisions? Do we have control
of our story? You are we just

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like putting it out there and then
losing control of all of it like that?

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I feel like that's part of the
curse of being a writer, is

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that getting used to the idea of, like you writing a script and then

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giving it off to someone else to
kind of do with it what they will.

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But with open gate, it seems
like to a certain degree you're still

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like the creative is still in control, the writer is still in control,

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and and absolutely that's the case.
You know, certainly there's vehicles like the

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writers guild, there's vehicles like the
copyright office that you can use to protect

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your Ip, to go through a
registration process whereby it becomes a known thing.

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It's registered and you own it.
We're your board of Advisors, you

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know, you Allan are the CEO
of your project. You own that intellectual

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property by default. We don't take
an ownership steak in that. We're a

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company that you've hired to do work
on your behalf to get this thing again

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to where it's pitchable and saleable and
then off and out and into a network

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of folks that can actually write the
checks and actually bring this thing to life.

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Now you may very well, you
know, encounter somebody that wants to

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buy it from you, you know, to buy that script and and,

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you know, go and move forward
with it with you having little or no

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involvement. Whether or not that happens
is ultimately your decision, right how it

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is that you choose to enter into
that business relationship with whomever, that is

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entirely, one hundred percent ultimately driven
and determined by you. Yeah, and

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the other thing that I love that
you said when you were, you know,

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when you were talking about earlier,
about you know, what success is

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post the open gate process. I
love that you mentioned the limitless opportunities that

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could essentially, you know, happen
post a creative finishing the process with open

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gate. Like success doesn't necessarily have
to mean that this particular script gets sold

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or made or produced, but it
could mean that you, you know,

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especially, I'm going to use me
as an example because that's the easiest thing

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for me to do as a screenwriter. It can mean that I get representation

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as a writer, it could get
me into a writer's room where I'm working

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on another show. It doesn't necessarily
have to be that this script per se

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becomes like a produced product. Now
again, that's not to say that that

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wouldn't be the most ideal scenario.
But success and and what it means after

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the open gate process is done,
there's so many different ways that this could

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as you said, that this could
actually develop and grow and and which brings

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me again to sort of say that
it feels to me like open gate is,

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as you said, like we hire
you, we're sort of the CEOS,

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you're our board of Advisors, board
of Directors or whatever. But I

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also would like to say that it
feels to me that open gate is also

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a catalyst to launching you forward.
It's all, it's like that thing that

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like we had all the resources as
writers, but we didn't have this link

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shot or the bow and Arrow,
and you guys are like the bow and

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Arrow, launching us in the right
direction right exactly. So the common thread.

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You know, whether you're an aspiring
writer, whether you're an aspiring director,

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maybe you're aspiring on screen talent,
or maybe you just found a shoe

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box full of pictures in the basement
that contain in them a really interesting story

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about your grandmother and her sister in
Pre World War I Germany and the journey

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that they took through World War I
kill ater. You see Twentyzero people show

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up at your door, you start
to realize that there's almost no end to

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the variety and the types of stories
that are out there, not only here

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in the US but also, in
your case, internationally. Right and as

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the industry changes, because clearly we're
seeing a lot of changes in the industry.

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I think I was having a conversation
with someone very recently and I said

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it feels to me like the industry
is being deconstructed. Like it. It's

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the way we thought of the industry, you know, and it hasn't been

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like the the deconstruction has been happening
very recently too, because, like,

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if you look at the industry and
like that, you know, the first

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half of two thousand or even like
in the early two thousand and ten S,

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it was still sort of functioning very
similarly to the way that it was

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before. But now, with like
the way streaming is sort of taking control,

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with the pandemic also shaking the industry
up, with companies like openate also

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creating sort of creating newer opportunities and
opportunities for for people like me. Where

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do you think this? Like,
do you have a sort of like an

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idea of where you see everything heading
towards or like what sort of shifts are

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still potentially going to happen? Yeah, so, I mean, if you

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think about the entertainment industry as a
whole, you know it operates basically the

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same way that it has for fifty
or sixty years. So this concept of

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an agent in a manager and representation
and studios and production companies and this is

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how content gets rolled out. This
kind of been the way that it's worked

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for fifty or sixty years. So
you know, obviously, when we showed

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up on the scene with this unique
novel concept to give unrepresented, primarily first

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time content creators a voice in an
opportunity. You know, you can imagine

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that we were met with a good
bit of skepticism and the standard response was,

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well, that's how how it works. People don't ever pay to have

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their content pitched and say yeah,
you're missing the point. People will pay

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to get themselves in a position to
have a legitimate chance at getting their content

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brought to life through one of the
ever growing number of outlets that are available

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for content consumption that exists out there. So, whether it's your whether it's

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your phone and snap TV up through
an Imax, you know, box office

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type release. You know, the
number of platforms available today is is exponentially.

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Yeah, it was three to five
years ago or twenty years ago,

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and I would imagine in five to
ten years it'll be even more so a

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tool or a facility or a vehicle, like an open gate that allows content

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to get to the best version of
itself that it can be. You still

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got to do that right. You
can't sell something that's not built on a

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salad foundation where people can see,
an understand and realize pieces, parts and

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building blocks that a pilot episode makes
use of. Where does this season go?

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Where do these storylines go? Where
do these characters go in season,

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or, excuse me, in episodes
two through x of a season one?

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or where does the series as a
whole going seasons two, three and beyond?

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All those things still need to be
there and, if done properly,

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now your project, which is now
truly pitchable and truly salable, has a

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multitude of opportunities and outlets that could
eventually bring this thing to life exactly,

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exactly. All right. Let's shift
to something that you mentioned earlier, which

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is talking about the vision for openate
going forward. So now you're at a

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place where you have this amazing portfolio
and anybody who visits the website can literally

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see the projects that are sort of
being being, I guess, like work

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through the the open gate process,
the project that are like in motion,

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and and they can literally tell.
I think one of the things that I

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saw that immediately Pique my attention when
I was looking at it was this project

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with with Gina Davis that I sort
of mentioned in my previous episodes on the

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show while talking with Jonathan and Luke
there. You know, they also shared

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other success stories. All of that
is available on open gate. Now that

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you're sort of at this place where
your archive or your folios growing exponentially with

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every passing day or week or whatever, what is the vision going forward?

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Where do you see open gate,
let's say, in the next five years?

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So? So, if you look
at the the organization, or the

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part of the organization that Jonathan Heads
Up, it's it's called distribution, financing

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and production. So, you know, what do we do today? Today

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we get content into the hands of
people that can bring it to life,

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that it can actually finance it and
produce it. So, as time goes

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along, you know, could we
become the financing entity? Could we become

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the entity which actually produces this concept
and kind of work our way up the

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the food chain, so to speak, of this industry to where we are

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doing the financing, we are doing
the productions and we are securing the distribution,

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or perhaps doing the distribution ourselves,
of this content on all of the

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various different platforms that are out there
for content to be distributed on. That's

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I mean, that that is that's
like, that's so excited getting. I'm

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sitting here smiling listening to you and
I'm like, oh, man, like

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this kid really be such an amazing
thing. and Jonathan sort of teas this

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and his episode, but it was
like very light. So it's a very

305
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light tease and I was like,
well, if this is actually what the

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vision is moving forward, this is
so exciting. And here you are just

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00:28:00.059 --> 00:28:03.700
affirming that, adding, you know, confirming that that's sort of where it's

308
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heading. That's super exciting, Mike. That's that's so truly super exciting.

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And again, think of my background. You know, I'm a technology guy.

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So the first day that I sit
down and I, you know,

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start to code for an application that
I have in mind, you know I'm

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doing all of that with a plan
in place. I've got a set of

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things or objectives that I'm trying to
accomplish and I have this end goal in

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mind. So what we're doing in
this content acquisition phase of our business,

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in the development phase of our business, is not unlike what a development team

316
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for a software application would go through. You know, you don't just snap

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your fingers and the next blockbuster movie
appears. It goes through a process no

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different than a software application goes through
a process. It goes through a requirements

319
00:29:08.180 --> 00:29:14.450
analysis, there's a prototype that gets
built, there's, you know, funding

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that gets secured to actually take it
beyond the prototype phase. Sounds a lot

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like, you know, the kinds
of things that I've done for the last

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thirty plus years. It's just doing
these kinds of disruptive things in an industry

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which, quite frankly, was begging
for this kind of a solution. Exactly,

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amen to that. Amen to that
and more power to you. So

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one of the things that I actually
want to know, like, because you

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said you're an it guy. You're
not anywhere near this industry, like.

327
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So are you a like? Are
you a fan of movies? Are you

328
00:29:48.829 --> 00:29:55.740
a fan of content? Are you
a complete stranger to are you like that,

329
00:29:55.980 --> 00:29:57.420
detached from the whole thing and then, sort of, with open gate

330
00:29:57.500 --> 00:30:02.099
and that Hedge Fund, became more
and more passionate as time went on?

331
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No, it's been, you know, an interest of mine for thirty plus

332
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years. It's never in industry that
I personally ever thought I was going to

333
00:30:12.490 --> 00:30:17.970
get involved in because what I knew
of the industry and how it work,

334
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there really wasn't a place for a
person like me, and right, right,

335
00:30:22.559 --> 00:30:26.759
you know, and these kinds of
ideas just because of the way in

336
00:30:26.880 --> 00:30:33.319
which it worked. So it isn't
anything that was ever, it was never

337
00:30:33.359 --> 00:30:40.470
an idea to do this until I
started driving up a noun sunset and came

338
00:30:40.549 --> 00:30:45.390
to the realization that, hey,
this system is broken. You know that

339
00:30:45.029 --> 00:30:51.700
there's no reason in the world why
this story that this writer created in Lebanon

340
00:30:52.339 --> 00:30:56.660
shouldn't have the opportunity to get brought
to life and in all likelihood it's gonna

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be something that people new could potentially
have interest in because of the uniqueness of

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00:31:03.779 --> 00:31:07.609
the world, in the uniqueness of
the voice that's telling that story. Yeah,

343
00:31:07.730 --> 00:31:12.369
and well, thank you so much
for that compliment. So, you

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know, people always say, well, you know what percentage of your projects

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are ultimately going to get brought to
life, and the answer is, I

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don't know. I know that we
do a pretty good job on the content

347
00:31:26.039 --> 00:31:32.039
acquisition phase and in that part of
our business of vetting the content, in

348
00:31:32.119 --> 00:31:36.950
vetting the creators. You know,
it doesn't do anybody any favors to to

349
00:31:37.589 --> 00:31:45.750
have stories go through our process by
creators that aren't necessarily capable of putting in

350
00:31:45.869 --> 00:31:49.099
the effort necessary to get that project
to the point that it needs to be

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or that the concept just doesn't have
any commercial viability. So we do.

352
00:31:56.539 --> 00:32:00.500
You know, we do a level
of vetting on the front end because we

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00:32:00.660 --> 00:32:06.170
want to make sure that the projects
that actually end up going through this process

354
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really do have a chance of getting
brought to life on the back end.

355
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Now, how long is that process
going to take once that package is done

356
00:32:15.920 --> 00:32:20.559
and it's in the catalog and in
the poral and off and out in these

357
00:32:20.640 --> 00:32:25.480
networks? You know, the industry
is always operated under you know, the

358
00:32:27.680 --> 00:32:31.549
potentially years for that to happen,
if not decades for that to happen.

359
00:32:31.829 --> 00:32:37.190
You know, it's funny when you
start to look at the journey that some

360
00:32:37.349 --> 00:32:44.109
of these stories have taken. I
watched a movie the other night on on

361
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Amazon, tender bar. You know, it was written by and it was

362
00:32:47.940 --> 00:32:52.619
the memoirs of a Poolitzer Prize winning
author that he wrote in two thousand and

363
00:32:52.700 --> 00:32:58.140
five and six and and it took
literally the better part of fifteen, sixteen,

364
00:32:58.220 --> 00:33:01.809
seventeen years for that story to make
its way to the screen. So

365
00:33:02.250 --> 00:33:06.369
yeah, I mean and even even
outside of that, even outside of the

366
00:33:06.450 --> 00:33:08.890
Indie film look at like James Cameron
with Avatar, like it took him,

367
00:33:09.529 --> 00:33:13.640
it took him like decades to get
that thing out there because he knew that

368
00:33:13.759 --> 00:33:15.880
he needed that proper technology and all
that stuff. So well, the ten

369
00:33:16.079 --> 00:33:21.960
and there you go. So you're
talking Plitt Sur Prize winning authors. You're

370
00:33:22.039 --> 00:33:29.349
talking award winning creators right this industry, right that they themselves. It takes

371
00:33:29.869 --> 00:33:35.309
years for them to who see their
projects come to realization and come to fruition

372
00:33:35.829 --> 00:33:40.069
for a wide variety of reasons.
So, you know, as soon as

373
00:33:40.819 --> 00:33:45.940
creators get done with the process and
this package is done and it's ready to

374
00:33:45.980 --> 00:33:52.859
go on words, Jonathan and I
sit down with those creators and say,

375
00:33:52.460 --> 00:33:58.970
okay, now the work begins right
right. This isn't this isn't open gate

376
00:33:59.490 --> 00:34:06.089
doing this. This is US jointly
turning over a thousand stones so that we

377
00:34:06.210 --> 00:34:12.679
can find the one person or the
one entity underneath which lies the ability,

378
00:34:12.800 --> 00:34:16.559
that and the interest to actually bring
this thing to life. So let's get

379
00:34:16.599 --> 00:34:22.920
to work. Let's figure out,
you know, every single possible way that

380
00:34:22.159 --> 00:34:27.309
we're going to go out and attack
this market so that we can get your

381
00:34:27.510 --> 00:34:31.190
project in front of people who truly
legitimately have an interest in bringing it to

382
00:34:31.349 --> 00:34:36.670
life, so that we can get
conversations going, so that we can begin

383
00:34:36.750 --> 00:34:42.179
to get feedback on this. This
concept that you've curated to the point where

384
00:34:42.579 --> 00:34:46.500
you know maybe that that feedback indicates
that something needs to change in the eyes

385
00:34:46.579 --> 00:34:52.019
of that particular individual and if so, the Creator has a decision to make.

386
00:34:52.099 --> 00:34:55.250
Do I take that do the I
take that feedback into consideration and modify,

387
00:34:55.449 --> 00:34:59.889
or do I continue to march forward
with what is that I have and

388
00:34:59.969 --> 00:35:04.409
go on to the next conversation?
And this this whole thing that you just

389
00:35:04.849 --> 00:35:08.480
describe right now, if anybody out
there is listening, this is exactly what

390
00:35:08.840 --> 00:35:15.440
benefit you get by working and collaborating
and hiring open gate. Yeah, it's

391
00:35:15.519 --> 00:35:20.079
the Abit, it's the idea,
it's the idea that you will have an

392
00:35:20.239 --> 00:35:24.469
army behind you who, obviously,
if you are at the point where you're

393
00:35:24.550 --> 00:35:30.389
sitting with Mike and you're sitting with
Jonathan and you're at that stage, it

394
00:35:30.469 --> 00:35:32.469
means that you passed the wetting stage, which I do want to circle back

395
00:35:32.510 --> 00:35:37.460
to in a second. So you've
passed the betting stage, you're got you've

396
00:35:37.500 --> 00:35:40.780
gone through all that work and now
you have an army of people who truly

397
00:35:40.820 --> 00:35:45.019
believe in you and your project,
who want to and, as Jonathan put

398
00:35:45.059 --> 00:35:49.219
it, and I love the way
that he put it help you scream louder

399
00:35:49.500 --> 00:35:55.050
so that people will hear your voice, and that is the brilliance of what

400
00:35:55.210 --> 00:35:58.730
open gate is. Yeah, you
know and you think of you know what

401
00:35:58.969 --> 00:36:02.889
exists, what are, what are
what is out there in terms of the

402
00:36:04.050 --> 00:36:09.840
avenues and the platforms that we collectively
can go broadcast that this is available.

403
00:36:10.159 --> 00:36:15.079
You know, there's there's certainly the
open gate relationships and the hundred plus or

404
00:36:15.559 --> 00:36:22.110
companies that we have relationships with that
that are capable of bringing things to life,

405
00:36:22.150 --> 00:36:27.429
but there's also countless social media platforms, twitter, instagram, clubhouse,

406
00:36:28.030 --> 00:36:31.980
and being active in those communities and
networking in those communities. Well, now

407
00:36:32.059 --> 00:36:37.340
you're networking in those communities with something
that you can actually sell, that you

408
00:36:37.420 --> 00:36:42.780
can actually present to people. So, you know, US encouraging our creators

409
00:36:43.059 --> 00:36:46.329
to do that, to take an
active role in that process, is is

410
00:36:46.969 --> 00:36:53.610
an important one, because you never
know underneath which stone there's going to lie

411
00:36:54.090 --> 00:37:00.639
somebody that's interested in bringing that project
to life. Exactly exactly, and,

412
00:37:01.320 --> 00:37:05.159
as I said, I wanted to
circle back real quick just that sort of

413
00:37:05.239 --> 00:37:10.039
the final final little questions here and
there about the vetting process. How does

414
00:37:10.159 --> 00:37:14.320
that? How does that work?
Because if technically, if it's a creator

415
00:37:14.360 --> 00:37:21.030
actually hiring openate, then what we're
where does the vetting actually occur, as

416
00:37:21.070 --> 00:37:23.269
it with the initial phone call with
bread is it? Where does the vetting

417
00:37:23.349 --> 00:37:29.750
happen? Of course. So so
you know, we we through our our

418
00:37:30.139 --> 00:37:37.139
social media ad spend, we are
targeting communities of people that that we want

419
00:37:37.179 --> 00:37:44.019
to have show up at our door. So we're going after creatives from these

420
00:37:44.219 --> 00:37:52.130
underrepresented communities very specifically because we feel
like those are the stories that, if

421
00:37:52.170 --> 00:37:59.119
they go through our process, have
a have an odds on chance of actually

422
00:37:59.239 --> 00:38:01.880
getting brought to light. So what
it really all starts with who it is

423
00:38:02.000 --> 00:38:08.360
that we are targeting and it's a
matter of targeting the appropriate groups of people,

424
00:38:09.039 --> 00:38:15.510
doing that through social media and Social
Media Adspend, which at its core

425
00:38:15.150 --> 00:38:21.309
is a technical thing that you're doing. So it plays right into what it

426
00:38:21.510 --> 00:38:24.750
is that I've got a lot of
experience and expertise doing, and that is

427
00:38:25.230 --> 00:38:31.780
finding those people, motivating those people
enough that they come and show up at

428
00:38:31.820 --> 00:38:37.940
our door. So content creator shows
up at our door. What we want

429
00:38:37.980 --> 00:38:45.170
to do and understand in those initial
conversations is, you know our is your

430
00:38:45.250 --> 00:38:51.849
concept viable? Are People going to
want to watch this. And then number

431
00:38:51.929 --> 00:38:59.440
two, are you, as a
creator, capable of of dedicating the time

432
00:38:59.559 --> 00:39:05.400
and the energy necessary to go through
this process? You know certainly there's a

433
00:39:05.719 --> 00:39:09.030
there's a financial commitment. You know
you're going to pay US some money to

434
00:39:09.150 --> 00:39:15.150
go through this process. But even
more important than that, are you somebody

435
00:39:15.269 --> 00:39:17.989
that's going to be willing to put
in the time and the effort, in

436
00:39:19.030 --> 00:39:22.269
the energy? Are you going to
be somebody that it's going to be willing

437
00:39:22.389 --> 00:39:29.019
to listen to the feedback that we
may give you? That may not necessarily

438
00:39:29.099 --> 00:39:31.460
be something that you want to hear. Hey, did you think about doing

439
00:39:31.500 --> 00:39:36.219
one, two and three instead of
A, B and c? Some content

440
00:39:36.380 --> 00:39:39.409
creators are very open to that and
they realize that all we're trying to do

441
00:39:39.690 --> 00:39:45.769
is help their project get to a
better place. Other content creators view that

442
00:39:45.809 --> 00:39:50.690
as a personal assault on this thing, this baby that they have, and

443
00:39:50.809 --> 00:39:54.599
nobody likes, you know when your
baby is insulted in their eyes. So

444
00:39:55.239 --> 00:40:00.159
you know, it's really a matter
of just making sure in that vetting process

445
00:40:00.400 --> 00:40:06.360
that we find viable projects and we
we're ending up and we are working with

446
00:40:06.719 --> 00:40:10.949
capable creators. That's awesome, that's
so cool and thank you for clarifying that,

447
00:40:10.989 --> 00:40:16.269
because I feel like that really makes
it much clear for for for anybody

448
00:40:16.309 --> 00:40:21.860
that's listening that's interested in the open
gate process. It makes them, I

449
00:40:22.019 --> 00:40:23.739
guess, it makes it at least
a bit more accessible and a bit more

450
00:40:23.860 --> 00:40:28.860
clear as to how that process,
especially the vetting process, process, works.

451
00:40:29.380 --> 00:40:30.739
And I feel like that's also why, when you look at, you

452
00:40:30.860 --> 00:40:35.460
know, open gates website and you
look at the portfolio, you're actually seeing

453
00:40:35.539 --> 00:40:38.889
projects and, as you said,
projects that have, you know, the

454
00:40:39.010 --> 00:40:45.849
potential of actually being something very successful
and not just like any you know random,

455
00:40:46.170 --> 00:40:50.920
you know whatever, random project with
a random story and with, know,

456
00:40:51.079 --> 00:40:53.199
like clear vision or clear effort that's
put into it. Yeah, and

457
00:40:53.320 --> 00:40:57.000
you, you know, you can
attest to this, or you will attest

458
00:40:57.039 --> 00:40:59.840
to this at some point, is
that, as you go through this process,

459
00:41:00.360 --> 00:41:05.989
there's a certain part of what we
do that is educational in nature.

460
00:41:06.469 --> 00:41:10.789
Oh, absolutely. You know,
stories need to contain specific elements. Well,

461
00:41:10.869 --> 00:41:16.469
some creators that show up at our
door are much better versed, much

462
00:41:16.710 --> 00:41:24.940
further along in their capabilities as a
storyteller then others. So it's really just

463
00:41:25.099 --> 00:41:30.739
kind of figuring out where in this
process do we plug you in? And

464
00:41:30.019 --> 00:41:36.889
how much of the educational component of
what it is that we do is really

465
00:41:36.969 --> 00:41:39.650
going to be of benefit to you
as the creator, because even I mean,

466
00:41:39.730 --> 00:41:43.170
like I could again. I'll use
me as an example. I'm someone

467
00:41:43.210 --> 00:41:45.809
who has written scripts before, I've
directed short films, I've done you know,

468
00:41:45.969 --> 00:41:51.039
I have a masters in screenwriting.
So I was more than likely,

469
00:41:51.119 --> 00:41:54.280
at least I'm guessing I was more
than likely, not necessarily going through a

470
00:41:54.400 --> 00:41:59.400
lot of the education process. But
even then, one of the first assignments

471
00:41:59.440 --> 00:42:00.280
that I had to do, and
I hope that you don't mind me sharing

472
00:42:00.320 --> 00:42:02.630
this, because I think I spoke
about this in Lukes episode as well,

473
00:42:04.110 --> 00:42:07.230
was to legitimately go and read a
book called story maps, like that was

474
00:42:07.630 --> 00:42:12.150
of my assignment. was, you
know what, it's okay, how about

475
00:42:12.150 --> 00:42:15.219
you just brush up on some some
you know, some of the education.

476
00:42:15.300 --> 00:42:19.139
Should ask bact just like brush up
on it a little bit. And even

477
00:42:19.219 --> 00:42:21.900
then, like after reading the book, I looked at my pilot and I

478
00:42:21.980 --> 00:42:25.699
was like, wait a minute,
this actually needs a lot of work,

479
00:42:25.980 --> 00:42:30.889
like it's you know, and that's
the again, that's the beauty and the

480
00:42:30.929 --> 00:42:35.449
benefit of working with open gate.
So we're, you know, we're going

481
00:42:35.489 --> 00:42:40.449
to ask people to read those books
primarily so that we can get on the

482
00:42:40.570 --> 00:42:45.679
same page from a language of vocabulary
and a terminology standpoint. Yes, from

483
00:42:45.719 --> 00:42:50.480
the seen stamper, yeah, absolutely, certainly, the save the cats series

484
00:42:50.559 --> 00:42:54.719
for feature films, the the episodic
story maps book that we ask you to

485
00:42:54.840 --> 00:43:01.150
read will lay out this language,
this vocabulary, in this terminology and also

486
00:43:01.590 --> 00:43:08.590
thoughts and ideas that that author had
on how it is that those stories should

487
00:43:08.590 --> 00:43:13.699
be structured. Now the reality is
we make some of that, all of

488
00:43:13.820 --> 00:43:17.139
that or none of that for an
individual project, but at least we're doing

489
00:43:17.219 --> 00:43:24.099
it under a common set of terminology
and language and a vocabulary so that nothing

490
00:43:24.179 --> 00:43:29.369
gets lost in translation. So that's
the primary reason that we ask people to

491
00:43:29.449 --> 00:43:34.170
read those books. The secondary reason
is that you alluded to, is there

492
00:43:34.210 --> 00:43:40.409
may very well be things that you
hear or read in that book that make

493
00:43:40.519 --> 00:43:45.639
you take pause and reconsider what it
is that you did as a storyteller in

494
00:43:45.760 --> 00:43:53.840
your pilot episode. Exactly exactly.
And again it's it's we're all. I

495
00:43:53.920 --> 00:43:57.389
mean like this is something that my
teacher used to say when I was back

496
00:43:57.389 --> 00:44:00.789
in the university. It's like you
will always be a student of this craft,

497
00:44:00.989 --> 00:44:02.510
like you will always be a student
of this craft. You will never

498
00:44:04.110 --> 00:44:07.429
like you will never reach a point
where you are a master, like I

499
00:44:07.750 --> 00:44:09.659
look at Steven Spielberg. It's,
for example, I'm just throwing like a

500
00:44:09.699 --> 00:44:14.260
big name out there who is someone
who's very well established in the industry and

501
00:44:14.340 --> 00:44:16.579
I feel like he is still,
to this day, learning and challenging himself

502
00:44:17.019 --> 00:44:22.579
and adapting with the industry like that
is of I think is a very important

503
00:44:22.619 --> 00:44:27.449
thing for all creatives to sort of
absorb that concept that you will always be

504
00:44:27.610 --> 00:44:31.650
a student of this craft and the
more open you are to learning, the

505
00:44:31.769 --> 00:44:37.130
more open you are to collaborating and
to listening to different perspectives, the better

506
00:44:37.289 --> 00:44:43.320
your work will be. And that
is again circling back to what you said

507
00:44:43.320 --> 00:44:45.320
about open gate. And you know, part of the vision for open gate

508
00:44:45.800 --> 00:44:51.960
is to help you get the best
version of whatever it is that you're working

509
00:44:52.039 --> 00:44:54.389
on possible. Like so, if
you're working on a on a feature,

510
00:44:54.429 --> 00:44:58.510
it's the best version of that feature. If you're working on a pilot,

511
00:44:58.550 --> 00:45:01.670
like I am, it's the best
version of that pilot. And you know

512
00:45:01.829 --> 00:45:06.230
series, Bible, etc. Etc. Etc. Yeah, you don't think

513
00:45:06.269 --> 00:45:09.059
about the project that you're working on
in this pilot episode. Think about what

514
00:45:09.219 --> 00:45:15.739
all need to be accomplished. Ideally, in that pilot episode you've got to

515
00:45:15.940 --> 00:45:20.780
introduced the world, the stories,
the characters, so that you can continuously

516
00:45:20.980 --> 00:45:27.530
draw on them throughout the course of
episodes two throughres of season one and capitalize

517
00:45:27.650 --> 00:45:30.250
on the Brown work that you laid
and sue's seasons two, three and beyond.

518
00:45:32.210 --> 00:45:36.440
That's all. That's a lot.
It is a lot. It is

519
00:45:36.519 --> 00:45:40.400
a love daunting but exciting at the
same time. But it's a there's nothing

520
00:45:40.920 --> 00:45:45.599
easy about any of that. And
you know I always tell people, look,

521
00:45:45.639 --> 00:45:51.989
you're going to ultimately be asking people
to spend a whole lot of money

522
00:45:52.510 --> 00:45:57.789
to bring your concept or your idea
to life. You can be rest assured

523
00:45:57.829 --> 00:46:02.469
that if there's a crack in that
foundation, if there are things that you've

524
00:46:02.789 --> 00:46:07.619
failed to address, they're going to
find it and the next thing they're going

525
00:46:07.659 --> 00:46:12.099
to be telling you is that you
can get your parking validated at the front

526
00:46:12.219 --> 00:46:16.340
desk, because you know, that's
just how those pitch meetings go, is

527
00:46:16.539 --> 00:46:22.090
that the the people on the other
side of the table are just looking for

528
00:46:22.170 --> 00:46:27.849
a reason to say no, people
never got fired or people don't get fired

529
00:46:27.889 --> 00:46:31.170
and the entertainment industry for saying no. You know they are looking for a

530
00:46:31.289 --> 00:46:37.360
reason to say no. We want
to eliminate the reasons that somebody could potentially

531
00:46:37.400 --> 00:46:44.159
say no and allow the conversation to
become about the merits and why it is

532
00:46:44.400 --> 00:46:49.949
that this project needs to be brought
to life and the viewing audience that's available

533
00:46:50.070 --> 00:46:54.909
there to draw in and make part
of this community of this particular show.

534
00:46:55.550 --> 00:47:00.070
And that's what it is that we're
trying to get to. You can't get

535
00:47:00.190 --> 00:47:02.699
there if you don't have a good
log wine. You can't get there if

536
00:47:02.780 --> 00:47:07.179
you don't have a solid beach cheet, you can't get there if you don't

537
00:47:07.179 --> 00:47:12.139
have a visually stimulating pitch deck.
So it's just putting all of those things

538
00:47:12.260 --> 00:47:20.369
in place that really eliminate all of
the initial reasons that somebody can potentially say

539
00:47:20.489 --> 00:47:27.929
no. And on that note,
I want to thank you so much for

540
00:47:28.090 --> 00:47:30.840
taking the time to speak with me
and to be on script to screen.

541
00:47:31.599 --> 00:47:36.239
I could legitimately talk to you about
this for hours, I feel, so

542
00:47:36.920 --> 00:47:40.760
I figured this is a great place
to sort of bring this conversation to a

543
00:47:40.920 --> 00:47:47.429
close, obviously with hopefully with more
opportunities to come back on the show.

544
00:47:47.550 --> 00:47:52.110
Maybe when open gate launch is something
new or whatever, you'll definitely have a

545
00:47:52.190 --> 00:47:55.989
home here at script a screen to
come back and talk about it and share

546
00:47:57.110 --> 00:48:04.500
those exciting milestones that open gate is
going to reach. So, yeah,

547
00:48:04.659 --> 00:48:07.500
thank you so much for being on
the show. Mike. If you could,

548
00:48:07.860 --> 00:48:10.139
if you can, if you could
share like one piece of advice with

549
00:48:10.260 --> 00:48:17.530
any like young creative, what would
it be? Just just know and understand

550
00:48:19.050 --> 00:48:29.679
that the level of effort involved is
not insignificant. Take advantage of every single

551
00:48:30.440 --> 00:48:37.239
resource that's available to you with respect
to constructing that story and then, ultimately,

552
00:48:37.000 --> 00:48:40.949
whom it is that you talked to
to get that story brought to life.

553
00:48:42.949 --> 00:48:46.469
Amen to that. Amen to that. If anybody as that, you

554
00:48:46.550 --> 00:48:52.190
know, the past three episodes I've
said this, go to open gate nowcom

555
00:48:52.429 --> 00:48:55.539
check out their website. No matter
where you are on this planet, if

556
00:48:55.539 --> 00:49:00.260
you have a story to tell and
you're at a place where you're able to

557
00:49:00.380 --> 00:49:07.059
tell it and able to invest not
just financially but also your time and your

558
00:49:07.059 --> 00:49:08.699
energy and your creative power, if
you're at a place where you feel like

559
00:49:08.780 --> 00:49:15.449
you're ready to do that, check
out open gate nowcom Mike. Thank you

560
00:49:15.530 --> 00:49:17.050
again. So much. Yeah,
you're very welcome, Ellen. It was

561
00:49:17.130 --> 00:49:23.090
an absolute pleasure. I look forward
to speaking again absolutely. You know,

562
00:49:23.440 --> 00:49:27.039
speaking again for us can be many
things. It could be on the show,

563
00:49:27.119 --> 00:49:29.639
it could be in my process.
So I know you and I are

564
00:49:29.639 --> 00:49:32.760
going to have multiple conversations as we
as I move forward and I in the

565
00:49:32.800 --> 00:49:37.400
process and then hopefully again on the
podcast. So thank you again so much.

566
00:49:38.150 --> 00:49:42.469
Screeners. If you are listening to
the show and you are not subscribed,

567
00:49:42.590 --> 00:49:47.030
please take the opportunity to subscribe to
the podcast and leave us a comment

568
00:49:47.230 --> 00:49:52.300
feedback, especially on on itunes.
It will help us climb the charts in

569
00:49:52.699 --> 00:49:58.059
in the realm of podcasting. You
can always follow me on social media at

570
00:49:58.099 --> 00:50:00.900
stories by Alan, on instagram and
on twitter. Can also help support me

571
00:50:00.940 --> 00:50:05.820
and all my endeavors, including help
supporting this podcast, by going to buy

572
00:50:05.860 --> 00:50:09.449
me a coffeecom stories by Alan,
and you can buy me a scene by

573
00:50:09.530 --> 00:50:13.969
just one donation. have access to
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574
00:50:14.050 --> 00:50:19.329
and blogs that I do. Early
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575
00:50:19.809 --> 00:50:22.800
are for the membership only and there's
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576
00:50:22.960 --> 00:50:25.760
complicated. But you can check out
buy me a copycom stories by Alan.

577
00:50:27.159 --> 00:50:30.599
Thank you so much for joining us
this week. Brand new episode next week.

578
00:50:30.639 --> 00:50:34.320
I love you all. Take care
and have a good rest of your

579
00:50:34.360 -->
day.