Authors — Zaheer Goodman-Bhyat
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Sharks, Angels and Breastmilk – The Life of an Indie Producer
This is a picture of LA-based producer Jodi Redmond breast-feeding her three-month old daughter, Collette, while she waits for her next meeting at No Borders. Colette has been to three markets around the world already. When I saw Jodi, it really brought into sharp focus how committed indie producers need to be to their projects to get them made. It’s also a perfect metaphor for what’s going on at Independent Film Week. Arriving in New York after a very gentle and lovely time in Halifax felt like a very frontal attack on my senses. It was a classic case of […]
by Zaheer Goodman-Bhyat on Sep 20, 2012 -
The Power of the Humble Bar Napkin
I had a lunch meeting with two of my partners on an international co-production. We are planning a South Africa / Canada treaty co-production on a $15m film and planned to meet up at Strategic Partners. Today, we worked on our laptops, smartphones and iPads as we ate sushi on the beautiful Halifax waterfront. After an hour, we hit an obstacle in our work and were uncertain how to proceed. Then later, my Canadian partner started talking to a UK producer who is a good friend I made at TAP, and she had different thoughts. A German producer weighed in […]
by Zaheer Goodman-Bhyat on Sep 17, 2012 -
What’s Special About This?
I had a series of epiphanies in the morning TAP session today. The most profound thought I had was a question, and I think it’s a question that must have an answer if you are pitching a film. I think this may be the toughest question in the world, because if the answer is not obvious you’ve got nothing. It’s such a great lesson, and after today it’s a new rule for projects we’ll take on in our company. What’s special about this? Today I also got another bit of what I came here for. There are very few places […]
by Zaheer Goodman-Bhyat on Sep 14, 2012 -
THE VIEW FROM ACROSS THE ATLANTIC
Have you ever sat talking to someone and half way through a sentence thought, “Have I said this to this person already? OMG, what was I talking about? I’m lost?” I’m waking up in the middle of the night sweating with this fear rattling my head because I am preparing for two weeks of solid pitching. I need to be ready for about 10 a day, each one focused exactly the same as all the others, do the greatest pitch of your life! And that is just what’s organized. I have a shadow agenda to seek out other people – […]
by Zaheer Goodman-Bhyat on Sep 5, 2012
