Edited ESPN docu with FCP and a macbook

Hey guys,

Im a 23 year old filmmaker and a huge mac user, who has been on this forum for few years now. Our film, A Fighting Chance, premiered on ESPN in november and was edited entirely on two macbooks (one white macbook and one macbook pro) and FCP. We are releasing the DVD today and just wanted to be available to answer any questions any aspiring filmmakers may have about the workflow/process/indie film market in general. One of the reasons I felt I was even able to make the film in the first place was because of the friendly and informative community here. Feel free to ask away.

-T

We started making this almost right after we graduated Undergrad. I had gotten some scholarship money and in my final semester, instead of using the money to study abroad, I chose to buy a camera. The camera I purchased was a Canon XHA1 (now discontinued I think, shoots 24p HDV). My good friend received a similar scholarship and was able to buy a MBP and Final Cut.

We pooled together what little money we had, and were able to buy tapes, harddrives, a wireless mic, and a few other odds and ends (like china balls or a diffusion screen). Then we just started filming, practically living at Kyle's house everyday for nearly a year and a half. Kyle had been one of my best friends growing up and he agreed to let us film him as he was trying to get his fight. My parents agreed to let me move back home and make this movie.

We initially started to find investors to raise capitol. That failed horribly for a few reasons. First- we had no experience and were a couple of 21 year olds trying to figure things out as we were going. Second- we had no connections. Third- The economy was just about to have its bottom fall out (in the fall of 2008).

Our plan was just like everyone else's, to try to submit to a big festival, get in, and hope for distribution. If that didnt happen, we were going to try to scrap enough money together to print DVDs and hope we can sell DVDs to recoup our costs. ESPN was nowhere on our radar, and we were certainly not on theirs.

Fast forward a year and a half, and we now have a rough cut of the film (ended up cutting about 13 different versions). Kyle and I were visiting DC (he was giving a motivational speech to high schoolers suffering from physical and mental disabilities) and we ran into a businessman who knew Kyle. We told him about our film and he introduced us to a colleague that he knew. We luckily got a meeting with this colleague, showed him the film, and he was blown away by Kyle and his story. He jumped on board and was able to get us meetings with HBO and ESPN. We flew to New York, pitched the film, and luckily ESPN agreed to purchase the TV rights.

Unbelievably lucky.

Well, more time than I had anticipated is being spent right now handling a lot of the business aspects. We will be selling DVDs, trying to book free screenings, and working with a few non-profits to try and benefit the wounded soldiers coming back from battle. Kyle has done a lot of physical therapy with guys missing limbs, and we want some of the film's proceeds to benefit them as well.

As far as other projects, the co-director of the film has moved back to his hometown of Nashville. He is working on a screenplay.

I got hired for a growing film company in Atlanta as a writer/director. I will be making short films over the course of this year, while I write a feature screenplay of my own. I decided to forego a film grad program I got accepted to because of this opportunity. Hopefully, with some of the contacts A Fighting Chance has opened up, I'll be able to raise some money to shoot the feature in 2014.

We did all the finishing ourselves, or technically we hired out to a great posthouse in Atlanta. We delivered to ESPN in finished form on HDCAM- pretty standard from what I have heard.

And we are definitely seeing the positive effects of Georgia's aggressive tax incentives. More and more big shows are coming to film in the state and I'm excited to be in a film market thats actually growing.

Lethal- I read all the time about your helful and informative posts on this forum. What kind of work do you do?