Indie Film Thoughts

There is a lot of concern at the moment with the BBC daytime drama Doctors being cancelled, it was a mainstream way for people to gain a foothold in the industry and seen as a staple of daytime TV for many. People are naturally, wondering what this means for those entering the media market from the cast side to crew.

Changes to the market are always difficult to navigate and people are now looking for alternative avenues within the mainstream but overlooking the potential of commercializing ideas in the indie sector and utilizing avenues that are already in place such as HOD TV and the fantastic New Village Video whose platform is focused on the indies and the classic old school “straight to video” movies or the more familiar “streaming service original.”

Talks are underway for collective motion to pull new and emerging talent into pools and building something fresh. What this means is the indie scene has an opportunity to build a new network, a new platform and create.

With this in mind The Lost Creatives is willing to support and to start we want to share the books and sites we feel will be a major benefit to this:

Distribution and sales avenues.

HOD TV submissions a specialist in horror and thriller, the terms are fair and commercialization is possible, a full breakdown of the requirements is available, just drop us an email and we can share the details.

New Village Video, a friendly, open minded team who accept all genres of film and advocate for the indie scene while supporting and selling projects with success.

Books

Don’t F*ck Up Your No Budget Movie by Ivan Peric, a fantastic and personal insight into creating a feature film with a low budget, Ivan talks about the perils and offers up his own tried and tested path to creating a film and getting it sold by planning strategically. A real must read and a part of the lost library of books.

Opening Doors For Working Class Actors by Patricia Jones, a wonderful and open insight into the world of an actor giving you a clear and honest way to start out as an actor. Patricia Jones is a wonderful lady who talks honestly about her journey and gives pointers to those who would otherwise feel they cannot make the leap into the arts.

Cast and Crew

vShowcards, an alternative to the main networking and actors/crew sites, vshowcards is actor run and supported by various casting agents, production houses across the world, and offers a cohesive platform for you to market yourself to the media landscape.

Over the next few weeks we will be exploring avenues of marketing and other elements of the creative industry with a view to showcasing the potential for the indie scene.

The Lost Creatives Christmas

In the last few weeks of 2022 (where has the time gone!!??) The Lost Creatives has gone from strength to strength, don’t get me wrong there have been pitfalls, but overall we have been able to create a network of people that is amazing, offer PR and other forms of support to fellow creatives that was after all the goal of the site.

Christmas for us, will be a time of relaxation with a heavy focus on what will be done in the new year, with commercial work and PR for clients having been the heaviest part of our workload, our creative director JamesC, will be returning to work as a makeup artist on a more open basis and taking on smaller projects to bolster the public side of his work and spending time on some personal projects that will be featured not just here on the Lost Creative but his own site and our partner site The Lost Agency who will be taking a heavier hand in our own marketing and internal affairs. *This means we will be returning to Instagram soon!

We have had some disappointments lately, with meetings and reaching out to potential collaborators falling through mainly due to scheduling issues which as you can imagine as a freelancer, has been a pain, however that will not stop us from pushing forward and with our ties to HOD TV, we will be focusing on that for the future and tackling things in a much more hard-line manner.

Our passion for the arts is not waning, far from it, we have collated magazines, festivals and other information that we intend to make full use of for ourselves, up until now we have put a vast amount of time into clients and not been able to put the lost concept at the forefront but, we are incredibly proud of the fact people have trusted the team.

In the next few weeks we will be releasing our goals and a schedule for this through the site along with a few snippets of art projects to test the waters.

For the moment we are going to allow ourselves a little breathing space for the festive season and release more information soon and options to get involved.

Motivational Changes

With so many changes happening in the world of cinema, our predictions are starting to look more and more like a reality as people move toward digital platforms and the rise of the Indie film scene as smaller companies step to the plate and create films and TV projects that are specific to the likes of Prime and Amazon in general and of course our own personal favorite HOD TV.

Part of this for us has been about rethinking the websites and the content, we have made some small steps in this and will be taking our creative director’s portfolio site fully offline for a few days to reorganize and rebrand to fit upcoming projects.

While this is happening we did pull out some images that for us are a marker of what we are aiming to showcase and have a very commercial leaning that suits our style and future plans. What we have also been doing is talking to other small companies via Twitter, where we have been making a push toward support for Indie film of all stripes and will be publishing interviews with some fantastic small companies who have been talking about their pre-production work for their projects and how they are working within the guidelines. taking time to talk to distributors about what is out there for us as a team.

Naturally, for us, we are going to be looking at web TV first and foremost and have looked into various festivals and options to promote with our ultimate plan being commercially driven.

Film Festival Tie-ins

In the run-up to the festive season, we were talking to various small film festivals gathering information, and planning for the future. Naturally, this meant opening accounts with sites like Film Freeway and doing some in-depth checks and planning around our goals for the company. What this has led to will be announced soon with full details of how and where we will work. One of the festivals (in Eastern Europe) reached out to us and we are now talking in terms of being a media partner which we do love as a concept. Film and TV, particularly web TV, is something we as a team are keen to push forward with now more than ever.

This does not mean we will be abandoning our editorial work, far from it, we will work with magazines on a continuous basis as part of our marketing strategies but will not be the sole aspect of what we do. In fact, we have found a very interesting film crew based magazine that looks really promising in marketing terms so we will be writing inhouse articles to publish and take ad space later in the year.

Our plans are coming together well and there is some diversification in motion. More announcements and news will be released on the completion of the contracts. We are excited about the prospects of 2021 and look forward to showcasing the hard work that has already been done in the background.

A New Year A New Plan

In many respects, 2020 has been a lost year for a lot of people with the world changing dramatically. For us, it has opened up doors to a whole host of new potential avenues and given us a chance to reevaluate what we have been doing and look at how we can fit ourselves into the market long-term. To do this we have broken our work into key areas that will be public and those which will be kept private to the inhouse team.

In the public sense, we have two key areas we will be focusing on in the first quarter of the year:

Editorial and print: we have been putting this on the backburner in some respect taking time to look at locations, edit work already shot, slowly build up a series of images and work that will be released over the early part of 2021 with additional planned small shoots that will be a combination of artistic and commercial. *This will include product placement in behind the scenes imaging and video with brands such as Lord and Berry, Mykitco, and Brushwork Cosmetics to start. We are open to new potential brand partners for projects contact the team to discuss.

Film and TV: something that we have been doing since the start of Lost Creatives is supporting a range of festivals including Micromania and The Nepal Cultural and Film Centers' own festival. We do have plans to partner with a European festival and will reveal details on that soon.

Our initial goal is to work on 3 projects that will be shorts, designed specifically to go to festivals and as an opening gambit for our planned digital TV shoots in the horror/thriller market (for Which we have already spoken to several distributors and have options in place including the HOD TV route which is our number 1 choice).

In the coming months, our projects will be smaller in nature to help push forward and test the waters of the market and expand out. Our ties to South Asia (Including Nepal Film Production and our key actor contacts in India), will play a heavy part in our work as we are questioning how we will be able to work in Scotland and the UK in general.

Each of the current websites: JamesC mua. Lost Project and of course Lost Creatives will be receiving overhauls and updated images across the galleries, and the welcome pages, additional sites are being planned for our film/TV work to keep the Creatives solely about marketing and the background elements we have built.

Further updates will be released over the course of the month. We are really excited about our plans for 2021 and look forward to pushing the boundaries of our work.

Upcoming Changes to The Lost Plan

With the new rules and mandates in place for England coming soon and those in Scotland already started, we are disappointed that it has meant we are going to have to make massive changes to the way we work now and how we will continue forward. In the coming weeks, we will be updating the websites and blogs to reflect changes to the business and our goals.

The Lost Stories will continue as it stands with the support of our various PR contacts and the JamesC website along with the Lost Creatives will be looking at how we can work within the rules and regulations outlined and taking the time over the next 14 days to talk with our remote teams in Nepal and India to discuss options. Our ultimate goals will not change and we will continue to work diligently and professionally in the capacity of media with new websites and extension to our business being set up including the registration of our production company that will be solely aimed at the Horror and Thriller market along with the fantastic team at HOD TV.

By 2021 we will be a completely different company within the media realms and pushing toward what is an old school method of working which we will reveal soon. While we put these changes in place we do have projects that we will be working on alongside our normal business and look forward to what the future has to offer.

It is time to start with a new way of looking at the business we are in and thinking differently to move into the future. Additional training is being looked at alongside the certification our creative director has taken for safe sets and makeup safety with Dermalogica., we are looking at production training short courses for the longterm benefit of the team.

Editorial Makeup Submission Featuring World Fashion Media News

Frustration is really kicking in for a lot of the creative talent out there (understandably) and it is gratifying to know that there is a light at the end of the tunnel for those who are returning to salons and for the photographic community this also means we can push forward with plans and marketing strategies with fresh, exclusive content for the digital market. The online magazine and long-standing supporter of the Lost Concept, World Fashion Media News has been hard at work creating new avenues for creative talents and revamping the website to better showcase artistic work from catwalks to individuals. Submitting your work has become a much easier prospect in the last few years and we (like many others) are getting our work collated ready to submit, promote and showcase our inhouse creative talents such as creative director JamesC.

While we are going down the exclusive route there are options to have editorials, covers, and tears with magazine logos that can be used to create not only a stellar portfolio of work at a low cost but a chance to experiment with new ideas and stretch your artistic muscles.

Our primary focus is going to be about exclusive content and will be shown across websites and as you can imagine with our ties to the HOD TV team, Horror concepts will be played alongside some other fashion portraits and of course we will be doing a full series of images and conceptual work with exclusive to our websites in amongst this.

In our capacity as a creative team and with the support of our partners in Nepal Film Production, we are structuring this to be a wider campaign based concept with a series of long and short term goals to be met over the next 12 months.

*To learn more about submitting to World Fashion Media News Click here.

Project Planning With Nepal Productions

We really do owe a debt of gratitude to our team in Nepal especially Digbijaya Bharati from the Nepal Film Production team, who has been patient during the lockdown and happy to continue working via Whatsapp so we can as a team which gets our work moving forward, not just with media but other elements and promotional avenues we are exploring. As our regular readers will be aware our plans are geared toward Intenet TV, in particular, the horror and Thriller genres with a sideline in the editorial market to boost marketing via social accounts and strategic placement of ads.

For us, it has become planning and strategy that allows us to focus our energies in new areas of business and develop further as a business although at heart we still love makeup work and our creative director JamesC is part and parcel of the ongoing plans, we are all on board with changes being made to the business and have some smaller elements such as the facecharts being brought back in (the JamesC facechart will be available again via his site soon).

We already have several scripts in play for development in the realm of TV and will be working on a range of new images and behind the scenes work while the weather is good and allows us flexibility, the new guidelines for production work will be a big part of how we move forward ensuring everyone involved is safe and the work is handled carefully.

As our previous blog has stated we are going to also look at skills development for our in-house team to allow us to multitask and keep the crew requirements to a minimum and safe.

*Change in how the media and fashion industry will be massive and we are doing all we can to ensure that our staff is safe, the team (both the UK and South Asian) are up to date on the latest changes.

Internet TV and The Future of The Lost Creatives

We have been making calls again today to discuss a range of different business matters with our partners at Nepal Film Production, one of the subjects that got covered extensively was the future plans of The Lost Team. Naturally, we have talked in detail about the editorials for marketing and the video plans but it was the option of Internet TV that really captured the focus of our energy and where we are looking at for the future of our company. There has been a lot of research done into this and we feel that for us, TV (series based concepts) is the best route for us to go and we have been looking at keeping it genre-based. Obviously, Horror and Thriller are the two primary categories we are really looking at as we feel this is without question where we can make the most impact hence our teaming with HOD TV as a partner.

The biggest advantage we see in focusing our talents, efforts, and energies in this area is really about more than just sales avenues but how people are now viewing content ranging from streaming to TV in your home or directly to a tablet/smartphone you use on the move. In our research (and more than a little experience of traveling for business), we found that train and bus journeys, in particular, could be tedious and worked out a time frame along with our writers, that would suit this: taking a 40 to 45-minute journey to work you can potentially view a full TV series over the course of a working week of 5 days, it’s possible to watch a 25-minute episode at each end of the journey to and from work will not only kill time but gives you the space to find a seat, get settled and have the program ready to roll.

For ourselves, this is a method we feel works best and there will be extended features and standalone projects over time but our primary concern is to be TV projects.

If your are interested in learning more about HOD TV as a consumer click here or if you have a film/TV project you would like to sell check the HOD TV link on our partner’s page.

Lost In The Horror

We are in the midst of what would (and most likely will be) the source of many new thriller and horror film and TV plots, the lockdown is the start of a refresh of the industry which we will be taking full advantage of and have been in all honesty planning around for a long time as Horror is the genre of choice for us both artistically and commercially, more than ever with the support of the HOD TV team (submit your films here).

For us and our partners, Horror has all the potential we need to feel fulfilled as an artist: our actors can play the character and develop the narrative, the writers are loving the scope of the human mind for fear, for our creative director JamesC, it’s about the makeup and of course our remote teams it’s all about the locations (our Nepal production contacts are delighted with this idea). There is something in this for each of us to get our teeth into and we have room to work together as a collective to push an agenda that suits us and it does also open up other potential aspects that could be realistically deemed vanity projects with a slight commercial twist.

With many magazines and film festivals dedicated to the Horror and Thriller genres, we can easily utilize different suppliers and resources to keep the costs down while maintaining the gore and chills.

Talking of Keeping the costs down, it is fairly straightforward and can be augmented by companies like Monster Fx or the supply house Red Carpet FX (who stock our favorite IPA palettes from Ripper FX).

The future is in our hands and we are taking our own direction on this with plans in motion to do both editorial/print work in this darker style and of course TV projects that will be at the heart of the work, a commercially driven but still artistically driven venture.

Keeping The Creative Flow Going

While many are rethinking their place in the industry and how to progress, ranging from selfies to blogs, we at The Lost Creatives are working hard behind the scenes and taking time to reevaluate (as you will guess by our previous blog). A complete overhaul is underway and along with our partners in Nepal, this is pushing us to think about how we want to be seen in the market.

As you can imagine, social media plays a heavy part in this and it is really exciting to see Nepal film Productions opening a new account with Instagram which is a step forward as we see the restrictions being lifted and people slowly returning to normal and business becoming a part of their thinking again.

We are also putting the social media plan into action and will be reviewing our work and creative plans, led by our creative director JamesC, with a view to pushing forward which as we have previously stated means we will be looking at investment into editorial marketing with tears and covers which we are excited about and have to admit the design process alone is worth it to help clear our collective headspace.

Our film and TV plans are on standby and we are extremely grateful that we have HOD TV on our side with their platform for horror and thriller distribution. Which we fully intend to make use of and recommend those who have projects they want to sell check the link here for submissions.

As time moves forward we are going to push to show more of a commercial stance and stay away from more theatrical styles as we just feel it doesn’t suit the working look we want to create. From the portfolio plans to the film and TV projects we have in mind our goals are strong and we are pushing forward progressively and with mutual support from our remote partners.

TV Production and Development

As you can well imagine, we are really keen to get back on set and start working properly again, much the same as our partners in Nepal. The Lost Creatives team is working quietly on marketing, planning and with their usual dark minds in motion, we started looking at the horror/thriller script options we have open to us with a view to the future. Taking everything into consideration we are going to be focused on TV projects and have 2 already earmarked with a 3rd being discussed and developed. We want to have a set of projects that can be set up as long term with options for multiple series follow ons and continued creative development.

In the short term, we have been watching the indie magazine world and have decided on a total of 4 photoshoots planned as part of a wider project to be done as soon as we can. With 2 male and 2 female concepts in place and more being discussed collectively by the remote team. *Naturally, we are following current guidelines and our meetings are done over the phone or via Whatsapp/FB messenger to ease the strain on those who are not in the country or cannot risk attending meetings.

Our Creative Director JamesC, is happy to hold for the moment and has agreed that he will begin stock checking so we can order in new materials that are needed for the work planned, blush is going to be a big part of our upcoming beauty shoots.

Stay tuned for further updates and news from The Lost Creative Team.

Nepal Film Production and The Future of Cinema

In a rapidly changing cinematic and TV landscape Nepal Film Productions team is working on new developments in the world market to help augment and support film and TV creators at this time and will continue to do so. Budgets and other constraints are going to be first and foremost in peoples mind and the Nepal team are working around this to ensure that production companies get the best service at the most competitive price without compromising on the quality of the work.

Nepal is a historically beautiful country at the heart of Asia with cultural heritage to be rivaled and documented, however, it is the cinematic potential that is truly appealing and offers filmmakers and TV companies a host of new avenues and potential that is out of this world. With some of the most iconic locations on the planet such as Kathmandu city and of course the Hymilain mountain range, it can and does tailor itself to the needs of a wide range of film projects without losing any sense of its own identity and it is this that the team from Nepal Film Production are there to support, offering a bridge between worlds.

From a purely financial sense, Nepal as a film hub offers a cost-effective location and of course a talent pool of highly skilled actors, models, camera crew and more that can be hired locally reducing the overall need to bring staff in to shoot, a winner when working to a smaller budget or looking to split between another continent and still having the beauty of a natural location in your film/TV project. Multicultural and still traditional there is something special about Nepal as a location that cannot be found elsewhere to a point where crews from Hollywood to Bollywood understand that this is the place to be for stunning visuals and the best creative teams.

Something that is exclusive to the Nepal Film Production company is the deal with HOD TV (Horror and Thriller exclusive online distribution) that offers yet more reason to work with them. *More details on this option can be discussed with the team and it does mean that Nepal has the more to offer than just surface looks, the country is set to become the home of horror and thriller in South Asia.

Overall, Nepal as a location has so much to offer film/TV and Nepal Film Production understands this and offers a one-stop-shop service.

To learn more about the region or to talk to the team about filming see:

Nepal Film Production Website.

The Changing Face of The Lost Business

While we are restricting our movements and only going out when we absolutely need to, we decided to look at the future and what will become of business as time goes on. It is fairly positive and we can see already changes to the market that will be making massive waves to how we view the media world.

There will key aspects of the current climate we will be maintaining such as having smaller shoots and focusing on story rather than just an image which we have talked about before but never seemed to find the time, from a photographic stance it really is interesting working out how we can do this and still have a cohesive narrative.

On a film and TV side, our favorite writers are working from home happily and have taken it under advisement that we want thrillers and horror that can and should be creatable on a smaller budget to fit with the requirements of the current market, will offer us quick turn around for shoots and of course minimal cast and crew requirements which will be a challenge in and of itself that we as a team we look forward to. The Lost Concept is something we are immensely proud of and can see the potential to take our initial idea of moving The Lost Boys and The Lost Girls as a story for stills and to turn this into a storied TV series with a dark edge built around individual stories and characters.

In the interim, we are working on designs, talking to our remote teams as best we can, naturally, we are very worried about our Indian and Nepal contacts and wish them the best at this time of full lockdown in their countries. However, everyone is in good spirits and has been positive so far.

The future is something we cannot solidly control or predict but we do know that we will continue our work for as long as we can. We will finish this by asking that our readers stay safe and well, keep positive and we will all be back to work soon and entertaining the world.

The rise of On Demand TV

With the current climate being so uncertain for the media business in terms of new productions, there is a little hope for those with projects already made or want to find something to watch during the quarantine. Like many, I love a good thriller or a nail-biting horror movie from a viewers perspective to being a member of the team, this is the right time to be thinking about those projects that are backlogged or just to find something to fill the days and nights.

Over time we have been working on some interesting projects (that we have put on hold temporarily) that we will release through HOD TV, the on-demand service tailored to the horror and thriller market, so much is the faith in the service that we signed up as a partner to the company allowing us to offer some support to indie filmmakers across the board.

As a film buff, you can watch a wide array of films from across the world and show some support for the indie film scene, but crucially for us, there is an opportunity here to open a door (admittedly a creaky, groaning door), there are many filmmakers out there looking for an outlet for their movie and its an easier sell to take on horror than any other genre.

So with the downtime we have, the team at lost creatives are making plans for the future and wanted to share this with our contacts out there in the film and TV world, there is a way to enjoy and sell your movies that will be beneficial long term through the HOD TV network.

To learn more about the HOD TV service as a viewer click here.

For submissions and to put your film or project in the horror and thriller genre to the team click here.

We want to wish all our readers the best at this difficult time and ask that you please be sensible and safe. The Lost Project will be continuing to talk about beauty and lifestyle so check the site out for something a little more fun about the makeup world to keep you entertained.