20th Century Fox and Tongal have just announced they’re teaming up for the first officially sanctioned Alien short film competition! Offering $246,000 in prizes, the competition is open to American fans and film makers and is due to last until the end of the year.
The competition is sorted into various phases, beginning with the pitching phase. Eighteen short form pitches will be selected to move onto a full pitch, each receiving $2000 to help develop it.
That’s right, Tongalers, we’re giving you the chance to create your own original story set in the biggest horror franchise of all time: Alien! Go ahead. Run outside and scream with excitement if you want to (just don’t do it in space). But then hurry back here and pay close attention to this Brief because we’ve got a lot to cover.
To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the original Alien, 20th Century Fox is tapping six visionary filmmakers in the Tongal Community to produce their own original short videos set in the aftermath of the original film.
Fox wants a wholly original story with completely new characters but your Pitch should draw on all the things that made the original Alien so groundbreaking. Think about all the unique qualities of the movie before crafting your story.
Following this, 6 pitches will be selected to move onto full blown production and receive a budget of $30,000.
Head on over to the official competition page to learn more about the whole event! You can find out a little more Tongal and their creative processes on their website. Good luck to everyone who enters!
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Visceral Content eh?
I'm curious now what all of those pitches that included titles like; Nostromo and Narcissus would have entailed, and the Alien love story.
Sounds like the next round of winners will be announced soon.
Greatest DLC name ever.
Alien: Bonus Situation
Alien: CIGARETTES!!!
Alien: This is Wheat
Word has it he once lived in the ceiling of a restaurant for 3 months. Which explains all the eating. Care for some Golic bread?
Damn, you're too quick. I changed the first joke. The idea of Golic kicking some poor slobs door in was too hard to resist.
"Facehugger with sprinkles, wow!"
Only two possibilities leap to mind.
1. Knock Knock
Who's There?
Golic runs at the door and kicks it in
"CIGARETTES!!!"
2. Knock Knock
Who's There
Keanu
Keanu Who?
If you Keanu who I was, you wouldn't open the door.
The Alien series has always looked for upcoming talented directors, Ridley, Cameron, Fincher, perhaps this is a new way of finding fresh blood.
Regardless, I hope we will get some good short films out of it. The Alien prequels have a better track record with their virals than the mainline entries so it's not like it would entirely be unheard of.
Not a scam, a commission.
The way the winners will be contracted, in terms of studio oversight and financing, is a simplified version of a typical Hollywood production... oh wait, you're right. It's a scam
TC
Dammit! I missed this deadline by like 35 min! I saw the post today said 5 hours left at 12pm today, spent all this time writing, then at 4:30, I went to it with all my materials, and the site says they had already moved on! I think with my film exp, crew and story idea I had a real chance and Im very bummed!
I swear to god it said I had until 5pm earlier and then at 4:30 it said they were already in stage 2!
Maybe I can submit my story to Dark Horse or something. Wah.
Besides that, the payoff (for winners only) is a mere $5000. The $246,000 at the top is horribly misleading and it looks as if they're hoping people aren't going to read everything. $5000 isn't nearly enough to justify the time, energy, and work put into the writing, equipment, music, actors, etc. On top of that, the winners can't even keep the movie as their property and Tongal and Fox can do with it whatever they want. The winners may get a tiny bit of exposure but if they aren't even able to show the video publicly, what chance do they have? This would end up costing the entrants much more than they would gain back.
f**k that.
I think it's safe to say no one will be making money out of ths. Judging from the evaluation criteria, they are expecting a professional skill level from the winners, even if they are technically "amateurs". $30,000 is a generous budget for a real amateur production, but for pro's it's chicken feed. EspecIally for a sci-fi film that's likely to need stuff like creature effects, specialty props, custom wardrobe (e.g. spacesuits), sets, VFX like spaceships, CG animation, etc.
Also, I agree; if you're a first time writer or newish, this could be a great opportunity to break into the industry. But you'll definitely need that experienced (and American) producer to carry you throught the qualification phases.
TC
This really isn't about the money. It's a chance to get some terrific exposure I think, and if anyone here is thinking of a career in film, this is a great way to get a start...
https://tongal.com/forum/crew-finder
There have been some questions to Tongal about the reasons for the US restriction. It looks like Tongal is well used to hiring international contractors, so it must have been a Fox stipulation. I speculate that it has to do with the high-value Alien IP. International copyright enforcement is already like the wild west, and since this competition is open to amateurs I can imagine that Fox feels they will have a greater level of control if they contract someone in US territory.
Don't give up Perfect-Organism!
TC
Yes. Absolutely. In fact, I would go so far as to say they would prefer it because it implies that the applicant has professional backing. But a corp. that's only there to provide an American front? That's something different and requires checking out. (They would definitely be reluctant to encourage anything that has a whiff of a sham structure because that has the potential of embarrassing them in front of their client, Fox. There's no way they will hook Fox up with someone they think could be unreliable).
You see, they call this a "competition" but it's really no different from their normal means of trade. i.e. a client comes to them wanting a film/video/animation/whatever. Tongal says yes, we can manage that for you. Tongal calls for tenders to pitch for the job. Tongal filters the applicants and presnts the good ones to the client. The client picks the successful tender (based on best creative, professionalism, and budget - though this doesnt count in this case). Then Tongal hires the filmmaker/production company. Everything else about the contract management is exactly what you'd expect to find in a professional commission: the client oversight, milestone targets, part payments etc. All the while, Tongal is mediating between client and production co.
The only difference is that Tongal runs, from its website, a means for the individual filmmaker workers (cameramen, CG artists and animators, scriptwriters, directors) to get together. But they need to get together and tender for jobs under the umbrella of a producer. Tongal is not going to put your production team together for you, all they provide is a networking board for individuals to find each other.
That would be another option if you are a non-American with a story: Leave a message on their board requesting an American producer to team up with. It's just that I didn't see much of that activity going on.
TC
Yeah, if the product belongs to that new "company" and the product is associated with that respective company's EIN number, then why not? On paper, it's very much keeping things on American soil if that's what they're going for - even down to the tax part. Seems like a legitimate, round-about way of doing it to me.
Please no, someone with talent instead.
Thank you.
https://www.avpgalaxy.net/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi0.kym-cdn.com%2Fentries%2Ficons%2Foriginal%2F000%2F017%2F981%2FThe_Real_Story_Behind_Black_Guy_On_The_Phone_Meme-500x500.jpg&hash=4cdd4841b71dede507d7894028fe47aab2f9013d
I don't know what it would take to incorporate an American co. remotely. (I'm not American, BTW). You would be best advised to consult your own local solicitor about this. Other questions would be registering such a co. with the American IRS, and whether you would need a U.S. bank account. I' m guessing yes on both counts.
The simplest arrangement for a non-American that I can see is :
1. American producer
2. An animation production (no live action crew or equipment hire).
TC
The cutoff date for initial pitch is 4 July so that's not far away, but probably pretty typical for the types of projects they usually handle. So if anyone's interested, the first thing you need to do is find an AMERICAN producer who is willing to front for you. Preferably a producer who works for an existing professional production company (an LLC), because you're going to need to make use of their existing infrastructure for business-type things: legal, banking, book-keeping, hiring of crew and equipment, insurance, logistics, that kind of stuff. You'll also need to get this producer enthused because this person (or rather their LLC) will be the actual competition applicant, and the one who will be responsible to Fox to the tune of $30,000. Once you get this American producer on-board, all crew they hire can potentially be from anywhere in the world (e.g. a U.K. visual effects artist who could interface via internet).
So if you've got a story idea, great, but you need to find that producer!!!
TC
If I was a millionaire I'd do it.
Maybe everyone in AVPG should submit and whoever gets in the rest will help out?
It's a real shame about the regional restrictions. People like SiL and James Bushe are missing out.
That said, I wonder if Alex Popov is going for it. I think Jamie from PO is having a go.
Knowing the business side of things and having the creative process down, you'd probably be a good candidate to contribute your piece to the cause! If anything, this will be a great exercise to sharpen your skills in filmmaking. Everyone needs a creative outlet – indulge your art, I say. (I know nothing of filmmaking, so I may just be talking out of my ass, but it's coming from the right place ha ha...) And that goes for everyone else that's interested, for that matter.
Most contests just ask you to make something yourself and submit.
But being responsible for $30,000?
Having Fox approve every detail before you start rolling?
Trying to come up with something worthy of being part of a franchise I respect so damn much?
This whole thing is pretty daunting.
It looks like they are looking for people who already have done some professional work so this shouldn't be seen as strange for the people applying.