Produce Your Script: An Interview with Indie Producer and Filmmaker Ramfis Myrthil

Jake: I’m here today with a special guest, Ramfis Myrthil. Ramfis is our newest teacher here at the Studio and he’s going to be teaching a topic we’ve always wanted to share. 
Ramfis is an incredibly talented, independent film producer and he’s going to be teaching a one-day seminar on October 19th called Produce Your Script. It will cover how to produce your own work as well as attach stars and money, all those important things we need to do. 
When I was starting out, we did everything on film. If you weren’t super-wealthy and super-connected, it was just impossible.
But today, people are making movies and web series on iPhones. You can do all of this with so little money; it’s so easy.
The great dream used to be everyone wanted to write a novel. Now, the great dream is everyone wants to make a movie. And the truth is you can make a movie, but you have to have a plan because otherwise your movie, series, short, or pilot is just going to get lost in the chaos. 
It really is about having a plan for everything, a business plan that’s going to take this dream and turn it into a reality.
Ramfis has produced a ton of stuff. He recently got back from speaking at Cannes. He’s had films at Sundance and Tribeca and he is an all-around badass guy.
So, today we’re going to be talking about how you start in self-production. You’ve written a script, you know the script is great, you’ve done all the work, you’ve gotten the professional feedback, and you know this thing is actually ready to go. What do you do? What’s the first step, Ramfis?
Ramfis: Thank you for the very kind words and support. 
The most important thing is obviously the screenplay. Your screenplay should be ready to rock and roll.
The second most important thing I always advocate for is having a great team, building a team of producers or a production company and a director. 
If you’re the writer/director, then that role is filled. But if you’re strictly the writer, finding a director that makes sense to warrant the stars you want to go after, if you’re going after stars, and to also warrant the financing, depending on the budget level you’re looking to make the film for, and to also warrant the distribution, that’s the end goal. The most important thing is setting that up whether it’s theatrical or straight to VOD or one of the streaming platforms.
The key ingredient is the team. You could have a great script, but if you don’t have the proper people behind it, how are you going to execute? How are you going to get the stars and people that communicate well and follow through?
Jake: Yeah. So, for a lot of new screenwriters, or even experienced screenwriters, there’s a lot of terror around the idea of production, right? And there’s a lot of terror around the idea of networking.
I know a lot of our students who have fabulous scripts are asking themselves, “What do I do? Should I be trying to get an agent? Should I be shopping this to producers? Should I be trying to raise money myself? Should I be trying to get attachments? Or should I just keep my head down in my laptop and hope I get lucky?”
How does a writer who has never produced before, how do you make that decision about whether this is something you should do yourself? And how do you know if you even have the skills to do it if you’re brand new to this?
Ramfis: Well, I think if you’re a writer/director and the plan is to make this movie or project you’re looking at, first make sure you have a reel or something you can show people because that’s what everyone is going to ask for.
For example, if you’re going after a star — their reps, their team,