Beyond the films I plan to produce and release in 2018, there are a few specific goals I want to achieve this year to further my career as a filmmaker.

1. Break into the Foreign Market

For a while, the most untapped source of income for our movies has been the foreign market. Traditionally from my understanding, a feature film reaches these foreign territories through a sales agent. That’s the middle man, the gatekeeper. Well… our one experience so far with one of these sales agents (a reputable one I might add) has not been good. My problem with putting one of our new films in the hands of others (agents or distributors) is that often these folks have nothing to lose if it doesn’t sell, whereas the loss on our end is considerable. They take several movies a year and gamble on which one might hit.

So I have been determined to break into the foreign market myself by making connections and developing relationships with the companies that buy films in each territory. It’s a tall mountain to climb but I’m working on it daily, contacting distributors from Mexico to China about our films. This is the year I want to see a breakthrough; even if it’s only one country, I want to prove we can sell our movies on our own in the international arena.

2. Sell a Script

To be realistic, I have more feature-length scripts written than I’ll ever be able to produce/direct myself. Therefore, I’d like to sell a few and see those funds go to help us make the ones we do have time for!

I’ve already submitted two to Amazon Studios: On the Seventh Day and Valley of Shadows (both films I want to make but right now they’re collecting dust). My goal is to submit a completed script every month to Amazon and beyond this to look for more avenues where my scripts might be sold. It’s time to open up the vault and get these screenplays out there.

3. Write All 12 Westerns

As you may have heard, we’re finally embarking on our massive 12 Westerns in 12 Months project, to start production in 2020. I’ve written eight of the Westerns but as things evolve, I’m not even sure if all of these will make it as part of the 12. I’m open to new stories and directions for this series.

By the end of 2018, I want to have all 12 picked and written. 2019 will be focused only on pre-production for these films (and the release of our 2018 productions of course). So I guess you could say I have lots of writing ahead of me!

For an overview of what else to expect from Running Wild Films in 2018, please watch this video: