What's in a name?

As an aspiring filmmaker, I am just one of, not thousand, millions interested in making movies. We can give thanks to the growing technology and consumer-turned prosumer equipment available to the public at a reasonable price. This spawns a question ... how do you get seen in Hollywood?

The answer seems to be online ... literally. The newest form of independent distribution is online and more importantly, free. This is a great tool for filmmakers because it allows them to surface above the thousands of short and feature length films in festivals ... where filmmakers used to be able to get noticed. Festivals have become a selling tool for filmmakers instead of an outlet; the whole point of a festival is to get press and earn the winners badge you can place on all of your media stating what the film did at that festival.

So, with the internet and prosumer materials at hand, one can make a professional quality film up to par with the production companies and get it out to the public and even sell it, sidestepping the studios completely. Now, I'm one for the studios and would love to get work for them but as a beginner in this big pond I need to take matters into my own hands ... and that means building a company as a producer so I have a banner to produce under. Producing is not what I want to do, but then again, you've got to take matters into your own hands ... and because I don't know any "real" producers wanting to partner up with a director, I'm on my own.

This poses the last question of the day: What should I call the company? Seems easy right? Think of a cool name ... wrong. You have to create an image for all of the films to sit under. Take a look at the studios, they have great reputations and BIG names: just look at Universal and Paramount! I used BackPocket Entertainmnet for my last short film but it grew meaningless to the films I wanted to produce and didn't give the image I wanted to deliver. The next step is to simply follow Lucas' example and name the company, RiceFilm ... but after checking the internet, that names already taken. ChristopherRice.com is taken by some schmoe - not the writer, RiceFilm is some random company offering production services, etc. I'm back to square one and thinking of names.

When thinking of names just remember that you need a easy-to-remember name that inspires a thought of what kind of movies you make (Twisted Pictures - responsible for the Saw franchise) as well as a domain name so you can build a website.

Right now, my best lead is PhantasmagoricPictures - simply because the domain is available. :)