HARRISON...I believe inthe power ofstorytelling
A CAREER IN MOVIE MAKING
Horror stories and 50 shades of Jamaican movie-making
Allison Harrison believes you can make money by making horror films in Jamaica. So much so that she rented Ward Theatre to make a short film about a date gone wrong, with twists and turns courtesy of the spirit of the Ward.
The next project is to be a Jamaican version of 50 Shades of Grey. However, Harrison’s company, Factory 75 Company Limited, also focuses on the more practical side of business through documentaries and supporting the video needs of businesses.
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But it is her passion for movie-making that propelled her into the Branson Centre programme and the 2015 staging of the Jamaica Film Festival.
The St. Thomas native shared, “I believe that the success of the Jamaican economy is hinged on the creative industry. I am trying to do the reverse of what Hollywood is doing with us. They come, hire a few technical and on-screen talents and sell their story to the world. I want to use our home-grown talent and export the finished product to them.”
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But Harrison is practical and concedes that Jamaican films have a very long way to go to get the attention of Hollywood, because “a lot of great Jamaican work has been pushed aside because of poor packaging”.
We sat down with Allison to get an understanding of what her company has to offer, and why the world needs a Jamaican film industry.
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Dennise Williams (DW): What’s unique about Factory 75? I have a cellphone, so I can do what you do, right?
Allison Harrison (AH): Your cellphone is an option if you want to make a film, but if you’re serious about filmmaking, you will need to make a larger investment in your project to include things like tripods and camera support, lenses, camera accessories, sound, lighting, post-production, as well as creative and technical support.
DW: So what about me taking my cellphone and putting the content on YouTube?
AH: YouTube is the platform for video content that anyone can upload. Because anyone can upload videos to YouTube, much of their content can feel unpolished, low quality and low budget. Your cellphone content could get lost in all that. Story and production value are two components that will separate the good content from the great content.
DW: High cost and low production values characterise our local content. Where does Factory 75 fall into this mix?
AH: Poor production value in independent filmmaking is often as a result of putting efforts in the wrong places, and not necessarily as a result of not having enough money. For example, some filmmakers may spend a lot of time dwelling on the camera they want to use and not enough time on the other aspects of the project, like recording good sound. In the entire process of making a film, one aspect isn’t more important than the other, but it is of paramount importance to focus on every component in the process. At the intersection of high production values and affordable cost, that’s where you will find Factory 75.
DW: Creatives live in a world of hit or miss in terms of sponsorship and getting in on projects. How does Factory 75 deal with this reality?
AH: Sponsorship for creative projects is won through preparation and perseverance. Having an established sponsorship track record is a plus, but in this day and age, with or without a track record, whatever you’re doing can get sponsorship. Once we connect the message of our project with the target demographic and create a great sponsorship proposal, securing funding partners will be a lot less challenging. It is a tremendous amount of work securing funding, but as our Jamaican saying goes, “If you want good, yuh nose haffi run.”
DW: Tell us more about you. What is your vision, and how do you plan to leave your mark on the Jamaican film industry?
AH: I’m a filmmaker because I believe in the power of storytelling. My journey began while studying at the University of the West Indies where I was invited to a production being staged at the Phillip Sherlock Centre for the Creative Arts. The various components on and off stage that had to be working together to capture and hold the audience for two hours fascinated me. I was studying math, physics and computer science, but soon afterwards my focus shifted to the arts. After UWI, I started working at the Creative Production and Training Centre (CPTC) where I was exposed to film and television production, but I wanted more. After about four years, I applied to study film abroad, and here I am today.
DW: Animation and film have been targeted as drivers of growth by agencies such as JAMPRO. What is your view on how policies can support these industries?
AH: A range of policies need to be administered that regulate the film and animation sectors. More financing models are needed to assist with the development of those sectors. Not all funding models will be applicable to our needs, but more work needs to go into finding a unique model for financing Jamaican cinema. More support programmes are necessary to build the capacity and accessibility of our local talent, and more films need to be produced and released. Support programmes consisting of different forms of automatic and selective mechanisms for which filmmakers and producers can apply should be created. In the last five years, there has been more activity around support programmes for filmmakers/screen-based sectors through the PROPELLA initiative, which is a partnership with the Jamaica Film and Television Association (JAFTA), The Chase Fund and JAMPRO. Film and animation are still in the development stages, but if Jamaica intends to be a player in the global market, more resources to assist our local talent need to be implemented and enforced sooner rather than later.
DW: As it relates to the financial industry, they have a hard time seeing the vision of the creative community. How can the two come together to build the output that supports Brand Jamaica?
AH: One of the most difficult tasks is raising money to pay for the production. Raising money is key to any independent project, regardless of your position and experience. There are two main ways to acquire financing:
EQUITY
Equity-based financing is simply having investors contribute money (cash) to the production in exchange for an ownership interest in the film and the profits derived from the project. There are different ways to structure these types of deals, but once you can show an investor how much ownership they receive, how they will recover their investment and how they will see a profit, accessing financing for your project should be successful.
Pre-sales
These are pre-arranged agreements that are based on the perceived strength of the project assessed by a distributor before the film is made. Factors include script, talent and the marketing strategy. The filmmaker will be required to either repay the loan based on pre-sales or a direct payment from the distributors before profiting on the film. These are more complex agreements, so legal consultation is recommended.
DW: Where do you see Factory 75 in the next five years?
AH: In five years we will have a couple hundred hours of content in our inventory, produced our first feature film and have a full roster of creative, onscreen and technical talent working on various in-house and international projects.
Harrison at work
HARRISON… thesuccess of the Jamaicaneconomy is hinged onthe creative industry
A view of the WardTheatre in downtownKingston
