Mike The Pike Productions Inc (MIKP)

[imiloa]

fwiw, Here's a letter I sent to Mark with an plan to get production rolling without a R/S. Mark hasn't replied, so I'm assuming he has no interest in the idea or had already decided to R/S.

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Hi Mark,

My sense of the current MIKP terrain:

-- You have several good film projects in the queue, but insufficient cash to move them forward.
-- You've tried some promos, but haven't achieved a higher price level necessary to return solid capital on dilution.
-- Nearing the 3b AS while trading at 0001, MIKP doesn't have much more leverage from the current share structure.

I know you are reluctant to R/S. Doing so would devastate the existing shareholders and tarnish your reputation. Result would likely be a rapid plunge in share price post-R/S. I'm also guessing you still have many long-term cap gains personal shares that you don't want to dilute.

Given that, I'm writing to suggest a way to get MIKP and Horse rolling without needing to R/S near-term.

1. Choose a film you can produce for very low budget. Being set in Ft Wayne, Horse seems a good candidate, but you might be married to a larger budget for it? If so, maybe consider filming a first version at low budget, with the option for a sequel at higher budget later. If you can't stomach a low-budget Horse release, maybe another screenplay idea better suited for low-budget?

2. Cast local, unknown, actors. See if they will accept profit-sharing contracts, minimizing up-front casting costs.

3. If necc, edit the screenplay to reduce actors and locations, further trimming the budget.

4. Bump the MIKP AS to 5b, giving you 2b more headroom. Announce the AS increase with a detailed outline of the plan to use the capital to fund production.

5. Dilute some of the new shares for initial costs to get filming rolling. Even at 0001, 2b shares would give you $200k. Films like Clerks, Blair Witch, and El Mariachi were filmed for $27k, $22k, and $7k respectively. Vis:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-budget_film
http://www.nextwavefilms.com/ulbp/ss.html
http://filmmakeriq.com/2008/09/3-sample-film-budgets/

6. This is a key step: Add a page to the MIKP website dedicated to the filming status. Take stills of the sets, actors, and scenes. Add brief clips of some scenes. This page will allow investors and potential investors tangible evidence of progress and generate excitement and confidence in MIKP's future.

7. As confidence grows, MIKP stock price should drift upward organically. This will allow you to gradually dilute at higher and higher prices for more capital.
eg: 1b @ 0005 would be $500k. 1b @ 0020 would be $2m.
If you are still associated with Kistler and/or Carnes, this kind of promo run is their speciality. With some compelling clips on the website, you may be able to run MIKP up to pennies as worked with EESO, allowing you to sell both corp (dilution) and personal shares to further fund production at lower share outlays.

8. If you aim for a $100k budget, and anticipate it swelling to $200k via chaos, you should be able to cover all production costs with the 2b AS increase and still have cash for post and marketing. If the film is solid, you can pitch it to studios for a wide release. Or you could screen it locally in Ft Wayne and to critics to try to generate some buzz.

8. At worst, you could also approach Netflix and offer the film for digital (instant queue) release. I don't know their pricing plan for studios, but it's probably reasonable and would give you a wide release audience with no disc-mastering costs.

Let me know your thoughts on this plan. It obviously depends on a solid script, minimizing effects, up-front talent costs, and locations. But several successful films have been created for less than $100k budgets.

If you'd like to talk in person, let me know a good time to call you.