How to build a business, creative and marketing dream team

I have a great case study for you guys and a solid example of how to setup a dream team in any niche for any business or project.

A highly successful Chinese-Canadian Actor, Producer, Director friend of mine, Albert M. Chan, approached me about a film that he was creating called Descendants of the Past, Ancestors of the Future about 2 months ago.

As he’s explaining the project to me at his Boston home, a few things are going through my head.

A) He was humble and aware of the fact that he needed help in certain areas, that were outside of his expertise. A great start. A lot of Producers (and businessmen) try to go way outside of their comfort zone and expertise and that can leed to their failure.

B) He had already begun creating a really solid team.

• Emmy®-Nominated Cinematographer Cira Felina Bolla
• Albert himself.
• And now he was talking to me about marketing/fund raising ideas and bringing me on as a Producer.

That’s not even the half of it.

Chances are you’re not in the film industry, so I’m going to tell you how huge of a deal the above bullets are.

First of all, Albert’s first movie that he ever produced Fate Scores he also directed and starred in. That alone is not an easy task to take on all 3 of those responsibilities. The even more impressive part is the massive amount of mainstream success he’s had with the film.

Fate Scores is literally the most successful short film that I know of that has come out of Boston. It WON awards in Toronto and Canadian film festivals (Albert is from Canada originally.) Fate Scores has been featured in MAJOR U.S. film festivals such as Sedona International Film Festival and Boston International Film Festival amongst numerous other Film Festivals in New York and across the country. Major players in the business are and have been seeing this film. (Btw, I was an actor in the film!)

Albert’s acting career skyrocketed. He’s landed major representation and numerous roles in feature films and TV. He had great roles in films such as Ghost of Girlfriend’s Past (was in theaters nation wide), Every Day (featured at the TRIBECA Film Festival) and Life of Lemon amongst numerous other movies. He had great roles on TV shows such as Brotherhood, Law & Order SVU and now Body of Proof. The list goes on.

Cire Felina Bolla is a highly successful cinematographer. She was nominated for an EMMY. Her resume is insane, and she’s worked on films such as Life of Lemon and had involvement with shows such as House. Did I mention she was nominated for an Emmy? Enough said.

My involvement? Marketing, fund raising & production help. Albert’s had tremendous success in the past with marketing and getting Fate Scores in major film festivals (and now a likely distribution deal.) He has come to me for additional marketing and fund raising strategies for Descendants of the Past, Ancestors of the Future.

So, What do I think makes up a great team (in any business or market) ?

• A creative person(s) that comes up with the original idea.
• Someone that drives the project. This is usually the same person that came up with the idea in the first place, as they tend to be the most motivated.
• Solid crew and talent to do things like Film and Act in the movie (using the above example.)
• And a really solid marketing team. These people need to be both creative as well as people who can execute and make things happen.

Or you can try to do it all yourself, and have one heck of an uphill battle. Not recommended

I suggest teamwork. Build your team using some of the above ideas. Make sure you find people that are relatively self motivated or find a way to motivate them to work efficiently!

Want to be part of Descendants of the Past, Ancestors of the Future?

1. Watch the video, explaining the film.
2. Donate some cash and I’ll give you a free 30 minute Skype consult on any marketing or business topic you want. Email me after you donate and we’ll set it up. Check out the different donation levels, you can get some really cool stuff and credits in the film.