'Fishing for Crocodiles' is a passion project.  Not a vanity project.  A passion project - and we're as passionate in our belief that it will be a super-successful commercial movie as we are about its entertainment and thought-provoking values.
         The movie is based on the short novel I published a few years ago (now available on Kindle), which itself is part memoir - I grew up in Barotseland - and part fiction.  'Magical realism,' if you like.  We have raised the production finance twice and seen it fall through twice, the last time as a result of the 2008 crash.
         And so we start again:

In the remote North Eastern Province of Northern Rhodesia, soon to become Zambia, two African boys, Rex and Landilane, one white and one black, run away from home to make an impossible soul music pilgrimage.  They're accompanied by a giant Great Dane, also - and confusingly - called Rex.  This wonderful dog is the tragic hero of the piece.

Rex and Landilane are determined to meet their idol, Sam Cook, at Lorenzo Marques Radio, Southern Africa’s only real rock station, which they mistakenly believe he’s about to visit for an exclusive interview.  Cook will be shot to death in Los Angeles while they're in the middle of an extraordinary adventure which sees them captured by, and fighting side by side with, the legendary guerrilla fighter Alice N'Karta whose army bathes in its own urine and believes itself bulletproof.  Believing it seems to make it so. 

Set on the eve of Zambian independence, their journey shoves Rex and Landy headfirst into the political, social and racial revolutions which will change their homeland and bring a 40 year hiatus to their friendship.

Financials Summary


  • Fishing For Crocodiles is budgeted at $3 million US and will be shot in Southern Central African in 2012.
  • The producers seek a private equity investment of $2 million US to complete the production funding of this independent motion picture.
  • The $2 million private investment will trigger non-discretionary film funds of $600, 000.  The balance of the production budget will comprise producers’ own funds and production deferments.
  • The private investment will be subject to a Preferred Return of 20% ($400,000) per year for the two year production/sales period.
  • Investors contributing $500,000 will receive Executive Producer credits.  Investors contributing a minimum of $200,000 will receive Co-producer credits.
  • The private investment will be first money out, up to the point of the recoupment of the original funding ($2 million).  At that point the producers will recoup their deferments.

 

Contact: Peter Lawrence (gealepeter@gmail.com)


  • The private investment will then take the 20% Preferred Return
  • Thereafter, the private investment will take 50% of all producers’ net revenues, in perpetuity. 
  • The producers’ conservative estimate of such net revenues is $8.803 million US, to be generated within 24 months of the original investment.
  • The private investment therefore returns $3,001,500 over and above the recoupment of original investment and the Preferred Return.
  • A long-form document is available to serious enquirers.  It defines all the terms used in this summary; backs up the budget and revenue details; and lays out the management team’s credentials and philosophies.


This information does not constitute a formal offering but is intended as a summary of the deal, for consideration by industry professionals, and by individuals of high net worth.