Dive Brief:
- Dominion Resources' CEO Thomas Farrell II is set to release his first feature film in September 2014 after spending five years in production.
- The film, "Field of Lost Shoes," tells the tale of about 250 teenage Virginia cadets who fought for the Confederate army in the Battle of New Market in 1864.
- Farrell's budget and marketing convinced several Virginia community and business leaders to invest $7 million in the project, which Farrell also funded. “This is not a Ted Turner ‘I want to make a movie whatever the cost’ project," Farrell stressed. "This is a commercial enterprise with very sophisticated investors.”
Dive Insight:
Farrell sees filmmaking similarly to running a utility.
“I don’t know how to run a nuclear power plant. My job is to make sure we have the right people in place to run a nuclear plant. I don’t know how to make a movie," he said. "My job was to hire the right people to make it happen.”
The project stayed within budget by trimming fat whenever possible. For example, Jason Isaacs, the movie's main star, could only be on site for four days and therefore had to be scheduled down to the minute.
“In a movie, every day is money,” Farrell said.
Hopeful for profits from what he believes is a hit-in-the-making, Farrell told the Washington Post he has no plans to make another movie any time soon.
