To beat the lotto ...

Since the film we're financing, Megaball$, is about beating the lottery, I've been giving much thought about lotto/lottery. Not just as part of the research needed for the screenplay, but for my own benefit. Hmmm...what if I could beat the odds?

What are the odds?

176 million to one. To put that in clearer terms - your odds of being killed on the way of buying the lotto ticket are much greater than actually winning the jackpot.

The film story came to me years ago as I entered the subway and spotted that the MegaMillion lotto had reached $120 million. In a 15-minute subway ride the basic premise solidified...but as a short film. I made notes then put them away. Fast forward two years. My 90-year old mother had fallen and broke her hip. For the next nine months I was commuting between NY and Florida on a regular basis to look over her care, her life and her death. It was very difficult and depressing sitting in her condo at night without much more to do than watch reruns of Matlock. I opened my little travel computer and began to review those short film notes, and I escaped into the comic world of the film's story. By the way, the title MegaBall$ was made by combining the names of the two most popular lotto games, MegaMillions and PowerBall.

I had written screenplays before, but usually as a co-writer or adapting material from a play. This was my first purely solo effort. Original story and going solo. The timing was right. From some deep point in my psyche I knew I needed to laugh and I began typing. Character outlines. Dialogue grew into scenes, and the scenes fell into place. Within 10 days my first draft was complete. I needed some objective opinions and ran the script by a few friends who I knew would be critical. They thought is was really funny. Since then the script has been tweaked and edited. I find I work best when I walk away from a script for about a month and return fresh. The script now is very tight, filled with many more laughs while retaining at least 80% of what I originally wrote.

What are the odds?

We formed our production company, Megaballs Movie, LLC, in March of 2012 and created the investor offering. We got our first investor, and talking with others. I continue buying a small number of lotto tickets each week. Hey, you never know! But, should I win and use those proceeds to make the film we'd have a powerful publicity angle to promote the film.

Common sense tells one the best way to beat the lotto is simply not play it.

Here's my twisted idea.

When I buy the ticket I place a second bet with the guy behind the counter. I bet him $1 dollar per ticket/game that I will lose - that not one of my numbers will come out. If he takes the bet, and I win then I broke even. If he takes the bet I should be smart enough to not buy a ticket because it won't have one number, but taking the bet would allow me to win the same money I play, so no loss. If he refuses the bet then the he knows he's going to lose because I'll have a winning ticket. The best part is, the only way I lose is when I don't buy the ticket.

Brilliant.

Any takers?

MegaBall$ - you never know when your number's up.

www.MegaBallsMovie.com

Twitter @ Oroloro

Good News!

It was announced today in The Hollywood Reporter and Daily Variety ... that the federal film tax incentive, known as Sect 181 (of the 2004 JOBS Creation Act) has been renewed, and is retroactive to Jan. 1 2012. Essentially the incentive allows for investors to deduct their investment in a qualified film, and under the provisions MegaBall$ is a fully qualified production. You may read a simple explanation of how the incentive works by clicking HERE.

Please note, it is advisable that any individual consult with their tax advisor to see if/what the benefit may actually be for that individual.

We are also looking forward to changes in SEC Rules, as part of the 2012 JOBS Creation act, which will also be advantageous to our efforts. These language changes are expected to be released this month.

www.MegaBallsMovie.com

2012 in Review

As we reach the end of 2012 we wish to take a little time to reflect and to give thanks.

Early in 2012 we began the first steps of developing our comedy feature film, MEGABALL$. We fine tuned our offering, created MegaBalls Movie LLC, thanks to the efforts of legal counsel Jonathan Fischer. We revised and updated our Project Overview, pre-scouted locations, created our Twitter account (@Oroloro) and grew our base of followers in Facebook. We quickly shot a teaser, and short video of the story-behind-the-story, and uploaded them to our website (www.MegaBallsMovie.Com) and our YouTube account (OroloroSM) where they have been viewed all over the world.

We began meetings, in New York - Florida - Los Angeles, with potential investors while building relationships with distributors and fellow producers. We confirmed the key players on our production team. We met with several actors for lead roles, and have commitments from Joe Gannascoli (Vito Spatafore of THE SOPRANOS) and Joyce Randolph (Trixie Norton of THE HONEYMOONERS), and interest from others. Our first investors were Mike and Rayanna Bramblett - and we greatly appreciate their faith and support.

The screenplay is essentially finished, though occasionally it's fined-tuned. The response from those who have read it is extremely positive.

We attended the 2012 IFP Film Market in NY. These efforts have added to branding and to raising awareness/interest of the film and its progress. These efforts have resulted in:

• 420 Twitter followers
• 288 Facebook followers
• 167 YouTube subscribers
• Teaser Video has been viewed 14,782 times
• Story Video has been viewed 16,701 times

We have designed a mobile APP and received several bids for its programming. The APP, which is actually featured in the film, will be a unique way to promote the film while creating a small revenue stream. Today we updated the film's website with new animations (WWW.MegaBallsMovie.Com).

2013 will provide us with great opportunities to move forward. SEC guidelines will change in ways that will be favorable for funding the film. We have several meetings planned early in January which hold great promise for both funding and promoting the film. We'll be attending the Miami Film & Media Market in late January, thanks to our casting director and associate producer, Ellen Jacoby.

Most of all - we'd like express thanks for all the wonderful faith and encouragement from our families, friends, and our team in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Texas, Florida, Chicago and the New York area. It is with their help and support MEGABALL$ will become a reality. Among them are: Ellen Jacoby, Elizabeth Wentworth, Allan Schollnick, Salina West, Jonathan Fischer, Joyce Randolph, Don Pippin, Dejan Georgevich, Melanie Norton Scheller, Rosemary Ponzo, Sanna Choe Lund, Rebecca Damon, Tom Fabrizio, Dave Cadena, Alan Gershowitz, Arch Smith, David Mitchell, Keith Thomas, Rachel Kadushin, Anne St. James, Mike and Rayanna Bramblett, Eileen Maranzano, Erin Wahl, Doug Redenius, Achilli Raspantini, Beth Rosen, Liz Zazzi, Dave Bachman, Bill Pepe, Gini Dustin, Jim McLean, Joe Gannascoli, John 'JB' Bruno, John Gallagher, Sylvia Caminer, Lisa Norman, Lou Mastantuono, McKenzie Westmore, Nick Sakai, Rolando Eddy, Ruben Brache, Nandina Lesmerises.....and so many more...

We are blessed to have this wonderful group hoping and helping!

May 2013 be full of good health, joy and prosperity!

Warmest regards,

Marc & Joe

www.MegaBallsMovie.com

www.Oroloro.com

 

An APP a day ...

We're developing a mobile APP for MegaBall$. The purpose is to both promote and 'brand' the film, but to create an entertaining and functional APP theme related to the film.

Within the story line a character does create an APP - and it dawned on us, why not make the APP for real!? We've been working with three programmer/designers and have refined what the APP will do, and we're now waiting on bids. Once we have chosen the vendor and know our price, we'll begin a separate effort to fund the APP.

67.5% of the American population buy lotto tickets on a regular basis creating a $56 billion US Lottery industry in 2012. The largest-ever lotto jackpot worldwide was the US MegaMillions jackpot which totaled $656 million on March 2012. Popular lotto-based APPs have been downloaded more than 100,000 times. The demand is huge and these buyers represent not only a market for the MegaBall$ mobile APP, but an audience for the film.

 

Additionally, the APP will be used to sweeten any product placement/donation deals allowing those companies to advertise on the APP, which will be available for iPhone, iPad, and Android phones/tablets.

 

We are examining the possibility of doing a reading of the screenplay and, if we do, that would also be the launch of the APP. The reading will be to hear the script read before a live audience where, hopefully, potential investors and distributors will be in attendance. The first reading would be in New York, at the historical actors club - The Lambs. Two additional readings may be considered for Los Angeles and south Florida.

 

The promotional side will allow users to view the teaser, and when the film is completed they will see the trailer. Users may opt to follow our Twitter or Facebook accounts, and they will occasionally receive project update notifications. Users will also be able to see showtimes/places of the film's screening and purchase a download to their phone/tablet.

 

The funtional side is about .... well, we won't say yet. But it will be practical and entertaining.

 

Stay tuned!

Attended the Digital Hollywood Summit NYC 2012 today - and more tomorrow. Many good panel discussions about taking advantage of the digital world when promoting and marketing films.

Hoping more will follow us on Twitter @Oroloro and refer to #MegaBall$.

We're still refining the design of the MegaBall$ APP and getting estimates - it's going be a useful and fun application that will also promote the film.

We've also been thinking a little about the storyline of MegaBall$ and how it applies in real life. 67% of the population regularly plays the lottery/lotto/Megamillions/Powerball. Please comment below: Do you play the lottery - and have you ever won more than $100.

MegaStorm?

We're slowly recovering from the affects of hurricane Sandy. Although we have sustained some damages we're grateful that our friends and family are safe. We certainly hope you are all well!

In short time we'll continue our efforts to promote and finance our comedy film, MEGABALL$...and we're keeping as active as circumstances allow.

We're pleased that over the past week interest continues to grow and our 'numbers' are up. Our Twitter account nears 300 followers and our Facebook group has 282 followers.

Our video "The Story Behind MegaBall$" has 16,665 views. The video 'Teaser'  has 14,736 views from 82 different countries; our YouTube Channel has 171 subscribers. Please feel free to encourage your friends to view these videos and to ask them to follow our progress on Twitter and Facebook....and ask the same of their friends

The film's website continues to attract good traffic and we've added a page for comments from persons who have read the screenplay. We frequently review and edit the screenplay - to make the film 'tight' and filming efficient.

We have gotten our first estimate on a MegaBall$ APP, which will help promote the film throughout the various stages of production and sales. The design of the APP is not only for marketing, but it will randomly select numbers for lotto games while 'speaking' a line from the film. We also hope to add a similar feature to our web site. We plan to have the APP running before we begin production, and all our supporters and investors will be the first to receive the APP. (FYI the APP is featured within the film!)

The damages and costs associated with hurricane Sandy will limit interest from local investors for some time....so, as we continue to set up meetings we'll need to depend more on networking to find other potential investors. We are also looking for other sources of funding, such as grants and 'crowdsourcing,' to combine with private equity financing. We have responded to encouraging requests from the Tribeca Institute and submitted for one of their grants. There remain several interested individuals considering financial involvement.

We greatly appreciate your support and faith!

 

Best regards,

Marc Baron & Joe Cirillo

Oroloro Entertainment, LLC / MegaBalls Movie, LLC

www.oroloro.com

www.MegaBallsMovie.com

We hope all our friends and followers have managed to get through hurricane Sandy safely.
To to the demands of the damages here, we'll be off line for a few days....but we'll be continuing our efforts to produced MEGABALL$ soon.

A recent trip to Los Angeles included a few meetings, but overall plans were changed because of problems with return flights to New York. We'll report on those meetings soon.