Why movie mogul Steve isn't giving up the day job

12:52pm Tuesday 6th May 2008

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THIS story is about two Steve Smiths. They may look alike, but they inhabit utterly different worlds.

Steve's public, high-profile identity is that of Steven M Smith, an increasingly successful film producer.

"If you work in the film industry, you can make big money, Someone I know gets �600 a day for operating the crane on the set. But then you get used to the money. You�re comfortable with the regular work and you lose your bigger vision."

He has his name in six-foot movie titles and on posters, and is a regular face at Cannes, the most glamorous festival on earth. One of his scripts is currently being read by Andie McDowell.

A complete professional, Steve can tackle any of the main jobs on a movie set - directing, writing or camerawork - but his most accomplished role is the one in the movie industry which often makes grown men weep. Steve persuades backers to invest money in movies.

His firm, Greenway Entertainment, has done it well enough to attract investors whose cheques don't bounce - and now the money is starting to flow the other way, with growing numbers of moviegoers paying to watch his work, especially in America.

For all that, the biggest satisfaction for Steve, 33, lies not in money or kudos. It comes, he says, "from doing what I always wanted to do and working with the sort of people who share my dream."

He didn't go to film school or start out in the industry in the time-honoured way, as a technician or runner. Until 2004 Steve lived a wholly different life.

"If you work in the film industry, you can make big money," Steve says.

"Someone I know gets £600 a day for operating the crane on the set. But then you get used to the money. You're comfortable with the regular work and you lose your bigger vision.

"I'd always wanted to make films for a living, and in 2004, I just said to myself, I've got to do it before I'm 30. Then I could at least say that I had made a movie in my life."

As writer, producer, director and salesman, he landed himself with a monumental job.

"But at least, in my case, I can pursue the projects I want to do, and I answer only to myself and to my investors," he says.

Steve gained experience doing odd jobs on movies shot near his childhood home in Wickford. Four Weddings and a Funeral and the TV series Lovejoy were among the productions where he hovered at the edges, taking it all in. Eventually, he raised £50,000 - £17,000 of it his and his wife's savings - and shot a full-length film called The Time of Her Life.

Like most other low budget films, it started with an advantage. Steve says: "We had good actors. A lot of actors really like to work on low-budget films, simply because they have more fun."

Time of Her Life was based on a psychological thriller-cum-ghost story Steve scripted himself. It concerns a photographer who captures an image of a ghost on her camera.

On the back of deals made largely at Cannes, The Time of Her Life has now been released in America and four European countries, though not yet in the UK. Investors are already "close to getting their money back," Steve says.

Time of her Life has proved a useful calling card for Steve M Smith, producer.

It proves he can deliver the goods and deserves to be taken seriously.

He now has five further film packages "in development" The process is a combination of raising capital and attracting established actors to lend their name to the projects. Steve lures them with compelling scripts, original ideas and the prospect of a good part.Once actors and crews have signed up in principle, it becomes easier to raise capital.

But the process is still fraught - and in comparison Steve regards the process of making the film itself as relatively straightforward, indeed, almost relaxing.

"The real, crucial hard work is all in the planning, the communication and the preparation," he says.

Much of Steve's working day is distinctly unglamorous, and consists of firing off e-mails to prospective investors, technicians and actors. "I intersperse it with writing, which is always enjoyable," he says.

"Writing has always been second nature and a pure joy. I've never had a problem coming up with strong ideas, and then developing them."

Steve business plan envisages two completed films a year for the next two years. As the money comes in from the first batch, he aims to develop a sales team to take some of the pressure of marketing the product and raising finance off his own shoulders.

Investors come from a wide range of backgrounds and wallet-sizes.

Steve explains: "There are plenty of people out there with money to spare, who like the idea of backing a movie.

"Incentives include the chance to be named as associate producer in the credits, or to appear as an extra."

Whatever the size of investors' bank accounts, Steve says that they need an essential assurance.

"You need to get through to them that no money will be wasted," he says.

"Things are so tight you will ring an actor in the morning if you know they won't be needed that day. It saves the cost of a train ticket."

Steve also saves money by working from his home in The Greenway, Wickford.

"It's me who has written the script - the story that's going to be filmed - and I write what I want to write," he says.

His ambitions start with simply staying afloat in the film industry. Beyond that, he would like to make more ambitious films in terms of content, "to be well respected", "to be comfortable with myself", and to hear people say "I remember that film" when he names one of his movies.

This, then, is Steve M Smith, moviemaker - for two or three days a week.

For the rest of the week, he inhabits an utterly different world.

Steven M Smith, producer, becomes Steve, an NVQ-qualified care worker.

Steve says that he has no problem switching from one role to the other.

"They work well together," he explains. "I can do evenings and nights, which allows me to look after my child while my wife is at work. It gives me complete days off during the week to work on my films."

The combination makes sense - and just occasionally the two worlds collide.

"One of my care clients even became an extra in my film," Steve says.

For more information about Steve's films and plans, click the web link below.