HOW DOES LEGION M SELECT PROJECTS?
This is a great question, and one that we expect to evolve over time.
In the early days while the company is getting started, selection of projects is very limited. I.e. when you first start out, you often have to take what you can get. We were very fortunate to be able to get involved with some exceptionally cool projects like Colossal, Bad Samaritan, Mandy, The Field Guide to Evil, etc. A lot of the credit for this comes from our board of advisors, who helped us network and bring in these amazing opportunities.
It also helps that we're owned by fans. If you look at our track record over the past two years, we bat WAY out of our league for a new company with (by Hollywood's standards) a nearly non-existent checkbook. Colossal, Bad Samaritan, and Mandy were not movies that NEEDED our money--they CHOSE to let us invest because they believed in what we are doing. The same goes for Stan Lee and Kevin Smith who filmed our ICONS project in exchange for nothing but some of the upside in the project and the company. The fact that we're owned by fans opens a lot of doors that would be closed to any other company of our size.
As we grow, we expect to have more money to spend, more members and investors standing behind us, and better track record to demonstrate what we are capable of. All of these improve our position, and increase both the number and quality of projects we have access to. If we achieve our goal of 1MM shareholders, there may come a day when NO project is out of reach, and it will simply be a matter of choosing what we want to get involved with.
As far as selecting projects, in most cases that is done by our executive team. One notable exception is Pitch Elevator, where the winning project (which will be added to our slate) will be selected primarily by voting from the Legion. We make our decisions based on a couple factors:
THE LEGION
First and foremost amongst our considerations is what the Legion will think. As a management team, our job is to keep our shareholders happy. Not only that, we know that for this company to succeed, we need the Legion behind our projects. We're constantly polling and monitoring and engaging the Legion to help us make these decisions. We also have initiatives like SCOUT, mPulse, and Pitch Elevator which are specifically designed to help us tap into the collective wisdom of the Legion. We're still in the very early days, but we've already seen what an amazingly powerful resource a Legion of fans is, and have big plans for new tools and processes for engaging it over time.
Ultimately, we know that we can't make everybody happy with every project. Our goal is to develop a diversified slate that has something for everyone.
STRATEGIC VALUE
Another huge factor is the strategic value of each project. Especially now, when every project we do is a stepping stone to the next. For example, the opportunity to work with Dean Devlin (Stargate, Independence Day, "Leverage", "The Librarians") on Bad Samaritan was a huge selling point, as it has allowed us to increase our stature within the industry and forge a relationship with a top tier producer/writer/director who has succeeded (and--just as importantly--failed) in Hollywood at levels few ever have the chance to experience. Dean has been AMAZING to work with, and we hope to do more and more with him in the future. We've turned Dean into a big fan of Legion M--he's gone so far as to say our model could be the future of Hollywood!
ECONOMICS
Finally, it goes without saying that the deal terms and economics of each deal are very important. That's where the rubber will meet the road for Legion M and our business model over time. To help us navigate the business aspects of each deal--Hollywood is one of the most complex and nuanced business landscapes on the planet--we rely heavily on our network of advisors and creative allies.
CONCLUSION
Today, while our deals are relatively small, the economics of each project have less impact than their strategic value and ability to help us grow the Legion. The projects we seek today are ones that prove our model, demonstrate our capabilities, allow us to level up to bigger projects and, most importantly, engage and grow our Legion.
Over time the deal economics will grow in importance. Over time our power and negotiating strength should also grow accordingly. The bigger we get, the more powerful we become (if you haven't already, you should read our Top Secret Plan). But one thing will always remain the same: As a fan-owned company, our shareholders will ALWAYS be the center of everything we do.