Introducing Good Grief
A FILM BY BOB GIRALDI & JASON CICCI
After the sudden death of his estranged brother, out of work author Christopher Carpenter finds himself headed back to the offbeat hometown he had left behind. In this quirky dark comedy, Christopher suddenly finds himself leading a grief counseling group filled with local kooks. Egged on by his overzealous agent, he covertly records the sessions for a comeback book-- as the new adventure opens itself eventually; each member of the group revealing the calamity of secrets they’ve withheld in order to move forward with their
dismal lives.
Setting
Small, unremarkable and populated with its share of misfits, the no-name town in the story is the kind of place you’d like to get out of but don’t know where to start. Located in the northeast, the setting of “Good Grief” is much like its characters: moody and limited with glimpses of light.
Story
In “Good Grief” a group of misfits, coming together in a grief counseling group, learn to cope with their personal deaths. Led by a young man with secrets, friendships formed are rocked by a betrayal that may destroy more than the group.
TEAM
Bob Giraldi
Director
Whether it’s music videos, films, commercials, education or restaurants, his sense of style and design is immediately felt in all his projects.
One of the original “Mad Men” in the early 1960s, Giraldi was a creative director at the legendary Y&R ad agency, winning numerous awards for a distinctive list of clients. Caught up in the middle of the early advertising creative revolution, he spent over 10 years on Madison Avenue and has since earned the distinction of being named as one of “101 Stars Behind 100 Years of Advertising.”
Then, during an amazing run of over 40 years as one of America’s leading commercial directors, Giraldi has produced and directed over 4000 unique visual marketing and advertising pieces. He has been inducted into the NY Art Director’s Hall of Fame, one of the few film directors to be honored. And, in 2014, Giraldi was the first commercial director ever to be elected to the Advertising Hall of Fame.
Giraldi set the tone for music videos in the early MTV days. His narrative and musical storytelling abilities were first seen in Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” as the video swept the country and won numerous awards including that year’s coveted American Music Award, the Billboard Music Award and the People’s Choice Award.
Working with music luminaries such as Pat Benatar, Paul McCartney, Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, Ricky Martin, Hall & Oates and Will Smith, he continued to win acclaim and define the future of the medium with videos like “Say, Say, Say,” “Love is a Battlefield,” “Hello” “Running with the Night,”
“Don’t Drive Drunk,” and “Just The Two of Us”.
In addition to directing Jon Cryer’s teen cult film, “Hiding Out” (1987), Bob Giraldi’s feature film, “Dinner Rush” (2000), with Danny Aiello, John Corbett and Sandra Bernhard, appeared on a number of 2001’s Top 10 Lists and was selected for the prestigious New Directors/New Films Series at MoMA. This film clearly has influenced the many reality and fictional food shows that crowd TV and media today.
Jason Cicci
Producer, Writer
Jason is the Executive Producer/Creator/Writer of the award-winning original se-ries “He’s With Me”. With two seasons and 21 episodes, the show was an official selection of many web/film festivals including Indie Series Awards, Brooklyn Web Fest, Sicily Web Fest, Cinema Q Film Festival, LAWebfest and Rome Web Festival.
Recently, Jason co-produced and wrote the award-winning short film, “A Conversational Place”. Directed by Bob Giraldi and starring Emmy winner Marilyn Sokol, Jason won Best Screenplay Awards from The One Reeler Competition and DAMN Film Festival. He followed the success of “A Conversational Place” with “New Year’s Eve @ Sunny’s”, currently making the festival rounds.
On the stage, Jason has been an accomplished producer for almost two de-cades. With his independent production company, Monday Morning Produc-tions, Jason has produced theatrical readings, musical concerts, comedy nights and productions of plays A Month of Sundays, him & her, Closet Chronicles, 7 Reece Mews and Hate Mail.
Anelisa Garfunkel
line Producer
Anelisa Garfunkel is a filmmaker and author based in New York City. Her career as a storyteller began over fifteen years ago producing educational films on the tiny island of Pohnpei in the Federated States of Micronesia. Since then she has written, directed and produced television, documentaries, web-series, features and short films in the US and abroad. Anelisa is currently the Director of Operations for the MPS Directing program at SVA NYC. She continues to write, produce, and direct independent and freelance projects. Anelisa’s stories are born from a life spent exploring, climbing, diving, and adventuring around the world.
Patti Greaney
EXECUTIVE Producer
Patti Greaney has produced thousands of commercials, music videos, award-winning PSAs, short films, documentaries, and a feature film entitled Dinner Rush directed by Bob Giraldi. This film was chosen by Newsweek as one of the top five films of the year, and by Eric Roper as one of the top 100 films of the last decade. It was shown in the Museum of Modern Art New Films/New Director’s Series and won numerous domestic Audience Awards. Patti produced The Routine which premiered at Sundance and won Best Drama Award at the Los Angeles International Short Film Festival. Second Guessing Grandma, another production of hers, received the Jury award for Short Narrative at the Chicago International Film Festival. She also served as a producer of Honey Trap starring Debbie Harry, one of the first films ever shot entirely in Hi Def Film Stream. Ms. Greaney produced and co-directed with Bob Giraldi a documentary for The New York Women’s Foundation and later had her solo-directing debut with the short narrative film, “Lost Art” winning a silver medal at the Chicago International Film Festival and a silver medal at the New York Festival for International Media.
Ms. Greaney currently runs the Digital division at GiraldiMedia while serving as one of the company’s executive producers. She focuses on the develop-ment of feature film, television, theatrical and brand integration ventures. She founded StarChefs, a highly acclaimed culinary web site chosen by Microsoft and US News & World Report as one of the top five food sites on the Internet. StarChefs has been featured in the New York Times, USA Today, Bon Appetit, Gourmet Magazine, Food Arts, Brand Week, CNBC and internationally on CNN.
Partnering with the School of Visual Arts, Patti created the International Out of Hand Festival, the first of its kind, which awards cash prizes for innovative mobile content. Submissions come from over 76 countries across the globe.
She is curator of Children’s Short Film Program for Hampton’s International Film Festival, Film Columbia and Shorts in Winter Festival in Brooklyn which she created. Patti is also= on the Board of Directors of Saint Ann’s School in Brooklyn Heights as well as on the Board of Advisors at Film Columbia and School of Visual Arts Foundation. Ms. Greaney resides in New York City with her husband and daughter.
FINANCIALS
- First payout goes to investors until 120% of the investment is recouped.
- After 120% recoupment, the net profit is the split 50/50 between the investors and the production company.
- The 50% production company split consists of percentages given to the director, producers, talent and writer.
- On the investment side, your individual investment reflects the percentages of the film you own.
- There can be no further dilution of investor’s percentage. Once your percentage is assigned, it cannot decrease.
Hypothetical Return of Investment
Total Budget $870,000
Investment:
Private Equity $75,000 recoups in 1st position 120%
Equity to raised $500,000 recoups in 1st position 120%
Tax credit for shooting in NY $206,250
Post production tax credit $82,500
Total: $863,750
Recoupment Structure:
Foreign sales estimates: World ex US & Canada $1,500,000
Domestic sale $1,000,000
Total recoupment $2,500,000
Projected Timeline
Pre-Production...........................................2 months
Production..................................................4 weeks
Post Production..........................................4 months
Total Time for Finished Product...............10 months
Sellable film by 16 months of capitalization
GOAL: Good Grief is sold and profitable with 2 years of funding
Gross Funding
FIRST: 100% to the Managing Members for (a) the re-payment of loans and Advances, if any, which by their terms require such payment and which have been approved for such in accordance with the provisions of Section 5.02 of the Agreement; (b) at the discretion of the Managing Members, to the payment of Costs of Production, to the extent said Costs of Production are included in the budget and are not paid out of Capital Contributions or Loans and Advances; and (c) to the payment of any Company expenses, if any.
SECOND: 100% to the Members pro rata, pari passu in the proportion that the number of units held by such Member bears to all outstanding Units, until the Members have received distributions equaling 120% of their Capital Contribution. Such additional 20% is a so-called “priority return.”
THIRD: 100% to the Managin Members for: (a) the repayment Loans and Advances not repaid in FIRST above, if any, and (b) Costs of Production and Company expenses, in such amounts and proportions as the Managing Members may in their sole discretion determine until such time as the aforementioned are paid in full, to the extent such Costs of Production and Company expenses are not paid under “FIRST” above.
FOURTH: 100% distributed to pay deferred compensation, if any, to any third party provider that provided services to the Film up to the maximum total amount of $55,000 deferred compensation.
FIFTH: After the full payment of the aformentioned in accordance with FIRST through FOURTH above there may Net Profits of the Company, The Net Profits shall be distributed to and divided among the Members and the Mangaging Members pro rata, pari passu in the follow-ing proportions:
(i) Fifty Percent (50%) to the Member(s) in proportion to each Member(s) respective Interest;
(ii) Fifty Percent (50%) to the Managing Members, in their capacity as Members.
(iii) Net Profits that are distributed to the Managing Members in FIFTH (ii) above, that is, the Managing Members’ fifty percent (50%).
GOOD GRIEF