Hi all, looking forward to the forums

[Cyberhorse]

Hello everyone, may I introduce myself? I'm Karl Greenwood, I train horses to perform in stunt shows and filming. My shows are clean and meticulous and they're geniunely good. My ethic is to be to equine stunt shows as Cirque du Soleil was to circus. I can't help but to put quality first, second and third, which of course sends my expenses soaring. My shows go out to County shows, Castles and the like. In order to keep my horses as I want, (well), I also teach horseback archery as a sport. My stables are immaculate, the horses are clean and well trained and the courses I teach are unsurpassed. Our reviews are all fantastic. Growing the business and building on our reputation are now the priority, I truly believe that if the quality is there the correct price can be got. It's a long way round though!
Next on my agenda is the corporate world - I am based on a beautiful estate near London, and it would be very easy to hold banquets here. I could have beautiful food, stunning location, and great entertainment & show. Not for me the cheap and crap - that's already out there. My experience of corporate Britain is next to nothing though, and that's what I hope to find by these forums, some idea of how to set about it. And I hope, lots of ideas that I haven't thought of to get more students and shows! And filming of course, filming is the big money spinner. In turn, what I have to offer, ....................... anyone need a warhorse and knight in the office?

 

[LowPrices.uk]

I would suggest looking up some event management companies in London and seeing if you can talk to them about the kind of venues they are looking for.

 

[Cyberhorse]

Thank you, I'll research that, much appreciated.

 

[Funding for Communities]

Hi Cyberhorse,

Don't need a knight at the moment but welcome onboard.

Mike

 

[StevePoster]

A warm welcome to you Karl and you had a great introduction there. Your field is really interesting and a money maker but you can take time to start a new thread within this reputable forum regarding your interesting field. There are well experienced members here to give you a healthy discussions. Cheers.

 

[The Byre]

And filming of course, filming is the big money spinner. In turn, what I have to offer, ....................... anyone need a warhorse and knight in the office?

Film budgets are being squeezed just as everybody else's budgets are being squeezed. There was a time when big budget projects just allowed money to drip off the table, but those days stopped about ten years ago. When you read about a $100m budget, that is mostly 'money-in-kind', i.e. TV advertising given free in exchange for TV rights a couple of years down the line, percentages of net or gross given to stars, directors and others, future distribution costs, stuff like that.

That does not mean you should not get your name out there with the usual agencies. Hit all of them with a glossy brochure and sexy website, featuring films and TV programme work you have done. Film may be a different beast nowadays, but big budget series for Internet TV (Netflix, Amazon Prime) is growing very rapidly.

Near London means near Pinewood and that's a big plus for film, as most trained stunt horses and riders are right out in the Boonies.

As for corporate, I would get a specific brochure out to all the event agencies and marriage arrangers.

 

[Cyberhorse]

Sadly , the two big horse providers are close by, Milton Keynes and Rickmansworth to be precise. Not that their horses do anything different to mine, and my USP , being smaller, is that I will go the extra mile to research details and make sure the production company gets exactly what the script demands. I'm not aware of agencies specific to horses - there are quite a few for general animals. So far I IMDB films and phone-followed-by-email off to the production companies - as yet to even get an acknowledgement reply. Actually, my impulse is to go to the expense of a brochure and send it, but overwhelmingly the advice has been to email, but into the void it seems.

 

[The Byre]

The trouble with pitching for film work, is there has to be a film featuring whatever it is you are offering! In the UK, the only stuff with horses is historical dramas and that is usually on television (and dead boring IMO!!!)

I can't think of a single film that is in pre-production that features horses, except Narnia - 'The Silver Chair' and that will almost certainly have the location work done in Eastern Europe. It is being produced by 'The Mark Gordon Company' so that might be worth pitching for, though I don't remember much horse action in the story! After that, should come 'The Magician's Nephew' which even has major speaking parts for horses! (So get the peanut butter out!)

Of course, the big one will be 'A Horse and his Boy' which has two horses in leading roles, with many, many supporting and walk-on horses. But given the idiotic wrangling that went on over rights for 'The Silver Chair', heaven knows when and even if that ever gets made!

If my horses are anything to go by, they'll have one hell of a job, teaching those horses all those pages of dialog! It's all I can do to get them to stand still and stop fidgeting when the farrier comes round - but then they have shown no signs of aspiring to a career in movies.

Of course, once word gets out that they're auditioning for 'A Horse and his Boy', there will be horses applying for RADA and fillies will be trying to get into the drama courses at LIPA to study Stanislavski's method.

"Don't think like a horse, Darling! Be a horse!"

"But I am a horse!"

"To the outside world, yes, of course you are Darling. But I want you to feel it here, in your heart! So, let's try that line again!"

"Hweeenyuyuyuyuyuy!"

"Wonderful! Wonderful!"

 

[Ikkie]

looking forward to see your views and contribution to this forum.

 

[HazelC]

Welcome to the forum - what an interesting business

Sending knights to offices??? Maybe you could suggest this to my partner as a way to propose to me I've dropped plenty of hints already

 

[helen2016]

Wow! Sounds amazing! well done would love to help you but I'm in the art business..

good luck with all anyway.

 

[Mike Wilford]

Fantastic business and all the best to you. You seem to be very clear in what you would like to achieving and you have made the steps towards achieving this. Excluding any business strategies growth is about making that first step, and continuing to make those steps each day - I hope you go a long way!

P.S - Your profile picture caught my attention - is that you on a horse on hind legs in front of the FA cup ?