University of Wisconsin - Extension

With help from SBDC --

The script is ready. Locations have been scouted. Musicians and cast are identified. All that Bradley Pruitt needs now is a few investors willing to share his vision, along with $250,000 in seed money.

"I'm looking for financing to do a full-length feature film titled 'Wide Open,''' said Pruitt. He has turned to the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at UW-Milwaukee for help in business planning that will line up the dollars. "I have a comprehensive 'film' business plan. Now we're adding cash flow and revenue streams to the plan."

Business counselor Pravin Kamdar is one of the resource people assisting Pruitt through the SBDC. Kamdar has been researching to help him find a few good investors.

A Milwaukee native, Pruitt had a successful career in the financial service industry in Atlanta before returning to Wisconsin nearly eight years ago. He loves his home town and wants his film to premiere here. Even though Pruitt is adamant about the Milwaukee setting, he says, "You could be anywhere and relate to this film."

"'Wide Open' is about how the economics of a big city like Milwaukee have changed. It deals with race and class issues, the media and the police," explains Pruitt. He has worked in visual images for as long as he can remember. As a child, he drew and painted. He had some art training in high school. He has worked as a photographer for community newspapers. He sees film as the latest expression in his evolving career.

Pruitt has a passion for sharing visual arts experience with young people. He is co-founder and principal of a non-profit organization called Collaborative Effect. Its purpose is to do community and youth leadership development in the visual arts. Nothing pleases him more than to put a video camera into the hands of eight-year-olds. "They become instant videographers, and they get quite good at that."

As a filmmaker, Pruitt knows what it takes to get acceptance in the market place. "You have to get exposure in film festivals. The first line of customers are the film distributors' acquisition executives. They decide whether to pick up a film based on their own reactions and audience reactions."

Pruitt has ideas for at least four motion pictures beyond "Wide Open." He says he has a good feel for his ultimate film audiences. "The need for films for people of color is great."

The experience of creating a not-for-profit organization for youth was time consuming, says Pruitt. "It's the pressure that turns coal to diamonds," he quips. It taught him a lesson about business: Be patient.

Another business lesson he shares is, "Develop the ability to understand what people need from you and then develop the ability to deliver that."

As he searches for investors, Bradley Pruitt's ultimate plan is to do both film making and more youth development in the visual arts. "It is my hope that the for-profit ventures like the films, will feed the non-profit work."