I spent a couple of hours with Joshua Newman, the 24-year-old CEO of Cyan Pictures, pouring through his experiences in filmmaking, starting companies and life in general. Josh's most recent adventure is his own movie production company, but he has started other companies, including a venture capital fund to invest in student businesses. Josh just finished his first feature film and he shared not only what it takes to make a movie, but what it takes to run the business.

BRYAN: Were you into film related stuff in high school or college?
JOSHUA: Not at all. I watched a lot of movies. The interesting thing about the film business is that there are a lot of people who don't come from very traditional routes. It is a really tough business especially when you go about it a traditional way. They could get a job at an agency, working in a mailroom trying to work their way up. It is horrible work, you're horribly underpaid, and if you stick around for 25 years, if you're lucky, they'll let you make your own movie. And so really it's just a horrible process.

The people that get hired more than anyone are the friends of the casting directors. Think outside the box. If you're an actor, go to LA, get the job as the bartender or waiter or whatever and then show up at 10 different casting directors' offices and say I don't want a job, I want to volunteer. I'll get you coffee, I'll do whatever you need.

BRYAN: Raising money to start both a company and movie is a difficult task. How did you raise funds to get your company and movie off of the ground?
JOSHUA: We did a lot of fiscal modeling for the movie and showed how if you keep the budget low enough and get the start-up capital, the risk to reward profile of a film can be similar to that of a really successful tech start-up. We were able to go to a lot of tech investors and say look, you guys aren't making tech investments so why not take that money in the portfolio and put it into something a little more diverse.

BRYAN: How did you meet all of your contacts?
JOSHUA: Good question. It's the kind of thing where you meet people and they introduce you to other people and it just kind of grows.

We raised a little money and shot Coming Down the Mountain and that was sort of our crash course in filmmaking. It gave us a chance to go through that creative process together. We blogged about the whole process and one of the girls who had come along had this great screenplay which turned out to be I Love Your Work. From the beginning, Adam Goldberg said he wanted Giovanni Ribisi and Christina Ricci involved.

BRYAN: How do you sell to movie companies?
JOSHUA: There are three layers in the film world. There is the production, distribution and exhibition. Big distributors have determined that it is cheaper for them to purchase a finished film than it is for them to make it themselves.

For example, DareDevil and Spider-Man were both produced independently. You want to get a big company to pay some of the cash up front for the right to show the film and then you share percentage-wise with the distributors and exhibitors.

BRYAN: What were the main costs you had?
JOSHUA: Production companies are really interesting, in that you can really just start them for just the cost of your own living expenses.

To get a movie made you really need one of three things. First: A really really good screenplay. Actually, a really great screenplay. Good is just not good enough. You need to sit down and read the screenplay of your favorite movie. Then read whichever movie you're about to make. If you think it is at least as good as the others, go for it, but if its not, stop right there. Second: Get an actor connection. If you happen to be friends with Tom Cruise since pre-school you're in a great position. Third: Easy access to money. A surprisingly small amount of money will get you in the indie film game. Half a million is good enough to get your production company credit at the table with an established company. If you have the network of investors you can turn around and parlay that.

The fiscal structure of a film is a pyramid where you at the top are only really responsible for hiring the people immediately below you. As the producer you have to bring in the director and the cast. You have to work side by side with the director to bring in department heads. Once you have your cinematographer, they turn around and take the budget and get the things done that need to be done. It's the kind of thing that the more you know how the money flows, the better you are.

BRYAN: Any tips for people interested in producing a movie?
JOSHUA: I look at people who are coming out of producing and film schools right now and they don't know anything you couldn't read in a book. Instead of spending those years doing that, why don't you spend them making films? You would be so far ahead of everyone else. If you talk to people who are at the top of their game, very few of them took the traditional route.