Simon Vause

Like a lot of people I’ve always been excited by film. There’s a certain kind of magic about being whisked away into different worlds, but there’s an even greater magic in how films are produced. I think a lot of this magic comes from the mystique that surrounds the film industry. It’s often seen as a closed shop that every now and then lets in a chosen few.
Like many film lovers I’ve digested thousands of pages of theory, moved to the next level with production courses with various companies, including the popular independent choice that is Raindance. Seen the TV perspective as an extra being entertained by David Jason in between takes on ‘A Touch of Frost’. Lived the dream in Cannes, enjoying way too many drinks with people who wouldn’t be seen dead taking less than a single title card credit. Went gorilla on a micro budget film with a member of Bros and generally had a lot of fun. As hobbies go it’s been a good one.

Then technology went BANG!

I’m a great believer in thinking differently. I’ve had many successes in business approaching problems from a less than traditional perspective. Just because something is currently done a certain way doesn’t mean that it should stay that way forever. Evolution affects everything, even the film industry!

The rapid evolution of technology, especially in the domain of filmmaking is opening up smarter ways to do business. It is creating a leaner business that makes traditional production and distribution methods look bloated and outdated.

Several years ago I began pondering a different approach to filmmaking, one that pulled people into the process instead of taking a pious stance and pushing them away. The more I thought about this, the more I became excited by the idea. I told a few close friends. The smiles that started to spread across their faces as I explained the concept made me think ‘ahhh not just me then’. I took this further with a stand at VentureFest in York in 2013. The wide smiles continued. It was like a Cheshire cat convention on the ViralFilmNetwork stand. I was definitely on to something.

I sat down, created the business plan, then reached out to talented people that I’d been lucky enough to meet during my ‘hobby filmmaking’ to create a pool of deeply knowledgeable advisors. The next item on the agenda was investment. Confirmation of this came riding home on the day before the 2014 Tour de France Grand Départ in Yorkshire. We were in business.

The next stage was to create an uncomplicated prototype that could give people a taste of what we had to offer, as well as begin creating a buzz within the industry. Then, using their feedback and our experiences, we could develop our concept and the technical platform to support it.

That leads us to now… I'm currently looking for exciting projects and exciting filmmakers to feature on the site, as well as an amazing script that features just a few characters.