Thinking about turning down studio distribution deal...

I recently finished my first film. A horror film entitled The Perfect House. We crowd funded the project and have gotten pretty lucky with people we've met along the way.

The success of the film and a little luck we've made connections in Hollywood that have us in direct contact with the decision makers of studios like Lionsgate and Universal. If we sell our movie we are most likely looking at a deal of 1-2 million. TOPS.

Which on the surface sounds great, but after all the people along the way get their taste there's not much left and more than likely no more coming no matter how good the film does.

I had planned on the self distribution route before we ever had the contacts so I am definitely not afraid of it. In fact I believe in it more than ever in light of Kevin Smith's speech at Sundance and Open letter at www.theredstatements.com stating his intentions with his new film.

I am thinking of spurning the distributors in favor of a planned VOD release date. Say October 1st and we spend the next 8 months doing screenings and independent film seminars/Q&A promoting the release date. Before we ever shot the film we received a ton of free press on many of the popular horror sites. With a finished project to show it should be even easier to get them on board for promoting our release.

Kevin Smith says he's determined to prove you can market with nothing more than social media, easy to say when you already used the system to create the fan base. I say it can be done by a total unknown making it real for everyone.

My question is this does anyone agree with me? And are you willing to support the cause?
 
I agree with rik.

I don't think most of us were poking fun at the guy on the floor.

It's a mystery solved.

Let's put snowy in his dog house outside and call it a night on this one.

And please.. Enough with the "disorder" banter.
 
I just don't like the fact that we're still humiliating him even though he's long ceased to have a voice on this site.

This entire thread is a cautionary tale, and an important one at that. I wish I had read this thread before my first feature was done. I never would have been as arrogant as I was if I had seen this example (or the movie OVERNIGHT 2003, which I had never heard of until this thread).
 
@Nick I'm sure if Zack Snyder (the guy who you hate, right?) had similar experiences, you'd still be writing blogs about him :)

Zach Snyder sleeps amidst a pile of ill gotten cash so I don't feel quite so bad. If he'd had to sell his RV to finance Sucker Punch I'd probably have let him off ;)

I didn't realize that I was humiliating him. Certainly not my intent when
I expressed how badly I felt regarding his current situation. I'm sorry you
feel that way about my posts.

That comment wasn't really directed at you.

I just feel that, in dredging this thread up and calling him a cautionary tale and speculating about mental illness and what not, we're hanging this guy out to ridicule (you can call it caution for arrogant filmmakers but if it was you then I'm sure you'd feel differently) when he can't defend either himself or the process with which he made his movie. That's all- I think we should let bygones be bygones and leave this thread to die.

I'm not criticizing anyone, I just think we should let it go. This story will always be there for people who really want to find it but I think it'd be a shame if a few mistakes which, in the great scheme of life, were fairly petty, dogged this guy for the rest of his filmmaking career.
 
Well who can we publicly mock and ridicule?

Ya'll are the most un-funnest lynch mob EVER!

Someone get Ewe Boll on IT... please!

BloodRayne.jpg
 
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I'm not criticizing anyone, I just think we should let it go.
Well, we each have our way of looking at it. I do not feel this way.
You are, of course, free to let it go. I found the whole story fascinating
and the ending just as interesting.

I understand where you're coming from, but I don't think we should
not talk about it.
 
Well, we each have our way of looking at it. I do not feel this way.
You are, of course, free to let it go. I found the whole story fascinating
and the ending just as interesting.

I understand where you're coming from, but I don't think we should
not talk about it.
Agreed.

This is a classic post mortem, plane crash/bridge failure examination bordering on investigation.

However, it doesn't mean we ought to be picking up traumatically amputated body parts, wearing them as hats, recording such on our iPhones, then posting them on FB & YT.

A little decorum and respect for the deceased is in order.

Just a wee little.




"Hey! Lookit what I found in the plane crash!"
 
Very interesting thread.

I hope some people dont get offended by this post I am about to do....

I guarantee he didnt have a 1,000,000 or 2,000,000 full rights offer from LionsGate or Universal - These companies do not do such things unless the are certain variables in place (Massive Fan base, Sundance, etc...)

He believed he was going to get an offer like that (in his head) So he could justify what he was about to do... There was no such offer

A cinematic movie shot on video can only go so far some times.

Just from the trailer I watched there were lots of red flags that went off with his story.

Something He SHOULD do is take all the footage he shot about this experience, get some interview about what he did wrong, and make it into a documentary film literally about his failure. If done correctly he could make some money on that. I would buy it, I love film related docs

Nick Soares
 
Something He SHOULD do is take all the footage he shot about this experience, get some interview about what he did wrong, and make it into a documentary film literally about his failure. If done correctly he could make some money on that.
Not a bad idea.

Hunt him down on YouTube!
http://www.youtube.com/user/ThePerfectHouse?feature=watch

See if he'll do one of those partnership deals you do. :yes:

(Headzup, though. Word around the water hole is that he ain't the easiest fellow to work with. "Strong willed" I believe they call it.)
 
I think it'd be a shame if a few mistakes which, in the great scheme of life, were fairly petty, dogged this guy for the rest of his filmmaking career.

The Internet is written in permanent marker, not pencil comes to mind. Part of the lesson to be learned is that threads like this might dog his 'career' for the rest of his life. That's one of the dangers of writing such bitter vitriol on a website in that it might be cached forever somewhere online in some form and haunt your future.

I didn't make him cry. I didn't make that youtube video of the guy crying. It seemed like a bookend to the story of this thread and the Gratwick Films contribution to IndieTalk. He fought so many people so hard to convince the world he was right and it turns out he was wrong. My intent is neither to gloat or feel anything other than pity for the guy. He's like Michael Corleone at the end of the Godfather Part III; a very tragic figure in a really really bad movie.
 
He's ballsy and passionate. He sounds like a guy who'll get off the mat and might make us all eat crow. He seems to have a motor. I wouldn't count him out. Standing Eight Count only. The only question is can he rally off the ropes?

And I don't think he needs to worry about this thread handicapping his career. As if rudeness disqualifies someone from success in showbiz.
 
I DO think it's a cautionary tale. I have tried to take it as one. If you could strip all the personal stuff and craziness out of it (which we can't) then it would almost be a "must read" for any aspiring filmmaker.
 
THANK YOU NICK!!!
No offense to anyone here but…
duh-duh1233387823.jpg


seriously…

MJhg9.jpg

Very interesting thread.

I hope some people dont get offended by this post I am about to do....

I guarantee he didnt have a 1,000,000 or 2,000,000 full rights offer from LionsGate or Universal - These companies do not do such things unless the are certain variables in place (Massive Fan base, Sundance, etc...)

He believed he was going to get an offer like that (in his head) So he could justify what he was about to do... There was no such offer

A cinematic movie shot on video can only go so far some times.

Just from the trailer I watched there were lots of red flags that went off with his story.

Something He SHOULD do is take all the footage he shot about this experience, get some interview about what he did wrong, and make it into a documentary film literally about his failure. If done correctly he could make some money on that. I would buy it, I love film related docs

Nick Soares
 
All I know is that the co-director and writer has a way with words....

He called me here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjXpIj9o_4A

and left a message on my voicemail here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjMj_npblsA
 
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