Thinking about turning down studio distribution deal...

Gratwick Films

Gratwick Films

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?
 
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I was actually self-critical pre-internets as I started playing with filmmaking in the mid 80s. Out of an entire (fun to shoot) sucky little things my friends and I slapped together, we had one BRILLIANT in camera edit (my first realization of the power of editing) - the other 8 minutes was just dumb fun that no one else would appreciate except the people involved.
 
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I was humble until I made that first FEATURE film. I was critical of short films, but the euphoria of finishing that ambitious, far larger project with YEARS of effort into getting it started and then completed just changed things. Then 1 year later, reality sets in. I don't hate the movie, but I have a more realistic and honest view of what it was, what it is, and what I want to do next.

I learned lessons in humility. I will never let myself believe that nonsense again.
 
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I'm definitely the heavily personally critical sort. Even after my first feature. As hugely rewarding and personally gratifying it was to pull off I never had the OP's blind self-worship. But them again I didn't wind up with a 200k distribution deal so obviously I need to brush up on my d-baggery. Definitely at our first big screen full audience festival screening I was riding a high. Hell we even snagged an award that night, but personally I saw everything I ever disliked in the film blown up to the big screen for all to see. I don't think an experience has ever been more painful while simultaneously being completely rewarding. We were seated in front of the audience rather than behind so I couldn't see any reactions but I could hear everything and I had convinced myself that I was hearing the sounds of people sneaking out of the theater and that by the time the film was over I'd turn around and see the packed theater completely empty. Not the case but the sensation was overwhelming. I personally cannot relate at all to the syndrome everyone is talking about but I have seen it.
 
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Rumors killed the Radio Star. I mean Movie Deal.

Look, I don't agree with the notion, that everyone's first film is automatic shit. Sometimes the stars seem to align. :)

But I will agree, that if you have an ignorant shit attitude, your business affairs will suffer. I'm going to go out on a limb here, and say, I don't think this guy ever had an offer from a distribution company. Often times, when your talking to the powers that be, you can speculate and start to believe something is going to happen, when in reality, nothing is on paper.
 
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sonnyboo said:
I learned lessons in humility. I will never let myself believe that nonsense again.
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We all take that journey. Ultimately we make movies for an audience, so it's best to just listen to your fans, critics, IMDB reviewers and anyone who actually cares enough to take the time and offer an honest opinion. If you choose to repudiate every seemingly negative slant, you may win the arguement at the risk of losing potential fans.

If someone says, "your script sucks," you may want to ask them why, as opposed to just shooting it. Filmmaking obsession is good, when it's not blind.
 
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Screenwriter said:
Look, I don't agree with the notion, that everyone's first film is automatic shit. Sometimes the stars seem to align. :)

But I will agree, that if you have an ignorant shit attitude, your business affairs will suffer. I'm going to go out on a limb here, and say, I don't think this guy ever had an offer from a distribution company. Often times, when your talking to the powers that be, you can speculate and start to believe something is going to happen, when in reality, nothing is on paper.
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Holy cow, I can't believe I agree with every point you've made. Its a rarity for me around here to be so agreeable.
;)
 
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GuerrillaAngel said:
Holy cow, I can't believe I agree with every point you've made. Its a rarity for me around here to be so agreeable.
;)
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Well, I'd like to think I'm a pretty reasonable kind of guy! No for real though, after some people snort that line of success which is completion of your screenplay or film, they will often become grandiose, losing sight of reality. It's good to think highly of your work, but the secret is, downplay it, be humble, and the people will love you for it! Real gangsters don't flex and front, they plot and plan. In my "humble" opinion, this is how a successful filmmaker operates.
 
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Screenwriter said:
I'm going to go out on a limb here, and say, I don't think this guy ever had an offer from a distribution company.
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If we examine the dates of the posts, at the time of the ORIGINAL post - NO he had no offer of any kind. 6 months later, he really did have a significant offer.

I read the actual emails. It was AMAZING. He tried to convince the head of acquisitions that his film was worth so much more money even when they told him these numbers are unrealistic in this economy and state of the business affairs. It's as if this guy at the distribution company had read my posts on this site and quoted them.
 
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Scoopicman said:
If you choose to repudiate every seemingly negative slant, you may win the arguement at the risk of losing potential fans.
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While I wholeheartedly agree, if you read Mr. Hulbert's (who I believe to the be the person who posted under the Gratwick Films name) responses to the Fearnet review posted earlier in the thread he alleges that the reviewer is making things up about the film that are simply not true. If that's the case, that's something understandably infuriating.

Not that I'm trying to defend his hostility or hubris on this forum, which reads as completely unnecessary.
 
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Cracker Funk said:
I see it, sonnyboo, I see it! And, I'm in full agreement. I only make movies that I, myself, would want to watch. :)
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This, this, a thousand times this! It is my belief that in any creative field, you have to find a balance between being your own biggest critic and your own biggest fan. If you can critique yourself, you can make yourself better (which is a never-ending goal). If you can shut that off, sit down and watch your movie (or in my case, listen to my music) and just enjoy it for what it is, then you're doing the sort of work you should be.

The OP's story just makes me sad. I hate to see anyone fail, doubly so shoot themselves in the foot like that. And he was *so close*. Equally sad, but kinda funny too, I keep glancing down and seeing the thread tag "self distribution" as "self destruction"
 
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Screenwriter said:
Look, I don't agree with the notion, that everyone's first film is automatic shit. Sometimes the stars seem to align. :)
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I wouldn't say "shit" is the right term, but good and "okay"--at least in my own book--are very far cries away from each other. Can't be sure if FOLLOWING was Chris Nolan's real first feature, but that was a pretty solid 70ish minutes of motion picture.

That's also Chris Nolan.

I think you can easily make an "okay" first feature film if you've studied up, but good's kinda like the 200K distro deal: far far and away. That's me, anyway.
 
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sonnyboo said:
If we examine the dates of the posts, at the time of the ORIGINAL post - NO he had no offer of any kind. 6 months later, he really did have a significant offer.

I read the actual emails. It was AMAZING. He tried to convince the head of acquisitions that his film was worth so much more money even when they told him these numbers are unrealistic in this economy and state of the business affairs. It's as if this guy at the distribution company had read my posts on this site and quoted them.
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Wow, if what you say is true, this ranks up there with the top 10 stupid things I've heard this month, falling somewhere around #7 or #8. If it was a subsidiary company of Lionsgate, I've got a good guess of who they are, and at this current time, they really aren't handing out advances too often. Moral of the story? Get an experienced manager to handle yo business!!!

Sonny you should post those emails, omitting the names.
 
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Screenwriter said:
Wow, if what you say is true, this ranks up there with the top 10 stupid things I've heard this month, falling somewhere around #7 or #8. If it was a subsidiary company of Lionsgate, I've got a good guess of who they are, and at this current time, they really aren't handing out advances too often. Moral of the story? Get an experienced manager to handle yo business!!!

Sonny you should post those emails, omitting the names.
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Funnily enough, I was talking about this with a director the other night over a beer. He is a hired gun who has directed a few things and the last film he directed was b@llsed up by the producer. The producer got greedy and with multiple offers on the table managed to scr@w up the biggest one.

The one thing I learned when I opened my little business was not to scr@w up the big deal. There will always be little deals but the b!g one sitting on the table is the one to be treated with respect. If the big deal is only 50 grand, well, that's the value of your stuff out there.

Still, there are bigger mistakes that have cost me a few hundred grand. For example, the other thing I learned when I closed my little business and liquidated it, firing my staff was the word 'pre-nup...'
 
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...well, that was a pretty scorched earth review.

You have to learn from this sort of thing. The OP now knows, hopefully, how to handle negotiations better, he does know how to get a distribution deal apparently.

Maybe he'll have better luck on his next film...


-- spinner :cool:
 
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Another good start for him (don't know WHAT the distributor was thinking in the first place) would be..
Write a real screenplay. The series of vignettes loosely tied together by some silly premise to me screams "I didn't have what it took to write a real unified feature". Also, if you're going to try and rip off a currently hot new genre (in this case torture porn which I despise) you better strike a little quicker. It was almost played about by the time this thread started.
 
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a poignant and sad ending to the story....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xE4fmFZ2RCM

No, Kris Hulbert did not make his millions (or even tens of dollars). Video On Demand for Facebook was a complete misfire, not only failing to get 1,000 paid viewings, but that failure and the failed screening tour also devalued traditional distribution. If there is evidence that people are not really into your film, you have no audience and therefore it is worth less money.

Hubris and ego have killed many a career.

Ask Troy Duffy....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_k8ikc1I028
 
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