Dark Reprieve Heads Out

[Guest]

Well since my movie starts in theaters here in Ontario this Friday I thought that would allow me to start a thread in the coveted "On Screen" section of the forum.

 

First stop is Kitchener/Waterloo Ont pop: 250,000 approx.

 

Dark Reprieve will be at the Princess Cinema at 46 King St N, this Friday and Saturday night, 7pm both nights:

 

http://www.princesscinemas.com/calendar/?id=1

 

It starts in Toronto May 9th. More on that as we get closer, & the other cities it's booked into.

 

So this will be where the rubber hits the road, watching my work with an audience, of course that audience may only be one other person :D

 

Any way I will avoid the direct to video tag and hopefully raise my profile with the major rental chains here in Canada at least. Plus for international sales it's nice if the sales rep can tell the buyer from Botswana that the movie was released theatrically in its home territory.

 

There has been some good promotion for the launch, the theater has a write up on their site, and they featured DR on their circular which goes out to 35,000 people, plus it will be in the major paper in Kitchener in the movie section. There "should" also be a news piece coming out this week I'll post the link when it happens. I did the interview now hopefully they run it.

 

More to come, if any one cares and likes to follow the story of an indie movies journey from crazy to idea to the theaters.

 

R,

[Alex Ellerman]

Rock! congrats Richard... reading your post, it seems that you are thinking about your next film and your next film strategy... any thoughts on that at this point? A different release strategy, a bigger budget, investors, etc. would love to know how what this has taught you.

 

best,

alex

[Guest]

Yes I have learned much, next time skip 35mm and use a 1 CCD mini DV camera and Tom Cruise or Brad Pitt. :D

 

I have a 123 page script for my next film written by my writing partner Reg Heide, based on a story I gave him. Number one thing I learned is that the script has to be locked down and flushed out much better than it was on my last project. I fixed all the major issues with Dark Reprieve by re-shooting and re-editing, but I can't do that every time. Wastes time and money.

 

There's not a whole lot I will do differently releasing the next film "if" it ever gets made. I am actually doing a good size theatrical release by Canadian standards for a Canadian movie. Only 1% of movies in the theaters in English Canada are Canadian, so I have beaten the odds there for sure. Actually when it comes to getting free press this can be used as a strength and not a weakness, the media likes the "little man takes on the studios" angle.

 

I hope to use a bigger budget next time and at least one name actor. There are two actors in Dark Reprieve that might "break out" if they do major bonus for me!

 

Thanks

R,

[Frank Barrera]

Congratulations. sounds like good business and great fun.

 

the wife and i have some good friends up in Toronto. we'll tell em to go check out yer flick.

 

good luck.

 

f

[Alex Ellerman]

Richard- is it accurate to say you're four walling on your own? is anyone (the distrib?) helping and/or giving their blessing?

 

do you envision angel investors on your next film or a mini-studio involvement or having distribution locked up and some territories pre-sold prior to filming?

 

Thanks again~ alex

[James Steven Beverly]

Remember back when I asked you if you were gonna push for a theatrical release and you response was essentially "Yeah Right!" Glad to see you took my advice :D

Edited April 15, 2008 by James Steven Beverly

[Guest]

Richard- is it accurate to say you're four walling on your own? is anyone (the distrib?) helping and/or giving their blessing?

 

do you envision angel investors on your next film or a mini-studio involvement or having distribution locked up and some territories pre-sold prior to filming?

 

Thanks again~ alex

 

Nope, no four walling here, standard 50/50 box office split with the theatre owners.

 

If I do have investors on the next film and it's going into production the producers rep I work with will certainly push the material I have at various film markets but I doubt that will lead to a pre-sale. It would only be pre-promotion.

 

Here is the article in the Kitchener Record:

 

http://news.therecord.com/article/337077

 

R,

[Max Jacoby]

Good luck with it Richard. When the money comes pouring in don't forget us poor folks ;)

[Guest]

Good luck with it Richard. When the money comes pouring in don't forget us poor folks ;)

 

Money? Pour? In?

 

Well you got one word right in your comment when it comes to indie filmmaking, "poor." :D

 

R,

[Paul Bruening]

Hello Richard,

 

Are any of your principles available to mug the media? Depending on the newsday, radio, TV and newspapers can throw you a lot of free publicity. They take a lot of wooing, though. From the article you posted it looks like you've got interesting content to share with them.

 

We're all rooting for your success, especially, the indies amongst you.

[Guest]

Hello Richard,

 

Are any of your principles available to mug the media? Depending on the newsday, radio, TV and newspapers can throw you a lot of free publicity. They take a lot of wooing, though. From the article you posted it looks like you've got interesting content to share with them.

 

We're all rooting for your success, especially, the indies amongst you.

 

There has been some electronic media coverage promised to me via my contacts in the industry in Toronto, but they won't get on that until it gets closer to the Toronto dates, May 9-10.

 

I have one actress with a solid connection to one of the big entertainment shows in Canada, and we'll see what happens there. I won't post any thing on it until it actually happens and I have a link to it.

 

The release is also being supported by traditional display ads in the movie sections of the papers as well. The free stories are always good of course.

 

R,

[Paul Bruening]

This post is probably going to get me some flame... Cleavage. Cleavage works wonders. I know, it's wrong, but it really has power. PAs with some looks get more free stuff than anything else on the planet. My wife's boobs have gotten free car rental, free food, and free locations. Put your leading lady in a tight, low cut shirt and get her in front of interviewers.

 

Okay, flame retardant installed. Flame on.

[Guest]

Well she's got it, she was a Deal Or No Deal model after all.

 

R,

[Guest]

Here's some more press:

 

http://therecord.blogs.com/withinearshot/

 

http://news.guelphmercury.com/arts/article/317814

 

Crap, I'm actually going to show this movie to an audience, holy geez maybe direct to DVD would have been a better idea after all? :(

 

Oh well no turning back now, I suppose all directors must experience this, the good and the bad.

 

R,

[Keith Walters]

Yes I have learned much, next time skip 35mm and use a 1 CCD mini DV camera and Tom Cruise or Brad Pitt. :D

Steven Seagull is reputed to have grossed over $2 billion with his movies, the bulk of which were direct-to-DVD :lol:

 

 

I don't know if you saw my post about the Australian movie Gabriel. If the DVD is available in your country it's well worth a look, just to show what can be done on a miniscule (even by Australian standards) budget. The Australian DVD has a great "making of" section; I hope it's included in the North American version, but distributors do funny things sometimes.

Anyway, I'll keep an eye out for your film.

[Guest]

Well that's round one over. I think it went as good as could be expected. Friday night was a bit of a bust, I think 7pm Friday is tough when many people don't get off work until after 6pm.

 

I had a good crowd out on Saturday night though. The Q&A went well, and people laughed at the out takes. Most of the questions centered around the non-linear aspect of the story line. Nice folks both nights, thanks KW!!

 

Here's the poster outside the theater. Next stop Toronto! Ooooo the big smoke, will the Torontonians be kind?

 

R,

[Vincent Sweeney]

Did you make your own prints or is this shown digitally?

[Guest]

Did you make your own prints or is this shown digitally?

 

Ah yes I forgot to talk about that. Right now it's going into theaters that can project digitally. At this particular cinema it meant from the DVD via some sort of pro-sumer projector.

 

I was STUNNED by the quality! It looked and sounded just great! I could not believe that kind of quality was possible from DVD. I was so glad I chose 35mm it really showed well up on the big screen.

 

The next theater has a fancy projector and they'll project from HDSR, but it's also a much bigger theater with a much longer throw.

 

These mid grade projectors have sure come a long way though.

 

In other news I have discovered that just putting your movie into the theaters gets you an explosion of free press and coverage on the web. Just type "dark reprieve" into Google and there are so many links that have just sprung up in the last four days. All free! I print all of this and get the actual newspaper articles, this will all become part of my "press package."

 

Here's another free boost for the Barrie screening:

 

http://barriefilmfestival.ca/

 

So the moral of the story for indie filmmakers I think is to get your film into the theaters even if it's a loss leader on the P&A front. It should it theory pay off when it comes time for DVD and TV distribution.

 

R,

[Dax McKeever]

Ah yes I forgot to talk about that. Right now it's going into theaters that can project digitally. At this particular cinema it meant from the DVD via some sort of pro-sumer projector.

 

I was STUNNED by the quality! It looked and sounded just great! I could not believe that kind of quality was possible from DVD. I was so glad I chose 35mm it really showed well up on the big screen.

 

The next theater has a fancy projector and they'll project from HDSR, but it's also a much bigger theater with a much longer throw.

 

These mid grade projectors have sure come a long way though.

 

In other news I have discovered that just putting your movie into the theaters gets you an explosion of free press and coverage on the web. Just type "dark reprieve" into Google and there are so many links that have just sprung up in the last four days. All free! I print all of this and get the actual newspaper articles, this will all become part of my "press package."

 

Here's another free boost for the Barrie screening:

 

http://barriefilmfestival.ca/

 

So the moral of the story for indie filmmakers I think is to get your film into the theaters even if it's a loss leader on the P&A front. It should it theory pay off when it comes time for DVD and TV distribution.

 

R,

 

 

Congrats, Richard, I read the plot summary on IMDb.com "they wake up in a dark room, and have no idea where they are or how they got there"...reminds me another directorial debute Martin McDonagh [an award-winnging Irish/London playwright]. Actually, I don't know if the script, "The Pillowman", has been transformed from stage to film but it's great; in a Quinten Tarintino stylish-way.

 

Congrats and good luck on the film's running.

 

Dax McKeever [progressive filmmaker/SAG actor, IMDb]

[Daniel Sheehy]

Hey, congrats on getting so far! I'll be keeping an eye out for it when it shows up on DVD.. but with the way things are here in Fiji, it'll be coming out on pirated releases long before the official release. :(

[Guest]

Hey, congrats on getting so far! I'll be keeping an eye out for it when it shows up on DVD.. but with the way things are here in Fiji, it'll be coming out on pirated releases long before the official release. :(

 

You know you've made it when you're being pirated. ;)

 

R,

[Guest]

They may not be stealing my movie yet, but it looks like some one is at least ripping off my poster:

 

http://newest.movieposterdb.com/poster/68837b71

 

R,

[Hal Smith]

They may not be stealing my movie yet, but it looks like some one is at least ripping off my poster:

I love that you have to have two credits or a subscription to download: Unless you know how to right click and "Save Picture As......"

[Phil Rhodes]

I like the way that, in that rather nasty JPEG, the Standard Portentous Tagline looks like it says "At The Edge Of Sanity Lies The Beginning Of Term."

 

A couple of my friends, who are schoolteachers, would probably agree.

 

P

[Guest]

So tonight I open against Speed Racer in Toronto and next week against Chronicles Of Narnia in Barrie.

 

Ha!! Hollywood thinks they can beat me with their 100 million dollar production budgets and two billion dollar ad campaigns.

 

Yeah....well we'll see about that.

 

R,