November 21, 2006

RIP Robert Altman

Wow, not totally a shock but...

...still surprising nonetheless.

I never met Bob but from everything that I've read, the one thing that I will take with me about him is that he was an actor's director. That's why name talent would work for less than their going rate to take part in his projects. The actor was king in his book... and as he said about his film Gosford Park with such a star studded cast, "I'm just there to turn the lights on".

Well said. RIP Mr. Altman.

Posted by ethan at 01:02 PM | Comments (0)

August 24, 2005

Poor, poor Hollywood…

It’s hard for me to have any sympathy for all of the studio executives walking around scratching their heads wondering why this summer has underperformed at the box office. After reading this article, I figured I’d throw my two cents into the chatter…

Some say we didn’t have “Passion of the Christ” and “Fahrenheit 911”… some blame high gas prices and high movie ticket prices… some point to the advent of the home theatre with flat panel TVs and studio quality sound systems… some say video games, the Internet and 100’s of cable TV channels have expanded entertainment offerings… hmmm, from point of view, I have to say, “WAKE UP… it’s the story, stupid!”

We are so bombarded with marketing for everything under the sun that our eyes and ears… and noses have become very discerning at smelling a movie flop a million miles away. With so many remakes, old TV shows turned into movies and effects filled movies with no plot to speak of, I know why my movie intake has declined.

The last two movies I saw, “The Wedding Crashers” and “Hustle and Flow”, couldn’t be on farther ends of the spectrum in terms of Hollywood vs. Indie but both were very well done and came through on the feel that their advertising purported them to be. But for every movie such as those, there are ten that don’t even come close to hitting the bull’s eye or come through on the marketing that supported it. Hollywood needs to learn that there shouldn’t be an inverse relationship between the size of the budget/number of special effects vs. plot, structure and STORY.

As I re-write my script, I keep telling myself that “It’s the story, stupid” (yeah, I have a tendency to call myself stupid during script re-writes) that will make my script stand out against the rest and attach the people I need attached to get it made. Maybe Hollywood should start telling itself that too…

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June 27, 2005

I’m a HUGE fan of Jeff Buckley’s so…

When I saw this article about a screenplay adaptation for Jeff Buckley and his father’s biography, “Dream Brother”, I was both excited and disappointed at the same time…

...it was supposed to be ME who got to tell his story. In all seriousness though, Jeff Buckley was an amazing musician who continues to influence musicians today... unfortunately, like other genius musicians before him, he died too young. This project has been bopping around Hollywood with notables such as Brad Pitt attached as a producer… but now, hopefully, Train Houston (can’t find a link for him), will bring this project to life. EB

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June 17, 2005

Filmmakers writing blogs... I'm not the only one!

Came across this article, about how film directors like Peter Jackson (King Kong) and Bryan Singer (Superman) are using video blogs to communicate with their fans. The article goes on to say how fans and film aficionados want more information about the “behind the scenes” of filmmaking and are being drawn to these on-line communities to get those stories and experiences.

As Mr. Singer says…

"There's a kind of theater that occurs during the making of a movie that's unique to each production," Singer said. "If you're willing to expose yourself a bit, it can be a wonderful method of getting the word out and sharing that experience with the people who are most interested -- the fans." I can tell you from my own “on set” experience that when you make a film with 30, 50 or 100 crew members, by the end of shooting, you’re family. The highs and the lows turn into incredible respect for everyone involved in the production process for having completed such a difficult task. Why wouldn’t filmmakers around the world like to share that experience via a blog? I think they do.

While Mr. Jackson and Mr. Singer are already established filmmakers with an established fan base using video blogs to further their marketing efforts for their respective projects, it is my intention to use blogging from the other direction. What I mean by that is I want to create brand awareness for CREATEABULL FILMS LLC in addition to an interest in filmmaking and more specifically to document the process of taking “Produced By Jimmy Wade” from inception through its premiere. As awareness spreads and interest in our “behind the scenes” story grows, we will be able to point to online traffic numbers when negotiating with a distributor to show built in awareness and interest in our project... if traditional distribution is the way we decide to go.

To be honest, I don’t know where this blog will end up but if you like what you’re reading so far, pass it on and maybe someday, I’ll be blogging from New Zealand on the set of our $100 million dollar epic film. No sense being in this business if you’re not a dreamer, right? EB

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June 10, 2005

Bobby Newmyer, putting his money...

...where his mouth is.

I read this article from the New York Times magazine section and was intrigued seeing as the first movie I ever worked on was "Addicted To Love" which happened to be produced by Mr. Newmyer, Jeffrey Silver and their Outlaw Productions.

What is so intriguing about this story is that Bobby would break the rule of NOT putting your own money into the movies that you make…

...and I think he's in a better spot now because of it. As the article in the Times says, Bobby rarely is "on-set" for the movies that Outlaw produces… by the time that shooting on such and such a film starts, Mr. Newmyer is off trying to find the funding and recourses for the next project. I got a sense of this when I was working in the production office for "Addicted To Love" and had a chance to meet Bobby. He was in New York City for the final pre-production meeting but after filming started, he was back on the west coast… I'm sure, lining up the next project. For the record, he was also very down to earth, not your typical Hollywood producer.

But with "Phat Girlz", when all the other studios and financiers backed out on him, he had enough faith in the project to sell stocks and mortgage his two homes to get the film made. This at a time when "black" films weren't fairing well at the box office. But as luck would have it, "black" films are now in vogue again (everything is cyclical), which gives Bobby the upper hand when cutting a deal with his future distributor, whoever that may be.

I find this story particularly interesting since we're in the process of raising money for my feature debut. While we're not asking a single investor to fund the entire production or anything close to it, like Bobby is, any investment in film is risky no matter how much you invest. However seeing a seasoned producer put his neck and own money on the line for a passion project inspires us to keep up the fight and get our film made. EB

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June 07, 2005

Breaking the Mold… indie film distribution…

I’ve been paying close attention to a couple of moves within the indie film distribution world that for filmmakers like us out there, are very significant…

First came the formation of Picturehouse… Picturehouse is a brand new mini-major film distribution company recently formed by HBO and New Line along with Bob Berney and his team from Newmarket Films. Now it didn’t take a brain surgeon to figure out that now is the right time to form such a company if you have the resources that those three parties have… but what I find interesting is that with HBO in the fold, they are able to pick and chose which films go theatrical and which get shown on HBO… or even both… and possibly at the same time…

And then I saw this…

The idea that Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner hired Steven Soderbergh to direct six films on average budgets of 3-5 million dollars and then distribute them SIMUALTANEOUSLY in their theatres (Landmark Theatres), through their distribution company (Magnolia Pictures), on their tv station (HDNET) and on DVDs (Company TBD, possibly Lion's Gate?) SHATTERS THE DISTRIBUTION MOLD as it is known today. Now what does that mean for us indie folks?… well, right from the start, you get economies of scale when it comes to publicity and advertising which is huge when you’re counting your pennies trying to go up against the big boys with a small film. The jury is still out on if this will work or not but as the window between theatrical release and DVD release shrinks, this is where we’re headed… and with Soderbergh’s talent and Cuban’s money, I wouldn’t bet against ‘em.

I guess my point is that when we talk to investors about our project and how we plan to distribute it, to make their investment back, we make them aware that the indie distribution landscape is changing and that we’ve got be keep our minds open to new and different options when shopping for a distributor for our film.

For another article relating to the changes in indie film distribution go here. EB

Posted by ethan at 12:50 AM | Comments (0)