Hey Roadsters
I hope you’re all well. Time for a quick but long update on the film. Sorry there’s a lot to tell so bear with me.
Some of you might have already noticed that I’ve started a new IndieGoGo crowdfunding campaign. igg.me/at/TheLongRoad. If you could share the link with all your friends and social media that would be AMAZING.
We’ve been running about 5 days and are already 61% funded. That’s incredible and it makes it the most successful first week of any crowdfunder I’ve been involved in. But with your help I know we can smash it. All the funds from this will pay for a marketing guru to promote the film’s release and get the film to festival. That means reviews and screenings.
The reason I have done this is because the last couple of weeks I’ve been dealing with an LA distribution company who were after the film. As we were negotiating it became clear that although not a scam they were notorious for not paying any of their filmmakers any money and charging huge marketing fees on top. This means that their filmmakers never get paid and in fact end up in debt to the company who essentially then take the film from them. This practices is not illegal and happens more than you would think even with the big studios.
In fact I have a producer friend who made a well known film back in the 1990’s who this happened to when he was dealing with a big studio who you would all know the name of.
For legal reason ( namely I don’t want to get sued by their rather expensive lawyers) I can’t mention any names but the moral of the story is don’t go Swimming with Sharks.
Talking to a few industry friends of mine I have been told to steer clear of this company as they don’t have a good reputation - which as you can imagine is what I’ve done by politely declining their offer.
I have been through this situation a few times now on a couple of my projects so luckily I can spot the warning signs.
The last thing I want to do is sign away everybody’s support and hard work and faith in me to some rubbish deal for several years and world wide rights without any MG’s (Minimum guarantees ie monies upfront before sales). That would just be silly.
Again this experience just confirms what I’ve been feeling for a long time now, which is, I’m better off Self Distributing (SelfD) through Amazon and negotiating non exclusive deals where I can. I wrote a bit about it here: http://workshopcraig.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-joy-of-self-d.html?m=1
It’s a lot more work for me but it means that the film is going to get more of a chance.
With that in mind I have now hired a marketing guru called Susie Tullett who has a wealth of industry experience. Here’s her IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0876371/
Susie and I are now starting to put together a plan for the film and once that’s in place we’ll start making things happen with the aim to release the film on BluRay, DVD and VOD at the end of the summer. We are also looking at the possibility of a small cinema release through Our Screen if it’s worth while.
So lots happening. In the meantime if you want to help please could you share our IndieGoGo campaign? It really would be a MASSIVE help.
Until the next time
May the road rise with you.
Craig
igg.me/at/TheLongRoad
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