Adventures in Self-Releasing: Signed One Deal, But Still Learning

by Jeffrey Goodman | Published June 26, 2009

Great speech this week by James D. Stern. To any of you about to make an independent movie, I would highly recommend reading Stern’s speech (found here), as well as Mark Gill’s famous one from last year (found here).

I recently completed one major piece of our push with The Last Lullaby. We signed a deal with the foreign sales company Cinemavault out of Canada. They will be repping Lullaby at the various foreign markets. Recently, they screened the film at the Marché du Film (Cannes Film Market) and felt very encouraged by the interest in the movie. The next major stop will be November’s American Film Market (AFM).

As I figure out the next move with Lullaby, I wanted to share a few thoughts—things I’ve noticed or learned that I don’t think I’ve articulated yet in the pages of this blog:

1. The American Indie Narrative
I was looking at last week’s independent box office chart and it was pretty bleak. But it’s particularly bleak for the American independent narrative film. Most independent distributors right now are doing better with either documentaries or foreign films. I’m not sure of the explanation for this. But if you’re going after the adult audience, which we are with Lullaby, I’m not entirely sure how you reach them with a narrative in this current landscape.

2. Now vs. The New Hollywood
Like many in my generation, some of my favorite movies came out between 1967 and 1980, the period that historians have deemed “The New Hollywood.” But I think it’s important to mention one of the major differences between now and then (just in case any of you are chasing ghosts like I find myself doing sometimes). Most of the famous movies of that period were not independent movies but movies financed and distributed by one of the major studios. Most of these movies, including Taxi Driver, Chinatown, and even the esoteric McCabe & Mrs. Miller had sizable budgets. And even though they were personal and artistic, they had time, money and resources; all things usually not synonymous with independent moviemaking.

3. Your Movie Will Be Stale
Fear seems to rule so much of this business. But, from my perspective, I did want to mention something that I’ve found to be simply untrue. After a festival premiere, I’ve seen more than one moviemaker rush into a deal with someone from fear that his/her movie will soon be stale. I’ve heard people say that
unlike wine, movies lose value as they age. To all this, I say, “Bulls—t!” Take your time with your movie, don’t worry about it going stale and try to build as much momentum with it as you can. Remember how long it took you to make the movie and how long it might be before you get to do it again. Let that drive you. Not the fear that your movie will soon be stale.

After living in Los Angeles for seven years, Jeffrey Goodman returned to his hometown of Shreveport, Louisiana to direct The Last Lullaby. Co-written by the creator of Road to Perdition, and starring Tom Sizemore and Sasha Alexander, The Last Lullaby was filmed entirely in and around Shreveport and financed by 48 local investors.

COMMENTS | POST A COMMENT

Comment by Alexander Smith on 6/26/09 at 4:22 pm

Wow Jeffrey,
Those are some words of wisdom right there!  I have been devolving myself with short film competitions either online or local in my city.  Your blogs have been pure inspiration and information that are second to none I have seen.  Thank you Jeffrey, and I cannot wait to see your film hit Calgary or shelves in the future.

All the Best

Comment by Paul Chau on 6/26/09 at 5:00 pm

Hey Jeffrey
I just read all your blog entries in one sitting and congrats on what you are doing. I am a filmmaker that just completed a fourwall in NY and the good news is that I did get a good review from the NY Post so I can heavily relate to everything you wrote. I actually had considered strongly a tour like you but in the end, I knew I didn’t have the time or support to do this given a day job. But in reading your blog, I feel like I know what a self-releasing tour would have felt like. By the way, I have an article in this month’s moviemaker and my film is called Scalp. Congrats again and best wishes on the rest of your journey to distribute.

Paul

Comment by Jeffrey Goodman on 6/27/09 at 6:46 am

Hi Alexander,

Thank you so much for your extremely kind words.  Just happy to hear that some of these posts are useful.  I truly appreciate the support and hope that you’ll continue to follow (By the way, do you receive LULLABY’s monthly updates?  If not and you’d like to, simply send an e-mail to )

Thanks so much, Alexander.

All the best,

Jeffrey

Comment by Jeffrey Goodman on 6/27/09 at 6:52 am

Hi Paul,

Thank you so much for your e-mail.  I actually read your piece in the current issue of MovieMaker with great interest.  Congratulations on SCALP!  Would love to share ideas on where you’re taking things from here with it (how you’re approaching DVD, digital rights, etc.) I can talk about the next few steps with LULLABY, and maybe you can do the same with SCALP?  We can discuss via e-mail () or might be interesting to do it in the comments section here.

Once again, congratulations, and thanks so much for your kind words!

All the best,

Jeffrey

Comment by Paul Chau on 6/28/09 at 12:01 pm

Hey Jeffrey
I am glad you found my article interesting. I think it would be good to exchange ideas and doing it here on your blog is fine because I think other filmmakers might find it useful and we should all support each other. First I think it is important to point out that our films are very different (genre, budget, stars or no stars) so we might have different paths but I believe the thought process might be the same. I think it is helpful to talk about the past a little before I get into next steps. I had done a distributor screening to raise awareness for the film and I knew only a few distributors would come but at least after that some companies might request screeners even if they didn’t come. One major distributor did come and watched the entire film, liked it and then sent on a copy to the LA team for their thoughts. Eight months later, they passed, and a few other majors remained on the fence. So at this point, I figured the way to push it along is to maybe do a fourwall to try to get a good review from one of the three major NY newspapers (NY Times, NY Post or Daily News) because I believe that the critics are still important for the path of a film. So I set up my fourwall and asked to see if the papers would accept screeners. Only V.A. Musetto of the NY Post was willing to accept a screener and he did review it on opening day. And it was a good review. So now the future. Recognize only 10 companies maybe have actually seen the film so I will now approach companies more broadly to see if they would be interested in film. I still am targeting a broad theatrical release ideally because the distributor might feel okay this film already has a good review from one of the major NY papers and most horror films make most of their theatrical money on the opening weekend. I lessen the risk and took a big risk because if I fourwalled and the critics ripped my film then I would be done because a small film with bad reviews, well that ain’t promising. If nobody will look at a theatrical release then I will target a DVD deal. The keys there is how broad will the distribution be and also how much money will be paid upfront because that is usually most if not the only money you might see in a DVD deal. If a satisfactory deal does not come about, then I am happy to look at a self-dsitribution of the DVD and in some ways, I wouldn’t mind doing that because I believe every film can tailor the self-distribution of their DVD depending on the film. My film is a horror film that has a defined audience but that is just the tip. I am playing with specific ideas beyond the usually good commentary track, behind the scenes, etc. Specific to the commentary track, I think as an indie filmmaker, we can provide comments about the process that would be fun for other filmmakers and people who are into the process as opposed to just hearing a big time director talk. When I think about your film, I think the Lousiana factor and the fact that the state has one of the most supportive film commissions can be factors in a self-distribution of even the DVD. Anyway, these are some thoughts. Look
forward to hearing your plans. 

Paul

Comment by Jeffrey Goodman on 6/28/09 at 7:49 pm

Hi Paul,

Thank you so much for your comments. 

First off, I applaud you.  It sounds as though you are going about things with much thought and effort, which I find can be tough to do (after already such a long road, right?) It sounds like you are in a good place --you still have all the rights for your movie and a positive major market review. 

In next week’s blog, I mention how important it is for independent movies to tap into their niche markets.  And, I must say it seems that the horror genre (perhaps more than any other genre) really supports its movies through festivals, websites, and magazines.  Have you tried to get the movie to places like Twitch? 

All this to say, I think your approach is very, very sound. 

As for us, after a seven-week theatrical run (self-released), I’m now trying to determine if I will take the movie to any other cities.  I should know whether or not we will continue with this part of things in the next week or two. 

Once our theatrical ends, I will need to determine how I want to handle the domestic cable/DVD rights?  Do I want to sell a limited edition DVD off our website for the next couple of months?  Or do I want to go ahead and try to place the movie with a domestic distributor? 

I agree, we have very different movies but at the same time are facing similar choices and circumstances.  I look forward to more dialogue.

All the best,

Jeffrey

Comment by Jeffrey Goodman on 6/30/09 at 9:23 am

Hi Casey,

Thank you so much for your comments. 

I agree about this idea of “nothing being new”.  Maybe if you’re Charlie Kaufman you can make the claim of being wholly original.  But aside from his writing, I can’t think of anyone else doing things that in one form or another haven’t been done before.

I just say, “do what you love and do it well, and eventually you’ll find a way to continue doing it.”

I hope that you’ll continue to follow along.

All the best,

Jeffrey

Comment by Amy Andrews on 6/30/09 at 9:38 am

Hey Jeffrey,

I am so glad that your movie is doing so well. Best wishes to the future. I am Tiffany Deblieux sister, if you didn’t know already. By the way did you happen to know that the picture that me and Tiff took with you at the Boardwalk was in the Shreveport Times this past Sunday.  It was a good size pic. Tiff was so excited.  Just thought I would let you know that your still being talked about in your hometown.

Amy Andrews

Comment by Russ Skains on 6/30/09 at 4:20 pm

Good poop! Don’t stop on the comments now...best I’ve seen in the series...continue on now…

Comment by Jeffrey Goodman on 6/30/09 at 5:06 pm

Hi Amy,

Thank you so much for your e-mail.  I did see the photo.  It was awesome (LULLABY t-shirts an’ all.)

I really appreciate your and Tiffany’s amazing support!  I hope to see you soon.

All the best,

Jeffrey

Comment by ed hardy on 7/17/09 at 2:09 am

Once again, congratulations, and thanks so much for your kind words!

Comment by sniper2 on 9/27/11 at 5:07 pm

موقع زفات
موقع زفات

POST A COMMENT

OUR PRIVACY POLICY | We will not publish or sell or share your email address or other personal information. Read more.

Name:
Email:
URL:

Type the word you see below:

Comment:

Remember my personal information

Notify me of follow-up comments?

SITE DELIVERY OPTIONS

Home | Latest Headlines
Screenwriting | Producing | Directing | Acting | Cinematography | Editing | Distribution | Education | Festivals | Locations
Listings | Archives | HOP Interviews | Blogs | Forums | Contests | Subscriptions | Advertising

About | Site Map | Privacy Policy | Contact

© 2012 MovieMaker Magazine

Web site design by Hop Studios