Adventures in Self-Releasing: Opening Weekend Recap

by Jeffrey Goodman | Published May 8, 2009

Wanted to re-cap our premiere weekend:

Our weekend results finally came in late Tuesday night. We ended up doing $16,640.75, making us the independent film with the second highest per screen average in North America (see: http://www.indiewire.com/article/2009/05/05/box_office_chart_may_5_2009).

The film that was #1 was The Limits of Control, directed by Jim Jarmusch and distributed by Focus Features, the independent film distribution arm of Universal Studios. The film stars Academy Award-winner Tilda Swinton and Academy Award-nominated Bill Murray. Our per screen average would have made us the independent film with the highest per screen average in the country any of the previous five weeks.

This is an excellent start for the rollout of our film. In fact, I’ve already fielded an e-mail from an exhibitor who has theaters in Portland, San Antonio and Atlanta and is interested in The Last Lullaby. Our premiere weekend was a total—even amazing—success.

Other highlights/lessons learned from this weekend:

1. We ended up selling out 14 of 15 screenings this past weekend. Was pretty amazing walking in to introduce the Sunday screening at 11:30 a.m. and finding it filled to the very last seat with people.

2. We sold every single T-shirt except for nine.

3. 15 question and answer sessions are a great many. I’m so glad I did it. But I couldn’t do it every weekend.

4. The mayors of Shreveport and Bossier City declared May 1 -3 “The Last Lullaby Weekend.” That media conference was one of the best moments of my life so far and crucial to the success of the weekend.

5. I’m pretty sure that aside from X-Men Origins: Wolverine, we beat every other movie at the theater this weekend.

6. We handed out contest forms for people to correctly identify locations in the film. It was a big hit, and a great way to gather more e-mail addresses.

7. Before I introduced one of the screenings, some of my fiancée’s students held up signs that they had made saying, “We love Jeffrey.” Wow, that was a first.

8. The entire theater staff (60 plus people) wore our T-shirts the entire weekend. Pretty amazing. And probably pretty effective marketing for the movie.

It was a great weekend. It took the efforts of many—my local PR firm, my interns, my parents, my fiancée, the mayors, the media and a whole town coming out to support one of their own. But we did it.

Now, we enter a little less familiar territory. It’s still within the strategy of the tour (either go into a place because someone from the movie is from there or because we’ve already been there for a festival and are returning.) Next stop: Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Co-writer Max Allan Collins and I are going to intro the film and do Q&As after the two Friday night screenings.

It’s no longer about doing the kind of numbers we did premiere weekend. Now, the idea is sustaining ourselves financially as we continue into other markets. So far, so good.

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 Russ Skains on 5/09/09 at 8:01 am

After the 4:30 showing on Sunday...I was thinking to myself...I have one Lullaby t-shirt...what about getting another for later?

Finally I got to the t’s and there was one burgundy or maroon colored one left. I starting picking it up and a woman next to me snatched it away...lol! Don’t guess I’ll get that one.

All The Last Lullaby needs is a fair shot to stand on it’s own 2 legs. This is something that the Louisiana Boardwalk learned last weekend and Regal theaters found out in particular.

If allowed then I am positive that Lullaby will find the audience that it needs.

Comment by Jeffrey Goodman on 5/10/09 at 11:11 am

Hi Russ,

Thanks!  The film and its success owe you so much.

All the best,

Jeffrey

Comment by Coach Hire Birmingham on 5/12/09 at 7:32 am

I totally agree, well done Russ.

Comment by Russ Skains on 5/12/09 at 1:32 pm

Jeffrey, I appreciate your very kind words.

But I was just trying to buy a shirt with not a bit of success!

And I have hopes that the Last Lullaby will be given a chance to be seen by the American public. A chance that this movie richly deserves.

Comment by Russ Skains on 5/12/09 at 1:34 pm

Thank you Coach Hire Birmingham.

Comment by Victor on 5/14/09 at 10:16 am

Hi, I love reading your posts and experiences Jeffrey. I am about to release a five-year documentary that I produced myself, and am already offering preorders on DVD. I want to enter it in a few film festivals, but here is my question. Do they PAY you a portion of the ticket sales at those festivals if accepted and screened? I see you made $16,000 for the opening weekend, but did YOU make that? I’m confused. Did you rent the theaters. Thanks for your responses to these questions. I think Independent is the way to go. PBS aired my other film for four years and didn’t pay me a cent. Vic http://www.wrestlingfilm.com

Comment by Jeffrey Goodman on 5/14/09 at 10:33 am

Hi Victor,

Thank you so much for your kind words.

Every now and then I’ll hear of a festival paying a high-profile indy a “screening fee” for being a part of their festival.  However, this is uncommon, and most often a moviemaker does not receive any portion of ticket sales at a festival.

As for the $16,000.  Usually when you book theaters, you’re either working in a four-wall arrangement (pay an upfront rental and then receive close to or 100% of the box office) or on terms (no upfront fee but a much smaller portion of the box office, usually 45-50% to the moviemaker.) With respect to our opening weekend, I did receive the majority of that $16,000 as that was a four-wall arrangement.  But keep in mind, I had upfront expenses—that rental fee, a local PR firm, promotional items (posters, postcards, etc), and an MPAA fee.

I agree, in this climate, more often than not, independent is the way to go.  And I think that’s so smart that you’re already taking pre-orders on your DVD.

I hope you’ll continue to read along.

All the best,

Jeffrey

Comment by Tony Comstock on 5/16/09 at 8:31 am

Bravo! Well done Jeffrey!

Comment by John on 6/25/09 at 7:00 am

Jeffrey, Great blog I appreciate you. I was try to buy a maroon colour t-shirt, but iam not get that t-shirts.

Comment by Jeffrey Goodman on 6/25/09 at 7:15 am

Hi John,

We are considering making more t-shirts.  I will definitely let you know if we end up doing that.

Thanks again for all of your support!

Jeffrey

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