Adventures in Self-Releasing: The Last Lullaby

by Jeffrey Goodman | Published January 22, 2009

Jeffrey Goodman on the set of The Last Lullaby (2008).

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 The 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. Here, Goodman offers his first entry in his ongoing blog for MovieMaker.com, “Adventures in Self-Releasing.”

Last Friday, I finally did it. I put together an e-mail for my 48 investors, saying, “As I mentioned in our last couple of updates, I think it will soon be time for us to transition from the world of film festivals to some real distribution for our film. That said, I am pleased to announce I have made some decisions that will push us into the next phase of this process. Beginning in May, we will start a small theatrical release of our film.”

It had been almost a year since I first started thinking about taking The Last Lullaby out ourselves. I didn’t want to do it. In fact, I kept waiting for that better offer to come around. For someone to convince me that it was all a bad joke. That the world of independent film distribution had not changed. But it has. For most of us.

Gone, as far as I can tell, are the big advances. Gone, it seems, is the buying frenzy at certain festivals. It’s no longer, make an independent film and hope to hit the jackpot. Tripling, quadrupling your money right out of the gate. Now, instead, it’s I’ve made a film and if you’re lucky, someone is offering you five to 10 percent of your costs up front.

And that might be the only money you ever see.

Now I guess (I mean this is my first feature, so excuse me if there is some ignorance) I always knew that making movies was an unusually risky business. But I thought that meant you’re going to work seven days a week for several years, probably go into debt and then, when you’re done, you may or may not turn a profit.

I didn’t realize that meant you’re going to work seven days a week and perhaps (in fact there’s a better chance than not of this happening) someone is going to pay you a small portion of what you put into the work.

In some ways, it’s like you working a job and at the end of the year, your boss coming around and saying, “Good job. I’m really happy to have you. Let’s see you make $25 per hour. You worked 2,000 hours. Here’s $5,000 (when really you’ve earned $50,000.) Happy New Year!”

Now, if you’re like me, you’re probably reading this and saying to yourself, “Well this is just the airing out of some disgruntled moviemaker. That won’t happen to me.”

Please know though that my goal in writing this is not to air anything out, but hopefully to give people some useful firsthand information. That way, we can all continue a dialogue together in hopes of finding better ways to get our films out into the world. And perhaps stop this “culture of abuse”, as Lance Hammer of Ballast describes the current world of independent film distribution.

From this point forward, every now and then, I’ll be writing about my experiences in the world of self-releasing. I’m glad I’m taking this path. It’s a roll of the dice. And, honestly, I don’t know if it will work or not.

But what I do know is that the old ways of doing things isn’t working for me. I’m sorry to say, but that advance of five percent of my costs just isn’t getting me very excited. 

COMMENTS | POST A COMMENT

Comment by Smith Weil-Sandiego Personal Injury lawyers on 1/23/09 at 12:33 am

Your post remind me the time when I was working on a documentary. really your article is excellent and interesting

Comment by Jeffrey Goodman on 1/24/09 at 4:47 pm

Thanks so much!  I hope that others will comment and challenge me, as well.  It seems that it’s a real vital time right now for independent moviemakers.  The old models of distribution no longer seem to be working, as well.  Yet, no one has really come up with a sustainable alternative.

It’s my hope that this model we’re using will become part of the dialogue as independent moviemakers try to come up with better ways of getting their movies out into the world.  And being compensated properly for their work.

Comment by Benjamin Reece on 1/26/09 at 11:23 am

Jeffrey,

Being from Louisiana (New Orleans)- the header of your post caught my eye. As I continued to read, I felt as though I were reading something that I have been feeling all around the filmmaker blogosphere. All the old models are dead.

There are people touting new ways to make it, new opportunities. But I like to think of the music industry, while a totally separate product, the distribution was very similar. And now, with technology, the distribution has shifted to the power of people. And unfortunately the cost of distribution is so slim thanks to technology.

Where we go from here, I have no idea. But, I will say, when you make something for free/cheap, its harder to lose your shirt.

Its something we are doing over at FiftyPeopleOneQuestion.com - with the thousands of viewers every day, it would seem that money would come with that- and maybe it will. But, the great thing is, we are not starving for money, as the investment was incremental, and minimal.

But who knows what FiftyPeopleOneQuestion is a case study on. Social media? Independent Film Distribution? Viral marketing?

Too early to tell. I’m interested in solutions and ideas- why can’t we create our own distribution channels, and sell directly to the consumer?

Comment by John Gaskin on 1/26/09 at 3:54 pm

Very well done on your excellent blog. I look forward to more. I have been a production accountant for more than 20 years and I am just now entering the field of producing, although I have watched with interest the raising of funds and distribution/licensing of the final product. Truly, it’s a wonder that anyone except the very big studios produce anything at all. So, know that you’re in a very small minority of having gone as far as you have and that we’re all rooting for you as the little college out of Montana to win at the Big 10.

Best regards.

Comment by Jeffrey Goodman on 1/26/09 at 4:01 pm

Hi Benjamin,

Thank you so much for your comment.  As a fellow moviemaker in Louisiana, I’d love to meet one of these days.

I went to your site and absolutely love what you are doing.  It’s a very exciting way to connect with people and to spread that connection.

Your comments bring up something I struggle with daily.  It’s true I could make movies that cost much less (micro-budget ones if you will.) And in so doing, I would probably have an easier time recouping the investment. 

However, I struggle with this because micro-budget movies aren’t, for the most part, the kind of movies that convinced me to start on this path in the first place.  So, what do you do?  Do you make movies that, because of the extreme limit in resources, keep you from expressing the vision you have?  Or do you see if it’s possible to come up with a sustainable distribution model for slightly larger budget movies?

I admit that I am fortunate to even be in a situation where I can think about such things.  I was able to find the investors to fund my lower budget independent first feature. 

But it’s a tough question.  I hate that it seems we’re all being forced into an impoverished creative situation.  And I’m trying to be optimistic that there’s still hope for the financially self-sustaining $1-$5M movie.

I think we can sell directly to consumers.  And I think we can forge some new channels of distribution.  However, I’m not sure if we’ll ever be able to do it at the level so that independent moviemakers can be fiscally responsible in the future, making movies that cost more than $100,000.

That’s my concern and goal, I guess.  And honestly I don’t know if there’s hope anymore for this type of movie. 

That makes me sad.  Because already so many moviemakers look back at some of the high point Hollywood movies of the seventies and realize that’s no longer possible.  The studios, for the most part, are no longer going to finance risky, personal films.

And now I think we’re seeing the threat of the end of another era:  the great, lower budget independent movies.  Those made outside of the system but with substantial production value. 

All the best,

Jeffrey

Comment by Jeffrey Goodman on 1/26/09 at 4:22 pm

Hi John,

Thank you so much for your very kind e-mail.  I hope that you’ll continue to follow along with the blog and that, most important, it will prove to be somewhat helpful.  I think one of the great things about blogs is the way that it allows people to share their stories with one another.  My hope is that in the end, we will all be a lot more educated as independent moviemakers.  And because of that, ultimately a much stronger force.

All the best,

Jeffrey

Comment by Rubye Fielder on 1/31/09 at 1:48 pm

Look forward to your blogs on Moviemaker! You have something to say and you say it well! Go to it and let it all hang out, as we say down here in South Georgia!
Simultanously, Keep the Mission in front of you,have Faith
in yourself AND Adonai and press on toward the prize!
Greetings to Ray Mc and his wife from this ADEL neighbor! Rubye

Comment by Jeffrey Goodman on 1/31/09 at 2:18 pm

Thanks so much, Rubye.  I truly appreciate all of your support. 

Jeffrey

Comment by Todd Gold on 2/03/09 at 8:59 pm

Hi, Jeffrey!  Great to read about this cool gig that really seems to be pulling together for you.  I can assure you that when given the chance, I’ll be more than happy to be front row, and from then on...ALL the support, albeit modest in its influence, that THIS happily self-proclaimed--unabashedly so--"Cinema-Whore" can possibly muster!  My Name is Todd Gold.  You most likely would remember my brother--three years my senior--Mark Gold, possibly from attending the same Sunday school....MANY years ago.  At any rate, I feel we may be members of the same club--a club that dare not speak its true identity...that “unofficial brotherhood,” known as “movie-geeks.” My personal cinema fanaticism by a range of influences, both foreign and domestic, which would easily include such innovative screenwriters as, my all time favorite...Paddy Chayefsky, and the most innovative scriptwriter working today, in my humble opinion, the incomparable Charlie Kaufman...as well as this very abridged list of favorite directors, which easily includes masters: Akira Kurosawa, Ingmar Bergman, Francois Truffaut, Lars von Trier, Polanski, and many others that formulating a list for this blog long enough to cover them all, would just be grandstanding.  But Jeff, I’d be honored to correspond with you, if you are willing, of course...about our possible mutual influences, as well as a few suggestions, maybe, on how one like myself could get involved in this line of work, I had previously been assured was just a “pipe-dream,” of mine that couldn’t possibly amount to anything serious--in the unlikely pursuit of a career in contributing in any way I possibly can in the making of films that just might damn well mean something to this 30 year old enthusiast of filmmakers who truly thinks his influences, osbscure as some might very well be, truly had something to say...or, as in the case of many of said influences, visceral reactions to certain given situations in films of true worth, to help prod a decidedly sedentary modern movie-going public into a new frame of mind--one in which their preconceived notions of what was truly possible in the medium of film--could possibly be shattered in the interest of reinstating the once positive, and exciting possibilites of the cinematic art form.  Once again, I’d love to talk more about these topics with you, if you’d be willing!  You can reach me at your own convenience at:  or at:  Todd Gold
529 S. Dresden Ct.
Shreveport, LA 71115-3501

Many Thanks,
todd gold

Comment by Jeffrey Goodman on 2/04/09 at 9:53 am

Hey Todd,

Thanks so much for your e-mail.  Wow, small world.  We definitely have to get together at some point. 

I can absolutely relate to the idea of being a lonely cinephile.  In fact, when I first moved out to Los Angeles, I had such a hard time finding people to share my passion with that I decided to print up a flyer, describing my cinematic tastes and desire to discuss those tastes with others.  Then, I would sit in the back of the movies I would see (mostly at LACMA or the American Cinematheque) and as soon as the credits came up, I would rush outside so that I could plop a flyer into the hands of everyone leaving the theater.  I actually made a friend from this, who is still one of my good buddies today.

But, yes, all of these guys you mention above and many others.  I look forward to more conversations.

Jeffrey

Comment by Shanky -Connecticut personal injury lawyer on 3/20/09 at 1:03 am

Awesome Article, Really very informative posting which provide lots of informative in all the regards.thanks for the wonderful posting.

Comment by Jeffrey Goodman on 3/20/09 at 6:41 am

Thanks so much, Shanky.  I hope that you will continue to read along (I publish every Friday.)

All the best,

Jeffrey

Comment by Betty Allred on 6/05/09 at 2:33 pm

Hi Jeff, Love your blogs. Your Dad is one of my physicians and I was in the hospital when you had your opening at the Boardwalk. He was so excited, we read the articles about you, discussed your Q&A;after the movie. I wanted a T-Shirt but he wouldn’t part with his. He did promise me one, if and when you have some more available I am sure you have just started on a very successful journey in filmmaking. Wish you the best.

Comment by Jeffrey Goodman on 6/06/09 at 8:34 am

Hi Betty,

Thank you so much for your incredibly kind e-mail.  I truly appreciate it and all of your great support.

All the best,

Jeffrey

Comment by Rubye Fielder on 6/06/09 at 12:39 pm

STAY the COURSE,Jeffrey, STAY the COURSE!!

Comment by Jeffrey Goodman on 6/07/09 at 8:10 am

Hi Rubye,

Thank you so much!  I truly appreciate all of your support.

Jeffrey

Comment by Free Reminder on 7/27/09 at 7:14 am

Last lullaby it reminded me of the recent Killshot; it’s not bad, just a bit uncomfortable in its own skin.

Comment by Rubye Fielder on 7/27/09 at 8:01 am

Jeffrey,
Me,again--- w/a question----
Is there a chance that you will be able to bring The Last Lullaby to SAVANNAH? We have family and friends there who might help spread the word.......
YOU are doing a fantastic job! STAY the COURSE, Buddy!

Comment by Jeffrey Goodman on 7/27/09 at 2:18 pm

Hi Rubye,

I would love to bring the film to Savannah and will definitely let you know if it looks like that’s gonna happen.  I’ve never been there, if you can believe it.

Thanks for all the awesome support!

Jeffrey

Comment by Rachel Computer Rental's on 9/23/09 at 1:38 am

Jeff
What a lovely post, so nicely written, I am just to see this movie, I will look out for it, it sounds really good, keep on doing great work, keep well.:)

Comment by Jeffrey Goodman on 9/23/09 at 8:37 am

Hey Rachel Computer Rental’s,

Thanks so much for your very nice comments.  I hope that you’ll continue to follow along (I post a new entry every Friday.)

All the best,

Jeffrey

Comment by aion kina on 9/27/09 at 2:00 am

Amazing accomplishment! The one thing I can share is something I believe in so strongly, I trademarked it.

Comment by Jeffrey Goodman on 8/05/10 at 8:09 am

Hi alasiri,

I completely agree with you.  Thanks so much for your comments.

All the best,

Jeffrey

Comment by كازنوفا on 3/11/11 at 12:15 am

thank you very much ??

Comment by دردشة كازنوفا on 3/11/11 at 12:15 am

thank you very much ??

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