Total Badass Bob Ray Gets Down and Dirty

by Kate Ritter | Published August 5, 2010

Bob Ray (driving) and Chad Holt hit the road.

In today’s era of $200 million Inception-esque films, the independent moviemaker’s latest project tends to get lost. Studios just don’t seem to care about the little fish, regardless of how great their stories may be, how innovative their techniques are or how passionate they are about the art of moviemaking. A great marketing and distribution deal is nearly impossible to come by in this corporate film world, and it’s unfortunate to see (or not see) how many amazing independent works are left unnoticed.

Moviemaker Bob Ray set out to break through this barrier mid-July with his “Down and Dirty Austin Film Tour.” Sick of waiting around for the system to change, he decided to take his latest feature documentary, Total Badass, along with a few of his other titles, and hit the road, DIY-style. Ray is booking his own screenings complete with Q&A sessions and partnerships with local roller derby groups across the Western coast (his 2007 documentary Hell on Wheels explores the sport’s revival). Using his own Website, Facebook and logging his experiences on an online journal, Ray is also tackling self-promotion. MovieMaker caught up with Ray mid-adventure.

Kate Ritter (MM): What made you decide to forgo the traditional distribution route?

Bob Ray (BR): Frustration, perhaps? An ache for an adventure? An attempt to try something different? Wanderlust? A sampling of the above?

Total Badass is my new movie, and sure, it’s chock full of drug abuse, graphic sex, obnoxious humor, rowdy rock ‘n’ roll, trashcan jumping, dirty and hilariously perverted rap music, felonious crime and other assorted fun. But at its core, it has a heart; a heart of gold like all the street-walking hookers across the globe. But Total Badass might not be the kind of movie that a big fest will embrace. I mean, Lars von Trier can get away with Willem Dafoe cumming blood [in Antichrist] and Harmony Korine can get away with trashcan humping [in Trash Humpers], but can a low-level moviemaker like me get away with it? I’m not convinced and I don’t have $50 to blast off like a shotgun in the night to every film fest that commands an entry fee. I love fests and have garnered a wee bit of notoriety from screening my previous films (Rock Opera, Hell on Wheels) at myriad fests, but ultimately, for a low-budget joint like Total Badass, it just adds to the expense of the flick. And if you don’t land a distribution deal, all you do is dig a deeper financial crater for yourself. Sure, you may get some press, but that doesn’t pay the bills. My children need wine!

We made Total Badass for about $7,000. When we screened it in Austin, we pulled in almost $600. That’s near 10 percent of the budget. I screened my first feature, Rock Opera, at about two dozen film fests and my documentary, Hell on Wheels, at about the same number of fests. Aside from the very few that fly you out and put you up, I spent loads of scratch to get myself to these fests, ship screeners to press outlets, make master tapes in every format known to man in order to accommodate the different machines each fest screens on, print posters, handbills, postcards and other promotional material and all the other miscellaneous expenses that come with attending a fest. Sure they are fun, but at a cost.

And maybe I’ll find out on this savage journey why others don’t tour around with their films. Maybe fests are easier. I surely wish them no ill. My nose is not thumbed their way. Fests are a hoot, ply you with free drinks and connect you with like-minded film freaks. But if I can get a few asses in seats and sell a bit of merch, maybe I can come out in the black for once.

MM: How did you prepare for life on the road?

BR: The trunk of the car looked like a mobile police narcotics lab. We had two bags of grass, 75 pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half full of cocaine and a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers… and also a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of Budweiser, a pint of raw ether and two dozen amyls… Not that we needed all that for the trip, but once you get locked into a serious drug collection, the tendency is to push it as far as you can.

Wait—that might be Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. It’s close, but not correct. I spent about three months setting up the tour. It’s a huge pain in the ass but if you’ve finished a film, you can do it. It’ll be just as frustrating and difficult, but it can be done. Our tour is a fairly long one at five weeks, but I figure that if I’m gonna do it, I’m going all-in. I’m on tour with Chad Holt, the subject of Total Badass. And despite his rep as a completely insane person, he’s actually a damn fine travel companion. I lived next door to him for about five years, so I know his habits and addictions quite well. If we can keep from getting arrested, it’ll be a huge success.

MM: How did you go about scheduling your screening venues and dates? What sort of research went into this part of the journey?

BR: This is the hardest part of the job. This will suck up every second of your life for several months. It’s like juggling greased-up cats. You’ve got to start about four or five months out from when you want to screen. Luckily, Total Badass is my third feature, and I have a track record. That makes it easier for me to book than the fresh-meat moviemaker straight out of the gate. Hell on Wheels and Rock Opera are proven commodities (at least to a small degree). Basically, you’re trying to convince a cinema to give you a room that might otherwise be occupied by Iron Man VII or the like. They need to know that you will sell some tickets. It’s all biz. And corporate cinemas? Don’t spin your wheels on that one. Even if the front line, folks and the theater managers are down for the cause, once you send the info up the ladder the corporate suits will shoot you down with a particular glee that would shame the Marquis de Sade.

Again, this task is filthy with pile upon pile of endless research, e-mails, phone calls and follow-ups. Seek out the indie cinema in each city and make your pitch. Remember: Stick to the indies. It’s your only hope.

MM: How effective have Facebook and your tour journal been as promotional tools? Are social networking and the Internet key to the success of a project like this?