Film shot on EX1 hitting USA theaters!

New_Zealand

New_Zealand

Veteran
A very good friend of mine got a supporting role in a horror film being shot in New Zealand. Not only am I very excited for her but it also gives me hope that maybe someday I will get a film in the theaters.

Don’t know much about the film project itself except they are shooting on the EX1. I believe it is a very low budget film because she might not be getting paid for her role and there isn’t any food on set.

She told me that the film has a very, very, very good chance to be release in the USA theaters because the director of the film is an award wining director. I ask her what made him an award wining director and she said because he won best director at the LA International Film Festival for a short horror film.

I wish the director great success with his film and look forward in seeing her up on the big screen.

I was wondering is it just the LA International Film Festival that you need to win for best director to get your film released in the USA theaters or is there other film festival that will make you an overnight success’s?
 
Winning "best director" at any film festival won't do anything to make you an overnight success, and any film that's so low-budget that there's no pay and no food on the set -- well, the odds of it getting theatrical release are probably zero.

Good luck to your friends and I hope it does well for them, but -- you could win "best director" at Sundance and it wouldn't do anything to guarantee you any sort of theatrical release for your next project.
 
Thank you Barry - that is what I also thought but wanted to hear it from others. I know she has her hopes up and I didn't want to say it might not make it and she end up getting mad at me for saying something like that but hearing from other filmmakers might open her eyes some.
 
I think even Danny Boil's Slumdog Millionaire cost around 15 million dollars with unknown actors/actresses. So I believed Barry is quite right.
 
You never know for certain what might come of a film project.

There's the possibility that it gets picked up for distribution via DVD. That's what happened to a low-budget film I worked on in 2007.

Let your friend know that the main thing is that she was part of something. There's a lot who never get the opportunity to at least contribute to a film project. Also, this is at least a start. There could be other things down the road. The main thing is to keep at it.
 
I wouldn’t have said anything but when she put it on her face book that she is in a film being directed by a award winning director and the film has a very good chance being release in the USA theaters because he won an award at a film festival in the USA I thought maybe I better bring her back to reality. But when you are friends with someone it is hard to point out the problems without them saying you are just jealous etc…
 
you've gotta be optimistic i think. if you stay positive and have confidence in yourself and your film, the battle is practically already won! ride the wave my friends.

:thumbsup:
 
I presume the actress is from NZ? Over here a lot of people would be extremely excited about these things when there's some "award winning" U.S director coming over to direct a short, low budget or not. Especially here in NZ, many filmmakers/actors/etc. have no idea what the outside market is like or how films get distributed, how any of that works.

It pays to be realistic and as others have said winning best director awards don't guarantee anything. It is important to have goals and dreams, though. There are lots of filmmakers out there who are just plain skeptical and don't believe in "making it" or anything like that and will just laugh at stuff like this. I believe you have to know the facts, but you also have to work hard and try for the best with extreme passion.

Getting a US theatrical release would be tough for a complete no budget, no name film with no stars. I wouldn't say it's impossible but more likely it'd be better to strive for it being well distributed, playing the major film festivals, etc. Even that would be great.

But the main thing is everyone is working towards a goal. And along the way you have to do projects like this one to get there. Who knows what might happen? :)
 
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heh, so true, i personally DP'd and Edited a film right out of film school called "gorno" ($16k budget) which, amazingly, can be purchased via several outlets on dvd, including bestbuy.com.

heres a lil taste of what can happen in indie-land, and is our timeline for finishing our film
shot in 2001
1st horrible edit by overpriced post house 2002
fighting to get our digibetas back from them 2003
re-edit entire film 2004
festival circuit 2005
dvd release 2006

even when the film is complete, it can, and sometimes does, take years before its an actual product to buy, not just a story to see. ive long thought of the fact that the documentary of making the film, if we had one, would have sold more copies than the actual film, due to the incredible, strange, and unforseen things that happen on low-no budget films (which, by the way, is anything under 1million budget)
 
New_Zealand said:
but when she put it on her face book that she is in a film being directed by a award winning director …
Click to expand...

This says it all really and is why Facebook generally irritates me.

It's very difficult to get any film released in theatres.Even a film like Slumdog Millionaire, before it's OSCAR success, had a very small amount of prints available and since most cinemas are predominantly still using 35mm film projectors, with a single print costing upwards of $5000, I can't see this one happening personally. I concur with the nay sayers.
 
If a dreamer can ignore the naysayers, their dreams can come true. If not this one, then the next one, or maybe the next one... keep on dreaming!
 
Festivals don't guarantee you distribution. Anyone can four wall their film on 2 screens and say, "hitting USA theaters!"

We are all rolling the dice :)
 
Buck Forester said:
If a dreamer can ignore the naysayers, their dreams can come true. If not this one, then the next one, or maybe the next one... keep on dreaming!
Click to expand...

Im with you Buck. Its tough, but that doesnt mean you should give up your dream. Sometimes dreams are never realised, but Im darn sure gonna fight til the end.

Good luck with yours!
 
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