A little help from my friends.

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David_M_Payne

Well-known member
Hi guys and girls, it's been a long time since I was here. I gave up on my Holy war film, it was going to take millions and I didn't have that kind of money. I'm starting on a new film a zombie film called zombie ---.( Sorry I don't want to give too much away.) I have $250,000 for this film right now. (My mother died and she left me with a lot more money than I thought she had. When we sell her house I should have a extra $70,000) The set will be around $100,000 for land and the set itself. The set will consist of a 60' by 80' one foot thick concrete slab with re bar. in the middle will be a 20'X30' quansit hut (Sorry about the spelling.) and 6 30' sea containers on the outside right next to the edge of the cement. That allows us a 10' walk way around the outside of the hut.

The outside of the sea containers will be followed by a 8 foot chain link fence with 2'X'8 rippled steel panels attached to the fence on the outside of the sea containers, and concertina wire. At the very top will be an electric wire. I watched the walking dead and learned from their mistakes at the prison. As these sea containers weight is close to 3 tones and the fence posts are set 3' into the ground in cement, it can take a hit from a truck and destroy the truck.

I have run into a problem with the music. I wanted three songs by the Zombies, but the woman who owns the rights said they don't lend out these songs for low budget films. ($250,000 will allow me to shoot the film, but it is low budget. It still seems like a lot of money to me. ) So my question is can a person use a part of a song, and if so how long a clip can I use without getting into trouble. (Rappers get away with it all the time)

My next problem is distribution, I see you have some listed, any body got any feed back on a distribution firm that handles these kinds of film. (low budget but well made films? (I hope it is well made, time will tell.)


I see you have a zombie film contest. I won't be able to enter mine because we are just starting. I can tell you though that it is a very different zombie film than any I have seen. We are shooting for 90 min, good enough for theatrical release and perfect for TV.

So if anyone has some thoughts on this esp on the music, fire away.

David
 
DavidMPayne said:
So my question is can a person use a part of a song, and if so how long a clip can I use without getting into trouble. (Rappers get away with it all the time)
Click to expand...

Without clearance? No. None of it. You might not get caught and sued, but you're leaving yourself very exposed to the possibility.

...and rappers don't "get away with it all the time". They get away with it if nobody hears it that would be enforcing their rights. Big acts don't get away with it. They get sued all the time if it even sounds sorta kinda like another song. Some old rap albums got away with it when the laws weren't fully worked out. That's a big part of why hip hop today doesn't sound like De La Soul's Three Feet High and Rising and Beastie Boys Paul's Boutique.
 
I would NEVER EVER spend your entire inheritance on a film, It's a poor investment unless your wealthy enough to use it as a write off. I'm not trying to rain on your parade but it's very difficult to get a return on low budget films unless it's an amazing story with a damn good production value, and right now, Zombie films are a dime a dozen, it's a theme that's been done to death. They can be fun to watch, but after walking dead, people expect that level of quality when it comes to the genre. Secondly, if you plan on doing anything with the film, you better put a decent sum away for marketing, it takes about a day for people to lose interest due to the dauntingly fast pace of the web. In terms of music, your best bet is to have someone score it, and if you can afford the rights to a more popular song, you will be paying for it, not only now, but down the road as well depending on the length of the license. It may be for a year, two years. This is where an entertainment lawyer is worth it's weight in gold. You will also need to get insurance, it's a must. If you feel confident that your story is that good (which everyone always does) then go for a Kickstarter campaign. I just can't condone putting up that much of your own money for a film.
 
Yeah - you simply MUST go into this knowing that you're NEVER going to get back more than a few thousand dollars. Maybe not even that.
 
I won't be spending all of my money. I'll keep $100,000 for my old age. It isn't really needed as I'm 100% disabled Vietnam vet (PTSD and Agent orange diabetic ) Also the set is a wonderful Self storage unit and if the film isn't good and doesn't make money I can sell the set for what I have in it. I make over $5,000a month for the rest of my life. As for the quality of the film lets just say this is a zombie film like no other. At 67 I don't want that old man who had a great story but didn't do anything with it.
 
Zombies films have been done to death. Most of them are the same story with different actors. I wish you tons of luck and hope you will share photos and video clips of your new film. A new adventure for you.

I was lucky to come up with a story that hasn't been done yet called 'Clear Eyes'. It is a short film. 'Clear Eyes' won two awards last month in the Oregon Independent Film Festival - 'Best Horror' over all (Short and Feature) and 'Best Actress'.

I'm now working on my next project 'R' but have taken a break from it to work on a short film called Mr. Yung for the DVX contest.

Here is a clip from 'Clear Eyes'. We brought in one of the top 10 USA Zombie makeup artist to work on this film. This is just a short 23 second clip but it gives you an idea how our Zombies look.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXbzkh0ISr0
 
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