Carte Blanche - A Feature Film Written & Directed by Matt Kieley

sign up on www.withoutabox.com
submit the movie to a couple of free festivals via withoutabox
submit it to one more fee film festival but don't overspend
withoutabox will give you a free imdb page where you can put your trailer for free as well
then if you can't find a distributor or agent, you can send it to www.CreateSpace.com and start selling DVDs via Amazon.com

Notice, Amazon owns all the above companies, so you're in good hands. Start making some money and go on with your next movie.

Good luck, kid, you earned it :-)
 
I sent the film to the Mission Underground Film Festival in San Francisco. It's a free festival that actually goes on all year, with different films screened every other week or so. Brought to my attention by a friend of mine. I actually do have a withoutabox account, and Carte Blanche is registered. There's just so many festivals, and sometimes it's hard to tell what any of them are really looking for. It's kind of dizzying.
 
This trailer is more true to the movie's character. I like the way you stuck to the theme of what you proposed at the beginning of this project. As odd and quirky as it seemed at the beginning, you never lost the courage to stick to your feelings about this story. It finally paid off for you, kid. I like it. I want to see this movie.
 
Hopefully I can find a few more people who want to see it too. I've been very slowly showing the film to different members of the cast and crew. I finally showed to to Coryn McBride on Sunday. She's happy with the film as a whole, but not entirely with her performance. When the film ended we actually just talked about all the things we would have done differently, which was kind of a refreshing conversation. She didn't get to see the film first, but she was the first to actually get a copy of it. She showed it to her mother, who liked it, which is cool because her mother is herself a visual artist, not unlike Coryn and her character.

I think of the film and the things I wrote in this thread a year ago when we started shooting, and how open I was with a lot of the personal information pertaining to the story. I certainly lifted a lot from real life (including some direct quotes of things that I said, and things that were said to me). In retrospect, I kind of wish I had been more creative and just taken the essence of what happened, and fictionalize it. It's not even necessarily the words just being old to me now (although that's part of it) but it didn't occur to me at the time as being inappropriate and kind of unfair to the person that it's all based on. I've shown the film to some friends, and friends of friends, and I was surprised when they told me they kind of disliked Helena, or thought some things she says in the film are terrible or mean. I guess I've always felt honesty isn't invalid, no matter how cruel. I don't know, there are a lot worse things I didn't use.

This sort of ties into what I wanted to do differently. I took scenes from my life and thrust them on screen, as a lot of filmmakers have in the past (especially with the recent so-called mumblecore movement) or so the audiences would believe watching it. I know even if I wasn't as honest as I have been on this thread, and on the blog, which can be found on the Carte Blanche web site, people would probably still say "So this all happened, didn't it?" which is why I ultimately made Elliott a filmmaker, and he eventually makes a film with Helena based on their relationship, which is what I originally set out to do with Carte Blanche. I wanted to depict the actual act of taking your life and turning it into art. But I only depicted the act of creating the art. If I could do anything differently, the one big thing, would be to depict what happens after. Or what happens when you're the one the movie is base don, and you see someone being "you" and saying things you said. But I guess at the time I started making the film, I wasn't even at that point in my own life yet.

The girl it was all based on was originally supposed to play Helena. The character existed long before I knew her (I had been writing several different incarnations of the story since September 2006) but after I cast her, and the film fell through once again, we remained friends throughout the process of me re-writing the film again and trying to get it shot. Then things got complicated, and I re-wrote the character more to her voice. And our relationship didn't really get any simpler, so the script changed more and more, and became pretty close to depicting everything that happened (which changed quite a bit more before, during, and after filming). I had considered casting myself as Elliott, with the girl pretty much playing herself. But when it came time to actually make the movie, we weren't really speaking, so she was re-cast. Months later we were speaking again, and I created a new character for her to play and wrote anew sequence to add to the film (there's a point where the characters have a falling out, but it went immediately from them parting ways to speaking again, with no in-between, so I felt something else had to happen there).

I took the more accessible, upbeat ending route for the film (not to spoil anything for the two or three people who want to see it) but I kind of wish I hadn't shied away from the true messiness and complication of male-female friendships, and what happens when one develops feelings for the others. I think as a result the film is kind of subdued, and a little too "easy" if that makes sense. I'm 35 pages into a new script that is trying to depict how messy and complicated things can really get, and I'm tempted to incorporate what happens when you take things from real life and turn it into art. When I told Coryn about my desire to have depicted that in Carte Blanche, she actually said I should just use it in the new script, and I have kind of mixed feelings about that. Part of me feels like I'd be taking a step back by more or less doing the same thing twice. But on the other hand, I'm already kind of doing that, it would just be to a lesser extent if I didn't include characters turning life into art. And I'm interested in making films that thematically overlap. I've been calling my new script the bitter antithesis to Carte Blanche. I just wonder if it could stand on its own if I went as far as to basically tell the same story twice, in two different ways.

When does the self-indulgence end? I kind of feel like Philip Seymour Hoffman's character in Synecdoche, New York. I'm going to spend the next 50 years re-making the same movie over and over. I want to challenge myself with new subject matter, but at the same time, I feel like I can't move on until I've nailed what I was trying to say with this one type of story. I guess one film wasn't enough to exorcise my thoughts and feelings of one chapter in my life. Maybe it's because a lot more has happened, and I've changed even more since I started shooting the film a year ago. I wonder if I could get away with just making it a sequel? I went on a long diatribe, when I actually started to write a post with something of a purpose: more self-indulgent and talk of the real people and the real story. Today is Fred's 21st birthday, and I wish I could be spending it with her, but she's currently living hundreds of miles away, and also we're not really speaking again. But I made this for her. It's probably stupid to the rest fo the world, but it does feature outtakes, a deleted scene and some other stuff from Carte Blanche, as well as footage from a film I made with her for DVXUser's Love Fest back in February 2008, which was never completed, because it was terrible. I had known her for just a couple of weeks at the time.

I think I started writing all of that because I was going to say that perhaps I shouldn't get so personal and divulge information on the real people and real story, but you know what, hardly anybody reads this thread, and I just can't help but be honest. Perhaps that's why I'm not 100% happy with the film--I just wasn't as brutally honest with the story as I should have been from the beginning. I've been suffering from depression for a long time now, and I've always been ashamed of it, but I think now I've kind of learned that misery is a big part of life, and although life can be wonderful sometimes, happiness in art is just boring. Misery actually kind of reminds me that I'm alive and feeling something real, and I'm not just blissed-out with false hope all the time. I'm about to sound even more pretentious, but I want to embrace melancholy, I want to make it beautiful, like all my favorite artists who influence my work, such as John Cassavetes, Charlie Kaufman, Noah Baumbach, Adrien Tomine (I would kill to do an adaptation of his graphic novel Shortcomings), and Elliott Smith.
 
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In the long run this is what real filmmaking is all about. Millions of commercial films are made every year, they are all forgotten; but this movie you're making is for keeps. This is your legacy. You're writing it in film. So whatever you decide to do, you're on the path to being a real filmmaker and living the dream of a filmmaker. Everything comes and goes but film is forever.
 
I guess come April, after I've had my surgery and recovered, I'm going to try and really get this film out there. I'm considering submitting the film to the San Diego film festival, but aside from that I'm going to try and get it out there on my own. I'd like to maybe do a college tour. Perhaps hold some non-profit screenings for students, maybe as a fund raiser/extra curricular event for the arts department. If I can do this, I'm hoping it'll give me the chance to get the film out there with what I feel is the audience for Carte Blanche, and I'll get to see it with complete strangers, and see how they respond to it.

I also want to have for-profit screenings around California. My hope is to find theaters that will do a 50/50 split in lieu of renting out the space. Theaters can be expensive to rent (there's one in town that will either rent out the space for $500 for 3 hours, or do a 50/50 split instead) so I'm hoping that each screening will make enough to fund the next screening (that is to cover the cost of advertising and gas/food/lodging/whatever). I don't have any high hopes to make money off of the movie, but if I can break even each trip/screening, I can have a small theatrical tour of sorts to get the film seen.

In an ideal world, each screening will make enough that I can cover the costs of each screening, and have enough to put aside for a small DVD release, but I don't have any high hopes for that. I'm looking into selling digital downloads as an alternative. And of course, as I've been saying before, I'll probably have a limited youtube "release" to promote the film. I was also thinking perhaps I'll have the theatrical for-profit screenings and the college screenings in the same weekends. Maybe I can have the college screening on a Friday, with a for-profit screening the following Saturday at a theater. The only true challenge I see is promoting the screenings. I'm a terrible promoter
 
Well, I decided to make Carte Blanche available online in it's entirety. I don't know how long I'll keep it up. Maybe until I see if it gains any momentum or interest/buzz. We'll see what happens.

Watch it on vimeo

I also made a video introduction

I'm a little nervous about what a bunch of prefessional filmmakers will think.

I hope if a few of my peers here like it, they could help spread the word.
 
I think you accomplished what you were going after from watching the trailer. It starts off slow, snd ends slow but somewhere in there I did latch on and I finished it.

A four minute trailer.

Looks like something we can all relate too. Good luck with the project.
 
The outdoor screening went well. Only one technical malfunction. People seemed to enjoy it, and gave me overwhelmingly nice comments. A local writer, N.L. Belardes really loved it, and he'll likely write something about it. He wrote about some of my short films a few years ago. He said Carte Blanche is the best locally-produced film he's ever seen.

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I'm on the right. On the left is Rickey Bird, who plays Xander in the film. He also helped out in the crew, and I've done camerawork and acting for some of his films. He put together this whole event. Photo by N.L. Belardes.
 
I really need to figure out what I'm going to do with this film. It's still just sitting on vimeo with 250 views. Although I wonder if it counts views as videos that have been watched all the way through, or by how many times people have clicked "play". It feels like most people are largely disinterested in the film. I'm sure hearing the synopsis connotes every boring indie relationship movie ever, and this film by exactly that. I was thinking of sending it to a couple of bloggers who write about film and trying to get them to write something about it (hopefully something good). Some fellow filmmaker friends have seen the movie, and although they thought the work was good, they don't have any idea of how to sell it, or who the audience is. I have a vague idea that it may be college students, but I don't really know. Someone told me the film was "dripping with hipster" and as much as I kind of resent being dismissed into a certain cultural category that's less than loved at the moment, perhaps that is my audience. I want to send it to some festivals, but I'm broke. I know there are free festivals, but there are so many listed on withoutabox, I don't know where to go with it, or which ones are legitimate. Plus it would still cost money to burn and mail off DVD screeners of the film, even if they didn't ask for a submission fee. I sent the film to the Mission Underground Film Festival, which, according to the people in charge of the festival, it may cease to exist due to a lack of attendance. I also thought of doing a small DVD release (maybe 100 discs) to sell. If I miraculously sell out, I can take the profits and have more made. I suppose I just need to stop moping around make something happen.
 
The problem is there really is no right answer...

Honestly, making a feature film is only the first part of an uphill battle. I wish that as soon as you finished your film, distributors would be knocking on your door like crazy, but sadly, that just isn't how things work.

Now, I hate festivals as much as the next guy (often times you pay an entry fee and aren't even given the courtesy of an official rejection), but it might be worth it to plan a targeted strategy. Although it's a lot of work, you need to research which ones are potentially a match for the film. You'll get rejected from a lot, but you'll get in to a few as well.

Avoid any "mainstream" festivals. Sorry... but Sundance, Slamdance, Cannes, South by Southwest are pretty much a pipe-dream unless you: A.) Know the Right People. B.) Have made a film so damn good that it's revolutionary. C.) Have Famous people in it.

Try ones like Cucalorous or the Cincinnati Film Fest.

Entry fees suck. No doubt about it. So, make sure to ONLY enter a festival as an early-entry. Make a modest budget for entry fees and stick to it.

Don't give up, man. Making movies is hard. But, remember, if it was easy, everyone would do it. It's the hard that makes it great.
 
This is only step one. We are about the wrap up my feature in Jan 2011. I already know for a fact that I have at least another year of work ahead of me, and probably more, getting it noticed, sold, etc. I already know this. So don't get depressed about it.

One reason we made our film so cheap is that we could experiment with distro means until we find the right one. You are probably in the same position.

But if you believe in the film, you have to be prepared to be the one who pushes it.

Also, I think filmmakers need to be open to alternate possibilities. Like, can your film be released as a series? In installments? As a way to build interest? Maybe yes, maybe no, but I think you have to be open to possibilities beyond playing festivals and screening in movie theaters.
 
Carte Blanche finally went live on Amazon on Demand. They set the price of purchase higher than I might have, but that's their call. This year I finally got the desire to try to get the film out besides putting it online for free, which I did last year. I'm going to try to do some screenings, and if I can get a little bit of money, have DVDs made. I've already finished about 99% of the DVD. I recorded a commentary track with Brandon Nebitt, which was fun to do. I think we struck a good balance between informative and fun. I just need to put together an isolated music track (with musician commentary in the parts without music) and finish the photo gallery. Amazon on Demand/CreateSpace is the first step of my DIY distribution. Whenever fellow filmmaker and Carte Blanche cast member Rickey Bird finishes editing his feature (which I worked on) we're going to hit the road and go on a tour, holding double feature screenings across California. Hopefully I'll have DVDs to sell at the screenings. We'll definitely have posters for sale. Rickey Bird has a deal with a local printer, so it'll be totally free. I was also thinking of having a few VHS versions of the movie made, to give away as raffle prizes at screenings. I think with my most of my work I tend to be disappointed with it when I first finish it. After some time passes, it grows on me, and I become more confident in getting it out there. I think that's finally happened with Carte Blanche.
 
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