Corrado Part II

somehow i missed shoreline's cut of the trailer. not my cup of tea, but WOW, i would thought it was made by "real hollywood" - and don't take offense to that. i was always impressed with the footage i'd seen in your original trailer, but this - like zak's sizzle reel for ALPFD - really makes it look pretty damn good. again, don't take offense, i haven't seen the film, but now, a victim of marketing, i really, really want to. the filmfan took over the filmmaker.

great job. still catching up on the RRB thread. :)
 
hansel960 said:
You're probably not allowed to answers this, but I think you said you called Sizemore's agent and had HIM name a day rate...is that correct? I was wondering what kind of day rate that was? I was curious what an actor like him made...

If you're not allowed to answer that, what kind of % of your budget were guys like him and Messner taking up on your budget? Was it over half?

Thanks,
Tommy
Click to expand...

I can't mention his day rate. I can tell you he makes more now. I can also tell you my cast cost me $140K of the $500K or so spent....
 
Rubbersquare said:
somehow i missed shoreline's cut of the trailer. not my cup of tea, but WOW, i would thought it was made by "real hollywood" - and don't take offense to that. i was always impressed with the footage i'd seen in your original trailer, but this - like zak's sizzle reel for ALPFD - really makes it look pretty damn good. again, don't take offense, i haven't seen the film, but now, a victim of marketing, i really, really want to. the filmfan took over the filmmaker.

great job. still catching up on the RRB thread. :)
Click to expand...

Thanks Rubbersquare! No offense whatsoever!

Just wait till I have a real budget!

What's hilarious is how the original uncorrected footage was almost universally derided on this forum. I can't believe I'm looking at the same film.
 
That people lack patience, attention span and vision. Perhaps seeing craft as A to B instead of all the way to Z.
 
russc said:
That people lack patience, attention span and vision. Perhaps seeing craft as A to B instead of all the way to Z.
Click to expand...

Well 10s,

Russ answered this fairly well.

To that I would take some of the blame as well.....footage shouldn't be shown to people unless it is done. It's not even their fault.....most people won't be able to help it.

I've reverted back to thinking it was my fault for providing a sneak preview - it's actually not fair for me to put that stuff up there and not expect to be reamed. The footage was fricking awful the way it was! The problem is, people thought it was complete.

Never again.

Interesting point of debate though - Doing something similar on my next film may actually hurt release numbers. If people think it's a POS before it ever reaches completion, I could really hurt myself. Not a frame of footage will be shown unless complete on that movie.

Okay, maybe just a frame in the form of a capture.........I can't help it.
 
It's difficult to hold back the excitement and not share something you deeply feel has potential, like a film , a song, a creation, and when you do, then you find others can't see the potential of your creation, ... it makes one feel very alone and often discouraged.

I believe all of us, need to have a small base of supporters we can share our rough/raw footage with, so we can celebrate and talk about the potential. I would build a very small pool of trusted pros to share with, because you'll need the outlet and some encouraging feedback. Overall, I agree with your answer to this lesson. Most people can't see what the creator sees and therefor aren't eligable to see the rough 1st draft creation. Hold it close.
 
Well its not possible for people to feel how much you love your creation,your film or your child until they have one themselves and even then it doesnt mean that they know your feelings , today with so many films around some people just dont care that much how it would make youfeel when they would say something like "oh i expected more " and stuff like that or dont comment at all , if people dont comment at all its probably :they dont care,they dont quite like it or they just dont have time.
But anyway ,big film you can recognize after how many.. 3 seconds ? Probably 3 seconds would be fine ,you can recognize video footage and film footage very easily ,no depth in video and ugly whites all ovr the place ,pink skin , just ugly regular video quality which video cam producers are throwing at us.
I saw that your film is big from the first seconds , later ive seen some not so well filmed takes but still it looks BIG enough to be considered a film,not wannabe film.
You dont need to read this cause i know that you see this quality too,thanks to adapters and good lightning.
Ive seen second trailer collor corrected with different takes and this one looks just like a film ,previous one was like a TV series ,pilot episode or something.What they did from what ive seen is they balanced whites ,theres more black ,i still learning about this ,it is quite big difference after CC but also i think they oversaturated footage for my taste ot it might be codec and my laptop settings.
The best scence from trailer is when Michael Bailey Smith got a gun on his cheek ,it looks beautiful.
Take with crooked cop talking on the phone and wearing blue shirt looks like its suffering from light loss on the corners or maybe its vignetting OR guys with lights are following camera man and moving the lights with him, but i think its visible because of the new CC and blacks are more visible now.
Also in old trailer on 1:00 take close to the door or window,im no sure but this take also stands out quite a bit cause of lack of filmic look,probably not so visible depth of field,im not sure what caused it.
This is a quality product ,you dont even should read some rude comments ,they for 80% dont have idea how it is to made a film to happen,just some keyboard fighters having a bad day ,internet is full of those guys.
Some people will see that the film is big and some dont , people who are important in buisness see this difference in Corrado and its all that matters and it will make the money for You.
Your cast have a fanbase ,Sizemore is in film buisness from his first film with Stallone in 80's ,im not his fan at all but it was smart choice to have him so i dont see why the film wouldnt sell.
Ahh and one mistake of yours was to not film behind the scenes , people love to see that stuff ,even fans would with pleasure give some money to see Sizemore on the set how he was in reality not in front of cameras,this could be recorded even with regular video cam.This would sell good.
 
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It's been a while since I visited this thread; I've just read through the last couple of months.
Congratulations, Adam, on signing with Shoreline and the two new trailers (your HD version and Shoreline's one) both look good. Thanks once again for this very informative thread.
Jason
 
taormina said:
I've reverted back to thinking it was my fault for providing a sneak preview - it's actually not fair for me to put that stuff up there and not expect to be reamed. The footage was fricking awful the way it was! The problem is, people thought it was complete.

Never again.
Click to expand...

I did this too for "The 4th Beast" when I first started shooting. People hated it. LOL. I loved it. I thought the look was awesome and "dirty". The problem is I forgot this was a forum full of people who make their lives on "looks". I wanted the look I'd seen on so many indy films, but trying to show off your "dirty" look isn't going to impress people who spend a lot of time trying to get a clean polished look. This was around the time of films like "Revolution #9" and "First Last and Deposit" which was a hard film shot on a hand held camera with no film look. It was just a narrative about losing one's apartment and how a person can easily become homeless when all the right circumstances fall in the right way. Hey, I watched a lot of IFC at the time.

-Nate
 
I did a 47 minute long presentation as the "expert speaker" on casting. Hear me drone on and on at www.filmspecific.com it is a pay site, but very good in the realm of distribution.

Stacey Parks wrote:

"Hi everyone,

Hope you had a great weekend! The weather here in LA was gorgeous
and in the eighties, so I got to spend quality time outdoors - my
favorite thing to do! I also got to play around with my new Kindle 2.
Any Kindle fanatics out there? I love the thing and have already
started downloading some classics like MOBY DICK and SEA WOLF and
can't wait to dig in (I'm a voracious reader!) I even found out
that my own book by Focal Press is available for the Kindle - pretty
cool!

Alright so enough about electronic book readers and on to the
Distribution Tip at hand. Last week I conducted a phenomenal
case study with Adam Cultraro on the casting process for his
film CORRADO.

The entire case study is actually available new to members this
week (see below), but I want to share with everyone a few key
tips that came out of the case study.

You see, Adam was just like you - he had a script, no financing
in place, no track-record (yet), but a deep desire to get name
cast on board so he could at least somewhat guarantee distribution
for his movie. He was caught in the same 'chicken and egg' scenario
that so many of you talk about - you can't get the name cast
without financing, and you can't get the financing without the
name cast.

Well here are some of the tips I took away from my interview with
Adam that I'd like to share with all of you who may be stuck in
the 'chicken and egg' scenario:

1. Track down some potential investors and find out WHO they
would need to have in place before committing funds to you. From
there, you set out to go get THOSE PEOPLE.

2. If you are going direct to the talent agencies and not using
a casting director, then make sure you have experience in SALES
and you don't get EASILY INTIMIDATED. If so, then find someone
else (another Producer?) to make these calls for you.

3. Not all TV names are created equal! Adam cast several SOPRANO'S
stars in his movie, someone from DALLAS, and it didn't mean squat
to distributors. The only name that helped him get distribution
was Tom Sizemore, who he cast in the lead role. When at all possible,
use your Distributor contacts to run names by them and see if they
mean anything for straight-to-DVD or foreign distribution FIRST.

4. Take a long term view of things. Adam knew he had a bigger
film he wanted to do after CORRADO, and so focused on building
relationships with agents, and making the best film he could for
as little as possible...making it profitable for his investors
so he could quickly roll into the next film (which he's in the
middle of casting right now) and LEVERAGE all the relationships
he had made on his first film.

Hopefully these 4 tips help get the wheels turning for all of
you out there desperate to get your projects off the ground,
and successfully distributed this year. It may be tough out there,
and there's no shortage of doom and gloom and 'the economy sucks'
news, but you CAN systematically do exactly what Adam did and
start building a track record for yourself right now."
 
Adam.

I'm worried about you a little. You're becoming humble too soon. It's ok for others to be humble, but you don't have the right to be humble! LOL

I think Stacy is a very smart girl. I saw her interview and read over the material on her website a little.

I've been in the film business for 40 years. I've made my living with film. What she says is valid for 99% of the people wanting to make movies, but...

BUT, you're not one of the 99%.

1. You HAD money.
2. You HAD success; you sold yachts, and could take celebrities who don't have yachts on trips at sea.LOL
3. You KNEW the hard basics of filmmaking; you'd done a few shorts -- one was a 35mm movie as well.
4. You KNEW the business of film from research.
5. You HAD studied the craft of B-Movie filmmaking.
6. You ARE an excellent writer.
7. You CAST your movie with hutzpah!

Here's more:

You did everything right in making a B-Movie -- the thousands of fans that you have gathered is a testimony to your success.

You succeeded in making a commercially viable movie, which a prominent sales agency picked up. Personally, I don't like violent movies. I can't bring myself to even watch the trailer. But I've worked on plenty of action films to be desensitized to violent movies. I've worked on every genre of violent movies one can imagine.

IMO, Stacy should pay you to read your website -- I know, you don't want to charge money for advise. You have demonstrated a phenomenal generosity by sharing your ideas here.

You hated being criticized for your production and editing and you are very capable to tell people off.LOL However, you also admitted here (Corrado II) that this process is therapeutic. And so it is ... for most of us; that's why we're here maybe? LOL

I continue to learn from you and how you approach the business of film.

With your next project I hope you will make the movie you believe in, not the movie that the distributors want you to make. I'd like to see you cast the actors you want to work with, not the actors that investors will find attractive or the distributors find marketable.

This is my wish for you and ... for myself. Make the movie you believe in; you ain't gettin' any younger.

Congratulations, once again....
 
Adam,

I listened to the interview this morning and it was great.

There are many excellent and informative people on this forum but you've provided some of the best information on how to get a film made and more importantly distributed. Plus you've done it in an open, honest and straightforward way. Which I appreciate.

Thanks,
Steven
 
Sorry I was so busy I missed this!

The sales process for a film when it reaches a sales agent is not a quick one; Film markets are attended, screeners are sent, negotiations are held. I was told to expect the first monies to start coming in as much as six months after I signed (January).

I do know there was strong interest from Sam Raimi's company Ghost House and their subsidiary Grindstone for North American rights. That was all playing out last week.
 
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