Ed Burns on the socialization of indie cinema

I made one for $8000. It's a lot of work. And I don't have any name actor friends... ;) A sales agent picked it up, has sold into four different countries (Non US) and I have still to see a dime from that deal!

Michael
 
Kholi said:
This guy is fighting to stay relevant... Nothing new or enlightenin to say and is still making the same sleepy material that very few people want to pay to watch. 9K is way too much on a feature that basically falls asleep on itself.
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Well, much like Kevin Smith. Ed Burns will be able to do well with low budget movies like this without much effort is the fact that they're already known and can reach out to audiences in greater numbers than you or I at the current time.

I actually like Ed Burns because he is committed making his own movies still when he doesn't really need to. He still makes decent money acting in Hollywood flicks and still earns money (likely) on his first 2 successful movies and he's actually been approached to direct Bigger Hollywood movies before which he's ultimately stayed away from in favor of doing his own thing.

Now, his films aren't always winners (in fact most aren't very good but still have some charms) but I respect the hustle and I have to admit that Ed Burns was the career track I wanted to follow when I first got serious about making movies. I was writing and was going to act with my buddies in the movies and go to Sundance, etc. etc. before I got the realization that I needed to be smarter with my efforts and not just hope to get lucky.

So, I still like Burns and especially can't knock his hustle.

But you make some good points later in the thread. Ed Burns wouldn't be getting these films into Tribeca if he wasn't already a famous NYC filmmaker (heck he and Tribeca head Robert Deniro did a flick together). If I made Newly Weds or Nice Guy Johnny (I've seen it, decent) in ATL you can bet I wouldn't have gotten invited to Tribeca with an identical movie.

-Martin
 
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I do admit that I'm just a hater. I'm more intimidated by these quiet movies than I am of stuff like MONSTERS or larger HWood movies. Haha.

I'm a hypocrite, because I also get sad when those guys look at my work and sort of turn their noses up.

Need to work on this, and I apologize for being a butthead.
 
I think it's a great thing Burns is doing, but what makes it even better is he is talking about it and giving tips and advice. I'm going to support and rent the movie just for that reason. If the movie happens to be good, it's just a bonus.
 
style versus content

style versus content

Even of you don't enjoy Burns movies, you can still learn from him- he's showing that anyone (you) can make a "cheap, talky movie" as he's called it. Its just a way to get a certain style of movie made, not a recipe for a great movie (no such thing). How good these movies turn out depend on the script and overall execution, no?
 
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