Has anyone here sold a feature to a direct-to-video distrubtor?

"Colin" was shot for 70 dollars and picked up at cannes by one of the u.s. studios. It is a zombie movie with a unique take. Shot from the zombies point of view.
Some of the films of the duplass brothers (Puffy chair, baghead) are in the 2500 range.
One of the duplass brothers is directing a big budget studio comedy now.
"Quiet City", ny theatrical run. 2500 budget reportedly.
I don't believe Joe Swanson (another mumbelcore guy) has had a theatrical for any of his films but he did get a lot of attention on the fest circuit and is reportedly shooting a feature in the same style with Jennifer Jason Leigh. He used his moms 10 year old video camera and will use it reportedly with his next film.
I liked "quiet city" and what i've seen of the duplass brothers.
 
lambert said:
"Colin" was shot for 70 dollars and picked up at cannes by one of the u.s. studios. It is a zombie movie with a unique take. Shot from the zombies point of view.
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i read about that a coupla weeks ago, but didnt know it got picked up by a studio. who picked it up?
 
The cost for craft services we brought in, just for a weekend shoot on a 7 minute commercial matches some of the feature budgets mentioned. I can almost image that the craft services for those cheapo features was probably like "Kraft Services", Mac & Cheese!
 
sorry mickey munday, miss read the articcle on "colin", long day. In negotiations with japanese dist and u.s. dist interested. Sorry again for the misinformation. Somehow had it stuck in my head they were picked up by a major. Scanning the web now and can't find that they got a deal, sorry again.
 
How soon after submitting a film to distributors such as Maverick or York can I expect to hear back from them?
 
Artman009 said:
I'm soon going to be working on a low-budget genre picture that I hope to sell to a DTV distributor at the end of the year (or whenever I finish) and I was curious to know what kind of deals there are out there, things I should watch out for, etc.

So, does anybody got any first hand experiences they'd like to share?

-- Artman009
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Your title says, "Has anyone here sold a feature to a direct-to-video distrubtor?" You don't sell films to York you give them to York. LOL. In my book "Action Filmmaking" I advise don't spend more than $2000 on a project for York. I may give them "Wages" now that it's run it's course but seriously, don't spend to much. Keep it under $1000 if you can. And do your M&E track as you edit your film because it's a hassle to have to go back and do it.

-Nate
 
hey nathyn just out of curiosity how long does "run its course" mean in terms of what you were trying to do with Wages? Just curious as to how much time other filmmakers are spending pushing any given product before they throw in the towel.
 
craigbowman said:
The cost for craft services we brought in, just for a weekend shoot on a 7 minute commercial matches some of the feature budgets mentioned. I can almost image that the craft services for those cheapo features was probably like "Kraft Services", Mac & Cheese!
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Seriously, I get so confused by people mentioning things like that, I don't see how it's possible. I mean you can't really spend $70 on a film, that's just stupid. A lightbulb costs $70 for a 2K light. A pizza party for 10 costs more than that. I personally wouldn't be bragging about not spending anything on a film, it's kind of embarrassing.

We spent $600 on craft services for a 3-minute music video, one-day shoot. It was a bit too much, but we ate well, what can I say. ;) The two-day short film shoot I think was only about $400 for craft services, which was great.
 
Mickey Munday said:
hey nathyn just out of curiosity how long does "run its course" mean in terms of what you were trying to do with Wages? Just curious as to how much time other filmmakers are spending pushing any given product before they throw in the towel.
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We did "Wages" in 2006, released in 2007. It's almost, 2010. I've written books about filmmaking (which I do make a little extra income from) using it as an example, it. It gain notoriety as the first indy film for Apple TV, has helped me get the current job I have and has helped put me on the map as a serious indy filmmaker in Chicago.

Honestly, I've sold some, and I love it, but I'm ready to move on and do more. Going with York will get my film into the hands of overseas buyers and customers. This is key. Remember, the film is not the product, you are. I'm looking at sitting myself up as celeb filmmaker overseas. If it gets into the video stores here in America, with me on the cover that's even better.

You have to learn to play whatever cards you have. I can easily say my film is probably better than most of what York is distributing right now and that goes double for the stuff they produce themselves. I have "Wages" up for viewing in the User Films section. I saw "Dr. Chopper" on cable. Remember, my film was shot for $4500, theirs for $250,000, see them for yourself then you be the judge. "Scarecrow", their horror trilogy is literally famous for being horribly bad. So bad their accountant at the time simply said, "I don't know. I don't watch the films. They're really bad." (She said this, not me).

Either way, the film is run it's course when you can get nothing more from it or it's becomes a point of deminishing returns. People are buying the film because of the "Action Filmmaking" DVD that's in the two-disc set, but no one actually buys the single. Why not simply sell the "Action Filmmaking" DVD, and lower the price then let York handle the WOS movie.

Eventually I'm going to come out with an Action Filmmaking two disc set to correspond with the book and make a few more sub $2000 flicks for York (starring yourse truly). I may wait on "Divinity" and do some other things in between. I got two action flicks that can be shot around $1000 - $2000 using the currents locals and such we already shoot with. I want to make a bad ass action film on the cheap, that will blow "Wages" away.

Keep in mind "Wages" was advertised for a few months on TV in Burbank. Knowing what I know now I could've even grabbed on to that more, but it was better to wait. I may not even buy a new computer. I have access to a computer lab. I may simply buy Final Cut or FC Express and run it off a two TB drive with my clips, on their 2.25 Intel iMacs in the labs over the summer. Think about it.

JonathanLB said:
Seriously, I get so confused by people mentioning things like that, I don't see how it's possible. I mean you can't really spend $70 on a film, that's just stupid. A lightbulb costs $70 for a 2K light. A pizza party for 10 costs more than that. I personally wouldn't be bragging about not spending anything on a film, it's kind of embarrassing.
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Light bulb's free when someone else buys it, or you use the light you already have, then color correct in post. A pizza party cost about $20 at Little Cezar's, and you can get a ton of stuff for free if you ask, so the $70 isn't impossible if you have a lot of willing friends. The question is what are they actually counting. Even factoring in travel isn't an issue if you walk everywhere.

If I had tighter connects at Columbia I could pretty much do everything at the school as I know where all the director stages are now. Like I said in my book, Columbia is a film studio. If you know you're way around it's like being on a lot. I don't go to school there anymore so while I have a ton of privileges, many I don't. Again the theater department is the saving grace as they have a totally cool prop room, with couches, beds and the works. Do some good green screen work and you've all kinds of locations. That's how you save money. But heck, what do I know, I'm waiting for someone to buy me that Panasonic HMC-40 they keep advertising for $1995. LOL.


-Nate
 
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LOL. I wonder who did it.
Ohhhh, it was youuuu. LOL I think you did it in a few minutes, didn't you Nate? It's really fantastic ... my first cover was blahhh.

Thanks again, Nate. As soon as I buy something from Amazon, I'll be eligible to write reviews for books and movies. I'll be sure to review your book.
 
Can't wait to see it. I'm back teaching downtown so I may be making a film in the spring or so now that I have access to thousands of dollars of computer equipment.

-Nate
 
Artman009 said:
Wow. Hire a professional DP, gaffer, sound guy, shoot with RED or on 35mm, keep budget as low as possible and settle if offered only $10,000 dollars? Correct me if I am wrong but that sounds like a horrible return for what you pay. Even if you were to just rent a RED camera for an average shoot (local dealers near me are charging $750 a day) and if you were to hire professional people, it's gonna cost you and/or your investors a lot more than $10,000.

I would think, as a filmmaker/businessman, you'd at least like to break even, no?



May I ask what budget you guys are aiming for? Also, what format the finished product going to be shot on? (HDV, Red, 35mm, etc)

(Cool trailer, btw).

-- Artman009
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Artman sorry I haven't checked in with the thread we're finishing the film. Our film is roughly a $150K film with a lot of that in favors. The Director and myself work in the film industry and pulled a lot of favors (people working for low rates). We spent almost $9K in food and craft service. Shooting in Texas in Aug. we were using about 70lbs of ice a day! and drank about 5 cases of water per day. Our 20 day shoot turned into a 35 day shoot due to the special fx shots. We ended up shooting on P2 (HVX 200 with Letus 35mm adpt.) only because the DP owned it. You can check out the blog where I post a lot of behind the scenes video.
http://thekillingstrainmovie.blogspot.com/

One thing I will tell you that an experienced gaffer and soundmixer are positions that you need to bite the bullet on and hire a good one (I was the soundmixer). another thing I found I will never produce and work on the crew. Without a production staff you can't do both (maybe on a small shoot but not with a crew of 20).

Sure you can do a film cheaper but with so much out there you need to be a step above. I guess you can make a film for 10K. But if you wan't to rise above the other low budget indie stuff you have to work hard at it. This was the hardest thing professionally I've ever done (I've worked in film and television industry since 1993).

Having said that I would do it again in a heartbeat and don't give up on your dream. If all you have is $10k do a film for that and learn from it. Next time you will have more and know more and make a better film.

Selling such a film will take time to return investment. But if you read anything on film investment it's like buying a lottery ticket. It's the most risky thing you can put your money into.
Good luck.
 
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