FEATURE: "HEART OF NOW" – a film by SABI

Zak Forsman said:
jared,

as we cut the feature, we are exploring all possibilities for distribution. first and foremost we will screen it for cast, crew, friends, family and local press here in los angeles. then, we will tour with it on the festival circuit for a year, then we'll be primed for actual distribution. i'm keen on self-distribution because frankly, there's little reason i can think of for me to sell it to someone else. in the short term, i'd get a pay day, sure. but long term? that's where i'd get screwed. plus, part of me wants to own my work, dammit. so my thinking at the moment is to retain ownership and four wall it, travel with it from city to city, then distribute it online and on home video (dvd and blu-ray) with two hours of comprehensive extras covering the making of it.

thank you for the kind words. you can sign up for the private mailing list to receive news and updates in the future.

btw, Amy Adams, huh? that's the first i've heard that. i can see it. others have mentioned a resemblance to Nicole Kidman in certain shots.
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Hey Zak, I have been dragging through a lot of posts looking for it, both here and new breed, to no avail. But I remember you posting somewhere that you were considering the strategy of selling rights in foreign territories, and distributing yourself in the US. Are you still thinking along those lines?
 
this is great info, thanks zak. I'm just now starting to put together a strategy for festivals so this came at just the right time.
 
Mark Harris said:
Hey Zak, I have been dragging through a lot of posts looking for it, both here and new breed, to no avail. But I remember you posting somewhere that you were considering the strategy of selling rights in foreign territories, and distributing yourself in the US. Are you still thinking along those lines?
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yeah, next week I'm going to really begin to nail it down (and I'll post about it in detail here), but generally I'm formulating a plan that does not require major festival coverage or a domestic sale. if either of those come along, they will be incorporated into the release strategy, but the strategy does not rely on them.

Eloquent Graffiti is being made for no money so we're taking an even riskier approach with that one next year.
 
I will also be very curious to hear about your dealings with SAG contracts regarding the self-dist stuff. Right now, we are trying to work out the ongoing accounting cost impact, for our business plan, in the cases where we are responsible for delivering payments to SAG(which a distributor would normally deal with, I presume).
 
This is one OLD thread, man.

here's an update. the cut is currently 94 minutes. About a month ago we held a focus group test screening in which DVXUser's Jeff Anderson and Mark Harris participated amongst a dozen colleagues and collaborators. There is a video about it AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE here.

That cut was 103 minutes long. Down from the original 143 minute version we had three or so months ago. The feedback we received helped us fill in the blindspots we had developed being so close to the material for so long (a year and a half). And over the last five weeks, we've addressed pacing issues, and fleshed out some character issues. I'm definitely of the mind that testing your film is vital. A number of my concerns were validated, a few new ones were revealed.

The most significant change we've made had to do with a supporting character that Mark Harris described as "such an asshole!" :) In going from the 143 minute version to the 103, most of this character's scenes in the first act were cut, leaving a fairly one-dimensional portrayal in the surviving scenes. After the focus group, Jamie (the editor) dove back into the improv material in three or four key scenes to bring out more dimension to this character. So now, while he's still an asshole, we can see how tender and loving and human he is too.
 
While our focus is on sound and color right now, we are also putting together the DVD bonus material and hammering out our release strategy. Part of that includes going out to the top winter/spring festivals... Slamdance, SXSW, Rotterdam, Berlinale, Sundance and NF/ND... all of which have their deadlines between now and the end of the year.
 
Hey Zak, interesting info about the focus group... I too agree with screening films (especially features) in focus groups!
 
we are down to an 89 minute cut that i'm very happy with. there was a long sequence at the beginning (that i was being rather stubborn about) that felt long to most of the people who saw it. i don't think the points it was intended to make (urban landscape as an impediment to the characters' capacity to progress) were coming across. :( haven't committed 100% to cutting it yet. but it's probably out.

in the meantime, I've just finished an 11 hour marathon color grade to get a first pass ("rough draft") on every shot.

colorgr.jpg
 
Mark Harris said:
I will also be very curious to hear about your dealings with SAG contracts regarding the self-dist stuff. Right now, we are trying to work out the ongoing accounting cost impact, for our business plan, in the cases where we are responsible for delivering payments to SAG(which a distributor would normally deal with, I presume).
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This is a good question. How does one deal with paying out royalties in perpetuity when you're self distributing? Are you supposed to hire a company to deal with all that a la ASCAP and BMI but for film? Seems like a lot of overhead for some of the smaller films.

Congrats on the lean cut Zak. Looking forward to watching this when it's released (hopefully soon).
 
If you wouldn't mind, what's the plan on distribution? Will this be released online? DVDs? theatrically? How about us outside of the U.S?

Thanks,

Kyrre
 
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