Kevin Smith launches Indie distribution

VinceRocca

VinceRocca

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This is posted on http://viewaskew.com/redstate/theredstatement.html

The Harvey Boys have witnessed first hand the vagaries of "studio math" - the byzantine numbers game that sees an uneducated media and public celebrating "huge" openings at the box office while ignoring the obscene marketing costs attached to reach those figures. We believe it's a pyrrhic victory to simply "buy" an opening weekend by pouring millions of dollars into TV spots, billboards and print ads. As storytellers, why not instead use our creative abilities that resulted in a film in the first place to also creatively SELL that film directly to our public?

We believe the state of film marketing has become ridiculously expensive and exclusionary to the average filmmaker longing simply to tell their story. When the costs of marketing and releasing a movie are four times that film's budget, it's apparent the traditional distribution mechanism is woefully out of touch with not only the current global economy, but also the age of social media.

Therefore, The Harvey Boys will not spend a dime on old world media buys (such as TV/Print/Outdoor) as we self-distribute our film, Red State, in an admittedly unconventional, yet extremely cost effective, word of mouth/viral campaign.

Knowledge is power, and we believe in empowering the filmmaker - so the Harvey Boys vow to make the financials of Red State open and transparent from which anybody hoping to follow suit can learn. We will do what no studio has dared: open up our books for the world to see so anyone interested in pursuing a similar independent release strategy has a better understanding of the BUSINESS of Red State.

And if we're successful - or even merely effective - at producing a film distribution apparatus that can stand apart from the cost-prohibitive studio model currently viewed as the only way to get a movie into a theater? It is our intent to use the groundwork we lay with Red State to aid other filmmakers in releasing THEIR films, via our newly launched SModcast Pictures.

Don't hate the studio; BECOME the studio. Anybody can make a movie; what we aim to prove is anyone can release a movie as well

The Harvey Boys
Jon Gordon & Kevin Smith

Kevin announced at Sundance tonight that he is going to self distribute Red State one screen at a time to generate the 2.5 mil needed to do a 1000 screen run in October.

See a list of dates here: http://viewaskew.com/redstate/

Okay so he says he's opening the books. Does this mean we'll get to see all the financials? I've detailed all my movies financials with Warner Bros. in my book and let me say it is a humbling experience, but one I felt was important to aid other filmmakers. I hope he'll be able to share Red States books with us cause it will be a very interesting comparison from a $10k indie like Kisses and Caroms to a $4 mil indie like Red State.
 
Looking forward to the release story of this moreso than the actual movie. Might be good information for filmmakers. I hope so.

Kisses and Caroms :) I did a pool movie as my 1st feature as a director as well...not as successful though, it's called Behind the Nine.

Thanks for the post,

Martin
 
Kevin Smith's always been one of my favorite filmmakers and now has elevated to my personal hero.

I'd love to have a shot at getting Smodcast Pictures to distro my films when I finally make them.
 
I think what he is doing is great and I'll support but I have to say the marketing is not just solely on film. Marketing in general whether it be for Cars, Beers, whatever has gone up. That's just simple fact. It's not the distributors to blame, it's the people that set their ad dollars to advertise on their platform.

I bet you the amount of money today to air a 30second spot on say Fox primetime is not the same as it was 10 years or even 5 years ago. That's just the nature of the beast, though I agree with Kevin, I just don't agree with him blaming the distributors for the price of marketing a movie.

I really hope this works for him.
 
i'd be interested to see how this turns out for him....and then how it turns out for the average no name film maker in comparison who has a film that is just as good or even better.
 
Mickey Munday said:
i'd be interested to see how this turns out for him....and then how it turns out for the average no name film maker in comparison who has a film that is just as good or even better.
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Nowhere near the same. However, there could be some value to find if one watches it play out closely and can get some good ideas that will be applicable to their own smaller films.

I'd be pretty confident in Self-Distribution if I had all the elements that Smith currently has in his favor with this film. A) Sundance Film, B) Lots of early press and awareness, C) Name Hollywood Talent, and most importantly D) Rabid fan following that will guarantee sales just on his association with the film alone.

So, the chance that he's successful is very good. How it translates to films without those elements is the big question and I wouldn't bet on it being a particularly relatable model for the likes of me to be able to replicate minus those elements.

However, I'm definitely curious to see it play out and see whether some things can come to light that will be applicable for smaller indie filmmakers who choose to go this route in the future.

-Martin
 
Mickey Munday said:
i'd be interested to see how this turns out for him....and then how it turns out for the average no name film maker in comparison who has a film that is just as good or even better.
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I'm pretty sure we'll still have to make decent movies in order to get Smodcast Pictures distro and I don't doubt Kev will get flooded with requests by rabid and upcoming filmmakers (like myself :P).

Let the Clerks ripoffs begin!
 
VinceRocca said:
This is posted on http://viewaskew.com/redstate/theredstatement.html


The Harvey Boys
Jon Gordon & Kevin Smith

Kevin announced at Sundance tonight that he is going to self distribute Red State one screen at a time to generate the 2.5 mil needed to do a 1000 screen run in October.

See a list of dates here: http://viewaskew.com/redstate/
.
Click to expand...

That's awesome! Good for them. Business is about taking risks, and it's good to see them trying this out... It beats sitting around and doing nothing other than mental masturbation online in a film message board..


Michael Pappas
http://www.facebook.com/PappasArts
http://www.pbase.com/Arrfilms
 
I like his post in the link. But again, time will tell if this offers any benefits to other indie filmmakers. If only inspiration, then that's valid but I doubt too much more than that because of his unique situation makes it less a case study that the majority of us can emulate.

-Martin
 
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Kevin Smith’s ‘Red State’ Sundance Speech + Trailer


http://www.buzzfeed.com/chrismenning/kevin-smiths-red-state-sundance-speech

"it took 7 years for Clerks, a movie that cost $27k to make a profit....when thats happening...when youre having to spend 5 times the amount of what it cost to make the film just to market it...that's not inspiring at all...there's no way i'd make a Clerks today...because it's f&ckin impenetrable...it's ridiculous"

"true independence isnt making a film and selling it to some jack ass who's gonna just pour money on it to make it successful...true independence is selling it to the people yourself and that's what i intend to do"

kevin smith says at this point he's made half the budget of the film back already and the movie hasnt even officially opened yet.
 
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Kevin Smith posted an update on the whole thing, he's on the verge of recouping all expenses and being in the black....

“Over the course of the 15 shows of the Red State USA Tour, we made almost one million dollars from ticket and merchandise sales. A few times, we had the highest per screen average in the country. We started out with a record-making show at Radio City Music Hall and went on to average 1100 people per screening. Had we booked ourselves into smaller houses, we could’ve SOLD OUT every show; but being in the larger houses cost us nothing extra…
​
You take what we made on the tour, you add that to the $1.5mil we’ve pulled in from foreign sales thus far (with a few big territories yet to sell). Add to that $3mil we’re on the verge of closing for all North American distribution rights excluding theatrical (which means VOD/HomeVideo/PayTV/Streaming).
​
The flick cost $5mil to make, but $4mil after the California tax incentive. One of the only things Jon and I promised the Red State investors in exchange for letting us handle American theatrical distribution ourselves was that their $4mil would be covered as soon as possible — something very few other production entities can promise or even offer. Invest a million dollars in almost any production, and you rarely if ever get your money back within five years, let alone the one year it’s looking like it’s gonna take for our guys to make their money back.
​
Add up all those figures above and you’ll notice our gains are higher than our spending. And without any dopey marketing figures to have to recoup, once we close the aforementioned deals (which John Sloss & Law Co. are working to close as we speak), simple math dictates Red State is in the black — long before any wide release. That’s music to the ears of any investor who only put up their money in September.”
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can read more here....
http://theredstatements.com/2011/04/18/qt-and-me/
 
What I don't understand is how he made nearly a million dollars on just 15 shows.

$1,000,000 / 15 = $66,666 per show avg. Even if he did make that per show, I'm guessing the house got a cut of everything, so he'd have to have made even more than that, unless he's talking gross across the board.
 
This all sounds good but it really isn't a mould that an indie filmmaker could use. What I mean by that is Kevin Smith is selling his movie with his Kevin Smith name.
 
tmnt said:
This all sounds good but it really isn't a mould that an indie filmmaker could use. What I mean by that is Kevin Smith is selling his movie with his Kevin Smith name.
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FilmBoy77 said:
yep.
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You have to adjust it for scale and you'll see it might be able to work for you. Realize that Kevin Smith only recouped 1/5th his budget back from the theater push [less than 1 mil. against a 5 mil. budget], so you'd need 1/5th of a return on your budget to match what he did.


If you do a low budget feature for say $5,000-$10,000...
And do say 10 shows in smaller theaters at 100 seats a theater, $10 a ticket, that's... 10x$1000=$10,000

If you do a low budget feature for say $20,000-$50,000...
10 shows, 500 seats a theater, $10 a ticket that's... 10x$5000=$50,000

So it's then possible to use his method to recoup all money to your investors. Then turn around and throw it up for sell to distributors domestic+foreign and make a profit. And there is nothing saying you can't try to do 15 shows or try for theaters with 200 or even 1,000 seats. It just depends on how good your movie turns out.
 
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