Red carpet "World Premiere" of a microbudget movie

mainstreetprod

mainstreetprod

Veteran
Last Saturday night we had our "world premiere" of our small town family film "Flowers for Fannie", shot on the AF100 for pocket change (compared to Hollywood budgets). Since our film is faith based, our church let us use the facilities to whatever extent we needed, making the whole "red carpet" affair quite affordable. The audience packed out the building (around 500 capacity) and a local funeral home provided a limo to drop off the actors and extras in style (we decided not to have a hiearchy, extras get treated just like the main characters). As you can tell by the photos, it was a night most of them will not forget.

About 70 DVD's were sold so we are off to a good start. Official release date is Feb. 1st and a couple of distribution offers have come in, which is great considering that distributors have been inundated with Christian movies since the success of the Sherwood Baptist films. Video of the proceedings to come.

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That looks fun and is a very smart way to build a good local audience. The more legitimate you seem to the people around you, the easier of a time you will have next project you want assistance/money for. Good luck with getting it distributed.
 
It was quite a blast, really enjoyed it. Walked in the local Christian bookstore this AM to see if they wanted some DVD's, while they were deciding someone called asking if they had the movie. They ordered 10!

We are having 1000 discs replicated due to the economy of that number, however, have nearly 500 leftover from the last movie so hopefully sales will be better on this one. The distributors printed their own and have sold quite a few, but due to the small amount made per DVD through distribs it hasn't added up to much. Imagine what the indy movie scene would be like if producers were able to sell most of their DVD's directly to the public. Actors and crew could get paid fairly, producers could actually make a profit, investors could get repaid... OK, done dreaming.
 
Very cool. For the cast and crew, especially on a small picture like this, it's always nice to have a chance to enjoy the fruits of their labor with an audience.
 
Promotional video made from premiere footage:


Local newspaper article:
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Written by

Josh Cross

Robertson County Times


Limousines, crowds, camera flashes and a red carpet greeted the actors and actresses who gathered in Springfield last Saturday night to get the first glimpse of the movie they spent months working on.
Hundreds packed into the sanctuary of Springfield Baptist Church, located at 400 North Main St. on Jan. 14 for the world premiere of the locally-filmed, faith-based movie “Flowers for Fannie.”
“It’s a story about a lonely old woman (Fannie) who is searching for someone to put flowers on her grave when she dies, and she is befriended by a woman (Louise) who is equally lonely, but [Fannie] rejects her,” Sharon Wilharm, who wrote and directed the film, said. “It’s a story of their friendship, and most people that have watched it come away seeing it as a story of persistent love.”
The movie, which began filming in July, had more than 100 cast members and was shot in numerous locations and businesses throughout Springfield.
Having never been onscreen before, Patricia Binkley, a Springfield native and who played the role of Fannie in the film, said that being in a movie was an experience she never anticipated that she would have.
“I never thought in a million years that I would ever do something like this,” Binkley said. “It was so much fun, and to think that at 71 years old, now 72, to have a whole new career, it’s just mind boggling.”
Binkley said that while she doesn’t quite identify with the character she portrayed in the movie, she can sympathize with the hurt and anger some may have like Fannie, after the loss of a loved one.
“Being by myself now, because my kids are grown and gone, there are times when a person gets really lonely and you really do want to lash out at the whole wide world,” Binkley said. “But, it doesn’t help and you just don’t do it.”
For those who see the movie, Binkley said that she hopes they will put the film’s message to use in their own lives and make friends with someone who at first may not be the easiest person to get along with.
“I hope that they will start making friends with that neighbor that the kids run by and say that she’s a witch and everything because she probably is just lonely,” Binkley said. “You’ve just got to keep making friends.”
Now that the world premiere is over, Whilharm said that the focus will go towards expanding the film’s audience through different distribution oppertunities.
“Our focus right now is really just getting this movie out,” Wilharm said. “We’ve already had two distributors that have said that they’re interested. We also have a company that is getting Christian movies into independent theaters and so they are going to be working on that.”
And while there is still plenty of work to be done in getting the film more exposure, Wilharm said that she is already thinking about the next movie, which is still a ways off.
“Right now we’re just trying to focus on this and then I’ve already got the idea for the next movie,” she said. “We won’t be filming anytime soon, but I’ll still be pondering and working on it.”
 
Very cool. Great to see you using target marketing in a sense, something I and a few others have spoke of several times here.
 
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