Teen shoots a film for under $5k on a DSLR, lands distribution deal.

Yes I'm just jealous mostly, but I did the festival circuit for years and you wouldn't believe the number of features done by real young people that won awards and got tons of recognition - let that be a lesson to some of you here who are pretty young that festivals can be a great place to get established at such a young age.
 
"Lol.... of course Cannes accepted it, and of course it landed a distribution deal... its the story behind the film that was sold, not the movie."


Ding.. ding... ding... We have a winner.

One year I was at Slamdance and they had a film made by a twelve year old. It was wretched, beyond horrible. The hook was that it was made a 12 year old. If it had been made by a 32 year old it wouldn't have gotten a startup festival in nowhere Arkansas.
 
There was another movie sold and marketed years ago about a young 20 something who sold his body to science in order to raise funds. He ended up shooting his first film for just $7,000. That film was El Mariachi and that 20 something was Robert Rodriguez. It was his story that sold that film, I see this kid as being no different. I'm stoked for him!
 
El Director said:
There was another movie sold and marketed years ago about a young 20 something who sold his body to science in order to raise funds. He ended up shooting his first film for just $7,000. That film was El Mariachi and that 20 something was Robert Rodriguez. It was his story that sold that film, I see this kid as being no different. I'm stoked for him!
Click to expand...

Who the hell is Robert Rodriguez?
 
You gotta have a hook, like "Zombie Girl" a doc about a little girl making a zombie film, that is the story, and it was really smart having a 'real' filmmaker make a film about it.

My son just turned 9, and is interested in learning about filmmaking, so maybe its time to turn into a pageant mom and live my dreams vicariously. My wife is a writer and is helping him polish his stories. I could shoot for him so it doesn't look too amateurish. A feature by twelve is not beyond possible.
 
you guys better stop talking bad about this kid - he will probably be your boss soon.

Also his dad owns the distribution company
 
gonzo_entertainment said:
One year I was at Slamdance and they had a film made by a twelve year old. It was wretched, beyond horrible. The hook was that it was made a 12 year old. If it had been made by a 32 year old it wouldn't have gotten a startup festival in nowhere Arkansas.
Click to expand...

Hey now! Nowhere, Arkansas has some tough competition.
 
Good for this guy. Looks like great work all things considered. And hey, he actually got up from behind his computer and shot a film, something 99% of the people here never seem to be able to do...
 
I support and admire this guy and I hope he makes it big in the film industry.

However, my question is in regards Cannes. How on earth did it get into it, with, well...that?

I mean don't get me wrong, it's good, but it's very amateur. I thought Cannes was suppose to be a prestigious, invitation-only event "reserved for film industry professionals."

Anyone care to shed some light?
 
Cannes is a very mixed bag, it depends on the year and the jury. Remember Dogma 95 and all the buzz that came off of that? That said, I have no Idea how one gets into official competition, I don't think you can just mail off a submission and entry fee like everywhere else. I believe it is narrowed down by official submission by country, so someone from a small european country, or me as a Canadian, may have a better chance of being selected for submission, than the multitude of U.S. indies.

Of course if you have the extra cash you can buy a screening, or even just in your hotel room, out of competition, during festival week, like Troma always used to do.
 
Refer to post # 19

starcentral said:
.......its the story behind the film that was sold, not the movie.
Click to expand...

I did the circuit for years and although my films were accepted and screened at several of them I can tell you that you almost always need an angle in! I can also tell you that there is definitely a lot of hype put around emerging filmmakers, especially when they are young like that. Festivals love the publicity that it generates.

Realistically put yourself in the shoes of being a festival director and running one. You need a good mix of films and when you see a young person like this pull off stuff that people twice his age can't - that's a story to be told.

I don't agree with it, but those are my observations and that just seems to be the way it is.
 
He's took a Genre, he's re-branded it to his flavour, created his own dialogue, shot it himself (I assume), edited it (I assume) and whether it's a one country distro deal, or a multi country distro, (or a pound bin DVD distro), he's done what only thousands of little shits around my estate couldn't do if you'd give them half a million.

Good on the lad, sure, I'm jealous, but good ****ing luck to him, I hope he one day get's himself a big budget production under his belt. Maybe he can be a role model for the thousands of other teen's wanting to become film producers.
 
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