I stumbled across a blog which devoted itself to lampooning other's projects and initiative. The nice part is that we nerds get to respond here in cyberspace.
THE PREMISE:
Crappy Loglines I love
This site is for fans of the original Query Letters I Love, and qlil2. This site features a collection of loglines that should never be made into movies in Hollywood. If your logline is up here- have a sense of humour- you need it in this business! This site is dedicated to Managerguy, the Empress, the Sharkies and Pandas.
Monday, July 10, 2006
Henry's Current Record: 0 Wins; 386,254 losses.
MY RESPONSE: This was not a Hollywood film, so we're okay there. A Sense of Humor? I do have a sense of humor, and found none here, only ridicule and 'fun' at other's expense. I'm old fashioned, and as my dear mother would have said, "if you don't have something nice to say, shut the fuck up!" But that was mum.
Racing Daylight
GENRE: THRILLER
An old farmhouse has been in the same family for generations, holding all the secrets in its walls, becoming a portal between the times. What happens when time collides? Sadie thinks she's going insane. Edmund's sure he's being haunted. And Henry, well, Henry's racing daylight.
posted by -j. @ 9:32 AM 5 comments
5 Comments:
At 1:25 PM, Sahve said...
When time collides with what? Finish the thought! However, I like the title. That's all though. I would hazard to guess that the querier liked it too and worked desperately to come up with a plot to go with the title and unfortunately, like dear Henry, came up short.
MY RESPONSE: When time collides with itself, dear. Actually the logline was written well after the script.
At 7:16 PM, Cassie Burton said...
The querier's answered all the questions, so there's no need to see this film.
MY RESPONSE: A film is the visual representation of those answers. And maybe your imagination is the same as mine and you have seen all of the same images in your head. But if not, I suggest you give it a try, on me.
mzdplvfe - There's no way I'd see this stinker anyway.
MY RESPONSE: Ouch! Maybe it's not your taste. But no one died, and at last look there was no olfactory involvement.
At 9:25 AM, BlackCapricorn said...
Its tough to race daylight in a house
MY RESPONSE: We do it everyday.
At 2:45 PM, Taffy Doublewide said...
I think "racing daylight" is just another way of saying "Edmund, you only think it's John Malkovich you're screwing" in polite company.
MY RESPONSE: Okay ... bit of a reach, but okay ...
komjk: A really expensive comb for bald people.
MY RESPONSE: Ah ... yeah, okay, right, sure, just put your arms through the white sleeves and we'll wrap it around for you.
At 4:25 AM, nico said...
This crappy loglined film will be out on dvd in the fall.
MY RESPONSE: Check it out if you dare!
Showing posts with label Distribution. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Distribution. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Saturday, May 24, 2008
DISTRIBUTION!!!
We have just signed a USA DVD distribution deal with Vanguard International. With plans to release our film-that-could in the fall we are continuing our grassroots theatrical release with screenings at Apple stores, colleges and universities, living rooms, community centers, libraries, backyards and any other venue which will let us hang a sheet and project our love child. Please watch for us as the world premiere feature online on DIGIFLICKS.
Thanks to Vanguard for taking us on. We know that we are a quirky film. We also know that to our niche audience we have become a comfort film. Repeat viewing is the norm and I'm proud to say that many of my film fanatic friends number RACING DAYLIGHT among those films they have on a special shelf. Those films they watch over and over again because they like spending time in those worlds. Thanks to all of you who have visited Cedarsville. To those of you who come back often, it's nice to see you again. And if you've never been, well, it's an easy detour, not very far off the main road, the folks are nice, the food is fresh off the farm, and magic happens with regularity. The door is open, come on in.
Monday, May 5, 2008
APPLE CHICAGO!
We've been invited to screen at the Apple Store on N. Michigan Ave in Chicago! Thanks so much to the Apple Programmers at the Soho store who have given us good marks. And thanks to Marissa Flaxbart and Patricia Thomas, the Chicago programmers for liking what they heard. We are grateful to all of those who are willing to showcase a film made by a team of artists without industry backing. These screenings are our theatrical relelase, helping us create an audience for our 2008 dvd launch. We hope to be in the windy city in June.
Onward!
Onward!
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Part 2 - PRE-PRODUCTION
How did you do it? It's the most common question Sophia, producer, and I are asked. How did you push past nothing to something? It's hard to say when you know it's gonna really go. There are all of the false starts, the naivete. Those promises of financing which are really designed to bathe the giver and receiver in the glow of possibility until it comes time to write the check and you hear , "If you could push, we overbooked our slate and ...", "okay, but first we want to see a draft where you boost the love story and lose the three act structure and make her a babe and ..." and my personal favorite "can't you get one A-list star?". Hm... A-list? These actors were a huge part of what got this film made. The crew came to work with David and Melissa and Giancarlo. How did we do it? We walked off a cliff and found earth under our feet.
I saw Ted Hope on a panel talking about distribution, about the formula for breaking even. If you can make a really good movie, with recognizable actors, for less than (unspecified amount) ... Sophia will not let me give a figure as she suspects people value a film by its price tag, and there's merit to that. Let me just say well under a million. Ted Hope said that if you kept your costs low and had all the other elements there's no way you can't make the money back even in a straight to dvd sale. It made sense to me what he said. So I set out to raise $x.
I applied to the Sundance Producers Conference, figuring that getting in was a good sign to move forward. It cost a couple thousand dollars, which is a chunk out of a small budget. But I had formed Racing DaylihgtLLC and had a a couple of small investors, seed money from my father mostly, which I greatly appreciated. So I could afford the fee, which included lodging at a great house walking distance up a creeksided mountain road from the institute, beautiful art. My housemates were Suzanne Jurva and Christine Fugate, funny, irreverant, smart. Both doc filmmakers from LA. We were all moms away from our kids shepherding these other children, our ideas, into the world. It was a busy few days. Panels and screenings. Small group meetings with industry professionals, watering holes.
I listened. I watched. I pitched to the panel of packaging agents where I was scolded by one for being "too independent" and another who challenged my veracity "IF you had that cast, I'd be interested." I mostly learned that Gregory Goodell's book "Indepenedent Feature Film Production" is as comprehensive as it seems and does prepare one well for the road ahead. But there is a cache to brand identity.
Back in NY we set out to get David really locked in, make him an offer, get his dates, work around his schedule. David and Melissa were/are the hub of the film. Then "Goodnight and Good Luck" opened. No nominations by the time we got to him, but the tom-toms were beating, and we didn't know if he might lose interest in our kayak once the yachts started circling. He asked tough questions, put us through our paces to determine whether we were just mucking with his schedule, or if we could pull this off if he gave us his focus. His biggest questions were about food.
David had just come off an indie shoot where he was buying food for the crew out of pocket. We assured him that as women and mothers there was no way people wouldn't get fed on our watch. Now I know that whenever you ask someone who's crewed on any movie what the set was like, one of the first things they comment on is the food; "Food sucked!" "Food was okay, little too much starch ..." We wanted to be a "Food was great!" kind of set, and had already nabbed Sandi Zinaman, a woman with water-into-wine capabilitites who charged us less than cost, (oh I hope not), or so it seemed, and with donations from Bruce Davenport at Davenport's farmstand, and many other local concerns (listed on our website: http://www.racingdaylightthemovie.com), our crew ate as if they were at a country spa.
Once assured of our sincerity and food strategems, Strathairn set about working us into his post-award nomination schedule. It became evident that May's days were dwindling to the ocean liners on either side of us, and on the advice of David's manager, Madeleine Ryan, we agreed to push into July. A little more breathing room, or so we thought ...
I saw Ted Hope on a panel talking about distribution, about the formula for breaking even. If you can make a really good movie, with recognizable actors, for less than (unspecified amount) ... Sophia will not let me give a figure as she suspects people value a film by its price tag, and there's merit to that. Let me just say well under a million. Ted Hope said that if you kept your costs low and had all the other elements there's no way you can't make the money back even in a straight to dvd sale. It made sense to me what he said. So I set out to raise $x.
I applied to the Sundance Producers Conference, figuring that getting in was a good sign to move forward. It cost a couple thousand dollars, which is a chunk out of a small budget. But I had formed Racing DaylihgtLLC and had a a couple of small investors, seed money from my father mostly, which I greatly appreciated. So I could afford the fee, which included lodging at a great house walking distance up a creeksided mountain road from the institute, beautiful art. My housemates were Suzanne Jurva and Christine Fugate, funny, irreverant, smart. Both doc filmmakers from LA. We were all moms away from our kids shepherding these other children, our ideas, into the world. It was a busy few days. Panels and screenings. Small group meetings with industry professionals, watering holes.
I listened. I watched. I pitched to the panel of packaging agents where I was scolded by one for being "too independent" and another who challenged my veracity "IF you had that cast, I'd be interested." I mostly learned that Gregory Goodell's book "Indepenedent Feature Film Production" is as comprehensive as it seems and does prepare one well for the road ahead. But there is a cache to brand identity.
Back in NY we set out to get David really locked in, make him an offer, get his dates, work around his schedule. David and Melissa were/are the hub of the film. Then "Goodnight and Good Luck" opened. No nominations by the time we got to him, but the tom-toms were beating, and we didn't know if he might lose interest in our kayak once the yachts started circling. He asked tough questions, put us through our paces to determine whether we were just mucking with his schedule, or if we could pull this off if he gave us his focus. His biggest questions were about food.
David had just come off an indie shoot where he was buying food for the crew out of pocket. We assured him that as women and mothers there was no way people wouldn't get fed on our watch. Now I know that whenever you ask someone who's crewed on any movie what the set was like, one of the first things they comment on is the food; "Food sucked!" "Food was okay, little too much starch ..." We wanted to be a "Food was great!" kind of set, and had already nabbed Sandi Zinaman, a woman with water-into-wine capabilitites who charged us less than cost, (oh I hope not), or so it seemed, and with donations from Bruce Davenport at Davenport's farmstand, and many other local concerns (listed on our website: http://www.racingdaylightthemovie.com), our crew ate as if they were at a country spa.
Once assured of our sincerity and food strategems, Strathairn set about working us into his post-award nomination schedule. It became evident that May's days were dwindling to the ocean liners on either side of us, and on the advice of David's manager, Madeleine Ryan, we agreed to push into July. A little more breathing room, or so we thought ...
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