I am currently working on two TV shows that I am pitching the traditional way. However I will most likely do a kickstarter campaign for a doc I want to do out of love. I will twitter about it once I have the logistics in place - and the logistics are crazy as it involves a 300 mile walk across some pretty crazy terrain!
It's not so much about being warned, there just aren't many options for Indie Film makers. However this is now changing, people can self distribute and should unless their distributor is offering them good money up front. There was another comment on here about kinda making a netflicks for Indie film, or even a place where people can rent their films through apps for a very small fee. I hope this is made soon. I think through the mass of Indies now out there, this model really could work well.
This is John-Michael Thomas - Director of the film.
I wanted to clear up a few things stated in the comments here. - And that my Name is not Jordan as the article implies =)
Any critique of me, or the decisions I made are completely justified. Did I make mistakes? Yes. Did I sign a bad deal? Yes. Was I naive? Yes. And I am sure I am not alone, this was the first film I ever directed. I did not know what I was doing when it came to distribution, and in hindsight made lots of dumb decisions.
And I am asking that you not take those bad decision out on our film. I may have been the director of "Corpse Run" but over 50 people were involved in the making of the film. This was a very low budget movie, almost no one got paid.
Also, the indi film world is a tough business, we aren't given very many good options. I was talking to Lance Hammer who directed the film "Ballast" which won top awards at Sundance! And he actually went through a similar experience. In hindsight he said he would have never signed with a distributor and just made the deals himself. My case is by no means an exception, these are standard deals in the Indi Film world.
Distributors often literally do nothing. They are hoping that they win some sort of lottery and that one of their films pops out because an unknown actor makes it big, or it gets some sort of attention. I know this is often the case even at the top houses.
I half made this blog post so that any new filmmakers may not make the same mistakes as I did. Unless you get a large sum of money upfront, don't sign. You will see nothing. So distribute your film yourself, you have absolutely nothing to lose.
Thank you all for your time and interest, and check out the film. I hope you enjoy it, but if you don't, I am greatly humbled that you even took the time to watch it. I have had more people watch the film in the past 24 hours than the past 3 years, and that makes me feel great, that's the reason I became a filmmaker.
Thank You!
Techdirt has not posted any stories submitted by John-Michael Thomas.
Re: Re:
I am currently working on two TV shows that I am pitching the traditional way. However I will most likely do a kickstarter campaign for a doc I want to do out of love. I will twitter about it once I have the logistics in place - and the logistics are crazy as it involves a 300 mile walk across some pretty crazy terrain!
Re: Re:
(untitled comment)
I wanted to clear up a few things stated in the comments here. - And that my Name is not Jordan as the article implies =)
Any critique of me, or the decisions I made are completely justified. Did I make mistakes? Yes. Did I sign a bad deal? Yes. Was I naive? Yes. And I am sure I am not alone, this was the first film I ever directed. I did not know what I was doing when it came to distribution, and in hindsight made lots of dumb decisions.
And I am asking that you not take those bad decision out on our film. I may have been the director of "Corpse Run" but over 50 people were involved in the making of the film. This was a very low budget movie, almost no one got paid.
Also, the indi film world is a tough business, we aren't given very many good options. I was talking to Lance Hammer who directed the film "Ballast" which won top awards at Sundance! And he actually went through a similar experience. In hindsight he said he would have never signed with a distributor and just made the deals himself. My case is by no means an exception, these are standard deals in the Indi Film world.
Distributors often literally do nothing. They are hoping that they win some sort of lottery and that one of their films pops out because an unknown actor makes it big, or it gets some sort of attention. I know this is often the case even at the top houses.
I half made this blog post so that any new filmmakers may not make the same mistakes as I did. Unless you get a large sum of money upfront, don't sign. You will see nothing. So distribute your film yourself, you have absolutely nothing to lose.
Thank you all for your time and interest, and check out the film. I hope you enjoy it, but if you don't, I am greatly humbled that you even took the time to watch it. I have had more people watch the film in the past 24 hours than the past 3 years, and that makes me feel great, that's the reason I became a filmmaker.
Thank You!
Techdirt has not posted any stories submitted by John-Michael Thomas.
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