Hey everyone-
my name's Don Lewis, I'm a filmmaker and I came across this blog because of the Kevin Smith story. I just wanted to say I was COMPLETELY inspired by what Smith did with RED STATE and agree with him that you absolutely don't have to be Kevin Smith to do this stuff yourself. I made a documentary about the world's ugliest dog contest called WORST IN SHOW. We followed 4 contestants bidding to win the contest and the end product was alot like BEST IN SHOW, but ours is a doc. The people were just THAT odd. Anyway...
I've spent the last 12 years attending film fests as a writer for Film Threat and a filmmaker of doc shorts and we thought our film would make the fest rounds, no problem. We were nearly shut out of EVERY fest and barely scraped into some regional ones. It was really upsetting. But...I happened to be at Sundance when Smith did his "nefarious" (if you ask film bloggers) announcement about self-distribution and it really opened my eyes.
Long story short- we ended up taking WORST IN SHOW on an 8 city tour ourselves. The impetus was definitely bitterness at not getting into fests but Smith wholly inspired me and made me think differently. Basically-- if you play a film fest, you give that fest about $50 to submit and then THEY make money off YOUR screening. You never see a dime. Name me another artistic endeavor like that? It's crazy.
So we took our film out ourselves. We teamed up with area animal shelters who got a % of the proceeds and helped us get the word out. We sold ads for local vets, pet stores, pet food companies, pubs, etc that rolled before the movie and that covered our travel costs. We sold DVD's and t-shirts. We managed to get a TON of press including TV and radio. In the end, we finished slightly ahead BUT because of the buzz created by the tour, we got a distribution deal and the film is out now on iTunes and DVD.
I'm pretty much a nobody but Kevin Smith got me thinking and I tinkered with his ideas and couldn't have been happier with the results. There's nothing better than flipping off the man and taking the reins and doing something yourself. I honestly believe that with a little outside the box thinking anyone can do this type of thing.
also- please buy our movie! :-)
Techdirt has not posted any stories submitted by DonLewis.
re; Kevin Smith DIY
my name's Don Lewis, I'm a filmmaker and I came across this blog because of the Kevin Smith story. I just wanted to say I was COMPLETELY inspired by what Smith did with RED STATE and agree with him that you absolutely don't have to be Kevin Smith to do this stuff yourself. I made a documentary about the world's ugliest dog contest called WORST IN SHOW. We followed 4 contestants bidding to win the contest and the end product was alot like BEST IN SHOW, but ours is a doc. The people were just THAT odd. Anyway...
I've spent the last 12 years attending film fests as a writer for Film Threat and a filmmaker of doc shorts and we thought our film would make the fest rounds, no problem. We were nearly shut out of EVERY fest and barely scraped into some regional ones. It was really upsetting. But...I happened to be at Sundance when Smith did his "nefarious" (if you ask film bloggers) announcement about self-distribution and it really opened my eyes.
Long story short- we ended up taking WORST IN SHOW on an 8 city tour ourselves. The impetus was definitely bitterness at not getting into fests but Smith wholly inspired me and made me think differently. Basically-- if you play a film fest, you give that fest about $50 to submit and then THEY make money off YOUR screening. You never see a dime. Name me another artistic endeavor like that? It's crazy.
So we took our film out ourselves. We teamed up with area animal shelters who got a % of the proceeds and helped us get the word out. We sold ads for local vets, pet stores, pet food companies, pubs, etc that rolled before the movie and that covered our travel costs. We sold DVD's and t-shirts. We managed to get a TON of press including TV and radio. In the end, we finished slightly ahead BUT because of the buzz created by the tour, we got a distribution deal and the film is out now on iTunes and DVD.
I'm pretty much a nobody but Kevin Smith got me thinking and I tinkered with his ideas and couldn't have been happier with the results. There's nothing better than flipping off the man and taking the reins and doing something yourself. I honestly believe that with a little outside the box thinking anyone can do this type of thing.
also- please buy our movie! :-)
Techdirt has not posted any stories submitted by DonLewis.
Submit a story now.