Yeah, the lead-in is a bad pun for a link to a great log about how hard it is to complete a feature film and get distribution. Kangas Kahn Films, owned and operated by a friend of mine, has had some success making features. Kangas is most known for the Fear of Clowns films (see… bad pun). The first one was distributed by Lions Gate, and he’s working on a deal for the second.

The logs really drive home how hard it is to make a feature-length film without studio backing. I’ve been reading for a while, and I can soooo relate to a lot of what he says. Sometimes I just laugh hysterically, and sometimes want to strangle the nimrod(s) doing to him what I’ve had done to me.

If you’re interested in making your own movie, read these blogs. If you still want to make a movie, you’re one of us, and have some sort of mental defect — like all us low-budget filmmakers.

Fear of Clowns log

Fear of Clowns 2 log

Hunting Humans saga

filmmaking, distribution, low-budget

FX Text Explosion from DarkCellar on Vimeo.

Last year, producer Lee Doll started filming a pilot series call “The Adventures of Louanna Lee” (sort of like the old Nancy Drew mysteries) with his teenage daughter in the title role. Talk about a great way to stay close to your kids.

Since then, he’s completed and release episode 1, and episode 2 is due out this month. He’s also produced a slew of music videos as well.

I came out to grip a couple of times for the first 2 episodes. It was a lot of fun–especially since I know most of the cast and crew. Among them are Timewarp regulars Leanna Chamish and George Stover, who play Louanna’s mother and grandfather respectively, as well as my buddy Rob Long (production design) and Jeff Herberger (director/dp).

For episode 3, Lee asked if I could do some FX to help spice things up. I was happy to get involved. He asked what I could do–they hadn’t locked the script yet, and wanted to see if I could suggest something I could pull off convincingly. I said, “how about blowing up a building.” He and Jeff liked that idea and they wrote something to that effect into the story. As a proof of concept, they asked if I could do a test shot for them. Jeff sent me footage of what they use as the family house in the show, and the above video is what I came up with. They seemed to like it, so we’re going to do the real shot for the show–though Lee said we might be able to use this shot as well.

filmmaking, vfx, after effects

Rob at Smash or Trash Indie Filmmaking has published a slew of photos from the premiere. I like this one the best :)

Click here for the rest.

indie, filmmaking, horror

My buddy Rob Long had some nice things to say about our premiere of Sealed Fates as he sums up the evening. Here’s an excerpt:

All three stories (Brick By Brick, Collections, Man’s Best Friend) had terrific acting across the board; probably the strongest cast that Timewarp Films has had to date – and also one of the largest casts as well.

Click here for the full article.

indie, filmmaking, horror, timewarp

Created by Robert Long II - click for a larger version

Check out the great artwork my buddy Rob created for the film. We also corrected a grammatical error from the previous version. Is there such a thing as a claustrophobic trilogy? I didn’t know trilogies had feelings.

Art by Robert Long II

After a three-year run, we at Timewarp Films are  finally wrapping up production on or latest feature Sealed Fates. It’s been a long road with many interesting stories, which I’ll save for another post. But we’re finally ready to show this thing. Here’s the official release from our Producer/Director Joe Ripple:

The time is upon us. I’m proud to announce the official premiere for “Sealed Fates.”

We will be having the Premiere on Saturday, April 3rd, 2010. The time will be 7:00, although we have the theater space from 7:00 p.m. until 11:00 p.m. – which means we may show the film around 8:00. This gives everyone a bit of time to catch up, chat a bit, and so forth.

The location will be the “Carroll Arts Center,” located at:   91 W. Main Street, Westminster, Maryland, 21157

Tickets for guests will be $10.00 per person!

The theater will be serving concessions…including alcohol (cash bar) for those choosing to drink. We have the space for four hours, so there will be plenty of time for the showing and general partying! People will be able to buy tickets online in advance with a credit card, and pay by cash or check at the door.

We are asking that you PLEASE spread the word, however, so we can fill this 270 seat theater! (The film is rated “R,” so no one under 17 without supervision, please!!!)

Visit the Sealed Fates fan page on Facebook:

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• Sealed Fates Teaser Now Online (talesfromthecellar.com)

50 Best Blogs for Moviemakers

• Adventures in Self-Releasing
• All About Indie Filmmaking
• All These Wonderful Things
• The Anonymous Production Assistant’s Blog
• The Art of the Title Sequence
• Ben’s Blog
• The Big Picture
• Blog Stage
• Bright Lights After Dark
• Cinema Tech
• Cinematical
• The Documentary Blog
• The Edit Foundry
• The Editblog
• Fast, Cheap Movie Thoughts
• Film Dailies
• Film School Rejects
• The Film Sensei
• Filmmaker Blog
• Filmmaking Stuff
• FilmSound.org
• FreshDV
• GreenCine Daily
• Hammer to Nail
• HD for Indies
• Hollywood Elsewhere
• The House Next Door
• In Contention
• The Independent Eye
• JohnAugust.com
• The Joy of Film Editing
• Just F*ing Entertain Me
• Living Your Dream: An Acting & Film School Blog
• Making the Movie
• A Moon Brothers Film
• The Movie Blog
• MovingPictureBlog
• OnSuper8.org
• Persistence of Vision
• Projector Films
• /Film
• Some Came Running
• StudioDaily
• Thompson on Hollywood
• Totally Unauthorized
• Travel Day
• Truly Free Film
• Twitch
• The Unknown Screenwriter
• Workbook Project

From the Times article:

Fresh off its stunning “Paranormal Activity” success — a $15,000 thriller that has grossed more than $107 million in its domestic release with little paid advertising — Paramount Pictures is set to launch a new production business for movies budgeted at less than $100,000.

The as-yet-unnamed division plans to finance as many as 20 “micro-budget” movies annually starting in 2010, according to people familiar with the studio’s plans who spoke on condition of anonymity because the formal announcement has not been made. A current Paramount executive will run the business, but the selection has not yet been revealed  publicly. Funds for the movies — no more than $2 million total annually — will be part of Paramount’s existing production budget. The division does not plan to acquire completed movies at film festivals and markets.

Even if you get a chance to make your film and it serves as a “calling card”, or warrant a larger budget to be re-made, this could be a good thing. We’ll have to keep an eye out.

Read the entire article here.

I originally found the reference at FreshDV, a cool site for filmmakers.

low-budget filmmaking paramount financing