Precious Metalhead #12: Progress, Distribution, Sequel, Occupy, Uprising
November 8th, 2011
Busy Busy
Ok it’s been a couple of months since you’ve heard from me, Pasha. So it’s high time you heard from your producer/director… It’s been busy as hell and we’re getting results! We can start to see the light at the end of the tunnel for the production.
I’m not going to lie, – we are encountering the same thing that happens to most film productions – the final rush. One of our overseas partners isn’t able to scale up as we’d planned, and so for this final stage we’re taking control. I’ve hired some more animators in Toronto (who are already silver bugs), and will be filling out our conference room with people and computers to finish this thing out locally and under our control.
It’s looking awesome – we just need to see it through. So – it’ll be a packed studio for a few months here to get this baby out. Just keep sending Red Bull and we’ll get this thing done in a big beautiful bold way.
Distribution
We are getting more clear on our distribution plan – the timing and nature depends on how we do in some festivals (we submit to South By Southwest next week!) but it will look something like this:
- Win a major film festival, say SXSW in March, and Premiere there.
- Release to 17 cities nationwide for a one-week run, supported by as big a blitz as we can afford. Theater releases are almost always loss-leading marketing vehicles, designed to push the movie into the media and the public mind.
- Encourage our fans and the media help this catch fire and extend beyond this maiden run.
- Right on the tails of this, release DVD, Blu-Ray, and Online options for viewing
- Then onward to Video-on-Demand and International Markets.
Step 1 is optional but we’re pretty darn hopeful – it’s a great story and looks amazing, plus it’s very topical! Film festivals are turning into a bit of an old-school method for bigger films to get “picked up” by a large studio – which is not our intent. Absent that need or intent, the festivals are really just some nice extra publicity, but they don’t make or break us.
The city list is under development – we have 23 favorites so far and will soon be asking you for your ideas online!
Importantly we are asking for a small number of super-fans to support our foray into the theaters, by sponsoring a single city’s one-week release for $30,000. With 17 cities, this makes for a very modest but achievable $510,000 P&A (distribution) budget. We can make the movie a lot bigger with more – and we’re eager to connect with someone who can help on that level too. But our biggest push has been to get this movie out in any way possible – so please connect with us directly if you know a person or company who can support our theatrical release.
The Sequel
We are already deep into story development for the sequel. The seeds for the next story are carefully implanted in Silver Circle, and it’s going to be even bigger, more expansive, and more action.
One question we have for the fans – is how deeply the storytelling should delve into subjects that are considered conspiracy ideas in popular culture… It’s a rich tradition and there’s some good storytelling in there. Robert Anton Wilson based his huge 30 year career on it. Do we go more deeply into this, say with rebels uncovering FEMA camps or cloud-seeding stations or HAARP? Or is this just a journey into irrelevance? Remember this these are movies, right?
I do know that we have some subscribers directly from the Federal Reserve, who is following us nicely – so I’d be interested in your thoughts too!
Thoughts on Occupy
We’ve paid some attention to the Occupy movement. My sense is that they are barking the same dog up a different tree…. I would always rather see people fighting (their idea of) the man than becoming sheep, but our interactions with them have been pretty mixed. I’ve no mind to try to talk a hardcore Marxist into a different mindset, that’s just a waste of time. My whole undergraduate education was focused on trying to understand the Soviet Economy vs. our own – so I’ve probably read more Das Kapital than most of these hipsters. It seems that they are fighting the economic status quo, but they just yell down or deride anyone who is educated about the economy.
But… behind these visible flag-wavers, there are plenty of normal people, and end-the-fed types who do get it. And, Occupy has been really useful to us just in terms of describing the movie’s idea to people who don’t know anything about the political economy.
So, from me: one thumb up, one thumb down on Occupy. I am curious whether they will make it through the snowy winter, too. This ain’t George Washington’s camp in Valley Forge.
Song of the Month
I’ve wanted to make “Uprising” by Muse a song of the month – but its not metal… so no skulls or horns for them from me. Now, a proper metal band “I Wrestled a Bear Once” has done a cover of Uprising and it’s awesome… Nice fusion of sounds and it does really well with a female voice… Enjoy:
Don’t forget to visit our official website for Silver Circle: http://SilverCircleMovie.com
