Holy Crap!

It's been alot of hurry up and wait trying to get through the details of putting this little indie film on DVD. And after trying to get the DVD cover design just right, deciding on the disc graphic, proof reading the hell out of everything, double and triple checking the disc, sending off to CUSTOMFLIX, and then awaiting the proof copy for my approval, FINALLY, we are on DVD.

Got the proof copy yesterday, a week late, but I'm not complaining, I'm just so excited to have my work more widely available to the public. Woke up just in time to see the FedEx truck guy pull up. Met him outside where he gleefully handed me the package. The sun was shining, rainbows formed over head, and a blue bird sat on my shoulder as I accepted the package. It felt good, that package. Nice and firm. A real feeling of excitement and satisfaction holding that package. This is sounding bad isn't it? Mr. Blue Bird flew away as I headed inside. Lemme tell ya, was I excited. I almost didn't want to open it just to prolong the excitement. I love getting mail anyhow, and this was just quintuple all that. Tore into it to find what I've been dying to see.

Understand I designed the cover and the disc design, the menu, the disc layout, etc. I give them the files and master disc, they make the entire packaging happen. Once they make it happen they send me the proof, which is exactly what the customer will recieve when they order it. So not only do I get to finally see the movie I've been busting my ass on for years now reach the next level, but I also get to see what was once just files on my computer, turned into a full professional package, as well as experience what the customer will experience, though I doubt any of you who may purchase my movie will be jumping up and down in your kitchen doing old school Arsenio Hall dog barking noises and gestures, as I was doing yesterday.

I'M A DORK!!!!


Lemme tell ya, Customflix is a dream come true for us DIY, Indie Moviemakers. Through them our movie will be listed on IMDB, it's going to available through Amazon.com in a few weeks, it'll be available for download to your home computer, through your XBOX, or if you have a TIVO. Thanks to Customflix for all that, and also without them the following pics would not be possible.

Ooooh, spine labeling, SEXY!


That's right bitches, a REAL LIFE BARCODE!


No crappy computer printed sticker labels here!


Check out one of the ad banners, which I'm sure you have, if you're on my Myspace. Yes, that's right, a dollar from every DVD sold goes to a Cancer Charity as per our mission to create and heal!


More dorkiness.


And now all we have to do is tell the world about it. So there is much much much much work to be done.

Do me favor, and tell everyone you know about it. Check out our site MONSTERCOPS.COM, to see all the trailers and clips, and decide for yourself if you'd like to get a DVD copy of our little Comedy Horror flick. Fair warning though, it's actually more of a Comedy. But it's funny as hell.

Pardon me, I have to go tell the world about it now.

Ahem.... scuse me, um... world?

DVD RELEASE APRIL 27th

Monster Cops: The Midnight Special was initially supposed to be on DVD by the end of this week, Friday The 13th (woulda been cool) but due to a few set backs (as always) we'll be pushing back the official release to April 27th.

Working On It.

Sample of the DVD Front Cover.

Candy Hearts and Knowing Your Movie

I'm just now, right at this moment, getting over being sick. As a matter of fact I'm still sick, and feeling a bit better, and most likely jinxing things by jumping the gun in posting this. It's been a bit of a rough week. The last time I was sick was back in October when Juli's mom died. So there was a bit there where I was reliving some things that really didn't really need reliving. Add in some other things. The father of an old friend of Juli's had passed away, Juli's Grandmother isn't doing all that well, and our old next door neighbor and a dear friend to me and Juli, and to Juli and her family long before I was in the picture isn't doing much better either.

I was quietly dealing with a small bout of depression, but I had a nice little cough and headache to keep me preoccupied. Juli ended up breaking down the other night. This vibe of illness, death, and depression seemed to swallow us this week. It has been a bit heartbreaking, but we've gotten really good a dealing with this kind of thing. The only thing that kept Valentine's Day from sucking was the simple fact that we have each other. And I decided to be silly super husband and brave the cold cold weather in my sick sick body to hunt down Juli's favorite candy hearts. Undercover of getting dinner and DVDs of course. That made her happy. At least I hope it did.

I'm not use to being sick. I don't really get sick that often. And when I do get sick I tend to want to still work on stuff. Especially movie stuff. So I spent the past few days struggling through a sore throat, annoying cough, stuffy nose, and sinus headaches, planning out screenings, fest entries, and convention screenings.

Thanks to Crystal for reminding me of what our exact demographic is and for pointing out conventions as a place to target our core audience. Monster Cops: The Midnight Special is, after all, Cult, Horror, SciFi, Comedy, Action. So it does reach a wide range of people. Thing is I was mainly working the Horror and Comedy crowds in my agenda. I had conventions in mind, but I was aiming mainly for horror themed cons. For some reason it didn't even occur to me to that our core audience would also be interested in general scifi fandoms. I had missed the SciFi aspect of The Midnight Special. I mean I knew it was there, but I was mainly concentrating on the two things The Midnight Special are at the forefront, Horror and Comedy.

Film Threat put out there "Top Ten Tips To Distributing Your Movie" years ago. In one section they mention Truly Understanding Your Film. The section talks of filmmaker Mark Bosko making his movie "Killer Nerd". Mr. Bosko thought he was making a simple horror film, but when he was distributing and marketing he discovered a new niche for the film, Horror Comedy. I don't know how you couldn't know from the title, Killer Nerd. But it's a good tip to truly identify what your movie is. Makes it much easier for you to identify who your audience is.

In my case I just didn't really look at it, and I would've missed a good opportunity to really get to the core audience of people who love Cult, Horror, Comedy, SciFi, Action movies. This is why I have specific people I call when I need data or assistance. Crystal is great with PR, and when I hit a point where I knew I needed to re identify our core audience in order to figure out everything I needed to supplement my agenda, I knew to call Crystal. She really hit the nail on the head with the SciFi Cons. Also helps that she's worked a few in her time.

What's great with alot of these cons is they seem open to screening indie movies. Many of them have just started their own little film festivals or at least have a video or screening room that runs movies through out the con. Even if it isn't an official screening, at least your movie will screen through out a convention run and you have the potential to reach hundreds of people. It's mainly just about having some sort of presence around your core audience. Also cons love to hand stuff out for free. Send them any promo items, especially ones with your URL on them (monstercops.com) and they'll be sure to put them in the hands of many if not all of their attendees. I'm documenting the entire process for a future article on Indies working with Cons.

Don't know how many cons Monster Cops: The Midnight Special maybe screening at, but I know it will be a couple at least. This will definitely be a great supplement to the festival screenings as well as the theatrical screenings we're going to organize.

Still have a ton of things to put together before we start getting people to the website. That is the big key here, getting people to the website, monstercops.com. this is where they will get to know the movie, get to love the movie, and then eventually where they will want to buy the movie.

To do:

- Update trailers. Cutting together a new trailer to supplement the official trailer.
- Upload clips of the movie. Must give the people a sample of the film if they're just coming to the site without having seen it at the screening. Gotta let them know what they're missing out on.
- Video Blogs. Gotta let the people know about the filmmaker. If they know you, they'll be more inclined to buy from you and support your efforts. At least I hope.
- Update all links and pages and put up some new content. Gotta keep em coming back for something until the DVD release.

- Must prep all marketing materials, fliers, cards, promo items, etc. for the conventions and possible other events.
- Still got a bunch more press kits and DVD screeners to make and burn.
- Still have a bunch of festivals to submit to.

OK gonna work on the site a bit, and email a few more cons.

Ooh, I hear the cough medicine calling me.

Without A Box

The Golden Globes. Yeah, I forgot about em. I was at work.

The Superbowl. I'll probably forget about that too.

The Oscars. I really don't care.

The Superbowl, well, that has to do with me not keeping up with any sporting even that didn't involve cards, pool, or free form fighting this past year. As far as awards. I'm at the point where I don't really care what movie wins an award, because I've got my brain wrapped around making and marketing my own. However I am quite happy that Jennifer Hudson won. And it's about damn time Eddie Murphy received something as well as Forest Whitaker. So good for them. And Sacha Baron Cohen, yes I am happy you won too. But I'm still envious that you get to bang Isla Fisher with frequency. So congrats and screw you.

I didn't care to tune in, cuz I'd rather be working. I'm glad for the winners, but I don't find myself taking nights off for award shows or TV events anymore. Unless there is some sort of segment on Indie Self distribution, I most likely will not be tuning in to the Oscars. Especially if I'm working, either at the day job or my real job.

I find myself lately surrounded by budget sheets and scrap pieces of paper covered in scribbles of numbers and prices and costs and sales figures. I'm trying to take a note from a wise piece of advice Lance Weiller (The Last Broadcast) said in an article on DIY Distribution. "Don't lose that same empowerment that you felt when you picked up the camera and shot the film in the first place."

So very true. It doesn't end when the movie is in final cut. That is honestly only the beginning. And since that final edit last year, it's been a bumpy road that hasn't really alloted me the chance to get going. But I've got my second wind back, and I'm ready to get going on distribution.

I'm aiming for a DVD release date of March, but in reality it may be more like April. This is also going to coincide with Festival Screenings as well as separate theatrical screenings. Any place I can show this movie I will and at the same time let people know that they can own it on DVD. This is also going to coincide with some fundraising for the sequel. I'm going full steam ahead on MONSTER COPS the movie. The series will come after. I fully garuntee an interesting and fun fundraising and marketing ride. Get the bail money ready, cuz I've got a plan.

I've got 5 packages to send out. Each with a DVD screener/press kit/promo kit. I already did one video about the basic DVD screener creation and what that entails, but I'm documenting the creation of the full kit and promo materials. I hope to have that up in a few weeks.

I really don't know what I would do without WITHOUTABOX. If you're an indie filmmaker and you're not utilizing Withoutabox.com, than you are just plain missing out. It's a festival data base and a one stop shop for entering festivals online. No need to fill out any paper work, now you can find the fest or fests you want, submit your info and press kit details, have your entry form and applications filled out automatically online, pay all of your entry fees online, and all you have to do is mail your DVD screener in. Entering fests have been so much easier since Withoutabox came along a few years back. It's also a huge help that you get discounts on many of these fest fees.

And they've really grown too. Almost every fest on the planet has signed up with them, making it easier to enter fests in one shot. Now they also provide DVD on demand delivery. They will burn and send in your DVD everytime you enter a fest online. Soon they will be much like Indieflix or Customflix where indies can distribute there DVD's on demand. They've even started something called AUDIENCE. It's pretty much MYSPACE for Filmmakers. Got a movie to promote, you can start your own Audience Page and upload pics, info, and trailers. Check out THE MIDNIGHT SPECIALS AUDIENCE PAGE. Many films have already used Audience to build buzz about their movie.

I'll tell ya though it's getting hectic having to keep up with all these promo pages. Audience, Myspace, Indieloop, etc. But it's worth it everytime I see how many new hits there are on monstercops.com. How the hell are we so popular in Germany? Everytime I check the stats, there's 20 new hits from Germany. I don't think I've even sent a screener out that far. Whatever, as long as they spend as much time as they do on the site getting to know the movie, I'm cool with it.

As posted on the WTW Blog, there will be some major changes to monstercops.com and whethertheweather.com. Got some major work to do.

When dealing with distributors ...

it's always a good idea to consult the people they are already distributing.

Got a few emails from some people I contacted about a few of these distributors that keep tugging at me. And boy am I glad I contacted them. I've learned some very interesting things about some of these fairly popular companies. Now I'm not gonna name any names, or give away too much, that would just be bad business karma. But just know, over the next year, I'll be helping out my fellow indies by getting the word out about their product. I swear some of these guys just plain got screwed by their distributor. And these are some VERY good movies.

One indie filmmaker in particular made a deal with, let's call them Company A. Company A has had there movie for about 4 years now and they've barely done any marketing and have only sold about 500 copies. I'm hoping to God their contract is up with Company A soon. This particular movie is EXTREMELY marketable and a decent distributor should have no problem at least clearing 10,000 copies a year. Let's say you sell 10,000 DVD's at about 11 dollars each, that's $110,000.00 a year, and if the contract is 70 percent of profits to the distributor and 30 percent to the filmmaker, after the expenses have been recouped we're talking at least $24,000.00 to the filmmaker for one year. In 4 years that should have been a total of $96,000.00 that should have been paid to the filmmaker. In this case since Company A has only sold 500 copies in 4 years, the profit goes to recouping expenses of the distributor first. Which basically means this particular filmmaker hasn't seen a dime.

Tip: Be sure there is a stipulation in your contract with the distributor that says if they don't earn you X amount of dollars within X amount of time, then you retain all rights.

And what's even sadder is that we are only talking about DVD sales. What about pay-per-view, digital download, mobile video, cable, even theatrical? Your distributor should be busting his ass getting your movie out there. He should be hitting the pavement screaming to people about the catalog of great movies he has including yours. I swear talking to some of these filmmakers and really hearing these horror stories, just confirms my beliefs. Why am I going to hand over my movie to someone who is only going to do what I can do myself? The problem with DIY distribution is that you may not have the clout and weight of an experienced distribution company, but I've got the contact info for the pay-per-view folks, I know that I can easliy make my movie available on DVD, online, and even in some retail outlets, I can put my movie up for digital downloads, and I'm not that far off reaching basic cable. And as far as marketing is concerned, hearing the inside track of what alot of these companies do to get marketing done, is basically what I was going to do except I won't have to pay someone else to do it.

Unless a distributor can come up to me and offer me something that I can't do, then maybe I'll work with them. But for alot of these companies that I've been dealing with, I've been doing the research, I've been getting the info, and it doesn't sound like you can do any better job than I can. As a matter of fact it sounds like I can do a much better job than you, because I've got the full passion of this project. I love this movie. It's my baby and who better to take care of it than the baby daddy. Yeah that's right, I got fuckin ghetto on your ass.

Bottom line is, if you want something done, you gotta do it yourself.

ya-ya ya know it!

And yes I've been listening to the Ghostbusters 2 soundtrack.

AND SPEAKING OF GHOSTBUSTERS! Look what was leaked recently.

GHOSTBUSTERS 360 BITCHES!!!!


But apparently there are some licensing issues, so there is a possibility this is as close to a game (or a sequel) we'll ever get. I'd also like to note that this is similar to the look I'm going for with MONSTER COPS / SHADOW COMPANY. For a few of the action scenes that is.


Checkout More Here at Team XBOX

Life is on the wire, the rest is just waiting.

Thanks for that one Papa Wallenda. If you don't know about the high flying Wallendas, they are an elite group of high wire walkers. Papa Wallenda was the first of em. The Daddy of all tight rope walkers. And here he does indeed speak the gospel. Life is indeed on the wire. And I'm on it man. That's what it feels like right now. I'm walking that tight rope. Just trying to keep my balance. One false move and I'm gone. Just trying to make friends with gravity.

You'll have to forgive me if you're one of the many people who have messaged me, emailed me, or called. I'll get back to you soon. Right now I'm on the wire. Too busy trying to keep my balance. And I got people on all sides tuggin at me. Tellin me to go one way or another. Lemme tell you, this whole movie distribution thing is kickin me in the ass. Just in the last 24 hours, a few things have occured to change the way the game is played. Could be good and maybe even great, but it all depends on how steady I can keep it. Right now I'm just fascinated by how quickly things can change once you think you've made the right decision.

I had a few offers for the movie. I picked one. When one didn't look like it was going to work out. I decided to self distribute. And man I got gung ho about it. I had a plan all worked out. In the past two weeks, I've been making deals, talking to sponsors, hooking up screenings, talking to fests, and planning out convention appearances. I was ready to take this bad boy on tour. I got excited about the idea of handling my own movie, as opposed to handing it over to a company and let them handle my baby while I collect a small percentage off of something I've been busting my ass on for the past 3 years.

Here I am all excited, then that's when all of the companies that I've been denying, come back at me with better offers. And then the one that I picked originally has come back into the picture as well. Now, I'm not complaining. It's an excellent dilemna to be in. I remember when I had my first movie, and I was getting denied by crappy art house theatres. But it's a dilemna nonetheless. I want to stay independent, because in my hands I know what kind of noise I can make. I know what kind of publicity I can create and I get to keep one hundred percent of the profits. In the hands of a distributor, it's a garuntee that my movie will be available, but I won't have that much control over the business of it, and I only get a percentage of the profits.

And that's not even all of it. There's many other factors to consider. And the hits just keep on comin. And I can't seem to wrap my brain around anything else.

What would Papa Wallenda do?

Well maybe I'm looking to the wrong person as an example. He did fall to his death off of a tight rope. They say it was the high winds that blew him down. The family says there was a problem with the wire.

Lesson: Before proceeding across the high wire, check the weather, and secure the rope.

I got it.

Before The Storm

Rule 1: Don't ever get frustrated about not being able to get somewhere when you haven't really decided where it is you're going. True. First things first. Decide on the destination. Pick your goal. Then go for it.

Example. I decided on a particular course of action for my indie film THE MIDNIGHT SPECIAL. I decided that we would try for this one particular process. And it doesn't appear to be working out. Which brings me to the next rule.

Rule 2: When you decide on the goal, everything that is the exact opposite of that will come into your existence. True.

Example: Every time I try to jump off my roof top in an attempt to "fly". Gravity comes into existence. Fucking gravity. And I've done this many many times. Same thing with watching movie previews. Right when I aim to enjoy a good trailer, Joel Schumacher's name pops up. Fucking Bat nipples.

This is how it's done. You aim for the goal, you shoot for the goal, something has to make you miss. Why? It's the law of opposites. One cannot exist without the other. You cannot possibly experience achieving the goal if one hasn't experienced NOT having the goal. How am I supposed to fly if I don't first know what it's like to not fly? How can I possibly love Batman Begins as much as I do without having first experienced Batman and Robin? Actually I think we all would've been just fine without Batman and Robin.

But without the opposite of what you want, what you want cannot exist in your reality, yet. Yet.

Now this is going to happen a bunch of times in a bunch of different ways. Things are going to have to suck. Things are going to have to get rough. But the best way to perceive all this is in training. Yes that's right, training. What you think is just the world crapping on you, is just the world getting you prepared for the inevitable, which is SHIT HAPPENS. And the best way to prepare for shit happening is to experience the shit happening. Ok this is sounding gross.

Point is with The Midnight Special, I knew from previous experience and training that the first few swings at the bat for distribution weren't going to work out all that well. If it did great. But chances are our first few offers were probably going to be too good to be true, or just plain fall apart. Which I'm no saying has completely happened, but I'm smart enough to know when the boats about to sink. Which brings me to the next rule.

Rule 3: Always have a lifeboat.*

Call it what you want. Don't put all your eggs in one basket. Forewarned is forearmed (Thank you Peter Vincent). Knowing is half the battle. You know what I mean. Have a plan. Don't get your hopes on one prospect. Send out many ships and one of them is bound to return through the shit storm.

With the movie I had a three part plan that included the expectation of the shit storm. And guess what? Everything is going according to plan. Shit storm is weathered. Actually there isn't really a shit storm, but I see one on the horizon and I've already got other ships out in different directions all of them scotch guarded and armed with three ply umbrellas. And Fabreeze, lots of Fabreeze.

Rule 4: Always use Fabreeze. Lysol just ends up landing on my tongue somehow.

Anyhoo.

The advantage nowadays is that it is not impossible to get distribution for your Independent film as long as it's good. You've got options like filmbaby.com, customflix.com, indieflix.com, and lulu.com. And if it's not good it better have some sex and violence. Sad but true.

Rule 5: Have a plan for your plan.

I'm probably going to put The Midnight Special on DVD soon through one of the above outlets, mainly cuz I hate disappointing these folks that keep emailing me. I really want people to see this movie. But I'm not stopping there. Just because you decide to self distribute doesn't mean your options are over. This is just the beginning and as far as my plan goes, we're only on part A of plan 1. Oh man we're just getting started here. But I've got part B of the plan in motion and I'm ever so slightly curious as to what would happen if I combined it with parts of plan 2, and some of part D of plan 6. You follow me? No. Me either.

All in all I've got plan upon plan. Like a safety net of sorts. One of my safety nets is the emergency fund. Our plan now is that before me or my wife set off to do anything else that costs money that isn't bills, we have to have an emergency fund. Not too much, just a thousand bucks put away in a money market account. I'm trying not to do anything too extravagant until that emergency fund is built up. Ya have to be prepared for the shit storm cuz it happens.

People get sick, get layed off, the car breaks, the computer crashes. Kinda hard to aim for those bigger goals in life when shit like that happens. With an emergency fund those things become more of a minor hassle than a major setback. And before we embark on anything else, I've got to make sure that fund is built back up. Gotta make sure that safety net is secure if it's going to catch us. And I've been lifting many weights and eating a whole lot more, so it has to be secure. With our plan for our plan in place, we're ready for anything. Which brings me to ...

Rule 6: You're never really ready for anything.

You cannot predict what your obstacle is going to be. You can foresee what some of them are, and perhaps even many of them. But not all of them. Honestly, was Indy really expecting for his father to be shot at the end of Last Crusade? Was Hip Hop really expecting Vanilla Ice? I don't think so. Otherwise the experience of the law of opposites would be void. And it isn't. So expect the unexpected. Ya know, like Ninjas.

Rule 7: When faced with Ninjas, act like a bear. They hate that. It'll either freak them out or annoy them, either way they'll just leave. And if they don't leave then you have to stand and fight. But becareful, if you fight a Ninja you're going to have to ...

Rule 8: Trust your instincts.

Instinct is like when your spirit or energy or inner mind, whatever, has experienced many different versions of the future, and is coming back to give you data on the situation. How many times have you tried something, failed, and then said, "I knew I should've done it the other way." How did you know? You're instincts told you. but what did you do? You listened to logic.

And hey, I'm not slamming logic. Logic is great. It's the exact measurement of process. Use it, gather all of the facts. But just because you know the wall is a foot higher than you're use to, doesn't mean you don't have it in you to scale it. A high percentage of a lot of things in your life are going to be because of you, what you can do, and what you believe in your heart you can do. If you know you can, then you can. Don't let them tell you that you can't. You decide for yourself. Which brings me to the most important rule ...

Rule 9: You can't

Just kidding.

Rule 9: There are no rules.


"When did Noah build The Ark? Before the storm. Before the storm."
- Robert Redford as Nathan Muir in SPY GAME