The film follows lifelong pals and co-workers Tom (Jason Vail) and Dan (Nicholas Wilder) – who grew up together sharing a passion for horror films. Does that love of the genre go too far...?
Despite my critical review of the film--It's worth a peek--especially if you like psychological horror. In our first chat we discussed Gut and how Elias caught the film bug. This time its about the disc and some key trends of the film industry.
If you are an aspiring or struggling filmmaker, I want you to pay particular attention to his response to the 'process' query. I think you'll find it fascinating perhaps even helpful...
Can you talk about what went into finding a distributor for Gut?
Good question. For the better part of a year we basically promoted the film non-stop with trailers, clips, interviews, reviews, etc. We also submitted to 200+ film festivals, in and outside the US, and spoke to dozens of sales reps and distributors. I think it's getting harder to find good distribution for independent films. The drop in DVD sales is no doubt a huge factor and there are a ton of indies (especially horror) competing with one another for the same distributors. One thing I'd really like to emphasize about finding distribution: don't rush it. Don't take the first deal and don't hedge your bets, have patience. It takes patience to make a film and just as much, if not more, to find good distribution.
Describe what it feels like to know that folks can now buy Gut on disc.
Great! There's still something about having your movie physically in print that's really cool. It can't just be deleted with a few clicks of a button, plus it makes for a much better stocking stuffer than a digital download.
Talk about the Special Features on the DVD.
There are 3 featurettes covering various moments from the film, including special effects and spoilers, so wait until after the movie to watch please! I also did an audio commentary with my friend and GUT composer Chvad SB. It was a blast, and I think it'll be a pretty fun and revealing way to watch the film again. Lastly, there's a pretty weird, little short on there called "Nightmare Men". It's under 5 minutes and it's kind of a cut/paste experiment using two previously unfinished shorts from film school.
Sounds pretty cool Moving on now...Give us an overview of your work process.
Usually comes down to finding a story idea that really stays with me, won't let me be until I commit it to paper. Once that's done, I usually re-write the script a few times, and then fight like hell to make a movie out of it.
That's the short version, here's the longer one. One of the biggest hurdles for me is to get that first draft written. There's usually a moment in the process where it starts to flow. A solid outline always helps, but it's just a guide and I never let it dictate beyond that. Then of course someone reads it for the first time and I'm on pins and needles. Debates and re-writes usually ensue, and at some point we stop and finally accept that it's a blue-print, not the final film.
Finding financing is one of the most vulnerable steps I think because it's really all for nothing if nobody believes in the script enough to put money behind it. I try to write now for two budgets, the one I want and the one I can still make the film with. Following that, I have to give pre-production it's necessary time, though I'm admittedly already straining at the bit to start shooting and see the whole thing really start to come alive. That's my favorite part. Production, hands down. When we were shooting GUT there was at least one instance where I woke in the middle of the night and thought I was still on set. I called out to the phantom cast and crew in my bedroom a couple times and then finally woke up.
Post-production is a lot more like the writing process for me, but with more limitations. It's intensely creative and also becomes a very compulsive process as I debate over frame counts for individual edits, and at the same time try to cut out as much as I can to make the whole film leaner and more effective. Once the footage is in the can I almost have to throw away the script, it's not about that anymore, it's about the pieces of the movie in front of us, and they may not all fit together as was previously imagined.
I touched on marketing and distribution a bit already so I won't go back over that now, suffice it to say that it's a process that can easily require as much time as you spent making the film. It's a step that must be seen though to the end, and while it's not without its moments of excitement and fun, it always somehow makes producing the film seem easy in retrospect.
What are you working on now?
A few things. One is a re-write of the feature version of DEAD SUCKS. Another is a darker story along the tonal lines of GUT, but with a more supernatural backdrop. There's also ALONE, a movie I co-produced, which will be completed this year, and DARK, a feature thriller I wrote that looks to be heading for production in 2014.
What's the last movie you saw? Talk about it.
Some Guy Who Kills People. It's a horror comedy starring Kevin Corrigan, Barry Bostwick and Karen Black. Bostwick had me laughing out loud a number of times, thought he was especially inspired casting. The whole movie has a really dark sense of humor that's reminiscent of VERY BAD THINGS, sometimes so dark it's almost not funny, but no less grabbing. Go see it. Both, if you haven't!
What do you think of folks using Kickstarter for higher profile films? Other Trends like 3-D/IMAX?
I think it's fair game. Audiences and fans want what they want, and if a campaign isn't lying or being otherwise disingenuous it shouldn't really make any difference how famous the people involved are. As long as crowd-funding platforms still accept smaller projects then I think higher profile campaigns probably just help make it a more accepted way for anyone to pursue funding. Anything that helps to enable more independent films and other projects to get made is a good thing in my book. I know there's been a lot of negative crowd-funding press regarding a certain SCRUBS star's campaign, and I hope that doesn't start giving crowd-funding a bad name. I don't think it will.
3D still seems mostly like a gimmick to me. There are exceptional times when it plays a real substantive part in the viewing experience, but that's pretty few and far between and seems to apply mostly to animated and/or predominantly CGI films. I don't think I'll ever get used to wearing the glasses, especially over my own. IMAX is fun and certainly a great way to see a spectacle film, but that's about it I think. I doubt IMAX or 3D are gonna play much of a part in the future of indie film, but they'll probably help keep crowds flocking to the theaters for the big studio releases for a while longer.
That's a wrap for now.....Here's your chance to say anything else...
Round two was great, man! Thanks for the opportunity, and thanks to the readers for helping keep indie horror in the mix!
You are most welcome! Best of luck with Gut disc sales and your future films
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