By Phil Hobden, Modern Life Productions
PROLOGUE 05/06/2005
Left For Dead' was the first feature from Modern Life? & Big Cat Productions. Made over the course of 2 years (from start to it being picked up by Worldwide at Cannes ) it was epic in ever way.
Shot for no money, financed by myself and Ross (Boyask, the director) with a grateful helping hand from Barclaycard and a fuck of a lot of good will it was a labour of love that saw births, deaths and marriages. We can a cast of almost 200, a motorbike chase with over 55 bikes, more fight scenes than most 80's actioners put together and had to endure set back after set back.
I used to refer to the film as the 'Ben Hur' of action films. What we lacked in money we made up for in vision.
At times it was the model of how not to make a film. We started with no script. Then when we finally a script it was rewritten almost daily (often seconds before filming). We recast then reshot almost half of the film. And had the rather embarrassing experience of having a Cannes screening booked and paid for but no film to show. We lost tapes and broke cameras. I was almost killed (unrelated) in a car crash and I think at times Ross almost killed me.
But At Cannes 2004 we came good. Worldwide Filmed Entertainment, a hugely respected sales agency based in Beverly Hills who would later go on to form a partnership with some major Hollywood players, picked up the film. At AFM, our first official market, we started seeing sales and after completing the delivery list (which itself is a task greater than making the film) the film is now due out in the US in September.
Following up 'Left For Dead' proved to be another Herculean task. It started off as 'Silent Night'. A superb, if complicated, story about a deaf mute. Then 'Brutal'. A simple story about a stranger in a strange town. Then 'Even Dead Men Die'. A martial arts Zombie film.
In our enthusiasm to drive our projects forward we came up against hurdle after hurdle. Undeterred we moved from project to project with out actually getting anywhere. But that's the way it goes sometimes. All were great projects but for whatever reason none of them because viable to shoot. It seems for a while we'd never start the next film.
Over a year on and things are starting to change. Things are looking up and our next project. Yep 'S.O.D'S Law ' is on the horizon. Set to be a co-production between Modern Life? and Independent Stunts it's a simply structure cop film with the prerequisite amounts of violent fighting and bloody martial arts battles.
Nice.
Phil Hobden
'Producer' fIXers
For more on 'Fixers' check out www.fixersthemovie.co.uk
For more on Modern Life? check out www.mod-life.com
'Left For Dead' is now available to buy Region 1 from www.store4dvd.com
THE MAN FROM DOWN UNDER. 20-06-2005
Who would have thought it? We've ended up getting experienced, award winning veteran Australian producer to produce our next film 'Fixers'. Okay rewind. Let's start from the beginning.
Cannes 2005. As always we fly to the South of France with little more than some good ideas, the gift of the gab and a range of prearranged meetings with people we have never spoken to (the wonders and pitfalls of email and the world wide web). I learnt years ago that Cannes presents you with the polar opposites of almost every scenario you can imagine. Strip Clubs without strippers. £15 for a beer. And people who talk the talk but post Cannes will disappear and never be heard of again (Nina. I wait our next meeting).
Rule #1. Deals are struck at Cannes and promises are made. But unless you have a signed piece of paper and a cheque in the bank, never count on anything.
We had over 25 meetings set for Cannes . Our plan was to pitch two projects. 'Brutal' a 'Walking Tall' esk action film and 'Even Dead Men Die' a Zombie Horror film that could ride of the coat tales of bigger projects like 'Shaun', 'Dawn', 'Land' and the other crop of films that are due out over the next year or so.
Last year we had over 20 meeting set when we were trying to sell our first feature 'Left For Dead'. Out of that less than 10 turned up. Out of the 10 that did most disappeared of the face of the earth (come on guys the film wasn't THAT bad!!) So this year I held little hope. Speaking of other Cannes Alumni it's often lamented that at this level deals are hardly ever stuck at Cannes . But I always live in hope.
So imagine my surprise when only one blew us out. By the end of the week we'd met an ex-Lions Gate executive, a mad Dutch producer and a company that produces genre tat that even I wouldn't watch. But one man stood out heads and shoulders above the rest.
David Hannay has been in the business almost 30 years. British but living in Australia he cuts the kinda figure that you don't forget for a while. He produced 'The Man From Hong Kong', one of the key inspirations for Tarantino's 'Kill Bill'. He turned down Mel Gibson and counts Stan Lee as a close friend. Although not close enough to take on the rights for Daredevil when originally offered (rightly so he thought it would be impossible to make).
He was also brutally honest. He spoke about how we could work together. How, if impressed by 'Left For Dead', he could use his connections to enable us to make the kinda movies that we wanted to make. At the time it all seemed far too good to be true. We agreed to meet back in the UK . Arriving back from Cannes full of hope and anticipation we emailed out the script for 'Brutal'. Let's just say we were glad we didn't hold our breath. But whilst silence prevailed on the net, 'Horrible' Hannay (a 'Hells Angels' nickname that from our experience was unjustly given. he is anything but horrible) came good to his word and we met in sunny Oxford .
Who would have thought it? David, it seemed, had plans. Big plans. And for once plans that not only involved us but also some big players Stateside. At the same point we had started to develop a project to tide us over. After all it had been over a year since we wrapped 'Left For Dead'. Called 'S.O.D'S Law' it was a corrupt cop action martial arts film inspired by 'Infernal Affairs' and 'The Shield'. Our plan was to use this to bridge the gap between now and 2006 when (the hoped) production deal would come into effect.
As a parting glance I mentioned the film to David. No hidden agenda. But to my surprise David was interested. In fact more than that. He wanted to work with us on it. Okay so he hated the title (it is far too British) but his interest was both appreciated and genuine.
In the following weeks he met us again, advised us on the story and read the first (initial) draft. As our inboxes still remain silent from those 'God we'd love to be involved' characters, it seems David may well have just restored my faith in the international filmmaking community.
Don't get me wrong I love the talk of Cannes , the buzz and the life style. But as nice as it is, it would be even better is something came of it. And finally after years of hard graft, we stand a fair chance of being those guys who did get something moving from Cannes .
I guess only time will tell.
Phil Hobden
'Producer' fIXers
For more on 'Fixers' check out www.fixersthemovie.co.uk
For more on Modern Life? check out www.mod-life.com
'Left For Dead' is now available to buy Region 1 from www.store4dvd.com
PASSION COMES TO WEATHERSPOONS 01/07/2005 Passion is a funny thing. It can be displayed in many an interesting way. Love. Hate. Both can be passionate. But passion is displayed nowhere like it is when filmmakers get together.
Ross and I are both very passionate. Some may even say stubborn. Or Difficult. Or just plain pig headed. When it's related to what we do that passion is always at it's most heated. But always, ALWAYS, for the best of the project.
It always harder when you just know deep down something isn't working. 'Fixers' as an idea is great. The treatment read superb and it should have made an excellent script. Should have. But for some reason it didn't. Andy said it best. Tom and Mackenzie, the lynch pins of the story, just didn't seem real. And whilst elements of the script were superb if your main characters don't ring true then. to quote my sold scriptwriting tutor 'Your Fucked!'.
It's funny when you get four people together who all have passion for a project or an idea, just how round in circles you can go. Anyone that knows me can attest that I have a loud voice. Ross also. And god for a chilled out stoner (okay he's not but looks like he should be) Matt can raise it up with the best of them. I kinda felt sorry for Andy. The quieter of the four he could barley get a word in. It's amazing how much I can blow things out of proportion when passion comes into play.
So after 3 hours of debating the same points but from different sides (it's amazing how many sides something can have) an impasse was hit. To be frank, I have no idea where things stand now.
I know we have a lot of work in front of us. We need to turn this script into a draft that works for all of us. We have to appease the original writer (fuck Matt M you have been a patient star on this), appease Ross the director, Matt and Andy the fight guys, David our other producer and me, the one who put the cat amongst the pigeons. And this is before funding guys get involved.
My head hurts.
One things for sure. With David and the others involved there's no room for slipping up. We aren't in Kansas any more and the delays, problems and issues that we had with 'Left For Dead' must act as lessons learnt and not repeated.
It's probably my fault for taking what should have been a simple and easy small project and getting all and sundry involved. The more names, the more says, the more disagreements, the more trouble. the more I have to stamp my foot.
I get the feeling by the end of this my foot will hurt a lot!
Phil Hobden
'Producer' fIXers
For more on 'Fixers' check out www.fixersthemovie.co.uk
For more on Modern Life? check out www.mod-life.com
'Left For Dead' is now available to buy Region 1 from www.store4dvd.com
FIRST DRAFT ARRIVES LIKE A VIRGIN TRAIN... LATE BUT IMPRESSIVE 27/07/2005
The first draft (complete after many changes) for 'Fixers' has now been finished and handed off to our producing partner David Hannay and our (potential) production partners 'IFM'. I have to say I probably made myself the most hated man at Modern Life? with this redraft. It's not that Matt turned in a bad script but the imposed time restraints (we have originally planned to start shooting the first week of August which as you can now imagine isn't going to happen), the fact that the whilst the original treatment worked great on paper when scripted left huge holes and additional character development issues meant that the idea was probably better than the reality.
I have to give my full respect to Matt (Jones), Andy, Matt (Manning) and Ross for not lynching me but I guess they worked out it was for no other reason than for the good of the project.
Ross and I basically had to take the story, turn it on its head, developing back-story for the key charecters and giving them a purpose. I never believed Tom in the initial draft. He seemed to have little motivation or actual character. Mackenzie was just his hired gun. He could have been anyone in any film. But finally both now jump off the page. Mackenzie and his relationship with Hamilton is superb. And making Tom a screw up, always in the shadows of his older, more successful brother gives him something to prove.
No matter how good Ross is as a director and Matt Jones is as a fight/action director if the raw materials aren't there then you have problems. We pulled it out of the bag with 'Left For Dead' but that was a film that came about more in the editing than anywhere else. We drove Ade to distraction getting him to rewrite and create scenes on the day. And we were very lucky that it all made sense. And this was something I didn't want happening again.
Some people say making your debut feature film is hard. Bollocks. It's almost impossible. But the second film is the tough one. At least first time out you have no expectations other than those you heap on yourself. If you've had a modicum of success with your first film (which we have) then the level of expectation is far greater.
The need to not ape what you did before becomes very important. 'Mallrats' failed because it was 'Clerks' with a bigger budget. So I was more than a little nervous when 'Fixers' Tom and Mackenzie started sounding like 'Left For Dead's' Williams & Kelso. It's a fine line to go from two heroes thrown together by fate to two heroes thrown together through tragedy. Especially when you plan to have one of those heroes played by the same actor who had a lead hero role in your previous film.
But again I think Matt & Ross have pulled it off.
So here we go down that long road again. Although this time it's nice to have the backing of someone like David Hannay, the experienced and award winning producer who gave us 'Stone' and 'The Man From Hong Kong' and the interest of someone like Tony at IFM who has been in the industry for many years.
Phil Hobden
'Producer' fIXers
For more on 'Fixers' check out www.fixersthemovie.co.uk
For more on Modern Life? check out www.mod-life.com
'Left For Dead' is now available to buy Region 1 from www.store4dvd.com
AUGUST 2005 FEELING SORRY FOR SIMON COWELL? 08/08/2005
We didn't cast 'Left for Dead' as much as it kind of casted itself. What I mean by that is many choices were made depending on who was local, available and had some acting experience. To that end, the results ranged from exceptional (Ade as ' Taylor ' for one) to appalling (The original Sonya).
When we recast for the main reshoots after our first Cannes experience, we took far more time even going down the route of auditioning. We put an open call out on 'Shooting People' and the results once again ranged from exceptional to, er, not.
We had never auditioned before. In the past we cast people we knew or who had come via recommendation. That's how we found guys like Andy Prior, Brendan Carr and even our stock hero/villain (racking up appearances in almost all of our films) Mr Salvage. But auditioning was a new experience. And not an overly pleasant one.
I for one found it rather dull and tedious. It had it's moments but there are so many people out there who think they can act or have been told they can act but when it comes down to it can't and are in fact just average. For every good auditionee there were four or five really average ones. If they had all been good or all been really bad at least there would have been some entertainment.
I relate it to the X-Factor/Pop Idol experience. These shows are most interesting during the audition stages but only then when they are good or bad. On that scale they must see thousands upon thousands of average people. We only auditioned 10 actors. Out of that 10 only four were any good. Three ended up in the film. One didn't. Out of the remaining some didn't even know their lines and some wouldn't have even gotten a part in Hollyoaks. The rest I have wiped from my mind.
But for that brief moment I almost felt sorry for Simon Cowell and co. To sit through 6 bad auditions was painful enough. To do it day in and day out, for weeks on end and sit through thousand upon thousand of average performances that really suck must have been punishing. Then I remember he's paid millions to do it and say 'Fuck him. He deserves it for unleashing this torrid, soulless, mass produced pop crap upon us'.
My point? Well we are about to start casting 'Fixers'. Getting it right is key and over the coming weeks we hope to be announcing most of the cast. We have gone with people who are familiar to us, who we have worked with before or people we want to work with that we haven't yet. Everyone will read for there part (which should make an interesting DVD extra) but for the most part we are going to try and avoid the whole audition process.
If we do, and without a casting director I feel I may just die of boredom if I have to sit through another twenty or so average actors stumbling through lines they don't really know, giving a performance that even Don Wilson films would be embarrassed about, all I ask is that you make the effort.
Learn your lines. Find out about us. Know your shit ('Man with the Golden Gun' is NOT a martial arts film).
And most of all please don't be offended if we throw you out the audition room if you ignore this advice.
Phil Hobden
'Producer' fIXers
For more on 'Fixers' check out www.fixersthemovie.co.uk
For more on Modern Life? check out www.mod-life.com
'Left For Dead' is now available to buy Region 1 from www.store4dvd.com
INDEPENDENCE ... GOOD OR BAD? 22/08/2005
I get 3 or 4 scripts a week sent to me. I try, as best I can, to read them all and where I can give honest feedback and opinions. Opinions are pretty much all I'm qualified to give. I'm not a professional writer, although I have had a few scripts in development with a few big companies, but I think I know what may make a good genre film.
Why? Well I have watched enough, good and bad, to know what makes a solid horror or action film. Moreover I like to read professional scripts and it's good to compare ...
Recently I received a script for a horror film. Well I think it was a script. It came across more as a boy's-own fantasy with everything I hate seeing in scripts. Bad, barely defined characters. Poor dialogue. I could go on.
And the sickening thing? They actually have money and talent to make this script into a film. I say talent, a few actors that have appeared in The Bill but still. Oh. My. God. Come on people! Brits boast some of the most talented filmmakers in the world. We are in the middle of a digital revolution here - cheap technology that can make films look as good as a Hollywood epic. Be it cameras, editing or CGI we can make films now for next to nothing that up to 6 or 7 years ago would have cost millions.
But this is a double-edged sword. On one hand we can make almost any film we want from Sci-Fi fantasy to Kill Bill-esque martial arts film. But on the other hand this ability to give everyone access to the technology means that where before there were (certain) levels of quality control, they have now gone out of the window.
Now anyone can write a script, buy a camera, shoot it and drag it kicking and screaming around the festival circuit regardless of quality. This year at Cannes I lost track of the amount of people I met hauling around a poor quality, badly shot and amateurishly edited DV movie with no success. And why? We'll often they resembled bad student films, all quirky angles and bad acting. Or they were unimaginative, uninspired films about just 2 guys stuck in a room.
Don't get me wrong there are good films out there. 'Infestation' (directed by Ed Evers-Swindell) is a great example of a no-budget digital feature film with good script, superb action, excellent effects and solid direction. The difference is that whilst some people shoot a film over a weekend, edit on their IMac, stick it on disc and try to flog it, Ed took over 5 years to make that film. And as much as I hate it 'The Last Horror Movie' was, for all it's faults, imaginative, inventive and something different.
I can't help but think that our legacy of great filmmaking now seems to be diminishing every year. The easier and more mass-market the technology gets, the lower the bar of quality drops. For every Guy Ritchie we have many, many more who, well, just aren't up to it. Pretenders to the throne who seriously believe their poorly scripted and shot on DV feature film could be the next Blair Witch.
We never had delusions of grandeur for 'Left For Dead'. We knew that it was a solid DVD movie made by fans for fans, and that would find a niche audience in certain territories. It would make money back for us but never make us millionaires. We used it to open doors, to help us get the next film funded. Also it's not like this is the first time we ever tried to make a film. We worked on loads of different projects, shorts and other features, gaining experience and learning an awful lot along the way, and we know there's still an awful lot more to learn.
With cinemas becoming even more crowded with Hollywood watered-down mainstream rubbish (do we really need the new Herbie film on 10 screens?), and with even some big budgeted mainstream films getting buried by their distributors with small cinema releases, each day that passes the chances to get your DV film in the cinema on any kind of release is slim to none.
There are good films out there but people need to realise the worth of their product. Taking it around Cannes saying that this is the next big thing and comparing it to 'Unleashed' or 'Ong Bak' will get you laughed out of the market. But knowing you have a well produced, well shot and solidly directed digital film that could make a big splash in the ever growing DVD and online or video on demand market will make others see the worth and value in what you have.
But all this can only come from strong foundations. And those foundations have to start with the script. Take your time. Make it good. Get opinions. And listen.
Then and only then send it to me.
Phil Hobden
'Producer' fIXers
For more on 'Fixers' check out www.fixersthemovie.co.uk
For more on Modern Life? check out www.mod-life.com
'Left For Dead' is now available to buy Region 1 from www.store4dvd.com
SEPTEMBER
WHICH IS BEST... AN ARM OR A LEG? 02/09/2005
That old age question. if you had to lose an arm or a leg which would you prefer? Obviously neither is always the desired option.. But if you HAD too which would it be?
We find ourselves in a very similar situation with 'Fixers' right now. Our potential US production partner and David Hannay (our producing partner) had the read-through of the last draft and want some changes. A lot of them.
To be honest most of them were expected, and some of them were changes we were already considering. Toning down some of the more vicious sexual elements that had sneaked in and polishing the dialogue was to be expected. But we were also told there was too much. Too much of what I hear you ask? Well pretty much everything. Too much dialogue to be sure but also too much story. What we had were three, even four, detailed stories all running alongside each other.
I blame Matt Manning for this! He did such a solid job with the original draft and added some superb elements that it took the story off into a new direction that wowed and shocked in equal measure, as well as giving the lead villain Hamilton superb motivations for his actions. But now we are faced with making a hard decision. The short of it is that something has to go.
We considered dropping or at least cutting back the Milius character (a lead villainous character) but that didn't work. It didn't make that much difference. We then thought about changing or paring back Mackenzie (one of the heroes) but again dropping his back story totally meant he then became the kind of one-dimensional character we were trying to avoid.
With none of this working we also considered a selection of all of the above, figuring that if we trim a little of everything here and there then that may makes things less complex. It didn't, in fact it made things worse. But then we got to thinking about the Hamilton/Milius sub plot. See as it stands in the current draft Milus was responsible for the death of Hamilton 's daughter though a bizarre porn/sex ring. But the tone of that never sat right with me. Moreover the key problem with this was the subplot about Hamilton, his kidnapped daughter, Milius and the sex ring and how all this linked with a key characters death took the story off to the left when maybe we should have carried on going straight.
It gave us a sympathetic villain in Hamilton , which again, was a bit of a problem. With Hamilton being 'not all that bad', Mackenzie being 'not all that bad' and Tom being 'not all that bad' it meant that we didn't really, until the last few pages, have any one that was actually bad, except for Milius which was fine except he's not the main villain.
If we made Hamilton more of a straight bad guy, taking away the nobility of his motivation and making him just a corrupt cop after money and power, then we are left with two strong villains and two strong heroes. The advantage of this was it also meant we lost the uncomfortable situation of the sex ring which, daring as it is, and no matter how much we tried, would have ended up causing us untold censorship issues at the end.
So with that subplot gone, one of the 'Fixers' being removed and their dialogue shared between the other team members, and a few other smaller characters written out, the script is far more condensed and focused on the action.
So that's where we are at right now. With the new draft due to be turned in tomorrow we are hoping to get news on financing within a month or so. In the meantime we are gathering pace on the casting, with readings taking place this weekend (look out for the videos online here soon).
Phil Hobden
'Producer' fIXers
For more on 'Fixers' check out www.fixersthemovie.co.uk
For more on Modern Life? check out www.mod-life.com
'Left For Dead' is now available to buy Region 1 from www.store4dvd.com
FOR THE RECORD (WARNING!! RANT...) 12/09/2005
Okay there's something we need to get straight. This doesn't relate directly to 'Fixers' as such, but it needs to be said loud and clear. So beware. here's comes the science part.
'Left For Dead' went on sale in the USA this week (www.amazon.com). This is a huge step for us, our first film on general DVD release in the USA . We're on Blockbuster, Amazon and various other sites. As of writing this we have also sold the rights of 'Left For Dead' to Puerto Rico , Canada , Thailand , Croatia , Greece and Indonesia .
So how much did it cost? In reality, 'Left For Dead' probably cost Ross and myself around £10k each spread over 2 1/2 years. In addition we have costs to our sound guys and visual guys without whom 'Left For Dead' would be languishing in sales hell. Don't get me wrong without the work done by Spencer & David 'Left For Dead' would probably still have sold but nowhere near as well as it has now. Their touches made 'Left For Dead' one of the most impressive digital films ever made in the UK , maybe even US as well, and certainly when you consider there was no real budget in place.
In total the above & below the lines cost of this film, what we have spent and what we still owe is closer to £40k. Remember we had NO money at all for this. Everything was either on a deferred basis or out of our pockets. Out of the monies we have written up so far (around $40k) Worldwide has received less than $17k in sales revenue. Out of that they had to cover their expenses for promoting us at Cannes & the AFM (close to $8k) and take their agreed fee of 25%. With shite exchange rates taken into consideration. well lets just say the amounts spent and the amounts received don't really tally. Yet.
Now our US deal, as impressive as it sounds, didn't give us an upfront. Instead we get a cut of the profits as part of a distribution deal. This worked for us, as York know how to sell this kind of film. What they also did was cover certain key costs. Which means that York themselves incurred additional costs in terms of the E&O, MPAA rating and various other bits & pieces (not least the distribution & marketing) which we have to cover 50% of. If there is anything left after this we'll get 50% of all profits. Although $50k plus may take a while to recoup.
So why this unprecedented level of honesty? Well for a few reasons. Firstly it's important that other digital filmmakers learn the ins and outs of exactly what kind of a deal they could realistically expect when selling their film in the USA . Secondly, and most importantly, to justify Ross and myself to certain people involved with 'Left For Dead' who have the rather incorrect presumption that we are living the high life whilst not passing the wealth their way.
Trust me, at the moment we are far from living a life of snorting cocaine off the backs of young Hollywood starlets who are blowing me as I speed my brand new TVR through London on my way to China Whites drinking Champagne out of crystal flutes. We both are still working at our day jobs while getting the next project(s) off the ground.
Trust is an odd thing. People trusted us to make a good film, to take their investment of time and make something worthy of it. They trusted us to hang them from a ceiling, kick them through a door, throw them down some stairs or chuck them from a moving car. But when money starts to rear it's head the trust goes and suddenly everyone is seen to be out for him or herself. As we have always said. the bank statements and accounts are always available to see.
"So can't we just get a copy of the film?" I hear you ask. We'll yes, if you pay for it. That's not us being harsh, far from it. But York gave us 4 copies of the DVD for free. 2 for me. 2 for Ross. How do we split four between 200? Simple, we can't. Any other DVD freebies would come out of our share of the profits. Even I have had to buy copies of the film. As a rule most companies will not give away freebies. Also if it were discovered that we were giving away copies of the film for free our sales agent and distributors would (rightly) bollock us.
It's not that we don't appreciate people's time and effort. We do, greatly. But at the same point you may have given 2 -3 months of your personal time to the film whereas we have given over 3 years and are still giving. You maybe have been with us every other weekend but we were working on this 7 days a week, between our day jobs and personal relationships. Even now I regularly spend hours liaising with York over sales and marketing, with Barbara at Worldwide over sales, with magazines, websites. the list goes on. We want everyone to see some money from this. But honestly? We would like to just cover our costs.
Believe it or not Ross and myself are not looking or even expecting to make a fortune from this. We just want to pay back what we owe, clear the overdrafts and credit cards and when we can give a bit back to as many people as possible. But I don't ever expect the cheques to have more than a few noughts on the end. As of this rant we have seen less that £300 back each. Far off the £20k combined it has cost us.
For me, personally, if I had been involved in a film that had such huge coverage in the UK and US (we have been in Combat, Impact, Vengeance, Hotdog, BBC, ITV, Sky and all over the WWW), in a film that saw my name or face on a huge billboard at Cannes and in L.A, or involved in a film that had me dubbed into Indonesian for a foreign release. A film that gave me the opportunity to do everything I can to look my best onscreen and then promoted it and marketed it better than some mainstream Hollywood films. A premiere where I was on top of the world and bell of the ball. Well I'd just be proud and happy that I was involved. I'd be grateful that I was given that opportunity and springboard to my career and I'd be thankful to the people who still, years on, are working to make it a success knowing that, when or if they can, they will make everyone good financially.
So when your fingers are poised to type an email to us with a sarcastic aside. just stop and think for a second. Rather than 'Where's my copy?'' or 'When's the cheque arriving?' (God if I had a fiver for every time I'd heard that recently.) how about a 'thank you?' or a 'Well done' or "I'm glad to have been a part of this".
Like you, we don't ask for much. But a 'Thank You'? Well a thank you doesn't cost anything now does it?
Phil Hobden
'Producer' fIXers
For more on 'Fixers' check out www.fixersthemovie.co.uk
For more on Modern Life? check out www.mod-life.com
'Left For Dead' is now available to buy Region 1 from www.store4dvd.com
STATE OF THE NATION 15/09/2005
A rather grand title I know. As we enter pre-production with 'Fixers' (although we are still redrafting it for our US partners) I wanted to take a general look at the industry as a whole and how Indie filmmakers, in my opinion, seem to be getting it wrong in terms of how they present and sell their films. With more and more filmmakers going down the Independent route as technology such as DV and now HDV, becomes cheaper and cheaper there is now, more than ever, a huge over saturation in the market place. And as we know from GCSE economics when there's too much of something the value tends to go down.
Over the past three years we've seen films such as our own 'Left For Dead', Steve Lawson/Simon Wyndam's 'The Silencer' (and 'the Insiders' previously), Neil Oseman's 'Soul Searcher', Ed Evers-Swindell 'Infestation' finish production and enter the lofty heights of the film markets looking for success, fame and fortune.
Everyone wants the best for their first feature film. In the best case you have spent over 2 years making a film, funded it yourself, put the money on your cards, beg borrowed and stolen and endured numerous digs from people close and far about how 'you're wasting your life' and how you should 'get a proper job'. You want to see it released in the best possibly way to the biggest possible audience.
You want to have the next 'Blair Witch' or the next 'Clerks', for it to be screened internationally, to be on the big screen at the UGC, Warners and the like, sweeping the boards at the festivals along the way and set you up as 'the next big thing'. But what, realistically, should you expect for your film? Can a digital filmmaker in this day and age really expect to see their first film on the big screen competing against the likes of Spielberg or Tarantino? For the most part, in a word. no. This isn't pessimism. Between Ross and myself we have over 10 years attending Cannes under our belt. We have made numerous contacts and tried, as best as we can, to follow the trends and the industry as a whole. This information helps us decide what we are doing next and where it fits in with what the moneymen want.
One thing that has come clear is that most companies aren't looking for the next big thing any more. Don't get me wrong if the next big thing comes along there will always be someone who will promote them, exploit them and let them drown in a wealth of their own success, but as a whole you have to have something very special and, for the most part, digitally shot, low budget films don't figure into this ideal. Over the last few years even the company that brought us Tarantino, Rodriguez and Smith has become a corporate monster. Okay so Miramax was part of Disney for a long time but it never felt that way for most of it. And where, before, Miramax was happy to take risks, even they are now becoming safer by the day.
In addition the UK industry, after years of flourishing, has collapsed in on itself. Over the last few years we have lost Film Four (at least in the state that it was) and seen the lottery fund close its ranks (when it's not funding unforgivable, unprofitable tosh). I truly believe even if Trainspotting fell across the door of the average UK financier these days they'd look at it and go 'But there's no Hugh Grant?'
Simply put - the industry is no longer willing to take the chances they once did.
Think about it. Ringo Lam directs Van Damme in what is in my opinion one of his best ever films ('In Hell'). Even now, years on, Van Damme is still a marketable name that will sell internationally, but when was the last time you saw Jean Claude on the big screen? "Sudden Death" anyone? Maximum Risk?
If Ringo Lam can't get his superior Van Damme film on the big screen, what chances do you have with your little digital martial arts film with no stars attached? And that's the other thing. whatever anyone tells you digital, at least digital in the format we are able to afford (mini DV or DV), isn't a totally sellable medium. Theatrically, digital still doesn't work. It looks grainy blown up, the sound distorts and it looks washed out.
When Jet Li films like 'Unleashed' struggle to get a release or 'Ong Bak' gets screened in only four of five cinema screens across the UK how can you expect a film shot on DV to get a run? It would take a brave company, with a considerable marketing budget and some skilled technicians to make it worthwhile. So whilst your film may have cost £10k or even £40k, to get it in the cinema and have it compete against these US funded star driven vehicles would cost £millions. and £millions that would probably never be recouped at that. Hence the burgeoning straight-to-dvd/cable market.
Two years ago at Cannes , we saw a great Irish film by the name of 'Headrush'. Starring Steven Berkoff and featuring Huey from the Fun Lovin' Criminals it was one of the funniest movies I have ever seen. It outgunned Guy Ritchie and out-spoke Tarantino. Yet with names attached, a great script and a $1million + budget the film has (so far) not been screened in the UK , let alone most of the world.
I hear you cry: "'28 Days Later' was shot on the same camera I used for my film." Yes it was. But it was also written by renowned novelist Alex Garland, starred future Dr. Who Chris Eccleston, directed by the very bankable Danny Boyle and was backed by Fox Searchlight. Oh and it still cost £5million. So am I saying we shouldn't bother? That all these people who are breaking through with their self financed feature films are wasting their time?
No, not at all, far from it. But if I meet another filmmaker who thinks that their digital film is worthy of competing against the high profile, international Tom Cruise-starring multiplex fodder like 'War Of The Worlds' I will scream. The first thing you learn in filmmaking is know your audience. Martial arts films, no matter how you put the added spice on them (it's a Zombie martial arts film, it's a sci-fi martial arts film), are still martial arts films.
And that means that most martial arts films, like they have done for decades before and decades after, will live, breathe and thrive on DVD. Loren Avedon, Matthias Hues, Jeff Wincott and now Van Damme, Daniels, Seagal (for the most part), and Lundgren regularly see their films end up straight to DVD. It's not something to be embarrassed about any more. In fact many of the larger companies such as Sony proudly promote their output as DVD Premiere Movies.
Most importantly films hardly make a profit in the cinemas these days. Even a $200 million film like 'War Of The Worlds' with a cast of Cruise and Robbins will only just clear a real profit when the marketing, print and promotion costs are factored in. It's the DVD market that holds most revenue.
Simply put. the money that used to be in the industry years ago isn't there anymore. As much as we deny it piracy and a downturn in quality films has hit the industry hard. Piracy is so bad that they believe that for every one original DVD sold there are four or five pirate copies floating around. It is costing the industry billions each year. Companies now have to limit their investment as they know the profit margins will be much slimmer and this is impacting on sales. When you used to get $150k up front for a release on DVD in the States, now you get nothing and end up fronting the $10k + for E&O and MPAA certificates taking a cut on profits you probably will never see.
And whilst technology such as DVD may have given a stagnant industry a kick up the arse, the over saturation of product combined with other elements like piracy means the good old days have once again disappeared. You need to know your market, know your audience and know the value of what you have. If you price it right and get it to the right sales agent or company you'll see money back. Eventually.
I have known filmmakers who have held their film back for two, three years trying to get a cinema release, which never came. When they finally sold the film (normally to a straight to DVD company), they were low-balled because the selling points they had were no more.
If you lower your expectations, the film will get released and will get you seen. And that's more important isn't it?
Phil Hobden
'Producer' fIXers
For more on 'Fixers' check out www.fixersthemovie.co.uk
For more on Modern Life? check out www.mod-life.com
'Left For Dead' is now available to buy Region 1 from www.store4dvd.com
TAKING A READING 10/10/2005
With 'Fixers' gathering pace we held the first readings of the current script this past weekend. As always we walked away from this with lessons learned:
1. What looks good on paper isn't necessarily good on screen.
Case in point: It was the first time any of the scenes had been given a reading by actors. Some of the dialogue we had written (between Matt, Ross and myself) on the page could better be described as dire-logue. That's not to say it was actually bad, just coming out of the mouth of professional actors you realise that a written line isn't often as good as a spoken line. The short of it is that once again a further rewrite is required. Sigh!
Ross adds: However it would be remiss of us not to point out that dialogue changes all the way through the production and post-production process, from changes made on the day, to bits being cut out, right through to the ADR process.
2. Never hold readings in a public Gym
The scene went something like this:
Ross - "So what we'd like you to do is try this scene in more of a resolute, downplayed kind of ."
Loud Speaker - "This is a Staff Announcement Could John please come to reception."
Ross - ". sorry, er, yes in a downplayed kind of way. After all at this point Tom has just found out that."
Loud Speaker - "This is a public announcement. Please could children refrain from jumping into the deep end of the pool! I repeat could children please stop jumping into the deep end of the pool!
Ross- "Er. um. okay so Tom's brother has just been."
Loud Speaker- "This is a staff announcement. Could Tony please take a call on line one. Tony call on line one."
Ross - "F@%king Motherf%&s. If that f$%king c%$t makes one more f&@king announcement I'm going to rip that f&@king tannoy."
Loud Speaker- "This is a public announcement."
Ross - "Aghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh"
Ross adds: At this point Phil has neglected to point out that he actually booked this venue to do the read-through. But it was this or the old mainstay of my back garden. Ah the good old days.
3. Whatever time you allow you must consider the Boyask/Blair equation.
Okay it works like this. Take the time you think you need, say three hours. You multiply that by the Boyask overrun factor (normal 1/5 or 20%). Giving you roughly a 40 min over run.
Then, if your lead actor is travelling you have to add the 'Tony Blair how screwed up are the roads in this country factor' (around 1/3 or 33%) giving you an additional time required
of around 70 mins. So to get an accurate time required for any read through or filming event you need to apply the following:
Time + (Boyask + Blair) = Total Actual Time Required
(T) (1.20 + 1.33)
Simple, isn't it?
Ross adds: We can do it quickly or we can do it right.
4. People Can Surprise You
No names here but certain members of our proposed cast are not actors by trade. Part of the reason for this day was to 'test' these guys to see if, when put on camera, they could pull off the roles we have ear-marked for them. One of the major criticisms of 'Left For Dead' was that some of the acting was a bit. well crap. So that was something that we were keen to avoid on 'Fixers'.
But to my surprise (and I'm sure I speak for Ross here) was that these guys really stepped up to the plate on this one. I know I said no names but big credit has to go to Andy Scriven. A great martial artist and one of the two bosses of Independent Stunts, we had a sneaking suspicion that Andy, in the right role, would be a bit of a demon on the acting front. He pretty much proved that in 'Left For Dead', he had a laidback charm and we all agreed that at the end he was underused on the acting front. So in 'Fixers' we wanted to give him a change to show us what he could do. And he did, in spades.
Other surprises were just how much Brendan has improved since 'Left For Dead' and just how goddamn great Ben Shockley is (yet another actor severely underused in 'Left For Dead').
Ross adds: Especially on Brendan's part who was stuck in traffic for hours trying to get to us, and when he walked in to be met with new pages he just got right into it. Kudos are due there. I was also impressed with the way Ben and Keith Eyles were ALWAYS running their lines between each other between sessions. These guys were ALWAYS working.
So where are we at? Casting is going well, the read through was a huge success and with the latest draft sitting in LA and Australia we wait patiently for the feedback and hopefully some good news.
Breath holding starts now.
Ross adds nothing. He's holding his breath.
Phil Hobden
'Producer' fIXers
For more on 'Fixers' check out www.fixersthemovie.co.uk
For more on Modern Life? check out www.mod-life.com
'Left For Dead' is now available to buy Region 1 from www.store4dvd.com
JUST LIKE BEING BACK IN HIGH SCHOOL 25/10/2005
Rejection is horrible. I remember being back at high school (many years ago now). There was this girl a year below me. She was single, chatty and most of all very cute. Her name was Karen. I spent a year chasing this girl but due to a combination of lack of confidence and looks (yes, I wasn't always the bald headed Adonis I am now), I experienced very quickly what serious rejection felt like.
Almost on a daily basis. At the time it was heartbreaking but the more it happens, after a while, you kinda get used to it. Hell, after a few years you learn that maybe it's them that are missing out. rather than you.
The film industry and chasing the girl of your dreams have far more in common than you would first think and if those difficult years growing up have taught me one thing then it's how to handle a knock back or two. Because there is plenty of that in the business they call show. Case in point. Part of the finance of 'fIXers' will require us to secure a named, commercially viable star. There's a provision in budget and we have scheduled a three-day shoot to cover the filming of a lead character role. However this a deal breaker so it's something we have had to turn our thoughts to.
After weeks of discussion we came up with a short list that included Michael Madsen, Dolph Lungdren, Jeff Wincott, Tom Roth and Mickey Rourke amongst others.
Mickey Rourke was the first target. 5 years ago his career was in the toilet but of late he's had somewhat of a career resurgence with the double whammy of ' Sin City ' and 'Domino'.
We always knew that this was going to be a tough sell. Last year we approached Michael Ironside for the feature 'Brutal', offering him over $50k USD for a 5-day shoot (less than what we currently have on offer!). The rejection was quick and, pun intended, rather brutal.
But I have always liked a challenge and a challenge it looks like we have.
This wasn't my first experience of contacting agents for film projects. Back in the late 90's, I worked heavily on this when I was getting together a package for a film called 'Brighton Born, Brighton Dead'. But back then I always found the agents to be helpful... The key difference, I guess, was that most of them were UK TV actors (well half the cast of Eastenders) and back then work was sparse to say the least. In the US Hollywood agents have a very different approach and consider (rightly I guess) their 10% to be sacrosanct.
And 10% of an Indie UK Film. we'll it's not going to buy new braces for little Johnny or a new pair of breasts for the wife now is it?
If selling the project to Michael Ironside's people was tough then Rourke's was nothing short of climbing Mount Everest in a pair of flip flops, dressed in a Big Bird costume whilst carrying a bag of potatoes on a sledge. And brutal, brutally brief that is.
The conversation lasted 4 emails. Our introduction and his reply.
From: David
Sent: 08 October 2005 16:38
To: 'phil@mod-life.com '
Subject: Re: Mickey Rourke
Phil,
His schedule is quite busy next year. If you want to make a formal pay or play offer we will consider it. Thanks.
David
We quickly sent back our offer. It wasn't long (20 mins!) before the following arrived:
From: David
Sent: 10 October 2005 19:58
To: 'phil@mod-life.com '
Subject: Re: Mickey Rourke
We are not interested. Thanks.
Ouch! We hope, over the coming weeks, we get a few less of these and a few more. 'Hmmm that sounds good!'. I guess part of what irked me with this was that again the money was more important than the project.
You'd think that Rourke (and his agent for that matter.. Those dark years of obscurity couldn't have made him much money either) would care more about the project than the cheque. Then again I guess in the war of commerce vs. art, commerce is always the clear winner.
Thank god Stallone's agent didn't look at Copland and go 'Working for scale? How will that get me my Porsche?". Or DeNiro for 'Mean Streets'. Or. well any of those well-documented independent films that offered the actor the chance to launch or cement their career because the project was good even if the money wasn't.
In fact predicting many more rejections we have opened up a special 'email' side of the site, which will detail the more amusing of our email conversations.
So with trepidation I check my emails daily. excited to see what comes next.
Phil Hobden
'Producer' fIXers
For more on 'Fixers' check out www.fixersthemovie.co.uk
For more on Modern Life? check out www.mod-life.com
'Left For Dead' is now available to buy Region 1 from www.store4dvd.com
THE WAITING GAME. 01/10/2005
This week the American Film Market (A.F.M.) takes place in glitzy downtown L.A. The yearly gathering, A.F.M. forms a less glitzy version of the Cannes Market, where just like Cannes , product is bough and sold, deals are made and vast quantity of Champagne is consumed. Not quite a bunker like Mipcom, A.F.M. is in the confines of two very plush hotels in downtown Santa Monica .
Last year A.F.M. saw 'Left For Dead' on sale, and actually sell, for the first time. Even better than that, we even managed to get genre legends Loren Avedon and Matthias Hues to attend the screening. Matthias even brought Arnold Schwarzenegger's stunt double with him.
This years A.F.M. is significant to us for two reasons.
Firstly our first feature film 'Left For Dead' will once again be on sale through our sales agent Barbara Mudge and her company Worldwide Filmed Entertainment. Sales so far have been okay. Barbara and I both know that 'Left For Dead' is a solid movie. At the first A.F.M. (a whole year ago now) 'Left For Dead' made a few good sales and since then we have sold a couple of additional territories. But I guess nowhere near what we or Worldwide where hoping. The biggest negative that seems to be stumping people is the fact the film was shot on digital (mini-DV in fact), which for some makes it a risk.
I always counter that '28 Days Later', 'Timecode' and various others where shot on the same format (and had considerable success both critically and commercially) but I guess that debates for another day.
We can only hope that with the considerable success of the U.S. release, it should nudge a few of the 'on the fence' people into reaching into their pockets. Okay so it didn't outsell "Star Wars" or anything but had a solid US DVD run, outselling most of York Entertainment's other products and getting us in the top 10 sales chart with Store4DVD.com. On top of these 'hard facts', we also had some great reviews since it's release, with most people being insanely positive.
AFM will be doubly significant for 'Left For Dead' as we are also hopeful that we may, at last, pick up that elusive UK sale which will enable us to promote the film in the country it was made in (come on people if "Catwoman" can get a release.). At the moment there are two companies that seem interested (Prism and the legendary Film2000) but whether they will sign on the dotted line is another matter entirely. Fingers crossed.
Our aim for the UK release is to squeeze a few extras on the disc. We'd love to do a commentary and we have close to 80 hours of behind the scenes footage that one day will be trimmed down into a making of documentary. Beyond that we may even be able to secure a tie-in with Impact Magazine (our idea is a "Best Of British" DVD that highlights us and a few other very talented UK filmmakers) and if not, at least a few competitions in Impact and Vengeance. But before all that we need a release. Which is always the hard part.
The other reason we anxiously await A.F.M. is more 'fIXers' related. Our producing partner David Hannay will be meeting with Tony of I.F.M., the company that will be both putting up the bucks for 'fIXers' and acting as distributor/sales agent for the finished feature.
David has known Tony for 30 odd years, so their working relationship has been cemented for some time. He and Tony will be going to A.F.M., amongst other reasons, to finalise the deal that will see us get the finance to make 'fIXers'.
So anxious times await us.
Phil Hobden
Phil Hobden
'Producer' fIXers
For more on 'Fixers' check out www.fixersthemovie.co.uk
For more on Modern Life? check out www.mod-life.com
'Left For Dead' is now available to buy Region 1 from www.store4dvd.com
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