What You Can Learn From Porn

So, when you're, uh, watching your porn... where do you get your, um... 'content' from? I'm going to take a stab in the dark, so to speak, and assume that you watch a lot online. Sure, you may have an old, sticky mag sitting around and there may be that scratched up, worn DVD that your "friend" gave you when he moved in with his girlfriend, but I'm going to make a bold statement here. I guarantee that if you've watched porn at some point over the last year, you've watched some porn online, in some form. Yeah, you know you have. Probably at work, too. So, who cares? Well, the porn industry cares... and, guess what? As much as Hollywood hates to admit it, the porn industry has pioneered almost every innovation in the film industry. They were the first to adopt video and the first to use the internet, but now they're in trouble and they're back to their pioneering ways. Piracy and free content, like user-generated shit, is cutting deep into their profits and they need to right the ship... so, it's time to watch porn. Well, what the industry is doing, anyhow.

Here's a link to an article I read called, "Internet Piracy Is Killing Porn's Profits", by Amy Kaufman on TheWrap.com. It doesn't say a whole lot more than exactly what the title implies, but there was a link to an interesting article on there called "Adult Industry Has Some New Ideas", also by Amy Kaufman, here's the link. (Dig porn much, Amy?) Now, there are a few, key differences between porn and the film industry and the main one is that porn is really only needed for a few minutes, at best. On the flip side, a few minutes of "Friday the 13th" won't really satisfy anyone. Therefore, pirated and free internet content is far more damaging to the porn industry than it is to the film industry. However, there is a key similarity between the two and it's that they're both 'non-essential' luxuries, in a way, and free, pirated alternatives are available. What's the answer? Well, porn seems to be banking on digital, interactive content and social networking. As for revenue, it looks like it'll be a mix of advertising and paid content. They're scrambling and eventually they'll come up with some innovation and they'll recover... then Hollywood will follow their example.

While we're on the fledgling porn industry, remember that other hurting industry called the music industry? Well, they're figuring shit out, too. I was just reading about how U2 is the first musical guest on "Late Show with David Letterman" to be on for an entire week. They're promoting they're new album, "No Line on the Horizon", but a whole week?! I was also reading how bigger music stars are trying to get on things like American Idol and be featured in Rock Star and Guitar Hero. That's all great and all, but the music industry does know where their bread is being buttered these days and it's from live performances. So, what do you think of Live Nation, the biggest concert promoter, and Ticketmaster, the biggest music ticket seller, merging? It's about vertical integration, which means more marketing power and ways to get you to buy those tickets. That also means that that new company could be the biggest entertainment company in the world. So, it looks like the answer for the music industry is in live performances and events, plus pushing the boundaries of where musicians and their music can go. The music, itself, actually becomes a bit of a loss-leader... talk about a major difference from just a few years ago.

Most importantly now, what does this mean for Hollywood... not even Hollywood, what does this mean for you, the indie horror filmmaker? Well, almost all of these forces are against you, plus a few more. Think about it, piracy and free, online entertainment will suck up a lot of your potential audience. Who wants to pay for something when there's free alternatives? Not only that, if you find an audience that IS willing to pay for your film, there's so many choices out there, how do you get them to find you? How do you even compete for shelf space against bigger budgeted films and all the other indie films? You really do have the cards stacked against you. Like they say, once your film is finished, the real work begins...

The key is, you can't push on a string. You need to pull the audience to you. If you just put your film out there with its fancy cover art and a press kit that you put together to sell it, it ain't going anywhere. You need to create awareness any way you can and get people to walk into the video story looking for your title... or going online, searching for your film. To do that, you're going to need a mix of everything that porn and the music industry is doing. You're going to need to create a website, a Facebook page, a Myspace page and start interacting with people and getting your name out there. Announce when and where it's available. Approach websites like ours and give out screeners, do interviews, get people talking about your film. Go to festivals and conventions and, better yet, get involved with them. Getting a screening at a festival is huge exposure. If you can't get a screening, get a booth at a convention. Utilize everything, sell something at every turn and leverage what you've got.... because, really, it's all you've got.

In the end, you need to watch what people are doing in these other industries and figure out a way to copy them, but that's if what they're doing is working... if what they're doing isn't working, avoid it. It sounds simple and, really, it is. Remember, in the indie film world, you can't just be an artist. You'll also need to be the agent... and the sales guy, marketing guy, janitor, shipping and receiving guy...

You get the picture.

EXCLUSIVE DEAD HARVEY INTERVIEW with JACOB COONEY, director of "The Frolic"

"The Frolic" is based on the Tom Ligotti short story of the same name. It's a supernatural thriller about a prison psychologist who uncovers a deadly supernatural force in one of his inmate patients, the child loving murderer, John Doe.

Dead Harvey had the pleasure of downing some beers with Jacob Cooney, the director of "The Frolic" as he filled us in on how he got his first directing gig roughly three months after receiving his B.A. As the ale flowed, he talked about the process of adapting the short story from the great Tom Ligotti and how he secured the actors and other necessary elements to make such a well executed flick. Cooney is down to earth, well spoken, intelligent and down-right inspiring. The performance he gets out of the villain, (Maury Sterling) will send a brutal chill down your spine. And with the reverence he gives to the author's material, I hope Hollywood gives this guy a shot at a big budget adaptation. Dead Harvey hopes you enjoy the interview as much as we did.

Clip 1 - Adapting A Short Story
Clip 2 - A Supernatural Vibe
Clip 3 - Adapting On A Budget
Clip 4 - Adapting On A Budget II
Clip 5 - Ligotti's Opinion Of Frolic
Clip 6 - How The Frolic Got Financed
Clip 7 - The Road To Directing
Clip 8 - Film School: Yes or No
Clip 9 - Making It
Clip 10 - Film School: Yes or No II
Clip 11 - Shawshank Was The Clincher
Clip 12 - 1st Big Break
Clip 13 - The Casting Process
Clip 14 - A SAG Agreement
Clip 15 - What Was It Shot On?
Clip 16 - The Look
Clip 17 - The Locations
Clip 18 - Directing Style
Clip 19 - Approaching The Actors

For more information on Jacob Cooney and "The Frolic", you go to Myspace page here. To buy a copy of The Frolic, you can get it off the Wonder Entertainment site here.

EXCLUSIVE DEAD HARVEY INTERVIEW with PAUL CAMPION, writer/director of "Night of the Hell Hamsters" and "Eel Girl"

Another Dead Harvey Exclusive... this time, Brad speaks with up and coming writer/director Paul Campion about his two award winning short films, "Night of the Hell Hamsters" and "Eel Girl".

Brad Paulson - I received two awesome movies from New Zealand director, Paul Campion: "Night of the Hell Hamsters" and "Eel Girl". Since I've received these films I've shown them to numerous friends over beers. I don't want to give any spoilers away, I'll just say that when I see a movie where a hamster gets possessed, talks like a psychotic member of Alvin and the chipmunks and attacks crotches with bloody veracity, I just get all warm and fuzzy and want to share it with the world. And then there's, "Eel Girl". Now that's a movie that stays in your mind after you watch. So, do yourselves a favor and check out Campion's films. Dead Harvey guarantees you will not be disappointed. Enjoy the interview.

DH: "Night of the Hell Hampsters" was awesome. gory and funny. It had the feel of Peter Jackson's older, more ballsy work: aka "Bad Taste" and "Meet The Feebles". What was the inspiration for this film as well as, "Eel Girl"?

PC: Hell Hamsters started out as an idea for the 48hour Film festival in New Zealand. We were brainstorming ideas for different genres, and I came up with the idea of the babysitter and her boyfriend fooling around with the occult and summoning up a demon which possesses the family hamsters, which we were going to do with just socks and red beads for eyes. We didn't get to make the film in the festival so I just developed the idea afterwards. The rest of the story really revolved around that scene where the boyfriend is being viciously attacked by the hamster in his pants. I thought it would be hilarious if the only way to save him was to kick him in the nuts. Those two ideas were the basis of the whole plot, and myself and Mike Roseingrave and Hadyn Green, the other two writers just built the story around that, with the intention of making it as entertaining, gory and fun as possible.

The inspiration for Eel Girl came entirely from the music. Friends of mine own a small record label called Superglider and that was one of the songs on an album of theirs. I was listening to it one day and thought it was quite an interesting track, and just started getting ideas for the eel girl in that weird room from the music. The entire film was always meant to be about those visuals combined with the music.

DH: Who are the filmmakers that have inspired you the most and why?

PC: Well, there are so many, but Ridley Scott first and foremost. His visual style for me is second to none; Sam Raimi and Guillermo Del Toro - I love their comic book style - Hell Hamsters was very much meant to be similar in style to Evil Dead 2 and Blade 2 and I'm particularly a fan of Guillermo Del Toro's use of makeup effects; Peter Jackson of course, particularly for Brain Dead and obviously Lord of the Rings, which I worked on; Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese- possibly the two greatest filmakers of all time - the way they tell the story with the camera is incredible, and Stanley Kubrick, everything about his films is so incredibly meticulous.

DH: How would you describe your individual style?

PC: I've only made two short films so I'm not sure I've found it yet, but for now I'd like to think of it as good visuals, use of practical effects and makeup combined with a bit of CGI here and there, and overall just entertaining storytelling.

DH: What is your particular method of directing? Any tips?

PC: Yes, lots of preparation, and surround yourself with the most experienced cast and crew you can find and just give them the freedom to do what they do best - it makes the directors job so much easier!

DH: When you wrote, "Eel Girl" and "Hell Hampsters" were you always intending to direct them?

PC: Yes, absolutely, they were always ideas that I wanted to put on film, there was never any intention for someone else to direct them.

DH: How different were the two shorts you made from their scripts? Did everything that you intended to get on the screen end up on the screen? If there's anything different, why?

PC: I think they're pretty much exactly what was written and planned. The difference is that before you start making the film you have a perfect vision of what you want the film to be, but because of the limits of budget and time you never really get exactly what you've got in your head, you have a limited budget and you can only make what you can afford. But the thing I find really interesting is through the collaborative process of making a film you end up with something different and better at the end. It's still the directors vision, but it's the directors vision made with the input of a lot of other very talented people

DH: What was the budget for both movies and how did you secure financing?

PC: (I'd prefer not to talk about exact figures if that's ok?) A friendly bank manager and an even friendlier visa card! The only way both films were made was with a lot of support from the cast and crew who all gave up their time for free. Eel Girl probably wouldn't have happened without the incredible support from Richard Taylor and Weta Workshop.

DH: What did you shoot on and how long of a shoot was it for each movie?

PC: Hell Hamsters was shot on Digibeta and the shoot took 3 days, which I now know is a ridiculously short time to shoot a 15 minute film. Ideally you want to be shooting 2-3 pages of script per day, and we were shooting 5 pages plus makeup effects, puppets and visual effects, but in the end I think the energy that went into that insane shooting schedule ended up with what you see in the finished film.

Eel Girl was a slightly easier affair in that we were only shooting 5 pages of script in 3 days and there was only a tiny bit of dialogue. We were also shooting on a set, so we had much more space and control of the whole environment, plus a larger crew. However Eel Girl was shot on 35mm so that generally takes more time than shooting on tape. A huge amount of time was spent prepping the Eel Girl shoot, so on the day although it was still hard work and stressful, but generally the whole thing went very smoothly, and we even finished a few hours early on the last day.

DH: After it's all said and done, what would you have done differently on one or both movies?

PC: On Hell Hamsters perhaps a longer shoot time might have been less exhausting, but I'm not sure it would have made the film any better, as all the energy of the crazy shoot ended up in the film. On Eel Girl, I'd have liked to have added a bit more detail into the sets, and shot more coverage so we had more to play with in the edit, but that was just a time and money issue like any film.

DH: How's the distribution going? Any lessons learned there? Anything you can pass on to other indie filmmakers who've just finished a film?

PC: Hell Hamsters has just been picked up for distribution by Canadian company Ouat! Media, and Eel Girl is just starting to hit the festival circuit and has already picked up one award. As far as advice goes, if you want people to see your film, you have promote it and get it into film festivals. It's a huge amount of work but it's just all part of the job of filmmaking. We have websites and myspace pages for both films and we keep them regularly updated.

DH: What's next? Do you have any more projects in the works?

PC: Yes, definitely! Myself and Producer Elisabeth Pinto are currently developing two feature films. The first is called Lore of the Jungle written by UK script writer Paul Finch. I can't reveal much about the story yet but it's set in London and involves black magic and re-animated corpses and it's designed to be a very fun entertaining Evil Dead 2/Dusk Till Dawn style film.

The other project is Terminal, which is a supernatural bank heist thriller, based on the novel by US horror author Brian Keene. We've been writing the script for that ourselves.

We took both projects to the Cannes film festival this year and got a lot of interest so we're currently trying to trying to raise financing for both.

For more information on Night of the Hell Hamsters, you can go to the site here or its Myspace page here. For more information on Eel Girl, you can go to the site here or its Myspace page here.

Dead and Gone signing at Dark Delicacies Saturday August 9th

Yossi Sasson and members of the cast and crew listed below will be signing copies of their new film, "Dead and Gone". Be sure to stop down to Dark Delicacies and buy yourselves a pair (of the movie and book, that is)! And be sure to check back right here at Dead Harvey for Sasson's upcoming mp3 interview.

Saturday, August 9^th – 2 pm – Dead and Gone
Harry Shannon (writer), composer Harry Manfredini, Kathryn Bates (Frankie), Yossi Sasson (Director), Gillian Shure (Kate), Dan Crawley (makeup fx) and other guests to be announced.signing the new horror film, Dead and Gone (DVD $26.98). Harry will also be signing the novel, Dead and Gone (TPB $16.95).

All items can be order through our website at http://www.darkdel.com/ under signing/events. This is a secure shopping cart.

Dark Delicacies
4213 W. Burbank Blvd.
Burbank, CA 91505
818-556-6660 / 888-darkdel
darkdel@darkdel.com
http://www.darkdel.com/
Tues - Fri 10 am to 7 pm
Sat/Sun 11 am to 6 pm
Closed Monday

Linkapalooza - June 24, 2008 - Disney's giving its movies away, Clive Barker can't get his movie out there... and other news.

There continues to be some newsworthy things going on out there in the world of entertainment. So much so, that I'm saving a few articles for next week...

Watch Disney Movies Free Online Series Of Ad Supported Films on the Web - from WebTVWire: Remember how I mentioned a little while ago that I always keep a bit of an eye on what Sony's up to because they're a 'game changer'? Well, Disney is another company that I watch closely and would also consider to be a 'game changer'. Way back in the day, when studios were worried about this new invention called 'television', Disney embraced it and created it's TV program, which made it the first studio to show its recent films on television. The studios later fought VHS and Disney, once again, embraced it... finding new audiences for its older films. When studios were thinking box office, Disney was thinking branding and licensing. Long and short, they've always been ahead of the game. So, when everyone's bitching about online distribution, guess who the first studio to releases its movies for free online is? That's right, Disney...

Dark Knight Director Shuns Digital Effects for the Real Thing - from Wired.com: Big long article/interview with Chris Nolan, director of the upcoming "The Dark Knight", and how he opted for real stunts as opposed to CGI effects. If you're as stoked about "The Dark Knight" as I am, it's a good read. Also, I gotta say, ever since I saw those shitty CGI vampires in "I Am Legend", I've adopted a very anti-computer generated effects stance... so, you go Chris. Dead Harvey's got your back, buddy.

Horror Fans Angered After Learning Lionsgate's 'Midnight Meat Train' Is Now A DVD-Express - from Defamer: This whole story just won't go away... So, a quick recap on what's going on with "Midnight Meat Train": A major theatrical release turns into DVD release. Title is changed to "Midnight Train" from "Midnight Meat Train", is going to be given its theatrical release again. "Meat" returns to title, theatrical release becomes limited theatrical run... 'Barkerites' angered, demand wide release. So, what's next? Personally, I don't care. Here's what f'ing pisses me off - the film is done and I want to see it, period. So, if you're an indie horror filmmaker and you think the whole distribution side of the business sucks ass, what do you think Clive Barker and Ryuhei Kitamura think? Unbelievable...

Netflix boxes sell out - from Mercury News: I talk a lot about bridging the gap between the internet and your TV and how no one seems to be able to put a decent product forward... well, maybe Netflix has done it. First off, the price is right - $100 is cheap enough to where people will give it a go and it's simple and marketable. They're tapping an existing market, their own customers, and it, technically, is a win/win situation. Netflix doesn't have to pay for postage, packaging and things like that and the movies are available instantaneously for consumers. Now, here's the test... how many NEW subscribers will they get AND will they be able to tap into other content. That's what you need to watch for... if either of those things start to happen, we may have a winner on our hands here... and if we have a winner, we have a new way to distribute indie films.

Linkapalooza - May 28, 2008

I was hoping to have another case study done for today and I was working away on it, but I just couldn't get it finished... so, instead, you should get it tomorrow. In lieu of that, let's have a Linkapalooza, since we missed out on that this week. Now, I know that I tend to talk about stuff that pisses me off in the industry, but I want to pass on some links to some books and articles that may better you as a filmmaker... that's right, things you should read.

Every filmmaker should be reading scripts all the time and not just new ones, but old ones, classic ones, ones they like and even ones they don't like. I recently came across HorrorLair.com and it looks like they just link to horror scripts, which should trim a lot of the fat that we don't need. Long and short, I've never talked to a filmmaker that didn't think that story is the most important aspect of a film and the best way to learn how to structure a story is to read as many scripts as you can.

A while ago, I was talking with writer/director Mark Poole, the guy behind "Dead Moon Rising", which was one of the most ambitious no-budget horrors I've ever seen. Anyhow, when I was asking him what advice he would pass on to other filmmakers, he told me about a couple books that I had never heard of before. First one is "The DV Rebel's Guide: An All-Digital Approach to Making Killer Action Movies on the Cheap" and "It's Your Ship: Management Techniques from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy". He told me that "the first tells you how to get the best effects possible, the second, how to be the best team leader/director possible. No kidding."

Since we're talking about books, let me tell you about the book I'm reading right now, called: The Big Picture: The New Logic of Money and Power in Hollywood. I'm barely half way through it, but I can say that it's great insight into how Hollywood actually works. It's basically about how the studios work and if you're into the business behind Hollywood, it's a great read.

Lastly, how about a magazine? Well, just an article from Empire Magazine, which is the biggest selling film magazine in Britain. They did an article a while ago called "50 Greatest Independent Films" and you'd never believe it, but horror's fairly well represented. There won't be any shockers in there, as it covers off "Bad Taste", "Evil Dead", "Night of the Living Dead", etc... but what's really cool are the stories behind why they consider them 'great independent films'. Click on the film and you'll get the story behind it.

Linkapalooza - May 20, 2008

Some interesting stuff going on out there in Hollywood these days...

Leading Man at Forbes.com - Okay, if there was a spectrum and at one far end, there was Dead Harvey, who's navigating, promoting and working the no-budget, indie horror scene... the other far end would be this guy, Peter Chernin. Some people consider him to be the most powerful man in Hollywood, basically because as President of News Corp, "he runs the most-watched TV network, the largest movie studio (based on year-to-date box office sales), a clutch of cable channels and an expanding array of Internet sites." All the guys who you and I would bend over a couch to get a meeting with would do the same (and probably more) to get a meeting with Chernin... and I mean that figuratively, I think. Anyhow, it's a great article on how he and Disney's Iger basically stopped the writers strike, how he's not going to let an actor's strike happen and where he thinks this whole industry is going. Very interesting...

Indies paving a self-distribution trail on YouMakeMedia.com - When I first saw the title of this, I thought it was going to be about self-distributing DVD's and content online, however... it's about how some indie filmmakers are securing theatrical releases all on their own. There's some great ideas in there...

Netflix to Sell a Device for Instantly Watching Movies on TV Sets on NewYorkTimes.com - Well, the future is here! Netflix is now selling a digital box for $99 that will connect the internet to your TV. It's not like it hasn't been tried before (AppleTV), but they're doing it at the right price. They will house the content on a server somewhere and you can watch whatever you want, on demand. I think we all agree, a box that connects the internet to your TV, tranlating content so it's easy to navigate is where we're going to go. I don't think there's any questions there. It's just about figuring out who owns those boxes and Netflix is taking a stab at it. The problem, once again, will be with the studios, who will be reluctant to give up their titles. Maybe, after they've squeezed all the juice out of them that they can, they might pass them on. However, if you take the studio's problems out if it, this should open up doors for indie filmmakers. Just think, can you see a day where Netflix (or whoever owns the boxes) has an option for you to upload content, design a page, then it's instantly offered to every household that has the box and you split revenues with them? I can...

'Dawn of the Dead' goes 3-D on TheHollywoodReporter.com - Is this for real? Is there really a big enough audience to justify "dimensionalizing" George A. Romero's 1978 original version of "Dawn of the Dead" to stereoscopic 3-D for a theatrical release? Considering that it costs a minimum of $50K per minute to do and that the film is 126 minutes long, someone's going to spend $6.3Million to create this? The original film had a budget of under $1Million! Someone's insane for thinking this makes economical sense... but, I'll go see it.