tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13678041480752960882024-02-19T03:05:27.059-08:00Adventures of An Indy FilmmakerBecause I don't have enough blogs. But seriously, this blog will be for some other things I do that are not necessarily related to individual movies.Kangashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05306092145547452231noreply@blogger.comBlogger104125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1367804148075296088.post-67342752495319996322023-08-25T12:27:00.002-07:002023-08-25T12:27:24.106-07:00Filmhub Update 8/25/23: Roku, Fawesome Horror, FreeTV Club, UDU Digital<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAvwE8psKME16ayQ_DRZwmFnyB18Fv8ygoJsPT7RtRuuFDVxZTnAzCO02pNBeDRmKABrAgBADR7tJo5j7DwYDEdBtKAbr5sWP74USCsXB_JGTzFKjaitfT3Y9w50wW5iMsPSmnCTLIdG6ndf9aYNfErJc3lo6Yfinxkw7BzJsLzPgT33z9AvDUba6yKms/s500/bad-news-everyone-wmqayj.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAvwE8psKME16ayQ_DRZwmFnyB18Fv8ygoJsPT7RtRuuFDVxZTnAzCO02pNBeDRmKABrAgBADR7tJo5j7DwYDEdBtKAbr5sWP74USCsXB_JGTzFKjaitfT3Y9w50wW5iMsPSmnCTLIdG6ndf9aYNfErJc3lo6Yfinxkw7BzJsLzPgT33z9AvDUba6yKms/w400-h300/bad-news-everyone-wmqayj.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /> I've been absent from this blog for a long time, as life gets in the way. I'm sure you can identify.<p></p><p>Anyway, Filmhub worked out okay for us--the fact that most of my movies made their budgets back elsewhere meant Filmhub was just sort of additional money. There were up and down months, but now everything's settled quite a bit, even Tubi. </p><p>Tubi used to pay quite decent, but our numbers have fallen way off. I'm not sure how much is because our viewership is down or whether the Fox buyout has affected how much we're being paid.</p><p>Anyway, that's not the main point of this post. The main point is this:</p><p>Couple of months ago I noticed my movies were on a Roku channel called Fawesome Horror. I went and looked at everyone who has licensed my movies--and the channels they claim to represent--and there was no Fawesome horror.</p><p>I reached out to Future Today(who owns Fawesome), who told me they got my titles via UDU Digital. (someone who HAD licensed my titles). I reached out to Filmhub to see if they were aware of this. They said UDU was not allowed to do this, as Filmhub had just reached an agreement with Future Today to license to them.</p><p>I pulled all my titles from UDU. I warned Filmhub that this kind of behavior by their licensors was VERY concerning. If the licensors aren't telling Filmhub where they're streaming our movies, it would be very easy to hide money from those places.</p><p>Not that Filmhub seems interested in auditing anyone, which we'll circle back to in a moment.</p><p>Last week I saw another channel being pimped on Roku. The FreeTV Club Channel. I do a quick search, and a couple of my movies are on there. I repeat my licensor check, and nope, nobody lists this as an outlet for their company.</p><p>I look to the Developer on Roku, but they are only identified as "Developer 447529083915". That's not a good sign. They don't even put a company name? Seems shady.</p><p>I contact Filmhub, who tells me that no one they deal with supplies titles to FreeTV Club.</p><p>I go into FreeTV Club's TOS and find the company says they're owned by a Chinese company called Tiny Kernel Ltd. There's an email, so I email them to find out who they licensed my titles through. I tell them that if they don't reply back within 7 business days, I'll file a copyright claim through Roku to get their channel taken down.</p><p>If you're a filmmaker, I'd urge you to go see if your movies are on either of these channels, and if so, report them to Filmhub and Roku. It looks like it's actually going to come to litigation, as Fawesome is STILL playing my titles well over a month after being informed they're violating my copyright.</p><p>---</p><p>FILMHUB: GOING DOWNHILL FAST</p><p>After the whole Fawesome thing, which I posted about on the FB Protect Yourself... group, I got an email from a producer group who was interested in hearing about my experience with Filmhub. They had heard some disturbing things about them.</p><p>I got a conference call with them. One of them was in the UK, another in Los Angeles. I told them my issues, and they said they'd heard the same. They said that it appeared that Filmhub wasn't interested in audting or trying to keep honest any of the licensors they deal with.</p><p>Basically, Company X can license your title with nearly no vetting, and then just pay Filmhub whatever they want a month. Filmhub doesn't make them prove anything or account for how often they're streaming your film.</p><p>I started deep diving on some of the stats--UDU, who has had some of my movies since December of 2021 has paid me a grand total of...wait for it...$28.</p><p>They claim to operate 8 channels, and they're making me on average $1.25 a month?</p><p>Some other channels appear to be the same. Some haven't even paid me a dime, and have had my movies for 8 months to a year. </p><p>This is no longer a recipe for success for the filmmaker. It appears Filmhub's strategy is to license as many movies to as many places as possible, hoping for whatever money they can get. There is no oversight. No one is vetting these companies. No one is auditing at all.</p><p>I've now told Filmhub to stop licensing any of my titles unless they clear it with me first. I told them that if that was too much trouble, just stop licensing them to any new places. I also told them to pull my titles from quite a few of the companies that weren't paying.</p><p>I'd urge any filmmakers using Filmhub to take a good look at some of these channels on Roku and see if their movies have been licensed, and to stop Filmhub from licensing to just ANY channel. UDU is pretty clearly a scam company--I'm positive there is a TOS for Filmhub that says these companies can't license material from Filmhub to third parties, but that's just what they did when they licensed my movies to Future Today, without letting Filmhub know.</p><p>If we find enough filmmakers that this has happened to, perhaps it will be time for a class-action lawsuit against these companies...</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Kangashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05306092145547452231noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1367804148075296088.post-71906724727396095792021-09-09T10:50:00.000-07:002021-09-09T10:50:25.796-07:00Filmhub Update 9-9-21<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghBdsOLdnWiY3BUT3NfaYNCstkQye6doF7Hi9GUOglLEkUjyomcRoZHLdpjtyNsb3CL9rbw1K8INogzYQQxByf27HdFGvitCyNq665BbTkeDWkW5N_Yz198cP7XBM-kUUlkLaNCYTpN94/s846/fh+platforms+9-9-21.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="846" data-original-width="668" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghBdsOLdnWiY3BUT3NfaYNCstkQye6doF7Hi9GUOglLEkUjyomcRoZHLdpjtyNsb3CL9rbw1K8INogzYQQxByf27HdFGvitCyNq665BbTkeDWkW5N_Yz198cP7XBM-kUUlkLaNCYTpN94/w316-h400/fh+platforms+9-9-21.jpg" width="316" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>So here's the most recent listing of where they're placing my titles. A lot of these I've never heard of, but hey, the more the merrier. Obviously Tubi seems to be the one paying the most at this moment. Looks like Plex pays about 10-20% of what Tubi does for a full watch, but both platforms vary depending on what commercials are being shown, I believe.</p><p>This week was a bit of a downer though, as Tubi's number dropped to about 20% of what I was doing for Terrortory 2. Garden of Hedon notched up a bit, doing just a few more bucks than Terrortory 2 on Tubi.</p><p>Filmhub also has an excellent filter system where you can have it show you only results from individual platforms. I can tell you that so far, since I started getting titles up on FH, they're estimating I've done about $135 on Plex. That's in about two months. </p><p>Obviously nothing to set the world on fire, but if the other platforms start doing Plex numbers, that stuff will add up. And apart from that, Tubi has done about thirty times that number. The fact that Tubi's slowing down now is concerning though. Wish I had an idea what drove Terrortory 2's numbers through the roof while the others have done pretty mediocre.</p><p>Things I'm mulling over. I've had some postcards printed out with the Tubi links on them. Should have had them done for the other two conventions I did, but didn't think of it. I'll take these to the Monstermania show later this month and put them on the tables and stuff.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Kangashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05306092145547452231noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1367804148075296088.post-36726435925388145222021-08-17T10:19:00.004-07:002021-08-25T12:20:29.294-07:00Filmhub Week 2 of August and Tubi Musings<p> <br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnpbrJUoHuUI1EgtKJGnUsvlo7rEiFjNq60k9ivw_xsA3we5Vxkqwy1i6PKDlFd8_oVxjp94UFHkbWt3QiiARmsLqLcu8JT_prZLCLm82TtKRRl471xOOuVMWg996rwp5LPi_z7kdVqKM/s1466/filmhub+trajectory+week2+of+aug2021+f.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="880" data-original-width="1466" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnpbrJUoHuUI1EgtKJGnUsvlo7rEiFjNq60k9ivw_xsA3we5Vxkqwy1i6PKDlFd8_oVxjp94UFHkbWt3QiiARmsLqLcu8JT_prZLCLm82TtKRRl471xOOuVMWg996rwp5LPi_z7kdVqKM/w400-h240/filmhub+trajectory+week2+of+aug2021+f.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>Another report drops, and it's more good news. I gotta tell you, I'm VERY curious to see the earnings report, though it's clearly a ways off. (I haven't seen an earnings report for Q2 yet, even though we're now only about 6 weeks away from the end of Q3)</p><p>Any way you look at it, I'm seriously considering Terrortory 3 now. Sure, I had put some thought into it before, having intended to shoot a segment last year that fell through due to Covid, and I've been working on the main script.</p><p>I may try to shoot that smaller segment that I'd tried to do, this time in the fall. However, we're at that uncomfortable stage of our existence called "Is the next plague about to hit us?", re Delta variant, so I'm not putting big stock into it yet.</p><p>I know a couple of the actors I'd cast have inquired as to the status, but I think the main actress I'd cast has basically written me off. (we went through three false starts on this piece, so I don't blame her)</p><p>So I'd have to recast her and find the locations, but otherwise I don't see too many issues other than the complicated VFX I'll have to do.</p><p>--</p><p>Tubi continues to be, as predicted, the star of the AVOD channels. I like how they report too--you can one lump sum for each movie per week, whereas Plex seems to literally give you EVERY individual transaction(so you might see a $.25 if someone watched your whole movie through, and you'll see various smaller amounts every time someone watches parts of your movie).</p><p>Some people might like that more, but it really clutters up the insights and makes you scroll through pages and pages of Plex insights. Not that big a deal, just a minor nuisance.</p><p>Was nice to see two of my movies listed under the "Recently Added" category. Really hoping they pick up the first Terrortory soon, since the second one is killing it right now, and people watching that might then give the first one a try.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi8ECp113pCZXz-HTux91cilwF9Z3TIWuDMh8-o0kNrTfS5qGqxEz8ddI8vNbBg8tcJkFyIiqLcRdmK42ZVN-bzoON16joVPnFv2kBVerdHStl3Q4BLxTGsHWID_bY_x-p5mfR2hS2I4I/s3425/IMG_9882+tubi+new+arrivals.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1953" data-original-width="3425" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi8ECp113pCZXz-HTux91cilwF9Z3TIWuDMh8-o0kNrTfS5qGqxEz8ddI8vNbBg8tcJkFyIiqLcRdmK42ZVN-bzoON16joVPnFv2kBVerdHStl3Q4BLxTGsHWID_bY_x-p5mfR2hS2I4I/w400-h228/IMG_9882+tubi+new+arrivals.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p><br /></p>Kangashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05306092145547452231noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1367804148075296088.post-51064764929919635732021-08-05T09:23:00.001-07:002021-08-05T09:23:59.428-07:00Filmhub update week 1 of August 2021<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsU-l03Dn2MekMQyu2vz3OdXJzecmO2uhliAqSzAO_KFECWeu_hCzqjJRH-JlFh0P8wX0JmlL7YPPsLdPhLIq67mDfkN1Hg-l4zEjAUc-3-zEyupquGhZqUR7dkpC8oXE0DzUDD5nRWJo/s599/deep+thoughts+ashley+me.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="337" data-original-width="599" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsU-l03Dn2MekMQyu2vz3OdXJzecmO2uhliAqSzAO_KFECWeu_hCzqjJRH-JlFh0P8wX0JmlL7YPPsLdPhLIq67mDfkN1Hg-l4zEjAUc-3-zEyupquGhZqUR7dkpC8oXE0DzUDD5nRWJo/w400-h225/deep+thoughts+ashley+me.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>Did a horror convention this past weekend that was a lot of fun. Sure, everybody was masked but it was still nice to be back in that atmosphere and seeing people I haven't seen in years.</p><p>Then I come back and see this bit of goodness. The new stats:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo-SJIW6jnLMHUSf3pl9IEjEWVfjpdEljNQsaWZDSl5nj7XIdG5KNnadI7rCIXPNZi3oyiyQnNLXSVPIi0vp43wd1tDi4KTU1p6ZqmGZyw5ormno_Yj4-x2CWQybu339VSSPQbIzBLIfA/s1647/filmhub+trajectory+week1+of+aug2021.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="869" data-original-width="1647" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo-SJIW6jnLMHUSf3pl9IEjEWVfjpdEljNQsaWZDSl5nj7XIdG5KNnadI7rCIXPNZi3oyiyQnNLXSVPIi0vp43wd1tDi4KTU1p6ZqmGZyw5ormno_Yj4-x2CWQybu339VSSPQbIzBLIfA/w400-h211/filmhub+trajectory+week1+of+aug2021.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p>The last week of July saw a big uptick, and I think August is only trending down right now because it's first-week. We're now in the four-figure range, most of that coming from Terrortory 2 on Tubi.</p><p>I'm not sure why the amount of countries has gone down on that chart though. I might have to ask about that.I'm thinking that it just means in July there was a bunch of countries where one person streamed something that month, and so far, nobody in those countries have streamed anything. (as opposed to thinking those were the amount of countries where the flicks were available to stream, which is what I was thinking)</p><p>I continue to experiment on my duplicate-frame problem for Fear of Clowns 2. It's complicated as fuck because of the audio. When you mess with taking 20% of the frames out of the movie, that means sound gets sped up by 20% to match, which either leaves you with a chipmunks audio, or you tell the program to try to keep the same pitch, which still sounds distorted.</p><p><br /></p>Kangashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05306092145547452231noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1367804148075296088.post-78926294476249475522021-07-26T07:56:00.005-07:002021-07-26T08:02:46.606-07:00Filmhub update End of July 2021<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj1TStwU0sCLR88rbqQ3tyaqHyNLhe-gJfgbY7S5SWBxLoRBeRv8_JL-DaaZxqdlmDmJVO0haMd5zEMoFOLn13JWG-4pQuCpHb3b-lpt2MKYTQXl2fl9A7RhgwdWRlptXR94ghp9D62GI/s1920/bounty+amazon+bg+graphic.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj1TStwU0sCLR88rbqQ3tyaqHyNLhe-gJfgbY7S5SWBxLoRBeRv8_JL-DaaZxqdlmDmJVO0haMd5zEMoFOLn13JWG-4pQuCpHb3b-lpt2MKYTQXl2fl9A7RhgwdWRlptXR94ghp9D62GI/w400-h225/bounty+amazon+bg+graphic.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>This is the background graphic I'd used for "Bounty" on Amazon</b></p><p><br /></p><p>So at this point, here's where I'm at. I have seven features PASSED on Filmhub. All of them have been picked up by various places from Tubi to Plex to Vuuzle to Xumo to Gruuvr and a bunch of other I've never heard of.</p><p>If you don't know that much about Filmhub, they give you a dashboard that's similar to Amazon's but it shows you what they call "Insights" that tries to give you an idea of how much you're making. However, there are warnings all over so you understand that these are NOT earnings, just estimates.</p><p>Since I'm still new to this and haven't gotten an earnings report yet, I can't testify as to how accurate they are, but I'll let you know. At this point, since many of my titles are recently placed and I only started with two movies, I can't draw any conclusions, but this is what my current trajectory looks like:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtRcSGwoTPnjA1_1jVR62ktxjNZBQVOibXVlnMAU2HNMdsMgqq5dD1Lak4FkxxMvJwsjyeBnSZJYlx6R7sxafgReYJ6FF2GkL2BwxMLoBBWN2GNttec1hAtgYjcTbpd1BQIkOxX6mPoI4/s1661/filmhub+trajectory+end+of+july2021.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="685" data-original-width="1661" height="165" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtRcSGwoTPnjA1_1jVR62ktxjNZBQVOibXVlnMAU2HNMdsMgqq5dD1Lak4FkxxMvJwsjyeBnSZJYlx6R7sxafgReYJ6FF2GkL2BwxMLoBBWN2GNttec1hAtgYjcTbpd1BQIkOxX6mPoI4/w400-h165/filmhub+trajectory+end+of+july2021.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">As you can see, there's now a sharp earnings trend up. You're probably like, "Hey, why'd you blur your earnings?" and I'll tell you--I'm not sure whether Filmhub cares whether I share this information. I have no problem sharing exactly how much money they're making(and the graph shows an approximation so you can guess), but I'm going to go through the pages and see whether there are any issues with sharing</span><span style="text-align: left;"> this information.</span></div><p>I can tell you that it's not a massive amount yet, but I'm very encouraged by the results, especially because I've done NO advertisements for my films yet other than my various social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, of which I don't have that many followers--I'm a pretty bad social media guy because I just don't have time to spend there that often.</p><p>But it's also very encouraging to see how many countries Filmhub gets your titles into, as opposed to Amazon's four.</p><p>Another thing I'm trying that may be of interest to filmmakers who only have, say, one move in their belt is this:</p><p>If you've been following me for any length of time then you know I pride myself on making entertaining and lengthy "Making Of" segments for my DVD/Blu Ray releases. A while back I had even gotten three of them onto Amazon before the Great Indie Purge.</p><p>Well, I've now started submitting them as documentaries through Filmhub. Wasn't sure there would be any interest, so I only submitted one but it cleared and has now been picked up by a couple of platforms including one of my new favorites, Plex. (for me, Tubi and Plex seem to be bringing the most interest/money according to Insights)</p><p>So I intend to get some of my others ones up also. Only issue is that I have to make all the various graphic posters and then make trailers for them. (I only made a trailer for one of the three that went up on Amazon, because they weren't required there)</p><p>But if you have a feature film and you have a good long Making Of, perhaps consider submitting it for some extra revenue. (and also consider that perhaps someone will stumble upon the Making Of, and seek out your film, so it could be another avenue to discovery of your film)</p><p>Also, when I say "long", I suppose it could be short because they do take shorts. </p><p>Anyway, at this point I'd recommend to anyone looking to place titles out there to consider Filmhub. It's definitely opened up some avenues, and I'll continue to update this, including making some educated guesses at exactly how much each view on certain platforms could earn you.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Kangashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05306092145547452231noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1367804148075296088.post-19949184889294428202021-07-06T11:25:00.004-07:002021-07-21T07:29:37.917-07:00Another long gap / Some More Filmhub stuff<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbxAAwohxf-0z4w23f3ayfbnaVo5mGAKeRr0pqU6SkUdyNEv3YRM8RxqyXVSr6hb6-n3NasEoAJD9PJGZQv0kmd1huB3TEQI6QDUk6Z1tRQ7fJQtL6J2R66ASKuvdIvRN2C9FaEpzOx5s/s640/CLOWN_HEAD2f.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbxAAwohxf-0z4w23f3ayfbnaVo5mGAKeRr0pqU6SkUdyNEv3YRM8RxqyXVSr6hb6-n3NasEoAJD9PJGZQv0kmd1huB3TEQI6QDUk6Z1tRQ7fJQtL6J2R66ASKuvdIvRN2C9FaEpzOx5s/s320/CLOWN_HEAD2f.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>So...yeah, I'm the worst blogger in history. Things have been hectic over the past few months.</p><p>Here's what happened re: Filmhub</p><p>They gave me a bit of the runaround with Garden of Hedon, so I finally just told them to forget it. I just ignored that whole thing for a few months, and someone reached out to me and said "We're just wondering what you want to do with Garden of Hedon?"</p><p>I told them, not very nicely, "You failed it and I don't care, just delete it."</p><p>They said some things had changed, and that they thought they could work to get it to pass. I said in that case, go ahead. So then I figured, okay, I'll follow through on Bounty.</p><p>I got both of those up, and they started getting picked up by outlets. I was encouraged, so I worked double time on every single other one of my films to get them all over there. As of this moment, every film other than Fear of Clowns 2 and Terrortory 1 are available and being placed on platforms.</p><p>Those two films are currently pending. FOC2 failed due to duplicate frames because--and this goes way back into technical shit--we shot it in 2005ish on a Panasonic AG-DVX100B at 24 frames per second. At the time, you had to convert it to 30fps to edit it for video, and what that did was duplicate a frame every 4 frames--that's how you got 30 frames out of 24.</p><p>There's really only one true way to fix that, and that's to go pull out EVERY fifth frame, stitch it all back together, and then reexport at 24fps.</p><p>Am I going to do that? Not at this time. Filmhub's looking into seeing if they can fix it on their end. Weird thing is, we shot FOC1 on the same type of camera(it was an AG-DVX100A) so I'm not sure why they didn't fail that one. It was edited on the exact same computer, exact same edition of Premiere.</p><p>I just submitted the first Terrortory, so am waiting to see if it passes.</p><p>If you want to see all of the places my movies are currently placed at, check this web page I made in Notepad. It's not pretty, but it's functional.</p><p><a href="https://bit.ly/kkfhorrors">https://bit.ly/kkfhorrors</a></p><p>So far I don't have any money to report, but I'll let you know. The movies first went up at the end of May, and I think you get quarterly reports. Stay tuned.</p><p>---</p><p>I helped a buddy get his movie placed on Filmhub--he too is pretty sick of Amazon's bullshit. I whipped up his posters and cut him a teaser trailer. You can see that here:</p><p><br />
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" border="0" frame="" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/znGURj-9_M8" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe>
</p><p>He started getting placed on platforms now. Personally I really enjoy Plex. Found quite a few things I wanted to watch on there, and it streamed fine. Sure, there's commercials, but that doesn't bother me too much as I'm always working anyway. </p><p>Anyway, when I have more to report about actual earnings, I'll let you know if I think it's worth your time to get your movies over there.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Kangashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05306092145547452231noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1367804148075296088.post-55846601980901993342021-01-29T15:55:00.000-08:002021-01-29T15:55:00.421-08:00Been A While. Let's Talk Filmhub.<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaGj8LdTBUtsv4juDax7yUm1djrt7P73VNkOqxr5ugvGqDDmiVs9b2ZFqQzd7imGidiE4NkifsNGgbzXb9QxOi03FfGkBDURzLjUKoThbinoiNJtRDQOv6VOsQeaiJCLN0HUKpvLxmzZM/s643/GoH_8x11quotes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="643" data-original-width="500" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaGj8LdTBUtsv4juDax7yUm1djrt7P73VNkOqxr5ugvGqDDmiVs9b2ZFqQzd7imGidiE4NkifsNGgbzXb9QxOi03FfGkBDURzLjUKoThbinoiNJtRDQOv6VOsQeaiJCLN0HUKpvLxmzZM/w311-h400/GoH_8x11quotes.jpg" width="311" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>Okay, you're probably wondering what happened to me, if you've been following this blog at all. When last I posted, I was moving ahead to shoot a film set in an asylum, a balls-to-the-walls action horror.</p><p>I was barely two weeks out from filming when I had a major problem. The actor playing the "monster" bailed on me out of the blue. I had already had the outfit custom made to his size(he's like 6 foot 7). I scrambled and found a couple of backups to take his place since nobody could commit to every night I needed him. </p><p>It was demoralizing to say the least. THEN I went to the asylum for last looks and to do some final tests, shoot some promo video/stills. Well, security busted us going in. They were nice but said "Don't come back", and that's when the whole thing died.</p><p>I was in a pretty deep funk. I haven't had to cancel a movie shoot that far in prep since BEFORE my first film, Hunting Humans. (we had cast two movies before that that never got off the ground)</p><p>For months I was pretty depressed, and not long after that, one of the actors I'd written a major part for died unexpectedly. (pre-Covid) I had been looking for other locations to maybe shoot for, but couldn't find any that were close.</p><p>I wheeled and wrote a new segment for Terrortory, figuring maybe I release it on Amazon and eventually it can go into Terrortory 3 if I make it. I cast the segment, started working on props, went out on a location scout back to the Terrortory woods...</p><p>and Covid hit. Nobody wanted to let us into their houses to shoot stuff. Actors were leery about coming out. We're on budgets so tiny that we can't possibly follow any protocols like getting people constantly tested.</p><p>So I dropped it all. Long story short, I have no plans right now to shoot anything.</p><p>--------</p><p>Remember my kinonation posts? How that didn't work out?</p><p>Well, they got bought out a while back and are now filmhub, and we've been discussing it on the FB forum that you MUST be a part of if you're a filmmaker. It's a wealth of knowledge and networking stuff.</p><p><a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/699825860525598">https://www.facebook.com/groups/699825860525598</a></p><p>The movie I submitted to kinonation, "Bounty", is still in their system and is actually STILL live on FandangoNow even though I'd asked kino to remove it. Anyway, since Amazon pulled "Garden of Hedon" I figured I'd try to submit it to filmhub.</p><p>I uploaded the movie, plus like 8 different size one-sheets(seriously, there's some weird fucking aspect ratios they want), and submitted it. Got a QC rejection, asking if I had a higher-res mezzanine file. I did--I had submitted the video file I had used on Amazon--so I found the higher quality version and sent it, submitted it again.</p><p>Got a rejection, asking if I had key art with less nudity. This pissed me off, because they HAD the key art on my last submission. Why wasn't it rejected at the same time as the other? If I fix the new issues, will there be ANOTHER rejection for ANOTHER reason?</p><p>I'm used to QC's coming as a list of things to fix. You get the list, you fix, you send it in, done. </p><p>So I just dropped the whole thing. I think that was back in early 2020. Recently I was contacted, as they wanted to know what I intended, so I replied back with the exact details about why I wasn't happy. Someone named Alan contacted me and wanted to set up a zoom meeting today.</p><p>Well, zoom didn't work for shit, so we just had an old-fashioned chat on the phone. Alan seemed pretty nice, pretty knowledgeable. He gets why I was frustrated, and made some suggestions. The salient points of our conversations were this:</p><p>-- I'm most interested in getting some of my flicks onto Tubi, as I've heard it's paying pretty decent as those things go. This goes to the fact that he suggests I provide them new key art for Garden of Hedon because a lot of channels won't pick it up with that poster. Tubi was one he said probably wouldn't bite, and he said imdb TV also wouldn't, and he seemed to think that's becoming a pretty good place to put your flick.</p><p>He said they have guys who can mock up a new poster for like $225 and it will get taken out of any future payments. That's a fair price for key art, but the quality isn't as high as my guy, so I'll probably just get him to do a new one if I can think up a decent concept. I mean, the hot chick on the poster obviously brings the views, so what's the next option? Not sure yet.</p><p>--I said maybe I'd let them reopen "Bounty" and see if they can license it. He took a look at what I'd provided and let me know the bad news about THAT key art. You need about 5% of edge for your title in case it gets cut off by whatever channel or venue it shows on. You can see the problem in my "Bounty" poster:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1J0tTv7VzSFbTO7nq_d1ZIOcTscKHpg8kyTIYm4XZ67yshS9uPtwlxrOIvJa8Xm5-Q8pGlC6t2kXQTTyiEKHK2YvK7_2T97Eb6OIE7wfU7WohG58n4vhVfXtGm49FfQqP0wV8wHwv__o/s700/small+4+blog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="467" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1J0tTv7VzSFbTO7nq_d1ZIOcTscKHpg8kyTIYm4XZ67yshS9uPtwlxrOIvJa8Xm5-Q8pGlC6t2kXQTTyiEKHK2YvK7_2T97Eb6OIE7wfU7WohG58n4vhVfXtGm49FfQqP0wV8wHwv__o/s320/small+4+blog.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p>See how it runs right to the edges? You need some room. Now, I don't have the original psd files of this from my guy and I don't wanna bother him to redo it, so I'm just gonna manually fix it. Will take some work but I can do it.</p><p>--I asked about Insights on their web site because I had seen someone else asking about them. They're sort of rough estimations on how much your flicks have earned, but someone online had said they were WAY higher than their actual earnings, so what use was the Insights if it were that far off. He more or less said it's their way of trying to be transparent, but it can definitely differ because it can't take into account refunds and other things that might happen. I don't have enough info yet to say much about it yet, but I'll let you know.</p><p>Hey, I'll try to get back to updating this blog on occasion. Did I mention that I shot a music video a couple months back for my buddy's band? You can see it here:</p><p><br />
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/heglb9-x2yM" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Kangashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05306092145547452231noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1367804148075296088.post-18507131602175000372019-09-15T22:36:00.003-07:002019-11-17T12:35:59.748-08:00Distribber News + I Plow Forward<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmjJpRrYnNTh_tjLwTEqzh7WjTjjEKCXk7OYu1-tYHzgDqnGyhAvQAOgjZf-JUHN4TP5h-xy34fGzOxDP1z5qh8336s8a9fwITAzXOpauTjgsQ92VLmunRLIXnkk0PtK2YXAgS0UwX0Sg/s1600/086A4746s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="667" data-original-width="1000" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmjJpRrYnNTh_tjLwTEqzh7WjTjjEKCXk7OYu1-tYHzgDqnGyhAvQAOgjZf-JUHN4TP5h-xy34fGzOxDP1z5qh8336s8a9fwITAzXOpauTjgsQ92VLmunRLIXnkk0PtK2YXAgS0UwX0Sg/s400/086A4746s.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">I'm gonna be seeing a lot of this come November...</span></b></div>
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First things first. I've heard a couple of reports about problems with Distribber. For those who don't know, they're an aggregator that helps place movies to different platforms(like Netflix, Itunes, etc) for filmmakers.<br />
<br />
I've talked about them before in this blog. I've considered using them, but never really wanted to pony up the thousands of dollars to try it.<br />
<br />
I've talked to one of the head guys there, Jason, and he's always seemed pretty straightforward and up front.<br />
<br />
But my deal is that I'm always looking for a PARTNER for my movies, a partner being someone who benefits only when <i>I </i>benefit. That's how you know they believe in you.<br />
<br />
And the problem at Distribber was that they'd profit even if my movie didn't. This is also why it's a little hard to understand how they're failing.<br />
<br />
Anyway, it sounds like they aren't returning calls to filmmakers, and have missed payments. Also sounds like Jason doesn't work there any more. You can find the details at indiefilmhustle, which is a good web site in general for indie filmmakers.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://indiefilmhustle.com/distribber-review-bankrupt/">https://indiefilmhustle.com/distribber-review-bankrupt/</a><br />
<br />
It certainly appears this has been going on for a few months, so I'm surprised I'm just hearing about it now.<br />
<br />
NEW regarding Netflix:<br />
<a href="https://www.indiewire.com/2019/11/netflix-distribber-godigital-1202188326/?fbclid=IwAR0VTO14JE5M0fDVOpphWY_JFJ5Ge1tb00FnnDPpWEHmYaiFfugxNxewUl0">https://www.indiewire.com/2019/11/netflix-distribber-godigital-1202188326/?fbclid=IwAR0VTO14JE5M0fDVOpphWY_JFJ5Ge1tb00FnnDPpWEHmYaiFfugxNxewUl0</a><br />
<br />
NEW Variety Article 11/1/2019<br />
<a href="https://variety.com/2019/film/news/distribber-creditors-refunds-not-coming-2020-1203389718/">https://variety.com/2019/film/news/distribber-creditors-refunds-not-coming-2020-1203389718/</a><br />
<br />
Indiewire Article (10/5/2019)<br />
<a href="https://www.indiewire.com/2019/10/distribber-aggregator-independent-filmmakers-bankruptcy-1202176434/">https://www.indiewire.com/2019/10/distribber-aggregator-independent-filmmakers-bankruptcy-1202176434/</a><br />
<br />
ANOTHER UPDATE(10/2/2019) - A Warning<br />
<a href="https://indiefilmhustle.com/film-aggregators/">https://indiefilmhustle.com/film-aggregators/</a><br />
<br />
VARIETY ARTICLE(10/1/2019)<br />
<a href="https://variety.com/2019/digital/news/independent-distribution-companies-distribber-close-down-1203354408/">https://variety.com/2019/digital/news/independent-distribution-companies-distribber-close-down-1203354408/</a><br />
<br />
MOST RECENT UPDATE(9/30/2019):<br />
<a href="https://nofilmschool.com/why-distribber-died">https://nofilmschool.com/why-distribber-died</a><br />
(this one goes pretty in-depth behind-the-scenes)<br />
<br />
UPDATE ARTICLE(9/20/2019) : A new article on nofilmschool also raises some points.<br />
<a href="https://nofilmschool.com/is-distribber-really-bankrupt">https://nofilmschool.com/is-distribber-really-bankrupt</a><br />
<br />
ANOTHER UPDATED ARTICLE(9/23/2019)<br />
<a href="https://stephenfollows.com/what-kinds-of-movies-did-distribber-attract/">https://stephenfollows.com/what-kinds-of-movies-did-distribber-attract/</a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyOPcSO9JgmFWl7iWJQuLLNzsJx2pgSEHKmYVdJQ3XFs7Fhdu2_QdltQMz9un791p5Mn_6R0DwC6PQ6PjZ6P7cunCGPMdZUZsIbQQSH2TKvFXf9nCO4QCNGbbWKR6UlnWFBc5u5zF73aA/s1600/other+options.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="144" data-original-width="412" height="111" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyOPcSO9JgmFWl7iWJQuLLNzsJx2pgSEHKmYVdJQ3XFs7Fhdu2_QdltQMz9un791p5Mn_6R0DwC6PQ6PjZ6P7cunCGPMdZUZsIbQQSH2TKvFXf9nCO4QCNGbbWKR6UlnWFBc5u5zF73aA/s320/other+options.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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I haven't looked into these yet, so do the diligence first before submitting.<br />
<br />
A couple of other options to explore are:<br />
<a href="https://www.themovieagency.com/submit-your-film">https://www.themovieagency.com/submit-your-film</a><br />
They claim to charge no fees upfront whatsoever, and take a small commission when they sell your flick. That sounds reasonable. In fact, one guy that works there named Phil Galliano posted this on FB:<br />
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
<i>Hi guys, I am not an aggregator but as a sales agent, I am willing to offer you a six month contract with no fees with my sales agency. If you aren't satisfied after 6 months, you are free to go. I am offering you to represent your movie, sell it wherever I can. If I get you an offer, I let you know and you make the decision. You may decline an offer, no pressure.</i></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<i>I don't sign any contracts for you or without your prior consent. You will be able to deal direct with the distributor, and even get any money transfer directly from them. Once you get paid, the only thing I am asking is to pay me 15% commission.</i></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-top: 6px;">
<i>No hidden fees, no upfront fees, no deduction whatsoever! </i></div>
<br />
I mean, that sounds exactly like what you want. I'd still look into it first to see if I could find a filmmaker that would vouch for them. Some people are like "Why would you want to give a cut of your profits, instead of just paying money upfront?", and I'd point DIRECTLY at the Distribber debacle as proof that my way is better. My way, you don't need additional money, and there's no way you can lose any more money than you've spent on your film. The other way, you just paid $3K-$5K, and got NOTHING.<br />
<br />
These people below say they're completely legit, and basically dare you to go ahead and ask any filmmaker they've worked with. (which is sound policy with ANY distributor)<br />
<a href="https://www.indierights.com/distribution">https://www.indierights.com/distribution</a><br />
<br />
Here's another company that's thrown its hat into the ring, but they sound suspiciously like Distribber in their model. Would need to look into it more, and I just don't have time.<br />
<a href="https://www.bitmax.net/">https://www.bitmax.net/</a><br />
<br />
----------<br />
<br />
I've decided to go full steam forward with this new film. I'm not sure exactly HOW it's all gonna get done. The script was finished a couple of weeks ago and I sent it to most of the people I've already cast. They all liked it a lot.<br />
<br />
I've created a schedule--an 8 day schedule--that will be tight, but doable. I'm working on the shooting script now. That's reverse of how I usually do it.<br />
<br />
Usually I do the shooting script first, then you allocate enough time to each scene depending on how many shots you have to get done.<br />
<br />
This time I've given myself some time, and then I have to figure out how few shots we can do in that time.<br />
<br />
I've got to cast some of the roles that are open, find some locations that I don't have right now, gather props, figure out how to do some special effects that I wrote into the script, and some other stuff.<br />
<br />
I may not talk too much about it, because there's a good chance I'm going to have to crowd source a small amount of money to finish the film, and I figure I'll make a $1 tier where people will have access to a private blog with not just the details on the making of this film, but some other crazy stuff I haven't shown publicly before.<br />
<br />
Also, did you know that I did a limited run of TERRORTORY 2 and GARDEN OF HEDON on dvd for that convention I did last month? Only 100 copies of each exist.<br />
<br />
I didn't quite sell out, so if you want a copy you can paypal $19 to cs@kangaskahnfilms.com with the name of which one you want, and I'll ship it to you anywhere in the US. Or, if you want both, send $34.<br />
<br />
If I refund your money, it's because they sold out before you ordered.<br />
<br />
If you'd rather buy it from our square store, leave me a comment and I'll add them there. The store is here, in case you were wondering.<br />
<a href="https://squareup.com/store/kkfilms">https://squareup.com/store/kkfilms</a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRX2-d3OplB0W46i2PFK8HBNeWk37ujSFsdkWDgjl0NpL9FSFl20PLxbxH0fbKmxA7Yl8q2YkVgGKSLM-newfvc0mkmyph6dG-8b4870yjHJo4DhItHSTlmo1Hx8KSjwGNJ-cOjIvHOyU/s1600/terrortory2+goh+dvd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1044" data-original-width="800" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRX2-d3OplB0W46i2PFK8HBNeWk37ujSFsdkWDgjl0NpL9FSFl20PLxbxH0fbKmxA7Yl8q2YkVgGKSLM-newfvc0mkmyph6dG-8b4870yjHJo4DhItHSTlmo1Hx8KSjwGNJ-cOjIvHOyU/s400/terrortory2+goh+dvd.jpg" width="306" /></a></div>
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<br />Kangashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05306092145547452231noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1367804148075296088.post-69233032857678737422019-08-23T14:38:00.000-07:002019-08-23T14:38:10.630-07:00Will I Go Gently Into That Good Night?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL5yjJnSYalpWQusUewiPKu9WF22jTJHR1ULLHw7CELSDDOHZzwDhjyPAo4ttd_4LGZGEraVhlNnzVxQ7l7EUgUBYL_LlS2wBoFo4Jp-YUsMPrsAP7q3ajrFaTs8kpQO9N4q6gpgdWT4E/s1600/flare+still2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL5yjJnSYalpWQusUewiPKu9WF22jTJHR1ULLHw7CELSDDOHZzwDhjyPAo4ttd_4LGZGEraVhlNnzVxQ7l7EUgUBYL_LlS2wBoFo4Jp-YUsMPrsAP7q3ajrFaTs8kpQO9N4q6gpgdWT4E/s400/flare+still2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b> A screen cap from one of the videos we shot.</b></div>
<br />
I'm still not sure.<br />
<br />
I've been working on a script now for about 6 months. If you're just writing a screenplay then you have only to worry about things like character and plot and structure, and how to be entertaining. You can write whatever your imagination tells you to write.<br />
<br />
Now, if you're planning on actually MAKING a movie of your screenplay, then your process is about 1000 times harder. Everything you write needs to be something you can shoot.<br />
<br />
EVERY location has to be one you know you have access to. EVERY prop has to be something you can get for cheap, or make. EVERY action that a character takes has to be something your actors can do.<br />
<br />
It's a nightmare.<br />
<br />
Anyway, I've set most of this movie in an abandoned asylum. I've been to one such abandoned asylum a few times just to shoot pictures and explore.<br />
<br />
My brother and I went back last month to do some tests. This time we went during the evening, and stayed into the night. This asylum has guards that drive around on carts on occasion. I was curious what they'd do if they saw lights on in a building. I brought my lights.<br />
<br />
We had only been there in the fall/winter months before. You have to walk about half a mile through the woods to get to the asylum. The trail is normally pretty clear. This time...it was not.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmMvn7Eo60TLjNMdH5RQNkYl0eNiVt_d_AEPBUlOqD8dtIR_FIWxZ6bPh2AJSq69f0Y1JfR9xU1Io3-OjEMdT-B1PXv_Fnn_TyNUFHna_Twfn9JKEXPjl0_HVDu7tM9SJgBcRLwSvZfQA/s1600/0729191904a+woods+trail+location+scout+s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1000" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmMvn7Eo60TLjNMdH5RQNkYl0eNiVt_d_AEPBUlOqD8dtIR_FIWxZ6bPh2AJSq69f0Y1JfR9xU1Io3-OjEMdT-B1PXv_Fnn_TyNUFHna_Twfn9JKEXPjl0_HVDu7tM9SJgBcRLwSvZfQA/s400/0729191904a+woods+trail+location+scout+s.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
This is the trail. We had to crawl under this, dragging my camera bag, my slider, and a bag full of lights. Not fun.<br />
<br />
It's downhill to the asylum. We get there and start doing some tests. We get some interesting shots, and some promising results to what I was looking at. (no details yet)<br />
<br />
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<br />
One of the tests involved a road flare. I have a shot of a guy lighting one, and then throwing it down the hall to light the hallway. I wanted to see how it would look.<br />
<br />
Well, the flare being lit looks cool. Walking with in slo mo looks good.<br />
<br />
The toss? Well...not so good. When a road flare hits the ground, it goes out immediately. We tried it twice--same exact result.<br />
<br />
And road flares aren't cheap, considering they only last about 15-30 minutes each.<br />
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<br />
I lit up some of the hallway to see how much it would take to work. It's easily doable with two big lights, plus either a flashlight the actors will use or the road flare(which is only in two scenes).<br />
<br />
We heard a chopper at one point flying pretty near the building, but no spotlight ever hit us. No guards ever came to see what was up. It'll be stressful as hell to shoot there, but I've done worse.<br />
<br />
The tough part is the in/out of the place. Parking is non-existent. There used to be a parking lot across the street to park in, but they've blocked it off now. Most of the other places near there say they will tow you if you park there.<br />
<br />
The walk in is long. The walk out is worse, as it's uphill. So after working some grueling hours, we gotta carry the equipment uphill and out every morning. (we'll be shooting mostly nights)<br />
<br />
We won't be dragging in a cooler, I can tell you that. So everyone's gonna have to carry in their own food/drink. That's not fun.<br />
<br />
Since we're filming this so cheap--I mean, 80% cheaper than ANY movie I've ever made--nobody's getting paid. I'm relying on actors who are willing to do me a favor here, but I'm at the mercy of their schedule. I'm trying to keep it to 8 shooting days, which is nuts, but even that's hard to get everyone's schedules in line.<br />
<br />
Will it happen? I'm not sure. I'm starting to get a little more serious about it though.Kangashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05306092145547452231noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1367804148075296088.post-218035778282684222019-06-29T02:42:00.002-07:002019-06-29T02:42:56.621-07:00Been A While<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />
<br />
Thing is, I don't like being the doom and gloom guy. I wanna have some good news on occasion; I can't help it that things aren't turning out that way.<br />
<br />
On the Amazon front, not much has changed. I pulled a couple of my movies from free play. They don't make it easy.<br />
<br />
Easy would be simply unchecking the Free on Prime tab and clicking DONE, and they change that.<br />
<br />
However, they make you republish the entire title and they recheck it all. Why is that a problem, you say?<br />
<br />
Because Amazon keeps changing their policies. At one time, you could put CAPS words in your title. Like, the word TERRORTORY is capitalized in the description. Well, I tried to change its status but they responded--two days after I tried to republish without it being free--to tell me that NO CAPS.<br />
<br />
Other movies that have been on there for years now need actual GERMAN subtitles, or they won't go through in Germany. Shit like that.<br />
<br />
The odd thing is that I don't seem to be losing much money with this new policy of theirs. I'm not sure why. I can't even figure the new policy out, because they TOLD US in print that our movies would ranked--in a way we can see--on whether we'd get penalized or rewarded depending on how popular it was on Amazon.<br />
<br />
I have seen no such thing. I've looked.<br />
<br />
So I dunno. I have no suggestions on how to proceed if you want to put your movie on Amazon. Perhaps that's their purpose--they don't want you to be able to make informed decisions.<br />
<br />
Clearly if your movie has a very small budget but a good trailer and poster, you CAN make money. How much is a crap shoot.<br />
<br />
----------<br />
<br />
On the personal front, I'm still writing something I may try to shoot in October or November for the tiny amount of $2K. (and maybe I'll kickstart another $2K to finish it)<br />
<br />
But if you know me, you know it's not gonna be a talky thing. I plan on doing the same crazy shit, plus some. Can I do it? I don't know.<br />
<br />
Right now I feel old and tired. Most of my friends are like "Come on, man, you can do it!" I appreciate the sentiment and their encouragement, but I wanna say "Get back to me when you've spent literally 20 years chasing a dream, and pretty much have nothing to show for it."<br />
<br />
And sure, I've got seven feature films to show for it. However, I also have bills, a family, no vacations, a small house and no savings.<br />
<br />
That's why I tell wannabe filmmakers to be cautious. There was a saying I'd heard that I used to tell myself was good advice: "Those who have something to fall back on, inevitably do."<br />
<br />
Well I lived my life on that, and at the beginning it DID seem like it would work. Then the internet hit and it all went away.<br />
<br />
So by all means when you're young, go for it. But perhaps keep SOME other job in your back pocket. Some back-up plan, because the road ahead is hard, and getting harder.<br />
<br />
Maybe find yourself a rich wife. That would work.Kangashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05306092145547452231noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1367804148075296088.post-804305981204254822019-03-20T02:03:00.000-07:002019-03-20T02:03:24.376-07:00Amazon OddnessSo if you read my last blog, you know it's looking bleak for us indies.<br />
<br />
As for me personally, our numbers have gone down pretty dramatically after January, like a switch was turned off. With the new pay reduction, I'm all ready to turn my titles to pay-only...<br />
<br />
...and then on March 2nd our numbers spiked big time on Terrortory 2. (and slightly on the other movies)<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWpZ4Ct4yh5iRIPheSKtjrl-Q-hKS3oBdyGRczoYsvHMOVB7ptLXbcjQ-oraEzGSPyjScA1m5JIIctMHAT3HveK5zNtj8oG0aHDooLZz_xQOnKr1GhRAe6LWoCWJq-6iQ8eB1bcrcBMbc/s1600/amazon+spike+graph.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="350" data-original-width="1190" height="117" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWpZ4Ct4yh5iRIPheSKtjrl-Q-hKS3oBdyGRczoYsvHMOVB7ptLXbcjQ-oraEzGSPyjScA1m5JIIctMHAT3HveK5zNtj8oG0aHDooLZz_xQOnKr1GhRAe6LWoCWJq-6iQ8eB1bcrcBMbc/s400/amazon+spike+graph.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
This is the current graph on Terrortory 2. You can see the spike--it's around 3 times the previous numbers, and then as you can see at the end, it REALLY spikes to about 10 times what we were previous doing on average.<br />
<br />
It's going to lead to my best month since December, which leaves me with the question...should I leave one of my movies up just to see what happens? And which one?<br />
<br />
The obvious seems to be Terrortory 2, but I have to ask myself...how many of these people who are streaming it for free would have paid $2 to rent it?<br />
<br />
What if the graph KEEPS going up? I'm not sure what's driving it all of a sudden--we got a good review at the end of February, which triggered a small bump, but that was weeks ago--so I don't know what to expect.<br />
<br />
It's a tough call, and I have to make it soon.<br />
<br />
-------------<br />
<br />
Sudden thought: What if, instead of premiering my next flick for free on Amazon Prime, I went ahead and launched it on Amazon only, pay only? Would be an interesting experience, but could fail mightily.<br />
<br />
If I put it up for pay at first(figuring I'd make it free later), and it doesn't do well, and then I make it free, it may have fallen too far on the charts to ever get back to the top.<br />
<br />
But if I do this next flick, it may be the perfect film to try it on, being SUPER no-budget.<br />
<br />
------------<br />
<br />
FB buddy Rob Hagans has started a Vlog titled "How To Make A Movie For $1000".<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQM7G2tu4bE">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQM7G2tu4bE</a><br />
<br />
I don't agree with some of what he says, but what do I know? I'm a dinosaur. But either way I'm interested to watch and see what he comes up with.Kangashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05306092145547452231noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1367804148075296088.post-65989863936520313642019-03-01T15:02:00.001-08:002019-03-01T16:42:52.979-08:00Amazon Sticks It To The Indies. AGAIN.<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="giphy-embed" frameborder="0" height="324" src="https://giphy.com/embed/xThtaqWQhjO1nmzita" width="480"></iframe><br />
<br />
<b>Actual Footage of An Amazon Rep Replying To Filmmaker Concerns
</b><br />
<br />
So today Amazon sent out yet ANOTHER email to the filmmakers they're now going to fuck even more. Apparently, making over TEN BILLION in profits in 2018 while simultaneously paying ZERO in taxes is not enough to make Jeff Bezos happy.<br />
<br />
The new payout is now going into a sliding scale based on a metric THAT WE CANNOT SEE.<br />
<br />
To boil it down, you still start at the pauper's base rate of $.06 per hour viewed. That would net you on average about $.09 for every time your movie is viewed. (assuming an average running time of 90 minutes)<br />
<br />
Imagine if Red Box charged a dime for every rental. Sound fair?<br />
<br />
BUT, under the new metric(called the Customer Engagement Rating), you will be either penalized or rewarded for such vague and nebulous things such as:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Unique Customers: Current and new Prime members who view your title. </li>
<li>Streamed Hours: The time each customer spends engaging with your
content. </li>
<li>Title Popularity: Notable talent, relevant genres, an IMDb presence
and rating, and box office performance. </li>
<li>Title Caliber: Compelling and high-quality poster art, accurate and
representative copy and metadata, localized subtitles and key art. For
more information, review the publishing steps for standalone and
episodic titles, art requirements, and caption (timed text)
information.
</li>
</ul>
<br />
Oh, don't worry, Amazon's gonna let you know what your CER is, but I assure you that they're not going to back it up with any kind of facts or figures, or details about why your title's CER is going to be low. (and I assure you, it's going to be low)<br />
<br />
And if your title is low? You will lose up to $.02 per hour viewed. In essence, you're now going to be earning $.04 per hour.<br />
<br />
You thought we were getting bent over before...well Amazon was like, "Hold My Beer".<br />
<br />
Amazon also notes at the bottom of all their new bullshit:<br />
<i>Note: The above list is provided as general guidance and could change over
time, as our policies and program may change over time. Prime Video Direct
reserves the right to make judgments and implementation of the practices
above doesn't guarantee engagement.
</i><br />
<br />
So yeah, if you don't like, too bad.<br />
<br />
Also of note, and buried in the new details--they won't be putting up any estimated stats for any movies during the month you're looking at it. So no more real-time stats. You'll get to see what your movie did last month. Good luck reacting in real time to anything, if you're stupid enough to continue to go on with this charade.<br />
<br />
It all starts April 1st. I'll be pulling all my movies from free streaming on the last day of March. Enough is enough. I already canceled my Amazon Prime, though that's more because of their price hike plus the commercials I was being forced to watch during some of the videos on their service.<br />
<br />
So it appears we're all back at square one on the distribution crap fest. No bright lights. Distributor are still paying nearly nothing for advances, and the back-end will never appear.<br />
<br />
I dunno, man. I wish I didn't feel like Jake Gyllenhaal in Brokeback Mountain. I'm like, "I can't quit you" to filmmaking, while filmmaking spits into its hand and gets ready to bend me over again.Kangashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05306092145547452231noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1367804148075296088.post-25302013131173138952019-02-06T05:24:00.002-08:002019-02-10T14:53:05.761-08:00Urban Exploring Plus Other StuffYeah, so I can't stop my brain from thinking about making a super cheap movie that I wouldn't be embarrassed about, but would for sure be able to at least make back the budget.<br />
<br />
Cool locations where we can fuck shit up and not care. Spreading blood in locations, ie friend's houses, is not fun.<br />
<br />
I've been thinking about maybe shooting something at this asylum I've explored a couple of times. Long abandoned, it's got like 22 buildings that are all creepy and different. That's production value right there.<br />
<br />
Plus, I'm trying something else that may make me some dough. Testing it. If it works out, I'll share it here.<br />
<br />
So my brother and I went back to the asylum. Got there about 1:30pm. As soon as we came out of the woods we saw two young girls walking our way. They said something to us about one of the buildings and I said, "Yeah, we've been here a couple of times."<br />
<br />
Then they started asking questions--what was the best building to go to? The main one, we said. It's got the morgue and some cool hallways. Are we going there, they asked? Yes. They're like, Can we tag along with you?<br />
<br />
I'm thinking...Jesus...this is how young girls get killed. They don't know my brother or I, and he's a huge guy. I'm not small, but he's bigger than me. Then I'm thinking, "I don't want these girls hanging around, getting in shots and stuff."<br />
<br />
My brother said, "Well, we're not going to that building right away..." They got the hint, and took off.<br />
<br />
We went into the "entrance" building. It's the one that cuts toward the center, so you can stay hidden from the guards better. You won't have to cross as much bare land.<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj-XL3tCldqSAMByw-IfKS1SBEISKuMH5il2rmURKSm3jADabzdX42ZeismMrqIFofYxpHYtGc2kVxxh9zMhZTKxNPMQkUKWdjdsr6V9-G1jEX82xIMVUvoIxTGdxAsPKDdf7wwYv0-lw/s1600/P1190478f.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="1536" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj-XL3tCldqSAMByw-IfKS1SBEISKuMH5il2rmURKSm3jADabzdX42ZeismMrqIFofYxpHYtGc2kVxxh9zMhZTKxNPMQkUKWdjdsr6V9-G1jEX82xIMVUvoIxTGdxAsPKDdf7wwYv0-lw/s400/P1190478f.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
That's my brother and I posing in a cool dark hallway in the entrance building. Today was an unseasonably warm 62 degrees on Feb 6th...yet this building is so cold it's uncomfortable. You gotta understand, there's tons of giant windows all over, and parts of the roof are caved in.<br />
<br />
So how does it stay so cold? I figure it's the ghosts.<br />
<br />
Then we headed off toward the church...<br />
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We got to the church. I didn't take many pics. My brother did, so I'll post some of those here when I get them.<br />
<br />
Then to the main building. And my complete failure as a person.<br />
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<br />
We shoot a lot of cool pics and video. Here's some:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7qtUby7asr9pHrHkQtfW-U-lUrUdXPs_BzxCgzC8325xtp_kYgYLJgfQU9QNQtFHqcylI7IrfJsne-rj8KHtTKMNjHqHH_oQd1UtAK7xzBQEcI8QIafT65gx55okug1OdvdHsV1TF1q0/s1600/P1190542f.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="1536" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7qtUby7asr9pHrHkQtfW-U-lUrUdXPs_BzxCgzC8325xtp_kYgYLJgfQU9QNQtFHqcylI7IrfJsne-rj8KHtTKMNjHqHH_oQd1UtAK7xzBQEcI8QIafT65gx55okug1OdvdHsV1TF1q0/s400/P1190542f.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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The buildings are falling apart a lot more than the last times we were there. There were also downed trees, like BIG trees.<br />
<br />
We hear voices outside. Kids.We keep shooting. They're approaching, and being very loud and stupid. It's trespassing, and they're acting like they don't know it. There are signs EVERYWHERE.<br />
<br />
I hear them getting closer so I walk toward the front door. I can't exactly tell where they are or how close, so when I come around the corner they were RIGHT THERE.<br />
<br />
Two guys and two girls, probably around 17 years old. The girls SCREAM and run, as does one of the guys. The other guy had started running but I guess it registered that we weren't machete-carrying murderers, and he'd stopped and turned back.<br />
<br />
My brother and I are smiling at the scene, but the running guy fell and hurt himself. He was limping. They all laughed, we told them we were just taking pictures. They said "So are we!" and held up their iphones, and my soul died a little at that.<br />
<br />
And I'm kicking myself for not rolling video on the whole thing. Stupid. Would have been viral gold.<br />
<br />
We went back to taking photos downstairs where the morgue is. (it's the fourth picture from the bottom one above) We heard them talking upstairs, and then we didn't. I guess they decided it wasn't smart to go into a building with strangers, even if they have convincing props that make them look like photographers.<br />
<br />
It was getting dim, so we knew we had to get out of there .If it got dark, we'd have a hard time navigating the woods to get to our car.<br />
<br />
Anyway...more to come.Kangashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05306092145547452231noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1367804148075296088.post-37744441389861797402019-01-18T14:42:00.002-08:002019-01-22T14:10:15.831-08:00January Update -- Amazon Strikes Again At The Indies<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixEh0i_9t6EBglAxluZzZdZWC39IjX4W6BnrhJ8h0ivjTEFZf3oBCIQuvN6Zh_e8xINufqhWyAbJVQ1TG13ez1prSnttveFlLL3QrWUILT3BzvQeqPuH_2nlvrF7Dhvrc6j9Mp8-Ep4c4/s1600/shiv+lauren.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="591" data-original-width="391" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixEh0i_9t6EBglAxluZzZdZWC39IjX4W6BnrhJ8h0ivjTEFZf3oBCIQuvN6Zh_e8xINufqhWyAbJVQ1TG13ez1prSnttveFlLL3QrWUILT3BzvQeqPuH_2nlvrF7Dhvrc6j9Mp8-Ep4c4/s320/shiv+lauren.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>
So the numbers have been going down pretty steadily on all titles, Terrortory 2 included. It was like a switch got turned on January 1st.<br />
<br />
Then I notice when I look at my titles that two of my published titles are both showing up with warning exclamation points on them. When I hover over them I get this:<br />
<br />
<b>"<i>We are unable to offer this title on Prime Video because we found that the following title</i></b><i>
</i><b><i>contains content that doesn't meet our customer content quality expectations</i>"</b>
<br />
<b><br /></b>
I'm thinking that's pretty weird. Both are "Making Of" segments that I put up a long time ago. They've been published for well over a year. Now, if they took off all the Making Of segments, then I'd chalk it up to them not wanting any kind of supplemental stuff under movies. It would be dubious, since they're basically just mini-documentaries, of which Amazon has plenty.<br />
<br />
But they didn't take all of my Making Of movies off, so it's not that.<br />
<br />
I sent an email to customer service to ask them why they took them down, and here's where it gets the way it ALWAYS gets with Amazon customer service. They reply with a form letter saying this:<br />
<br />
<i><b>We’ve confirmed that your titles contain content that violates our Content Policy
Guidelines and we cannot offer this title on Amazon Video. We reserve the right to
decide what content is appropriate, including content within your video, video
title, key art, etc. Your video and other content must adhere to the Content Policy
Guidelines outlined in our Help page: </b>
https://videodirect.amazon.com/home/help?topicId=201986500 </i><br />
<i><b><br /></b></i>
<i><b>Thank you for your understanding.</b></i>
<br />
<i><b><br /></b></i>
So the strange thing here is that they say in this message that my movies have violated a content policy guideline--even though that's not what their other message says. I sent them a reply that says "Which is it, did I violate a guideline, or was it that the content didn't meet quality expectations, as you first said?"<br />
UPDATE: There has been no response to this message--it's been 2 days.<br />
<br />
There's really no way to read any of what Amazon has done over the past two years as anything but hostile to indie moviemakers. I'm not sure why they did the about-face, after being a pretty decent place to stream at first--and let's not get crazy, because remember they were still only paying FIFTEEN CENTS per hour streamed. It wasn't amazing, but it was decent.<br />
<br />
It was glorious compared to what they now offer.<br />
<br />
Anyway, will keep you updated. I know a lot of other indie filmmakers are getting their movies pulled also.<br />
<br />
<b>UPDATE 1:</b><br />
They just pulled one of our BEST-watched movies, "Garden of Hedon". Here's their message about that:<br />
<b><i>We are always listening to customer feedback and iterating on their behalf. During a quality assurance review, we found that the following title contains content that doesn't meet our customer content quality expectations. As a result, all offers (“Included with Prime”, Buy, and Rent) have been removed. We will not be accepting resubmission of the impacted titles. This will not impact any royalties accrued through the date it was removed and will follow standard payment timelines.</i></b><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>Yeah, that's gonna hurt. I'm with some of these other guys--let's start suggesting to our fans that they cancel their Amazon Prime. I mean, the funny part is that I just did this this month. I wasn't using it all that much for the shipping, and I was getting pretty irate that they're playing the SAME goddamn commercial for Mrs. Maisel on EVERY episode of EVERY TV show I watched.<br />
<br />
So I said fuck it--they can take their price hike and shove it.<br />
<br />
<b>UPDATE 2:</b><br />
<br />
Articles are popping up all over about Amazon's shitty new policy:<br />
<a href="http://dailygrindhouse.com/thewire/prime-purge-amazon-prime-cutting-lifelines-indie-filmmakers/">http://dailygrindhouse.com/thewire/prime-purge-amazon-prime-cutting-lifelines-indie-filmmakers/</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.scaredstiffreviews.com/amazon-prime-video-declares-war-on-indie-film-censorship-at-its-worst-digital-giant-exposed-breaking-news/">http://www.scaredstiffreviews.com/amazon-prime-video-declares-war-on-indie-film-censorship-at-its-worst-digital-giant-exposed-breaking-news/</a><br />
<br />
UPDATE 3:<br />
A reddit petition that I've probably unwisely decided to comment on.<br />
<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/horror/comments/ahzwfk/amazon_has_removed_hundreds_if_not_thousands_of/">https://www.reddit.com/r/horror/comments/ahzwfk/amazon_has_removed_hundreds_if_not_thousands_of/</a><br />
<br />
<b>UPDATE 4:</b><br />
Another reddit thread I haven't gotten into yet:<br />
<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/cordcutters/comments/ai2c0q/amazon_prime_video_apparently_removes_many_indie/">https://www.reddit.com/r/cordcutters/comments/ai2c0q/amazon_prime_video_apparently_removes_many_indie/</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<b>UPDATE 5:</b><br />
A uk news article that may tangentially touch on why this is all happening(Amazon's new attitude regarding indie films vs big budget stuff). Interesting that Amazon continues to have "no comment".<br />
<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-studios-cuts-indie-movies-big-budget-film-2018-1?r=UK">https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-studios-cuts-indie-movies-big-budget-film-2018-1?r=UK</a><br />
<br />
<b>UPDATE 6:</b><br />
Amazon got back to me. It's INSANE. Go ahead and read the above, then the below, and then let me know WHY THE FUCK THEY PULLED MY MOVIE, because apparently, they don't know. (and the three they pulled are still unavailable...)<br />
<br />
<u><b>Hello,
Thank you for your feedback. </b></u><br />
<u><b><br /></b></u>
<u><b>Please disregard the previous message. Upon further
review, your titles do not rely on a video experience (for example, a video content
consisting of static images and/or looped content).
Please note that further violations of our Content Policy Guidelines may result in
suspension of your AVD account. </b></u><br />
<u><b><br /></b></u>
<u><b> Please ensure all titles are wholly compliant with our Content Policy Guidelines:
<a href="https://videodirect.amazon.com/home/help?topicId=201986500" style="text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">https://videodirect.amazon.com/home/help?topicId=201986500</a> </b></u><br />
<u><b><br /></b></u>
<u><b> This email was sent to all listed Administrators in your Amazon Video Direct account.
Thanks for using Amazon Video Direct.
</b></u><br />
<br />
---------<br />
<br />
Well, I feel pretty confident saying that we did NOT get the bonus for November. I think we would have gotten an email about it by now.<br />
<br />
So I'm thinking over the options now.<br />
<br />
This is an interesting list--it's got a TON of distribution options. Do they pay? Some of them. But it's definitely a good list to keep handy, look into.<br />
<a href="http://trulyfreefilm.hopeforfilm.com/2011/08/how-would-you-use-all-27-new-platforms-available-for-direct-aka-diydiwo-distribution.html">http://trulyfreefilm.hopeforfilm.com/2011/08/how-would-you-use-all-27-new-platforms-available-for-direct-aka-diydiwo-distribution.html</a><br />
<br />
Another interesting article with some resources. I haven't heard of bidslate, so will look into it, but I'm not too confident if it's anything like kinonation.<br />
<a href="http://filmcourage.com/2018/11/24/self-distribution-on-a-micro-budget-releasing-your-film-worldwide-without-spending-a-dime-by-john-folan/">http://filmcourage.com/2018/11/24/self-distribution-on-a-micro-budget-releasing-your-film-worldwide-without-spending-a-dime-by-john-folan/</a><br />
<br />
<br />Kangashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05306092145547452231noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1367804148075296088.post-21317183812366492682018-12-13T20:08:00.001-08:002018-12-14T08:49:56.367-08:00December Update<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaorkX5VSPeykgfvgS7smkcFeriGTgFwRcEx7p1mFmEl6mpZEncFe8DPsdeb84ieCEC6rddEnJ8QjA0dXAvQMWRAmDCZfr5L8yyHyvoLPQTNtD6BWRuEQyaTGjQV2FqoG-EqbNzv32tdY/s1600/xbox+screenshot.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="866" data-original-width="1600" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaorkX5VSPeykgfvgS7smkcFeriGTgFwRcEx7p1mFmEl6mpZEncFe8DPsdeb84ieCEC6rddEnJ8QjA0dXAvQMWRAmDCZfr5L8yyHyvoLPQTNtD6BWRuEQyaTGjQV2FqoG-EqbNzv32tdY/s400/xbox+screenshot.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
So I complained to Amazon. They said they basically have nothing to do with the way the app lists movies. I'm dubious, but hey--look what started showing up in lists on the Xbox app pretty shortly afterward...<br />
<br />
Coincidence?<br />
<br />
Anyway, we did nearly the same amount of minutes in November that we did in October. It's crazy...but I'm not complaining. We DID manage to stay in the top 100 for quite some time. Won't know about the bonus for a few weeks though. I can't remember exactly how long it took them to notify us last time, but it seems like it was the end of November that we found out that we were one of the top movies in October.<br />
<br />
Toward the end of November the numbers started dying off, and they continue to drop, but I've still left it up for free because there's still okay money coming in, and I'm trying to recoup the budget.<br />
<br />
By the end of this weekend we will have passed five million minutes on Terrortory 2. That means I'll have gotten about half my budget back. Not great.<br />
<br />
Still not sure how long I'll leave it up for free, or whether I'm even going to bother doing a DVD or a blu ray. (I still haven't sold enough of the Terrortory 1 dvds to break even on them)<br />
<br />
ONE good note I got this week--one of the douchebags on Youtube who had uploaded the movie? I had it taken down. He actually sent me an email to ask me to remove the copyright strike against him. He's "very sorry" he did it.<br />
<br />
hahahahahahahahahahahahafuckyourfacehahahahahahahahaha<br />
<br />
---------------<br />
<br />
Let's talk a bit about how bleak our situation as micro-budget and no-budget filmmakers is. We all know in our hearts that we're not doing this for money. The younger you are, the easier that is to swallow.<br />
<br />
Less so as you get older, and you get a family, and your friends who used to help you out now have families, and don't have the time or the interest in helping you out any more.<br />
<br />
But I still talk to young filmmakers who get the idea that if they can just get distribution then they think they'll make their money back.<br />
<br />
I want to tell those filmmakers here and now:<br />
<br />
YOU.<br />
<br />
WILL.<br />
<br />
NOT.<br />
<br />
And I'll re-iterate: It's easy to get distribution. It's easy to get distribution even if your movie sucks. (see: Fear of Clowns) The most important things you need in order to get distribution are a great poster and a great trailer. PERIOD.<br />
<br />
But what's not easy is getting distribution that pays.<br />
<br />
Want a big example? Take The Barn.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIn850l3G56QQlpAmqJhRK2JXWG8GIMN-RuL9S1ALUhbw5xzqUF1uFnW_2-Ag36xg-Shcs1LI7uq6cavlfAxBkOA6_OkuP_Bf_p0dwaV6NdmqNFhg97DP6BiLqew2xwJuBqABr80PBnDQ/s1600/the+barn+poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1081" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIn850l3G56QQlpAmqJhRK2JXWG8GIMN-RuL9S1ALUhbw5xzqUF1uFnW_2-Ag36xg-Shcs1LI7uq6cavlfAxBkOA6_OkuP_Bf_p0dwaV6NdmqNFhg97DP6BiLqew2xwJuBqABr80PBnDQ/s400/the+barn+poster.jpg" width="270" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
This was a micro-budget flick that was originally crowd-funded for around $20K. Trending-wise, they hit a home run. This thing got tons of press everywhere, lots of positive word of mouth, and a distributor. The trailer was so-so, but the poster is great and tells you everything you need to know about the movie.<br />
<br />
They got a distributor and the movie got out there all over. I'd bet money that your movie isn't going to do anywhere near as well as theirs did.<br />
<br />
Point is, they're readying to do the sequel. And they're having to crowd-fund it.<br />
<br />
See where I'm going here? One of the most successful micro-budget indie horror flicks of the past two years, and they haven't made enough money to be able to pay for the sequel.<br />
(now I'm sure they've made a little money, and they'd probably launch a crowd-funding thing anyway just to help build an audience and get pre-engagement, but considering how much they're crowd-funding this time--$40K, which they got already--I'd bet they didn't make much money on the first flick.<br />
<br />
And again--this was a home run as far as indie horror goes. Positive reviews, tons of press, tons of word of mouth, and finally a distributor.<br />
<br />
What's your point, Kangas?<br />
<br />
My point is, there's always a lot of overly-positive stuff about pursuing your dream of being an indie-filmmaker, and I have a lot of rah-rah friends who preach positivity above all else. That's very cool, but I think it does a disservice to most people who haven't done any research into what it actually takes.<br />
<br />
I'm saying there is NO reason to become an indie filmmaker except that you can't NOT make films. If doing it makes you happy, knowing that you're not going to make money on it, then by all means get out there and do it.<br />
<br />
I think I'm slowly getting to a point where it's not making me happy any more, and THAT makes me even more unhappy. I still want to create stories--that's always been my thing, as I only became a director so I could see my scripts acted out. But at this point it seems to make more sense to just go write novels and scripts.<br />
<br />
They cost nothing to write other than time, and I really haven't spent any time trying to get scripts optioned now that I actually have scripts that might be worth optioning. (I tried early on when I first started writing scripts, but they were all pretty terrible, and got rejected--justifiably so)<br />
<br />
Anyway, if you'd like to help out some other indie filmmakers, here are some links to friends' crowd-funding that you can check out--if the project looks interesting to you and/or you see a perk that catches your eye, throw them some dollars. If I put the link below, then they're legit and will get the movie done, as well as come through on the perks promised.<br />
<br />
I'll update it as I see more on my friends' timelines.<br />
<br />
Chris LaMartina's WNUF sequel: <a href="https://www.gofundme.com/wnuf-halloween-sequel">https://www.gofundme.com/wnuf-halloween-sequel</a><br />
(you should go read all of the posts on FB that he's dropped lately--if you wanna be an indie filmmaker, it'll help you see what's in store)<br />
<br />
John Ward's Axemas: <a href="http://www.screamtimefilms.com/">http://www.screamtimefilms.com/</a><br />
(this is a link to actually buy the flick, not a crowd-funding thing)<br />
<br />
Devil's Night: Volumes of Blood 3 <a href="https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/devil-s-knight-volumes-of-blood-3-campaign?#/">https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/devil-s-knight-volumes-of-blood-3-campaign?#/</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Kangashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05306092145547452231noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1367804148075296088.post-36197420288436743682018-11-15T00:58:00.003-08:002018-11-15T00:58:49.659-08:00The Weirdness Continues<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNG3fHsDFtxZOk6Nx2dm-6iPIqHOznTEUfR3wuMnGatFa_uzKEUlJG8Hycq0-yAqsAjdnrGW-msYtni7uBJauVHlecep2R0q_H6i7_Z_lUDr3-nTOvHYbBcAifnleq7WR3WF6Hz0n1zBQ/s1600/ttory2+amazon+rank+11-12-2018+no10+in+horror.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="810" data-original-width="1600" height="202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNG3fHsDFtxZOk6Nx2dm-6iPIqHOznTEUfR3wuMnGatFa_uzKEUlJG8Hycq0-yAqsAjdnrGW-msYtni7uBJauVHlecep2R0q_H6i7_Z_lUDr3-nTOvHYbBcAifnleq7WR3WF6Hz0n1zBQ/s400/ttory2+amazon+rank+11-12-2018+no10+in+horror.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh55Dm80-7yEpEWYbWNOgz9NL7FOyyVOHk7CaD7X5cyLnKui2vUC7pQExdoVdgyOaaQhT1IaYnZp3Nn90-uPgbqdtdwqNFcIc4p4bRgctBZcUqSIlYI3uSUOIgM77VX6D_l7PVj9s9tfm8/s1600/ttory2+amazon+rank+11-12-2018+no72+overall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="879" data-original-width="1411" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh55Dm80-7yEpEWYbWNOgz9NL7FOyyVOHk7CaD7X5cyLnKui2vUC7pQExdoVdgyOaaQhT1IaYnZp3Nn90-uPgbqdtdwqNFcIc4p4bRgctBZcUqSIlYI3uSUOIgM77VX6D_l7PVj9s9tfm8/s400/ttory2+amazon+rank+11-12-2018+no72+overall.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Check that out...as of the 12th, we were #10 in Horror and #72 out of EVERYTHING included in Amazon Prime Video. TV included.<br />
<br />
As of today, we've sort of waffled between #10 and #15, and we're hanging around #76 overall.<br />
<br />
I'm trying to figure out ways to keep the momentum going...and honestly, just being up that high helps in itself because when people search for movies they tend to only scroll down a page or two before making a decision.<br />
<br />
Oddly, when I search on the Amazon Prime app through my Xbox on the "Horror Genre", which only lists the top 100 movies...we don't show up. The other movies from distributors show up, but not ours. Feels a bit like Amazon is probably getting paid to put ONLY the distributors stuff on that list, as Terrortory 2 has never shown up that I can see. (you can find it if you punch it into the search engine, but that's not all that helpful)<br />
<br />
Don't know. I've still got my fingers crossed we stay in that top 100 for all of November...Kangashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05306092145547452231noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1367804148075296088.post-89297913552135721412018-11-08T21:44:00.001-08:002018-11-08T21:44:39.229-08:00So this is weird...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEYNCdCThAW21j8bulFqKF7LVegKSGbNhyxxkYpjhvkUKFFZR9RHJvoC2wgTaDEMjC4bL7macK61QOKheRJLZ7QpZSnT5zCqQ_rfangYBOdAvZigb316_2B4E3ctkz6-vOXUwl5hQ8Sn4/s1600/ttory2+amazon+rank+11-9-2018+no15+in+horror.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="761" data-original-width="1600" height="190" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEYNCdCThAW21j8bulFqKF7LVegKSGbNhyxxkYpjhvkUKFFZR9RHJvoC2wgTaDEMjC4bL7macK61QOKheRJLZ7QpZSnT5zCqQ_rfangYBOdAvZigb316_2B4E3ctkz6-vOXUwl5hQ8Sn4/s400/ttory2+amazon+rank+11-9-2018+no15+in+horror.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
So we ended October with a disappointing 2.1 million minutes. Definitely not enough to get the bonus.<br />
<br />
That used to translate to about $5K, which would still have been disappointing but not as disappointing as the $2100 I get for it now.<br />
<br />
I was out of town the first couple of days of November--my plan was to take down the free as soon as it starts dying--that way it will still be on the top 100 list, and perhaps we'll get some people paying to rent it.<br />
<br />
But since Amazon takes a few days to update, I won't be able to see that stuff right away.<br />
<br />
I got back on November 3rd and checked the stats and a VERY weird thing is happening.<br />
<br />
On the first film, November 1st was the kiss of death. The movie died FAST. Everybody getting into the Thanksgiving/Xmas spirit, I guess.<br />
<br />
But the first 3 days of November for Terrortory 2 are better than ANY 3 consecutive days in October. Then I get the next couple of days, and it's going UP.<br />
<br />
Just when I think I sort of have the whole thing figured out, it surprises me. And now tonight I check our rankings, and we're actually the #15 top horror movie on Amazon, period. We're #106 of ANYTHING on Amazon Videos, TV included.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4akKPTFXzdbKKrF_8QhFnmIrmc0vj_WYgfm3DgZk2sbMAWVEQaWXCoM5rIGb5Uivwi7agxxJvPtnRmXOc3gjfkY457N9Edk4Lh1fKjEnSOVy1NSbmO0WNgr0V35pl87ZrS7C4Jt8hp6M/s1600/ttory2+amazon+rank+11-9-2018+no106+overall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="742" data-original-width="1600" height="185" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4akKPTFXzdbKKrF_8QhFnmIrmc0vj_WYgfm3DgZk2sbMAWVEQaWXCoM5rIGb5Uivwi7agxxJvPtnRmXOc3gjfkY457N9Edk4Lh1fKjEnSOVy1NSbmO0WNgr0V35pl87ZrS7C4Jt8hp6M/s400/ttory2+amazon+rank+11-9-2018+no106+overall.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
So I guess I'm going to leave it up for a while longer. Heck, maybe there's a very-outside chance we could get the bonus in November if this keeps up. I have no idea what's generating the interest now, this late, but I'm not complaining...<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Kangashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05306092145547452231noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1367804148075296088.post-47993296987335427502018-10-22T19:18:00.000-07:002018-10-22T19:18:26.595-07:00Disappointing Stats. Disappointing Actors.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyHgzqmn0j6IxuNHWFnqWTDzv7ccp-ld-zCP2nU6QAipwqbR46dFHlIItRohHatuMf_SqPITjo1jQKBepZzkagC_4ga6_Z4U3zJ25bRQWTr8-xTLglUKRJzkwjZVnIINOjyjAwBL2L6sc/s1600/_MG_0025.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="667" data-original-width="1000" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyHgzqmn0j6IxuNHWFnqWTDzv7ccp-ld-zCP2nU6QAipwqbR46dFHlIItRohHatuMf_SqPITjo1jQKBepZzkagC_4ga6_Z4U3zJ25bRQWTr8-xTLglUKRJzkwjZVnIINOjyjAwBL2L6sc/s400/_MG_0025.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
So I've been watching the stats on Amazon, and they're pretty mediocre. It's updating slow, but here's how it's going:<br />
<br />
On the first film, we broke a million minutes in 12 days. (most of my other movies broke a million between 15-20 days in)<br />
<br />
Terrortory 2, as of day 19, hasn't broken a million yet. (it's close) Considering this movie cost more, has more awareness, and has a better trailer, this news SUCKS.<br />
<br />
We are still in the top 100 horror movies, but we're not budging off of page 6 or 7.<br />
<br />
As I mentioned, if we don't hit the bonus, I lose money. It's that simple. Amazon's new pay scheme basically pays you $1k for a million minutes. They used to pay $2500 for the same amount.<br />
<br />
We're not getting the volume of reviews we got on the first one, which is strange. We're not getting many bad reviews, which is just flat out weird. They're starting to smash us on imdb, so where's the haters on Amazon?<br />
<br />
To top it all off--and this just fucking STAGGERS me--there are actors/actresses/creators involved in the production of this film who have not MENTIONED the movie on their timeline(or anywhere I can see). But they're sharing youtube videos they're in, and headshots, and other shit nowhere near as impressive as being involved in a feature film.<br />
<br />
I don't get it. I honestly don't get it.<br />
<br />
Then I have over 800 "friends" on Facebook. I've basically pleaded for them to leave us a review. I've done it a couple of times, and explained how important it is. Some of them have done it, and those people are aces in my book. They want me to return the favor, I'm there.<br />
<br />
But the rest of them? The people who just Thumbs Up the post, and move on? Well, let's just say I'm starting to pare down my friends list. And those actors? Well, I won't be working with them again, or passing their name to any filmmaker who asks me to recommend an actor/actress.<br />
<br />
What's all this mean? Well, I'm pretty much out of Terrortory. I won't be doing the wraparound on part three(which was the original thought, while the other guys handled everything else). Heck, won't be doing anything else on Terrortory as far as I can tell.<br />
<br />
I may even be done with making movies. There are easier ways to lose money. Easier ways that don't take years off my life. Shit, I could have taken the money and gambled it away in one night. I'd feel just as bad as I do now, but wouldn't have wasted all that time.<br />
<br />
The bottom line to all this is this: Amazon is no longer viable as a distribution strategy unless you can make your film for under 1K. At that point, maybe you can make your money back plus some. I just don't know how you make something worthwhile for that kind of money.<br />
<br />
I'm going to wait and see how the final 2 weeks of October are before I figure what I'm going to do. At this point I'm not really inclined to try an aggregator with the money I've made back. Do I really want to toss more money into the black pit?<br />
<br />
I think I need a vacation more than I need to roll that die.Kangashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05306092145547452231noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1367804148075296088.post-38096125190628614782018-10-09T18:09:00.003-07:002018-10-09T18:09:58.278-07:00The ONLY place to legally watch Terrortory 2 is on Amazon Prime. PERIOD.<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6Ma9kYnwehby3x2_xLMdGVMLIoSD0IFFAAFuJC0hpkGxHDW9q5lWEpaoMnUHSs6qiOO-5309OD48fCurp22bmvgxEbM2jaDy02IyUJroQUO5Z2lvUaqip1OCn6ePmFrAnbb5SYnrcxCo/s1600/imdbpro+rank+week1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="882" data-original-width="1023" height="343" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6Ma9kYnwehby3x2_xLMdGVMLIoSD0IFFAAFuJC0hpkGxHDW9q5lWEpaoMnUHSs6qiOO-5309OD48fCurp22bmvgxEbM2jaDy02IyUJroQUO5Z2lvUaqip1OCn6ePmFrAnbb5SYnrcxCo/s400/imdbpro+rank+week1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Okay, just to make this clear as some people have hit us up with messages like "I saw it was on (fill in the blank)--watched it on there. Congrats!"<br />
<br />
Well, you may not have known it, but you just stole the movie from us. There is NO other legal place to watch our movie other than Amazon. Yes, that app on your TV that makes it look like you can freely stream movies including ones STILL in the theater? That's illegal. There's a reason it's being sued.<br />
<br />
The pirates have been out in full force, pirating our movie all over, and anyone who says this doesn't hurt our bottom line is an idiot. (one site had already streamed it over 3000 times before I got them to take it down)<br />
<br />
Anyway, the film is doing pretty well, but not as well as I would have hoped. We don't have that many reviews, which is one of the major indicators for Amazon on how well your movie is engaging viewers.<br />
<br />
If you've seen Terrortory 2 and haven't reviewed it, how about go do that? It helps us out in a HUGE way. Hell, even negative reviews help us move up the charts. (so yes, negative reviews are actually better than no reviews)<br />
<br />
We got as high as 40 on the top Amazon horror films, out of at least 4000 so that's cool. But we've been stuck in the top 100, not going any higher at the moment. The first film got as high as number six, I believe, on the chart, so I'm hoping we start rising again.<br />
<br />
Spread the word, especially if you're in the cast/crew. One thing I'm noticing--and I noticed it on the first also--is that actors appear to be clueless about spreading the word.<br />
<br />
They'll spread headshots or youtube videos they're in where they're doing something pedantic, but a movie they're in? No mention. It's rather infuriating, honestly. You're in a feature film that anyone can now see--and in some cases you're on the actual movie poster--and you're not interested in spreading the word?<br />
<br />Then they ask for footage for their reel...well, you can imagine I'm not in a hurry to do them any favors at that point.<br />
<br />
And the chance I'll work with them again is zero point zero.Kangashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05306092145547452231noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1367804148075296088.post-82853734435511399602018-10-02T21:33:00.000-07:002018-10-02T21:33:23.884-07:00Two Days Into The Release of Terrortory 2<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6aA1BJgM85_jguTes3PohFt9Tb-L__0rhEe2VwrXwGQXH47cLaWJxHXGyWkXhC4cOaUMGoQraghfDdCvIX-waY9R-OQrQRoazWqKndtne2-_DQyOJXXpN88AvYsPC4ncQm5XsZfB5PJM/s1600/tj+stormi+bts+f2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6aA1BJgM85_jguTes3PohFt9Tb-L__0rhEe2VwrXwGQXH47cLaWJxHXGyWkXhC4cOaUMGoQraghfDdCvIX-waY9R-OQrQRoazWqKndtne2-_DQyOJXXpN88AvYsPC4ncQm5XsZfB5PJM/s400/tj+stormi+bts+f2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Let's see what's going on.<br />
<br />
You can see a clip from the movie plus an exclusive pic here:<br />
<a href="https://www.horrortalk.com/news/go-back-to-the-terrortory-next-month.html">https://www.horrortalk.com/news/go-back-to-the-terrortory-next-month.html</a><br />
<br />
You can see the final trailer plus an exclusive pic here:<br />
<a href="https://www.dreadcentral.com/news/280608/pumpkins-clowns-and-monsters-oh-my-the-final-terrortory-2-trailer-is-here/">https://www.dreadcentral.com/news/280608/pumpkins-clowns-and-monsters-oh-my-the-final-terrortory-2-trailer-is-here/</a><br />
(and expect Dread to premiere an exclusive clip also)<br />
<br />
More news and exclusive pics here:<br />
<a href="https://www.horror-fix.com/terrortory-2-premieres-free-amazon-prime-october-1st-exclusive-images/">https://www.horror-fix.com/terrortory-2-premieres-free-amazon-prime-october-1st-exclusive-images/</a><br />
<br />
Pics from the premiere of Terrortory 2 here:<br />
<a href="https://aminoapps.com/c/horror/page/blog/terrortory-ii-free-on-amazon-prime-october-1st/2vwF_NurnJ7GValXRLMQ816KnY2mqnx">https://aminoapps.com/c/horror/page/blog/terrortory-ii-free-on-amazon-prime-october-1st/2vwF_NurnJ7GValXRLMQ816KnY2mqnx</a><br />
<br />
You can see a review of the movie here(but don't read it if you haven't seen the movie first):<br />
<a href="http://smashortrashindiefilmmaking.com/at-the-movies/terrortory-2-2018/">http://smashortrashindiefilmmaking.com/at-the-movies/terrortory-2-2018/</a><br />
<br />
A bunch of stuff here, including pics:<br />
<a href="http://promotehorror.com/2018/09/24/terrortory-2/">http://promotehorror.com/2018/09/24/terrortory-2/</a><br />
<br />
More exclusive pics!<br />
<a href="http://gingernutsofhorror.com/news/terrortory-2-now-on-amazon-prime">http://gingernutsofhorror.com/news/terrortory-2-now-on-amazon-prime</a><br />
<br />
You can get the Terrortory SOUNDTRACK from Terence Jones here:<br />
<a href="https://terencejonesmusic.bandcamp.com/album/terrortory-ost">https://terencejonesmusic.bandcamp.com/album/terrortory-ost</a><br />
<br />
More as I spot 'em.<br />
<br />
-------------<br />
<br />
I just saw that we're ALREADY in the top 40 horror movies streaming on Amazon. I had looked earlier in the day and we weren't even top 500. (that's when I stopped scrolling)<br />
<br />
That's WAY better than the first Terrortory. I just took a look back on the first one's numbers, and we'd done about 7000 minutes on day 1 and around 10,000 on day 2. We should destroy those numbers, I'm guessing.<br />
<br />
But we gotta keep pushing, because as I've said to friends--if we don't hit the Amazon bonus, we're going to lose money. Even if we hit the bonus we might lose money depending on how much it is.<br />
<br />
So I'm going to keep pushing it. I was going to run a contest to give out shit to anyone who reviewed the flick, but it appears Amazon frowns on that BIG TIME. I'm not sure why--I'm don't get why incentivizing reviews is a big deal.<br />
<br />
People are, in general, lazy. I'm counting myself in there. But people are not in most cases inclined to leave reviews. So why is it bad to try to give them a little extra push to leave a review? I wouldn't even be saying it had to be a positive review. ANY review would be entered into a drawing for some props from the movie.<br />
<br />
I'll keep thinking it over.<br />
<br />Kangashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05306092145547452231noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1367804148075296088.post-28952084086329535752018-09-30T22:09:00.000-07:002018-09-30T22:09:04.930-07:00Terrortory 2 NOW STREAMING FOR FREE on Amazon Prime!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYdvrZKl5cWGZON_Yh-KXl_WWYKjTRPNhmMjtvc27hG-upz2JegdSAlKIYlBv3zlZFd5c6EFpVleNjcytet762OFjU5DXueBriqdqHKjCbzREAjfQZpM52q3Z57N19kNA57a8SyM5p_Yg/s1600/1X0A0009+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYdvrZKl5cWGZON_Yh-KXl_WWYKjTRPNhmMjtvc27hG-upz2JegdSAlKIYlBv3zlZFd5c6EFpVleNjcytet762OFjU5DXueBriqdqHKjCbzREAjfQZpM52q3Z57N19kNA57a8SyM5p_Yg/s400/1X0A0009+copy.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
It's been a while, I know. The struggle to get this film complete, and then premiere it...along with all the other things in life taking up time means the blog gets pushed to the back.<br />
<br />
But the day has finally arrived. You can go here to add the movie to your watchlist and then view it!<br />
<a href="http://bit.ly/amazonhorrors">http://bit.ly/amazonhorrors</a><br />
<br />
If you watch it, can you do us a HUGE favor and leave a short review for it? Amazon uses the volume of reviews to gauge interest, and it increases our visibility on the site.<br />
<br />
I hope you enjoy it, because in the end we do this in the hopes that people will enjoy it. Personally I've had some great times watching movies--they took me out of my misery a few times, giving me two hours or so of relief from whatever was bothering me. They transported me to a place I never would have been without them, to things I could never have imagined.<br />
<br />
I'm just trying to give the same experience to others.<br />
<br />
Thanks for checking it out.<br />
<br />
--KevinKangashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05306092145547452231noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1367804148075296088.post-44959991656510941312018-08-08T03:02:00.003-07:002018-08-08T03:02:58.107-07:00The final trailer for Terrortory 2<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjREQqaDeou1Vnp-R3a8ekwU9jm6WnJyuUw4B4rCulltICkZD0lnTcKdLWXgw6LEBJDUWCaAahQc2sbE5NV7-ngb4-RZnz2IJYWu6HTu3lAq4omqiwM8sJmvcR5Oe95_YBJotLZ177WeCw/s1600/_MG_0407b+f.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="733" data-original-width="1100" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjREQqaDeou1Vnp-R3a8ekwU9jm6WnJyuUw4B4rCulltICkZD0lnTcKdLWXgw6LEBJDUWCaAahQc2sbE5NV7-ngb4-RZnz2IJYWu6HTu3lAq4omqiwM8sJmvcR5Oe95_YBJotLZ177WeCw/s400/_MG_0407b+f.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
The final trailer just dropped for Terrortory 2, and you can see it here:<br />
<a href="https://www.dreadcentral.com/news/280608/pumpkins-clowns-and-monsters-oh-my-the-final-terrortory-2-trailer-is-here/">https://www.dreadcentral.com/news/280608/pumpkins-clowns-and-monsters-oh-my-the-final-terrortory-2-trailer-is-here/</a><br />
<br />
I'm pretty happy with it. I'd actually tried a variation of that cricket-rhythm piece in the first movie's trailer, but never got it working right. Something here about lulling the viewer into the same rhythmic shots as the crickets get louder and with more reverb, and smashing that shot of the Midnight Clown screaming...it just worked.<br />
<br />
A lot of editing is just trying new things to see what works and what doesn't.<br />
<br />
As far as the movie...I'm starting to sweat BIG TIME. If I had all of the music done and ready to lay in, there would be a TON to do. But I don't have all the music yet.<br />
<br />
It's coming in, but man, am I feeling the time crunch.<br />
<br />
-----<br />
<br />
After the premiere, my plans go into fifth gear. I'll have one more poster(I think), and will be sending out stills to as many web sites as want to help promote the movie. I'll send three clips from the movie to some of the bigger web sites.<br />
<br />
I should have a table at the local con in Hunt Valley, like I usually do.<br />
<br />
I'm just hoping all the work I have to do won't interfere with Halloween--I hate missing out on all the fun because I'm too busy.<br />
<br />Kangashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05306092145547452231noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1367804148075296088.post-54332247274676372152018-07-24T19:35:00.002-07:002018-08-08T03:04:26.689-07:00Terrortory 2 -- ALMOST HERE -- The Premiere And Stuff<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixuD2g-LZD3oA5NOM7oV39mLRziqxAaXrB-73tn97l9_Nz0zvztR-vyDkTN6oTkk6Tz2AW9_lfMSGeEtcB2yaqwPAwFajrAXKcKGVLVGiU_iXmxIrB70eqlxh0JGT8eew96YfdWm2Y5BI/s1600/pump+trail1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixuD2g-LZD3oA5NOM7oV39mLRziqxAaXrB-73tn97l9_Nz0zvztR-vyDkTN6oTkk6Tz2AW9_lfMSGeEtcB2yaqwPAwFajrAXKcKGVLVGiU_iXmxIrB70eqlxh0JGT8eew96YfdWm2Y5BI/s400/pump+trail1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoRFClyaeJSfUeBwt-CG9XZcyRt4q7PzneFpZBtXIAbjiY6vEPF0TAzbGauFfhGNFQLIVkO53Rw6CZMQPNjng9da2TYWbdkV6XKH972PebI4VG5GwP7zs03xKIY2iJYPvc6lzPKQjOwYI/s1600/toe-screencap.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoRFClyaeJSfUeBwt-CG9XZcyRt4q7PzneFpZBtXIAbjiY6vEPF0TAzbGauFfhGNFQLIVkO53Rw6CZMQPNjng9da2TYWbdkV6XKH972PebI4VG5GwP7zs03xKIY2iJYPvc6lzPKQjOwYI/s400/toe-screencap.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
So above I have two screencaps from the "Pumpkin Trail" segment in the film. It's the first full segment that was finished, score and all. You can hear a piece from the score at our Facebook page at this link:<br />
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/terrortoryfilm/?ref=aymt_homepage_panel">https://www.facebook.com/terrortoryfilm/?ref=aymt_homepage_panel</a><br />
<br />
It's by Bob Battle, a super talented composer who did three segments in the first Terrortory: Siren, The Prowler and The Drone Collector. He'll be doing three segments in this one also, but I won't spoil anything with details.<br />
<br />
On that page above you can also hear some of the orchestral score for the main sequence of the film. Terence Jones, who did the main sequence on the first Terrortory. He's doing the main sequence plus one other sequence. He's got some amazing stuff in what he's given me so far--the main title sequence and lead out are great, and there's a scene at a campfire that gets better the more I listen to it(and it was pretty great when I first heard it).<br />
<br />
All this means that I'm confident enough that I'll have this thing finished in the next couple of weeks so I can premiere it August 30th at the Landmark in Baltimore. We premiered Garden of Hedon there, and it's a nice area with a great bar across the street for the afterparty.<br />
<br />
There's some things we're still working on--the very end of the film has...a pretty challenging digital effect that I've been working on for literally six months. I can't get it perfect, and probably won't ever. I need ILM level to get the shot I want, and I'm not ILM. Hell, I'm not even the guys on Sharknado.<br />
<br />
So I'll keep working. My brother is working on another digital effect in Cinema 4D that we're hoping will be a cool capper on one story--it's not something that was in the script, but I thought it would be a cool addition to the story.<br />
<br />
Anyway, I know it's been a long time since I posted here. Things have been hectic.<br />
<br />
When I have details on how to get tickets I'll post them here and on Facebook. Also, have you seen the teaser?<br />
UPDATE: GET TICKETS HERE!<br /><a href="https://www.landmarktheatres.com/baltimore/harbor-east/private-screenings">https://www.landmarktheatres.com/baltimore/harbor-east/private-screenings</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<iframe allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/O8bFmIueHjk" width="560"></iframe>
<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/embed/O8bFmIueHjk">https://www.youtube.com/embed/O8bFmIueHjk</a><br />
<br />
Cuz I have the trailer done, but I'm not gonna post it until that gets to 1000 views. That's not so much, right? Share share share, right? <br />
<br />
<br />Kangashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05306092145547452231noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1367804148075296088.post-81901514749998695412018-04-25T11:59:00.005-07:002018-04-25T12:01:49.194-07:00Terrortory 2 Update, Plus StuffI know, been a while, right? It's almost like I've been busy. So here's a couple of bts pics from Terrortory 2.<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZJqqgCwHpgnF2Fjqkn5I1jJeDI0fzRxRx6miNQ2NJvsuK98VCBZqp8maraHxlihRbqc0EHmlZVFFS7WVe110GR_GO9AHe0j_jx6rGogVhqjhpfP_vmY3ZaHOneIx8ehKizpiSNcpyLIg/s1600/tmp1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="667" data-original-width="1000" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZJqqgCwHpgnF2Fjqkn5I1jJeDI0fzRxRx6miNQ2NJvsuK98VCBZqp8maraHxlihRbqc0EHmlZVFFS7WVe110GR_GO9AHe0j_jx6rGogVhqjhpfP_vmY3ZaHOneIx8ehKizpiSNcpyLIg/s320/tmp1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Josh and Alex in the "Mad Gathering" segment. People should pay attention to this segment, because there's more than meets the eye here.<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhymSxCOxc9iUpmE1o0lGwxV2svwZw7e9tjFWtI081l9E6maAiK6EDIUdBx5DV37sGKGe7hjqMbvJYFVtVf6kNqTdyEXB4rs24o3NJoI_tnC_GJhHMhFlwcCkY5JRXTId4eclFa4aQ0IpA/s1600/tmp2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="667" data-original-width="1000" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhymSxCOxc9iUpmE1o0lGwxV2svwZw7e9tjFWtI081l9E6maAiK6EDIUdBx5DV37sGKGe7hjqMbvJYFVtVf6kNqTdyEXB4rs24o3NJoI_tnC_GJhHMhFlwcCkY5JRXTId4eclFa4aQ0IpA/s320/tmp2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Two funny things about this shot: One, how fat I am here. Clearly I was putting on the weight, and I'm now down 20 pounds from there. Second, we barely used my steadicam rig at all--it's very time consuming when you want to change a lens, because it throws off the balance on the rig and you have to reset the whole thing. We don't have that kind of time on these shoots.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPK0t0y9nv7Fb_VdnOjx5LnVb2h0z-q11JfamrVeFcC00borXph4efmL4LR1UCU5JHN7pRxgriIZfeKLtOG9PPrqoGQbwgSXzK056gHaRI18jLn74rOWj81n8hy6014TVWeDJwwVoiFvA/s1600/tmp3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="667" data-original-width="1000" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPK0t0y9nv7Fb_VdnOjx5LnVb2h0z-q11JfamrVeFcC00borXph4efmL4LR1UCU5JHN7pRxgriIZfeKLtOG9PPrqoGQbwgSXzK056gHaRI18jLn74rOWj81n8hy6014TVWeDJwwVoiFvA/s320/tmp3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
A little spoiler alert here--yes, the Midnight Clown AND Smiling Jack--together in one segment. The pic above shows you how much post-work goes into making Jack's head look hollow. I did a quick pass on the pic just to show you sort of what I have to do to EVERY FRAME of the movie that Jack is in. (remove the eye holes(on both side of the pumpkin "nose") and hollow out the head.<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdk26XNdowJLGmbVE9lp-saAST_25Ff4TFb5PXKF75KwySiQdQ8DY-zIgJlcwSu35PClR7Cbp8JIqi81VfByvuhVmLletZ41pXN8WrRnaRc4xeGylhS2QjvU14LaaKgVw1sHeAGVjuC18/s1600/tmp3b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="667" data-original-width="1000" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdk26XNdowJLGmbVE9lp-saAST_25Ff4TFb5PXKF75KwySiQdQ8DY-zIgJlcwSu35PClR7Cbp8JIqi81VfByvuhVmLletZ41pXN8WrRnaRc4xeGylhS2QjvU14LaaKgVw1sHeAGVjuC18/s320/tmp3b.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Anyway, the big stop on Terrortory 2 right now is the weather. We have one segment left to shoot, but because it features an actress being completely naked outside, covered in blood at night...well, under 50 degree weather isn't going to work.<br />
<br />
I keep looking at every weekend of April, and have to keep pushing it. And every time I push it, I lose an actor or a crew member who can't work on a weekend. It's pretty frustrating.<br />
<br />
This segment has been cursed. I've NEVER encountered as many problems on ANY shoot I've ever done like I have on this segment.<br />
<br />
But I am nothing if not stubborn. We've got some great actors who are all committed to the new dates, so weather-permitting, we're shooting it soon. Hell, even if the weather doesn't cooperate, I may shoot it anyway at this point.<br />
<br />
-----<br />
<br />
I've started getting music from Terry, the composer to the main storyline. He'll also do the Mad Gathering segment, but so far he's sent about the first 8 minutes of music and it's great. It's very nice to not have to micromanage everything, and he seems to have a great grasp on what I was looking for.<br />
<br />
One of the highlights of making a movie is when you get music to lay over your film. It never quite FEELS like a movie until the music starts going on. All of a sudden things start clicking, and a lot of the second-guessing of myself goes away.<br />
<br />
I also talked to Ben, the other composer who will do more synth-based scores for the other segments. He's excited to start working. I sent him the Pumpkin Trail, and I'm as equally excited to hear some new stuff from him.<br />
<br />
Lastly, I secured the end-credit song. Contract signed, money paid. The group is insanely talented, and I love a number of their songs so I was psyched when they said yes to me. (but I stayed silent until the contract was signed) More on them after the movie comes out.<br />
<br />
-------<br />
<br />
On the Amazon front, their new pay schedule started, but here's the rub: They are showing NO earnings estimates on any of the Prime movies now. They haven't since March 1st. I just this week finally sent them a message to find out what's up, when are they going to start showing what we're making, and this was their reply:<br />
<br />
<b>Thank you for contacting Prime Video Direct.
I understand you would like more information on when Prime royalties will begin
displaying in the Earnings Report again.
Your Earnings report will display Prime royalties again in June (or sooner). </b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>I'm
sorry for the inconvenience this has caused.
In the meantime, exporting the Performance Metrics report will allow you to
calculate the earnings for March, April and May's Prime streaming events.
We issue payments approximately 90 days after the end of the month in which the
revenue event occurred. </b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>This means that earnings for March will be paid in June. By
the time the payment is issued, the Earnings report will display Prime earnings so
that you can reconcile your payments properly.
</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>For more details regarding Royalties and Reports, check our Help pages:
- Royalties: <a href="https://videocentral.amazon.com/home/help?topicId=202037410" style="text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">https://videocentral.amazon.com/home/help?topicId=202037410</a>
- Reports: <a href="https://videocentral.amazon.com/home/help?topicId=G201973680" style="text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">https://videocentral.amazon.com/home/help?topicId=G201973680</a>
If you have any other questions, please feel free to contact us back.</b>
<br />
<br />
So technically you can figure out what they owe you by adding up all your minutes, dividing by 60, and then multiplying by .06<br />
<br />
But it's not as easy as they make it seem. The spreadsheet they send you every month is organized for the bi-polar. For me, there's 7 movies, there's a different line for each country for each movie(so you can see what you earned in pounds, in yen, etc), then a different line for the movie if someone PAID for it rather than just stream it for free.<br />
<br />
It's all just thrown in randomly. Like, if all of Garden of Hedon's were together you might be able to figure it out, but it's like--screw it, I'll show you.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1t1WnVMU4inBp-OA1JsD2-n9IjQ8hyphenhyphenaV9F7wZZrelEi5r7H8Lm8Qkp-sUmE4FKkemXpWPCTZ0UvLHCJq33J7K3ibVE8IJPlxuXU3Td5zCE2lHwbg4_NaT9Lj2S4aqXOnWjNHrO-vvqvs/s1600/tmp4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="680" data-original-width="1258" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1t1WnVMU4inBp-OA1JsD2-n9IjQ8hyphenhyphenaV9F7wZZrelEi5r7H8Lm8Qkp-sUmE4FKkemXpWPCTZ0UvLHCJq33J7K3ibVE8IJPlxuXU3Td5zCE2lHwbg4_NaT9Lj2S4aqXOnWjNHrO-vvqvs/s400/tmp4.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
Obviously I blurred some numbers. But this should give you an idea.<br />
<br />
I did look into Distribber and a couple of other options, but I'm not sure it's worth the amount of work and money I'd have to dump into it to get it all moving, and I'd DEFINITELY not be able to put the movie on Amazon in October if I did it. (I'd have to let it run through a lot of the other options before putting it on there).<br />
<br />
So I think we're just going to do it the same way as the first and see what happens. We got a LOT of views on the first Terrortory, so I've gotta hope we can do at least that again. My entire month of September and October is going to be spent promoting the film.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Kangashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05306092145547452231noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1367804148075296088.post-76950137553290112572018-03-03T01:33:00.002-08:002018-03-03T01:33:35.895-08:00Amazon Video New Payment Plan: It's Worse Than You ThoughtIf you didn't read my post when I first heard the news, go read that first:<br />
<a href="https://indyfilmmakeradvs.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-amazon-shoe-just-dropped.html">https://indyfilmmakeradvs.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-amazon-shoe-just-dropped.html</a><br />
<br />
For some reason I had it in my mind that if your video reached the insane 5,000,000 hours streamed to get back to the $.15/hour payscale, that would mean Amazon would pay you $.15/hour for ALL 5,000,000 hours.<br />
<br />
It appears that it's not that way. That they will pay you the lesser rates up until 5,000,000 and then start paying you the $.15/hour for any time after that many.<br />
<br />
It's insane.<br />
<br />
But it gets worse...<br />
<br />
They're also going to RESET YOUR STATS every January 1st. So if you thought that hey, maybe you'll get to the next pay tier later--say, September...then you're only getting the better pay for 3 months before your stats go back to zero.<br />
<br />
It's crazy. It really feels like Amazon was getting too many submissions and this is their attempt to slow down the submissions.<br />
<br />
As if that'll work...I mean, Youtube is free and millions of people put their shit up on there.<br />
<br />
-----------<br />
<br />
On how our flicks are doing...the past two months were the strongest since last January. Mostly on the back of Garden of Hedon and the Making Of . The Making Of Bounty has certainly seen an uptick which correlated with Bounty's views going up too, but nowhere near what GOH is.<br />
<br />
Shame to watch that money get cut by 60% from now on, but I guess it's because Amazon needs to pay all those taxes they payed last year.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.seattlepi.com/business/tech/article/Amazon-paid-no-US-income-taxes-for-2017-12713961.php">https://www.seattlepi.com/business/tech/article/Amazon-paid-no-US-income-taxes-for-2017-12713961.php</a><br />
<br />
<br />Kangashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05306092145547452231noreply@blogger.com0