aWounded Knee

One Dead Man

2006-05-27T07:54:00.000-07:00

The concepts of "good" and "bad" are subjective value judgments. There is however, a belief in self-empowered action otherwise known as conviction of belief. A man of conviction lives in his own world while he answers his calling. His attitude is justifiable on practical grounds. He does what he believes is right and will do it even though the world doesn’t agree with or accept him. He does it because he must.

On one level, ONE DEAD MAN explores this theme but on another level it is philosophically and psychologically so much more. It is a story about loneliness, escape, disappointment and alienation; about people that nobody cares for, that nobody knows; loners, doomed tragic figures, lost on their inner journey. This story certainly doesn’t present its characters as heroes, but ultimately as human beings. It is a story not only about belief, but ultimately it’s consequences.

Knee bends for 'Beast'

2006-05-09T18:39:00.000-07:00

Prod'n house picks up rights to mystery
By PAMELA MCCLINTOCK

A WoundedKnee Independent Films has picked up the English-language film rights to Fredric Brown's mystery "The Lenient Beast," with shingle co-founder Lance Doty set to direct. Brown's novel is a five-part narrative recounting the perfect crime from the perspective of five people. First published in 1956, it was released in paperback by Carroll & Graf Publishers in 1988. Doty will pen the screenplay.

"The component I appreciated the most about this material is the unhurried, sinuous manner in which the plot moves -- it twists and turns without being obvious about its surprises the way so many movies do today," Doty said.

Gotham-based WoundedKnee, a division of Homestead Editorial, has produced two other indie pics: "Noise," penned and directed by Doty and starring Trish Goff and Ally Sheedy, and 9/11 drama "Beyond the Ashes."

Doty is set to helm and write two other projects for the shingle, "Jacky Peek," based on Tom De Haven's novel "Jersey Luck," and "Dead, Dead."

WoundedKnee was launched in 2002 by Doty, Charly Bender, Greg Dougherty, Chris Hellman and Sam Welch.

Copyright and the Public Domain

2005-12-26T13:02:00.000-08:00

To clear up any confusion, Copyrights in works created after January 1, 1978 last for 70 years after the author's death, or 95 years if the author is a corporation. For any work created before that date, the time period varies depending on the date the work was first published and the laws applicable. for example, all works more than 95 years old have fallen into the "public domain". Public domain is the term used for anything that has had its copyright expire or was never copyrighted. anything less than 95 years old must be carefully screened before it is assumed to be in the public domain. A good place to start your copyright research is the U.S. Copyright Office.

HD-NET; A great idea in the making

2005-12-23T13:07:00.000-08:00

"Bubble", a working-class slice-of-life drama from famed director Steven Soderbergh and producers including dot.com/pro basketball impresario Mark Cuban, will be released in select movie theaters, on HD-Net, and on DVD simultaneously.

It's the first in a planned series of simultaneous releases from 2929 Entertainment (owned by Cuban and his partner, Todd Wagner) that is aimed at making first-run films almost as instantly accessible as fast food or designer coffee. Major studios release their movies first in theaters to maximize their glamour and pull, holding them back for months from cable or DVD. But another independent company has already duplicated Cuban's strategy: IFC Entertainment this week announced that it will open two dozen films concurrently in theaters and via cable video-on-demand beginning in March.

BRINGING FILMS TO THE NET

2005-12-22T11:20:00.000-08:00

Oscar-winning actor Morgan Freeman is teaming up with Intel to launch an online movie-download site that aims to pull users away from illegal downloads of first-run films. ClickStar will focus on making first-run and pre-DVD films available for download. Movie fans will be able both to purchase and rent films from the service. Freeman's production company, Revelations Entertainment, formed ClickStar with an investment from Intel.

Consumers can already download films from companies like Movielink and CinemaNow, but the services have been slow to catch on. Movie fans are faced with a limited library, and a limited window to watch films. Most of the movies available expire after 24 hours. Films will be protected by digital rights management, but will still be easy for consumers to move to portable devices, Corbett said.

2005-12-22T10:31:00.000-08:00

3-D. CREATE AN EXCITING FILM-GOING EXPERIENCE.

2005-12-20T11:08:00.000-08:00

It's called stereoscopic 3-D.

In a traditional film-based 3-D system, two projectors team up: One continuously displays a reel for the left eye, the other a reel for the right. But in newer, digital 3-D systems, one projector simply runs twice as fast -- 96 frames per second -- displaying alternate views, left, right, left, right, one after the other. Directed by an infrared "command" pulse that comes from the projector, the moviegoer wears a pair of LCD glasses which "shutter" in synch to transmit or block light: the left lens opens for its image, while the right lens is turned off. Then, the right eye sees its frame, and the left lens is turned off.

The prototype glasses will initially cost theaters about $25 to $30 per pair, and can be cleaned in a dishwasher, according to IN-THREE CEO Michael Kaye.

Hollywood and Blu-Ray

2005-12-15T08:28:00.000-08:00

Seven of the eight major movie studios have announced that they will release movies in the BLU-RAY format as soon as hardware becomes available. The movies will feature high definition video and audio as well as advanced interactive features. Compared to standard definition (SD), which is the resolution used for today's TVs and DVDs, high definition (HD) offers a big improvement. A standard TV uses either NTSC which is 480i (640x480) or PAL/SECAM which is 576i (768x576). The "i" stands for interlaced, which means that only half of the lines are updated for each frame alternating between the odd and even lines. Blu-ray movies will be in 1080p (1920x1080), which is the highest of the HD resolutions. The "p" stands for progressive, which means that every line and pixel will be updated for each frame.

High-Def is (almost) finally here.

Can't find a company to distribute your film? Do it yourself.

2005-11-17T07:49:00.000-08:00

You've put your heart and soul into your film, you've sacraficed nights, weekends, sleep, food. You've begged, lied, cheated to get your film made. You've taken your film to a couple of festivals, gained some recognition, maybe even won a few awards. But you still find yourself without distribution. Before seeking desperate measures and signing with an unkown company to either represent or distribute your film, look into self-distribution as an option. It may not be as hard as you think.

"Like most industries, the film industry contains its share of those seeking to take advantage of vulnerability. Bottom line: Be Careful with your choices".

A: THEATRICAL RELASE
If you can book your film in the top 20 markets (NY, LA, Chicago) with at least 1 print in 1 art house theater for 2 weeks with corresponding publicity and ads, you will have created a product that the audience believes has a perceived value of a $10 ticket. Even if you find nobody attends the screenings, this 'perception' will trigger sales to the ancillary markets. To book, you will probably get a percentage deal (25 - 35% of box office) or a 'house-nut' deal, where the theater owner takes out his expenses first, then splits. Another method is called '4-Walling', where you literally rent the 4 walls of the theater, place your ads, sit in the box office boot, pray, and keep all the money for yourself.

B: PPV
Depending on your theatrical exposure, you can now sell the Pay-Per-View rights to companies who will split 50-50 with you on distribution revenues from hotel/motel travelers ($6-$7 fee) and home viewers.

C: DVD
This could be wonderful revenue. Assuming your film has been booked in theaters and video renters have seen the newspaper ads but did not attend the movie when it was in theaters, they are now curious about seeing it at home. Let’s assume there are 25,000 video stores who each purchase only 2 cassettes each from a video distributor at a fee of $99. You will gross almost $5.0 million. If, at the low end, 1 out of 5 stores orders only 1 DVD priced at $24.95, the video distributor will gross $125,000. Thus, DVD sales could range from $125,000 to $5 million depending upon the theatrical exposure and word-of-mouth of your product when it was in theaters.

D: PAY CABLE
Your best sales now will be to the cable industry, but specifically to those channels that program mostly movies. For our purposes, movies are defined as “those things that you see in newspaper ads in the entertainment section.” The pay-
cable buyers are HBO, Cinemax (owned by HBO), Showtime, The Movie Channel (owned by Showtime), StarZ, Encore (owned by StarZ), Disney and Playboy. Disney and Playboy don’t pay big dollars. Thus, there are only 3 cable networks who will give
you $100,000-$1,000,000 for a limited theatrical release. They are HBO, Showtime, or StarZ. Good luck.

E: BASIC CABLE
Although pay cable pays the most, the likelihood of getting a sale to one of the big 3 is not good if you haven’t had your film in at least the top 20 markets. However, you can get basic cable sales of $25,000-$150,000 from basic cable networks that cablecast films that have no theatrical release but have been award winners at festivals. These networks are the Independent Film Channel, Bravo, Sundance, TNT, TBS, USA, A&E, etc.

F: PBS/TV
The most prestigious sale will probably be to PBS. Although the money is not great ($425-$550/minute) it could still garner you an additional $25,000-$60,000 and massive credibility. Thus, get the Public Broadcasting Directory ($15
from Corporation of Public Broadcasting) and contract stations. You will either get a “lead” or “presenting” station (see directory above) or a regional network, such as CEN (Central Education Network, Des Plaines, Illinois) or PMN (Pacific Mountain Network, Denver) or SECA (Southern Educational Communications Association, Columbia, South Carolina), etc.

ADDITIONAL: FOREIGN MARKETS
Besides America, think globally. hus, you would like to sell, (the correct word is “license”) your film to other nations or territories. There are approximately 35 nations (Germany, Italy, France, Japan, Ecuador, Israel, etc.) or territories (Middle East, east Africa, Benelux, Scandinavia, etc.) around the world that can afford to pay you some money for the rights to market your film in their nation for a period of 4-10 years. To reach these international buyers you will
attend 1 or 2 of the 3-5 film markets (AFM, Cannes, MIFED, RAINDANCE & IFFM) that take place each year and make an arrangement with a foreign sales company which will represent your product for a fee of approximately 35 percent.

JACKY PEEK - Synopsis

2005-11-16T21:21:00.000-08:00

At only twenty-five, Jacky Peek is experiencing a “mid-life” crisis. After being fired from Able Cards, a greeting card company, he becomes involved in low-level criminal activity to break the routine of his boring, directionless life.

He delivers “specials” (counterfeit money, pirated DVDs and dead cats) for the local newspaper distributor, Saul Weitz, and is teamed up with Stag, a no-nonsense, prostitute-dating thug who has greater aspirations of becoming a Broadway performer. We soon discover that Peek used to date Saul’s niece, Catherine, but passed on the opportunity to assist her in a bank robbery. Catherine is now on the run, leaving Peek paralyzed with regret -- he misses her not the money. Not until he meets an abused woman on a delivery, Anita, and refuses to sell her a gun does Peek begin to discover a deeper sense of purpose.

Placed in Jersey City, this non-stop, offbeat tale examines the defining choices we make and their inescapable consequences; relationships in their various stages of decay; the isolating effects of classism and the stifling impact of routine and regret. With its colorful cast and edgy dialogue, “Jacky Peek” explores the ways in which people make sense of the life-terms they have been dealt in an often-confusing world.

Visit the offical JACKY PEEK website by clicking here.

JACKY PEEK in Pre-Production

2005-11-16T21:14:00.000-08:00

NOISE ON CABLE

2005-11-16T20:11:00.000-08:00

• Showtime Women - Dec 5th @ 9PM
• The Movie Channel - Dec 14th @ 4:10AM
• Showtime Women - Dec 16th @ 3:40AM
• The Movie Channel - Dec 205h @ 10PM

NOISE SYNOPSIS

2005-11-16T20:10:00.000-08:00

After the painful break-up of her marriage, Manhattan newspaper copy editor Joyce (Trish Goff) moves into an upscale apartment building, only to find that her upstairs neighbor Charlotte (Ally Sheedy) is so noisy and inconsiderate that she can't get any sleep. Wracked with sleep deprivation, Joyce plays a prank on Charlotte that has dire consequences for both women. Giancarlo Esposito co-stars in this psychological thriller.

Visit the official NOISE website by clicking here.