Ever since my disappointment with “Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace” in 1999, I have not gone out of my way to see any of the major Hollywood blockbusters or Oscar nominated films that get a lot of hype. When a movie gets a lot of hype from the media or among people within my immediate circle (sometimes artificially generated as in the case of Miramax Films and “Shakespeare in Love” in 1998), I will wait until it hits the second run theaters, rent the DVD via Netflix or, most of the time, avoid it altogether.
I often get a lot of befuddled looks when I tell people that I have never seen “Napoleon Dynamite,” “Slumdog Millionaire” and “Avatar.” Don’t get me wrong. I am not a film snob. I just find a lot of movies that are released these days uninteresting and not all that entertaining. It is that rare occasion where I will see a preview of a film and say “I have absolutely got to see this!”
Thanks to director Kevin Smith (“Clerks” “Dogma” “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back”), his latest film “Red State” is one of those films. The film’s plot centers around three 18 year old boys who drive to a small town to answer an online ad soliciting sex. Instead of getting lucky, the three boys are drugged and end up becoming hostages of a Westboro Baptist Church/Branch Davidian style religious cult led by a Fred Phelps like preacher.
"Fear God"
According to some early reviews from this year’s Sundance Film Festival, this film is a departure from his previous works. If you are expecting comedy like “Clerks” or a cameo appearance by the Gen-X version of Cheech and Chong, Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Smith), this is not one of these films. Smith is billing this as an unconventional horror film. Although I have enjoyed a lot of his earlier works like “Clerks,” “Chasing Amy” and “Dogma,” his recent films have ranged from average to not so good.
The film has already caught the ire of the Rev. Fred Phelps and members of his Westboro Baptist Church congregation, the church who was the inspiration for “Red State.” At Sundance, their six person caravan came out to protest the film with their usual signs that express their Biblical intepretation of unconditional Christian love and tolerance. There is no need to display the contents of their signs on this page.
The dark theme and the potential real life appearance of Kansas’ famous circus sideshow showing their comedic disdain is not the only thing that makes me want to see this film. It is how Kevin Smith and his production company plans to distribute it. I’ll let you hear it from the production company, The Harvey Boys, themselves:
The director
(from the “Red State” website)
THE RED STATEMENT
“The Harvey Boys have witnessed firsthand the vagaries of “studio math” – the byzantine numbers game that sees an uneducated media and public celebrating “huge” openings at the box office while ignoring the obscene marketing costs attached to reach those figures. We believe it’s a pyrrhic victory to simply “buy” an opening weekend by pouring millions of dollars into TV spots, billboards and print ads. As storytellers, why not instead use our creative abilities that resulted in a film in the first place to also creatively SELL that film directly to our public?
We believe the state of film marketing has become ridiculously expensive and exclusionary to the average filmmaker longing simply to tell their story. When the costs of marketing and releasing a movie are four times that film’s budget, it’s apparent the traditional distribution mechanism is woefully out of touch with not only the current global economy, but also the age of social media.
Therefore, The Harvey Boys will not spend a dime on old world media buys (such as TV/Print/Outdoor) as we self-distribute our film, Red State, in an admittedly unconventional, yet extremely cost effective, word of mouth/viral campaign.
Knowledge is power, and we believe in empowering the filmmaker – so the Harvey Boys vow to make the financials of Red State open and transparent from which anybody hoping to follow suit can learn. We will do what no studio has dared: open up our books for the world to see so anyone interested in pursuing a similar independent release strategy has a better understanding of the BUSINESS of Red State.
And if we’re successful – or even merely effective – at producing a film distribution apparatus that can stand apart from the cost-prohibitive studio model currently viewed as the only way to get a movie into a theater? It is our intent to use the groundwork we lay with Red State to aid other filmmakers in releasing THEIR films, via our newly launched SModcast Pictures.
Don’t hate the studio; BECOME the studio. Anybody can make a movie; what we aim to prove is anyone can release a movie as well
The Harvey Boys
Jon Gordon & Kevin Smith
Starting on March 5th, Kevin Smith will begin his tour of “Red State” showing the film at venues across the country before its nationwide release on October 17th. So far, the tour does not include any locations in Southern California. I spoke with one of the people that are handling the promotional tour and they are open to adding venues for showings. The only obstacle would be to find a theater or location in Orange County that would be willing to host a showing. The Fox Theater in Fullerton (hint to Tony Bushala and his FFFF colleagues) or the Barclay Theater at UCI are a couple of ideas I had in mind. Or maybe an outdoor showing under the stars at Boss Agran’s unfinished Great Park of dead grass and weeds. If nothing else, a potential appearance by the Westboro Baptist Church sideshow could make this event a real lively one for the host city.
As far as Kevin Smith’s plans to distribute “Red State” without resorting to the marketing muscle of the movie studio middlemen, I hope it actually works and can’t fault him for trying.
The director welcoming those crazy Kansans to Sundance
For more information on “Red State,” here are the web sites for the film:
http://coopersdell.com/ (teaser trailer for “Red State”)
http://www.dreadcentral.com/news/42126/sundance-2011-red-state-qa-kevin-smith-and-michael-parks (Interview w/Kevin Smith about “Red State”)
I think that hell has frozen over – I found a Guy Fawkes post interesting and want to hear more about Red State and its new approach to film distribution.
Hell always freezes over on this blog, my friend. It is a “frozen hell zone.”
The controversial content of “Red State” notwithstanding, I really hope his self distribution proposal succeeds and that this film is better than “Cop Out” and “Zack and Miri Make a Porno.”
The initial reviews, which have been mixed, say that there are some bloodly scenes but not as much as “The Passion of the Christ.” I guess the Mel Gibson pic is now the standard bearer when it comes to detailed bloody scenes.
From what I have been reading, Smith caused quite an uproar at Sundance last week by telling the press he was going to auction off the distribution rights at the conclusion of the premiere of “Red State.” He ended up awarding himself the exclusive rights for $20.00.
I can’t wait to see what happens on his “Red State” promotional tour if he is pulling stunts like this.
I’ll let you know if and when the tour comes to Orange County. I just sent a proposal to his production company last night and have a couple venues in mind. In the meantime, we’ll have to settle for the eerie teaser trailer. Look for a sleeker looking John Goodman. He plays an ATF agent.