30 Days of Vengeance Trail - Countdown to Memphis Premiere on April 23!
Over 20 years in the works, Vengeance Trail is going to receive its first theatrical exhibition. I'm so excited to see and hear it on the big screen!
If you haven't followed the journey so far, Vengeance Trail started out as a student film, then grew. But, as you can imagine with a bunch of first time filmmakers, me included, plenty of mistakes were made. After several years, the movie was released in Blockbuster and Walmart, but it only made a fraction of its budget in return. I was always bummed that the investors were never made whole and the movie didn't find a large audience. When artificial intelligence tools became available, I started to wonder if the movie could be rescued and improved. And now, this epic-feeling Western, shot on a prosumer miniDV camera, receives the royal treatment at a theater in Memphis!
Now that the movie has been digitally enhanced, follow along on its self-distribution journey. For various reasons, traditional distribution isn't the best option for the movie. The first theatrical screening of Vengeance Trail happens 29 days from today. This daily blog series for 30 days will chronicle the journey to throw a memorable event.
What we have:
- A bonafide, feature-length movie! See the trailer at VengeanceTrail.com.
- Venue, a 165 seat theater at Malco Cordova Cinema Grill, on April 23, 2024 at 7pm.
- Food and drink available at the event.
- Movie poster from which we will have t-shirts made.
- Stars of Vengeance Trail attending.
- Invites to be a guest on a podcast and a movie review website.
- Local advisors who have hosted theatrical premieres.
- Potential talent to live-broadcast the event.
- Potential musicians to entertain before and after the movie.
- Sound system for Q&A - the theater provides a house microphone.
- Camera and lights for the red carpet.
- Update the EPK (electronic press kit).
- Printer for banners, posters, t-shirts. Lead time and quantity decisions.
- Design completion for banners, posters, t-shirts.
- Possible DVDs, BluRays and
- Decisions on a website for collecting ticket sales and emails for the future; Eventive vs. Kinema.
- Lock in musician and hosting talent for the event.
- Write a first draft of a guest post article for the movie review website to give notes.
- Decide how many posters to print, based on price-break and budget for inventory.
- Two Memphis filmmakers, LaDell Beaman and Rex Oatis, have recommended sources for a red carpet backdrop for guest photos. Stickers & Banners drop ships within 24 business hours, and an 8'x8' vinyl banner is $98 plus S&H. I can borrow stands to hold the banner up. Another option is Central Imaging & Printing, which excites me because I really want to hire and spend locally, so I'll compare their quote when I get it.
- I met Memphis Wrestler, K Toomer aka Fatjitsu, for the second time on Saturday. He and I were invited by LaDell to present our careers (stunts and professional wrestling) at a Heel the Hood Foundation Memphis event, and he prints the t-shirts for Memphis Wrestling at such an affordable price that there's actually still room to make a profit. So, I'm going to have him print a sample shirt with the following image as a test.
This is very exciting, Ian. Thanks for sharing your journey. I’m excited to read more.
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