When I moved to Los Angeles in 1999, my goal was to be an action director. There are two routes: 1) stunt performing > stunt coordinating > 2nd unit directing > directing, and 2) screenwriting > producing > directing. I pursued both concurrently.
I started my screenplay journey in 1997 with my teen abstinence comedy. That writing sample got me accepted into ActOneProgram.com in 2001, but the standard of excellence they taught was so high that I felt handicapped. So I focused on my bread and butter, which at the time was special effects and stunts.
The advice I received regarding screenwriting was to have three screenplays ready to go before shopping any around. This took me two decades.
I was invited to help produce two features, Vengeance Trail in 2002 and Acts of Violence in 2006. I wasn't a part of developing or selling, and I didn't really want to learn then because producing was hard work. There are so many learning curves in this business and I picked my battles; stunt performing was fun, paid the bills (eventually), got me health insurance, and even had backend participation that was like manna from Heaven. Three cheers for passive income.
I tried to quit three times. As I aged, I realized some of my injuries from stunts were chronic, and I started planning for my career after 50. By this mid-life marker, I had had half a dozen feature screenplays to shop, half with business plans. And I'd tried my hand unsuccessfully at crowdfunding and equity crowdfunding.
I made lots of short films (my film school), and they made me some side money through Ad Sales on YouTube. But the no budget feature became the calling card, and the prevailing indie film advice is to make a slate of films to spread the risk.
Vengeance Trail started as a $10K student film, then grew many times over with reshoots. It landed in Blockbuster and Walmart in 2006, but many mistakes were made such as not having stars and shooting on MiniDV, and it didn't find much of an audience. Fast forward to today, I now have a 1080p streaming version with an updated trailer, titles, music, etc. (I'll explain in another post about how, using AI software). It's time to exploit the movie.
Eyre Films' goals are to make a slate of genre movies. Vengeance Trail will be my trial to build momentum and prove I can make money at it. Above are a few posters to get you excited.
I've been studying indie film marketing. The old way of selling a movie at film festivals and to the streaming giants is gone. The new way is changing every year, but includes branding, targeting a niche audience of super fans, four-walling, direct sales funnel, targeted international sales, blogging, building an email list, etc. And also festivals and streaming in their proper place.
If you're a filmmaker, ask me questions and challenge my reasoning.
If you like horses, I'll dig up behind the scenes horse footage from Vengeance Trail.
If you like guns and Western movie history, we already made a documentary about the vintage movie guns used in Vengeance Trail.
Best, Ian
VengeanceTrail.com
PreyForMason.movie
SmashAndRun.com
RunCholo.com
FoolCircleMovie.com
