Two Guys and a Film Moves Toward Becoming Full-Fledged Indie Film Studio
Steve Barton
|
/oct13/twoguysandafilm-s.jpg
The co-owners of indie production shingle Two Guys and a Film are shooting for the big time. James Thomas and Canyon Prince are looking to put together five films over the next two years, and they’ve got a plan to do it!
With the films Run Like Hell and Hard Sun already under their belts, Thomas and Prince are now looking to create five more. They feel doing movies in bunches not only helps to control costs, but it keeps the team sharp as they are on the job for an extended period of time. To help raise money to make these movies, the guys have turned to a crowd-funding campaign.
Take a look at the video below, and then head over to the official Two Guys and a Film website, ‘like’ Two Guys and a Film on Facebook and follow Two Guys and a Film on Twitter (@2guysandafilm). They currently have a special super-secret award for any Dread Central readers who donate the amount of $44: You will get an advance Blu-ray of their film Run Like Hell as soon as it’s available. They’ll also throw in a signed 8″x10″ from the film.
From the Press Release
Independent production shingle Two Guys and a Film announced their second slate of feature films. The films, totaling five, will all be sci-fi/horror genre films and will kick off production in early 2014. Each film will star recognizable name talent in the starring roles. For these films, the company is turning to crowd-funding in order to raise the initial development monies. That money will go toward hiring a well-established line producer and casting director, forming multiple limited liability companies for investment purposes, paying various legal fees, as well as traveling to meet with potential investors.
The main approach for the campaign will be focused on giving fans a chance to pre-buy the films as either a digital download or a Blu-ray/DVD, to be delivered once the films are completed and ready for distribution. Much like pre-selling foreign territories, the company is looking to fans to believe in the films and make their purchases before production begins. This will enable the filmmakers to raise the upfront monies to get things moving. As far as why the company is focusing on a slate of films instead of a single production, co-owner James Thomas states, “We’ve proven on the last two films that a film slate model can work. Now it’s time to take it up a notch. We’ve always thought big and bold. This is just the natural progression for us as filmmakers.” The filmmakers have taken much of what they learned during the distribution process on their first two features, Hard Sun and Run Like Hell, which they produced in 2012, and have used that knowledge to shape the current model.
“What we’re doing this time around is essentially reverse distribution,” says co-owner Canyon Prince. “Instead of writing a script and then figuring out what it will cost and hoping people will pay money to see it, we’re starting at the end this time around. Finding genres that people like to watch, figuring out what we can realistically sell a movie of that type for with a particular star actor, and then figuring out how to shoot it for less than that amount.”
Long term, the company hopes to operate like a typical studio, producing a slate of films every year and using contacts with distributors, sales agents, and exhibitors, to get those movies distributed both in the U.S. and overseas. “James and I are still film directors first and foremost,” adds Prince, “But, with the amount of films we ultimately want to crank out every year, it has become very apparent that we’ll need to bring on other directors as well and act simply as executive producers on those particular projects. It will also provide us the opportunity to bring up first-time directors that we are really passionate about.”
With a combined Twitter following of just under 50K, the company is really looking to their social media fan base of film genre lovers and independent filmmakers to help get the ball rolling. “We’re not looking to raise the entire film budgets through crowd-funding, as we just don’t think that’d be fair to our amazing supporters.” Thomas says. “We are, however hoping to raise all the development funds through our social network so that we can go out and get the films remaining budgets from accredited investors.”
As is typical with any crowd-funding campaign, contributors will receive various limited edition rewards for being a part of things at the ground level. These rewards range in scale from one-of-a-kind props from the previous films, to premiere tickets and private screenings in the contributor’s own hometown. The filmmakers will also be doing some pretty interesting perks such as an Instagram Takeover, where they will take over a contributors account for an entire day and post videos and photos from all over Hollywood! They are even offering to take locals out for a night on the Sunset Strip or fly to a contributor’s hometown and take them out to dinner to talk shop.
Got news? Click here to submit it!
Figure out how to survive in the comments section below.
Categorized:Uncategorized
