Movie Maker article: Open Water (click here)

Like who wrote the article??? ;-)

It's my first professional magazine article!

heath

Well shoot :-) good job Heath!

Great job, Heath.

One nitpick. IMDb lists the first Kentis-Lau film as Grind (no definite article).

Heath! Great job on the article...I've written a few things for magazine's too. It feels good to branch out creatively doesn't it? It makes me feel like an overall "artist". Are you going to continue writing print stuff??

You've inspired me to get another writing gig somewhere!

Murph

I saw the trailers for "Open Water" in a theatre this weekend. Had no idea it was from a dvcam. They should make a ton of money. ("they" being the distributors, unfortunately._It would be a surprise if the actual filmmakers shared in the profits.)

See what surprises await you when you go to see "Fahrenheit 9/11?"

Wayne Orr

Wayne,

Let's stay on topic here. We're talking about Open Water; besides, the filmmakers are now millionaires just from the sale of the movie. And that has NOTHING to do with our current discussion.

Thanks,

heath

I've actually seen the trailer at the movie theater a few times in the past year. It's been out for quite a while. I can't find any information on the opening day? Anyone know that?

Murph

I think it's in the article I wrote. Scroll up and click on the link. I believe it goes wide the second or third Friday of August.

hwm

So, this husband/wife team, is this their first effort? First effort that went anywhere? Just curious. Someone said something about "Grind," as well. . .you mean that bigger budget skateboard movie?

I like the idea that relative unknowns can bring a movie with no major stars to major theaters. Gives us all hope.

No, the first Grind, with amanda peet.

heath

Hmm. I shall have to look it up. I don't believe I know it.

"the filmmakers are now millionaires just from the sale of the movie


Are you sure about that?
I know someone mentioned that they sold the film for 2.5 million, but generally when dealing with a distributor, the producers are expected to take on the marketing costs.
(i.e. 'we'll pay you 5 million for the film, and you spend 4.9 million marketing it).

Like in the case of Darren Aranofsky's 'PI'
Everyone was fond of mentioning that he made the film on viturally no money, and sold it to Artisan for millions, which was true. But, at the end of the day, Aranofsky only saw $10,000 of that money.


And, although I have to agree that I found the trailer to Open Water to be kind of lame (dramatically), it looked great for DV. I actually walked out of there thinking it looked like crappy 35.
:)
Shows what I know!

-Luis

Luis,

Studios always cover marketing, my friend. It's the prints they usually don't, that's why you have a good lawyer broker the deal. They certainly did, and I don't believe they had to do much else.

As for Darren, I'm not so sure about that money. I think he walked away with more than that. I used his "ask everyone for $100" to make my film (didn't get the $60,000 he raised) to some success. And hey, the guy's directed Requiem For a Dream and is now going back to The Fountain and will do DC Comics' Watchmen.

heath

Does anyone know how much they spent to make Open Water ... before the movie deal.