Ed Burns, “Nice Guy Johnny” and a New Way of Distributing Films
Burns -– an indie filmmaker to the core -– decided to forgo the traditional theatrical release. Instead, the film will be released on October 26th in [a plethora of] formats simultaneously: iTunes, video-on-demand Netflix, PlayStation 3, Amazon Video and DVD.
Burns has his reasons for giving this method a shot. The playing field for true indie films has shifted considerably in the last decade. Backing money from hedge-funders has dried up. Indie studios like Picturehouse and Warner Independent have shut down. Marketing costs have risen considerably. (Burns can make a film for $1 million, then spend five times that amount trying to get the word out for a theatrical release. It’s tough going when an indie has to compete with the latest Robert Pattinson movie with a $40 million marketing budget.)
“Nice Guy Johnny” is a romantic comedy about a young man who believes he can please his demanding fiancée only by giving up his dream job as a sports radio talk show host for a more serious vocation. The film, like most of Burns’, is all Eddie: He wrote it, directed it, acted in it and produced it.
And it’s a remarkable film, especially given its circumstances. Burns did the entire film on a budget of $25,000. He used virtually unknown actors (the one notable exception being Burns himself, of course), who did their own hair and makeup. It was filmed in just ten days, shot by three people with a digital camera. Burns used his parents’ house in Long Island for part of the set.
More from Forbes here.
I heard an interview* with Burns the other day. He’s wisely deducted that, if you do get distribution in the first place, getting people to come out to the art houses is an uphill battle these days. And more to the point, the film’s central character is 24 years old. How are a lot of twenty-somethings consuming content these days? “They’re laying in bed watching on their laptops. They’re pulling it down on their Apple TV. They’re firing up the Netflix app on their iPhone or iPad. I’m just going where the audience is.”
Smart.
The future.
Let’s see how it goes.
“Nice Guy Johnny” trailer below or here:
(The trailer makes it seem a little sappy. It’s actually a romantic comedy. See the Forbes article for more background).
Order Nice Guy Johnny on iTunes here.
* - Burns also said that looking over Steven Spielberg’s shoulder for a few weeks while filming ‘Saving Private Ryan’ was like going to film school.
Previously:
Paul McCartney takes dig at former President George W. Bush, comes off like partisan tool at a nonpartisan event held to honor him for his music.
President Barack Obama presented Paul McCartney the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song Wednesday night. McCartney is the first person who is not American to receive the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song.
He remarked that “After the last eight years, it’s great to have a president who knows what a library is.”
We love you, Paul. No need to be such a nipple.
And, after the last seven years, it would be nice to have a rock legend who knows what the internet is.
Related:
April 28, 2003 - Apple Launches the iTunes Music Store
Funny:
Paul McCartney Receives White House Pardon for Post-Beatles Work
If heaven is such a wonderful place, then how come being crucified is such a big fucking sacrifice?
A Very Welcome Redesign In iTunes 9: Pop-up Previews
Just noticed this:
In the iTunes Store, when on a category or search results page, hovering over a show/movie/album/etc. icon reveals an ‘i’ button in the lower right corner that you can click to bring up more information about the piece in a shadowbox preview.
SO HELPFUL.
Navigation in the iTunes Store is generally, well, brutal (which is partly a side effect of adding additional product categories over the years). Before, that Back button got quite a workout. It’s not tabbed browsing, but this definitely helps.
I’ve been using iConcertCal for a while now. It’s a free iTunes plug-in that monitors your music library and generates a personalized calendar of upcoming album releases and concerts in your city. It supports searches in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K., includes direct links to purchase tickets, and is available for both Windows and Mac OS X.
It’s a great little plug-in.
Bonus: You can sync your personalized “concert calendar” with iCal on your Mac and/or iPhone, which I find very useful while on the go to see last-minute if there are any shows I might want to check out on a given night.
Also, while iTunes is running, you can set it to show a small pop-up notification window when a song starts alerting you to any upcoming shows or releases by the artist playing.
Which brings me to my point…
Yesterday, a Poison track began playing and a notification popped up about a new release by the band, “10 Great Songs.”
“New material?” I wondered.
Nope. Turns out it’s yet another Hits collection, the third of its kind by the band/label following releases in 1996 and 2006.
Which is redundant and lame and unnecessary, yes. Perhaps Capitol is trying to take advantage of some of the publicity Bret Michaels will receive being on the upcoming season of Celebrity Apprentice.
Anyway, while the superfluous release is nothing to get worked up over, this is:
When I did that initial search for the name of the new album, guess what the first shopping result was?
Fuck you, internet.
R. Kelly - Happy Summertime
Because, if iTunes popularity rankings are any indication, this jam doesn’t get nearly the respect it deserves, and that bothers me.
