No Budget Film School Success Story - "Blood Stripe"
Monday, August 28, 2017
Blood Stripe is Opening Theatrically in Various Cities Across the Country Beginning Sep. 15th
As you probably know by now, I love promoting films from past No Budget Film School students of mine. It gives me great pleasure to learn that my class helped inspire a filmmaker to realize his or her dream.
And like a proud papa, I love it when that film not only manages to get up on its own two feet, but then also runs across the room, hurdling furniture. That's Blood Stripe, co-written and directed by Remy Auberjonois; (if that last name sounds familiar, it's because his father is the well-known actor, Rene). Blood Stripe premiered in the 2016 Los Angeles Film Festival and promptly won the top prize for U.S. narrative features. It's won several other awards since, including the Audience Award at the Austin Film Festival.
If you've ever been in the Marines, you'll recognize the title's reference--blood stripe is the red stripe that runs down a Marine officer's pants. The film stars co-writer Kate Nowlin as a returning-home Marine officer who suffers from PTSD. A Yale School of Drama graduate, Kate is one of those terrific actors who you usually only see in small character roles, but is just waiting for that opportunity to really show her stuff. I'm sorry, not waiting, creating. Remy, also an accomplished actor, and Kate got tired of waiting for those roles to come to them and instead created the role themselves and then figured out how to make the movie on their own. A lot of actors who are tired of waiting for that break take my class in order to take control over their careers. For Remy, he always felt he had a director's perspective when he acted and was looking for that chance to direct. I'm sorry, creating that opportunity. He credits my class for not only teaching him to work with his available resources and limitations, but also for giving him the ability to see that it could really be done. He wrote a terrific article for MovieMaker magazine where he discusses the making of the film and how his acting experience supported him in his new roles of directing and producing. I encourage you all to read this article.
As interesting as that story is, it is perhaps the story of how this film is getting out into the world that is the real nail-biter. Like a lot of intrepid filmmakers these days, Remy and his team are going the self-distribution route. They turned down a traditional offer for distribution from a very reputable company because 1.) there was no advance and therefore no guarantee that they would ever see any money out of the deal; and 2.) the company refused to get creative about the release, opting instead to just plug the film into their normal machinery. To the producers, this was missing a huge opportunity to not only make additional money and attract a much larger audience, but also, crucially, it meant skipping the chance to become an agent for change. This stance from the distributor is nothing new--it's rare you ever get an advance these days (and because of that, rare you really see any money back), and even rarer that these companies will do any more work (or any newer work) than they have to.
Fortunately for Remy, he's got a very experienced teammate running this self distribution. Missy Laney, their Producer of Marketing & Distribution, was formerly with Sundance Artist Services, and not only pioneered the mechanisms to assist filmmakers navigating this kind of landscape, she also has relationships with the various parties that are needed to pull off their ambitious plan. This plan includes not only running in New York and LA, but also in cities like Minneapolis, where they shot the film, and in other cities where there is specific support.
More-so, they are putting together an innovative "impact" campaign, which they consider to be marketing, audience building, theatrical and impact all in one. They hired the impact company Picture Motion, which is helping them reach around 300 veterans' organizations and schools in an effort to build and exploit partnerships that will include mutual promotional support and grassroots screenings. Some of that will be purely for impact and some will be potentially revenue generating. So even though this is a narrative film, it plays with the authenticity of a documentary, and they are mirroring the type of impact campaigns that many social impact docs use. They are creating a campaign with Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America to bring awareness to the realities faced by female veterans. They also want the film to help raise awareness in support of The Deborah Sampson Act in Congress, which is specifically aimed at creating equity for women in VA services.
I personally look forward to seeing how this whole distribution plan works, as I've been considering something akin to this for DriverX, and because frankly, for the right films, this is just what's necessary these days to break through the clutter, especially when you don't have big names and when you've made a "dreaded" drama.
Please check out the trailer, (I think it's terrific), which was created by a post house in Minneapolis, and then visit the website so you can see when and where the film might be playing near you. For New Yorkers, that's going to be starting September 29th at the Village East and for LAers, that will be beginning October 13th at the Laemmle Music Hall (mark those calendars!).
SUBSCRIBE TO THE NO-BUDGET REPORT
© 2017 Mark Stolaroff