The Valentine’s Movie For Our Time: “Cruel Hearts”

Right now I’m sure we can all agree we’re living in difficult times. So many lies, so much deceit, so many “enemies of the people.” We just don’t know who to trust anymore. In this environment comes the perfect Valentine’s Day movie—the micro-budget thriller Cruel Hearts, opening February 11th. A love story about trust and duplicity, it opens just in time for Cupid’s big day! 

Those of you who took my class back in 2016 will remember filmmaker Paul Osborne, and his previous micro-budget feature that we profiled, Favor. Favor was made for under $30,000 and was released by Gravitas Ventures in 2014. It made it on iTunes’ New & Noteworthy list in its opening week and recouped its money after the first distribution check was received. 

The success of Favor led directly to the making of Cruel Hearts, notably because  Favor attracted a couple of investors who, along with 248 backers on Kickstarter, fully financed the film (for under $80,000). 

Paul has learned a thing or two over the many years he’s been in the film business. His career started when he was a kid making little movies, and then progressed to film school in Florida. After college, he shot weddings, getting comfortable with shooting and editing. He currently makes a living as a “Preditor”, a producer, writer, editor of promos at CBS. As you might expect, he has taken his experience writing, shooting and editing and applied it to his narrative features, which is one reason he’s able to make his films for so little—his writer, director, editor, DP and producer work for cheap!

THE INDIE THRILLER AUTEUR

Paul has carved out a little niche for himself in the independent film world—unlike a lot of filmmakers who are either making art films (dramas, mostly), or on the other end of the spectrum, horror films, Paul writes and directs tantalizing indie thrillers. Small films, yes, but always cleverly designed narratively and crackling with lip-popping dialogue. Cruel Hearts might be the most quotable indie film you’ll see all year. Micro-budget indie thrillers are a tough racket, though, but Paul has made it work for a number of reasons. First, he starts with a strong script, which he writes. Often the first draft comes to him in a flush, in a couple of weeks or so. Then he spends months rewriting until he’s polished it like a car. And these are not low-budget versions of films that studios make. Cruel Hearts is a character-driven story that uses the genre trappings of the crime thriller to explore the frailties of marriage. Paul is looking at the creative space once held by mid-budget dramas that are no longer getting made. Next, he’s developed a battle-tested template for production. He knows where to spend money and where to save it. He owns his camera, works with a tiny (but modestly-paid) crew, uses talented SAG actors, pays for his locations (in LA it’s hard not to), and does a lot of the post himself. Here’s the nitty gritty on the making of Cruel Hearts.

Paul Osborne shoots and directs actors Melora Hardin and Alev Aydin.

SHOOTING CRUEL HEARTS

Paul shot Cruel Hearts in December 2015 using his standard 3 week/18 shooting days methodology. He shot on a Panasonic GH4 equipped with a Metabones EF adapter, Odyssey 7Q monitor/recorder (recording HD ProRes 422HQ), and a variety of lenses, though mainly a Sigma 18-35mm zoom, all of which he owns. His lighting, grip and camera package were minimal, and so was his crew. A typical shooting day would include Paul (Director/DP/AD), a lighting technician, a sound mixer, wardrobe, one or two PA’s, a producer on location and a producer out ahead of the shoot buttoning down what was to come. Some days also included an art department person, others included a blood FX guy. Most of his talent did their own makeup, though a couple of actresses brought their personal makeup artists. Paul made a point of feeding his crew well, though if he went under budget for the week on food and craft service, he paid the difference out to his crew (that’s called a Win/Win). He never shot beyond 12 hours in a day.

Osborne shoots lead actor Patrick Day.

CASTING

I always say the most important element on a film is Cast, and Paul usually writes for actors he knows. A veteran of many, many film festivals (he directed the essential documentary about film festivals—Official Rejection), he often meets actors after seeing them in screenings of films he likes. He’ll introduce himself, exchange contact information, and then cast them in his movies. Paul saw lead actor Alev Aydin in the film Lonely Boy at the Phoenix Film Festival. He met veteran actor Eddie Jemison at the Austin Film Festival. Even Melora Hardin, who is perhaps best known for her work on The Office, was cast through connections. All his actors were SAG and he used the Ultra-Low Budget Agreement for the film.

There are a lot of guns in the movie (it is a Valentine’s movie, after all), and Paul has learned that airsoft guns work incredibly well. They have the size, weight and functionality of a real gun, but can only fire air. The shot flashes were created digitally by VFX guru Paul DeNigris of Foxtrot X-ray, (along with all of Paul’s other VFX). Blood work was done both practically on set and with VFX.  

Like many low-budget indies, it took a long time to finish Cruel Hearts. Paul edited the film for about a year (working nights and weekends). There were also a number of hiccups with color and sound, working around people’s schedules, as you often do on these kinds of films. And then when the film was completely finished, they had to sit on it for several months until they could premiere at Fall festivals. They world premiered at the Fort Lauderdale Film Festival in November 2018 and played 10 festivals on their way to signing another distribution deal with Gravitas. Paul likes Gravitas because they strike fair deals with him and don’t overspend releasing his films. He’s able to quickly recoup as long as he does everything he can to help create awareness for the movie. He also supplied Gravitas with the trailer (he edited) and poster (which he crowdsourced online using DesignCrowd), to help keep their costs low.

DISTRIBUTION

Like he did with Favor, Paul wanted to do a small theatrical release (outside of his Gravitas deal). Unfortunately, it didn’t work out so well this time, or at least, it was complicated by one unexpected hiccup:  his partner on this release, Tugg, went out of business and didn’t tell anyone! Tugg, who Paul partnered with on Favor and who has been in business for a decade, were collecting money for screenings in several cities when all of a sudden they just cancelled the screenings, never bothering to tell Paul. Fortunately, in most cases, they were able to negotiate directly with the theater owners and keep the screenings going, but the debacle has created a huge headache for the producers at a time when they need to be focused on the upcoming VOD release. And even though they have a distributor, Paul has learned that he has to work extra hard himself to help get people to see the film.  

In order to persuade audiences to buy or rent the film on iTunes on the day it opens (FEBRUARY 11th), or pre-order the film before then--which helps them get favorable positioning on the platform--he is offering customers free access to a Making-Of documentary called Mean Spleens. If you’re interested in seeing the film and learning more about how he made it on a micro-budget, then just go to iTunes and pre-order the film, or rent or buy it on February 11th, then send proof-of-purchase to info@conspicuouspictures.com, and Paul will send you a free private link to the documentary. Here’s a great video that explains how it works:  https://youtu.be/MCj9lEAS6BM 

I hope you’ll check out the film on one of the many platforms it’s opening on February 11th. It’s terrific fun and an excellent example of what you can do with a small amount of money. Pre-order it on iTunes today and then curl up with someone you love on Valentine’s Day and watch it. Just don’t turn your back on them while you do…

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© 2020 Mark Stolaroff