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Skype, Andre the Butcher, and Thoughts on Straight-to-Video
SKYPE.COM Go to skype.com and download their little program. When you do a small window will pop up like AOL Instant Messenger. From now till Jan. 1, 2007 you can get free long distance to any land line or cell phone in the US or Canada. This is a great tool for us filmmakers who are on the phone all day.
It reminds me of Call Wave back in the day. Remember back when there was dial-up and someone called you? Call Wave would forward the call and you can listen to some message while being online. At first it was free, but then they started to charge. I think this is the same type of deal with skype so take advanatge now.
Also Skype to Skype calls are free. Our music guy who lives in Italy is on Skype and now I can talk to him with out racking up International Call Rates or buying one of those credit cards for 10 bucks that gives you 3 minutes to talk.
On a side note and speaking of our music guy in Italy, let me just say if you are a wanna-be filmmaker and your name starts with an N, PAY PEOPLE WHEN THEY DO WORK FOR YOU! (He doesn't mean me, ladies and gentlemen; the "N" Mark's referring to rhymes with "reel". ---Nolan)
Check out this Skype deal and look me up on there. My skype name is only1soe.
Andre the Butcher and Straight-to-Video Last week I wrote a little article about the Florida Film Incentives. I mentioned how the incentive doesn't make sense and only helps the big budget guys. You can check out what I wrote by CLICKING HERE and reading it on the message board.
In the article, I spoke about the realistic "Holy Grail" of horror movies for under a 100k which is a wide, straight-to-video release in stores like Blockbuster and Hollywood Video. I thought it was only fair for me to go out and check out Andre the Butcher before judging anything.
Over all the positive comment I would like to say is the movie is better than most low-budget straight-to-video movies. Congrats guys for having a goal and completing your film.
My point has always been with a cleanly shot movie (Andre the Butcher has that in spades), solid sound, a lot of gore, and some nudity you can get into video stores. Shooting on film isn't even so important and that comment is coming from me, Mr. Film himself. The story and acting doesn't even need to be great. In other words, you just need to have a complete, high quality package.
I also feel having a name attached helps. I do think Andre the Butcher could have gotten into stores without Ron Jermey. Ron Jermey's face was maybe in the movie 10 minutes, tops. The smart thing the guys did with this movie is use Jeremy's name to open up doors and add some legitmacy with genre fans. It's kind of what we did 4 years ago with "B-Movie" and Debbie Rochon. Sometimes I feel we would have never got reviews in Fangoria and Rue Morgue with out having someone like her in the movie. Me being persistant as hell certainly didn't hurt, either.
All in all, what does all this mean? Maybe not much. Just another asshole's opinion. It gives me some personal insight for the film I am currently producing. Maybe it will help you, too. I also really hope that the people who make the Florida Film Incentives would look at what all of us have been saying about our movies. The extra push they could provide would without a doubt help get our films into stores. When it comes down to it, though, you don't need it. The guy's from Andre the Butcher didn't get an incentive or kick-back. In the end, it's up to you to make it on your own.
Is everyone in the world hearing about this skype.com deal? I am not making an advertising announcement but this long distance deal over the internet is fantastic.
In no way is this a review. I am not reviewing Andre the Butcher. As everyone knows I like to usually write my articles as streams of conscience or case studies.
"My Middle Toe Is Longer Than Yours" is ©2006 by Mark Terry. Webpage design and all graphics herein (except where otherwise noted) are creations of Nolan B. Canova. All contents of Nolan's Pop Culture Review are ©2006 by Nolan B. Canova.