I was wondering if anybody has had dealings with Lucine Entertainment operating out of a po box in Hollywood? I was recently invited to send a screener in and they wanted to charge me $450 to make a 'poster'. When I said I didn't have it they said that the regular price was $1500. Has anybody had a similar experience..?
Lucine Entertainment
- Thread starter Stefan Gray
- Start date
strange...
Yes I think it's a scam, no discussion about distribution. I asked if they could offer me credit to be repaid by any sales as they said they liked the screener. As soon as you try to discuss it with them, the discussion is over with a 'hope you find a market for your film', which comes over as completely ruthless. I think paying for distribution is going a bit far really.
Yes I think it's a scam, no discussion about distribution. I asked if they could offer me credit to be repaid by any sales as they said they liked the screener. As soon as you try to discuss it with them, the discussion is over with a 'hope you find a market for your film', which comes over as completely ruthless. I think paying for distribution is going a bit far really.
the one thing having a produced movie actually lets you do, is call up and talk to any acquisition executive you want in any company you want. and they will take a look at your screener. it's their job. if your movie goes on to become a hit and their bosses found out they had a screener and never looked at it, someone is getting fired. you shouldn't even be considering a company like Lucine until every single other distributor on the planet politely says no.
and even then, don't call Lucine.
self distribute. rent a theatre for $300 (there are a lot out there). call/email everyone you know and everyone they know and tell them you're screening your movie. charge $10 a ticket. once you've sold 30 tickets you're making profit. you sell out a place that has 300 seats and you've made $2700. 400 seats $3700. if the movie is well received you can do it again, build up word or mouth, get press out and you're on your way.
and then of course there's the film festival route. it's expensive but the rewards can be huge. and think about it, any fim you've ever heard of that was produced the way you likely made your film (ie. totally indie) you heard of because it was at a big festival. likely won something at the festival. and distributors usually need to see an indie with an audience to know if it is any good. it's not like they actually trust their own instinct. read "dirty rotten pictures" and it's pretty obvious that nobody thinks anything is good until someone else tells them so.
and even then, don't call Lucine.
self distribute. rent a theatre for $300 (there are a lot out there). call/email everyone you know and everyone they know and tell them you're screening your movie. charge $10 a ticket. once you've sold 30 tickets you're making profit. you sell out a place that has 300 seats and you've made $2700. 400 seats $3700. if the movie is well received you can do it again, build up word or mouth, get press out and you're on your way.
and then of course there's the film festival route. it's expensive but the rewards can be huge. and think about it, any fim you've ever heard of that was produced the way you likely made your film (ie. totally indie) you heard of because it was at a big festival. likely won something at the festival. and distributors usually need to see an indie with an audience to know if it is any good. it's not like they actually trust their own instinct. read "dirty rotten pictures" and it's pretty obvious that nobody thinks anything is good until someone else tells them so.
Lucine...
I think Lucine are probably pretty much the bottom of the barrel when it comes to distributors. I have found quite a number of film festivals and cinema clubs who don't charge anything to screen your work. Broadcast sales people are quite a different commodity to deal with. I have to say that I would be prepared to pay a fee to have my work screened at a festival, but I don't want to pay $80 just to have it entered into the running. I have thought about organising a free film festival either where the contributors made their submissions on DVD only for free and we sold tickets. More probable would be a charge to all the entrants we decide to screen, after we see their work and then make it a free event for the public. If you don't mind paying $100 to have you film screened in central London in some screening room then it could work. I'm interested in documentaries under 30 minutes only and the whole thing might actually break even..mail me if it sounds interesting.
I think Lucine are probably pretty much the bottom of the barrel when it comes to distributors. I have found quite a number of film festivals and cinema clubs who don't charge anything to screen your work. Broadcast sales people are quite a different commodity to deal with. I have to say that I would be prepared to pay a fee to have my work screened at a festival, but I don't want to pay $80 just to have it entered into the running. I have thought about organising a free film festival either where the contributors made their submissions on DVD only for free and we sold tickets. More probable would be a charge to all the entrants we decide to screen, after we see their work and then make it a free event for the public. If you don't mind paying $100 to have you film screened in central London in some screening room then it could work. I'm interested in documentaries under 30 minutes only and the whole thing might actually break even..mail me if it sounds interesting.
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I've been searching for a theater to rent to show my movie and haven't found any in the $300 range. It would be a huge help if you would point me in the right direction.victoryman said:
http://www.twoboots.com/pioneer/rental.html
http://www.twoboots.com/pioneer/
Try the Pioneer. It's small, but it's in a great location in the East Village, NYC.
http://www.twoboots.com/pioneer/
Try the Pioneer. It's small, but it's in a great location in the East Village, NYC.
try theatres located on university campuses. there's one here in a new building at the university of toronto that seats 250 people and has a great digital projector. it's around $300 to rent and it's a beautiful venue.
Thanks to both of you.
I got kind of hopeful and excited when victoryman mentioned that there were a lot of theaters for rent in the $300 range. I've found several sub 100 seat theaters in that range, but none in that range above 150 seats. Here in California I haven't found University or college theaters that will rent in that range.
I did a screening at the AFI and it was more than twice that. Same with all the university theaters from Santa Barbara to San Diego.
Self distribution seems interesting - but so far I haven't found a way to make it profitable. A 250 seat theater for $300 would help. I guess Toronto is the place to be.
I got kind of hopeful and excited when victoryman mentioned that there were a lot of theaters for rent in the $300 range. I've found several sub 100 seat theaters in that range, but none in that range above 150 seats. Here in California I haven't found University or college theaters that will rent in that range.
I did a screening at the AFI and it was more than twice that. Same with all the university theaters from Santa Barbara to San Diego.
Self distribution seems interesting - but so far I haven't found a way to make it profitable. A 250 seat theater for $300 would help. I guess Toronto is the place to be.
I'm still looking into variations on self distribution and am getting closer to reaching some conclusions. The issue is about profitability and I think basically that cinema distribution is never going to be a serious cash cow for the indie.
My goal at the moment is to find a way of getting large scale cinema distribution, without significant cost to the indie filmmaker with the intention of using that as a marketing tool. I think the trick is to create significant public interest and use that interest to drive direct to DVD and TV sales.
in the indie world, whether or not self distribution to cinemas is profitable really comes down to your film's budget. if you've made a $30,000 film, it can be. and movies released in theatres always receive more notice by local press than a direct to DVD or TV release. even if you only do one screening and the theatre is expensive so profit is minimal, you'll likely have a better chance of getting the media to cover the event. but the articles/reviews (especially if favourable) from that event are a great marketing tool because then you've got word of mouth on your side. send those articles to distribs and sales agents and hold a second screening and invite them. they'll come out. my god, you live in LA - there's tonnes of industry folks out there. in toronto, there are just a handful of distribs so yeah, we may have some cheap theatres, but we don't have access to the industry like you do. i don't want to make it sound like you live in a fairly tale film industry world; god knows it's tough everywhere to make it in the film biz. but if you can build buzz in LA with a screening or 2, even if it's not monetarily profitable from the box office, you stand a better chance of it being distributiony (it's a word) profitable in the long run.
www.sidekickmovie.com
www.sidekickmovie.com
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That's exactly what we're doing, victoryman. We showed it at the American Film Institute in June and in Hollywood in August. Not to make a profit (we aren't charging admission) but to generate a little buzz before we hit the festivals.
We got a sales agent from the AFI screening. But getting the media to cover an independent film with no name actors in Los Angeles is impossible. My ex is an entertainment editor at the LA Weekly. They get over 100 requests a week to do an article on an up and coming movie production.
They'll gladly take a paid ad, but an article on an indie filmmaker in Los Angeles isn't exactly unique. There are tons of industry folks here, but there are even more filmmakers like me trying to get their attention.
I was hopeful when you mentioned a lot of theaters in the $300 range. I thought maybe you had info that I had missed in the last 4 months of looking. the producer is currently going to law school in Sacramento. He found a few theaters in the $800 range. But getting a distributor to go to Sacramento to see a movie is unlikely.
I think you're right. We might be able to get some press by fourwalling a theater. We'll just have to do it outside of LA.
Got a good place to stay in Toronto....
We got a sales agent from the AFI screening. But getting the media to cover an independent film with no name actors in Los Angeles is impossible. My ex is an entertainment editor at the LA Weekly. They get over 100 requests a week to do an article on an up and coming movie production.
They'll gladly take a paid ad, but an article on an indie filmmaker in Los Angeles isn't exactly unique. There are tons of industry folks here, but there are even more filmmakers like me trying to get their attention.
I was hopeful when you mentioned a lot of theaters in the $300 range. I thought maybe you had info that I had missed in the last 4 months of looking. the producer is currently going to law school in Sacramento. He found a few theaters in the $800 range. But getting a distributor to go to Sacramento to see a movie is unlikely.
I think you're right. We might be able to get some press by fourwalling a theater. We'll just have to do it outside of LA.
Got a good place to stay in Toronto....
I called them on the phone, booked a date, paid my money and showed up on time with the copy of my movie.spinner said:
it's crazy how expensive theatres are in LA. it just goes to show what competition can do to a marketplace. the theatre i premiered sidekick in here in toronto had 500 seats and it was gorgeous - a stone and glass stand alone building with a 2 storey, marble lobby, dark wood panelling inside with balcony and side seating - and it was only $1700 to rent. i'm guessing something like that in LA would be nearly double.
We premiered our film yesterday evening at the local art theater in Norfolk, Virginia called the Naro. They were great, collected money, put our name up in lights, sold popcorn, put up our one-sheet all for the cost of $500. And are now interested in showing it as part of their regular line-up. We don't intend on a large theter run, running time is only 55 minutes, but small local guys are usually champions of the offbeat. Same with video stores, ours is going in the theater's affiliated store. You can do this stuff outside of the system without big resources. Time, energy and chutzpah are all you need, not necessarily in that order.
'sup, good Cryogenic 
Darlene appears to know her stuff, yes. If I recall, she has great success in foreign markets primarily?
Her website is here, btw... Inferno Film Productions
She's written a lot about the things filmmakers do, that ensure their screener gets trashed by almost any legit distributor on the spot. But if you're smart enough to have crossed the T's and dotted the I's before sending material... she's also written many articles on what filmmakers can do right, to maximise their chances.
Darlene appears to know her stuff, yes. If I recall, she has great success in foreign markets primarily?
Her website is here, btw... Inferno Film Productions
She's written a lot about the things filmmakers do, that ensure their screener gets trashed by almost any legit distributor on the spot. But if you're smart enough to have crossed the T's and dotted the I's before sending material... she's also written many articles on what filmmakers can do right, to maximise their chances.