Why wait until you see my latest film? You can get the iPhone app now for free. Our official one, produced by PUNY (the geniuses behind our great title sequence) is available for iPhone, Android, and Facebook. Get it here. If you have the gene where you need to be totally complete, there’s even more you can get right here.
Don’t you love this modern life? You aren’t a movie unless you have an app, and the really cool films have two!
I have a lot of films that I want to check out this month, but I have already seen the one film that really matters. Without a doubt, I can tell you that it is the way to spend your money. The rest of the films might as well give up now. You know I have some complaints of films as of late, but I like to take my remedy straight, no rocks or filters. Cinema, pure and unbridled. You know what I am talking about?
You know when you go to the movies and that jerkhead cuts in line? Don’t you sometimes wish you could smash his friggin’ face in? With a ten pound wrench? Don’t do it. Don’t sell drugs either. Or molest children. Or even put on a costume and attack those that do such vile acts.
You know when you go to the movies and everything seems incredibly programmed and test-marketed? You know how you are starting to really hate that? You know how sometimes you watch a film and wish you were living back in the days when occasionally you could see something that felt like it burst from an unbridled mind that didn’t give a fuck what anyone else thought and it was just going to go there no matter what? Wouldn’t you just love to have that type of movie back?
SUPER is a blood-splattered comedy that will make you cry real tears. SUPER is a film that will have you saying WTF! more than once. SUPER is filled with the sort of go for broke committed performances that will have you worshiping the ground that these thespians grace. SUPER is the shrieking plea in your ears all these years to finally let the lunatics run the asylum. Go ahead, drink the kool-aid. All it takes to be a superhero is to say you’ve had enough. Shut up, crime.
I am not going to lie. I produced this film. But what I produced (with MIranda Bailey) is 100% James Gunn, our writer, our director, our resident mad man. We have had incredible screenings of SUPER everywhere. No one can be lukewarm about this film. It opens on Friday April 1st (no fooling) and you want to make sure you are there.
It is not for the faint of heart or those who don’t like to have a bit of blood with their humor. Or want their entertainment sanitized of non-PC content. This ain’t that, but it is a blast. I promise you that. Several blasts as a matter of fact.
Just about this time two years ago, I was frustrated by how engineered all films felt to me. Even the indie work I was seeing felt devoid of the sort of unbridled craziness that initially lead me to fall in love with cinema. I wanted a return to jaw dropping moments and moments of questionable intent. Where had all the WhatTheFuck gone in film? Could film still be made from what appeared to be a wonderfully warped mind? Haven’t we had enough of the beautiful minds by now?
Simultaneously I was pondering what the psychological effects on society our national obsession with super heroes was having. If the high esteem we deem upon supermodels was undermining some women’s self-worth, what did the pinnacle we placed costumed crime fighters on do to a man’s perception of masculinity. Let’s be real, superheroes and war are our two top exports — there’s gotta be a connection, right?
I started scouring the development pipelines for a project that might do justice to both. I was coming up empty-handed, but had heard tales of just such a morsel by a filmmaker whom I admired that had almost gone into production years earlier for a whopping cost of $25M. Then I saw Rainn Wilson tweet that he “and james_gunn were going out with a low-rent f’d up Watchmen” — and I pounced. One year after we went out for financing, we premiered it at Toronto, where it was the first film sold in what later proved to be the tipping point out of a three year down market downturn.
This is one time where I have distributors who, despite some extreme stuff, have no fear of what this film is. Our poster and trailer truly represent the work as we intended. It’s been an amazing experience, and I am thrilled to bring to you, my film friends. It opens on Friday, April Fools Day, and I would love your dollars and support.
Watch the SUPER trailer.
Check SUPER out on facebook
Follow @SUPERthemovie on twitter.
Watch the Crimson Bolt patrol the streets of Austin.
Read one of the many good reviews for SUPER!
Rock your block out to the SUPER soundtrack at http://bit.ly/Superitunes
You can’t be a movie without an app. Check out the app for SUPER.
Yesterday around this time I participated in a podcast with Rex Sikes. It’s about a one hour interview almost entirely about SUPER. You can hear all the secret details about every and any aspect? How did it we put it together? How did we keep it together? How did it fit together? It was a fun talk. And it available for free right here: http://bit.ly/dybBsU.
I once had dreams that our movement away from an impulse buy based entertainment economy, over into one based on choice and commitment, would lead to greater demand and thus increased funding for diverse, ambitious work of quality. Sigh… It seems, though, that the planet I live on asks those of us who care about such things to do more for less. Unlike some, I think there is a surplus of immensely talented folk out there with great stories to tell in interesting ways. Unfortunately, it is really hard for most artists to do great work on their own. And that’s where producers come in. So it’s completely frustrating when we are trying to do more work, but there is far less funds available to work with. What are we supposed to do?
Fortunately, not only does the technology improve, but there are some people out there who keep coming up with good ideas for our benefit. Today, I have a new one of those for you, one that can help you produce good movies for less money: scoreAscore.
I am going to let xcoreAscore’s founder tell you all about it:
I’m Jordan Passman, founder and CEO of scoreAscore.com. I created scoreAscore to connect professional music composers and quality media producers.
Why scoreAscore? There are big project owners who can pick up the phone and call one of the top film composer agencies to find what they need. On the opposite end of the spectrum, there are film producers scrounging through overwhelming music libraries looking for great music.
With our Name-Your-Price system, scoreAscore.com gives you original music in an easy-to-use, safe and efficient environment. Each composer is a professional who has been personally screened; some have even won Emmys and been nominated for Academy Awards.
We offer 24/7 access to composers and their music, with a mission to pair the next John Williams with the next Steven Spielberg. Our current clients include: Directors, Producers, Ad Agencies, Video Game Publishers, Trailer Houses, Music Supervisors and more! Check us out. Feel free to reach out to me directly at anytime.
Take 50 seconds to check out this animation, explaining how scoreAscore works: scoreAscore.com/learnmore.php
Happy Scoring!
Jordan Passman
CEO/scoreAscore.com
jordan@scoreAscore.com
Jordan Passman launched scoreAscore.com in May 2010. Born and raised in LA, music has always been a huge part of Jordan’ s life. In his early career, he worked in the entertainment industry throughout college (Creative Artists Agency, Warner Bros. Studios & Warner Bros. Records). After graduating from Pitzer College, Jordan joined the Film/TV Membership Department of ASCAP (American Society of Composers Authors and Publishers) in New York.
I am thrilled to be the only active filmmaker with a regular column on one of the film industry trades — well, not really thrilled, more disappointed, but if there is only going to be one, I am glad I can belong to the club. You know what I mean, right?
And yes, I do mention that I am a blogger in my bio now. But still, first and foremost I am a film producer. Which means that sometimes I devote myself to getting my movies made. Last week I went to LA for the SUPER premiere, casting on a new film and some financing meetings. I then jumped to San Fran to judge The Disposable Film Fest, meet some more money, and strategize with collaborators. I took the red-eye home from Arizona last night, where I gave an all day seminar on the state of the film biz. Whew!
But as a result, I did not get to post at all last week. I had been on a roll. I will do my best to get back on that blogging horse and provide you with prior notification in the future when I plan to disappear for awhile. The same of course goes for anyone who’s email I have yet to back to, all 500+ of you. Eek.
More classic cinema is available for free legally online than ever before. You can watch more film from any decade, than you could if you were living in the decade that they were made in. I just stumbled across another treasure trove, and now I now I need to start that age-enhancement process asap as I don’t have the time available in my lifetime to watch all the great stuff that is out there, accessible by a simple keystroke.
Europa Film Treasures is a joint venture of 30 different film archives and has all sorts of things available.
There’s everything from Buster Keaton, George Melies,to a nice collection of turn of the century erotica.
Personally speaking, I would love a list of directors and stars to pick from, but hey, I am not that picky.
I confess. I struggle with titles. They may well be the most important marketing & discovery elements of a film. But they are more too. The best titles are akin to lines of poetry that evoke other feelings and thoughts, while uniting them around the work in question.
I have mused and ranted about titles before, but well they say that a pictures is worth a 1000 words, so this is 80,000 words in titles.
Thanks to NewYork mag’s VULTURE for this tip.
