Sunday, November 6, 2011

IN THE FAMILY, not the typical distribution plan

The past few days have been buzzing about a little known film called IN THE FAMILY, which opened this Friday on one screen in New York. There is a lot of talk about how the film (directed by first time director Patrick Wang) was rejected by 30 film festivals until it was accepted by the Hawaii International Film Festival. It premiered at HIFF, then played at the San Diego Asian Film Festival where it won the Best Narrative Feature award. Just a week or so after the film is being released by the filmmakers on its single New York screen... to glowing reviews. The reviews for the film have been so great that programmers at festivals across the country are going back to their files to see if they were among the guilty.

IN THE FAMILY is almost three hours long, yet only has 300 shots -- some as long as ten minutes. It's a slow, methodical film. The final scene is a half hour long group conversation around a conference table. I can imagine that programmers, who are watching film after film for day after day, understandably start to lose the ability to appreciate subtlety and nuance.

I'm pretty sure, that in spite of its single screen opening that it will continue to grow based on the reviews. For a no-budget film with little, if any, marketing money, reviews tend to be your sole marketing. But sadly, film critics are seldom generous to small films. They seldom appreciate the aesthetic of grunge and I feel are suspicious of films without a more traditional release.

I haven't seen IN THE FAMILY but I felt like this was worth sharing so that folks can know that even being rejected by 30 festivals, doesn't mean your film can't find an audience.


IN THE FAMILY trailer from Patrick Wang on Vimeo.

Here's the New York Times review:


MOVIE REVIEW
In The Family
Joey (Patrick Wang), left, and Cody (Trevor St. John), right, with their son, Chip (Sebastian Brodziak), in a scene from “In the Family,” a 2011 film written and directed by Mr. Wang.

You’ve probably heard little about “In the Family,” a remarkably fresh and unpredictable drama set in the American everytown of Martin, Tenn. This off-the-map independent production was rejected by 30 festivals before its October premiere at the Hawaii International Film Festival and is now playing on a single Manhattan screen as a self-distributed release.
“In the Family” is the first film by its writer, director and low-key leading man, Patrick Wang, whose creative background is in stage acting and dramaturgy. Not surprisingly the film boasts more than a few memorable performances — by Elaine Bromka, Park Overall and Kelly McAndrew, among others — and one truly remarkable turn by the stage great Brian Murray, as a grandfatherly Southern lawyer with a voice as smooth and warm as a tumbler of bourbon, a role worthy of Will Rogers.
Yet Mr. Wang’s slow-reveal psychological drama isn’t just a showcase for his excellent ensemble cast. Beautifully modulated and stylistically sui generis, “In the Family” is also one of the most accomplished and undersold directorial debuts this year.
The story is both topical and timeless: a searching, present-tense study of evolving cultural values in the heartland and an unsentimental portrait of a family devastated by the tragedy of an early death.
Six-year-old Chip Hines (Sebastian Brodziak) lost his mother at birth, but his father, Cody (Trevor St. John), began dating again not long after. To the surprise of everyone in this traditional Southern family, including Cody himself, his new partner was a man — a man of Asian heritage, no less — named Joey Williams (Mr. Wang). Joey is a contractor by trade and a Tennessean by birth. He dresses down in duck jackets and denim and drives a red pickup truck. When he ambles over to introduce himself, with his easy smile and slightly down-home drawl, his voice sings with a kind of plainspoken poetry. Joey Williams is his full and legal name, not short for anything, and it’s a pretty good handle for such a straightforward and uncomplicated guy.
Beyond some lightly comic meet-the-parents awkwardness seen in a Thanksgiving Day flashback, the members of the extended Hines clan welcome their new in-law to the family — some politely if uncomfortably, some with relaxed warmth. The exception is Chip, who openly and unambiguously embraces Joey as “Dad.” But when Cody gets in a fatal car accident, Joey’s loss of a partner is compounded by a rapidly escalating custody battle with Chip’s sister (Ms. McAndrew), who secures legal custody of the boy to raise him as her own.
What follows is difficult to classify generically: it is too carefully distanced to be a melodrama, too personally specific to stand as a civil-rights allegory (an expected third-act courtroom confrontation is derailed in a fascinating way). What makes “In the Family” so elusive is that it is structured less by story events than whisper-soft subtleties of characterization and unspoken social subtexts. You will, for instance, not hear one overt reference to sexuality, race or gay marriage.
The film’s oblique cultural politics remain a tantalizing mystery. In interviews Mr. Wang has cited a meeting with the civil-rights lawyerEvan Wolfson as an inspiration for “In the Family,” and one might see the film as a cultural conservative plea to extend traditional marital values and legal rights to same-sex couples. And yet the film’s ending does not reconstitute the traditional family as such but rather suggests a more expansive and even progressive idea of what “family” might mean. Scenes unfold in contemplative long takes and carefully framed, deep-focus compositions. The style is too dramatically focused and pictorially unfussy to be classified as art-house minimalism. It is also too deliberative to be mistaken for a Hollywood prestige picture. Mr. Wang betrays his theatrical background with a slightly plodding tendency to begin and end scenes with arrivals or departures. But while some heads and tails could be trimmed, the pacing works quite well.
Though Mr. Wang’s directorial eye may be untrained, it is extremely acute. One senses that he is rediscovering the rules of cinema on his own. This is a career to keep an eye on.
IN THE FAMILY
Opens on Friday in Manhattan.
Written and directed by Patrick Wang; director of photography, Frank Barrera; edited by Elwaldo Baptiste; music by Chip Taylor and Andy Wagner; production design by John El Manahi; costumes by Michael Bevins; produced by Andrew van den Houten, Robert Tonino and Mr. Wang; released by In the Family LLC. At the Quad Cinema, 34 West 13th Street, Greenwich Village. Running time: 2 hours 49 minutes. This film is not rated.
WITH: Trevor St. John (Cody Hines), Patrick Wang (Joey), Sebastian Brodziak (Chip Hines), Brian Murray (Paul Hawks), Park Overall (Sally Hines) , Peter Hermann (Dave Robey), Susan Kellermann (Marge Hawks), Elaine Bromka (Gloria) and Kelly McAndrew (Eileen Robey).

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Sample ultra low line expenses

These are final expenses for a SAG Ultra Low Budget feature shot recently over 22 days in Los Angeles. These are the expenses of just production costs (and a bit of preproduction expenses which are essentially some scouting costs, etc). The total budget here is $91,000. Salaries for cast were $100 a day as per the SAG ULB contract, and $75-$100 for crew. We also had about six full time volunteers helping out. Our camera was a Red 1 and our G&E package was supplied by the gaffer. We used a payroll service that charged a flat fee. We paid extras $25 a day. We paid overtime (time + 1/2) at 12 hours.

This may help you as your considering a potential budget. You can tell that there were no stunts or FX involved in this project and that most wardrobe was provided by talent.






ACTUAL

PRUDOCER UNIT

1202
PRODUCER
3500
1285
OTHER COSTS
140

TOTAL
3640


DIRECTOR
1301
DIRECTOR
2500




CAST

1401
STARS & LEADS
3798.86
1402
SUPPORTING CAST
2605.63

TOTAL
6404.49




FRINGES

1999
FRINGES
2173.77

TOTAL
2173.77




PRODUCTION STAFF

2003
1ST ASSITANT DIRECTOR
2318.75
2006
SCRIPT SUPERVISOR
1514.07

TOTAL
3832.82




EXTRA TALENT

2100
EXTRA TALENT
225

TOTAL
225




SET DESIGN

2201
PRODUCTION DESIGNER
2518.75

TOTAL
2518.75


SET OPERATIONS

2502
KEY GRIP
2418.75

TOTAL
2418.75




SET DRESSING AND PROPS

2716
SET DRESSING PURCHASES
500
2717
SET DRESSING RENTALS
818.14
2816
PROPERTY
316.26

TOTAL
1634.4




WARDROBE

3001
COSTUME DESIGNER
1889.07
3016
PURCHASES
266.19

TOTAL
2155.26




MAKEUP/HAIR

3101
KEY MAKE UP ARTIST
2318.75
3103
ADDL MAKE UP ARTIST
500
3106
ADDL HAIRSTYLIST
400
3177
BOX RENTALS
220

TOTAL
3438.75




ELECTRICAL

3201
GAFFER
2618.75
3217
RENTALS
7000
3285
MISC EXPENSE
542.67

TOTAL
10161.42




CAMERA

3301
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
2168.75
3303
1ST ASSISTANT CAMERA
2487.5
3316
PURCHASES
855.02
3317
RENTALS
9705

TOTAL
15216.27




SOUND

3401
MIXER
2300
3402
BOOM
2200
3416
PURCHASES
210.11
3417
RENTALS
2280
3477
BOX RENTAL
800
3486
LOSS & DAMAGE
40

TOTAL
7830.11




TRANSPORTATION

3544
GAS/OIL
848.61

TOTAL
848.61




LOCATIONS

3601
PERMIT FEES
2886
3602
LOCATION SITE RENTALS
6219
3611
CATERED MEALS
5187.53
3612
CRAFT SERVICE TABLE
2673.35
3613
PARKING
103.75
3631
MISCELLANEOUS
480.66
3650
LOCATION SITE RESTORATION
325
3687
WRAP PARTY EXPENSES
345.22

TOTAL
18220.51




SECOND UNIT

4033
CAMERA
243.76
4085
OTHER COSTS
251.22

TOTAL
494.98




PREPRODUCTION EXPENSES

4306
PREPRODUCTION GENERAL
188.53

TOTAL
188.53


INSURANCE

6701
INSURANCE PACKAGE
4013

TOTAL
4013

GENERAL EXPENSES

6802
PAYROLL EXPENSES
700
6807
LEGAL PRODUCTION
800
6812
OFFICE SUPPLIES
302.17

TOTAL
1802.17




ADDITIONAL

4800
DATA COMPOSITING
1250




TOTALS
90967.59