First, I’d like to start by sharing my unbelievable gratitude to those who have not only been a part of making this film, but who have also supported it. This film would be absolutely nothing if it weren’t for the likes, the shares, the purchases, and reviews of the film. Those all mean so much. It’s hard to make not just a movie, but ANYTHING now a days and have it break through, so thank you for helping this film find its little crack in the sphere.
Second, I’d like to say that making MAIL ORDER MONSTER was a freaking beast. Those who are close to the production know this very well, but for those who don’t, let’s cozy round the campfire sometime and I’ll share some horror stories.
We went through some shit. I can see why so many people either stop making movies, become very cynical about the industry all together, or can never get past their fear of risk to even give it a go. It’s scary. It’s hard. You’re most likely not going to knock it out of the park on your first go. However, I did know this going in and set up the film’s business structure in such a way to mitigate those risks. That was a big life saver.
However, looking back now…man…the things I’d do different. For so long I looked back on MOM with that “shoulda coulda woulda” over and over again like a broken record in my head. So much so that I often never celebrated the wins. We’ve had some big wins that I completely overlooked because I couldn’t get past my own regrets. Within the first 6 months of the film’s premiere at EFM in Berlin, we sold 6 territories, signed with the biggest airline distributor who sells all the Oscar films, screened at the Portland Film Festival as well as a few other international film festivals, were nominated for Best Song by the prestigious Jerry Goldsmith Awards and our domestic release of the film even happened within one year of its completion…pretty unheard of.
So, I’m going to take this moment to acknowledge that for a second. I made a movie. Not many people can say that. Not many young people can say they made a movie with kids and a freaking monster. Yeah, we did that, and it’s badass. When you’re in the industry, it’s easy to compare yourself to every person that’s ever made a movie. It’s ridiculous but we do it. We take it too seriously sometimes. I made a movie. Nothing more…nothing less.
This experienced changed me as a person. Pain does that. There was a lot of pain lol. But it changed me for the better. Every movie I make after this one will be that much better because of everything I went through and learned. I take it for granted what we went through on this movie, but when I speak to other producers…turns out we went through more than most in one go let’s just say that. We came out the other side.
This movie hasn’t skyrocketed our careers to making MARVEL movies after our first indie. But it has provided incredible opportunities that wouldn’t have happened if it weren’t for this film. Opportunities that keep us grinding and keep us hustling, but just at another level.
For a little while there, I was pissed off at what had happened at certain moments during the film’s process. So much so, that I couldn’t even watch the movie without deep feelings of anger.
Of course, it’s hard to watch Madison play Sam without breaking out a smile. She tends to soften whatever terrible feelings you’ve had during your day.
That time of anger has passed, though, and replaced itself with gratitude (thank God). I have such gratitude for everything that happened; the good, the bad, and the ugly.
I’m proud of this film. I’m proud of every fucking second of it.
I will be working on building a bigger and better PRODUCER BOOTCAMP program together after making this film that will help with information that NO ONE is telling you before you make your movie. Stay on the look out. I promise…it will be worth the wait.
If you’d like to watch MAIL ORDER MONSTER because you have no idea what this whole post has been about, feel free to find it on iTunes, Amazon, Googleplay, Xbox, YouTube, and VUDU.