PROJECT X
SEARCHERS 2.0 - my road movie made for under $200,000 - premiered at Venice, at AFI/AFM in LA, and was the closing night feature at Bradford; it plays on BBC this June.
My "PROJECT X " proposes that you, the wise venture capitalist or savvy national or regional broadcaster, spend a million dollars (that's half a million quids, Limeys) on four microfeature films, to be directed and delivered by me, proceeds to be split, 50-50, twixt us.
The slate of films is mutable: right now it consists of ROPEWALK, a horror-comedy shot in a single take; TEN MURDERS & A DOG, an "English" country house murder mystery; EMMMANUELLE IN WINNEMUCCA, the further adventures of a photojournalist; and a docu-drama, NORTHWOODS.
This is a slate of quality equal to (or better than!) SEARCHERS 2.0, to play in festivals of similar (or better? impossible) status, and marketed as a package to TV and DVD companies worldwide.
From my experience, it's been easier to sell packages of three or four of my films - to HBO, Sundance, or Anchor Bay - than individual pictures. TV companies are in the business of filling up air time: they want to license ten hours or a hundred hours of programming, not two. So the studios sell features to TV in packages: cable stations don't just buy REPO MAN, they buy STREETS OF FIRE & PSYCHO 2 & CRACKERS as well. We can do better than this!
|
It's venture capital, so there's a risk of all the money being lost. Even though owning a slate of films is a better proposition than owning a stake in only one, there are no absolute guarantees in the exciting world of feature film production. (In some states or jurisdictions, there may be tax advantages involving making or financing feature films. I don't know what these are, and make no claims about them. This isn't a tax scheme; it's a proposal for a feature slate, funded with a million dollars.)
If you're interested, please get in touch.
Alex Cox
|
Project X Feature 1: ROPEWALK
The pitch:
ROPEWALK, the first of the four films, is a horror
picture, about a standup comic, a gorgeous
gangster's moll, a serial killer, and a Thing in a Bag. You get
the idea...
It's to be shot quickly, at night, in a city you'd like to escape from, in the style of Hitchcock's ROPE, or RUSSIAN ARK. That is, giving the appearance of one continuous take, 90 minutes long. We might disguise a cut, here or there. Or maybe we really will shoot the whole story in 90 minutes, in real time. It'll be fun, either way.
Tuxton and Derek Jacobi, in REVENGERS TRAGEDY
The production:
If it's to really be shot in a single night ROPEWAK will require exacting rehearsal; broken into discrete takes, it will take a couple of weeks to shoot; as with SEARCHERS 2.0, the editing/sound design/music process
will take an additional three-to-four months. So, if shot
in April, the film will be finished by the end of August. THE cinematographer is Len Gowing, who shot REVENGERS TRAGEDY and JAIL ME!),
The schedule:
Casting is the most important part of this process: once Gary Davy has Dean, Stella, Big Henry and Tuxton on board, all will follow naturally. ROPEWALK can be shot in any chilly provincial city: it was originally designed for Europe's proud capital of culture, Liverpool.
Recognise this location?
Post production: 11-15
weeks, including sound design and musical score.
|
