DEMON AT LEEDSPOINT was, like RULERS OF THE APOCALYPSE,
a started feature film shot on film that couldn't be completed because of a lack of money.
We built an 8 foot tall demon puppet and shot some decent scenes. I had no crew
of course, and I was running the Super 16 camera and Nagra III sound recorder while trying to direct, so the situation was
I couldn't give much help to the actors and it shows.
This was before I got in the habit of re-writing dialogue to fit the actor
so it came out of his or her mouth natural sounding. So the actors in DEMON said the scripted lines as written whether
they could say them correctly or not.
Again, I have nice looking Super 16 film footage I hope to use to raise the budget
required to shoot the movie from scratch.
The only thing that survived from the demon puppet and I still have today is
the pictured Demon head that I made. My father gave it mouth and eye movement via cables.
I worked just as hard on the situations that didn't happen, like RULERS and DEMON,
as I did at all the movies that did get finished and distributed world wide.
I hate hitting a wall like that. I hate not being able to complete something
I start. I hate not having the investors. I do everything in my power to complete everything I start out to make, but film
stock costs money and lab work is very expensive and despite the money I threw into starting up these two movies personally,
I just couldn't, as one person, bankroll them to completion.
I seriously need a good business partner. Someone effective at raising money
and allowing me to do what I need to do.
Making movies for me is a need. I am a creative person. Some people need to write
books, some need to paint, others need to write music, I need to make movies. It is part of who I am.
What I am not is a businessman. I'm lost when it comes to raising money or cutting
deals or handling contracts or dealing with the accounting aspect. I need a business partner to free me up so I can produce
quality movies that entertain and generate solid profits.
George Romero was $650,000 in debt after making several movies including his
classic NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (from which the distributor Walter Read stole millions from him in unpaid profits). What
turned his career and life around was meeting Richard Rubinstein who became his business partner. Suddenly there was cash
flow and movies went from budgets that just covered the minimum to get something shot, to millions of dollars with name stars
involved.
MARTIN, his vampire movie released by Libra Films in 1977, had a $70,000 budget.
DAWN OF THE DEAD went up to $400,000 budget and made $55 million world wide. Romero had more money to make a more polished
production and show what he could do and made $55 million. KNIGHTRIDERS was roughly $ 3 million to make and starred Ed
Harris, and DAY OF THE DEAD(1985) was roughly $3 1/2 million. Budgets kept rising for Romero with Rubinstein's help. CREEPSHOW's
budget was $8 million and featured an all star cast who flew in from LA to Pittsbourgh where Romero lives to shoot on sets
built in the gymn of a local school. CREEPSHOW was originally going to be released by United Film Distribution, like his previous
two had been, but instead Warner Brothers picked it up and released it.
I am very much like Romero. In all his first movies he was mostly the crew. He
wrote, directed, phgotographed and editing movies like NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD and JACK'S WIFE. On JACK'S WIFE he personally
financed it on bank loans he was accountible for.
In fact when I met Romero I told him I was in the same boat he was before he
got a good business partner! He was making movies on shoestring budgets hoping for the best and so am I. His movies got released
and so do mine. Now I am at the point where, like Romero, I want to move up to larger budgets and make bigger movies because
I have proved myself with the small films.
So one of the things I need to accomplish in 2005/2006 is find my Richard Rubinstein.
When that happens I may end up owning three houses like Romero now does!!!
