Episode 008 | John Finley, star of Faith of Angels
This is Truly Independent, a show that demystifies the indie film journey by documenting the process of releasing independent films in theaters. Each week, Garrett Batty and I, Darren Smith, will update you on our journey, bringing guests to share their insights into the process and answer your questions. Today, we're talking with our friend and the star of Faith of Angels, John Michael Finley. And we answer the listener questions, what are the actual costs of releasing movie in theaters? And how much do you need to make to break the top 10 in the weekend box office?
Speaker 1:All that and more on today's episode. This is truly independent. Garrett, we're back. We're back. We got another episode of our podcast.
Speaker 2:Hey. How are you? Good to see you.
Speaker 1:I'm feeling good, man. I'm excited to be with you. I'm excited for our guest today. We've got John Findlay joining us. Oh, I can't wait to talk to him about this movie.
Speaker 2:Yeah. No. This would be fun. And I'm getting we're hearing a lot of good comments from previous episodes. So thank you to, our audience that's is growing and people are listening, and thank you to our sponsors.
Speaker 1:Amazing. Well, Garrett, did you see any good movies this last weekend or this last week since we last chatted?
Speaker 2:It's a good question. I haven't. I've been burning the candle at both ends and haven't made it out to the theaters, and and I take full responsibility for that. My my blame, I'll have to see 2 this week.
Speaker 1:There you go. You? Good luck. Good luck, Zig, too.
Speaker 2:Yeah. It's not gonna happen.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Well, I got invited to go see Horizon, but it was on a day where I was traveling down. I was taking my kids and, our car down to San Diego where my wife and kids are this week. So I did not also I also did not get to see a movie in theaters, but I did watch, The Boys in the Boat last week, which isn't an indie film. It's like a $40,000,000 budget.
Speaker 1:It was the the company it's like Lantern Media or something that, took over the Weinstein Weinstein Company, but and George Clooney directed it. So nothing about this movie screams indie.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:But, you know, what they pulled off for 40 million, a period piece with a lot of insane camera placements and
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:Angles, and you're just like, oh my gosh. And very well acted, really cool story. It's hard to do because, like, if you even just watch the trailer or Google the story, it's like you know the ending before you even go in. And so Sure. Part of it is I think we share that with Faith of Angels too because, you know, this story, it was national news when it when it happened in 1989.
Speaker 1:And so many people who are familiar with the story know how it ends. So it's not about how do you surprise the audience with the with an ending, but how do you make it surprising but inevitable? So it's the 2 that you're kinda balancing, and I think they did a really good job with that, as did you and the whole crew that made Faith of Angels. We did a good job.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah. Yeah. No. It would be fun. And and I love I love that challenge honestly, and I think that that's what makes that's a skill of a storyteller.
Speaker 2:We, you know, when you sit around a campfire or you're with your family telling, you know, hey, what are those fun family traditions or family experiences? It's not because of the shock ending. It's because we love a good story, and, told by a good storyteller makes it even more interesting. I will say instead of, watching a movie, I was invited down to attend a a gathering for the Zion's Indie Film Fest. And, so I went down to there and they've done such a good job of creating this atmosphere and environment of, you know, filmmaker friendly people that go and celebrate films and so they were announcing their kickoff dates for next season as I'm sure many festivals do, and so it was fun to be able to reconnect with with so many, individuals that participate in the film festival.
Speaker 1:Yeah. I'm glad they got, like, 3 months off from their insane schedule doing a festival, but
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:It's not like you just announce it a month before and everybody shows up and then it's over. It's like they're spending 9, 10 months a year on that amazing festival. So Okay. Here's a very cool.
Speaker 2:Here's a comment. This is a this is a thought that I wanted to, bring up. You mentioned Horizons, and I love that, here we are. We recorded this on a Tuesday, so we've seen the box office opening box office for Horizons, and it was the number 3 movie in the country and, did, like, 11,000,000, which is more than than Hollywood anticipated or certainly, you know, the estimates were like, oh, we don't you know, this movie is not gonna do 8, maybe 9, and it did 11. Variety comes out with a big social media article headlined, horizon flops at the box office and how are they gonna dig out and recover.
Speaker 2:And I love that just makes me so furious, that type of headline and and summation of the movie flopped because of 3 days, at at the box office. And Kevin Costner has reported that, oh, this is we we know it's gonna be hard and we're in this for the long run and opening weekend is not everything. And that was a good reminder. I know that we're emphasizing that and our goal of, like, hey. How do we get a big opening weekend?
Speaker 2:How do we get in top 10 and things like that? And I think that was it was neat to read that article and say, look. Look. We we can't get caught up in this emphasis on the 3 day opening weekend. If that's the goal and that's the play, great.
Speaker 2:Let's make that our goal and play, but know that a film does not live or die in those 3 days.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Well, and that's really the difference between the studio model and the indie model because your movie, Saratov approach, I don't know that it was top 10 box office, but how many weeks was it in theaters? And you saw that that just continue to grow and compound over time as word-of-mouth happened and you expanded to more theaters. And so it's a different model. And if you're trying to compete with studios that are all about opening weekend because they know that every weekend after opening weekend is gonna drop by 30 to 60%.
Speaker 1:Mhmm. And so they have to have the the the higher number they can start with, the the better than the more money they're gonna make. Like, Inside Out 2 has already crossed $1,000,000,000 globally in 3 weekends. Like, that's amazing. It's really cool, and I'm happy for all those people because I wanna see more Pixar movies.
Speaker 1:But to have Horizon come out and have that many people see it. I mean, it released wide. It was 33 100 screens. Had a great per screen average, $33100 per screen. Like, all signs point to a success there, especially because it is an independent movie.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So, you know, I'm sitting here going, they did it, man. They they're kind of paving the way for indies to spend more and make more. And, yeah, we're gonna not judge them off of the opening weekend. We're gonna judge them off of, is it a good movie?
Speaker 1:Do they get to make more? And the answer is yes. The second one's already done, part or chapter 2, and they're filming chapter 3. So they're fine. Like, they've already done all the things that they set out to do.
Speaker 1:So it's really about what are you optimizing for and measuring that, and not comparing yourself to other people who have different strategies and different goals for their movies. But as we're talking about box office, we should celebrate. It looks like Kinds of Kindness, number 9. Yeah. And Jet, Jet and Juliet 3 in number 10.
Speaker 1:So I think I mean, Searchlight Pictures did Kinds of Kindness. I don't know if we count that as an indie. But as far as the strategy goes, you know, 480 screens. So it looks like they added 485 screens from last weekend.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So that that was kind of their expansion, and they did 1.576 that weekend.
Speaker 2:So very
Speaker 1:last weekend. So there you go.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:There's the numbers. But like I was saying, number 9, 1.57. Number 101.51. Well, I haven't said it yet because the movie
Speaker 2:Yeah. That's at
Speaker 1:the end of the episode. But there we go. Number 9, 1,500,000 and number 101,500,000 kind of shows us what we need to make in order to break the top 10 there. So very cool. Congrats to those movies, beating out IFF for those spots.
Speaker 1:It's pretty fun.
Speaker 2:Yeah. It's good to good to see that the model works. It
Speaker 1:does. All right. Well, should we get John over here? Let's make our, let's make our podcast look a little better. Let's bring some long hair and some a great smile onto screen and onto the show.
Speaker 1:Let's bring on John. And I keep saying things that I have already said later in the episode, but I can't say. Let me try that intro again for John, or do you wanna take a swing at it?
Speaker 2:No. Because I think it comes right into me, don't I? Then Yeah.
Speaker 1:Let me just do a quick, like alright. Let's bring on our guest.
Speaker 2:K. K.
Speaker 1:Alright. Well, very cool. I'm excited for our guest today. Why don't we bring him on? Hey, indie filmmakers and movie lovers.
Speaker 1:This show is sponsored by Purdy Distribution. Since 2011, they've been bringing incredible independent films to theaters, like Garrett Batty's The Saratov Approach, T. C. Christensen's Love Kennedy, and MacLean Nelson's Once I Was A Beehive. They've worked with top notch directors like Mitch Davis and Mark Goodman specializing in family, faith based, and funny films.
Speaker 1:This year alone, they've released hits with JK Studios like Go West and Villains Inc, and have even branched out internationally with films shot in South Africa and Japan. Purdy Distribution works closely with indie filmmakers designing personalized distribution plans whether it's a theatrical release or straight to streaming on platforms like Amazon, Itunes, Google, and more. If you have a PG or PG 13 film ready for the world, think about reaching out to Purdy distribution. They're approachable and knowledgeable, ready to help you visualize your film's distribution. Even if your film isn't fully polished, they can offer valuable guidance.
Speaker 1:Plus, if you need that crucial distribution piece for investor packages, Purdy Distribution can provide a letter of intent to distribute, helping you secure funding without locking you into a contract. Mark your calendars for Purdy Distribution's upcoming releases. Tokyo Cowboy on August 30th, the digital release of Thabo and the Rhino Case on September 1st, Faith of Angels in theaters on September 12th, Villains Inc on Amazon and Itunes on October 1st, and The Carpenter on November 1st. To stay updated on these releases and more, sign up for their newsletter at purdiedistribution.com. That's purdiedistribution.com.
Speaker 1:Now, back to the show. Awesome. We are here with our friend, John Michael Finley. Garrett, I'm so excited. We got John here.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2:Good to see you, man. How are you? Good to see you, man. How are you?
Speaker 1:What's up, gentlemen? I'm great. Having a good day. Podcast look better, sir. You know?
Speaker 1:I appreciate that.
Speaker 3:I I gotta bring only what I can bring. You know?
Speaker 1:This is true.
Speaker 2:And you We can we
Speaker 1:can only do a product. Right?
Speaker 3:You brought it all?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:You guys look sharp.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you. We do dress up for the podcast for, the people that watch us on YouTube. So, Garrett, let's start with how did we get here? We're chatting with the John Michael Findlay on a podcast about our movie, Faith of Angels. But let's go back to kind of the beginning, and you wrote this script.
Speaker 1:You probably had people in mind. And at some point, you saw something in John and reached out. Like, I don't wanna tell the story, but walk us through how that happened.
Speaker 2:For sure. Yeah. I mean and the nature and the theme of the podcast is truly independent. So we're gonna tell this and emphasize more the independent approach to this, whereas, which which is perfect because that's exactly kind of how I approached John when we were casting the role of of John Skinner in this film, I knew I needed somebody with heart and somebody that that was approachable and and honestly whose work I admired. And I remember being a fan of John from, I can only imagine.
Speaker 2:And so I looked him up and John, I don't know if you remember. I mean, I I think I just sent you an email or give you a random call and you were gracious enough to respond. How did that work? What goes through your mind when you get a an email from some rando?
Speaker 3:Yeah. Yeah. No. I, it's a lot of emotions, honestly. You know?
Speaker 3:As as as someone that, you know, was a young person in high school and college and really wanted to be an actor and really wanted to be that guy. You know, the idea of someone just kind of reaching out and wanting to collaborate was really great and and has always been a dream come true. And and I've had that experience, you know, a a handful of times. And so you really do get a mix of emotions. But because it does, you know, because it's different than the normal process, going through my agent or going through a manager and things like that.
Speaker 3:You know, there there are ups and downs, but, I I always find it flattering. And I and I always do my best to to reach back out whether it's with something positive or something less positive and say, hey. Thanks for reaching out. But this script in particular, it took me about 5 minutes to realize who I'm dealing with and what I'm dealing with, and I just fell in love. I think you left me a voice mail and then sent me an email or something like that.
Speaker 3:And, you know, I've got a little at the time, I had a little 2 year old boy, so it was actually great. You leave me a voice mail. I could check it out when I had a chance. And then I I think that night, I I read the script because that's one of my favorite, parts of the process is that that thing you can't ever go back to is that first impression of a story or a script or meeting new people. And I had such a positive first impression that I wasn't sure what the next step was, but I thought I I'm I'm definitely gonna reach out to this gentleman, and I'm very, very interested in collaborating.
Speaker 3:And that's that's kinda how it was on my end.
Speaker 2:I was I was so grateful that, you responded, and that's not always typically the case with independent film. One one of my goals early on was to just let you know, like, straight up what this was and what who I was as far as an independent film. Not a not a, not anything flashy or or, certainly not studio backed, and we're doing this independent, but we try to take take care of the people that are involved in our projects. I think I sent you I went up to the location that we had picked out for the film, and I we'll have to put this on the YouTube, version of the podcast, Erin. But I sent I I, like, finger wrote John Findlay standing here, and it was a picture of a guy, like, fishing in a in a Pribil River.
Speaker 3:Yeah. I don't
Speaker 2:know if you you remember that. And the risk
Speaker 3:Of course.
Speaker 2:Of course. My concern was like, is this guy gonna think I'm a clown or what?
Speaker 3:You you know, the this is what's so great. You know, now we have and now we've had, you know, lunch together and dinner together, and we spent a lot of time together. And I think, you know, we we we I think we enjoy each other's sense of humor. And I I I just I just have such admiration for both of you. You know?
Speaker 3:You're both, husbands and and family men, and and, you know Well, I regret calling you good guys. You know? I don't know. But, it it really was nice to I think we were all in such a strange place post pandemic and trying to figure out, like, are things the same? Are things different?
Speaker 3:Am I the same? Am I different? Do I need to approach things differently? And it was just such a refreshing back and forth even if it maybe stemmed from a a more unusual place, but I don't think it did. You know?
Speaker 3:Like, send me an email. Send me a message. Great. I I think, I'm glad you took the risk and and had the courage to kind of just reach out. But, immediately, I got really great first impressions and really fell in love with the script and the idea and everything.
Speaker 3:And then it you know, I still gotta give you a phone call, and we got a chat. And, there just didn't seem to be any ulterior motive. Nothing that kinda raised any red flags. And so that was just such so such a refreshing, part of this process for me.
Speaker 1:So, John, can you tell us some of the considerations that you're making as an actor? You're coming in, and you've got deal points that you're thinking about. You've got schedule. You've got a family. You know, a wife who works, and and children.
Speaker 1:So, like, for the filmmakers that are watching this or listening to this podcast, when they are reaching out, it can't just be like, will you be in our movie? Right? There's a longer conversation, but maybe give us some insight into what are all the considerations that you're weighing to make a choice for a few months of your life, and maybe, you know, you're gonna have to end up on a podcast a year later. Like, you don't know what you're signing up for when you say yes to that. Right?
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:What are those considerations?
Speaker 3:That's such a great point. Yeah. I, more than ever now and I'm sure people hit this point in their life at different ages, different times in their life. But, you know, it really has been this post pandemic renaissance for me of of not changing who I am, but really discovering what I really want, what I really need, what my family needs, what's important to me, what the risk reward situation is. And, you know, my first film was I can only imagine, and and I absolutely got the bug.
Speaker 3:You know, I'm a stage actor. I'm a musical theater jazz hands kinda guy. I love to sing. I love to dance even a little bit. And, you know, have have made a pretty nice little career doing that, and I absolutely caught the bug with film and television and that kind of stuff.
Speaker 3:And, but what I'm noticing is I try to think about my favorite films ever, some of the greatest films ever. They're not always the film with the highest or best quality. They're not always the film with the most successful famous actors. A lot of these cult classics, a lot of these amazing films were done independently and were done by people that weren't household names and things like that. And so I I've had a couple experiences, I won't go into detail, in the past 2 or 3 years that have really whittled it down for me.
Speaker 3:And now I think, you know, of course, I want the script to be great, and it would be great if there were other big name people attached just to try to get some experience and try to learn some things. But for me, it's all about who I'm working with. Even as a stage actor, one of the first, jobs I ever had. Like, we had first rehearsal on Halloween night. We rehearsed through Thanksgiving, through Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, for New Year's Eve, New Year's Day.
Speaker 3:I mean, 6 major holidays. You're not with your family. You're not with your friends. You're with a theater troupe in a dark theater from 10 AM to midnight. And so I learned pretty quickly that, you know, I would love to be doing the good stuff, elite work, but who am I working with?
Speaker 3:And sometimes those projects, that chemistry you have on set is far more important. And so I I as as a father and a husband, my family has to be taken care of 1st and foremost. So to get directly to your question and I and I will often negotiate a lot of my contracts. First things first is whatever it takes to take care of the babysitter, take care of whatever family members might be coming in to replace me. Right now, I'm a stay at home parent.
Speaker 3:And so all of our needs are gonna have to be taken care of 1st and foremost. And then after that, then I kinda get to think about, okay. Do I wanna get paid for this? How do I wanna get paid? Are there any perks that I'm interested in?
Speaker 3:But, you know, I'm I'm in I'm in a good place right now where, you know, I've done a few good projects, but, you know, it's not like I'm a household name. So for me, it's a lot about, you know, I get to pick and choose, you know, the the things that I really want and that I really need. But for the most part, I want my family taken care of. After that, you know, it's it's not all fun and games, but, you know, then I'm there to have fun.
Speaker 2:Yeah. John, you said you're not a household name. That depends on the household, my friend.
Speaker 3:So it's yeah. You you I can't go into certain Walmarts in Alabama. You know? But, but other than that
Speaker 2:yeah. You you mentioned your first film was, I Can Only Imagine. And I'm curious at the time of shooting that, did that feel like an independent film or what what was what was it like to be on set? I mean, is this significant film? We're huge fans of of the Erwin brothers and, certainly, Dennis Quaid is is Yeah.
Speaker 2:Been on our radar a long time.
Speaker 3:Sure. Sure. Yeah. It's, first and foremost, thank you. And we are so, so proud of that project.
Speaker 3:Tim, you know, we filmed it in 2016, almost 10 years ago, and it came out in 2018. And it continues to deliver. It continues to impact lives and be an inspiration for people, and I'm just I'm so honored to be a part of that. That was my first film ever, my first experience ever, my first being on set, my first any of that. So I couldn't tell you if it felt cinematic.
Speaker 3:It felt like a studio film. I can tell you it felt very professional to me. You know? And not just because Dennis Quaid was hanging around and and some other really, really accomplished, actors were were on that set. But mostly because, you know, and we've talked about this before, there was just an atmosphere.
Speaker 3:An atmosphere of and I don't even think it's because it was faith based. You know, I've been a part of other faith based projects that, you know, the atmosphere wasn't necessarily a faith based atmosphere. I I guess I'll put it that way. Sure. But just kinda from day 1, you know, you mentioned the Erwin brothers.
Speaker 3:These are guys that started from the ground up. These guys were camera operators working for ESPN 20 years ago on the sidelines of Alabama football games. You know, these guys just fell in love with a camera and fell in love with storytelling and picture art. And, you know, 20 years later, they're they're they're some of the top guys in their business. And, they've really managed to hang on to that humility and that sense of independent filmmaking.
Speaker 3:But now they're in a situation where they went from making one film every 4 or 5 years to 4 or 5 films a year.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So they're they're kind of, you know, doing a completely different thing now. Yeah. And, I I love to see them doing that. Yeah. Imagine, all I knew was that mom and dad were happy.
Speaker 3:I use that analogy a lot. It's like you don't have to hear mom and dad yelling at each other to know that maybe mom and dad are are going through some stuff. As an actor, you know, I don't have a ton of responsibility. I gotta learn my lines. I gotta know my character.
Speaker 3:But, you know, I I'm not a producer. I'm not running around like a chicken with a head cut off getting things done. So I really get to sit back and just kind of observe. And I observed just such a wonderful atmosphere, a calm atmosphere. And so I knew even though I had no experience that things were going pretty well.
Speaker 3:I grew up with that song. I can only imagine. Yeah. And I was young and arrogant, so I just assumed it was gonna do well. Like, I I was like, this song is a hit.
Speaker 3:Everyone loves this song. It's a number one Christian song in the world for the past 15 years. Like, this movie is gonna be great. So I never had any doubts in in kind of a young naive way. And then when it had success, it really just kind of cemented a lot of those experiences I had.
Speaker 3:Had a great time. Good. Good. Thanks for asking. Yeah.
Speaker 2:As as independent filmmakers, what are things that we can do to make an actor like you or Dennis Quaid or whomever it is, you come on set and you feel comfortable and you're like, okay. This is when you mentioned, you know, mom and dad getting along.
Speaker 3:What can we do to
Speaker 2:make you go, okay. I I wanna be a part of this type of project.
Speaker 3:I think, it's it's similar to
Speaker 2:Besides good craft.
Speaker 3:As as yeah. Besides good crafty and some good or something at midnight. I I think it's a it's a similar thing to what what, you know, I I shouldn't say what good parents should do because that's pretty subjective. But, you know, a lot of life is is turmoil. A lot of life is a whirlwind.
Speaker 3:And if we can protect our children from that even for a short period of time and give them, you know, a nice childhood, though sometimes that's the goal. And I think as actors, not that we're the children on set, but, it can be terrifying. You're kinda brought in, and you're usually the last one brought in. You usually have the least amount of information, the least amount of communication. You're just kind of expected to take the script and take your character and make the most with it.
Speaker 3:I think a lot of actors, especially when they show up on day 1, we don't know what we're getting into. And no amount of phone calls and emails and promises and prayers really, really help that much until you're there day 1. You're in your trailer. You meet the people you're gonna be working with, and then you figure out, okay. This is what it's gonna take for the next couple days or couple weeks.
Speaker 3:And so there's a lot of variables that we just don't know. And so a lot of times, it's just I don't wanna say pat us on the back and make us feel comfortable. But a lot of it is like, hey. You just flew in. You just got your rental car.
Speaker 3:You just unpacked your bags in the hotel. I think communication is what I'm getting to. And maybe not every actor feels that way, but a lot of times, I'm left out of a lot of those conversations. You guys know I had a lot of questions for you guys. And I think a lot of times, giving the actor the game plan a lot of times, the actors don't get the game plan.
Speaker 3:The whole crew gets the game plan. All the producers get the game plan. Your wives know what the game plan is. But your lead actor is somehow left out of, like, what's the game plan for the day for the week? And so a lot of times, that communication, is very, very helpful, but, that's my experience.
Speaker 1:I didn't know that actors read the game plan when we sent it.
Speaker 3:I only read the subject of the email as you know full well.
Speaker 2:I try to put as much information in the subject as I can. Yes.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. If it's not in all caps in the title of email. I'm I'm not gonna read it.
Speaker 3:No.
Speaker 2:It's a good it's a good tip. I think as independent filmmakers, there's often so much going on and we're wearing so many different hats that it's easy to forget, that, hey. Not everybody is up to date on the information and sometimes there's that assumption of, hey, is this kind of a need to know basis and maybe you don't need to know this and but then
Speaker 3:we if
Speaker 2:we put on that other mindset and say, look, it sure might help him to know this full big picture so that he can decide. He'll let you parse through the information you need to know as an actor. Yeah. That's a that's a good tip. I think that that also extends toward this distribution side of it.
Speaker 2:You know, Darren and I are having this daily discussions about, okay, now we're gonna do this and now we're gonna do the podcast blitz and now we're gonna release the trailer And we release the trailer, and I get an email or 2 from various actors in the movie. They're saying, hey, What's going on? Like, cool trailer. It looks amazing. What what can we do to help?
Speaker 2:And I'm in I'm in a mind. What can you do to help? Everything. And and yet I haven't communicated that. And, so that's a helpful reminder to hear you say that.
Speaker 3:And and that's, you know, that's, you know, I know Garrett. You know, I I I played baseball on the weekends and stuff like that. And, you know, I I play with guys that are 40, 50, 60 years old. We can't have a practice in the middle of the week. You know?
Speaker 3:Like, we can't get together and come together as a team and work on things. Like, we meet once a week. And if I can't share with you via email the game plan but that sometimes that's all it is. Yeah. You know?
Speaker 3:Like, I got I got a picture, and it's like, we're not in the major leagues, but if we can both just have a sometimes a game plan is better than no game plan.
Speaker 2:Sure.
Speaker 3:But you know how hard it is. You know? Once once the actor's on set, that means the train is going. We're on the tracks, and the train has already been set. You know?
Speaker 3:We're like, we're off. And so a lot of times, yeah, you can't you can't sit down and slow things down and have that conversation. So I I'm sure it's really, really difficult, but I think, you know, each of us play our own puzzle piece, and I'm sure there are times we take for granted, what other puzzle pieces need to do their job. But that's part that's the fun part of collaboration. If you're communicating, you're gonna be okay.
Speaker 3:You know?
Speaker 2:I don't yeah.
Speaker 1:The I remember the first day was, like, a big packed day for you. We had we had to get you in hair and makeup and make you look like the actual John Skinner.
Speaker 3:We had the haircut and the shave. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Like Yeah. You had long curly hair, and we had to chop a lot
Speaker 3:off. Yeah.
Speaker 1:You had a eighties mustache. But one thing I appreciated was I got to pick you up from the airport
Speaker 3:Mhmm.
Speaker 1:And we had about an hour drive to set, And you were just not pestering, but just, like, question after question. Tell me about John. Tell me about what he's like. Tell me about what does he exude. What's his essence?
Speaker 1:And I I was so impressed. But I think continuing on with this idea of communication and making sure that your experience coming into a set is good, I was really impressed with you knew what you needed. You're like, I need to sit down with John. I need to meet him. I need to talk with him.
Speaker 1:I need to make sure that I have time to to get into my trailer and kinda get things set up. And so a lot of it was thinking about, okay, my job today is not to be on set and monitoring camera and making sure there's no fires to put out. My day is with John and to make sure that your experience coming in was exactly what you needed it to be. Because what I tell people all the time, my job as a producer is to protect the creative space for the creatives to do their best work. And if you came in and you got picked up by somebody who you'd never talked to before and you'd never seen a picture of and they got your name on a poster and then they're blasting music that you don't like on the way there, and then they're like, hey.
Speaker 1:You're here, and you have no idea where to go. That's not a great experience for you to then transition into, I gotta be on set tomorrow and portraying a human being. So, did we do a good job? I guess is part of my question. You did
Speaker 3:a good job. You did a great job. Yeah. Go ahead.
Speaker 1:Did we do okay? But talk to us about that first day and meeting John because that was kind of unique experience being able to our our base camp was next door to the actual John and Chris Skinner's house, which is pretty insane how that worked out.
Speaker 3:But what was going through
Speaker 1:your mind in wanting to meet and talk to them?
Speaker 3:I, you know, I I'm I'm willing to admit that I do everything I can to show up to work and be low maintenance, calm, don't need anything, prepared, ready to go, you know, like, make adjustments. But in order to prepare to do that, I have to, like, let my anxiety and my paranoia and and all all of my insecurities out. And I can do a lot of that at home on my own by preparation, you know, getting into the story, getting into my character, learning my lines. But a lot of that can't happen until we organically meet in person. So for me, it was a lot of butterflies, not not about the work, but about what is this atmosphere gonna be like.
Speaker 3:You know? I had really, really great, conversations with both of you via FaceTime, over the phone, via email, via text message. But once again, you know, when my plane touches down in in Utah I've never been to Utah. You know what I mean? Like, now now here we go.
Speaker 3:And I don't think it has anything to do with whether it's a lead actor versus a supporting actor versus a small ensemble role. It has nothing to do with, like, okay. Am I playing a lead? Ensemble role. It has nothing to do with, like, okay.
Speaker 3:Am I playing a lead? It's more about, okay. If I am a lead, I likely have more days on set. If I am a lead, I likely have more camera time. And in and in my opinion, I have more responsibility.
Speaker 3:And so if I have more responsibility, I want to be more prepared, and I wanna have, you know, more of that stuff set in place. So we had a great time. I love I love that you picked me up. But that was really just my insecurity and my anxiety of peppering you with questions. Those are my questions of, like, I can't lay my head on my pillow and get another good night's sleep until some of these questions are answered.
Speaker 3:And then another part of that was and I I may have said this to you, Garrett. I don't know if I said it word for word. But in my mind, I'm thinking, we're not turning a camera on until I meet John. Like, I can't I can't put a put wardrobe on until I've at least FaceTimed him or met him in person. And so one of the first things we did, thankfully, was pretty much go straight to John.
Speaker 3:And, the story is actually I was getting a haircut and getting a shave and a beard trim and, and, you know, literally have the, you know, the apron on and and John and his wife walk in. So I got to cross those things off my list in the drive to the canyon and then in the chair. And then once that was over, all the weight was off my shoulders. Once I had seen John and met John, and once I had peppered you both with, you know, 3 dozen questions, that's what I needed. And then I was like, okay.
Speaker 3:Good to go. Other than that, it's like, you know, there was there was a guy, Jersey Boys is a very, very famous musical about Frankie Valli in the 4 seasons, and it ran for a very long time on Broadway. And one of the guys that played the Frankie Valley role, you know, people ask him, what's your preparation? You do 8 shows a week, 400 shows a year? You know, do you have this long Meisner Stanislavski prep he's like, no.
Speaker 3:As soon as I put that jacket on, boom. Now I'm Frankie, and I just walk on stage because the preparation is already done. And I found that, like, once we got to set, once we were at day 1, it's like once once I saw my mustache and once I put the jacket on, like, I'm John Skinner, baby. Here we go. Yeah.
Speaker 3:So it was a lot of fun. Yeah. You guys did a great job.
Speaker 2:Well, you came very prepared, and I was so grateful for that. I I did appreciate, that even though, you know, this film, there's a very independent nature to it. You you you treated it as if it were, you know, the next Oscar contender as far as the amount of research and preparation that you did. And, I love that. You know, we when we cast an actor in a lead who's doing a large role based on a true person, that research is imperative.
Speaker 2:And and I love as a director having conversations with my actors. On on set, you know, I say, hey, once once we start rolling, that's your role. You own that part, and I don't get to interfere with that. But, man, I just love the amount of time that you gave me upfront to just, like, question and and pick my brain and really get an understanding of where I'm coming at as far as this character goes in this story, and then you were able to develop this character in his life. It was just amazing.
Speaker 2:It was so cool to see.
Speaker 3:You you guys did such a good job of really setting the world up. You know? I I I would admit as an actor, I'm I'm far more emotionally driven, you know, much more driven by the heart than I am the brain. You know? As an actor, I am I am, you know, a cerebral type person.
Speaker 3:But once again, you know, showing up in Utah, meeting you guys for the first time, the first time reading the script, a lot of it is my first gut emotional reaction. I'm very much a gut person and an emotional person as an actor. And so a lot of that stuff was just giving me the freedom and giving me the room to have my emotional reaction, but really setting up the space and getting into that eighties vibe, getting into that Utah vibe, getting into the world that we were in. You guys made it really, really easy. And as far as the professionalism goes, you know, I think it's I think half the coin is is the arrogance of an actor.
Speaker 3:You know, I think every actor wants to be that guy. You know? And so I think part of it is is is is just my own ego. And then I think the other part of it is, you know, going back to baseball because I love baseball. You know, you won't find minor league players acting like minor leaguers.
Speaker 3:They're all gonna prepare like Major Leaguers. Even in college, you know, these college coaches, they're trying to teach these young men to be professionals, and we're gonna start now. You're not a major leaguer right now, but you're gonna prepare like a major leaguer. And I feel the exact same way. Well, you know, whether I'm doing a very, very small independent film with a tiny budget in the middle of nowhere, whether it's somewhere in between or whether it's a big budget studio film, Yeah.
Speaker 3:I to me, I'm in the Major Leagues. Yeah. And this is this is my this is my not my legacy. That's that's way too heavy handed, but this is my work. This is my portfolio.
Speaker 3:I'm not gonna come phone it in no matter what the stakes are. So I'm gonna dig in, and we're gonna make the most of it. And I had so much fun doing that with you guys.
Speaker 2:Well, it it shows. We had a blast and and, that level of commitment shows in all all your work that I've seen. We're so glad to have it part of this. We are putting this in theaters and releasing it September 12th in theaters, regionally and then more nationwide, September 26th. As an actor, what do you in an independent film, what what do you perceive as the role?
Speaker 2:How is important how important is it for an actor to be involved in the release of the film or promotions or talking about like that? What are your thoughts?
Speaker 3:Yeah. Yeah. This is a I think this is a very good question. I think Well, I'm
Speaker 2:gonna hold you to whatever you say because
Speaker 3:Yeah. Well, that's all I gotta be careful. No. I I I do feel, going going back to kind of the responsibility, you know, whether I'm a lead role or whether I'm, you know, a a wonderful part of the ensemble, I'm gonna be I'm gonna wanna be a part of that process, and I think that's just me personally. You know, I I wanna support the projects I'm doing.
Speaker 3:I wanna cheer for my own teammates. I wanna cheer for my own team. But as as one of the lead actors of the film, I do think I have a professional and personal responsibility to do maybe a little bit of the legwork. You know? And I just mean compared to maybe some other cast members that flew in for half a day and gave us a great scene or 2.
Speaker 3:Yeah. They they probably don't have as much responsibility to to kinda pick up some of the legwork. But if they wanted to help out, we could sure use their help. But, certainly, as as being part of this team, I certainly feel a personal responsibility, but also can't wait to, like, once again, be a be a part of this team. If there's anything I can do to help out, yeah, I wanna help out.
Speaker 3:So there's always a lot of gray area. And I know this is in some ways, this is a point of contention for some actors, and I think it's really when they become household names.
Speaker 2:Sure.
Speaker 3:But as an actor, I wanna be part of this process. You know, my job is done for the most part. But if I can do anything to help promote or support this film, then, yeah, I I I wanna be, on that team for sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah. It's a it's an interesting delicate balance, and I love hearing you say that. And as a filmmaker and the producers, we have to say, look. We hired you we we hired you as an actor for a for a job and you delivered and, you know, I'm saying you, but any actor. We hire them for the job, they come in, deliver, and do that, and that's great.
Speaker 2:Unfortunately, what happens is you become friends along the way. You're like, hey. Now we do hang out. Let's do stuff like that. And,
Speaker 3:that's the worst part.
Speaker 2:I love that part of it that and we've we've stressed this on the podcast. It's about the relationships. Right? At the end of the day, hey, you know, the script might on on a future project, maybe the script is, you know, just okay or that the pay is low. But my goodness, if we're gonna work with people we enjoy working with, yeah, that's that's enough to say yes to a project.
Speaker 3:Well, you know, we're we're taking something that's very personal and very heartfelt and very important to us. And now, really, what we're doing is now showing it to everybody else.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And they are under zero obligation to pat us on the head and tell us we're pretty. You know? This this is really where we take it out there and say, okay. Well, what do you think? Then we have to be okay with what they think.
Speaker 3:You know? We can't really bully people into liking our movie. You know? And so but I think that's the fun part. This is the part where it's like, now we get to see, you know, what type of reaction do we get.
Speaker 3:Is this impacting people in this way? Is it you know? So I think it's the fun it's not a fun it's probably not a fun part of the process. But once again, back to that, you know, if I'm gonna spend 6 holidays with a group of people, if if I have to go on a press junket with you 2, at least it's 2 dudes that I like to hang out with. You know?
Speaker 3:If I if we have to leave our families and go on tour and do all these, honestly, the the part of the business that we didn't necessarily sign up for. Yeah. You know? It's it's as an actor, I wanna go tell good stories. You know?
Speaker 3:I didn't necessarily go to the part of school where you learn how to do interviews, and you learn how to walk a red carpet, and you learn how to be on a tonight show or a late talk show. You know? Like, you don't really get those skills. And so it's part of the process that you have to kinda realize this this goes along with the business. And if I can surround myself with talented people and talented artists, but also good people that we kinda have similar priorities and a similar game plan, I don't know what else you can do.
Speaker 3:You know? Hope you strike lightning in a bottle after that.
Speaker 1:So, John, thank you for your time today. We wanna be respectful of it. We've already, probably hit our time. But I'm curious. Is there anything that you would like the audience to know about this movie or anything you wanna say to the audience that's listening to this podcast?
Speaker 1:We might even clip this out, put it on social media. But
Speaker 3:Sure. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1:What do you wanna tell people about this movie?
Speaker 3:That's a tough one. I I wanna say that this is the this is the second time I've had the opportunity to not only tell a true story, but the character that I'm playing is still alive. And I can pick their brain and talk to them and converse with them and fellowship with them. And that's such a such a unique experience as an artist and a storyteller and an actor. But a lot of that is just personal to me.
Speaker 3:What I think can be personal to everyone is not only the true story aspect, but the idea of this community coming together. I don't wanna do one of these whole, you know, the world we live in right now because I think every generation since the beginning of time probably gave one of those speeches. But let's take the faith based aspect of it and set it aside. I think just in general, as a father and a husband, there's just a lot of junk out there. And there's a there you know, a a lot of things are based on violence and revenge and and justifying some act.
Speaker 3:And and I think it's so nice to see something, not that's even more mild because I think these are these are real issues that we deal with on an everyday basis, but just some good stuff. You know? It's just good stuff. It's good people. It's good storytelling.
Speaker 3:And I I think people will really, really connect with this. But this is independent. You know? This this will likely be released on on a limited number of screens around the country. And so help us out.
Speaker 3:Go go get the word out. You know? People in my hometown, for instance, like, my hometown is probably not a place that this this will get to. But I'm gonna have people go to our local theater and demand, say, hey. You gotta bring this film.
Speaker 3:You know, our homeboy, John Michael Finley, is gonna be in it. And so go do that. Go to your local cinema and say, hey. I don't know who decides and who picks, but this is a film we want to be brought close to us. This is the type of content that my family and that my children need to be seeing, and I think that's very important.
Speaker 3:Don't forget that that you have a voice even in this day of social media in 2024 where you feel like your voice goes unheard. So
Speaker 2:It's awesome. John, it's so good to see you, man. Thank you very much for taking some time and chatting with us, and, I can't wait to roll this out and have you I I feel your support, and we'll have you out here for a premiere. And then
Speaker 3:It's gonna be great. Yeah. Yeah. Experience. Love love working with you both.
Speaker 3:Love chatting with you both, and love collaborating with you both. So thanks for inviting me, and, looking forward to seeing, seeing, you know, how things turn out.
Speaker 2:Let's find a baseball script we can do next.
Speaker 3:Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Damn Yankees movie revival.
Speaker 2:Perfect. Love it. Alright, man.
Speaker 3:We call it darn Yankees. Okay. Alright, guys. We complete that. Have a great day.
Speaker 2:Thanks, buddy.
Speaker 3:Yeah. We can leave it out. See you guys.
Speaker 2:Well, there it is. John Finley. What an amazing actor and individual. I loved getting to work with him and how great that he was able to come and share his thoughts.
Speaker 1:Yeah. He's been a dream to work with from day 1. It was definitely the right person to cast, not just because of his talent on screen, but because who he is off screen. He's just an incredible guy. Like, I cherish our text message threads because we just he's got his kid down for a nap, and he's like, hey, man.
Speaker 1:How's it going? Like, yes. I get to chat with John again today. Like, he's so cool, and I just love, how we've been able to work with him and how open and generous he's been with this time he came to the Zion Film Festival, premiere, the screening there, he performed a song at the festival. Like, he's just so giving such a great guy.
Speaker 1:I did wanna bring up or touch on something he said, which I think is an interesting thing, at least the way that I think about actors and actors being producers. So a lot of times in order to get an actor of John's caliber or Cameron's count caliber, I've seen it on every movie I've worked on, The main 1 or 2 or 3 actors will also ask or negotiate for a producer credit. And I'm very much of the mind of, like, producer credits are earned. Like, you gotta do what is the producing work you're gonna be doing so we're not just handing it out? But it's kind of customary to just say, yeah, you also get a producer credit as part of your part of your pay.
Speaker 1:And so one thing he said was, you know, the parts we didn't necessarily sign up for. And I think I don't I don't think he meant anything by it. But I think as producers, when you're talking to actors in these types of movies, it's important to say, look, If you're gonna be a producer on this, you're gonna not work for free, but you're gonna help promote the film. Like, you're getting back end. You're gonna participate in the upside of the movie.
Speaker 1:So the more you contribute, the the greater the upside is and could be. And so if an actor is getting a produce producer credit, I really feel like they need to understand what they're signing up for. They're signing up for promotion. They're gonna come on our podcast. They're gonna come to the screenings.
Speaker 1:They're going to be a part of it. They're gonna talk about it online. They're gonna give us access to their audience and their people that they can reach with their social media platforms. Because otherwise, you're just giving away a producer credit. I don't see any reason to do that.
Speaker 1:I'm curious your thoughts on it, if you agree or disagree or if you've got a different way of looking at it.
Speaker 2:I I think you're right on. I I think that, that that shows that the actor, whoever it is that is signed on to be a producer, like you say, you need to earn that, that there is an awareness that a lot more goes on after the camera stop rolling. And, you know, we we finished shooting. John John left Utah, October 4, 2000 3, and here we are in the middle of June or July 2004, and he's we're we're still having conversations about the movie. And we're just maintaining that and he's always checking in and and I love that.
Speaker 2:I I did a movie years ago and it's an independent movie we're releasing in the theaters. It was doing very well in theaters, but it was one of these kind of self release, self distributed thing and I'm going to screenings on Friday Saturday, I'm driving around Prince on Monday, I'm doing theater checks and I'm like, it was, you know, I think at 10 o'clock at night and one of our lead actors, who had other obligations, hadn't participated in the premiere or or any of the screenings or the q and a's or any press, which is fine that there's no he he wasn't contractually obligated to do that. But, there would there there had been some sort of misunderstanding or typo or something, and he called me up and really just kinda chewed me out for this being such an independent effort and, to, you know, ruining his name or whatever it was, and and it was clearly a misunderstanding. We're dear friends, to this day, but, you know, that's that's the opposite, I think, of what we want our actors to do and say especially if you're gonna be a producer, you know that there are going to be bumps in the road.
Speaker 2:Nobody has ever made this movie before. I keep telling I tell that to our crew. Guess what? Nobody's ever made this movie before. We get to figure out how to do it, and that's the same way with distributing.
Speaker 2:Nobody's ever distributed this movie before. We'll make mistakes. We'll learn a lot, but we wanna be in the boat together. Like, nobody's standing on the shore yelling at us. And, so John is definitely in the boat with us.
Speaker 1:I love that. Love that a lot. Alright. Let's get to some listener questions. We got 2 that came in this week.
Speaker 1:So the first one's for you, Garrett. Is there just an upfront cost for the theatrical release or are there ongoing costs to keep it in theaters beyond, you know, the obvious marketing spend to just keep awareness online? But someone was basically asking, like you guys were talking about, it's gonna cost certain amount of money to put it in each theater. Is that a one time thing, or do you need to have some money in the bank to just go, oh, now we've got this other cost because we're a month in or 2 months in or we wanna keep it in theaters. How does that all work?
Speaker 2:Yeah. And our our model is, to make sure I mean, the cost are more associated with the the the marketing. We don't four wall movie theaters, so we're not we're not paying a theater to book our movie. We're not reserving an auditorium. So the costs are creation of the DCP and the poster and the content, shipping that out there, and then creation of awareness and marketing that.
Speaker 2:So, yes, I mean, I'd like to spend 75 to 80% upfront to get that thing is it to create the groundswell and you do that a week or 2 in before the movie release. And then as the movie releases and there continues to be an interest, you wanna have, you know, the remaining 15, 20%, 25% to pour fuel on the fire. So that's the only continual cost, but you're not ever paying a theater to to hold your movie longer.
Speaker 1:Yeah. There's a lot of nuance in this stuff. I mean, I I think I didn't know that until 10 years ago. Right? I was just like, oh, I thought we had to pay to keep our movie in theaters.
Speaker 1:No. It's the the supply and demand is the other way around. Like, it really is on the theater booker to say what's the most profitable movie we could put in our movie this weekend. And it there is a bet when it comes to independent films or films that you're not thinking are gonna be number 1 that weekend. Like, if it's a new Marvel movie, yeah, that's obvious.
Speaker 1:They're gonna book it. They're gonna put it in 2 or 3 screens in their 10 theater plex, and they're gonna sell out all of them. Like, when Inside Out 2 was out, there were, like, 25 showings every single day because it was playing in 4 theaters in a 16 plex. It's like, okay. We get that.
Speaker 1:So it's supply and demand. If if there's a theater open and, you know, I'm using current examples, but if Fall Guy made $71 last weekend and you've got a new movie like Faith of Angels coming in, it's likely that Faith of Angels is gonna make more than $71 for that theater. So they'll swap out the 15th week of Fall Guy for the 1st week of Faith of Angels, and it's just supply and demand. And so it's an interesting world that I'm loving, like, playing in and getting into all the numbers. So super fun.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Then you had compound to that and say, well, you won't they won't swap out Fall Guy because of agreements with, you know, large studios saying, if you keep Fall Guy another week, we'll give you x, you know, fill in the blank movie. So there is that nature of still it's an independence of David Goliath independent thing. We we have to prove that there is an audience there.
Speaker 1:Yeah. All the more reason for the audience to buy into this and really support this film because we're gonna need all the help we can get.
Speaker 2:Yeah. That was a good question, Darren. So second question that has come in is how much do you need to make to get into the top 10 box office? This is one you can tackle.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah. I'm excited for this one because I did some research and I got my spreadsheets out and did some numbers and all this stuff. So if you look at the first half of this year, because now we're in July as we're recording this. So we have data for the 1st 6 months of 2024. Now there's no guarantees.
Speaker 1:Right? That should be first off. Right? You don't know who you're gonna be up against often. You don't know how other movies are gonna perform, and it's it there's no guarantees here.
Speaker 1:But I will say if you were to make $3,000,000 in a weekend, you would be in any of the the top 10 weekends, or the you'd be in the top 10 of any weekend this year if you had $3,000,000 in one weekend. Now most movies don't most independent movies don't do that. A lot of them don't do that in their entire theatrical run, let alone their opening weekend. So the the rest of the data is the lowest top 10. Like, the lowest number 10 movie was $750,000 in one weekend.
Speaker 1:So that's the lowest that anyone had made in order to break the top 10. And then the average, if you average out the 26 weeks of this year so far, was $1,500,000 So as you're kind of thinking about your strategy for releasing your movie and going, okay, I need to at least hit 1.5 if I wanna break the top 10. Well, how does that work with everything else we've talked about? Number of screens, per screen average, etcetera, etcetera, so that that's part of your plan. And as I was thinking about that and looking at it with Faith of Angels versus the Carpenter, it's like, oh, I think we could get there with the Carpenter.
Speaker 1:Based on 600 screens, that's like $3,000 a screen or whatever the math turns out to be. It's gonna be harder with Faith of Angels. It might be that we get there week 3 or week 5 with some word-of-mouth and with expanding to other theaters. But trying to do that in 25 screens is gonna be a very herculean effort. So curious your thoughts on that.
Speaker 1:Have you thought about that as well?
Speaker 2:Yeah. No. That's exactly the math, and and I I love spending the time to to research that and to look at those numbers. I I think it's important to remember that being in the top ten is our goal for the carpenter, and we're designing our model based on that goal. So we've selected the number of screens, and we'll select key areas and so forth, and even our marketing effort and our spend will be heavily weighted in order to try to reach that that benchmark, that goal.
Speaker 2:Not being in top 10 is not a death knell for a movie. Faith of angels has an entirely different release strategy, so I don't expect to be the top 10 box office on September 12th, because we are opening in fewer screens. We're that that one we discussed in a different podcast about the, per screen average is what we're what our focus is on that one. So I think your research is holds holds true, Darren, that we it it's a daunting number. The 1,500,000 for an any independent film, that's a that's a big ask.
Speaker 2:To expect to do that in an opening weekend on a limited number of screens, we're definitely shooting for the moon. So that's the but that's a fun goal to work for.
Speaker 1:Yeah. I think you gotta look at what's the outcome and then reverse engineer from there and say, can we do it based on the strategy we're implementing? I mean, 1,500,000 in a weekend is a 150,000 tickets. Can you can your audience support getting a 150,000 people to a theater in a weekend? Most independent filmmakers that I know at least can't do that.
Speaker 1:They don't have a 1000000 people on their email list or on social media that they can message and say, go get your tickets now. Right? We're talking about 100 or 1000 of people that we can reach with our marketing, our direct marketing from our own personal brands, which is why we're so focused on building an audience so that next time we've got more people we can reach. And next time we got more people we can so that's certainly part of it, thinking about what's the outcome and does your strategy even give you a chance? Because if you're saying, well, I have to have a $30,000 per screen average, you're not gonna do that.
Speaker 1:I'm not gonna happen. Yeah. But the car what that means for the carpenters, we need $2,500 per screen average. It's very possible. But also I wanted to touch on why does it even matter?
Speaker 1:Why would you why does it matter to be in the top 10? And my answer is I get a lot of, like, industry newsletters and subscribe to a number of them. I look at, industry, you know, online magazines. I look at the trades all the time, and a lot of these outlets report on the top ten box office for the week. So it's just free awareness.
Speaker 1:It's free marketing to say, Oh, such and such newsletter with 400,000 subscribers or whatever Variety or Hollywood Reporter or whatever it is, is going to say, Hey, in the top ten, breaking the top ten this week is The Carpenter. And everyone's gonna go, what is The Carpenter? I've never heard of that movie. And they click and they go to IMDB or they go to Fandango or they go to their local theater and they click on a trailer, and that's free awareness. It's free marketing if you can break into that.
Speaker 1:And
Speaker 2:so it it needs
Speaker 1:you to try.
Speaker 2:Yeah. It's earned marketing. And you you you want to be loud enough that you can't be ignored. And those those the bigger, media outlets that do report those top tens would oftentimes ignore a movie like the Carpenter. And so be be loud enough that you can't be ignored.
Speaker 2:Be like, guess we have to print about The Carpenter. That's great. Well and now they'll want to do it. They'll want to do it once they see the movie. It's really good.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Well, it benefits them at that point. Right? If if they don't, it's like, why aren't you guys talking about this? It's a good free story to report on.
Speaker 1:This little indie from Utah is breaking box office records. Like, yeah, you should definitely talk about that.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Very cool. Well, another great episode in the bank. Thanks, and, Bert.
Speaker 2:It's good
Speaker 1:seeing you today. Thanks to John Finley for joining us. Please, go over to 3 coin pro.comorfaithdashofdashangels.com. We need your support. We need you to come and participate and be a part of the movement that's getting this movie in theaters.
Speaker 1:So please go check it out. Watch the trailer. Share the trailer. Tell all your friends the exciting things coming as we release this movie in theaters in September. Thank you for listening to this episode of Truly Independent.
Speaker 1:To join us on the journey, be notified of things and ask us questions about today's episode, head over to 3coinpro.com/podcast, and put in your name and an email address. If you're a fan of the show, please leave us a review on your favorite podcast app and be sure to share this episode. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next week. Our intro and outro music is Election Time by Kjartan Abele.
