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Demystifying The Indie Film Journey
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, journey bringing guests to share their insights into the process and answer your questions. In today's episode, we have our first guests, and we get to chat with them about our distribution strategy and the role of the distributor. We also share how our recent screening went and how do you get people to a screening? And why are we so focused on email rather than social media?
Daren:This is Truly Independent episode 4. Garrett, we're back. Hey. He he I'm loving this, man. We finally announced and released our first two episodes, and the feedback was awesome.
Daren:I was just till, like, 11 o'clock last night, I was refreshing pages and looking at comments and responding to people, and I got texts and I got excitement. And, man, oh, man. What about you? How are you feeling right now?
Garrett:Yeah. I mean, I'm glad I'm glad to hear it. I'm glad that people are responding well. I know, I know that, I'm hopeful that it's a that it's helpful information.
Daren:Yeah. It's been really exciting to see. There's a lot of
Garrett:been, like, raining on your excitement there.
Daren:Yeah. It's fine.
Garrett:Yeah. It's good. I'm glad. No. It is fun.
Garrett:It is fun to have it out there. And in fact, it did come up. Last night, I was at a screening and as an independent filmmaker, offer, congratulate, or whatever it is. And so the podcast was able to come up, and and I felt like, hey. This would be a serious this would be a great tool for people.
Daren:One the thing I was really excited by because I know you have a lot of fans of your movies, but we have people we've worked with in the industry together over over the last two movies and, just filmmakers that I've worked with outside of our movies to to see some of them pop up and filmmakers and directors and writers and actors go, oh my gosh. I cannot believe this exists. I'm so excited. Instant subscribe. Like, those were the kind of comments, and I was just so grateful.
Daren:So if you're not yet subscribed, make sure to do that now. But my goodness. I'm excited today. We have our first guests. How are you feeling about that?
Garrett:Yeah. Nice. And you've lined up a pretty distribution, and these guys are wonderful to work with. I've I've been I've known them for a little bit, and it'll be great to be able to kinda pick their minds and learn from them about what a distributor does.
Daren:Yeah. We're gonna dive in with them in a second. But first of all, have you seen anything good lately? Did you said you went to a screening?
Garrett:I did. I went to a screening last night. I saw a new movie that's coming out August 30th called Reagan. Nice. And, it's it's a, it's very well done.
Garrett:Romero who did Soul Surfer, directed this and, the I mean we talked last week about doing advanced screenings and we had our own this week and then we, going to the tonight it was so great because everything we talked about on the podcast really was kind of in practice there and they were getting emails and passing out flyers and doing surveys and kind of testing out the film, engaging the audience response. It's really cool to see that we're not the only ones doing this, that that this is a practice that is proven for demystifying an independent film release.
Daren:Yeah. It's amazing. I
Garrett:Plus the movie was great.
Daren:Oh, that's good to hear too.
Garrett:You You
Daren:always want the movie to be good. That's awesome. I'm very excited to to hear more about that.
Garrett:What'd you see?
Daren:I finally, carved out some time in my to watch, Godzilla minus 1 on Netflix. Oh. And my goodness. What masterful craft is showcased in that, not just visual effects and the bigness of it. It is a Godzilla movie but the story and the intimate relationships and the internal struggle that the characters are going through, It's so, so good.
Daren:I saw a tweet today. I don't know what you call them now that it's x instead of post on x today that, was a comment from the filmmaker of Godzilla minus 1 who's met Steven Spielberg, and Steven Spielberg was like, I've watched it three times. It's such an incredible movie, and I concur. Awesome. Like, need to have Steven Spielberg say I watched the movie three times, and I loved it.
Daren:But Yeah. I I agree. It's an amazing film, so highly recommend going and checking that out.
Garrett:Cool. Yeah. They did a good job with that one for sure that I love the, like you say, kind of that intimate story set in this very big Oscar movie.
Daren:Yeah. Well, should we dive into our conversation with let's get them in. Alright. Alright. Alright.
Daren:Another episode of Truly Independent. I'm so excited, Garrett. It's good to see. Guess what, man?
Garrett:What?
Daren:Get get. Guess what? We have we have our first guests here today. Our first episode with guests. Oh my gosh.
Daren:I'm so excited. Today, we are joined by Donovan and Adam Monterrey. The owners of Purdy Distribution and the distributors of The Carpenter, the movie that we made. So this is really great. I'm so excited.
Daren:Welcome, guys. How are you doing today?
Adam:Good. Great. Thanks for having us. Yeah. We appreciate it.
Adam:Excite
Garrett:Oh, good. Good. Welcome. Welcome. Nice to see you guys.
Daren:It is nice to see you. And I love how you you because you're twins, you guys give the same answer, but in different chunks. So, like, you take turns, but it all ends up being a really coherent thought. You've had lots of practice doing that.
Donovan:Well, and it can be at the same time sometimes, but Yeah. You'll hear us there. In it's an echo.
Daren:Yeah. So you're not hearing an echo. You're hearing 2 brothers. We are so glad to have you here. I've known you guys just for about a year.
Daren:Well, I think Garrett maybe has known you longer, but, you 2 acquired a product a distribution company last year, Purdy Distribution, and now we're running it. You've had a number of films come out in the last year and a half. Was it a year and a half ago? Am I is my calendar accurate there?
Adam:So it's been so it's been since last, the end of April, early May.
Donovan:So, yeah, it was around the this is about the same time we met you after. At the Science Film Festival for the screening of the carpenter. And that's how long we've been actually chasing you guys to, release the film because we loved it so much back then and through all that you've gone through with
Adam:Well, we've been staying
Donovan:with the
Adam:of of yours. Come on, Garrett.
Donovan:You've done some amazing films.
Adam:Films, and, we're we're very excited to, to be a part of the Carpenter.
Garrett:Oh, I like this, Darren. We should have these guy we should have guests every week. This is, the flattery is flowing. No. But but and to reciprocate that, I've been a fan of Bertie Films.
Garrett:You guys have done all all of my films, and, for Brandon to be able to now transition and and you guys to take over the company. It says a lot about you and and what you're doing. So can you tell us just a little bit about what Purdy distribution is? Kinda the just the general deal of that.
Adam:So we love Purdy distribution. We were gonna release, our last movie, go west with, Purdy Distribution, and and he gave us a call one night and said, unfortunately, I can't release your film right now, or at all. I'm I'm going over to Angel Studios. So he went over to Angel. Right?
Adam:And, he they and shut down. So Brandon Purdy, founder of of of Purdy Films. And we love what he's built. So we were like, well, what are you doing with Purdy distribution? And he was like, well, I haven't thought much about it.
Adam:So we gave him an offer, and we've been we talked to and we, we settled on a deal. It's our desire to make sure that we carry on his legacy. Mhmm. He's done such an amazing job at cultivating a great, set of films. He's he's been very successful in releasing film and filmmakers, but, but also catering to a faith based crowd as well as a family based crowd, and we wanna continue that.
Adam:We're looking at, continuing to do family films and faith based. So
Donovan:We we kinda think of it as we're expanding a little bit in s, which is faith based, family, and comedy or funny. So the three s is where we're kinda going, which, you know, works out well for us because in the end, we wanna make sure that to what Purdy has done in, in the past and Yeah. And kind of help to broaden out and give, more to an you know, more audiences. So we're we're definitely trying to reach
Adam:the point where Brandon has created, and we wanna expand upon that. Try to create, new offerings, additional revenue streams for, independent filmmakers. So that's why, theatrically, we've expanded to, all of North America. We do Canada theatrically as well. And, now we've Blu ray and DVD and so forth.
Adam:So we're looking to, create revenue streams for independent filmmakers so that their, investors and the filmmakers make money so they continue to make great.
Garrett:I absolutely love the sound of that. But, I I also love that you guys you know, you you didn't from from me meeting you, you didn't come across as just fans of film, and therefore, you, you know, made an offer on a distribution company. There's substantial experience that you all bring to the table when taking over Purdy distribution. Can you talk about that?
Adam:Yeah. Thank you. So, I I've been in, I was I was running theaters for many, many years and with Harkins Theaters, for, 15 years. I
Garrett:What do
Adam:you mean?
Garrett:What what do you mean?
Adam:I was GM of some of the biggest, the largest movie, theaters in in Arizona.
Donovan:He opened up a lot of the 25, 24 plexus.
Adam:I helped them open In
Donovan:Oklahoma, California. 15
Adam:theaters. So all brand new multiplexes, big, big, big theaters. Their liaison with, with Hollywood. So anytime there was a research screening and and Tom Cruise came out and stuff Yeah. I I was the guy who, kinda facilitated all of that.
Donovan:So He was the one that walked Tom Hanks around to to his screenings and stuff like that. Also got to facilitate how, the teams went.
Adam:A lot about, distribution, about the, you know, the theatrical side of of of filmmaking. My brother was in, marketing for the longest time.
Donovan:Well, he's no one he's no slouching In the end, he actually won several awards for for Harkins Theatres with, the chicken run National marketing and with Mission Impossible. So, you know, so he's he's
Adam:old I am. Yeah. That's how old I am.
Donovan:But marketing for, the last 25 years. We were teaching lawyers how to do, online marketing and websites back for the last 10 or 20 So 10 years.
Adam:So 10 years, he pulled me in, and we've been traveling around the speaking to, attorneys about marketing. So it kinda matched all of our thing. We've been doing production since 2003. We have many of our own, productions. Who are producers as well, so he's out there.
Donovan:In the end, it was a combination of all of our skills put together, that made it so that, we could Brandon forced
Adam:us to realize that we have, an affinity to to we we hadn't even really we we've dabbled in distribution for the last 5 years. Meaning, we've had to fill in the gaps for our distributors for our independent distributors. And because of that, we've learned a lot. Right? We've that's the new the new filmmaker, independent filmmaker has to learn and grow and understand the process.
Adam:And so we've done a lot of that. And then we just realized with Purdy distribution that we had an opportunity to take us to the next.
Donovan:That's a lot of what producing is anyway with Garrett and Darren.
Adam:Can attest to this.
Donovan:Yeah. You know, you have to become a a master with the knowledge as well as as, you know, in practice
Garrett:Well So what can you walk through and I've taken over, and you probably had a list of questions as well. And don't don't let me do that. Definitely jump in.
Daren:No. I think what I'm curious about is, you know, you mentioned that a year at Science Indie Film Fest, we screened The Carpenter. You guys liked The Carpenter, and it was a year plus of a process, some sort of conversation that was probably occurring. And the other side of things, like, with the executive producer and the family who really owns the film. But how do we get here today where we're having a conversation about putting the carpenter in theaters?
Daren:I think that's an interesting thing I'd love to hear more about.
Adam:So so, yeah, not to jump on Donovan, but but so Gary and I, the first thing we did was I I said, you know, Gary, let's have lunch. So we sat down and we just talked about film. We talked about all the great stuff that because I'm a fan of his too. So it it doesn't hurt. When I'm talking to Garrett, I realize I'm talking to a master.
Adam:He understands everything about the product.
Garrett:We can we can edit a lot of this out. Right, Darren?
Adam:So not to not to put too but Garrett is is at the pinnacle of his career. I believe he's putting out stuff that nobody is putting out.
Donovan:One thing is that that you're right about the conversation starting then. But what it also it was is whenever someone does, release a film, if they have a and they put together a great film, a lot of times, the filmmakers are only solely focused on the film itself. And what they need to understand is that there is a huge process in place to to distribute the film wisely. And what Garrett's, what Adam and Garrett were doing, deciding and putting the pieces together over the course of the next year. The budget for release on the film, it's one thing we, probably should talk could do a whole podcast on.
Donovan:Wait. And then, the other thing was about putting the team to release the film properly. We already knew and can see the vision of of how big this film can get and how wonderful it is, But there's also, there's things it's not just a faith based film. Right? It's also about, sports, easily a sports drama.
Donovan:Now it's a sports drama in the time of Christ, so it's a period piece. There's a lot of different, areas and audiences that you can go to. One of the things you're doing now is screening it to audiences to see if it hits those marks, if you're attracting the same audience you want. So, I mean, we could we could talk about how and why the screenings are important at this stage. Also, what over the course of the year, how you came up with the budget, how you team.
Donovan:I mean, there's a lot of different elements here that you can probably go into.
Adam:Well, let's face it. Garrett has developed a great team. We're part of that team. We're a cog in the machine. Right?
Adam:Just, Purdy distribution, we're a part of that team, and we're we're we have to sit down and strategize. And Garrett has put together a great strategy with which we can be a part of it.
Donovan:There's a lot of distributors out there that will just, say, okay. We're gonna distribute your film. Thanks.
Garrett:See you.
Donovan:Thanks for your movie. They gets get you a sign won't ever hear from them again. The problem Adam and I maybe talk too much at times. Maybe we're too much near here, but we're trying to give you enough information that when you make the decisions and when you press go, we're ready and and, you know, giving you the we can, being good consults for you, but also, help guiding the film where it should go and and getting you into the theaters and and streaming, whatever it might be.
Adam:And what and and let me ask you, Barrett. Don't you do you feel that every film should be it's cookie cutter release and so forth?
Garrett:Oh, wait. No. Yeah. No. Every every film is different.
Garrett:Yeah. And absolutely. And and every film has a variable to it. I I mean and so I wanna be careful not to just go, okay, specifically and therefore do with every film. But in general, that conversation that took place at the film festival, you know, if I'm a if I'm a filmmaker listening to this, I'm gonna go, okay.
Garrett:What should I expect from that conversation and then the and the involvement? And I think you what I've loved about Purdy, even prior to you all and current, the current edition of Purdy, is there is that, like, tailor made approach to and that's, I think, a rare thing. You all are not the only distributor that has reached out for the Carpenter or Faith of Angels or or any other, film out there. And we'll we'll match the right film with the right distributor. You know, sometimes when the film is maybe a work for hire or, you know, it's just okay.
Garrett:Let's put it out there and turn it over to a distributor and they'll put it they'll put it on all the aggregate we'll be good. But that's not the model that fits this film or that's not the model that I feel like you guys are offering. Yeah. So it has been a year. Is it this the variable in the in the carpenter is as much as we want to move forward and get excited about it, there is the executive producer that needs to be on board and the the family that's funded this film.
Garrett:They've been very particular about, the way in which we do this. And so it's just a matter of balance think that, yeah, through that year of screening the film, talking with distributors, showing it at different festivals, and meeting with a variety of people. We we all have said, okay. What who is the right team who has the ability to help us meet this goal of 600 screens, in November? Who has the ability and passion and and also kind of that temperament for the nature of this film, which is produced by a a family in Texas who who is very involved in it.
Daren:Yeah. Garrett, I'm curious. So if I'm sitting here listening to this podcast, are you in a privileged position because you're Garrett Batty? You've had a number of movies released in theaters. Is this something that only you're able to do to have kind of your pick of distributors and partners and putting a team together, or is this a replicable thing?
Daren:Not necessarily that we would recommend it or not recommend it to other what was it that made you choose this path of doing it independently and kind of spearheading the distribution of this and the marketing of this film? But, also, like, is this something that anyone can do, or can you speak to that a little bit as well?
Garrett:I I certainly don't take for granted that, we've been fortunate to have success with previous titles, and so I'm very grateful that that people pick up my call. But that being said, I mean, during the last week, a distributor reached out and said, hey. We're interested in the title you've done. This is the title I did 13 years ago, and they want to license it for channels. And so I've been in that in that mind space of where I where was I 13 years ago?
Garrett:And I I pull up this hard drive of of my first film, and it had everything that I'm doing for this film, this current film. Things that I just built out of my basement and, you know, anything from advanced screenings, you know, to group sales, and these are all just like things that I didn't know what what would work or what wouldn't work or what I was doing, but we and instinctively or or probably listen to other people talking about it and say, oh, okay. So and so is doing group sales. Let's try it. And so and so is doing advanced screenings.
Garrett:Let's try it. And, yes. So and and at that point, I'd I'd made and so, the answer is yes. Anybody can do this. There's there's a certain amount of passion and crazy combined that, will will allow anybody to do this.
Garrett:And, yes, so I'm so, yes, I'm very great those conversations continue, but the process is rinse and repeat.
Donovan:A component to that is organization. You are extremely organized. He's got these spreadsheets, so you should see the spreadsheets we we see on a weekly basis from you. And that organization really is is super because you can go back in time and and so there's a lot of filmmakers out there that don't keep that organized.
Garrett:So when you all are meeting with I mean, you you all have done some incredible work, on these films that you've released, where where it's Go West and Villains Inc and and so, you know, you've worked with different filmmakers. As as a filmmaker, you know, as our effort is demystifying indie film and demystifying indie film and the end of film release, as a filmmaker approaching a distributor, what do you look what makes you go, okay. That's something that we wanna we wanna take on.
Adam:Well, there's a couple things we look for. Number 1 is we do look for a a a great film. Obviously, you have to have the the basis of something to sell. Right? And it helps out it.
Adam:So we we gravitate to those films that are not just great quality, but also films that we love.
Donovan:The other thing also is that, if a filmmaker comes up to us at a film festival like the Zions Film Festival, we met Mark, Marriott. They did Tokyo cowboy. At the recent, Zions Film Festival. And, number 1 is he he he was very knowledgeable. He was extremely passionate, And so we connected very easily with that because we're film.
Donovan:You know, we love film and and we're very, and so we kinda connected with the people as well. And then we watched the film, and it blew us away. But also, it was very marketable. When his posters we had his posters out and everything. We were very impressed with how they saw the film in marketing.
Donovan:How did how would that theaters in a trailer, in a poster, and so on. How how well spoken is he? And, and so those things really were big pluses on us. We really fought for that film as well, and now we're releasing that one in August.
Adam:And so Good.
Donovan:Things that really kind of speak to us. When we saw, inheritance to love, we released in February, and, we met with, the, filmmakers on that when it came to the writer and her husband. They were so passionate. We knew that social media was gonna be easy. We love to bounce things off of each other.
Donovan:We we we take an active role as much as we we're we're given, the the chance to do that. And so we want, we love the fact that Darren has been so, knowledgeable and so helpful. Yeah. We've that's exactly
Adam:where we're going. That there's a lot of communication. We're gonna be dealing with these people for a long time. So we definitely want to to find find people that that we can be
Donovan:in East Texas
Adam:is part of a good
Donovan:Sorbo's calls. And and so when we talk to them, they're, they're bouncing off us by email. They're trying to set up press releases and doing this and that. And so it's it's it's a it's a group effort. It's about building that team and being able to pull.
Adam:It makes it a lot easier if you've got a great team that you can that you like, and you can get along with and communicate well with.
Garrett:I hear a lot. I've been on some panels, and I hear a lot about just how hard it is to make in in the industry, you know, through distribution and and, in film in general. And I would agree that there's truth to that. Is it possible?
Donovan:So it's it is possible. The the thing about the industry right now that's we're still it's still not stable. When we release a film theatrically, we wanted to do as the best it possibly can. So the strategy we put in place, is is to make that happen, whatever that might be. And the the status of the industry since COVID and also since all of the flux.
Donovan:There's been still a lot of, stabilization that hasn't happened. If you look at even the major, major releases, like, the the, fall guy, it it's it's not quite there yet. We can't we don't have it. Went to CinemaCon this year, and we met with a lot of the different theaters chains. And at the time, all we saw were just more and more posters and trailers of of the fall guy and and Furiosa.
Donovan:And those are the 2 that everyone says failed. Out. Yeah. Now you can't look at just that theatrical release anymore and say it's a failure. Hollywood's been blind to the fact that they only think about that first weekend.
Donovan:How did it do this weekend? Now the perk theater average in getting the film to more areas. But in the end, it's not the end all get all. Because in the end, when when they see it drop into streaming, all of a sudden, Fall Guy went ballistic in streaming. It's been doing fantastic, but they're not take Everyone thinks it failed, But that's not the process anymore.
Donovan:You get it introduced to audiences, and now you're you still have people going to the theater very slowly. They like to go in groups, or they like to go for a reason, for a specific film. But if they know it's gonna be into streaming the very next week or the week after, which I believe there was a 2 week period from fall guy from release in theaters straight to streaming. But so the it's a long process, but in the end, it's where people are going to see the movie. Great introduction to it now, but it's not we don't believe it to be the end all be all.
Donovan:So
Adam:you can look
Donovan:at those numbers and say that's it. It's dead or it's a
Adam:long mention one aspect of that that I think, Garrett has a great handle on. Garrett, and and and and and, it's it's important to build your audience. Mhmm. Right? You guys are super smart because you guys are sitting here.
Adam:How can we continue to build our audience? It's about fostering an audience that that is willing to go out to theaters, watch your movie, and so forth. So if they understand, I mean, that, that the quality is there, that the movie is gonna be good, and it's interesting, you've already done the groundwork, you you know what your audiences are looking for. If you've done all that research and you've done the work and you now it's time to release it. You wanna continue throughout this whole process like you guys are doing to foster the right audience.
Donovan:I think, yeah, you're dead right about that. When it comes down to that, a great example of that is escape from Germany. TC Christiansen has a following. He does incredible films, and he he managed to do a a very successful release so far, and
Adam:he's he's not gonna he's not gonna veer from that very you know, he's got a formula that that audiences expect and that audiences are looking for. So when when he hits his mark, they know it. And the the strongest thing for a film, whether it's theatrical streaming or so forth, is what? Word-of-mouth. You wanna make sure that, people are talking about your movie so that, they see it, That they go to, you know, they they they rent it on, on Amazon or so forth.
Adam:So it is important to make sure that you're fostering and building an audience that understands and that and knows what they're getting into.
Donovan:At that point, it's plug and play. We keep going back to the know for a fact that when when Garrett Batty's name gets put on a film and he releases it, that it's gonna be of the same quality of serotonin approach.
Adam:We also know it's not gonna be a horror movie. Right? I mean, do you have one lined up? I don't
Donovan:I mean, he does put comedy in a lot of you put a lot of comedy in your films.
Adam:Your audience knows what they're getting into.
Donovan:But, it's great family based, you know
Garrett:Yeah. No. The point it's about the that is part of demystifying. This process is building an audience and Angel Studios have done it. Purdy distribution has a brand, a particular brand, you know you're gonna get, you know, a quality family friendly film.
Garrett:TC Christensen, you've mentioned. Yeah. And and I think that that's part of what we're trying to do with with this. We would like to build an audience of theatergoers, and so that would be
Daren:So with, with I know we have a limited time with you guys. Maybe one last question. We did do a screening last week. We talked about it in the last episode that we were going to do a screening, and then we did the screening on Thursday. So now it's Tuesday to hear, like, how did this screening go?
Daren:What did we learn from it, from both your and Garrett's side? Like, I was I was there. I was present, but really didn't have a a role to play other than being able to watch it in a room of people who enjoyed it. I'd love to hear from both of you and from Garrett. Like, how did the screening go?
Daren:What did we learn from it? And are we gonna do more this summer?
Donovan:Let's start with the the stats, I think.
Adam:I I screenings are invaluable. They give you, there's multiple reasons why you would wanna do a screening and multiple gets out of it. It's it's great to help build word-of-mouth, number 1. I think if you have such a a strong film, you want to make sure that people are talking about it months in advance. We're releasing this film.
Adam:When? Can we announce it? Did you announce that already? Yeah. Yeah.
Adam:Yeah. November 1st. November 1st. So we are, what, 6 months 5 months out. Anyways, I don't
Donovan:know. Like, I can't
Adam:do my my months. So here's the thing.
Daren:We did we did that before and I was so wrong. Garrett was right. Don't count November. It's like 4 months at this point.
Garrett:We have
Daren:from now, July I love it. For October Yeah. It's 5 months. Yeah.
Adam:It shrinks every time we talk about it. So it's important to make sure that you get that word-of-mouth going, that buzz going right now. The thing about the the screenings
Donovan:is that we actually wanna know if we're hitting our audiences properly. We know that this is a great faith based film, Jesus in it. And, and so we wanna have we know it has a message. But there's also a great component of action, which is amazing. It does feel a lot like a sports, you know, historical sports movie or sports theme
Adam:movie. Sure that it's fun. It it it feels good. You walk away going a little pumped up. Right?
Adam:Because of the the music or because of these the scenes, but also because, you
Donovan:feel something.
Adam:Yeah. That's true. Most important thing that that a filmmaker can do is elicit emotion from an audience. And, when we do a test screening, we can you can feel it. You can feel whether or not an audience is connecting with the film,
Donovan:with the characters, with it with their with the emotion that's going through each scene. I think you're dead right about that. And so did we get the when it came to the the the the information, we we asked at the end of each, screening. We we we have a survey. We hitting, the marks that we needed to this with the story, with the characters, with them, enjoying the film.
Donovan:How did that what are those results, Garrett?
Garrett:You have a lot of that. Yeah. I mean great feedback and good, good insight. I loved, you know, at the screening, Darren, we had it was a 126 seat theater. I think every seat was full or, if not, there were maybe 5 that weren't.
Garrett:And and just as a side note, that was educational because we had we had about a 160 170 people committed to go. And so as you're planning these screenings, we need to say, okay, definitely oversell the screenings if you have to that's okay. But, I was I was surprised that it worked out as perfectly as it did and, like, okay, lesson learned, you can never give away too many tickets to a screen. And then we did the QR code so people could scan and leave their leave their opinions or surveys or comments about the film, and and we're seeing a lot of things. It's helping us shape the conversation, so the action was a key element by people responding to that, saying this is so there's so much fighting.
Garrett:There's a lot of action. And then the the nature of the relationship between our two characters of Oren and and Yeshua, is talking point that the audience is coming away with. And so as a distributor now, I think we as as a filmmaker or distributor, we would say, where do we need to get in front of that conversation? We need we don't want people to go into it that there's gonna be a ton of action because that would be jarring. A third element is music.
Garrett:You know, we this was we call this the heavy metal version, because we've actually used some songs from, Metallica and and crew, in this very period epic this period era piece, and so I wanna find out how people resonate with that. And I'm I'm pleasantly surprised that that was a that's a major point that people can comments, and so it would be good to to address that or figure out how do we lean into that? Do we take it out? But it but it seems like something that definitely stood out to people.
Daren:Can I share my favorite poll quote from the screening that I overheard? Your favorite poll quote? I wanna see a poster with this plastered on the Some guy walked out and said, none of this is scripturally accurate, and I just wanna lean into that so hard. It is a fictional movie, so we wanna make sure that's clear in the trailer and the marketing.
Garrett:Sure. Yeah. We we want that to be a positive comment, and if that's how people are feeling, we go, hey. Don't yeah. We don't wanna sell this as the Bible on screen.
Donovan:I we in in one screen, a woman that was with her all of her girlfriends, and they went to see a what they thought was a, just a faith based film. And and she kept saying to us after the the thing is I kept thinking to myself, my husband would love. I think for the first time, what you've done is you've managed to make it so that the the the the the men who would never go to, you know, something that's really emotional or heartfelt. They want something where tough guys are fun and tough, and and they want action. I love action films.
Donovan:And so you kinda get the best of both worlds in this. But also the fact that a screening takes place gives you an opportunity to do something else, which is grab a whole bunch of testimonials. Not only will you get some good footage you could later, but also it gives you a real idea of how it's being perceived.
Garrett:Yeah.
Donovan:And so that was really important. We got some really great feedback, on those. And so we're still we're still going through those, but I think that's part
Adam:part, you know, part of a a screening is to help us figure out, exactly, how we wanna push the marketing going forward. How are we are we dis are is our distribution plan, does it have all the elements in place Yeah. In play that's gonna work? Idea to test some of that. You know?
Adam:We do we we showed the poster, and, we got feedback on the poster. Yeah. You know, when we handed them out in the audience, we were like, what what do you think about the poster? How do you like? One comment was it's brown.
Adam:It was Right? It's very brown.
Daren:That might have been me.
Garrett:Yeah. No. All good. All good. All good, research and stuff that we need to to say, okay.
Garrett:Is that the reaction we want? And then the audience, is ready for that.
Adam:So
Garrett:Yeah. Cool. It was great. Yeah. I was very pleased.
Garrett:We'll do lots more.
Daren:Yes. Adam, Donovan, thank you both for taking the time to chat with us today and kinda dive into all of this. I'd love to know where can people find you guys online if there are filmmakers in the audience that wanted to reach out or see the other movies that you're working on connect with you, and where can they learn more about you?
Adam:Oh, thank you.
Donovan:So perdydistribution.com, it's, it's on the screen. It's just spelled exactly like that. Perdydistribution.com is our, main website. Obviously, we do have some movie websites for different films that we release. Thabo and the rhino case is thawomovie.com.
Donovan:Just to give you an example of what, we've done in the past, we try we you could always reach out to us through the website. Our phone number and email is on there on both websites.
Garrett:Do it. If you're listening and you're a filmmaker and you have do it. I can't I can't recommend these guys enough. These are wonderful.
Daren:Awesome. Awesome. Thank you both for joining us. We will be talking soon, I'm sure.
Garrett:Yeah. Good luck with your, good luck with Tokyo Mark Marriott. Mark Marriott reached out to me years ago and with this idea and said, how do I do this independent film? And I just love that it's come full circle, and and, I it's been so fun to see him do this and the movie is incredible. You guys have picked up a gem with that one.
Garrett:So thank you guys. Thanks for stopping by. Thanks, guys. Awesome. That was great talking with them.
Daren:Yeah. They're they are really talented guys. They have a depth of knowledge, and it's exciting. Plus, conversation with them and the film you know, the financier of the movie to pull this together and finally get us releasing this movie in theaters, and I'm so excited, especially after the screening last week. It just bolstered me even more to go this It hits the emotional notes.
Daren:And so the more we lean into the marketing of that and the more screenings we do, I'm just really excited for all this to play out and to be able to talk about it every week with you.
Garrett:It's blood. I like it a lot. It was. It was. It was cool to do the screening this week.
Garrett:And then one of the most fun parts that stood out to me is we had the entire, you know, offensive line of the BYU football team there with coach Kalani Sitaki and the, you know Athletic. Athletic coordinators. Yeah. Yeah. Director of BYU.
Garrett:And they're all sitting there, like, wiping tears away. You know? And it's this fight movie, and yet, you know, you come out and testimonials and saying that was, like, a spiritual experience. And, that's cool. We we wanted it was a good reaction.
Daren:Yeah. The first thing I did once turned around and was like, okay. Good. We got them. Then this is gonna work.
Garrett:Yeah. It's cool.
Daren:Awesome. Well, we do have 2 questions from listeners from last episode, where we were talking about our screening strategy and our release strategy. So Garrett is pretty practical one. How do you actually get people to a screening? What does that look like?
Garrett:Well, in general, you you have to do everything you can to beg them to come. I noticed at this screening, and I even made the comment there that everyone there either had a personal connection or relationship with, you or me or the the one of the actors. And so I think you go to people you know. You go to people you know, and then that's how it will spread out and invite, invite, invite.
Daren:Yeah. I think our mantra, we're stealing it from Brandon Purdy, but you can never do too much to release your movie in theaters. So, it did it was a lot of you posting and me posting, and I shared it and I'm sure you shared it with individuals and people that you talk to. And so that's one of the things going back to our conversations with the Monteith Brothers. Like, you can't just hand your movie off to a distributor and expect it to work out because the relationship that the audience has as a person, as a friend, as a family member, as a fan.
Daren:And so I'm I'm glad we're leaning into that, and I'm excited as we get more people, you know, joining the email list. We're gonna have even more people who we can tell about the next screening and future screenings. They were texted me and said, I'm so sorry. I can't be there. I have to be at this other thing.
Daren:And I said, don't worry. We're gonna do more, but you have to make sure you bring your friends when it comes in theaters too.
Garrett:Right. Right. And and that feeling of, I've talked a lot about this. I should maybe not do another post on it. You have to ignore that and you kinda do have to be a nuisance because I cannot tell you how many after a film is released or whatever, I get people to come up to me that are dear friends or whatever that that might be on social media or they may have spoken with me they always say, hey.
Garrett:When's that movie coming out? Or, hey. How I I I wish I had heard about that. I that's the only thing I've been talking about for the past 6 months. Yeah.
Daren:They said that about Furiosa.
Garrett:You're doing.
Daren:Yeah. So if you're more word-of-mouth and more posting, then we absolutely do as well. And That's
Garrett:coming out this weekend.
Daren:I know. Right? Getting into the weeds a little bit, just for a last comment on this question It's like, if you actually dive into the statistics and the data and the insights like, I get into that stuff a lot because I'm really data driven and outcome driven. Like, any post that I put online, I'm lucky to reach 10% of my audience or my fans or followers. So if I have 2 or 3 LinkedIn, if I have a post that reaches 250 or 300 people, I call that a win.
Daren:And every once in a while, I'll get one that does a few 1,000 impressions. That means people saw it. So what that means is you can post 10 times and still not hit your entire
Garrett:I have saturated. Yeah.
Daren:You just have to keep at it. Alright. Our second question, another kinda technical one is someone asked, why are you guys focused so much on email over building a social media audience? They were wondering, like, why not build why not build the YouTube channel? Why not build, you know, on Facebook and Instagram where other people and and filmmakers doing it?
Daren:They don't see, you know, we're not posting from the Carpenter movie. We're not posting from 3 coin productions. We're posting from our purse everybody to 3 coinpro.com/podcast to to get on the email list. That's the the call to action for everything that we do. Why is that?
Daren:And so the answer is you don't wanna build your business on rented land. Social media platform is. It's free, and so there's no obligation for the, the the platform to guarantee that your little plot of land on the Internet is gonna be there tomorrow. We've heard too many stories channels getting, you know, put a hold on or subscribers being wiped out overnight, Facebook changing their algorithm years ago where you had to start paying to reach your audience, Instagram accounts being removed or blocked because someone flagged it for some reason. And so it's just too risky to build your business and build your audience on social media platforms.
Daren:And so I've been a huge proponent of building an email list. I mean, we're going on 12 years now that I've had been actively using and utilizing in my business because it's the most direct way to reach your audience anywhere. If I send out an email, I can reach sometimes 60 or 80% of the subscribers on If I have the same size list, 25 100 people on email, I can reach 2,000 of them instead of 250. And so it's just night and day, and you're able to put links in front of them, which you can't really do on Instagram. You've got unlimited amount of time and space.
Daren:You could write a 5,000 word email or a 500 word email, and you're not limited by the restrictions of the platform. And so it's it's my favorite way, and it's by far I mean, the data and the statistics will but it's the most effective way to reach your audience. So that's why we're building on email. I'm curious if you have other reasons why we're focused on email building instead of building on social.
Garrett:Just, years ago, I released a product, and I created a DVD game and released a product and started selling it and it it pick up by a couple of of, bookstores. And the first question that they that bookstores or the publisher who wanted the game reached out and said, how how big is your email list? Now what are you what are you talking about? That's silly, like it's about the game, right? And and I I learned early on from them the value of that email list and that that is probably still the same question now 15 years later.
Garrett:Where is the email list? I don't know. If maybe if I had a 1000000 followers or something, that could be a different song. But, but I think right now, this is I I love your analogy of don't build on on rented land.
Daren:Yeah. It's true principle. I've seen it time and time again. Well, that's it for today's episode. Goodness, Garrett.
Daren:We we hit a record of our length today, so hope we'll see what the audience thinks if they're
Garrett:a Yeah. You can
Daren:try that. We'll try to get it just under an hour. How about that?
Garrett:But, thank you for hanging in with us. Thanks for being here sharing and for following, and make sure and sign up.
Daren:Yeah. Let us know. If you have questions about today's episode, get on the email list, 3 dash podcast, and there's a link in the email to be able to submit questions for today's episode. Alright. Another one in the can, Garrett.
Daren:Great seeing you. Thanks. Take care, man. Thank you for listening to this episode of Truly Independent. To join us on the journey, be notified of new episodes and screenings, and ask us questions about today's episode, head over to 3 coinpro.com and put in your name and an email address.
Daren: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 with a friend. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next week. Our intro and outro music is Election Time by Kjartan Abel.