If you have been in the Twitter universe over the past week, there is a chance you may have come across a Re-tweet from Indywood Films. Horror movie Director Ed lane has been taking part in a novel fund-raising initiative. He is staying awake for 85 hours.
His mission, to raise money for his new horror movie ‘Invasion of the not quite dead’.
Depending on the level of donation you can become anything from a name in the credits to a fully fledged Executive Producer. We thought it would be good to give him a jolt on the final straight and find out the finer details on becoming a Hollywood Mogul.
Please note – he was too tired to do the interview live on cam so we kept Ad’s answer exactly as he wrote them. Not bad for someone who has been awake for nearly 4 days straight.
How long have you got left of your 85hr marathon?
We now have 7 hours left of the #85HourTweetathon so I should apologise in advance if I say anything untowards, haha, I can say anything now & just blame it on not having any sleep for the past 79+ hours…
Has it been difficult?
This one has, but rather than say it was difficult, I will probably remember this, (my 4th Tweetathon) the most challenging, I am an old pro & staying awake, so that doesn’t even come into the difficulty level, it’s the marketing & raising the money.
Thats where you have to have your head on your shoulder even without sleep for many many hours… With us being a few weeks after CHRISTMAS & a lot of people will be struggling right now, this was not an ideal time to do a fundraising event, but my thinking was, why wait until FEB or MAR, when we could do one in JAN & just call it a bonus one…
We need to raise £10,000 for our movies INTRO shoot in BULGARIA, so it means we can do one in JAN, & then say PART 2, which is a continuation of our INTRO FUNDRAISER in either FEB or MAR… but this one has put my marketing & sanity to the test, like I said, challenging… haha…
What have you done to pass the time?
I would say that 90% of the time is me putting out FUNDRAISING messages, for me this is a job, if I put out the link to DONATE then there is a chance someone will & then my film has a bigger budget, so when the fundraiser begins, thats it, I am in the ZONE to raise as much money as possible & I can’t even just sit & watch tv in between, so we have the radio on & we just get on with it…
It is a great way to publicise the film, are you beginning to regret it now?
Since my goal is to 100% fan fund this movie & self distribute, it means making sure its well publicised from DAY 1, & I have 4 years of it being well publicised, so it’s not a problem, it’s a blessing in disguise, the more people know about me, the project & the film the better, as long as details of the closely guarded plot remain off the net, haha, thats the only concern, but welcome to the world of having unique ideas…
How do you plan to release the movie, do you have distribution etc?
I have been approached by loads of distributors including some of the top UK ones, & a lot of international ones, but I have said from day 1, that I will not be screwed over after putting 4+ years of my life into this film & project, so I will be self distributing on UK cinemas, on UK DVD & putting out an ONLINE version, I will be taking it round the big festivals with a sales agent to then sell the foreign rights & tv rights, but as long as I am in control of what goes on in the UK with my films, thats all that matters to me…
Have you filmed anything yet?
We shot a teaser promo in NOV 2009, which was shot on S16mm & even had an IMAX premier, but nothing has been filmed for the main film, we hope to be out in Bulgaria in the next couple of months shooting the INTRO scenes, which could potentially be the hardest shoot of the script, so I can’t wait to finally get back into FILMMAKING & put aside FILM MARKETING for a while, haha…
Are all the actors working for free?
We haven’t worked anything out yet with the cast who are attached, but everyone knows this first part of the trilogy will have everyone working for peanuts… Welcome to the world of independent filmmaking…
What is the movie about?
SHUSHHHHHH, that question could get me in trouble if I was to answer that, the whole concept of the movie has been kept secret for over 4 years, you can’t make me accidently spill the beans here, coz you know I haven’t slept for 4 days, haha… all I can say is the tag line is called ‘NOT QUITE A ZOMBIE MOVIE’.
We have a poster that has a smoking ZOMBIE, we have ZACH GALLIGAN from GREMLINS attached, these NO-SLEEPATHONS we are doing actually have some relevance to the story line… & we deal with REAL issues in the movie to give it more of a genuinely real feel about it…
What do you need the money for?
The list is too long, but it includes getting a mini-bus to Bulgaria, then travel, B&B & food for cast & crew, FILMING equipment, post production equipment once we return, expenses for cast & crew, a helicopter & a car explosion & there is a pretty big list of things that my brain is trying to stop me from thinking about, & so we need £10,000 to produce the INTRO I have written.
If we don’t raise that, the script will have to be changed a lot, which could damage the overall film, so hence my passion & determination to fundraise as much as I can…
After the success of the Blair Witch project, did you consider allowing people to buy shares in the movie itself?
To go down the road of selling shares, a lawyer would of needed to be hired, then it would of been a nightmare on a book keeping side of things, to pay people potential shares each year, I’ve actually got a list of people who approached me to invest, but I turned them all down, as its far more important to me that this movie be 100% fan funded, giving it more of a personal touch…
Not many films are 100% fan funded that I know of, which means when we take it round the festivals, we instantly have a great marketing tool…
When do you hope to release the movie?
All being well HALLOWEEN 2012…
Who is your fav Horror film director?
I would have to say overall JOHN CARPENTER, due to his ‘THE THING‘ & ‘HALLOWEEN‘… a very strong HORROR director, you can tell this is a man who loves what he does… a bit like me.
All time Fav Horror movie?
The original ‘DAWN OF THE DEAD‘, I can & do watch it many many times a year.
Will you be doing another one?
Film? it’s a trilogy so hell yeah, there will be 2 more… if you mean Tweetathon, HELL YEAH, I love doing them, it brings me closer to the fans.
I’m able to raise a lot of money in very short periods of time & its a very powerful feeling to know at the end of 50,72,80 & 85 HOURS that you just did what many wouldn’t dare do & there is a huge sense of proudness seeing them through to the end… I think I’ve kinda made them my trademark now… so I will keep going as long there is still TWITTER & as long as I have followers…
You are nearly there and all great artists suffer for their art!
I suffered for many years, I finally feel now that I am on my way… haha, I’ll soon be heading back down, thats the HOLLYWOOD way, I wonder if I can change that to I’ll always be heading up & people will say thats the INDYWOOD way… Haha, right, as a good friend of mine once said, “SEE YOU IN THE MOVIES or AT ONE OF MY TWEETATHONS“.
Flush the Fashion would like to wish Ad the best of luck with the Tweetathon AND especially the movie.
You can become a part of it from £10 and it would make a great Valentines day present for your partner!
(I don’t know about you but I get grouchy if I don’t have my afternoon nap).
You can follow his tweets here, or find out more on the Indywood website here