Film Courage: When you're reviewing a movie that
a potential client has sent you are you watching the whole movie?
Glen Reynolds, Founder of Circus Road Films: Yeah unless it isn't very good.
Film Courage: So you have a limit?
Glen: Yeah if I enjoy it I watch it all the way through and then if I'm hired I usually
watch it again before I start talking about it because usually there's a few weeks between that
moment and when I actually start doing it so I'm usually watching my films twice. But yeah
I think that's there are a lot of films though where you just kind of like I can't sell it.
Film Courage: Why?
Glen: You know within 10 minutes there are lots of out of focus stuff or the acting's really bad
or there's a lot of bad movies out there that no one ever sees that I get to watch a little bit of
that was my next question yeah what would make you turn it off after I we have five minutes but
okay let's say 10 minutes so you give it do you have a rule like I'll give it a certain amount of
time and then yeah it's it's more instinctive it's a more it's I don't I don't think anybody out of
the circle of friends of the person who made the movie would doubt why I got out like it's that
there's a lot of well I should say though there's also stuff I just don't think there's a home for
and if it's like the hardest category is is drama without names and if you found an interesting way
to tell the story then then and it works and we think there's a home for it then great but
that I find is probably the hardest to pull off and if if you haven't like grabbed me in the first
10 minutes you're probably not a grab distributor who has less patience than me and so I probably
can't help you but I think I mean I think I probably that's for some films but there are some
films I watch all the way through and then make that same decision that like well I got there but
it was torturous right like or or in some way I just couldn't I just don't feel like I could help
them and what do you tell filmmakers that fall into that category the truth yeah I have to I
without being mean about it with just saying hey I thank you for sharing the movie
it's not it's not right for me I just don't feel like I could sell it and maybe there's
someone out there for you and here maybe give them some other people
that there's a there's a website out there with a bunch of producer reps on it and I
usually say check out that and maybe there's another way for you or in some some people are
also very nice it also especially if they're very nice people and they made a bad movie
that's really hard and so I'll even get on the phone with them and talk to them about
self-distribution and what they maybe could do themselves that might be the best option because I
don't think that there's a distributor would take it on so I'll have that conversation with people
once in a while are there individuals who will fight you on it and say you didn't give
it a chance or they'll kind of like negate your issues that you have with it yeah but not often
yeah there have been get all types of people for sure I've had some movies I've watched a
couple movies because I've watched thousands of movies I've had a couple movies where I
watched the film and I really wondered about the sanity of the person who made the movie
not a good way like a razor head or something like that but in a really disturbing like what
is this weird thing that someone sent me and I don't want to talk to them at all that's happened
a couple times but that's pretty and I've had a couple I've had a few people who are like
who make the pitch that like this is better you think I'm like well then I'm sure you'll
find a home is it hard for you to tell people no no I am it's part of the job
I think I think it's to be honest and my mission in general is to help filmmakers
get the best possible distribution and if I extend that to everyone even to not my clients
and the best message for them is you should distribute this yourself because I don't think
a distributor will take it on I think if I've got an obligation to share that message and
it's much it's actually easier than than saying oh it's really good but I can I don't know how
to make stuff up I don't know I wouldn't know how to how to how to fake that well in some
ways you might be helping them because then if they're getting the same notes then if they
make another project they'll try to correct right yeah yeah 100 percent would you rather
a filmmaker send you their trailer or the entire film the whole film I like to see the whole thing
usually almost I don't know if I've ever turned a film down off of a trailer I don't think I
have and quite often people will send me a trailer when they when they reach out to me
and then I'll say hey looks good can I see the whole movie but I almost like to see the whole
thing before I talk to someone as well so I get a feeling for what they have sometimes
people want to talk ahead of time and I just feel it's a bit of a waste of time because
yeah I don't know if I know if I can help you yet I don't know what to tell you yet
and then it becomes just a free tutorial like about the business where I don't mind that
but I prefer to be afterwards let's do it in one shot rather than several so do you have a
preferred method for for watching something or do you have it just playing on another screen
I throw up I've I most people send Vimeo links and I usually throw them up on my
big screen TV to watch them I have a little quirk in that I like to when I go to buyers with films
if we're not pushing them to a theater it's South by Southwest or if we're just sharing it with them
directly there are some distributors I like to send a Blu-ray as opposed to a video link
not all of them will do it some would prefer to leave me a link but there are some that are open
to getting my Blu-ray and then I prefer that a little bit because I'm forcing them to watch it
on something bigger than than than their phone because I know some of them do I haven't seen it
personally that someone watched it on their phone but given that you can I imagine that
like if you're in acquisitions executive and you've got five films to watch that day and
you're at lunch you might pop one on your phone just to get just to get through it
and then it's not that's not the most illegitimate thing to do given that if
you're a straight to digital distributors lots of people watching these things on small screens
so they may feel like they can but I just feel like in general if I'm trying to like
get someone to take on a movie I'm usually trying to encourage them to watch on something bigger
just so they have a better experience than than something like an iPad
you mentioned that you occasionally will watch a string of bad movies here and there how many
movies do you feel like you have to go through to get to one that really piques your interest
it's probably well first of all I the number of clients come to me from referrals
either from agencies because they think hey it's too small for for us and they recommend me
and they usually don't recommend me unless it's someone they think there's a possibility of me
taking it on I get referrals from from just kind of being out there in the world for a long time
and so the referral the the the the rate of which I take films on for referrals is quite high
because those have been curated to a certain degree and there's but from the the cold one so
was it coming cold to me I probably have to watch 10 to find one that I feel like I can work on
it's about that ratio how do you handle it when a producer comes to you and they expect
to make let's say a million dollars off a film with a half a million dollar budget
so I'm always measuring expectations with potential clients because
I don't really want to work with someone that expects something that's not going to happen
especially if they're going to blame me for it after the fact right like hey I told you
I needed to get a million dollars and you didn't get a million dollars
so I'm always very careful to kind of explain how much films in general make in the marketplace what
the percentage chances are for getting a deal with a streamer what the percentage chances
are for getting with one of these all rights distributors and what they do and then even once
you get that deal because there's a it's never 100 because it's subjective and we don't know
then what here's the range of revenue you could potentially get and they have to be comfortable
with that because I'm going to I'm going to tell them what the ranger revenue is and so usually
there have been cases where it got past me and I didn't like somehow we didn't
communicate about the the number that they thought they were going to get and then after
the fact they're like I thought this would make this and I'm like I don't know how you
would have thought that we went through all this discussion about why that's not possible
and like you said some people just harbor that thing in the back of my wall of mine
will be different I don't care what he's saying and he's still going to do a good
job and still make me money but then it but I try not to get into situations
is there a litmus test that you have for expectations or you can just try to be as
clear as you can you have your own contracts you have emails and yeah I mean usually I upright
I'm asking them where they what their goals are and what their but what their hopes are
I'd say most people come off with pre-reasonable hopes it's pretty unusual for someone to be pretty
like oh this is for Netflix and just be no and just knowing that and being totally wrong
that's unusual most people have I find a certain level of Education of the business
that they know that it's not they know what it is to a certain degree so I'm helped a
little bit by that but I definitely that's part of the conversation every single time
I make it a part of the conversations part of what I when we're emailing back and forth to
start that's part of my questionnaire is like what what are your expectations what do you hope for
are just also usually ask are there any disturbs you don't like to get out from them the prejudices
that they might have from the the the from the internet and they've heard other distributors
being bashed on and what they think so I can dispel those myths to a certain degree as well
but yeah those yeah I have to I have to feel like the client isn't crazy and I
have to feel like they've got hopes but reasonable expectations at the same time
I like that so you have a questionnaire what like 20 questions not even not even like five questions
oh I see okay a lot of there's more things come out of that but yes the basic ones are
what are your expectations for the film what are the distributors you don't you're specifically
hoping for are there any distributors you particularly don't want to be with
what do you what are your festival aspirations those are the main ones has ever been a situation
where you absolutely love the film but you've decided not to take it on no
if I love a film I want to take it on period even if I think it's going to be hard as long as even
if I think it's not likely to get distribution as long as the filmmaker understands that it's
not likely to get distribution and I'm going to work as hard as I can to get a distribution
that being said I don't come across any films that I don't think can get a certain level of
distribution like for me like I really don't work on Films unless it's going to get a deal with an
all-rise distributor that will do it properly and get it on the various digital platforms
I may love it and hope that it gets better than that and the theatrical or a Netflix
deal something bigger but not think it's going to but the odds are against it
but I just needed the filmmaker to be clear about that but if I think a film isn't going to get
it's just I don't know they've ever seen a film that I loved
that I didn't think would get at least that level of distribution I don't think that's happened.