Film Courage: Going back to your first film WHY MEN CHEAT in 2005, so how did that movie's
success impact you getting your next film project off the ground?
Mark Harris, Filmmaker: Yes, so it was a while.
My first time that I ever got distribution for was a film called BLACK BUTTERFLY.
it was a film we made for less than $10,000.
And E1 actually put that film out (eOne is a major company).
A guy named Allen Blackwell saw the trailer.
I sent him the trailer and he said “I want this film.”
Then he did my first film WHY MEN CHEAT, I USED TO LOVE HER, HOLLA IF YOU HEAR ME.
Those films from WHY MEN CHEAT we took that money and we invested it HOLLA IF YOU HEAR
ME.
We took that money and invested it into I USED TO LOVE HER.
And I USED TO LOVE HER, we did that film for like $3,500.
And it was in like 10 film festivals.
When I went to the film festivals I didn’t just go there just to screen the film.
When I would go there I would have DVDs made up.
Honestly I wasn’t even thinking about distribution.
I was just thinking about selling DVDs.
And it wasn’t until BLACK BUTTERFLY is when I said “Okay, if I have to release this
film on my own then I will do that.”
What we did was I sent the trailer to Allen Blackwell at eOne.
He said “I want that film.”
And then from that film we got distribution for HOLLA IF YOU HEAR ME.
Because of the success of that film, with BLACK BUTTERFLY…eOne the first week had
to reprint more DVDs because they had sold out in the stores (in Walmart and they were
all sold out).
So they had to rush and print more.
I told them “Look I have an audience out there and what we want to do is we’re going
to promote this film so you are going to have to print up more.”
I think they printed up 5,000 copies the first time which I understand they want to be safe
and so the first week or so those were all gone.
Because of the success of BLACK BUTTERFLY is when we got distribution for I USED TO
LOVE HER, then we got distribution for HOLLA IF YOU HIT ME from the success of that film.
Film Courage: And so you made it for $10,000?
The one that was in Walmart?
Mark: Yes, it was for like $9,500.
Film Courage: How many locations did you have?
Mark: We had a total of I think eight locations.
But this is how we would do it.
We would shoot on weekends because people worked, so we would shoot on weekends.
We would shoot a 12-hour day on Saturday and Sunday.
On Friday what we would do is take one small scene and we would just shoot that scene and
that’s how we got the film made.
It was like 6 weeks.
Film Courage: So that’s how you were able to keep it [the budget] so low?
Mark: That’s how we were able to keep it so low.
And also…here’s the secret…the secret is you have to work with…I know it’s difficult
in LA because when you talk about locations because people are familiar with how much
money you pay for locations.
But in Chicago it’s pretty different.
So in Chicago for us it’s that a lot of the film we shot at my mom’s house.
I shot some of the film at my auntie’s house and a lot of exterior stuff where we didn’t
need permits to set up.
We would go to a park and shoot.
Like the park that we shot at is the park that I grew up playing basketball and baseball
and things like that.
So we would go to that park and we would shoot things.
We didn’t pay a lot of money for locations at all because we would use friends and family’s
locations.
That’s another thing you should do, just look at your friends, ask your friends as
far as can you shoot at their home?
Say for instance if you shoot at someone’s home, just be respectful of their home.
Maybe donate $100 or $150 toward electricity.
I know in LA it’s kind of expensive (locations are expensive).
But if you are shooting somewhere else just ask the person if you can shoot there.
And they are open to it.