Robin Nations and I returned back to San Antonio with our phones blowing up. Word got around about our film and we had 3 or 4 more distributors wanting it. After a week or two of weighing all of the options, we ended up choosing the distributor that promised the most, had the biggest numbers. We were super nervous and never really knew if we were making the right decision but felt this one was as good as any. On April 19th 2011, we inked a world wide distribution deal. We were the most excited people on earth and couldn't believe it was actually happening. Surely we missed something, surely it wasn't this easy. We thought for sure that there was more struggling to do. How on earth could we work so hard and so long for something and it actually come true? These kinds of things happen to other people, not us. People you read about in the news or on some TV show but the fact that it was happening to us just didn't make sense. To re-iterate something I said before, getting distribution for one of our films was the holy grail for us. That was it, top of the chart… It's like getting a record deal as a musician, or signing a publishing contract as a writer. And when Robin and I ran over the projected numbers for our foreign sales? Mind blown. Have you ever had one of those "out of body" experiences? You know, where you are sitting in a chair and your body goes numb. Your face and arms start to become very heavy and then suddenly you feel like you're hovering above yourself, looking down at whatever it is you are doing at the time. I felt like that while we were on our conference call with our distributor. Robin and I huddled around my macbook pro with our foreign ask/take projections full screen. I whipped out my calculator and added up the numbers 5 times… Each time coming up with the same unbelievable number. How is this happening?
One week later, our distributor called and said he had an offer from not a domestic buyer, but a domestic distributor that we should really look at. This is where it got even more interesting. This distributor offered that if we sign with them, they would pay us an MG of the entire budget of our movie. Wait a minute, are you telling me that we sign with these guys, they will cut me a check right then and there? Pretty much. We did have to wait until the movie was "Officially Released" which was a month or two but that is how it went down. MG stands for Minimum Guarantee. When you strike a domestic deal, you will get one of these (hopefully).
This all seems like roses doesn't it. I am painting it as such. That is exactly how it felt at the time. Roses. Bright red, highly contrasted with the greenery around it. Supple petals, resistant from the rain, fragrant and wonderful. Nothing could touch us, we were finally there and it was awesome. Soon, we will continue this journey and realize that our journey has just begun and with achieved goals, there were new goals. Many new obstacles, trials and problems to overcome. We learn from our mistakes every day and boy oh boy we realized soon after, that during this time, we made a lot of them.
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