Because finding a home should be something to sing about.
Open House in particular will have tremendous cross-over potential for mainstream audiences. Two-thirds of Americans own a house. Eight million Americans work in the housing industry. Every Sunday, there are literally millions of signs, fliers and flags posted across the country announcing open houses. One could not ask for better name recognition and free advertising for the title of the film.
In the world of independent films, the life of a completed movie typically begins at one of a number of major international film festivals. This is where a film sees its first reviews, and also where most distributors' acquisitions executives see the film for the first time. Fortunately, through his experience with his own film and as one of the founders of the Slamdance Film Festival, Open House director Dan Mirvish has personal relationships with virtually every major film festival in the world (including Cannes, Sundance and Berlin). Dan also has extensive relationships with acquisitions executives at most of the major independent distribution companies (including Miramax, Fine Line, Paramount Classics and Sony Pictures Classics).
Once Open House has started to play at film festivals, the goal will be to sell the finished product via a "negative pick-up" arrangement whereby distribution rights to the film are sold in exchange for both an advance on profits and a percentage of future returns. Such negative pick-up deals are possible with independent divisions of major studios as well as smaller, independent distributors. A negative-pickup arrangement typically provides investors with an up-front return on their capital before the film has entered the distribution stream.
The other major distribution route is for producers to contact directly (or through a producer's representative) individual distributors, sub-distributors and television programming sources in each domestic and foreign market, and secure individual license and distribution agreements for each.
If the prior options fail to materialize quickly, the goal will be to self-distribute Open House in theaters around the US. Dan Mirvish is one of the few working directors who has done this in the past and personally knows many of the key exhibition executives at some of the major theater chains. While it's impossible to predict if the film will ever make a profit (frankly, most films do not), Dan is in the unique position of being able to guarantee that it will at least get seen by a reasonably wide audience (particularly for an independent film of this sized budget). By way of example, here is what he was able to accomplish with Omaha (the movie):
Disclaimer:
Investment in a project of this nature involves substantial risks, and should not be undertaken by those individuals or organizations who can not afford those risks. Anyone seriously interested in contributing should consult their own tax professional for complete tax advice. This website should not be construed as a formal offering or complete business prospectus, but rather is designed to give a general overview of the project.
