Chris Maes on Releasing His Sci-Fi Movie “Hemisphere”

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02/26/24 • 67 min

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On this episode I’m talking with Chris Maes about releasing his sci-fi movie, Hemisphere, which was shot mostly in his basement during the COVID-19 lockdown, and is now available on Amazon, Google Play and Tubi. What Chris accomplished here is a great lesson in DIY filmmaking, where Chris conceived the movie totally based on the resources available at the time: a basement he could build a set in, a relatively simple character-based premise, and a small cast and crew. I guess the only exception to that rule was that his movie is actually set in space ... on a space station. But Chris made it work with some clever production design. Chris eventually signed with Indie Rights to distribute his film, but along the way he did some good hard research into his options. In our chat, Chris talks very openly about his decision-making process and the various pros and cons he considered. Although the jury is still out on the ultimate financial success of the film, there’s still a lot to glean here for filmmakers pondering similar decisions.

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Cort Howell on Self-Distributing Mayberry Man

On this episode I’m talking with Cort Howell, who, along with his brother Stark, decided to self-distribute their film Mayberry Man after a less-than-optimal experience with a distributor on his previous film. Cort Howell has sage advice for any independent filmmaker seeking to navigate that line between finding a traditional distributor - whatever that means in this day and age - and self distribution. Cort takes us through the entire process of making and distributing Mayberry Man, including a highly successful crowdfunding campaign to finance the film, the community-supported production, and his experiences with DVD sales, theatrical showings, and streaming, ultimately capped off by a more traditional deal from a faith-based distributor.

Mayberry Man

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Cort Howell

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