Do It Again

It is the million dollar question, or perhaps the $45,000 question. What is to become of “Do It Again?” The film has been on the festival circuit since late January. We’ve played about 50 cities and received some excellent reviews. But as you probably noticed, there’s no DVD, no broadcast deal, no theatrical release. First, let me assure you. We are working hard. We’ve had some bites and offers but we’re not yet ready to move forward. One major issue is licensing. If there were no Kinks songs in this film, we would have likely already released it. But when you use other people’s music, you need to pay for it. In our case, that’s complicated by the low budget of our film and the general risk that comes with an independent release. In brief, we ain’t “Juno,” capable of slapping down $10,000 for “Well Respected Man” or some other classic ditty.

After much wrangling and attempts at creative deals, we finally submitted our formal request to the record companies. They were kind enough to give us a deal which, if it goes through, will allow us worldwide licensing for around $40,000 to $50,000. But that’s a big if. First, the artist – and that’s Ray – has to allow us to spend that money. At the moment, a DVD and press packet (and button) is in his hands. We’re waiting for Ray.

If Ray says yes… then we’ve got to sell the film for enough to allow us to pay for the licensing. We’re grown men with families. We’re hesitant to go broker for this movie.

What can you do? Sit tight. Tell people how much you love our movie. Go to the IMDB website and post a few positive comments on there to make up for the cranky dude who said he didn’t like the film six times. And keep following. Because this process is pretty much like everything connected to “Do It Again.” We have no idea where we’ll end up, how we’ll do it and what it might mean. But we’re refusing to stop for any reason, be it financial, psychological, logistical. We are going to do everything within our means to get this film to a wider audience.

God Save the Kinks…

We’ve only got three days left on our Kickstarter campaign, so I figured I’d make one more pitch. (And there may be another…)

You might think, “Hey Geoff, isn’t the movie done and playing in film festivals. And hasn’t everybody already been generous enough?” And I’d say, “True and true, but that doesn’t mean I’m done.”

Here are two examples: We were so pleased to be invited to show the film at the Reykjavik International Film Festival later in the year. But then, after chatting with one of the staffers there, I learned that we need to send a PAL formatted tape. We only have the NTSC format. That means heading over to National Boston today and paying them to dub a PAL tape. That’s $320. See, money!

(As you probably figured, even when we sell out a 1,000 seat hall, we don’t get paid. The film festival gets the cash, as it should… Those festivals are run on a shoe-string by dedicated people working way too many hours.)

Same goes for our screening in New Orleans in October. We’re thrilled to be showing the film there and wouldn’t consider pulling out. But they want the film transferred as a data file and sent on a hard-drive. Hence, I’ve got to buy another hard-drive.

I know, this couldn’t me a more boring blog entry. Who wants to hear about PAL and NTSC and data files, etc.? I don’t. Which is why you should help me reach my Kickstarter goal. Then I promise… I’ll shut up and talk Kinks!

I promised we’d get out to LA and so here’s the news. We’re playing the “Don’t Knock The Rock” Film festival on Thursday night, July 22. It’s a pretty fantastic event programmed by super-cool director Allison Anders, her daughter Tiffany and with Michael Des Barres serving as master of ceremonies. That’s right, I get to hang with the director of “Grace of My Heart” and former Pamela-squeeze-slash-Power Station member. Yowza.

The screening takes place at the Silent Movie Theater on North Fairfax Avenue and I’ll post a link as soon as tickets go on sale, which could be within the week.

Good news for those who missed our IFFBoston screening or simply want to, er, do it again…

The film has been selected to screen at the Roxbury International Film Festival, which takes place July 29 through August 1. Films at RIFF are shown at a range of locations, from the Museum of Fine Arts to Northeastern to the Roxbury Center for Arts at Hibernian Hall. It’s still too early to know the where and when. I’ll let you know as soon as we get details. Also, we’re also working on a screening or two at the Brattle for sometime later this year.

By Adam Gold
Having just posted a fairly lukewarm review of The White Stripes doc — playing tonight, at the Nashville Film Festival — I decided I’d rather end the work week (and this late-Friday blogging spree) by singing praises as opposed to saying nays. Unlike that sleepy Stripes road movie, Robert Patton-Spruill’s documentation of Boston Globe reporter Geoff Edgers’ quest to reunite The Kinks is fantastic. It shows tomorrow night at 9:20 p.m., and 2 p.m. on Tuesday, in Green Hills. Here’s what I had to say about it in the Scene’s film festival guide:

A document of Boston Globe reporter Geoff Edgers’ mission impossible to reunite The Kinks, Robert Patton-Spruill’s Do It Again is a must see for any die-hard rock ‘n’ roll fan. By telling The Kinks’ story through the eyes of a super-fan — seamlessly inter-cut with archival footage and wall-to-wall audio — the movie engrosses the viewer with a three-dimensional take on rock music, encompassing themes of stardom, fandom, brotherhood and the love, hate and maddening obsession that binds them, while firmly establishing the band’s rightful place as a rock ‘n’ roll cornerstone. In the process of pursuing an unlikely sit-down with Ray Davies, Edgers manages to land interviews with the likes of Sting, Clive Davis, Paul Weller, Robyn Hitchcock, Peter Buck, Warren Zanes and Zooey Deschanel, and he picks their brains on the influence of The Kinks, the complicated interpersonal relationships that come with playing in a band, and the general pathology of rock musicians — before goading them into jamming with him on a Kinks song, with amusingly varying degrees of success.