mirthdefect wrote:Any of the backers care to copy/paste the kickstarter updates about it? From what I can tell, some kind of issue went down about international distribution and the guy isn't getting paid for anything despite it being on the shelves over here?
I'll post the last three updates, providing the forum allows walls of text. It's a messy and disappointing situation alright.
Posts to follow -
This is a difficult update to type for a variety of reasons, all of which I shall share with you. Our estimated delivery for Elstree 1976 to you guys has always been this month. We've been working like demons to make that happen and until very recently, we thought it would be no problem at all.
But there's a problem.
We've been poleaxed by a legal situation we couldn't have ever imagined happening. It genuinely surprised us - and no, it's not the legal situation you're probably imagining. It has put us in a position where we have to tread very carefully and aren't yet fully sure of the implications it presents for us. Rest assured, we have our legal team on it and you'll be pleased to know that Hank has completely foregone sleep recently to work on/torture himself about this. Resolving this situation is our sole focus right now but we're still very much aiming to at least be able to deliver the download of the film to you before the end of the month.
Obviously, I can't go into details of the situation - I wish I could - but I don't want to prejudice the case at all.
The other surprise we received was a big one, yesterday we found out that the film was being released on DVD/itunes/Youtube in Australia TODAY. It was a genuine shock to us, nobody told us or gave us any forewarning. I'm furious that this has happened before you guys got to see it and equally furious that we appear to be legally bound to not be allowed to show you the film yet.
It's unfair and you're well within your rights to be angry with us. I wish I could explain to you the situation that has led to this but, again, I just can't right now. Hopefully one day we'll be able to tell you the whole behind-the-scenes story of Elstree 1976 - it's every bit as bizarre as what we captured on camera.
The only things I really can tell you is that we're both so sorry that you still haven't got to see the film, that we're working ourselves insane to sort the situation out and that, well, again, we're both just so sorry about the current situation.
I hope you're all having a wonderful Christmas and that The Force Awakens is all you hoped it might be - I really enjoyed it.
I wanted to make a quick promise to you - as soon as Hank and I know what's going on and can legally tell you about it, we will. I'm getting a lot of messages and emails and Facebook messages from you guys asking when we'll be releasing the film. I promise that as soon as we can tell you we will, so please just watch this space, the second you can know, you will all know, I'm not going to tell anyone individually so, although I'm genuinely chuffed you're all so excited about it, please just know that it'll be announced. I'll answer messages on any other subject but from now on, I'll just link anyone who messages me asking when the film is coming out to this update. People also keep kind of passive-aggressively asking me if they should watch it on Australian iTunes. You're grown adults, you can do whatever you want.
I know it's frustrating for you guys but I promise your frustration couldn't even come close to comparing to ours. The run up to Xmas for me and Hank involved full weeks of scrutinising multiple drafts of legal documents and receiving, processing and discussing legal advice. It's really one of the worst situations I've ever been in, the ramifications of what's happening are huge for us. I wish I could go into detail but the situation that has arisen is so unexpected that it's put the two of us in very real danger of massive personal debt. It's been very strange to see the film released in Australia and know that money is being generated on the back of our hard work and to not only have none of it but to be facing financial devastation. We've been presented so many options as to what to do, it's like a horrible game of chess, where any move has to be endlessly discussed and all the possible outcomes of it pored over with this sick feeling in your stomach the whole time that it's this choice which affects both the film's future and your own personal finances. We've also both been so stressed and that's the worst time to be making important decisions but that's why it's good we have each other, one of us is always there to push the other on, we take it in shifts.
The good news is that on Christmas Eve, we settled on a course of action and have put it in motion. It's going to take about four weeks until we know how that's going to work out, but at that point we should be able to give you some definite answers.
Again, I'm so sorry about the mess that has arisen, it was completely unexpected, it wasn't our fault and we're working our arses off to rectify it. Especially Hank, who has literally been working around the clock to unpick it all and set up as many solutions as he could.
We always knew that the funds raised from this Kickstarter campaign would be just about enough to enable us to complete and deliver Elstree 1976 to you, our donors…. if everything went perfectly. We also knew that we might need a bit more money if it didn’t - so we started looking for ways of raising those funds. The obvious one was to sell to a distributor, UK or otherwise. We had good initial interest and engaged with several companies in the UK and USA.
In the meantime, a few other things happened that ramped up the costs of completing the film. We shot some more material. We took the majority of the cast back to Elstree to tour and reminisce (this footage isn’t in the film but will now be an exclusive KS donor only featurette in your extras) we revisited the homes of some of our actors and shot more footage. We engaged a lawyer regarding the whole Lucasfilm/Copyright thing. And then we started editing. Our initial budget was for an editor working alongside Jon for 30 days. In the end, we used 4 editors for a total of 90 days.
As this unfolded we realised we really did need to make some sort of sale AND find more funds elsewhere. We secured investment from the excellent and reputable British Film Company whose docs include the Steve McQueen epic, “The Man and Le Mans” plus “Hockney” and “McCullen.” We raised some more from the energetic US startup production company, Verax Films.
We had a couple of offers from UK & US distributors and then The Works stepped in, offering to pay an advance and organise sales worldwide. What we realised at this point was that the cost of delivering the film to any kind of legitimate distributor or an international sales agent to then be sold around the world was… ridiculous.
It included all kinds of paperwork and physical elements, copyright registration, title search, millions of different sound mixes, detailed transcripts, expensive insurance – all kinds of stuff. But we now needed the money just to finish editing the film, so we did the deal. We signed a provisional agreement.
What followed was a crazy miasma of legal obfuscation and confusion that we literally cannot speak a word about “for legal reasons”. We are bound to silence. One day, we hope to tell the whole “hilarious” story one way or another. It dragged on from Jan 2015 – to right now, January 2016. A whole year of chaos and confusion.
So the film is finished and we can deliver it to you. Not only that but the DVD and Blurays will be a unique Kickstarter-only version with artwork, packaging and extras that are only for you. When can we do this? The legally binding agreement that we have with various parties is that we deliver the film to you in your country, exactly when the film is released in that territory. The film is now confirmed to be released in the US in May by the indie distributor FILM RISE. We signed this agreement, to secure the funds to pay our outstanding post-production debts and create everything that’s needed to deliver the film to you.
So we can deliver to US donors in May 2016 and we expect all other territories to follow that pattern. If it looks like the film isn’t actually going to get a release in the country that you live in, we’ll work out a way to get it to you. One slight complication is that it’s been released in Aus/NZ already and we haven’t been paid yet, so our own DVD and Bluray’s are yet to be manufactured. So the antipodean delivery will be a bit later than the official release. Sincere apologies, to those donors.
You will all now definitely receive the film and if you ordered a Bluray or DVD it’ll be a special KS edition, which we believe will be superior to any other release. To address the Elstree Studios screening of the film, we face the same problem as the Oz delivery, we need funds to finally come through, to set this up and pay for it. As soon as they do we’ll post an update. Thanks a million for your patience and understanding.
