Distribution : Twenty Two Presence - Director Al Carretta's 22nd Indie feature (£1300 total spend) by Al Carretta

I would almost ask if you could do a Q&A here on Stage32, but I guess that's for Stage32 to decide and plan.

Hi Al, congrats on making your 22nd feature.

Have you profited on any of your films (recouped your investment)? What platforms are most of your films available on?

Thanks Steven; onto 23 and 24 now! As I'm always seeking traction and buzz on the films I thought I'd give you a detailed response with some real world information. All in, 19 of my 22 films are on about 21 streaming channels across the World with the biggest being Apple/iTunes, Amazon (about 5 are currently 'included with Prime'), Popsy, The Roku Channel and Tubi. There are lots of channels I haven't even heard of and with 19 titles currently available for distribution it's a lot to keep track of as not all are on the same platform but I know how to sell a film and have never spent a penny on marketing costs; it's all organic traction built year on year with consideration of what's on pulse and what will stay in the news cycle. I've worked with Filmhub since 2018 and their model works perfectly for me. Since 2021, the films have started to snowball and perform financially. Unlike most filmmakers I'm very open with the income which is a fascinating economy of scale. To put it in perspective my total spend on my entire feature film output since 2010 is about £80k with about £20k recouped. It's an obscene amount of nothing for 22 feature films but that stat generally gets me nothing but criticism, which has got boring of late. No one has externally funded the films; it's just me, debt and ingenuity. Obviously, there's a long way to go to recoup the total spends of every film but they're out there to see. 2 of the 22 films have paid their way as such. The Devil Made Me Do It (2012, mafia crime drama) and The Judge Of Harbor County (2021, western) have completely recouped their total spends multiple times over which were £1800 (Devil) and £2200 (Judge) respectively. To give you an idea of just how much, Devil has done around £12k (6x total spend) and Judge about £4k (2x total spend) net. The rough gross is more like $40k and $12k but it's near impossible to work out exact figures. Cocaine Gangster Talk (2019) and The Chant Of July (2022) are the next best performing titles. Those cost about £3000 and £2200 respectively. The rest of the titles do trickle cents and dollars every month with my most expensive film (at £6500); the ironically titled 'Eight Hundred Dollar Value' from 2022 being my absolute worst performing film ever, having barely recouped $50 since it's release last October!

Al, did the costs heavily depend on 'how many locations' and 'how many action scenes'? What's the impact if those?

The bulk of our costs over the years have been actor expenses followed by venue hire. My productions happen because they are planned and prepped to the extreme with contingency laced in on every shoot day. This keeps costs down but we always seek suitable locations that are going to be free and useable with control elements (e.g.toilets!). I always take a camera to anything interesting to shoot stock footage that can be utilised at a later date. I think 'Princess In The Castle' (<£1500) and 'th'dread Rattlin' (<£1000) are great examples of maximising use of (multiple) free locations. Here in the UK, you mention 'film' to a venue and they think they can charge you thousands so seeking that key location (that is cheap) is the constant mission.

Thanks for all the info!! It's extraordinary what you do Al, I would tip my hat to you if I had one. Good fortune to you, Rutger

Thank you for sharing, Al Carretta! I'll make sure to check your film out.

This is awesome and inspiring, Al Carretta! Wishing you huge success with this film, and all of your films, and hope others take note of what can be accomplished when you have vision, talent, tools and effort. Bravo!

How do you get 10k trailer views with no marketing and no stars?

Hi Mike, the YouTube trailer is beyond 13.5k views now but views have now slowed. I don't think 22P has the best trailer in the World; I cut it in about an hour and at 2m20s it's probably too long by 50s but like the film, it's understated. Now, as to how it's got traction; I'd like to think it's because I built a no-spend marketing campaign around it's Summer premiere in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe meaning the name was out for months before launch but the plausible current reality is the film has strong, identifiable artwork and dropped midweek 'included with' on Amazon Prime just before Halloween weekend. It's currently around 13,000 on the IMDb MOVIEmeter so it's held ground with a 6.7 from 41 ratings meaning there's post-watch viewer engagement. However, to build numbers on YouTube, people still have to find it there outside of the Amazon loop!

Did it screen at Fringe? Did you get some write-ups that would drive views of the trailer? I like the "no-spend" approach to marketing, which I've done several times. Send out EPK's or press releases to news blogs and local media.

Yep, it premiered at Symposium Hall v43, on Tuesday 22nd August 2023 as the opening film of the Nightpiece Film Festival. There was a positive tweet about the film from an audience member but nothing else to promote the film so the trailer interest is purely organic. From previous experience over the years I've seen theatre projects go ballistic with nothing but an event listing but I do design projects that are on pulse and 21 similarly distributed films creates a snowball effect. In the case of 22P, parallel events remain in the UK news cycle but I haven't sent a single press release or EPK anywhere and this is a deliberate move.

If you wish, then come to us to show your films and earn money at the same time)