6Qs with Robin Cowie of Seventh Moon @ Florida Film Fest

Q1:  Can you tell us about your film.  What were the goals for the project?

RC: Seventh Moon is a Chinese Halloween. It’s the third movie I produced with Director Eduardo Sanchez as part of Haxan Films, including The Blair Witch Project.  We made it because Eduardo learned of a Chinese mythology and thought it could be an interesting theme for a horror film. And we like horrors! I have completed five projects and all have gotten distribution and made money for their investors, so that’s my goal with this film as well.

Q2:  How are you identifying, targeting, and building your audience?

RC:  We spend a lot of time connecting with our core fans.  They can participate online and send us feedback.  In doing a genre film like horror, we know the audience is already there, and we hope to give them a film they will appreciate.

Q3:  What role has the Internet and social media played in your DIWO (Do-It-With-Others) filmmaking?

RC: I used the Internet to help my fundraising process.  We created a website dedicated towards raising money for the film where we posted the business plan, other investor documents and some videos.  I shot some sample footage of Seventh Moon to include as well.  I then traveled all over the country looking for potential investors, specifically with in the US and China and when the right match was found, I shared with them the username and password to view the investor documents.

We also want to use the Internet to promote the movie coming out in the fall.  We plan to shoot about seven 4-minute short films related to the mythology, and spread them using social media.

Q4:  What tools or tactics would you recommend to other filmmaker for fundraising or promotion?

RC: Creating the online presentation and website was the best tool for me, because it helped share Ed’s vision to investors without needing him in the room.  Twitter and Facebook are cool but we are trying to do something different online. We are reviewing all the options right now to try to do something original.

Q5:  What was the budget for your film?  Can you tell us about any creative techniques for fundraising?

RC: We raised 90% of the budget in the US, and the final monies came from China.  The film cost less than 10 million dollars. Using a website for fundraising was a very useful technique.

Q6:  What is your plan for distribution?  Do you have a plan for self distribution?

RC: Lionsgate will release the film in October under the Ghosthouse output deal.  It is up to Lionsgate, but potentially the film will be on Video On Demand, iTunes, Hulu, etc.

People should also watch out for something special as the tenth anniversary of The Blair Witch Project approaches in July.

Comments

[RC Helicopter]

Great article. Very interesting!