The next generation of Action-Horror that’s not vampires, werewolves, or zombies. Reclamation opens up the vast world of hellish creatures

Romeal Watson, writer of the Hell-Tale story, Reclamation, tries to offer a different approach to the usual vampire, werewolf, and zombie genres.  Based out of Spokane, Washington, Watson originally created this story as a 131-page screenplay, but in an attempt to create a following, decided to convert portions of the screenplay into several comic book volumes.  Watson started a Kickstarter campaign to raise $3,500 create the next volume of his visual screenplay.

Watson says, “For the past 15 years, the movie industry has been saturated with the vampires, werewolves, and zombies genre’s; and while the Walking Dead and True Blood series continues to do well in the land of TV, I think it’s time to show our audience something else in the world of features.”

Reclamation is a dark supernatural tale of an ancient war between an elite clan of demon hunters and a ferocious demon legion. Set in a bleak metropolis, the story follows Ray Hughes, a struggling accountant, who becomes enthralled into this mystical underworld when he learns of the untimely death of his father.  Through a series of trails, Ray not only learns of his father’s involvement with this elite clan of demon hunters, but of the oncoming demon apocalypse set to hail upon mankind.  As Hell approaches, Ray must discover his own hidden secrets and stand with the band of hunters against Baal, the legendary prince of Hell.

Watson’s story brings out a whole world of hellish creatures; all of which have their own unique strengths and weakness, as well as a vast culture to explore.  Watson says, “why stop with such a mediocre creature such as vampires, when you can open the door to so many badass creatures, ones that put our popular characters to shame.”

Reclamation: The Visual Screenplay Vol. #2 is now available on Kickstarter, and will end October 28^th.  You can also follow Reclamation at www.wats-onproductions.com.

Should big production companies consider pre-production marketing assessment?

In this summer's series of flops, it seems like quite the gamble for a $80-$250 million dollar movie to not let their marketing demographic offer "some kind" of a feedback in it's pre-production stages. What I'm suggesting, is, "hey, if you're going to put out that $80-250 million dollar movie, maybe we can pre-assess some probabilities first, to see if $50-$150 million is more appropriate.  Maybe we can wait 4 years when the market is back up for another vampire movie.

All Summer 2013 Flops (all internally produced FYI):
Lone Ranger = Lost $141 million  (2nd highest flop in history)
R.I.P.D = Lost $129 million, other Dark Horse Projects got dropped. (4th highest flop)
White House Down = Lost $87 million  (15th highest flop)
Turbo = Lost $69 Million  (39th highest)

End result:
$426 Million in Losses (in a 3 month period), several projects dropped, less upcoming artist able to sell their (probably better) idea, less movies for you to enjoy....get where this is going?

I think with these challenges in our wake, it might be appropriate to at least exercise the thought of whether production companies should consider pitching their treatments to its audience first; just like writers have to round up at the crack of dawn for 10 hours to pitch to them. Hot or Not, but for big budget movie treatments, (not trailers, by then it's too late). Doing this will provide an open channel, so people like you and me can help provide research that justifies the probability of that $250 million movie actually recouping it's funds.

HOW DO WE DO THIS?
While this would be like a focus group, by no means would it be to that extreme:

-Mainly for movies with proposed budgets of $80 Million or more.
-Bigger sample size, before movie previews if possible
-Everyone (relative to age restrictions) can participate
-Only shorts, treatments, pitches, with visual aids, no features (money already spent)
-It's only "one" question, with optional 60-character explanation(only if ranked 2 or below)

Question: Would you pay to see it? (scale 1-5)  

Instead of showing random trivia before movie previews, theaters can offer 1-minute pitches (or shorts) for production companies interested in gathering information from their audience.  Then we vote using an access code.  We vote online from either a smart phone, home computer, a kiosk located at the theater, or even on gaming consoles.  IMDB could have this feature available as well.

After the pitch, the initial survey question would start by asking, "would you pay to see this movie?"  Based on a scale of 1-5.

1 = Definitely not
2 = Not interested right now
3 = Maybe
4 = Look interesting,
5 = Absolutely would see it

If someone rates a 2 or below, they can offer a 60-character comment about why they're not interested.

Consolidating the 60 characters would be easy.  In research studies you can do what's called "coding" where you track keywords and phrases (for example: the phrase "tired of vampires" showed up 100,000 times.) You can even track the demographic, so you know age groups and gender. From that you can create "themes", and decide the probability of your movie being able to recouping expenses from that target audience. It's better than what we have now, a $150 million dollar blind-fire.

This system isn't saying that treatments with bad ratings get canned.  This is saying, based on your audience, this is the percentage of "interest".  Marketers know how to appropriate timing and a budgeting for stuff like that, so money is not being wasted. If a company chooses to proceed, that's their right, but here are some marketing considerations you can used to get the best bang for your buck.


CONCLUSION:
The intention is not about changing a story to fit a mass audience. This is a marketing strategy to assess probability your audience's interest. Almost like Kickstarter, but no money. This is about General mood of market based on your presentation. Gauging your market with respect to timing and your budget (primarily budgets over $80 million).

Would you risk spending $80 million on a vampire movie, if your treatment rating came back at 2.0 (from your respective audience), and feedback flagged "tired of seeing vampires" 150,000 times? You might consider doing it for $50 million, or wait 5 years when the market is hot again.

If it's not book adaptations, (which can look to book sales to gauge the probability of audience participation), how can production companies know what their audience is willing to pay for? All they have are past market sales, which only gives a narrow representation of what "this story" is able to do. This could be copyright hell, but there apparently needs to be some indicators put out there.

Thoughts?

Response to Steven Spielberg and George Lucas' foretelling the death of studios, movie tickets costing $150, and the flourishing of indiefilms.

You can read the article here, and share what you think.

The implosion is correct, although I would quicker say bankrupt, because nobody is paying $150 a ticket when they can download.  The indiefilms will save Hollywood, just like Blackploitations did in the 70's (it's true).  With all the people turned down by production companies, they are just rounding up their friends, and doing it anyway.

The #1 reason Hollywood is in trouble is because they are disconnected from the people, and are flat out scared to collaborate with new writers who can deliver fresh ideas, but may need a little help with structure.  Help them to bring it out, don't shut the door on them.   The movies they select out of the pile only follow worn-out trends. I don't want to see any more vampires for 10 years.

And what in the world did they do to the zombies in World War Z?  This had better be good.

Rather than revitalizing that relationship they'd rather suck on the book-to-movie tit, who already has a following.  Problem with that is, "books are geared for reading and imagining".   When will that well run dry?  When will the true fans of the franchise get tired of their books being massacred by film?  Also, what does that say about the movie industry, when they can't produce their own stories from within?  We're now on Alien 6, Terminator 5,  Indiana Jones 5, Underworld 5, Fast and Furious 6

As a writer, I'm now told that I need to write a graphic novel, or comic book, or short animation and build a fan base before they'll look at me.  I'm 100% sure my story will light you up, but they are scared of it.  And guess what, there is a long line of artist that have great stories.  So the problem isn't the lack of material, the problem is their inability to filter that material and bring it in.

With Fox Searchlight getting sued, you can bet they are tightening up even more on any mentoring possibilities.  Internships dropped by 400.  Most industry pros started off as interns, fetching cables, light bulbs etc.

That's what our movie legends did.

But, they DO have to get a handle on these films being leaked to other countries with few pirating laws.  Ironic because, Americans are broke (and deeply critical on movies), so they deeply rely on foreign market to boost sales, but those markets can totally steal and share with little repercussion.  I almost feel like it's sabotage, the ease that they are able to do it.

About the "THIS" vs. "THAT" Action, Sci-Fi genre

One thing I have to say about your typical "THIS vs. THAT" action sci-fi genres, is that it already has an established market.  People pay good money to see just a good ole action movie.  Everything from Underworld, Blade, to Expendables all fit into this category.  What ultimately decides if a movie will be well received (or not) has to do with the types of elements you put into it.  

As I said in my last post, with your typical vampire movie, the audience already walks in with 40% of the knowledge already, so you have to present something that will allow the audience to explore, use their imagination, and follow the story long after the movie is over.  How you do that depends on your ability to pull from your wacky mind and put together a world of curiosity.  The Matrix put a man in a computer grid, so did Tron: Legacy; one did better than the other, but both were rather enjoyable, and both allowed the audience to follow the story long after it was over.

In today's age, originality is more about the recipe, rather than the ingredients.  A lot of our predecessors have laid down the proper ingredients, but now it's time to explore all the wonders of what you can do with them.  Some people may like their movie souffléd, or sauteed or with a pinch of paprika.  Others, well, just plain old salt, pepper, with a splash of lemon.  The question becomes, what will stick to the ribs?

I believe Reclamation will not only open the world of nightmare creatures, but it will give us a history to explore, as well as an art form.  Each creature harbors a unique background, carrying with it a uniques set of strengths and weaknesses.  In the overall demon hierarchy, vampires and werewolves rank pretty low.  A poltergeist is nothing compared to other supernatural things that exist.  With all this at or fingertips:

Where do we start?  

What are our limits?  

How deep does it go?

Mulciber complete, now all is left is a paint job

Just got the latest photos for our elite demon character, Mulciber, and I must say that it always leaves me wanting more.  A very addictive process, creating a mythical character and watching it slowly come to life.  It's a great feeling, to contribute with something like this.  Now only if we can get a buyer.

ABOUT THE SCRIPT
Okay so, the script is being reviewed as we speak, so I'm crossing my fingers in hopes that the production companies will see the value of this project.  I understand that being a vanguard is risky, but if it was easy everyone would do it.   Let's not pretend that THIS is not where the Sci-fi, Action genre needs to go.


SAME OLD SOUP, JUST REHEATED
I saw a movie on Netflix called "Vampire Dog".  It's about a vampire Jack Russell Terrier.  I think I'll just stop right there, as I think this proves how exhausted the vampire genre really is right now, yet it keeps popping up.  Now we have "Vamps", another Dracula movie in the making, Underworld in it's final stretch, and God knows what else.

My biggest gripe about the vampire Action genre, is that the audience already knows 40% of the movie just in hearing the word "vampire".  We know they need blood, they can't go out in the day, wooden or silver stake to the heart,  yadda yadda yadda.   Not to mention that all the movies that revitalized the vampire genre were done 12 or so years ago (Blade, Underworld).  We've had 10+ years of pure vampire mania,  yet we get surprised when movies like "Priest" gets bad reviews.  Twilight no exception.  Even though it was still able to capitalize on it's book following, the movies lacked substance.

 BOX OFFICE SALES ≠ GOOD MOVIE.
 People take what they can get, because they love movies that much.  For the moment there are the book/comic-to-film adaptations, but as original fans get pissed off (at the movie massacre of the book), and everyone saw their Marvel/DC characters on screen, eventually that well will run dry, and they won't be able to sustain the market with a 5th remake of Spiderman.

WE NEED A RENAISSANCE
New creatures to explore; new strengths, weaknesses; but most of all....new history.  Something that can be savored for the next 34 years, like Alien (today being it's 34 year anniversary).  We just had "Prometheus" and pretty soon Alien 6.  What then?????

Sorry for the brief sabbatical...I had to take care of the revisions for Reclamation.  But I have something more pertinent....Look at the first stages of Mulciber, general of the demon legion.

 Something to think about with Mulciber.  He's ultimate combatant, and unreal balance between martial science and animal prowess.   If his opponent is unworthy, he is compelled to reveal it to them before killing them.

A worthy opponent however, he likes to savor the moment, absorbing the fight, trading attacks like philosophers would   trade ideas.

When you think about him, try to think about how a demon general would fight if confined in a human's body.  What would the ULTIMATE martial artist look like to a demon?  What boundaries would it bend?  Likely the superior version Kung Fu, only why would a demon such as him need to worry about all the extra blocking.  A 1 or 2 block maximum, definitely counter attacks. Probably would tear through the average human for even blocking his attack.

Much love to Green Lantern Corporation for sending me this interview. More to come. 

Whatever happens, I want you all to know that I do it for you.  For all of us late 70/early 80's and 90's kids. I remember being a kid and having such a crazy imagination, only to now grow up and see things rehashed and remade from our classics. Not to say that there will not be any similarities, but it's our time now to show the world that we too are crazy twisted in the head, and can come up with a different spin on things. A lot of things left to try, and we don't need to be on "medication" to do it. We're high on the 80's man.              

 - Romeal W. -