How Low Can Delgo?
Wednesday, December 17th, 2008
Pretty low, it turns out. Seven years in the making, this slo-mo train wreck “opened wide” to the tune of barely a half-million dollars: roughly two people per screen per showing. So, what can we learn from this?
- Lesson #1: Don’t geek out on obscure, “epic” subject matter at the expense of characters that normal audiences can truly identify with.
- Lesson #2: If you find yourself on your sixth screenwriter, you probably don’t have a story worth telling.
- Lesson #3: Don’t tempt fate by appearing on magazine covers touting the “success” of your indie film… before it opens!
- Lesson #4: Don’t tempt fate further by boasting about how your film “violates” all of the conventional rules of successful animated feature filmmaking.
- Lesson #5: If you can’t find a distributor, don’t try to self-distribute. Get a clue, and go back to the drawing board… or abandon ship.
Unless you prefer to sink with it. And I can’t “Fathom” that. 
Indie filmmakers, please - do yourselves a favor and begin with the end in mind.
