Matt Kautsky
Director, FAIF International Film Festival
Stan Harrington is a unique new breed of independent filmmaker who consistently displays his raw talents and abilities to make motion pictures that capture and captivate audiences. He is proof that true guerilla filmmaking is not only alive but thriving through independent visionaries such as himself.
Mark L. Maness
Gopher Broke Productions, Inc.
901-581-5394
I made a small movie in high school, and through doing that, met my eventual mentor, Plato Skouras. Plato was the son of the former head of 20th Century Fox (Spyros Skouras). Plato left the film business in the seventies and retired. He moved to the hometown of his wife (a former NY Model), Brinkley, Arkansas, leaving the rat race behind. Brinkley is a rural community with a population of about 5,000. Brinkley is also my hometown.
In high school, I made a small movie that garnered some statewide press. It was then that I was introduced to Plato, and he took me under his wing, teaching me a lot about how the motion picture industry worked.
I made three low budget movies in early 90's, but never could get anywhere. Plato always encouraged me, telling me I had the talent, I just needed a budget. I was working producing Outdoor Programming for channels such as ESPN and TNN (at that time), and along came family, bills, etc. I was making a good living, but always kept the fire to do features alive. As you know, there are always roadblocks when you're trying to do a feature, but you have to barrel through them with determination. Somehow, I would always let the roadblocks get in the way....
Don't get me wrong....I'm not, nor never have been a quitter! But sometimes a real good living and doing something somewhat close to what you want to do can breed complacency.
Then, in 2004....Plato died. The man who believed most in my ability to achieve success died without ever having seen it come to pass. It was then that I was determined to produce a feature.....but again, roadblocks, and an unbelievable work schedule....I became very successful and "in demand" in the outdoor television industry. And once again, time was slipping away....
April, 2006.....I attended the Post Production conference at NAB. And there was this captivating speaker talking about doing his film on $5,000 and winning awards! Most of all, he spoke about the importance of just doing it.....get it done. I was inspired! The speakers name, of course was Stan Harrington. He made me realize that I had all of the elements at my fingertips to get it done.....
So, you think that now, everything just fell into place and I got my film done? Hardly....
I pitched to two wealthy friends a comedy called "White Man Can't Rap" at a six figure budget. It was right on the heels of "Hustle and Flow", and I do now live in Memphis, and have several friends who are Rap Producers. I even won a "Telly Award" with a no-budget Rap music video for one of these producers. My investors said go ahead, and we began to move forward. My "day job" schedule would be starting up in late September, so I had from June until then to complete principal photography.
Four weeks before production, disaster. One of the investors said he'd never invested in a movie before and wanted to bring in several friends to help share the load....but he couldn't do it until late in the fall......great....wonderful....not a roadblock...but a dead end......
Stan's words kept reverberating though my mind.......
I took a screenplay my writer and I had written several years ago. It was a thriller set in the swamps of East Arkansas. It was written to be done on a low budget. There was no way I wasn't going to not do a film this summer! So, with a $10K budget and almost no experienced crew, we shot the picture in fifteen days.
I worked on Post Production until March of this year. Now, it's done. We don't have a distributor yet, as we've just now started soliciting. A huge major distributor turned it down for being too small for them, and they felt for their marketing purposes it wasn't Horror/Thriller enough (no blood and guts or nudity). However, they liked it well enough to give me a "first look" deal on our next project! And I've since been approached about a big budget project by a very experienced producer with a great track record.....!
I firmly believe that Stan's words to me that day as I sat in the audience helped steel my resolve to get this project done, and has lead to these other potential deals. Without his words, I'm sure none of this would have happened.
By the way, Stan...you have my undying thanks for your inspiration. You said, this year as you spoke, that if your words could help change one life, you will have considered yourself a success...
So let me now tell you, in case you don't know it....you are a success!
The Warmest Regards....
-Mark
PS The movie's name is "Birthrite", and the website is:
http://www.birthritemovie.com/-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Stan.
I picked up your book Friday and read it cover to cover. I was amazed how informative it was. You gave examples with the information in the book that made it fun reading as well. As a guy who is trying to cut his teeth out here you made everything I have imagined seem possible. It is in inspiring to hear you talk about how you made two movies with little more than your own hard work. Best luck in the future.
Dan Dolinar, Westwood. CA.
