I ventured over to Van Nuys to see Fred Olen Ray, Jim Wynorski and Dave Decoteau at Spudic's Movie Empire. It was nice to chat with the guys who gave us such B-movie classics as HOLLYWOOD CHAINSAW HOOKERS, CHOPPING MALL and SORORITY BABES IN THE SLIMEBALL BOWL-A-RAMA.
(I do not make this stuff up, people)
What was interesting was listening to the guys speak about their careers and discuss the niches each has carved out for themselves. While these guys aren't household names they have been very successful with their movies and make a good living at it (unlike many other folks here in Hollywood).
If one were to take lessons away from their experiences, I would imagine it would be these:
1. Find your market and know it backwards and forwards.
2. Control your costs by writing, shooting and producing only what you need to make a professional looking movie and nothing more. That takes experience, getting your hands dirty and entrepreneurial spirit. This also goes to rethinking how things are done.
3. Stay in contact with your audience and know their wants and needs.
4. Love movies and moviemaking. When the chips are down you have to love this so much that you'd do it for free. Success doesn't happen overnight.
5. Rinse and repeat. Build a library of material and leverage that to distributors and audience alike. One movie is a fluke - what you need to do is make yourself a business.
Discuss.
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