MRH: Because major studios judge a movie's value - successful, mediocre, or dud - by a freakish standard of how much revenue is earned during the first days of a theatrical release, how were you able to ensure the success of your films, when your own approach mirrored what was once the norm: a slow, gradual release strategy, moving through territories, and building momentum and word-of-mouth over months, instead of days?

SP: It's part of… my responsibility to make sure that the film gets seen by as many people as possible, and so my job does not end when I lock picture, when I do the final sound mix, or when we sign a foreign sales deal... I think part of it is just believing in your work, and another part is being exceptionally/obsessively persistent in pursuing different venues.

In the case of both of my films, I've had a very receptive hometown community in Louisville, Kentucky, so that's given me the opportunity to get the film into theatres there; then based on its performance there, I've been able to... get out and meet other independent theatre owners.

Part of it is also knowing what goes into marketing a film: having a really good looking trailer and a poster. A lot of times when I'm out lecturing to young people at colleges and high schools, I say, ‘If you want to be a filmmaker, make sure that you have a very good friend who's a graphic artist, because whether you're taking the movie to festivals or to independent theatres or ultimately to DVD, you need very expressive, high concept, and well-executed marketing materials. You need something that makes people want to see the film.'

Probably all indie filmmakers who insist on doing it their own way (and I'm one of them) ... grossly underestimate what goes into delivering a film; for the vast majority of us, we don't go out and win at Sundance and at other major festivals, and we're left with a movie that cost a fair amount of money, that doesn't have a major festival win on its cover, and has good actors in it but not necessarily big stars.

One of the ways that I think you can make yourself marketable is to be able to say to a distributor, 'I've got a good movie, a very watchable movie, and by the way, here are four binders with an index where I can show you that all my papers are signed, my negative is cut, my optical is done, all my contracts are in neat and legible order... and here's our insurance policies.'

That's really about the most uncreative part of the process that I can think of, but it's all required to actually distribute the film.

I went to the Toronto International Film Festival [in 2003], and at one of the panels there was a guy talking about a new concept he has: pushing the idea of releasing the DVD at the same time as the theatrical release, [so] all the people who don't really have the chance to see it in the theatre are still benefiting from the marketing involved in the theatrical release.

MRH: It was a great panel, and there was one participant who was brutally honest about what you, as a filmmaker, must do to convince people why they should leave the comfort of their home on a lousy wintry evening, pay for parking, stand in line, and go see your movie.

SP: He was from New York, and he was a very talkative guy.

MRH: Very talkative, but incredibly sobering. It was basically, 'This is the reality of it, and if you don't like it, tough.'

SP: In some cases, I applaud that attitude, because it probably wakes up the dreamer in all of us, but by the same token, one producer said, 'I can't stand filmmakers who call their films their babies, because their not babies; they're films. You're obviously going to be thinking about the next one,' and I said, 'Well, if I had that attitude, no one would have ever seen my first film, and if [that had happened], I never would have gotten into DVD, and I never would have been able to raise money for my next one.'

I think it's kind of different strokes for different folks, but like I said: for the vast majority of us who don't go out and play major festivals, if you get into one, great... but there has to be a certain persistence that borders on mania, I suppose, if you really want to be your own distributor.

I suppose the really good thing about DVD is that's it's a wonderful way to preserve the film. I read an interview with Ridley Scott [in 2003], where he calls his films 'his babies' - which made me feel better... I think he was speaking most of catalogue titles. It gives you the chance to not only preserve the film in a pristine state, but also put some information on there: 'This is why we did it this way, and this is how our hand was forced here, and why we made this choice.'

Maybe it demystifies the process a little bit, but it also might help you sleep better at night.