MRH: What forms of publicity were the most successful?

SP: I think what worked out best for [Nice Guys] was twofold: we had that exclusive deal with Hollywood Video, and ...the second was our relationship with Netflix.com. Netflix really took Nice Guys under its wing and used it as its poster child for what an indie film can do in the Netflix environment - where it's being recommended to people who might rent a lot of studio romantic comedies, and getting word-of-mouth recommendations.

Between those two sort of macro deals, and my always vehement grass roots [efforts], I guess that's what I had taken away.

I'm getting ready to go a 2,500 mile drive tomorrow that will take me to Owensboro, Kentucky; Des Moines, Iowa; and Dawson, Alabama, to meet with various video retailers and wholesalers just to make an introduction, and say, ‘Here's why this isn't just an average independent film; here's something that has a high profile cast, in terms of being very TV friendly; and is very well produced.'

This goes back to something that I tie very directly to you personally: when you reviewed the Nice Guys DVD, you said something about the commentary track to the effect of ‘obviously this guy built this movie from scratch, and we didn't get a whole lot of nuts and bolts on the commentary track, and it was a missed opportunity.'

Well, this time around on the commentary track I may have, if anything, erred too much in the opposite direction: I tried to jam pack it full of the answers to all those questions I get asked by those kids I get to speak to, and saying, ‘Here's how we got these people in the cast; and here's how we raised the money.'

I drop my email address in the commentary track three or four times; my experience becomes far more worthy to me if intelligent, motivated young filmmakers want to interact with me and tap into my experience, and make me feel that I haven't pursued this career just for myself. I always say I don't know everything, but everything I do know I'm willing to share.

MRH: Some folks - even before considering the bland and familiar comedy or thriller of the month - are willing to take a chance on something new in both theatrical and home video markets.

SP: I think that goes a long way towards something I learned doing my grass-roots for Nice Guys Sleep Alone, which I intend on repeating with Keep Your Distance : sticking my head into stores, and talking to the people that work at those video stores, because [they're] either filmmakers themselves, or film aficionados.

There might be people out there I've met who will turn around and recommend something I've done, because I've taken the effort to say ‘Hey, help me get the word out [because this film] was a labor of love, it's a good movie, and there's a lot of things on the DVD that'll give you a significantly deeper look into how you make something for a very modest money at the end of the day. It's not in this Never Neverland of a $100 million dollars budget; it's a $2 million dollar budget, and I think that makes it very accessible for people who are not just interested in the storytelling of films, but the science and sweat that goes into making them.'

KQEK would like to thank Stu Pollard for taking time out in his busy schedule for a lengthy and detailed discussion on a less sexy, but vital stage in a movie's evolution.

Keep Your Distance is available from Monarch Video.

All images remain the property of their copyright holders.

This interview © 2003 and 2006 by Mark R. Hasan