Dear HHSE Friends & Shareholders - Lots of activity underway at Hannover House, from our day-to-day core business of video distribution - to our new theatrical activities
(including the 250-print, Nov. 7th release of ON ANY SUNDAY: THE NEXT CHAPTER), the imminent consumer launch of VODwiz, and the ongoing production activities for FOUR major features and two direct-to-video projects.
As some shareholders know, there has been a small but vocal group of "IHub Bashers" that belong to what we consider "The Flat Earth Society" of reality denial. Whenever something momentous and materially positive for the company occurs -
such as today's announcement of the HHSE partnership with Redbull on the 250-print theatrical release of an Oscar-nominee-bound film - instead of acknowledging this achievement, they instead try to change the subject.
Today, a poster pretending to be knowledgeable about the movie industry has suggested that HHSE is "not" in production on our slate of films and videos... which is such an absurdly and easily disproven statement that it evidences how truly "outside" of the industry that this fake poster orbits. What this pretend movie persona is suggesting is that because he
(or she) does not know certain details about the status of our productions, that they must not be happening. Really? We would like to know the identity of someone who is so amazingly connected that they know the whereabouts and activities of every single cast and crew member in the industry and worldwide! Such an all-knowing expert surely must be a billionaire many times over, rather than posting 19-times a day on the HHSE IHub board. Such a mixture of ignorance and arrogance could inspire a character in a Will Ferrell comedy.
Hannover House has not "PR'd" our principal cast, crew or locations for most of the bigger productions. Why not? Simple answer. When you're engaging a star for a less-than-rate agreement
(what is often called a "no quote" fee), you are obligated to not promote their involvement until the film is ready for release. So if you have a multi-million dollar actor in a film
(hypothetically, let's say TOM CRUISE) who has agreed to perform a particularly interesting role for much less than their "
studio quote," it is imperative to not jeopardize the agreement for their participation with premature announcements and hype. Why? Just ask the agents at C.A.A. who might say, "
hey, how can I demand $10-mm for your next studio film when you're off in Ireland doing a indie film for only $100,000?" It's a very good point from the Agent's standpoint, so the solution is to NOT publicize a film's specifics to the marketplace of "wanna-be's" out there. It's out of respect for the no-quote and a requirement to protect the participation of significant talent.
HHSE will announce the status, cast and principal crew members of all of our major films as this information becomes appropriate or required. We won't do it because some yahoo who has never produced a film thinks it's the right thing to do. We'll do it AFTER we have expressed authority to proceed, and do it in a manner that results in a carefully orchestrated publicity support for the film.
Meanwhile, it's a VERY SUNNY day at HHSE; we're sipping on Redbulls and booking theaters for
ON ANY SUNDAY, which is unquestionably the biggest theatrical release in the history of HHSE. Could also be the biggest documentary of the year
(we'll have to wait and see). For those of you living in the real world, we thank you for your support as we build the company in this positive direction!
* * * * *
A few basic film terms...
We concede that the vast majority of HHSE shareholders or followers have never produced a motion picture before. Accordingly, perhaps it's a tad disrespectful or presumptuous of us (although completely unintentional), to presume that everyone shares a broad knowledge of basic film terminology. So in this respect, we apologize for inadvertently confusing some HHSE followers with our brevity and vernacular choices.
When a production company comes to a distributor (such as Hannover House) with a movie project for production financing, one of the initial questions asked by the distributor is "do you have any stars attached?" The word "attached" has very specific meaning in the film industry and usually means that a specific star talent has agreed to be in the movie, subject to some general conditions (usually schedule issues as the priority, and often smaller contract terms).
If an actor is genuinely considering a role, but the "deal" has not yet been worked out to the satisfaction of the Agent or funding source, then the term generally used to describe their orbit of the project is "in negotiations."
If an actor is determined to be accessible to the director, believed to be available during the production window and believed to be available for the amount budgeted in the production, then this sort of talent may be "pre-approved" by the distributor. This action of "pre-approving" talent assures that the movie ultimately being delivered to the distributor will be of the commercial level required to justify the production investment... and having the distributor's pre-approval of talent provides the production company with the authorization to make a formal offer for such services.
With every major production that Hannover House is developing or producing with outside entities, each project has a list of talent that meets these conditions for "pre-approval" and anticipated obtainability. For instance, the multi-party agreement with the investors, Hannover House and Odyssey Pictures for the movie "Within Screaming Distance" includes specific language that John Malkovich is pre-approved for the lead role. Does that mean that John Malkovich is absolutely "signed", "attached" and otherwise committed to the film? Absolutely not. In this particular case, there are still issues of director approval, final script, schedule and money specifics. It's a distance from being a done-deal, because any one of those elements might pose an obstacle that results in Mr. Malkovich not starring in the movie. For the movie "The Unwelcome" pre-approved cast members include Neve Campbell, Alyssa Milano and Fairuza Balk (all for the SAME role); having Hannover's endorsement of these actresses enables the producers greater flexibility regarding scheduling and other considerations. Any of them would be GREAT in that film, as might other actresses in the event that these specific performers are unavailable.
There are clues within most of the HH Facebook posts. Look over the past few months and see if you can recognize the pattern? While the company is generous in extending Kudos to others in the industry, there's usually more than the surface of a post to each subject.
