BPS 360: Making and Selling a Niche Indie Film with Rob Smat

Today on the show we have writer/director Rob Smat. His niche film
is THE LAST WHISTLE. It is a Football Drama with a budget 125K, the
crew was almost entirely film students, shot in 13 days in Texas,
distributed worldwide by Vertical Ent. for 10 theater release this
past June and originated as a pitch for Rebel Without a Crew TV
show and was turned down so I made it myselfRob formed a cast from
high-level B-list stars, fostered relationships with distributors
before shooting, and focused on production value without losing
sight of the story. Trying to recoup budget rather than use the
festival circuit to find an audience he did not submit the film to
any major festivals, we discuss the pros and cons of that
strategy.He was 22 when I started developing the project and wanted
THE LAST WHISTLE to lead him to a place where he could build a
filmmaking business model that could sustain his filmmaking
goals.

Enjoy my conversation with Rob Smat.

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