We tried a couple of different things in the HOL process that were difficult but proved successful. Namely, we developed a web campaign before we had a script. We hired 3 writers that we really liked and had these marathon brainstorming sessions. They weren't working directly on the script but more on the mythology behind the move. The result was some character development that will be key to the movie.
Development is key and especially for low budget films.
The lower the budget the more you need to work out on paper. Many South African filmmakers are still very unsure about the mechanisms of international distribution, marketing and sales. The international success of Blair was a wonderful aspect of Blair that really was out of our hands. Summit Entertainment did a great job working with Artisan to implement much the same plan that had been developed for the domestic distribution. As a direct result we have been working with Summit extensively on our next film.