And you thought getting a movie made was the hard part.

Edward Douglas probably would have agreed with you after marshaling the forces and funding to create what he says is the largest locally financed film in the state’s history. But even that monstrous challenge was easier than finding a way to get The Dead Matter to retailers.

Douglas, whose Halloween-music duo Midnight Syndicate has grown into a successful business during the past dozen years, expected that finding a distributor for his company’s first film would be easier with his recognizable name in the horror genre and a dedicated fan base. He was wrong.   

“The movie distribution business has undergone some absolutely cataclysmic changes since 2007,” Douglas explains. “If you were to pick a time to make a movie like this, one that’s not uber-low budget but also not supercharged with A-list people, … this may be the worst possible time ever.”

He says the collapse of movie rental chains like Hollywood Video and Blockbuster is partly to blame. A few years ago, direct-to-DVD films could be counted on to produce a significant number of sales as copies were stocked in video rental stores throughout the country. But the advent of Netflix and Redbox has eliminated the need for as many physical copies. Add a poor economy and a spike in movie piracy, and Douglas says you have a situation where some movie distributors are struggling. As a result, independent filmmakers have fewer options for generating revenue from their finished films.

“Look at some of these deals, like Netflix,” Douglas says. “They pay you a certain amount of money, and then the movie is there for people to view for free forever. It’s just suddenly done.”

Although it will eventually appear on Netflix, Douglas initially wanted to sell copies of his movie. So he approached Hot Topic, a national, teen-oriented retailer that already stocks Midnight Syndicate CDs, about selling his film, too. On July 30, The Dead Matter went on sale at the more than 600 Hot Topic stores throughout the United States. The DVD is bundled with a Midnight Syndicate greatest hits CD and the film’s soundtrack as a way to entice buyers.

“It’s a real first what we’re doing,” Douglas says. “A movie with a budget like ours going out and getting national distribution on its own really hasn’t been done before.”

- NEONow

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