In this episode, I’m joined by filmmaker Joe Burke, back on the show to talk about his micro-budget feature Burt.
Over the past year, Burt won Best Comedy Feature at Cinequest, Best Picture and Best Ensemble at Phoenix, was the opening night film at Anchorage, and landed a slot at Palm Springs International. It also got a full feature in the LA Times, was taken on a year-long theatrical tour, and is now being self distributed.
Burt was shot in seven days for $7,000 with a three person crew, in black and white, no stars, built around a real street musician with Parkinson’s. It was finished at the end of 2023 and then rejected by 28 festivals over roughly 14 months, including places where David Gordon Green, the film’s executive producer, personally emailed on its behalf and got nothing back. Throughout the episode, Joe is candid about how close he came to leaving LA, and about the moment he stopped waiting on gatekeepers and went around them – ultimately finding success on his own terms.
Topics covered include:
- Making a black and white feature in seven days for $7,000 with a three person crew
- 28 rejections in 14 months, and what that does to you
- Why an executive producer like David Gordon Green still guarantees nothing
- Renting a 400-seat theater instead of taking a festival slot
- How the LA Times story came together, and what it unlocked
- Cold emailing theaters for 50/50 rev share with zero upfront cost
- Custom trailers, posters, and flyers cut for each individual venue
- 50 waiver emails, 25 yeses, and why follow-up is the whole game
- What the run actually returned: audience and credibility, not reps
- Getting into the DGA, then leaving his agent and manager at 30
- Owning the film forever instead of selling it
- Much More!
This is Episode 284: How a $7,000 Film Beat 28 Festival Rejections and Landed the LA Times, Palm Springs, and a Nationwide Theatrical Run – With Joe Burke
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7 Comments
tiny fishing
atThank you for sharing. I’ve read a great deal on relevant topics! Unlike other articles, yours really made an impression on me. I hope you’ll continue to write thoughtful pieces for us all to read, like this one and others!
Lishi
atThe “50 waiver emails, 25 yeses” line is the one I keep coming back to. It’s such a clean reminder that the theatrical run only happened because Joe treated it like a numbers game and followed up relentlessly, not because the film magically found an audience. After I record a long guest conversation like this for my own small podcast, I turn the recording into text with transcript.im so I can pull exact quotes like that one straight into show notes instead of re-listening and scrubbing the timeline. It also makes it easy to find the specific minute where he explains the cold-email approach to theaters when I want to send a friend straight to that part.
Guest Reader
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at日頃理想的なランジェリーやインナーを探し続けていましたが、こちらのショップでまさに求めていた商品に出会うことができ、心より満足しております。デザインのセンスが凄く優れており、体のラインを美しく魅せてくれる繊細なシルエットが最大の魅力だと強く感じます。
個性的なデザインが数多く取り揃えられており、シーンや気分に合わせて自由に選べる楽しさがあり、毎日のコーディネートがさらに楽しくなります。素材の肌触りがきわめて良く、長時間着用しても肌にストレスを与えず、柔らかく優しい着け心地が大変好印象です。
縫製が全体的に安定しており、どのアイテムを選んでも高い満足度を得られる水準にあります。唯一無二のデザインが豊富に揃っており、他の人と被らないオリジナリティのあるアイテムを見つけられる点が非常に魅力的です。
細部のディテールまで徹底的にこだわって作られており、レースの質感、ステッチの美しさ、フィット感の絶妙さなど、クリエイターの努力と配慮が隅々まで伝わってきます。着用時のシルエットはもちろん、実用性とデザイン性のバランスが完璧で、長く愛用できる商品ばかりです。
これからも是非利用させていただきたいと心から思います。新商品の追加や入荷情報も待ち遠しいので、これからもずっと注目し続けたいと思える、本当に素晴らしいショップだと強く推奨いたします。
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