Inside:

Distribution on the edge:

Canadian cinema carves an ‘erotic weirdness’ niche – p. B3

Canadian screenwriting:

‘A low-percentage proposition’ – p. B4

Shorts getting longer shrift:

Garnering more slots and more money – p. B20

Film diaries:

Production chronicles from conception to completion – begin p. B7

Features:

The Hanging Garden – p. B7

Shopping for Fangs – p. B11

Gerrie & Louise – p. B14

Pitch – p. B17

Hayseed – p. B19

Shorts:

Guy Maddin: Waiting for Twilight – p. B22

Permission – p. B24

Linear Dreams – p. B26

Directors/writers: Kenny Hotz, Spencer Rice * Producer: Raymond Massey * Executive producer: Fitzroy E. Clarke * Cameraman: Chris Romeike * Diary by: Andy Hoffman

Kenny Hotz and partner Spencer Rice (Hotz/Rice) bill their debut feature documentary Pitch as the ‘first Canadian film with Al Pacino.’

The story of how Pitch came to be is unconventional in Canadian terms, to say the least. Government funding was not part of the financing package for the film that documents the pair’s attempt to get their first screenplay The Dawn into the proper Hollywood players’ hands. The film was financed by a private investor and the production was shot and completed with a myriad of ‘favors.’

‘I want to say that financing for this thing is all private,’ says Hotz. ‘We had no funds from friends, Telefilm or mommy. We can’t get a government grant to make a Mafia comedy in New York. We’re forced out of the system.’

A quick chat with codirectors/ writers Hotz and Rice reveals the secret to their success of getting Pitch made. Their unabashed chutzpah and willingness to do anything for the sake of their film can only be described as distinctly un-Canadian. ‘Here (in Canada) the attitude is why should we help you?’ says Hotz. ‘In the States it’s how can we rape you?’

April 1995: Hotz is watching a u.s. tabloid television show and sees a story on New York Mafia kingpin John Gotti followed by a piece about a man who was admitted to hospital to have his appendix removed and is mistakenly given a sex-change operation.

Hotz immediately calls Rice and suggests writing a New York Mafia comedy about a don who is given a sex-change operation while in hospital, when his bratty son pulls a ‘Michael Corleone’ and moves the don’s bed to save him from being murdered by a hit man.

April 1996: They work on the script for a year after producing and directing the documentary It Don’t Cost Nothin’ To Say Good Morning, which was featured at the Toronto’s Hot Docs festival. Hotz and Rice complete a draft of The Dawn in April.

They realize that it is a mainstream Hollywood type of picture and to get a studio to make it they will need a Hollywood star attached to the project. They decide Al Pacino would be perfect as the don and get his number from the l.a. blue book 411. Pacino’s agent hangs up on them, startled at their nerve to think that ‘Al Pacino would read or even consider an unsolicited script.’

Hotz turns to Rice and says, ‘We’ve got to film this,’ and the idea for Pitch is born.

April to July 1996: Rice and Hotz pound the pavement knocking on rich people’s doors and Rolls-Royce windows looking for money to finance Pitch. After talking to countless wealthy Torontonians, including Ed Mirvish, Hotz’s girlfriend Kate Brooks introduces them to arts patron Fitzroy E. Clarke. They pitch their idea to Clarke, who claims he knows nothing about films but will talk to his friend Raymond Massey (Whale Music). Clarke says that if Massey likes the idea, then he might be willing to finance the picture.

Late July 1996: Massey is flown in (by Clarke) to talk with Rice and Hotz. He loves their idea, saying there has never really been a documentary about trying to make it in Hollywood. Massey agrees to produce. The production is set to start shooting in August. Hotz and Rice expect much of the film to take place in their office.

August 1996: Clarke writes the production a cheque, giving Hotz and Rice a shooting budget that Hotz calls ‘less than the catering budget for one episode of Kung Fu.’ The cheque was for about $5,000; the film eventually cost $200,000.

Hotz and Rice hire a two-person crew, dop Chris Romeike and sound recordist Bissa Scekic. They somehow manage to get all their film equipment for free from a Toronto rental house, which agrees to take a percentage of the profits (if there are any).

They shoot on Super 16, anticipating a blowup if the film turns out well, and shoot only with available light.

Late August 1996: Shooting begins documenting Hotz and Rice trying to break the Hollywood barrier on the phone from their offices. They call Alec Baldwin, Jack Nicholson and Pacino again. They ‘hit the brick wall’ that is Hollywood and decide to go to the ’96 Toronto International Film Festival to pitch players in person.

Early September 1996: Hotz and Rice get permission to shoot at the festival from Debbie Nightingale, who is in charge of media accreditation and a big fan of their film It Don’t Cost Nothin’ To Say Good Morning.

‘We have ruined any chances of anybody else ever getting access to shoot at the festival,’ says Hotz.

During the 10-day festival the pair pitches Norman Jewison at his press conference for Bogus, Matt Dillon, Eric Stoltz, a nasty Roger Ebert, and give a copy of the script to their dream star Pacino.

Sept. 15 1996: Hotz, Rice and their two-person crew make a pilgrimage to l.a. ‘We had no insurance and we loaded up $700,000 worth of equipment,’ recalls Hotz. ‘We had no broker and we snuck the stuff into the country. It was luck that there was just some guy who was too lazy to stop us at the border, and they let us into the country.’

Sept. 16-30, 1996: While in Hollywood they pitch some big names including Arthur Hiller (president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) and Samuel Z. Arkoff (producer on some 500 Hollywood films). They corner Neil Simon in a parking lot and ply him for advice. ‘It’s about the work,’ the legendary playwright and screenwriter tells them.

While in l.a., everyone steers the pair towards getting an agent, so they get an agent who takes a look at their screenplay and tells them to get all their scripts back.

The two fight and argue a lot during their time in l.a.

Oct. 1, 1996: Hotz and Rice return to Toronto with filming completed but without having seen a daily. ‘For all we knew the camera was broken and there was a scratch through every single frame,’ says Hotz. ‘It’s diarrhea and stomach cramps because you have no idea what you have. We were sitting there watching it get transferred to video and everything came out so gorgeous.’

It is at this point that they realize their Nagra recording device was faulty and was failing intermittently throughout the filming. It ends up taking four months to sync the sound.

Daniel Sadler is hired as an editor and Hotz and Rice secure another favor and get free access to an editing suite at a Toronto design school.

October 1996 to January 1997: While cutting the film on an Avid MC Express at the school, Hotz and Rice begin lining up bands and musicians for the soundtrack. King Cobb Steelie, Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet, and Phono-Comb donate tunes.

January 1997: Some video outputs of the film are made for submission to festivals, and Hotz and Rice begin shopping the movie around looking for a distributor to help finance the $70,000 blowup cost.

Says Hotz: ‘We didn’t have the blowup in the budget because usually the distributor handles it and the executive producer doesn’t want to be committed to an extra $70,000 if the movie turns out to be shit.’

February 1997 to May 1997: A lot of distributors pass on the film. Suddenly, New York-based sales agent Gotham Entertainment agrees to help get Pitch completed and vsc (Video Services Corp.) signs on as a video distributor in Canada.

Meanwhile, Hotz and Rice are busy with legal details making sure they won’t get sued. They are disappointed when they find out that they can’t use Pacino’s name on the poster.

June 1997: Clarke, Gotham and vsc help with the financing for a print. Hotz praises the generosity of Clarke, their angel investor. ‘We (Hotz/Rice) managed to keep equity during the process,’ explains Hotz. ‘Usually in the film business if you pay for the budget you own the movie. Clarke gave us 50% of the film, which allowed us to sell some equity just to get it finished and show some good faith on our part.’

Publicist Virginia Kelly of VK and Associates is brought on board to help publicize Pitch.

August 1997: Pitch is accepted to the Perspective Canada lineup at tiff. Hotz and Rice scramble to get a print completed in time for their screening, and devise a plan of attack to acquire a domestic and international distributor at the festival.

‘In the end,’ says Hotz, ‘we’ve made a comedy feature with all these big stars, but we’re still nobodies.’

September 1997: Pitch screens at tiff.