Matt Perniciaro (left) and Kevin Mann (middle) with co-producer Dana Brunetti
Some of us played with the toys, some had the memorabilia, and some watched them over and over on our video players before the DVDs came out with all the special features! FANBOYS brings the Star Wars nostalgia, passion, and fanaticism onto the big screen with a heartfelt and humorous story of four friends who embark on an adventurous journey toward Skywalker Ranch to watch Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace before its release.
Now playing in theaters, FANBOYS is a journey itself that goes back all the way to 1999. Producers Matt Perniciaro and Kevin Mann who were involved in the project since the first day tell us about this adventure that is filled with hard work, surprises, and revisions, but mainly a true dedication to Star Wars fans and to the project itself. From the initial steps to budgeting and distribution, Perniciaro and Mann not only tell us about FANBOYS, but also talk about their new projects and inspire with some great advice an experienced producer can give to an aspiring filmmaker.
F.A. Are you Star Wars fans yourselves?
M.P. I definitely am a big big Star Wars fan. When Episode 1 was coming out, I was still collecting Star Wars toys and memorabilia. I watched the films countless times. So I was one of the first people in line the day before Episode 1 came out.
K.M. I am more of a casual fan. I definitely have seen all the movies a couple times, but I was more of a G.I. Joe, Transformer kind of guy. My brother was gigantic Star Wars fan though, and I definitely had a lot of toys growing up.
F.A. I know that there is a long journey behind this film. How did you get involved in the project and how long did it take you guys to get this film made?
M.P. It took many years. I first read about the script in early 1999 on Harry Knowles’ website Ain’t It Cool News. At the time, Ernie, the original writer, was trying to do the film independently for 25,000 dollars and was fundraising in Austin. When I read about this project, I was still in college and the idea of three guys going on this trip for their dying friend really moved me. I really wanted to help this guy out, but unfortunately I was a broke college kid.
About a year and a half later, I was living in Los Angeles, working in the movie business, and I thought, “I really wonder what happened to Fan Boys.” I finally tracked Ernie down through a slam poetry group. I told him I really wanted to read the script and that I’ve heard so much about it. He told me that he had started shooting some test scenes, but realized that he didn’t have enough money and wasn’t going to be able to do it properly, so he gave up on it. So I said why don’t you send me the script? When I read the script, I thought it had so much heart and knew instantly I wanted to do it.
When we flew out to Austin to meet Ernie and option the script, it was the end of 2000, and we finally ended up shooting it in early 2006. We went through with several re-writes, worked with Dan (Pulick) and Adam Goldberg. We took all the great elements of the draft and ended up with a script that we felt passionate about, which had heart and comedy. After shooting, we hit some snags, did some re-shoots, and dealt with the test screening process, but ultimately the final version of the movie is something that we are very proud of. So even though it was a long journey, it was definitely worth it.
F.A. So have a lot of changes been made since you acquired the first version of the script and re-worked it with three writers?
M.P. Yes. When Ernie originally conceived the movie and didn’t have a lot of money, he conceived it to be similar to Clerks, where the majority of it was taking place either in the van or at the diner where they stopped to eat. He wrote it to shoot it for very low budget and knew that he wouldn’t be able to shoot it in a lot of locations. The script was a lot more dialog heavy. I thought we needed to broaden the script and said, “Let’s not look at this script thinking that we only have 25,000 dollars to make this movie.” We can do this for a bigger budget by taking some of the dialog in the script and turn it into action. So that was probably the biggest change in the project, but the heart and the characters always remained the same.
F.A. How did you find the necessary funding for the project?
M.P. Originally, we were talking about trying to do it independently, but there was a lot of studio interest in the film. Dan Fogler and Kristen Bell were interested in being in the film from very early stages, and that was helpful. Financiers and studios took recognition of it. Ultimately, the Weinstein Company came in. We had been talking with another studio for a while, and someone from that studio passed the script onto Harvey Weinstein and said, “Harvey, we’re not making this script, you should really look at this.” Harvey read it and 48 hours later, we had a deal closed to make the movie.
F.A. What kind of an influence did Harvey Weinstein have on the film? Did he induce any changes in the project?
K.M. Harvey was great during production and the initial post period, but he started to rethink the cancer plot and wanted to make the movie a little broader. There was a bit of a back and forth in the studio in terms of what we wanted the project to be and what they saw in it. What they saw as its best potential financially was a broader comedy without the cancer, and we always thought the cancer was the heart of the movie. So we ended up struggling with them on that, but ultimately the best version of the movie got made. There was probably some unnecessary spending to get to that point, but ultimately I think we got the right version on the screen.
F.A. How did you get Kevin Spacey and Dana Brunetti involved?
K.M. Kevin’s company owned half the option of the script with our company. So when we took it out to Dreamworks and the Weinsteins, we were co-owners of the script.
F.A. As producers, what kind of creative input did you have on the film?
M.P. We made consistently significant changes. As a producer, sometimes you have to think with two hats to decide what is best creatively for the film versus what you can afford. Your job as a producer is to make that creative transition and produce something that is not only affordable for the production, but also helpful for the script in a creative sense. This was a project that we were very creatively involved.
F.A. What kind of responses have you been getting so far?
M.P. The responses have been very strong. We didn’t really do any marketing for the film, but the people who have seen the movie really enjoyed it. As far as the people who are going to see it or the fans that have been waiting for it, those are the people we made the movie for, so we’re excited that they’re enjoying it.
F.A. Speaking of marketing, did you do any online promotion?
M.P. We reached people through websites we have relationships with, telling them where they can go to see the movie and when it’s playing. But unfortunately there wasn’t a lot of marketing spending on this particular film.
F.A. Where did you shoot the scenes that were set at Skywalker Ranch?
M.P. Some of the exteriors were shot at Skywalker Ranch. The rest of them, we shot in New Mexico. One of the reasons we chose New Mexico as our shooting location was because there was a great area north of Las Vegas, an international boarding school that had very similar woodwork to Skywalker Ranch. So as soon as we saw that location, we knew we had to shoot there since it doubled so nicely.
F.A. What are some new projects that you’re working on?
M.P. We’re currently doing a film called Prodigy. It’s a bigger budget project for us. It’s kind of a sci-fi action film. We’re also doing an adaptation of a D.C. comic book called Mnemovore that we’re casting right now. As producers, you always need to have a couple balls that you’re juggling in the air and keep trying to push forward.
F.A. Most of our community consists of aspiring, independent filmmakers, and one of their biggest concerns it to find the necessary funding to finance their films. Do you have any suggestions for our audience about financing?
K.M. It’s a tough question, because it all depends on the budget level and what your goals are. To secure financing for movies for over 2 or 3 million dollars, you have to find the right production companies and genre arms of studios. Making movies for under 2 million dollars is about creating a smart business plan, breaking the investment down by units and finding a threshold you’re comfortable with in order to green light the movie to get started. But it really all depends on your budget range and budget level, and obviously with today’s economy, the independent films with non-financing partners from Hollywood is very difficult.
F.A. And what kind of budgeting do you usually work with?
K.M. We’re kind of all over the place. We’re probably fitting in the 5 to 15 million-dollar range right now. Those are bulk of our projects, but I would say we have a handful of high 20s to low 30s. We also have a project that is somewhere around 60 million, but those are projects that require studio involvement and have longer development processes. So for younger producers or people trying to get their first films made, I strongly suggest doing films that are under 2 million dollars and try to find the financing partners outside of the system.
M.P. We always tell people to really be aware of their surroundings. There’s a film community most likely wherever you are, and if there isn’t one, you should create one. I think a lot of people aren’t aware of how many people there are who live right around them with similar interests and goals. If you put a bunch of length minded people together, you find a way to get things done together. That includes investing. There are a lot of people who, even in today’s economy, have some extra income. But with the stock market being as crazy as it is, investing in a movie isn’t the craziest investment anymore.
Interview by Eren Gulfidan. Contact at www.filmannex.com/erengulfidan
