Local Filmmakers Are Looking For That Hollywood Ending

Hello everyone, my name’s John Conte and I’m a resident of the lovely town of Springfield, N.J.  I’m also a member of a small team of filmmakers/musicians who are donating the worldwide rights to their work to charity. The work consists of five feature films, three screenplays and one CD/DVD collection of music and music videos.  

The first film we’re trying to donate to charity is “Night Of The Day Of The Dawn Of The Son Of The…Part 5.”  In addition to the worldwide rights to this film we’re also donating $10,000.   Here’s how the process works:   

We make a list of “celebrity” names like Tina Fey, Will Ferrell, Adam Sandler, Eddie Murphy, etc., and then offer the first one who agrees to review the film $10,000 to donate to the charity of their choice. In addition to $10,000.00, we also give them the worldwide rights to the film to sell to any company they want as long as they take the money from that sale and, again, donate it to the charity of their choice. 

In theory, this seems like a good idea. It is a very small time commitment on the part of a celebrity. It would take around 90 minutes to watch the film, probably 30 minutes to have an assistant jot down some notes, and then a phone call or e-mail to have their publicist make an announcement to the press.  Along with the initial $10,000, the sale of the worldwide rights to film could possibly add hundreds of thousands of dollars, maybe even millions, to the money going to charity.

The idea of having a celebrity involved is obviously economic.  According to IMDB.com, Will Ferrell’s fee to star in a movie is $20,000,000. If Will Ferrell reviewed the film it obviously isn’t the same as him starring in it.  But even his name being connected to it through a review would have financial value.  The true value would be determined by how involved he wanted to get.  If he reviewed the film on his website, FunnyOrDie.com, the money that would end up going to a charity could be substantial.

The “Will Ferrell” scenario isn’t going to happen. So far, the celebrities we’ve contacted who have turned this offer down are Tina Fey, Will Ferrell, Adam Sandler, Eddie Murphy, “Family Guy” creator Seth MacFarlane, Conan O’Brien, Jimmy Kimmel, Chris Rock, Ben Stiller, Jerry Seinfeld, Roseanne Barr, Ashton Kutcher, Robin Williams, and “South Park” creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone.   Currently the offer is out to Mike Myers, Jack Black, Judd Apatow, “Hangover 2” director Todd Phillips, and Jim Carrey. 

Though these rejections may seem a bit distressing that’s not the effect it has on us.  We believe this is a “numbers game” and all you have to do is keeping trying until you reach that number, or person, where everything changes.  In the end some celebrities will come forward, review these films, and help get some money to some worthy causes.  So we’ll keep fighting until that happens.    

I’ll be writing a blog that will chronicle this interesting and hopefully rewarding journey.  We’ll be trying to raise a total of $1,000,000 for charity through this endeavor and I’m thinking we’re going to do it.  Check back next week to see how we’re doing. Thanks and hope all’s well with all of you.   

John Conte is a professional musician and has written the soundtracks for two award-winning feature films, Black-Eyed Susan and Mass of Angels.  He also held the Guinness World Record for continuous piano playing from 2003-2007, playing the keyboards for 55 straight hours at the Cornelia Street Café in New York City.  “Shot”, a documentary feature film that chronicled his attempt to break this record, is one of the films being donated to charity.  Check out the charity project at www.NightOfTheDayOfTheDawn.org