PIRATES!

Mostly, I am amused. It took all of 4 days for someone (probably a 'bot) to pirate Beast and make it available for download. You may have seen other cases on YouTube where a movie appears to be there... but really it's just a video to redirect you to their site where you can (allegedly) download the film. Am I angry. No. Maybe the tiniest bit. I mean what is the point of pirating something that is free? Am I honoured? Uh... sure? Really though, no. An internet spider crawled out and found the words "Full Movie" in the title of the official YouTube version and posted it at least partially automatically. Mostly I am entertained, though not very well. Its like my five year old told me the chicken crossing the road joke. Was it inevitable? Yup. Was it objectively funny? Nope. Was it noteworthy that we past that threshold? Yeah... but so what? Anyhow... here is what I posted in the comments:

Hi. I am the co-writer and co-director of this film. This is pretty hilarious that this is here.Yeah it's a copyright issue, technically - but...whatever - its a new world technologically speaking, we all have to adapt. What is absurd here is that anyone would click on said link in order to get to see and or download a 4K version of the film. The movie was shot pre RED (although we talked a lot on set about REDs as their release was imminent and our Director of Photography as well as one of our equipment suppliers were high on the waiting list to receive RED cams when they were released)... but Beast of Bottomless Lake was not shot in 4K. No amount of up-res-ing will ever make it 4K. EVER. Last week Provost Pictures decided that the film had made all the money it was reasonably likely to make and that in the spirit of making the film available to the most people possible, that it would become available on the most immediate and basic of platforms - for free - on YouTube. So don't download it from someone who wants to put tracking cookies and/or outright malware on your computer, just watch it here: https://youtu.be/whW57js2XjA You will also find every single DVD extra on the same channel that the main feature is on, as well as links to every single related video that we could find that was about the film from Provost Pictures' original channel and other sources - News interview, talk-backs from Conventions and more. And the quality? Well, considering that the film was never in 4K in the first place and that this pirate copy was almost certainly acquired from the YouTube version (this appeared only 3 days after Provost Pictures released it on YouTube) - the only way you are really going to do better is if for some crazy reason it ends up back on cable TV or PoD... and even then, the difference in quality is next to impossible to see with the naked eye. Oh, and hey... enjoy the film. You are welcome. Oh.... and.... the 20th C Fox production card at the top of this? Totally bogus. Beast of Bottomless Lake is not and never was a Fox asset.

The Beast is in the Stream

People have been asking us for ages how to see The Beast of Bottomless Lake on line.  We haven't had an answer for them - let alone a good one... but that is in part because we hadn't settled upon one. We did explore a number of options. The ones we were most interested in had too high a bar of entry - either requiring a significant investment we didn't really expect to get back, or having gate-keepers who could not be dashed-past (it rhymes with "pet-chicks"). When we took a step back and asked ourselves what our main goal was, the answer was "for people to see the film easily."  Once that was clear, our top option became pretty clear... the number one free video platform on the internet - YouTube.

So, here it is - THE BEAST OF BOTTOMLESS LAKE is AVAILABLE to VIEW on YOUTUBE for free.

But wait! There is more!

Not only is the movie available on YouTube on a dedicated channel, but so are every single feature from the DVD. ALL the commentaries. ALL the deleted and extended scenes. ALL the featurettes. As well as a few specially created playlists for watching all of the latter two groups of videos together in one sequence, and (yeah, more) a playlist which includes every video about The Beast of Bottomless Lake from the main Provost Pictures channel, as well as a few that we found on various other channels - news items and interviews mostly in that latter designation.

So, if there is anyone you've really wanted to tell about The Beast, or whom you wanted to see it, it has never been easier.  Just send them the link.

And a bit of a teaser....

Obviously the posts about The Beast of Bottomless Lake are getting fewer and farther between, and truth be told, after this announcement, there isn't likely to be much more to shout from the rooftops...
HOWEVER...!
In the process of preparing to put the Beast on YouTube we came across a bunch of amusing material that has never been seen - at least not clearly.  Behind the scenes photos.  Text from various printed props. That kind of thing.

There will be a few posts of some of these gems over the next while before we officially sign off from this blog (until such time as there is something unexpected to report upon.)

Now Showing at Leo's Video

Just a quick note to point out that the "Beast" is officially on the rental market.
There arent a lot of video rental stores left in the world, and those that are left lean towards the specialty and boutique markets.  "Beast of Bottomless Lake" has found a home in one that quite simply could not suit it better: Leo's Videos in Kelowna.
A substantial portion of the film was lensed in Kelowna, and we met Leo himself while we were at the Okanagan International Film Festival - which he was valiantly working like mad at.
If there was only one DVD rental outlet in the world where "Beast" would be at home, it is Leo's.

Just When You Thought We'd Forgotten...

Yeah, it has been a long time since there has been news of which to speak of, and this week there are suddenly two things to bring to people's attention.

The first is more immediate, the second is directly relevant to Beast.

The first item...

You may recall it being mentioned here about On Infertile Ground.  It is a documentary about the fertility industry and the effects of infertility on couples who suffer from it.  It is being produced and directed by C.S. John, who was one of the producers on Beast and a number of people involved in Beast has worked on it, or are slated to do work on it before it is done.  It is Infertility Awareness Week and thus this is a hot topic again.  Additionally, two months ago the John family added a pair of twins to their lives.  It was a long and hard fought journey to get to that point and it makes me very happy to welcome those two little girls into the world of two old friends who I've known since high-school.  They all appeared together on Global TV a few days ago to talk about their experience and the documentary.  (As of this writing there is a small issue with the video - there is a false start that lasts about a minute before the video starts for real... perhaps that will be fixed soon and this parenthetical will be rendered pointless.)

The second item...

...Is mostly a tease.  We couldn't move forward on streaming options for Beast until after our contract with SuperChannel expired.  Once that happened it took some time for us to assess the options that were available.  That is now done and we have plans for the fall.  Hopefully before the end of September... but that is not solid as of yet.  I can't really reveal more specific details at this time - in part because they barely exist, and also because there may be other significant events over the summer that should rightfully be revealed first.  So look out for those details yet to come.

'Cause I Just Don't Have Enough to Do....

As mentioned in the last post, I have been considering - obviously for quite some time - writing a book about the experience of creating Beast of Bottomless Lake.

Well the damned idea isn't going away.  I thought that having no actual interest from a publisher would knock the notion out of me.  But why would it?  Not having a budget or a distributor or any of the myriad things that you really ought to have when making a movie didn't stop me from making one.  And in the age of digital self publishing, its possibly viable.  And tonight I kind of buckled.  I took all of the posts from this blog and cut and pasted them (as reference material) into the outline in the pitch document I sent publishers.  I'm already at 120 poorly edited pages.  Obviously, I'm going to rewrite practically everything, but the guide is there.

Like the movie, this probably won't be a fast project.  I have a lot going on.

- I've been serializing a truly massive novel online for quite some time - the going is slow there too, despite having much of the plot mapped out... those holes are hard to get past though.  If I ever finish, this one is going to be a door-stopper.

- I'm working on a screenplay about a truly fascinating aspect of deterrence theory (The political gamesmanship that has against all seeming odds kept us from nuking the hell out of each other for over half a century.) that has taken me way down the rabbit hole.

- An older project I created with Roger Haskett (Neville in Beast) may have once again found some legs - and if it has it could be pretty consuming.

- A TV project I conceived with another friend had some recent interest... but I suspect we've seen the last of this round of sizzle, so that's probably not a factor.

- I've finally acquired the means to go back into production on my video series "Best Picture" - which fortunately has no deadlines on it, but still... if I'm going to do it, I should bloody well do it.

- And I'm in the middle of researching a series of short fiction about the (very real) Galileo mission to Jupiter.

Not to mention carrying on contract work, a very part-time "day job" and not least of all being a Father.

But I just can't help thinking, that this project isn't going away.  I'll pick away at it in the gaps - Eg. some times I simply can't bring myself to get immersed in the psychology of gambling that everyone is going to play nice and not blow one another into radioactive dust, and in those times I need something else to write - something where I already know the beginning, middle and end.

And on...

It has been a year since the last theatrical screening of The Beast of Bottomless Lake - in fact almost to the minute of the beginning of the showing as I write this now.

Due to the SuperChannel release of Beast it has been difficult to impossible to move forward on other sales and platforms - specifically streaming.  I should be careful to point out that this is in no way an indictment of SuperChannel - we loved having the film in their hands for 18 months.  It was simply the nature of the contract that there wasn't much room for additional sales while their broadcast window was open.

But our contract ended at the beginning of this month.  We are now beginning to move forward on other avenues.  I can't say what precisely those will be until we have more clarity on how we are proceeding, but suffice to say that one way or another it will become much easier for people all around the world to see The Beast of Bottomless Lake.
Two more things before I put an end to this brief message...

First a little piece of art (I'm not sure, I think it qualifies as manga.)  A characterization of David Nykl as Paul Moran.  I've forgotten where this came across my desk from.  I've been sitting on it for far too long and it is time to share.  I shamefully admit that I have no idea who the artist is.  If you are reading this and it is yours, please please please let me know so I can credit you properly (or remove it if you would prefer).

"Curse you 'Pogo!!!!"

Secondly, I'm testing the waters on something, but first a little set-up (feel free to skip ahead to "HERE'S THE THING" below if you find the following self-indulgence boring)....  I've been busy with all manner of creative endeavours lately.  Perhaps you are already familiar with one or two of those that are public.
I've been serializing a novel (well, a trilogy ultimately); Necropolis for free online.  I admit it comes and goes in frequency, but I am gradually making headway.  I recently finished and posted the second part and and have the beginning of the third part ready.  The first book is heading into it's final stage.  Whee!  I have a pretty good idea of where the long-range destination of the narrative is going, but I admit there is a certain amount of making-it-up and consequent discovery as I go.  Check it out.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I am enjoying creating it.
Secondly, many years ago I took it upon myself to see every film that has ever won the Best Picture Oscar.  Then a few years ago I decided to start doing short videos on the various films that have won.  It is very lo-fi and I am really taking my time around paid work and other promising projects, but I do have fun making them.  You can find the whole set thus far at Best Picture.  I should have the next one ready to go reasonably soon.
Then comes the stuff that I can't talk about so much: A few screenplays I'm hoping to move and a pair of TV shows I'm trying to sell (including one I created with Roger Haskett who played Neville in Beast.And of course there is the never ending social jazz-improv of raising a child... I also have a ridiculously huge catalogue of videos collected on line about her, called "Three Minutes of December" but I won't subject you to that directly - some are pretty fun, but most are largely for documentary purposes and for family interest.

HERE'S THE THING:
Amongst all those other projects I've been planning out and writing samples of a proposed book about independent film-making.  I haven't got a lot that I can add technically to the existing literature, but I can provide a great yarn about the emotional journey - complete with lofty highs and dismal lows - that would serve as a case study, or a non-fiction novel.  I've done some market research with the assistence of Biz Books (whose old store was used as the bookstore in Beast) and determined that there is effectively no such book available.
I've been approaching publishers and also considering the possibilities of self-publication.  The latter is a significantly different (ahem) beast.  If I can sell the book to a publisher I will have a guarantee of at least some small payment, whereas self-publishing is effectively writing on spec (not that I haven't done that before) and signing myself up for even more work in promotion - though with the added plus that I effectively get the entirety of the profits for myself.
So, I'm wondering who out there would read such a book.  Would you??  Answer in the comments please if you would.  I know this a small segment of potential readers I am reaching now, but its a starting sample.  It could make a difference as to whether I forge forward or not.

A Virtuous Affiliated Project

Hey folks,

It has been a while since there has been much news about the Beast... and while it is not "over" per se, the news will be stretched out over longer periods now.

But meantimem many people associated with the Beast are moving on to other things.

I'd like to take a moment to draw your attention to one I find particularly interesting and worthy....

C.S. John, one of Beast's producers is developing a documentary exploring the many facets of the fertility industry.  There are a staggering number of couples in the world who for one reason or another will deal with fertility problems to a greater or lesser degree.  It is a heart-breaking thing to witness.  It is so emotionally wrought that many people won't even make their problems public, but it is so common that I can pretty much guarantee that you know someone who has faced this issue even if you don't know who they are.

The film's title is On Infertile Ground and part of its intended purpose is to bring to light the realities faced by these couples so as to destigmatize the issue through increased compassionate awareness.  It may also help people facing the anguish of infertility to find both strength in unity and to open the doors to therapies they may not have otherwise considered.  It is virtually guaranteed to be a film that is simultaneously tragic and uplifting.  I heartily encourage you to check out the details at the website linked above and join their group on Facebook and then to go and make a donation (no amount is too small) to their IndieGoGo account.