Latest / Indie Film Hustle® - A Filmmaking Podcast / IFH 682: How to Make Your Own Damn Indie Movie with Lloyd Kaufman

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IFH 682: How to Make Your Own Damn Indie Movie with Lloyd Kaufman · Indie Film Hustle® - A Filmmaking Podcast

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You are listening to the IFH podcast Network. For more amazing filmmaking and screenwriting
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podcasts, just go to IFAH podcast network dot com. Welcome to the Indie
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Film Hustle Podcast, episode number six eighty two. With computers and technology,
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we're becoming more and more secluded from each other. Wolfgang Peterson rest in peace.
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Broadcasting from the back alley in Hollywood. It's the Indie Film Hustle Podcast,
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where we show you how to survive and thrive as an indie filmmaker in
0:34
the jungles of the film biz. And here's your host, Alex Ferrari.
0:39
Welcome, Welcome to another episode of the Indie Film Hustle Podcast. I am
0:42
your humble host Alex Ferrari. Today's show is sponsored by Rise of the Film
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Entrepreneur. How to turn your independent film into a profitable business. It's harder
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today than ever before for independent filmmakers to make money with their films from predatory
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film distributors ripping them off to huckster film aggregators who prey upon them. The
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odds are stacked against the indie filmmaker. The old distribution model of making money
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with your film is broken, and there needs to be a change. The
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future of independent filmmaking is the entrepreneurial filmmaker or the film entrepreneur. In Rise
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film projects and show you how to turn your indie film into a profitable business.
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With case studies examining successes and failures. This book shows you the step
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by step method to turn your passion into a profitable career. If you're making
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Film Entrepreneur method will set you up for success. The book is available in
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paperback, ebook, and of course audiobook. If you want to order it,
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just head over to www dot film bizbook dot com. That's film bizbook
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dot com. Enjoy today's episode with guest host Dave Bullis. This guy is
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the founder and president of Truma Entertainment and the creator of the Toxic Avenger.
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I'm sure you already know who the guest is without me even saying his name,
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but with guest Lloyd Kaufman. Yeah, Hi, Dave, how are
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you doing good? How are you buddy good? Thanks for having me on
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my pleasure, Lloyd. And you know, my daughter, one of my
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daughters the mutant middle child one of the mutants, and Chromeo and Juliet.
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She started a company called kit split, which is an airbnb for a film
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gear for film equipment, film and video equipment kit split, k I t
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k is and kaufman it dot com. Her partner is named Christina and guess
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what the last name is budellas Ah So Lizbeth Kaufman is my daughter, but
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her partner is Christina Budelis kit split dot com. We use it. It's
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great. It's if you own a camera and you're not using it, trauma
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might need a camera and can rent it from you through kitch split, get
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very cheap and expensive insurance and get a price that's probably twenty percent of the
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exorbitant equipment houses. So kitsplit dot com is Hearst Media is one of their
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major investors, and they they're in both the East Coast and the West Coast.
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And you know, Lloyd, I'll not only link that in the show
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notes, but I wanted to ask you also about independent film and you know
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just how everything has changed even you know since we last talked. You know,
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are you know unfortunately George Romero he's passed away. Net neutrality has sort
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of pad away. So it's just so it's just a shame, you know.
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But but so I wanted to ask you, Lloyd. You know I
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would like to pass away myself. Frankly, I don't have the nerve to
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put a making an appointment with the business end of a shotgun. Little a
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little scared of pain, you know, Lord, I could only imagine what
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the eulogies would be at your funeral. I mean I could just imagine there
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it would actually be a line bigger than the Apple Store or Starbucks. Just
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to just to say I'm serious, I mean you you have always been a
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rock star of an indie film. Uh And and I just so I wanted
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to ask you know, what do you think of the current state of independent,
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you know, filmmaking. I mean you just touched upon the rental houses.
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You know, has has things gotten a little better? Have they gotten
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a little worse? Well, it only gets worse, at least for trauma.
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The problem is, as you know, the democratic revolution of movies means
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that everybody can make a movie and you don't really need money anymore. You
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know, you can make it on your phone. As you know, it's
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broadcast quality, and young people today have mastered the thousands of people making movies,
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and out of a thousand movies, you're going to have a few masterpieces.
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The problem is you can't live off your art. You can't pay the
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rent or eat. And that is because the giant telephone and the movie the
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media conglomerates now at and T owns Time Warner, you know that kind of
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stuff. They control all the sources of revenue, so and they want to
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own and the laws have changed so they now can own all the sources of
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revenue. It used to be that the television networks were not allowed to own
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the content, but now they can own it and they want to own it.
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So that is why Netflix is spending eight billion dollars on their own damn.
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They're making their own movies and T shirt and T and TV shows.
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And you know, there's only about seven big companies that control all the media.
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So it's it gets more and more difficult for trauma and for a into
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pendent filmmaker. But the good news is that you young people can make movies
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for nothing. I can't because I don't know how to do it. I'm
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stuck in the celluloid age. So I can only make five hundred thousand dollars
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movies, which that model does not work. It used to, but not
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anymore. So this one, I'm going to do Shakespeare's shit Storm, our
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version of the Tempest of Shakespeare's Tempest. That's bound to be the last one
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because my wife and I have to put up the money and I can't imagine
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we can keep putting up half a million bucks. So this will be I
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mean, Return to Return to Nukem High aka Volume two. Trauma and our
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fans. Our fans helped us on Kickstarter. We paid for it. The
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next one though, Traumas has no money, so my wife, the commissioner,
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and I will have to fund the move. You know, I actually
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helped back Return to Return to Nukem High Volume two and kickstarted Lloyd. Yeah,
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so you did. I remember that, and thank you so much.
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You gave us fifteen thousand dollars and I'm eternally grateful to you. It was
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very generous by pleasure. I actually found the money in a the old story
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of the old burlap sack behind a seven eleven yep, yep. Once you
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took the severed head out of it, there was all that money and thank
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you for giving it to help us. But our fans really raised about eighty
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thousand bucks for the budget of Return to Return to nukom Aka Volume two.
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We had run out of money, and we we had money coming in later,
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but we had a time where we either would have had to stop and
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lay people off in the editing department, but the fans came to the rescue
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and got us over the hump, and then we were able to pay for
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the rest of the movie. So we uh, you know, it's about
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four hundred thousand maybe, So the fans got it, gave us twenty percent
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of the budget, so it was pretty damn So as we talked about independent
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Cinema, Lloyd and we talked about Return to Return to newcom High volume two.
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So, you know, where does the impetus for you? Where do
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you when do you decide, you know, what movie you're going to make,
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and you know, when you start actually starting to write, you know,
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you start to write the scrampt and you actually have to get the money
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to that for this. You know, where does that impetus sort of start
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from? Usually it's it's born in the current events of the day. But
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Donald's moved next to the Trauma Building. There was a McDonald's that moved then
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next to our building on in New York, in Hell's Kitchen, ninth Avenue
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in Manhattan, and they were horrible neighbors. They destroyed, they damaged our
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building, and they and they had they brought rats the size of raccoons,
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and and um uh and and it. It got me into reading Fast Food
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Nation and starting to think a bit about the grace that is called fast food
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and how McDonald's tortures the animals, exploits the workers, makes shit food that
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causes a pubescent teenagers to get obese. There's nothing good about it, and
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of course the McDonald's architecture is disgusting to look at. There's nothing good about
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it whatsoever. So that led me to want to make a movie about that
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issue. And I'm a big lover of Broadway musicals and I always wanted to
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make a musical. And Gabe Friedman, who was our editor for ten years,
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our supervisor, main editor for ten years, he suggested make it into
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a musical, and he pretty much wrote Poultry Guys, Night of the Chicken
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Dead, or we wrote it together, but he really was the driving force,
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and he, in fact, I think he's the one who gave me
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Fast Food Nation to read. We'll be right back after a word from our
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sponsor, And now back to the show and the movie. Course, Fast
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Food Nation didn't appeal to anybody but the small number of yuppies who read the
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book, so the movie was pretty boring, whereas Poultry guyst is aimed at
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the younger generations who can change the world. And maybe, in fact,
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McDonald's, as I think cleaned up, is act a little bit. I
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think they're raised their minimum wage a little and I believe they're trying to emphasize
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salads and healthier food, at least I hope they are. Yeah, I
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haven't been to McDonald's in quite a long time, so I haven't really I
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don't really know the menu too well, except for the only time I would
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go there to is to maybe eat breakfast or something like that really quickly.
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You know, you kind of like, you know, in a rush,
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and you just kind of go in there to grab something, then you eat
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it and you go out. I'm sorry, I hate that. Just because
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it's fast food doesn't mean it can't be good, you know. I mean,
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it's nothing wrong with salad, nothing wrong with the protein, but to
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make this fatty disgusting and they, of course the animals are tortured and that's
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where poultry guys came from. In the case of return to Return to Nucom
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aka volume two, that's the second half of my big event movie, Returned
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to Newcomb High volume one and volume two, and the themes there were They
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also concerned food and the fact that our high schools have been serving crap food,
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so they've contributed to the very bad health of the American teenagers and you
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know, we have a huge problem with obesity. And also the bullying is
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a big theme of Return to Newcomb High. And of course it's a lesbionic
12:00
love story and sugar Cookies in nineteen seventy one was a lesbian a lesbian vertigo
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was based on Hitchcock's Vertigo. So we've always been sort of rooting for the
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underdog and Returned to newcom High volume one and two, or deal with the
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underdog who gets bullied for being um, you know in the l lgbt Q
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department M And I mean, you know it's kind of like trauma, right
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lord. You know, it's it's the underdog, always fighting for the for
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the little guy and trying not to get smushed by you know, the the
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corporate giants, trying to fight back, doing everything one cans to change the
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world, make the world a better place, every little bit to be part
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of the actions and passions of his or herd times. As Oliver Wendell Holmes
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stated back in the day, the old Supreme Court justice very right wing though.
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And because you know, as we sort of talk about, you know,
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return to Turn nukeam High volume two, I know, you know,
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once you finally got everything together, you know, and you were able to
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start the kickstarter and it was successful. Uh, you know, we're we're
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able to start shooting. You know, what were some of the challenges of
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making a film, you know, making an independent film nowadays? So what
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were some of the big challenges that you came across Will while making the movie.
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The biggest challenge we have is we make twenty million dollars movies for three
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hundred and fifty to five hundred thousand dollars. And you know Trent Haker,
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right, you know him, Citizen Toxi. He just has a wonderful movie
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out called sixty eight Kill. And when we were writing Citizen Toxi, we
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had. We had an investor who was going to put up by say,
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two million dollars for Citizen Toxi, and we wrote it for that budget,
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and then the investor disappeared and we had to make them for about half a
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million. And we did not change the script. We made the script that
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Trent wrote. And Trent was extremely it's in fact, he's in I interviewed
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him in one of my books and he devotes a fair amount of the interview
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with how happy he was that we didn't cut anything out of the script due
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to the budget. We figured out ways to do everything that was in Citizen
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Toxy two million dollars script. We figured out how to make that movie for
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four hundred thousand bucks. And he was very very happy with that. But
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that is the most daunting part of it. This movie we're about to make
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Shakespeare's shit Storm, which is a version of The Tempest. It is huge.
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It's a huge thousands well, it's like returned to Nuclemi volume two.
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It's enormous, cast, special effects, costuming, transformations, explosions, people,
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high falls, people on fire. I mean, it's a twenty million
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dollar movie made for under half of Mizuela. Probably three, Volume two I
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think was three hundred and fifty to maybe four hundred thousand, somewhere in that
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zone. But we won't make If it's as slow as it is, we
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will lose it all because we're denied access to the revenue streams. Well,
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and I know you're having you know a lot of premiers, you're you're you're
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sort of touring the film. Uh yes, and you have some of the
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you know, and I saw some of the screenings on the on the website
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for the film. But also you know, I had Dave Kempfield, I'm
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mutual friend Dave Kempfield on the podcast and he was obviously he does the Truman
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Now podcast. So you know, you started your own streaming service. By
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the way, Lloyd, this is a great idea in my opinion, because
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I think that's where everything is going. So you know, everyone's going to
15:50
have their own content that's theirs and just sort of go from there. So
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you know, how has you know, Truman Now, you know, has
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that sort of come to what you wanted it to be? As you know,
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have you ever had a good response from that? Trouma now is great.
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The problem is nobody knows about it and we have no money to advert
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that. We have no money period, but we certainly don't have money to
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advertise, so it's all word of mouth and it's terrific. In fact,
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return to Nukami Volume one, the first half of this event film is premiering
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on on the Trauma Now at this very minute. And every month we have
16:26
two or three premiere movies, you know, world premiers, and then I
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curate about a dozen movies from our library, some of which are classics or
16:38
or sometimes as a theme. It's a great service and it's only four ninety
16:42
nine a month, and it keeps Trauma alive where we have We're bust.
16:48
We're living on the the memory of fumes. We're not living on fumes.
16:52
We're living on the memory of fumes. And without our fans going on trouman
16:57
how I know, and you know shopping at our studios store or Trauma Direct.
17:04
Trauma Direct is our store on Trauma dot com. You know, we
17:10
are. Fans are the only reason we're still around. They support us and
17:12
they subscribe to Trauma Now, and anybody out there who's listening, if you
17:18
want to support new, brilliant independent filmmakers, the next generation of James Gunns
17:23
and the other famous directors who have come out of the loins of Trauma,
17:30
Eli Roth, Trenthega and actors like Samuel Jackson and so on and so forth.
17:37
Support Trauma Now and support the new filmmakers whose movies are premiering on Trauma
17:41
Now. It's a great, great system. It's only four ninety nine a
17:45
month. First month is free, so but even if it isn't free,
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pay the four ninety nine. Let we're the last independent movie studio, were
17:53
the last ones, and we're certainly the it's a forty fourth year and it's
17:59
never been more difficult, and we're the last ones who even pay lip service
18:03
to true independent filmmaking. There are no studios left who have any longevity,
18:10
and the ones one or two that do have longevity, it's all about money.
18:15
There is no idealism or love of the art or it's all about who's
18:19
in the movie, in the packaging and the huge advertising campaigns. We're the
18:26
last one. Trauma Entertainment is the last one, and it's all thanks to
18:32
our fans. We wouldn't be here without our fans, and net neutrality helps
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us to the free, open and diverse Internet, which unfortunately FCC, the
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Federal Communications Commissions. The director Agit Pie is his name. Pie was his
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last name for ship pipe. He's decided to get rid of net neutrality.
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So that means the main conglomerates now AT and T, Comcast. You know,
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these aren't even that they aren't even involved in the artists. Their phone
19:07
companies is SPS. But the point is they want to build a super highway
19:12
that they'll they will be able to afford to pay for and beyond. But
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we will not be able to afford to be to put our content on the
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super highway. So no longer will everybody be equal. There will be an
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elite of rich people. It'll be a CBS, NBC, ABC world.
19:33
You'll have the homogenized baby food of the major conglomerates on this super highway and
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their vassals, and then all the innovation and all the new people and all
19:48
the brilliant James Gunns and Eli Rosso. The future will be on this dirt
19:52
road, the Internet. That will be a dirt road, and will be
20:00
right back after a word from our sponsor, and now back to the show.
20:08
Take a long time to buffer and and they'll slow us down and feed
20:12
themselves up. You know it's gonna it'll be over, be over, and
20:17
you'll there won't be any more innovation. You know where did Kickstarter to come
20:22
from? Came from net neutrality on the Internet. It's a free, open
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and diverse internet, democratic medium. Trauma has half a million people every month
20:33
coming to my fan site and Trauma's website and store and Twitter and Facebook and
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at Lloyd Kaufman on Instagram. You know, we have a literally maybe more
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than five hundred thousand every month because they like it, and we have just
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as much opportunity on the Internet as Disney. If they like Disney, they
20:52
go to Disney. If they like Trauma, they go to Trauma. But
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everybody's equal, it's a level playing field. But if there's a super high
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that's fat that you can get that delivers fast broadcasting to the consumer, and
21:07
then traumas on the dirt road that takes a long time to buffer, nobody's
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gonna nobody's gonna want to waste their time. It'll be like public Access TV.
21:18
People are gonna want to go with a good quality broadcasting is and that's
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going to be on the super highway, and we will not be allowed to
21:26
be on it, mainly because we won't be able to afford to be on
21:29
it. So I imagine we'll be done if indeed, the free, open
21:33
and diverse Internet goes away. But never mind, Trauma Troma is just a
21:37
movie company. They're going to be cures for cancer. There are all these
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wonderful things that come out of the free, open and diverse net neutrality that
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simply won't happen. The innovators are going to have to go through. If
21:49
you have a toothpaste that can prevent cavities, really prevent cavities, you won't
21:55
be able to go direct to your audience. Right, the angry video game
21:57
nerd gets meal and millions of views and makes and makes money from the net
22:03
neutrality Internet. But if if, the maybe he will be able to afford
22:08
to be on the super Highway. But the net the YouTube stars of the
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future, your new young, first time YouTube stars who under normal net neutrality
22:22
conditions might be able to attract millions of people because they've got something that the
22:26
public lights, something new and different and that might change the world a little
22:30
bit. They won't be able. They'll have to go through one of the
22:34
majors or the vassals of the majors, the toothpaste, the guy who invents
22:38
tooth the gal or guy who invents stu real cavity preventing toothpaste will have to
22:47
go through cold Gate or problem or the other one, Procter and Gambell,
22:51
and they won't be permitted to make very much money. They'll they'll you know,
22:55
they'll get the tiny you know, you know how it is right if
22:57
you won't know, so you know, and we are a lot of innovation
23:03
that won't happen because nobody will know about it, or that the gatekeepers in
23:08
the cartel and the monopolies won't have the imagination. Do you think that the
23:12
monopoly, the cartel, do you think that they would have understood how great
23:18
kickstarter could be? Right? Kid starters started with nothing nothing, Yeah,
23:22
right, It's grew because the public wanted it, there was a need for
23:26
it. But the establishment wouldn't understand that. They're not gonna they certainly and
23:30
they certainly don't want competition. Netflix wouldn't be here without net neutrality. Now
23:36
they're or now they're part of the elite and they're part of the they're probably
23:40
going to close the gate. They're probably closed the gate and not. You
23:45
know, now that they're inside the treasure House, they're probably a boris from
23:52
you know, they probably go against net neutrality. Google, I think is
23:56
for net neutrality, and I think Facebook is too. So that's good.
24:00
Yeah, that's actually something to hear because you think they'd also be a be
24:06
against it. But you know, that's why what have you on here,
24:07
Lloyd? Because again you're fighting for the small guy. Uh. You know,
24:11
like when when people ask me, how do you promote a podcast?
24:14
And I go, I have no clue, I have no idea what the
24:15
hell I'm doing. So but that's why I have people and like you,
24:18
Lloyd, because you're out there fighting the good fight. Well, he'll you'll
24:22
have a good podcast and you've done seventy five or more chapters episodes, and
24:29
obviously whatever you're doing because of net neutrality and the democratic level playing field of
24:34
net neutrality, you're you're able to attract the viewers. If you didn't,
24:40
if your podcast were not interesting to people, they you'll be gone. Well
24:45
well, thank you, well, thank you lord. I appreciate that.
24:47
By the way, you're your episode, This episode recording right now is going
24:51
to be episode two h five. Wow, can you believe it. Thanks
24:55
great. When will it air? It's gonna air next week, so it'll
25:00
be plenty of time to you know, for everyone to hear about the premiere
25:03
and everything. But you know, you know, I saw a video of
25:07
you, by the way, Lloyd. I know we're starting to run out
25:08
of time, but I saw a video of you. Uh, and it
25:11
was called Kevin Or it was called Lloyd Kauffman bothers people at yogur Host's premiere.
25:17
So I have to ask, you know again, it was called Lloyd,
25:22
Lloyd Kaufman bothers Kevin Smith, and uh, it was just it was,
25:26
it was, it was funny, it was it was good, all
25:29
good stuff. And uh, I just wanted to ask, uh, you
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know, you know, doing grassroots campaigns like that, you know, um
25:36
I I you know, I've wanted to have Kevin on this podcast. He
25:38
seems like such a good guy. Is he a good guy in person?
25:41
Lloyd? I don't know him well. I certainly admire him, and he
25:45
certainly one of our greats. Um but I can tell you there's a show
25:51
that he has called Comic Book Men, and they have a episode coming up
25:56
in the fall. I think with it's trauma for one of their episodes where
26:00
we're all uh there and it's terrific. It's very funny. And how nice
26:04
of men and men and Brian Johnson and Kevin Smith, you know, they
26:11
they were nice to devote an episode to trauma entertainment Toxi and Kabuki man and
26:15
I and and I think Catherine Cochrane and Elizabeth Ambrosio, you know, we
26:21
had a trauma episode. Very I can't talk too much about it because I've
26:25
been pledged to confidentiality. You know, they don't want me to be a
26:30
spoiler obviously, but it's very funny. They did a great guys hilarious So
26:34
keep an eye out for comic bookmen and uh the trauma, you know.
26:38
So how nice it is Kevin Smith, you know, allow a trauma episode
26:44
well, and and speaking of that, Lloyd too. You know you mentioned
26:47
Toxi. I don't know if you could actually talk about this, but one
26:49
question I've been I wanted to really ask you is, you know, I
26:52
know there was a talk about a remake about there was actually be a remake
26:56
of the Toxic Avenger. Is there any more was about that? Well,
27:02
they've got Conrad Vernon as the director, and he is great. He loves
27:08
Trauma. He's he did the Sausage he did Sausage Party, he did Shrek,
27:15
He's he loves movies. You know, he's one of the unique establishment
27:18
people who actually love movies and are in it for the art, not for
27:23
the the scum soaked red carpet rape culture. So so he's a good guy
27:32
and you can have a conversation with him. He knows film history, and
27:34
uh, he's going to do a great job. I'm not confident that the
27:40
movie ever. I think their deal runs out make so, so far they
27:45
have not put it together. Akiva Goldsman, who was the big shot on
27:51
the case. It's been about ten years, and uh, I think I
27:55
think they have not been able to make it happen because they got a couple
28:00
a few more months to run. And if they, you know, I
28:03
think it's going to take a miracle. Because at some point John Travolta was
28:07
was attached to it, right, they had John Travolta, they had what's
28:11
his name, Uh, you know, the pumping iron guy, the governator.
28:18
Yeah, he signed, he signed. Apparently they announced it at the
28:22
Canned Film Festival years ago. And then he quickly unsigned for something He unsigned
28:29
because he got offered sixty million dollars remake. He was getting sixty million dollars
28:34
for a remake of something one of his maybe it was a terminator or whatever
28:38
it was. It was shite, but unfortunately that was it. So far,
28:47
they've come up with nothing. Uh, you know, and they they,
28:51
I mean they have Conrad Vernon, he's great, but I think I
28:55
don't think it's going to happen if it If it happened, we would have
29:00
gotten a big check. They've got they've got till May, so if it
29:06
goes, we get a big check, and then we can make not only
29:08
can we make shakespeare shit Storm, which we are making, but we would
29:12
be able to make the fifth Toxic Avenger, Part five, Grime and Punishment,
29:18
which takes a lot of which takes place in Chernobyl. But we don't
29:25
have the eight hundred thousand dollars to make Toxic five. So I don't think
29:30
that will get made. I think Shakespeare's shit Storm might well be if I
29:36
get through it. If we actually make it the summer, it's very daunting
29:41
task. Like all movies, movies, Shakespeare's shit Storm is you know,
29:48
twenty million dollars movie being made for three or four hundred thousand. So it's
29:53
a hell of a project. So that may well be the end of it,
29:56
because I can't keep putting up my wife and my money to make movies.
30:00
And we'll be right back after a word from our sponsor. And now
30:08
back to the show where the major media, and you know, the major
30:15
media not only doesn't give us any outlet for revenue, but doesn't even cover
30:21
us after fifty years of making a movie. I've been doing this for fifty
30:25
years and New York Times never said, never put the word trauma has not
30:32
been in the New York Times or any newspaper, you know, twenty five
30:37
years, we had our fortieth year. A couple of years or four years
30:41
ago. No New York media covered it, not a word, No Hollywood
30:47
reporter, no variety. You know, there hasn't been an independent movie studio
30:52
that has existed for forty four years. There hasn't been one in history that's
30:56
done what we've done and left such a mark on the cultural map. Right,
31:03
Look at all the directors, from James Gunn to Eli Roth, to
31:07
the guys who did Deadpool, to Takake to the guy who did the Stillness
31:15
or whatever it is of Water del Toro. Right, they all loved tramas.
31:18
Peter Jackson is a trauma fan. Yo Miyasaki, the guy who did
31:23
My Neighbor Tutor was a huge fan. Right. The Deadpool guys talk more,
31:26
they talk about Right, you can see their influence of trauma there.
31:30
Yet, if the fact that we lived for thirty years, survived for thirty
31:36
years totally independent, totally independently, with no you know, we don't make
31:41
movies for Lifetime, which is a division of one of those conglomerates. We're
31:45
totally on our own. No no interest because we don't we don't have the
31:49
money to advertise. So the New York Times has no interest in us,
31:53
nor does the New York Post, nor do any of them of the media.
31:59
The only reason and they're interested is when there's some advertising, right variety.
32:04
If you take a page in Variety of advertising, they might give you.
32:07
If you're independent, you might get a little article, you know,
32:10
about what you're doing at the cann Film Festival. Same with Hollywood Reporter.
32:15
But apparently, you know, we just we are not anything. We don't
32:19
exist, We do not exist Return to nucom I Volume to return to Return
32:24
to nukem Ika Volume two. It doesn't exist. Doesn't matter that Lloyd Kaufman
32:30
has been making fifty has fifty years of experience making movies like The Toxic Avenger
32:36
or A Class of Nucomi or Squeeze Play Waitress. First turn on movies that
32:39
have clearly influenced a huge segment of our mainstream talent and have brought forth Samuel
32:47
Jackson Oliver Stone got into this industry because of me. I mean, there
32:52
are tons of people who wouldn't who wouldn't be around, or who are heavily
32:58
influenced by the trauma. Yet nobody cares nothing. We are we are,
33:06
we are non we don't exist, we do not exist, and it's it's
33:10
especially damning in New York where we've you know, we own a building,
33:15
we got the payroll, we've we've made movies in New York State for fifty
33:20
at least I have for fifty years, and the fucking bastards don't even acknowledge
33:24
that we exist. The critics review us, and they always they give us
33:30
very good review in the Museum of Modern Artists, premiering a return to Newcomb
33:35
High and uh and the Museum and the Moving Image here premiered Return to Return
33:42
to Newcomb High aka Volume two. But only the critics of the Times or
33:46
the Post or whatever give you know, pay you know, they pay attention,
33:51
they review the movie. But again, when they review the movie,
33:54
they stick that's usually stuck in the ghetto of where the guys making a documentary
34:01
about a left handed mattress worker or you know some canters made his first horror
34:07
film and um, you know, but it's politically correct kind of person.
34:12
Uh yeah, but that's you know, that's called you know, they stick
34:15
it in the in this section. It's like a ghetto, which and the
34:19
people reading the paper of the New York Times, you know, they don't
34:22
even read that section. Yeah, you know. And that's why again,
34:25
Lord, I want to have you on. I think it's so important to
34:29
support Trauma because you actually release one of my favorite movies of all time,
34:31
which is Cannibal the musical, which is Trey Parker, Matt Stone. Um,
34:37
you know they they for everyone listening case you'll know that name. There's
34:39
names that they do. South Park. We discovered them, We discovered them
34:44
and helped them make Cannibal the Musical. We distributed it. Nobody else would
34:50
nobody. We helped them finish it, and you'll see the opening of Cannibal
34:53
the Musical is a very trauma issue and the rest of the movie is a
34:58
much better taste. And it's a brilliant film that they were able to use
35:01
the VHS box to help them get credit credibility. So when they were pitching
35:07
South Park and all that stuff gave them a little bit of professional you know,
35:14
professional error. And I'm in some of their early I'm in our gasmo
35:19
and they're great guys. They're terrific, They're wonderful. They were great.
35:22
They were great. But that's only another example of why I mean, there's
35:27
an avalanche of people that have come out of trauma. It's unbelievable how we
35:34
are totally ignored. I still can't get over it. Oh and then the
35:39
thing that really pisses me up, David is and I again, I'm grateful.
35:45
Um, you know, James Gunn gave me two seconds in his wonderful
35:49
Guardians of the Galaxy, which is a masterpiece. That's a beautiful film,
35:52
and I have a two second shot, so all, you know, all
35:57
the recognition. I've gotten more recognition were my two seconds and Guardians of the
36:00
Galaxy than for my fifty years of you know, killing myself to make Poultry
36:06
guyst neither The Chicken Dead or Trama's War or Terror Firmer. You know,
36:09
it takes me about five years to make a movie return to Nucom High and
36:14
returned to Return to Nucom aka Volume two. You know, it's a two
36:17
part event film, similar to in the same way that Kill Bill is two
36:22
volumes. I spent seven years on that, right, the seven years,
36:25
that's all. That's the only movie I made in seven years. So you
36:30
know, these people write the plenty of attention to Suicide Squad, which is
36:36
plenty of attention to Pat Man forever, plenty of attention to whatever scum,
36:43
the Weinstein Robert Redford Sundance rape, red carpet worshiping culture of the so called
36:51
the independent world. Right that we don't even own the world into the word
36:54
independent in any word anymore. Right, that movies, the twelve million dollar
37:00
movie made by celebrities that get shown at Sundance, that people forget after ten
37:07
minutes, that's where that's what it's all about. Worshiping Harvey Weinstein up on
37:13
the right, he's up on the hill, and everybody's in at Sundance.
37:16
They're all in, all of him. And look at the scum, Look
37:20
at the world they live in, Look at the Robert Redford Sundance, Harvey
37:24
Weinstein worshiping world right, and yet and yet Trouma ignores up. We're ignored.
37:32
We are ignored. We who've been doing this for forty four years,
37:36
right, we who have a fan base that goes out there and books are
37:39
movie theaters. Our fan base are the only reason we're still here, right
37:45
right. We have a brand, trauma. Trauma is a brand. I
37:47
don't think people go to see a Paramount movie because Paramount's name is on it.
37:52
In fact, nowadays that's such a filthy culture that they've got, right,
37:59
you know. I also was talking to some friends Lloyd and I apologize.
38:01
I know we're running out of time, but uh just in just in
38:06
closing. I know, I know you have to run, but I was
38:08
talking to something. I can give you another ten minutes. Oh cool,
38:10
awesome. H Hayden said that he just came in and said it's okay,
38:15
oh okay, awesome. I didn't want Hayden to break my legs or anything.
38:20
He's the best. Lee loves you and thank you. He was very
38:24
thankful that you're giving me some time too, and thank you. Oh you
38:29
know again, Oh Lloyd, any any time, because the first time I
38:31
ever met you, I remember, I wanted to like this because there's so
38:36
many things I wanted to say to you. And we met on the set
38:37
of Crossbearer, which is the film in Philly, and I was just covered
38:42
in fake blood and you were like I walked up to you. I was
38:44
like, hey, Lloyd, You're like, please don't get any of that
38:45
blood on me, because you were wearing a new jacket I remember, and
38:50
I was like, oh, sorry, afgot I was covered in blood,
38:52
but thank you for preserving my jacket. No problem. Those are the memories
38:58
and I cherish forever, Lloyd the first, the first memories. Don't touch
39:02
me, kid, No, I'm just kidding. Oh. I love you.
39:05
I love at least at least I didn't touch you. See that's what
39:08
the mainstream, right, all these agents and facilitators and and right, it's
39:14
a it's successful talk about train the swamp. Oh my god, the mainstream
39:21
cartel. It's a cartel. It's a monopoly. Uh, and I don't.
39:24
I think it's just disgusting and it's a it's hundreds of millions of dollars
39:30
of lobbying in Washington to get the rules against monopoly changed and all this worshiping
39:37
of of conspicuous consumption. You know, they they'd rather put it. They'd
39:42
rather publicize a twenty five thousand dollars wedding cake in the New York Post and
39:47
talk about the fact that Trauma just achieved its fortieth anniversary. We'll be right
39:55
back after a word from our sponsor, and now back to the show.
40:04
They'd rather have a piece about Rihanna's fur coat and how one of these fashion
40:09
models in two hundred thousand dollars dress skirt wardrobe, Uh, that wants to
40:16
have the fur coat that the fur coat that Rihanna's has been wearing. Right,
40:22
just the idea of a fur coat is obscene. But you know,
40:27
it's it's it's it is the value system, the e entertainment value system,
40:32
the the the whole the whole thing is filthy. And we saw back in
40:38
the sixties. Uh, you know, it's it's it's it's money. It's
40:44
all the ninety nine percent of the industry. And again I think I'm an
40:47
expert. Ninety nine percent and more than ninety nine of the people in our
40:53
industry or scum of the earth, their crooks, they're lazy, they hate
40:59
movies. They're there for because they think it's easy, and it's a fast
41:04
it's easy and they and they're there for the for the velvet velvet ropes that
41:12
keep the real people out. They're they're they're propelled by flying. I'm sorry
41:19
about the pun. They're propelled by flying, uh, you know, business
41:22
class to the Canned Film Festival and then bragging about how, oh I at
41:28
dinner at mass Shoe, you know, and uh, you know that's a
41:30
restaurant that they you know, it's like eight hundred dollars for four people.
41:35
You know that that's the world they live in. That's the world they live
41:38
in, right, Yeah, and you know, get young people to blow
41:45
them, you know, casting couches, and you know, you hear about
41:50
all that stuff, and it's true, it's discussed. It's horrible, but
41:53
the worst of it is, uh, from the from the point of view
41:57
of art, is that we're getting a world of homogenized baby food. Yes,
42:02
politically correct, I suppose, and that's good. But stuff that's going
42:09
to change the world is not getting to the public. Yeah, it's a
42:15
lot, you know, real art, the genuine artists. Yes, there's
42:21
a tiny amount. There's a tiny number. James gunn Eli Roth, John
42:25
Voight, you know those people, the best people in the world, A
42:30
tiny tiny number genuinely love the cinema. But the rest of them, they
42:36
are going straight to hell. They are going to burn in hell. You
42:39
know, because one of the things that you know, you just touched on
42:44
was there's so many people you meet in this industry you call themselves producers.
42:47
They make a producer's card, they pass that at networking events, and you
42:52
always say, you know, where are these movies that you're making? You
42:53
know, where where are the script set that you're you know, you're talking
42:55
about, where is this where? You know? Where the hell is all
42:59
this stuff? And if you start to scratch that service a little bit,
43:02
Lloyd, you start to see that it's all just a facade built on bullshit,
43:07
and and it's just it's all about going somewhere and being seen, and
43:09
that's what they really want. They just want to be famous. They don't
43:13
want to actually put it work in or they don't love movies or anything else,
43:15
there would be a storyteller. It's just about being famous, you know
43:19
what I mean? Or or the yeah exactly, Yeah. Basically you're right,
43:24
money, money and power, money and power, money and hookers and
43:30
mansions and you know, drive around a rolls voice that you don't even own,
43:35
you know, fucked up values. None of them, none of them
43:37
knows Nathaniel A thorn is h or even to kesh A Macka like you just
43:44
mentioned, or you know, like if you mentioned somebody like that or or
43:47
even Miyazaki, like they wouldn't know who those people are. You have to
43:51
dumb down your conversation with you know people Again, there's a very small number
43:57
or the greatest people in the world, Conrad Vernon, you can actually talk
44:01
about movies. You don't have to dumb yourself down, obviously, James Gunn
44:06
Obviously, Transhega loves movies and you and loves you know, you can have
44:13
a conversation without you know, you have to dumb yourself down for the so
44:17
called professionals. No, the big the gatekeepers, the gatekeepers. Yeah,
44:23
and that's why I you know, I'm glad to see you're still making movies,
44:27
Lloyd, and uh you know, so you know, return to return
44:30
ducam Heights Volume two. You actually just announced the date um at the Trocadariat,
44:35
the theater here in Philly, Uh you know, and you have it
44:37
going to to uh having the premier out in Los Angeles as well as the
44:42
at the Beverly Hills. And I also going to link everybody in the show
44:45
notes to all of those theaters. We can buy tickets online, you go.
44:50
How is it possible? How is it possible that Tromeo and Juliet,
44:55
written by James Gunn, that selected by the Museum of Modern Art to be
45:01
in their Shakespeare series. They only showed three Romeo and Juliet movies, one
45:08
of which was Tromeo and Juliard. How is it possible that movie has never
45:13
been on any TV or any of the showtimes and hbos and blah blah blah.
45:21
How is it possible that returned to newcome I seven Years of My Life,
45:24
which is a very well reviewed the time New York Times liked it that
45:30
critics there certainly don't do us any favors. They wrote a great review.
45:32
It's never been on any cable system. Nothing totally blackballed only because we're independent.
45:39
How is that right? That's there's plenty of shit they put on,
45:44
right, they got plenty of shit. They got some good stuff too,
45:47
HBO, Showtime whatever. The only one that showed any of our movies in
45:52
the last twenty years, the only thing, the only kind of broadcast we've
45:55
been on, was Robert Rodriguez's Channel Ray. And he's a filmmaker, he's
46:01
an artist, and he loves Troma and he's one of the people that really
46:05
love movies. Yeah, but you know, why is it? You know,
46:09
it's a cartel, it's a monopoly. It's disgusting. And thank you
46:13
David Budellas for helping us promote Lemley's A Fine Arts Cinema March March eighth,
46:20
and Lemley's NoHo seven Plus March ninth through thirteenth in LA And I'll be there
46:27
with the cast, and I think we're going to see something from James Gunn
46:30
and John Voight's making a video and Trenthega. We'll have celebrities, Troma alumni
46:38
there, the cast, Catherine Cochrane and other zach Amico and some of our
46:45
stars will be there. It's going to be great. We have an art
46:47
show. By the way, the Hyaena Gallery in Burbank has organized an art
46:52
show for a month of March with all the paintings and sculptures are all inspired
46:58
by Returned to Newcombe High and Returned to Newcomb High. I sawry return to
47:04
Return to Nucomi about twenty artists. I've created paintings and sculpture all inspired by
47:10
the class of Newcomb High Legacy, the franchise, or whatever you want to
47:15
call it. So and then there's they're going to be a big party on
47:17
the ninth of March at the Club Cobra, which is a club next very
47:24
almost next door to the Lemle NoHo in North Hollywood. So it's going to
47:30
be quite a trauma festival. And then March first you go to the Trocadero.
47:35
I'll be there with Catherine and h and some of the stars. And
47:38
we're going to have a great premiere at the Trocadero in Philadelphia for Return to
47:44
Return to nucom I aka Volume two. And this is all thanks to our
47:47
fans. Our fans go to the theaters and tell the managers they want to
47:52
they want Lloyd's movie and so if there any fans there, thank you,
48:00
thank you for going. If they're fans listening, and now go to your
48:04
local cinema. I can very often show up. Yeah, and uh,
48:08
I'm gonna link to the show. It's everybody where. You know, you
48:10
can go to the screen, you can go to, uh eat a local
48:14
theater and you know, ask for Lloyd's movie there, and then you can
48:17
actually do that. So I'm gonna link to all that in the show notes.
48:20
Lloyd. Again, I thank you for going over the time, by
48:23
the way, I know, hold on, hold on one second please,
48:25
Oh but yeah, let's wrap it up. I see that something's happening here,
48:30
can you I've run over, But thank you very much by my pleasure,
48:36
Lloyd. And again, I can't wait to have you back on again
48:38
when you when you make Shakespeare shit Storm, we'll have you back home for
48:42
the third time. That'll be the trifecta wonderful. And come and visit Tromoville
48:45
one of these days. I am going to take you up on that.
48:49
I want to come out to New York. Ye give you a tour,
48:51
and I want to take you to lunch. I want to I want I
48:52
want to come up there and I want to take you to launch Lloyd beautiful.
48:55
Let's do it anytime. That's great, and you'll get a kick out
49:00
of Trauma visiting. We get a lot of tourists here too. They just
49:04
ring the doorbell and come visit to Trauma Building and beautiful Long Island City,
49:07
Queens. Alrighty, see us soon, David, Thanks, take care,
49:10
Lloyd, best wishes, Bye bye everybody. Bye. I want to thank
49:15
Dave so much for doing such a great job on this episode. If you
49:19
want to get links to anything we spoke about in this episode, head over
49:21
to the show notes at Indie Film Muscle dot com. Four slash siighty two.
49:24
Thank you so much for listening. Guys. As always, keep that
49:28
also going, keep that dream alive, Stay safe out there, and I'll
49:31
talk to you soon. Thanks for listening to the Indie Film Hustle podcast at
49:36
Indie film Hustle dot com. That's I N D I E F I L
49:39
M hustl dot com.