An Interview with Lloyd Kaufman of Sell Your Own Damn Movie

Recently, I got to sit down and chat with one of my favorite directors and the co-founder of Troma Entertainment, Lloyd Kaufman about the newest book in his Make Your Own Damn Movie series, Sell your Own Damn Movie. During the filming of my short film I have found these books a great source of real, usable knowledge from one of the greatest minds in independent cinema.

Troma is one of those studios that as long as I could remember was always at the cutting edge of both technology and social trends, so it was great to chat with Lloyd about not only his book, but what its like to produce content in this digital age.

What was the inspiration behind the Make Your Own Damn Movie series of books and DVDs?

Michael Herz and I, as you know, operate the longest running independent movie studio in history… Troma. When we became fairly secure about 15 or 20 years ago, we decided to devote a lot of our time to supporting independent art and commerce everywhere; because we saw that the entertainment industry was becoming more and more consolidated in to these giant conglomerates. We felt that we should speak out and preserve independent art and thought.

That is why I decided to do the Make Your Own Damn Movie kind of film school, with my books and the series of DVD box sets.

What are some tips you give in Sell Your Own Damn Movie to aspiring filmmakers?

Half the book concerns the secrets of how Troma has been able to distribute its own movies for over 40 years and make money, and not have to deal at all with the mainstream conglomerate.

The other half of the book has interviews with successful distributors, for example the people who distribute the Twilight films. I also interviewed Oren Peli who created Paranormal Activity and he talked about the journey to distribution he had. He unlocks a lot of the facts about how his obscure movie became a worldwide phenomenon, and the most profitable movie in history.

There seems to be a very fine balance of humor and hard reality in your books, do you feel that helps take the edge off of some of these hard truths because of the simple fact that making films isn’t easy?

My book is a textbook and textbooks are boring. But why must they be boring? I think it’s important to entertain the reader so he or she or it will remember the points.

Being a pioneer of independent cinema, do you have any words of wisdom for the young filmmakers out there reading your books, looking to be the next Lloyd Kaufman?

Well I think the most important thing you can do is do what you believe in, and not to be afraid to whore for your art. I think a lot of artists are ashamed to be a merchant.

The Troma movies become more valuable every year simply due to word of mouth, because I have gone out there and promoted. I don’t make any compromises when I am making my movies, I do exactly what I want to do; but when it comes to selling them I have lips like a woman and I will use them.

And my final question is have you ever been to Philadelphia, and if so, what are some of your favorite spots or memories of our fair city?

Well first of all, I don’t know if you know a little film called Rocky, back in 1976 I was hired to produce all the Philadelphia scenes.  The producers didn’t have enough money to film in Philadelphia with union crews from California, so Stallone and the director hired me to setup a production in Philadelphia and use our non-union crew from Cry Uncle.

Cry Uncle was a film by John G. Avildsen whose followup film was Rocky, and we went on to use those guys to shoot all the exteriors in Philadelphia. The pet store scene, The scene in the meat locker where Rocky is beating up the meat and Rocky running up the stairs of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, that was all produced by me.

So I know Philadelphia very well, I even rowed on the Schuylkill river when I was on the Yale University Lightweight Crew.

You can get his books on Amazon.com, and check out some great Troma films on their Comcast On-Demand channel!