How Stupid Videos Led to a $5 Million Deal For 'Brigsby Bear' & An 11 Year Trip to 'Killing Ground'

Back at Sundance, No Film School's Jon Fusco sat down with a few of the teams behind a few of this summer's best independent films while they were still fresh off their premiere highs. Brigsby Bear, which came out July 28, obtained a $5 million deal from Sony Pictures Classic for Distribution rights. Director Dave McCary and screenwriter Kevin Costello join the podcast to discuss the journey each of them took to get that deal. From stupid YouTube sketches with their comedy group Good Neighbor to Saturday Night Live Digital Shorts and now full-length features, their process is a great model for collaborative filmmaking. Through a lethal combination of non-linear storytelling, gender reversals, and Deliverance type thrills, director Damien Power successfully toys with audience expectations all the way throughout his debut feature, Killing Ground, which we might add took 11 years to make. We discussed how Australia's film scene helps to foster artists who take greater risks, the lengths Power went to to get his film made, and the strategies he put in place to create the script for Sundance's most mind-bending horror film.

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