Just a 48-year-old mom of 2 in Northern California. My kids are Monkey Monkey(MM) and Drama Llama (DL). I am married to Monkey Hubby (MH). MH's movie has been released! It's on Amazon!
https://www.amazon.com/placeholder_title-John-Doe/dp/B0FP6N4LBB
If you click on the link (er, copy and paste the link) and click on the icon that I highlighted in yellow, you can see the movie preview. It's a horror comedy. So be forewarned, if horror is not your thing.
Picking up where I left off...
So we are still working on getting the financial backers their swag and their first look at the movie. Dealing with some hiccups on the discs that most the backers are going to receive.
I guess the distributor asked for some artwork recently and MH asked if that meant things were moving along. As he recounted to me, the main producer scoffed and said, "That's not how it works." The best ETA they have is late October. The film is still going through QC, which is expected to be a long process.
So fast forward a couple of days.. & MH texts me that his movie is on Amazon Prime. What!? It took me a minute to process this. This was my work from home day. The same day we were expecting discs and planning to see the movie at the micro theater.
So I ran to the TV and found it!
Some of MH's friends had told him that you never know when or where your movie will show up on streaming. But... We interpreted this as more of a 'once you get the final go ahead' thing. We were not expecting it to show up 6 weeks ahead of the last ETA. What!?
One other thing I heard was that Amazon was the most picky about QC. So it sounds like it could show up on all of the other streaming platforms. We were expecting it to show up on Tubi. I don't know what specific platforms will stream this kind of movie. I think Amazon and Tubi were the big ones I've heard thrown out. & also sharing if you are curious but don't want to pay to see the movie. There will eventually be more options.
If you do watch the movie, keep in mind that it's a micro budget film. Most of the short 10-minute movies I have seen at the festivals had a similar or bigger budget. Most of the feedback we've gotten to date was responded with, "Yeah, we wish we had the budget for that". The vision was more Gremlins re: the waffle balls (which are marketing genius). But... Those had to be CGI and there's only so many hours in the day. The main producer did all the CGI work. If we can make the money to do a sequel. Yes.... That's obviously what we would want to deliver. We need more than $50K to bring that part more to life.
This movie took 2 years from the first crowdfunding to the first distribution. The movie was filmed in 3 weeks in early 2024. Post production took about a year. We screened the film for the first time in March. We have been working out the distribution deal since that time, making some final adjustments to the film, etc.
We will get a small cut of the proceeds, after dividing many ways. I don't expect it to amount to much but will see how it goes. I don't expect any money or further information until 2026.
September 14th, 2025 at 12:44 am 1757807048
Congratulations - MH sounds like a standup guy who deserves success.
I hope this becomes a horror cult classic.
Seems like a perfect tie in for a local breakfast place to host pancake breakfast and a screening deal.
September 14th, 2025 at 04:20 pm 1757863203
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September 15th, 2025 at 12:05 am 1757891114
Do your kids think it's cool or are they just ho-hum since it's Dad's work?
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September 20th, 2025 at 12:36 am 1758325009
Did he direct it? Or was this something he just worked on? what does this mean long term for his push in the movie business? Is he into tv?
September 20th, 2025 at 04:31 pm 1758382296
I did call him a yes man the other day because he is saying yes to everything in the meantime. Mostly helping film festivals as a volunteer. (To be fair, he's turned down some producing offers. Nothing that actually paid anything. Probably just short films). He's always been more business minded in a starving artist space, and that might be the niche he ends up with. Helping on the festival side.
September 20th, 2025 at 04:44 pm 1758383097
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September 30th, 2025 at 09:04 pm 1759262680
UH, but the best compliment I can give is that I watched the whole thing and liked it. As someone who is not a hard core movie person, that’s kind of a big deal, since there are Hollywood movies, some even AAA, that I just couldn’t stay interested long enough to finish watching. Here, I was actually interested in seeing how it ends, even though I knew the ending was going to be predictable.
I also really liked Carlos’s acting. He did a great job portraying an evil looking character.
Also,the older guy who played the manager did such an amazing job. I think he was the best actor out of them all, playing the role of a slimey manager so well that I am not convinced he was acting at all.
I also disliked the cop guy immediately… and felt great satisfaction when he was finally taken down (and I say that as a former cop myself). To elicit such emotions, I think, is a great compliment for an acting job well done.
Also, did they get Sofia Vergara to play Abuelita on the phone? It sounds so much like her, and it was difficult to imagine anybody would just hang up on Abuelita, especially if she really is Sofia Vergara. I digress….
The biggest plus, for me though, was the sound design was absolutely on point. Where did they get the music from? It fit and enhanced the scenes so perfectly.
Also, the lighting was just so impressive. They must have used some very large lens with low F or T stop to pull that off. It’s a very technically challenging way to shoot, and sadly, it seems to have failed to show the actor’s faces in some scenes. I feel their pain, but when successful, these sort of low light shots are just so amazing and enhances the movie overall so well.
Huh, I’m rambling again. Anyway, I liked it. Thank you for the recommendation.
September 30th, 2025 at 10:40 pm 1759268412
October 1st, 2025 at 04:49 pm 1759333784
Carlos was so intense and amazing. Frank (diner manager) is *the* nicest guy in person. He also wrote the song at the end (which is also amazing). The cop was another great actor.
I mentioned MH was a producer. Which means, he did a little bit of everything. Filled in where he could (since the writing was done long before production). There were a few holes to fill and so he hired a couple of friends (an actor and a sound guy) to do the audio recording for Abuelita. (Trying to help however he could, from thousands of miles away).
For the most part, the music was composed for the movie. I am always amazed by the musical talent found for the movies my husband has worked on. I see so many versions along the way (as the movie is being put together, layer by layer) and extra appreciate how the music really brings a movie to life.
October 2nd, 2025 at 01:44 am 1759365890