A Case Study
Narrative | Dramatic Features
Film Name: Dope Movies
Genre: Comedy
Date: January 25, 2020
Director: Ramiro Castro, Jr.
Producer: Pedro and Ramiro Castro & Content Group
Writer: Ramiro (Story idea) and Clayton is the host. Each episode is Clayton’s take on a movie which we then animate.
Cinematographer: Jack Schaefer
Production Company: Castro Bros Entertainment & The Content Group
Budget: $4000
Financing: 1080p
Shooting Format: NA
Screening Format: NA
World Premiere: 4/20/2020
Awards: NA
Website: http://www.cc.com/shows/dope-movies
The beginning of Dope Movies starts with another project, Celebrity Animal Encounters. Pedro and I worked on that together and it’s where we met Frank Macchia, a talented animator. CAE was an interview/animation show and we wanted to make something like that again but instead of animals we would talk about movies while smoking weed. When we searched for talent to host to show, we found Clayton English, a super funny dude who also won Last Comic Standing. He loved the idea of Dope Movies and we didn’t want to just pitch it on paper, we decided to make a short episode ourselves in the spring of 2018. That pitch episode was about Demolition Man, a movie all three of us loved for how kitschy the future is – not to mention that it stars Sylvester Stallone, Wesley Snipes AND Sandra Bullock, to name a few. Once completed, we started pitching it around and that’s when Comedy Central ordered a trio of episodes that are now on their Facebook and YouTube pages!
indieactivity: What is your film about?
Ramiro Castro Jr. (RC): Dope Movies is about looking at films, whether they be new ones or cult classics, and putting a novel perspective to them. Think of Dope Movies as a review show that goes beyond just describing what a movie is by telling the audience what the movie COULD have been like, if a few details were different. Oh and our host, Clayton English, smokes weed while his thoughts come alive through hilarious animations.
Tell us about the festival run, marketing and sales?
Ramiro Castro Jr. (RC): Dope Movies is a project born out of wanting to make funny sh*t we haven’t seen done anywhere else before! We love working with Frank Macchia and Clayton English, so together, we made something we all want to KEEP MAKING because it’s such a fun show. Pedro and I have been in Hollyshorts in the past so we reached out and entered – and we’re so glad we did. Cause we get to keep showing and talking about Dope Movies! We also did massive reach out to the press and got write ups from the Chicago Tribune, Screen Magazine, and radio station Q101 in Chicago.
Give the full Official Synopsis for your film?
Ramiro Castro Jr. (RC): Stand-up Comedian Clayton English smokes weed and recaps The Meteor Man – a movie way ahead of its time and deserving of a lot more praise than it received back in the 90’s.
Development & Financing?
Ramiro Castro Jr. (RC): We self-financed the presentation and upon completion, pitched around to interested production companies. Finding a partner in Content Group we then pitched it to Networks. We were aiming for Comedy Central and were so glad they decided to order a digital series from us!
Production?
Ramiro Castro Jr. (RC): First, we have to decide which movies we want to talk about. We gauge Clayton’s interest too, as his ideas, straight off the dome, are what makes animating Dope Movies so much fun. I direct him and check in on the notes Pedro and I made for the episode. We’ll pitch ideas with Clayton, ask him to go into more detail and generally, just go with the flow. We make sure the major story arcs of the movie are covered and then really push for the visual storytelling coming from Clayton. It’s so important to describe every moment in detail so we have a lot to play with in the animation process later. Pedro spearheads the edit by boiling down the 1 hour session to about 6 to 8 minutes.
Then, Pedro and I keep refining until we have the core 5 minutes or so that we really want to showcase. It takes about 6 weeks to work on the animation per episode, from storyboarding to final animation approval but Frank Macchia usually nails what we want on the first pass, we’re just refining and adding details to it. Once the animations are inserted, we make sure everything works to maximize the comedy that came from the original 1 hour long review Clayton did.
Festival Preparation & Strategy?
Ramiro Castro Jr. (RC): Since we released on social media first, we did a lot to promote the show so it would get seen by as many people as possible. The first episode premiered on 4/20 which was perfect…and we had some luck when Mike Tyson tweeting about his love for the show…100,000+ views later, we decided to do a live screening via Zoom with Clayton and fans of the show, which was so much fun and sorely needed at this time since we can’t all get together. Being in the Hollyshorts festival is an extension of that, we wanted to get together with other filmmakers, see their films, and talk about our process together.
The Release?
RC: Dope Movies was released on Comedy Central’s Youtube and Facebook channels on 4/20/2020 – and two more episodes came out monthly after that.
Advice from the Filmmaker?
RC: Be in it for the long haul, especially on something you love to make. Pedro and I have pitched and sold a few series now and each time we learn and apply those lessons to the next project. But it’s never a quick process and we’ve learned to be patient. What makes all the waiting worthwhile is knowing you would make 100 more of these if you could.
No’s are never a dead end but rather a detour, in the journey of your project. We believed in this idea and when we first pitched Dope Movies, it was just on paper. After a few no’s, we decided to make the presentation ourselves and that really solidified our love for the format. We also got to gel with the production team that we later went back to in order to make more. When Dope
Movies went to digital series for Comedy Central, it was like, hey we knew it, it was a good idea! But we had to put in the work and wait for that right opportunity. While you wait, keep making more ideas happen and show that they’re viable. We found that making a short presentation of the idea works best in taking a project to the next level.
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