Hollow Point is the “Dilan Jay” response to non-stereotyped lead roles for Indians in Hollywood

Dilan Jay is Professor Nolan Cooray (Hollow Point) a traumatized man who’s family are murdered. He joins a vigilante group to face-off with the killer, as he confronts a personal dilemma. He hopes this will inspire producers to cast Indians into non-stereotypical lead roles.

“I put myself, as protagonist because if I wanted to see an Indian in an American film, I simply had to create it. Such a role does not exist — you just don’t see it happening yet” said Dilan Jay.

indieactivity : Give a background of your personal experience with the story, writing, production and marketing?
Dilan Jay : I have always been a writer and a producer — in fact, my story in entertainment actually begins with becoming a DJ at just 12 years-old. I thus fell in love with entertaining people very young, and by the time I was 18, I had DJ’ed at many, many events and parties in the LA area (where I was born and raised).

My DJ career evolved into a music career, and I spent 8 years as a professional Hip Hop artist — my pseudonym was “DeLon“. I wrote my own songs, and I released 4 albums and 2 mix-tapes as DeLon. I was the first artist ever from Sri Lanka to place on the U.S. Billboard Charts. I also had a #1 on MTV’s Most Popular Music Videos, plus 6 #1 hits in Sri Lanka…those were amazing times, needless to say! I retired as DeLon the rapper to turn my musical career in a new direction, and officially enter the film industry.

Taking a step back, I actually began my acting career in 2010 with the lead role in the second largest budgeted film in Sri Lanka, Looking Back On The Lion (2010), which continues to be played every Sri Lankan New Year to celebrate the country’s freedom from British control. In the following years, I acted in several short films in Los Angeles, one being “Mind And Movement” (2015).

Like most people, I’m a huge admirer of film, but my desire to pursue film stems quite a bit from my heritage. I’m Sri Lankan, and my entire life has been steeped in my country’s tradition — traveling to and from Sri Lanka, speaking the language, and really understanding where I’m from. It probably goes without saying, but there aren’t a ton of Sri Lankans moving and shaking in American media — in fact, I think there’s zero (besides me) that I’m aware of.

Related Story: Debut Sri Lankan-American Produced Action Film Touts Minority & Female Representation

So, deciding to create a film, versus just pursuing jobs or roles in the industry, really came from wanting to see more Indians — specifically Sri Lankans — in mainstream (aka, American) film. Thus, my purpose for creating Hollow Point wasn’t only about entertainment; it was about showing viewers that someone from Sri Lanka could star in an American action film, specifically in a non-stereotypical role. With the release of Yesterday starring Himesh Patel, we’re seeing a growing momentum of Indians showing up in mainstream media, which is very exciting because clearly people want to see it, and more filmmakers are willing to do it.

indieactivity : Did you start with a cast (you or any) in mind?
Dilan Jay : Yes, I did.

indieactivity : How long did you take to complete pre-production? (Do you have a writing process?)
Dilan Jay : The writing process took about 2 weeks… I ran everything by my director, Daniel Zirilli, which was a fantastic process because we worked together quite well to hone the script into a movie that would fit the mainstream genre. All of pre-production took about 1 month.

indieactivity : When did you form your production company – and what was the original motivation for its formation?
Dilan Jay : I started Halcyon Media Group back in 2016, and when I started it, I had 2 things in mind. First, I wanted to create a conglomerate that could handle any media creation. And two, I started under Halcyon Media Group a talent agency because jumping into the American film industry, I wanted to learn the ropes, see the talent, and ultimately, know what was out there. My talent agency did just that: I got to work one-on-one with actors and feel the pulse of the industry from an insider’s perspective. I got to know producers, writers, and I learned intimately what was required to move massive projects — like movies — forward. That experience, which was a few years before Hollow Point’s inception, was invaluable in being able to tackle Hollow Point as fast as I did.

indieactivity : What was the first project out of the gate?
Dilan Jay : Hollow Point actually. I’m a first-time filmmaker, and I’m very proud of what my team and I created because as I write this, I’m at a film festival in Spain where Hollow Point is being screened. It’s been hinted that the film may have won an award which is extremely exciting!

indieactivity : During production, what scene (that made the cut) was the hardest to shoot?
Dilan Jay : The hardest scene was definitely the ending because it was shot so late at night (and into the morning), that we were rushing and fighting against time. The sun was slowly illuminating the sky, yet the scene itself was written for a late-night scene, so everyone was moving very fast to get it done before morning hit. Did I mention we had worked a double shift that day? Yeah, everyone was very tired and stressed and frankly just pushed to the limits, but everyone on set proved to be extremely dedicated. We got the scene done in the nick of time — but I’d be lying if I said a ton of post-production was not needed to further darken the sky to black. Again, it was stressful, but we got it done!

indieactivity : You produced the film, what measure of input did it take to complete?
Dilan Jay : Honestly, it took 95% of all of my energy to pull Hollow Point off. It also took 50% more money than I originally budgeted! I was not only the producer, but I was also the post production coordinator, and I handled a ton of post production which took 6 weeks to complete. I personally went through every single frame of the film to address coloring with a colorist for 2 solid weeks. I personally examined every single visual effect on top of choosing the styled animation for both the beginning and end credits. Then, even though my musical score guy was incredible, I had him re-do about 60% of the film’s score so that it fit the motifs of the film on top of getting the sound mix team to remix the movie 8 different times for the film. All of this was a crazy amount of work, but remember: this was my first film, my first entry into the filmmaking world, so I needed it to be as perfect as I could make it.

indieactivity : Is there anything about the independent filmmaking business you still struggle with?
Dilan Jay : Trying to get things done within a certain budget. Balancing budget against quality, and learning where you can effectively give and take to stay within budget but still produce a specific level of quality. With Hollow Point, the numbers we started out with were just wrong, so I didn’t have the right idea of how much things really cost out of the gate.

indieactivity : Where does your strength as a producer lie?
Dilan Jay : I’d say, working in so many various fields in the past allowed me to handle all the random activity of the filmmaking process. For example, I dealt with 20-30 people everyday, which included many teams; my experience as a businessman helped me with that. My music career came in very handy during the production of the audio, specifically my experience in creating music videos. I have quite a bit of training in finance, so that knowledge came in useful obviously because a film is a huge production — and budget. Therefore, because of my knowledge base, I didn’t become overwhelmed, and that’s very important when you’re leading multiple teams to create a massive art piece of art like a film.

indieactivity : Let’s talk finance, how did you finance the film?
Dilan Jay : Hindsight… I don’t even know. Like I said earlier, we went 50% over budget so pulling it off was a feat!

indieactivity : How much did you go over budget? How did you manage it?
Dilan Jay : I went about 50% over budget, and how did I manage it? Well, VERY carefully!

indieactivity : How important is marketing? Do you think a project can make any dent without it these days?
Dilan Jay : Marketing is the #1 most important thing, I’ve learned, and absolutely NO — nothing can make a dent without a huge and consistent marketing push. If you’re not ready to address marketing, my recommendation? Do not make a movie.

indieactivity : Tell us about the marketing activities on the project – and how it’s gone for you?
Dilan Jay : The marketing activities are happening across several vectors currently. I hired Bleiberg Entertainment to handle international and national sales, and I think they’ve done a great job. On the domestic side, we’re working with a Bleiberg to hopefully nail down a fantastic domestic deal.

indieactivity : What do you hope audiences get from your film?
Dilan Jay : First and foremost, of course, I hope viewers are entertained. That’s what I think any filmmaker first sets out to do — give viewers a remarkable experience. I also created Hollow Point to inspire people to ask questions. The plot circulates around our flawed legal system, and the moral questions and scenarios in Hollow Point strike very real chords in people.

For example, when you get massively screwed over and served a plate of injustice, do you seek vengeance? Do you actually trust the law to make right things gone wrong? These are real and hard questions to answer. So this movie opens up a discussion for viewers to consider and question the way the American legal system works. Does it really work? That’s another great question!

And a better question? How can it be fixed. Now that’s the question I really hope viewers glean from the film because the truth is, the system isn’t near perfect, and people are wronged every single day. I’d love for these critical questions to rise up in people when they watch Hollow Point because only when these questions are asked can we look at how injustices can be handled. As a filmmaker, I ultimately want my movies to start conversations about things that are relevant in society that should be discussed.

indieactivity : What else have you got in the works?
Dilan Jay : I’m working on doing another movie this year — a romantic comedy. I’m also working on getting a TV show script that I wrote picked up. I’m very excited to see what happens with Hollow Point… we’ve been accepted into film festivals and look forward to its reception!

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