Aaron Thomas as “Dumar”
Aaron Thomas and I connected on Twitter. After I watched previews of his upcoming 2-part thriller feature film Dumar, I just had to interview him for the Amused Now Featured Artist Series.
Dumar is the story of a hedge fund manager who was framed for fraud by his employer. Aaron wrote the film script. Originally a horror film that “just didn’t work,” he updated the script to focus on finance.
Dumar Volume 2 releases in December, which starts at midpoint in Dumar’s story. Aaron decided to release the second half first, because he “wanted to do something different. I wanted the audience to be quite confused when they started watching it. Since it’s such a massive story that I want to tell, because it’s character driven, it felt more organic to start midway through.”
Aaron Thomas’ Fruit District Group has several films and collaborate projects in progress. When I asked Aaron about his selection criteria for choosing projects, Aaron explained that he looks for character-driven stories. It’s essential that he finds “characters who have a lot to tell, characters who are in some way victims.”
One of Aaron’s upcoming movies in pre-production is This Paper World, adapted from a book by the highly acclaimed author Jeff Lane. The story is about an 18-year-old college student named Jim Hunt who confronts his destiny. They recently launched an app to build buzz for the movie.
Aaron Thomas explained that the app started as a trailer for the film. Aaron felt that he could get more from the trailer, so he partnered with a tech company to create the app. Jeff Lane is an online, new age author, with podcasts, novels, novellas and short stories. “Jeff’s had over 400,000 audio downloads, so it just made sense to continue his journey with his online brand and build his online audience.”
Aaron takes advantage of the web and social media to promote his projects. He has a website for The Fruit District Group, a website for Dumar and multiple Twitter accounts. “The foundation of Dumar has been built online in terms of cast, in terms of location and just generally meeting people.” A lot of their soundtrack came from SoundCloud.
“We want to continue this trend. That way, our fan base is able to see what we’re doing.” Even though Dumar will have limited release in the UK, most of the film’s audience will be online, because they have built an international audience.
Aaron has an interesting approach to funding his projects. “At first, getting funding was a horrendous riot. It changed for me when I decided to fund my own film. I worked really hard. I did anything from cleaning warehouses to office jobs.” Aaron knew that he wanted to work with certain companies, so he reached out to them and made product placement deals, where he agreed to show their products in the film. Many companies want to associate themselves with the independent film business and it’s a growing market, “so it made sense to reach out to people on the same page as ourselves, it made sense to use brands that coincide with the project.”
“Most of all, it’s just believing in the project itself, believing in the cast and the crew. Know that even at times when we were not able to have the budget that we want, we’ve got to work with what we’ve got. Stay focused. Have faith. Have faith in what you’re doing; have faith in your team. Work hard.”
Aaron does plan to charge for viewing the film to recoup his investment. Production of Dumar Volume 1 depends on the success of Dumar Volume 2. The companies that Aaron has placement deals with will help with film promotion.
This is organic growth in “an industry that says you’re nobody, even though you know that you’re somebody. It’s difficult, because people tend to listen to the industry a lot, but it’s great how independent film has grown and people are more open.”
Dumar is opening in theaters and on the internet all on the same day. This gives everyone the opportunity to be a part of the launch. Plus, it reduces the risk of piracy.
Amused Now plans to be a part of the Dumar Volume 2 launch, so stay tuned!
Watch the entire interview on the Amused Now YouTube Channel: http://youtu.be/b-WevnLRN5g
The Amused Now Featured Artist Series
Aaron Thomas
The Fruit District Group
@FruitDistrict
Dumar The Movie
@dumarthemovie
Cynthia Kahn, Founder of Amused Now
@Amused_Now
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