"Saw" ten years later

So, it’s the 10^th year anniversary of the grandfather of horror porn movie “Saw.” How did I know? Because they’re re-releasing this for Halloween. I can’t believe it’s been 10 years. I lit that bathroom. That’s my bathroom. I personally feel it looks like shit. But, for whatever reason, it became a staple to a lot of bathroom porn torture look now.

I don’t remember much about that production, other than it cost less than 1 million dollars to make. Then they market’d it for over 20 million. I have NO idea what the producers saw, since I saw the finished product at a cast and crew and…I turned to a friend (who also worked on the movie). We both slumped into our seats. We didn’t think it would make a dime.

Seven sequels later, I’m the total moron. I know nothing. I know less than nothing. It made a gazillion dollars, and now when I tell people I worked on “Saw” they have unlimited questions. I do enjoy answering the questions, but I hate having to explain how little I know about the business. I still don’t know as much, since I took myself out of the fray. I noticed a lot of my cameramen friends having an easier time making digital look good. Or passable. They’re fine with it. It’s fine.

Recently, I re-looked at a movie I shot about 7 years ago. I see all the mistakes. This was the first time I helmed something as big as it was. It was about a million dollars too. I cringe at a lot of it. I know there’s some snot nose punk electric guy who probably saw the finished product and thought the same as what I thought about “Saw.” That movie didn’t make shit. Of course, to be fair, it also didn’t have $24 million in marketing. This is the difference. As well as distribution.

I do want to bring one thing up. A year after “Saw” made a gazillion dollars ($54 million to be accurate) it didn’t make the director a dime. In fact, it’s still on the books as having lost money. This is the problem. In this business, success is actually failure. On paper you look like a damn super star. The reality is, you bleed money like water through a sieve. Imagine a water balloon. A simple pin prick causes a tiny bead of water to trick. The big pricks in Hollywood causes it to burst. Your money is drained because everyone took percentages to do such a tiny movie. And now you also owe the studio that distributed your movie for the marketing. SO, now they have you by the balls. You have to make a couple more movies for them so they can milk the golden calf to death. Which includes re-releasing this dead beaten horse back into theaters after 10 years. You can call it sour grapes if you want. I actually like the fact that the feature I shot only lost a million and NOT my dignity. Some people’s dignity may be worth less. I’ve no idea.