Ingenious
Back in 2009, the film Lightbulb, starring Jeremy Renner and Dallas Roberts, picked up the Best Picture Award at the Phoenix Film Festival. Since then, it's gone on a remarkable journey to it's new title of, Ingenious, and its release this weekend at Harkins Shea 14.
Ingenious is about Matt, a small-time inventor, keeps coming up with clever but impractical products. Sam, Matt's longtime friend and business partner, is a born salesman. Just ask him, he'll tell you. Gina, Matt's wife, is a flight attendant dealing with the flying public's bizarre behavior. Gina is picking up extra trips to help sustain Matt's struggling business. One day, out of the blue, Matt get the Big Idea. The one he's been waiting on to save his business and marriage. Wild money-raising schemes ensue to finance the American Dream product.
Just like in the movie, the filmmakers have gone through many twists and turns to get their product out there. The film was produced in 2008 and was shot in Tucson. The shoot used the majority of their budget leaving them with precious little money for post production. Although the film was in fifteen big name festivals, opened two (Cleveland and Jerusalem), closed one (Santa Barbara) and won Best Picture (Phoenix), it wasn't technically (sound and music) as good as they would have liked.
They received some offers from major distributors but those were primarily LA and New York short runs followed by or in conjunction with a VOD release. After a period of scrimping and scraping they came up with the money to finish the film (a new edit with more Jeremy Renner screen time), transfer to HD, and integrated score by Tucson musician How Gelb and Dolby certified surround sound. Then, at the Cannes marketplace, they sold eighteen territories, including Canada, France, Scandinavia and all of Latin America.
In addition to having essentially a new better movie, the renewed interest was coming from Jeremy Renner's increasing name recognition and popularity. The response to their self-distribution to theaters has been very positive. They have booked fourteen theaters, for one week minimums, in the past three weeks including the Harkins Shea in Phoenix and expect to have over 100 booked by the end of November. So, ironically, just like the theme of INGENIOUS, persistence pays off.
Give the film a look this week exclusively at Harkins Shea 14
