 "Photo: Wayne Biebel/The Spectator")
“Hard work and perseverance have gotten us to this point, but now it’s truly in the hands of the consumer as the next four weeks are absolutely crucial for the film.
Simply by adding ‘Schism’ to their queues, Netflix customers across the country will not only determine the longevity of ‘Schism’ in the rental market, but help us greatly with retailers and educational communities as well,” said independent filmmaker and Edinboro University employee John Lyons in a press release about his recent partnership with Passion River Films to distribute his film, “Schism” through Netflix.
Said Mathew Levy, manager of acquisitions and marketing at Passion River Films in the press release: “We are excited to partner with Lyons Den Productions and their film ‘Schism.’ It is an important story to be shared about the heart-wrenching effects of our loved ones with Alzheimer’s disease.”
In addition to the Netflix rental market, Passion River Films will focus its efforts on a marketing campaign for “Schism” geared toward libraries and other academic outlets in the United States and Canada.
Based on demand through Netflix and in these initial markets, the focus will then expand to wholesalers that supply major retailers.
Lyons is also currently working on his latest film, “There Are No Goodbyes” and has already shot scenes for the upcoming Lyons Den Productions release abroad in countries such as Poland and The Czech Republic. Currently, Lyons is shooting scenes in Ireland, but before he left, he sat down with A&E Editor Alice Groesbeck to offer the public more details on all of his creative projects.
Alice Groesbeck: How did the film “There Are No Goodbyes” come about?
John Lyons: It’s actually a story idea from Andy Flatley, who’s an Edinboro graduate. He’s done all the music on all my movies because I really wasn’t coming up with any ideas and I really wanted to take a break with writing. He had a good idea and it was an idea that we could really play with. We thought we could give the story line a lot of scope by filming some key, little scenes abroad to make it seem more worldly.
AG: Where are you filming abroad?
JL: We were thinking of going to Poland anyways since my wife is from there and there are so many cool things there, so I just thought I’d film in Poland eventually for this project. I’ve always wanted to go to Prague, too and we are actually going to be filming in Ireland. (Editor’s note: Lyons is currently in Ireland filming scenes for “There Are No Goodbyes.”)
AG: What is this film about?
JL: The movie is a love story, and it’s kind of about—I don’t even want to say! I don’t have a plot synopsis anywhere. Not even on the blog.
AG: Can you give me just the small gist?
JL: Okay. A guy in his 30’s is living in Erie, Pa. He’s kind of been very sheltered in his life and has been living under his parent’s wing and that’s kind of all he’s known his whole existence. He kind of sails along through life and doesn’t have any ambition or anything. He took care of his parents and they are both dead now and he lives in their house and his only friends are their friends. But this is all just the back-story and it won’t be in the film.
AG: So what will be in the movie?
JL: So then the movie starts with him in this self-reflective state, realizing he’s disconnected. And then one day, he receives some instructions that say if he does X, Y and Z, he’ll be rewarded. This task is a really basic thing and he agrees to do it because it’s something different in his life. So he gets rewarded and gets to ask more things and receives more rewards and eventually meets this girl and his life changes. We hope that “There Are No Goodbyes” will be film about how all of our lives are small but our actions have consequences and even the smallest things can affect anyone in the world, anywhere.
AG: What was the reason for blogging about “There Are No Goodbyes?”
JL: It’s a production blog on Wordpress. I’m going to try and keep it really up-to-date and really involved. Every time I run into a roadblock, I’m going to write about that and whenever something interesting happens, I’ll write about that, [too.] We’re toying with the idea of doing video blogs and putting the cast on there. As an indie, you have to build your audience right from the beginning and keep them involved, so I’m going to see how that goes and try to think of interactive elements.
AG: Didn’t you do the same thing with your last film, “Schism?”
JL: With “Schism,” we started a blog when we were almost done with the first cut and when we were going to Sundance to promote it. So really, the first posts on the old blog for “Schism” started at Sundance, and then we blogged about the showing at Edinboro, and then the re-editing for a year and then all the festivals and events that came after that. So this time around, we are blogging from the infancy of our new film.
AG: Even though you are filming abroad, most of your principle photography is going to be done in Erie. Is this an Erie movie?
JL: I really want to make an Erie movie without making an obvious Erie movie. With the blog and with the building of our audience, I’m thinking about adding people’s input and having them suggest locations and I want to ask them what places they’d like to see in the film that represent Erie. Andy has an idea with the music to do submissions by bands to get into the soundtrack.
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