Interview with 'Netherbeast, Incorporated' Filmmakers The Ronalds Brothers

Dean and Brian Ronalds had been making short films for a few years when they were handed a script to a three-minute flick called Netherbeast of Berm-Tech Industries. That short, written by Bruce Dellis, turned into a much longer script that the brothers decided would be their first feature film. Now, their horror comedy Netherbeast, Incorporated is getting a limited theatrical release beginning this weekend as well as a domestic DVD push later this year. We sat down with the Ronalds Brothers last week as they were editing another film they're producing, The Graves, written and directed by comic book author Brian Pulido. I remember talking to you guys about the short film years ago at the Phoenix Film Festival, and then I saw this movie about 18 months ago. So how long has Netherbeast been brewing? Dean Ronalds: From making the short to this point in time, probably four years. But there was a lot of stuff in between that we did to help Netherbeast get made. Brian Ronalds: We did the short, and it got recognition in a lot of film festivals. In fact, it won three or four film festivals. It was three pages and it was for a horror challenge thriller. We did it in, like, one day, and it won the challenge. We're losers, so winning something was something different for us. And you knew that when you wanted to step up to features that it wouldn't be the sort of thing that you make in a weekend and it's done. You knew it would be a much bigger deal than short films. BR: Well, the hope is you make a movie, you submit it to Sundance, they accept you, you win an award, and you sell it for millions of dollars - DR: There's the quick version, which is that way - BR: So that's the dream. That's like one in a million. Or you do what we did: You tour it for a year, you kind of gain interest one person at a time at these film festivals. DR: And we did submit it to Sundance, but they got such an early, early, early version. It was just scenes - BR: It was an assembly of scenes, yeah. DR: And they actually liked it enough that they wanted to premiere it another one of their festivals, CineVegas, but we were already committed to premiere it at AFI Dallas. But it was great that they remembered enough about it that they wanted to premiere it at CineVegas. We learned so much, basically that we'd take a different approach with our next movie, as far as releasing it, which festivals we attempt to get into, and if we don't get in certain festivals, hit it a different way just to try to get it sold quicker. How has the local filmmaking community helped you? I guess it's probably true in every big city that you're going to make movies with a lot of the same people. How much did having those resources help you with a project this size? DR: The community of filmmakers is definitely growing here in town. It's definitely still a struggle being able to crew [a project], especially now because there are more projects coming. Hopefully, with that in mind, it will generate the need to bring more qualified people here. If you need more of a direct connection to what you're doing, Sean Anders made a little movie here a couple years ago called Never Been Thawed, and now he's got Sex Drive coming out in wide release across the country next month. DR: Yeah, and it premiered at ComicCon. So he's right there. And he was in the same situation you guys are in now, so who knows. BR: After we were done with the circuit, we said, "Let's put it in front of a distributor." We went to (Arizona-based theater chain) Harkins Theaters and said, "Hey, I think we're ready for a theatrical." So while we were making that deal, we were in Vegas at the Home Media Expo, where you go and sell your movie. So it kind of simultaneously happened. We made a deal and we made a deal through Shoreline with Welgo USA, and they're a distribution company that's really going to get it out on December 9th on DVD. Is DVD where you hope to make your money, kind of set up the next project through those sales? DR: Yeah, there's front end and back end. So definitely, that's where most of the funds are generated. Well, we'll see... BR: Plus that's a domestic release. We're going after 12 - 20 other countries as well, so we're going to have a big foreign release. That's really what Shoreline is emphasizing. Is that DVD release part of an ongoing business model? In a sense, is it something you build your next project with, whether it's for financing or distribution or even festival recognition? BR: I think so. I think from the shorts to this point have all been stepping stones. And now to have a DVD in hand that's been distributed - actually, two, with The Graves coming - is going to give us a little bit of a leg up now and people will be willing to listen to us because there's some form of success. We're able to pull these projects together with good scripts, great directors, and wonderful talent. And then they'll start giving us the $100 million to make the movies we want to make. (Laughs)