“Strongman Pictures was initially created to produce the film FROM PARTS UNKNOWN:FIGHT LIKE A GIRL [©2009]”, explains Armstrong, Sole Director of the company. “Parts was financed through our close personal and business network, and every member of the cast and crew is effectively an investor – having agreed to take the risk of working on deferred contract”. FROM PARTS UNKNOWN was designed to be the company’s test case and enable entry to the market and from there generate the relevant investor interest to finance future projects.
The effects of the Global Financial Crisis (slowing investment and squeezing resources) have been felt by Strongman Pictures, and post-production on FROM PARTS UNKNOWN unfortunately has slowed to a steady crawl. “Our resources were depleted when things got tough, but we’ve kept working on it. It’s become a trade off between time and quality at this stage. It was very discouraging for a long time, as it felt that we couldn’t move forward until we had overcome this white whale”, says Armstrong.
Armstrong’s response to the slow down was to shift gears dramatically and dynamically. “Post on PARTS remains a priority, but we had production assets not being fully utilized and revenue issues as a result of the financial crisis.” Armstrong moved the company forward into production of a new feature THE KILLER LUCHADOR [©2009] – this time fully financed through personal investors. Armstrong goes on to explain that the company has also had a restructure and is currently in the process of a share issue through which it hopes to raise capital for a range of films on it’s slate.
“With our first feature taking longer than expected our initial response was to focus on video production and equipment hire to drive up revenues to pour back into post production. This kept us afloat but was not providing the resources needed to take full advantage of our business plan and move forward with film production. That’s what the company was set up to achieve, on-going low budget genre film production, and we were not moving closer to this goal.”
Realizing this Armstrong made the decision to move confidently forward with his expansion plans and he initiated a share issue (in progress) and production of the company’s 2nd feature film. “Our business plan is very simple, and has not changed that much”, explains Armstrong, “we make genre films for fans, mitigate the risks for investors across a range of products, and drive awareness and penetration through effective & low cost marketing communications”
The type of film Strongman Pictures make falls into a niche genre known as Neopulp. Neopulp is an exciting literary genre, the basis of which is the fusion of ideas from different “pulp fiction” sources, treated without satire or irony in an attempt to create something new. It’s not horror, science fiction, adventure, action, romance or burlesque but it contains elements of all of these. In essence a Neopulp film is aggressively “B Grade”, but includes great love and respect for it’s sources of inspiration.
FROM PARTS UNKNOWN: FIGHT LIKE A GIRL is in post-production. THE KILLER LUCHADOR begins production in March 2010. For more about Strongman Pictures “Year One” slate visit www.strongmanpictures.com.
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About Strongman Pictures
Strongman Pictures Pty Ltd is a film and video production company based in Melbourne, Australia, currently developing a slate of in-house feature films for international distribution. Contact Strongman Pictures on: info@strongmanpictures.com or +61(0)400 589 608. Or visit the website www.strongmanpictures.com.
