Lloyd Kaufman

Greetings from Tromaville!

For 32 years, the Troma Team and I’ve been making our own brand independent films far removed (and happily in that truth may I add) from the Hollywood cookie-cutter system. Some of our films have been great and some of them have been, well, “Sgt. Kabukiman, NYPD”. But what can be said about all of them is that they have been memorable.

Our newest film, Poultrygeist: Night Of The Chicken Dead is our best film yet!

And yet I fear it’s doomed to failure or worse: to be completely ignored.

You see, for years people have heard me complain that Troma’s films (that’s right, I said film… 35mm film, damnit!!) have long been shut out of the system… marginalized or just plain dismissed. Blockbuster won’t carry us. The major theatrical chains won’t play us. The press won’t even call us back when we ask them to watch our films! You might chalk this rant up as just another “Lloyd’s roids” type rant, but consider this: Twenty years ago Troma was just one of over thirty truly independent film companies. Ten years ago, Troma was just one of twenty truly independent film companies. Today, Troma is the ONLY truly independent film company left.

Why is Troma that last man standing? Now this is not boasting, quite the opposite in fact… For I feel that we too are not long for this celluloid coil.

Poultrygeist deserves at least the attention that some lesser films (e.g. “Snakes On A Plane”) backed by the majors get. A lot of blood, sweat and tears went into making this film (mostly belonging to the dedicated crew who worked for nothing but crappy food and a love of indie cinema) and a lot more bodily fluids will be excreted from my pores if this film goes the way of my last couple. And even though we know this film to be among our best, truthfully there is no way for us to compete (promotion wise) with the majors to prove … At least there is no way that will not cost $50 million.

Much like production of the film itself, we need the help of dedicated, innovated, driven people to volunteer their time and creativity into forming a grass roots marketing campaign, which can raise awareness about this film!

Much like production of the film itself, we need the help of dedicated, innovated, driven people to volunteer their time and creativity into forming a grass roots marketing campaign, which can raise awareness about this film! But this is NOT just about Poultrygeist! This is about sending a message, perhaps spawning a movement! If we can wake up the world and show them that there are more choices than what the fast food conglomerates have to offer, we can birth a sort of artistic revolution, where once again the little man can get his art seen by the masses without selling his soul to the masters. With your help, we might just be able to make Poultrygeist a success. We might be able to get the press to cover it, or movie theaters to play it. We might be able to get people to consider it for long enough to realize what a unique and great film it is! So I get down on my knees, and ask you a favor. If Troma has ever made you laugh, or smile, or vomit: could you spare the time to consider the following list, any item of which could help us spread the word?

BY ANY (legal that is) MEANS NESCESSARY!!!!

1. If  you have a MySpace account, could you make Poultrygeist your friend, and put it in your Top 8 friends?
   MySpace.com/ PoultrygeistMovie
   (*Also, list the movie in your favorite films!)
2. Can you watch and vote on the YouTube clips we have up?
   The music video
   The trailer
   There’s also a leaked clip
   
3. If you have a website or a blog, can you encourage your readers to support the film? Maybe even repost this letter!
   The MySpace link is http://www.myspace.com/poultrygeistmovie
   And the YouTube clips are at http://youtube.com/results?search_query=poultrygeist&search=Search
4. Create your own fan sites, like this lovely POULTRYTGEIST FAN PAGE by this most luscious gyno, Annie Oakley! We will link them with all of ours!
5. Create your own stickers, stencils and posters and tag the country!!!
6. And if you have any other ideas, or suggestions, of how we can create awareness for this film, let me know at [email protected]! I’m new to this web world, and I’d be really grateful for any help!
7. Finally, and this is the most important part… can you consider forwarding this letter to everyone you know? That would be the biggest help.

Thanks for your support! Poultrygeist was made almost entirely through the efforts of volunteers around the world — from the food served on set, to the 500 cast members. I’d hate to let these people down with a great film that noone sees.

Unless you help get the bird… err word out, the swan song of my 40 year career may be just another zombie chicken musical which no one gives a cluck about.

Yours Tromatically,

xoxo Lloyd

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 13th, 2006 at 5:23 pm and is filed under `Roids. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.