Indie Film Production Offers
Free Gas
for Studio Distribution Deal
May 25, 2008
For Immediate Release
- Contact:
Jesulu Productions
Voice: 310-622-4148Jesulu Productions announced today that it will buy one-thousand gallons of gasoline for the movie studio that purchases domestic theatrical distribution rights to its new suspense-comedy feature film, Lady Magdalene's.
"We're making this offer during Memorial Day weekend," said Jesulu's CEO, J. Neil Schulman, who also wrote, directed, and plays a supporting role in Lady Magdalene's, "when even the major studios are feeling the pinch of increased gasoline prices as they roll out their summer blockbusters. If you're in charge of the studio delivering prints of the new Indiana Jones movie to over 8000 screens, you're well aware that filling up the gas tank can run up those distribution costs quickly."
This is not the first time Jesulu Productions has engaged in non-traditional tactics to achieve a distribution deal for Lady Magdalene's. While still in post-production they offered the film's distribution rights for sale on eBay; however, no bids were received.
"We just didn't fit into either studio or independent marketing categories," said Schulman. "We aim to entertain a mass audience like studio blockbusters costing 500 times what we spent on production, but our micro-blockbuster is upbeat and feel-good, which disqualified us from most of the major film festivals. Who knew you needed to make a downbeat movie about a dysfunctional Inuit family whose lesbian daughter is molested by a Haliburton executive to get into Sundance?" Schulman asked.
Lady Magdalene's was awarded "Best Cutting Edge Film" following its premiere at the 2008 San Diego Black Film Festival February 2nd, and was received enthusiastically by a large audience during its April 3rd screening at the Backlot Film Festival in Culver City.
In the title role of Lady Magdalene the film stars Nichelle Nichols, the iconic actress who played "Uhura" on the original Star Trek, as well as being a singer discovered at age 16 by Duke Ellington. Beginning in Fall 2007, Nichelle Nichols began appearing as "Nana Dawson," a recurring player on the NBC blockbuster television series, Heroes. As well as starring in Lady Magdalene's, Nichelle Nichols contributed her talents behind the camera as choreographer, and composer of two original songs for the film, which she performed as well.
Lady Magdalene's writer/director, J. Neil Schulman, is known as an award-winning novelist and journalist. His original screenplay "Profile in Silver," is one of the best-remembered episodes of CBS's 1980's Twilight Zone series. Schulman also contributed music and lyrics to five songs in the film, and played the role of Ali the American, an al-Qaeda terrorist.
Lee Michael Cohn, in his Santa Monica Mirror review of the Backlot Film Festival, writes, "Notable entries included J. Neil Schulman's Lady Magdalene's, starring the ever-beautiful Nichelle Nichols of Star Trek fame. Schulman's first feature is an offbeat, sexy comedy set in a Nevada brothel that lampoons the IRS, Homeland Security, and Al-Qaeda, among others.
Steve Miller, writing in a Rotten Tomatoes review, describes Lady Magdalene's as "a fun, fast-paced action comedy" that is "built like the classic comedies of the 1940s-1960s, complete with a musical number." Miller writes, "If writers of the modern thrillers could come up with twists and misdirections even a quarter as clever as Schulman does here, I wouldn't find myself wondering if the thriller is a dead genre." Miller also writes that Nichelle Nichols "gives a performance that is worthy of an actress of her veteran status. She is delightful in this film."
Bestselling author, Jacqueline Lichtenberg, in an advance review, writes that Lady Magdalene's is "action-humor reminiscent of a Bob Hope movie ... The casting is outstanding... The script had all the twists in the right places...powerful and so subtly written... It is purely character driven -- and that's what I loved about it. Definitely one that will etch itself into memory. It grows on you after you finish seeing it. I was still thinking about it a week later."
Tom Long, writing in his Detroit News column, says Lady Magdalene's
"stars Nichelle Nichols from Star Trek. Talk about someone who can open a movie."
Rounding out the production is a fresh cast with backgrounds in movies, music, TV, modeling, and stage, including Groundlings alumnus Ethan Keogh (Bedazzled, Able Edwards) as Agent Jack Goldwater, Susan Smythe ("Best Actress" Award at the NY International Independent Film and Video Festival) as "Angel," Persian pop princess Claudia Lynx (West Wing, Legion of the Dead) as Scheherazade, former Calvin Klein model Alexander Wraith (Hitch, Royal Kill) as Yassin Salem, London Drama Centre alumnus Mark Gilvary (Puritan, The Bard: The Story of Robert Burns), doubling both as the Director of al Qaeda and as FBI agent Curtis Broderick, Mara Marini (Darkworld, Porntourage) as Nurse Gretchen, Miss Teen All American Hope McBane (MTV's TRL and Housebroken) as Sinead, and Michele Redmond (HBO's Cathouse) as Eden.
Lady Magdalene's log line is, "After a prostitute's murder, a disgraced federal agent buddies with a Nevada madam to unravel an al-Qaeda plot."
Lady Magdalene's is being represented for a sale to a theatrical distributor by Jeffrey Leavitt of the Leavitt Talent Group, who also represents Nichelle Nichols and J. Neil Schulman as their talent agents.
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