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Powers: The Film Adaptation

Root One Productions

Prepared by:

Elizabeth (Kat) Ekrami, Josh Elyea, Mark Kudel, Eric Morlang, Will Rosenblatt, and Alison Snedker

FILM 2601B

Prof. Joe Lipsett

Executive Summary

Dear Reader,

This is the final business plan for our adaptation of the graphic novel, Powers: Who Killed Retro Girl? by Brian Michael Bendis. What we intend to accomplish is generally summed up in the name of our company, Root One. The multiple puns and meanings that arise from it parallel many of our arguments throughout this press kit.

Throughout our business plan, we emphasize our intent to return to the roots of film as a medium for art. The film we propose is meant to be meaningful and thought provoking rather than the bland, business driven projects that seem to arise from expensive 3D pro-ductions. This is one of the reasons we further outline for premiering our film at the Toronto International Film Festival. We want to reach critical audiences and challenge the public to be critical viewers of media as well. Of course, we do not ignore the business stand point of our film. Through the comparison of past projects similar to ours, we address the positives and negatives that arise from attempts to create meaningful film.

A parallel is also drawn from our company name in terms of “the square root of one.” Our desire to use a minimal budget is in order to stress the lowest common denominator of film; we wish to use a minimal budget to emphasize the art of story telling in film. Going beyond the visual effects of film, we often stress the means by which narrative interacts with the audience. For example, the Othering we discuss further in a variety of sections illustrates our interest in interacting with audiences rather than providing them flashy images.

All areas of our press kit demonstrate a single desire or, in other words, “one route.” The route we wish to follow is maintained to be one of artistic success primary to revenue. Though the amount of star power we propose suggests otherwise, the stars are empha-sized to draw audiences to experience the film, whether on the big screen or on DVD. We recognize our project does not stand alone in presenting social significance. We highlight these parallels and express the benefits while soberly admitting the downfalls. We explain the triumphs of Bendis’ work which we intend to bring to the screen effectively. We also recognize the difficulty in adaptation and stress the importance of our cast and directors in remaining true to the text. Of course, we also demonstrate an understanding the differences between the comic and film mediums; not all adaptations lead to success, but some do. Our comparisons to past adapted films address the difficulties in adapting for film. We hope you enjoy; we hope you “root” for us!

Up, up, and away,

Root One Productions


Root One Productions Page III

Table of Contents1. Overview ............................................................................. 1

1.1 Brand Synopsis............................................................ 11.2 The Films.................................................................... 11.3 Cast/Directing Team..................................................... 2

2. Strategic Plan and Focus ..................................................... 4

2.1 Mission Statement........................................................ 42.2 Goals and Objectives .................................................... 4

3. Market-Product Focus ......................................................... 5

3.1 Target Market.............................................................. 53.2 Marketing and Product Objectives .................................. 53.3 Brand Advantages........................................................ 63.4 Points of Difference ...................................................... 63.5 Positioning .................................................................. 8

4. Financial Data and Projections ............................................ 9

4.1 Projected Budget ......................................................... 94.2 Anticipated Return ....................................................... 94.3 Timeline .................................................................... 104.4 Corporate Sponsorship................................................. 10

5. Marketing Program Strategies and Tactics ........................ 12

5.1 Release Date .............................................................. 125.2 Promotion .................................................................. 125.3 Promotion Schedule .................................................... 145.4 Pricing....................................................................... 15

6. SWOT Analysis .................................................................. 16

6.1 Strengths................................................................... 166.2 Weaknesses ............................................................... 176.3 Opportunities ............................................................. 176.4 Threats...................................................................... 18

7. Industry Analysis .............................................................. 19

Glossary ................................................................................... i

Film Index............................................................................... ii


1. Overview

1.1 Brand Synopsis

Originally created by renowned comic book author Brian Bendis, the graphic novel, a noir style detective story which takes place in a world where superpowers are not uncom-mon, presented a unique challenge for us as a creative team. Bendis’ comics have been published since the year 2000; since then, he has published 13 volumes for the series. Powers has been generally well received by the comic book public having won many awards including the Harvey, Eisner, and Eagle Awards. We intend to adapt the first of the series, Who Killed Retro Girl? This comic was praised in 2009 for being the most

popular super hero crime comic in the past decade1.

The graphic novel functions differently than other superhero tales, as we are presented with a duo of protagonists who possess no powers whatsoever. With this in mind, a ste-reotypical origin story was not necessary, and we chose to stick fairly close to both the story and tone outlined in the source material. In this narrative, detectives Christian Walker and Deena Pilgrim race to discover who is behind the murder of one of the world’s most famous superheroes, Retro Girl.

1.2 The Films

Who Killed Retro Girl?: The first film will focus on the aforementioned plot wherein Walker and Pilgrim attempt to discover the killer of one of the world’s most famous superheroes, Retro Girl. Along the way, secrets are revealed about Walker’s past and the pair discovers the intentions of underground society Kaotic Chic. The novel presents many references to Christian symbolism. Certain characters compare themselves to God and Joan of Arc. Moreover, the death of Retro Girl provokes an image of Jesus on the cross. Though it is not clear what Bendis was hoping to achieve, and there are no schol-arly article that address the topic, we hope to include this in our adaptation. This, of course, requires hands on help from Bendis in producing the film. We do not desire to alienate the fans, and would like to be sure whatever social critiques we make are agree-able with Bendis. However, our idea is to parallel the super characters with political fig-ures. Audiences join the law protecting protagonists in trying to keep them under control. This parallels much of the political strife in Egypt and can produce a deeper experience for the audience.

Role-play/Little Deaths: In the sequel to the original film, Detectives Walker and Pilgrim return to investigate the deaths of several children who have been masquerading as superheroes. This film will end on a cliffhanger with Pilgrim locked in a battle with a villain known as The Bug, the consequences of this film remaining unknown until the third film.

1. CBR News Team, Editor. “Bendis and Oeming’s Award Winning ‘Powers’ Returns with all new series.”

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Anarchy: Pilgrim is revealed to have won her battle with The Bug, however it has left her in possession of powers. After accidentally killing her boyfriend, Pilgrim becomes the subject of an I.A investigation much to Walker’s chagrin. He attempts to help her tame her new powers and in the process the two become romantically involved. The film ends as Triphammer returns and cures Pilgrim while offering a cure to the Powers gene for the rest of the world. The future of this storyline remains unresolved as the trilogy comes to a close.

1.3 Cast/Directing Team

Shane Black: Shane Black, best known as the writer of the Lethal Weapon films and as the director of the 2005 noir film Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, is the man we have chosen to direct our film. No stranger to film noir tendencies or the buddy cop dynamic evident in Powers, Black has illustrated on numerous occasions, most notably in the aforemen-tioned films, an ability to manipulate and effectively communicate many of the early noir stereotypes in modern day films. We as a creative team feel that this ability fits perfectly with the visual style and tone that we hope to establish with our film, Who Killed Retro Girl. Black’s star is also on the rise right now, as he was recently tapped to direct the final installment in the incredibly popular Iron Man trilogy.

Detective Christian Walker (Jon Hamm): Chosen by our creative team due to his familiarity with haunted characters and his physical similarities to the role at hand, Jon Hamm features a perfect blend of acting ability and fame to portray the protagonist of Who Killed Retro Girl, Detective Christian Walker. Walker is a character not unlike his Mad Men character Don Draper in that both characters struggle with secrets from their past and have issues with substance abuse (added by our creative team in Who Killed Retro Girl to make Walker appear more downtrodden). Hamm has also experienced a significant amount of fame since Mad Men’s explosion in popularity; however, his film works to date remain limited, therefore guaranteeing he hasn’t worn out his welcome with audiences. However, one has to imagine that his fan base from Mad Men would be interested in seeing the film proposed here, thereby increasing the effectiveness in pair-ing this actor with this character.

Deena Pilgrim (Evan Rachel Wood): Well known for her selectiveness when choosing her roles, young actress Evan Rachel Wood is the creative team’s primary choice for the role of Deena Pilgrim. We believe Wood has the ability and look to portray Pilgrim accurately while giving life to character that was voted #24 overall on Empire’s

list of greatest comic book characters2. No stranger to low budget films, Wood has shown a willingness to work on projects similar to ours in the past and her growing popularity with a mainstream audience illustrates that this could be an excellent time for her to gain a defining role in her career. Pilgrim is a witty, occasionally sexualized character who would offer Wood a chance to really disappear into a character.

2. “The 50 Greatest Comic Book Characters.” Empire Magazine.



Triphammer (Chris Cooper): With the role of Triphammer being expanded in our screenplay, a heavyweight actor was required to fill the role. Acting as one of the primary antagonists of the first film, we as a creative team feel as though Chris Cooper, best known for his affinity for playing military personnel, would convincingly portray Trip-hammer. Stern but not overbearing, Cooper brings a veteran film presence to the cast and our film offers him a chance to portray yet another villain and add to his already spectacular career.

Stevens (Sam Rockwell): Ultimately identified as the killer of the iconic Retro Girl, the creative team chose Sam Rockwell to portray the “villain” Stevens. Rockwell has experience playing villains and has shown an affinity for small budget projects, recently appearing in Choke (2008) and Moon (2009), both critically acclaimed indie films. Con-sidered by many a fantastic actor, Rockwell would bring further critical acclaim to the cast and offer another film veteran presence. Not overly popular as a mainstream actor, Rockwell is a recognizable face with the acting ability to accurately portray Stevens as a villain with an agenda.

Retro Girl (Kristen Bell): The title character of the film, Retro Girl has little more than a cameo appearance in our film. Appearing only in flashbacks and during the initial investigation of her death, the creative team chose Bell due to her similarity to the comic character’s appearance and her wholesome appeal.




2. Strategic Plan and Focus

2.1 Mission Statement

Root One Productions is a creative production company aimed at pushing the boundar-ies and re-evaluating the current conventions of popular film. We push to include more of a social commentary, allowing familiar and much loved genres to attain a new level of artistry. We desire to construct intelligent art with revenue as a secondary focus.

This entails the process of adapting and producing texts that blur genre lines, are self-reflexive, and attract a wide demographic while still leaving opportunity for audiences to challenge the themes portrayed. We at Root One find many graphic novels to be unparal-leled in this regard, and want to use the power of the filmic medium to move critics and audiences everywhere, aiding the evolution of the super hero genre. An adaptation of Brian Bendis’ witty and intelligent super hero/detective novel Powers is the first project Root One will be pursuing. Its relatively small budget and its social relevance which are sure to aid in its success make Powers an ideal candidate for Root One’s first film. We intend to provoke reflexive thought for audiences everywhere.

2.2 Goals and Objectives

With the film adaptation of Powers, we hope to establish a name for Root One by attract-ing critical (primarily film festival) acclaim. With our first showing of the film scheduled for the Toronto International Film Festival, Powers is sure to garner significant buzz which may be maximized by our viral marketing strategy. Awards and festival darling status are our primary goals.

Powers will set the precedent for future superhero films in its alternative perspective of the genre. Its success will open the doors for more texts with a similar weight to them. We at Root One do not have the intention to make the Powers franchise a summer tent pole blockbuster. Our greatest return will be in DVD sales, similar to cult classic Fight Club (Fincher, 1999) as we will later elaborate upon. Requiring only a minimal budget, we are confident that Powers will eventually turn a profit, while effectively putting Root One on the map. Using new media such as Facebook and Twitter allows us to tap into a niche market while inexpensively and powerfully promoting the film. All in all, we hope our films may lead audiences to be critical rather than passive viewers of film.


3. Market-Product Focus

3.1 Target Market

Our target audience will mostly consist of males between the ages of 16 to 30. This is the

largest film attending audience3 which thrives on action based films; our film emulates this through the stories and images of Brian Bendis’ text. Of course, this demographic will be compromised primarily by the current fan base for the Powers series. This is sim-ilar to The Lord of the Rings (Jackson) which had to advertise to expand upon the exist-

ing fan base4. We are also attempting to lure additional potential viewers based upon our current actor lineup as well as the style and themes that our film will implement. Certain actors in our character lineup, such as Jon Hamm, lead role in Matthew Weiner’s televi-sion series Mad Men, have developed a strong fan base due to their current and previous work; take the multiple fan sites such as jon-hamm.org for example. The demographic of John Hamm’s Mad Men is primarily female, separate from our primary demographic. In having Jon Hamm star as our lead character, Christian Walker, we hope to attract part of this fan base over to our Powers film. Another demographic that we hope to snare is made up of viewers who will want to see a more serious superhero film with a darker,

grittier, noir theme as William Nava suggests in his article5 (expanded upon in SWOT analysis).

3.2 Marketing and Product Objectives

The goal behind the development of our film does not lie completely within the boundar-ies of making a profit. Our desire is to create a meaningful and critically acclaimed film that will be running for nominations and awards through various film festivals. We still wish our film to be a success though, and would like to see it make back its production cost of 25 million through the box office and any sales thereafter. Our primary trust is in a film that can succeed in reaching audiences as meaningful and worthy of awards. Thus, our marketing strategy focuses on this. If the film is successful in reaching audiences, then it may be spread primarily by word-of-mouth. We are not advertising to create a box office hit, but want to create a film worthy of being seen and spread. Most of our advertis-ing will follow the initial film festival release emphasizing it to be a film worth seeing rather than a simple popcorn film. Simply put, our advertising strategy is to primarily make use of the internet in order to supplement word that is already spreading concern-ing our film. We intend to knock over the first domino in what will hopefully be a very lengthy chain. From there, we simply have to nourish the press for the film by including labels of praise on DVD covers and other merchandise.

3. Mc Donald, Paul and Janet Wasko (eds.) The Conetmporary Hollywood Film Industry.4. Grainge, Paul. Brand Hollywood: $elling entertainment in a global media age. 5. Nava, William. “Batman: The Dark Knights Nihilism: Trend of Cynicism Infects Box-Office”



3.3 Brand Advantages

Most superhero films are released in the summer season; for example, Iron Man 2 (Favreau, May 2010), Captain America (Johnston, July 2011), The Dark Knight (Nolan,

July 2008)6.Thus, our film will distinct from other films released in autumn in this regard. However, there are not many advantages to our brand as it is typical for thriller/ detective films such as ours to be released in the autumn season; take Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (Black, October 2005) for example and the Paranormal Activity films which con-sistently release in the month of October. Moreover, our film is attempting to push the boundaries of critical viewer ship amongst many others that may release at the Toronto Film Festival. Nonetheless, we hope the film has a lasting effect on audiences and is able to recoup its budget following award season; we hope it may be later seen as a film of its own that transcends the brands imposed on it.

3.4 Points of Difference

As we note in our SWOT analysis, our film is at risk of falling under other noir style superhero films such as The Dark Knight Rises (Nolan) which is expected to hit theatres only months before. Moreover, our film also stands at risk of blending in with the many other superhero films that are made. Thus, we obviously have to differentiate ourselves and prevent our film from being lost in a sea of other films like it.

Our film takes on the superhero genre in a slightly different approach. Most superhero films involve following the main character as a normal person who eventually discovers or creates (as the case for Iron Man) their powers and soon find themselves different from those originally around him. Instead, our film follows two normal detectives, not the life and development of the superheroes. Its intention is not to watch someone with superpowers grow up, but to bring the audience into the world where people with super-powers and a common occurrence. We immediately fall away from the superhero genre in making use of director Shane Black. His work on the buddy cop, noir film Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005) brands our film to be similar in essence. This brand stresses our film to be a noir film surrounding detectives rather than a superhero film in its entirety.

We wish to emphasize the dystopian world that is so unique to Bendis’ text. Bendis’ world presents a world that is more corrupt that Batman’s. Batman struggles against criminals and gangsters while the detectives of Powers struggle to fight crime in a world that cannot even be kept clean by many superheroes. Thus, we will be implementing is the use of a 16mm camera for our filming. Ohad Landesman discusses the use of the

hand held camera to create realism in film7. Citing the Blair Witch Project (1999) as an example, Landesman explains its ability to attribute a realism that draws the viewer fur-ther in to the realism of the film by effect of avoiding fancy editing. He stresses the mock-umentary style as an attempt to blend fiction and non-fiction. Hand-held, long take will

6. Dates retrieved from: http://www.the-numbers.com7. Landesman, Ohad. “In and out of this world: […]”



allow us to emphasize that the audience is not just a voyeur, but instead within the action of the film.

Our film is distinguishable from Nolan’s Batman in the sense that we intend to follow a much more traditional noir style. Place and Peterson, in their article concerning visual motifs of film noir, note the prevalence of night for night shooting, low key lighting (to offer stark contrast of light and dark), as well as claustrophobic framing These tech-

niques emphasize alienation within the film8. While Nolan also uses many of these tech-niques, his film strays away to focus on the nihilism of the characters rather than their alienation. Steven Cookson explains that Nolan is much more neo-noir in his films as he

derives the techniques but attempts to nuance them to avoid clichés9. Our poster fea-tures a scratched and shadowed background that recalls the films of the classical noir era rather than the neo-noir tendencies portrayed in Nolan’s films.

We present the superhero as the “other”10. Our intention is to make the people with superpowers stand out and highlight their different nature. In order to help accomplish such goals in film, we will be filming with particular techniques such as deep shadows and claustrophobic framing. This can be done by the claustrophobic shots outlined in the article by Eric Lott. We want to make the viewers feel as though the city has come to life, and they are a part of it. As the superhero or supervillain is considered to be an “other”, the audience will be tempted to draw in close to the more relatable characters such as the two main detective characters. This will also aid in the process of making the audience feel as though they are part of the world of Powers.

Bendis subtly incorporates several superhero themes with religion in the world of Pow-ers. We will be putting these in our film as well since they can be used to heighten the dif-ference between those with superpower and those without as well as provide some interesting material to those viewers who which to further analyze the series.

We achieve relevance in provoking discussion and creating meaningful cinema. For example, Inception (Nolan, 2010) provoked discussions concerning reality and achieved

long standing success in theatres11. William Nava further explains this trend in his article

as elaborated upon in our SWOT analysis12. Moreover, our films ability to submerse viewers into a unique world through mockumentary and traditional noir style suggests distinctiveness from other films such as The Dark Knight Rises (Nolan). Finally, these points of difference are believable due to director Shane Black who brands the film as such. Additionally, we intend to work with Bendis when producing the film in order to portray the images in such a way that achieves the precise social significance he would have them portray. This adds to believability and puts many Powers fanatics at ease.

8. Place, James and Lowell Peterson. “Some Visual Motifs of Film Noir”9. Cookson, Steven. “Film Review—Memento (2000)”10. Lott, Eric. “The Whiteness of Film Noir.”11. http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/2010/INCPT.php12. Nava, William. “Batman: The Dark Knights Nihilism: Trend of Cynicism Infects Box-Office”



3.5 Positioning

Who Killed Retro Girl? is a noir styled superhero film that allows the audience to experi-ence a superpower-filled world through the perspective of two normal detectives. How-ever, unlike the casual popcorn-superhero flicks such as the Green Lantern (Martin Campbell, 2011), we will bring forth a more serious tone and a streak of hidden themes promoted by Bendis while still remaining true to the original story. Our film will bring the audience into a world of superheroes, super-villains, and super-secrets as they follow detectives Christian Walker and Deena Pilgrim in their attempt to uncover who killed Retro Girl.



4. Financial Data and Projections

4.1 Projected Budget13

Our first film’s budget gauged at $25,000,000 (with minimal special effects by Deluxe Entertainment Service Group) for first feature, Who Killed Retro Girl? with an added $20,000,000 for prints and advertising. We do not expect to make a huge blockbuster, so we do not demand, nor expect, a large budget.

The second feature’s budget will increase by 20% to $30,000,000 and the third feature will be $40,000,000 with an increase of 30%.

4.2 Anticipated Return14

The following table illustrates the budget and gross of similar films:

Note: The following is our estimation in terms of these similar films and our slightly smaller budget. We also take into account our limited release most similar to Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. The Home DVD sales are over the course of approximately a decade, and are lower than the average due to higher risk of piracy. This estimation exemplifies the possibility for our film to recoup its budget and begin to make profit on DVD sales.

First Feature: Who Killed Retro Girl?

• Budget - $25,000,000

13. Percentages/ numbers retrieved from: McDonald, Paul and Janet Wasko (eds.) The ContemporaryHollywood Film Industry.14. Info retrieved from: http://www.the-numbers.com

Table 1: Similar Films by the Numbers

Film Budget (US $)Number of Theatres

Worldwide Gross (US $)

DVD Sales

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang 15,000,000 52 13,105,837 6,885,567

Fight Club 65,000,000 1,966 100,853,651 N/A

Kick Ass 28,000,000 3,065 95,609,990 22,582,113

Lethal Weapon 15,000,000 1,256 120,192,350 29,500,000

Average ~ 30,000,000 1,585 ~ 82,000,000 ~ 20,000,000



• Gross - $29,680,550

• Theatres - 156

• Home Video Sales (DVD) - $10,910,002

4.3 Timeline15

The following table illustrates the release timelines of similar films:

First Feature: Who Killed Retro Girl?

• Theatrical Release - October 8, 2012 (around Thanksgiving)

• Type of Release - limited release

• Length of Release - 70 days + extension to awards season

• Home Video Release - June 7, 2013

Note: The initial release of our first feature, Who Killed Retro Girl?, will premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (September 8 – 18, 2012), screened in competition, following by a lim-ited release to 156 theaters on October 12, 2010 during the weekend of Canadian Thanksgiving. The projected timeline of our feature is designed to break even and gain back our costs through home video sales (DVD).

4.4 Corporate Sponsorship

No external sponsorship (not enough money within justifiable budget)

An internal sponsorship from Cadillac will be used in our first feature, Who Killed Retro Girl? This boxy muscle car (similar to as seen on the cover of various Powers volumes i.e Powers: Supergroup) presents the theme of a tough detective and emphasizes the

15. Info retrieved from: http://www.the-numbers.com

Table 2: Release Timelines of Similar Films

FilmTheatrical Release

Type of Release

Length of Release

DVD Release

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang 21 October 2005 Limited 80 days 13 June 2006

Fight Club 15 October 1999 Wide 95 days 6 June 2000

Kick Ass 16 April 2010 Wide 77 days 3 August 2010

Lethal Weapon 6 March 1987 Wide 87 days N/A



buddy-cop elements of our film. Detective Walker will drive a vehicle given from the company as a corporate tie-in but there will be little reference to it. Strict product place-ment will not be used as our goal is to integrate the product into the film so that it becomes a tool of association, appearing seamless rather than forceful. We plan to create connection between character and car so that they become complements of one another, similarly mimicking the association between Reese Pieces and Steven Spielberg’s E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial. This allows for corporate sponsorship without distracting from the film.



5. Marketing Program Strategies and Tactics

5.1 Release Date16

We aim to release our film in October 2012. There are many factors which contribute to our chosen month of release, one of them being that AMC’s Mad Men should still be air-ing its 5th season (it was supposed to be aired in the summer of 2011 but has been post-

poned due to disagreement with the creator17). Jon Hamm is our leading actor so, with the help of commercial advertisement during Mad Men, we are relying on his already established fan base to view the film on its opening weekend. October typically makes room for films that have a darker tone and do not fit into the summer blockbuster cate-gory such as the Paranormal Activity films. These films do fairly well as Paranormal Activity 2 (Williams, 2010), a thriller which made $177,169,162 worldwide. October 8th 2012 is also the where Thanksgiving falls in Canada, allowing young adults and a more mature audiences to see the film on their days off and in the United States this holiday falls on November 22nd 2012, aiding this viewing period. Films released at this time appear to have a cult mentality and following. Fight Club (Fincher) was released on Octo-ber 1999 and being one of the cult films of the last 2 decades, it is a prime example. We want to emulate its success, especially with DVD sales; for example, in its 330th week of sales received and impressive $514,993.

5.2 Promotion

16. Sales numbers retrieved from: http://www.the-numbers.com17. Shaw, Marty. “AMC Renews Mad Men for Season 5 and 6”



Unlike Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, we wanted our poster to be clear-cut and effective in conveying what our film is about and what audiences may expect. It has a typical noir style, feel, and tone, replicating the mood of Who Killed Retro Girl? The gritty back-ground emulates the images associated with traditional noir films as outlined earlier by Place and Peterson. In focusing upon the main actors on the film’s primary advertise-ment, we seek to attract their fans to theatres to admire their latest cinematic work. The title of the film is also dominant in the poster, directly appealing to the fans of the origi-nal text who will hopefully be excited to view a film adaptation of their favourite comic. Of course, this is provided we achieve the help of Bendis, or, in any case, a positive review from him unlike Alan Moore’s review of the Watchmen (Snyder, 2009). He told the L.A

times that he finds film to be bullying to the medium he writes for18. This publicity obvi-ously has the potential to lure the existing fan-base away which is something we hope to avoid.

Our promotion will also include a soundtrack. We intend to use music as a direct means to draw viewers to the film. The soundtrack for our film is listed below in order of appearance in the film:

1 “Rocket Man” – My Morning Jacket (5:01)

2 “The Dope Show” – Marilyn Manson (3:46)

3 “Sex and Candy” – Marcy Playground (2:53)

4 “Velouria” – The Pixies (3:40)

5 “Run” – Snow Patrol (5:55)

6 “Fake Plastic Trees” – Radiohead (4:50)

7 “You’ve Got a Killer Scene There, Man” – Queens of the Stone Age (4:56)

8 “The Gun” – Lou Reed (3:38)

9 “Sympathy for the Devil” – The Rolling Stones (6:12)

10 “Wish You Were Here” – Pink Floyd (5:34)

11 “Today” – The Smashing Pumpkins (3:22)

Over the course of the production of our press kit, all members of our creative team felt it crucial that the soundtrack of the film adequately reflect the tone we were trying to estab-lish in Who Killed Retro Girl? Focusing on grunge/classic rock songs that we felt meshed with the overall mood we decided upon for our film, the soundtrack features several relatable songs along with some lesser known ones.

18. Boucher, Geoff. “Alan Moore on ‘Watchmen’ the Movie.”



The order they appear in above is the same order as they would appear in the film; there-fore, “Rocket Man” by My Morning Jacket would play over the opening credits as Walker wakes up to the news report of Retro Girl's death while “Today” by The Smashing Pump-kins would play over the film's final scene and credits. The Queens of the Stone Age song “You've Got a Killer Scene There, Man” will be the banner song for the film, as it will be included in the trailer and was played during the introduction of our presentation pitch. This song specifically presents a feeling of uncertainty and paranoia that encompasses the dystopian world of Powers. Its presence in the trailer would immediately express the tone viewers should expect in viewing our film. We as a creative team feel that the above soundtrack will provide a boost to the overall feel of the film while offering marketing opportunities to be sold as a compilation album. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (Wright, 2010) did a similar thing with their own soundtrack that incorporated Beck and Metric. These two artists emphasized the indie culture in their film and helped to further reach the teen indie audiences that were the prime demographic for the film.

5.3 Promotion Schedule

Below is our desired promotion schedule:

1 April 2012: Pre-Production

2 May 2012: Principle Photography (45 day)

3 June 2012: Post production

4 July 2012: Cut teaser trailer/Begin advertising on AMC/Viral Marketing begins and generates WOM at Comic Con.

5 August 2012: Expand Advertising

6 September 2012: Premier at TIFF

7 Ocotber 2012: Release

AMC’s Mad Men is due to air the summer of 2012 and is scheduled on Sunday evenings. Advertising on the same network as our primary actor will draw in his fan base. Further-more, airing on a Sunday night, the cost of releasing a trailer is significantly lower than adverting on primetime weekdays; for example, it costs $600,000 per 30 seconds for Thursday nights. But this is projected to be much lower on other days of the week.

To generate word of mouth and to arouse interest, we aim to have Jon Hamm hold a press conference at Comic Con in July 2012. This is similarly done with many comic book adaptations such as Scott Pilgrim vs. the World which held a conference at Comic Con prior to the release of the film. The teaser trailer at Comic Con begins the word of mouth advertising to explode among those who know of Bendis’ texts, but perhaps have not been convinced of its fandom as of yet.



Using the internet for advertisements allows us to advertise on a large scale to a mass

audience at an estimate 2.6% of our overall budget.19 We desire to put a bit more into this as viral marketing is an excellent way to further stimulate the word of mouth we hope to gain from our premier at the TIFF. In a recent poll (taken in Prof. Joe Lipsett’s film class- Week 8), 24% of people voted that they saw a film due to internet marketing while the other reasons were dispersed in similar or lower figures. This is a primary reason why we

would focus on the viral marketing.20

Our company aims to gain critical acclaim and recognition for our fist cinematic piece, hence our decision to premier it at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2012. Here, we seek to establish ourselves in the film industry as a company that strives to make award winning films. In the future, and possible on this film, we hope to be in the run-ning for prestigious awards such as the Oscars.

As is standard for newspaper ads, we intend to do a final push in the weeks leading up to theatrical release. Of course, there is no reason to put so much money into the New York Times as we are only having a limited release. While we will pay for space to plant our poster along with tidbits of reviews, the best advertisements we hope to get in print are full reviews. We plan to gather as many reviews as possible to attest the quality of the film and its ability to challenge audiences. Our advertising schedule is generally to sup-port our film as one that may climb a staircase of success rather than an initial explosion of revenue.

5.4 Pricing

Having a $20 million budget for advertising allows us to distribute a substantial number

of posters nationwide as the cost of one print is $2,00021. The main cost of our budget would be spent on the television spot on AMC which would cost approximately $466,000, 23.3% of our overall advertising budget. $880,000 would be spent on our trailers as usually 4.4% of the budget contributes towards this and having the leading actors hold a conference at Comic Con in 2012 can cost approximately $4,380,000 but as we would hold only one press conference, this would be lower as the majority of our cost would be on viral marketing and advertising our film on AMC. Focusing on internet mar-keting, costing an estimated $520,000 (however, excess budget would be added to this) helps to minimize piracy as advertisements for the film in theatres would be more prom-inent than available torrents. Of course, this strategy to advertise prolifically online has not been proven effective against piracy, though it suggests some merit in attempting.

19. McDonald, Paul and Janet Wasko (eds.) The Contemporary Hollywood Film Industry.20. Lipsett, Joe. Week 8: Franchising and Marketing.21. McDonald, Paul and Janet Wasko (eds.) The Contemporary Hollywood Film Industry.



6. SWOT Analysis

6.1 Strengths

First and foremost, Powers (Bendis) has a fairly large fan-base to begin with. After all, Deena Pilgrim has been voted 24th among the top 50 Comic Book Characters of All Time

on Empire Magazine22. This magazine is the “biggest selling film magazine” with a circu-

lation of 194, 016 in 2009 according to the Audit Bureau of Circulation23. As we intend to remain generally true to the texts, we have little worry of alienating Bendis’ fans.

Moreover, our film noir style which blends detective drama with superhero elements has the ability to draw audiences from both those demographics. Shane Black may draw those interested in detective drama based on his work on the Lethal Weapon films as well as his noir detective film, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (Black, 2005). Additionally, Black’s work on Ironman 3 (Black, 2011) may also attract those interested in Superhero films. Our texts ability to expand effectively across genre allows for an expansion of our demo-graphic putting it among our strengths.

Our plan to debut the film at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) is also used to our strengths. As we desire to create meaningful, critically acclaimed films we have decided that a film festival is an excellent place to debut. Toronto is one of the film capi-

tals of Canada and is swarmed with many students of film (according to TIFF24 which includes a Student Film Showcase). Therefore, many of those among the crowd will be in search of deeply analyzing films such as ours which includes insight through its self-reflexive nature and Othering of traditional tropes of superheroes. Insight such as this will excite film students searching for implications in films; the students will then spread word and build word of mouth hype for our franchise. Our Points of Difference section contains further depth upon the matter of insight in our film; however, its importance among our strengths is merely to impress film students at the TIFF perpetrating word of mouth.

Moreover, social significance is becoming a more desired aspect in film. For example, the nihilism in The Dark Knight (Nolan, 2008) attributed to its ability to rise above the aver-age popcorn film and achieve not only critical acclaim, but also success at the box

office25. Nava cites many films explaining that “today’s audience does seem to genuinely associate gloom and nihilism with realism, insightfulness, and overall good quality in film.” Our use of film noir coupled with bleak insightfulness is becoming more and more desirable for audiences.

22. “The 50 Greatest Comic Book Characters.” Empire Magazine.23. “ABC Circulation Figures January-June 2009.” Bauer Media.24. Toronto International Film Festival.25. Nava, William. “Batman: The Dark Knights Nihilism: Trend of Cynicism Infects Box-Office”



6.2 Weaknesses

However, we also risk slipping into the background of the many films which provoke bleak insightfulness. It is a popular tendency for films to illustrate a dark nihilism in order to score at the box-office. Of course, we try to avoid slipping below summer box offices through our TIFF debut in the September. Our theatrical release will only occur following the word of mouth garnered at the festival. This gives our film an opportunity to portray the darker tone at a safer time, minimizing the possibility of being swept beneath many other dark films.

Our film may alienate certain older and female demographics. Detective and superhero films such as ours do not typically appeal to those outside the 16-30 male demographic.

While the younger males are the primary film viewer demographic26, it still poses a weakness to our film to alienate others. In an attempt to minimize this weakness, we intend to make an opportunity of the Mad Men series which airs late summer to early fall. As John Hamm is the star of our film, advertisements played during the Mad Men episodes could draw some fans from the demographics we may otherwise expect to alien-ate. We can hope to expand our demographic in ways such as this; however, this film cannot reach all audiences, especially considering an amount of cursing and violence that may lead to a PG-13 or possible 14-A rating.

6.3 Opportunities

As The Dark Knight Rises (Nolan, 2012) will be released in June, the DVD release will be aligned with our TIFF debut in September of 2012. This allows us opportunity to com-pare Powers with this film as we share the darker tendencies of the film. The DVD release of the Nolan’s nihilistic film may spark interest in theatrical audiences desire to indulge in darker movies such as ours. Moreover, the TIFF is held in the fall allowing our film to parallel the darkening seasons drawing in an audience looking for a film that is topical of the weather.

The theatrical release following out TIFF debut is in October and flows into the begin-nings of the award season rush. As it is in our mission statement to create prestigious and meaningful films, we intend to win awards. Thus, if successful in following through, the award season creates opportunity for our film to be recognized by wider audiences who would then wish to see our film. Our film, therefore, has the opportunity of creating a similar effect to the recent success of The King’s Speech (Hooper, 2011). The film’s nomi-

nations for the Oscars led to a “revenue surge” in the following weeks27. Award nomina-tions lead to exposure, therefore, our desire to create award winning films will effectually help our films to gain a boost at the box-office provided the films are in theatres during the rush of award season. Of course, we are not going to be amongst the rush of the Oscars; however, film festival awards may have a similar but smaller effect.

26. McDonald, Paul and Janet Wasko (eds.) The Contemporary Hollywood Film Industry.27. McClintock, Pamela. “’The King’s Speech’ Gets Big Box-Office Bump.”



6.4 Threats

We must also soberly admit that Nolan’s DVD release also poses a threat to drown our film. If our films are too closely similar, it could lead to flak labeling our film a “cheap remake.” Of course, perhaps most movie goers will recognize our films greater adherence to classical film noir.

A common threat for films is the issue of pirated copies. However, the DVD remains

attractive to those who hope to attain the many artifacts offered28. As our film arises from a culture of fans who maintain worth in collectable items, the DVD holds a value that is not shared in pirated copies. In the same manner fans choose to buy comics rather than read them online, we hope fans may buy the DVD rather than pirate the film online. Moreover, assuming our comparison to Scott Pilgrim (Wright, 2010) is accurate, our dark cult film will most likely gather it’s followers through DVD after it has had time to fully grow and expand from the existing Powers fan-base. After all, the fan-base needs

time to grow for cult films as Wright notes in an interview with the Canadian Press29. Thus, we recognize pirating as a threat, but maintain that our DVD popularity may sur-pass it. The primary threat that could arise from pirating would occur between our TIFF debut and theatrical release. Students may spread word of this film immediately follow-ing the TIFF debut causing many viewers to be anxious—leading them to pirated copies before the theatrical release.

28. Denison, Rayna. “It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane! No, It’s a DVD!: Superman, Smallville, and the production (of)Melodrama.”

29. Szklarski, Cassandra. “Scott Pilgrim vs. the disappointing box office.”



7. Industry Analysis

The following table organizes the budgets and grosses of similar films:30

Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang (Black, 2005): This is the only film our selected director, Shane Black, is credited to have directed in his career. Similar to our production, this film is a noir style detective film. Showcasing Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer, it also demonstrates Black’s ability to direct a film with star power similar to our own. More-over, it is a well reviewed film (Rotten Tomatoes 84%) completed on the low budget of only $15 million.

Kick Ass (Vaughn, 2010): This film is a revisionist superhero film that pushes the boundaries. It is also 76% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes suggesting it was able to reach audi-ences despite its revisionist nature. We seek to push the boundaries of the superhero genre as well. Moreover, we also intend to expand across genres to blend styles and themes. Of course, our film will not experience as much violence as we intend to keep below an R rating; we do not wish to alienate teens who wish to see our film in theatres.

Fight Club (Fincher, 1999): (Rotten Tomatoes 81%) This film carries a similar release date to our film as it was also released in October. Furthermore, it is an adaptation of a novel just as ours is an adaptation of a graphic novel. This film also deals with complex questions of psyche and narrative, challenging audiences to be critical rather than pas-

sive viewers31. It is also known for its high DVD sales as a cult film which is something we can only hope to emulate.

Lethal Weapon (Donner, 1987): This film is one of the most well known buddy cop films of all time; this claim is easy to make with its impressive 90% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. This film was written by our selected director, Shane Black, and was accom-

Table 1: Industry Analysis by the Numbers

Film BudgetDomestic

Gross (U.S $)International Gross (U.S $)

DVD Sales (U.S $)

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang 15,000,000 4,235,837 8,870,000 6,885,567

Kick Ass 28,000,000 48,071,303 47,538,687 22,582,113

Fight Club 65,000,000 37,030,102 63,823,651 N/A

Lethal Weapon 15,000,000 65,192,350 55,000,000 29,500,000

Scott Pilgrim 85,000,000 31,611,316 16,152,336 14,736,709

Average 41,600,000 37,228,182 38,276,935 18,426,097

30. Info retrieved from: http://www.the-numbers.com31. Yapp, James. “Fight Club: A Book Review.”



plished on a low budget of only $15 million. In this film, Black demonstrated his skills in creating and writing action beats. We desire Black to bring his success in writing action beats and buddy cops to our film which will exhibit pieces of both.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (Wright, 2010): This is another cult film as outlined by

Wright in his interview with the Canadian Press32. This film plays with a variety of con-ventions and styles as it combines cartoon super hero elements with romantic comedy. We do not address this film in our budget comparisons as this theme is far different from ours. However, this film is similar to ours in the sense that it adapts a graphic novel series that started up in the early 2000’s. Moreover, Edgar Wright worked closely with

the creator of the graphic novel33 as we wish to on our film. This work with the creator

helps to avoid alienating the audience who were very pleased with the film34.

32. Szklarski, Cassandra. “Scott Pilgrim vs. the disappointing box office.”33. Wright, Edgar. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. Universal Studios. Bluray (Commentary).34. Sims, Chris. “10 Thoughts on ‘Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.”



Root One Productions Page i

Glossary

Bblockbuster: A film designed to succeed

financially. The content of these films reach the largest demographics and use a significant amount of advertising.

Ccorporate sponsorship: A corporation

provides help to a film through finances or services (e.g.: General Motors provides vehicles for scenes in a film). The corporations name is typically included in the credits, benefiting from exposure.

Ddystopian: A science fiction trope that

presents a bleak view of the future grounded in the faults of the present.

Ffilm noir: A style of film established in the

40s. It is characterized by troubled characters, city settings, voice-over narration, rain, low lighting, and investigative plots.

Llimited release: A film that plays in only a few

selected theatres. Typically in high traffic cities such as New York.

OOther: A post-colonial concept that suggests

the dominant culture defines other cultures in opposition to their own.

Ppirating: Distributing or accessing content

without original purchase. Films are typically pirated through illegal downloads or streams on the internet.

post production: The editing, marketing, and other processes that occur between the completion of filming and the release.

protagonist: The primary hero of the film that the audience can relate to.

TTIFF: The Toronto International Film

Festival. This festival gathers independent film makers to display their films in Toronto during the first week of October.

Vviral marketing: Advertising that is done on

the internet. It collects an audience through web pages, web links, and digital banners.

Wwide release: A film that plays in a large

amount of theatres in many cities and countries.


Root One Productions Page ii

Film Index

BBlair Witch Project 6

CCaptain America 6Choke 3

DDark Knight Rises, The 6, 7, 17Dark Knight, The 6, 16

EE.T. The Extra-Terrestrial 11

FFight Club 4, 9, 10, 12, 19

GGreen Lantern 8

IInception 7Iron Man 2, 6

Iron Man 2 6Ironman 3 16

KKick Ass 9, 10, 19King’s Speech, The 17Kiss Kiss Bang Bang 2, 6, 9, 10, 16, 19

LLethal Weapon 2, 9, 10, 19Lord of the Rings, The 5

MMad Men 2, 5, 12, 14, 17Moon 3

PParanormal Activity 6, 12Paranormal Activity 2 12

SScott Pilgrim vs. the World 13, 14, 18, 19, 20

WWatchmen 13

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