Chapter 219: Theatrical July

With Preparatory June ending at the tip of June 30, the preparations haven't ended when July 1 was the focus of everyone's calendars.

The closer the film release was, the more resources have to be allocated to make sure that everything works out well.

Trailers, paid newspaper propaganda, cast publicity, and acclaiming Director Robert Zemeckis was at their peak.

The more July 5 drew near, the more it intensified.

There was a lot of momentum that was building up but there was also a lot of building up to be done to have that momentum as well.

Of course, as previously mentioned, ever since BttF was under the Creed Pictures banner, a lot of other preparations were happening.

The project finalization on the Sullivan Creed's side of things as soon as he was inspired by his grandson's picture book.

Then, there was the other 'much' secretive project formalization that came from finding out that Back to the Future already had an existing copyright under it.

Old Sullivan had to use up all his wits and persuasive ability to snag a drifting Bob Gale and already rising Robert Zemeckis to consider the newly shifted Creed Pictures.

Fortunately, a trilogy of picture books with a much more improved and collated time travel story was convincing enough for the conceptualizing duo.

Under the guise of Romancing the Stone's theatrical run, Gale was on the works with Old Sullivan to prepare everything that they could prepare.

Pre-production stuff happens but so did the fact that the BttF production trio finalized on filming 3 time travel arcs in one go.

There was a lot of alternation and resourceful innovativeness that was involved from that point on.

Zemeckis was all on the filming side of things; Gale was writing, assisting, and producing in the middle; while Old Sullivan was focused on the production management, resource pooling, props coordination, and a whole of continued pre-production stuff for all the other films that were in their plans.

The trio found their groove from there and that continued on as the months of filming progressed.

At some point, the groove has become much more stable that old Sullivan has pretty much settled on being the multi-manager since most of the film production matters are already on its productive roll.

While new CREED was on the works in January 1985 and onwards, the BttF back-to-back-to-back filming ensued on as the cast and crew's holidays were settled.

How can a film crew that has worked together for nearly and mostly more than a year, not be attuned with each other's rhythm?

They even have one of the most optimalized film preparation nodules that should fit whatever they need... courtesy of the over-prepared Old Sullivan and Curious Gale's guide, of course.

It isn't exactly as perfect as optimized' should be but it was more than enough for the crew to get a handle on things.

Of course, the optimal groove and condition wouldn't stay that way for long.

By the time February and midway to BttF part II filming, the chance and schedule to be a part of the summer schedule came up.

Having a spot in the summer file is quite conducive but it must also be hard-earned as well. Robert and Bob had no idea how Mr. Creed had done it but they were on board with seeing it through.

Pre-production and production we're already steady enough but post-production now also had to be done along.

Back to the Future I's recorded film strips were compiled and the production trio had their work much more hectic than it should be.

Alexander wasn't too clear on the details but all the while that Old Sullivan had been guiding throughout the Moore challenge, legal troubles, and 'Calvin and Hobbes' actualization was essentially just spare time for him.

It gives people the idea on how much load-bearing that the Old Creed was doing ever since and why his voice-acting guilt trips worked out quite well on the mostly-set Alexander.

Anyways, although simultaneously doing all production stages of filmmaking may seem daunting, there were always ways to get around it.

Robert Zemeckis may be the director and had much pull on the final edits, Hollywood is a producer-centric film industry, so the post-production process could be done by the producers as well.

Of course, there were editors as well, but at least, Innovative Rob's filming schedule with the latter BttF films wasn't too affected.

The production trio of old Sullivan, Curious Bob, and Innovative Rob found their balance once again at some point.

On the post-production side, there was always Curious Bob and the production breaks where Innovative Rob can still apply his innovative special effects ideas.

Anyways, the film was polished as can be with everyone's best attention on it. Although it may not be their "full" attention, at least, they pulled through and had a finished product that they were all satisfied with.

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Of course, the film production dramas were full of extreme preparations that had been done. However, there were a lot of other preparations that had to be made for the BttF summer theatrical release to happen.

For one, distribution and schedule lobbying with theater companies and film distribution companies had to have been made.

Hollywood and theatrical releases isn't a straightforward 'we made a film, so you should show it at this day' scenario after all.

It was rife with competition that many films that are unlucky or have not-so-powerful production power could only opt for direct-to-tape treatment.

The issue of the Big Majors' monopoly and distribution culpabilities would always come up.

There were also matters on MPAA film rating that is shady as heck.

No matter how one would see it, Creed Pictures is a little and new player in an already long-running battle. How could they have swooped in?

Of course, there were many ways to do it such as a partnership with any of the Majors or any film distribution companies.

From what Alexander could remember, the past-future Creed Pictures movie had bypassed some of that restriction but ultimately flopped in the end.

There were matters involving publicity, reach, notability, and influence that were still in play and there was no way that Creed Picture, now and then, could beat the Majors and other established things.

Hence, the crux of the summer release still stands and Alexander just wanted to find clarifications on that.

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Fortunately, Old Sullivan, the one who holds the answer to many things, had his grandson time where he was not so busy anymore.

The premiere and everything was already set and the old man finally had time to relax.

"How did you do it, grandpa?" Alexander asked.

"Do what?" Old Sullivan was confused.

"You never shared to me about the distribution specifics and all that." Alexander explained his curiosity. "I just want an idea of who we're working with and how many screens we will be having."

"Well, I let Columbia do all that work." Old Sullivan smirked from his scheme. "I kind of owe my connection there for sniping the Back to the Future copyright. When the processed film was being circulated for rumination, you know... the test screenings, a lot of representatives seem to have been riled up."

"I just leverage and tricked those snobby distributors to the point where Columbia had to take some of the brunts and aid us well in all the theatrical proceedings." Old Sullivan felt smug when he remembered what he had done. "I've also used my theater company connections to snag up the schedule last year, so everything was planned and masterminded ever since."

"What about film ownership and our final profits?" Alexander's inquiry mostly centers around this. "Would those big players be playing tricks on us?"

"Not to worry. Our shares might be a bit down on the final tally due to the revenue sharing but we can still earn ludicrously since we will be keeping hold of the film." Creed Pictures was previously a direct-to-tape master in porn matters, so it was just a much mainstream shift that should be simple enough.

Alexander felt that there were more nuances than that but he didn't want to find out any further. At least, BttF was finally in play and that was all that matters.

"Anyways, aren't you excited now, Alex?" Old Sullivan didn't mind the shaky and unknown prospects of the film at all. His old bones were much excited on his 'earlier' purpose for making the film: to gift his grandson.

"It's finally time for you to see your story into film. Granted that there was some overlap with Zemeckis and Gale's long-circulating story and Fox is playing Marty McFly... not Alex Creedster." Of course, Old Creed didn't forget to 'influence' some things. "You'll find that film is much more immersive than story-making, Alex. Oh... the wonders it holds..."

"This had not better be a hidden acting career persuasion." Alexander sighed.

"Of course not. I'm just saying that we should go to my local tailoring and have you in a classy black suit." Old Sullivan changed the topic. "The premiere is coming close after all and us Creed have to look the part."

Alexander had no trouble with that and was ready to face July... or Theatrical July for what it truly is.