SCREEN AFRICA EXCLUSIVE: International distribution company
Heritage Films, has secured rights to South African film Trailer Made
and plans to release the made for TV movie in Australia, United Kingdom, USA,
Canada, Europe, Far East, Latin America and Africa in 2016. The family-friendly
adventure film was directed by Cape Town-based Jacobus Kriel and was produced
by his company, JaC Productions, along with Innovation Films. Kriel says the deal
was secured through co-producer Pieter Pohl, who has a background and
relationships with global distributors.
“Although there were various interested parties, we were pleased with Heritage
Films’ interest in Trailer Made,’ says Kriel. “They have a wonderful
reputation. The films that they distribute are of high quality and they are always
honest with us.’
Though produced locally, Trailer Made was created with an
international audience and global distribution in mind. The strategy was to set the
story in South Africa but to feature some international cast members and to script
the film within a genre which has universal appeal. “From the start we knew that
we had to have a very clear target market and genre when we created the film. By
doing this, it becomes much more appealing to distributors that work with that
genre of film and it helps them to have a clear vision as to the viewer market that
they need to market the film to.’
The film tells the story of a father and son who travel to South Africa and
subsequently find themselves staying in a junkyard. In search of ideas for a film
script the two embark on a journey of adventure and imagination which reconnects
them as a family. Kriel comments, “Trailer Made was written for an
American audience. America has powerful media influence, which means they are
able to gain global viewers who now understand their culture and accent. With that
in mind, we created a movie where our lead characters are American. As the story
is also relatively generic, the plot is easily understood, so it doesn’t matter from
what background the viewer comes from.’
The film will also release in South Africa and is due to appear on DVD and television
in April 2016.
Watch the Trailer Made
trailer.
