Last night I went to a Phoenix Film Society screening of The FlyBoys, produced by Dark Coast Pictures. One of the producers, Arizona local Dan Urness was there for a Q&A after the film with the Arizona Republic’s Bill Goodykoontz. He was also the film’s stunt coordinator.

The film is about two twelve year olds who end up in a mobster’s airplane during a scam. I was impressed and happily surprised by the quality of the story and the film overall. Dan told us they tried to stay true to a realistic storyline as opposed to a “Home Alone” type silly escapade, and they did a great job. The story was terrific. I was really shocked by some of the events at the end of the film which included airplanes, parachuting, and free falling. No wonder they needed a stunt coordinator!

In the Q&A we learned that the budget of the film was only $2,000,000.00; low by Hollywood standards of course; and that the film’s challenges were running out of marketing dollars and being usurped by a film with the same name. The producers ultimately decided to delay the film’s launch so they could avoid confusion in the market. Someone in the audience had mentioned they tried to look up the film and found the other which was made in 2006.

One of their marketing challenges is that there are a number of reviews from 2008 when the film got out to film festivals, etc. The producers need to re-launch the film to keep it fresh. I would recommend encouraging supporters to post new reviews to all the usual suspects, i.e. Rotten Tomatoes, Flixter, etc.

The film has a great visual web site, although other bloggers and writers will understand when I complain about the press section: there was no easy way to find a text synapsis, photographs or embed video. Also, I didn’t see a Facebook or Twitter logo or links – in this day and age, I’m not sure how an indie film can survive without giving their supporters the extra step and tools they need and want to help promote for them.

At any rate, go see this film in Arizona at the SuperStition Harkins on Feb. 26 and then Facebook, MySpace and Tweet  the flick with your friends so it can get the national release it deserves.