Today we’d like to introduce you to Drew Saplin.
Hi Drew, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
The Direct Line started in 2021. Born from a bike ride about a five year plan, we’ve made five shorts, a 6 part podcast called How to Texas, and are about to launch our first feature film Cohetes that has some big names and bigger explosions!
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I think the biggest challenge is realizing that producing a feature film requires a great head for numbers, and people, even if you’re on the creative side. Finding the people who have financing, meeting them, impressing them enough to ask them for money and then making sure that your budget reflects your needs are all things they don’t teach you in film school. I think a big lesson for the team of producers we have is how long it takes to get momentum on a project like this, even if it’s a slam dunk. Overall though, we’ve been incredibly lucky to have amazing producers, partners, actors, all attach and be ready to make something collaboratively. At the end of the day, filmmaking is a team sport, and we have a great team.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Our team makes narrative focused films, commercials, music videos. I feel like, because everyone on our team has a crew background, we’re known for taking care of anyone who partners with us. We’re most proud of creating a system that tells amazing stories while treating people fairly.
Any big plans?
Looking ahead, we’re just focused on getting the feature Cohetes up and moving. The film is inspired by Drew’s wife who is a pyrotechnician for the Coastal Bend of Texas. The film follows a rookie pyrotechnician as she moves super dangerous fireworks down the coast of Texas on the 4th of July with a ragtag team of townies. We’re also using a unique equity model that sees cast and crew profit share with investors. This lowers the overall production budget and increases the likelihood of profit. Like I said, we have cast, crew, partners in place, we’re just waiting to light the fuse (pun intended, fireworks movie)
Pricing:
- Donate to the feature : https://www.filmindependent.org/sponsored-projects/cohetes/
Contact Info:
- Website: https://thedirectlinellc.com
- Instagram: thedirectlinellc
- Youtube: dsaplin
Image Credits
Kamrin Pester
