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After learning the ropes of international business and legal affairs at Saban Pictures International, Phillip Botana and Scott Vandiver launched Brimstone Entertainment, LLC by debuting at MIFED in October 1995 and hitting NATPE in January 1996. By this their third market, Botana and Vandiver are representing one completed film, two in post-production and a half-dozen others on their way into production. Botana, President of Acquisitions/Planning, actually looks you in the eye and smiles as he speaks, apparently not afflicted with the AFM virus that causes people to constantly look over everyone else's shoulder for fear of missing someone more interesting or harder to catch. He excitedly repeats details he knows by rote: the erotic thriller Mind Games, directed by Kevin Alber and starring Brian Drause and Maria Ford, is in the final stages of post-production and is the Brimstone banner product for this AFM. The film came to Brimstone as a script with a director and money. With an air of self-satisfaction, Botana says he knew the producer, Josh Woodward of Shadow Film Productions, for some time and working together had only been a question of when and on what project.
Brisk sales this market also put a smile on Scott Vandiver's face. He roamed the corridor outside the suite unable to sit and wait for the next buyer to come through the door. He grins and mentions that he was born to sell. While Botana's pleasant control is a perfect blend to Vandiver's manic salesman's disposition, Botana lets his excitement come through when he speaks of their earlier market announcement of Brimstone's multi-picture output deal with Skyline Entertainment for six mid-budget action thrillers over two years with Brimstone getting worldwide rights to the pictures. Mind Games is selling well and Adler's next picture, Mirage is scheduled to go before cameras in April 1996. Botana is optimistic about the increasing quality of the pictures they will handle, recognizing that "product is only as good as where it gets released." Brimstone is looking for suspense thrillers and Botana believes they'll eventually get titles that will reach wider audiences, though Botana says he "won't kill to get a theatrical release." On the distant horizon, Botana's been pursuing the idea of a $30 million version of The Iliad and Brimstone may push to produce a $2.5 million family film Botana described as "Rocky meets Rudy. " In the meantime, Brimstone hopes to bring in four to six new films per market all with budgets of $1.5 million and below.
The company isn't in the business of providing finishing funds but can deftly manage to work around the needs of producers, film labs and post houses. When asked what he'd do with a producer who walks in with half his money from a large U.S. theatrical distributor and a guaranteed release, Botana smiles the smile of a sales rep who knows a producer walking by that talk is unlikely to have any solid financial commitment supporting the film. Nonetheless, he responds that under the given facts, Brimstone would "find a way to work out a deal that would benefit everyone and get the film made." I can hear Vandiver's pitch already.
