Haunted Heist Movie - How An Executive Producer Gets An Indie Film Into Theaters

A full-on plot twist drops at the bar: our longtime friend Feras is a banker who somehow became an executive producer on a nationwide theatrical release and he barely told anyone. We dig into how that secret happened, what it’s like to work with a real cast and crew, and why Detroit is the perfect city to shoot a movie that’s equal parts chaos and heart.

We also get practical about independent film financing and distribution. Not every movie comes from a studio, and not every deal is a win for creators. We talk about how the rise of streaming changed the business, why outright buyouts can erase long-term upside, and why theaters still matter when you want people laughing together, yelling together, and walking out with stories they can’t stop repeating. If you’ve ever wondered how investors evaluate a film, how festivals shape a final cut, or why a strong opening weekend can make or break showtimes, you’ll get the real-world version here.

Then we jump into Haunted Heist: four estranged friends reunite in an Airbnb to rob an ancient relic worth $20 million, only to find the mansion is haunted by racist ghosts. Yes, that’s the premise, and we talk about why “bullying horror” works, how stand-up comedians bring sharper timing than typical comedy casting, and how an 18-day Detroit shoot turns into a years-long push to get on screens nationwide. Check out hauntedheistmovie.com, then tell us what city you want this playing in. If you like the show, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review.

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Happy Hour And Halloween In July

Jamie Flanagan 0:25

It is time for Happy Hour. It is the man gave Happy Hour whiskey, cigars, spirits, the stories that go along with it. I'm Jamie Flanagan. Hey Jamie, nice to see you again.

August Gitshlag 0:33

It's been about 24 hours. Not even, yeah. Not even. I'm August Giff. Matt Fox is still on vacation. Yes. With the hired help that he brings and claims as his partner. Oh, good lord. Come on. It's just the joke is just too good now. I just keep going with it. You know, hopefully she's getting an hourly rate and she's gonna make some good money by being the partner on this vacation. So Polly, I know I love you, your sweetheart.

Jamie Flanagan 0:56

Yeah, it's uh it's it's the middle of July. People listen whenever the show pops up in their feeds right months from now. But uh, we're doing this in the middle of July, and so of course, all the Halloween directorations are out. Oh man, you're right. I saw them. So let's talk about horror movies.

August Gitshlag 1:16

Was it Costco or's and Home Depot? I'll have the big skeletons out already. That's fine. I don't know if it's googie season. Whatever. Those big skeletons, people leave them on their lawns year round. They put Chris's gear on them, they put lions clothes on them, they put Red Wings gear on them, they put school jerseys on them.

Jamie Flanagan 1:32

Where am I gonna where am I gonna store this thing? I don't know. No, I ain't got nothing where to put that. Those big bones. People put they dress up as a cement geese, might as well dress up as 20-foot skeletons.

August Gitshlag 1:43

Cement geese, cement goosers, yeah. Geisters, goosers, yeah. Okay, but uh I alluded to movie time. Yeah, you know, this kind of came out of nowhere.

Jamie Flanagan 1:52

Who did we got a banker making movies?

August Gitshlag 1:54

You know, banker uh that's that's a good way to put it. Yeah, well, because bankers have the money and how the movies get made. Money, money, money, money, money.

Meet The Banker Turned Producer

August Gitshlag 2:05

So, yeah, I've known this guy for uh 30 years and uh just found out uh yesterday that he uh made a movie.

Jamie Flanagan 2:10

So uh let's welcome uh my old buddy Frash Shimami Frass.

August Gitshlag 2:14

Welcome.

SPEAKER_02 2:15

Thank you so much for having me.

Jamie Flanagan 2:16

Yes, welcome back.

SPEAKER_02 2:16

Yeah, I'm gonna be sealing that whole Halloween being sold in July as part of the promotion for the movie. So that's why we're putting the movie out in July. That's perfect.

Jamie Flanagan 2:27

You gotta roll it out early.

SPEAKER_02 2:28

So it hits Blu-ray by uh Halloween, yeah. Blu-ray exactly exactly, exactly. DVDs, you'll be able to pick them up on Halloween.

August Gitshlag 2:35

That's perfect.

SPEAKER_02 2:36

So what the fuck, Frass? Yeah, that's that's that's a good way to put it because I don't I actually don't even know.

August Gitshlag 2:43

This didn't happen yesterday.

SPEAKER_02 2:44

No, it it it took years in the making, but it was one of those projects where once you get in too deep, you can't get out of.

Jamie Flanagan 2:53

Yeah, well, you're you're in for a penny, you're in for a pound. That's exactly it. It's relationships, you know, that's how it is.

SPEAKER_02 2:59

So what started out with helping the production team and partners that I've been talking to for four or five years ended up being me at the helm being an executive producer on this project. Wow. But it's been it's been awesome.

August Gitshlag 3:15

So who approached you and when? You can protect the name, you can change the names and protect the innocent, but like when? How long ago did someone come to you and say, hey, I think I got something here? And you're not you're a banker, you don't throw good money at bad, you're not gonna fuck around just for a vanity project.

SPEAKER_02 3:29

I take risks though. I think if people know me as a banker, they'll know that I you've never taken a risk in your goddamn life.

August Gitshlag 3:36

I've known you for 30 years. I think you stop at yield signs for us, okay? You stop at yield signs.

SPEAKER_02 3:43

Yeah, I this is a really good question. That's I would say that I started to work with creatives when I left one of the larger banks and and went to a community bank and was kind of getting burnt out. And what I realized is that I've always had this creative gene, and I I needed to explore it further.

August Gitshlag 4:03

And it started to Well, you're a musician, you've been playing music since the day I've since I've known you've been in bands.

SPEAKER_02 4:08

I've always known it's interesting because I wouldn't advertise that I'm a musician, but clients would see me, you know, playing at Dick O'Dow's or the Gaelic League, and it it would usually cause them to take pause and be like, Why is my banker playing music? And and that kind of put me in those circles where you would meet creatives, you would meet musicians, artists, filmmakers, and they would be more willing to talk about their projects on a financial level because usually they get ruled out or they don't get taken seriously. And I'll tell you, a lot of creatives, the reason that they are successful, and you know, a lot of them are called the gig worker, but a lot of them are successful is because they have an entrepreneurial spirit from the get-go. And and I really attached to that and decided, okay, let me target some of my more independent business to working with creatives. And that's how I met a lot of filmmakers, producers, and and those talents.

August Gitshlag 5:04

All right. So you a few years back, I remember you dabbling in in like documentary filmmaking.

SPEAKER_03 5:11

Yeah.

August Gitshlag 5:11

And some where some some of the you know, the this historical stuff and ethnicity stuff, exploring that. I remember you doing what that was like, oh, that makes sense. You know, that's his that's his thing. So did you seek this out or did this find you?

SPEAKER_02 5:24

No, this found well, so I I decided when I ended up leaving traditional banking and and being more of a consultant to work with creatives, and and I had I basically said, okay, there are financing needs, there are banking, treasury-related needs. And so I targeted working with a lot of creatives when I left the more traditional banking world. And that's when I ended up meeting production companies, producers, filmmakers, and this was back in like 2018, and we were looking at how can we bring the world of film finance to more traditional investors, traditional business people, and we started to realize that most families of wealth, family offices, they usually have an entertainment component to them. They'll either own part of a sports team, as you know, casino, but a lot of them will silently be involved in film. And there was also something going on back then. You started to see the rise of streaming, the the benefits of cheaper data.

August Gitshlag 6:30

You didn't need traditional distribution either.

SPEAKER_02 6:32

You didn't need traditional distribution. And and back then the streamers were buying a lot of these films. And I mean, I gotta tell you, it didn't feel good because they were killing movie theaters. Well, that's okay.

August Gitshlag 6:42

Here's what the average person doesn't always understand. Like, not every movie came from Warner Brothers. People independently make a movie, they independently finance it, then they sell it to these big companies, and then they distribute distribute it and do the marketing, and you make your money that way. So you produce your own product and then sell it, but it can come the other way around. You know, New Line can green light a script and make that movie with their own financing, but other people's financing as well.

SPEAKER_01 7:05

You gotta own so this is a purely independent project. This is completely we should probably say what it is, too, huh? It's haunted yet.

SPEAKER_02 7:11

Oh my god, yeah, we haven't uh movie, right? Haunted Heist Haunted Heist in theaters nationwide, July 24th, this Friday. Uh go out and see it, support independent film, completely filmed in Detroit. And it's a great team, cast and crew, Tiffany Haddish, uh Rel Howry's directorial debut, uh King Batch and Carlos Miller, Brett Gillon.

August Gitshlag 7:35

Well known black comedian circles.

SPEAKER_02 7:38

Like these people are and I want to make some so you know I want to make it clear when the project was brought to me, it was impressive being. In what year? This was brought to me probably about we while we were working on it about three or four years ago now. It's post-COVID, and we were looking at this project and saying, Hey, this is low budget, but it can have some legs, this can go theatrical, and we were looking and saying it's not a streamer, it it's it's edgy, it's gonna offend people, but yeah, that's well, horror is the cheap winner in movie.

August Gitshlag 8:14

It really is.

SPEAKER_02 8:15

Yeah, so it's been proven that it's the margins are there on on horror. But this is this is, and I love the way that Rel puts it in interviews. We're we're bullying horror. We're we're we're making fun of evil, and the way that a lot of horror films you don't get scared, you laugh at them. And then you're adding the comedy component with stand-up comedians who have refined their art, their craft, and they have timing, they have delivery. Exactly, they have delivery and and they're out touring, they're they're seeing audiences, and they're constantly tweaking and improving their craft, which is different than what you get sometimes from comedic actors who've never been on the road doing uh six nights a week. And and I I mean again, when the project was brought to me, it was so impressive to see this level of talent, and they're all Rel's friends. So, Rel, we've worked with them in the past, the Mill and and the production team, Sean King O'Grady, Deathground. Who's this we shit? Oh, yes, who's we? No, I'm I'm not this is who's we're not just me. Okay. So Sean Sean.

August Gitshlag 9:20

You realize you just told me about this yesterday. Yeah, for five years. Oh, right.

SPEAKER_02 9:25

Right? Yeah, so going back to this, the let's go backwards a little bit. I started looking at film as a pitch to investors in in their bucket of wealth.

August Gitshlag 9:36

So again, you go back to the ultra-wealthy and you look at a lot of these families, and they always have diversified Wall Street Journal did a story about this, like brain surgeons who invest in movies and they're becoming movie producers, and they're you know people with with money that's it that's not they don't want stagnant in other places.

SPEAKER_02 9:52

Yeah, August, I mean, here's the reason. When you look at the it's in it it's an annuity in a way,

Film Finance Meets The Streaming Shift

SPEAKER_02 10:00

because of the fact that you could end up investing in a movie, and as long as you've owned it outright, it can pay based off of the success of one actor. You know, everybody got started in some small budget film where their name was nothing, but where you're not looking, I mean, you can kind of equate it to location, location, location, right? So if we go back to real estate, it's always about trying to find that property on a corner that's going to be gold in the future. Well, you can invest in film, spread the risk, and look at it as that type of investment that could have some legs 20 years, 30 years, 40 years down the line. Now, going back to what you said, the problem with streaming and the problem with the way these sales were occurring is that they would come in and outright buy these movies.

August Gitshlag 10:48

And yeah, you ever got paid then, or or you never got paid? There's no residual down the road.

SPEAKER_02 10:53

Yeah, so you could you could have some people who are looking going getting paid when it plays on channel 50 on a Tuesday. Well, well, you you kind of you you kind of sold it cheap. Like, I mean, I'll tell you, obsession. What's going on in what's going on in movie theaters right now is unbelievable. Yeah, it's unbelievable. And people want to go back to movie theaters, they want to be able to watch independent film, and Hollywood doesn't know anymore what people want to watch. So independent filmmakers are checking. Sure, they do.

August Gitshlag 11:20

That's why they redo the same movie over and over again.

SPEAKER_02 11:22

Exactly. It's it's getting old. And so you see a lot of a lot more creativity from filmmakers. And the other thing is the paradigm has shifted. If you've got a built-in audience, I mean, obsession is is genius in the way that this guy basically was passed over and then finally ended up getting a movie made, and this movie hits so many uh societal points and has gone completely blockbuster status. And this movie was made for under a million dollars. So it shows that it's possible. Post COVID, I think people are sick of streaming, they they want to go out. It's it's the laugh together, cry together, get pissed off together, whatever it is, do it in a movie theater.

August Gitshlag 12:04

Yeah, but did it didn't it take Tom Cruise and Christopher Nolan, those two guys that bring people back into theaters, movie theaters, movies that are better viewed in theaters because people are used to their small screen experience right now. So, like it's it takes the odyssey to get people's butts back in theaters. Maybe but it reminds them that they can go to the theaters, you know. I I went back right away to see Top Gun Maverick. You're 100% right back in.

SPEAKER_02 12:26

But you know what it does? It creates uh it creates a level of engagement and loyalty to quote unquote theaters, which is weird to say it that way. But people end up looking and saying, you know what? What's showing at the at the movie theater next weekend? And they're more willing to make it part of their routine, yeah, and they want to be able to say, Hey, I'll go check this out at a movie theater, I'll call up my friends. Haunted Heist is is literally that movie where you call up your friends from grade school, high school, and you end up saying, Hey, let's get the crew back together, let's just go get silly, have fun, and laugh. That's really what it is.

August Gitshlag 13:02

I like it. All right, so you said it was all done in Detroit.

SPEAKER_02 13:04

It was all filmed in Detroit, the Barry Gordy Mansion, Masonic Temple.

Jamie Flanagan 13:13

I've been in that room, I know this room, and uh it was. Jamie, you've been in the mansion. It was one of the Masonic Temple. Oh, the Masonic Temple, and I'm like, I I know this space, what's going on here? Yeah, yeah. And I was like, I couldn't put my finger on it. I was like, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:27

So so Sean O'Grady has has done films in New Jersey. I've known him for probably about six, seven years. We were looking at doing this movie together, but more so bringing in bigger, uh bigger money. And I I think it a lot of this is so foreign to most people. And I connected with Sean in a way where I I looked at the math, I looked at the strength of the cast. I believed in so Rel is really the driver behind this movie. He brought these talents together, they're all his friends. He made phone calls and said Tiff.

August Gitshlag 14:04

And he didn't like put on makeup or a dress or nothing and play seven characters, you know.

SPEAKER_02 14:08

You gotta give credit. Okay, come on.

August Gitshlag 14:09

Yeah, no, I'm saying, but that that that's done. That's that it started with Eddie Murphy. Yeah, you know, wearing everyone playing seven characters in a movie in Arsenal Hall. So now credit to all of them. No, it's great. It's great.

Jamie Flanagan 14:20

You're a banker, and yeah, before we started, you were talking, and now you're talking. You sound like a movie producer. You you're like you you have you really become enmeshed in in into the I've always I've always wanted to tell a story. Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_02 14:34

I've I've always been interested in stories as as Jamie in in in the world of of Irish folk music, yeah. The only I mean it's it's really the only way that you advance Irish a culture.

SPEAKER_05 14:47

You gotta bring the Irish folk music into a deutsche. Well, because you never talk about Scotch, it's always Irish.

SPEAKER_02 14:55

But I I I get excited about it because when you look at the songs, yeah, they're all telling a story. And and I got exposed to that at a young age, and I fell in love with it. And so storytelling through music was was always a part of me, and that started to translate more so into into film. I've always loved film, but it was just here, I'm never gonna be able to make a movie.

Jamie Flanagan 15:19

And and that changed when I met well it changed when you when you your circle opened up.

SPEAKER_02 15:24

Your circle opened up, and I I mean I'll get in trouble for saying this. I love reading scripts. Oh, anytime I get a script, uh and I'll like read a script in one sitting and and really enjoy it. And when I read the script, I I was laughing and at the same time shaking my head at some of the it's it's edgy, it's edgy.

Jamie Flanagan 15:46

Oh, you can't say that. I got a script for it.

SPEAKER_02 15:49

We'll talk about that. So the the edginess is what also drew me to the film because I'm tired of this attitude where people are overly sensitive. I'm I'm an immigrant, right? And it's like if I was gonna be sensitive at a young age of what everybody said, I would probably not be here right now. Yeah, and I I really want people to understand that you could laugh together and you could have thick skin, and it doesn't mean that someone by making a off-caller joke. Remember, it's a joke. This is a comedy.

August Gitshlag 16:22

Yeah, good luck with that these days.

unknown 16:25

Shh.

SPEAKER_02 16:26

It's sad.

Jamie Flanagan 16:27

I'm in. It's sad. I'm in for the offensiveness. I'm in for the edge. I'm I'm right up to the edge.

August Gitshlag 16:32

I'm not she gets mad every time I say finger bang on the podcast.

Jamie Flanagan 16:35

I'm I'm I'm yeah, I am far enough removed from I don't have to behave myself anymore. No, the you're no longer a teacher of youth. I'm not a I'm not a government.

August Gitshlag 16:44

You're no longer no longer no one ever looks up, no one looks up to you anymore. No, you're not a role model. They don't. You can go right into the Charles Barkley mode now that you're retired. I'm not a role model.

SPEAKER_02 16:54

I I look at this and I feel like we should have made it even edgier and offended more uh more people. So there'll be a two-on-one.

Jamie Flanagan 17:03

Nothing like a good protest to promote your movie.

August Gitshlag 17:06

You can let scary movie 17 do that. Let them do all the super offensive things. Yeah, well, once nuns are out there with words, protests, right? Once the nuns are out there with signs, everyone's going to see your Jesus epic. They're all going.

Jamie Flanagan 17:23

Hell yeah. So that's funny. August is complaining. He's like, How have you been doing this? And I just found out about it. I'm slightly upset. You've but you've been into this for three, four years. This project in particular. You said that this your family only just found out about it. What how have you how have you were have you been sworn to secrecy? Is it just kind of why yeah? Why didn't you?

SPEAKER_02 17:43

My life is so stressful.

Jamie Flanagan 17:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:45

That when I ended up looking at, okay, when do I introduce this to the family?

Jamie Flanagan 17:50

Right.

SPEAKER_02 17:50

I felt like the level of stress that would be added. And remember, it's I go back to my banker days.

Jamie Flanagan 17:56

Is that the movie doing?

SPEAKER_02 17:58

Exactly. Well, it's it's like a construction project.

Jamie Flanagan 18:00

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:00

Right? So is it done yet? When can we go? Exactly.

Jamie Flanagan 18:03

I don't know when they turned Jewish, but I only got a couple voices. Usually I can speak there very quick. Oh, it's Jackie Mason.

August Gitshlag 18:12

That's pretty much it. That's pretty much it. That's uh that's pretty much it. Take my life, please.

SPEAKER_02 18:18

So I I I looked at it and I was like, okay, there are things that can derail a project.

Jamie Flanagan 18:24

Like badass.

SPEAKER_02 18:25

Like Jewish jokes during your interview.

August Gitshlag 18:28

Maybe we'll get protested. Oh, she doesn't want to be on camera. Gotta hide this, hide this.

SPEAKER_02 18:32

So so uh beautiful. So what was really interesting is I was looking at okay, when is this really gonna be and and and you also have to think about it as all the different things that derail, there are so many unknowns that can come in last minute and completely derail the project.

August Gitshlag 18:49

I dabbled in this years ago. Remember that when I was dabbling with going to Chicago and back in Iowa and back, and it was like things were a go, and they had this artist sign, and I was the the government consultant, I was done in charge of getting the roads closed and doing all that kind of stuff. And then one day it's like, oh no, one one actor was a bad actor, not like like not like actual like talent actor, one person involved in the production was full of shit. Yeah, and it derailed everything that I spent three or four months, five months driving to Iowa back and forth about.

SPEAKER_02 19:18

Well, so and and yeah, I I go back to that construction analogy. Usually when you end up finishing a major development, you go to the city and you get your CO and you open, and yeah, there might be a

Why Horror Comedy Sells

SPEAKER_02 19:30

couple months. In movie making, we rapped, I think in April or May of last year, and the movie's not coming out until you know this.

August Gitshlag 19:39

I noticed it was dated 2025.

SPEAKER_02 19:41

Exactly. So we we premiered it, so we went the reason 20 2025 is we actually yeah, we went to a film festival. The moment you go to a film festival, that's where it's tagged as being released.

August Gitshlag 19:51

Dated timestamp, boom.

SPEAKER_02 19:52

Yeah, but at the same time, we premiered it at Fantastic Fest, and that's more of a horror festival, and we were very happy to be there, very thankful. But we knew that our goal was to release it theatrically.

Jamie Flanagan 20:05

Sure. So when you did the release there, did you get feedback? Were there any additional edits?

SPEAKER_02 20:10

Yeah, this final cut. I love were there reshoots? There were no reshoots. I love the fact that there were people who saw it at Fantastic. I loved the first cut. I don't know if for all is listening. I loved the first cut. And we ended up taking feedback from Fantastic Fest, and we ended up doing another edit, which is now this final cut. That's kind of what they're for, too. They are. You get the feedback. Yeah.

August Gitshlag 20:35

Did you stand there on the side, like with your arms crossed? Did you go to Fantastic Fest? I did. No, no, no, I'm talking about like during the production. Like where you stand there behind people, like like looking. How much yeah, how much time did you spend on stuff? Oh, they're like, oh, good nervous.

SPEAKER_02 20:48

The money man's here, we gotta be nervous. No, you know what was really funny though is I think I was the EP is here.

SPEAKER_01 20:53

I I think I you know what's really funny.

SPEAKER_02 20:55

This is funny that you mentioned this, but I wanted to get out of everybody's way. But then they were like, Can I swear they were like, what the fuck is with this dude? Like he's not talking to anybody, he's not so like Sean grabbed me. Well, no, it was I think it came off like what you know. So I Sean grabbed me and was introducing me to a lot of the people on set, and and you know, it it the the ice got broken and and you just become part of the family. This group, the chemistry between the crew, uh Detroit crew, the the cast being all friends that have known each other for so long, and the fact that they were all part of Rel's community and and life made the set. So you might be a little spoiled.

August Gitshlag 21:35

Yeah, I'm really a little spoiled to have that kind of a click that's doing this all together, you know?

SPEAKER_02 21:40

No, August, it's really funny because people are like, Oh my like, do you realize what you've done? Your first film, and but and by the way, I've worked on other projects that I've supported on your IMDB. Well, no, I've I've always I've always supported film in in some level or another, but to have something that is released theatrically is is and and to have this type of it's independent but the amount of marketing that this cast is doing between I mean everybody everybody is really pumped up about it.

August Gitshlag 22:10

Who who does your distribution for this? Who signed off to do that?

SPEAKER_02 22:14

We're we're doing all of this distribution. There's a a company by the name of Variance and Variance is the one that is working with all the exhibitors the theater owners that's right yeah yeah but it's all we we didn't we we didn't bring on a a a true distribution partner. We're doing all this ourselves and and they're booking theaters that are being added hourly based off of buzz building the goal so we picked July 24th because it's the second weekend of Odyssey and we're looking at it and saying okay Odyssey three hours of despair and feeling feeling a little bit I would watch your mouth you might work with these guys one day. Well yeah yeah well no but like what is what is a good weekend to just offer something different that's lighter that's fun yeah uh prepares you for Halloween uh a little bit the Halloween is the obvious like you get you get inundated with the super scary creepy like type movies that uh in October this is not that yeah well no I I noticed that is you know grandma taking it you know I I saw it you know grandma you know Tara is awesome yeah she she's she's a lot of fun and and what's funny is I think some people do a double take when she's not in that makeup and air but it's it's a lot of fun so four estranged friends get together in an Airbnb to rob the place of this ancient relic that's worth 20 million dollars only to find out that the mansion is haunted by racist ghosts by racist ghosts yes yes how many white extras were killed in the making of this movie I gotta be so careful because now now you have me drinking and I didn't gotta tell you I want an honest interview out of you for us I've known you too long.

August Gitshlag 23:53

You're gonna put up all the walls so Brett you told me I'm gonna I'll come on but I gotta put up the walls we can't be us. I can't be your friend tonight.

SPEAKER_02 23:59

No Brett and Ari so Ari is is Brett's wife and so they play a couple on in the movie they're the ghosts but they're truly husband wife and I think are they local they're out of LA LA okay yep and and I think so Brett is known for Stranger Things coming off of the last season of Stranger Things Brett Gilman they're they're an awesome couple great people and everybody was but like you start to connect with these individuals and start to learn their backgrounds and I think part of it was like okay we played characters what came out of our mouths are not how we feel and so it's it's really funny to see the dynamic of them watching the movie now that it's finished yeah and like realizing we're sitting in a theater and we were just spinning out racial slurs on film. But uh but yeah and they they get it back too so you know it's it's kind of goes back and forth.

Jamie Flanagan 24:55

Sure sure I this sounds like a it sounds like a funny riot and the from the trailer I'm like okay I I want to I want to see this.

SPEAKER_02 25:02

So Jamie I will be the one to throw a twist in this and I think part of it is maybe my introspective personality sometimes but I think there are some deep themes. Oh boy it's like just the aspect of friends coming back together okay right there's there's the the level of forgiveness redemption and then persevering over everything that you've gone through as a group together to defeat evil. So I while robbing people I like a good heist movie man lock stock and two smoking movies come on well let's talk about this squash movie the soundtrack if everybody listening the soundtrack to Lockstock Two Smoking it's an unbelievable soundtrack another genius from Rel on the sky richie shit. Yeah the the genius that Rel put together for this movie is we have a soundtrack.

Jamie Flanagan 25:54

Oh fair play the the uh licensing music is like a whole nother job and a whole nother beast it's a whole nother executive producer's job to finance well you can't what movie it was it was like some and they like blew their whole budget I think it was like Dirty Dancing and there's like one tune

Haunted Heist Plot And Themes

Jamie Flanagan 26:10

that they wanted and they blew like three quarters of their budget.

August Gitshlag 26:13

Oh yeah um and so for the the the final song they're like the times of our lives things uh yeah yeah yeah just have that jennifer girl crank something out uh get that washed up dude to do a new song that'll be cheap yeah yeah it was like it was like one of the 50s tunes like from the thing that they use that they they blew like half of their music budget on and so the rest of it they had to yeah oh so I learned that I I looked and and I started to learn like oh this song would be great here oh let's let let's get this hip hop from the you know oh yeah yeah and it's like a hundred thousand dollars the license oh my god but so I got a guy for music for you we'll talk later about yeah but so it's all Irish of course but you know it's it's Detroit I'm sorry it's it's Chicago based artists that have been known for decades and they're all friends with Rel and they but put together the music and what's you have a comment on this soundtrack I would I would that would be yeah that would be over the top but so you got a nice soundtrack but the theme song so a lot of people that have listened to the trailer I've been really excited about because they're like what's this song it ain't no Ghostbusters but I bet you it's good yeah there you go no I'm teasing that no no there you go there were people that were like it's a it's it's got it's got a theme song yeah all right all right yeah so that to to sum up somehow one of my best friends for the last 30 years has been producing a movie for six years and didn't tell me about it and I found out yesterday and it's called Haunted Heist with one of the hottest names out there in Tiffany Haddish right now who's all over she was every award show and every sports illustrated magazine.

SPEAKER_02 27:48

Yeah she's like all over the joint swimsuit edition and we're your first interview yeah this is what's really so you're now you're what's with Rob Rob Robinwood 7 is that what it's called yeah so let's talk about this so first of all I want to backtrack to how my parents my mom This has got to be a street that you grew up on or something it is it is so my mom yeah so my when you were asking me how my mom found out yeah it was after the World Cup I I had just received the actual movie poster so I unfurled the movie poster and I go mom this is the movie I just made and she's like looking at me going what are you talking about and so then I you can finally cover up that Farrafaucet poster in your bedroom. Yeah I pointed to Robinwood seven I'm like this is my production company and she recognized the name so Robinwood was the street on seven mile so that was a big Keldean neighborhood street yeah so that was and I think it's seven and what where'd the seven come from seven mile in Woodward seven mile and Robinwood okay that's where the seven comes from Robinwood I was seven in Van Dyke my wife Colleen was seven in Grash so you're a West side guy. Well east of Woodward yeah yeah that's east the energy side of Van Dyke but yeah but so Robinwood was the street we lived on and when we came to America it's my grandparents' home and we we stopped there before we settled into Southfield. But so it was really interesting because that neighborhood was vibrant and and now the home's no longer there right but Robinwood everybody knows Robinwood Hollywood like all of those streets everybody knows them oh yeah and so when I looked at it and said okay I want to I want to tell stories I think the best story and and to name the company was Robinwood 7 Robinwood 7 mile was a little bit too long so we shorted Robinwood 7.

August Gitshlag 29:30

All right but a funny story you know that Coleman Young gave a key to the city to what's his name Saddam Hussein because of all the money he donated to that community.

Jamie Flanagan 29:40

Yeah it's uh it's almost it's a great trivia question it's I was just gonna say it's almost a question that what is it pub trivia yeah it's a great pub trivia I use it as a pub trivia question yeah I I joke around and I had hey hindsight's 2020 you know what I'm saying and who was he fighting at the time I I feel like again and we live in the matrix we really do.

August Gitshlag 30:04

I'm trying not to say more so so this one took like five or so years so that means that you started something else two years ago that I'm not gonna let you fuck around and not tell me about now.

SPEAKER_02 30:14

Okay so so real quick Carl Reed we got to give him credit he wrote so the way that it started that many years ago was we had uh the story we had the screenplay and then we went to Rel said Rel do you want to direct this and do you want to put together the cast and and that's where it takes three four years we shot it last year we started shooting I think in February and it was all Detroit. It was really funny because the county jail has no that has no heat and so it was absolutely freezing that day.

August Gitshlag 30:45

Which one is the one by in ham tramack there?

SPEAKER_02 30:47

No no no the old the the old jail the closed down okay because that one's closed down too there's like how many there's a lot of county jails actually true yeah yeah but so there was it was like the coldest day you could possibly have and that was a day that's so you didn't have the special effect there the the the breath showing you know to add that in everything and there's a great yeah Tony Baker is an awesome comedian that has he plays rat face George and and he kept character really well in that scene but you you'll have to watch it and he's he's I I just so tough for me to talk about because I don't want to give stuff away you got to see the movie but going back to it we because it's it's independent budget is key you had to stay to an 18 day shoot and like principal principal shooting was 18 days?

August Gitshlag 31:29

Yeah okay yeah and so this is all the aspect of okay it's too cold you made a movie in 18 days yeah we shot it in 18 days well what the fuck took six years yeah well that's well so the idea the idea was born and then it was we got to put the pieces together oh yeah yeah yeah and then you gotta get you know a lot of legal stuff oh my god we talked to your fellow executive producers and we actually obtained a clip to the movie so insert the scene from Mac and me now the wheelchair goes off the cliff and little Jimmy dies.

SPEAKER_02 32:08

That's a Paul Rudge deck on Conan but anyway we're working on another project that is co-produced with Ron Perlman Sons of Anarchy Hellboy that one just wrapped in and Kodak Super XX and it's it's more of a psychological thriller and Kelly Marie Tran is is the lead in that and we're excited about it. But yeah that won't that'll be like a festival darling we hope and that'll be out next year. Oh wow and then and then we also have a podcast that Sean has has done an awesome job hosting and it's talking about the dangers of AI well I don't want to say dangers exploring AI and the pitfalls the pitfalls of AI there's going to be movies with entire AI generated soundtracks it's called at the least it's called Suspicious Minds and that's another project that I work with Sean. So Sean O'Grady and I have have become really close business partners we're good friends and he's just he's out of he's he's out of here he's out of yeah Detroit okay fair yep yep and Suspicious minds is is out on all the Spotify Apple YouTube and that is focused on the the different revelations of AI maybe that's the best way to put it okay and it's it's a podcast but it has the component of video so it's it plays like an actual TV show. Yep you'll find that out there okay so you're saying it's like better than us no it's just more of a not to say scripted

Detroit Locations And Festival Feedback

SPEAKER_02 33:40

but it's first he hides it from me for six years and says he's got a better podcast than mine. I'm not saying that at all wow this is more free flow this this is his podcast is like a TV show I understand they do they do they do research and planning and and I have a script maybe an outline an outline maybe an outline we have hard up tried to get a fucking outline on this show for us when we come in we're gonna start with this this and this and then if he went to the pub before the show it's all fucked up yeah if I wasn't at the Irish show forget about it no yeah screwed everything's gone oh yeah yeah yeah I was really worried about this but yeah so all right so can we gauche and talk about money yeah what y'all spend on this oh I'm not gonna talk about that all right fair play come on all right it's a low budget it's a low budget it's a low budget budget I mean any film I need I need everybody to call this is what the four times I need you to see it two three times in the first two weeks well so this is the deal because it's independent and next weekend is Spider Man we need a really strong showing first weekend so I mean if you need to go under the mattresses and buy out the theater we'd love you for it all right fair play so where all right so we're all major cities all major cities what is it is it you know different chains different I gotta give a shout out because he helped us so much Paul Glantz with a Paul Glance I love Paul Glantz we've had him on the show yep so he's because they serve booze in their theaters good Michigan guy yeah we love great theaters so we're in the imagine yay but I I want to remember also you know amc regal we're we're in all of those big names nationwide yep three showings a night I believe and it's it'll it'll carry over into next week if we get good numbers our goal is to surprise Hollywood you know you've got the box office mojo that shows you want to blur witch them sure yeah we would love if this shows up in in the top ten and people go where did this come out of what's going on there's been really good buzz building online okay a lot of people have have seen the marketing that we've been doing and we've been very focused in in our cast going to really the cities that they've been a part of and have such a strong following rel is from Chicago Carlos from uh New Orleans Batch and and Tiffany in LA so we've got really good markets covered New York they were just doing shows in New York City and and yeah we're very excited about it.

August Gitshlag 36:03

So at what exactly what you know hour and minute or minute point are we gonna see you in the background of this movie.

SPEAKER_02 36:12

There are some little Easter eggs that I don't even think they realized are so specific to me but you'd have to watch it more than you sneak in a U of D pennant somewhere that would be really but you did UD Mercy UD Mercy. Well that was UD Mercy when you were there so it would just be Ultimate UD Mercy when it was it was like I didn't think you guys merged back then when we were drinking in your frat house no sorry fraternity organization I would call my country a good fraternity oh my goodness all right now my mom can't listen your mom didn't listen anyway your mom loves oh my goodness she does love it she loves his walk you know what's you know what we gotta talk about with with August is his walk so this is a forest thing we gotta talk about this so August God rest his soul my dad they would fight in the office my dad hired August my first job out of college like literally I got a home I'm like I don't know what to do you gotta do this how did my dad say my God rest his soul missed exactly I'm gassed $20 get your sister ice cream that was magic every Friday my mom works at the office and when I I don't know you what kind of walk you were doing but she'd be like August he has such a beautiful walk but it was so funny one day beautiful I don't know why I started working with the congressman and um after I left your uh left your family firm I was not I cut out to be a bookkeeper uh I I was not good with with that but anyway it was a wonderful favorite and I'm forever grateful to you and your family it was a wonderful time of my life it was just great we we literally would like meet up at your house before and after work and it was just a whole thing we all carpooled together it was crazy there's so many stories I could tell I I could mention his name his nickname is Girl Scout but he worked for my dad as well and Girl Scout would yell at my dad my my dad would yell back but it was like I'm like I don't think this is normal office uh environment for you guys to be yelling at each other.

August Gitshlag 38:07

But outgast really became August when for some reason I'd left and gone to work for David and David Bonnie the congressman and your dad called me to check on me and for some reason I had it on speaker phone and like you know I shared you were we were the youngest guys on staff there's another guy over there that's my buddy Joel Pepper now lives in uh Frankfurt Germany and he's like August how are you and I'm like good and then Joel's like I'll ghast and so every he never not called me Joel city across from me and he told me one of the he goes I'll gased out it was just so cute and I love it and I it's a thing that endears me to your dad forever it's absolutely about when I got that convertible and he goes let's go pick up Brent right he wanna go pick up your brother from high school and I took the top down and his comb over went straight up because you can't my dad I was not a comb over I do he goes I do not like it I don't like it put the top up and we put the top up with the next no God rest the soul it was so fun honestly such a lovely man the the aspect of film being an escape and everything I've gone through you know losing my dad what was so difficult for me and at the same time that this project came around you start to realize how you you heal and and you grieve based off of what you put yourself into and this was a project that helped me through a lot of pain.

Jamie Flanagan 39:32

Well I hope you wouldn't expect it with a comedy horror but yeah I just I really I just saw the success in the world man I just really hope I hope you you give that little Hollywood surprise and oh yeah so what why did you hold it under wraps if you need to promote something did you not know when it was going to release until recently that's what I was no we were yet.

SPEAKER_02 39:51

We I was so uh under pressure under a lot

DIY Distribution And Opening Weekend Pressure

SPEAKER_02 39:55

of stress and it was like okay if I add the expectation and everybody I guess when did you know the release date? So I know exactly how mad to be we knew the release date about seven or eight weeks ago. Alright that's not okay that's but here's the thing about four and then you never know right because you never know it's like oh are they gonna open that Gordy Hop bridge I don't know maybe but I gotta give a shout out to Variance so Variance our theater partner who was doing all the bookings I mean we don't know how many theaters we're gonna be in and that was another driver because I wanted to make sure when I tell people that we're enough and and you know you can go actually go see it. Well I've got friends all the way from California to Arizona to all over the world DC yeah we're not playing globally but but I mean yeah you know our our people run deep for us exactly so I I didn't want to end up amping and building expectation and then falling short. Yeah I you know I think this is a part of my personality is I'm humble but I also want to be able to make people I I want to meet their expectation. I don't want to let them never ran a yellow light in his life Jamie telling you I pissed off a lot of people trust me right yeah I remember some of that but you know yeah you it you're you're doing just fine here's I think you're doing just fine for having pissed off some people what I'm excited about is if this does uh hopefully well to put me in that trajectory I go back to that storytelling I've already I've already thought about the ideas between uh odd enough the Irish band and and doing a story about the Irish music scene and and some of the drama related to that going back to growing up the immigrant story right yeah I I think there's a lot of stories that I would love to tell and and I'm hoping that this puts me in that trajectory.

August Gitshlag 41:40

So you've already developed the first Chaldean Avenger right you've already written that character or is it gonna be an X-Men?

Jamie Flanagan 41:46

No it's gonna be a camel man but that's it well then it's X-Men then stop it with the camel man so what uh haunted heist yes haunted heist is it the haunted heist or haunted heist haunted heist haunted heist haunted heist what are what are the websites and what are the hashtags yeah there you go haunted heist can help yeah hashtag it out right I'm not on the socials at all which is yeah yeah you're the worst promoter of a movie ever I'm hit cool so I don't I don't think we're on the Facebook so just to give people a heads up but we have haunted haunted heistmovie dot com.

August Gitshlag 42:21

All right you could search theaters you could see the trailer and then we've got an Instagram which I believe the Instagram handle would be haunted heist movie you think I'd think I'd hope so well hopefully everything our our fact checkers are working diligently in the background right now our fact checkers are on it for us while she does while she does that and we'll get the right ones if you can thank you so much.

Jamie Flanagan 42:45

Yeah and then it'll be in the show notes our website is just the mancave happyhour dot com and our sponsors are lovely lovely sponsors wearing funny dot com it is a great place to get some relatively funny there's a very cool east side Detroit even though you're over all the way at Woodward you can wear the east side detroit shirt and there's some fun like vintage bars and then this is also where you can get your uh my Irish radio t-shirts and where's my Scottish radio t-shirt trying to get gas so it's really funny because when when I ended up haunted heights movie haunted heights haunted heights movie all right thank you haunted heights movie just hashtag haunted heist movie though just start that trend in sharing because that hashtag will work everywhere that it works across all of them so please teach me what what is the way that they is it tagging or sharing yes or is it both it's both yeah yeah yeah you need a course tag just to bring you back to to you're about 20 years behind on this ship yeah and and the the school so the other thing a little tip tidbit is that Dutch girl donuts was at the petty yeah so they were so I I uh Dutch girl donuts is it really attached to my childhood on on Seven Mile and I I wore a Dutch girl because they're back open fair play yeah so yeah I wore a Dutch girl donuts so if if people are lovers of Dutch girl donuts I grew up right so you are in the movie wearing a Dutch girl donuts shirt no no no just like when it went when Tarantino was wearing

Where To Watch And Final Toast

Jamie Flanagan 44:20

an Orby shirt and in Pulp Fiction is going to be that kind of cultish now nothing like that damn it I thought we had something I just wore it on set one day they took a picture and I was like Dutch girl donuts well I want to be like the haunted waiter in the next one perfect I'm gonna try to cast everybody as extras and Haunted Heist 2 Haunted Heist II the movie ending we got out of jail and didn't die.

SPEAKER_02 44:39

So the the movie ends well have a movie ending no no no the movie killing people because they're already dead go the movie ends where there needs to be a sequel everybody go out see it so that we can cast everybody in a sequel.

August Gitshlag 44:52

So in honor of all of your Irish roots with you playing an Irish band and Irish area I got out the good red breast to toast to for us's success. Thank you so congratulations buddy thank you thank you proud of you this is gonna be a cool thing and we're we're we're lucky to have you today love you guys thank you for 30 years of friendship and everything it's it's been Monday it's yeah we're family and it's just great to have you here cheers buddy cheers cheers oh it's a different taste in the bourbon a whole different taste that's that applies differently like and subscribe all that stuff before he clicks the button yeah peace I'm August that's Jamie that's for us we got a fact checker over in the corner hi sweetie we'll see you next time guys