Budget
I had a conversation with Scott, the director of the film and he said the budget was close to a million dollars. He borrowed the money from everyone he knew. That is if memory serves correctly, it was more than 10 years ago.
shareNot sure how the budget got that high. Once upon a time I was part of the movie from beginning until he began to misuse the budget money for appearances versus the film (an office, new carpet, etc).
The original money came from a fellow I think was named Pat. The man's mother had died and willed him a goodly chunk of money and I don't know how he got talked into making this film but the money was soon gone. It was in the $100,000 to $200,000 area. How it got up to $1,000,000 and why is a good question.
All of us were promised a percentage of the film and none of us (that I know of) received anything except, perhaps Scott. Tom Cue was not the only writer on the staff and I was supposed to have a writing credit and assistant credit but I walked off the staff because I didn't like how the budget was being spent so I'm not shown as having had a part of it at all . . .
So what has happened to the cast of this film?
Tom Cue? Stephanie?
I too worked on Satan's Blade (original working title was The Devil's Mountain.)I had several credits, Boom operator, Driver and assistant (apprentice?) film editor.
I remember that Pat sold the condo he had inherited and put up the initial $100k. That was enough to get the film shot, but he later sold the Corvette he was driving (Brand new, he had paid cash) to help finance the post-production.
The rumor about the million dollar budget? I always thought it came from Scott's back salary and the promotional expenses accrued during the many years it took to sell the finished film. The filming was completed in 1981 and post production in 1982 (with a "sneak" preview at the Ken Cinema on 9/25/82). Prism entertainment did not buy the rights and release it to video until 1984.
No one was paid up front, but we all had contracts that were to pay us a percentage of the net profits over a 10 year period. Scott's back salary and promotional expenses probably ate up any profits. With out an audit of some sort, we will never know. I was always surprised Pat did not follow-up on the money trail, since he had invested much more then just time spent.
Certanly was a fun experience.