Sex, Drugs, Blood, and Guns Good. Cigars, not so much?
That is the message that Steve Gherebean and Jesse Mariut have taken away from their experience in producing Handrolled – A Film about Cigars.
After a failed, semi-successful IndieGoGo fundraising campaign where the pair raised less than $10,000 of the $50,000 goal, there were 104 backers, each donating on average just under $90.
“We sat down with all the big guys, HBO, Showtime, Netflix, Fox, everyone, and anyone who would give us the time of day. None of them were okay with a film without sex, drugs, blood, or guns, but just smoking Cigars. We ended up in a deal with Amazon where Cigar Aficionados could rent the movie; that has ended as we have had fewer rentals than IndieGoGo backers since 2019. YouTube is our last chance to recoup all the cash we spent making this film.” Steve and Jesse told CNT.
CNT staff watched the 90-minute film in just over four and a half hours with all the ads that were embedded by YouTube.
CNT also reached out to several of the media outlets that turned Steve and Jesse down, none wanted to comment on the record, but all agreed that the lackluster performance on Amazon was proof that they were correct, no sex, drugs, blood, or guns, no deal.