Fest fave "Outsourced" making its way to TV

Moira McDonald of the Seattle Times wrote an article appearing in todays paper about our recent deal with NBC.

Fest fave "Outsourced" making its way to TV

by Moira McDonald
Seattle Times Movie Critic

In John Jeffcoat's comedy "Outsourced, " winner of the audience award for best film at the Seattle International Film Festival last spring, a Seattle office manager finds himself in a place he never expected to be: India, to train telemarketers at a call center there. Now "Outsourced" itself may well be headed for an unexpected destination: television.

Jeffcoat, a Seattle-based filmmaker, confirmed in a telephone interview last week that he and "Outsourced" co-writer George Wing are busily writing scripts for a planned television version of the film, under development for NBC. Ken Kwapis ("The Office"), who approached them after seeing the film and enjoying it, is attached to direct the pilot.

"This is a new world," said Jeffcoat, who estimated that in a "best case scenario" the show might air in the fall of 2008, assuming that NBC likes what they see.

Read the Entire article HERE

SIFF

Josh Hamilton in "Outsourced," about a Seattle office manager who goes to India to train telemarketers at a call center. A planned television version of the film is under development for NBC.

Outsourced in Austrailia

Outsourced will hit theaters in Australia on November 1st. Details are HERE. Our international release will continue with Germany, Israel, India, and Canada very soon. Stay tuned for details.

A favorite in Vancouver

According to the Vancouver International Film Festival, Outsourced was voted in the top 10% of the international films screened. The following is from their press release:

Top 10% of international films (listed alphabetically. All films listed in this release were very well attended, substantially voted for, and averaged between four and five out of five—four being “very good” and five being “excellent”—in public voting.):

Cristian Mungiu’s 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days (Romania); Robbie Cavolina and Ian McCrudden’s Anita O'Day: The Life of a Jazz Singer (USA); Tricia Regan’s Autism: The Musical (USA); Bertrand Normand’s Ballerina (France); Eran Kolirin’s The Band's Visit (Israel); Stuart Townsend’s Battle in Seattle (USA); Abdullah Oguz’s Bliss (Turkey/Greece); Stefan Ruzowitzky’s The Counterfeiters (Austria/Germany); Julian Schnabel’s The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (France/USA); Fatih Akin’s The Edge of Heaven (Germany/Turkey); Jan Sverák’s Empties (Czech Republic); The Hennegan Brothers’ The First Saturday in May (USA); Daniel Karslake’s For the Bible Tells Me So (USA); Suo Masayuki’s I Just Didn't Do It (Japan); Ang Lee’s Lust, Caution (Se Jie) (USA/Taiwan); Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman’s Nanking (USA); John Jeffcoat’s Outsourced (USA/India); Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud’s Persepolis (Iran/France); John Pilger and Christopher Martin’s The War on Democracy (UK); Paul Taylor’s We Are Together (UK)

High Risks of Self-Distributing Low-Budget Films

Listen to David Skinner (Executive producer of Outsourced) discuss the high risks of self-distributing low-budget films on KCRW's "The Business"

note: The first half of the show features Ang Lee's LUST, CAUTION, the interview with David Skinner begins about half-way into the show.

Audience Award at Bend Film

Outsourced tied with our friend Adrian Belic's documentary Beyond the Call for the Audience Award at the Bend Film Festival this past weekend (photo: Adrian Belic and John Jeffcoat at the Palm Springs Film Festival). A thank you to everyone at the festival that voted for us!

Also last week, Outsourced played three sold out screenings at the Vancouver Film Festival and and had an additional screening added. Thank you Vancouver for the great reception!

We also expanded our theatrical release to include the beautiful Lynwood Theater on Bainbridge Island where we had another great reception which I hope leads to a successful run. It's only there for a week, so if you're on Bainbridge catch it on the big screen while you can!

Comedy feature 'Outsourced' to NBC

This is the big news we have been waiting to announce. We are currently developing a global workplace comedy based on our film 'Outsourced' for NBC.

Comedy feature 'Outsourced' to NBC
By Nellie Andreeva

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - NBC is heading east with "Outsourced," an India-set comedy based on the newly released indie film of the same name.

The story centers on a customer service manager in Seattle whose department is outsourced to India, and he goes there to train his replacement. The project explores the clash of the Western and Indian cultures, and chronicles the manager's romance with a local woman. NBC ordered a pilot script.

Read the whole story HERE

Thank You New York!

Last weekend we opened at the Quad in New York and remained the #1 film in the complex for the entire week, becoming one of the Quads top three grossing films all year. Thank you to everyone who came out to see the film, we heard reports of big laughs and much applause which is wonderful to hear over here. It was also our largest box office draw, with Seattle coming in a close second.

You might be wondering why it isn't there anymore? We're wondering the same thing. We were told that if we had the numbers and were bringing in the crowds, the movie would be held over. We brought in the numbers but were still kicked out of our strongest market when every other theater screening our film has decided to hold it over. This experience has just strengthened our story of how tough it is to distribute a film independently in the current marketplace.

One other positive thing that has come out of our New York screening is that theaters in Boston and DC saw the success of our run and have contacted us about releasing the film in their markets. So now we are planning a December release of Outsourced in both Boston and DC. I'm hoping that list may grow in the coming weeks and maybe even include a return to Manhattan!

So thanks again to everyone who has come out to support the film, and I hope you continue to spread the word! Cheers!

- john

••• There will be a big announcement on Monday regarding Outsourced. As soon as I get word it has been released in the trades I will post the news on this site.