By Ray Pride Pride@moviecitynews.com

Gravitas Ventures Acquires Sundance FF Comedy “Ass Backwards”

Posted Thursday, July 11th, 2013 - Comments Off on Gravitas Ventures Acquires Sundance FF Comedy “Ass Backwards”
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Los Angeles, CA (July 11, 2013) – Gravitas Ventures announced today the acquisition of the female road trip comedy ASS BACKWARDS, which premiered earlier this year in the Midnight section at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival.  Starring and written by Casey Wilson and June Diane Raphael and directed by Chris Nelson, the film will play next at Outfest Los Angeles on July 13. As a leading distributor of independent films and documentaries to the theatrical and VOD marketplace, Gravitas plans to release the film on September 30 prior to the theatrical release on November 8.

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“We’re thrilled to be working with such an array of talent both in front of and behind the camera on ASS BACKWARDS,” says VP of Acquisitions & Marketing, Melanie Miller. “This is a rare female-driven comedy that Hollywood needs to embrace; Casey and June are two comedic voices that have set the bar high on low-brow humor.”

The filmmaking team of June Diane Raphael, Casey Wilson and Chris Nelson had this to say about the acquisition: “As fans of press releases, this is one of the best we’ve read in a while.  We are thrilled to be working with Gravitas and thrilled to be a part of such a great press release.”

ASS BACKWARDS is the story of two co-dependent best friends (Casey Wilson and June Diane Raphael) who fancy themselves as high powered stylish New York City gals – even though they share a water bed, sell their eggs for cash, and think a table at Starbucks is a corner office. These loveable losers take a road trip back to their hometown to claim the beauty pageant crown that eluded them as children and discover that ignorance really is bliss.

The deal was negotiated by Melanie Miller, VP of Acquisitions & Marketing from Gravitas Ventures and UTA Independent Film Group on behalf of the filmmakers.

ASS BACKWARDS is co-written by and co-starring Casey Wilson (“Happy Endings”, “SNL”) and June Diane Raphael (“Year One,” “New Girl”). The film is directed by Chris Nelson, produced by Heather Rae (“Frozen River”) and Molly Connors, with a cast that also includes Alicia Silverstone, Vincent D’Onofrio, Jon Cryer, Brian Geraghty, Bob Odenkirk, Sandy Martin, Marcia Jean Kurtz, and Paul Scheer.  For more information, please visit https://www.facebook.com/AssBackwardsMovie.

About Gravitas Ventures

Gravitas Ventures connects independent filmmakers, producers and distribution companies to leading cable, satellite, telco and online distribution partners. Working with more than 500 content partners, Gravitas Ventures aggregates and distributes thousands of hours of feature films, documentaries, horror films, animation, alternative sports, comedy, and music concert programming.  As of December 2011, Gravitas has expanded its operation to include Gravitas International, a new division that will focus on a worldwide audience.  For more information, please go to http://www.gravitasventures.com.
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It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?

So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.

And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.

There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.

I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.

So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.

But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”

My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher

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~ David Simon