By Patrick McGilvray

Entrepreneurial production team from Sacramento created film for $55,000 and is partnering with pioneering online video rental service

SACRAMENTO (OBSNews.com) – "The Bill Collector" by executive producer Bruce Blumen starring Jason Bortz as John Black is a disturbing thriller set amidst our debt-ridden modern American society. It's an edgy and violent thriller about a debt collector run amok and, thankfully, the gore factor is not a central part of the movie, unlike movies that might cost one hundred to one thousand times the budget of this locally-produced film.

Yes, that's right. One thousand times what it cost to make this movie would be $60,000,000. I have no doubt a director could have spent that amount of money on turning Blumen's screenplay into a film, but this version was memorable, jarring and made for just $55,000.

The producers hope to recoup that and make a profit in the next year because of a partnership with Google's YouTube Rentals fledgling online video-on-demand rental service. Hollywood Beware!

This film delivers edge-of-your-seat suspense and is also a good movie because it provokes one to think about it after one watches it. That's a real compliment in these days of media saturation and sometimes too-expensive films that fail to register in the memory once one walks out of the theater.

"The Bill Collector's" Local Premiere in Sacramento

An enthusiastic crowd filled the Crest theater on Friday night to witness the premiere of this locally-conceived, filmed, and produced film. The fact that this movie was made for $55,000 and is a partner in Google-YouTube's pioneering rental on-line on-demand service makes it even cooler.

Local film veteran Brett Allen, S.O.C. was the director of photography whose work on a share-of-profits basis compensation was, ''invaluable alongside the terrific acting as well as film-making talents of Jason Bortz," according to producer/director Peter Oakes.

If the producers can execute on their business plan and make money because of on-line distribution then they might well be helping to write a brand new chapter in film history. Think: YouTube grows up and people can get 'real jobs' creating 'real films' that people will happily pay $4.00-$5.00 to watch (and prices will no doubt go down as films get older).

How cool is that? All an aspiring filmmaking team, or heck, just a talented auteur with drive and some technology, now has to do now is make a movie good enough for say 10,000 people to watch and they can make a profit. I'll say it again, Hollywood Beware!

Star Jason Bortz Makes the Film Come Alive in a Bad Way

John Black, the lead character works for a collection agency that values only the fact that he brings in money on past due debts no matter how he gets it. He violates every debt collection law on the books and is a consistently smarmy drunk who shames others as he shames himself in a tortured spiral of depression, alcoholism and madness. Watching him at times is like drinking mayonnaise by the cupful.

The American addiction to debt is mock-celebrated by Black when he taunts a recent Eastern European immigrant who has run-up substantial credit card debts, "Now you're a real American," he says. Later, Black on his own time, and based on information about the immigrant he learned during the debt collection process proceeds to terrorize and rob the man's wife to take what little of value they have for his own gain.

There is sparse explanation in the film from the fictional San Francisco Bay Area town of Nova's chief of police as to why John is among the dregs of humanity, but there's also apparently a place for him in capitalism's vast machinery. He's apparently good at what he does and his amoral approach to his on-the-job conduct makes his boss Roger Bell, portrayed by Joseph Largé, a happy man because it brings money in the door.

Downward Spiral of Depravity

John drinks more booze than coffee for breakfast and lamely makes come-ons at women in bars that he knows are mere buffoonery. In the end, everything about the man is wrong and his fixation on a woman on his debt collection work list becomes the focal point around which this thriller really starts to turn.

Martha Morgan is ably played by Bonnie Jean Shelton, who portrays a widow who suffers through repeated phone calls by Mr. Black about her debts as she tries to get her life back on track following her husband's death. Black's terrorizing of Martha and her daughter Molly intensifies his madness, resulting in horrific moments that are tastefully rendered. The film culminates in a taut and well-choreographed battle for survival that grips the viewer and will move a viewer to the edge of her seat.

Even if the producers of the film don't make millions of dollars in profits from this film, I'm betting that they'll get far more than 13,785 people willing to download the movie from Google's new YouTube service or something like iTunes for a $3.99 rental. And if they can do it and break-even then the sky's the limit for independent film-makers with real entrepreneurial ambitions all over the world.

Talk about liberating an entire medium in less than a decade. Long live the digital revolution!

☺☺☺☺ - 4/5 smileys for film quality and overall coolness

* For a behind the scenes look at the making of the film please see 2nd Assistant Director Angela L. Gibson's article for Examiner.com about the making of the film.