{"id":139765,"date":"2025-10-23T04:43:16","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T04:43:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/139765\/"},"modified":"2025-10-23T04:43:16","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T04:43:16","slug":"logic-interview-on-paradise-records-self-distribution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/139765\/","title":{"rendered":"Logic Interview on ‘Paradise Records,’ Self-Distribution"},"content":{"rendered":"

What do you do when you\u2019ve seemingly accomplished everything in the world of music \u2014 selling over five million albums, racking up nearly two billion views on YouTube, and selling out legendary venues like Madison Square Garden with ease? If you\u2019re Logic<\/a>, you finally start pursuing what you wanted to do in the first place: making movies.<\/p>\n

The rap star, whose real name is Sir Robert Bryson Hall II (but he lets his friends call him Bobby), has been a cinephile for far longer than he\u2019s been a musician. That shouldn\u2019t be particularly surprising to anyone who has followed his music career, where he\u2019s been referencing Quentin Tarantino<\/a> and Old Hollywood for as long as he\u2019s been dropping mixtapes. But hearing him speak about the movies he grew up watching, it\u2019s immediately clear that his passion for the medium is far deeper than a passing interest.<\/p>\n

\""Chainsaw<\/a> \"THE<\/a> <\/p>\n

\u201cI love film<\/a> and television more than anything in the world. It raised me. \u2026 My father was a crack addict. My mother was a prostitute. I was conceived in a crack house, brothers and sisters, gang members, shooting guns. This is all I grew up with,\u201d Logic said during a recent interview with IndieWire. \u201cI learned how to cook crack at 12 years old. It\u2019s not really the most ideal situation, but that\u2019s all I knew. And my escape was film. I knew how to court a partner from watching black and white flicks and learning about chivalry and respect\u2026 I just genuinely love movies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Writing and directing films was always the goal for Logic, who says he\u2019s currently sitting on \u201ceight or 10\u201d scripts that he\u2019d like to make, including a magnum opus called \u201cChocolate Swirl Sunset\u201d that he describes as a cross between Charlie Kaufman and \u201ca Black \u2018Annie Hall.’\u201d He began showing some of his scripts to Hollywood friends like Seth Macfarlane and J.J. Abrams in 2018 \u2014 but while his writing was met with lots of initial enthusiasm, he struggled to get a movie greenlit through the conventional Hollywood channels.<\/p>\n

Enter Kevin Smith, who knows a thing or two about bypassing gatekeepers. Smith cast Logic in a small role in his 2024 film \u201cThe 4:30 Movie,\u201d<\/a> and encouraged his friend to make the leap into feature filmmaking. He advised the rapper to follow the plan that launched his own filmmaking career with \u201cClerks\u201d: write a movie that\u2019s confined to one location, finance it yourself, and shoot it with all of your friends. <\/p>\n

Logic listened, and \u201cParadise Records<\/a>\u201d was born.<\/p>\n

\"\"\u2018Paradise Records\u2019<\/p>\n

A raunchy hangout comedy that combines the slacker joy of vintage Smith and Richard Linklater movies with a tinge of the crime flicks its director loves to reference, the film stars Logic as a struggling Oregon record store owner trying to keep his eccentric staff employed as his world collapses around him. Much like \u201cClerks,\u201d all the action takes place over the course of one day, where high-stakes encounters with seedy debt collectors fit in alongside musings about pop culture and weed-fueled adventures. It\u2019s a film that knows exactly what it\u2019s trying to be \u2014 Jay and Silent Bob even make a cameo, erasing all doubts about its DNA \u2014 and Logic proves himself to be a capable writer and director whose love of \u201990s indie film shines through the entire project.<\/p>\n

The film premiered at the 2025 Tribeca Festival<\/a> and sold out every screening, an experience that Logic called \u201ca dream come true\u201d after being rejected from some other festivals. But not even a celebrity with a built-in fanbase<\/a> ready to support his work is immune to the problems facing independent filmmakers everywhere. <\/p>\n

The age-old value proposition of indie filmmaking \u2014 that landing acceptance to a prestigious festival begets a sale to a distributor that pays off your debts and puts your movie in front of a massive audience \u2014 is flimsier than ever. More and more filmmakers are turning to self-distribution<\/a> rather than sign away the rights to their films without receiving much money up front or guarantees about the resources that will be committed to marketing their work. <\/p>\n

Logic entered Tribeca expecting to shop his film around to the traditional buyers, but the offers he received were disappointing. It reminded him of the music industry, where artists famously struggle to hold onto the financial rewards that follow their work. He came to the conclusion that, much like in music, he might be better off handling things on his own. He recalled one offer that his agent presented him \u2014 which came from \u201ca great company\u201d and was described by his team as one of the best offers they had seen an independent film receive in years \u2014 that was a financial nonstarter. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe deal was no money down, so they\u2019re going to buy it for free. That doesn\u2019t make any sense to me,\u201d he said. \u201cI have to pay for merchandise. They also get the merchandise. They would not relinquish what they were willing to spend in marketing on the film, and they would own it for 30 years. To me, that doesn\u2019t sound like a partnership. That sounds like slavery. And coming from the world of music where I\u2019ve made over a hundred million dollars and wish I saw that, there\u2019s a lot of crazy ways money gets washed in that system. I saw a nice amount of it, though, don\u2019t get me wrong, I just respectfully declined and thank this person so much from the bottom of my heart for their consideration.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like so many other filmmakers, Logic had to weigh the alleged legitimacy that comes with selling your film to a distributor with the reality that there was more money to be made, without relinquishing any control, by simply handling things himself. <\/p>\n

\u201cMy biggest thing was, \u2018Oh, if I sell it to a distributor, I made it. I did the thing and I proved myself in Hollywood and in this independent filmmaking community that I did it.\u2019 And then I was like, \u2018Who gives a shit about that?,’\u201d he said. \u201cIn my mind, I was like, \u2018Who gives a shit if I sell this for nothing and give it away after I spent millions of dollars on this thing? I just give it to somebody to do whatever they want and not include me and not tell me anything, and they own it until I\u2019m 65 years old, are you joking? No.\u2019 And I very terrified-ly, that\u2019s not even a word, said, \u2018No, I\u2019m going to do it myself.\u2019 And I\u2019m still scared, but I\u2019m having a fucking blast doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Logic and his team did just that, setting up the film\u2019s VOD release and printing a run of Blu-rays without any outside help. The rapper-turned-filmmaker\u2019s bet that his fanbase would follow him across mediums has turned out to be a wise one, as \u201cParadise Records\u201d has already racked up over $1 million in Blu-ray pre-sales, with much more likely to come as the team rolls out more collectible variants. And that\u2019s all before the film ever lands on VOD or streaming platforms. <\/p>\n

\"\"\u2018Paradise Records\u2019<\/p>\n

Logic is well aware that his story isn\u2019t easily replicable \u2014 not everyone can announce their Blu-ray drop at a sold out Red Rocks concert \u2014 but the success of \u201cParadise Records\u201d is a reason to be optimistic about the future of independent film. It\u2019s proof that even if old business models are crumbling, new ones are emerging. Logic is already close to recouping his budget on physical media sales alone, and the evidence of his ability to market his own films has caused his phone to start ringing with bigger and bigger offers. (He\u2019s not sure he\u2019s going to take any of them, though\u2026 he\u2019s tempted to scale things down and self-finance an even smaller film instead.)<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the days of that sexy napkin deal in the hotel lobby after a premiere at a film festival, that shit is over, man,\u201d he said. \u201cHaving climbed Mount Everest of music, I saw another mountain and I am climbing, and I\u2019m just like, I\u2019m not even at the first base camp, but there\u2019s a house there, and this is the house of film and it was glowing. And I see this beautiful house, and I\u2019m like, \u2018I\u2019m going to live there.\u2019 And I walk in and I\u2019m like, \u2018Oh, holy shit. It\u2019s glowing because this motherfucker is burning down.\u2019 This industry is on fire. Everything is insane.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added, \u201cSo it isn\u2019t what I thought it would be, but it\u2019s still such a beautiful space because of those who occupy it. And respectfully, I don\u2019t mean the studios and the executives. I think there\u2019s a lot of really great ones out there without question. But the people I\u2019ve met along my way have been the filmmakers, the cinematographers, the writers, the people hanging lights, man, and holding cameras, and PAs on sets. Those are the people that make this so beautiful and unique. I know I\u2019m very lucky to have entered it, even though it\u2019s a scary space.\u201d<\/p>\n

Plenty of celebrities from other mediums have tried their hand at directing movies, often with mixed results. But spend even a few minutes talking to Logic, and it becomes clear that he\u2019s the kind of person the indie film world should be supporting. His sincere obsession with movies is instantly apparent \u2014 I\u2019ve never met him when he wasn\u2019t wearing multiple pieces of vintage film memorabilia, and he eagerly showed me his collection of baseball caps labeled \u201cWRITER,\u201d \u201cDIRECTOR,\u201d and \u201cACTOR\u201d that he switches between based on whatever task he\u2019s performing that day \u2014 and he seems genuinely giddy to be doing the job he\u2019s wanted since he was a kid.<\/p>\n

There are a lot of writing and directing credits in his immediate future, but Logic has his sights set on playing an even bigger role in the indie film ecosystem. The next step might be an independent studio, with \u201cParadise Records\u201d serving as the cornerstone of a company that ensures the next wave of directors have an easier time getting their film off the ground than he did. <\/p>\n

\u201cAs a businessman, without question, I\u2019m trying to sell my film and make my own money back so I can continue to make films and pay for other people\u2019s films starting my own studio, Bobby Boy Films,\u201d he said. \u201cI want to build something and say \u2018Yes\u2019 to the people who have just heard \u2018No\u2019 over and over. I want to build something really dope where I can give people money and just say, \u2018Go cook, go do it.\u2019 Because I believe in it that much.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cParadise Records\u201d is now available to pre-order<\/a> on Blu-ray.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What do you do when you\u2019ve seemingly accomplished everything in the world of music \u2014 selling over five…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":139766,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[264],"tags":[18,117,597,81047,19,2810,17,6156,337,82789],"class_list":{"0":"post-139765","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-eire","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-film","11":"tag-future-of-filmmaking","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-interviews","14":"tag-ireland","15":"tag-logic","16":"tag-music","17":"tag-paradise-records"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115421656413866845","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139765","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139765"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139765\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/139766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}