TRYHARD COMPANY & CRAWL or DIE Team - Hits Major Episode Edit Goals This Week
- Oklahoma Ward
- Jun 28
- 10 min read
"TANK doesn’t sleep — and neither do we. Week by week, we’re bleeding through the cut… and loving it."
Crushing Edit Goals, Burning Through the Timeline, and a Glimpse Ahead
📚 TABLE OF CONTENTS
🎬 PRODUCTION BREAKING NEWS
Hot Off the Workbench – While the render was still smoking.
While the smoke still rises from the tunnels, the edit bay is burning hot. No sleep. No surrender. Big leaps across Episode 02, 04, and 06 — scenes locked, footage battled into place.
We hammered the timeline and forged ahead.
Full report below.
🛠️ PROJECT UPDATE: TRYHARD COMPANY
💬 Field Notes from the Director's Chair – Progress, Pressure, and the Push Forward.
⚙️ PROJECT UPDATE
BOOM BOOM! Since last Wednesday, we’ve torn through the timeline like fire through the tunnels:
🛠️ Episode 02:
blasted from 89% to 100% done on Edit Pass #3
🛠️ Episode 04:
rocketed from 91% to 100% done on Edit Pass #3 — locked and loaded
🛠️ Episode 06:
surged from 66% to 92% done on Edit Pass #3 — the beast is almost caged
That brings us to three episodes fully battle-ready on Edit Pass #3:
🔴 EP 02 100% EDIT PASS 3 COMPLETED
🔴 EP 03 100% EDIT PASS 3 COMPLETED
🔴 EP 04. 100% EDIT PASS 3 COMPLETED
Our target?
All six episodes locked by July 4th. Nothing will stop us. Bring the chaos. We’re ready.
🎯 Next stop: 100% lock, and into the final Edit Pass #4 phase on all EPISODES! BOOM BOOM!
So as TANK would say…
🩸 Buckle up. Knuckle up.
We’re not stopping.
(For access to all Episode Breakdowns)
🎙️ DIRECTOR'S THOUGHTS
Wires, Guts, and Everything in Between.
🎬 Let’s cut to the truth...
As I've been getting closer and closer, working on the movie, a lot of people are writing me:
“When is it going to be distributed?” “Do you have a date for distribution?”
…and so on.
Which got me thinking about distribution and how difficult that landscape is.
🎯 Again, clarity is always your answer. You have to go back to what it is that you want.
There are — like I said — tons of different ways to make this work.
There is no one rule.
I learned this on the first movie, Crawl or Die. I decided I wanted to talk to one of the best film distribution consultants on the planet. I turned to Ted Hope, who at the time was running Amazon Movies in the independent section.
He turned me on to Peter Broderick.
Peter Broderick — his resume is huge. (I’ll post it after my rant in today's Director's Thoughts.)
Watch the video below.
He’s very smart and if you're a filmmaker on any level - you can learn a lot from him ;-)
I paid a lot of money for his services. back in the day, and I am glad I gave him every dime.
He helped me secure a major deal with Crawl or Die.
🔥 I got it on DirecTV, I got it on Hulu.
🔥 Showed in movie theaters in LA.
🔥 Got a worldwide distribution deal ( Japan and the UK were and still are fantastic fans of the movie) - and a great American distributor.
And these were classic high level distribution deals with very good companies.
This time, I’ve decided I will do a bit different though - I will still do whatever I have to do to get the movie out there for the audience.
But where I’m headed this time: I might just put everything (trailers/episodes/posters - all of it) in the briefcase - and sell it outright to a distributor.
I can just do the interviews and celebrate the movie.
But they will be in control of everything:
🎬 the poster changes and costs
🎬 the title changes
🎬 second season plans
...all of it.
👉 For the right amount of money — you bet — I will sell it all.
And if I don’t get the amount that it would take for that to happen, then I will do distribution on my own — kind of a hybrid of what I did with Crawl or Die.
But for that to work, and to get the distribution type of deal I want, I have to go about it very systematically.
You all will see what I’m going to do when the official PR starts — from everything I learned from Peter Broderick, from Ted Hope, from everything we learned on Crawl or Die, to watching what the international distributor did, to what the American distributor did.
I’m really excited about going into the PR section, but I’ve realized what a lot of filmmakers do and I'm going different — and it’s a tough call — an that 'do' - is - you have to hold off.
You have to hold off.
And it’s tough, because as an indie filmmaker, part of your job is to be known, to engage with your audience. But how do you engage if you're working night and day finishing a project, and you don’t want people to burn out on it?
📅 Let’s say it takes you a year to complete a single movie. If you post every other day about it, you’re eventually going to have to give away the whole plot — all the images.
So it’s tough. You have to figure out how can you engage without giving away everything.
And then you go — well, do I even have a big enough audience?
Because your audience isn’t the 40 or 50 people that keep you going. And believe me, that’s all it takes — about 50 hardcore fans who support you financially and emotionally, who share your stuff.
Where you gain your audience is when you reach a million people.
And you know how hard that is?
It’s very hard.
You can even buy ads on Facebook, Instagram, and you might only get seven, ten thousand views.
A million people is a lot of people.
It has to be very, very smart - your campaign. Depending upon what you want.
I’m excited about our PR campaign — probably starting around October.
I can’t wait to share it with you all.
Until then, give a listen to Peter Broderick.
I’ve done articles on him before — you can look those up.
I think this is a great video.
And as Tank would say — head down, eyes up. 🎯
Meet Peter,
🎬 Peter Broderick — Film Distribution Consultant
President, Paradigm Consulting
Leads distribution, audience building, and revenue strategy for filmmakers & media companies
Pioneer of hybrid distribution—blending theatrical, digital, retail, and direct sales models
President, Next Wave Films (IFC affiliate)
Provided finishing funds & festival/press support to ultra‑low‑budget filmmakers
Launched careers of Christopher Nolan (Following), Joe Carnahan (Blood, Guts, Bullets & Octane), and Amir Bar‑Lev
Founded Agenda 2000 in 1999—the first initiative financing digital features
Thought Leader & Advocate
Early champion of digital moviemaking; presented globally (Cannes, Sundance, Toronto, etc.)
Authored influential articles in Scientific American, The New York Times, The Economist, and Filmmaker Magazine
Instrumental in digital distribution education: co‑director of Digimart virtual events, creator of Distribution U. crash‑courses
Hybrid Distribution Architect
Coined the term in landmark piece "Declaration of Independence: The Ten Principles of Hybrid Distribution" i
Helps filmmakers retain rights, build audiences, and craft win‑win distribution deals
Education
Brown University
Cambridge University
Yale Law School
🔑 Why Peter Matters to Filmmakers
Deep industry insight: 1200+ filmmakers across 800+ films since 2002
Track record of success: Major festival launches, digital-first strategies, and global releases
Educator & connector: Masterclasses, keynotes, bulletins—empowering filmmakers with actionable knowledge
🎭 ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
Some actors perform. Some disappear.
The ones we spotlight here? They do both.
Drops every WEDS
📺 SERIES SPOTLIGHT
Drops every other Saturday.
🎥 FILM SPOTLIGHT
Pop in the tape and dim the lights…
Let’s talk about a film that never left me.
🎬 Featured Film: Straw Dogs (1971)Directed by Sam Peckinpah | Starring Dustin Hoffman, Susan George
❤️ WHY I LOVE: Straw Dogs:
Everybody knows Dustin Hoffman.
And if you don’t… you can just unfollow the blog because I don’t know what to say.
Kind of joking.
Kind of.
So, everybody knows Dustin Hoffman.
But I don’t think a lot of Dustin Hoffman fans have seen this movie.
Now, you have a lot of great talent coming together for this one.
🎯 Sam Peckinpah — for those who don’t know — one of my favorite directors of all time.
And Dustin Hoffman… I don’t care what you think about the man himself, but you can’t argue — tremendous talent.
Early on — and I think it’s Susannah York. And let’s not forget Susan George, who plays Amy in the movie — and she is fantastic.
🔥 So what do you have?
You have a very young Dustin Hoffman — and I gotta tell you:
⚠️ Let’s just get this out of the way — it’s a very controversial movie. I’m not going to explain why. You can look it up, read about it yourself. Or you can watch the movie and decide for yourself. That’s what I did.
When I first heard about this movie, I didn’t know. There was no internet or anything like that. So I didn’t even know there was controversy.
I was just like — oh my god, there’s a Dustin Hoffman movie and a Sam Peckinpah movie that I haven’t seen. I wanted to watch this.
I was blown away. Personally, I loved it.
It has scenes that make me uncomfortable — makes me uncomfortable to this day. Because I can analyze it from all points of view… and I can see it from all points of view.
And Dustin Hoffman gives one of the best performances ever.
⚔️ It’s a very… uncomfortable movie — as the subject matter should make you feel.
What I loved about this — Sam Peckinpah is so good. He handled the violence… he made you disgusted by it. He made you want the violence — especially at the end.
It’s actors, it’s story, it’s theme, it’s a director all pushing the viewer to look at the things we like to watch — to make you question why you like to watch it — to make you uncomfortable watching something — to make you question why something makes you uncomfortable.
Plus, knockout performances — one of the earliest, as far as I can figure out, of the “hold the fort” type movies in this genre.
To me, it’s kind of like the… well, I don’t know how to say this… you could draw conclusions… well, yeah, I don’t know how to say it.
Maybe that’s the message of the movie. It’s a very confounding movie.
🎥 I’ll say this: it’s really good, I believe. Great performances. Moral questioning. Great payoff. Great action scenes. Great uncomfortable scenes. Just a great movie.
👉 If you haven’t seen Straw Dogs, definitely watch it. I’ve never forgotten it since the first time I saw it — and I’ve watched it four or five times since then.
No matter what you think about it, I’ve never forgotten it. And I’m pretty sure… that’s a good thing.
📜 Summary:A quiet mathematician and his young wife move to the English countryside seeking peace — but the local tensions simmer and boil into brutal, explosive violence. Part domestic drama, part psychological thriller, Straw Dogs is a harrowing look at masculinity, repression, and primal survival.
🧩 Two Interesting Facts:
Peckinpah’s editing of the climactic siege is often studied in film schools as a masterclass in tension and rhythm.
The film was originally banned on video in the UK for nearly 20 years due to its controversial scenes.
🎭 Actor Spotlight: Dustin Hoffman delivers a shocking transformation from meek outsider to feral defender, showcasing his range and raw power.
🎬 Iconic Scene: The final siege on the farmhouse, where Hoffman’s character methodically fortifies the home against the onslaught — a slow-burning eruption of violence and moral ambiguity.
🗞️ What the Critics Say: "One of the most controversial, disturbing thrillers of its time.""Peckinpah's dissection of violence remains potent and polarizing." "An unflinching portrait of the thin line between civility and savagery."
🏆 CRAWL OR DIE CORNER
The film that started it all.
Before TRYHARD COMPANY, there was CRAWL or DIE — a relentless indie beast that clawed its way out of the U.S. underground and became a cult phenomenon, especially overseas.
🎬 WATCH IT NOW
You can stream or rent CRAWL or DIE here:
🔥 Cult underground sci-fi. One tunnel. One woman. One chance.
🎨 FAN TRIBUTE VAULT
This week’s spotlight: Vintage Fan Art
From the early days of the film — gritty, handmade tributes from the trenches of indie fandom. 🔍 Click to enlarge. Soak in the grime. The legacy. The love.
💬 STILL BLEEDING INDIE
TANK wasn’t just a survivor — she became a symbol. A silhouette of desperation, rage, and raw survival. In TRYHARD COMPANY, her legend evolves. The war gets bigger, the world gets meaner — but at its core, it’s still her story: One soldier. One mission. One endless tunnel.
🎬 Rent / Buy / Stream the Original CRAWL or DIE and Prepare for TANK’s return in TRYHARD COMPANY: The Series
FOLLOW THE JOURNEY
🔴 Don’t Miss the Next Drop 🔴
STAY IN THE LOOP WITH US
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👤 Follow Oklahoma Ward – director, editor, indie war room general
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Mission Accomplished... for now.
The briefing may be over, but the mission continues. Join the TRYHARD COMPANY team and stay tuned for more updates, insights, and behind-the-scenes information. Share your thoughts and join/follow us on Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, twitter/x etc. - and we'll catch you every Weds/Saturday...
Create fearlessly,
Oklahoma Ward
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