Phila, PA -- (SBWIRE) -- 08/15/2012 -- Timothy Green who is also called The Disney of Hip Hop Films is living proof that there is no greater power than ingenuity to drive an independent movie from start to finish. Forget ultra-low-budget fare such as El Mariachi and Sundance film festival winner Primer; Green's plan makes their $7,000 budgets seem downright bloated. Having completed his fourth feature film (a G-rated family movie), he has single-handedly invented his own low-budget legacy, including his new feature films “Little Homies”, Tim Greene’s Professor Genius, Supa Kidz and The Re-Programmers. The writer-director (whose movies can be found at http://www.timgreenefilms.com/) has followed the hip-hop beat of his own drummer and created four features in less time than it generally takes Hollywood to package and produce a single movie.

"The thing is, I didn't have any money," says Green, as he prepares to take a slew of studio meetings in Hollywood. "So I just looked at single-parent homes [for inspiration]. My mom raised five boys and one girl by herself, because she knew how to work coupons." With more time than money on his hands, Green put his nose to the grindstone and came up with a plan to finance his films on his own, cutting corners with coupons and subsidizing the whole affair with rebate checks he'd get from a wide array of vendors. Greene's gift for thrift got him through the process of producing his films with money to spare. I would just buy out every store with all the coupons in 3 states. I'd get $40 worth of food for free and make $8 back in rebates, and my cast [was] eating Haagen Dazs ice cream."

Before lil homiez, Greene had no feature film experience. Tim Greene read 50 film books, such as Filmmaking for Dummies by Bryan Michael Stoller. "Really every book [is useful], because everybody writes their own thing," says Greene. Books formed the basis of his film education, but nothing could prepare him for what he would encounter on his first real-world shoots. All his work paid off, however, as his first completed feature was an instant direct-to-video success. "I finally got the picture done three years later. It stayed on the new release shelf [at video stores] for 11 months; the average studio film stays on the shelf for three.

"This [first feature] was 15-20 hours [of work] a day." Though he subsequently found himself speaking in front of crowds at The Director’s Guild Of America, The Los Angeles Film Festival and Rappin Granny playing in London, Italy, Japan and at the Tromadance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, he says these spoils can be had only after countless hours of thankless work. Also figuring strongly into Green's business model is a very clear understanding of who is hungry for his product. His films are made "for my hip-hop audience, [whose] age range is 10-26," he says. "There are, like, over 100 million kids online who are into hip-hop worldwide. If I just sell my movie for $1.99, out of 42 million, you're going to get at least 10 million kids to download my films to view on their mobile devices."

Working outside the Hollywood studio system has enabled Greene to enthusiastically wear more hats than most filmmakers are ever permitted to don. His skill set has grown from directing and producing to just about every craft on a film set and beyond. He says, "I do my own PR and book my own 30 city promotional tours. With his endless energy, down to earth persona and enthusiasm for filmmaking, Greene has gone from complete obscurity to hip-hop pioneer in four work-filled years. Four features, hundreds of coupons, and thousands of dollars in rebate checks later, he has birthed a body of work on which he looks with pride. Timothy Green also served as the Grand Marshall for the Kingdom Day Parade held in Hollywood which aired on ABC TV.

Company:
Tim Green Films
Contact: Tim Green
Box 20554
Phila,Pa. 19138 USA
Phone: (323) 698-2252
e mail: timgreene2012@yahoo.com
Website: http://www.timgreenefilms.com/