Presenting Partner
Signature Partners
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NERDIST INDUSTRIES AND TRIBECA FILM CO-RELEASE FANBOY CHARMER ZERO CHARISMA
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U.S. rights acquired for SXSW audience award-winning homage to nerd-dom for fall 2013 day and date release
“It is, almost certainly, the best film ever made about nerds…it’s hilarious, it’s sweet, and in the end it’s just a little bit heartbreaking.” - Devin Faraci, Badass Digest
“Zero Charisma is geek heaven” - Ain’t It Cool News
New York, NY [July 20, 2013] –Nerdist Industries announced today at San Diego Comic-con that together with Tribeca Film they will co release Katie Graham and Andrew Matthews’s directorial debut Zero Charisma. The “Dungeons & Dragons” culture-inspired indie-dramedy, which world premiered at the 2013 SXSW Film Festival - taking home the audience award in the Narrative Spotlight category, stars Sam Eidson (Natural Selection, My Sucky Teen Romance), Garrett Graham, and Brock England. The film was written by Matthews and produced by Shark Films and Magic Stone.
Tribeca Film and Nerdist Industries will co-release the film this fall beginning October 8, 2013 on cable/telco and satellite video-on-demand platforms, as well as iTunes, Amazon Watch Instantly, VUDU, Playstation, and Google Play, followed by a theatrical release on October 11, 2013.
As the strict Game Master of a fantasy role-playing game, Scott (Sam Eidson) leads his friends in a weekly quest through mysterious lands from the safety of his grandmother’s kitchen. But his mastery of his own domain starts to slip — along with everything else in his life — when neo-nerd hipster Miles (Garrett Graham) joins the game, winning over the group with his confident charm and dethroning Scott with an unexpected coup. Caught in delusions of grandeur, Scott must roll the dice and risk everything to expose Miles as the fraud he believes him to be. A darkly comedic fable of epic proportions, Zero Charisma is an ode to nerds from every realm.
States Nerdist founder and chief creative officer Chris Hardwick, “My podcast mate Jonah Ray saw Zero Charisma at SXSW and immediately texted me to say it was one of the best movies of the year. When I saw it, I knew I had to tell as many people as I could about it. It's hilarious, touching, beautiful, authentic and an eerily accurate echo of my first D&D group in the 80’s. I think the character of Scott will become a cultural hero. He is the personification of the nerd rage that boils in all of us when PEOPLE. DON'T. FOLLOW. THE. RULES. OF. THE GAME.”
“We couldn't be happier to be working with the Nerdist and Tribeca Film. Both organizations have such credibility with audiences, cultural acuity and such love of storytelling, we feel very confident trusting them with our first film,” said Andrew Matthews & Katie Graham, co-directors of Zero Charisma.
Thomas Fernandes, Ezra Venetos, Andrew Matthews and Katie Graham produced. Michael and Lindsay Stephenson of Magic Stone served as executive producers alongside Rod Olson, and Shark Films - with producer Mr. Venetos.
Peter Levin, CEO of Nerdist and Jon Patricof, President and COO of Tribeca and Alison Diviney, manager of acquisitions, negotiated the deal with Adam Sher providing legal representation for the filmmakers.
Editor’s note: A film still can be accessed at the following link: http://tribecafilm.com/press-center/tribeca-film/zero-charisma-stills
A clip from the film and that was shown at San Diego Comic Con can be found here: http://youtu.be/vRRCt0tbQvw
About Tribeca Film
Tribeca Film is a comprehensive distribution label dedicated to acquiring and releasing independent films across multiple platforms, including theatrical, video-on-demand, digital, home video and television. It is an initiative from Tribeca Enterprises designed to provide new platforms for how film can be experienced, while supporting filmmakers and introducing audiences to films they might not otherwise see.
Current and upcoming Tribeca Film releases include the highly talked about documentary How to Make Money Selling Drugs; Toronto International Film Festival premiere The Time Being; and the award-winning The Broken Circle Breakdown.
About Nerdist Industries
Nerdist Industries is a multi-platform creator of genre and popular culture content. Its online presence includes a website at Nerdist.com, a premium YouTube channel (youtube.com/nerdist), Nerdist News daily e-newsletters, 2 million Twitter followers, a Podcast Network including the flagship Nerdist Podcast, also produced as a TV show on BBC America, and the Nerdist Alliance, a community of curated partnerships with some of YouTube's most talented and passionate creators. Nerdist also produces content for television including All Star Celebrity Bowling for AMC, In the Name of Science for National Geographic Channel, and a Chris Hardwick hosted late-night show debuting this fall for Comedy Central. Further, Nerdist hosts live events around the country such as The Nerdist Podcast Live! and Course of the Force, an annual lightsaber relay in partnership with Lucasfilm LTD and Octagon which leads up to San Diego Comic-Con International.
PRESS CONTACTS:
Tribeca Film:
Tammie Rosen – Tribeca Enterprises, 212.941.2003, trosen@tribecaenterprises.com
Tahra Grant – Rubenstein Communications, 212.843.9213, tgrant@rubenstein.com
Nerdist:
Courtney Pisarik - ink PR, (310) 860-0806 courtney@inkprgroup.com
Kelly Vogt Campbell - ink PR, (310) 860-0806 kelly@inkprgroup.com
