Brass Knuckle Films: Alexis Garcias Fan-Funded Action Movie Revolution

Alexis Garcia, the former film head of Fifth Season, has been making waves in the industry with his latest venture, Brass Knuckle Films. In just over a year since launching CAT5, an action-focused film label, Garcia has co-founded Brass Knuckle Films with Robert Rodriguez and raised $2 million from over 2,000 individual investors through a unique “Best Idea Wins” contest. Garcia is betting that efficiency and fan engagement can reshape how action movies get made. Garcia’s journey to independent film financing began over a decade ago as an agent/partner at Endeavor/WME, where he packaged and sold films such as “The Nice Guys” and “Drive.” He spent seven years at Fifth Season, helping to scale the company from its 2017 launch as Endeavor Content into a prolific film supplier, financing and producing over 40 movies including recent hits like “A Working Man,” “Ambulance,” and the Netflix original “Nonnas,” which was the No. 3 most-watched streaming program of the week. The launch of Brass Knuckle Films represents Garcia’s most ambitious project yet, a joint venture with Rodriguez that allows fans to invest in action movies and even pitch their own film concepts. The initiative raised its $2 million target early, attracting what Garcia calls “Warriors” – a community of 2,184 investors consisting of fans, industry disruptors, and dreamers who believe in democratizing film financing. In an interview with TheWrap, Garcia discussed the strategic partnership between CAT5 and Brass Knuckle Films, the economics of the fan-investor model, and the market gaps that Brass Knuckle Films is designed to fill. “CAT5 was my exit from Fifth Season, backed by Fifth Season and focused in the action space,” Garcia explained. “The bet I was making was coming out of running a generalist film department where we made 40-plus movies over four to five years. There was never a focused creative strategy – it was about scale and volume. When I was looking at what to do next, I wanted to go completely the other direction. How can I be as focused as possible in a commercial space?” Garcia chose action as the most commercial and internationally friendly space, and one of the first calls he made was to Robert Rodriguez. As he was pitching Rodriguez on his idea, he realized he was essentially pitching Rodriguez’s own business model – one that emphasizes efficiency. “Technically, Brass Knuckle Films is a joint venture between CAT5 and Robert, but anything I want to be doing in the action space, I want it to be Brass Knuckle Films,” Garcia said. “Going forward, on a new action project, if it doesn’t fit in Brass Knuckle Films for some reason, why would I spend time on it outside of that when we’re building this together?” Garcia also discussed the economics of the fan-investor model, which allowed investors to come in for small amounts and still receive better terms than what you’d find in the marketplace for development finance. The “Best Idea Wins” contest is just one way that Brass Knuckle Films is building a community around its brand and engaging fans in the creative process. “The buyers all want these movies with stars,” Garcia said. “If we can make it more efficiently and figure out how to fit into schedules between their Marvel commitments, everybody wins. We want everybody to win – financiers, talent, distributors.” Brass Knuckle Films is designed to fill market gaps by efficiently producing action films with established stars that can still look like they cost $100 million but for a lot less. The company is also looking for movies that can play to all sorts of audiences, especially those who love action, which is the broadest audience in the world.