Production of Neon (1993 film)

Neon is a 1993 science fiction film directed by Stuart Shertick. It was distributed by Gramercy Pictures, a joint venture between PolyGram and Universal Pictures. The world inside the film is influenced by steampunk, art deco and cyberpunk aesthetics, while the film's narrative style is filled with mystery, crime, thriller, noir, drama and action elements.

It was one of the few pre-2000s films, if not one of the first, to not show any credits until after the ending. The background music is "La Javanaise" by Serge Gainsbourg.

After a big marketing campaign, the film was praised by critics for the amount of dedication put into the movie, but bombed at the box office. The film gained a cult following outside of UK and United States over the years, and there have been multiple attempts at creating a sequel, the infamous of which is Neon 2.0, by Universal Pictures, StudioCanal and Constantin Film.

Early stages of production (1974-1978)
Stuart Shertick started production on Neon when he was only 17 years old, with $750,000 he got from his dad and his previous job combined. He hired his high school friend Brad Evans to gather around some ideas for his then-uncompleted script. Stuart soon came up with an "almost human" protagonist Ash and its androgynous, smug and sarcastic sidekick Laureline.

Brad Evans discovered then-recently released Yamaha CS-80 (now famous for being used by the Greek electronic composer Vangelis for the score of Blade Runner), and decided to play around.

In 1976, Stuart Shertick and Brad Evans decided to pitch their idea to Stuart's new neighbor Mario Kassar, who just founded Carolco Pictures with his partner Andrew G Vajna.

Mid-production and limbo (1979-1987)
In 1980, Filmways optioned to distribute the film domestically. Run Run Shaw also came along, produced and partially financed the film, in exchange for use of his Shaw Brothers studios in Hong Kong. According to the book about the production of Neon, Cyber Dreams, by 1984, Run Run and Stuart became close friends. Run Run even had influence on the style and writing of Neon, citing Blade Runner as an example.

Then, Filmways had lost nearly $20 million during the nine months ending in November 1981. However, it partially exited bankruptcy by selling few of its previously acquired assets. In 1982, Filmways was acquired by Orion Pictures, which resulted in Orion becoming the new distributor.

That year, Atari Inc. approached Stuart Shertick to develop a game based around the world and characters of Neon. However, in the middle of development of the Neon video game, Atari, Inc. was closed and its assets split in 1984 as a direct result of the North American video game crash of 1983.

In 1984, Stuart Shertick became more stressed and depressed, as the production continued on. He became an alcoholic and often couldn't show up to filmings.

In 1987, he and Brad Evans co-wrote a prequel comic to Neon, centered around the origin story of Ash, and sent it to Darguard. It was set back for a release alongside the film, and it was indeed released in 1993.

Final stages of production (1987-1992)
In 1987, Stuart formed Rabbit Productions, a limited partnership between him, the film's crew, producers, the marketing & merchandising partners and PolyGram Filmed Entertainment. It was established as a copyright holder and a licensor of Neon-related media and merchandise.

In 1991, the international film distribution rights were sold individually. Italian distribution rights were sold to Filmauro, run by Dino's nephew Aurelio De Laurentiis, while the German distribution rights were sold to Constantin Film.

Visual effects
The practical visual effects were actually done in house by Stuart Shertick, Brad Evans, their engineer friend Roger Rizkey and his companions, all credited under Rabbit Practical Effects. The visual effects were done outside of the US, per Stuart Shertick's interest, by BUF Compagnie (in France), Filmfex, Computer Film Company and Framestore (in the UK), Centro Digital Pictures (in Hong Kong) and RoadRunner (in the Philippines).

The additional work was provided by Stan Winston Studio, Dream Quest Images and Industrial Light & Magic.

Carolco Pictures

 * Main article: Carolco Pictures

Though Carolco made several successful films through the 1990s, including Total Recall, Terminator 2: Judgment Day (T2), and Basic Instinct, the studio was gradually losing money as the years went on. Carolco mixed blockbusters with small-budget arthouse films which were not profitable. In addition, the studio was criticized for overspending on films through reliance on star power and far-fetched deals (Schwarzenegger received then-unheard-of $10–14 million for his work on Recall and T2; Stallone also had similar treatment). Losses of partnerships also threatened the studio's stability and sent it teetering towards bankruptcy.

In 1992, Carolco went under a corporate restructuring invested by a partnership of Rizzoli-Corriere della Sera of Italy, Le Studio Canal+ of France, Pioneer Electric Corporation of Japan, and MGM. Each partner helped infuse up to $60 million into the studio's stock and another $50 million for co-financing deals. MGM also agreed to distribute Carolco product domestically after a previous deal with TriStar expired. In 1993, Carolco was forced to sell its shares in LIVE Entertainment to a group of investors led by Pioneer; it was later renamed Artisan Entertainment, which was bought by Lions Gate Entertainment.

The Sherticks
In 1998, Stuart Shertick past away after directing his second and last film. The assets and rights (excluding distribution rights, currently owned by Universal Pictures) related to Neon and even the video game were, among other things, passed onto his son Jamie Shertick.

Jamie soon released the ROM of the video game on his Tumblr blog in 2016 as a Christmas gift to his followers.