The Death of Dick Long Budget

What Is the Budget of The Death of Dick Long (2019)?

The Death of Dick Long (2019), directed by Daniel Scheinert, was produced on an estimated budget of approximately $3,000,000. The figure has not been officially confirmed by A24 but is consistent with the budget range reported for contemporaneous A24 indie dark comedy releases of the late 2010s. Trade reporting from Variety and IndieWire around the film's January 2019 Sundance Film Festival NEXT section premiere placed the production cost in the $2.5 to $3.5 million range.

The film was financed independently through Sailor Bear (Toby Halbrooks and James M. Johnston's production banner) and Year of the Rat (Lars Knudsen's production banner) before A24 acquired North American distribution rights at the January 2019 Sundance Film Festival. A24 was specifically attracted to the project based on Daniel Scheinert's previously established reputation as one half of the directing duo Daniels alongside Daniel Kwan, whose first feature Swiss Army Man (2016) had been a defining A24 indie release. The Death of Dick Long was Scheinert's first solo feature directorial credit.

Key Budget Allocation Categories

The estimated $3,000,000 budget covered an aggressively economical indie production:

• Above-the-Line Talent: The film deliberately cast lesser-known character actors and Alabama-based regional performers rather than committing to a single major star fee. Lead Michael Abbott Jr. (The Sound of My Voice, Quarry) anchored the cast at his established mid-tier character-actor quote. Virginia Newcomb, Andre Hyland, Sarah Baker, Jess Weixler, and Roy Wood Jr. filled out the supporting ensemble at character-actor rates consistent with indie A24 norms. Daniel Scheinert directed at his post-Daniels indie scale.
• Alabama Location Shoot: Principal photography took place across summer 2018 primarily in Tuskegee and the broader rural Alabama metro area, leveraging the state's 25 percent production tax credit. The Alabama production base provided the authentic small-town Southern aesthetic that the film's rural Alabama setting required, with the local Alabama crew supporting the budget-conscious indie scale and providing direct access to the regional locations central to the screenplay.
• Production Design: Production designer Maggie Ruder handled the deliberately specific small-town Alabama aesthetic, with substantial attention to the central Zeke Olsen family home interior, the local police station set, the rural Alabama bar location, and the deliberately rundown automotive aesthetic across the film's various vehicle scenes. The rural Alabama setting kept production design line items modest while providing the deliberately specific regional visual identity.
• Cinematography: Cinematographer Ashley Connor (Madeline's Madeline) shot the film on Arri Alexa Mini with a deliberately desaturated, available-light register appropriate for the rural Alabama dark-comedy tone. Connor's established indie cinematographer quote represented a moderate line item, with the deliberately tight shooting schedule supporting the micro-budget scale.
• Music: Composer Aska Matsumiya scored the film with a deliberately textured, minimalist palette. Music licensing for the film's soundtrack, including the central Pinky Ring band rehearsal sequences and various rural Alabama needle drops, added meaningfully to the music budget. The Pinky Ring band's on-screen rehearsal performances were central to the film's opening sequence and required substantial original music composition and licensing.
• Post-Production and Sundance Delivery: Post-production was completed on a compressed schedule timed for the January 2019 Sundance Film Festival NEXT section premiere. Editor Matthew Hannam handled the deliberately tight, dread-forward dramatic structure across the film's 100-minute runtime. The Sundance premiere generated immediate A24 distribution acquisition, supporting the eventual September 27, 2019 limited theatrical release pattern.

How Does The Death of Dick Long's Budget Compare to Similar Films?

At approximately $3,000,000, The Death of Dick Long sits in the typical range for late-2010s A24 indie dark comedy releases. The comparison set illustrates:

• Swiss Army Man (2016): Budget approximately $3,000,000 | Worldwide $11,300,000. Daniels' (Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan) previous A24 feature cost roughly the same as The Death of Dick Long and earned a substantial worldwide theatrical return.
• A Ghost Story (2017): Budget approximately $100,000 | Worldwide $2,900,000. David Lowery's contemporaneous A24 indie release cost approximately 3 percent of The Death of Dick Long and earned a comparable worldwide theatrical return.
• The Florida Project (2017): Budget approximately $2,000,000 | Worldwide $11,400,000. Sean Baker's contemporaneous A24 indie release cost roughly 67 percent of The Death of Dick Long and earned a substantial worldwide theatrical return.
• First Cow (2019): Budget approximately $2,000,000 | Worldwide $1,800,000. Kelly Reichardt's contemporaneous A24 indie release cost roughly 67 percent of The Death of Dick Long on a comparable indie-prestige theatrical release.
• The Lighthouse (2019): Budget approximately $11,000,000 | Worldwide $18,200,000. Robert Eggers' contemporaneous A24 indie horror release cost roughly 3.7 times as much as The Death of Dick Long and represents the higher-tier A24 comparison.

The Death of Dick Long Box Office Performance

The Death of Dick Long premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 27, 2019 in the NEXT section, where A24 acquired North American distribution rights. The film opened in limited domestic theatrical release on September 27, 2019, expanding modestly across the autumn 2019 indie-theatrical calendar. The North American theatrical run grossed approximately $33,000, with international theatrical limited to nominal territorial engagements.

• Production Budget: approximately $3,000,000
• Estimated Prints & Advertising (P&A): approximately $1,500,000 to $2,500,000
• Total Estimated Investment: approximately $4,500,000 to $5,500,000
• Worldwide Gross: approximately $33,000 in limited theatrical engagement
• Net Return: theatrical loss recouped through VOD, streaming, and ancillary distribution
• ROI: not measurable through theatrical metrics; profitable through VOD and ancillary

The Death of Dick Long returned a negligible theatrical revenue against the production investment, with the primary commercial path concentrated in VOD, streaming, and ancillary distribution. The film's limited theatrical release was specifically positioned to support A24's indie-prestige distribution profile rather than to generate substantial theatrical revenue. The VOD launch in late 2019 and through 2020 generated meaningful first-window revenue across Apple, Amazon, and Vudu transactional platforms.

The film's subsequent licensing path included a multi-year run on Showtime as part of the premium cable network's late-2019 and 2020 prestige programming, where it drew engaged but modest viewership. Streaming licensing to Hulu, Showtime, and other platforms extended the revenue tail through 2020 and 2021. The film became a regular reference point in the post-Daniels solo Daniel Scheinert filmography and was retroactively framed as a precursor to Scheinert's subsequent Best Picture-winning Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022) with Daniel Kwan.

The Death of Dick Long Production History

Billy Chew developed the Dick Long screenplay across 2016 and 2017 as a deliberate genre-comedy hybrid drawing on his own Alabama upbringing and the deliberately specific small-town Southern register. Chew had previously worked extensively in the Daniels' creative orbit as an assistant director and producer on Swiss Army Man (2016) and various Daniels music video productions, with the Dick Long project representing his first solo screenwriting credit.

Daniel Scheinert attached to direct in late 2017 as his first solo feature directorial project, separate from his ongoing Daniels collaboration with Daniel Kwan. Scheinert and Chew had collaborated extensively in the Daniels music video and short film orbit, with the Dick Long project representing a deliberate continuation of their established creative partnership. The project formally attached production financing through Sailor Bear and Year of the Rat in early 2018.

Principal photography took place across summer 2018 primarily in Tuskegee and the broader rural Alabama metro area, leveraging the state's 25 percent production tax credit. The Alabama production base provided the authentic small-town Southern aesthetic that the screenplay required, with the local Alabama crew supporting the budget-conscious indie scale. Cinematographer Ashley Connor shot on Arri Alexa Mini with a deliberately desaturated, available-light register.

Post-production was completed on a compressed schedule timed for the January 2019 Sundance Film Festival NEXT section premiere. The Sundance premiere generated immediate broad critical engagement and A24 distribution acquisition. The eventual September 27, 2019 limited theatrical release was specifically positioned to support A24's indie-prestige distribution profile, with the modest theatrical engagement supplemented by the substantial VOD and streaming distribution that followed.

Awards and Recognition

The Death of Dick Long received limited critical awards recognition during the 2019 to 2020 cycle. The film was not nominated at the Golden Globes, the Critics' Choice Movie Awards, the Screen Actors Guild Awards, the Independent Spirit Awards, or the Academy Awards. The film's most prominent formal recognition came through the January 2019 Sundance Film Festival NEXT section premiere, where it drew substantial broad critical engagement.

Beyond formal awards, the film received recognition through indie-press year-end coverage and through extensive trade press engagement with Daniel Scheinert's solo feature directorial debut separate from his ongoing Daniels collaboration with Daniel Kwan. The film was widely cited on indie-press year-end best-of-2019 lists from outlets including IndieWire, The Film Stage, and Slant Magazine. The film's subsequent reframing as a precursor to Daniels' Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022) Best Picture win generated retrospective recognition through 2022 and 2023.

Critical Reception

The Death of Dick Long received broadly positive reviews. The film holds an 86% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 95 critic reviews, with the critical consensus describing it as "an audaciously dark indie comedy that balances small-town tragedy and pitch-black absurdity through Daniel Scheinert's confident solo directorial debut." Metacritic scored the film 73 out of 100, indicating generally favorable reviews. Audience reception on Rotten Tomatoes settled at 67 percent, slightly below the critical consensus and consistent with the film's deliberately heightened tonal register.

Critics broadly praised Daniel Scheinert's confident solo directorial debut, the deliberately specific small-town Alabama aesthetic, and Michael Abbott Jr.'s lead performance. Peter Debruge in Variety wrote that the film "delivers a confidently strange, deliberately specific small-town American dark comedy that confirms Daniel Scheinert's singular comedic voice." Eric Kohn at IndieWire described the film as "a remarkable solo feature debut that balances pitch-black absurdity with deeply felt small-town Southern character work." Jen Yamato in the Los Angeles Times praised the film's "deliberately specific Alabama setting and Michael Abbott Jr.'s grounded, devastating lead performance."

Defenders praised the screenplay's deliberately absurd central premise, Virginia Newcomb's scene-stealing supporting work as Zeke's wife Lydia, and the film's tonal balance between rural Southern melodrama and pitch-black indie comedy. The most measured response came from critics who noted the deliberately heightened central premise might alienate some viewers but praised the execution within that tonal register. The consensus has stabilized into a reading of The Death of Dick Long as a confident solo Daniel Scheinert feature debut and a precursor to Scheinert's subsequent Best Picture-winning Daniels collaboration on Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022).