'Zero Charisma' Rolls a Double Six on Distribution

Scott (Sam Eldson) may be a bit excited about 'Zero Charisma' getting picked up by Nerdist and Tribeca Film

Big news out of San Diego Comic-Con. No, not Avengers: Age of Ultron (although that is pretty cool.) Home of geek cool Nerdist Industries and Tribeca Film are uniting to release the Austin-filmed role playing dark comedy Zero Charisma.

The announcement came Saturday during the Nerdist panel at SDCC: This October, the two culture-building entities will co-release the debut feature by Austinites Katie Graham and Andrew Matthews (read our interview with the pair from SXSW 2013 here.)

Zero Charisma centers on Scott (Sam Eidson), a nerd to the core and seasoned D&D dungeon master. He sees his control slipping when friends invite Miles (Garrett Graham) to join the party. Engraged by what he sees as faux-nerd hipsterism, Scott swears to take this intruder down. Nerdist founder Chris Hardwick, called Eldson's performance "the personification of the nerd rage that boils in all of us when PEOPLE. DON'T. FOLLOW. THE. RULES. OF. THE GAME.”

The movie has been on our radar since we spotted Eidson and company shooting at the Austin Convention Center during Wizard World a couple of years ago. Eidson himself has been busy building up a local reputation as the founder of live action film re-enactors the Old Murder House, as well as appearances in My Sucky Teen Romance and The Man from Orlando, produced by the Chronicle's very own Mike Bartnett.

This will be Nerdist's first entry into the world of film distribution. The pairing with Tribeca makes a lot of sense, since Nerdist brings the geek cool and the New York distro house adds an art house gravitas. Calling the film "hilarious, touching, beautiful, authentic and an eerily accurate echo of my first D&D group in the 80’s." Hardwick explained, "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."

Zero Charisma will be available on VOD on October 8,with a theatrical release on October 11. Now here's a sneak peak, courtesy of www.nerdist.com.