Categories
Truly Free Film

The Economics Of Giving It Away (For Free)

Chris Anderson has a good update on his seminal “Free!: Why $0.00 Is The Future Of Everything“.  The new article is online here at the Wall Street Journal (for free!).  He may be discussing web start-ups, but it is 100% relevant in terms of our search for a new model. 

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Truly Free Film

Jeff Lipsky: WHY SO SERIOUS? Or TEN REASONS WHY THE INDIE FILM BUSINESS (AND THE FILM BUSINESS IN GENERAL) IS IN GREAT SHAPE

Jeff Lipsky, director of the Sundance hit ONCE MORE WITH FEELING (among others), distributor of Cassavettes (among others), co-founder of October Films (among others) — this man knows the lay of the land.  He recently participated in a show Christine Vachon and I did up at Sundance for Filmcatcher (soon to be streamed on their site), and I was once again reminded of his incredible enthusiasm and knowledge of all aspects of the film business.  I only asked him for ten reasons he was bullish on the state of indie.  I get the sense that if I hadn’t capped it, he’d still be adding to the list. 


Here’s Part One:

1. Apparently movies love depression (as in recession). Especially independent movies. Since the U.S. economy tanked theatrical grosses have been going through the roof. In comparing the steady weekly increases over the corresponding 2007/8 frames this is a fact, irrefutable, and it isn’t just the rise in ticket prices, admissions are up, too (finally). Even excluding boffo studio phenomena like “Paul Blart Mall Cop” and “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” the numbers in independent theatres since fiscal Armageddon set in have been stunning. Last week New York’s Angelika Film Center’s total gross was 40% higher than the same week last year, while at the Sunshine Cinemas, also in NYC, the increase was a ridiculous 375%. In southern California the gross last week at The Landmark cinemas exceeded the gross over the same week last year by 48%. In Cleveland the Cedar Lee’s gross last week was ahead of last year’s gross by 70%, a week, incidentally when three of the five Oscar nominated films for Best Picture were on screen at that complex. And let’s not exclude the town that gave you the American automobile. Motown’s in great shape, right? In Detroit last week the independent Maple Art Cinemas’ grosses were 246% higher than the corresponding week last year. Quick, let’s pick another post-apocalyptic week at random: 11/7/08-11/13/08. Same theatres, same comparison to its total week’s gross the corresponding week the previous year. Sunshine: 27% higher the week of 11/7/08 than the previous year. The Landmark, 34% higher. The Cedar Lee, 12% more, and in Motor City, a whopping 50% increase. And if you think it’s all because of President Obama, don’t. It was true in October, pre-Election, as well.

2. Speaking of New York’s Angelika Film Center, let us consider the New York success of the sublime “Let the Right One In.” That film has been playing exclusively at the Angelika Film Center has 14 weeks, at the time of this writing, and has grossed a quarter of a million dollars. For most of those weeks the seating capacity hovered around 200. And I don’t recall seeing a single ad in the New York Times since about the third run of its run. Nor do I recall seeing any online media buy. All things are still possible if you make a great film. And it doesn’t require $10 million of marketing to accomplish the impossible. (Note: its total North American gross is only $2 million but I know many producers of American independent films that cost under $500,000 to produce who would salivate over a theatrical total of $2 million.) Magnolia should present a (free to the public) case study of their marketing of this title at the upcoming Tribeca Film Festival, where, I believe “Let the Right One In,” enjoyed its U.S. premiere in 2008.

3. DVD revenues in North America last year were down about 5% from 2007 totals (estimates range between 3%-6%). That means only $21.8 billion was generated by DVDs (including Blue Ray) in 2008. If the real percentage of the total that is applicable to truly independent films is only 1.5% (the lowest estimate I could find) that means indie films generated almost $328 million in DVD revenues last year. I don’t know about you but I’m impressed. And that doesn’t include legal download, PPV, and VOD numbers, paltry though those numbers I’m quite certain are.

4. The total amount of money (thus far) that independent distributors doled out for Sundance acquisitions in 2009 has exceeded last year’s total by 5%. And this was the year, distributors weren’t going, money was tight, the mood was cautious, the town was deserted, and the weather was warm (well, it was gloriously warm).

5. A brief history of the DVD. Home Entertainment got under way with VHS tapes (and, to a much lesser and negligible extent, Laser Discs). They were intended for rental only, proof of which was its $100 price tag if you had to own one. Then the DVD came along: superior product, superior extras, fewer trailers for God-awful films attached. Virtually right from the get-go they were available to consumers simultaneously as rental items and as sell through items. Inexplicably the price point for this often superbly produced collectible was as low as $25-35. Within a couple of years the studios reduced the per unit retail price to $15-20. Why? Is the family that purchases “Monsters, Inc” for their kids to watch 150 times, with all of their friends no less, not going to pay an extra $5-10 dollars to own this digital pacifier? Was I not going to pay an extra $10 to own my own copy of “Chinatown?” Why is the cost of a DVD way less than the cost of two movie tickets? And returning to that subject, why are more people, sometimes in droves, returning to the cinema when the ticket price is so high and DVD windows are shrinking? Is it the low price of gas? Or is it the fact that the tech world is confusing John and Jane Doe with its semi-annual new iterations of hardware, software, PDAs, phones, home theatres, digital boxes, Dolby 5.1…fuck it, ma, let’s just go to the picture show and see a movie. In short, the DVD industry, I opine, has left billions of dollars on the table over the last five years. And I always thought they were good at sweeping up billions of dollars. Again, 1.5% of billions of dollars… Anyway, DVDs are not going the way of the dodo. Not for at least a pentad, if ever.

Categories
These Are Those Things

The Origin Of My Love Of Pranks?

My son and I share a great enthusiasm for pranks.  Maybe it is a gene.  I have been trying to pinpoint when I recognized that they were one of the great things that could be accomplished in our short stay.  I am still searching the memory stacks, but this rates in terms of filmed history.  I was probably eight years old when I saw it.  And granted, it’s not an outright full throttle prank, but in watching it you know rules are broken and fun is had.

Giving myself over to these short seven minutes, I also get caught up in the filmmaking.  What a great simple idea.  The wind alone makes it all feel so free.  The sense of spontaneity and the growing awareness as the crowd gathers are so rich.  That one shot of Yoko is so romantic.  And John will forever have one of the greatest rock and roll voices.  Fashion-wise, I think they are at their peak here too, with their maximum radical cool phreak flag high.  And where is the piano?  The cameras?  And who are the bald guys that first gather on the roof?  Are they going to steal their hair?
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Bowl Of Noses

Strange Musical Instruments #1: File Cabinet of Sound

I wish this instrument could fill a sixty story building with hundreds of gillions of drawers with each one being a different sound.  Think of symphony that a third grade class could engineer.  We particularly like the sound of “Wit’s End”; we know it well.

Hat tip to Dan McGuire

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Truly Free Film

It Could Be Getting So Much Better All The Time #2: Keep Filmmaking Local

I got this comment from filmmaker and blogger Eric Escobar and felt it was right on.  When I started out there was much talk in indie circles about the regional film movement.  Traveling around film festivals and seeing movies from the community, that captures their authenticity, is a specific pleasure that can’t be duplicated.  HUMPDAY for Seattle, MEDICINE FOR MELANCHOLY for San Francisco.  This is a list that can and should and will be expanded.  Thanks Eric, for this comment — I just had to bump it to a post:

The suck of talent, hope and energy to the production centers of LA, NYC and Vancouver leads to boring filmmaking.

The promise of potential work on the assembly line of the filmmaking factory makes artists make bad movies in the hopes of proving their factory-worth.

Build incentives for filmmakers to stay local, like what the SFFS is starting to do in San Francisco with office space and direct cash grants.

Let the communities of actors, writers and filmmakers flourish, and have them artistically accountable to telling stories about who they are and where they’re from.

LA has ruined so many imaginations in the pursuit of a decent monthly check. And I really don’t want to see another movie about Brooklyn made by a filmmaker who moved there last week.

Ted adds: if you haven’t read Eric’s “Dear Indie Filmmaker” post, don’t delay!