Month: November 2010

GREAT EXPECTATIONS: Not Just a Dickens Novel.

Post author By Ted Hope
Post date November 12, 2010
63 Comments on GREAT EXPECTATIONS: Not Just a Dickens Novel.

What do Filmmakers want from film markets and what they can realistically get?

“Discerning the difference between a film that can actually sell well enough to justify having a third party sales agent and going to markets vs a film that is best served by DIY methods that should be planned and employed BEFORE the film’s first exhibition”

Guest post from Orly Ravid, Founder of The Film Collaborative (TFC)

We get questioned all the time by members and others about which markets should filmmakers attend and which sales agents should they go with. Having unrealistic expectations is dangerous. It sets people up to do nothing on their own but wait for some third party to make their dreams come true.

Tags AFM, Brainstorm, Cinetic, digital distribution, Distribber, DIY, Fluent, Gravitas, Jon Reiss, Orly Ravid, PMD, Re-Creation Media, Sheri Candler, Stacey Parks, The Film Collaborative

Truly Free Film

Sometimes: Think Small And Find Success

Post author By Ted Hope
Post date November 11, 2010
71 Comments on Sometimes: Think Small And Find Success

There is a better mousetrap.

One of the problems with the old way of making a film — with the belief that someone would buy it — is that the apparatus only applied to a few select films aimed at the widest audiences. Yes, occasionally a filmmaker hit the lottery and everything aligned perfectly to engineer a sale, but by now we see that clearly as the exception and not the rule. Some of the beauty that is being revealed during The-Collapse-Of-The-World-As-We-Once-Knew-It (COTWAWOKI), is that new experiments bring a wider selection of work to a wider selection of community.

Reading the NY Times recent article on how music labels are taking they DIY approach that they had for bands, are applying it to films too, frankly warmed my heart — or whatever that is when you get the warm wave from the top of your head down through your toes.

Tags distribution, DIY, Drag City, Eddie Burns, Harmony Korine, self-distribution

Truly Free Film

Job Ops In IndieLand (pt5): Introduction To TopSpin

Post author By Ted Hope
Post date November 10, 2010
1 Comment on Job Ops In IndieLand (pt5): Introduction To TopSpin

I gave a seminar for our interns a while back on where I saw current job opportunities in Indie Film. One of our former interns, Chris Stetson, shot and cut it up into digestible morsels for your consumption. We’ve been posting them here throughout the year here.

If you are a regular reader of this blog then you are probably aware of the hope I have for the Top Spin suite of Creator to Community (aka Direct To Fan) tools to help usher in the Era of the Artist Entrepreneur. Eddie Burns just utilized their tools for all such work on “Nice Guy Johnny”.

By now, I hope that working with the Top Spin suite is second nature to any film school grad and all festival circuit films have integrated their tools into their website. Granted I still haven’t, but I think that is just because I am old and slow to pick up on things.

My first exposure to Top Spin was via David Byrne and Brian Eno, and I touch upon that in the video below.

Some Job Opportunities in Indie Film with Ted Hope (part 5) from Hope for Film on Vimeo.

Seminar vids part 5 from Hope for Film on Vimeo.

Check out the other parts of “Some Job Opportunities In Indie Film” here:

Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four.

Thanks again to Chris Stetson for shooting, editing, posting this.

Tags Brian Eno, Chris Stetson, David Byrne, Direct To Fan, job opportunities, TopSpin

Truly Free Film

Hey NYC & LA Filmmakers!! Your Personal Invite (& DISCOUNT) To Distribution U!

Post author By Ted Hope
Post date November 9, 2010

Today’s guest post is letter to YOU from Peter Broderick. Okay, it is to me, but only so I can forward it to you. This is a can’t-miss-event.

Dear Ted,

We would like to invite your colleagues and readers to Distribution U and offer them a special discount (see end of post). It is a unique event that will give them the latest information about new distribution models and connect them to many of the people who are pioneering cutting edge strategies. The event is being presented by me, Peter Broderick, a leading strategist and pioneer of new distribution models, and cutting-edge author and tech analyst Scott Kirsner.

This one-day crash course on the New Rules of Crowd Funding, Audience Building & Distribution is being held Saturday, November 13th in New York at NYU and the following Saturday, November 20th in Los Angeles, where it is co-sponsored by UCLA’s School of Film, Theater, and Television.

We are very excited about the stellar roster of resource people who have already committed to participate. They are pioneers who are creating and implementing the latest distribution models and strategies.

Tags Adam Chapnick, Brian Chirls, Caitlin Boyle, Distribution U, Ira Deutchman, Jim Browne, Jonathan Dana, Justine Jacob, Madelyn Hammond, Mark Schiller, Peter Broderick, Richard Abramowitz, Sandi DuBowski, Scott Kirsner, Scott Macauley, Slava Rubin

Truly Free Film

Can We Make Discovery A More Integral Part Of Process?

Post author By Ted Hope
Post date November 9, 2010
54 Comments on Can We Make Discovery A More Integral Part Of Process?

The volume & density of NOISE seem to have been the dominant parts of the discovery process for some time now. We choose what we choose generally based on how often we hear ourselves being told to make that specific choice.

Everything becomes about level of spend and placement when it is all about how much noise you can generate.. And when it is about noise, everything really stops being about choice, but something much closer to just impulse. But what would happen if we started valuing certain voices over others? What would happen, if we committed ourselves to choices, and worked to reduce our impulses?