Day: December 21, 2010

Categories
Issues and Actions

Indie Film’s Future To Be Decided Today

If your ability to earn a living as an Indie Filmmaker is not a big enough issue to catch your attention, how about considering that your freedom is at stake?  What if you knew that the principal and practice of free speech was at risk, would that wake you up? How about if you knew that corporate interests were once again being favored over those of the people?  Well, today is the day that all those things are happening, so whachagonnnado?

The FCC meets today and proposes regulations that could seriously undermine net neutrality.  It generally appears that corporate interests are being looked after, and we are headed towards a tiered internet where providers can favor some content over others.  Prepare to get really upset.  Prepare to do something to fight back and protect a free and open internet.

Al Franken says it is the most important free speech issue of our time.  VC fund, Union Square Ventures, recommends prohibiting “application-specific discrimination”, and that seems to make good sense.

You can watch it all live right here starting at 1030A EST.

Categories
Truly Free Film

If I were a filmmaker going to Sundance….

Today’s guest post is by Orly Ravid of The Film Collaborative (TFC), the first non-profit, full service provider dedicated to the distribution of independent film.  Orly was featured as one of HFF’s Brave Thinkers Of Indie Film, 2010.

* This is part 1 of 3 parts to this Sundance focused blog.

* Part 2 will be written during the festival.

* Part 3 will be written in the aftermath of the glow of the fest.

If I were a filmmaker going to Sundance, and let’s say that I had a film with no recognizable press-generating cast that would be attractive to a distribution company for a large MG… What would I do? Seriously, I asked myself that question. And I realized how tempted I would be, even I, to find some sexy publicists and rockstar agents or sales company so that I could get the hot sexy sale at Sundance and make all my dreams come true.

What can a distributor do for you that you cannot do yourself with just a little bit of money, not even a lot, and some low fee consultation? And above all, what are you giving up by not building community for your film before and during the fest, instead letting other people run your show, potentially losing out on the momentum of the festival?

Let’s look at some films from Sundance last year that were in this position and the routes they took and what they may have netted. These are films that cut distribution deals of some kind and got less than wide releases from their distributors:

Continue reading “If I were a filmmaker going to Sundance….”