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Truly Free Film

Over 30 Really Bad Things In The Indie Film Biz 2013

"It Feels Like A War Zone" 30 Really Bad Things About #IndieFilm Biz 2013
“It Feels Like A War Zone” 30 Really Bad Things About #IndieFilm Biz 2013

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Ah…  I have given my thanks so now it’s that time of the year when I get to complain about what’s wrong — and what hasn’t yet been fixed.  I have done this before (several times), but this is that post on where we are right now. Like always, I suggest you don’t forget that lists like these only make the foolish despair.  After all, we can build it better together.  Let’s take this post as an action list. All are opportunities to truly ToDo. It does not need to be this way.

  1. The film business lives in Bizarro World, thinking we do something for the love of it, but in fact creating something far far far away from what we actually love — and thus making it so much harder to do what we love in the process. We have turned our strengths into our weaknesses. The worst of course is we now take it for granted that this is how it is and this is what the film biz needs be (if you are not fully following me here, I suggest you click on the link above).  It’s not and it doesn’t but I don’t hear a whole lot of folks saying we need a complete systems reboot of the whole film ecosystem (see #2).
  2. It’s not enough to just think outside the box.  The box is a trap and a false representation of a reality.  We have to break the box, probably smash it to bits and then
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Truly Free Film

Simple Fix: Peer Review Of Good Films

Where are the champions? And I am not talking about the victors, but the amplifiers.  It is so hard for good work to get noticed.  Even if you get into a major festival it is easy to get ignored.  And what about all the good work that doesn’t even make the festival cut?  Do you really have to buy your way into a New York opening, so that the NY Times covers you, so you get a review, so that you may get bookings everywhere?

Don’t working directors have time to watch new movies?

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Truly Free Film

Who Did What For Me When: Sharing Knowledge

I want to give thanks.  I want to show gratitude.  I want to encourage others to do likewise.  But most of all I want to share what I have learned so that others can utilize it to.  All of it is one big” thank you”.  This blog (not just this blog post) is a big thank you informed by those who gave to me when I still had so little. 

This post is a shout out to those who taught me the process and business of film.

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Truly Free Film

Who Did What For Me: Generosity, Guidance, & Support

It’s a bit hard thinking through what actually constitutes “good” within an industry.  A lot of our “job” is to make things better, to introduce people, to facilitate deals and stronger projects.  Generosity is about going that extra step — doing the thing that is not expected and that truly helps.

It’s Thanksgiving here in America.  It’s an odd holiday and even if it’s origins are not the greatest, I still dig the spirit.  Today I try to examine those that helped me when they did not need to, or whose help was beyond the call of duty

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The Next Good Idea Truly Free Film

10 Simple Fixes To Improve Film Biz

"10 Simple Fixes To Improve Film Biz" Do Your Best!
“10 Simple Fixes To Improve Film Biz”
Do Your Best!

It’s time to start your holiday gift giving.  I assume you are giving all of your loved ones memberships to film support organizations or community theaters, right?  But there are some things that money can’t buy, and we should all make sure our giveaway goodie bag is filled with them.

This list are some of my gifts I have gathered specifically for you. I want to thank you for being part of this, for reading and contributing to this community.  You appreciate. You support.  You read.  You share. You do.  You give me hope and courage and faith.  

How can I give back?  I ask myself this all the time.  We all should. Can I do more? What can I provide?  How best to show my thanks?  

Consider each of these #SimpleFixes a small token of my appreciation for you. Each will make our lives better. Each of these can be built and we will all be closer to a world we want, one that supports the culture we love, the culture we want to contribute to and be part of.

I am donating my ideas to the world. I want nothing back — although I would like them to happen.  Call it a Potlatch. I am giving away these babies, these cherished goods,  but this should be a group effort.  Imagine if we all generated a “simple fix” to enhance the things we care about?  Even each of us giving one #SimpleFix a year would move us forward far faster. We may even be able to alter our course so we and IndieFilm don’t fall off the cliff into oblivion!

It’s time we used our cognitive surplus and made some things happen, don’t you think?  

Most of these Simple Fixes have not yet been done.  You may have noticed that I have done some of these though, but need your help with them still.  If you join in, we are going to start to gain momentum.

I recognize it’s not enough just to list them as I now have. We must build them, and soon. Maybe a whole bunch of us need to gather, together with our friends in tech, and start to solve it.

If we ran together, I think we’d have enough speed to really fly. Check out the list below, and let me know what more you have to add. I have written further about each of them if you click through the links.

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Truly Free Film

Over 30 Really Good Things In The Indie Film Biz 2013

"Over 30 Really Good Things In The Indie Film Biz 2013"
“Over 30 Really Good Things In The Indie Film Biz 2013”

We have plenty to be thankful for.  Things are getting better — at least in the Indie Film Biz they are…  Or should I say Specialized Film Biz? Artist First Film Biz? Whatever this is, let’s celebrate.  We have plenty to be thankful for.

I have over 30 points to prove it to you.  Granted I have something close to an equal number on the negative side too, but I will shield you from those for the time being. Besides, those negative things are all just opportunities, right?  So what is this cornucopia of things we have to be thankful for? Well…

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Truly Free Film

Hey Filmmakers, You Guys Are Next: A Word of Warning from the Music Industry

I feel most filmmakers are looking at this moment in time as an age of opportunity. But having gone through this revolution already in the music business, I feel compelled to tell you why right now we should be questioning everything.

There are countless comparisons between the music and film industries. On the critical side, both traditionally have had an extremely insulated network of good old boy executives who know little or nothing about the creative process, yet try to tell you how to make your art. Both have a history of obnoxious fat cats living in excess. Both still have an endless string of gatekeepers that have a stranglehold on the means of distribution, and who rarely showed much love for independent creators except with lip service at the cool film festivals.

But the internet revolution is changing all of that, so I decided to take the past 2 years away from my career as a music producer to make a documentary about this fascinating and often misunderstood subject that is near and dear to us in the creative world. The film is called Unsound, and it uncovers the dramatic collapse of the music industry and its impact on musi­cians and creators of all kinds. The film reveals the larger story of how the unintended consequences of the internet revolution go well beyond the music industry, impacting creators of movies, books, software, journalism and more. Although there are so many positive changes in both the music and film industries, what is more interesting to me is what most people don’t know. So I decided to take a more critical look in this film.
 
INDIEGOGO LINK
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The music industry was perhaps the first to go through the digital transition. For better of for worse, the smaller file sizes of music made it a primary target for piracy over the much larger sizes of films. By watching the mistakes made by the music industry, and having a few years head start to prepare, the film business has really had an enormous advantage over the music business. But this does not mean all is well.