Author: Ted Hope

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Truly Free Film

Standing On A Seesaw, Balanced On The Cliff’s Edge, Reaching For The Brass Ring Clutched In The Eagle’s Claw

Producing is a precarious business.  You should not do it if you don’t believe that by producing your projects you can make the world a better place or advance the art form.  You are not just the one that feels they know what must be done.  You have to know that the unknowable becoming known through your labors is a real possibility. Producers can’t be the people who settle for the way things are.  They shouldn’t be the sort that takes the easy route or are willing to sacrifice nuance or beauty in service of just getting it done.

The goal of every film should be

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Truly Free Film

$50,000 and a Church in Brookyn

by Matt Thurm

RoverROVER (www.ROVERthemovie.com), which premiered this week in Narrative Competition at Slamdance 2014, tells the story a hopeless hapless cult leader who, losing control of his flock, fakes a prophecy instructing them to make a movie in hopes of bringing them together.

But the real story of ROVER is how it came to be. The film was entirely reverse-engineered from the question: “what kind of story can you tell with a beautiful – but broken-down – 19th-century church and $50,000?”

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Issues and Actions

The Future Of Indie Film Is At Stake

The future of  is at stake. Please sign this petition:

Verizon struck the final blow against Net Neutrality when a federal appeals court ruled in its favor and struck down the Federal Communications Commission’s Open Internet Order. The FCC must take action now to stop the corporate takeover of the internet. 
 
http://act.credoaction.com/sign/verizon_netneutrality?referring_akid=a139367298.5363240.9_69c6&source=conf_email 

 

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Truly Free Film

Beer Buzz: Strong Bones Discovered in “Fragile” Cinematic Ecosystem

By Steven C. Beer

The state of the independent film business is a hot topic this week following the January 12 Manohla Dargis New York Times piece. The article cautions that an abundance of “lackluster, forgettable and just plain bad” films flooding New York City theaters distracts the entertainment media, overwhelms audiences and threatens to destroy the health of our “already fragile cinematic ecosystem”.  As we head to Park City to attend the Sundance and Slamdance film festivals, Dargis urgently requests that distributors stop buying so many movies. She proposes that we focus on curation, not consumption.

While the article makes some good points, it also raises some critical questions about the condition of the American Independent Cinema. How many films should be produced and released in theaters and on other platforms (cable, internet, broadcast, DVD) each year? Is it possible to have too many films?

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Truly Free Film

Diary of a Film Start-Up: Post # 42: The Importance of Subtitles & Closed Captions

By Roger Jackson
KinoSmall

Previously: Blockbuster Trends

Many video-on-demand outlets require Closed Captions. This is true in the USA and increasingly elsewhere in the world, for example in the UK and Australia. And while it is not yet a mandatory requirement for all films submitted to Kinonation, we very strongly recommend it, not least because without captions a film won’t be eligible for delivery to iTunes. This has generated many questions from filmmakers, which I’ll try to answer here.

Why Captions Drive Revenue

Only 3 in 1000 people in the US are “functionally deaf.” But 17% of Americans report some sort of hearing impairment, which amounts to over 50 million people. That percentage is more or less reflected worldwide. Closed captions allow those people to enjoy your movie. Big potential audience. BUT – it’s not just about physiological hearing issues. Your audience will often watch films on a laptop in a noisy cafe, or a tablet on a commuter train, or a TV in a bar — or simply at home in the kitchen with the sound of cooking and kids. Closed Captions allow consumers in all these scenarios to watch your film comfortably…and therefore generate revenue for you.

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Truly Free Film

Screen Forever 2013: The State of the Digital Union

by Andrew Einspruch

Filmmaker Andrew Einspruch attended Screen Forever 2013, the conference of Screen Producers Australia, this past year and wrote a series of articles for the event, which he’s kindly allowing us to reprint here. These articles originally appeared in Screen Hub, the daily online newspaper for Australian film and television professionals.

Video on demand (VOD), digital distribution, and the changes industry and consumers face every day were all over Screen Forever 2013. Andrew Einspruch digs through a piles of notes to find the jewels.

The world of screen entertainment and content is going VOD. That much is inarguable. Yes, there are issues, and yes, we’re not there yet (whatever your version of “there” happens to be). But it does not take much squinting to see that it won’t be that long before all content is delivered online, and it will be on demand for consumers to enjoy when, how and where they want.

Even so, you’d be forgiven for rolling your eyes, and thinking that, for now at least, it was more of a pain than it was worth. Or that it was too overwhelming. Or that it was impossible to make a decision about which way to go, or even if can do anything because of contracts signed long ago. Wendy Bernfeld, Managing Director of Rights Stuff, started a session called “Catching the Digital/VOD Wave” with the following common thoughts about VOD:

  • “Too complicated, time-sucking.”
  • “There’s no money in it.” or “I did a deal (once) and got a check for $100.”
  • “It’s OK for America/big brands, but doesn’t really apply in [insert country].”
  • “I can‘t get the [internet/mobile/VOD] rights” and/or “The [broadcaster/distributor/sales agent] took them/sat on them.”
  • “We’re blocked in [country] by [insert: legislation, tax, exhibitors, etc.].”
  • Who wants to watch movies on a [mobile/pc] anyway?

Any of those sound familiar? If you are a producer, the odds are good you’ve muttered at least one of them.

And yet…

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Truly Free Film

Who Will Sell Your Film Internationally?

I would like to go to the site of one of the many organizations dedicated to supporting filmmakers and easily find links to a list of foreign sales agents.

For that matter, I would like to be able to find such links to US Distributors, Worldwide Distributors, Distribution Case Studies, Funders, Agents, Crew, Platforms, Legal Documents, Production Forms, Tech & Equipment Recommendations, Recommended Best Practices, Expert Opinions, Ideas & Inspiration, Recommended Reading — and that’s just off the top of my head.  You know, I would like it to be clear that that these organizations were driven to help filmmakers, and not just “furthering their brand”.

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