Category: Truly Free Film

We are on the verge of a new film culture and infrastructure.

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Truly Free Film

Hope For The Future pt. 4: The List #’s 14 -17

My goal was to provide my friends, collaborators, and co-conspirators 52 Reasons Not To Feel Glum About The State Of Film Culture, and precisely that sector of independent art film culture I call Truly Free Film.  I figured with the economy in the toilet, traditional media stepping into the grave, and a business leader or politician being revealed as a crook daily, we didn’t need more gloom poured on.

I didn’t think I would have to do build the list alone though.  Isn’t that part of the glory of the whole blogosphere?  That people collaborate?  I started the list and kept on adding to it until we go 25% there, hoping that the list would then write itself.  It didn’t.  
I guess that is the bad news: either people don’t like to participate or that the film world is a bunch of pessimists.  If you know which one it is, let me know.

The good news is that I had no problem completing the list solo.  Granted it took about an hour, but I stopped when I got to Number 52.  Taking it further might make us giddy.  As this year winds down, we can rest knowing we have many reasons to be cheerful.
And so, I continue this list in no particular order.  When I approach its end, I will provide it somewhere, if someone wants it, in its entirety, with an ordered logic and some other tasty filler.  But for now…

14. We have seen a perfect distribution model and its success: the Obama social network was nothing short of a thing of beauty. Its methods should be an inspiration for all truly free filmmakers. People had a reason to visit the site, to supply information, to reach out and connect to others. They were supplied the tools and a mission. Now go out and find someone to vote for the culture you want.

15. The DIY/Do It With Others model is now recognized as a real alternative to traditional make-it-and-pray-that-others-will-pay-to-distribute-it-for-you. Filmmakers are planning for it as a possibility from the start of production. This preparation becomes the key to success.

16.Filmmakers are recognizing the need to define their platform at early stage AND make it on-going. Be they producers like Bill Horberg or Jane Kosek , directors like Raymond DeFelitta and Jon Reiss ,or writers like John August and Dennis Cooper, creative filmmakers are taking upon themselves to find and unite their audiences at an earlier stage in the process. Okay, maybe it isn’t so Machavellian; maybe they just want to talk to people. Either way, it is going to lead to more people seeing better films.

17. A curatorial culture is starting to emerge. Creative communities need filters. Every year I have as many “want to see” films on my list as I do “best of”. It’s not that there is too much as some like to claim, but it’s that there is still too little discussion on what is best and why. We started Hammer To Nail (soon to debut in a new & improved form!) for this reason, but we are not alone. Although they tread in much different waters, popular email blasts/broadcasts like Daily Candy and Very Short List, these sites work as much as filters as they do identifiers. Social Networks most popular features are members “favorites” in their profiles. We are all being trained as curators, but are only now starting to share it publicly.

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Truly Free Film

We Say: “Why Not?”

Screen International makes a good point in their post “Film must look to reinvention“.

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Truly Free Film

A Community Of Theaters: Film Circuit

How come it is the film festivals that pull together the theater operators?  I am very excited about the upcoming Sundance-organized Art House Convergence in SLC prior to Sundance and the potential it offers to weave together a group of sympathetic exhibitors.  We have so much great work in this country that currently goes under-screened.  There is fabulous international work too that we never get see or even learn about.  Don’t even get me started about shorts.  

We lack meaningful ways to foster discussion about all this work without having it exhibited in a group context.  They have started to change this across our northern border with FILM CIRCUIT, and hopefully we can learn from their example.

A division of the Toronto International Film Festival Group (TIFFG), Film Circuit provides filmgoers in under-served communities, transformative experiences through access to Canadian and international independent films they would otherwise not have the opportunity to see. With over 190 groups in 169 communities across Canada, Film Circuit is essential in helping TIFFG lead the world in building markets and audiences for Canadian Cinema. 

Film Circuit promotes Canadian and international cinema through grassroots distribution, marketing, and exhibition. While providing filmgoers an opportunity to see films that may not otherwise be available, Film Circuit also provides distributors with an opportunity to extend the theatrical run of their films.

Recognizing that it is important that each individual community curates its own screening events to maximize community commitment and capitalize on knowledge of local demand, Film Circuit encourages collaborative programming between Film Circuit staff and individual Film Circuit Groups. Release schedules are issued throughout the year, and each group selects films according to local demand with the goal of enhancing awareness of and increasing exposure for independent cinema. The Film Circuit office then books films based on availability as determined by the distributor. Film Circuit staff arrange print traffic, provide development support, research and prepares film titles and availability lists, offer programming consulting, book guests and ensure cross-Circuit communication.
Films screened on Film Circuit are event based and generally classified as ‘limited releases’; they require local marketing support to reach audiences. Some methods groups use to generate local interest in the programme include:

Flyers
Word of mouth
Membership and subscriptions
Local press (ie. Newspaper articles, radio/television interviews)
Sponsored advertising
E-newsletters

Check out the Film Circuit website.  They also feature American Independents.  Get in touch with them about your work.
Thanks to Lance Hammer for this tip!
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Truly Free Film

They Now Admit They Were Wrong

A little more than five years ago, the creative film community rose up in rebellion against the MPAA and Hollywood Studios anti-trust violation known as “The Screener Ban”.  It ended in what was a successful law suit that I not only got to testify in, but had the good fortune of meeting the love of my life in the process.  Quite a win, I say.

It was difficult initially to get some people to question the wisdom (or motives) of those that wrote the paychecks and controlled the gateways of distribution.  Producers, directors,and  organizations like the IFPs joined together and The Ban was rescinded by the force of law.  
Maybe The Ban really was initially enacted due to a fear of piracy, but the judge understood that the actions of studios and MPAA completely disregarded the realities and necessities of the independent sector.  In an effort to protect their revenues, the powerful might have crushed the independents for good.  
Their actions these days, as reported here by Variety,  indicate they now recognize they were misguided in their actions to institute The Ban.  The needs of promotion outweigh the possible repercussions of potential piracy.

It makes you wonder doesn’t it?  What else might be attempted to be enacted in the name of the good of the industry that is neglectful of the needs of a smaller but incredibly vital segment of the larger picture?
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Truly Free Film

How To Make Internet TV

The Participatory Culture Foundation has simple how to site worth checking out.  From what equipment to use, best techniques to capture stuff, licensing, publishing, and promotion, it’s all here.

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Truly Free Film

Locavesting: Is it applicable to film?

Mind you most of film finance is probably classifiable as Loco-vesting, but I was struck by one of the ideas cited in the NY Times’ excellent YEAR IN IDEAS roundup.  Locavesting is simply the practice of investing in local businesses.  

A region’s benefit in incentivizing locavesting is akin to the logic around state tax credits: money spent in film is again transfered to the region’s other businesses generally.  Civic leaders recognizing this might come up with additional incentives to encourage it.  Certainly a savvy producer would be sure to foreground this with any locally-based investor-wannabe.  The promise of regional cinema could be grounded by such a locally based film slate investment fund.

This is that excerpt from the article:
Locavestors
By AMY CORTESE
Perhaps you’ve heard of locavores: people who eat only foods that have been produced within a 100-mile radius. Now some people — call them locavestors — are investing in much the same way. The idea is that, by investing in local businesses, rather than, say, a faceless conglomerate, investors can earn profits while supporting their communities. To help match mostly local investors with capital-hungry local businesses, regional stock exchanges are starting to spring up around the globe.

Consider InvestBX, which was formed to serve businesses looking to raise relatively small sums in England’s West Midlands region. In February, InvestBX’s first listed company, Teamworks Karting, which runs an indoor go-kart center in Birmingham, raised more than $735,000 to open a new track in nearby Reading. In November, Key Technologies, a high-tech firm with 232 employees and annual sales of some $26 million, floated shares worth nearly $3 million. To list on InvestBX, a company must be based in the United Kingdom and have a significant part of its operations in the West Midlands. Companies can raise about $3 million from “local and U.K.-wide investors.”

Local exchanges address a financing gap for smaller companies, which may not be able to attract venture capital and for whom the major exchanges may be out of reach. “Small businesses need funding options more than ever in today’s recessionary climate,” says Trexler Proffitt, a professor at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa., who recently completed a feasibility study for a seven-county Lancaster exchange. (His conclusion: affirmative.)

In a way, we’re coming full circle. Until the 1950s, when they began to consolidate, there were thriving regional exchanges all across the country. “Globalization has been advantageous, but we’re starting to see the sacrifices we’ve made,” Proffitt says. “People are interested in figuring out how to connect to their local communities again.”

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Truly Free Film

Web Marketing For Filmmakers

Jon Reiss returns!

Here’s a great blog post about the very very basics of marketing your film’swebsite. I’m sure you know a lot of this – but a lot was news to me (post excerpted):

1. Go to Godaddy.com and purchase a domain name. Get one that ends with .com. Get your movie title. If it is unavailable add “movie” or “themovie” or “film” to the end. (You don’t need to purchase any other services during check-out.)
2. Sign up for WordPress.com. Make your blog the title of your movie/ domain. Start posting press releases and other articles, such as reviews.
3. Sign up for Youtube.com. Make your username title of your movie/ domain. Post your trailer, or you can do a video “pitch”.
4. Sign-up for an account on Facebook.com.
5. Sign-up for Flickr. Get your username title of your movie/ domain.
6. Sign up for an account at del.icio.us. Bookmark your domain, facebook page, blog page and you tube page.
7. Sign up for a google account, to use their alerts, place connect with people who talk about you.
8. Sign up for Box Office Widget. Place this on your website and on your blog. Use it as your signature on forums.
8. Sign up for Spottt. Place this banner code on your myspace page, blog, and the thank you page from Box Office Widget.
10. Go to Yahoo! Groups and find all the groups that may have interest to your film and join. Participate in the group, rather than just spam the group.

This was written by one of the co-founders of Neoflix. Neoflix themselves have set up a number of marketing tools for filmmakers – they are going to give me a tutorial in the coming weeks and I’ll be passing that information along.

And this DIY Flix sites seems pretty amazing at first glance as well.

But back to marketing. I think marketing does not come easy for most filmmakers. Even filmmakers who pitch well – when it comes to the nuts and bolts business aspects of DIY filmmaking – they blanch. Its quite different from being creative. Very different. Doesn’t feel right and doesn’t feel fun. 

I have an extra handicap of coming from the punk era where this kind of straight business had a certain smell. But its time to get over that – web marketing necessary if you are going to create an audience for yourself and survive as an “independent” filmmaker in these changing times. My mission for then next couple of months is to become immersed in all manners of web marketing for filmmakers – I’m going to use Bomb It as a case study and I’ll keep you posted.

-Jon Reiss (jon@jonreiss.com)