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Truly Free Film

Want A Distributor For Your Film?

For the last two years, approximately half of the films that played Sundance got picked up for distribution. Yet as Thom Powers pointed out recently, no distribution deal is a heck of a lot better than a bad distribution deal.
 
Still, knowing how much work is required to directly distribute your film, and in particular the great challenge it is to market your film, filmmakers regularly look to team up with distributors.  The dream sort of goes first to write a script, then to make a film, then to get it funded, then finished and in a festival, and finally settling on getting a deal.
 
Granted there’s a big flaw in the dream as it

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Truly Free Film

Some Rambling about Internet Culture, Placemaking, the Collective Narrative and the Future of Movie Theaters…

By Justen Harn

The Cinemapocalypse

For many there remains something magical about sitting in a cinema surrounded by strangers invested in a story, recalling tales told around a campfire, everyone drawn to the light like one of Brakhage’s moths. These tropes, in and of themselves, are indicative of film’s romantic, metaphysical appeal, but perhaps more importantly for our purposes, they bely the importance of the context within which moving images are consumed.

20130507_Hollywood_008

Given the sanctity of this near­century­old film­going ritual, why is it that movie theaters are struggling now more than ever to attract an audience? Even in the absence of current technological trends,at present the typical home­viewing experience cannot come close to that of watching a film projected on a 50 foot screen in a movie theater. To paraphrase Ted Hope, the trouble is that large box theaters, and many small art house theaters, while able to offer an unparallelled experience, are entirely dependent upon mass market cinema releases, products developed based on predictability and maximizing returns.

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Truly Free Film

How the One-Sheet Poster Points the Way to Social Media Success

By Reid Rosefelt

One-Sheet-PosterHave you ever thought about the miracle of the humble one-sheet poster?

Whether a film costs a hundred thousand or a hundred million–it gets the same 27” by 40” poster in the display case.

Now imagine you prefer squares, so you make 40” x 40” posters for your independent film.  Or maybe you’re nostalgic for the good old days of Lobby Cards, so you make your posters 11” x 14” on sturdy cardboard stock. So now there’s room for 27” x 40” but you’ve elected to leave most of it blank.

But why would you do that?  It wouldn’t make any sense.  

But that’s what people often do in social media.   

Image orientation and size makes a huge difference on different social channels.  A tall picture on Pinterest is striking; a wide one is tiny. Tall pictures look great on Google+ too.  On the other hand, wide aspect ratios look best on Facebook and Twitter.

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Truly Free Film

Mission Check: My Next Step Is Announced

If you read this blog, you know I am a champion of mission check. You might now be wondering a bit about mine. A year or so ago, I reported to you that when asked to consider a project I responded:

“I am taking a hiatus from producing any projects for the time being.  Instead, I am trying to advance an independent film infrastructure that can truly support a diverse and ambitious film — in it’s broadest & most innovative definition — culture, one where the artist and their supporters are direct beneficiaries of the work they generate, where risk is both rewarded & encouraged, & audiences are active participants in the community.  I am running Fandor in hopes I can help the progression move quicker & others may navigate the paradigm shift to abundant, accessible content more smoothly & less painfully.”

Only of course then I did not say Fandor, did I? But

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Truly Free Film

Press Round-Up On Me Joining Fandor

We announced my new job today.  A review of the press yields a cornucopia of juicy tidbits.. um, TEDbits…:

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Truly Free Film

What Can Indie Filmmakers Learn From….

With Careful Observation And Construction, We Can Build It Better
With Careful Observation And Construction, We Can Build It Better

It’s time for a collection of posts on what we can gain from others’ experiences in different fields. Last week, we examined the Music Biz, but why stop there?

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Truly Free Film

Sundance 2014 Infographic Released

Data  shows  that  spending  on  indie  films  rivals  the  major  movie  studios      

Entertainment  Media  Partners   and  Cultural  Weekly  are  pleased  to  announce  the  release  of  an  in-­‐depth  infographic  exploring  the  state   of  independent  filmmaking  by  looking  at  key  data  associated  to  The  Sundance  Film  Festival.  Although the info graphic is below on the post, you can also access the full analysis here:

http://www.culturalweekly.com/sundance-infographic-2014/

 “This  is  the  first  time  anyone  has  tried  to  quantify  the  amount  of  money  spent  producing  independent   films  every  year,”  said  Adam  Leipzig,  CEO  of  Entertainment  Media  Partners.  “The  numbers  are  huge— over  $3  billion  per  year—even  though  each  film  is  financed  one  at  a  time.”      The  infographic  provides  an  eye-­‐opening  look  at  the  importance  of  The  Sundance  Film  Festival  and  the   movies  screened  there,  by  visualizing  data  on  films  submitted,  films  accepted,  financial  investment,   and  how  many  people  work  on  indie  movies.    It  also  offers  box  office  data  associated  with  films  that   have  sold  for  the  most  money  at  the  festival,  and  those  that  served  as  opening  night  premieres.

Leipzig  identified  these  key  findings:     

• Over  $3  billion  is  spent  annually  to  produce  independent  films,  rivaling  the  production   expenditure  of  major  movie  studios.

• Less  than  2%  of  that  $3  billion  will  be  recouped.