Panama City Beach, FL a paradise for indie film?

Some of you may know that I am currently staying the the Northwest of Florida for a time. Personal family issues that require me to physically be here. While I am here in a beach resort town with limited big city entertainments, I want to try to do something that I think is the future for theatrical screenings of independent films.

I am not going to labor on about the state of independent film distribution. That ship has sailed in many a film festival panel discussion. I think the time is ripe for what Jon Reiss calls the live event/theatrical screening experience. A more grassroots approach to getting your film out in front of the public in more places than the traditional theater and doing more than just a film screening; creating an event out of your screening to entice the audience to actually want to come down to the venue and participate.

I had a wonderful meeting today with the local arts alliance. This group is responsible for bringing all of the touring companies for musical productions, bands, comedians etc. to town and they have a beautiful facility that holds 2,500 people. OMG!  I told them my idea. I want to create a local screening series for independent film and to tailor it to the interests of the local community. I think this last part, tailored, is key. Many screening series are founded by someone who thinks the community should be educated in some way by independent cinema. While it is an admirable goal, it also gives independent film that “genre” feel of being something you should like, but don’t. Like taking medicine; you know it should help you, but it is hard to digest (I know you know what I am saying). I want the audience to be entertained and enlightened and they will tell me what that means to them.

I would like to partner with local organizations who already have an audience and who can use an event like a film screening to bring awareness or further their cause or help to market their services. These may be charities, local businesses, resource organizations, Chamber of Commerce, senior living facilities etc. Maybe we can even involve clubs and find films that are tailored to their interests. I know there exists hundreds, if not thousands, of films that most people have never heard of but will resonate with these audiences. The trick is to find them and put the two together. I can do that. In a way, this is reverse engineering. Instead of having a film that needs an audience, I have an audience that needs a film!

Over the next few months, I will be recounting all that we go through to get this series off the ground, what films we choose, what kind of response we get, whether we are successful and this series will continue or even grow to surrounding communities. We have identified our first film and the partners we want to be involved with us for the first screening. I made the request today to the filmmaker and we’ll see if he is game. Our aim is to have the first screening in late April. We need enough time to properly market the series to the public. This arts organization as well as the local organizations have close ties to the local media, so that it is very useful too.

There is a caveat to this, dear filmmakers, and I want to you to take note. This change in the business model of distributing your films means that you must change your mindset as well. All of this snobbery about insisting your film screens in the theater and that bookers need to deal with your sales agent or distributor has to be reshaped. If more and more of these local screening series crop up and become successful (I predict that they will), it is much more beneficial (ie, money wise) to allow bookings to be made through you rather than your middlemen. If a small screening series provides the venue and the on the ground marketing, the cost to you is minimal upfront, maybe free. With a distrib, yeah they pay the P&A up front for you, but they take it all out of your backend and the theater gets a cut too. The accounting for that is not transparent either. And you can’t sell merch on site or interact with your audience in many cases. Booking with you is lots less hassle for the screening series too. When you are carving out your rights to sell DVD’s and downloads through your own channels, don’t forget to carve out a separate right to book screenings in local venues. Now, you can let the distribs handle a certain geographical area like NYC and LA and you can’t do local bookings there if you want less time hassle, that’s all they will usually do for you anyway. Reserve your right to book in smaller places where there are known series. As I chronicle our experiment, I will inform you of other successful series going on. I can tell you right now that you need to talk to Pericles Lewnes of Pretentious Film Society in Annapolis, Maryland and the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Austin, TX.  If you run a screening series and want to let filmmakers know about it, post it in comments here.

Watch this space and see how we do. As I get to know the tastes of the audience a bit more, I will be looking for screeners that can fill the need. Maybe for trailers as well. We are looking at a shorts program for families around June time. If you have a short that is suitable for all ages, let me know.

I just want to make a quick comment here on the recent review this film had in The Hollywood Reporter. I haven’t seen this film, only people in attendance at the world premiere in Berlin this week have seen it, and probably a few sales agents and would be distributors. I hope they saw it before The Hollywood Reporter ripped it to shreds. As such, I cannot comment on the validity of the review and the critic. Let’s suffice it to say the critic has seen a film or two in his career and that is why people take such notice of these THR reviews and why they seem so coveted.

I do a fair amount of publicity when working with a film. It isn’t the only thing I do, but it is one of the elements of my film marketing plans. I have stated in a previous post that I tend to shy away from going after publications like THR, Variety, EW and even indieWire. I do not have personal contacts with those publications for one and usually they do not cover small, low budget films with no stars. There is another reason I don’t recommend it too.

I like outreach to online publications, blogs, online radio, forums etc  for coverage. These resources are usually more familiar with lower budget work. They can forgive some editing, lighting, music choice mistakes. They know their audience is more forgiving of it too. They aren’t expecting Cameron level work. Sometimes, they are just excited to champion a film  they believe their audience would enjoy and those are the places where you will find your greatest reviews. Plus, it is the place where your audience will read about it and whose opinions they will value far more than the critic of the THR. They may be more influenced to watch it or buy it when one of these online places gives it a thumbs up.

Clearly, the publicist for this film has some connection to THR and included them in her press invitation to view the film… and he came. I would venture a guess that she is more of a traditional publicist obsessed with big publications, traditional publications, and is not targeting the true audience for this film. This approach is good when you only want to attract distributors. Distributors read THR, not the consumer audience. The risk with any review is there is no guarantee the critic will like it. This one REALLY didn’t. Should she only have courted media relevant to the film’s audience? Was this a mistake? Has this review sunk the likelihood of the film getting distribution? I think the filmmakers would have been better off targeting to their audience. This is a devastating review to get over. I think it will affect their distribution chances, certainly for a good deal.

Lesson: know the film you have, know the audience for it, and go after publications relevant to them. If they champion you, other publicity chances will follow and when you have a dedicated audience, distributors will follow you too.

PS: update on this film. A distribution partner was found in Cinema Guild. There are plans for a small theatrical run in the fall.

I just want to take a moment, probably the only one I will take, to respond personally to my participation on the recent Film Courage show regarding Fandependent Films and its creator Ben Hicks.

If you didn’t catch this then probably you aren’t following indie filmmakers on Twitter or following Fandependent Films, so I will provide a brief back story. Filmmaker Ben Hicks has issued a few statements over the last few months profiling his views on the current state of independent film distribution and community. He is a contributor to the Workbookproject’s blog The New Breed and is considered to be a member of this up and coming group of filmmakers. He is trying to form a new venture called Fandependent Films that is attempting to provide a new online platform for the release of indie films as well as a communal type of filmmaking. An admirable goal.

Last week, he issued his manifesto outlining his intentions.  This document caused quite the stir on their Facebook page with many filmmakers commenting on his proposal. If you haven’ t read it yet, please do before you listen to the broadcast. I was one of the commenters and had many problems with his proposal. As such, Film Courage’s David Branin and Karen Worden asked me to be the voice of counterpoint on their upcoming show with Ben. I agreed. So, up to speed.

Anyone who reads this blog, interacts with me on Twitter or Facebook, has met me in person or has sent me email communication knows that I am a big proponent of independent films and filmmakers. It is not my intention to crush the spirit of indie filmmakers who offer suggestions and ideas on how to create a new model for the way that indie films are discovered and seen. I did have major issues with the  solution Ben proposed as did many other filmmakers I talked to and the comments I read. These need to be addressed and I still think that.

To suggest, as a few have, that I killed Fandependent Films by challenging Ben on his ideas and the holes in his plan is ludicrous and, if it is indeed dead as an idea, it wasn’t going to survive anyway. I have received overwhelming support for the issues I raised and a few criticisms. I stand by what I said. In any business world, ideas will be criticized and solutions will be challenged. It is my belief that you must listen to the criticisms and weigh their validity before you carry on with your plans. I hope Ben will take what I said to heart when finalizing his decision to proceed. Even before he starts his fundraising campaign.

There is an element of his plan that I think might work and it has to do with forming local screenings in communities all over the world. He suggests it by posse and only screenings for those in the posse will be organized, but let’s take this part out of it. Many communities already do this type of thing. I encourage all of you to support these organizations, join in their efforts, and, as filmmakers, I think you will find a new appreciation for what it takes to put on a screening event or film festival. Mostly, it is hours of unpaid work and lots of organizational skills to bring sometimes conflicting groups together to pull it all off.  In the manifesto, Ben seems to shun the efforts of festivals to bring indie films to the forefront of an audience. I wonder if he has ever worked on the inside of a festival? Not volunteered at just the event itself, but been a part of all the decisions to organize it and put it together? I think he would understand better why festivals and filmmakers need each other and appreciate the way some things are decided instead of only seeing it from the filmmaker’s side.

This isn’t to suggest that festivals are blameless in how they are run. Often, smaller fests are run by people inexperienced in business and lacking necessary organization and negotiating skills to make them successful from both a business point of view and a filmmaker’s point of view. Some are just outright fraud preying on the inexperienced artist by taking submission fees and offering little in return. Sometimes, in big festivals, they are run by people who have giant egos, looking for personal recognition and feel they are almost doing charity work for the community to enlighten them and charity work for filmmakers in giving them a platform.  These shouldn’t be the motivations to start a film event.

If you live in a small town and do not have such an organization, I call on you to form one. Start small, do not expect the local cinema to give you a venue (great if they did, but don’t count on it). Churches, multipurpose rooms in schools, libraries, convention halls, whatever place your town has for a community gathering. Gauge interest in your community by approaching the local theater troupe, symphony, dance school, other arts organizations that can provide you with feedback on your idea. The like- minded tend to congregate and support each other.

Then, reach out into the filmmaker community. Many, many filmmakers are more than eager to share their work with an audience. I am not even going to suggest payment for either the films or the screenings because transparency and taxes and LLC’s and nonprofit status all gets into complications. This is about connecting with an audience and encouraging them to support you as an artist; mentally, spiritually and financially. If you want to sell merch/DVDs or collect donations from those willing to give it, great. Support will come to you in some way if you are open to it and if you provide an exceptional example of your talent. Strive for exceptional!

I had other issues with his marketing method ideas which I think are born out of economy not quality work, but you will hear what I have to say in the broadcast. Just know that you get what you are willing to pay for! Competition in the film industry leaves no room for homogeneous work and I think it would be impossible for a poorly funded organization to run a group of marketers for hundreds of films all needing equal attention. Studios already do that, and even they outsource some help.

Ben, I wish you well in your filmmaking career and keep thinking through your ideas. I think you have some great ones, but they need a bit more construction before making them official.

You can join in on the conversation about this by following #fandependent on Twitter or accessing their Facebook page.

I was a guest blogger on the site Multi-Hyphenate today. Here is a small excerpt from that post and a link to the rest. Enjoy!

As with some of the new bloggers here, I met Tyler on Twitter as part of the group of filmmakers I have been able to connect with using the platform, you know the one that everyone thinks is “dumb” and they don’t “get.” It is quite useful in finding people with similar interests and I am glad, if not relieved, to have found a good group of film people from all over the world who relate to this crazy, artist world that is independent filmmaking.

In a discussion group we are having on Twitter at #infdist, I brought up the point that it is a shame the term Straight to DVD has such a negative connotation; meaning that such films are somehow inferior to films shown in theaters. I think it has more to do with bigger Hollywood studios deciding that their smaller films, the lower budget genre films, don’t command as much marketing investment as the star driven vehicles and they are “dumped” straight to home video instead of screenings in theaters.  It has little to do with the quality of the film. But quality, low budget indie films get this bad rap from it as well. Home video (or DVD) is the most lucrative way of distributing independent films. Low budget films appeal to smaller, niche audiences and while financial investment can be made for an expensive theatrical release, it is more cost effective to reach the audience at home, either on DVD, Video On Demand or increasing online through digital download or streaming.

My friend and indie filmmaker Zak Forsman published a post on his blog laying out his film festival strategy and subsequent release of his two upcoming films, White Knuckles and Heart of Now. In it, he talks about his direct- to-audience release goals.  When I thought about it, this is a much better way of explaining what straight to home video is…

Access the rest of the post on Multi-Hyphenate here.