Today was the season finale of Chris Jones’ webshow The Production Office. When I visited him in May, we shot this interview and it aired on the show today. In case you missed it, here it is again. To watch all of the past shows, encore presentations are available on his site www.chrisjonesblog.com

Live in The Production Office

Now that I have been back for almost a week from the Cote d’Azur, I have been meaning to relate my experience from my first ever Cannes.

First, I horrified my roommates by continually telling them I had no particular agenda. This was absolutely true. I did not set up tons of meetings ahead of time, I wasn’t there to buy or sell a film or to watch any in particular (and I didn’t see any either). What was my purpose there then?

One, I was in the area anyway having participated in two TOTBO marketing and distribution workshops in Europe just prior. Two, if you are in the industry you must be where the industry congregates. In mid May, that is Cannes. Three, the Cannes market is immensely educational. Think your film is something special? Something never seen before? Will absolutely set the world on fire, people will clamor to see its genius simply because it is so amazing? Yeah, so do the thousands (THOUSANDS!!)  of other films being touted at the market and you have to see that to believe it. For all of those who proclaim if you create an amazing story, people will simply discover its genius, they are the most in need of a visit to a film market.

This education seems easier to grasp at Cannes than at AFM (haven’t been to EFM, so can’t comment) because it is much more trade show in spirit. The market floor is open with stands and it is easy to navigate the aisles. AFM is housed in hotel suites and less open to perusal by the non buying filmmaker. Everywhere you look is key art of every genre of film. Some with “stars,” lots with blood and zombies, family friendly animals and fantastical animation. Some with strong imagery but most with the utterly forgettable. Lots of people in suits, some even having meetings. I did not even go to the hotels along the Croisette where the more recognizable sales agencies and distributors house their offices. I had seen enough to know that if your film didn’t have its audience identified and gathered before it reached the Marche floor, you were in for immense competition for attention from buyers.

I did attend many discussions in the UK Film Center Pavilion on succeeding in festivals, the future of microbudget filmmaking (I tweeted that one, see #micromovies), success in short films. All free and very intimate. If nothing else, visit Cannes just to hang out in the International Village pavilions to meet the speakers, heads of film funds and film commissions to talk about co production opportunities. There was also lots of talk about the need for better marketing and distribution opportunities for independent film. You know I was all over that discussion, but our European counterparts do seem a few years behind in their thinking about this issue. Maybe it is all of that film fund money clouding their entrepreneurial judgement. From the workshops we organized and meeting some of the filmmakers on the ground, this issue is one that is slowly gaining prominence as the digital revolution spreads to Europe. VOD, mobile and digital platforms are not as developed as in the USA, and I consider ours in infancy. Not to mention crowdfunding. That has to be the next big subject for discussion in Europe.

I attended an informal brunch in the lovely hills above the Croisette to discuss what shape the digital revolution will take in Europe. Those in attendance ranged from old school film commissions intent on keeping everything as status quo as possible to forward thinkers who could imagine a world free of territories and windows for content. The discussions we had there will continue online and I look forward to participating in them even though I am not from Europe so my perspective is less government support dependent.

One of the highlights was watching the antics of filmmaker Chris Jones as he worked the place to chronicle every part of his Cannes journey. The yacht blag was my favorite story! He did his best to make sure that his readers, and now viewers of his LiveStream show, could see exactly what goes on at one of the world’s most glamorous events. Chris is a filmmaker after my own heart as he shares all he knows with other filmmakers and ultimately he is building up a fan base for all of his future work. A role model for sure to those aspiring to build a sustainable career in independent film.

So, as Chris would ask, what are my top 3 takeaways from Cannes? 1)Go, especially before you make a film. It is very valuable to realize that what you are asking to do when you pursue filmmaking is participate in a business. A very competitive and conniving business. That point is made crystal clear when you enter the Marche floor. 2)Soak up as much knowledge as you can from this or any major film event. Try to go without preconceived notions of how things work. At the moment, everything is in flux, no matter what anyone is trying to tell you. Everyone from the most stalwart studio to the newest venture is trying to figure out the future. Your ideas are just as valid as anyone else’s and you have every right to choose and pursue your own path to success. 3)Cannes is very inspirational. The films that play in the festival are considered among the top in the world, no matter what their gross ends up being. It is exciting to feel a part of this industry and I am not sure you can feel that any better than at Cannes. I am not talking about the fame and the glitz. The true artistry, the creativity, the meeting of the minds. All of this really crystallized for me why I would be drawn to such a bizarre profession, visual storytelling. There is so much energy and hopefulness in being around filmmakers from around the world that it sends you home with the feeling that you aren’t alone in your struggles and that your game has to come up so much more to compete.

See you next year on the Croisette!

I’m headed to London to work with the incomparable Jon Reiss and Chris Jones for the first TOTBO (Think Outside the Box Office, get used to seeing it) workshop. It will take place at Ealing Studios on May 8-10, 2010. We are all so excited to bring this to our British friends and I hope many of you will turn up. It is a knowledge packed 2 days with an optional 3rd day with Jon live workshopping actual projects in need of customized marketing and distribution advice. The price for that 3rd day, is less than his normal hourly rate, so if you are ready to go into production, you gotta take advantage. Here’s the deets. Sign up!

‘Revealing the new distribution and marketing realities is of critical importance to film makers and our community. Media content creators of all types need to understand that the days in which you could merely “create” and let someone else distribute and market are nearly over. A new paradigm exists in which making films and finding a way for that film to reach an audience are not merely equally important, but need to be organically integrated into a seamless whole.’
Jon Reiss, Los Angeles March 2010

When we wrote the first edition of The Guerilla FilmMakers Handbook back in 1994, people wanted to know… ‘how the heck do you make a film?’ Now in 2010 and six books later, we know that you can make a film. In fact, we are pretty sure you can make a terrific film. But making a film is no longer the problem.

For the first time in the history of commercial film making, YOU THE FILM MAKER, can create powerful, sustainable and income generating distribution models WITHOUT THE EXCLUSIVE NEED for third parties such as a sales agents, distributors and even broadcasters.

Your film CAN succeed or fail based on YOUR HARD WORK, TALENT, THE STORY YOU CHOOSE TO TELL AND THE BUSINESS MODEL YOU BUILD.

Finally, we are in full control of the flow of money back to us… the entrepreneurs and creatives! It’s never been more exciting to be a film maker.

This groundbreaking event is headed up by possibly the most important voice in independent cinema right now, Jon Reiss, and supported by Chris Jones of The Guerilla Film Makers Handbook, and LA based cutting edge film marketer Sheri Candler. Three voices. One powerful message and toolkit.

Saturday kicks off with us showing you how to create a 21st century ‘no budget’ (but lots of elbow grease from you) marketing strategy that will create deep connections between you, your film and your audience.

Key to the success of your film is this groundwork – in the past, this used to be a screenplay. But now that work is interwoven with a marketing campaign at concept stage. The good news is that this early marketing also acts as a cash attractor, so it could be funding your project from day one.

We will take you through the quagmire of the effective use of social media tools, creating and maintaining blogs, managing SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) to get you ranked at the top of Google, using industry sites likeIndieGoGo.com, OpenIndie, IndieScreenings and many more.

You will leave day one with a clear strategy that you can begin to implement that very evening.

Sunday and the focus shifts to the creation of a dynamic distribution and marketing strategy that is unique to your film, offering insights into the ‘real’ markets that are available (in which to release your film), how and why to engage your audience as early as possible, and how to think beyond the feature film to create new forms of content.

Key to these strategies is the understanding that you MUST generate multiple revenue streams and adopt a HYBRID distribution model.

Jon is truly a visionary who can see not only how distribution ‘is’ but also ‘how it can be…’ We are lucky that he has chosen to stop off in London on his way to Cannes to deliver this career and life changing seminar.

Monday, the additional day three – Speed Consulting – Maximum of 20 places.

Jon will assign “homework” to each project after Day 2.  On day three he will thenworkshop a distribution and marketing plan for each project in front of the group with the group’s participation. By sharing in this group dynamic, filmmakers will not only create the beginnings of their own strategy, but will start to see the broad range of approaches that they can apply throughout their career.

This will give each attendee the chance to have an accelerated consultation on their film, and they will leave with tailored concepts, insights in to the projects weaknesses and strengths, as well as a clear path to follow.

Jon’s book, Think Outside The Box Office, has transformed the strategies and careers of thousands of film makers since it was published just a few short months ago. His thinking is radical, but supported by his own real world experience as a multi award winning filmmaker. You can buy Jons book here.

Sheri Candler recently handled the marketing for micro budget Slamdance horror, ‘YellowBrickRoad.’ Here’s what they had to say about her…“Sheri is very knowledgeable about social media and viral campaigns, understands the current state of independent film marketing, and always has the best interests of the film at heart.”-Eric Hungerford, Producer,YELLOWBRICKROAD

And yes, that’s me (Chris Jones) with Sheri, at the Producers Guild Of America Awards last year where Gone Fishing won BEST FILM.

We will NOT be running this event again in 2010 so this is your ONLY chance to attend. Good luck with your movies and we hope to see you at the event!

Today, my friend and filmmaker Chris Jones posted a great podcast with Hollywood scriptwriter and instructor John Truby.  One of the things John noted is how the practice of the “spec” script is dying in Hollywood. A screenwriter has to think of him/herself as an entrepreneur/producer. Your best chance of finding studio work, an agent, or having your feature script turned into a studio financed film is to make a short film piece that showcases your talent. It will make you stand head and shoulders above the standard script submissions that agents receive every day and prove that you have a solid, marketable talent.

You can listen to the full podcast here.

Last night I had the good fortune of being invited to the Producer’s Guild of America sponsored Producer’s Challenge Awards on the Sony Pictures lot. There were a multitude of great films screened including two phenomenal doc’s called Pickin’ and Trimmin’ and One Bridge To The Next (winner for the category). But the narrative film winner of the night was from the incomparable Chris Jones and his film Gone Fishing which has enjoyed tremendous success on the festival circuit. Congratulations Chris and thanks for the invite.Chris’ big highlight for the night came when Gale Anne Hurd (producer of Aliens, Terminator, Incredible Hulk) approached him gushing about how much she loved his film. He couldn’t have looked more proud (or incredulous!). The winner gets some mentoring time with Ms. Hurd, Mark Gordon, Marshall Herskovitz or other name producers in Hollywood. I hope for Chris’ sake, Ms. Hurd will make her time available.

From what I heard about the conference from the participants, it was well worth the over $900 fee to attend. The chance to meet Clint Eastwood alone was worth the fee for some. This was the first year of the Produced By seminar and it will be interesting to see how it develops in future.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6ejPG-i03I[/youtube]

A week or so back I invited you to view and vote for animator Joaquin Baldwin’s wonderful film Sebastian’s Voodoo to win at the Cannes Short Film Corner online competition. I am happy to report that the film won this category by over 2,100 votes. Congrats Joaquin!

Ah the power of the internet. All voting was conducted online for this competition so it was necessary to drive as much traffic to the online voting site as possible and encourage people to not only view the film, but vote for it. Joaquin started with contacting all of his friends on Facebook and MySpace and telling them about the competition. When he contacted me, of course I said yes. We then created a separate page on Facebook so that he could contact all fans with one post instead of having to contact everyone individually. He notified all of his friends (who in turn notified theirs) to join the page and posted status daily on how the voting was going. I also encouraged him to Tweet daily to all of his followers on the state of the voting and encourage them to vote and join his Facebook fan page.

Next I contacted our friend Chris Jones, guerilla filmmaker extraordinare, to mention us in his blog which is widely read in the independent film community. Luckily he obliged because he had seen Joaquin’s work at a festival he attended and loved it. I think we received some solid votes from that effort. Joaquin was interviewed by an online publication in Paraguay and received featured posts at BoingBoing, Dailymotion.com and Crackle.com. Of course, we both sent out blanket emails to all of our mailing list telling everyone to go to the site and vote.

This campaign was kept up for a week and a half with constant attention and people wrote back either on personal email or on the wall of his Facebook page giving us positive feedback and encouraging others to vote. This kind of grassroots effort is what it takes to sell DVD’s too people!

We are now investigating the best ways to leverage this win for his future projects. It is always important to follow up any win or positive review for your film by letting as many people, publications and organizations know. This expands your reach and gives legitimacy to your success in order to foster positive relationships with your fan base where they can share in your success.