Just flew back in from NAB tonight. Many great things to see and do, it is Vegas of course, but also the show was so informative. I used to go to and organize these shows from the broadcast side, but there is so much for the filmmaker too. Cameras, lighting, post production software tools, facilities, film commissions from different countries etc. I have a pile of literature to sort through now!

Anyway, this week I will be sorting out the design work on this site and deciding what all I want to include. Keep checking this space.

Another cool thing I attended while in Vegas was the 48hour Film Project. For more info on it check www.48hourfilm.com. Basically, production teams are given a genre, a character name and a dialog line to include in a short film. They are given 48 hours to write, shoot and edit the film and all films are shown on the big screen. The audience is asked to judge their 3 favorites and those will go on to possible inclusion in their best of collection on DVD. There will be a project in LA in June and I would encourage anyone at any skill level to take part if only to keep up the skills and work better as a team. It is fascinating what comes out of it. Of course, be prepared for a sleepless weekend!

Last night I attended a Why Global session with the indie distribution guru Stacey Parks from FilmSpecific.com. If you have not checked out her site and her tools, you should right away. Her site is packed with great information for the independent filmmaker. She also wrote the book on indie distribution titled The Insider’s Guide to Independent Film Distribution which is well worth the read. She is having a Going Global bootcamp April 25-26 to talk about the advantages of thinking globally for your film and how to set a global strategy. Check it out and if you can’t make it, then I am sure she will be having another such session after Cannes.

I am still establishing my blog design and when it is finished I plan to share the intricacies of the process with you. I am now advocating that filmmakers consider a blog as their main website for their films. You can have more than one blog and make each a separate entity for each film. Start it in the script stage or in preproduction to start getting interest from your core fan base. It lets them feel a close connection to the project, kind of an insider’s peek, which makes them feel privileged. They will be your mouthpiece to the world if you handle it right! Anyway, in theory, you can update more easily than you can on a website, you can still incorporate graphics, production stills, and video and it is a lot cheaper than a true website. I say in theory because I am testing this process now and I will let you know how the practical portion turns out. To get an idea of what I mean by blog as website, go to Chris Jones’ blog http://livingspirit.typepad.com/blog/. He has done a brilliant job and it incorporates everything. Plus he has some great interviews and his short “Gone Fishing” looks fab!

That’s all for now. Hope your week turns out great. I am off to NAB in Las Vegas next week so probably no posts from there, we’ll see. I plan to stop in to the 48 hour Film Project booth to see how that turns out. Bascially, 48 production teams have 48 hours to write a script, shoot and edit a finished project. Screenings of the end results are on April 22-23 at the Palms in Las Vegas. I can’t wait to see it.