As you know from last week’s post, I took part in the Sync Up Cinema event hosted by NOVAC at the New Orleans Museum of Art. I saw a video camera in the audience and was told a video of my conversation with Clint Bowie, Program Director for the New Orleans Film Society, would be uploaded online. I will post that when it happens, BUT there were many things I was prepared to talk about and didn’t get a chance to say. I made notes to prepare for the night, so I thought I would share those notes with you here on the blog. I was given an idea of the questions we would cover ahead of time, so I have included those with the notes.

Sync Up Cinema Conference with Clint Bowie and myself.                 Photo credit Ashley Charbonnet

How can filmmakers change their mindset to one of building and engaging their own audience and how does digital technology play into this?

SC: “The digital mindset has to be acquired now. This is no longer a world of the closed off artist. The new developments of crowdfunding, career sustainability by becoming an artist entrepreneur instead of being dependent on industry choosing you, and media interactivity/cross platform storytelling are all contingent on being open and connected to an audience.  Filmmakers must understand and use digital tools in their professional life to truly have a relationship with their audience. Anyone who can’t deal with that is going to be left behind in this world. That really goes for any professional, not just artists. I think we are now just in a transition period where we have to talk about this ‘mindset’ change because, believe me, young filmmakers are already doing this. It is natural to most of them and even more natural to 13-14-15 year olds! This will become a moot point very soon for everyone.”

How do you help filmmakers brand themselves rather than simply branding their projects so that they can move seamlessly from project to project without reupping every time? Is this something that is for “name directors only”.

SC: “Name directors would have an easier time connecting to an audience because their names are already recognizable, but the majority  don’t do it and that is detrimental for their continuing careers. They think the world where you can be removed and other people will just take care of audience attention for you will continue to exist. It won’t. Indeed, it is rude and selfish now to not be available.

Branding yourself simply means figuring out what you stand for, what your identity is. It isn’t a logo, it isn’t an image or a persona. It is who you really are as an artist. That identity does not radically change for most people. Independent artists in particular have a unique perspective. If they  didn’t have a somewhat unique vision, they would be selling insurance or working in a bank. Working in some nondescript job. They yearn to share their unique perspective with the world and they do it through images, stories. Social media, really the web in general, should be a place where they can thrive because it is full of stories and images!

Cory Doctorow and Neil Gaiman speak about artists being like dandelions. Instead of “giving birth” to only a few “babies” in a lifetime, artists should be creating all the time and putting their “seeds” out into the world. Some work will thrive and gather attention. Some work will die quickly, not be prosperous. Dandelions don’t care about their offspring, they just create. Sometimes their offspring live and sometimes they don’t. The internet is a place to create lots of little experiments and some will work wonderfully and some will not. Keep creating and try to make great work. That’s how you build your brand. That’s how you build a sustainable audience. Not by hoping to be picked up by the industry for a few of your offspring. It’s an audience for that one film, then you have to start over again. Your seeds can be blog posts or tweets or Facebook posts or Instagram photos. Something small every day.

This is the most basic thing to understand about brand building. All the digital tools and the metrics and the sales numbers, those are all byproducts of this basic understanding.

Be open, create great work, connect it with people. If you don’t do those 3 things, the rest of this doesn’t work.

What I do is encourage the filmmaker to figure out what their artistic identity is and how to share it with the world that can be reached online. It is hard work for me because few are embracing it as they should, but I know they are listening. They find me because I live what I am saying, I don’t spout out theory. I am not a publicist or a marketing consultant or a distributor who doesn’t even have their own website, or any social channels that they use regularly. I have to live it to help anyone with it.”

How do you work with filmmakers in terms of festival strategy?

SC: “Here is my strategy. If your film gets its premiere in a life changing festival, of which there are only a handful in the world, then that affects your distribution strategy. My colleague, Jeffrey Winter who handles all festival distribution for The Film Collaborative would call these IMPACT FESTIVALS.  He says an impact festival must offer at least 2 of these 3 things.

-Industry exposure which is what leads to a sale or a career launch.

-Press exposure to multiple major publications/media.

-Exposure to other festival programmers who will then invite your film to their festivals.

If a festival you are considering isn’t offering those things, then it is not an impact festival. There are also impact festivals within a niche like women’s film festivals, environmental festivals, Jewish festivals etc. If you cannot get into an impact festival, then the marketing and distribution strategy stays as it was in the M&D plan. Which means you have to have one from the start. If an impact festival premiere doesn’t happen, you need to plan your own impact premiere.

To me, the festival circuit is a theatrical release circuit with no revenue prospects, but far fewer costs than a conventional theatrical release. Unless you can get a screening fee, which is only possible in a few certain circumstances, then use a festival to do one night event screenings along with a service like Tugg or Gathr or community screenings where either a license fee is paid, or you are getting a significant cut of the ticket sales.

If the festival is small, the media coverage is small, no real industry people (ie, buyers or other festival programmers) attend, there is no screening fee and no way to make some revenue, then why go to that festival? It won’t make a difference to the film’s success and may not even make a difference to your career. If you know who your audience is and how to find them online, you don’t need a festival to reach them.”

Discuss festival darlings vs films that will be picked up and how to know what kind of film you have. Is it a festival film at all or something that should go to market or be self distributed.

SC: “A festival darling gets that way from being accepted into an impact festival.  Also, festival darlings will go on to play many other festivals, Jeffrey says at least 50 and they should be collecting screening fees with that so it becomes a source of revenue. Those films get picked up first.

If you mean a festival darling because it plays every little regional fest and stays on the circuit for over a year with no other distribution happening, it isn’t really a darling. It really means it doesn’t know what its doing.

There are elements that will help your film be a festival darling though..

-Name connections. I don’t mean name actors necessarily, but it never hurts . Is your producer connected? Is your director connected? Are you working with a sales agent?

-A lab program that is connected to prestige fests. Have you gone through labs with Sundance, IFP, Film Independent, San Francisco Film Society?

-A grant or funding organization like Cinereach on your side. Have you won a grant from a large film fund like Tribeca’s partnership with Ford Foundation? BritDoc Bertha Fund? Chicken and Egg? These organizations are filled with connected people who can pull some strings for your film if they think it is strong.

-A short film that is an alum of an impact festival. Impact fests love to champion their alumni filmmakers.

Festival programmers are tied into these networks and they ask ‘Is there anything out there I should be looking at?’  This is not blind submission territory. Anything they can do to wade through the pile of DVDs or online screeners to find the good stuff is welcome news to them. This is about getting to the upper end of the pile. Your film will be evaluated at a higher level. These connections change what is possible for your film.

If you haven’t got these connections, either GET them or be realistic about your prospects. You will be looking at your direct distribution options a lot more closely than a film with connections.

I still think a film with connections is going to have to build an audience though. Not all Sundance films get a pick up or get picked up and given meaningful release. Sundance didn’t create their Artists Services Program because they think all of their alumni will be given stellar releases. They created it because they know not all will and they can offer help to those willing to work. And while they do what they can to champion those alumni films, most still do not succeed because the filmmaker was ill prepared, budgeted no money for marketing and distribution and truthfully, some simply waited too long after their premiere to take advantage of the gift they were given in having that kind of premiere. That level of media buzz is not often recreated 2 years after the festival.

I am much more interested in seeing people like Shane Carruth, James Swirsky and Lisanne Pajot, Thomas Woodrow, Ava Duvernay, Tiffany Shlain, all leaping out of Sundance with their own path than the ones who are waiting around for their sales agent to work a miracle for them. They prepared their marketing and distribution plans, they went to Sundance with it under their arms and laying the groundwork ahead of time with audience building and they were in a great position to say whether they would take offers or not. They didn’t HAVE to do it.

I will say there is NO SUCH THING as a film that doesn’t have distribution. If a film isn’t being distributed, that is by the choice of the filmmaker. They rolled the dice and lost on the big all rights deal and didn’t prepare for anything else. ALL FILMS have a path to distribution now. It may not be the path they hoped for, but it is easy to distribute a film. Getting people to watch it? Another story.”

Distribution – What are some concerns filmmakers need to have in terms of their distribution strategy and how production budgets are tied into this. How should filmmakers determine if and what sales markets can bear films like theirs.

SC: “For sure you should be working with a legal advisor who is looking out for YOUR interests. This is not necessarily a sales agent whose commission is based on your signing an agreement. On The Film Collaborative site we just published a guest post by a filmmaker who had to take his sales agent to arbitration and what a nightmare it was because of the agreement they signed. Use an entertainment attorney who works with independents, not just studios and distributors and is truly looking out for your interests first.

As far as budgets, marketing and distribution expenses are not part of your production budget, they are a separate section. They are part of your overall business plan budget. In any other business, marketing expenses are just part of doing business, in addition to creating the product.  But they haven’t been a concern to filmmakers and investors in the independent film sector, strangely. That has to change.

I recently talked on Film Courage about needing a 10% budget minimum …but really if you desperately want a theatrical release or you are contractually obligated to have one and you may be paying for it yourself, you need about $50K just for that. You’ll most likely need a booker which costs about $10K, you’ll have to 4 wall for a week in NYC, San Francisco and a few other cities first so the booker can make a case for why cinemas should book your film, that will cost about $20K. You’ll need to hire a national publicist to get you the important New York Times review as well as other major publications because without those, why are you showing theatrically at all? That will run about $7K or more. You’ll need someone working online outreach probably on a full time basis and that will run about $7K. You’ll need materials like Blu Rays, DCP, trailer, poster, shipping costs, printing costs and some advertising. That will take you up to about $50K for a very small theatrical run.

Then if you are going to go ahead and direct distribute via digital platforms, if you work with a Gravitas, they will charge about $10K for encoding your film and getting it onto Cable VOD services. You will pay about $1500 to encode for iTunes and you need to have closed captioning and maybe subtitling which will run you about $1000 each for that. If you want it on iTunes in Australia, New Zealand and a few European countries, you’ll now need to have the film rated by the ratings board. They charge per minute on the film with an average cost of $2300 for Australia alone.

But if you have an impact festival premiere, great reviews, lots of buzz going on the film, you may not need to 4 wall so you can reduce that theatrical cost significantly. You still won’t make money on it, but it won’t cost too much either.

Sales markets are best handled by sales agents. If you want your film to be available at a market, I am assuming you mean for foreign sales, you are better off having someone whose whole job is devoted to buyers and markets handle your film there.

I think all filmmakers should attend a film market though because if you were ever under the illusion that you were making “art” you will learn very quickly that is about the last things buyers are looking for. They are looking for something that will sell. Sex, violence, stars..those are easy sells. And it is all right there on the poster or in the trailer. Right in your face. Go have a stroll around Cannes Marche du Film or around the Loew’s in Santa Monica at AFM. Visit before you even have a project to sell and it will be very illuminating.”

What is the average in terms of indie distribution.  We hear a lot of success stories about foreign markets, but that isn’t necessarily the average.

SC: “First, there is no average for advances. It is totally dependent on what kind of film you have and its pedigree.

Foreign market for the average American independent film is close to zero. I think the successful foreign sales you are hearing about are for the bigger budget, well known actor films. Presales are highly dependent on cast so if you don’t have A list or close to it in your film, you aren’t looking at presales. Yes, plenty of people are still talking about foreign presales, but ask them for examples. You’ll see they are talking about Hollywood level cast.

But say that you do want to see what your prospects are for foreign sales? I do suggest you get a foreign sales agent because they know who the territory distributors are. They deal with them all the time and they can be more effective at collecting money from them than you can. They license films to territory distributors in different countries. Territory distributors acquire rights to exhibit a film, show it on TV, use digital platforms within their territory. These territory distributors find out about films from film markets such as Cannes, Berlin, Asian Film Market and American Film Market and TV markets such as Mip, also in Cannes.

Here is a selection of top grossing American indies in foreign markets for 2012:

Silver Linings Playbook (David O Russell, Oscar nominated) $101mil (Australia and Spain top countries, sold to 46 territories)

Moonrise Kingdom (Wes Anderson, Oscar nominated) $22mil (uk, France, Australia, Germany & Spain top grossing, but sold in 41 territories)

Perks of Being a Wallflower (Stephen Chbosky, produced by John Malkovich’s Mr. Mudd , started as a novel) $15mil ( Australia, UK, Italy top countries, sold in 28 territories)

Cast involved in these films (Robert DeNiro, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Frances McDormand, Bill Murray, Edward Norton, Bruce Willis, Emma Watson, Dylan McDermott) Typical American indie film does not have this cast.

So what is an average advance in terms of domestic indie distribution? Very hard to say. Depends on the buzz coming off of it and what time of year the film sells. There were some strong sales at Sundance this year, Sundance being the beginning of the year. The Way, Way Back sold for $10 mil and will be released in July (fitting for a movie about working a summer job in a water park) and got only a C+ out of Indiewire. It has Toni Collette, Steve Carrell and Sam Rockwell in it. Don Juan’s Addiction sold for $4 mil with a $25mil marketing spend guarantee on 2000 screens out of Relativity Media. It will need to gross about $35mil to just recoup. I have no idea if that MG paid for the production budget. It is a Joseph Gordon Levitt, Scarlett Johansson, Julianne Moore film.

Some of the smaller films like Fruitvale Station (around $2mil to Weinstein, playing Cannes), Concussion (around $1mil, Radius-TWC), The Spectacular Now (around $1mil, A24)  S-VHS (around $1mil, Magnolia), Ain’t Them Bodies Saints (around $1mil, IFC also playing in Cannes). Many of these are already getting screening fee revenue out of other festivals that have programmed them.

Compare this with Toronto purchases, one of the last buyer festivals before the end of the year. The Place Beyond the Pines was picked up for under $3mil by Focus Features, but the production budget was $15mil. It was just released March 29, already hitting $12mil and most of that is foreign. Stars Ryan Gosling and Bradley Cooper.  I think they’ll be all right eventually, but Focus recoups and profits first, not the film’s investors.

What Maisie Knew went for $2mil to Millenium Entertainment, which is now for sale. It is set to go into theatrical release tomorrow.  Stars Alexander Skarsgard and Julianne Moore.

Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions bought a trio of films for a grand total of $5mil. Thanks for Sharing, Imogene and Joss Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing. I’m thinking the total production budgets for those films were a lot higher!

SXSW sales have been slow.  Cheap Thrills sold to Drafthouse for low-mid six figures which probably means $200K and a promise of theatrical and VOD/digital.  Holy Ghost People sold to XLrator Media for an undisclosed amount. Joe Swanberg’s Drinking Buddies has some high profile actors like Ron Livingston, Olivia Wilde and Anna Kendrick and was picked up by Magnolia, again no amount disclosed. Doc Good Ol’ Freda just sold to Magnolia and they say it will get a theatrical, again no amount disclosed. Usually Magnolia does Day and Date releases.

These are some of the top festivals for sales, the rest of the festivals are just exhibition exercises that you are hopefully using to launch into digital release. Hey, distributors do this too. Often even if a film will have a limited theatrical, it will still use the festival circuit as an exhibition space. But the difference is, those films will get screening fees.

But then you have films like Euphonia which premiered at SXSW and then went online for free.  It was a no budget (or no one is getting paid back) film, 54 minutes long so really not programmable in many places as far as festivals, broadcast, theatrical. It doesn’t have sales prospects and the filmmakers didn’t care. They are newbies, put their film on Vimeo just so people would see it without a money barrier. That isn’t wrong. Their goal is just getting people to see it.  They may accomplish that goal.

Numbers, everyone likes to know those and yet, we don’t. I would like to call on industry to start divulging more. Filmmakers start divulging more. We did this in our book Selling Your Film Without Selling Your Soul and it was difficult to get at them. A few filmmakers dropped out when they heard what info we wanted because they didn’t want to share that info. So you can’t complain about not knowing if you aren’t willing to share. Also, it is contractually agreed not to divulge numbers, keep everything private. We can know box office numbers, we can know DVD sales numbers, but so far there is no public database for digital numbers.

According to Gravitas Ventures’ Nolan Gallagher ‘When an independent film opens in four theaters in New York and Los Angeles—and those four theaters report $10,000 each for box office earnings—that’s a very easy amount of information to compile and publicize. But with VOD, we’re talking about over 100 different operators, each with its own way of compiling and disseminating information.’ Still statements and checks are sent to rights holders so a figure is obtained.

We know, based on self released numbers by Lionsgate/Roadside that Richard Gere’s Arbitrage which had a concurrent theatrical and VOD release took in about  $11 million in VOD/digital sales and over $7.5 million in ticket sales. The distribution company paid $2.1 million to acquire domestic rights out of  Sundance Film Festival, and Roadside spent about $2.5 million promoting the theatrical debut.  Marketing expenses for the VOD were reportedly only a few hundred thousand.

Margin Call with Kevin Spacey and Jeremy Irons had VOD sales of about $6 million and grossed $5.4 million in theaters. Also released by Lionsgate/Roadside.

Bachelorette grossed $5.5 million on VOD but took in $448,000 theatrically. Released by Radius TWC. Kirsten Dunst, Isla Fisher and Rebel Wilson star.

Where did all of those films come from?? Sundance!

But know this. It is nearly impossible to attract significant VOD revenue without a star driven film!! And sometimes stars want a theatrical guarantee, or their agents do.

A couple of more realistic indie film case studies that worked with Gravitas Ventures.

The Truth-made for a reported $500K, starring John Heard, Brendan Sexton III, Daniel Baldwin, Erin Cardillo. Made $ 75K in an advance from Netflix. It is a thriller.

American: The Bill Hicks Story: made for under $1mil, Cable VOD gross at $375K and iTunes gross $55K for both rental and download, though rental accounted for vast majority. A 2 year Netflix and Amazon  deal for about $100K license combined.”

As soon as the video of what we did actually talk about that night is available, I will post it here, tweet it, put it on my Facebook page and in my G+ community.

Next up for me in June, an Amsterdam workshop with the Binger Lab and Sheffield DocFest in the UK. If you’ll be in either of these places, give me a shout!

Often when thinking about the distribution of projects, filmmakers lock themselves into the old mindset of premiere at a festival/engage a sales agent/hope for lucrative distribution deals including a theatrical release/take off to make another project. In the current marketplace, all too often none of  that happens. I interviewed Film Collaborative member, Michelle Mower, to talk about how she broke out of that mindset and saw her film, The Preacher’s Daughter, not only reach millions of people, but set viewing records for Lifetime Movie Network. The full interview is on the TFC site, but here is an excerpt:

Michelle Mower: “I met Orly at the annual Business of Film Conference in Houston that is presented by SWAMP when I was in production and she told me to keep her apprised of what we were doing with it. I joined The Film Collaborative and once I had a rough cut, I sent it to Orly and asked her to give me feedback and guidance. I was thinking about festivals until she came back and said it wasn’t a festival film because it was too mainstream, too commercial in feel.  It probably wasn’t going to be programmed by the bigger festivals. She said I needed to think about other options. We had already submitted to some festivals, like SXSW, and it did not get in so it made me rethink what I was doing with the film and look at other options.”

“Orly introduced me to Imagination Worldwide, a sales agency, because they often work in broadcast licensing. I sent them a one sheet and that made them ask to see the film. I sent them my rough cut and they asked to rep it for the cable market. This was November 2011 and they took it to EFM the next February. They always knew that it might be of interest to Lifetime, but I didn’t get my hopes up. I was really still trying to raise more funds to get it absolutely completed.”

Check out the full interview, including how Michelle attracted Desperate Housewives star Andrea Bowen to the project and how Lifetime promoted the film to boost it to its highest ratings in 2012.

As stated in the last post, Jon Reiss and I (and Orly Ravid joined us for a bit) were recently part of a weeklong discussion on the D Word site about marketing and distributing documentaries. One of the questions came from a woman who asked about attracting sponsorship to a film project. She asked, “would you talk about some of the particulars of sponsorship in your case [with our book], and what process you went through to develop those sponsors?” I was also prompted to write about this after receiving a message via Linkedin from a connection who wanted me to send him my contact list of sponsors so he could use it for his project. I’m not too prone to turning over my list of contacts, but anyone can find them online. Just look at our list of sponsors in the free pdf copy, Google their websites and hit the Contact button.

So, about attracting sponsors. First you have to determine what are you really offering a sponsor. I don’t mean logo space on your website or key art, inclusion in your credit roll, or pre or post roll ad space. If you don’t have a large amount of web traffic, there is no pre sale in place guaranteeing your film is going to be widely distributed and you can’t demonstrate that a lot of publicity that is beneficial to the sponsor will be generated by your film’s release, it is going to be very difficult to get money out of a sponsor. They can buy targeted media space on well established outlets with a better guarantee of their brand being seen. So really think about this before you send out proposals to sponsors offering logo space on your website as something worthy of spending thousands of dollars of their marketing budget on.

Regarding how we did it for our book , first The Film Collaborative‘s Orly Ravid and Jeffrey Winter are well known in the industry, especially among distributors and festivals so we knew we would have some support with spreading the word about the book through Sundance, AFI Fest, Palm Springs International, Los Angeles Film Festival, some European festivals like Sheffield Docfest, some LGBT festivals like Frameline and Outfest and we all have contacts at bigger print media like IndieWire, Screen International, Variety (who wouldn’t cover us it turns out), Filmmaker Magazine plus well known indie film bloggers like No Film School, Filmmaking Stuff and Film Directing Tips .  Then we have Jon Reiss who is a teacher, a filmmaker, an author and has many personal connections, his own fan base as well as industry connections at CalArts and IFP that he can call on to spread the word. And then there’s me and some people know me and when I ask them to help me, they do. Those people are all over the world and mostly on Twitter and Facebook so that helps. We all also do a lot of public speaking on panels, workshops, keynote addresses. The more visibly we are promoting the book, the more attention it gets.

We took these media contact names and their website traffic stats and festival names that are our connections and combined them with the well known (in indie film circles) brands of all of the authors and put them in a sponsorship deck that outlined what the book was going to be, who exactly it was written for, how we planned to reach those people, how the book would be distributed and how much coverage we were likely to get through our efforts and we chose sponsorship levels of support and the benefits associated with each level. We knew how much we needed to raise in basic development costs (because initially the book would only be digital) and later printing costs when we decided to print. We didn’t take into account our own fees for writing, that was gravy if we raised more than the development costs (we did end up with money for writing fees).

But what one needs to make off of sponsorship is beside the point to potential sponsors. They want to know how their objectives are going to be reached through sponsoring your project. When we sent out the deck to the sponsors, we crafted a letter that addressed why we thought their involvement would be beneficial to them. Knowing we were going to be launching at a large, annual event targeted at independent filmmakers helped our efforts because it wasn’t just a book launch into the market, it was coupled with a larger event with more media coverage which is valuable to a sponsor.

Next, we made lists of what companies we knew, who knew us and what we stood for and how we are known, and we sent them the sponsorship proposals. We also sent proposals to any company looking to reach the audience we would be targeting. At the end of the day, only the companies we had direct relationships with actually supported us. Even though many others showed interest, ultimately those companies didn’t pony up.

Since the book has been widely distributed for free and self published (so we hold all the rights and can do whatever we want with the book), we have had inquiries after we released about wanting to sponsor it and we will follow up to see where the fit is. We can’t put their ad in the printed copy for this printing obviously and we won’t be taking down the digital editions on Amazon or iTunes any time soon because it is a bit of a pain in the head process, but we have a website that can be sponsored, we have an active blog, we have a newsletter, we appear in person where we give shoutouts to our sponsors (by the way they are Prescreen, Area23a Movie Events, Dynamo Player, Gravitas Ventures, Topspin Media, SnagFilms, EggUp and other media sponsors listed on our website and in the copies of the book) so there are other opportunities for sponsors if they want to become involved.

It was also important to us and to our sponsors, that a version be available for free. Why? Free makes downloading the book a no brainer and the more downloads we have, the more the sponsors’ messages spread. Also, TFC is a non profit (on purpose!) entity and part of their mandate is devoted to education. This book is an educational resource and we wanted all filmmakers to be able to have the knowledge. We also wanted to get as much attention for the filmmakers who participated in the book as we could. Wins for all involved!

In my chapter of the book, I take a look at people distributing their work for free in order to serve a goal. It might be name recognition, building a following for subsequent work, raising funding (crowdfunding) or in the case of Nina Paley’s Sita Sings the Blues, distributing her film for free and making money with other things.

You don’t use free to keep working for free. You use free to serve a purpose to something else that will get you paid and there needs to be a plan in place for getting that. In our case, we had sponsorship that allowed us to make money before even one copy of the book was sold. Free served the purpose of getting more eyeballs for the sponsors, more attention for the authors, building up a bigger base of  loyal filmmaker fans, those fans turn to us when they need to hire someone to help. Free is a means to another revenue stream. Those in the film business do A LOT of work for free but it has to have a defined purpose, a way to make money somewhere. There is no strategy to throwing up a film on Youtube for free. One has to determine what the strategy behind free is, what purpose is it ultimately going to serve? There has to be more revenue streams set up besides just making money selling copies of your film.

There must be other filmmakers out there who have successfully found sponsors. I welcome anyone who wants to share that information with us.

Just a little update for all the readers here.

I am involved in 2 SXSW panel proposals for the 2012 festival. Both contain some pretty awesome people and information that I think you will all find valuable.

Connect with Fans + Reasons to Buy = $$$

This is a workshop/speed brainstorm type of event moderated by Mike Masnick, founder of Techdirt , an online blog focused on analyzing and offering insight into news stories about changes in government policy, technology and legal issues that affect companies’ ability to innovate and grow.

My fellow panelists are Ross Pruden, founder of the Twitter discussion panel #infdist among other things and Jon Reiss, I think most of you are familiar with him. We will be taking  film project examples from participants in the room and dreaming up alternative revenue streams to help maximize your ROI. Gone are the days where you can be completely dependent on making money from selling copies of your film. When copies can be obtained for free online, you could try and sue, issue take down notices OR you could build in other ways to make money so that your revenue isn’t completely dependent on selling copies. New business models are emerging every day in other sectors, why not in film?

I envision a very high energy session with ideas flying out from everywhere so bring a recording device to catch them all. If you think this would be a much more useful session than just listening to the same industry folks sitting at a table talking about how bad everything has become, VOTE! We want to shake things up at SXSW.

Selling Your Film Without Getting F*#ked

Yes the title is a little racy, but we were told that’s what gets attention when people look through the event catalog to choose sessions they want to attend. Besides, you’re INDIE so you can take it.

This is a panel I am moderating and it will include several independent filmmakers who have traveled the distribution path less taken. All have retained some rights over their work and received attention and revenue for their films be it organizing their own theatrical tours, using festivals as a source of revenue by charging screening fees, or enlisting the help of high power industry people to champion their films. Some have even managed to do equitable deals with distributors! Our panelists are Ava DuVernay, Casper Andreas, Thomas Woodrow and our very own co author of Selling Your Film Without Selling Your Soul, Orly Ravid who is also the founder and co executive director of The Film Collaborative, a non profit (on purpose!) organization dedicated to brokering equitable deals mainly with the filmmaker in mind. If you would like to hear from real people in the trenches of the business of independent film who can offer you good and usable advice, VOTE for this panel.

moving on….

I will be traveling to 2 important independent film events in September. The first is the Business of Film Conference held at Rice University in Houston, Texas on September 10. I’m going to be speaking on DIY marketing, some of the tools you can use right now and how best to use them. I will also be on a panel with my friend Orly to talk a little about why we wrote SYFWSYS, key takeaways we learned through talking to all of our filmmaker participants in the book, and how The Film Collaborative helps filmmakers who are trying to negotiate the best distribution deals for themselves, not for the distributor.

Next will be our book launch at IFP Week in New York City. I am scheduled to be a panelist on Monday September 19 for Walking the Line: The Fine Art of Self Promoting Your Film so if you are attending that talk, come up and say hi after. Our launch cocktail party hosted by SnagFilms will be in the evening from 6-8pm and if you want to be invited, leave your email address on the SYFWSYS site under the Get tab. All of the authors will be in attendance and we will be selling printed copy books that you can have autographed if you want or just stare at us in disbelief! There will be wine and I will be having some.

Speaking of printed copies of the book, yeah there will be that option. I know what you’re thinking, this was supposed to just be a digital book with all the lovely bells and whistles currently available such as video, url links, social media sharing. It still will be that and for the month of September, right after launch on September 13, it will be completely FREE on ALL platforms thanks to the sponsors who have helped us make the development of the book possible. Starting in October, that price climbs to a whopping $4.99. But now, due to a multitude of feedback that says to me filmmakers aren’t the early adopters I thought they were, we will have physical copies of the book too just so you can highlight, dog ear and not worry about the battery life of your reading device when reading it. Gigantic thanks to our sponsors, Prescreen who upped their sponsorship commitment for this and Area23a Movie Events, for enabling us to go to print without any personal outlay of money. We are planning to have the physical copies in by our launch party on September 19 and you can leave a presale request on our site. I think a Topspin shopping cart is going to be implemented within days to allow for that. The retail price on the paperback is $19.95

Ok folks, we’re in countdown to launch mode. We have a tips series going on indieWire over the next few weeks. You can find our advice about things to know before you embark on the festival circuit here and audience building tips from me and some of the participants in the book here.

I may have bothered a few of you with this on Facebook to help narrow down the choices (thanks for taking the time!), but now we are asking all of our filmmaker friends to help us choose a title. This will be a digital book (to start with, other formats to follow but will be less cool) to take advantage of all the great ways to layer in content, context, additional resources and social media capabilities (c’mon how can we NOT?). It is due for release during IFP Week in September. I am co authoring it with The Film Collaborative’s Orly Ravid and Jeffrey Winter as well as Jon Reiss so you know it will be the real story, no sugar coating, real numbers. It will be a collection of case studies with practical advice from those in the hybrid distribution/DIY distribution trenches and I think it is going to be epic!!

We’ve got a good cross section of subject matter; documentaries, narratives and my chapter even includes a web series (as well as films) using P2P networks to distribute. I’m going to be taking a look at the piracy debate and creators who have chosen to use the internet as their primary distribution method. In the coming months, you will be hearing more about this, but we need your help to give it a name. Promotion ALL starts with a name. The choices are a mix of the academic to the subversive so we’ll see what wins out.

We will probably test more things like cover art too, but for now, please help us with this most basic element. You can take the survey right here

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/VJDLH8Q

Update: we did arrive at a title. “Selling Your Film Without Selling Your Soul” will be released in September 2011. Thanks to all those who helped us choose!

If you don’t, don’t worry many inexperienced filmmakers don’t know all that is expected either to deliver the film to a sales agent/distributor for a theatrical and/or DVD deal. But since you have elected to undertake the job of marketing AND distribution, you will need to be keeping up with these elements all along the production phase.

I asked my friend Orly Ravid from The Film Collaborative to give me a list of the kind of deliverables distributors are requesting right now in contracts. She sent me a few and they all seem pretty boilerplate similar.

Initial Delivery Items

A.            PUBLICITY MATERIAL

1.            Key Art – Physical delivery of key art in fully layered photoshop files on CD.

2.            Advertising/Publicity Material – All publicity which may have been prepared in connection with the Picture, but not less than one complete set of all advertising materials available, including, without limitation, press books, posters and publicity material.  In addition, a written report of all additional photography in existence, including, without limitation, special shoots, photo agency art, etc. These materials may be delivered on CD or DVD.

3.             Artwork Images - Physical delivery of fifty (50) or more color digital images of cast/characters as they appear in the film (no behind-the-scenes) with a corresponding index in English including appropriate captions identifying the subject and scene depicted in each digital image.  Any and all approvals or other authorizations that may be required in connection with the use of said digital images will be secured and delivered.  These materials may be delivered on CD or DVD.

4.            Press Kits – Three (3) press kits which include a synopsis, production notes, biographies for key players, director, producer, screenwriter, and credit list of both cast and crew (and their English translations, if in a foreign language)

5.            Electronic Press Kit – If available, delivery of EPK Materials on Digital Betacam Videotape.

B.            DOCUMENTATION MATERIAL

1.              E&O APPLICATION – Completed and signed application for Producer’s Errors & Omissions insurance (Distributor to supply form).

2.            CAST/TALENT/PERSONNEL AGREEMENTS – Fully executed agreements for all cast, crew and other entities and related personnel who have been accorded paid advertising and/or screen credit.  For any person listed in the billing block or main titles who does not have an agreement, please deliver a signed Certificate of Ownership (form to be provided by Distributor).  ANY CAST/TALENT/ PERSONNEL AGREEMENT CONTAINING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, EXCLUDED AD OBLIGATIONS, PAID AD, KEY ART, OR ON-SCREEN CREDIT OBLIGATIONS, ARTWORK TITLE ENTITLEMENTS, CREDIT TIES, NAME AND LIKENESS APPROVALS OR OTHER RESTRICTIONS OR TIES SHALL BE DELIVERED TO DISTRIBUTOR WITHIN TEN (10) BUSINESS DAYS OF EXECUTION OF THIS ACQUISITION AGREEMENT.  If there are no such credit obligations included in these agreements, they may be delivered at any time up to the Initial Delivery Date.

(a)            Cast/Talent/Personnel Agreements must include a waiver of injunctive relief, “work-made-for-hire” language, and allow for the use of name and likeness.  If such agreements do not include the aforementioned language, Licensor will obtain signed Certificates of Ownership (form to be provided by Distributor).

(b)            Composer Agreements shall include the above-mentioned language and provide for underscoring on an all media buy-out basis (Distributor to provide a Composer Certificate of Ownership upon Licensor’s request), and evidence of payment shall be delivered for each composer of underscoring for the Picture.

(c)            Agreements shall be delivered with an accompanying English translation if not in English originally.

(d)            In the event that the Cast/Talent/Personnel Agreements for the Picture do not meet the above requirements and Licensor delivers Certificates of Ownership, Licensor will also deliver the defective Personnel Agreements if these agreements include any credit obligations, artwork title obligations, name and likeness provisions, or any other provisions that would have any bearing on the creation of artwork or marketing materials for the Picture.

3.              CREDIT INFORMATION – Statements and/or lists in English summarizing all contractual credit/likeness obligations applicable to the Picture, including, but not limited to the following.  Credits must comply with all applicable guild and union requirements, and any and all guild related waivers or determination must be obtained prior to Delivery.  LICENSOR MUST INFORM DISTRIBUTOR OF ANY EXCLUDED AD OBLIGATIONS, PAID AD, KEY ART OR ON-SCREEN CREDIT OBLIGATIONS, ARTWORK TITLE ENTITLEMENTS, CREDIT OR LIKENESS TIES, NAME AND LIKENESS APPROVALS, LOGO OBLIGATIONS, OR OTHER RESTRICTIONS, OBLIGATIONS, OR TIES RELATING TO THE CREATION OF ARTWORK OR MARKETING MATERIALS, WITHIN TEN (10) BUSINESS DAYS OF EXECUTION OF THE ACQUISITION AGREEMENT.

(a)            Screen Credits

(i)            A list of all contractual screen credit obligations.  (If there is no contractual obligation to accord a certain credit which has been accorded on screen, the “obligation” should be stated as “Licensor’s Discretion”).

(ii)            A typed list of the final main and end credits as they ultimately appear on screen.

(b)            Paid Advertising Credits

(i)            Artwork title credit obligations, inclusive of proper positioning information.

(ii)            Billing block credit obligations, inclusive of proper positioning information.

(iii)          Excluded advertising credit obligations.

(iv)            Any and all logos that Licensor is contractually obligated to include below the billing block in paid advertising, together with the underlying agreements substantiating any logo obligations, such as Sales Agency Agreements and Financing Agreements.  Any such underlying agreements shall be delivered to Distributor within ten (10) business days of execution of the Acquisition Agreement.  Logos must be provided on CD as “.psd” files in full color and B/W.

(c)            Key Art Obligations & Photograph/Likeness Approvals

(i)            A list of all cast members who are contractually entitled to appear in the key art and paid ads for the Picture, and/or whose contractual entitlement is tied to one or more other persons in the Picture, and/or who have been granted approval rights (as well as specifics regarding those rights) over the photographic images or artistic likenesses used in any artwork or marketing materials for the Picture (e.g. percentage of kills alone, percentage of kills with one other person, etc.).

4.            STATEMENT OF THIRD PARTY RESTRICTIONS – If requested, a statement in English from Licensor listing all dubbing, subtitling, editing, cutting and any other third party restrictions applicable to the Picture of which Distributor and its licensees must be aware.

5.            CHAIN OF TITLE

(a)            All documents evidencing proof of ownership and all documents evidencing proof of payment in connection with any transfer of rights (including, but not limited to, Writer Agreements, Option/Purchase Agreements, Assignments of Copyright; Assignments of Rights, etc) (translated into English if not in English originally);

(b)             A filed U.S. Copyright Registration form for the Screenplay.   If this form has not yet been submitted to the US Copyright Office, please allow us to approve the filing beforehand in order to avoid the time and cost associated with incorrect filings.  In the event that the endorsed registration form has not yet been received from the US Copyright Office (USCO), we will accept on a provisional basis a filing packet consisting of:

• a copy of the Form PA as filed, a copy of proof of payment, and a copy of the courier receipt evidencing date of submission.  When received, a copy of the endorsed Form PA must be sent by Licensor to Distributor; or
• a copy of the Form PA as filed, a receipt from Thomson CompuMark or other filing agency evidencing date of filing, and a copy of proof of payment. When received, a copy of the endorsed Form PA must be sent by Licensor to Distributor; or
• a copy of the electronic Service Request Detail from the USCO reflecting the online filing of a Form CO (equivalent to the old Form PA), a copy of the e-mail payment confirmation, a copy of USCO bar-coded Deposit Copy Shipping Slip for Deposit Copies Sent to Accompany an Electronically Submitted Application, and a copy of the FedEx Airbill evidencing shipment of the DVD to the Copyright Office. When received, a copy of the endorsed Form CO must be sent by Licensor to Distributor.

(c)            A filed U.S. Copyright Registration form for the Motion Picture.   If this form has not yet been submitted to the US Copyright Office, please allow us to approve the filing beforehand in order to avoid the time and cost associated with incorrect filings.  In the event that the endorsed registration form has not yet been received from the US Copyright Office (USCO), we will accept on a provisional basis a filing packet consisting of:

• a copy of the Form PA as filed, a copy of proof of payment, and a copy of the courier receipt evidencing date of submission.  When received, a copy of the endorsed Form PA must be sent by Licensor to Distributor; or
• a copy of the Form PA as filed, a receipt from Thomson CompuMark or other filing agency evidencing date of filing, and a copy of proof of payment. When received, a copy of the endorsed Form PA must be sent by Licensor to Distributor; or
• a copy of the electronic Service Request Detail from the USCO reflecting the online filing of a Form CO (equivalent to the old Form PA), a copy of the e-mail payment confirmation, a copy of USCO bar-coded Deposit Copy Shipping Slip for Deposit Copies Sent to Accompany an Electronically Submitted Application, and a copy of the FedEx Airbill evidencing shipment of the DVD to the Copyright Office. When received, a copy of the endorsed Form CO must be sent by Licensor to Distributor.

(d)            Title Report dated within sixty (60) days of Delivery, and a Title Opinion, if available;

(e)            Copyright Report dated within sixty (60) days of Delivery; and

(f)            Two (2) original Certificates of Authorship.

6.            IRS FORMS:

• For domestic licensors, one (1) completed and signed original Form W-9.
• For foreign licensors, one (1) completed and signed original Form W-8BEN.  Distributor will provide all foreign licensors with full instructions on how to correctly complete this form.

7.            FACT SHEET:  One (1) completed original Fact Sheet in English.

COMPLETE DELIVERY ITEMS

A.            FILM AND VIDEO MATERIAL:

1.              Pre-Print Elements

(a)            Lab access to the 35mm fully assembled original negative, if available

(b)            Lab access to the 35mm Interpositive of the full feature, if available

2.            Videotape Elements

(a)            Physical delivery of the following high definition (“HD”) videotape masters:

For 1.85:1 or 1.78:1 films:

HD Cam SR 16:9 (1.33 side-matted)

HD Cam SR 16:9 full frame (1.78)

For 2.35:1 (or other scope measurement) films:

HD Cam SR 16:9 (1.33 side-matted)

HD Cam SR 16:9 full frame (1.78)

HD Cam SR 16:9 (2.35)

Each HD videotape master shall be recorded at 1080/23.98Psf. Each HD videotape master shall have the 2-track LT/RT printmaster on channels 1 and 2, and the 2-track LT/RT M&E on channels 3 and 4, and the 5.1 Printmaster on Channels 5-10. Textless backgrounds for the main, insert and end titles shall appear sixty (60) seconds after Picture in each videotape master. The textless backgrounds shall be color corrected to match the corresponding texted shots.

(b) Physical delivery of a Digital Betacam NTSC broadcast quality 16×9 anamorphic videotape master (respecting the original aspect ratio of the film) and 4×3 1.33:1 master with stereo mix on channels 1 & 2 and separate music and effects on channels 3 & 4 and the textless background sections included after the Picture. These elements may not be conversions.

(c)            Physical delivery of the following Sound Elements on DVD-R, DA-88 or Magneto Optical Disc or Harddrive conformed to the final version of the Picture:

Stereo 2 track Printmaster

5.1 Printmaster

5.1 M & E printmaster w/ Dialogue Guide on Ch. 7 and Optional Audio on Ch. 8

Separate Dialogue, Music and Effects Stereo Stems

Separate Dialogue, Music and Effects 5.1 Stems

3.              Promotional and DVD Added Value Materials – Licensor shall deliver a minimum of twenty (20) minutes of added value materials for promotional purposes or for the DVD release, including, without limitation, all outtakes, deleted scenes, and trims, soundtracks (whether negative, positive or magnetic) produced for or used in the process of preparing the Picture, “Making of”/ “Behind the Scenes” featurettes, storyboards, interviews, alternate openings/endings, or commentaries.  Additionally, Licensor shall deliver all added value materials resulting from any theatrical release of the Picture, whether inside or outside the Territory. Should Distributor elect to create extra commentary or other added value content in connection with the video release of the Picture, Licensor shall cause the individuals listed in Paragraph 1 of the Agreement (i.e., the director, stars, and producers of the Picture) to render services in connection therewith. Delivery of A/V materials shall be on HDCam (if available) with Stereo Comp on Channels 1&2 and Separate Production audio and Music as .wav/.aiff files delivered on DVD.

4.              Foreign Language Dub Versions –

(a)            If available, physical delivery of the Neutral Spanish (i.e. non-Castilian) overlay.

(b)            If available, free access to the Neutral French (i.e. non-Canadian) overlay.

5.              SHOOTING SCRIPT

(a)            Physical delivery of the final shooting script of the Picture.

(b)            If available, physical delivery of the final shooting script of the Picture on disk.

6.             DIALOGUE CONTINUITY/SPOTTING LIST

Combined dialogue action continuity and spotting list containing all spotted dialogue, narration, sound vocals, all opening titles and complete end credits appearing in Picture, as well as a cut-by-cut description of the action of the Picture in its final form, with footage and frame counts showing footage in, footage out and total duration of each line of dialogue (translated into English if not in English originally).

B.            TRAILER MATERIAL:

1.              Videotape Elements

(a)            Physical delivery of a Digital Betacam NTSC broadcast quality videotape master with stereo mix (if applicable) on channels 1 & 2 and separate music and effects on channels 3 & 4 and the textless background sections (if applicable) included after the Picture.

(b)            Physical delivery of Sound Elements on DA-88 or Magneto Optical Disc conformed to the final version of the trailer, with separate Narration, Dialogue, Music, and Effects tracks.

2.              Foreign Language Dub Versions – If available, free access to the Neutral Spanish (i.e. non-Castilian) overlay.

3.              Foreign Language Dub Versions – If available, free access to the Neutral French overlay.

4.              Dialogue Continuity/Spotting List – Required only if Distributor uses Licensor’s Trailer.

Combined dialogue action continuity and spotting list containing all spotted dialogue, narration, sound vocals, all opening titles and complete end credits appearing in Trailer, as well as a cut-by-cut description of the action of the Picture in its final form, with footage and frame counts showing footage in, footage out and total duration of each line of dialogue (translated into English if not in English originally).

C.             DOCUMENTATION MATERIAL

1.              MUSIC DOCUMENTATION

(a)            Music Cue Sheet – A Music Cue Sheet in English stating for each composition in the Picture: the title, the composer(s), publisher(s), copyright owner(s), performer(s), arranger(s), usage, performing rights society, timecodes indicating where each cue appears in the Picture (“ins” and “outs”), as well as the film footage and running time.

(b)              Music Licenses – Fully executed synchronization and master use licenses on an all media buy-out basis for each item of licensed music used in the Picture with the Term stated as “in perpetuity” and the Territory stated as “the world” for each license.  Evidence of payment under each synchronization and master use license and composer agreement shall also be delivered.  Licenses and Agreements shall be translated into English if not in English originally.

2.              CERTIFICATE OF ORIGIN – One (1) notarized original of a Certificate of Origin.

3.              MPAA RATING – A paid rating certificate from the Motion Picture Code and Rating Administration of America, Inc., no more restrictive than R.

4.              GUILD AFFILIATION LETTER – A letter in English, signed by the producer or director of the Picture setting forth all United States and foreign guilds and unions whose members rendered services on the Picture (for specific guilds, see below). If none, then a letter in English, signed by the producer or director of the Picture setting forth that no members of any United States or foreign guilds and unions rendered services on the Picture.

(a)            SAG:  If the Picture was produced under the jurisdiction of SAG:  Completed copies of the SAG “Final Cast Report” covering all actors engaged on the Picture, including without limitation actors rendering singing, looping and “voice-over” services in post-production. (b)            DGA:  If the Picture was produced under the jurisdiction of the DGA:  The name, social security number, loan-out information (where appropriate) and job description of all DGA members engaged on the Picture; and the DGA approval of the final main and end title credits, signed by an authorized representative of the DGA.

(c)            WGA:  If the Picture is subject to WGA jurisdiction:  The name, address, social security number and loan-out information (where appropriate) for all writers receiving credit on the Picture; a copy of the final WGA notice of final determination or credit on the Picture, signed by an authorized representative of the WGA; and the WGA approval of the final main and end title credits, signed by an authorized representative of the WGA.

5.              ADDITIONAL AGREEMENTS / STATEMENTS – As applicable, copies of all agreements and documents relating to the Picture not delivered as part of Initial Delivery delivered with an accompanying English translation if not in English originally, including, but not limited to:

(a)            Minor confirmations:  If applicable, and to the extent required by applicable law, all talent agreements for all minors shall be confirmed by the court.  In the event that court confirmation is not applicable, a letter from an attorney in the jurisdiction in which principal production took place stating that the agreements are valid, binding and enforceable under the laws of said jurisdiction shall be provided.

(b)            Nudity Riders:  If applicable, all actors appearing partially or wholly nude on-screen, or in simulated sex scenes, must give written consent to such nudity.  If Talent Agreements do not include nudity language, Licensor will obtain signed Nudity Riders (form to be provided by Distributor).  However, if an actor is a member of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), a SAG Nudity Rider must be provided even if language pertaining to nudity appears in Talent’s contract.

(c)            Clip Documentation:  If clips from other films are used in the Picture, Licensor shall provide copies of all necessary Clip Licenses, or permissions granting the rights to use the clips in the Picture (translated into English if not in English originally), and a proof of payment for each clip used.  Licensor shall also deliver a Clip Cue Sheet in English stating for each clip used in the Picture: the title of the original work, the licensor of the clip, the film footage and running time, and timecodes indicating where the clip appears in the Picture (“ins” and “outs”).

(d)            Releases – If requested, signed releases from all persons identified by name or likeness in the Picture, who do not have signed contracts.

(e)            Coverage – If requested, access to the original negative, answerprint, work picture, magnetic or digital soundtracks, filled music and effect tracks and the original sound recordings, of all alternative takes, cover shots looped dialogue lines and other materials (collectively referred to as “coverage”) for the purpose of re-transferring and / or conforming to rating requirements, broadcast standards and practices and censorship.

(f)            Dolby License – If applicable, a copy of the executed license agreement in full force and effect between the producer and Dolby Laboratories, Inc. in connection with the Picture, as well as a copy of the license with the appropriate digital entity (e.g. SRD, Sony Digital/SDDS or Digital Theater Systems).

(g)            Laboratory Access Letter – If delivering 35mm pre-print materials, Laboratory Access Letter in the form attached as Exhibit “E” to this Agreement, signed by the Licensor and each respective Laboratory and/or facility having possession of the preprint and sound materials for the Picture (all versions) and trailer(s), including film, sound and storage facilities.

(h) Negative Cost Statement – If delivering 35mm pre-print materials, a one line statement in English of the final negative cost of the Picture and signed by an officer of Licensor or a completion guarantor.

Whew! Best to print this out, organize it in a folder so you can keep track of the forms and other elements. While on bigger productions, many of the crew roles are tasked with keeping track of these items. On small productions, these things come as a surprise when they seek distribution agreements and to go back and pick these items up can be time/financially costly. Best to be prepared well in advance. Incidentally, Orly tells me that foreign distributors will often pay for delivery as part of the deal.

With Trevor Anderson at Sundance 2011

As long as everyone else is weighing in on Sundance 2011, I may as well add my 2 cents.

I went to Sundance to work with filmmaker Trevor Anderson and his short film The High Level Bridge. We had a great time attending parties, doing interviews, seeing a few films (and I do mean few). The High Level Bridge is one of the lucky 12 shorts to be featured on the YouTube Screening Room and in the first 24 hours on the site, the film was watched over 30,000 times. If the goal of making your short is to serve as a calling card film, I can’t think of a better way to get it in front of people. How many other short films get that kind of traffic on the festival circuit? on digital sites? It has now enjoyed over 106,000 views, good for Trevor!

Whereas I spent the majority of my time in Park City last year with Slamdance, this year I learned some of the ins and outs of the authentic Sundance experience. I have to say the Sundance program truly is top notch in the way they take care of filmmakers. From the unique swag (special director’s jackets from Kenneth Cole) to networking opportunities within the industry and access to future opportunities in their lab programs, it is no wonder those who are invited to screen at the festival feel part of the “chosen” group. It is just not possible to get this kind of nurturing from many other places in the independent film world and they are to be commended for providing what they do.

Even if you haven’t (yet!) been chosen to screen, I think it is an educational experience just to attend the festival. Before jumping in, I think you should spend time watching. Observe how things happen, start watching what the film teams are doing before they get on the ground, how they are covered when they are there, what opportunities are presented, all of it you appreciate more when you are in the thick of it instead of seeing it from afar. Plus, seeing the films before anyone else which just raises your insider knowledge.

BUT…mostly watch. Park City is also full of the wanna-be, didn’t- make- it- into- Sundance- even- though- my- film- is- brilliant filmmakers. The more you see it, the cheesier it is and you can’t really see it when you ARE it. No, everyone doesn’t get in. That’s what makes it special. That’s why the opportunities are greater for the ones who do. Even if you don’t get in, you can still learn from it.  You just have to be patient and be willing to observe. Study the articles written about those filmmakers, how did they accomplish it? You’ll see a pattern, trust me.

If you want to check out my pics, they are on my Flickr account.

*****

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention I was ecstatic to hear Kevin Smith’s announcement. Yeah, there are those who defend the status quo of the industry and bemoan how awfully they were treated at his premiere. I am not one of them. I was utterly surprised to hear his statement and can do nothing but cheer him on. He is living my Building the Community Web Around an Artist post and I can’t wait to see how it turns out for him. Can everyone copy this? No, not initially. Smith has been building his web for over 15 years. It takes time and consistency. But I wager that it will work.

*****

I have a few projects coming up. Lots of writing for me as well as working on a few new projects and continuing with some familiar people like Jon Reiss, Roberta Munroe and The Film Collaborative. I am also booked to attend SxSW in March, so if you will be attending, we’ll have to catch up. I really enjoyed meeting in person some people I have only connected with online while I was in Park City like Laura Costantino, Gregory Bayne, Tiffany Shlain (you HAVE to see her film Connected), Elsie Nwankwo, Zack Godshall (you HAVE to see his film Lord Byron), Ira Deutchman and Michael Barnard. It is always a good idea to extend the online relationship into the offline space. Great meeting you all!