Dive into the archives.
- SXSW Panels for your consideration
As filmmakers face all kinds of challenges, I have two very different panels in the SXSW Panel Picker hoping for your vote.
Broadband Issues for Content Makers helps film and video makers understand some of the issues around Broadband and ‘Net Neutrality’ and how they specifically impact independent producers.
Live! Nude! Audience! takes YOUR submission to be instantly reviewed by our crack team of experts and evaluated for marketing and outreach opportunities. You’ll get to see the process in action for your own film or discover the best ideas to use for future projects. And of… [more]
- Think Outside the Box Office Workshop NYC
Jon Reiss, furthering his bid to unseat Peter Broderick in whatever category they’re competing in, will be doing a 2-day workshop in NYC June 5-6 for filmmakers which will cover distribution & marketing, transmedia, and Jon’s many unique and insightful approaches to indie film dissemination. It’s $150 for members… [more]
- Think Outside: Jon Reiss tells you how to release a film today
Think Outside The Box (Office): The Ultimate Guide to Film Distribution and Marketing in the Digital Era is the new book from filmmaker/author Jon Reiss (not yet available at Amazon.com). For readers of this site, the book is probably both utterly essential and potentially old news. It provides a step-by-step guide to creating a strategy for your film in the digital age, and how to exploit different platforms and techniques to reach an audience.
I haven’t yet read the book but overall, if you care considering a DIY strategy for your film release, this looks like a fantastic… [more]
- Killer Aced; sponsorship could help finance your indie film
There are all kinds of schemes and innovations emerging in financing and marketing, and it’s no surprise that veteran producer Christine Vachon and her production company Killer Films are at the forefront. Vachon has teamed up with online film production network Massify and the uberhip NYC Ace Hotel (the Seattle and Portland locations are favourites of mine) to produce a series of short films- with sponsorship money from the hotel and the website but basic creative freedom (the films are set in a hotel, but that is hardly a constraint).
At tonight’s IFP fete for
- Top 5 places to post your trailer
You’ve laboured to make the the perfect, taut, compelling trailer- now you need people to see it. Where are the places that will get your film to your audience?
1. Youtube
2. Apple trailers- if you can get on here, it is the gold standard, but they’re selective.
3. Facebook- A fan page is good, but the advanced user may want to consider a video sharing widget ala Brightcove
4. Hulu – trailers are in MPEG2 format and you should contact trailers@hulu.com
5. Specialty sites- no matter what the topic of your film, chances are there is a video-hosting… [more]
- I want to rock and roll all night (and wake up in the gutter)
Ben from Shooting People was weighing the piracy issue a couple of weeks ago and its impact on independent filmmakers. The first dilemma is whether independent filmmakers can transition in the way indie bands have to be able to make money in other ways besides money for product transactions. In theory, this seems like it is the wave of the future- Robert Greenwald or Four Eyed Monsters-style. Filmmakers can, in theory, sell events versus selling DVDs, and potentially can make some money. No doubt touring in a bus is not as easy as having… [more]
- This Website is Not Yet Rated – Can the MPAA regulate internet trailers?
Over at Films.com, Christine Champ has an interesting article about the MPAA’s successful efforts to force Kevin Smith to take down a “red band” trailer of his film Zack and Miri Make a Porno from his own website. Alex Billington at FirstShowing.net goes into more detail, explaining that as a signatory of the MPAA (though not a member), the Weinstein Co. must follow certain rules related to trailers. Of course, they can make up whatever rules for members they want, in theory, but the idea that the MPAA can regulate a basically ungovernable region seems… [more]
- Caachi Vidget snags trailer sharing
Snag Films has been out for a bit now, and I’m not sure how they are doing, though I have noticed Snag-related stories and promotion around the internets. When they launched, I wrote to them to suggest using the technology for trailers as well as full-length films. For me, the chance of making money in a scheme where revenues are tied to people watching the whole film (Snag monetizes the films with a series of interstitial ads, and the filmmaker gets something like $.10 if the viewer watches the whole film) and this is a streaming situation, even… [more]
- Here Comes… Trouble?
Clay Shirky‘s new book Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations is not specifically about media distribution (it’s more generally about how social networks and their emergence on the internet have affected culture and business development) but it does deliver this metaphor:When reproduction, distribution, and categorization were all difficult, as they were for the last five hundred years, we needed professionals to undertake these jobs, and we properly venerated these people for the service they performed. Now these tasks are simpler, and the earlier roles in some cases have become optional, and are sometimes obstacles… [more]
- Crash Course
As we’ve moved increasingly into mobile technologies, English teachers have been aghast at the trend of shorter, even micro communiques with questionable spelling and grammar that have all but made the elegant postal letter obsolete.Cinema studies grads may be the next to gasp. If When the Internet and Film Collide is the guide to the new film ouvre, ‘mobile cinema’ looks a lot like what we formerly called a “promo clip”. On mobile, attention spans are short and pixels are few. Even on laptops with giant 14″ screens, on services such as MySpace or YouTube, viewers… [more]
