http://sundance.org/artistservices en Copyright 2014 2014-11-04T19:00:38+00:00 This blog originally appeared as part of VHX's Success Stories series. Based on his bestselling memoir of the same name, Life Itself explores the legacy of film critic Roger Ebert's life. Directed by Steve James, the film premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival and simultaneously screened online exclusively for the film's Indiegogo supporters.  OBJECTIVE Use crowdfunding to build community. SOLUTION Offer the ability for supporters to stream the film at the same time as the Sundance premiere. In addition to raising funds, the Life Itself campaign was about building audience and community around the film. Steve James' Hoop Dreams premiered at Sundance 20 years before Life Itself, and the community that Sundance represented both for the film, the filmmakers, and for Roger Ebert and his family were so important. How can the Internet make the supporters of the film feel like they are part of the community? The best way to achieve that was to give those 1,500 eligible supporters the chance to watch the film at the exact same time as the Sundance Film Festival premiere. They could stream it as many times as they liked for two weeks. After the premiere, fans were treated to a live video Q&A from the filmmakers, courtesy of YouTube. Fans rejoiced. The screening showed that you can use the Internet to build off the intimate setting of a festival premiere, and provide a lift to your existing promotional and marketing efforts. Events like festivals are great at building awareness and interest. Offering your most passionate supporters the ability to participate wherever they are represents the true value of community on the Internet. TIPS/BEST PRACTICES: Have a clear plan  The producers of Life Itself knew they wanted to stream the film at the same time as the Sundance premiere, and were very clear with their supporters on Indiegogo how it was going to work. Be prepared for questions about how fans can access the film and for how long. Pairing with a live event means you need to be ready to respond to questions quickly so your supporters don't feel left out!  Feedback On Twitter .@Kartemquin and @vhxtv are combining movie magic and Internet magic in a way that honors @ebertchicago in a really authentic way. — Alex Cox (@AlexCox) January 20, 2014 Excited for today's @EbertMovie livestream #Sundance2014. Huge thanks to Steve James @Kartemquin, @Indiegogo @vhxtv for making this possible — Kim (@kim) January 19, 2014 Thousands of miles from Sundance, I enjoy the premiere of "Life Itself" on my Brooklyn widescreen, along with wife and cat #TheFutureIsHere — Steven James Snyder (@TheSnydes) January 20, 2014]]> Institute Site, Institute Indexes, Institute Home Page, Artist Services, Artist Services Indexes, Artist Services Home Page, Creative Funding VHX 2014-11-04T19:00:38+00:00 Sundance Institute presents: #ArtistServices Maimi Workshop Sundance Institute and Knight Foundation invite you to enjoy exclusive access to the first annual #ArtistServices Miami Workshop free of charge.  Join these unique conversations with industry experts as they discuss the latest technology, tools, and tactics in Creative Financing, Digital Distribution, Guerilla Marketing and Independent Theatrical Distribution. Stay tuned for presenters and full schedule to be announced. Saturday, October 25, 2014 10 a.m.-5 p.m. EST O Cinema Wynwood 90 NW 29th St, Miami, FL 33127 RSVP HERE Looking forward to meeting you, Joseph Beyer, Chris Horton, and Missy Laney Welcoming Remarks 10:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. EST Since 1981, Sundance Institute has supported more than 6,000 artists who have brought original stories and authentic voices to the screen and stage. In 2013, Sundance and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation began a collaboration to bring programs modeled on the Institute's successful residency Labs and workshops to storytellers across the country. During its pilot year, the Knight Fellows Project introduced artist development programming to creative communities in Miami and Philadelphia. In addition, Monica Peña and Julian Yuri Rodriguez (Miami) and Jos Duncan and Heidi Saman (Philadelphia) attended the 2014 Sundance Film Festival as Knight Fellows. For the next three years, the Knight Fellows Project will expand to include a total of eight cities and twelve new Fellows as the Institute continues to diversify artist outreach for our Labs and Festival. Both Sundance and Knight Foundation share a primary commitment to discover and support independent, diverse artists and to expose their work to independent audiences everywhere. Dennis Scholl is the Vice President / Arts for the Knight Foundation. He oversees the foundation's national arts program, including the Knight Arts Challenge and Random Acts of Culture. He is well known as a collector of contemporary art for over three decades. Dennis is also the founder of a series of initiatives dedicated to building the contemporary art collections of museums, including the Guggenheim, the Tate Modern and the Miami Art Museum. He is a three time regional Emmy winner for his work in cultural documentaries. Dennis is also the co-founder of Betts and Scholl, an award winning wine project. In 2012, he was a Harvard University Advanced Leadership Fellow, focusing on the role of culture in community engagement. Dennis is currently a Visiting Scholar at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab. Previously, he was a practicing attorney and CPA. Finance And Fans: Every Kickstarter Is A Story 10:30 a.m. to 11:15 a.m. EST Kickstarter, Indiegogo, Crowdfunder, RocketHub, Seed&Spark - and the list goes on. These are just a few of the 2000+ platforms to which billions of dollars have been pledged online, and the available resources to learn how to run a successful crowdfunding campaign are endless. When it comes to the nitty gritty down and real dirty work of running a campaign, every "crowdfunding expert" has their own go-to tips and tricks they steadily rely on campaign after campaign. Raising over $8 million-dollars on Kickstarter and empowering more than 250 artists since launching in 2010, Sundance Institute staffer Missy Laney will show you the collective objective patterns of over 200 campaigns and what you can learn from them. Missy Laney has guided over 150 artists through successful Kickstarter campaigns totaling $8 million dollars since joining Sundance Institute in 2012, including Sean and Andrea Fine's Oscar Award Winner Innocente, Jehane Noujaim's The Square and Pamela Green's Be Natural: The untold story of Alice Guy Blache which raised over $200K. She began her career at Sundance in the esteemed Feature Film Program and was later recruited to join the Institute's #ArtistServices, a creative distribution initiative working with iTunes, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon and other partners. As digital distribution manager for #ArtistServices, Laney works with filmmakers leading up to their digital premieres and specializes in organizing their marketing efforts to maximize success including titles such as Upstream Color and BURN. Dan Schoenbrun currently resides in Brooklyn, where he works as the Film Partnerships Lead at Kickstarter. Prior to joining the Kickstarter team, Dan was the Associate Director of Programming at the Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP) and the Associate Editor of FILMMAKER Magazine. Dan has served on programming committees and juries for festivals including the Hamptons, Nantucket, and Slamdance, and has been a panelist at SXSW. Everything You Wanted To Know About Digital Deliverables (But Were Afraid To Ask) 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. EST Harvey bought your movie! But now iTunes needs a layered PSD, Netflix wants your M&E locked onto your HD and SXSW needs an unencrypted DCP with no KDM - who you gonna call? Don't know? Then DO NOT MISS this once in a lifetime chance to learn exactly what it takes to distribute your film to theatres, digital retailers and film festivals. Not for the faint of technical heart, but priceless in their specificity of a one-of-a-kind educational opportunity As the Senior Producer at Light Iron, Emily Eddey provides clients with solutions to simplify the post process and realize their creative vision. From constructing workflows using OUTPOST on-set data labs to overseeing the digital intermediate process and deliverables, she ensures best-in-class services for commercials (Skechers, Calvin Klein), music videos ("Suit & Tie" by Justin Timberlake), and major motion pictures (Ender's Game, 42). Emily has found a particular niche in guiding indie filmmakers through all stages of post. Clients such as Short Term 12, Afternoon Delight, and C.O.G. have gone on to receive honors at the Sundance and SXSW film festivals. Holden Payne started in independent film exhibition in 1988 at a repertory movie palace called The Neptune Theatre in Seattle, WA; a beautiful 800-seat theatre that at the time had a wonderfully eclectic program that brought two new films in a day from cult classics to international masterworks. Payne trained with the Union as a projectionist while managing several other theatres in Seattle. In 1999 Payne became the General Manager of Austin's historic Dobie Theatre. From 1999-2000, under Payne's direction, the Dobie successfully hosted 6 film festivals including SXSW. With the Pacific Northwest calling him back, Payne accepted a position at the Seattle International Film Festival. It was the dawn of digital cinema and exhibition was rapidly changing. During his tenure at SIFF Payne oversaw the technical operations of the renowned 25-day film festival, and the launch of SIFF's world class, state of the art year-round cinema program. In the fall of 2011, under Payne's operational and technical expertise, SIFF opened the SIFF Film Center and SIFF Cinema Uptown Theater. Payne has been know to work while on 'vacation' and was employed as the Manager of Theatre and Technical Operations for the Palm Springs International Film Festival from 2004 to 2013 and he worked as a Production Manager for the Telluride Film Festival as well. In June of 2013 Holden agreed to take on the position of Director of Technical Exhibition for the Sundance Institute. What We Love Right Now: Gumroad 12:30 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. EST Gumroad is an intuitive and powerful platform that enables creators of all kinds to sell directly to their audiences. Filmmakers, musicians, authors, and other creators of digital and physical content around the world choose Gumroad to handle payment processing, understand and engage with their audiences, and provide the best native consumption experiences for their buyers. Jessica Jalsevac leads Creator Success at Gumroad, a digital distribution platform for film, music, books, software, and all types of creative content. Jessica helps Gumroad's 10,000+ creators earn a living doing what they love. She also works directly with partners such as Eminem, Magnolia Films, and Tim Ferriss to optimize their distribution campaigns. Originally from Toronto, Jessica is the token Canadian on the Gumroad team. She graduated from McGill University where she studied Music and International Development LUNCH 1:00PM - 2:00PM Designing Your Look And Feel 2:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. EST Based in New York City, Squarespace is a beautiful and intuitive website publishing platform that allows anyone to easily create professional blogs, pages, stores, and galleries without touching a line of code. The completely inclusive, all-in-one service provides content management, hosting, domains, social integrations, e-commerce, and all-day/every-day customer support. Jeremy Schwartz is the Business Development Lead at Squarespace, where he pursues strategic partnerships, affiliate relationships, and distribution opportunities. In addition to his business responsibilities, Jeremy speaks regularly on the topic of how creative professionals can develop effective and affordable online presences. Prior to joining Squarespace, Jeremy practiced in the corporate law group of Davis Polk & Wardwell and was the first Global Legal Fellow at LeapFrog Investments. Strategy To Know: Screening For Audiences Without An All-Rights Deal 2:30 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. EST Theatrical distribution is something most independent filmmakers desire. But it's rare, and rarely effective when it does happen. Yvonne Welbon, producer and outreach director of the award-winning documentary "The New Black", shows us how you can achieve top-tier distribution--screening your film on a big screen, with an audience, across the country--without the headaches of pursuing a traditional theatrical release. Chris Horton joined Sundance Institute in 2011 to launch #ArtistServices, an initiative that further extends the organization’s mission of connecting artists with audiences. Through a series of innovative deals and partnerships, #ArtistServices provides Institute alumni with tools that enhance creative funding and self-distribution opportunities. Deals include an exclusive partnership with Kickstarter, and arrangements that allow filmmakers access to best-in-class terms and digital distribution on outlets such as iTunes, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon and Google Play. Notable projects include Particle Fever, BURN, Upstream Color and Detropia. Over 300 titles have been directly supported by the initiative. Horton was previously the head of acquisitions for FilmBuff, a pioneering New York digital distribution company. Under Horton’s leadership, FilmBuff acquired sales rights to hundreds of feature-length movies including “Exit Through The Gift Shop”. Horton spent nearly nine years working with John Sloss in the FilmBuff/Cinetic/Sloss Eckhouse LawCo family of companies. Horton began his career with Miramax Films, following his graduation from the University of Colorado with degrees in film studies and psychology. He lives in Los Angeles. Yvonne Welbon has produced and distributed over 20 films including Living With Pride: Ruth Ellis@ 100, winner of ten best documentary awards—including the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Documentary, and Sisters in Cinema, a documentary on the history of black women feature film directors. Her films have screened on PBS, Starz/Encore, TV-ONE, IFC, Bravo, the Sundance Channel, BET, HBO and in over one hundred film festivals around the world. She recently produced The New Black, an award winning documentary directed by Yoruba Richen that captures the complex intersection between faith, racial justice and LGBT rights. Her current projects are Dena Montague's Paris Rebels which examines the story of black youth participating in the hip hop inspired Zoulou movement in Paris during the 1980s and 90s and Sisters in the Life: A History of Out African American Lesbian Media-making, a web based online community building project that includes a book of essays, a documentary, an archive and a mobile application. Originally from Chicago, Welbon received a B.A. from Vassar College, an M.F.A from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a Ph.D. from Northwestern University. She is also a graduate of the American Film Institute's Directing Workshop for Women. Yvonne Welbon is an associate professor in the journalism and media studies department at Bennett College for Women in Greensboro, NC. Bittorrent And The Art Of The Bundle 3:30 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. EST BitTorrent  has over 170,000,000+ users worldwide. 10-15% of those users will travel from a BitTorrent Content Bundle and go on to visit the fan or store site for a film. Drafthouse Films' Oscar-Nominated Documentary "The Act of Killing" created chatter when they used BitTorrent Bundles to circumvent the Phillipine censorship and deliver the film for free across the Internet. 3.5 million visits sent 45,000 visits to the iTunes Movies Store where the film was available to buy or rent. Let's talk about that. Straith Schreder joined BitTorrent in 2012 to develop the organization's publishing platform: working with artists, filmmakers, and fans to design a new storytelling format built for the Internet. BitTorrent Bundle, launched in 2013, is an immersive experience that emphasizes the connection between viewers and creators, a toolkit that allows for sustainable direct-to-fan engagement and distribution, and a social object that increases in value each time it's shared. Recent Bundle projects include Moby's community songbook, downloaded over 8 million times, the world's first 3D printed music video, created by Cut/Copy, and digital object as global testimony, in partnership with the Oscar-nominated filmmakers of The Act of Killing. “The Producorialist” 4:15 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. EST Second-Ever Edition! "The Producorialist" begins with the idea of creating a group keynote about the world of independent film and its strange and unexpected relationship to daily life. James M. Johnston is an award-winning filmmaker from Fort Worth, TX.  He is part of the filmmaking collective known as Sailor Bear where he produced the films PIONEER, AIN'T THEM BODIES SAINTS, PIT STOP, and LISTEN UP PHILIP.  Johnston recently won an Indie Spirit award for his work as an Independent Film Producer. He was a 2011 Creative Producing Fellow at the Sundance Institute and named to Variety's 10 Producer's To Watch list in 2012 with his producing partner Toby Halbrooks.  Johnston is a director in his own right and his short films including KNIFE, RECEIVE BACON, and MERRILY, MERRILY have played to great acclaim at festivals around the world.  Johnston also co-owns two successful vegan restaurants with his wife Amy McNutt called Spiral Diner & Bakery and they are in the process of opening Fort Worth's first art house cinema called The Citizen Theater. Currently Johnston is in development on his feature directorial debut titled SEIZE THE BODY which was workshopped in the Austin Film Society's Artist Intensive Narrative Feature Workshop. His latest work, the short film MELVILLE, will be hitting the festival circuit in 2015.  Twitter @jmjfilm Toby Halbrooks is a director / producer from Dallas, TX who came to film after touring the world for six years as a member of the rock group The Polyphonic Spree. His short film DIG marks his directorial debut, and premiers at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. He is a recipient of a 2011 Sundance Creative Producing Fellowship for his work on AIN'T THEM BODIES SAINTS and was just named nominated for The Indie Spirit Piaget Producers Award. He had two films in competition at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival: AIN'T THEM BODIES SAINTS as Producer, and UPSTREAM COLOR as Co-Producer.  He and his partner's David Lowery and James M. Johnston formed a production company, Sailor Bear. Currently Toby is working on the PETE'S DRAGON screenplay with Lowery for Disney. The Coda 5:00 p.m. EST When our workshop is all said and done, and the notebooks are filled with data and the minds race with new ideas and deeper questions – we'll recap with this cool-down refresher of highlights and the takeaways that stood out most dramatically. Joseph Beyer currently works as Director of Digital Initiatives for Sundance Institute, where he managed the development team and launch of the Sundance Institute #ArtistServices Initiative under the direction of Executive Director Keri Putnam and the Board of Trustees. #ArtistServices provides exclusive creative funding, distribution, marketing and theatrical support to 6,000+ Sundance Institute alumni artists. Filmmakers are eligible for innovative universal and pre-negotiated deals to self-distribute their work to top digital retailers - all while retaining and controlling their creative rights and release plans. Beyer led the team that developed the first-ever collaboration with crowd funding leader Kickstarter.com to provide Institute alumni exclusive training and promotional support in creative funding. On site reception to follow]]> Artist Services, Distribution Team #ArtistServices 2014-09-22T18:48:27+00:00 Sundance Institute and IFP’s Independent Film Week invite you to enjoy exclusive access to the second annual #ArtistServices NYC Workshop (First-Come, First-Served). Join these unique conversations with industry experts as they discuss the latest technology, tools, and tactics in Creative Financing, Digital Distribution, Guerilla Marketing and Independent Theatrical Distribution. The Workshop will take place in the Lincoln Center’s Bruno Walter Auditorium. Thursday, September 18, 2014 10 a.m.-5 p.m. EST Purchase Passes Here Looking forward to meeting you, Joseph Beyer, Chris Horton, and Missy Laney Opening Salvo for Creativos 10:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. EST Since 1981, Sundance Institute has supported more than 6,000 artists who have brought original stories and authentic voices to the screen and stage. IFP has been the premiere advocacy organization for independent filmmakers since 1979, championing the future of storytelling in the digital age by fostering a vibrant and sustainable independent filmmaking community. Both organizations share a primary commitment to support the development of independent film and to expose it to audiences – in any way possible. Executive Directors Keri Putnam of Sundance Institute and Joana Vicente of IFP have been at the forefront of this movement and will kick off the workshop with their observations on the state of creative distribution and the challenges our industry still faces. Keri Putnam is the Executive Director of the non-profit Sundance Institute whose mission is to discover and develop independent artists and introduce audiences to their new work. Since joining the Sundance Institute in 2010, Putnam has advanced the Institute’s international work, expanded its involvement in arts advocacy, and launched new programs bringing technology and film together to enable wider distribution and explore new forms of storytelling. Before joining Sundance Institute, Putnam served as President of Production for Miramax Films, the Walt Disney Company's specialty film division, where she was responsible for production, acquisitions, co-production and development. Prior to joining Miramax, Putnam was Executive Vice President, HBO Films, responsible for the development and production of films for both the cable network and for theatrical release. A graduate of Harvard, Putnam studied theatre and began her career working for Williamstown Theater Festival, McCarter Theater, Arena Stage, the ART, and others. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two children. Joana Vicente has been the Executive Director of the IFP since December 2009. Prior to this, she and her partner Jason Kliot produced/executive produced over forty films by such acclaimed directors as Jim Jarmusch, Miguel Arteta, Brian De Palma, Hal Hartley, Steven Soderbergh, Nicole Holofcener, and Todd Solondz. She has co-founded three separate and unique film production entities over the course of her career. Among the many films that Vicente and Kliot have produced are Tony Bui's Sundance Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award-winner Three Seasons, Jim Jarmusch's cult classic Coffee and Cigarettes, Niels Mueller's The Assassination of Richard Nixon, Todd Solondz's Sundance Grand Jury Prize-winning Welcome to the Dollhouse, Brian De Palma's controversial Redacted and Alex Gibney's Academy Award® nominated Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room. Vicente's films have garnered numerous accolades and awards, including twenty-three Independent Spirit Award nominations and four wins. In 2007, she was the recipient of the Made in NY Award for individuals who have made outstanding contributions to New York City's entertainment industry. Vicente graduated from the Masters program at The Catholic University of Portugal with a degree in Philosophy and began her career as the press attaché for the Portuguese delegate-and former Prime Minister of Portugal-at the European Parliament. She later became a radio news producer for the United Nations before turning her attention to film. How To Win Fans and Influence People 10:30 a.m. to 11:15 a.m. EST Plain and simple, this panel gives you direct access to the Film Team at Kickstarter plus tips from a Sundance artist who has leveraged crowdfunding to finance their work. Bring your Qs and we’ll host the A’s. Dan Schoenbrun currently resides in Brooklyn, where he works as the Film Partnerships Lead at Kickstarter. Prior to joining the Kickstarter team, Dan was the Associate Director of Programming at the Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP) and the Associate Editor of FILMMAKER Magazine. Dan has served on programming committees and juries for festivals including the Hamptons, Nantucket, and Slamdance, and has been a panelist at SXSW. Danny Yourd is the producer of Blood Brother, which won over 15 awards including the Audience and Grand Jury Award at Sundance 2013. He received the usage of the p.g.a. mark by the Producers Guild of America for his work on Blood Brother and is currently producing a second feature called Gennadiy. Direct to Fans: The Art of the Bundle 11:15 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. EST BitTorrent has over 170,000,000 users worldwide. 10-15% of those users will travel from a BitTorrent Content Bundle and go on to visit the fan or store site for a film. Drafthouse Films' Oscar-Nominated Documentary "The Act of Killing" and Lucy Walker’s “The Crash Reel” created chatter when they used BitTorrent Bundles to circument the Phillipine censorship and deliver the film for free across the Internet. 3.5 million visits sent 45,000 visits to the iTunes Movies Store where the film was available to buy or rent. Let's talk about that. And Artists’ Rights. And Economics. And Piracy. Straith Schreder joined BitTorrent in 2012 to develop the organization’s publishing platform: working with artists, filmmakers, and fans to design a new storytelling format built for the Internet. BitTorrent Bundle, launched in 2013, is an immersive experience that emphasizes the connection between viewers and creators, a toolkit that allows for sustainable direct-to-fan engagement and distribution, and a social object that increases in value each time it’s shared. Recent Bundle projects include Moby’s community songbook, downloaded over 8 million times, the world’s first 3D printed music video, created by Cut/Copy, and digital object as global testimony, in partnership with the Oscar-nominated filmmakers of The Act of Killing. Director, David Charles is a Sundance Fellow filmmaker, writer, and graphic novelist, and has created interactive and non-traditional storytelling experiences for brands and properties worldwide. In 2011, Charles became Gary Baseman’s creative partner. They are currently in development on their first live action feature film Mythical Creatures and have recently released a short animation commissioned by the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, amongst other projects. David lost his mother at a young age and believes that we can keep the spirits of our lost loved ones alive through our positive actions in the world. quid pro quo distro (or how creative partnerships might save you) 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. EST The Moving Image is the professional language of the 21st century, so it’s no wonder that brands, corporations and sponsors are hitching their wagons to star storytellers in every way. From commissioning content and financing productions to underwriting and presenting new distribution options, the success of getting your work seen may easily rest on creative partners you’ve never even imagined. We’ll try to prepare you to seek them out or recognize them when they appear. Marc Schiller, Founder and CEO of BOND Strategy and Influence, is an accomplished executive with a wealth of industry and entrepreneurial knowledge in brand strategy, marketing, and public relations. For fifteen years, BOND has re-written the book on how entertainment companies and brands should approach marketing in the digital age. Marc leads our company to blend the smarts of a strategic consulting firm with the influence of a creative marketing agency to transform our clients’ businesses.Marc has been profiled in Advertising Age, BusinessWeek, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Billboard, Forbes, and many others. Marc is also a frequent featured speaker at esteemed universities including Yale Graduate School of Management and Kellogg Graduate School of Management as well as at numerous conferences held around the world.Marc lives in New York with his wife, Sara, and their daughter, Samantha. He currently Chairs the board of Eyebeam, a New York based think tank for the convergence of art and technology. Brian Newman is the founder of Sub-Genre, a consulting company focusing on developing and implementing new business models for film and new media. Current clients include: Patagonia, building an international distribution, marketing and social impact plan for the feature documentary DamNation, and developing ongoing film/new media strategy; Sundance Institute on a film data project; IndieCollect, a new nonprofit dedicated to preserving independent films; and several filmmakers on fundraising, distribution and marketing. Brian is also the producer of Love & Taxes a narrative feature in post from Jake and Josh Kornbluth; Amateurs (formerly Manchild) a narrative feature by Ryan Koo; and executive producer, Shored Up a documentary feature by Ben Kalina. Brian has served as CEO of the Tribeca Film Institute, president of Renew Media and executive director of IMAGE Film & Video. Brian is chair of the board of Rooftop Films, and serves on the board of Muse Film & Television. He authored “Inventing the Future of the Arts: Seven Digital Trends that Present Challenges and Opportunities for Success in the Cultural Sector” for the book 20 Under 40: Reinventing the Arts and Arts Education for the 21st Century. He was born in North Carolina and has an MA in Film Studies from Emory University. Dominik Prinz is Strategy Director at Interbrand, the world’s largest brand consultancy, and a recognized expert on brands and branding. He is fascinated by how brands can change the world for the better. Dominik is a frequent speaker and combines more than 10+ years of experience across different industries. Besides engaging in various brand strategy initiatives for Fortune 100 companies, he is leading Interbrand's Corporate Citizenship practice in North America and loves connecting an organization’s business, brand and purpose. Jon Reiss is an author and media strategist who helps filmmakers and companies navigate the new distribution and marketing landscape. He has worked with and consulted for Paramount Pictures, Screen Australia, Film Independent, Creative Scotland, The South Australian Film Corporation and numerous film schools and festivals to devise ways to educate and help independent filmmakers in the new economic landscape. He has conducted his TOTBO Master Classes over five continents and is the year-round distribution and marketing lab leader at the IFP Filmmaker Labs. Named one of "10 Digital Directors to Watch" by Daily Variety, Jon Reiss is also critically acclaimed filmmaker whose experience releasing his feature Bomb It with a hybrid strategy was the inspiration for writing Think Outside the Box Office: The Ultimate Guide to Film Distribution and Marketing in the Digital Era (TOTBO), the first step-by-step guide for filmmakers to distribute and market their films. He also co-wrote Selling Your Film Without Selling Your Soul and Selling Your Film Outside the US. He is currently producing The Good Breast, a feature documentary about breast cancer and the meaning of the breast in America. He also teaches at the Film Directing Program at Cal Arts. Jeremy Boxer is Creative Director and Festival Director of the Vimeo Festival+Awards. He is splits his time between London and New York as he works on Vimeo's creative and editorial strategies. Jeremy has been working the digital filmmaking world for over 15 years, starting with the trailblazing RES Media Group where he was Director of International Operations and Senior Programmer for the maverick digital festival RESFEST. He became Head of Programming for final festival in 2006. Between the end of RESFEST and his arrival at Vimeo in 2010, he was co-creator of the award winning 221b.sh for the launch of Warner Brothers' Sherlock Holmes franchise and has worked with clients as diverse as Tribecca Film Festival, Kswiss, Nike, PlayStation, Art Alliance, NYU and Royal College of Art. As a filmmaker his award winning film "The Last Supper" traveled to over a dozen festivals including Sundance and as a cinematorgrapher he shot over 40 short films. He graduated with honors from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. LUNCH 1:00PM - 2:00PM Everything You Wanted To Know About Digital Deliverables (But Were Afraid To Ask) 2:00 p.m. to 2:45 p.m. EST Harvey bought your movie, iTunes needs a layered PSD, Netflix wants to know is your M&E is locked onto your HD. Who you gonna call? Don’t know? Then DO NOT MISS this once in a lifetime chance to learn exactly what it takes to distribute your film to theatres, digital retailers and film festivals. Not for the faint of technical heart, but priceless in their specificity of a one-of-a-kind educational opportunity. As the Senior Producer at Light Iron, Emily Eddey provides clients with solutions to simplify the post process and realize their creative vision. From constructing workflows using OUTPOST on-set data labs to overseeing the digital intermediate process and deliverables, she ensures best-in-class services for commercials (Skechers, Calvin Klein), music videos (“Suit & Tie” by Justin Timberlake), and major motion pictures (Ender’s Game, 42). Emily has found a particular niche in guiding indie filmmakers through all stages of post. Clients such as Short Term 12, Afternoon Delight, and C.O.G. have gone on to receive honors at the Sundance and SXSW film festivals. Paul O’Neill works in Business Development at Premiere Digital. He is very involved with Premiere's online indie filmmaker distribution portal Quiver, which enables filmmakers to self distribute onto digital platforms while maintaining control of their rights. In his 3 plus years, Paul has helped many global partners to successfully launch over 1500 films and hundreds of TV seasons into digital marketplaces. Paul prior to working at Premiere held a variety of roles at Paramount Pictures, assisted on projects for 2929 Entertainment and is a graduate of Emerson College. Fandor co-founder Jonathan Marlow is an accomplished composer and curator as well as an occasional cinematographer with over a dozen films to his credit. In the two decades prior to his role as Fandor's Chief Content Officer, Marlow was affiliated with numerous film exhibition institutions, festivals and technology-centric distribution companies (such as Amazon, VUDU and others). In addition to Marlow's frequent interviews with assorted individuals in the film industry (published on Keyframe and elsewhere), he is also known to host screenings throughout the world showcasing remarkable films that are generally unavailable elsewhere. Holden Payne started in independent film exhibition in 1988 at a repertory movie palace the Neptune Theatre in Seattle, WA; a beautiful 800 seat theatre that at the time had a wonderfully eclectic program that brought two new films in a day from cult classics to international masterworks. Payne trained with the Union as a projectionist while managing several other theatres in Seattle. In 1999 Payne became the General Manager of Austin’s historic Dobie Theatre. From 1999-2000, under Payne’s direction, the Dobie successfully hosted 6 film festivals including SXSW. With the Pacific Northwest calling him back, Payne accepted a position at the Seattle International Film Festival. It was the dawn of digital cinema and exhibition was rapidly changing. During his tenure at SIFF Payne oversaw the technical operations of the renowned 25-day film festival, and the launch of SIFF’s world class, state of the art year-round cinema program. In the fall of 2011, under Payne’s operational and technical expertise, SIFF opened the SIFF Film Center and SIFF Cinema Uptown Theater. Payne has been know to work while on ‘vacation’ and was employed as the Manager of Theatre and Technical Operations for the Palm Springs International Film Festival from 2004 to 2013 and he worked as a Production Manager for the Telluride Film Festival as well. In June of 2013 Holden agreed to take on the position of Director of Technical Exhibition for the Sundance Institute. Strategy to Know: How Small Groups of Fans Power The Big Screen 2:45 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. EST In an age where Netflix is the New Theatrical and Theatrical Resembles the Old-Netflix ... what does the savvy producer and director need to know about fitting a smart and diverse theatrical plan into their overall creative distribution strategy? We’ll cover every part of the food chain from festival programmers to roadshows to technology to distributors - especially focusing on the role affinity groups and individual evangelists can have on your theatrical success. Michael Tuckman, a veteran of the independent film industry for fifteen years, Michael Tuckman began his career at The Cinema Guild, where he was hired to start the company's theatrical distribution division. Tuckman went on to serve as Vice President of Theatrical Sales for THINKFilm, handling the planning and implementation of all theatrical release strategies, including the breakout successes of Oscar-winning and nominated films including Spellbound, Half Nelson, Born Into Brothels, Taxi To The Dark Side and Murderball. Lydia B. Smith began her career in the film business over 27 years ago . She has worked in both production and in the camera department on major motion pictures, commercials, and music videos all over the world and has produced for CNN, PBS and foreign television. In 2008, Smith walked the Camino de Santiago, an ancient pilgrimage path that traverses 500 miles through northern Spain. A year later, she returned with a film crew to shoot over 300 hours of footage that would become the 84 minute award-winning documentary "Walking the Camino: Six Ways to Santiago." Over the course of five years, Smith raised the $500,000 budget primarily from individual donors, effectively building a fan base for years before the film's release. The film premiered in April 2013 and has been in 15 film festivals, winning 8 awards and selling out the majority of the screenings. In February 2014, with the assistance of Michael Tuckman and a small, committed staff, Smith embarked on a cross-country theatrical release tour independently without a distributor. The film is experiencing great success, both critically and financially, now ranked as the #225 top grossing documentary of all time. Walking the Camino has shown in over sixty cities, usually holding over for multiple weeks (up to 11 weeks) and selling out opening night the majority of the time - all without any advertising to speak of and done completely independently with just grassroots outreach. After walking the Camino de Santiago herself in the summer of 2013, Maggie Cech joined the team as the Outreach Coordinator for Walking the Camino: Six Ways to Santiago at the time Director Lydia B. Smith decided to self-distribute the film for theatrical release. Maggie worked closely with the director to implement diverse and novel strategies intended to maximize turnout at theaters, including: social media, volunteer engagement, working with publicists to acquire press, and coordinating with art house theaters. These strategies successfully brought audiences to the theaters for a theatrical gross of $450,000 to date. Maggie has a deep appreciation for authentic stories that inspire and ignite the human spirit and she is passionate about helping artists share those stories with the world. Brian Parsons joined the Tugg team prior to the company's launch in 2012, where he helped develop the Tugg theatrical model and worked directly with promoters, filmmakers, and theater partners to bring the first crowdsourced theatrical events to cities across the country. Brian currently heads up the Content Partnerships team, working with both filmmakers and studios to identify key films and familiarize content owners with Tugg's services and best practices for success within their distribution strategies. Designing Your Look and Feel – What We Love Right Now 3:30 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. EST Based in New York City, Squarespace is a beautiful and intuitive website publishing platform that allows anyone to easily create professional blogs, pages, stores, and galleries without touching a line of code. The completely inclusive, all-in-one service provides content management, hosting, domains, social integrations, e-commerce, and all-day/every-day customer support. VHX is a direct-to-fan distribution platform built for premium video. They empower artists to sell their work from their own websites, directly to fans. Everything that used to be sold on DVD can now be sold on VHX. They've helped creators sell their films, documentaries, standup specials, live concert footage, lectures, web series and more. Jeremy Schwartz is the Business Development Lead at Squarespace, where he pursues strategic partnerships, affiliate relationships, and distribution opportunities. In addition to his business responsibilities, Jeremy speaks regularly on the topic of how creative professionals can develop effective and affordable online presences. Prior to joining Squarespace, Jeremy practiced in the corporate law group of Davis Polk & Wardwell and was the first Global Legal Fellow at LeapFrog Investments. Jamie Wilkinson is co-founder and CEO of VHX, a digital distribution platform for film, TV and other premium video content. He is the co-creator of Know Your Meme, taught the Internet Famous Class, won a Primetime Emmy for his work on Star Wars Uncut, and regularly speaks on the subjects of Internet culture and creative production. His work has been featured on NBC, TIME, CNN, NPR, the New York Times and the frontpage of YouTube. “The Producorialist” 4:15 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. EST First-Ever Edition! “The Producorialist” begins with the idea of creating a group keynote about the world of independent film and its strange and unexpected relationship to daily life. Lisa Biagiotti is a Sundance New Frontier Artist-in-Residence at MIT’s Media Lab where she is working with data to create visual stories that chronicle our lives within the urban narrative. Lisa’s work is at the intersection of journalism, transmedia and impact storytelling. She is the director and producer of deepsouth-- a feature documentary about HIV, poverty and LGBT issues in the rural American South -- which will be released in December 2014. Lisa’s work has been featured in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Los Angeles Times, PBS, NPR, and among other publications and platforms. The stories she produced on the humanitarian crisis in eastern Congo won the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award. She received a Fulbright grant to research Muslim immigration to Italy, and holds a master's degree from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. Lisa lives in Los Angeles, CA. Rebecca Green most recently produced the feature film It Follows with partner Laura Smith, the debut film under their newly formed Two Flints banner. Written and directed by David Robert Mitchell, It Follows premiered to rave reviews in Critics’ Week at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival and will be distributed domestically by RADiUS-TWC. Rebecca is currently in post-production on the feature film I’ll See You in My Dreams, co-written and directed by Brett Haley. The film stars Blythe Danner alongside Sam Elliott, June Squibb, Martin Starr, Rhea Perlman, Mary Kay Place, and Malin Akerman. In addition, Rebecca produced the short film Gnomes, which screened at the 2014 Palm Springs International ShortFest. Previously, Rebecca was the Manager of Producing Initiatives for the Sundance Institute and was a 2012 Film Independent Producing Lab Fellow with the project And Then I Go. Rebecca worked at Paramount Pictures as Vice President of Lynda Obst Productions and spent four years at Lionsgate. She has also worked for the Sundance and Los Angeles film festivals and has spoken on panels for organizations such as SAGIndie, the American Pavilion at Cannes, UCLA, IFP, and Film Independent. Rebecca has a B.F.A from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and serves as a board member of the Alumni West Steering Committee. Elisabeth Holm is a Brooklyn-based independent filmmaker. She is the recipient of the 2014 Sundance Institute Red Crown Producer's Award for her work on Gillian Robespierre's Obvious Child, starring Jenny Slate. The film premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival and is currently in release through A24 Films. From 2011-2014 Elisabeth served as Kickstarter's Film Program Director, overseeing the site's Film & Video curation and editorial, filmmaker outreach, events, partnerships, and education. She produced Keith Miller's 2012 Slamdance and FIPRESCI Jury Prize-winning Welcome to Pine Hill (Oscilloscope 2013) and served as the Associate Producer of Joe Berlinger's Oscar-nominated Paradise Lost 3 (HBO, 2011). She is a TFI Tribeca All Access and IFP Lab alum and was recently profiled in The L Magazine’s 2013 “30 Under 30.” For better or worse, she is a born and raised New Yorker, producing a slate of new projects, co-writing a currently untitled divorce comedy with Gillian Robespierre, and still unable to cook anything other than spaghetti. Mynette Louie is the president of Gamechanger Films. She is the winner of the 2013 Independent Spirit Piaget Producers Award. She produced Martha Stephens & Aaron Katz’s buddy comedy Land Ho! which was acquired at Sundance 2014 by Sony Pictures Classics; Tze Chun’s crime thriller Cold Comes the Night, starring Alice Eve, Logan Marshall-Green, and Bryan Cranston (Sony/Goldwyn 2014), and Chun’s critically acclaimed Children of Invention (Sundance 2009); Marshall Lewy’s California Solo starring Robert Carlyle (Sundance 2012, Strand Releasing); Patricia Benoit’s Stones in the Sun starring Edwidge Danticat (Tribeca 2012); and Doug Karr’s Art Machine starring Joseph Cross, Jessica Szohr, and Joey Lauren Adams (Woodstock 2012). Louie serves on advisory committees for the Sundance Institute, IFP, and A3 Foundation, and was named one of Ted Hope’s "21 Brave Thinkers of Truly Free Film.” She previously worked at the Hawaii Film Office, where she authored the state's production tax credit, and at SportsIllustrated.com, Jupiter Research, and Time Magazine. Louie graduated from Harvard, where she studied Chinese literature and film. “Take-Aways” aka The Coda 5:00 p.m. EST When our workshop is all said and done, and the notebooks are filled with data and the minds race with new ideas and deeper questions – we’ll recap with this cool-down refresher of highlights and the takeaways that stood out most dramatically. Joseph Beyer currently works as Director of Digital Initiatives for Sundance Institute, where he managed the development team and launch of the Sundance Institute #ArtistServices Initiative under the direction of Executive Director Keri Putnam and the Board of Trustees. #ArtistServices provides exclusive creative funding, distribution, marketing and theatrical support to 6,000+ Sundance Institute alumni artists. Filmmakers are eligible for innovative universal and pre-negotiated deals to self-distribute their work to top digital retailers - all while retaining and controlling their creative rights and release plans. Beyer led the team that developed the first-ever collaboration with crowd funding leader Kickstarter.com to provide Institute alumni exclusive training and promotional support in creative funding. Chris Horton joined Sundance Institute in 2011 to launch #ArtistServices, an initiative that further extends the organization’s mission of connecting artists with audiences. Through a series of innovative deals and partnerships, #ArtistServices provides Institute alumni with tools that enhance creative funding and self-distribution opportunities. Deals include an exclusive partnership with Kickstarter, and arrangements that allow filmmakers access to best-in-class terms and digital distribution on outlets such as iTunes, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon and Google Play. Notable projects include Particle Fever, BURN, Upstream Color and Detropia. Over 300 titles have been directly supported by the initiative. Horton was previously the head of acquisitions for FilmBuff, a pioneering New York digital distribution company. Under Horton’s leadership, FilmBuff acquired sales rights to hundreds of feature-length movies including “Exit Through The Gift Shop”. Horton spent nearly nine years working with John Sloss in the FilmBuff/Cinetic/Sloss Eckhouse LawCo family of companies. Horton began his career with Miramax Films, following his graduation from the University of Colorado with degrees in film studies and psychology. He lives in Los Angeles. Missy Laney has guided over 150 artists through successful Kickstarter campaigns totaling $8 million dollars since joining Sundance Institute in 2012, including Sean and Andrea Fine’s Oscar Award Winner Innocente, Jehane Noujaim’s The Square and Pamela Green’s Be Natural: The untold story of Alice Guy Blache which raised over $200K. She began her career at Sundance in the esteemed Feature Film Program and was later recruited to join the Institute’s #ArtistServices, a creative distribution initiative working with iTunes, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon and other partners. As digital distribution manager for #ArtistServices, Laney works with filmmakers leading up to their digital premieres and specializes in organizing their marketing efforts to maximize success including titles such as Upstream Color and BURN.]]> Artist Services, Artist Services, Artist Services Indexes, Artist Services Home Page, Distribution Missy Laney, #ArtistServices Coordinator 2014-07-29T00:14:09+00:00 David Charles is a filmmaker, writer, and graphic novelist who has written and directed interactive and non-traditional storytelling experiences for bands, brands, and properties worldwide, including James Cameron's Avatar. In 2011, Charles became the creative partner of renowned contemporary artist Gary Baseman. The pair are currently in development on their first live action feature film Mythical Creatures, which was supported at the 2013 Sundance Institute New Frontier Story Lab, and recently released a short animation commissioned by the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. We spoke with Charles about the disturbing truths explored in Mythical Creatures, which he is funding through Kickstarter. The film explores Baseman’s personal historical journey to the Ukraine during which he will build a monument paying tribute to Holocaust survivors. Part Pixar, part History Channel, Baseman travels to the Ukraine to unearth stories about the Holocaust, beginning with the secrets discovered about his own family’s history in Mythical Creatures, the imaginative new documentary film written and directed by David Charles. Why Mythical Creatures?  I really believe that the stories we tell are the one’s closest to our hearts.   Gary Baseman and I have been writing partners for the past 3 years on a series of different projects. And about 2 years ago, after his father passed, he discovered in a rare book a heroic story about his dad during the Holocaust. This story forever changed Gary’s life and art. That story, combined with the loss of both his parents, gave him a purpose to keep their memories alive and share them with the world through his art. I lost my mother exactly 10 years ago. She was my best friend and an extraordinary human being and the way I found I was able to cope with such a loss was by furthering her teachings, values, and memories through my actions. So as I mentioned above, the essence of this film is something that pulses at large in my aorta.  That was the start. As the project grew larger and New Frontier Senior Manager Kamal Sinclair was generous enough to invite us to be part of the Sundance Institute New Frontier Story Lab, this very personal journey shaped up to be something way more important than we had first imagined. The film now has the ambition of using Baseman’s father’s story as a jumping point to bring the values and the stories of the holocaust to an entirely new generation – connecting the truth through art, animation, and innovative storytelling platforms. Whereas the feature documentary of the project will be “the hub” followed by several cross-media, educational, and real world ramifications.  Why this crew? It’s a complex project taking into account the plethora of mediums and how to bridge them seamlessly. That said, we’ve carefully assembled our team to live up to our ambitions and expectations. Our producer Lanette Phillips is a powerhouse. She has experience working in documentary, music video, and commercial worlds. Since our project has such a hybrid nature, it was important to have someone with such a diverse experience helping us make it happen. Executive Producer Eric Barrett was fundamental in getting this project off the ground. Our two-time Sundance Grand Jury Prize-winning DP Vasco Nunes is one of the most soulful cinematographers I know and he has the perfect sensibility to capture the film that’s in my head, and he’s been a huge collaborator overall. Michael Pearce and Francis Pollara, our co-producers, offer a mix of seasoned line production power with new school social media thinking, which is essential. Peter Markowski is our animation director and I can’t express how much his talent has helped our stories shine through so far. Scott Hathwick as our sound fdf has been essential to make all the music so far co-exist harmoniously; from Die Antwoord to Nightmare and the Cat and many other special guests on the way. On the research end, documentary filmmaker extraordinaire, Jon Kean (Swimming in Auschwitz) is helping to guide me and Baseman through the more academic side of what happened in the Ukraine during WW2, the truth behind the myths and how it draws a parallel with the contemporary issues that country faces today. Some other crucial team members have been Sundance Institute's Michelle Satter, Kamal Sinclair, Kristin Feely, Shira Rockowitz, and Missy Laney helping us in every way possible. I consider them are our fairy godmother’s in so many ways. And last but not least, the LA Museum of the Holocaust, who is our fiscal sponsor and has been greatly supportive.  Why Kickstarter?  This film has a universal message told by a very personal journey for Baseman and the team. That's why we decided to get support from the kickstarter community, so we can go to the Ukraine and spend 10-15 days shooting, completely free of any studio or production tie-ins. We will embark on an exciting journey to one of the world's most dangerous countries and go go deep into the Western Ukraine underbelly to discover new stories and myths and finally build a giant monument in honor of those who lived there. This trip will provide the spine of the film and it’s critical to the story we shot so far. Traveling and shooting with a team in the Ukraine is not easy. The longer we can be there, the more stories we can communicate back to the community. And for that we will be deeply grateful for everyone’s help. So please support us. ]]> Artist Services, Documentary, Filmmaker, Independent Film, Independent Filmmaker, New Frontier, Sundance Supported, Institute Site, Institute Indexes, Institute Home Page, Artist Services, Artist Services Indexes, Artist Services Home Page, Creative Funding Gary Baseman & David Charles 2014-07-21T19:50:42+00:00 * Particle Fever participated in IFP's 2008 Spotlight on Documentaries at Independent Film Week and is released in-part through IFP’s collaboration and partnership with the  Sundance Institute #ArtistServices Initiative.*  It’s hard to imagine a more imposing logline than the one depicting Particle Fever. While the film itself doesn’t endeavor to solve the mysteries of the universe, its subjects –a coterie of leading scientists – absolutely do. From that ambitious pursuit director Mark Levinson whittles a tantalizing verite thriller, presiding with a deft directing hand as the world’s greatest and most expensive experiment makes headway. The cryptic “experiment” in question is one that even those with a casual interest in current events would recognize thanks to its sensational and distorted treatment by global news organizations: the discovery of “The God Particle.” In reality, it is a subatomic particle scientifically known as the Higgs boson, and the final piece of the puzzle in the Standard Model. In layman’s terms, the discovery of the Higgs could confirm all of our current understandings of the universe, while its absence would throw everything we thought we knew into question. But for either to happen, a contingent of the world’s brightest theorists and experimentalists must launch the Large Hadron Collider, a particle accelerator that will attempt to recreate the conditions immediately after the Big Bang. Still with us? The brilliance of Particle Fever rests in its precision in explaining the scientific challenges at hand. Levinson plucks six fascinating scientist subjects to help guide along this mystifying narrative, and explores their cloistered world at CERN – the European research center where it all goes down. As of today, Particle Fever is available on a long list of VOD platforms. Watch on iTunes, and check out our recent conversation with director Mark Levinson below. You have your PHD in physics from Cal Berkley, but up until now your filmmaking career meant that you mostly abandoned that passion. How did you come to Particle Fever? I always hoped that there’d be some more direct connection between my past life and present. I also don’t think science is very well depicted [in film] – it’s mostly scientists running around in white coats. But I was a theorist in physics and dealt with the most abstract things. It was all abstract mathematics, and that was what excited me and still excites me. I always thought that I’d love to communicate to people just how amazing this field is, even though it can be very complex. Then I heard about this documentary that particle physicist David Kaplan was trying to get made. I was invited to present a script I had written to a group of investors, and they told me about this physicist who had applied who wanted to make a documentary about an experiment that they didn’t know would work or not – they didn’t know if they would ever find anything. [David] had no film experience so [the investors] turned it down, but it did strike me as something that could reconnect things for me. I contacted him and told him I wasn’t interested in doing a typical science documentary, but if I could use the narrative storytelling skills that I had been developing, that would be very interesting. And he was all for that. There’s a level of human depth that the film achieves, and it’s never didactic, never too convoluted, even for the science illiterate like myself.  The intention always was that the film would primarily feel like a narrative dramatic film and the science would be inserted as needed. The mantra was “just enough, just in time.” I had the great benefit of the great editor Walter Murch, who also comes from the fiction narrative world. As we were constructing Particle Fever, we initially had no science in it; we were just working on getting the dramatic structure down. Then we would go back and put the science where we need it to keep people going. The other thing was that we had these little blog cameras, which you picked up on. I gave our characters these consumer HD cameras, and the idea originally was that this would be one thing they could use when I’m not there. Then they also became a way to explain some of the science facts later…in a way that again feels more like someone is talking to you in a personal way. It doesn’t feel like a lecture.  A challenge inherent to verite filmmaking is that the director is powerless over the narrative. This story obviously took plenty of dramatic turns—how did you manage to document everything? That’s the challenge of any documentary. I did it by shooting over 500 hours of footage (laughs). It is tricky, and especially in a story that is evolving. My big challenge was knowing when to be somewhere, and knowing where to be and who to be following. Our team was always very small. It was usually just me, a cinematographer, and a sound person, but I ended up getting great allies at CERN, who have a very sophisticated media department. They have been filming since the ‘60s. They essentially became second and third units for me. There is some great editing that contrasts the cloistered CERN world with the media coverage of the experiments. There are these paranoid rumors suggesting Armageddon, and references to the Higgs as the ‘God Particle.’ It is something that we were very conscious of and wanted to present. In some sense the film is about how science is seen by the public. Again, I think there are stereotypes about science and scientists and these sensational things, which from the scientist’s perspective are ridiculous, but from a filmmaking perspective are magical. When I was filming, it was the height of this hysteria and that headline that you see in the film that asks, “Is the world going to disappear tomorrow?” Well I actually found that newspaper in a newsstand in Geneva. There was a lot of paranoia there. Physicists were getting death threats. The media office held a seminar on how to deal with the press. They definitely increased security. So what we wanted to do was present that it was there, that it was a circus, but also put it into the context of how the scientists see it. That this is ridiculous, and hopefully people see that.]]> Artist Services, Director, Documentary, Filmmaker, Independent Film, New Movie, Sundance Supported, Institute Site, Institute Indexes, Institute Home Page, Artist Services, Artist Services Indexes, Artist Services Home Page, Distribution Nate von Zumwalt, Editorial Manager 2014-07-15T21:04:59+00:00 Last Saturday, Sundance Insitute and San Francisco Film Society teamed up to present the second annual #ArtistServices San Francisco Workshop.  Gathered in the reknowned Sundance Kabuki Cinemas, minds rallied to learn how to perfect the art of independent filmmaking.  As is our tradition, below are the day's top takeaways as told on Twitter:   “Even when films are acquired, market realities don’t create sustainable income for artists. #ArtistServices helps change that.” -@cinejoe — Sundance Institute (@sundancelabs) June 21, 2014     "Don't focus on growth, focus on quality. The right audience is the best audience." -@JigarMehta #ArtistServices — Sundance Institute (@sundancelabs) June 21, 2014     In the US, funds raised on #Kickstarter are income. Before you launch, hire a CPA and read this: http://t.co/94p9iBusSL #ArtistServices — Sundance Institute (@sundancelabs) June 21, 2014     // Post by Sundance Film Festival.     “Don’t be shy. Filmmakers, go to your local arthouse theater and pitch them your film.” Mike Keegan of @RoxieTheater #ArtistServices — Sundance Institute (@sundancelabs) June 21, 2014     The Bundle is how artists & fans connect over content. Here is everything you need to get started #ArtistServices pic.twitter.com/U1HeseX1bl — Sundance Institute (@sundancelabs) June 21, 2014     “Facebook keeps changing the rules and people buy follwers on Twitter. Your email list is gold. Get emails.” @TiffanyShlain #ArtistServices — Sundance Institute (@sundancelabs) June 21, 2014     Indie producer Jason Berman believes “The most economic way you release your film is through @iTunes, @Hulu, @Netflix, (and @VHXtv). — Sundance Institute (@sundancelabs) June 21, 2014   "Your biggest allies are other filmmakers." @RonNajor #spreadthelove #payitforward #ArtistServices — Sundance Institute (@sundancelabs) June 21, 2014 If you'd like to be notified about our next Workshop, email us at artistservices@sundance.org.]]> Artist Services, Columns, Tip of the Week, Creative Funding Missy Laney, Coordinator #ArtistServices 2014-06-24T19:10:35+00:00 Ron Najor produced "I Am Not A Hipster" with a group of friends in his hometown of San Diego. The film premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, and Ron and his team worked with #ArtistServices to fund and distribute its independent release – which is when we first were impressed by his rockstar producing passion. Ron then went on to his second collaboration with writer/director Destin Daniel Cretton and produced the SXSW Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award winning film "Short Term 12" in 2013. Ron attended our first #ArtistServices Workshop in 2012 in Park City and recently presented at the 2nd annual #ArtistServices San Francisco Workshop. Below is a supplement to his presentation. As our new feature film Short Term 12 is now on Netflix via our distributor, I had some time to reflect on self-releasing our first feature film, I Am Not a Hipster, through Sundance’s #ArtistServices and various other distributors. We shot I Am Not a Hipster on a modest budget in the summer of 2011 and were lucky enough to get into the Sundance Film Festival where we premiered in 2012 as a part of the NEXT section. We raced to finish the film that fall, had it mastered, and when we handed over our HDCam tape for our Sundance premiere we had at that point spent $65,000 to make our movie. We had fielded some interest from distributors during the Festival, but ultimately didn’t feel like we had found the right partner to distribute the film. While at Sundance that year, I attended the #ArtistServices Workshop and realized the possibility that we could self-distribute our film. We picked the brains of many accomplished independent producers/filmmakers about this strategy, and after a lot of soul-searching, decided to do it ourselves: we would release I Am Not A Hipster on our own. And so, with Destin, Joel, Trevor, Asher, and the whole I Am Not A Hipster family, we ended up releasing the film one year after our Sundance premiere. We were able to book 15 theaters across the country, make the film available to rent on Cable VOD, secured an international deal with Sundance International in 40 countries, and of course utilized several of #ArtistServices digital platforms through their partners including iTunes, Amazon, Hulu, VHX, and Netflix. I would say the learning curve throughout this whole process was without a doubt the hardest part. I often asked out loud, “isn’t there a manual somewhere for this!”. So this article will share some of my realizations and lessons I learned while self-distributing our movie, all of which I wish I knew before trying to get our film out into the world. Every deal is negotiable, no matter what they say. Sundance Institute’s #ArtistServices provided us with best-in-class digital distribution access through their partnership with the leading digital retailers. Destin, Asher, and I also found separate partners to help with our Cable VOD and international deals. Working with all of these different entities, we had to negotiate several different distribution agreements. Most agreements initially appear to be one-sided, in favor of the distributor. It is up to you and your sales agent and/or lawyer to hammer away at the points that you want to add or remove, before signing anything. I can’t go into detail regarding the actual deals we signed, but looking back on the experience, here are some interesting points I think every filmmaker should pay attention to when negotiating a distribution deal: Bankruptcy: If the company goes bankrupt, all rights revert back to the filmmaker. You might think this is bold, but it has happened where a company does go bankrupt and films have gotten lost in the shuffle this way. Release Date: Try to put in the deal an agreed upon release by date -- this is called an “outside release date.” Usually it is a date that is further along than what the distributor has promised for the general release plan. That way, if distributor does decide for whatever reason to shelve your movie, you have an out date that they are required to release the movie by, within the specified distribution model that you have already agreed upon. Selling the movie from your website: You should try to carve out selling the movie directly from your website, both on digital streaming/digital downloads and DVD/Blu Ray, if you can. Many times a distributor will let you have this ability outright, and other times they will want to participate in the profits, so there are a few ways that you can make this work. It is an important piece either way, as it allows us as filmmakers to market and sell our work directly to our audience, and there is a lot of value in that. CAPS on Expenses: Put a cap on expenses, especially if the deal is one with no MG (Minimum Guarantee) being paid. An MG, also sometimes called an advance, is money given up front for your movie, kind of like a signing bonus that is recoupable by your distributor. I have often heard from independent filmmakers that after the MG is paid out, they won’t receive any additional money from distributors; sometimes this is because the film just did not perform, and other times it is because the film is sitting behind a mountain of rolling expenses that are built up ahead of revenue. Thus, when striking a deal, it is important to put in spending caps, when possible. If you can cap the amount of money a distributor spends releasing the film, you can mitigate that build of costs, and in kind, protect your potential revenue stream. It is also typical to ask for costs to be third-party verifiable, meaning: if a distributor spends a dollar distributing your film, they need to show you hard accounting as to where that dollar was spent. If they do not, then you have a case to not have that dollar counted against profits. Gross Corridors: This is not common practice per se, but you are seeing more and more distributors who are willing to institute a Gross Corridor payment system for films they are working with. What this means, in as basic a way to say it, is the filmmakers will see a certain percentage of income, from dollar one up to an agreed upon amount. It is important to note that this payment is recoupable on behalf of distributor against payment above the ceiling set in the Gross Corridor. That being said, this allows filmmakers to start seeing a cashflow when an MG isn’t being employed or it can be used to help supplement an MG that has been paid, thus sweetening the deal. Length of Rights: It has also become more common practice when there is no MG or a very low MG, to have shorter contract terms. When a distributor is paying a considerable sum for your film, they typically will look to hold the distribution rights for anywhere from 7 to 20 years. On the other hand, if the amount in question isn’t as considerable, it is easier to get a term whose length is typically anywhere from 2-5 years, depending on the platforms that the distributor is focusing the release on. Delivering your film. When delivering your film to a distributor, you will need to submit many delivery elements, which include the film itself in potentially several different formats, as well as things like Closed Captioning, a Title Report, Errors and Omissions insurance, etc. The bigger the distributor you go with, the more delivery elements they will need and require of you. Smaller distributors will ask for a lot but will often accept much less. It is important to know that most distributors customarily give a standard checklist of things they want from the filmmakers, and it is also very customary for the filmmaker to go back to them and say, “we don’t have this”. I remember getting a deliverables list and having my stomach drop. My favorite suggestion from other filmmakers was to say, “I only have these things ready, and that is all I can do.” When presented with that, most distributors will then only ask for what they absolutely need, and it is often far less than what is on the initial list. The right international sales agent can put you in the black. Not every film can secure an international sales agent; usually it requires having a notable cast, a film that is playing major film festivals, or a very specific genre that does well in foreign territories, like certain horror films. An international sales agent takes your film and sells it to various countries/territories, one at a time, all around the world. This is how some movies even get their budgets secured before they even start shooting, doing what is called “foreign pre-sales.” Even if you just sell a few territories, you can make a sizable amount of money that could put a modest budgeted film into profits. We were not able to secure an international sales agent for I Am Not A Hipster, but through the kind help of one agent, we managed to secure a deal with Sundance International. A word of caution: Not all sales agents are created equal. To get a reputable international sales agent is very hard for smaller independents and I would recommend you do thorough research. Look at the roster of films that a particular international sales agent has and contact some of the filmmakers to hear how their experience was working with that agent. Here is a quick rundown of a few things you want to make sure are in your international deal. Term: Usually 7 to 12 years The International Sales Agents Fee: Usually between 15 and 25 percent. International Market Fee: These vary and you want to put a cap on this. $15,000 to $45,000 US is usually the ballpark they fall in. The Market Fee recoups the money the agent spends on attending festivals and markets, plus the various materials and expenses involved in selling the film. They will look to recoup this plus any MG they might give before you see any additional money, or overages. International Screening Fees: When your film plays at film festivals internationally, most festivals pay what is called a screening fee. That is, they pay the filmmakers money to screen their film. This is customarily a 50/50 split between the International Sales Agent and the filmmaker. Prize Money: If there is any prize money for the film, make sure to try and work in a clause that says the filmmaker gets 100% of it. Kickstarter helped us, A LOT. When we finally decided to release I Am Not A Hipster ourselves, we were heavily encouraged by Joseph Beyer, Missy Laney, and Chris Horton (three of the masterminds behind #ArtistServices) to do a Kickstarter campaign. At the time, I honestly didn’t know too much about the service. The money we raised on Kickstarter was incredibly liberating and perhaps the most honest way to get the film out into the world. We were able to raise $30,788 dollars to pay for all the deliverables (E and O insurance, Closed Captioning, DVD and Blu Rays, etc). We also used Kickstarter as a way to help pre-sell the DVDs, by offering it as a reward. The process was stressful and almost like a full-time job, but we did get a lot of wonderful support for our film and it actually made our I Am Not A Hipster family extend to a whole new community of Kickstarter supporters. Your filmmaking community is your greatest ally. Hands down the best people that helped us along the way were other filmmakers. I can’t stress this enough. If you glean nothing else from this write up, leave with this -- reach out to other filmmakers and ask them for advice. I had so many people help me out, that it is in part why I wanted to write this. If there is a distributor or platform that you are curious about, I would strongly recommend you see what other filmmakers have used that platform or distributor, reach out to them and ask their opinion. Off the record, filmmakers will speak very candidly about the pros and cons of certain distributors and platforms, and that is the most useful information you can get. The same goes for finding lawyers to negotiate deals, sales agents, film festivals, and the like. Ask other filmmakers who have been through it before and find out the inside scoop. What it boils down to: Get your film out there! Every film is going to navigate down its own unique path. The quicker you make your decisions, the better. Filmmakers often don’t realize that it takes months for cable operators, theaters, and even iTunes and Netflix to slot your film to be played. Once you make all your decisions, expect four to six months before most things can even be implemented, so you need to be prepared very far in advance. I had to learn a lot of lessons along the way to distributing our movie, but ultimately we are thrilled with how things turned out for I Am Not A Hipster and that, after all that hard work, people can see the movie worldwide. I hope some of these tips help you in your filmmaking endeavors and wish you the best of luck! Check out iamnotahipster.com or shortterm12.com for more information on these movies. Both films are available on Netflix, iTunes, and several other digital platforms.]]> Artist Services, Case Studies, Filmmaker, Independent Film, NEXT, Sundance Film Festival, Sundance Supported, Institute Site, Institute Indexes, Distribution Ron Najor 2014-06-23T19:50:52+00:00 Sundance Institute and San Francisco Film Society invite you to enjoy exclusive access to the second annual #ArtistServices Workshop. Join the conversation with industry experts and thinkers as they discuss the latest technology and trends in Creative Financing, Digital Distribution, Guerilla Marketing and Independent Theatrical Distribution. SATURDAY JUNE 21, 2014 (9:00 AM to 4:00 PM PST with MIXER TO FOLLOW) CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS: Only 45 Public Slots Available |  $75 each Sundance Cinemas Kabuki 1881 Post Street, San Francisco, CA 94115 (Park at the two Japantown parking lots. One is at Fillmore and Post, the other is at Post at Webster. Validated parking provides $2 off total. Free secure bicycle parking in both lots. Easy to reach via public transportation. Several MUNI lines serve the theater, including the 3 Jackson,  22 Fillmore and 38 Geary www.sfmuni.com or call 415-673-MUNI). OPENING SALVO / SUNDANCE INSTITUTE and SAN FRANCISCO FILM SOCIETY 9:00 AM to 9:30 AM PST Joseph Beyer currently works as Director of Digital Initiatives for Sundance Institute, where he managed the development team and launch of the Sundance Institute #ArtistServices Initiative under the direction of Executive Director Keri Putnam and the Board of Trustees. #ArtistServices provides exclusive creative funding, distribution, marketing and theatrical support to 6,000+ Sundance Institute alumni artists. Filmmakers are eligible for innovative universal and pre-negotiated deals to self-distribute their work to top digital retailers - all while retaining and controlling their creative rights and release plans. Beyer led the team that developed the first-ever collaboration with crowd funding leader Kickstarter.com to provide Institute alumni exclusive training and promotional support in creative funding. Michele Turnure-Salleo is a producer with over 17 years experience in the United States, Australia, France and Canada. As an independent producer, and later as a staff producer for Banff Center for the Arts, Associate Director of Film Arts Foundation, and in her current position as Director of Filmmaker360 at San Francisco Film Society, she has helped guide hundreds of independent filmmakers and film projects through development, production and distribution. As head of the San Francisco Film Society’s Filmmaker360 department Turnure-Salleo oversees major grants, residencies and project development programs. From 2009 through 2014, the Filmmaker360 grants programs have provided more than 2.5 million dollars in funding to incubate and support innovative and exceptional films. She holds a BFA in Film from the University of New South Wales and a MFA in Film from the University of British Columbia. FINANCE AND FANS: EVERY KICKSTARTER IS A STORY 9:30 AM to 10:30 AM PST  Liz Cook grew up in Washington, D.C., and received a dual degree at Miami of Ohio for Art History and Journalism. She has worked in France with the U.S. State Department, in India with A.R. Rahman, composer and musician, and in NYC with the digital distributor for film, SnagFilms. She is curently a film community manager at Kickstarter in Brooklyn. Richard Ray Perez produced and directed the feature documentary film “Cesar’s Last Fast” which premiered in US Competition at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival and took the Audience Award and US Latino Documentary Award at the 2014 San Diego Latino Film Festival. The film is currently in broadcast release thru Univision and Pivot. Currently Mr. Perez is a senior staffer in the Sundance Institute’s Documentary Film Program (DFP) where he oversees a portfolio of creative partnerships and collaborations including “Stories of Change,” a multi-year Sundance DFP initiative with the Skoll Foundation and the Sundance Institute TED Prize Filmmaker Award. Prior to joining the DFP staff Mr. Perez directed and/or executive produced 3 documentary series for Brave New Films and produced and directed the documentary film Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election. Richard Ray Perez is a native of San Fernando, California and holds a bachelor of the arts degree, cum laude, in Visual and Environmental Studies from Harvard College. STRATEGY TO KNOW: INDIE THEATRICAL AND THE BIG SCREEN 10:30 AM to 11:30 AM PST In an age where Netflix is the New Theatrical and Theatrical Resembles the Old-Netflix ... what does the savvy producer and director need to know about fitting a smart and diverse theatrical plan into their overall creative distribution strategy. You'll meet every part of the food chain from programmers, to roadshows, to technology to distributors. Christine Dávila is the Director of Ambulante California, the recent U.S. expansion of the traveling documentary film festival founded by actors and filmmakers Diego Luna, Gael Garcia Bernal, Pablo Cruz and Elena Fortes. She has been a Programming Associate at the Sundance Film Festival since 2008. Other programming experience includes LA Film Fest, Curacao International Film Festival Rotterdam, San Francisco International Film Festival and San Antonio's CineFestival. She was also the curator for an indie film series in LA’s Downtown Independent Theater. A champion of up and coming Latino talent, Davila tracks filmmakers and the festival scene on her blog chicanafromchicago.com, and is a contributor to Indiewire's LatinoBuzz column. She curates a collection of films on streaming platform, Seed & Spark, under the conversation “Mas American”. Prior to being a film programmer Davila worked in the uninspiring studio and agency world. Nicolas Gonda co-founded Tugg, Inc., a web-platform that enables people to choose the films that play in their local theaters and promote their own events. Launched at the 2012 South by Southwest Festival, Tugg empowers audiences nationwide to screen films from its extensive library of studio and independent titles. Tugg has partnered with mainstream and independent exhibitors, boasting a theatrical footprint of over 75% of movie theaters in the United States. As a producer, Mr. Gonda has worked with Terrence Malick on THE TREE OF LIFE and TO THE WONDER. He has several projects in various stages of production, including producing AJ Edwards directorial debut THE BETTER ANGELS starring Diane Kruger, Jason Clarke and Brit Marling. He is continuing his work with Mr. Malick, producing his two upcoming films, KNIGHT OF CUPS and the currently untitled feature based in the Austin music scene whose combined casts include Christian Bale, Ryan Gosling, Natalie Portman, Cate Blanchett, Michael Fassbender and Rooney Mara. Mr. Gonda was recently named one of Indiewire’s inaugural “Influencers” and Variety’s “10 Producers to Watch” for his work in the independent film industry. He also serves on the Board of the Austin Film Society. Mike Keegan is the Head Programmer of the Roxie Theater in San Francisco, as well as a Programming Consultant for SF Indie Fest, Doc Fest and Noise Pop, and a co-founder of the First Annual San Francisco Intergalactic Feline Film + Video Festival For Humans.  He cut his teeth at the Spectrum 8 in upstate New York, and in high school he went in with some buddies to buy a VHS bootleg of a work print of KIDS IN THE HALL: BRAIN CANDY. Annie Roney is the founder of ro*co films international, started the documentary film distribution company in 2000 and added ro*co educational in 2009. With a previous distributor she worked on all of the films by Ken Burns as well as Frontline and NOVA. She is based in Sausalito, California.  Films in her ro*co catalog include: The Invisible War, How to Survive a Plague, Blood Brother, After Tiller, American Promise, Saving Face, Born Into Brothels, Jesus Camp, Street Fight, The Weather Underground, Promises, and Pray the Devil Back to Hell. BITTORRENT AND THE ART OF THE BUNDLE 11:30 AM to 12:00 PM PST BitTorrent has over 170,000,000 users worldwide. 10-15% of those users will travel from a BitTorrent Content Bundle and go on to visit the fan or store site for a film. Drafthouse Films' Oscar-Nominated Documentary "The Act of Killing" created chatter when they used BitTorrent Bundles to circument the Phillipine censorship and deliver the film for free across the Internet. 3.5 million visits sent 45,000 visits to the iTunes Movies Store where the film was available to buy or rent. Let's talk about that. Matt Mason currently serves as Chief Content Officer at BitTorrent, a creator of advanced, innovative technologies designed to efficiently deliver large files across the Internet. BitTorrent currently boasts over 170 million active monthly users. As CCO Mason oversees BitTorrent Bundles, a new publishing system that takes advantage of BitTorrent technology. To date over 10,000 content creators and rights holders to sign up to work with BitTorrent, including Linkin Park, Madonna, Kaskade, Moby, De La Soul and the Oscar nominated documentary The Act of Killing. Fans downloaded over 100 million Bundles since their launch in the spring of 2013. Mason is also the bestselling author of The Pirate’s Dilemma, the first book in the history of the world to hit the number one spot on Amazon’s economics/free enterprise bestseller list and the rap bestseller list at the same time. It has since been published in ten countries and counting. He is also a board member at PopTech, a global community of innovators, working together to expand the edge of change. LUNCH / MINGLE / STRETCH 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM PST DIRECT TO FANS: EYEBALLS AND INTERDEPENDENCE 1:15 PM to 2:15 PM PST We don't really ever know WHAT exactly we'll cover when so many talented folks get to talkin' but we promise it will be practical straight talk on how to distribute and make money with independent films. And we'll throw in some bonus content on what technology tells us about the future of that relationship between artists and audiences. Sit back, put the notepads down and just listen to the producorial gospel. Jamie Wilkinson is co-founder and CEO of VHX, a digital distribution platform for film, TV and other premium video content. He is the co-creator of Know Your Meme, taught the Internet Famous Class, won a Primetime Emmy for his work on Star Wars Uncut, and regularly speaks on the subjects of Internet culture and creative production. His work has been featured on NBC, TIME, CNN, NPR, the New York Times and the frontpage of YouTube.  Honored by Newsweek as one of the “Women Shaping the 21st Century” and on NPR’s list of “best commencement speeches, ever,”Tiffany Shlain is a filmmaker, speaker, and founder of The Webby Awards, whose work explores navigating our connected world and thoughts on how to shape our future. Her films and work have received over 60 awards and distinctions and she has had four films premiere at Sundance including her feature documentary Connected. The US State Department has selected three of her films for The American Film Showcase where they send her to embassies around the world to represent America. Her critically acclaimed hit series on AOL, The Future Starts Here, received over 20 million views and was just renewed for a second season launching fall 2014. In her other film series “Let It Ripple: Mobile Films for Global Change,” Tiffany employs a new way of making films she calls "Cloud Filmmaking," where she makes films collaboratively with people all over the world and then offers them for free with custom endings to nonprofits and schools around the world to help further their mission. Their cloud film “The Science of Character” premiered globally in March at over 1500 sites including schools, organizations and embassies. tiffanyshlain.com Jason Michael Berman has produced numerous feature films that premiered at the world's most prestigious films festivals, including Sundance, Toronto, Berlinale, Tribeca and Edinburgh. He has produced nine independently financed films in the last three years alone, earning him coveted spots on the "Producers to Watch" lists compiled by Variety in 2011 and Deadline Hollywood in 2012. His credits include "Little Accidents" "LUV" "Jess + Moss" "The Dry Land" and "x/y" CREATIVE DISTRO KEYNOTE: RON NAJOR from “SHORT TERM 12”  2:15 PM to 2:45 PM PST Producer and Patriot of the Indie Arts Ron Najor is so thoughtful and smart and sought-after, he stopped answering our #ArtistService calls. We tricked him a few weeks ago with our 435 caller ID and with passion we told him we thought directors and producers right now were really, really hungry for some down and dirty practical advice about what is #awesome and what is #epicfail about the challenges of getting an indie film out and into the world. Ron paused a while, taking it in, thinking of his own experiences and finally answered, "You guys mean sort of like a keynote huh? What I Learned, What I Would Do Differently? That type of thing?" Yes, Ron - a keynote. Conceived, Strategized and Deployed - completely by you. Ron graduated from San Diego State University with a master’s degree in Television, Film, and New Media. While there, he was selected three times to receive National Student Emmy Awards. Ron’s first produced independent feature film "I Am Not A Hipster" was an official selection of the Sundance Film Festival in 2012. "Short Term 12," which won both the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award at SXSW in 2013, marks his second collaboration with writer/director Destin Daniel Cretton. *** SPECIAL GUEST TO BE ANNOUNCED *** 2:45 PM to 3:15 PM PST TAKEAWAYS3:15 PM to 3:30 PM PST When our workshop is all said and done, and the notebooks are filled with data and the minds race with new ideas and deeper questions – Sundance staffer Missy Laney will lead this cool-down refresher of the day’s highlights and takeaways that stood out most dramatically. Missy Laney has guided over 150 artists through successful Kickstarter campaigns totaling $8 million dollars since joining Sundance Institute in 2012, including Sean and Andrea Fine’s Oscar Award Winner “Innocente,” Jehane Noujaim’s “The Square” and Pamela Green’s “Be Natural: The untold story of Alice Guy Blache” which raised over $200K.  She began her career at Sundance in the esteemed Feature Film Program and was later recruited to join the Institute’s #ArtistServices, a creative distribution initiative working with iTunes, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon and other partners.  As digital distribution manager for #ArtistServices, Laney works with filmmakers leading up to their digital premieres and specializes in organizing their marketing efforts to maximize success including titles such as "Upstream Color" and "BURN". RECEPTION TO FOLLOW AT SAN FRANCISCO FILM SOCIETY'S FILMHOUSE 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM PST ** IF OUR WORKSHOP IS SOLD OUT, DON'T GIVE UP! JOIN THE WAITLIST **]]> Artist Services, Artist Services, Artist Services Indexes, Artist Services Home Page, Marketing #ArtistServices and San Francisco Film Society 2014-06-05T18:27:46+00:00 This weekend I attended the sixth Sundance #ArtistServices workshop in Austin, Texas, presented by the Austin Film Society. As a filmmaker who just spent this past year screening my feature documentary Before You Know It at festivals worldwide (SXSW world premiere in 2013) while also trying to navigate the ever-changing distribution landscape (my last film Trinidad was distributed in 2009) there was one panel in particular I was most anxious to attend: “Licensing and Distribution in the Modern Age” with John Sloss. Full disclosure, my film is a Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program alum, and I’ve been working very closely under the guidance of  #ArtistServices. My producing partners and I decided to take the increasingly popular route of carving out rights to multiple distributors, use crowdfunding to raise much needed funds for distribution (our film opens in NYC May 30th!), and never lose sight of our ultimate goal to get Before You Know It seen by as many viewers as possible despite any discouragement.  It’s true. Distribution is a hard road for any independent film and perhaps more so for a documentary – and even more so for one about gay seniors and the aging community. Despite these odds, we’ve been feeling good about our distribution strategy, and we continue to gear up for our May 30th theatrical release. However, one person speaking that day could potentially make me feel like I made all the wrong decisions – John Sloss. I assume for many of you reading this John Sloss needs no introduction. But for the few that do, John Sloss is a lawyer, an executive producer, founder of Cinetic Media and co-founder of FilmBuff, media maverick and “dealmaker.” To say Sloss is a film industry heavyweight would be an understatement. So sitting through a conversation about distribution moderated by #ArtistServices’ Chris Horton (also former assistant to Sloss at Cinetic) was truly an informative session. But a few key points in particular from the conversation struck close to home and are worth mentioning: 1. “The Great Sundance Moment” has passed and is never coming back.  Sloss and Horton reminisced about the 2006 Sundance Film Festival when a “little” film they were representing called Little Miss Sunshine sold within 24 hours of its world premiere, making one of the biggest sales in the history of the Festival to this day. As the two recounted a colorful story of a physical sacrifice for the sale (just ask Horton about an odd scar on his hand) it became clear they were speaking fondly of a fun and fleeting time. Not only are those days of feverish sales over, so are the dollar amounts. But it’s better to look back fondly than look forward disappointed. Times change and so does distribution. Takeaway: stories of big sales are just that – stories, and no longer a reality for most filmmakers. 2. Be an empowered filmmaker: realize you have distribution options.  Don’t place all your eggs in that one distributor basket because you might not get that “Great Sundance Moment.” In fact, it may be more ideal to work with multiple distributors and think more in terms of “creative distribution.” As Sloss argued, if distributors are making smaller dollar offers and asking for less ideal terms, what else are they bringing to the table, especially if your film is one of many titles they can push? Different distributors may have different strengths and interests, so working with each in their strongest area of expertise is only to your and your film’s advantage. Also, new programs like #ArtistServices give filmmakers the tools to question the role of the traditional distribution model by providing filmmakers with creative distribution opportunities. Takeaway: they need you, you no longer only need them. 3. Crowdfunding isn’t just about raising money, it’s about finding your core audience and creating new opportunities to distribute.  Using Steve James’ Roger Ebert biography documentary Life Itself as an example, Sloss spoke about how James was able to raise over $150K with an IndieGoGo campaign and offer Ebert fans an opportunity to watch the film online simultaneous to the film’s world premiere at Sundance through a private stream link powered through VHX. James created a unique community-building event. Even though the film pre-sold streaming, Magnolia Pictures still took on theatrical distribution because the film already had an impressive 2,000+ active fans who felt invested and would ultimately help with word of mouth promotion. Takeaway: all filmmakers should consider crowdfunding and view it as a necessary marketing tool not just a 24/7 stress fest (which it definitely is!). 4. If John Sloss can’t get the numbers, how will filmmakers ever fully embrace day and date releases?  During the fall, Sloss called on independent distributors to begin reporting video on demand (VOD) grosses for films releasing simultaneously in theaters and on VOD platforms (“day and date” release) in what he calls “multi-screen gross statistics.” Much to his disappointment, distributors were unwilling to share any data, leaving filmmakers further discouraged from seeing day and date releases as a lucrative model, many of whom Sloss believes might actually do better if they took this option. Takeaway: demand full transparency from your distributors and take away the power of the need-to-know model. The worst thing they can say is “no” and the best thing they can say is “here’s the money!” 5. Change the game and find your own strategy.  Each film is unique, so each film distribution strategy should be equally unique. For every film that successfully did X, Y, and Z, another equally successful film did Y, Z, and X. With Twitter, YouTube and new social media tools popping up daily, we’re living in the “wild west” of distribution models. Filmmakers are being innovative and daring in getting films to audiences, and the concept of windowing is wide open for re-evaluation. As Sloss adamantly pointed out, “conventional wisdom needs to be thrown away.” What works for one film may not work for another. Takeaway: your film is a unique snowflake and so is your distribution model, so embrace the unique strategy before the opportunities melt away. Overall, I walked away informed, assured, and relieved, not because I felt we’ve made all the right decisions, but because everyone seems to be in the same distribution boat and the waters are all being tested. Thank you, John Sloss for being the captain and making my day, I feel ready now more than ever. But then again, maybe get back to me on May 31st. Watch the trailer for Before You Know It below and request a screening in your city! Named one of Out Magazine’s “Out 100 2010” and Filmmaker Magazine's "25 new faces of independent film 2006," PJ Raval is an award-winning filmmaker whose credits include Trinidad (Showtime), the highly charged and not-safe-for-work Christeene video collection (SXSW), and Before You Know It, Raval’s latest feature documentary that opens in select cities May 30th. Also an award-winning cinematographer, Raval’s credits include the Academy Award-nominated documentary Trouble The Water and the Millennials comedy Love and Air Sex, directed by Bryan Poyser.]]> Artist Services, Creative Funding, Director, Documentary, Independent Film, Independent Filmmaker, Sundance Supported, Institute Site, Institute Indexes, Institute Home Page, Artist Services, Artist Services Indexes, Artist Services Home Page, Distribution PJ Raval, director, Before You Know It 2014-05-22T17:51:01+00:00 On Saturday, May 10th, Sundance Institute and Austin Film Society presented the first ever #ArtistServices Austin Workshop. We took over Stage 4 at the legendary Soundcheck Austin and filled every seat in the house.  We have a tradition of finishing every Workshop with the day's most memorable takeaways. It is a simple way to thank our guests and panelists for participating in this fun but challenging day.  So, without further ado, the #ArtistServices Austin Workshop Takeaways as told from Twitter: Good Morning Texas! @MissMissyLaney reporting for duty to bring you the golden nuggets from the #ArtistServices Austin Workshop #TexasFilm — Sundance Institute (@sundancelabs) May 10, 2014 A full house at the #ArtistServices Austin Workshop. Is it cause @AFS1985 is the coolest or cause the line up rocks? http://t.co/CVIn9kiVlw — Sundance Institute (@sundancelabs) May 10, 2014 “Be prepared for how MUCH you might raise crowdfunding. You may be shocked by the final $ amount... and the taxes you’ll owe.” @CameronKeng — Sundance Institute (@sundancelabs) May 10, 2014 Here it is folks, everything you need to know about DCP video files from @Dolby's @Graefix #ArtistServices pic.twitter.com/ikUrz3HrmU — Sundance Institute (@sundancelabs) May 10, 2014 “The smartest #producers ALWAYS know budget for post production during pre-production.” @EmilyEddey #ArtistServices — Sundance Institute (@sundancelabs) May 10, 2014 Producers! Use @GoWatchIt tab integration on your social sites to help your audience WATCH your film. Example: https://t.co/GVJZd5U8gH — Sundance Institute (@sundancelabs) May 10, 2014 “If you hire a designer, and like their style, then trust their instincts.” - @AnimalRummy. Can I get an 'amen'? — Sundance Institute (@sundancelabs) May 10, 2014 "If the film begins with 'A', has a strong genre or movie stars in it, then distributors will consider a day and date release." -@JohnSloss — Sundance Institute (@sundancelabs) May 10, 2014 Concerned about #piracy during festivals submissions? Watermark your screener DVDs. #ArtistServices — Sundance Institute (@sundancelabs) May 10, 2014 Adios Amigos from the #ArtistServices Austin Workshop. This chica is getting some BBQ. @MissMissyLaney, over and out. — Sundance Institute (@sundancelabs) May 10, 2014 // Post by Sundance Film Festival. Photos by Austin Culp & Chale Nafus]]> Artist Services, Artist Services, Artist Services Indexes, Artist Services Home Page, Columns, Tip of the Week, Marketing Missy Laney, Coordinator #ArtistServices 2014-05-11T16:08:02+00:00 Since launching in 2011, Sundance Institute’s #ArtistServices Initiative has helped both newcomers and pros navigate an ever-changing independent film landscape. Producers and Directors now conceive, strategize and deploy creative control of their work in the modern micro-cinema age. Raising over $7 million-dollars on Kickstarter and empowering the self-release of over 100 independent films, Sundance Institute and the Austin Film Society are set to co-host the first-ever #ArtistServices Austin Workshop. Get wicked-smart with a posse of Guest Panelists on the latest tech and trends in Creative Financing, Digi Distribution, Guerilla Marketing and Indie Theatrical Releases. Saturday, May 10, 2014 | 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM CST | Seating is First-Come, First-Served Doors Open at 9:30 AM | Arrive Early | Reception to Follow Soundcheck Austin, 1901 East 51st St., Stage 4, Austin, TX 78723 Tickets available here SCHEDULE Welcome by Holly Herrick 10:00 AM to 10:15 AM CST Since 1981, Sundance Institute has supported more than 6,000 artists who have brought original stories and authentic voices to the screen and stage. Austin Film Society has been the premiere advocacy organization for independent filmmakers since 1985, championing the future of storytelling in the digital age by fostering a vibrant and sustainable independent filmmaking community. Both organizations share a primary commitment to support the development of independent film and to expose it to audiences – in any way possible. Holly Herrick joined AFS in June of 2012 to serve as Associate Artistic Director. Prior to joining AFS, she served as Deputy Program Director at the Hamptons International Film Festival in New York, where in addition to film programming, she programmed and produced the festival’s signature artistic events. Herrick has collaborated with her writer/director husband, Michael Tully, on his films. In 2011, she associate produced his narrative feature SEPTIEN, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and in Austin at SXSW, and was distributed by IFC/Sundance Selects. She is also associate producer on the upcoming narrative comedy feature Ping Pong Summer. Holly continues to write about films, and contributes to the Resources Blog of the Independent Feature Project and the editorial film website, Hammer To Nail. Her writing has been syndicated by the trade publication IndieWire. Soft Money, Uncle Sam, Equity and Crowdfunding (2nd Edition) 10:15 AM to 11:15 AM CST It’s all about The Benjamins, The Bucks and The Chedda’ in this roundtable debate about the state of hybrid funding in independent film. We’ll stay focused on tax implications for crowdfunders, soft money options for producers and the emergence of new online equity opportunities. Our lively experts will further explore how they all fit together and get you thinking in new directions about how to fund your own work. Cameron Keng has practiced tax law for clients such as Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank and Pfizer at PwC an KPMG. Cam has been featured by Bloomberg, Tax Analysts, BusinessWeek, Entrepreneur, HuffingintonPost and Fox News as a tax and finance authority. Cam most recently founded a 501(c)(3) non-profit tax clinic that has received Congressional endorsements for outstanding community and public service. Evan Glodell was raised in Wisconsin and moved to Los Angeles in 2001 to pursue filmmaking.  After many years working as a director and cinematographer on shorts and music videos he began work on his feature-film debut Bellflower in 2008.  Bellflower was made over the course of three years on a minuscule budget of $17,000 with Evan taking on major roles as writer, director, producer and actor.  Bellflower's premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in 2011 was met with much attention and critical acclaim. The film was theatrically released in the United States on over 100 screens found international success in France, Japan and the United Kingdom.  Mr. Glodell was nominated for a 2012 Spirit Award for best low-budget film and a 2011 Gotham Award for best new director with the film winning prizes both domestically and internationally.  Evan has a number of projects in development including Chuck Hank and the San Diego Twins which he is producing under the Coatwolf Productions banner (to be released in 2015) and is currently working on his directorial follow-up. Glodell is represented by Creative Artists Agency. Shannon Swallow has more than 15 years as a marketing communications expert for both Fortune 500 companies and startups. Shannon is currently the Head of Marketing Communications for Indiegogo, whose mission is to democratize finance and revolutionize the way people around the world get access to capital.  Responsible for the global voice and vision of the company, Shannon has helped build the company's international presence, develop its integrated marketing strategy across key categories and spearhead the newly-launched rebrand, which is rolling out this April.   Prior to joining Indiegogo, Shannon has held several senior leadership roles. As the Vice President of Marketing for digital publisher Take Part, Shannon led the online audience development efforts for parent company Participant Media's films and documentaries. Deena Kalai is an entertainment lawyer licensed in Texas and New York, and has offices in both Austin and Manhattan. She represents artists and businesses engaged in entertainment, intellectual property, and technology, including film, television, fashion, literary publishing, and mobile/interactive media. In addition to her work on narrative features and on behalf of writers, directors, and talent, Deena has a particular interest in the copyright doctrine of fair use. Therefore she assists many documentary filmmakers each year in assessing the applicability of this important concept to their projects, saving them thousands of dollars in potential licensing fees. She is also an executive producer of the award winning film jumping off bridges, as well as three additional feature films currently in development. Always active in her community, Deena is affiliated with or donates time to many organizations including the SXSW Film Conference Advisory Board, Volunteer Legal Services, and Jane’s Due Process (“JDP”). These activities have led Deena to be recognized by the Pro Bono College of the State Bar of Texas and the Travis County Women Lawyers Association, and she has been awarded the Judge Suzanne Covington Award in connection with her pro bono services many years in a row. Finally, Deena has lent her legal expertise to other community organizations such as the Texas Motion Picture Alliance, the Austin Film Festival, and the Austin Film Society. Deena is a member of the College of the State Bar of Texas—an honorary society of lawyers who are among the best trained in their profession—and other professional associations in Texas and New York. Digital Cinema Mastering 101 For Indies 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM CST You finished your film but are you ready for your premiere? Regardless of whether or not you premiere at the biggest or smallest festival, sell your film to an all rights distributor or self distribute, this asset delivery bootcamp led by Dolby’s Graef Allen and Light Iron’s Emily Eddey will teach you how to get your digital master and assets in the necessary shape to satisfy the strict requirements of encoding houses and digital retailers. This presentation is NOT for the faint of heart, but filmmakers with the gusto to do their research about mastering and distribution options will reap significant rewards from this deep dive. As the Senior Producer at Light Iron, Emily Eddey provides clients with solutions to simplify the post process and realize their creative vision. From constructing workflows using OUTPOST on-set data labs to overseeing the digital intermediate process and deliverables, she ensures best-in-class services for commercials (Skechers, Calvin Klein), music videos (“Suit & Tie” by Justin Timberlake), and major motion pictures (Ender’s Game, 42). Emily has found a particular niche in guiding indie filmmakers through all stages of post. Clients such as Short Term 12, Afternoon Delight, and C.O.G. have gone on to receive honors at the Sundance and SXSW film festivals. Graef Allen is the manager of Content Services at Dolby Laboratories in Los Angeles, California. Graef has been with Dolby for more than nine years, working primarily in digital cinema mastering and distribution. Although some of her work is on studio titles, most projects are independent films or educational films for science museums. Graef spent 15 years on the staff of the Telluride Film Festival, working in production, theatre operations, and projection. Lunch by Hat Creek Burgers Company to Know: GoWatchit 1:30 PM to 1:45 PM CST David Larkin is the Founder and CEO of GoWatchit, a search engine and universal queue for movies. He has worked in many roles in the film industry from production assistant to producer. Memorable films include late night cable staple Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers, better known as CHUD and SXSW Award Winner, Made In China. He is Executive Chairman of Nanotronics Imaging, an innovative platform for high resolution digital imaging and analysis, and sits on the Board of Directors of Trickle Up, which helps the world’s poorest people start businesses thorough micro grants and business training and he is also a director of the Montauk Observatory, a public astronomical observatory for the education and enjoyment of students, astronomy buffs and families on the East End of Long Island. Creative Convo: Designing Key Art for the Digital Marketplace 1:45 PM to 2:30 PM CST Admit it: You judge a movie by its poster. There’s a lot of mystery when producers begin working with graphic designers and distributors to create and master their Key Art Package. Learn the best practices for achieving that beautiful set of promotional graphics you’ll need to distribute your film into theatres, digital retailers and on-demand platforms. Explore both the process and the specifics of how to make your key art hit the sweet-spot. Melanie Miller has over two decades of experience in the film industry with an uncanny ability to recognize talent and with the knowledge to develop the right projects for that talent. As Vice President of Acquisitions and Marketing at Gravitas Ventures, she has played an integral role in the growth of the new paradigm of independent distribution. With the ability to release a film in theaters, in over 100 million homes in North America and over one billion worldwide on the same day, Gravitas is now one of the leading distributors in the marketplace for indie films. Under her watch, she has sub-licensed over 150 films to Warner Bros. Digital Distribution with over 40 receiving a pre-theatrical or day & date theatrical/VOD release. Prior to Gravitas, Melanie was the Artistic Director at the Jackson Hole Film Institute and also worked on a notable slate of independent films including James Merendino’s SLC PUNK! and Kristine Peterson’s SLAVES TO THE UNDERGROUND, which were both official selections at the Sundance Film Festival. Yen Tan (Writer & Director) premiered the critically-acclaimed Pit Stop at Sundance 2013. It was nominated for a John Cassavetes Awards at the 2014 Film Independent Spirit Awards. The film has acquired distribution worldwide. His previous feature, Ciao (2008), was released theatrically and was a Queer Lion contender at Venice Film Festival. He currently lives in Austin and also works as a graphic designer, where he is known for his key art of several prominent independent films that screened at Cannes, Toronto, Berlinale, Sundance, SXSW and Tribeca. In 2005, Rob Jones spearheaded the poster side of Mondo by tasking his comrades in the gigposter world to create movie posters for the Alamo Drafthouse's first "Rolling Roadshow" tour. Eight years later, with the help of fellow creative directors Justin Ishmael and Mitch Putnam, he oversees Mondo's production of artwork for over 200 posters a year. Mondo's unique take on advertising new films and saluting treasured classics has made them popular with studios looking for alternative means to promote their movies. In addition to his Mondo work, Rob Jones operates Animal Rummy which tirelessly provides design services mainly for gig posters, record covers, shirts, and gimcracks. His efforts in this arena culminated in a Grammy win recognizing his box set packaging for "The White Stripes: Under Great White Northern Lights", for which he also did the key art promoting the film portion's theatrical run. Rob's personal interests include goats, the movie "Dune", and writing about himself. Licensing and Distribution in the Modern Age with John Sloss 2:30 PM to 3:30 PM CST Steve James’ latest documentary, Life Itself, the definitive biography of Roger Ebert, premiered to rave reviews at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. Led by Cinetic Media’s maverick dealmaker John Sloss, the film took advantage of its Festival premiere and combined creative financing via Indiegogo, day-and-date streaming via VHX, and traditional split-rights distribution deals with CNN Films and Magnolia Pictures. Hear from Sloss himself on how why this model makes sense, and what it means for filmmakers going forward. John Sloss is the founder of Cinetic Media and the co-founder of FilmBuff. He is the founder and a partner in the entertainment law firm Sloss Eckhouse LaCo LLP. He co-founded Producers Distribution Agency, the theatrical distributor of Exit Through the Gift Shop, Senna, and Brooklyn Castle. Through Cinetic Media, Sloss has facilitated the sale and/or financing of over 400 films including Before Midnight, Prince Avalanche, Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry, We Need To Talk About Kevin, Precious, I’m Not There, Napoleon Dynamite, Little Miss Sunshine, and Super Size Me. Sloss has executive produced over 60 films including Before Midnight, Bernie, and the Academy Award winning The Fog of War and Boys Don’t Cry. His clients include Killer films, Richard Linklater, Kevin Smith, Bob Dylan, John Hamburg, Justin Lin, Jake Kasdan, the Isle of Man’s CinemaNX, and Big Beach Films. Prior to founding Sloss Law Office in 1993, Sloss was a partner at the international law firm Morrison & Foerster. Sloss received his JD and BA from the University of Michigan. He lives in New York with his daughter LouLou and son Henry. Chris Horton joined Sundance Institute in 2011 to launch #ArtistServices, an initiative that further extends the organization's mission of connecting artists with audiences. Through a series of innovative deals and partnerships, #ArtistServices provides Institute alumni with tools and resources that enhance creative funding and self-distribution opportunities. Recent projects include two films from the BURN, Upstream Color, and Detropia. Horton was previously the head of acquisitions for FilmBuff, a pioneering New York digital distribution company and sister company to Cinetic Media. Under Horton's leadership, FilmBuff acquired sales rights to hundreds of feature-length movies, including Banksy's Exit Through The Gift Shop and Chris Smith's Collapse. Cutthroat Ideas: Pioneers Of Alternative Distribution 3:45 PM – 4:45 PM CST Let’s face it, people have a ton of choices when it comes to how (and if) they’ll pay for films.  How should the industry balance advances in on-demand technology with the core issues facing intellectual property owners? What role do viewers and filmmakers have in these discussions going forward? Hear from experts on both sides of the aisle in a stimulating discussion we all have a stake in. Tim League graduated from Rice University in 1992 with degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Art/Art History. After a two-year stint at Shell Oil in Bakersfield, California, Tim turned his back on the engineering profession and opened up his first movie theater. An unmitigated financial disaster, the Tejon theater closed in 1995, and he and his wife Karrie loaded a truck with 200 seats, a projector, screen and speakers and headed to Austin to Start the Alamo Drafthouse, where he remains as CEO today.  League also co-founded Fantastic Fest, the largest genre film festival in the United States and Drafthouse Films, which has released such critically acclaimed films as Four Lions, Bullhead, and The Act of Killing. Straith Schreder joined BitTorrent in 2012 to develop the organization’s publishing platform: working with artists, filmmakers, and fans to design a new storytelling format built for the Internet. BitTorrent Bundle, launched in 2013, is an immersive experience that emphasizes the connection between viewers and creators, a toolkit that allows for sustainable direct-to-fan engagement and distribution, and a social object that increases in value each time it’s shared. Recent Bundle projects include Moby’s community songbook, downloaded over 8 million times, the world’s first 3D printed music video, created by Cut/Copy, and digital object as global testimony, in partnership with the Oscar-nominated filmmakers of The Act of Killing.  Ruth Vitale is the Executive Director of CreativeFuture, a broad-based creative community coalition that includes film and television companies, independent production and financing companies, unions, guilds, talent agencies, and other members and supporters of the creative community. CreativeFuture promotes the value of creativity in today’s digital age and embraces expanded audience access to content in ways that reward creativity. Vitale has been at the forefront of independent film production and distribution for more than three decades, including as Founder and Co-President of Paramount Classics and as President of Fine Line Features. During her tenure at these companies, she launched the careers of many successful filmmakers such as Paul Greengrass, Sofia Coppola, and Craig Brewer. Her films have won three Oscars and received 16 nominations as well as 18 Golden Globe nominations and two wins. Ruth is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.   Takeaways: Joseph Beyer | Sundance Institute 5:00 PM CST When our workshop is all said and done, and the notebooks are filled with data and the minds race with new ideas and deeper questions – Sundance staffer Joseph Beyer will lead this cool-down refresher of the day’s highlights and the takeaways that stood out most dramatically. Joseph Beyer currently works as Director of Digital Initiatives for Sundance Institute, where he managed the development team and launch of the Sundance Institute #ArtistServices Initiative under the direction of Executive Director Keri Putnam and the Board of Trustees. #ArtistServices provides exclusive creative funding, distribution, marketing and theatrical support to 6,000+ Sundance Institute alumni artists. Filmmakers are eligible for innovative universal and pre-negotiated deals to self-distribute their work to top digital retailers - all while retaining and controlling their creative rights and release plans. Beyer led the team that developed the first-ever collaboration with crowd funding leader Kickstarter.com to provide Institute alumni exclusive training and promotional support in creative funding. 100+ projects totaling over $7 million dollars have been successfully raised through the partnership since launching in January 2011. Reception by How Do You Roll Sushi Tickets available here]]> Artist Services, Filmmaker, Panels, Artist Services, Artist Services Indexes, Artist Services Home Page, Distribution #ArtistServices and Austin Film Society 2014-03-21T19:50:41+00:00 Yael Melamede is the director of (Dis)Honesty – The Truth About Lies and a co-founder of SALTY Features, an independent production company based in NYC whose goal is to create media that is entertaining and enhances the world. Click here to help (Dis)Honesty – The Truth About Lies reach its goal on Kickstarter.  I rode a NYC Citibike to a screening yesterday of Greg Barker’s We Are The Giant, a documentary that I had been looking forward to. When I got to the docking station to get rid of my bike, a guy was walking around, unable to take out a bike because his key wasn’t working. I thought about it and then offered him my bicycle and asked whether I could take his picture. I told him that I’m working on a project about dishonesty, and that if he didn’t return the bike, I would post his picture online as a thief. If he did return the bike, I would have proof that one can trust people more often than one thinks. Such is the mindset of a filmmaker working with a behavioral economist – everything has become an experiment and a window into human ethics.  Dan Ariely and I embarked on this project a couple of years ago, in conjunction with the release of his third book, The Honest Truth About Dishonesty – How We Lie To Everyone, Especially Ourselves. Dan was interested in getting outside of academia and the lab and conducting interviews with people whose lies had seriously impacted their lives. We weren’t sure what we would do with the interviews – we thought they could lead to a TV series or videos that related to Dan’s book. It was an experiment.  The first weekend of filming had a profound impact on Dan, myself, and the entire filmmaking team. We found that the people we interviewed who had been the most “disgraced” turned out to be the most honest and open about their own mistakes. Their stories were also much more complicated and nuanced than we had expected. We broadened the scope of our initial research to include spontaneous and informal interviews with everyday people whom we asked to share the truth about a lie they had told in their lives. The variety of the stories celebrates the randomness, the imagination, and the creativity of the human brain, and hints at the fact that the leap from small lies to larger lies is not as vast as we might think.  From the first day of filming, the project sparked intense conversation between the team members involved. What started as a “research project” became a constant catalyst for debate. I am drawn to material that sheds light on complicated issues through compelling human stories. By combining Dan’s scientific knowledge with the power of storytelling through film, we hope to explore the phenomenon of dishonesty with creative insights from two fields.  I came to filmmaking in a roundabout way after studying and working as an architect.  After a decade building up our company, SALTY Features, I am stepping into the director’s role. And taking lessons from the last documentaries we’ve produced – Inocente, When I Walk, and Desert Runners – we are starting to build a community around this project from the outset. We are also creating a website and a traveling installation – a video confessional booth called The Truth Box – so that the conversation about dishonesty can continue well beyond the film. We just launched a Kickstarter campaign for the film. Our goal is to raise enough money to finish the film, get it out into the world, and create a forum that encourages all of us to be more truthful in our lives. It’s a big experiment and I hope you will join us! Thanks, Yael]]> Director, Documentary, Independent Film, Partners, Kickstarter, Institute Site, Institute Indexes, Artist Services, Creative Funding, Partners, Kickstarter Yael Melamede, director, (Dis)Honesty – The Truth About Lies 2014-03-20T17:39:01+00:00 Documentaries come in many flavors. Some are a call to action. Some exist just to entertain. Others exist to educate. And, of course, so many are a combo, as well. But, at minimum all good docs in some way or another invite us to look at our world in new ways so that we might be changed by the experience of watching them. From IF A TREE FALLS to THE HOUSE I LIVE IN and now ART AND CRAFT, I’ve been very lucky to have my hands full these last few years working on three very different films about three very different subjects. And while each film was designed to engage, to inform and to compel viewers, each required a very different approach to the subject matter and material.ART AND CRAFT, my latest project with Jennifer Grausman, stands at the unlikely intersection of three key issues: philanthropy, fine art, and mental health. But unlike the others, the model for this film was to start first and foremost with character and story — and then let narrative invite viewers to confront the key social issues at play.The film follows prolific art forger Mark Landis just at the moment his elaborate thirty-year con is exposed. We found the story in 2011 when The New York Times published an early and largely incomplete article about him. But we were hooked from the start by it's unusual premise: Mark Landis wasn't in it for the money — in fact, he’d given his fakes away to staggering list of museums across the US.  And when The Times described him as essentially "at large," we knew we had to track him down. Landis it turns out was hiding in plain sight at his mother’s house in Laurel, Mississippi. He was immediately captivating and after winning his trust, we received unfettered access, filming him at work both as forger and “philanthropist.” But as we began to unpack Landis’ complex motivations and the impulses that brought him to where he is today, we soon saw that this story was bigger than its fascinating art-world framework.When we first began researching the film, we did not yet know that Landis suffered from mental illness. And while the art-caper elements of his story originally drew us in, when Landis told us early on that he was a diagnosed schizophrenic, we knew that, amidst everything else, we had an incredible opportunity to address issues of mental health through narrative.I don’t want to give away too many plot points, but the film begins in the early days of Landis’ public outing and is structured to follow him through a period of great productivity and also pressure as he is forced to confront his victims and the legacy of his actions. And with intimate access to Landis as he wrestles with the consequences of his deception, we gain a deep understanding of his hopes, desires and also his very real struggles with mental illness.The film, for the most part, avoids talking head experts, but we took care to include the perspectives of health care providers who are  directly connected to Landis by filming with caregivers at his mental health center and documenting his relationship with his former social worker. This very personal aspect of the film works to open up a window into Landis’ inner world and once in the edit room and working with our editor and co-director, Mark Becker, we began to see how Landis’ elaborate con was at its core a means to cultivate connection and respect. In the end ART AND CRAFT emerges as an unflinching exploration of life with mental illness and the universal need for community and purpose. And it is our hope that the experience of watching this film will invite viewers to pose a nuanced question not often asked: Are Mark Landis’ desires and needs in the world much different from mine, yours, or really anyone else’s? And, after discussions with mental healthcare workers, we came to see that this message could serve their cause well too. Though the film does of course eschew directed exposition and prescription, ART AND CRAFT presents an opportunity to rally support for a mental health policy that’s more robust and prioritizes community for patients as a central tenant of treatment. The chance to cultivate meaning and connection in life has proven invaluable to patients’ ability to avoid isolation and alleviate stresses that can cause them to become ensnared in the criminal justice system. In an era when debate over mental health policy is often tied to gun control, Landis’ story offers a complex and decidedly not-violent portrait of a man who harnessed his disabilities rather than becoming consumed by them. ART AND CRAFT is not a-call-to-action film but viewers will be challenged to reconsider pre-conceived notions about diseases of the mind, patients’ rights and the very real dangers that so many face in falling through the cracks of our mental healthcare system.ART AND CRAFT is almost finished and nearly ready for the world. The film is picture-locked and with just a few days now left to go on our Kickstarter campaign, we’re fundraising for finishing costs and aiming to reach as many people as possible. One of the rewards on our page that we’re most excited about is a discounted screening and talkback package for non-profits, community groups and others. The film offers an unusual portrait of modern mental healthcare and to see it become part of the conversation and be useful to people working in this very challenging field would be a true honor.]]> Artist Services, Documentary Film Program, Artist Services, Artist Services Indexes, Artist Services Home Page, Creative Funding Sam Cullman, Art and Craft 2014-03-05T18:51:23+00:00 Beginning today, SEPIDEH, an official selection of the 2014 World Documentary Competition section of the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, is available to purchase exclusively on iTunes: www.itunes.com/sepideh. While there, be sure to check out other classic titles from Sundance’s past 30 years in our curated iTunes room. The official 2014 Sundance Film Festival iPhone app and videos from our competition directors, “Meet the Artists”, are also available. “Tonight I’m going stargazing again to observe the sky. I feel I’m the only one who is awake. In this instant the world is mine…Orion, Canis Major, Lepus, Ursa Major and the others. It seems that life has another meaning up there. That you’re somehow closer to the dear ones you lost.” -Sepideh’s diary “To me there is a universal tone in the film that is instantly recognizable. A young woman is at a cross road between childhood and adulthood, and at the very same time she is trying to break away from tradition and find her own niche in life. Sepideh shows us that it takes courage and an enormous will power, to go head to head with a conservative and controlling society, and that one must never take freedom for granted. But taking your destiny into your own hands may hurt the ones who love you the most.” – Director Berit Madsen]]> Artist Services, Artist Services, Artist Services Indexes, Artist Services Home Page, Distribution Chris Horton 2014-01-21T15:32:18+00:00 In the spirit of Sundance Film Festival's upcoming 30th Anniversary, Sundance Institute's #ArtistServices program partnered with iTunes to promote classics from the past 30 years. New alum Justin Simien, whose debut feature film "Dear White People" is premiering in the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival's, picks five of his favorites. All titles can be found at itunes.com/sundance . Sin NombreNo one tells a story quite the way Cary Fukunaga does. At times gut-wrenching, with true to life performances, Sin Nombre manages to stay grounded in reality while at the same time employing breathtaking imagery. The result is a haunting and powerful statement on the human condition that takes root in your subconscious.  How to Survive a PlagueStill so hard to believe that just a couple of decades ago, HIV, one of the greatest threats of our time was being virtually ignored because it first affected people the establishment considered "undesirable." This amazingly well-crafted, dire but ultimately hopeful documentary serves as a rally cry for the ignored and underserved.  One Hour PhotoSomehow the genius behind Michael Jackson's "Scream," Jay Z's "99 Problems" and Madonna's "Bedtime Stories" (to name a few) manages to be one of the most underrated of feature filmmakers. Romaneks storytelling here borders on Kubrickian and at its center is one of Robin William's most interesting and surprising performances ever - I'm just not sure what else I need in a movie! Love and BasketballOne of the great love stories from the renaissance of quality Black films in the early 90's. It's also one of my favorite debuts from a favorite filmmaker Gina Prince-Bythewood. It's a sexy confident classic with a strong female voice not heard enough, and features one of Sanaa Lathan's most iconic performances. Squid and the WhaleA funny and heartbreaking tale of navigating the wounds, idiosyncrasies, and even the gifts our parents inadvertently impress upon us. The storytelling is true to life and yet totally fresh and original no matter how often I revisit it. ]]> Artist Services, Documentary, Dramatic, Sundance Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival Pick, Sundance Movies, Artist Services, Artist Services Indexes, Artist Services Home Page, Distribution Chris Horton, Associate Director, #ArtistServices 2013-12-23T18:34:41+00:00 1.  CARVE OUT DIY DIGITAL: Distributors and Foreign Sales companies alike often want ALL RIGHTS and including ALL DIGITAL DISTRIBUTION RIGHTS. No matter what, at least CARVE OUT the ability to do DIY Digital Distribution yourself with services such as: EggUp, Distrify, Dynamo Player, and/or TopSpin, off your own site, off your Facebook page, and also directly to platforms.  Platforms and services can almost always Geo-Filter thereby eliminating conflict with any territories where the film has been sold to a traditional distributor and often times a distributor will not mind that a filmmaker sells directly to his/her fans as well in any case. 2.   PLATFORMS ≠ AGGREGATORS ≠ DISTRIBUTORS: Platforms are places people go to watch or buy films. Aggregators are conduits between filmmakers/distributors and platforms. Aggregators usually focus more on converting files for and supplying metadata to platforms and that's about it.  Marketing is rarely a strong suit or focus for them but it should be for a distributor, otherwise what's the point? Aggregators usually don't need rights for a long term and only take limited rights they need to do the job.  Distributors usually take more rights for longer terms.  Sometimes distributors are DIRECT to PLATFORMS and sometimes they go through AGGREGATORS.  It makes a difference because FEES are taken out every time there is a middleman.  Filmmakers should want to know the FEE that the PLATFORM is taking (because it's not always the same for all content providers though usually it is other than for Cable VOD, for example) and know if a distributor is direct with platforms or goes through an aggregator.  Also, filmmakers should have an understanding what each middleman is doing to justify the fee.  On the aggregator/distributor side, we think 15% is a better fee than 50%, so have an understanding of what services are included in the fee. If a distributor is not devoting any time or money to marketing and simply dumping films onto platforms, then one should be aware of that. Ask for a description in writing of what activities will be performed. Companies such as #SAS partner New Video (worked on our case studies Bass Ackwards and Note by Note) function well as both a distributor and an aggregator. 3. THINK OF DIGITAL PLATFORMS AS STORES AND CUSTOMIZE A PLAN THAT IS RIGHT FOR YOUR FILM: A film should try to be available everywhere however sometimes that is too costly or not possible and when that is the case one should prioritize according to where the film’s audience consumes media. Think of digital platforms as retail stores. Back in the DVD days (which are almost gone), one would want a DVD of an indie film in big US chains such as Blockbuster and Hollywood Video but especially a cool, award winning indie would do well in a 20/20 or Kim's Video store because those outlets were targeting a core audience. With digital, it's the same. While many filmmakers want to see their films on Cable VOD, some films just don’t work well there and delivery is expensive. Some films make most of their money via Netflix these days and won't do a lick of business on Comcast.  Other films do well on iTunes and some die there whereas they might actually bring in some business via Hulu or SNAG. Docs are different from narrative and niches vary. Know your film, its audience's habits and resolve a digital strategy that makes sense. If money or access is an issue, then be strategic in picking your “stores” and make your film available where it's most likely to perform. It may not be in Walmart's digital store or Best Buy's. Above all, if you dear filmmaker have a community around you (followers, a brand), your site(s) and networks may be your best platform stores of all.  Though there is something to be said for viewing habits so I do recommend always picking at least a couple other key digital storefronts that are known and trusted by your audience.  4. TIP FOR CABLE VOD LISTINGS: By now many of you may have heard that it's hard to get films marketed well on Cable VOD platforms. Often the metadata either isn’t entered or entered incorrectly and it's nearly impossible to fix after it goes live. Hence, oversee the metatags submitted for your film and check immediately upon release. Also, since genre/category folders and trailer promotion are not always an option for every film, it is the case that films with names starting in early letters of the alphabet (A-G) or numbers can perform better. Then again, there's a glut of folks trying that now so the cable operators are getting wise to this and not falling for it. All the more reason to focus on marketing, marketing, marketing your title, so audiences are looking for it and not just stumbling upon your film in the VOD menu. There are only going to be more films to choose from in the future, not fewer. 5. ART for SMALL: Filmmakers, if there is one thing I must impart to you once and for all it's this:  TAKE GOOD PHOTOGRAPHY!!!  Take it when making your film. Remember, most marketing imagery if not all for digital distribution (which will be all of "home entertainment") must work SMALL so create key art and publicity images that also work well small and in concert with the rest of your campaign. Look at your key art as a thumbnail image and make sure it is still clearly identifiable. 6. KNOW YOUR DIGITAL DISTRO GOALS AND PLAN AHEAD: I have seen distribution plans wasted because a vision for the film's path was not resolved in time to actualize it properly. If your film is ripe for NGO or corporate sponsorship and you want to try that, you will need loads of lead time (6 months at least!) and a clear distribution plan to present to potential sponsors (who will always need to know that before agreeing).  If making money is a top concern, then know how YOUR FILM’s release is mostly likely to do that and plan accordingly. It may be by collapsing windows or it may be by expanding them. All films are different and that's why it’s best to look at case studies of films with similar appeal to yours. And if showing the industry that your film is on iTunes matters to you for professional reasons more than financial then know that is your motivator but know that getting a film onto iTunes does not automatically lead to transactions, marketing does. 7. TIMING IS EVERYTHING | WINDOW WATCHING: Digital distribution often has to be done in a certain order if accessing Cable VOD is part of your plan. That is not the only reason to consider an order and an order is not always needed, but it can be a consideration.  Sometimes Cable VOD is not an option for a film (films often need a strong theatrical run before they can access Cable VOD) and, in this case, the order of digital is more flexible and one can be creative or experiment with timing and different types of digital. However, Cable VOD's percentage share of digital distribution revenues is still around 70% (it used to be nearer to 80%) so if it's an option for your film, it's worth doing, at least for now. It is very often the case that if your film is in the digital distribution window before Cable VOD (on Netflix for example), that will eliminate or at least dramatically diminish the potential that Cable MSO's (Multi System Operators) will take the film or even that an intermediate aggregator will accept it.  There is more flexibility with transactional EST (electronic sell through) / DTO (download to own) / DTR (download to rent) services such as iTunes but much less flexibility with YouTube (even a rental channel) or subscription or ad-supported services such as Netflix (subscription) or Hulu (which is both). Films that opted to be part of the YouTube/Sundance rental channel initiative (such as Children of Invention) could not get onto Cable VOD after. The Film Collaborative has to hold off on putting films in its YouTube Rental Channel if cable VOD is part of the plan.  Of course, there are exceptions to every rule due to relationships or a film proving itself in the marketplace, but better to plan ahead than be disappointed. Companies such as Gravitas are also programmers for some of the MSOs so they have greater access to VOD, but they too discourage YouTube rental channel distribution before the Cable VOD window and they do Netflix SVOD (Subscription Video on Demand), distribution after. In general, people often do transactional platforms first and ad-supported last with Netflix being in the middle unless it's delayed because of a TV deal for example. This is not always the case and some distributors have experienced that one platform can drive sales on another but in my opinion it depends on the film and habits of its audience.  You should know that Broadcasters such as Showtime will pay more if you do your Netflix SVOD after their window rather than before. WINDOW WATCHING: If you for example stream or distribute digitally before Cable VOD for example you will often lose that opportunity so timing is key.  And of course festivals will often not program a film if it’s available digital or at all commercially.  For documentaries one has to be mindful about the EDUCATIONAL window (though this usually most relates to DVD).  Broadcast and SVOD are competitive with each other so compare options in terms of fees and timing for best distribution results and maximum benefits.  Sometimes VOD is best BEFORE theatrical (it’s called Reverse Windowing and Magnolia does that for example, sometimes).  Sometimes Ad Supported VOD (AVOD or FOD (free VOD)) (e.g. regular HULU) or Broadcast airings are seen as useful for maximum awareness, relatively significantly revenue generating, and/or good for driving transactional VOD.  Whereas sometimes AVOD or FOD is seen as cannibalizing business and is delayed.  So again, know your strategy based on both your audience / consumer and your goals. 8. THE DEVIL IS IN THE DEFINITIONS DEVIL IS IN THE DEFINITION: Remember that the term VOD means or includes different things to different users.  The terms in the space are becoming more customary but they are not fully standardized so be sure to have ALL terms related to digital rights DEFINED.  And the space keeps changing so be sure to stay current. There is no standard yet for definitions of digital rights. IFTA (formerly known as AFMA) has its rights definitions and for that organization’s signatories there is therefore a standard. But many distributors use their own contracts with a range of definitions that are not uniform. When analyzing distribution options, be aware that terms such as VOD can mean different things to different people and include more or fewer distribution rights and govern more or fewer platforms. Consider the term “VOD”. In some contracts, it’s not explicitly defined and hence can mean anything and everything. IFTA is clear to categorize it as a PayPerView Right (Demand View Right) and limit it to: “transmission by means of encoded signal for television reception in homes and similar living spaces where a charge is made to the viewer for the rights to use a decoding device to view the Motion Picture at a time selected by the viewer for each viewing”. However in some contracts, it’s defined as “Video-on-Demand Rights,” meaning a function or service distributed and/or made available to a viewer by any and all means of transmission, telecommunication, and/or network system(s) whether now known or hereafter devised (including, without limitation, television, cable, satellite, wire, fiber, radio communication signal, internet, intranet, or other means of electronic delivery and whether employing analogue and/or digital technologies and whether encrypted or encoded) whereby the viewer is using information storage, retrieval and management techniques capable of accessing, selecting, downloading (whether temporarily or permanently) and viewing programming whether on a per program/movie basis or as a package of programs/movies) at a time selected by the viewer, in his/her discretion whether or not the transmission is scheduled by the operator(s)/provider(s), and whether or not a fee is paid by the viewer for such function/service to view on the screen of a television receiver, computer, handheld device or other receiving device (fixed or mobile) of any type whether now known or hereafter devised. Video-on-Demand includes without limitation Near VOD (“NVOD”,) Subscription Video-on-Demand (“SVOD”,) “Download to burn”, “Download to Own”, “Electronic Sell Through” and “Electronic Rental,” for example.  This example includes everything and your kitchen sink. One has to ask if a definition of VOD or another type of digital right includes “SVOD” (Subscription Video on Demand) and includes subscription services such as Netflix and Hulu Plus. Why does this matter? Well if the fee to the distributor and/or to you is the same either way then it may not matter. If there’s a difference in fees depending on the nature of distribution, then it will.  Recently an issue in a deal came up with respect to distinguishing ad-supported specifically from general “free-streaming”.  Is ad-supported governed by a “free-streaming” rights reference?  Why wonder, Just spell it all out; better to be safe than _____. Another example, if a contract notes a distributor has purchased “VOD Rights” but does not define them, or defines them broadly, then do they have mobile device distribution rights as well? The words “Video-on-Demand” sometimes are used only to refer to Cable Video on Demand and other times much more generally. In a “TV Everywhere” (and hence film everywhere) multi-platform all-device playable universe, the content creator needs to know. The devil is in the definition which you must read carefully BEFORE you sign on the dotted line.  Know what you want for and can do for your film in terms of distribution and carve it up and spell it out. 9. PLAN FOR FUTURE: Digital distribution in Europe is not as mature as it is in the US but it’s growing.  The key platforms and categories of VOD now may not be key down the road.  Again, do deals wisely and plan for the future.  One way may be to set revenue thresholds for contract terms to continue.  Or allow for terms to be reviewable and adjustable into the Term. 10. IF YOU CANNOT MAKE PIRACY YOUR FRIEND by lets say monetizing it or using it to drive awareness… then think about shortening the time between your release windows and when you first start handing out DVDs and getting a lot of buzz for your film. Many folks would happy consume your film legitimately if given the opportunity in time.  Some piracy cannot be helped and can either be monetized or just enjoyed.  There are anti-piracy services one can employ as well.  In my experience, DVD is a bigger source of piracy than digital. 11. KNOW YOUR RIGHTS / OTHER WAYS TO PROTECT YOURSELF IN A DEAL: Before giving rights away for longer periods of time think about the future.  For example, the category of DTR (download-to-rent) is growing as is SVOD (Subscription VOD).  So you will want to make sure your splits are strong in your favor, especially for growing categories, and Cable VOD and transactional DTO (download-to-own) or EST (electronic sell through) are strong too and btw, some of these terms include each other.  Instead of merely focusing on rights classes even within the category of VOD one may also want to address gross revenues so that one can get an appropriate share of revenues at certain gross revenue thresholds.  You may want to have terms of a deal be reviewable for contracts with a longer Term.]]> Artist Services, Artist Services, Artist Services Indexes, Artist Services Home Page, Distribution Orly Ravid, The Film Collaborative 2013-09-04T18:45:48+00:00 Some of the best documentary and feature films often focus on a marginalized, isolated, or troubled community. Throughout the process you get to know the central characters in your story, and learn about the forces affecting their real, or fictional, lives. These people’s circumstances have moved you, mystified you, or pissed you off so profoundly that you feel compelled to explain them to a wider audience and do what you can to help along the way.  But once your film gets into festivals, theaters, and Netflix queues, what’s next?  What more can you do for the individuals whose stories you’ve so painstakingly told? You’ve of course heard about directors and producers using crowdfunding to cover their production expenses and get their movies made. What you may not know is that filmmakers are also using their movies to launch philanthropic crowdfunding campaigns, too. They’re using such platforms as Rally.org to bring their films’ on-screen advocacy into the off-screen lives of the people in them. Take the two 14-year-old stars of The Buzkashi Boys. One of them had never left Afghanistan, spending his childhood selling dictionaries to foreign visitors in Kabul. When the live-action short received an Oscar nomination, director Sam French wanted to give the boys a chance to celebrate. He created a Rally.org campaign to raise $10,000 to get them to this year’s Academy Awards; any extra donations would help pay for the boys to attend college. The campaign went viral and attracted financial assistance from Turkish Airlines and the U.S. State Department. The boys went to the Oscars, and the more than $12,000 raised on Rally will go into a college trust fund for them. Another example: Blood Brother, which won two documentary awards at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, follows a disaffected American who ends up running an orphanage in India devoted to children with HIV and AIDS. The orphanage’s most immediate challenge is feeding dozens of growing kids every day, so one of the film’s producers, Danny Yourd, launched a fundraiser to buy a year's worth of powdered-milk packets and eggs. (That amounts to about 24,000 and 11,000, respectively.) Yourd set a target of $5,000 with suggested donation amounts ranging from $5 to cover eggs for a day to $100 to buy milk and eggs for a week. This Rally campaign currently totals more than $7,400 and continues to attract contributions. Seeking crowdfunding for your film-related cause isn’t much different from using crowdfunding to help you make your film. Rally.org can do both.  With Rally.org you can tap into your already interested and dedicated audience—one that’s ready to take action on a social issue that they learned about from your work. Directing your supporters to a Rally page helps further educate them about why that issue matters to you and demands action. As with any effective crowdfunding effort, you’ve got a video to introduce your film, your cause, and your beneficiaries to potential backers. You’re using social media to post photos and blog updates about how the money will help people. Similar to rewards or perks tied to certain dollar amounts, you can spell out exactly how much money is needed for certain goods and services related to the cause. A platform like Rally gives you the flexibility to run a cause-based campaign for as long or as brief a time period as you like.  Once you’ve hit your first fundraising goal, you can create other campaigns related to your cause, with their own timelines and donation targets. The more closely you connect with your fans-turned-donors, the more you strengthen their support and extend your impact to make real change happen and keep your audience engaged in your project. Social-good crowdfunding enables you to build an audience for your future projects by tapping into supporters of the cause you’re highlighting. For instance, suppose you’ve made a feature or documentary about child trafficking. Your fundraising campaign to help trafficking victims can subsequently attract people who are concerned about the issue but who aren’t familiar with your work. Producing the film has given you expertise that makes you a leader in advocating on this issue. Once you’ve engaged supporters of your cause, you can build on the success of your cause-based campaign to bring in media attention, future collaborators, business partners, fan fundraisers and film fans. The next time you’re thinking about crowdfunding the creation of your next film, consider crowdfunding beyond the production process. You’ve built a relationship with a community that’s important to you, you and your community also have the power to give back to the people who’ve helped you achieve your artistic goals.]]> Artist Services, Case Studies, Creative Funding, Artist Services, Artist Services Indexes, Artist Services Home Page, Creative Funding Elaine Heinzman, Rally.org 2013-09-04T18:13:31+00:00 Sundance Institute’s #ArtistServices project has helped both newcomers and pros navigate an ever-changing independent film landscape. Producers and Directors now conceive, strategize and deploy creative control of their work in the modern micro-cinema age. Raising over $5 million-dollars on Kickstarter and empowering the self-release of 80 independent films since launching in 2010, Sundance Institute staffers Chris Horton and Joseph Beyer will host this first-ever NYC workshop in collaboration with IFP’s Independent Film Week and enforce a Truth-Only Chautauqua of where this movement is going. Get wicked-smart with a posse of Guest Panelists on the latest tech and trends in Creative Financing, Digi Distro, Guerilla Marketing and Indie Theatrical Releases. Lincoln Center’s Bruno Walter Auditorium- New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. 175 Public Tickets Available for $90.00 each – purchased through IFP. Wednesday, September 18, 2013 | 10:00 AM to 5:30 PM EST | Seating is First-Come, First-Served | Doors Open at 9:30 AM | Arrive Early SCHEDULE Opening Salvo by Keri Putnam, Executive Director Sundance Institute 10:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. EST Since 1981, Sundance Institute has supported more than 6,000 artists who have brought original stories and authentic voices to the screen and stage. IFP has been the premiere advocacy organization for independent filmmakers since 1979, championing the future of storytelling in the digital age by fostering a vibrant and sustainable independent filmmaking community. Both organizations share a primary commitment to support the development of independent film and to expose it to audiences – in any way possible. Executive Directors Keri Putnam of Sundance Institute and Joana Vicente of IFP have been at the forefront of this movement and will kick off the workshop with their observations on the state of creative distribution and the challenges our industry still faces. Keri Putnam is the Executive Director of the non-profit Sundance Institute whose mission is to discover and develop independent artists and introduce audiences to their new work. Since joining the Sundance Institute in 2010, Putnam has advanced the Institute’s international work, expanded its involvement in arts advocacy, and launched new programs bringing technology and film together to enable wider distribution and explore new forms of storytelling. Before joining Sundance Institute, Putnam served as President of Production for Miramax Films, the Walt Disney Company's specialty film division, where she was responsible for production, acquisitions, co-production and development. Prior to joining Miramax, Putnam was Executive Vice President, HBO Films, responsible for the development and production of films for both the cable network and for theatrical release. A graduate of Harvard, Putnam studied theatre and began her career working for Williamstown Theater Festival, McCarter Theater, Arena Stage, the ART, and others. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two children. Joana Vicente has been the Executive Director of the IFP since December 2009. Prior to this, she and her partner Jason Kliot produced/executive produced over forty films by such acclaimed directors as Jim Jarmusch, Miguel Arteta, Brian De Palma, Hal Hartley, Steven Soderbergh, Nicole Holofcener, and Todd Solondz. She has co-founded three separate and unique film production entities over the course of her career. Among the many films that Vicente and Kliot have produced are Tony Bui's Sundance Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award-winner Three Seasons, Jim Jarmusch's cult classic Coffee and Cigarettes, Niels Mueller's The Assassination of Richard Nixon, Todd Solondz's Sundance Grand Jury Prize-winning Welcome to the Dollhouse, Brian De Palma's controversial Redacted and Alex Gibney's Academy Award® nominated Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room. Vicente's films have garnered numerous accolades and awards, including twenty-three Independent Spirit Award nominations and four wins. In 2007, she was the recipient of the Made in NY Award for individuals who have made outstanding contributions to New York City's entertainment industry. Vicente graduated from the Masters program at The Catholic University of Portugal with a degree in Philosophy and began her career as the press attaché for the Portuguese delegate-and former Prime Minister of Portugal-at the European Parliament. She later became a radio news producer for the United Nations before turning her attention to film. Soft Money, Uncle Sam, Equity and Crowdfunding 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. EST It’s all about The Benjamins, The Bucks and The Chedda’ in this first-ever roundtable debate about the state of hybrid funding in independent film. We’ll stay focused on tax implications for crowdfunders, soft money options for producers and the emergence of new online equity opportunities. Our lively experts will further explore how they all fit together and get you thinking in new directions about how to fund your own work. Colin Brown, an award-winning film business journalist by background, is part of the senior team of Slated, the equity film financing and networking platform that matches accredited investors with filmmaking teams. He also teaches "The Future of Film" to graduate students at the NYU Tisch School of the Arts, where he works closely with its Cinema Research Institute as a board member. As Slated's Editorial Director, Colin oversees the creation of informational tools that bridge the communication gap between the investment community and filmmakers closing deals. He is the author of the "Filmonomics" blog for the website and a strategic advisor in Slated's international plans. Colin's film business articles have appeared in numerous publications including "CNBC Business", “The Guardian”, “The International Herald Tribune” and “Filmmaker Magazine”. As a film critic, Colin has been invited on numerous film festival juries including that of the Sundance Film Festival - where he helped judge the world cinema dramatic competition in 2009. Dianne Debicella is the Senior Program Director for Fiscal Sponsorship at Fractured Atlas. Dianne helps over 3,200 sponsored artists and emerging organizations, representing all artistic disciplines, find funding and other resources to support their work. Since 2006, she has led the program to become one of the largest, most renowned art fiscal sponsorship programs in the country with an annual budget of $17 million. Dianne is the co-founder of Brooklyn Community Supported Art + Design (CSA+D) and serves on the steering committee of the National Network of Fiscal Sponsors. She received her B.F.A. from Massachusetts College of Art and her M.P.A. from Pratt Institute's Arts and Cultural Management program. Dianne previously worked as a Project Coordinator for a restoration painting studio and as a Manager of Site Development for Planet Aid. Cameron Keng has practiced tax law for clients such as Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank and Pfizer at PwC an KPMG. Cam has been featured by Bloomberg, Tax Analysts, BusinessWeek, Entrepreneur, HuffingintonPost and Fox News as a tax and finance authority. Cam most recently founded a 501(c)(3) non-profit tax clinic that has received Congressional endorsements for outstanding community and public service. His other projects include Autotax.me, a company that automates 1099 taxes for businesses authorized by the IRS and all fifty states for electronic paperless filing. Mynette Louie is a film producer and winner of the 2013 Independent Spirit Piaget Producers Award. Credits include Marshall Lewy's CALIFORNIA SOLO (Sundance 2012), Tze Chun's CHILDREN OF INVENTION (Sundance 2009), Patricia Benoit's STONES IN THE SUN (Tribeca 2012), Olivia Silver's ARCADIA (Berlinale 2012), Andrew Bujalski's MUTUAL APPRECIATION (SXSW 2005), and Tze Chun’s COLD COMES THE NIGHT, which will be released by Sony. Louie serves on advisory committees for the Sundance Institute, IFP, and A3 Foundation, and was named one of Ted Hope’s "21 Brave Thinkers of Truly Free Film.” She previously worked at the Hawaii Film Office, where she authored the state's production tax credit, and at SportsIllustrated.com, Jupiter Research, and Time Magazine. Louie graduated from Harvard, where she studied Chinese literature and film. Robert S. Fingerman, is the founder and president of Independent Films Production Consultants, Inc., (IFPC) which provides a wide range of financial consulting and accounting services to the motion picture and media industries. IFPC also provides management and consulting services to artists, film producers, financiers, film funds, studios, distributors, directors, government film agencies, screenplay writers and playwright authors, as well as providing on-site film production accounting. His over twenty-five years of experience in the entertainment industry include working for some of the most respected entertainment accounting firms in the country. DCP Roadmap for Indies: Graef Allen of Dolby Labs and Michael Tuckman, Theatrical Booker of “Detropia” and “Upstream Color” 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. EST Dive in as Dolby Laboratories’ Graef Allen and theatrical booker Michael Tuckman take us on a crash course in the workings of digital cinema mastering and distribution. This presentation is NOT for the faint of heart but filmmakers with the gusto to do their research about mastering and distribution options will reap significant rewards from this deep dive. Graef Allen is the manager of Content Services at Dolby Laboratories in Los Angeles, California. Graef has been with Dolby for more than nine years, working primarily in digital cinema mastering and distribution. Although some of her work is on studio titles, most projects are independent films or educational films for science museums. Graef spent 15 years on the staff of the Telluride Film Festival, working in production, theatre operations, and projection. Michael Tuckman, a veteran of the independent film industry for fifteen years, Michael Tuckman began his career at The Cinema Guild, where he was hired to start the company's theatrical distribution division. Tuckman went on to serve as Vice President of Theatrical Sales for THINKFilm, handling the planning and implementation of all theatrical release strategies, including the breakout successes of Oscar-winning and nominated films including SPELLBOUND, HALF-NELSON, BORN INTO BROTHELS, TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE and MURDERBALL. He now operates his own distribution services company, mTuckman media, with which he works directly with filmmakers under their own banners. Most notably, he has handled Shane Carruth's UPSTREAM COLOR and DETROPIA, from the Academy Award nominated directors Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, guiding those films to national releases in over 100 theaters and upwards of half a million dollars at the box office while working with limited release budgets. What We Love Right Now: David Larkin of GoWatchIt.com 12:30 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. EST GoWatchIt.com connects movies with audiences in new and exciting ways. Their universal queue system allows fans to register for notifications to track favorite films as they become available to watch in theatres and On-Demand platforms. Find out how to utilize this innovative platform to connect fans to your film and your release strategy, and best of all – it’s FREE. David Larkin is the Founder and CEO of GoWatchit, a search engine and universal queue for movies. He has worked in many roles in the film industry from production assistant to producer. Memorable films include late night cable staple Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers, better known as CHUD and SXSW Award Winner, MADE IN CHINA. He is Executive Chairman of Nanotronics Imaging, an innovative platform for high resolution digital imaging and analysis, and sits on the Board of Directors of Trickle Up, which helps the world’s poorest people start businesses thorough micro grants and business training and he is also a director of the Montauk Observatory, a public astronomical observatory for the education and enjoyment of students, astronomy buffs and families on the East End of Long Island. LUNCH BREAK 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. EST Strategy to Know: How “Sound City” Broke the Windowing Barrier 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. EST Dave Grohl’s debut film, SOUND CITY, was one of the best received docs at this year’s Sundance and SXSW Film Festivals. It’s also one of the better self-distribution case studies of the year—the film has topped the iTunes charts since debuting. How did they do it? And if they had the chance, would they do it again, or would they sell it to a distributor? Find out as Jim Rota and John Ramsay, the film’s producers, sit with Sundance’s Chris Horton to discuss. Jim Rota is a Movie Producer, Record Producer, Singer/Guitarist, Songwriter and founding member of internationally touring hard-rock band, Fireball Ministry. Rota has also spent the last 8 years designing, managing and executing feature production and post production workflows for such films as THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA series, PARENTAL GUIDANCE, and CHASING MAVERICKS. When taking a break from work, you can find him scouring the internet for treasures like old rock documentaries, vinyl obscurities and rare mono and quadraphonic finds. Presently, Rota has a reoccurring role as on-air talent “Fireball Jim” on Nikki Sixx’s Nationally Syndicated Radio show, “Sixx Sense” and along with Dave Grohl from the Foo Fighters and John Ramsay of Therapy Content, produced the documentary SOUND CITY that was an official selection in the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. John Ramsay, a graduate of William Paterson University, John Ramsay began his career in New York City in independent films at Plus Films. This experience garnered him a position as associate producer at Viacom’s VH1 Pop-Up Video. Ramsay moved to Los Angeles in 1999 to join Sony Pictures where he focused on feature-film accounting and finance. He would go on to become producer at post-production house, Brass Knuckles Editorial in Venice, CA producing commercial work for national brands such as Microsoft, Target and Pepsi as well as music videos for Nirvana, No Doubt and OK GO. In 2005 Ramsay formed Therapy Studios, a state-of-the-art post-production studio in West Los Angeles. Today, John Ramsay leads feature-film production as Cofounder and Executive Producer of Therapy Content where he recently produced the studio’s second feature film, Sound City, in association with Roswell Films, directed by Dave Grohl, and released in 2013. Creative Convo: Designing Key Art for the Digital Marketplace 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. EST Admit it: You judge a movie by it's poster. There’s a lot of mystery when producers begin working with graphic designers and distributors to create and master their Key Art Package. Learn the best practices for achieving that beautiful set of promotional graphics you’ll need to distribute your film into theatres, digital retailers and on-demand platforms. Explore both the process and the specifics of how to make your key art hit the sweet-spot. Zak Soreff , the EVP of Sawyer Studios, runs creative advertising, national media, digital, social and mobile projects exclusively for entertainment companies. Current clients include IFC Films, Magnolia Pictures, HBO, Cinemax, Tribeca Film, Cinedigm and many other independent distributors, producers and sales companies. Cory McAbee is best known as writer/director of the feature films, THE AMERICAN ASTRONAUT (2001), STINGRAY SAM (2009), CRAZY AND THIEF (2012) and as singer/songwriter for the musical group The Billy Nayer Show (1989–2011). He has created many award-winning short films and has worked as actor and musician in American and European features. McAbee is currently creating an opera, a graphic novel, and developing the global music, art and film collaborative, Captain Ahab’s Motorcycle Club. CAMC has received a fellowship through the Sundance Institute and is being developed and supported by arts organizations throughout the world. Madeleine Olnek is a prolific writer and director who honed her skills in downtown New York City venues with over 20 produced plays--all comedies--which frequently enjoyed sell-out runs. She is one of the authors of A Practical Handbook for the Actor (with a foreword by Mamet), a widely-used acting textbook, which articulates a truthful approach to performance. She studied filmmaking at Columbia University, where she was awarded the William Goldman Screenwriting Fellowship and the Adrienne Shelly Award/Grant for Best Female Director. Her first film, the award-winning short comedy HOLD UP, was presented at Sundance in 2006. She returned in 2009 with another award-winning comedy short, COUNTERTRANSFERENCE. Olnek’s debut feature comedy, CODEPENDENT LESBIAN SPACE ALIEN SEEKS SAME, premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and has been all over the world in many languages. Her latest film THE FOXY MERKINS had its world-premier at #NEXTweekend in Los Angeles. Ryan Werner is an independent film marketing & PR consultant. This summer, he worked with RADiUS TWC on campaigns for 20 FEET FROM STARDOM, ONLY GOD FORGIVES, CUTIE AND THE BOXER and LOVELACE. He also worked with Cinedigm on SHORT TERM 12 and is currently work on Claire Denis' BASTARDS for Sundance Selects, ESCAPE FROM TOMORROW with PDA and THE MOTEL LIFE with Film Buff. He was previously Senior Vice President of Marketing & Publicty at IFC from 2006-2013 where he helped launch the company's day & date program and worked on some of the most acclaimed independent films of the decade. Previous jobs include Wellspring, Magnolia Pictures, Palm Pictures, Sundance Channel, Shooting Gallery and IFP. He lives in NYC. True Disruptors Roundtable Moderated by Chris Horton, Sundance Institute 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. EST Direct to Fan is not a new concept, it’s a new movement. Learn how to circumvent all traditional distribution barriers and take your creative work directly to your fan base. We’ll help you understand the concepts and technology that are fueling the releases of such films as “Bones Brigade: An Autobiography” and turning the industry on its head (yet again). Chris Horton joined Sundance Institute in 2011 to launch #ArtistServices, an initiative that further extends the organization's mission of connecting artists with audiences. Through a series of innovative deals and partnerships, #ArtistServices provides Institute alumni with tools and resources that enhance creative funding and self-distribution opportunities. Recent projects include two films from the 2012 Sundance Film Festival: DETROPIA, winner of the U.S. Documentary Editing Award, and INDIE GAME: THE MOVIE, winner of the World Cinema Documentary Editing Award. Horton was previously the head of acquisitions for FilmBuff, a pioneering New York digital distribution company and sister company to Cinetic Media. Under Horton's leadership, FilmBuff acquired sales rights to hundreds of feature-length movies, including Banksy's EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP and Chris Smith's COLLAPSE. Steven Beckman heads the Content Partnerships department at FilmBuff, a leading curator of digital entertainment. In this role, Steven identifies relevant projects for FilmBuff and develops unique strategies for their releases, primarily through maximizing opportunities in the digital space. Prior to joining FilmBuff in 2007, Steven had worked at The Weinstein Company, DreamWorks, 20th Century Fox, Marc Platt Productions and Hock Films. He has also produced several independent documentaries and concert films. Outside of film, Steven serves on the board of trustees for Ramapo for Children, a not-for-profit organization serving children with special needs. Steven graduated from NYU with a B.A. in History and minor concentrations in Economics and Cinema Studies. Adam Klaff is the Head of Business Development for VHX, where he oversees platform growth and is responsible for content partnerships with filmmakers, distributors, and other providers. Prior to VHX, he was Vice President of Scott Rudin Productions. He is a graduate of The George Washington University. Debra Fisher is the Global Director of Digital Sales at Cinedigm. In this role Debra oversees sales strategy for the company’s transactional digital business worldwide. Prior to joining Cinedigm, Debra was the Head of Digital and Television Sales at Oscilloscope Laboratories, where she oversaw the digital distribution of all Oscilloscope titles, including WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN, MEEK’S CUTOFF and SHUT UP AND PLAY THE HITS. Debra also served as Head of Sales at Cinetic Media and Head of Ancillary Sales at Filmbuff, where she worked on over one hundred films, including PRECIOUS, EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP and TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE. Debra began her career at Fremantlemedia and later worked at Sundance Channel and Lifetime Television. Bill Mainguy founded and led Infinite Games, an independent 20-person game development studio which produced the prototype 1XR for the Xbox 360. This experience led him to his career at Electronic Arts where, as a Producer, Bill was responsible for leading multiple international teams of engineers, animators and designers while driving the vision of AAA titles such as FIFA and Need for Speed. Bill also served as Middle East Business Development Manager for KTM Sportmotorcyle AG in Dubai where he was responsible for regional B2B partnerships, the factory race team as well as regional sales for the X-BOW vehicle. Most recently Bill’s experience stems from Blast Radius, a digital strategy agency where he managed multi-million dollar projects for Fortune 100 companies, such as the redesign of Microsoft's SQL Server property and the global rollout of Starbucks' 40th Anniversary digital rebranding and campaign. Currently, Bill is Co-founder and CEO of Reelhouse. Takeaways: Joseph Beyer / Sundance Institute 5:00 p.m. EST When our workshop is all said and done, and the notebooks are filled with data and the minds race with new ideas and deeper questions – Sundance staffer Joseph Beyer will lead this cool-down refresher of the day’s highlights and the takeaways that stood out most dramatically. Joseph Beyer currently works as Director of Digital Initiatives for Sundance Institute, where he managed the development team and launch of the Sundance Institute #ArtistServices Initiative under the direction of Executive Director Keri Putnam and the Board of Trustees. #ArtistServices provides exclusive creative funding, distribution, marketing and theatrical support to 6,000+ Sundance Institute alumni artists. Filmmakers are eligible for innovative universal and pre-negotiated deals to self-distribute their work to top digital retailers - all while retaining and controlling their creative rights and release plans. Beyer led the team that developed the first-ever collaboration with crowd funding leader Kickstarter.com to provide Institute alumni exclusive training and promotional support in creative funding. 100+ projects totaling over $5 million dollars have been successfully raised through the partnership since launching in January 2011.]]> Artist Services, Institute Site, Institute Indexes, Institute Home Page, Festival, Festival Indexes, Festival Home Page, Artist Services, Artist Services Indexes, Artist Services Home Page, Creative Funding, Distribution, Theatrical Sundance Institute 2013-09-04T16:00:56+00:00 Our #ArtistServices project has helped both newcomers and pros ride the waves of an ever-changing independent film landscape. Producers and Directors now conceive, strategize and deploy creative control of their work in the modern micro-cinema age. Raising over $5 million-dollars on Kickstarter and empowering the self-release of 80 independent films since launching in 2010, Sundance Institute staffers Chris Horton and Joseph Beyer will moderate this FREE EVENT and enforce a Truth-Only Chautauqua of where this movement is going. Get wicked-smart on the latest tech and trends in Creative Financing, Digi Distro, Guerilla Marketing and Indie Theatrical Releases (all in the unique spirit and setting of #NEXTweekend). You can "Save the Date" and set yourself a reminder on Facebook. Saturday, August 10, 2013 | 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM PST | Sundance Cinemas Sunset | No Ticket Required – Seating is First-Come, First-Served | Doors Open at 10:30 AM | Coffee and Concessions Available | 95 Seat Capacity | Arrive Early Ondi Timoner | "A Total Disruption" and "WE LIVE IN PUBLIC" and "DIG!" is an American film director, producer, and cinematographer. She was born in Miami, Florida, USA. In 1994, she graduated from Yale University, where she majored in American Studies and Theater Studies. She subsequently founded her company, Interloper Films in the same year. She is perhaps best known for her 2004 documentary, DIG!, which chronicles seven years of the lives of two neo-psychedelic bands, The Dandy Warhols and The Brian Jonestown Massacre. Ondi's currently directing and producing a web-based video portal for innovators called, "A Total Disruption" (which moves faster than she can keep up with it), about the invisible superheroes who are transforming our lives with technology. She is a two-time Grand Jury Award Prize Winner at Sundance Film Festival. Lucy Walker | "THE CRASH REEL" is director and producer Lucy Walker’s fifth film at the Sundance Film Festival. DEVIL'S PLAYGROUND screened in 2002, WASTE LAND won the World Cinema Documentary Audience Award in 2010 and was nominated for an Academy Award, COUNTDOWN TO ZERO also screened in 2010, and her short THE TSUNAMI AND THE CHERRY BLOSSOM earned a Jury Prize last year and was nominated for an Academy Award. BLINDSIGHT (2006) premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. Walker grew up in London, England, and graduated from Oxford before winning a Fulbright to attend NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Madeleine Olnek is a prolific writer and director who honed her skills in downtown New York City venues with over 20 produced plays--all comedies--which frequently enjoyed sell-out runs. She is one of the authors of A Practical Handbook for the Actor (with a foreword by Mamet), a widely-used acting textbook, which articulates a truthful approach to performance. She studied filmmaking at Columbia University, where she was awarded the William Goldman Screenwriting Fellowship and the Adrienne Shelly Award/Grant for Best Female Director. Her first film, the award-winning short comedy HOLD UP, was presented at Sundance in 2006. She returned in 2009 with another award-winning comedy short, COUNTERTRANSFERENCE. Olnek’s debut feature comedy, CODEPENDENT LESBIAN SPACE ALIEN SEEKS SAME, premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and has been all over the world in many languages. Her latest film THE FOXY MERKINS is world-premiering at #NEXTweekend in Los Angeles the night before this special panel slash event, and will screen again the day after. David Larkin is the Founder and CEO of GoWatchit, a search engine and universal queue for movies. He has worked in many roles in the film industry from production assistant to producer. Memorable films include late night cable staple Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers, better known as CHUD and SXSW Award Winner, MADE IN CHINA. He is Executive Chairman of Nanotronics Imaging, an innovative platform for high resolution digital imaging and analysis, and sits on the Board of Directors of Trickle Up, which helps the world’s poorest people start businesses thorough micro grants and business training and he is also a director of the Montauk Observatory, a public astronomical observatory for the education and enjoyment of students, astronomy buffs and families on the East End of Long Island. Paul Snow is a manager on YouTube's content partnerships team. In that role, Paul represents video content at Google, focusing on entertainment partners across each of the company's business lines, including ad support content, funded channels and transactional opportunities. Based in Beverly Hills, he works with studios, networks and new content creators in the western United States. Before joining YouTube, Paul worked in management consulting with Booz & Company. In addition, he holds a MBA from Dartmouth College's Tuck School of Business and lives along with his wife and four children in Los Angeles. Bob Moczydlowsky has dedicated his career to removing obstacles between artists and fans. He’s managed bands and events and created artist web sites. In 1996, he created one of the web’s first licensed streaming music sites. Prior to Topspin, Bob worked at Yahoo! Music, founded the media agency Closed System, and worked closely with the Sundance Institute and the N.E.A. to help musicians, filmmakers and educators. Bob holds degrees from The University of Kansas and Carnegie Mellon Universtity, and teaches in CMU’s Master of Entertainment Industry Management program. He is the head of product development and marketing at Topspin Media. Chris Horton joined Sundance Institute in 2011 to launch #ArtistServices, an initiative that further extends the organization's mission of connecting artists with audiences. Through a series of innovative deals and partnerships, #ArtistServices provides Institute alumni with tools and resources that enhance creative funding and self-distribution opportunities. Recent projects include two films from the 2012 Sundance Film Festival: DETROPIA, winner of the U.S. Documentary Editing Award, and INDIE GAME: THE MOVIE, winner of the World Cinema Documentary Editing Award. Horton was previously the head of acquisitions for FilmBuff, a pioneering New York digital distribution company and sister company to Cinetic Media. Under Horton's leadership, FilmBuff acquired sales rights to hundreds of feature-length movies, including Banksy's Exit Through The Gift Shop and Chris Smith's Collapse. Joseph Beyer currently works as Director of Digital Initiatives for Sundance Institute, where he managed the development team and launch of the Sundance Institute #ArtistServices Initiative under the direction of Executive Director Keri Putnam and the Board of Trustees. #ArtistServices provides exclusive creative funding, distribution, marketing and theatrical support to 6,000+ Sundance Institute alumni artists. Filmmakers are eligible for innovative universal and pre-negotiated deals to self-distribute their work to top digital retailers - all while retaining and controlling their creative rights and release plans. Beyer led the team that developed the first-ever collaboration with innovator Kickstarter.com to provide Institute alumni exclusive training and promotional support in creative funding. 150+ projects totaling over $5 million dollars have been successfully raised through the partnership since launching in January 2011. // -1 ? 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Early this year, First Generation directors Adam and Jaye Fenderson were offered a grant to finance a 7-10 city screening tour across low-income high schools in New England. Their film follows four high school students seeking to be the first in their family’s to attend college in which their struggles and lessons learned are documented along the way. The goal of our New England screening tour was to educate students on the college application process and inspire them to pursue higher education - regardless of their financial situation. The First Generation screening tour should have been a breeze. The grant was awarded midway through the school year and included a list of interested schools. What could go wrong? By the time the grant was officially approved, it was already late Spring and the end of the school year was right around the corner. We had yet to receive the foundation’s list of interested schools - leaving us with only 16 days to schedule 10 events with zero hosts before the end of the year. With minimal guidance from the grant foundation, we researched low-income cities with programs that would need the film the most but were least likely to be able to afford the license.  However, the screenings still proved incredibly difficult to book. Not only were we asking high school faculty members to organize an event in two weeks, but we were also competing with nationwide standardized testing. Despite these overwhelming obstacles, the tour was a great success and First Generation played at 8 schools in 8 cities. In the end, it was a wonderful opportunity to participate in something that can profoundly shape the futures of so many students and educators. There is much to be learned from this experience, so we want to share it with you! Here are the factors that allow for a successful screening tour: Know Your Audience. First Generation was fortunate to have cross-generational appeal, making it informative and interesting for students, teachers, and administrators alike. We knew who our audience was – High School students and teachers in training - and we engaged them through their institutions. While I’m sure everyone will love your film once they see it, when you’re booking a screening tour, don’t waste your time trying to make an audience work when it doesn’t. Lay the Groundwork. We’d been working with First Generation for months by the time the grant came around and we’d become very familiar with the different types of people and groups who are interested in the film.  We screened the film at the National College Access Network 2012 Conference, College Access Foundation Conference, and The Education Trust Conference, among others, as an effective way to build buzz about First Generation with the right audiences. We reached out to education bloggers on websites like Edutopia and shared the film with them. A review from a respected educator can inspire more bookings than a good film review. Filmmakers as Experts.  Thanks to the grant, the filmmakers were able to attend each of the confirmed screenings.  Filmmaker presence is always a special experience. But what really sells the host is when the filmmaker is also an expert or an activist in their own right. Jaye is a former senior college admissions officer at Columbia University and knows exactly what colleges are looking for – which created an interactive and engaging screening. If you can’t send a filmmaker, try to have someone from the film available to travel and speak about your film. Partners and Funders Help: For films that don’t have a PR budget or never release theatrically, awareness for your film rests on word of mouth from respected sources. While they hadn’t heard of the film initially, the principals and administrators we contacted were familiar with – and trusted – the foundation funding the campaign. You can also rely on campaign partners. Find organizations working in the same issue area and cross promote each other. Good Project Management. With a tour of this nature, it is essential that one person be in charge of organizing all the logistics.  Realize that there are multiple steps – outreach, confirmation, contracts, invoicing, shipping, payments – and that they have a constrained time frame to make quick and informed decisions. You need someone who can manage relationships with screening hosts, but also be detail oriented to ensure all steps of the process are covered. Most importantly, hire people you trust, and empower them to manage the tour. Foundation Involvement.  The best relationship between granter and grantee is one where clear expectations and responsibilities are laid out before the grant is fulfilled.  When there is confusion about who is in charge of what, tasks fall through the cracks and the goals of the grant are compromised.  Make sure your grantor is clear about their expectations, and you understand what your deliverables are. Set a Timeline. If your film is in education, you will be limited to when you can book screenings. If you want to book in a Fall semester, you need outreach and prep-work to happen the previous school year, and then concentrated in early September. If you are booking for the Spring semester, start the November before - by February it’s often to late to book an event before the end of the year. Get the Price Right. The fee you can charge to license your film ranges based on your level of exposure and demand, as well as your contracts with other distributors. The standard price ranges considerably but generally the lower the price, the more screenings you will book. We recommend keeping your fees as high as possible without deterring the majority of your target audience. It shows the quality of your work, ensures the host is committed to hosting a great event, and it allows your campaign to be self-sustainable. You should also be flexible in your fees and be willing to come down if needed.    In addition to everything stated above, you need a good film. At Picture Motion we only work with films that we believe have an interesting and compelling story, and truly have the potential to drive social change. And we definitely found that with First Generation.]]> Artist Services, Artist Services, Artist Services Indexes, Theatrical Megan Ryan, Campaign Manager, Picture Motion 2013-06-27T18:20:17+00:00 Directors Andy Heathcote and Heike Bachelier are using Kickstarter to bring their 2013 Sundance Film Festival selection The Moo Man to UK theaters. Click here to help them reach their goal. As we write this, we have only seven days left on our Kickstarter campaign and still need to find more than £10,000 (appx. $15,000) to bring The Moo Man to UK cinemas. If we are successful, we will be the first British film to release theatrically with crowdfunding. It is hairy and nerve-racking. Since our self-funded film was selected for the Sundance Film Festival six months ago, it feels like the roller coaster has not stopped. In the meantime, our horizons have expanded massively, but our desire to keep doing it our way is what gives us the white knuckle ride. Our film was initially planned as a story about a British farmer, his fight for survival, and the right to sell his barely legal raw milk. However, the story soon developed its own legs as our relationship with farmer Steve and an understanding of small farm realities developed. Our filming evolved into less of an issue doc and more of a subtle study of what farming actually means—the ways we as humans use and domesticate animals and whether it can ever be a relationship with two sides. We realised we could tell this story best with a very observational style. Wonderful. But that does mean a film takes much longer to make. Farm life captivated and challenged us, and two and a half years of filming on a small English dairy farm changed our own thinking in so many ways. We think there is something within our DNA that forges both our attitude and our sympathies toward domestic animals. This connection to nature and animals might be emotional, but it is also practical, a long evolved survival response from tens of thousands of years of farming. It is a part of who we are. But today this response is under threat. Supermarkets and the food processing industry continually disconnect us from food reality. For most North Europeans like us, farms are our only real connection with nature. They are not just our food basket but our countryside, too. Farms are living things—beautiful, gritty, dirty and ugly places and essential to our understanding and acceptance of the cycle of life. Our aim was always to tell Steve the farmer’s story in an engaging, funny yet serious way, so allowing the audience to understand emotionally what we’re in danger of losing. We are convinced that touching the audience with a film is the most effective way of changing the understanding of a topic. We hope The Moo Man will stay with audiences long after they have left the building. But we have to get them and the film into the building in the first place. We are learning so much as we attempt this. We are convinced that a DIY release is the way to go. We want to tour the film around the UK and take the farmer with us too, so that we can create debate and let people see how important small farms are to their communities. But we also want to bring relevant cinema to rural communities. Its all a big ask! So communicating this on Kickstarter and raising the funds is the current ride on the rollercoaster. Have a look and maybe you can help us get our movie out there and on the big screen. Thanks, Andy Heathcote and Heike Bachelier]]> Creative Funding, Director, Documentary, Independent Film, Independent Filmmaker, International, Sundance Film Festival Selection, World Cinema Documentary, Institute Site, Institute Indexes, Institute Home Page, Festival, Festival Indexes, Festival Home Page, Creative Funding, Partners, Kickstarter Andy Heathcote and Heike Bachelier 2013-06-04T17:17:54+00:00 As San Francisco Film Society Executive Director Ted Hope—a man who keeps a discerning finger on the pulse of the indie film world—delivered his opening salvo at last April’s #ArtistServices Workshop, he addressed a curious dichotomy facing independent filmmakers. “The irony of the times is that despite the abundance of content today, people seem to discover less movies, find less things that they care about, and get stuck in echo chambers. How do we solve it?” There emerged a palpable frustration in his tenor that vacillated between anger and hope. How, in this age of seemingly unlimited content, are we so challenged with distributing and digesting that content? “This isn’t for you to solve, and this isn’t for me to solve,” Hope assured. “This is for all of us to solve. This is a collective enterprise.” With that call to action facing audience members, Ted Hope introduced a man whose work doesn’t directly resolve these issues, but rather aims to facilitate the creation of quality content that is in turn digestible. Duncan Cork is the CEO and co-founder of Slated, an online marketplace that matches filmmakers with investors and industry members to help fund and package their projects. Slated is unique in that it is comprised only of “Accredited Investors,” or, someone with an income of $200,000, household income of $300,000, or a net worth of $1MM, according to Cork. And fittingly, Slated requires a particular set of qualifications for films and filmmakers seeking investors. Among those stipulations are separate budget requirements for documentary ($250K-$1MM) and narrative ($500K-$15MM+) films, as well as a director attached to the project. The beauty of Slated is not so much that it is an exclusive funding hub, but rather that it is a market that suits both the artist, the industry and the investor and maximizes the probability of them finding each other. Since releasing Slated at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, Cork says the company has received over 5,000 submissions, of which only 175 have been accepted. Perhaps those numbers provide a deterrent for some filmmakers, but that natural vetting process is what makes the business such an attractive marketplace for investors. Slated offers some semblance of security in the creative industry where financial returns are less than ideal. Duncan Cork pitches Slated to filmmakers with the ultimate selling point being access to capital. However, opportunities for official (secure) networking and the “multiplier effect” make the company a bona fide professional network for serious independent filmmakers. And maybe, as Ted Hope so envisions, Slated can begin to offer a solution to the artist/user disconnect by ensuring we support the best artists in helping them tell their stories. Check out Zach Braff talk about Slated in this recent interview with the guys from the film project "Kickstarted" (jump to 13:22).]]> Creative Funding, Independent Film, Independent Filmmaker, Institute Site, Institute Indexes, Institute Home Page, Artist Services, Artist Services Indexes, Artist Services Home Page, Creative Funding Nate von Zumwalt 2013-05-13T17:03:15+00:00 This has been an amazing roller coaster of a month working with my son Gilbert and Frankie on this Kickstarter campaign while they try to raise the budget for their new film "Snap Shot."  I've never seen two guys more persistent, creative and passionate about getting their film made than Gilbert and Frankie in my entire career. I'm really proud to be part of this project it has been a very humbling experience to see how projects like these bring our communities together. Thank you to all who have donated thus far, I hope all of you will spread the word and share the the link for the final push this week ending Friday Mar 29, at 3:00 PM. The first time I worked with Frankie on Modus Operandi it was amazing, I was overwhelmed with my trip to Milwaukee. When I got off the plane Frankie had the Milwaukee Police Department give me a police escort to my hotel. A police escort and not going to jail! On set in an abandoned 1930's movie theatre I pulled out a guys eye with a corkscrew, shoved a piece of dynamite in his eye socket, and blew his head up. I was really impressed by Frankie and his crew because it was a labor of love to them and I love working with directors that love what their doing and hes doing it for free! So thats when I say give me what you can and lets do this. I've never felt more at home any place, and thats any place in the world. Frankie and his crew were awesome! Usually somebody's got to have an attitude on set, I meen somebody's got to have an attitude. I was kinda pissed off somebody should have had a fucked up attitude on set but nobody! nobody! Please continue to support independent film, what these guys are doing is what it's all about. I'd rather work with passionate people any day of the week, thanks for looking -- Danny]]> Actor, Artist Services, Creative Funding, Entertainment News, Filmmaker, Independent Film, Independent Filmmaker, Partners, Kickstarter, Institute Site, Institute Indexes, Festival, Festival Indexes, Artist Services, Artist Services Indexes, Creative Funding Danny Trejo, Actor 2013-03-21T22:55:47+00:00 Sundance Institute and the San Francisco Film Society are set to co-host the #ArtistServices San Francisco Workshop, Saturday, April 6, 2013 9:30 AM - 4:00 PM PST in the Palm Room at San Francisco Film Centre 39 Mesa Street - Suite 107 The Presidio, San Francisco CA 94129, with happy hour to follow. Join the conversation with industry experts as they discuss the latest technology and trends in Creative Financing, Digital Distribution, Guerrilla Marketing and Independent Theatrical Distribution. Get one-on-one advice in the intimate setting of The Presidio's San Francisco Film Centre. TICKETS NO LONGER AVAILABLE 50 Public Tickets Available for $50.00 each. There are some spaces available for Sundance Institute Alumni and San Francisco Film Society Grant and Filmhouse Alumni (First-Come, First-Served). San Francisco Film Society Alumni - request complimentary code here. Sundance Institute Alumni - request complimentary code here. SCHEDULE Opening Salvo by Ted Hope, San Francisco Film Society TIME: 10:00 AM to 10:30 AM PST American independent film producer and Executive Director of the San Francisco Film Society, Hope has produced close to 70 films, among them the first films of such notable filmmakers as Ang Lee, Hal Hartley, Nicole Holofcener, Todd Field, Michel Gondry, Moises Kaufman, Bob Pulcini, and Shari Berman. Hope co-founded the production companies Good Machine and This Is That.Among Ted’s 23 Sundance entries are 3 Grand Jury Prize winners American Splendor (2003), The Brothers McMullen (1995) and What Happened Was... (1994). Hope is a champion of creative and community-based approaches to filmmaking and distribution, and through his Hope for Film blog and social-media is well known as a leader in the field. He recently launched the iOS app FLicklist, a tool to connect you with the films you'll love most. Creative Funding Profile: Duncan Cork of Slated.com TIME: 10:30 AM to 11:30 AM PST As Slated’s CEO, Duncan provides day-to-day creative and strategic leadership to the business and its partnerships. Duncan created the initial vision for Slated and subsequently founded the company in 2010. Prior to Slated, Duncan was the creative director of Katharsis, a consultancy specializing in strategy, user experience, product development, and design for clients in the entertainment, media and technology industries. Duncan moved to New York where he continues to design and develop the core Slated marketplace product - connecting filmmakers with financiers and industry professionals. Slated launched at Sundance in 2012 and has since aggregated film investors representing hundreds of millions of dollars, and has announced partnerships with some of the world's leading financing, sales, and film companies. Digital Cinema Mastering 101 For Indies: Graef Allen of Dolby TIME: 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM PST Manager of Content Services at Dolby Laboratories in Los Angeles, California. Graef has been with Dolby for more than nine years, working primarily in digital cinema mastering and distribution. Although some of her work is on studio titles, most projects are independent films or educational films for science museums. Graef spent 15 years on the staff of the Telluride Film Festival, working in production, theatre operations, and projection.  * LUNCH * Strategy to Know: Tiffany Shlain & Annie Roney Break Down EDU TIME: 1:30 PM to 2:30 PM PST Tiffany Shlain Honored by Newsweek as one of the “Women Shaping the 21st Century,” Tiffany Shlain (@tiffanyshlain) is a filmmaker, artist, public speaker and founder of The Webby Awards. Tiffany’s work with film, technology, and activism has received 50 awards and distinctions and her last four films have premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. She just released a new film and accompanying TED Book called Brain Power. Her acclaimed feature documentary, Connected: An Autoblogography about Love, Death & Technology, is currently screening around the world and is available on all digital platforms at connectedthefilm.com. It was selected by The U.S. State Department as part of the American Filmmaker Showcase to represent the United States. A celebrated thinker and speaker, she is on the advisory board of The Institute for the Future, has advised Secretary Clinton on technology and society, and presented the campus-wide Commencement address at U.C. Berkeley. Annie Roney Founder of ro*co films international, started the documentary film distribution company in 2000 and added ro*co educational in 2009. With a previous distributor she worked on all of the films by Ken Burns as well as Frontline and NOVA. She is based in Sausalito, California. Films in her ro*co catalog include: The Invisible War, How to Survive a Plague, Blood Brother, After Tiller, American Promise, Saving Face, Born Into Brothels, Jesus Camp, Street Fight, The Weather Underground, Promises, and Pray the Devil Back to Hell. What We Love Right Now: Samantha Howe of Blurb.com TIME: 2:30 PM to 3:00 PM PST Howe is the Senior Marketing Manager and Partner Strategist at Blurb Inc. Over 12 years of marketing strategy, business development and partnership management experience working in numerous roles in London and the U.S. She oversees global brand partnerships for Blurb, Inc. and formerly managed the international marketing for the company. Howe was a professional photographer with clients based in the U.K. and U.S. As a senior business development and marketing professional, Samantha has handled partnerships for brands as varied as Nokia, Wrigley, Sony Music, Flickr, Fed Ex and Volkswagen. True Disruptors Roundtable TIME: 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM PST Jason Sondhi / Vimeo.com A curator for Vimeo, Jason Sondhi's work bridges film and digital cultures, with a special eye towards audience-building. Selected by Filmmaker Magazine as one of their "25 New Faces of Indie Film" in 2011, Sondhi is also the founder and managing editor of influential short film recommendation site Short of the Week. With both his website and role at Vimeo, he enjoys an ability to discover and present talented filmmakers to massive online audiences, a perspective he brings to bear in helping define and develop the new Vimeo On Demand platform. Malcolm Pullinger / Elevision.com Pullinger is an Emmy-nominated filmmaker, who produced and edited the award-winning documentaries Winnebago Man, Following Sean, The Love Competition and The Key of G. His films have been released theatrically in the U.S. and Canada, have aired on the BBC, PBS, ARTE, and Channel Four, and have played at film festivals around the globe. Before co-founding Elevision, he served as the Producer and Creative Director of Wholphin, the acclaimed short film quarterly published by McSweeney’s. Jake Lodwick / Elevision.com Lodwick is an entrepreneur best known for creating Vimeo. Before that, he was CTO and product lead for CollegeHumor, and has served as an early advisor and investor to many successful startups, including Tumblr, Bleacher Report, and MakerBot. As a boy, he obsessively shot stop-motion video with his parents’ Hi8 camcorder, and as an adult has created dozens of short films, mostly for his own amusement. Chris Horton, Moderator Horton joined Sundance Institute in 2011 to launch #ArtistServices, an initiative that further extends the organization's mission of connecting artists with audiences. Through a series of innovative deals and partnerships, #ArtistServices provides Institute alumni with tools and resources that enhance creative funding and self-distribution opportunities. Recent projects include two films from the 2012 Sundance Film Festival: Detropia, winner of the U.S. Documentary Editing Award, and Indie Game: The Movie, winner of the World Cinema Documentary Editing Award. Horton was previously the head of acquisitions for FilmBuff, a pioneering New York digital distribution company and sister company to Cinetic Media. Under Horton's leadership, FilmBuff acquired sales rights to hundreds of feature-length movies, including Banksy's Exit Through The Gift Shop and Chris Smith's Collapse. Takeaways: Joseph Beyer / Sundance Institute TIME: 4:00 PM PST Beyer currently works as Director of Digital Initiatives for Sundance Institute, where he managed the development team and launch of the Sundance Institute #ArtistServices Initiative under the direction of Executive Director Keri Putnam and the Board of Trustees. #ArtistServices provides exclusive creative funding, distribution, marketing and theatrical support to 4,000+ Sundance Institute alumni artists. Filmmakers are eligible for innovative universal and pre-negotiated deals to self-distribute their work to top digital retailers - all while retaining and controlling their creative rights and release plans. Beyer led the team that developed the first-ever collaboration with crowd funding leader Kickstarter.com to provide Institute alumni exclusive training and promotional support in creative funding. 100+ projects totaling over $3.9 million dollars have been successfully raised through the partnership since launching in January 2011.]]> Artist Services, Case Studies, Community, Creative Funding, Culture, Director, Documentary, Entertainment News, Filmmaker, Filmmaker Support Program, Grants and Fellowships for Filmmakers, Independent Film, Independent Filmmaker, Panels, Sundance Institute Lab, Technology, Institute Site, Institute Indexes, Institute Home Page, Festival, Festival Indexes, Festival Home Page, Artist Services, Artist Services Indexes, Artist Services Home Page, Columns, Partners, Kickstarter, Topspin Media Sundance Institute 2013-03-18T18:10:50+00:00 Michael Cain is a documentary filmmaker and the director of the 2006 Sundance Film Festival Special Jury Prize Winner "TV Junkie." Cain is seeking funding through Kickstarter to acquire music liscensing for his new documentary the "Starck Project." Click here to help the film achieve its goal. "Scientists have proven music evokes memory. They say if you remember the 80s, you weren’t there.” The STARCK PROJECT can help you remember. Almost 3 years into the making of this documentary I have come to learn we all have a story to tell. Many of us share common experiences yet our lives are very different. We can be jettisoned back to a place, a time, or an experience by just hearing a few beats of a song. For a particular group of individuals music takes them back to a time where they shared an intense and common experience at the infamous Starck Club. Their memories are interwoven through an inextricable bond. They are Starckers.  In 1982, a visionary Dallas entrepreneur, Blake Woodall, collaborated with the obscure French designer Philippe Starck to build the best nightclub in the world. A desolate and abandoned brewery building in Dallas was chosen as the club’s site. Their team was certain they could create magic in this barren wasteland, which at the time was occupied only by dirt, debris and chickens! The Starck Club now resides in the annals as one of the most famous and exotic nightclubs in the world alongside New York’s Studio 54 and Manchester’s Hacienda. The Starck Club turned a cheek to the conservative ideals of 1980s Dallas and created an environment free of the judgment, pressure, and cultural expectations of the time. The club also became a Mecca for rock stars, movie stars, fashion designers, and politicians. It was also the hub of legal ecstasy in the world. Unbeknownst to me, the seeds of the STARCK PROJECT were planted in 1986 when two Starckers, Wade Hampton and myself, shared a common experience. While we frequented the club at the same time, our lives didn’t intersect until 25 years later at the Sundance Film Festival when a mutual friend introduced us as "two people with a Starck script." After a year of suspicion went by we grew to trust each other and actually came together to make a documentary film, TV Junkie, which was awarded a Special Jury Prize at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, premiered on HBO, and was part of the Governor’s Award Winning Addiction Series at the Emmy’s. Wade and I soon realized we shared a passion for bringing the story of the Starck Club and it's influence on Rave Culture and modern Electric Dance Music to a worldwide audience. At first we wrote scripts and then we set out to make a second documentary – the STARCK PROJECT, which we announced at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. We were blessed to bring on co-director Miles Hargrove whose love of music pushed this story to new heights, and award winning producers Melina McKinnon and Dennis Bishop. We have always known we would tell this story through music and that the images on the screen would complement the emotion and story arc created by the music. The question was, which music would most accurately represent the era and the Starckers’ common experiences? Fortunately for us, the music of the time was mostly discovered and brought to us by Sire Records and the incredible talents of Seymour Stein, who not only discovered the hallmark bands of the 80s but also coined the term “New Wave.” When co-producer Tom Huckabee brought Seymour, Andy Paley, and Risa Morley into the film, reality blew far past our original expectation and our budget, thus Kickstarter! Next, we defined the story based on the collective recounts of the Club’s founders, employees, patrons, and competition. Our crews travelled to Europe and across America to shoot over 120 interviews in an effort to establish the essence of the story. The likes of Philippe Starck, New Order’s Peter Hook; Talking Heads and Tom Tom Club’s Chris Frantz; and Book of Love’s Susan and Ted Ottaviano, Paul Oakenfold, Jason Bentley, Edwige Belmore, Tef Foo and DJ Tommy Sunshine are just a few of the amazing characters who have helped weave the story together. Some 17 terabytes of footage later, we are still on the journey to deliver that special place to those who lived it and those who will never get the chance to know a time before cellphones, AIDS and Facebook. A special time when a friend wasn't someone you just liked and followed online, but someone who was bonded to you by experiences and the music you shared forever. We invite you to please visit our Kickstarter campaign at here to learn more about the STARCK PROJECT and the opportunities to join in our labor of love.  My team and I wish you well. Warmest regards, Michael Cain, Producer/DirectorAnd the STARCK PROJECT Team]]> Documentary, New Movie, Institute Site, Institute Indexes, Institute Home Page, Artist Services, Artist Services Indexes, Artist Services Home Page, Partners, Kickstarter Michael Cain, director, STARCK PROJECT 2012-10-18T20:54:49+00:00 Daniel Junge is a filmmaker whose work includes the Oscar-winner “Saving Face,” Oscar-nominee “The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner,” Emmy-nominated “They Killed Sister Dorothy,” Toronto-premiere (and Sundance Documentary Fund recipient) “Iron Ladies of Liberia,” and Tribeca award-winner “Chiefs.” He is currently using Kickstarter to raise funds for his new film “Fight Church.” Click here to help the film reach its goal. I've been very fortunate to get my previous films funded through a variety of angles—through ITVS's Open Call, through broadcasters like HBO, through Sundance Documentary Fund and other grants, and through tried and true method of hitting up everyone I know for spare change. For my most recent project, with co-director Bryan Storkel (Holy Rollers: The True Story of Card Counting Christians), we're going the Kickstarter route. It's been an education. First of all, I'm very impressed by Kickstarter and have fellow filmmakers who have used it very successfully. Some people think it's over-saturated now, especially for documentaries, yet there continue to be success stories there. But I've learned some projects are more viable than others. For those projects which tug at the heart strings of a very specific audience, it seems to be a very effective tool. Our film, however, is a little different story. FIGHT CHURCH is about confluence of Christianity and mixed martial arts (including Ultimate Fighting).  It's about churches that espouse MMA and about fighters who are devout Christians. Obviously this cross section is controversial, and the question our film poses is asked very directly by one of our subjects: "Can you love your neighbor as yourself while kneeing him in the face?"  I myself had skepticism about Christian MMA, but when you hang out with a guy like Pastor Paul Burress you can't help but be impressed with his devotion and earnestness. One thing you can say emphatically and without question is that nowhere in the Bible does it outlaw Mixed Martial Arts. Therefore religion is such that everyone has their own interpretation—sometimes a very passionate interpretation of whether or not it encompasses their lifestyle. The people who inhabit this lifestyle, fight, and are devout Christians believe that there are no contradictions there.  I have made a number of films that have faith implications including the murder of a Catholic nun in Brazil (They Killed Sister Dorothy, narrated by Martin Sheen), and I just did a film on acid violence in the Muslim world (Saving Face). In general, when I make these films I immerse myself in them, but they don’t profoundly impact my outlook on the world. We are not intending to be overtly critical of this sub-culture, nor are we intending to support it. Rather, we're giving these passionate people a voice and allowing viewers to come up with their own conclusions. I think the best documentaries come from this "middle way."  But what we've discovered is that this editorial approach is not necessarily what sells when crowd-funding. We're as happy to get contributions from devout Christians and hardcore MMA fans as we are to take money from people who are unabashed critics of one or both of these cultures. But we don't want to skew our film, or our fundraising, to appeal to either of these very dedicated audiences. This leaves us to fish for money from lovers of documentary film—and this is the audience I feel has already "tapped out" (pun intended) on Kickstarter. We're doing OK and with a last big push I think we'll make our goal. But it's been an education, and I hope other filmmakers who are considering this route will consider their film's editorial viewpoint (or lack thereof) and how that affects their ability to get dedicated audiences to fork out money early on. We are currently 50% of the way to our goal and have raised over $15,000. We have just 5 days to go. If you are intrigued by this project and would like to see it finished, you can visit our Kickstarter page to help out. Thank you.]]> Creative Funding, Culture, Director, Documentary, Filmmaker, Independent Film, Independent Filmmaker, Institute Site, Institute Indexes, Institute Home Page, Partners, Kickstarter Daniel Junge 2012-05-30T23:24:57+00:00 Destin Daniel Cretton is the writer and director of “I Am Not a Hipster,” which premiered in the NEXT category at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. He is using Kickstarter to help raise funds for the film’s release. Click here to help the film reach its goal. At the beginning of last year, Ron Najor (producer) sat me down and said these words (I’m paraphrasing): “I want to make a movie with you. I don’t care if it sucks, I just want to make something.” Im not sure if he realized this at the time, but that statement was the most freeing thing he could have said to me. I felt free to take chances, to try something I haven’t tried before, to write a story without boundaries or fears.  When I started writing, I had no idea it would end up where it did. I initially thought I was just going to tell a fun story about San Diego’s indie music and art scene, a community I fell in love with while living there for 10 years.  My secret reason for writing this script was to have an excuse to work with two of my favorite artists: Dominic Bogart (an actor who never ceases to surprise me both on screen and stage) and Joel P West (a musician whose melodies have inspired me for years). Dominic had his work cut out for him, having to prep for basically every scene in the movie while also learning how to play and sing the five songs he performs (live). And in the end, I honestly have no problem bragging about both the acting and music performances in this movie, because I’m genuinely in love with both, and can’t wait for everyone to have a chance to experience it.  I Am Not A Hipster isn’t just a movie about “hipsterdom” or 20-year-olds trying really hard to be cool. Even though it’s a pretty fun movie, it’s not a spoof or a 90-minute joke. Somewhere along the way, it has become much more than that. It has become a story about a brother remembering how to laugh with his sisters; a son learning to relate to his father; a family struggling to love while grieving; and a young man realizing he can still sing in the midst of sadness. The only reason this story ended up where it is now was because I felt like it was okay to mess-up, and that mentality stayed with us all the way through production. When it came to decisions on photography, music, performance, wardrobe, the constant reminder to everyone involved was, take a chance. It doesn’t matter if it’s not perfect, or a complete failure, just try something new and see what happens. So that’s what we all did.  We weren’t trying to make something that would make money, or reach a mass audience, or even play at Sundance. We were only trying to make something. It just so happens, that something premiered at Sundance this January and it was one of the most frightening and amazing experiences of my life. When the first frame of our film popped onto the screen in a sold-out theater in Park City, I literally thought I was going to die. But while listening to the reaction at the credit roll, and talking to people after the screening, I’ve never felt so proud to be a part of a team that decided to take a chance. Since Sundance, we’ve been taking the film to a number of wonderful festivals (Cleveland, Nashville, Philadelphia, North Carolina, Newport Beach, Arkansas, Seattle), where we’ve received some really great responses from audiences. Here’s a little video from a screening we did in San Diego: https://vimeo.com/42324671.  About a month ago, we decided to raise funds to release this film in the same way it was created. So, we launched a Kickstarter campaign (click here) where people can see some clips from the film and our time at Sundance, hear our story and decide whether or not it’s something they’d like to support. As a thank you to those who do support us, we’re offering rewards ranging from a pre-order of the DVD and soundtrack to a private screening and music performance in your home.  Thanks to everyone who supported us already, we’re over half-way to our goal! But we still have a way to go, so if anyone out there finds anything in this blog-post remotely interesting, please check out our campaign and let us know what you think!]]> Comedy, Director, Independent Film, Independent Filmmaker, NEXT, Sundance Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival 2012, Sundance Movies, Institute Site, Institute Indexes, Institute Home Page, Festival, Festival Indexes, Festival Home Page, Partners, Kickstarter Destin Daniel Cretton 2012-05-30T21:59:20+00:00 The Film Collaborative works with Wendy Bernfeld who is both its Advisory Board Member and its EU Digital Distribution partner. In the past, many new media and VOD platforms – whether based on pay-per-transaction (TVOD), subscription (SVOD), free to user/ad supported (ADVOD) or download to own (DTO) -- came and went, to the disillusionment of those brave souls trying to explore and develop the new sector and audiences. Some filmmakers, sales agents, distributors who dared to license were wonderfully pleased with surprisingly good results for particular films (and not always the same ones that were mainstream successes in traditional media), but on balance, let’s face it, most were underwhelmed with the lackluster performance or transience of the various sites, and eventually became jaded about the whole sector. But it’s no longer a viable option just to sit back. Over the past 18 months particularly the digital/VOD sector (including internationally) has finally begun paying off well for filmmakers, producers, distributors, and sales agents… at least for those who are willing to take the time to navigate (alone or partnered with others) the complexities of the sector, play with creative ”windowing’’ while balancing opportunities from traditional media, and accept initially more modest revenues from multiple smaller deals across various platforms and regions (yielding cumulative revenues in a largely non exclusive sector). In addition to traditional media deals and VOD deal potential with IPTV, telecom, and cable offerings, and larger American sites (e.g. Hulu, YouTube, Netflix, iTunes), your film may well find interested audiences and homes on EU/international platforms…even if not picked up in the USA. HOW IS INTERNATIONAL DIGITAL DIFFERENT FROM THAT IN THE USA? The EU (beyond UK) deals with multiple languages, different tastes and appetites, different windows (vs consistent release patterns/dates per country), different platforms to navigate and balance against multiple different traditional media buyers, and, to be honest in general more work for smaller potential revenues from each deal/window. But on the plus side, films can find homes overseas in many markets and windows, even if not ending up in the mainstream or major US/UK platforms. The UK is at the moment probably the more stable and lucrative for English (the VOD market is already very competitive, with large platforms like Netflix, Lovefilm, BSkyB, FilmFlex, iTunes, and Blinkbox) but as soon as you ripple out to EU, digital distribution will take more work and art and generate relatively less money, especially if your film is only in original English language, and not already exposed in terms of promo/PR (theatrical, DVD release in the region etc.). However, there is indeed a growing appetite by now for art house, festival, docs, quality indie films, and foreign language films, if well curated, e.g. around festivals/brands/themes rather than as one-offs. WHO’S OUT THERE in EU and what are some of the key territories where digital is meaningful? Digital is immediately more meaningful in the UK, France, the Nordic region, and in Benelux, where there are already pc/mobile and tech-savvy customers and a willingness to view films in English with subtitles (vs. the dubbed regions of Germany, Spain, Italy etc., where one has to invest more to get the languages to cross over). Although publications often refer to figures noting several hundreds of VOD platforms in Europe, in my view there are only probably 100 or so that are worth talking about when discussing licensing—half of which the main revenue generators, and another half of which are still potentially significant buyers(depending on the film of course) In Europe, as in America, transactional VOD (pay per view) platforms are more established – some regional (per country), and others multi region (e.g. Acetrax, UPC/Chello, Headweb, iTunes, Playstation Network Live, Voddler, Xbox Live). Outside of the UK, one obviously enhances possibilities if addressing customers in their own languages and tailoring content to local preferences such film classification, advertising, and general consumer and cultural tastes. iTunes has only recently (in autumn 2011) begun to expand its footprint into Europe, including in the following EU countries: Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Republic of Ireland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. Non-English stores include: Spain, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Belgium, Switzerland, and Portugal. They also just recently launched in Brazil / Latin America as well. NETFLIX, Amazon (via Lovefilm), and Hulu are expanding their international footprint too. Netflix, for example, recently launched in UK/Eire, and is anticipated to roll into other regions such as Spain thereafter, and has already extended its occasionally original production commissioning activities to EU (e.g. Denmark – Lillyhammer deal, and more recently France (Gaumont etc) - Hemlock Grove series funding ). Lovefilm already has a presence beyond the UK (in Germany and Nordic), and is anticipated to expand regions. Hulu has not yet launched in EU but did launch already in Japan. As part of its competition rampup (in the US against Netflix in the SVOD market, it has also began commissioning original programming, (Day in the Life – Morgan Spurlock, for example, which was just picked up by Fremantle for distribution thereafter)….and also continues seeking special films or shows to do stunts around. We understand that they are trying to acquire more Spanish rights for the US…an important strategic move for other US players trying to expand their footprint in EU as well. Meanwhile in early 2012 the UK became a hotbed of activity for SVOD, with deals that would formerly have been nonexclusive (with e.g. Netflix, Lovefilm) being now struck on a lucrative exclusive basis, following the example of the competitive SVOD vs. Pay TV market in the US. So what are the other key EU platforms? Trends? Various international platforms are now becoming increasingly interested in licensing more art house, niche and festival films--not just mainstream titles. It is expected that some of the larger brand sites this year (e.g. those in UK like Netflix, Lovefilm, etc.) will expand the indie/art house and festival category further, and also be open to foreign language films (dubbed or subtitled as applicable per country audience as above). Most deals for art house/fest films, where not locally versioned or released in theatres or DVD, are on a non exclusive rev share basis, and in some cases where there is particular acclaim or cast, it can be coupled with a modest upfront, while if on an SVOD basis, flat fee deals apply (similar to non-exclusive Pay TV licensing deal parameters). But in countries where the Pay TV incumbent is competing against a new web player, such as a traditional Pay TV player “vs.” SVOD (like Netflix “vs.” HBO in the US, or Lovefilm/Amazon “vs.” BSkyB in UK), as above, the fees can be more lucrative, in the form of true flat license fees in the Pay TV range. – whether on exclusive or non exclusive basis, and thus matching or exceeding the normal price ranges before the competition. As well, when competition heats up over one category of title, it’s also not unusual to have the competitors round out, extend, or diversify their consumer offer and move into other genres, to try to distinguish themselves from the competition. This is happening in more and more countries-- for example the Netherlands, where HBO /Ziggo just launched in February and the local incumbent, Film1, responded by adding a branded art house/indie thematic channel (Sundance Channel). Key note: Deals are generally non-exclusive and thus if carefully staggered, one can license the film sequentially through various windows (TVOD, SVOD, AVOD, and if applicable, DTO) and in multiple regions. An example: one can first license a current film for transactional VOD (TVOD) on a rev share basis to cable and telecom VOD platforms (like France Telecom/Orange, UPC, etc) as well as (simultaneously) web based players (e.g. iTunes), then to subscription -based windows (premium Pay TV (e.g. HBO, Viasat) and their corresponding “TV Everywhere” offerings, thematic Pay TV, and/or standalone SVOD services . Thereafter, the film can move to other ad-supported services (free to consumer, web based, e.g. YouTube AVOD). This pattern can apply in multiple countries. As mentioned above, there are hundreds of local European platforms —both standalone web-based services and mainstream and/or local telecom and Cable VOD platforms that have online offerings of their own. VIASAT, for example, was historically a premium pay service, but now offers not only conventional Pay TV and ''TV Everywhere'' but also standalone thematic offerings to non-subscribers (SVOD to PC). Similarly, BSkyB just announced the upcoming launch of NOW TV - also aimed at non- subscribers (“Cord Nevers, and/or Cord Cutters”) – a thematic SVOD/low pay offering of films. Opportunities will only increase in 2012 and 2013 as more from USA players, sites, and OTT box offerings beyond Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon gradually cross over to EU/international markets particularly if the new services don’t limit themselves to mainstream offerings and tastes. Getting to the platform: As in the United States, some of the larger platforms (such as LOVEFILM, BlinkBox, Netflix, itunes) only take larger packages of films with a minimum volume, and are unwilling to deal direct with producers and distributors for “one off” deals. Until recently, most of the larger sites also focused mainly on mainstream films. In general, these services steer filmmakers towards conventional distributors, or aggregators/digital distributors like Movie Partnership (UK); but sometimes will accept dealings direct for certain films, or will go via an agent working on a flat fee basis (like Rights Stuff / Film Collaborative). In the latter scenario, the film IP remains in the filmmaker’s/distributor’s name, the money from deals flows to them directly and they get access and paid advice through third party consultants/agents/advisors. Up until now, having had a DVD and/or local theatrical release was quite important for enhancing deals. But increasingly now online sites are willing to handle more innovative windows, e.g. premiering films online, or Day & Date with other windows (or shortly thereafter). Lesser-known or library (catalog) films can usually find a home on a non- exclusive and on ad-supported (AVOD) basis, but more current films usually start with transactional (TVOD) basis and/or subscription platforms (SVOD)… If filmmakers have titles already encoded to the expensive iTunes spec, this can be helpful in wider distribution, but it’s not essential; many digital platforms are now willing to take delivery of indie or art house films even via DVD or a hard drive/ digital master. In terms of deal models, some aggregators (middlemen) take larger %s but then take care of all encoding and delivery fulfillment, while others who are more in an advisory or agent role take a lower share for deal making and platform access but leave you to arrange the encoding separately. In some countries (e.g. Brazil), platforms may not take English versions unless local subtitles or dubs are available, and work with distributors who create versions where necessary. These distributors co-curate packages with filmmakers based on experience of what “moves” best in the region so as not to invest in encoding or language versioning for films that may not generate enough revenue to justify it… A side note regarding subtitling, by the way: Film Collaborative is looking into software that helps facilitate dubbing in the same voice as the actor/speaker, but meanwhile in any case, subtitling for digital is getting less and less expensive and can be done via relatively inexpensive software or labs. If one has shown a film at a film festival in another country and plans to then distribute the film there, we’d recommend you ask the fest for access to the subtitles (if cleared for other distribution). Traditionally, Nordic, Benelux, and some other regions are fine with and prefer subtitles, while others (such as Germany, Spain, and Italy) require dubbing. However, in the higher-educated arthouse/filmfest world, one can often get away with just subtitled versions even in the dubbing countries. As indicated above, for better platform access, one may want to pick or join with new media /digital distribution specialists – particularly if your traditional sales agent or distributor, strong in conventional media (theatrical, video etc.) is however not active or savvy in the VOD landscape above (platforms, deal terms, contacts etc). Otherwise it can be a self-fulfilling prophecy that you then ”don’t make money in digital’’. It’s a balancing act of cost vs. services, and a lot of work in international! And filmmakers, whatever you choose to do with respect to your digital distribution, do not forget that one can also reach the whole wide world via one’s own website(s) and social networking pages by utilizing DIY digital distribution services (for more on this topic please refer to numerous past blog posts about digital distribution and DIY platforms and services at www.TheFilmCollaborative.org/blog and/or the Resource Place at www.TheFilmCollaborative.org/ResourcePlace). As for piracy: in various cases filmmakers can tap into or derive indirect benefit from these online communities. See for e.g. Sheri Candler’s case studies in www.SellingYourFilm.com., Some filmmakers partner with Bit Torrent, Pirate Bay etc to launch their films online, tapping into the audiences already there (e.g. Nasty Old People, The Tunnel). LET’S TALK ABOUT POTENTIAL FUTURE TRENDS: Diversification, Cross Platform/Transmedia: We believe 2012 will see continued consolidation of platforms and fuller diversification within the genres offered. Also as above, some key platforms (such as Hulu, Netflix, Yahoo, Endemol/AOL, Nokia, Canal+, Orange, ARTE, Channel4, ) are now also selectively commissioning transmedia and/or branded film opportunities.(although YouTube has not begun funding outside US yet). New funds and educational bodies (including MEDIA, Power to the Pixel) are increasing the emphasis on digital as a 360 proposition from inception of the film production process. Multi-Layered Business Models: Platforms’ business models are also starting to become more multi-layered to handle different genres, consumer price points, and windows. For example, AVOD platforms such as YOUTUBE and SVOD platforms such as Lovefilm are now adding premium transactional VOD (TVOD) in order to handle current films. And as above, SVOD players are expanding their offerings beyond just library titles, beginning to buy newer and newer films in order to compete against premium PAY TV. This trend is continuing in the newer launching countries, e.g. Holland and Brazil where new PAY TV and localized SVOD and AVOD entrants have launched (e.g. YouTube regional sites). YouTube is also commissioning Made for Web content (MFW), although first in English language countries. Festivals: Some European festivals have also recently started offering select titles on a TVOD basis. Rights Stuff recently worked with IDFA.tv to put around 100 films online—some on an AVOD basis and some on a TVOD basis—and in future more will follow. Certain other festivals (such as IFFR) have also begun to follow the US festival path of offering limited TVOD around or during the festival. This can open many doors for filmmakers, but also requires careful juggling and balancing when figuring out distribution patterns for conventional vs. online and new media….the balancing act is always key. Traditional Players add VOD as well: As to the more traditional PAY TV players, last year after EPIX began licensing international festival documentaries it then turned its focus more to co-productions instead of acquisitions. And over 2011/12,As in the US, many traditional PAY TV platforms are going cross-platform and on multiple devices (a la “TV EVERYWHERE”, and similarly the nonlinear online channels are often seeking multiple device rights and/or at least have an App). Thus balancing traditional PAY TV sale vs. digital media requires more attention in rights grants and windows, but offers more opportunity correspondingly. In terms of trends, it still seems like the bigger funds and platforms are still more focused on more mainstream content, however as above this is starting to expand in EU to a wider net of content and genres. REGIONAL EXAMPLES: VOD LICENSING PLAYERS AND WINDOWS in EU: For bigger indie titles and mainstream ones, there are usually about 5-8 or so VOD outlets that one can target per country. Most of these will buy TVOD rights and sometimes also SVOD and/or AVOD. Platforms include television-related services (IPTV, Telecom/Cable companies, etc), as well as online and/or mobile sites, OTT box offerings, and consumer electronic (e.g. connected TV) portals. For e.g. in Holland, a film or TV show can have various TVOD deals, not only with MSO like KPN, Tele2, Ziggo, and UPC, but also with web based services like Cinemalink.nl (for art house), iTunes, and the newly launched service from theatrical distributor Pathé (a Rights Stuff client), pathethuis.nl a bold move by a traditional theatrical exhibitor to also launch and embrace TVOD for a fuller offer to its film-loving audience base. That would then be then followed by Premium PAY TV and/or SVOD sales (e.g. Film1, Ziggo/HBO, Ximon, Mubi.com), then AVOD (YouTube, IDFA.tv) with various competing players per region. The same film can also attract interest of foreign platforms not yet launched in the region but scaling up behind scenes, poised to launch there (e.g. those seeking to next move after UK into, say, Spain or other Benelux regions/Nordic). And this is on top of the broadcaster based proprietary VOD services (e.g. RTLXL and Veamer (from SBS and public TV catchup sites. There are also various local equivalents of genre sits like Fandor or IndieFlix in certain EU regions. MUBI (www.Mubi.com) (co-owned by the rights holder to one of the most expansive libraries of art house cinema, Celluloid Dreams) is technically available everywhere, and is sometimes syndicated as an SVOD channel to telecom platforms (as in the case with Belgacom in Belgium). It is also on Sony Playstation. Last we checked, 60% of its audience was the US and most of the rest in Europe. Revenues from it for our films (TFC) have been small to-date, low 3-figures but it’s a good pedigree platform and perhaps revenues will increase. A few others in EU include e.g. Orange, Canal Plus, (France and, multi region), Telenet, Belgacom, (in Belgium), SF Anytime, Voddler Film2home, Headweb , Viasat etc in Nordic /other regions), Telefonica, … Maxdome (Germany), Sony-related Qriocity, Daily Motion (many countries in EU), Movieeurope, Zattoo. Sales agent Wild Bunch has also recently launched a platform service called FilmoTV. And as an aside, in Brazil/Latin America, the market has been heating up intensely in late 2011/12, with various TVOD and IPTV platform launches players, as well as competitive new PAY TV and SVOD services (eg Netflix, Netmovies, Terra) springing up or extending VOD. NewPAY TV laws (from fall 2011) are resulting in more potential competition, which is good news for filmmakers seeking new audiences over there. Our recommended approach to filmmakers seeking deals in this region is to partner locally, e.g. with ELO Distribution, with whom we work traditional and non-traditional (new media) players. These are just a few categorical examples…there are plenty more buyers and platforms emerging internationally, including consumer electronics manufacturers (such as Samsung and tablet and connected TV manufacturers in EU and internationally who are getting into the game either on the licensing front or occasionally even funding/commissioning Transmedia or mfw (Made for Web). However, these usually license fuller sites (like a Lovefilm or Snagfilms) and not individual one –off titles. Overall, there are a lot of small markets and platforms, and all this takes a lot of work but if one has built community around a film and awareness then the effort may pay off and add up to a nice revenue stream. Once the first deals are in place with platforms (deal structures, relationships, contacts, contracts) it’s easier to build on that and add new films to the deals with just short amendments or riders, so the effort at the front end makes years of future dealings run smoother. TRENDS RE: OTHER GENRES: Aside from art house, festival indie films, and docs, one area that we expect to see more SVOD licensing around is kids’ films. Various smaller sites also have a strong appetite for gay/lesbian, martial arts, and horror programming, graphic novels, and made for web/cross platform/Transmedia original productions…but one has to be selective. As to documentaries, the combination of a large number of doc sites in the EU with the heavy exposure of docs on public and conventional TV in EU means docs can be relatively harder to monetize here, unless well curated and packaged, for e.g. under a larger brand/festival, like IDFA. WINDOWING: Typically films follow the sequential windowing described above when moving through the Transactional, Sell Through, Subscription, and ADVOD windows. But for certain films it it can be clever and compelling to have windows intentionally reversed or out of sequence. For example, premiering a film ONLINE or day-and-date with another cross-promoted window ahead of theatrical, and heavily emphasizing social media marketing can allow producers to build (and engage with) the audience before the film is even out. The key is to know your audience and try to tailor the marketing and distribution patterns accordingly…producers can be more active these days to heighten the chances of film success. More and more platforms are open to this REVERSE WINDOWING (which began successfully in the US, e.g. with Lars von Trier’s Melancholia), . For example, in Holland, the film Claustrophobia launched online first and its success via social networking ultimately brought it a theatrical deal. In another case, Submarine NL’s film ‘’Molotov Alva’’ (a second life documentary released online virally first) later secured a HBO sale on premium pay tv, and in another film we worked with (the documentary Surfing and Sharks), intensive social network/audience engagement before and during the film’s festival exhibitions helped not only to enhance the potential audience for the film ahead of commercial released, but also to attract wider sponsor support. Ultimately, the visible online appetite for the film (including the number of Twitter and Facebook followers amassed in a very short time) helped result in a stronger all-rights distribution deal as well. There are various new platforms focused on these models that are launching and expanding reach in EU– e.g. EU1 (The Makers Channel), which just launched in the Netherlands and will soon expand to other EU regions. One part of the site is business-to-business (geared towards talent, directors, actors, producers, etc.) providing for online pitches and related crowd sourcing and crowd funding (like Kickstarter). The other component is business to consumer, and allows exhibition of works online, on a rev share VOD basis… which will be coupled for the first time with TVOD exhibitions on UPC/Chello/Ziggo (the Cable TV VOD platform partners) thus giving much wider audience reach than conventional web VOD to PC. In some cases films can also combine a theatrical (conventional or event theatrical local) release for the films “day and date” with or in staggered creative windows. We are working with two English film cases in NL already, and as this site expands to other regions and to wider English crossover, this will open up many more opportunities (in some ways similar to what you see already in the USA on Tribeca/Sundance with exhibitions on cable households (TVOD). SHOW ME THE MONEY: Even where indie features have no theatrical or DVD release, if there is some cast and acclaim from festivals, and the film is new/current, TVOD is possible . This is usually on a rev share basis (with %s ranging from 50-50 to 70-30, with various deductions to negotiate). In SVOD/PAY TV, flat fees are normally paid instead of rev share, usually, along lines of comparable non-exclusive PAY TV license fees for indies. For example, in medium sized, non-English language EU countries, we’ve seen SVOD flat fee prices range from 5K-50K per title where it’s been theatrically or DVD released, etc, while with less exposure or more niche, sometimes the flat fees can be lower and more aligned with AVOD. In AVOD, deals are usually rev-share, (50-50 to 70-30) with sometimes a small upfront fee. In a medium-sized EU region, MG’s (Minimum Guarantees), when given at all for indie film, can range from a few hundred dollars (plus rev share) to 1-2K for higher end material. The very largest platforms may get away with no upfront fees at all due to their scale and reach, but smaller EU sites may well, depending on the film, offer something modest. When you do multiple nonexclusive deals, these can add up and help defray some costs of versioning, digitization, deliveries, etc. As to revenues generated from VOD once the license is done: again it is platform and film specific, and one cannot generalize. We’ve seen certain cases where niche foreign language art house films yielded 40K in 2 months of non-exclusive TVOD revenues across a few platforms, , while other titles from the same distributor yielded only 1-2K in the same deals/time period. Things are similar with SVOD – fees can range in one small non-English EU country from 5k to 40k for a single SVOD window license fee (non exclusive) – so the key is still in our view still to engage in a reasonable number of deals in each country across various windows, platforms and business models. IN SUM: SOME TIPS FOR GOOD RESULTS IN DIGITAL DISTRIBUTION: We strongly advise building audience for the film before release, even while the film is still being made. Engage in social media marketing around the themes of your film and the cast: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube (promos) etc. This not only enhances the audience and reach of your film, when it is released, but potentially your distribution and/or digital deal making as well. Once a deal is done and even after the film is sold, it still helps for the producer or distributor to take an active role in social media marketing, e.g. to direct attention (via social media etc.) to scheduled exhibitions of the films on various platforms licensed. Many platforms in EU are still showing viewers EPG’s with clumsy alphabetical “listings’’(as opposed to the type of creative Netflix/Lovefilm recommendation engines and suggestions), so helping viewers find the film will in turn increase returns. As for digital deals: We’d also recommend that individual producers who cannot afford tailored individual advice consider combining forces via producer groups to collectively fund some serious upfront advice – help each other curate more attractive packages of their better material, so easier to sell on to platforms directly or indirectly – and grouped in many different ways (theme, genre, category, audience etc.). If necessary, try to have “split rights’’ deals. If the person to whom you are entrusting the film in an “all rights” deal is less strong in digital and likely to “sit on” new media rights, you can explore splitting these rights /sharing them non exclusively with the distributor and another specialized digital distributor, case by case. Rights Stuff has often done this working with sales agents and distributors and producers directly to maximize digital distribution. Work with festivals (both traditional and online), who can play an increasing role in EU as they cross over to the digital space and VOD offerings. But be careful about the scope and duration of rights granted vs. other traditional and digital media, to maximize potential in all areas. Don’t abdicate completely, ie don’t’wash your hands of the film once you put it in someone else’s hands (the conventional sales approach) – keep involved along the way, gain as much learning as possible, split revenues, resources, knowledge base, contacts … and lever the outcomes to your next and future films. Final notes: Pricing of films on the transactional side is relatively commensurate with that in the US, however non USA SVOD and AVOD markets are smaller with lower revenue per deal. . We did not include VIEWSTER in this article but feel free to check them out. They are a consumer-facing platform that also supplies other platforms (i.e. functions like an aggregator). They seem to favor films with cast, more commercial films and those with a bigger profile. www.Viewster.com This content appears courtesy of The Film Collaborative / Orly Ravid, Editorial Consultant]]> Artist Services, Artist Services Indexes, Artist Services Home Page, Distribution Wendy Bernfeld, Managing Director of Rights Stuff and The Film Collaborative’s EU Digital Distribution Partner 2012-04-24T04:56:35+00:00 As indie filmmakers, we often don't have millions of marketing dollars (or any at all) to spend on turning our films' titles into household names.  Getting "organically" ranked highly by Google and other leading search engines is the single most cost-effective way to created a sustained marketing presence for your film. SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is akin to a dark art that every savvy website owner undertakes in an effort to get their site(s) ranked highly by Google, and to a lesser extent Bing and Yahoo.  To be put in the top five most highly-ranked sites in a given category is the Holy Grail of SEO.  Appearing "above the fold" before a Google user needs to scroll down to see more results gives the website a nearly priceless stamp of approval by Google's secret algorithms and is worth hundreds if not thousands of times more than any kind of paid internet marketing, hence the steady stream of spam emails we all receive from SEO "gurus" promising to get you more highly-ranked for a big time fee.  At the end of this article I'll give you some great resources to get started on your own.  Note: While it's not our full-time gig, my company would also consider choice projects for SEO analysis on a limited case-by-case basis. Most of what we've learned here at our indie film production and distribution outfit has been through hours and hours of internet research as well as even more hours spent trying different strategies on our own bevy of sites across our One World Studios Ltd. brands.  That said, any SEO expert worth their salt will tell you that Google is constantly tweaking their ranking algorithms and introducing varied ways for sites to be tracked and ranked so what works one day may not work forever, thus making SEO truly a dark art!  The following basic tenets have worked for us however, so let's begin. To start with: Your domain name is the number one thing Google looks at when it starts to judge your worthiness and appropriately index your site.  Many films use their title with "movie" or "-movie" after it so Google knows that it's a film.  You can get more creative if you like however if you think that people may search for your film with different words than the film's title or if you have some kind of catchy phrase associated with your film that is more memorable than the title by itself.  I'll be using our sites as guinea pigs today so let's start with our new Ouija movie, I Am ZoZo; a feature that we shot entirely on Super 8mm.  For this film we registered the domain www.iamzozomovie.com and for our previous motorcycle movies a couple of our highly-ranking sites are www.choppertown.net and www.choppertown.com. Now that you have a site to work with it's important to set up Google Analytics and Google Webmaster Tools so you can be indexed properly and you can see how your traffic is reaching you, etc. allowing you to make changes and tweaks over time.  Also, make sure you have an updated sitemap.xml file in your site's root folder, this is very important to be indexed by Google.  A sitemap essentially gives Google's "spiders" and "bots" an instant and cursory understanding of how all the various pages of your site are interlinked with one another so that it can place you in the proper category quickly and efficiently.  Use this site to generate a sitemap now.  Here's ours for iamzozomovie.com. Now that we've prepped our site, let's get our hands dirty: When building/rebuilding your site it's important to take stock of what you have and what you want.  Take a step back and determine what your site is for; does it sell something like a DVD or book?  Does it provide information to other people?  Is it exclusively for promotion of your film?  Once you've determined that, sit down and start making a list of various search terms and keywords that you'd like to be found under in Google.  (Use the Google Analytics tab "Traffic Sources" to see how people are currently actually finding you.) Remember, it's relatively easy to get highly ranked for the title of your film or brand if it's original or novel, but the real key for the indie filmmaker is to get ranked highly for words more general than your film's title. From Choppertown.com's analytics showing how the site was most recently found: Another example: I Am ZoZo is about a Ouija board possession and it was shot entirely on Super 8mm so we have several interesting "hooks" and terms that we feel we'd like to be found under.  By signing up for AdWords (optional) and using Google's Keyword Tool, we can see how many times some of our various ideas for keywords are actually being searched and also what kind of competition exists for advertising under those keywords.  Hint: More general words may seem to be more desirable and they're certainly more costly for advertising, but they aren't always better for your site because the traffic you generate may not be "qualified traffic".  Just getting tons of people to look at your site doesn't mean as much as getting tons of people who really like your content to visit your site.* So in this example I searched for the most general term I could think of "Ouija" and luckily, it's not very competitive, but reasonably popular.  Now do this for each site you own and each individual page of each site.  Write down all your favorite terms that apply to each page of content you have and get ready to apply them to your site. If you get one useful tip from this article it's this: Google likes it when each page of a site has proper indicators as to the specific nature of the page's content and content that matches those indicators. Now let's see how it's done: We now have a list of various keywords for our main index (Home) page ranging from general to specific such as: Ouija, Ouija boards, the Ouija, and La Ouija (never would have guessed this one), Ouija game, and down the line.  Also since it's a film, we want to add in words like: movie, movies, videos, media, caught on tape, real stories, etc.  That's just the Home page, we now go through each page of our site and try to think of different, but still related, words that we want each page to highlight. In the example of I Am ZoZo, we shot the entire film on Super 8mm, which is quite different (yes, some have even called it crazy.)  Google loves unique content because usually readers do too, so I've set up a page focusing on the production aspects of our film that don't relate to the story of the film, but rather the fascinating experience of shooting on film in general and on Super 8mm in particular.  Our story is based on true Ouija tales we collected over the years so this becomes another unique page and so forth.  Remember, the idea is to show Google that your site has both interesting and unique content that really relates to what it claims to be about.  Note: Some SEO scam artists make fake pages on your site that are filled with just keywords and little or no original content.  Beware these scams because if the Google bots discover it they can ban your URL permanently! Now that you have the basic layout of your site and what each main page is going to be about, get down to writing content that uses the keywords you chose to focus on.  Google loves text, so feel free to write lots of appropriate and useful information for your readers.  As always, "content is king".  This is tricky because A) writing isn't easy...and B) just because Google loves tons of text, your site still needs to function well in regards to UI (User Interface).  In layman's terms; your site needs to be good for the visitors, not just Google bots.  The combination of the technical and creative has always fascinated me, so I enjoy working this piece of the puzzle on my own sites.  It definitely takes practice, with constant updating and critiquing from friends and colleagues to find the effective mix that makes both your readers and Google happy.  Hint: Also give credence to paragraph headings and section headings within each page because Google looks at them to further index the context of the content on your site. Examples of keyword usage above the fold on the I Am ZoZo website: More technical details: Anchored keywords (Anchor Links) and hot-linked words are also important ways to indicate to the "bots" that certain content on your site is more important and to be focused on for indexing.  (This is also an important part of your Social Marketing strategy which may be the topic of a future article since it needs its own focus and attention.)  The gist is this; if you have a page on your site, either a top-level page or deeper level pages, you can and should occasionally make a link in your text to those pages if they relate directly to the content.  For example, on the front page of our website relating to our first motorcycle movie "Choppertown: the Sinners", you can see lots of text and anchored links leading off to other sites we own as well as deeper into the Choppertown.net site itself. *I know you're saying, "Dude, that site looks so ten years ago!"  True, the format might be due for an update, but Google LOVES this site because the information is accurate and text-based so we use it to help pull up our other motorcycle movie-related websites and social network.  Note: Google loves older sites and this one has been around since 2004, so if you give the SEO treatment to an older site you can expect bigger gains.  Also note all the targeted keywords used on this page such as: Motorcycle Movies, documentary, custom bikes, motorcycle videos, etc. Digging Deeper: Now that we've tried to fill our site with compelling, well-written, smartly-keyworded information it's time to go behind the scenes and make some more improvements that Google demands. You need to make sure each page's "title" is descriptive and full of your most important keywords.  The title is what appears in your browser, way at the top above everything else in the grey area.  Google looks at this as much as anything else!  (Remember it then matches that info against what it perceives to be the actual content of the site, so again SEO spammers beware.)  The title for Choppertown.net reads: Choppertown: the Sinners - a custom motorcycle movie on DVD about biker culture featuring Kutty Noteboom, Jason Jessee, James Intveld, Rico Fodrey, and Cole Foster. Notice it has our most important keywords first.  It's a bit longer than Google normally likes (15-20 words) but close enough.  We wanted to put in the names of some of the more well-known personalities from our film so anyone Googling them will also find the film. From IAmZoZomovie.com: I Am ZoZo is based on a real Ouija board experience gone wrong - ZoZo is a real Ouija spirit. He is pure EVIL. This Ouija movie was shot entirely on Super8 mm. Remember, do this for EVERY page on your site.  Blogs and other template-based site programs have spots for you to enter this information, usually right at the top.  Hint: On blogs your post's titles are already used for this, so plan your blog posting titles accordingly! Note about menus headings: As with Anchor Links, the words you use for your Menu Headings are important as well because Google looks for certain "standard" words that it can index quickly.  For instance: Home, About, Contact, Store, and Blog are very common.  Both from a user perspective and Google perspective try not to monkey around with these too much.  However, where a lot of people fall short in terms of SEO is they leave the menu name as the title of the page.  This is the case if you look at the grey bar at the top and you just see "Contact"  or "About".  This tells Google no specific information about the page and is a wasted opportunity for SEO. Digging even DEEPER: Visit a website you like - or even your competitors' sites - and then select "Get Info" from the menu bar (⌘-I on a Mac, Control-I on a PC.)  The little window that pops up has all sorts of useful information. At the very top is the title as we discussed.  Below that is "description" and "keywords" or "tags".  There are places to enter this info on each blog post or web page you make.  Again, they should be DIFFERENT for each page/post and APPLICABLE to their associated page.  Try to put in keywords for each page that you really want to stress to Google are important.  The description is also indexed and important for all the above reasons, but it serves a very important marketing purpose as well; it's the sentence or two that you see when you do a search on Google!  So it's important to make this BOTH Google friendly and reader friendly so that the reader will actually CLICK your site's link after they find it.  (Yes, Google does consider POPULARITY in its ranking algorithms.) Yes, it's a Popularity Contest: Google also adds into its algorithm the amount of traffic that goes to your site and where it's coming from. HUGE WARNING: Those SEO spammers that have been emailing you often mention "link-building" and the like.  Stay away from them unless you have already vetted the company because many of them create link farms of random junk websites just to provide you with thousands of inbound links.  When Google's bots realize this they PENALIZE YOUR SITE.  Getting quality inbound links takes time and effort and some companies are willing to help you for a fee, but honestly you are your own best judge from what other sites in your space you would like to get inbound links.  Any time the New York Times or IMDB or Hopeforfilm writes an article and links to your site (hopefully with Anchor Text) Google perks up its ears and moves you up its rankings because it already deems those sources as worthy.  Hint: A good technique is offering original articles to various blogs you like in exchange for cross-linking each other's content.  If your site is still small and the other is huge it may be a bit of a Catch-22, but we all know the indie film business is about jumping hurdles as we come to them!  If your article is interesting, the bigger blog might just reprint it and link back to you. More Technical Details - A great technique not for the faint of heart: (Before trying this technique BACK UP YOUR SITE.  Really!) Every page of every website in the world is actually a file document (similar to a Word or Excel document that ends in .doc or .xls, web documents often end with .html)  Instead of your written content only, each web page file also contains lines of code that tell a web browser how to present it to the end user on a computer screen, tablet, or cell phone, etc.  The actual File Name of the page file is a big determiner when Google scans your page.  For instance, you design an "about" page and fill it with all sorts of useful information about your film, then you go in and add all the other details we've discussed such a s a descriptive title, keywords, etc.  Don't just save it as "about " even though your page's menu has an "about" button leading to this page.  Instead call it for example, "best-your movie's subject-movie" or the like.  As long as the file name is still somewhat related to your actual content Google will love it.  On our film's site the "about" section's page is called best-motorcycle-movie.html. A word on Page Speed: Recently Google made it public that they also factor in your page's loading speed when determining rank.  This is a new development and in response to both the increased use of cell phones and tablets for internet browsing as well as the ever shrinking bandwidth of the internet "pipes" as more and more sites and users get online.   There's a million ways to make your site load faster and many of them require some technical knowledge to fix, but a good place to start is by running your site through http://gtmetrix.com and researching the errors it comes up with.  After reading Google's announcement about speed and rankings, we put all our sites through the test and found lots of little problems that needed fixing.  We went from a 69% "D" rating to an 86% "B" after addressing some of the simpler issues.  That's the thing about SEO, it requires constant vigilance and tweaking! A picture is worth a thousand...and a video is worth a million: It's important to address the images and videos that are a mandatory component of any filmmaker's site.  Remember Google has separate search sections for both images and videos and you want to be found there as well! First, it's important to make sure that all images have been properly "optimized" for web use either through Photoshop or a cool Wordpress plugin like "smush.it" so that they will be small in size and load very quickly.  Make sure each image's file name is SEO friendly by naming it something descriptive like "I Am ZoZo-keyart"  or "Choppertown-motorcycle-DVD" and make sure you add all requested metadata when you upload it.  Usually your design program has places for you to input this data such as "description", "caption", and "tags".  Fill out everything to give Google more to chew on! The same goes for video.  I recommend uploading your clips and trailers to YouTube and then embedding that onto your site (I know Vimeo looks better) but let's face it, you want YouTube is Big Daddy when it comes to sharing video and you want every click to count!  (Also Google owns YouTube so it tends to offer up those videos first in search for better or worse.) SEO and getting clicks for your video is probably its own article too, but many of the same steps apply; how you name your video is key so call it something that has the keywords for how you want to be indexed.  Don't just call it "I Am ZoZo Trailer"...call it "I Am ZoZo Trailer (the Ouija movie based on real experience gone wrong)".  Fill out a good description for it (with a link back to your own site of course!) and put in lots of appropriate tags. Last Step: Every time you change anything on your site, make sure you update your sitemap.xml file and then resubmit it to Google!  This lets Google know that your site is active and attempting to provide current information to readers. To Sum it All Up: Choose a useful domain name Register for Google Analytics and Webmaster Tools Check that you have a sitemap.xml file and make one if you don't already have it Make a list of keywords Write great content with Anchor Links Make sure all your site's page titles are appropriate, short, and descriptive Add your metadata such as descriptions and tags Get inbound links from qualified sources Check your pages' file names (optional) Optimize your pages for speed Do SEO on all your images and videos Update your sitemap The Proof is in the Pudding: So after all that work, here's the results... Not one, but three of our sites are listed on the front page of Google under the coveted and targeted term "motorcycle movie". ...And we've even made it to the front page for "Ouija movie" as well.  Note: We were ranked even higher until yesterday when Universal announced that it is going into production on a low-budget Ouija movie of its own.  Like I said, it's a constant battle but honestly I wouldn't have it any other way. Thanks as always to our supporters who help us keep the dream alive. Stay independent. Resources: Top-ten SEO Blogs as listed in the article "Top 25 SEO Blogs" by Daniel Scocco of Daily Blog Tips. Search Engine Land SEOBook SEO Moz Matt Cutts Search Engine Watch Search Engine Roundtable Search Engine Journal Online Marketing Blog Pronet Advertising Marketing Pilgrim Special thanks to: Allen Chou of indie distributor Passion River Films who first mentioned the word SEO to me back in 2006 and Eric Leuenberger of Zen Cart Optimization who gave me lots of great SEO advice around the same time. ...and of course Orly Ravid's Film Collaborative, a fantastic indie film resource. About One World Studios Ltd: One World’s first feature documentary "Choppertown: the Sinners" focused on a renowned group of California bikers known as the Sinners.  Produced in 2004 with a stack of credit cards, this award-winning documentary heralded a return to the values of a simpler time and spawned a worldwide cult following culminating in a seventeen-country European theatrical tour sponsored by Dickies.  After selling 20,000 Choppertown DVDs out of an apartment in West LA, One World principals Zack Coffman and Scott Di Lalla were able to quit their part-time jobs, making and distributing films full time since 2005.  "I Am ZoZo", the award-winning Ouija movie shot entirely on Super 8mm, is their sixth feature and first narrative. About Zack Coffman: Hometown: Dundee, NY  Education: UCLA (World Arts & Cultures), Yonsei University Korean Language Institute.  Resided in Seoul, Korea from 1992-2000.  Professional highlights: Head of Acquisitions, HMJ Films (Korea.)  Asian correspondent, Variety.  Line-producer and location manager for several Korean films including Korean/Philippine co-production Weekend Warriors.  Translator, Korean International Trade Association.  Co-founder and President of independent film company One World Studios Ltd.; a feature film production and distribution corporation in Los Angeles. Contact/Follow Zack Coffman: Facebook, Twitter, zack@choppertown.com This content appears courtesy of The Film Collaborative / Orly Ravid, Editorial Consultant]]> Artist Services, Artist Services Indexes, Artist Services Home Page, Marketing Zack Coffman 2012-04-09T19:56:35+00:00 Sheri Candler, social network marketing guru/strategist can be contacted at info@shericandler.com or sheri@thefilmcollaborative.org and found at SheriCandler.com To start with, I’d like to say that filmmakers should focus on the word social and less on the word marketing. This type of promotion is about relationship building and it is really difficult to build a relationship that starts from the premise that you are only there to sell something. Also, I take the position that all artists should be connecting directly with an audience not on a project-by-project basis, but on a personal one. Instead of starting over again for each project that is incredibly wasteful of time and money, you strive to keep building up the audience base for all of your work, really for you as an artist with a unique vision and a unique voice. No one else can tell the story the way you can. We all sell every day, we sell a concept of ourselves in how we speak to people, how we present ourselves and I think we inherently understand this. But before I want to do business with someone, I want to know I can trust them, and that I am not being used. I think many corporations still don’t get that about this medium yet. People don’t join your Facebook page to be your word of mouth sales force. Building up trust with your audience is paramount and you do that by giving first. You have to give something, and often for a long time, before you can ask. In fact, if you do this right, you won’t have to ask, they will ask you, they will offer to help. Don’t attempt this begrudgingly or because everyone says it is something you are supposed to be doing. Start from the place that you are trying to find the people who would love what you do and you want to interact with them. Unless you are anthropophobic, this should be human nature, to connect with kindreds. There are people in the world who are like you and now you have this amazing tool to find them wherever they live in the world. Leave behind the notion that this is about numbers, this is only about sales, this is about buzz and think of it as a way to meet those who will love what you love. All of that other stuff is a by product of this. It will come, but it won’t come immediately and you need plenty of time to build up to that and it will take consistent effort daily. I realize this is not the stance that most businesses take or understand. They want numbers, they want quantifiables. Utilization of social is no longer something that needs to be justifiable for business goals. Along with advertising, it is a business tool, increasingly a major one. Internet users expect to find you on social platforms whether or not you feel like that benefits the bottom line yet. It is and it will continue to do so. Also note that this will not be your only tool when you are ready to start selling. Publicity, advertising, and email communication still very much have a place in your overall marketing efforts, but if you build a following consistently, your reliance on those more expensive tools will be minimized. The key platforms for social network marketing: I believe pretty much any site on the web is a social networking site. Any place where people can post links, comment, upload information, follow others has a social aspect to it. So those could be blogs, forums, publication websites (New York Times, WSJ), photo sites like Flickr, video sites like Youtube and Vimeo, podcast sites like BlogTalk Radio, streaming sites like Ustream. I think people hear social networking and mostly think Facebook and Twitter, but really to be effective in reaching an audience, you have to know where they particularly hang out and it may be on Facebook and Twitter, but it also may be a LinkedIn group, or on Amazon, Meetup or certain blogs. Any priority ranking to them? It is hard to argue not being on Facebook since they have over 800 million users worldwide and 435 million are using Facebook from a mobile device. While 155 million of those users are from the US, 43 million are from India and the same from Indonesia. Other top countries are UK, Mexico, Brazil and Turkey. Based on Alexa rankings, the top social networking sites for the US market are: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MySpace Google Plus But there are surprising ones in the top 15 such as: Tagged, deviantArt, Orkut, Ning and CafeMom. It really depends on who your audience is and what they respond to, where they spend their online social time. You will have a mixture of sites, not just one and you will need to test which ones are giving you the most interaction. Maybe your audience really loves watching videos or they really love deep discussions at the end of blog posts. You will need to test what posts are popular and elicit interaction, even from your own website, which I will say you also need. You should never be totally dependent on a third party site. Just ask those who had free Ning sites instead of websites. When the free option went away, they risked losing their communities and had to pay to upgrade or start from scratch again. The same with Facebook and their EdgeRank algorithm. If Facebook deems that one of your fans doesn’t interact with your page enough, they remove it from their newsfeed, often unbeknownst to that fan. Since you haven’t been able to message them directly, there really isn’t a way to bring them back into awareness of your page barring spending money to advertise. A website you own is the only true online real estate you can control. It is the central hub of all of your activity, everything else is just a spoke on that central hub. Collecting email addresses is also extremely important, but that is for another post. There is no magic formula for being successful at social, everything has to be tested and the results will vary with each project. Does it depend on the nature of the film? No. The decision to be social really isn’t up for debate anymore. Americans spend 22% of their online time each day visiting social networking sites, 65% of all adult internet users have a social network account of some sort. This is not a fad that is going away, the upcoming generation doesn’t even know a time that social networking didn’t exist. It will get bigger, not smaller. Deciding which sites to spend time on will be determined by the kind of audience with which you need to connect. What are key tips for social network marketing? Get a personal account going on the sites where you think your audience hangs out and start using it. I am astounded at agencies that sell social networking solutions and don’t have much of a presence themselves on social sites. How can you advise how to use them when you don’t personally do it for your own business? How can you handle someone else’s account when you don’t have one of your own? Every filmmaker hoping to connect with an audience needs an account. Start by listening first. This is best accomplished when you don’t need to build an audience by tomorrow, you know what I’m saying? If you have this pressing need to start connecting, people can sense it right away and they won’t interact. It is like the insurance guy who walks around a networking event handing out cards, not actually speaking to anyone other than sales pitch. No one likes it in real life and they don’t like it online either. This is not a one-way message medium like advertising. If you want to speak, but not interact, just buy an ad. Listen first, determine how best to interact and then dive in. You are now a publisher. No way around this, it is just the way it is now. A new term for this is social business. A business that can collaborate, share insights and knowledge, and provide value to their audience is going to be way more profitable and sustainable than those who remain closed off from them. This means publishing content of some sort, either generated from your production or generated by your fans, but probably a mixture of both. It needs to be entertaining, insightful, worthy of discussion and sharing, and pulls the audience back for more again and again. We just entered an era of waaaay more work than we used to do. Not one piece of creative advertising, but hundreds of pieces in different mediums and across multiple channels that are meant to lead to discussion with the brand (yes, you are a brand) and with others also connected to that brand. What are some key mistakes? Some "Don'ts": Waiting too late to start and using social only to self promote. Remember, self-promotion is about helping OTHER people. It sounds counterintuitive, but when you help others, THEY promote you. If they don’t, then you weren’t really helping (the help originated through clearly selfish motives) or you just haven’t connected with the right people. A couple of examples of filmmakers who really get it right: I hate to give the same examples, but the best I’ve seen as far as sustainable interaction (meaning they aren’t clearly doing it just to promote their latest project and then drop out of sight again) are Kevin Smith and Edward Burns. They are consistent, they interact, they use multiple mediums, they don’t use social as a one-way shill mechanism and I don’t think they have an outside agency cultivating their communities. I also really admire Tiffany Shlain, she has a great grasp of the power of social networking even though she advocates unplugging (gasp!) for a day each week. Her film, Connected, is about the power (and the curse) of the Internet to connect people, but Tiffany was doing this long before she made the film. I know there are now more and more filmmakers building up their own audiences, but they may have only started in the last few years and they didn’t come out of the old machine so their followings aren’t as large as those examples. People like Gregory Bayne (Driven), Zak Forsman (Heart of Now), Kirby Ferguson (Everything’s a Remix), Jennifer Fox (My Reincarnation), Ava DuVernay (Middle of Nowhere) are all building up their own followings, not just around their films, but around themselves as artists. Even people like Hal Hartley and Abel Ferrara are now starting to embrace social networking and crowdfunding. I really hope to be able to list tons more doing this every year. It is completely perplexing to me that those who already do have a following from the traditional machine, do not reach out, really have no idea who watches their films and have no interest in knowing. This mentality is not going to serve them well with the consumers coming up in the world today who are used to interacting, who expect to have a dialog. The only thing I can think is, well, no one is popular forever, no one retains power forever. There will always be a new crop coming up behind and I think indie filmmakers who are embracing this concept now are well positioned to be the new crop. This content appears courtesy of The Film Collaborative / Orly Ravid, Editorial Consultant]]> Artist Services, Artist Services Indexes, Artist Services Home Page, Marketing, Partners, Facebook Sheri Candler, Independent Film Marketing And Publicity 2012-03-26T21:54:31+00:00