CinemaTech

Looking for People Who've Made the Leap

2011-10-14T12:08:00.005-04:00

I've started work on my next book project. It's about people who've taken the leap... leaving a secure job for the unknown.

I'm hoping to interview you, or someone you know, if this describes you:

- You left a job that was pretty safe and secure, but just wasn't taking you where you wanted to go with your life.

- You're now chasing your dreams, doing something that you believe you were put on this earth to do. That doesn't have to be making movies or touring the world with your band... it could be starting a restaurant, surfing school, personal training business, or stained glass studio.

- You've achieved some level of financial stability/success with your new career.

I'd love your help and ideas. My goal is to create a guide that will hopefully be inspiring and useful to others who want to make the leap. (I did it in 1997, when I quit my last full-time job.) Tweet me @ScottKirsner, or e-mail scott kirsner at gmail dot com.

Thanks!

Upcoming: Jill Sobule in LA, and One More 'Fans, Friends' Workshop in Boston

2011-03-14T16:25:00.005-04:00

An upcoming events alert for those of you in the Los Angeles or Boston areas...

- Jill Sobule, the singer/songwriter/entrepreneur who was such a hit at the 2010 edition of Distribution U. in LA (and who is featured in my book "Fans, Friends & Followers"), is playing a show with Julia Sweeney in LA Tuesday night. Her tour schedule also includes dates in Philadelphia, New York, St. Louis, Minneapolis, and beyond.

- And next month, in Boston, I'll be doing a two-hour workshop focused on the newest strategies that artists (and arts organizations) are using to enlarge their audiences. This one is sponsored by ArtsBoston and the Arts & Business Council of Greater Boston, and it's pretty affordable ($35 for people who aren't members of one of those organizations.) It happens April 6th, from 3 to 5 PM at the Boston Center for the Arts. It'll be an updated and expanded version of the talks I gave last November at the two Distribution U. events.

Would love your help spreading the word about either/both events...

Advice from Joel: Tools for Connecting with Bloggers, Twitterers, Superfans and Groups

2010-12-20T20:36:00.005-05:00

Indie producer and editor Joel Heller ran a great lunch discussion at last month's Distribution U. event in Los Angeles, focused on developing a powerful online outreach strategy. Joel worked on the digital marketing strategy for the excellent doc "Winnebago Man," which premiered at South by Southwest in 2009 and was recently released on DVD and on iTunes.

Joel was nice enough to share the notes from his session, along with a collection of links that'll benefit anyone planning an Internet marketing campaign for a forthcoming film, especially as you think about finding existing sites and communities that are likely to be aligned with your theme — what I call "going where your audience is." (I learned a lot from Joel's notes; who knew it was possible to search people's Facebook walls?)

From Joel:

FINDING GROUPS & DISCUSSION FORUMS

Begin to identify your film’s potential “ecosystem” by searching these websites that host groups & discussion forums.

http://www.meetup.com/find
http://groups.google.com
http://groups.yahoo.com
http://www.facebook.com/search.php?&type=groups
http://www.facebook.com/search.php?&type=pages
http://www.ning.com/search
http://groupspaces.com/c/search
http://lists.topica.com
http://www.lsoft.com/catalist.html
http://www.freelists.org
http://omgili.com
http://www.dmoz.org

Tip: Keep an open mind when brainstorming groups that might be interested in your film. We discovered late in our release that pit bull owners were interested in WINNEBAGO MAN. The main character has a pit bull, but we didn’t think to reach out to pit bull owners until someone asked us for a flyer to promote the film to her local pit bull club. After that, we reached out to pit bull clubs in other cities and offered free tickets to the group leaders to come to see the film on opening night.

Tip: When approaching group leaders to work with you, be prepared with ideas of what your can offer them of value. Can you promote their cause? A joint fundraising screening? A poster giveaway or passes to see the movie?

GOOGLE’S “ALERTS MANAGER”

It’s easy to monitor who’s talking about your film and what they’re saying. Google Alerts can be set up to monitor everything from mainstream newspaper sources to blogs and websites.

http://www.google.com/alerts/manage

Tip: Set up Google Alerts, not only to monitor your movie, but for other recently released movies (with similar genre or subject matter). This will help you identify reviewers, bloggers, websites and groups that might also be interested in your film.

Tip: You can configure Google Alert Manager to deliver the results as an RSS newsfeed. I prefer this to getting a deluge of emails. (You must be signed into your Google account to access the alerts manager) My settings are: Everything / As-It-Happens / All Results / RSS Feed

SEARCHING FACEBOOK WALLS

Facebook allows you to search the wall posts of anyone who has not set up their wall to be private. It’s the online equivalent of standing outside a movie theater and listening to how people talk about your movie to their friends.

http://www.facebook.com/search.php?&type=eposts

Tip: This is a great way to discover superfans – who you can message and invite to join your street team. (FB is especially useful for messaging, since Twitter does not allow you to privately message someone unless they are already following you.)

FINDING OLDER TWEETS USING GOOGLE SEARCH “UPDATES”

While Twitter’s search function is limited to recent tweets, Google offers a robust historical Twitter search.

http://google.com
Enter your search term, click search, then select on left side: More > Realtime

Tip: Use the the timeline tool in the upper right corner to go back in time.

CAPTURING ONLINE WORD-OF-MOUTH

Row Feeder is a great tool to automatically archive Twitter and FB wall posts. For each search term you choose, Row Feeder will archive every related tweet and wall post, and save it into a Google Docs Spreadsheet.

http://rowfeeder.com

Tip: If you find yourself addicted to searching Twitter every hour, this is a great way to unplug - and know that you won’t miss anything. Google Doc spreadsheets can be shared, so your whole team can privately access the spreadsheet online.

Tip: You can sort the spreadsheet by any field, so for example, you can easily identify Twitter users with the largest number of followers.

WEBSITE REACH & INFLUENCE

With limited time and resources, how do you decide where to focus your online marketing efforts? These tools show you estimated website traffic. (But traffic should not be your only consideration... Most importantly, how good a fit is your film for a website’s audience?)

http://compete.com
http://alexa.com
http://technorati.com

TWITTERER REACH & INFLUENCE

Tools to make sense of who’s who on Twitter.

http://fflick.com
http://twitaholic.com
http://tweetmeme.com
http://www.twellow.com
http://listorious.com
http://twittercounter.com

Tip: Study how other people are using Twitter successfully. Helpful resources include:

http://mashable.com
http://oneforty.com/
http://140conf.com/

KEYWORD REACH & INFLUENCE

Popular key words and trends can provide a window into how people think - and what they’re looking for online. How can you make it easier for them to stumble upon your film?

http://www.google.com/insights/search/#
http://www.spyfu.com/
http://www.semrush.com/

FINDING RECENT UPLOADS TO YOUTUBE

Normal YouTube searching buries new videos in the results, so this is useful discovering fan reaction videos and mash-ups as they get posted:

http://youtube.com
Enter search term, click search, then select: Search Options > Upload Date

Tip: You can send a private message to any YouTube user by clicking on their username and then “send message”.

ANALYZING YOUR WEBSITE’S TRAFFIC

Google Analytics offers a wealth of data to help you identify how people are using your website, and how they found you.

http://analytics.google.com

Tip: Here are the analytics I find most useful:

Traffic Sources > Referring Sites
What websites linked to your site & how many visitors did they deliver?
Traffic Sources > Keywords
What search terms brought people to your website?
Visitors > Map Overlay
Visitors broken down by their geographic location. You can drill down by country, state and city.
Content > Top Content
What pages are popular on your site and what is the average time visitors spend on each page?

Time Warner CEO compares Netflix to the Albanian army

2010-12-13T20:21:00.003-05:00

Couldn't resist posting about this quote from Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes, on Netflix being overhyped. (Netflix CEO Reed Hastings was named "businessperson of the year" by Fortune.)

"It's a little bit like, is the Albanian army going to take over the world? I don't think so," Bewkes told a New York Times reporter.

Interesting comment from a CEO whose stock started the year at $30 a share and is ending it just below $32 a share; Netflix, by contrast, started the year at $53 and is ending it at $183. Who is it again, who is not going to take over the world?

I think what miffs media CEOs is that Netflix has spent the past decade developing a strong relationship with consumers, who view the site as delivering value for an $8, $10, or $20 per month plan. Meanwhile, most people have no connection or brand relationship at all with media companies and studios like Time Warner. Yes, they produce great content, but they've forgotten to build a digital relationship of their own with consumers.

What's the biggest challenge facing indie filmmakers?

2010-11-23T20:02:00.001-05:00

We posed that question to our Distribution U. audience at UCLA last Saturday. Here's what they said:

Links from Distribution U. in NY...And looking ahead to Saturday at UCLA

2010-11-17T09:35:00.008-05:00

Wow... we had a great group of 200 filmmakers converge on NYU's Cantor Film Center last Saturday for the first Distribution U. of 2010... and now we're looking ahead to the second (and thankfully, final) workshop of the year, this Saturday at UCLA.

Just wanted to share some stuff from NYU.

- Eric Kohn of IndieWire was there as one of our guest experts, running lunch discussions on how filmmakers can get reviews, whether in traditional media or blogs. Afterward, he posted this write-up of the marketing and distribution case study we did on "Exit Through the Gift Shop," with speakers Marc Schiller of Electric Artists and Richard Abramowitz of Abramorama.

- "Star Wreck" director Timo Vuorensola couldn't join us (he was preparing to start shooting his latest project, "Iron Sky"), but he sent this six-minute video explaining his approach to building communities around his films — and raising money for the productions online.

- Participant Moishe Kaufman posted his notes from the morning and afternoon sessions on his great blog about film, the Internet, and media, The M Word.

- Dustyn Gobler, who was part of our excellent team of volunteers in New York (and is also an experienced post-production consultant), posted his notes on his blog.

- One of our other guest experts, producer and Filmmaker Magazine editor Scott Macaulay, had put this post on his blog before the event (it contains some audio from Distribution U. 2009, at USC). Anne Thompson of IndieWire, who'll be a guest expert this Saturday in LA, published this post on her "Thompson on Hollywood" blog, which contains another bit of audio from 2009.

- Here's the Twitter stream from the event. (This Saturday, we'll again be using the hash tag #distribu.)

- Participants shared some really kind words with us afterward. My favorite: "Honestly, this event really exceeded my expectations. Awesome."

- If you're in LA, we hope you can join us this Saturday (or spread the word to folks who might benefit.) We're grateful to our friends at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, who've made it possible for us to come to campus.

- Our discussion leaders in LA are a pretty impressive bunch, and you'll be able to sit down with three of them for a small group chat that we think will be full of helpful guidance:

• Roko Belic, Director, "Genghis Blues" and "Happy"

• Joe Beyer, Producer, Sundance Institute Online

• Adam Chapnick, Founder, Distribber

• Jonathan Dana, producer and producer's rep, "Road to Nowhere"

• Nolan Gallagher, Founder and CEO, Gravitas Ventures

• Jim Gilliam of NationBuilder, the Internet strategist who helped Robert Greenwald launch (and finance) his Brave New Films series of documentaries and online videos

• Roberta Grossman, Producer/Director, "Blessed is the Match"

• Madelyn Hammond, Marketing Expert, Madelyn Hammond & Associates

• Producer and editor Joel Heller ("Winnebago Man")

• Justine Jacob, Director, "Ready Set Bag" and Partner, Lee & Lawless

• Oren Jacob, CTO, Pixar and Executive Producer, "Runner's High" and "Ready Set Bag"

• Skot Leach, Co-Founder, Lost Zombies

• Cara Mertes, director, Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program

• Cora Olson and Jennifer Dubin of Present Pictures

• Danae Ringelmann, Co-Founder, IndieGoGo

• Chris Shellen, Web strategist and producer, "Marwencol"

• Jill Sobule, crowdfunding pioneer and musician; Jill's latest release is "The California Years," funded entirely by her fans.

• IndieWire writer Anne Thompson of "Thompson on Hollywood" (formerly of Variety and The Hollywood Reporter

• Nancy Willen, Head of Acme PR, Documentary Publicist (“Taxi to the Dark Side”)

How to Get a Free Pass to Distribution U.

2010-11-05T21:31:00.002-04:00

The two Distribution U. events that I'm organizing with Peter Broderick are fast approaching... and I've been remiss in telling you how you can get a free pass.

First, the New York edition happens November 13th at NYU's Cantor Film Center, thanks to our friends at the Tisch School of the Arts, and the Los Angeles edition happens a week later, November 20th at UCLA, generously sponsored by the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television.

Second, here are some of the people who'll be on-hand to share their advice about audience-building, social media, distribution, and crowd-funding:

Richard Abramowitz (who organized the successful theatrical rollout of "Anvil: the Story of Anvil"), Jill Sobule (the singer-songwriter who enlisted her fans to fund her latest album), Marc Schiller (the digital marketing expert who heads Electric Artists), Caitlin Boyle (semi-theatrical maven and head of Film Sprout), transmedia producer Noah Harlan, Internet guru Brian Chirls, Jim Browne (theatrical booker and founder of Argot Pictures), Adam Chapnick (founder of Distribber, the innovative company that works with filmmakers to maximize their digital revenues), Ira Deutchman (producer and Emerging Pictures CEO), Sandi DuBowski (producer/director "Trembling Before G-d" and outreach director for The Good Pitch), Justine Jacob (director of "Ready, Set, Bag!" and an attorney at the law firm Lee & Lawless), marketing consultant and former Variety chief marketing officer Madelyn Hammond, producer and producer's rep Jonathan Dana ("Road to Nowhere"), Amy Dotson of IFP and "Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo," "ZENITH" director Vlad Nikolic, Scott Macaulay (producer and editor of Filmmaker Magazine), Slava Rubin and Danae Ringelmann (co-founders of IndieGoGo), Anne Thompson (journalist and blogger "Thompson on Hollywood"), Robert Bahar (“Made in LA”), Roberta Grossman ("Blessed Is The Match"), Joel Heller ("Winnebago Man"), Skot Leach of Lost Zombies, Cora Olson and Jennifer Dubin of Present Pictures, and Ben Niles ("Note by Note").

So of course we'd love to have you join us in New York on November 13th or Los Angeles on November 20th (and you can use the discount code "friend" at either one to save a little dough.)

And if you would like to try your luck at winning a free pass to the Distribution U. workshop of your choice, just share the link to either one on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn, along with the tag "#distribu," and we'll pick a winner by Wednesday next week at 5 p.m.

Distribution U., coming to NY (Nov. 13th) and LA (Nov. 20th)

2010-10-08T16:06:00.010-04:00

I'm really excited to be collaborating again with Peter Broderick to put together two new "Distribution U." workshops next month: one at NYU on November 13th, and one at UCLA on November 20th.

We did the first "trial" one of these last November, filling up a ballroom at USC with 200-plus filmmakers and producers. If you know people who were there, they'll tell you about the incredibly positive vibe. The attitude was: if everyone is exclaiming that "the sky is falling" on independent film, how can we survive and thrive and help one another in a world with a slightly lower sky?

The event has a couple objectives:

New York Times film critic Manohla Dargis was at the first Distribution U. workshop last year, and she used it as the basis for her article "Declaration of Indies: Just Sell It Yourself." Documentary Magazine called the event "casual, participatory, and supportive." One of our industry experts from 2009 told us, "The room felt like the future to me..." (At left is Oscar-nominated producer Adrian Belic leading a lunch discussion at the first Distribution U.)

I hope you can make it November 13th in New York, or November 20th in Los Angeles. And we're so grateful to our friends at New York University and UCLA's School of Theater, Film and Television for making these two events possible.

Also: there's an early bird registration rate that will last until next Wednesday, October 13th at midnight. Grab a seat soon...and come with your enthusiasm, questions, awesome projects, and ideas.

Clips: IFP Panel on "Big Ideas for the Small Screen"

2010-09-23T10:28:00.004-04:00

These are the clips I would've shown in this morning's IFP Filmmaker Conference panel on "Big Ideas for the Small Screen." (Conference venue couldn't show video from the Internet.)

TV Ennui: Are Viewers Totally Content, or Just Really Averse to Change?

2010-08-23T08:51:00.004-04:00

There's a great collection of stories in today's NY Times, focusing on efforts to change the way we watch TV (online and in our living rooms.) The overall message is that viewers are either pretty happy with the cable/broadcast/satellite programming that finds its way into their living rooms, and that most media companies (except Sony) have pretty much given up trying to produce original shows for the Web. There's also the obligatory piece about 3-D TV.

Links to the stories below, along with a short excerpt from each one:

- Sony's Bet on Sticking With Web Shows

- Crowded Field for Bringing Web Video to TV

- TV Makers Predict a Bright Future for 3-D

- Plenty to Watch Online, but Viewers Prefer to Pay for Cable

- DIY TV: How Are You Watching?

Notes and quotes from the PGA's 2010 "Produced By" conference

2010-06-06T16:55:00.005-04:00

It was a real treat to be invited to speak at the PGA's "Produced By" conference this weekend; I was on a panel moderated by Emerging Cinemas' Ira Deutchman called "Smashing Windows: DIY and the New Hybrid Distribution."

I took some notes throughout the day Saturday on things that struck me as worth remembering, during panels on transmedia, digital cinema, "The Simpsons," and the producer's role. (I had to fly home Saturday night, so didn't stick around for the second day of the conference.) The subtext of most of the sessions I went to was this: we acknowledge that new stuff is happening and new technologies are emerging...and we know audiences want to interact with content in new ways...but it's unclear how we'll make anything approaching decent money in this new world.

I got a chance to ask noted producer (and onetime United Artists chief) David V. Picker whether he felt worried or energized by the changes technology is bringing about. "I'm curious," Picker said. "No one knows how they're going to make their money back. No one has figured it out." But it seems obvious, he added, that "you just can't keep making $100 million movies."

Picker moderated a panel of producers talking about the relationship between producer and director. (The panel was supposed to feature Brian Grazer and Ridley Scott, but both were mysterious no-shows. Not too eager to dwell about "Robin Hood," maybe?)

Larry Gordon, who produced "Die Hard" but also "Water World," said that anything can happen to a project (mostly bad) as you're trying to package together the screenplay, actors, and director. "You're not shooting until you're shooting," Gordon said.

Gordon said a lot of a producer's job is "protective work," mentioning that he once had to battle to keep Paramount executives from firing an actor on one of his films that they deemed unfunny. (The actor was Eddie Murphy, and the film "48 Hours.")

Douglas Wick, producer of "Gladiator" and "Working Girl," said that "creative alchemy [mentioned in the title of the panel] is an interesting topic, because it rarely occurs. A good movie is a miracle. There are so many ways things can go wrong." Producers, he added, are called upon to solve every imaginable problem that comes along.

Bruce Cohen, producer of "Milk" and "American Beauty," said that Spielberg told him on his first producing gig that the producer's job is to "get the director's vision up on the screen." Cohen said that is a "great mantra to start from," but that it's also important to figure out where a director may need help — on creative issues, sticking with the budget, or organizational stuff, to "keep them from getting in their own way."

Cohen had some funny stories about being reluctant to give notes to Tim Burton while he was shooting "Big Fish." He observed that Burton "paces back and forth very fast on the set, which makes it impossible to have a conversation with him, which is the point."

Jeff Gomez of Starlight Runner Entertainment moderated a panel on transmedia storytelling, with an impressive group of execs that included "Avatar" producer Jon Landau and "Battlestar Galactica" producer David Eick. Gomez mentioned that the PGA is forming a think tank on transmedia.

Gomez started by showing some slides to explain his view of transmedia. Some of the benefits: transmedia can create intense loyalty, long-term engagement, lifespan extension (of the property, not the viewers, I presume), a desire to share the experience with others, and increased revenue.

Landau talked about writing Pandorapedia, a "definitive version of the world" of "Avatar," by getting a dozen people in a room for a few days. That helped others who were building content related to the film.

Cary Granat of Bedrock Studios talked about the way Walden Media has created educational programming for school kids around movies like the "Narnia" series and "Holes," through a program called "Reel Thinking."

Larry Tanz of Vuguru mentioned "The Legion of Extraordinary Dancers," intended to start on the Web and then move to TV.

Landau was asked why there weren't more transmedia tentacles extending from "Avatar." He said they'd pitched some that Fox hadn't wanted to fund. "Trying to get a big studio to embrace new ideas is never easy," Landau said. "No one ever got fired for not trying something."

"All these extensions cost money," said Tanz. "And not all of them generate money. You may only be paid for the TV show of the movie... Some of the pieces can be liabilities on the balance sheet."

Transmedia needs to come from an authentic place, Eick cautioned: "Once the audience starts to feel manipulated, you're dead... and maybe not just the off-shoot, but the mothership, too."

The panelists were honest about the current state of transmedia: it can still be hard to figure out where to invest to actually generate good returns (whether that means ticket sales, TV viewers, or game buyers/subscribers.) "It can be hard to understand if webisodes actually have any impact on box office," said Granat, but he pointed to Disney's recent "Tickets Together" experiment in selling advance tickets to "Toy Story 3" on Facebook as something that may point in an important new direction.

Landau agreed that embedding transactions into media, whether virtual goods or ticket sales, is likely the future. He also suggested that some of the spending studios do today on traditional TV and print advertising might be better invested in transmedia projects.

Granat added, "The big studios are not going to continue [investing in transmedia] until they understand the metrics."

But Granat mentioned an interesting transmedia example toward the end: Disney's decision to create a Broadway version of "The Lion King." The studio took a risk in hiring Julie Taymor to reinterpret the film, and wound up creating a stage franchise that has since surpassed the movie in revenues by playing for years in theaters the world over (at a much higher ticket price than the film, of course.)

During a session on "Digital Cinema and You," Cinedigm Entertainment executive Michele Martell trotted out some stats about the industry. Of about 39,000 movie screens in the U.S., 8,400 have digital projectors today, and 3,700 can show 3-D content. Of 100,000 screens worldwide, 15,000 are digital, and half of those can show 3-D, she said. Also, she referred to a survey that found that one in four Americans say they plan to buy a 3-D TV. (But when?)

On 3-D television broadcasts, Fox Sports exec Jerry Steinberg said, "It is still a technology in search of a business model. People will have to pay extra at home, or for theater tickets." But Steinberg is a believer that it'll happen: "What 3-D does for sports is recreate the experience of being in the premium seats, and we as an industry haven't sold that yet." He said his expectation is that 3-D TV, just like high-def, will be an 8 to 10 year transition. "We're two years into it," he said.

Jonathan Dern, a Cinedigm executive and a long-time producer of animated TV shows and movies, said, "I don't intend on producing anything from now on that isn't in 3-D. [That way,] you have an archive that is the future."

In our panel on "DIY and Hybrid Distribution," I tossed out what I've found to be four essential truths of the new media world producers are living in: "Distribution is free. Choice is infinite. Demand is instant. Noise is unprecedented." You can either develop strategies to address those shifts, or you can try to ignore them. (I've found that many studios and more established producers are doing the latter.)

"Simpsons" writer-producer Tim Long moderated a panel of his colleagues, including "Simpsons" creator James L. Brooks, that was a hoot, as you might expect. They talked about some of the guest stars with whom they most enjoyed working (Michael Jackson, Dustin Hoffman, Mr. T) and some with whom they had problems (the late Gary Coleman apparently didn't want to say "Whatchu talking about, Willis?" on his episode.) They agreed that Conan O'Brien is one of the funniest people they've ever met, seeking to entertain anyone who'll make eye contact with him, at any moment. They said that the reason that Homer and Marge have stayed together after so many years is that the sex is great. (Apparently, this is Julie Kavner's explanation of the secret of their marriage.)

"The show is a labor of love, but it's also a labor of work," said "Simpsons" executive producer Matt Selman. More seriously, he added, "we try to cram the maximum amount of awesomeness" into every episode.

I only caught the end of Mark Cuban's conversation with LA Times reporter Dawn Chmielewski, but he made the comment that "if anything, the studios have gotten more power [over the past few years], not less."

He also talked about the EBIF standard for developing interactive applications on TVs, and said that as new Internet-enabled cable boxes crept into American homes, we'd start seeing more applications layered onto TV shows, like the long-heralded ability to click your remote and buy an outfit that a character is wearing, or dive into more data about a documentary. Cuban said that there are already about 20 million cable boxes deployed that support the EBIF standard.

So those are my notes. You can read tweets from the conference here, and hopefully the PGA will post audio or video at some point.

Ten links for today's DIY panel at the "Produced By" conference

2010-06-05T10:39:00.004-04:00

I'm panelizing later today at the PGA's "Produced By" conference in LA, and just wanted to share some links with the audience (and you). The title of the session is "Smashing Windows: D.I.Y. and the New Hybrid Distribution."

Here's are ten links worth checking out (and feel free to add your own in the comments):

- Required reading: Peter Broderick's "Declaration of Independence: The Ten Principles of Hybrid Distribution."

- Manohla Dargis in the NY Times: "Declaration of Indies: Just Sell It Yourself!"

- Videos from the DIY Days series of conferences, on the WorkBook Project

- Ira Deuchtman's blog and Twitter feed

- Book site for "Fans, Friends & Followers: Building an Audience and a Creative Career in the Digital Age" (with lots of free content)

- Truly Free Film, a blog overseen by producer Ted Hope

- The IndieGoGo blog (site that supports Internet-based fundraising)

- Jon Reiss' blog, filmmaker and author of "Think Outside the Box Office"

- Videos from The Conversation @ Columbia, a gathering held this past March, including panels on "Attracting an Audience Through Social Media" and "Digital Distribution."

- Blog Maverick, Mark Cuban's blog

Chad Hurley Interview Notes from 2005

2010-05-18T14:31:00.004-04:00

YouTube is marking its fifth anniversary this month.

It felt like a good time to go back to the notes from my October 2005 interview with co-founder Chad Hurley; I'd interviewed him while working on this New York Times story about video-sharing sites, which compared YouTube to other start-ups that helped publish your videos, like Vimeo and Blip.tv.

When Hurley and I spoke, the company was still being funded only by its founders; by the end of the year, they'd taken a $3.5 million investment from Sequoia Capital, and by October 2006, Google had acquired YouTube for $1.6 billion.

These are interview notes from my phone conversation with Hurley, lightly cleaned up. It's interesting how determined Hurley was to make the site easy to use for consumers, and to attract up an audience first before introducing advertising.

Wonder if that video has ever surfaced....

Video from The Conversation @ Columbia

2010-05-12T15:29:00.003-04:00

We shot the three main panels at the March edition of The Conversation, held at Columbia University. (The audio is a bit rough at points, due to some mics onstage that were cranked up a bit too high.) Thanks go to Emily Branham, director of the forthcoming doc "BeBe," for doing the shooting (and the audio issues weren't her fault, I should say!)

> Tiffany Shlain's Opening Remarks:

ConvoNYC - Tiffany Shlain's Opening Remarks from Scott Kirsner on Vimeo.

> Ira Deutchman's Opening Remarks:

ConvoNYC - Ira Deutchman's Opening Remarks from Scott Kirsner on Vimeo.

> Panel: What I've Learned About Attracting an Audience Through Social Media (in three parts, with Arin Crumley, Jason Spingarn-Koff, Ryan Werner, Sandi DuBowski, Nina Paley, and Ian Schafer...moderated by me)

ConvoNYC - Attracting Audiences Through Social Media - Part 1 of 3 from Scott Kirsner on Vimeo.

ConvoNYC - Attracting Audiences Through Social Media - Part 2 of 3 from Scott Kirsner on Vimeo.

ConvoNYC - Attracting Audiences Through Social Media - Part 3 of 3 from Scott Kirsner on Vimeo.

> Digital Distribution: Addressing the Big Questions (in three parts, with Cory McAbee, Richard Lorber, Steve Savage, Hunter Weeks, and Thomas Woodrow...moderated by Peter Broderick)

ConvoNYC - Digital Distribution - Part 1 of 3 from Scott Kirsner on Vimeo.

ConvoNYC - Digital Distribution - Part 2 of 3 from Scott Kirsner on Vimeo.

ConvoNYC - Digital Distribution - Part 3 of 3 from Scott Kirsner on Vimeo.

> Stories Elsewhere: Making Media in New Ways (in three parts, with Asi Burak, Gita Pullapilly, Fred Seibert, and Lance Weiler...moderated by Wendy Levy):

ConvoNYC - Stories Elsewhere - Part 1 of 3 from Scott Kirsner on Vimeo.

ConvoNYC - Stories Elsewhere - Part 2 of 3 from Scott Kirsner on Vimeo.

ConvoNYC - Stories Everywhere - Part 3 of 3 from Scott Kirsner on Vimeo.

'Filmmakers Taking Charge,' May 7th at the Maryland Film Festival

2010-04-27T09:33:00.004-04:00

I've been helping out the good folks at the Maryland Film Festival with a new event, coming up on May 7th in Baltimore: the Filmmakers Taking Charge Conference.

It'll focus on topics like "generating buzz in a digital world," "the new rules of distribution," and what filmmakers can learn from the music industry's experiences with radical changes to its business model.

There's a great list of speakers — most of them filmmakers — including Josh and Bennie Safdie ('Daddy Longlegs'), Lena Dunham ('Tiny Furniture'), Ed Sanchez ('Blair Witch Project'), Aaron Katz 'Dance Party'), Joe Swanberg ('Alexander the Last'), and Linas Phillips ('Bass Ackwards'). Janet Pierson, who runs the SXSW film fest, will be there, as will Rick Allen from SnagFilms, Ira Deutchman from Emerging Pictures, and Scott Macaulay from Filmmaker Magazine.

Help spread the word to folks you know near Baltimore/DC/Philly... and there's a $25 discount on passes purchased by this Friday (April 30th).

The Conversation 2010: Post-Game Notes & Analysis

2010-03-29T12:41:00.004-04:00

Thanks to everyone who made The Conversation @ Columbia happen last Saturday — after I'd moderated my opening panel on building an audience, I mostly felt like I was free to goof off and just eavesdrop on other sessions, workshops, and lunch groups.

We're posting all of the links, notes, tweets, and other material from the event over here, on The Conversation's official blog.

Open to your thoughts on what we should talk about next time, and where we should hold it. (Last time was UC/Berkeley in October 2008.)

In SoCal? "Produced By" Conference, June 4-6

2010-03-24T11:03:00.004-04:00

The line-up for the 2010 "Produced By" Conference, organized by the Producers Guild of America, looks great. Speakers include Mark Cuban of Landmark and 2929 Entertainment; James L. Brooks; Brian Grazer; and Darla K. Anderson, producer of "Monsters, Inc." and the upcoming "Toy Story 3." They've also got sessions on producing online content and videogames; DIY and hybrid distribution; and indie film marketing.

If you're a PGA member, it's just $295 to attend; for others, the price is steep: $995. The event takes place at 20th Century Fox Studios. (There's a discounted rate of $595 if you are in another guild or a member of various film industry groups, so that's worth checking out.)

Convo NYC Sold Out ... But We're Looking for a Shooter

2010-03-23T21:42:00.004-04:00

I'm both happy and a bit sorry to say that the New York edition of The Conversation, March 27th at Columbia University, is now sold out. (I've already gotten a handful of e-mails from people asking how they can get in...)

But ... we are looking for a one- or two-person crew to shoot the three main panels of the day and help us share them after the event (likely on Vimeo or a similar site). You'll get a comp pass to the entire day, which will let you participate in the lunch discussions and afternoon workshops. Get in touch with me if you're interested.

Update: We found someone great. Thanks for the responses!

Three Quick Links for the SXSW Crowd

2010-03-12T19:20:00.005-05:00

- For my session with ze frank on Saturday, March 13th at 3:30 PM, you can submit questions (and vote on questions submitted by others) right here.

- For my session with Gary Hustwit on Sunday, March 14th at 3:30 PM, you can submit questions (and vote) right here.

- Finally, here's some info about getting your free copy of the Fans, Friends & Followers e-book (a $12 value, as they say on teevee). (BoingBoing was kind enough to blog about the e-book offer, which only lasts for the duration of SXSW, earlier this week.)

(If you find me at the event, I may also have paperback copies of FFF with me [$15], which I'm happy to inscribe. Don't be afraid to ask...)

What I'll Be Up to at SXSW

2010-03-03T20:52:00.004-05:00

I'm always psyched to go down to Austin in March for South by Southwest. Austin makes you feel hip even if you are not. I love seeing movies at the Alamo Drafthouse and the Paramount. I really enjoy the collision of interactive people and filmmakers in the same space. I always eat too much barbecue.

This year, I'm doing two sessions there.

One is an on-stage conversation with the pioneering Web artist, prankster, and videomaker ze frank, on Saturday, March 13th. I talked to ze for my book "Fans, Friends & Followers," and I've seen him speak, but we've never really met in person, so I'm looking forward to it. One of the themes we're hoping to explore is how do you really connect with people in the digital realm, get them engaged, get them participating in meaningful ways.

The second, on Sunday, March 14th, is a session with doc-maker Gary Hustwit. I'm going to share some of the tools and strategies from "Fans, Friends & Followers," and we're going to talk about Gary's experiences building awareness for films like "Helvetica" and "Objectified," and how he has handled his DVD and digital distribution.

Hope to see you there -- and if not, SXSW is great about getting videos of all their sessions online in the months after the festival.

Announcing The Conversation 2010, in New York: On Social Media, Digital Distribution, and the Future of Film

2010-02-05T15:44:00.003-05:00

I'm excited that we're finally announcing the date, place, and a few of the early speakers for the next edition of The Conversation, a gathering we first held in the Bay Area back in 2008.

It'll be held Saturday, March 27th at Columbia University (thanks to the support of faculty member Ira Deutchman and event manager Daisy Nam there.) Those of us on The Conversation's advisory board are working to rope in some amazing speakers and sponsors, and ensure that this East Coast event will be every bit as good (better?) as the West Coast version, which brought together a phenomenal group of pioneering filmmakers, storytellers, designers, and technologists.

Registration is now open and there is a steep discount if you sign up before February 14th.

We are also soliciting your ideas for speakers, topics, and workshops you might want to run at the event, using our fancy-schmancy wiki.

And we'd love your help spreading the word.

Among the topics we plan to address:

Video interview with Ian Calderon of the Sundance Institute

2010-01-27T14:47:00.002-05:00

Here's an interview I shot in 2009 with Ian Calderon, who since 1981 has been the chief digital guy for the Sundance Institute and Film Festival.

In the 17-minute video, filmed at DCTV in Manhattan, Ian and I talk a bit about the challenges and opportunities indie filmmakers face in the digital world.... how 3-D releases might impact the world of independent film...Twitter (of course)...and how difficult it is becoming to break through the marketplace noise, whether you are submitting a film to Sundance or uploading a video to YouTube.

New Directions for Independent Cinema: Ian Calderon from Scott Kirsner on Vimeo.

This video first appeared last week on Anne Thompson's excellent blog, Thompson on Hollywood. Anne's post alluded to a 2010 edition of The Conversation in New York, which is happening on March 27th. More soon...

At Sundance, some new thinking about distribution

2010-01-25T11:47:00.003-05:00

I was really encouraged to see this piece in the New York Times today, 'At Sundance, New Routes to Finding an Audience,' Brooks Barnes. It suggests that at least a few filmmakers who've gained entrance to one of the most prestigious indie film fests are thinking about using it as a launchpad for their distribution strategy.

From the piece:

OneTooManyMornings.com

“Bass Ackwards,”

Sundance Selects

Saturday: Live Streaming of the Filmmaker Summit at Slamdance

2010-01-22T16:20:00.003-05:00

Tune in Saturday, January 23rd for the live stream from the Filmmaker Summit at Slamdance, featuring speakers like Lance Weiler, Jamie King of 'Steal This Film,' Jon Reiss, Timo Vuorensola of 'Iron Sky,' and someone named Steven Soderbergh.

Here's part of their mission statement:

From Sunday's NY Times: "Declaration of Indies: Just Sell It Yourself!"

2010-01-16T08:39:00.003-05:00

NY Times film critic Manohla Dargis was at Distribution U. last November at USC, working on a piece about the revolution in indie film distribution.

Her piece appears in Sunday's paper, giving prominent play to the revolutionary ideas and efforts of people like Peter Broderick, Jon Reiss, Sacha Gervasi, Andrew Bujalski, and David Lynch. The opening:

Well worth a read. And here (again) is the video interview that Peter and I shot at Sundance 2009, talking about the future of indie film distribution. (We also hope to do at least one other edition of Distribution U. in 2010, so stay tuned.)

The Future of Indie Film Distribution: Peter Broderick from Scott Kirsner on Vimeo.