CinemaTech

Calling All Creatives: DIY Days Philadelphia Happens August 1st

2009-07-14T08:01:00.004-04:00

If you're in Pennsylvania, DC, NYC, or the environs... consider being part of DIY Days Philadelphia, on Saturday August 1st. The one previous DIY Days event I've participated in was phenomenal -- and it's free (but you do need to RSVP to hold a slot.)

Here's the scoop:

Registration is now open

Video demo: Stereo speakers that can be layered atop a flat-panel display

2009-07-13T11:01:00.005-04:00

From Emo Labs, a way to "layer" stereo speakers on top of a flat-panel display with a thin sheet of plastic:

(via Forbes.)

The Redbox Experience

2009-07-13T07:46:00.004-04:00

I rented two movies from my local Redbox kiosk in the past week ('Rachel Getting Married' and 'Marley & Me' -- the latter chosen by my spouse, I feel compelled to add). I used a free credit coupon that you can get from their Web site for 'Rachel,' and we paid $1 for a one-night rental of 'Marley.'

Here's my take:

- Redbox is a classic low-end disruptor, as "Innovator's Dilemma" author Clay Christensen would call it. They are attacking the video market with a cheap price, and targeting the mass market, where video selection is not all that important -- they just want the big hits. (Each Redbox kiosk stocks 200 titles.) It's cheaper, even, than renting an on-demand movie from the cable company.

- The selection ain't bad. Our local kiosk had at least four or five titles that seemed worth watching, and I don't feel like my tastes would qualify as "mainstream."

- I wonder if movies stop showing up on the kiosk's screen when they're not available. Hard to tell how easy or hard it is to rent hot new releases from the kiosks. (Perhaps you'll comment.)

- Are you old enough to remember the early days of ATMs, when banks that had them only had one, and customers weren't very familiar with how they worked? Redbox is like that. Since there's one kiosk, if you get in line behind someone, you may be waiting a while. Similarly, if you're at the kiosk and want to spend a few minutes considering the choices, you may feel rushed by someone tapping their foot behind you. (That, my wife explained, was what resulted in 'Marley & Me.')

- The experience was perfectly pleasant, though I would've liked to see some star ratings or reviewers' comments attached to each movie description. Even if you returned a movie a day or two late, you'd still be paying just $2 or $3 for the rental, and wouldn't feel like you'd been fleeced.

- My local Redbox is near the exit from the grocery store. They're going to get people to rent movies on nights when they might not have stopped by the video store. So this will "steal" some time from TV and pay-per-view.

- With 15,400 kiosks already up and running, and one new one being installed every hour, Redbox is also gonna kill plenty of local video stores and hurt the surviving chains. After our first rental, my wife said, "Let's not use this again. I don't want the local place to go out of business." (And we're already Netflix subscribers, visiting the local video store 6-8 times a year at most...)

Your thoughts?

From 1995: Esther Dyson on Monetizing Creative Content

2009-07-12T09:06:00.004-04:00

There's a review of Chris Anderson's new book 'Free' in the NY Times today that references a fifteen-year old article (in Wired, it turns out, which Anderson now edits) by Esther Dyson, the investor and tech forecaster.

I tracked down the original piece, 'Intellectual Value,' published in July 1995, and it is an incredible read (you might call it a book proposal for Anderson's book, written a decade and a half early).

Dyson wrote:

It's an amazing piece of futurism.

Update: Virginia Postrel, author of the book review that ran yesterday, points us to the original version of Dyson's essay, which ran in her Release 1.0 newsletter in December 1994. It includes this pretty scary (and prescient?) passage:

Thursday Goodies: Porn as a leading indicator, Netflix prize, Distribution roulette podcast, and more...

2009-07-09T07:42:00.005-04:00

- It's always fun to debate whether porn is a "leading indicator" for the way other media will go.... and this NY Times story will get you thinking. Given that much of the porn industry is abandoning narrative for short, "chunkified" content, is that the wave of the future? From the piece:

- Seems like a team of programmers has managed to improve Netflix's movie recommendation algorithm by more than 10 percent, potentially winning the $1 million Netflix prize.

- CineVegas just posted this great distribution podcast, where a panel of experts talk about how they'd handle distribution of several different kinds of indie films, like an "edgy, sexy film," a "subculture doc," or a "quirky character doc." (You can read IndieWire's summary of the panel, too.)

- Here's an interesting read on why Hulu succeeded in attracting an audience, while other sites like Veoh and Joost didn't. I'd note that Hulu still isn't a notable financial success, given the cost to produce all that network programming (nor is YouTube.)

- The LA Times is reporting from the annual Allen & Co. Sun Valley summer camp for media moguls, where at least some of the talk is about monetizing content.

- I did an interview to promote Fans, Friends & Followers with the music site zed equals zee, Their first question:

Does Length Matter? ... Distribution Strategy for 'Lovely by Surprise' ... A First Film for Cinetic Film Buff

2009-07-07T20:46:00.004-04:00

- This piece from yesterday's NY Times suggests that attention spans on the Web are getting longer (though the average video is still just 3.4 minutes in duration). Microsoft blogger Don Dodge offers more on length, based on a recent chat with MTV executive David Gale. Dodge writes:

- I wonder what the turn-out was like today at the 88 movie theaters that offered a live simulcast of the Michael Jackson memorial service.

- Jake Abraham has a nifty piece on Filmmaker Magazine's Web site. (Abraham was part of the founding team at InDigEnt Entertainment.) He writes:

- Anne Thompson reports that 'New Orleans Mon Amour' will be the first film distributed by Cinetic Film Buff, a new cable VOD service. No info about Film Buff on Cinetic Media's 1997-era Web site, but there is a Twitter feed.

Video: Forecasting the Future of Public Media, from Silverdocs

2009-07-01T12:11:00.003-04:00

Pat Aufderheide, the brainiac who runs the Center for Social Media at American University, put together a fun panel at Silverdocs last month to try to forecast the future of public media. The video is now available here. Responding to Pat's scary/fascinating/hopeful scenarios for the next five years were:

The video below is the first segment... not sure if the other segments will play automatically... but the entire session ran about 90 minutes. That should supply plenty of Holiday Weekend Viewing Pleasure.

Can Yoostar Spark a Movie Karaoke Craze?

2009-06-30T13:27:00.005-04:00

Next month, Yoostar will start selling a $169 system that includes a camera, green screen, and software that will put you into well-known movie scenes. Once the automagic compositing is done, you can share the resulting video with friends on Facebook or other sites. (It's like blending the offline ego trip of karaoke with the online ego trip of social networking!)

From Variety's coverage:

(The game Rock Band, incidentally, has sold more than 40 million song downloads since its release -- so this actually could be an interesting new revenue stream for rights-holders... if it takes off.)

Forbes has more coverage. Here are two videos, the first a demo of the system, and the second a look at what the results can look like, starring Gary Shapiro, CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association.

Weekend Reading: Making $19,000 on Twitter, Broderick's Distribution Bulletin, Finding Your Built-In Audience, Gigantic Goof

2009-06-27T09:52:00.006-04:00

Some stuff worth reading this weekend...

- Mike King's blog on the music business has this incredible post about how Amanda Palmer, a member of the band Dresden Dolls, earned $19,000 on Twitter in ten hours.

- Peter Broderick's latest distribution bulletin focuses on Timo Vuorensola, the Finnish filmmaker and crowd-sourcing pioneer, now working on 'Iron Sky.' It also includes a link to the complete Vuorensola interview from 'Fans, Friends & Followers.' You can subscribe to Peter's distribution bulletin via e-mail right here.

- Chris Thilk at Movie Marketing Madness riffs on and adds to a post I wrote earlier this month about how filmmakers should approach the challenge of building an online audience. It's great stuff...

- There is apparently some new online marketplace for indie films called Gigantic, according to Variety. The geniuses behind this service, unfortunately, don't own the domain Gigantic.com and also don't show up when you search for Gigantic. I'm sure it will be an astounding success. Go check it out (if you can find it, put a link in the comments.)

Netflix vs. Redbox

2009-06-23T08:24:00.004-04:00

Interesting article in yesterday's New York Times about the growing competition between Netflix and Redbox, the DVD-rental kiosk business that is owned by Coinstar.

Amazing facts: a Redbox kiosk stocks 200 titles (mostly new releases). They have more than 15,400 kiosks operating today, and are adding one new kiosk every hour. The president of Redbox is an ex-Netflix executive, Mitch Lowe.

I see Redbox's kiosks threatening local video stores more than Netflix...given that you still have to pay a $1 fee for every day the movie is late... and given that renting from Redbox, like the video store, requires a trip in the car (rather than just a trip to the mailbox.) Netflix is auto-magic; Redbox requires effort. (Not to mention Netflix's movie streaming service, which is pretty solid -- a good way to either sample movies you might want to watch on DVD, or watch entire movies if you don't care that much about resolution.)

But I'm surprised by some of the titles Redbox carries, like 'Waltz with Bashir,' 'W,' 'Religulous,' and 'Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day.' You can also reserve a DVD on the Web site, to make sure it's still available at your closest kiosk when you arrive.

Have you tried Redbox yet? Do you use it regularly? What's the experience like?

(Update: The Wall Street Journal just posted a great story about Netflix's strategy that references Redbox.)

Keynote at LA Film Fest's Financing Conference: Endgame Entertainment CEO & Director James Stern

2009-06-20T18:15:00.005-04:00

The LA Film Festival's Financing Conference started this morning with a great keynote from James Stern, CEO of Endgame Entertainment, and director of the recent doc 'Every Little Step.' IndieWire has the full text of his address, but here are four big ideas that stuck with me -- along with a ten-minute audio clip where Stern talks about niche marketing, 'the App Store effect,' handheld devices, and turning your film into an impulse buy.

The audio:

Here's the MP3 file, or just click play below.

The Second Most Important Question a Filmmaker Can Ask

2009-06-19T07:58:00.003-04:00

I had some great conversations with documentary filmmakers earlier this week at SilverDocs, and look forward to more stimulating debate at the LA Film Fest's Financing Conference tomorrow.

At SilverDocs, I suggested that there are two important questions filmmakers need to ask during the process of making a film. Filmmakers already ask the first one, constantly: will you give me money to help make my movie?

But the second one -- just as important -- isn't one that most filmmakers know about, or ask often enough.

Here it is: what groups, online communities, blogs, Web sites, or non-profits do you think would be interested in this film?

I think you should ask that of everyone you meet: your cinematographer ... your investors ... your screenwriter ... your prop master ... everyone you interview for a documentary. And keep a list of their answers.

You will discover that there are magazines, blogs, fan communities, and organizations with millions of members that you should build relationships with. Let them know what you are working on. Get them (and their audiences) involved in some way -- as you are making the movie. Give them sneak peeks as you are in post-production. Give them a trailer or early cut to show at their annual convention. Enlist their help in spreading the word once you're on the festival circuit or in theatrical release. Do ticket and DVD give-aways to get their communities buzzing.

You ought to be asking this second question throughout the process of making your movie because that will help you discover who the most powerful taste-makers are, online and off. People you encounter who know these bloggers and publishers and non-profit presidents will make introductions to them for you. That's something that no amount of Googling during the post-production phase can do, unfortunately.

What's the benefit of all this? Rather than building a great Web site and then trying desperately to get people to come to it, you'll have created powerful connections to people who already have an audience, and can tell that audience about your project.

There would be no movie if you weren't good at asking question #1: will you give me money?

And there won't be much of an audience if you aren't good at asking question #2.

(Of course, these two vital questions pertain to the business of making and marketing movies. I acknowledge that when it comes to the art of cinema, there are lots of important questions, starting with, "What do I need to do to tell a great story?")

Two from the LA Times

2009-06-16T20:06:00.003-04:00

Two pieces on the digital media future that ran in the LA Times this week:

'Hollywood hits the stop button on high-profile Web video efforts' and 'Digital technology and dollar signs' (an op-ed piece I wrote.)

From the first piece, by Ben Fritz and Dawn Chmielewski:

It mentions the recent shut-down of 60Frames Entertainment, Disney's Stage 9 Digital studio, and earlier failures like NBC's DotComedy Web site and SuperDeluxe.

Meanwhile, in my piece, I argue that perhaps Hollywood hasn't been experimental enough with the Web, or taken users' behavioral changes seriously enough. (The top talent in Hollywood still wants to make feature-length, big budget content for cinemas, I'd argue...not short clips for mobile phones.)

From that piece:

Your thoughts?

Monday Links: New Movie Review Aggregator, Mark Cuban @ D7, New Distribution Venture, and the Ransom Model of Fundraising

2009-06-15T09:42:00.006-04:00

- The NY Times ran a story on Saturday about a new site aggregating movie reviews, started by David A. Gross, a former marketing exec at 20th Century Fox. It's called Movie Review Intelligence. I found it pretty useful...

- There are a bunch of great videos from the Wall Street Journal's D7 conference earlier this month, including interviews with NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker, the founders of Twitter, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch, and Mark Cuban. (There's also a video interview and several performances by Jill Sobule, one of the stars of Fans, Friends & Followers.) Definitely worth checking out...

- The Times writes today about a new distribution venture for movies with budgets up to $10 million, called DF Indie Studios. Behind the launch are Mary Dickinson and Charlene Fisher.

From the Times' piece:

- Ross Payton is a designer of role-playing games who also hosts the video podcast Raillery. He read Fans, Friend & Followers, and wrote in to share the story of his success in raising money via the "ransom" model. More about that here.

Kinda Bizarre Audience-Building Strategy: Come to My Apartment

2009-06-14T19:30:00.002-04:00

Interesting approach to audience-building: requiring fans to make a pilgrimage to experience a given work.

Check out this Wall Street Journal story about the only way you can hear a Sufjan Stevens song called "The Lonely Man of Winter." The rights to the song are owned by Alec Duffy, who won it in a contest. You can't hear it online, and you can't buy it on a CD.

From the story:

All Your Questions, Answered

2009-06-09T19:29:00.003-04:00

I had fun today doing a live Webcast (which will eventually be on iTunes) about building an audience and a business model in the digital age. It was hosted by PermissionTV, and they took a number of questions via Twitter. (I also gave away a couple copies of Fans, Friends & Followers to a few lucky viewers.)

But we didn't get to all the questions during the hour-long Webcast, so here are some quick takes on other questions. (Please add your thoughts...)

Q. bobwoolsey: What is the best way to get advertisers for programs?

A. If you can sell ads or sponsorships to companies on your own, that's going to let you pocket the most money. Otherwise, you can have Google or another ad sales firm (like Brightroll, Blip.tv, or ScanScout) place ads in or around your video and cut you in on a portion of the revenue.

Q. kellyannlive: Is there a good balance between providing valuable content for your "fans" and letting them run the show?

A. I think this will be different for everyone. Some people, like Matt Hanson with 'Swarm of Angels', seem to enjoy creating content in collaboration with the community. Others will want to pick specific tasks, like when Jonathan Coulton invited his fans to submit a solo for the song 'Shop-Vac.' How much you want to let fans do is entirely up to you.

Q. marcaross: do blogs still matter?

A. Obviously, I think so. There are some people I enjoy hearing from in bursts longer than 140 characters. Blogs are also indexed by Google... which is not as true with messages on Twitter and some social networking sites.

Q. jonarcher: Wondering what the difference is b/n #kirsner's FF&F model and the 1000 True Fans model.

A. I like Kevin Kelly's "1000 True Fans" idea, although there has been considerable debate about the sorts of artists it will work for. With my Fans, Friends & Followers research, I certainly was trying to explore the same terrain as Kevin -- how does this new relationship with fans work, and how can you earn a living? -- by talking to people I identified as pioneers, and analyzing some of the lessons they've learned.

Q. MichaelKolowich: @scottkirsner Can you comment on need for good production values in web video? Do they matter? Someday, a "flight to quality"?

A. I think Web video is always going to have an aesthetic that's different from broadcast TV, in part because it needs to grab your attention in a short period of time, and in part because lower production values can feel more intimate and authentic. So far, the number of pixels doesn't seem to have mattered much -- but decent lighting and sound are always nice. Lately, I have been thinking that if we start watching Web video on our TV sets in a couple years, that will change and HD will be important.

Q. bobwoolsey: What is the easiest way to get to the book?

A. Google works, or you can visit this page to find out how to buy it as a paperback, PDF, or Kindle download.

The Digital 25: Visionaries & Innovators, according to the Producers Guild

2009-06-09T11:18:00.004-04:00

Check out the interesting list below, released yesterday by the Producers Guild of America.

Some great names on it, but for a list that aims to recognize people who "have made the most significant contributions to the advancement of digital entertainment and storytelling over the past year," I'm not sure I'd still have the founders of YouTube, MySpace, or Second Life on there... (but I did learn about Mass Animation, a cool crowd-sourced animation company, headed by ex-Sony Pictures exec Yair Landau, from the list.)

THE DIGITAL 25:

-- Sandy Climan, Steve Schklair, Jon Shapiro, & Peter Shapiro, Co-founders -- 3ality Digital
-- Jeff Bezos, CEO -- Amazon (Amazon Kindle)
-- Steve Jobs, CEO -- Apple computer (iPhone)
-- Henry Selick, Creator/Director -- CORALINE
-- Alex Albrecht & Kevin Rose, Co-founders -- Diggnation
-- Jeffrey Katzenberg, CEO -- DreamWorks Animation Studios
-- Mark Zuckerberg, CEO -- Facebook
-- Seth MacFarlane, founder -- Fuzzy Door Productions
-- Jason Kilar, CEO -- HULU
-- Roger Guyett (Visual Effect supervisor), Mike Sanders (Digital Supervisor) and Steve Sullivan (CTO) -- Industrial Light & Magic
-- Evan Spiridellis & Gregg Spiridellis, Co-founders -- JibJab
-- Jason Goldberg & Ashton Kutcher, Co-founders -- Katalyst Media
-- Yair Landau, Founder -- Mass Animation
-- Tom Anderson & Chris DeWolfe, Co-founders -- MySpace
-- Fred Seibert, Creative Director -- Next New Networks
-- Shigeru Miyamoto, Video Game Designer -- Nintendo
-- James Cameron, Chairman and CEO -- Lightstorm Entertainment
-- Ed Catmull (President), Pete Docter (Director of UP), John Lasseter (EVP, Creative), Jim Morris (GM & EVP, Production), Andrew Stanton (Director & VP, Creative) -- Pixar Animation Studios
-- Laura Michalchyshyn, President/General Manager -- Planet Green
-- Jonathan Kaplan, Founder -- Pure Digital
-- Jim Jannard, Founder -- RED digital Cinema
-- Sam Houser, founder/director -- Rockstar Games
-- Philip Rosedale, Co-founder -- Second Life
-- Jack Dorsey, Biz Stone & Evan Williams, Co-founders -- Twitter
-- Steve Chen & Chad Hurley, Co-founders -- YouTube

Audio: Sunday's Panel on 'Where Film & Internet Collide' at the Apple Store SoHo

2009-06-08T08:45:00.005-04:00

There was a really great crowd at the Apple Store SoHo yesterday for the panel that IndieGoGo organized about how the Internet is changing production, promotion, and distribution.

A bunch of folks had Flip cams (and other cameras) in the audience, so if you recorded video of some of the panel, do post a link to it in the comments here.

I've got some rough audio (listenable, but recorded on my iPhone) of the entire panel, which runs 90 minutes. Slava Rubin of IndieGoGo talks first, then me, then Gary Hustwit, Noah Harlan, and Chris Roberts (just to give you a feel for people's voices.) Gary makes docs... Noah does narrative and transmedia stuff... Chris mostly narrative.

You can read some tweets from the panel here. Some interesting tidbits: we talked about how to promote your film on Twitter, various funding and business models for film and Web video series, and how much life the DVD still has in it (doc-maker Gary Hustwit predicted that this is the last year he'll make DVDs for his films, and speculated about a really nicely-designed USB drive that would contain one of his films.) We also bashed iTunes a bit for being so impenetrable to indie film and video folks who'd like to sell their work there.

My favorite tweet about the panel: "'Where Film & Internet Collide' panel is the MOST informative event at NYC#internetweek hands down..." I didn't attend other events at Internet Week, but I'm sure that person is right.

Here's the MP3 file, or just click play below.

'Fans, Friends & Followers' update: Events, Articles, and a Twebinar

2009-06-04T16:14:00.003-04:00

I'm spending a lot of time on the road in June to spread the word about 'Fans, Friends & Followers.' Maybe I'll see you on my travels?

Events:

- Tomorrow (Friday , June 5th), I'll be running a filmmaker pitch session at Making Media Now, put on by Filmmakers Collaborative

- This Sunday (June 7th), I'll be at the Apple Store in Soho to moderate a free panel on film funding, promotion, and distribution as part of Internet Week NY.

- On June 17th, I'll be at Silverdocs to run a Silver Session workshop on 'Building Big Audiences & Generating Revenue in the Digital World' (sign up is required, and space is limited), and also to participate in a panel on the future of public media.

- On June 20th, I'll be at the Los Angeles Film Festival to moderate a panel called 'Digital Distribution: The Future is Here, But Where is the Money?'

Articles:

- Kendall Whitehouse has just published a great interview with Kat Parsons, an LA singer-songwriter who is following some of the same strategies for connecting with fans (and enlisting their support) as I explore in the book.

- Chris Holland from B-Side interviewed me via e-mail about some of the challenges filmmakers face as they're forced to do more marketing, promotion, and social networking.

- Liz Rosenthal of Power to the Pixel posted about the book this week, including an MP3 link to the interview I did with documentarian Robert Greenwald, which is excerpted in the 'Fans, Friends & Followers.'

Twebinar:

- Next Tuesday (June 9th), I'm doing a "Twebinar" on cultivating an audience for your work and developing a successful business model, with PermissionTV. You'll see a live video feed at 2 PM EDT, and you'll be able to Tweet in your questions. (Hence, "Twebinar" instead of just "Webinar.") It's free, but you'll need to register here.

How Do You Discover Movies?

2009-06-03T14:45:00.003-04:00

Just a quick question for you...and perhaps you'll answer in the comments.

How do you discover new movies today, predominantly? If you think about the last few movies you've seen (whether in theaters, on DVD, via iTunes or BitTorrent), how did you hear about them? Was it via a Netflix suggestion, a Variety review, an e-mail or Tweet from a friend? (Or maybe even an old-school billboard or TV commercial?)

That is all - I'm eager to hear what you have to say.

(As for me, I think I mainly discover movies via reviews or stories in print media... from the NY Times to the New Yorker to Variety...though I hope to see a movie tonight that I discovered via Flixster, a nifty little app on my iPhone.)

Audio: Dan Bricklin on Piracy, Monetizing Content, and More

2009-06-02T13:52:00.004-04:00

Dan Bricklin is a technology pioneer who has a new book out called "Bricklin on Technology."

We talked last week about a few of the topics he addresses in the book, including how content will be monetized in the future, how creators (whether musicians, filmmakers, or software developers) ought to deal with piracy, and how Dan is promoting and selling his new book (including Twitter and YouTube). The MP3 is here, or you can just click 'Play' below. (It runs about 25 minutes.)

Imax: A digital transition, and smaller screens

2009-06-01T14:24:00.002-04:00

I hadn't been following the growing uproar (covered by Variety) over the smaller-size Imax screens that have been going in to multiplexes. There's even a site called Liemax that aims to help you discern "real" (giant) Imax locations from "fake" ones.

Here's a recent LA Times piece in which Imax's co-chairman says the company is considering sharing more info with consumers about screen size.

And there's this interesting stat in today's NY Times story on Imax:

Some Notes from the 2009 Producers Institute Opening Panel

2009-05-30T19:22:00.004-04:00

Really fun conversation this morning at the opening session of the Producers Institute for New Media Technologies, covering all things related to the evolution of documentary storytelling.

Lots of people have been Tweeting from the event using the tag "#pint09." While there wasn't a live video feed of the panel as promised, I'm told that recorded video will show up soon (and I'll link to it once it does.)

I blogged earlier about some of the topics we planned to cover. We got to about half of them.

A few random notes, mostly sparked by things the audience said:

1. If you focus too much on new technologies and communications platforms, like Twitter and iPhone apps and Facebook, you can risk missing a big chunk of your audience (unless your film is intended explicitly at people under 35.) What about people over 35? Filmmakers ought to think about making their film available and generating buzz in traditional places (like theaters, film fests, Netflix, and Amazon) as well as on the Interwebs, iTunes, mobile devices, house parties, etc.

2. A lot of filmmakers can get intimidated by how much there is to do in this new world of audience cultivation and digital distribution: so many new platforms, formats, and modes of interactivity. But I also think there are so many new ways that you can seek out help from people you've never met. Your creative crew can grow from five to fifty if you know how to ask for assistance and get people involved (with tools like wikis, Ning, and even simple blogs like this one). Of course, you also have to be open to the kind of ideas and contributions you get -- and be willing to give up a bit of control in exchange for getting pro bono assistance from folks around the world. (In Fans, Friends & Followers, Jonathan Coulton, Robert Greenwald, and Timo Vuorensola talk about their approaches to crowdsourcing.)

3. We need a good way to connect filmmakers with social media experts, for advice/guidance/collaboration. Even tech-savvy filmmakers can benefit from smart ideas about engaging the audience and getting them talking about your work... and many social media folks would love to sink their teeth into some substantial film projects. Perhaps this is a job for the 2009 edition of The Conversation, now sort of in the planning stages for NYC later this year.
(We're still trying to nail down the right venue.) But if there are other initiatives doing this sort of thing, let me know...

Great Video w/ Henry Jenkins on Participatory Culture & How Media is Changing

2009-05-29T14:08:00.002-04:00

Really worth watching... five-minute video by Niko Pereira featuring Henry Jenkins, MIT prof and author of "Convergence Culture."

Henry Jenkins on Transmedia - November 2009 from niko on Vimeo.

Gary Hustwit, Lance Weiler, Christopher Roberts, and Me ... Next Sunday at the Apple Store SoHo

2009-05-29T12:53:00.005-04:00

I'm psyched to be moderating a panel next weekend as part of Internet Week NY that will focus on changes in film funding, distribution and marketing.

Here's the event info on Facebook. It runs from 2:30 to 4 PM on June 7th at the Apple Store in SoHo, and it's free (though space is limited, and I'm told it was standing room only last year.)

Gary Hustwit (director of docs 'Helvetica' and the new 'Objectified') was a huge hit on my panel at SXSW this past March... Lance "Mr. Transmedia Experience" Weiler is always great... and I'm eager to meet Christopher Roberts, director of 'Up With Me'. (The panel is organized by the nice folks at IndieGoGo.)