Gabriel Fleming's Blog

The Lost Coast on Xbox

2011-05-28T16:35:00.000-07:00

Because there's nothing like watching an indie film between adrenaline-filled bouts of Halo, The Lost Coast is now available on the Xbox via Zune. You can also watch it on PCs via Microsoft's Zune software. (I think. I have a Mac and a PS3, so I don't know what this business is all about...)

One Thousand Years in OK

2011-03-04T11:31:00.000-08:00

Hey peeps, surprise screening of One Thousand Years, my first feature from way back in 2001. It'll be playing tonight as part of the Oklahoma City Nights screening series, along with DIY favorites The New Year Parade and St. Nick.

If you're in the area, check it out!

Trailer for Donovan and the Vast Ancient Conspiracy

2010-05-22T15:19:00.000-07:00

So here's our preliminary trailer for the series. Enjoy!

Watch in HD by clicking here.

And like the Facebook Fan page here!

The Lost Coast Released on DVD!

2010-05-04T18:02:00.000-07:00

Today is the day, The Lost Coast is finally out on DVD. Hurray!!!! The DVD has many extras, including commentary from the cast and crew, deleted scenes, and an interview with me and the cast!

Add it to your rental queue:
Netflix
Blockbuster

Buy it from:
Amazon
Best Buy
TLA Video

And don't forget to join the Facebook fan page!

Facebook pages and Social Media

2010-04-03T15:33:00.000-07:00

In anticipation of The Lost Coast's upcoming DVD release, I've finally put together a simple Facebook fan page. I've got some pictures up there of festival stuff and junk, and we'll add some more as it comes up. So become a fan and tell everyone you know in the whole world to become a fan!

The Lost Coast Facebook Fan Page

And if you're a twitter person, follow me!

And we've done a slight re-design of The Lost Coast website, with some nice links where you can watch and buy the film.

The Lost Coast Picked Up for US Distribution

2010-03-22T20:40:00.000-07:00

Exciting news everyone, The Lost Coast will be distributed via DVD and television in North America by Breaking Glass Pictures, a new boutique distributor out of Philadelphia, run by Richard Wolff and Richard Ross, both formerly of TLA Video. The release date for The Lost Coast DVD is May 4, 2010. Hurrah!

And here's the lovely new DVD cover:

A+D And My Movie Girl at SF Indiefest!

2010-01-29T18:57:00.000-08:00

A fun coincidence is happening in San Francisco. Two feature films that I produced will be playing back-to-back in the same theater for SF Indiefest.

A+D (which I produced and edited) will be playing at the Roxie Cinema on Saturday, February 6 at 7:15PM, and then My Movie Girl (which I produced and co-directed), will play at 9:30PM.

Buy tickets and read about:
A+D
My Movie Girl

Hope to see you there!

(A+D is also playing on Tuesday, Feb. 9 at 9:30PM, and My Movie Girl on Thursday, Feb. 11 at 9:30PM)

Help Name the Untitled Around the World Project!

2009-09-07T13:15:00.000-07:00

We’ve been having trouble settling on a title for the as-yet Untitled Around the World Project. So let’s see what America thinks! Vote for your favorite title, America!

To inform your decision, you might want to look at our little temp website about the project here. The series boils down to this: our hero, Donovan, is backpacking through India when he becomes entangled in an ancient international conspiracy involving strange little rocks, secret agents, an enigmatic iPhone, and a ghost. This sends him on a chase around the world to solve said mysteries.

This may sound like a comedy, but really it’s more playful than wacky; it's often quite serious. We’re looking for a title that reflects this mix of tones. (To use vampire shows as examples, this project is less comical than “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” but slightly more comical than “True Blood.” Plus add a dash of indie-film sensibility.)

So, here are twelve possible titles, in three duplicate polls. Vote in the first poll for your favorite title, the second for your second favorite, and the third for your third.

If you have any alternate title suggestions or brainstorms, please write them in the comments! And hey, if you come up with the title that eventually gets used, I’ll give you like $50!

The Lost Coast at the Jacob Burns Film Center in New York

2009-05-20T15:38:00.001-07:00

The Lost Coast will be playing as part of Out at the Movies, a special program at the Jacob Burns Film Center in Pleasantville, New York (just a hop skip and jump from NYC). The program is curated by the venerable Basil Tsiokos, former director of NewFest.

Three screenings of The Lost Coast, and actor Ian Scott McGregor (Jasper) will be there for a Q&A at the final screening.

So tell all your New York friends to go out and see the film!

You can buy tickets online. Here's the info:

Out at the Movies at the Jacob Burns Film Center:
Tuesday, May 26, 5:15PM
Sunday, May 31, 7:15PM
Wednesday, June 3, 7:15PM (Q&A with actor Ian Scott McGregor)

How to Survive Cannes Without Really Trying

2009-05-12T19:53:00.000-07:00

In honor of the Cannes Film Festival, going on right now, I thought I might impart some lessons I learned while at Cannes 2008 with the Wendy and Lucy team.

Left to right: myself, producer Anish Savjani,
co-writer Jon Raymond, and producer Neil Kopp.

Here is what I learned:

1. It’s pronounced “can”, as in: “yes, I can drink a can of Schweppes in the canteen in Cannes. And then go to the can. Because my bladder is now full of Schweppes."

2. Bring your wallet. And your ATM card. And your parents’ credit card. And a line of credit. And be sure your unemployment checks clear before you get on the plane.

3. If you’re getting new business cards made, put “+1” in front of your phone number. That way people know you’re cool and international, and no one back home will think you’re snooty at all. Why would they?

4. The dress code: Cannes is famous for mandatory tuxedos at screenings (this is only true for evening screenings in one theater). I was all freaked out about going to France in a bad tuxedo. Guess what? 95% of the men at Cannes look like idiots in their tuxedos: ill-fitting, their trousers a different shade of black from their jacket, and all way out of style. Turns out the French can be fashion accidents too. Oh, and by the way, unless you know how to tie a real bow-tie, just bring a clip-on. Real bow-ties are freakin’ hard to tie. And no matter how much you brag about your real bow-tie, nobody cares. In fact you may “accidentally” get a drink poured on you if you mention it too many times.

Tying bow-ties is easy for man-about-town Neil Kopp
(seen here assisting me with my tie).
Neil can do anything required of the suave.

5. Be prepared to be overwhelmed by film commerce. If you picture Cannes as an highfalutin celebration of obscure art cinema, it’s not. It’s primarily a film market for all sorts of horror films, teen-sex comedies, low-budget sci-fi, what-have-you, all packed into a trade-show style convention center. Sometimes the film festival part feels like an afterthought.

6. Cannes is filled with paparazzi, and the seriousness with which the French regard celebrity puts US Weekly to shame. The festival is like the Oscars, except without Joan Rivers there to remind you how silly it all is. Unless you’re a celebrity, or Harvey Weinstein, nobody at the festival, including the paparazzi, cares about you.

See how the paparazzi are completely ignoring poor Neil and Anish?
And they put on real bow-ties and everything! Just how suave do you have
to be to get some attention around here!?!

7. Don’t ever say “I’ll buy this round of drinks!” unless you want to end up paying $180 for six beers. (And why even pay for booze? There’s got to be a Weinstein party around here somewhere…)

Chillin’ with the free booze at the Weinstein party.

8. Speaking of parties, never go to a party on the Bud Light yacht. I mean, obviously, the terms “But Light” and “yacht” are not meant to go together (“Bud Light” and “houseboat,” sure).

9. And by the way, just because you work for P. Diddy doesn’t mean you can get into his stupid party. (Thanks a lot, four years at MTV.)

Moving on to advice about attending screenings:

10. Try to sit next to empty seats at a premiere. The famous people come in late and take the last few spots. (I got to touch elbows with Gael Garcia Bernal for two straight hours!)

Fortunately he didn’t remember me from this altercation
we had at the Telluride Film Festival some years earlier
(yes, that's really Gael Garcia Bernal, and yes, that's really me).

11. Every film, no matter how much you like it, requires a ten minute standing ovation, where everyone stares at the filmmakers and claps until their hands hurt. Kind of like how it’s impossible to get a bad grade at Harvard: if you’re in Cannes already, they you must deserve a ten minute standing-o, right?

This is the standing-o for The Class. Okay, this film did deserve it.

And finally, advice on attending your own screening:

12. Don’t worry that you have no idea when or where to walk on the red carpet. The red carpet experience is surreal: basically all you have to do is walk up some stairs, but somehow it feels like climbing a mountain. In a tuxedo. With blinding lights in your eyes. Fortunately the paparazzi will ignore you. If you have a celebrity with you, they will only take pictures of her, and they will scream at you to get out of the way if you happen to get between them and their shot of said celebrity.

This is a little video I took with my still camera of our red-carpet
walk. (This was almost as surreal as the time I was on
"The Price is Right." But that's another blog entirely.)

13. While walking down the carpet, try not to think about how everyone in the theater waiting for your screening is watching a live video feed of you getting yelled at by the paparazzi.

Michelle Williams (on the screen) during the red carpet for
Synedoche, New York, as we wait for them to get their
asses inside so we can watch the movie.

14. At the end of your screening, try not to be blinded by the bright lights aimed at you, and somehow try not to be embarrassed by everyone clapping at you for ten minutes.

15. Oh, and if you get the opportunity to watch director Spike Jonze get hoisted up the 150 foot mast of a luxury sailboat owned by an Italian liquor magnate, you should do that.

Indeed.

Follow these 15 easy rules and you’ll survive a week in Cannes with nothing worse than a bad hangover and a $5000 hole in your bank account.

I missed you so much, let's blog right here and now

2009-04-30T18:11:00.000-07:00

Hello loyal blog readers. I’m back. Wait, let me speak first:

I know you’re angry. I know, I know. Those feelings you’re feeling are valid, I totally understand. So please let me apologize.

I’m sorry. I’m sorry I sweet-talked you, wooed you into subscribing to my blog only to leave your inbox, and your heart, empty. I’m sorry.

The thing was, I was just really busy-

No, no, let me finish! This isn’t an excuse, just an explanation.

I thought we needed some time apart. A break, so to speak. I had to go out into the world, sow some, what are they? Well, let’s just say I had to see some other blogs. I subscribed to many other blogs while we were apart-

No, no, let me finish! I don’t say that to upset you! Not at all, it’s just that I feel I must be upfront! Honesty! Honesty is the bedrock of a healthy blog, right?

Right. I knew you’d be reasonable and see it my way.

I had to see what was out there, you know? What my options were. So I subscribed to many other blogs while we were apart. I hope you did too. You had every right to, every right.

Well, I hope you didn’t subscribe to that many blogs, I mean, it’s only been like eight months. I assume you subscribed to like, less than three other blogs, right?

More than three!?!

Wow.

You really get around.

No, no, I’m not angry. I just thought you had more self-control is all.

(Huh, as a side note, maybe you should go and get your computer tested for viruses before we start blogging again. I trust you, I know you were safe, but just in case. You always used a Mac, right?)

Anyway, now that I’m back, I’m ready. I’m ready to settle. No! Not settle for you, I meant settle down! Settle down! Of course. You always misinterpret me, you really need to learn to listen better.

Anyway, I’m back, and I hope we can make this work. I promise to blog with you whenever you want, and blog with your needs in mind. I promise to never leave your subscription wanting again.

I mean, within reason. We’re not making a life commitment here. I’m not ready for that. No, no, hold on-

Jesus, just give me a little space here. Here we go with the smothering already! Just give me a year- let’s just put this conversation off for a year, okay?

Oh, I’m so glad you’re seeing reason! That’s so great! See? I’m good for you! You love my blog! My blog is pretty much the best thing you’ve got going for you!

So welcome back, I know how you’ve missed me.

xoxo

Gabe

Oh, and remember that 20 bucks you owe me? I could really use that back right now. I’m jonesing for a Coke Zero and I’m kind of having cash-flow issues at the moment…

Added Los Angeles Screening at Outfest!

2008-07-18T16:31:00.000-07:00

Due to popular demand, Outfest has added a screening! If you missed The Lost Coast this past Sunday, you have another chance to see the film in L.A. this coming Sunday!

Sunday, July 20, 4:30PM
Directors Guild of America, Theater 2
7920 Sunset Boulevard
(between Crescent Heights and Fairfax)

Click here to buy tickets (scroll down to The Lost Coast).

If you already saw the film, tell your friends to go!

Philadelphia Screening

2008-07-15T22:19:00.000-07:00

The Lost Coast has two screenings in the wonderful Philadelphia Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, and you should get everyone you know on the eastern seaboard to go. The screenings are:

Thursday, July 17, 5:00 PM
Prince Music Theater
1412 Chestnut Street

Sunday, July 20, 9:30 PM
Wilma Theater
265 South Broad Street

Click here to buy tickets.

I also want to note that Philly has my favorite program synopsis of the film so far:

“Artful and melancholy, The Lost Coast is a distinctly American take on a European art film. Taking inspiration from Antonioni, Truffaut and Godard, director Gabriel Fleming has created an intimate film overflowing with emotions. ...[plot description]... Shot with elegance and precision, Gabriel Fleming’s artful film will reverberate in your soul.”

Fancy, eh?

Los Angeles Screening

2008-07-09T00:04:00.000-07:00

This coming Sunday The Lost Coast will be playing at the Outfest Gay and Lesbian Film Festival in Los Angeles. Please come and see it! It's a big theater (430 seats), and I'd like to fill it. Bring your friends! Tell people you think would be interested!

The Lost Coast
Sunday, July 13, 7PM
Regency Fairfax Theatre
7907 Beverly Blvd (at Fairfax)
(Valet parking available in front of the theater for $5)

Please buy your tickets in advance here (scroll down to The Lost Coast).

AND! After the screening come join the cast and crew for:

The Lost Coast After-Screening Party
8:45PM to 11PM
Sheddy's Beer and Wine
361 S. Fairfax Ave.
(between Blackburn and 4th Street, a few blocks south of the theater)

Hope to see you at either the screening, or party, or both!

The Sky is Falling Blah Blah

2008-07-03T11:51:00.000-07:00

Interesting news item today on the new-distribution-model issue I've been boring you with. The Sundance-winning film Ballast has dropped out of their deal with IFC, in favor of self-distribution, because they figure they'll make more money that way . Read the article here.

Also, a gloom-and-doom article from last week in IndieWire about the changing landscape of indie film distribution. Read it here.

Filmmaker Spoon-in Contest

2008-07-02T22:12:00.000-07:00

If you can correctly identify all of the filmmakers in this photo from IFC's party at the LA Film Festival, I will give you a spoon. Like, a regular spoon for eating soup.

Here's a head start: The first three are PJ Raval, director of Trinidad, then myself, then Barry Jenkins, director of Medicine for Melancholy, then... fill in the blanks for your prize!

(What, you think it's unfair because you can't see everyone's face? Well then just look at their ankles. (I'm sure that will be enough for some of you.))

NewFest, Cinetic, and the Future of Media

2008-06-28T22:39:00.000-07:00

I haven't been to New York in ten years, and I'd forgotten all the dos and dont's:
-When telling a taxi driver an address, you DO say the street first, then the crossing avenue. “I'm going to fourth and second.” DO NOT mix it up or you'll end up in the wrong place, and then you'll probably be killed for your shoes.
-DO NOT ever say about someone's apartment: “Wow, this place is small!” (also DO NOT say “you pay that much for this?”)
-DO NOT look at a subway map while on the street, but
-DO look at the subway map while on the subway. Even locals do. And
-DO look disoriented when walking out of the subway. Even locals do. But
-DO NOT look up at the tall buildings when coming out of the subway, or any other time. Finally,
-DO complain about the heat and humidity. (This is my favorite DO.)

I was in New York for NewFest, the New York Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, the first screening of The Lost Coast since SXSW in March. NewFest's films screen in a multiplex, the AMC on 34th street: during the festival there were so many gays milling about the theater lobby that I thought I had stepped into L'Occitane's flagship store.

The screening went well, though we didn't have a very full house.

I like to take pictures of the audience before the film

Afterwards we went over to a festival party and enjoyed the free vodka (it's always vodka; why vodka? These parties never have free whiskey, dammit.) There I met with Matt Dentler to talk about:

Our Recent Deal for Cinetic Rights Management to Represent The Lost Coast

Matt Dentler is the new King of All Media

I've been talking to a lot of filmmakers about this deal. It's a confusing step into the future of indie film, and no one really knows how the chips are going to fall, but I'm excited about it. To me it represents the final (or near final) break from the financial/artistic restraints of the traditional filmmaking model, and in my grandest dreams I can see a future of surviving financially from making little “art” movies using this new model. To understand what Cinetic is doing, it helps to take a bit of a global view of recent changes in cinema.

The course of cheapening filmmaking technology, known collectively as the digital video “revolution,” began in 1995 with the introduction of DV, continued into post-production with Final Cut Pro in 1999, improved with pro-sumer HD video in 2004, and is littered with many little but important cheapening steps along the way (DVD burners, 24P mode, ProTools, AfterEffects, Color, etc.). These technologies bring pre-production, production, and post-production within economic reach of your average middle-class idiot. The promise, however, of the truly cheap idiot movie has yet to be fulfilled. There are two remaining expensive links in the moviemaking chain: distribution and promotion.

We stand now on the brink of breaking one of those links, my fellow idiot: distribution.

Cinetic Media is a leading New York film sales agency, and they've started a new division called Cinetic Rights Management (CRM) to boldly dive into the future of indie film distribution. Cinetic poached Matt Dentler, former director of SXSW, to help run the new division, and create a new model for indie film distribution.

The old model goes something like this: Filmmaker makes film, Filmmaker hires sales agent to negotiate sale of film to distributors, distributors (from different international regions) license exclusive rights of film for respective region, distributor puts ads in papers, makes prints and DVDs, sends prints and DVDs to retailers (theaters and videostores), then viewers go to the theater or rent a DVD. (Oh, and then this happens: distributors cross-amortize their costs, distributors throw parties for themselves, distributors hire fancy accountants who reduce or eliminate profit (for tax purposes), and distributors end up paying almost nothing to the filmmaker. Many small indie films never see any money at all from traditional distribution.)

So now we have this fancy new internet thing. The way people consume media is changing. Theatrical audiences for indie films are dwindling (indie theatrical releases are now merely a promotional device for the DVD market). But uh-oh! DVD rental is declining! Then here comes iTunes starting an online video rental service. Netflix does the same thing. Apple creates AppleTV, letting you watch downloaded movies on your television. Netflix releases their Roku box performing the same function.

Broadband internet is now found in more than half of American households. The base of consumers downloading their movies and television is increasing exponentially. In a year or so you (yes, even you, my middle-class luddite idiot friend) will be watching your movies and television in your living room via a downloaded source.

(From personal experience, I've been downloading virtually all of my tv shows and movies for over a year, and I have no desire to go back to cable tv and the video store. I don't have to drive anywhere, I never see commercials anymore (alleluia), and I watch better stuff. Case closed. It's like getting a microwave. When you do, you can't remember what it was like to live without it.)

That's the new dynamic. Wow! Everything's different! you say. The question arises, then: what's even the purpose of an indie film distributor in this new system? I can just put my movie on iTunes! Well, it turns out distributors perform functions besides physical distribution: selection and promotion.

That's where CRM steps in. They select films, and promote them (among other things of course: dealing with all of the specifics and bullshit of each individual market, packaging, all the stuff that filmmakers don't want to deal with). CRM is not quite a distributor, not just a sales agent, but connects the final link between film and audience.

It sounds a bit like I'm shilling for CRM. Really I'm shilling for the concept, the new model that they're advancing. It's a vision that took me a little while to understand, but now it seems obvious.

The results of this system remain to be seen. There are still obstacles to overcome. Even after most consumers are downloading all of their TV shows and movies off the internet and watching them on the tv in their living room, we still have a few steps to go before the system really works. How do you cheaply connect with the people who would want to see your movie?

With The Lost Coast, I just know that there are a lot of people who would really want to see it, people who would gladly pay for it, if they only knew about it. The challenge is to reach them in a way that doesn't cost fifteen million dollars, or even fifteen thousand. There are technological strides being made in that direction. In a way, the entire internet industry is working on that very issue: advertising and connecting targeted products with targeted audiences. Google has made their billions from this challenge. (Thanks Google. Thanks for running blogger.com for free; I will gladly look at those little ads on the side of my search results as payment). I have high hopes that a cheap film/television advertising system will present itself.

One thought along those lines: as it turns out, we already have this vast, elaborate selection and promotion process: film festivals. If film festivals were to make it possible to view films from their program, link from their website to the film available on iTunes, whatever, you'd watch, wouldn't you? Wouldn't you go through the Sundance films from the program every year, watch the trailers, see if there's any that looks good to you, and rent them for five bucks? I would. (I would not, and do not, however, remember those same films two years later when they are available in an obscure corner of my video store.)

As a final note to this long-winded and soapbox-ish entry, I want to say something about art. (Okay, I can hear you groaning). The technological changes to filmmaking are not just technological. They will have a profound impact on the art of cinema itself, in ways that we are only starting to see.

One can draw a comparison to the music industry, which is going through the same transformation, except that they are about five years ahead of the film world. While the traditional music industry is in trouble, there has been an amazing explosion of tiny indie bands reaching small but global audiences. (Ever heard of the sub-genre “drone-doom”? Well, apparently enough people have for it to exist at all, and for these bands to be reaching their audiences). These days we have an amazingly rich independent music environment. The hope is that this same flowering will occur with cinema. Who knows, maybe it already is; we just can't find it and download it yet.

Just what the hell am I doing with this blog?

2008-06-28T00:17:00.000-07:00

Okay haters, all six of you subscribers have been smacking me around because I haven't blogged for over a week. Egads! How dare he not blog for more than a week! It's inhuman! Sacreblog!

Well let me lay down the law here: I will blog when I damn well please.

And I should describe what my plans are for this blog, so you people stop harping on me:
-I am going to write about my movie The Lost Coast, and what's going down with it.
-I am going to describe my experience on the indie film festival circuit. I will try to give some perspective on this weird little world as I am experiencing it. I'll be writing about NewFest, SXSW, Frameline, Outfest, Cannes, and a little later, Venice.
-Later, this will start to blend into blogging about The Untitled Around The World Project. You see, I'm going around the world this year, and I'll be shooting some project, still up in the air, but it should be interesting, and hopefully I'll have a bunch of video to show. (The plane tickets are booked already. We'll begin in Bangkok, Thailand.)
-Along the way I'll probably muse incoherently about indie film. Oh, delightful!

I will not be writing about my car troubles. I will not be writing about my favorite ice cream flavors. I will not be writing about the relative gayness of High School Musical 5: Suck It Up! And I won't blog something simply because I haven't blogged this week.*

So there, I've laid down the law. Can you handle it? I dare you to handle it.

*I reserve the right to completely change this blog philosophy at any time. This blog rant may not be applicable in Rhode Island or Florida. In case of intestinal discomfort or feelings of frustration with the blog and/or blog subjects, consult your doctor as it may be recommended that you take a chill pill.

Alright, Fine.

2008-06-16T17:59:00.000-07:00

I'll blog.

Fine.

Let me just say here, as a matter of principle: I've always hated blogs. Do I really want to read about your cat's most recent machievalian exploits? No. Not even if he does have an amusing video series.

HOWEVER...

I am beginning to think my distaste of bloggery was a little knee-jerk, maybe even prejudiced, and dare we say, blog-biggoted? Bloggoted?

And I've got stuff to write about. There's this movie The Lost Coast that I want to tell you about. I've been going to festivals, and I have all these pictures I want to show you. And there's other film things as well, like this movie A+D that we're just finishing up, and I've got other things coming up that you might be interested in... So, hey, let's blog! Let's blog together! Just you and me. It'll be fun!

You should like totally subscribe!

I promise I'll be nice, and I won't yammer on forever about my cat.

So welcome, have a seat here on my comfortable couch, click subscribe, and we'll have a nice time, chillaxing on my blog.