This Savage Art

After five years of being MIA the conference returns March 7th and 8th. Get your pass now.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Forget the three picture deal. Fuck it. No really, fuck it.

After reading the sobering post from Jonathan Marlow They Didn’t Build Their Sales Model For You and its follow-up about film festivals and the state of distribution for the independent filmmaker on GreenCine Daily [Hands down one of the best film sites on the interweb. Thank you David Hudson] I had to come out of my recent sleep deprived dormancy. Like a cold pail of ice water in our faces Marlow sets a bleak and hopeful tone at the same time. I don’t say that in a casual way. It’s tough out there as we all scramble to figure out how to get our films into the right hands. The old models are broken. The long road of getting a film made, distributed and seen can seem longer. The glut of product seems endless. A filmmaker can no longer just make the film. He or she needs to be a technically proficient magician. A multi-tasking machine in all areas of business and marketing too and it still guarantees nothing but begs the question; is this really the best way to make a film outside the studio system or the only way? Great marketing ploy but shitty film?

Truth is empowering. Knowing what is really going on behind the scenes can save filmmakers a lot of time and anguish and give them the ability to utilize their resources more wisely. But the prospect of democratizing the process is over. We have arrived. We have technology on our side and have had it for close to eight years now. The Long Tail theory is relevant but it now needs to be reegineered for the independent filmmaker.

The truth can also be depressing. Hearing the stories of other filmmakers grinding it out on the front lines and coming up empty handed with orphaned projects can make even the die hard weary. We’ve all been there. We all have our stories. And yet we still do it because we have a passion for telling stories.

The good news is there will eventually be a venue for all of us. The tide is turning so just hold on. Changes are being made to get those gems off the shelf and out to an audience. I think now more than ever marks a real departure from what was and what will have to be to survive and thrive as a filmmaker. I’m a firm believer in cutting out the middle man if you can. By harnessing the internet to get your work out their I think individuals can bypass the taste makers altogether and deliver right to an audience. Of course I would love to see my films on the biggest screen possible but I would rather build an audience and skill set so I’m ready if that day comes. I’m also a believer in a Darwinian process for art. If that film is meant to be seen, it will be seen. The only problem with that is in the real world when it comes to a David vs Goliath face-off guess who is going to win? The one who is still paying off credit cards from three years ago to finance their last film or the one with a million dollar marketing budget. Who stands a chance? It’s true every once in a while a smaller film slips through and gains critical attention and box office numbers but do you really want to invest time, money and blood in possibly being that one? Maybe? What are our choices though?

Definitely food for thought. If you are a filmmaker or involved with film in any way and haven’t read those two posts I strongly recommend you do. Be sure to read the follow up comments too.

Popularity: 22% [?]

The inaugural Doorpost Film Project will set you up. Check it out.

Popularity: 6% [?]

DV Magazine picks the best [part 1] for 2007.

Popularity: 5% [?]

A good nuts and bolts filmmaking blog from San Francisco digital filmmaker and friend of Stu “Red Giant” Maschwitz, Eric Escobar. [via Making The Movie]

Popularity: 10% [?]

Please, please, please, don’t embed Flash, you’re killing us. [via Making The Movie]

Popularity: 7% [?]

When a lot of independent [for lack of a better word] filmmakers that are getting recognized now for their brilliance were making there bones back in the 90’s there was a charge in the air. It was real. You know, all the Spikes, Mikes, Slackers and Dykes. Sayles, Jarmusch, Spike, Haynes and many more. There was no agenda other than making the most creatively compelling film you could make with what little you had – by any means necessary. Time has passed and the climate has changed but it’s good to see the spirit of that style of filmmaking is still alive and kicking with Frownland.

In Ronnie Bronstein’s valentine to the immediacy of 16mm independent filmmaking, Frownland takes a look at a small circle of socially retarded individuals living on the fringes of white urban twenty-something life. At the center is Keith, an inarticulate brain aneurysm waiting to happen. As he performs his reverse commute out of the city, feebly attempting to sell coupons door-to-door, Keith is challenged by the simple minutia of life. There is so little this character can actually handle but when he attempts to it is pure heartbreak.

To keep in time with the fractured nature of the film let me quickly segue into the quote that sums it up beautifully from heir director:

More succinctly, Frownland is my own small contribution to the sinking barge of the 16mm indie model; both an overripe tomato lobbed with spazmo inaccuracy at the spotless surface of the silver screen and a mad valentine to the craggy tradition of unadulterated cheap-o-independent expression. Its inelegance is its spirit. – Ronald Bronstein

That, ladies and gentlemen, is the way you sell a film. I’m sorry I can’t describe it better than that but I look at this as a good thing. Films that I have had trouble articulating immediately after seeing them are the ones that have never left me like some chip that’s been embedded under my skin. Bad Lieutenant, Lost Highway and now, Frownland. Props to all involved in making this film, selling out the IFC Center screening last Wednesday night and reminding us what it’s really all about.

I still can’t get the snot bubble out of my mind.

Popularity: 16% [?]

Panelists have been announced for the 3rd annual premier New York networking event and conference that coincides with the IFP Market, September 16th – 21st.

Popularity: 5% [?]