IFP

Producer Robert Profusek on Building Buzz at Slamdance

Robert Profusek — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 15:00:16 +0000

I had an amazing opportunity to return to Park City this year with my film WITHOUT SHEPHERDS. I was more than excited as not only was I going public with the first documentary film I had produced, but I was playing Slamdance for the first time in my career.

Without Sheperds poster at Slamdance

While this had been my 5th year returning to Park City during the festivals as a film enthusiast, professional and former Sundance alumni, I had a few anxieties about how to approach the assembled film community. I’d always been very impressed by the filmmakers and films emanating from Slamdance but I couldn’t help but be concerned about battling everything that transpires during those 10 days in January. Also, our film is an issue-oriented foreign documentary dealing with a very relevant but at times visually disturbing story of Pakistan.

After receiving notice around Thanksgiving that we had been accepted into Slamdance the reality of how much work was required became very obvious. Web-site redesign and poster development, social media strategy and re-ignition of our various feeds, PR pitches and media placements, color and sound finishing and everything in-between. While I had been pushing for months to get some of these tasks finished before our world-wide premier, the realities of budgets and time and a thousand other variables makes us always feel like we could have done more.

Postcards of the film

While our film might be somewhat smaller in size compared to other documentaries playing Sundance or even Slamdance, we more than make up for that in terms of our message and the devotion of the team we’ve nurtured over the past 5 years. Our premier at Slamdance was no exception with over 40 members of cast and crew supporting our launch, including our co-director/cinematographer, Imran Babur, who had traveled all the way from Pakistan. Together, with the support of Clare Anne Darragh at Frank PR and the team at Picture Motion, Jonathan Gray and Nicole Compass at Gray Krauss, the collection of graphic designers helmed by Rachel Yoo, interns and production assistants helping on the ground day by day, we worked to make a splash at the top of Main Street for our World Premier.

Over the course of 10 days, we completely sold out both of our screenings and assembled a nice group for our P&I screening after handing out over 500 buttons, posting 100 posters and distributing over 1000 quarter cards throughout Park City. Although we were going up against the major agency parties Sunday Night, we still had over 250 people come out for our after party that generated over an uncountable number of social media posts through the on-site photo booth where guests could do shout-outs in support of our cause. In all, I’m extremely proud of what we were able to accomplish as the smaller David against the larger Goliath, which typifies Park City in January and as we work through negotiations on some foreign and domestic distribution deals I’m excited by the fact that this literally is just the beginning of a long road.

Without Sheperds

Some of the more memorable moments from the week ran the spectrum from happy to sad, exciting to concerning. Our grand scheme to do a series of street projections along Main Street Friday and Saturday night promoting our Facebook page along with campaign hash-tags ran aground after the power adapters in the vehicles running the projectors all blew fuses despite having enough power to support the equipment we had rented. Rest assured, we still got a few moments of video up until our PA was told by the cops that they were going to be shut down because of a lack of permit. I recall the warm feeling of our crew dinner Saturday night at 305 Main, as members of the team from all over the globe came together for the first time to not only meet in person but to congratulate each other for many years of committed energy and passion. I also will never forget the applause and engagement of the audiences during our Q&A’s where always the question of “did you feel safe” was guaranteed to come up!

Still from Without Sheperds

I recall an amazing interview with Shanna Yehlen at FilmBuff that evolved into a larger discussion on the role of art to help transform rigid beliefs on important social and political topics. As we gathered that same morning waiting for our live broadcast segment on CNN we were saddened to learn about the shooting in Houston and the need to throw live coverage to that horrific event. We were naturally disappointed that the interview piece we had worked so hard to secure was going to be preempted but we were able to reschedule for next week. I remember almost missing our red-carpet moment when a panel that I was sitting on in Deer Valley for The Collective ran late. I finally made it to the Treasure Mountain Hotel 10 minutes late only to realize that I had to sprint down Main Street as I was at the wrong address!

Leaving Park City, exhausted and somewhat overwhelmed by the sheer volume of work that had been accomplished over the past 2 months, I remembered why I had committed to this project a short 3 years ago. Armed with a sense that our director Cary McClelland would be an authoritative and eloquent voice for the challenging political stories that needed to be told I was now more than satisfied with our results. A huge thank you to Asad Rahman, Saad Siddiqui, Rob Collier, Phil Michaelsen, Usman Nabi and Arik Ruchim, among others, for making this happen financially; to Billy Smith for being such a steady and constant force for all; to Jonathan Gray and Nicole Compass from Gray Krauss for their continued legal advisory; Daryl Dunbar and Douglas Burack from Lutz & Carr for their accounting advisory; and, Clare Anne from Frank PR along with the entire Picture Motion team for its continued dedication and immense effort.

Cast and crew speak at Slamdance

My annual pilgrimage to Park City, regardless of how difficult the challenge may be, always reaffirms why I do what I do. In the darkest and most concerning of times, you need to go with your gut, keep your head down and work hard. Seeing long time friends and making new ones year over year gives fuel to all my creative endeavors and has served as the means for many successful collaborations. A heartfelt thanks to Slamdance 2013 for letting us tell our story and being so amazing along the way!

Indie film distribution in a digital world: A master class w/Dylan Marcetti & Josh Braun

Justin Ferrato — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 15:00:26 +0000

This content is for IFP members. Please login to view.

Filmmaker David Lowery on “Ain’t Them Body Saints”, Sundance 2013 & the Power of Persistence

David Lowery — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 15:00:01 +0000

In the days and weeks leading up to our film’s premiere at Sundance, I pulled from the shelf my dog-eared copy of Steven Soderbergh’s sex lies and videotape diary, which I’d purchased from a second-hand bookstore my sophomore year in high school and devoured (along with the screenplay included therein) before I actually saw the film it chronicled. This ordering was oddly habitual at that point in my life, a natural progression from all the reviews I grew up reading of movies my parents wouldn’t let me see. I read Spike Lee’s School Daze and Malcom X journals before I ever saw the films; I saw Hearts Of Darkness before I saw Apocalypse Now. But Soderbergh’s was my favorite, and the one I hung onto the most. I took (and still take) to heart the recipe for success he cites in his forward: talent + perseverance = luck.

David Lowery with Ain’t Them Bodies Saints cast

I was sixteen then. I was about to turn 32 when I began reading it again over the holidays, for what was probably the third or fourth time. It was glib and entertaining and insightful, as always, but it also seemed deeper and richer – a natural side effect to my own evolving understanding of the filmmaking process. There’s not a lot of technical jargon in the book, and each journal entry is often comprised of a span of days or weeks, but I didn’t notice that the first time I read it. It all seemed breezy and exciting and fun. Soderbergh made filmmaking – serious filmmaking, great filmmaking – seem like something efficient and doable. When you’re sixteen and don’t even know what the word coverage means, you’re drawn towards the broad strokes. You need the broad strokes. And then, as you grow as a filmmaker, you start to read between the lines.

What I found between Soderbergh’s lines – and sometimes not between them at all but right smack dab on the page in clear and simple text – was a marvelous reflection of what I’d just been through, and a projection of what we were about to embark upon. How had I not previously picked up on the fact that there were days that didn’t go well for him, too? How had I missed the bit of his production journal in which he mentions his AD pulling him aside and telling him he should have serious conversations with his actors in their trailers during the set-ups and not on set when the cameras were ready to roll? The days where they ran out of time? Where the Louisiana heat wore everyone down? There on the page is a description of conversations I felt like I had been having on a regular basis. There at the outset of the book is mentioned a financing meeting with Cassian Elwes that came out of the blue but didn’t quite pan out, which felt alarmingly similar to the sudden financing meeting we had with Cassian Elwes, which did in fact work out and lead to our film getting made.

David Lowery’s Ain’t Them Bodies Saints

I don’t mean to say that I was reducing his experience – and mine – to a checklist of corresponding points. But the parallels were unavoidable, and also amusing, interesting and gratifying. All of this information deepened my understanding of his humbly triumphant first-person narrative, and it also helped me contextualize what I’d just been through. And indeed, to see it in broad strokes. I realized that my own shoot was breezy, exciting and fun in its own way. And, too, that I was unquantifiably lucky and quantifiably persistent (and that hopefully the talent quotient of that equation wasn’t running at a deficit).

So then there was Sundance. Back when sex, lies was invited to screen there, it was still called the U.S. Film Festival, but it was up there on the same Main Street, at mostly the same venues, with lots of the same people. Soderbergh describes in nonplussed terms (or maybe he was dazed) his first screening, and then the second, and then the point at which Todd McCarthy hints at the positive review he’s going to give the film in Variety. He also describes having enough free time to join the festival volunteers in shuttling other directors and actors to and from the airport.

Since then, Sundance has become Sundance, and while I imagine the intrepid filmmaker might still find time to volunteer services here and there, I don’t think it would be possible (if it ever truly was in the first place) to be nonplussed about showing a film you’ve finished only days before to an audience of 1200 people. I anticipated a quickening of my pulse, but not my transformation into jelly when John Cooper called me out onto the stage at the Eccles. I have no idea what I said up there, other than thank you. When in doubt, those are always good words to fall back in, especially if you mean them, which I did.

Ain’t Them Bodies Saints at Sundance 2013

This is not the sum of my experience there, but a small part of it, and here is where I leave my parallels with Soderbergh’s narrative behind (aside from the fact that Todd McCarthy, now writing for Hollywood Reporter, gave us a really great review after our own first screening) and dovetail fully into my perception of the experience. When one’s been aspiring towards premiering a feature at Sundance since the age of sixteen, it would be natural to assume that a sense of culmination would accompany that moment. But the thing about persistence is that it renders success in varying shades of gray. Accomplishment is not divided into the setting of a goal and its achievement, nor is that achievement a plateau which one rests upon. Everything is a step. Some steps are bigger than others. Sometimes they lead you right back to the bottom. Sometimes they provide an opportunity to step back and survey the view. As you look back, all the little footholds and switchbacks blend with distance into one singular path, one broad stroak, but you don’t forget that each one came with its own encompassing sense of triumph, of disappointment, of accomplishment, of knowing you can do better. In the moment, each one was everything you were working for – and then you achieved it, and you moved on. You may have done well. You’ll do even better.

At some point you might find yourself referring to the process in vaguely distended metaphors, which is a good time to turn back to that script you were writing or that book you were reading. We left Sundance two weeks ago. It was spectacular. It was overwhelming. It was equivocal to running a marathon, except that marathons end. Time now to keep persisting, and hoping the luck holds out.

Footnote: I went to see Steven Soderbergh’s Side Effects last night. I have a feeling he won’t be publishing a journal about this one, and I am OK with that. But if he were to write it, I’d definitely read it, and read it again in 16 years.

Writing the short film: Making it something special

Kat Candler — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 16:30:19 +0000

Kat Candler is writer-director based in Austin Texas, Kat’s award winning films have screened at Sundance, the Los Angeles Film Festival, San Francisco International Film Festival, SXSW, Slamdance.

IFP so sweetly asked me to do a few write-ups on “Making Short Films”. I’m certainly not the expert by any means, but I can relay my own experiences and what works for me in case it helps anyone else.

Recently, I’ve had two short films play Sundance, Hellion (2012) and Black Metal (2013). And before that I had a children’s short film, Love Bug that played the kids’ festival circuit for several years. I’m a little all over the map with genre, but at the heart of it all, I just believe in a good story and interesting characters.

Writing a short film should take the effort of a feature. I’ll spend 10 drafts on a 6-page script just like I would on a feature script. I’ll use the same principles … three act structure, inciting incident, wants, flaws, character arcs, choices …

But the first thing I ask myself when approaching any project is “What makes this special?” What makes these characters and this story unique? Have we seen it before? If so, how can I flip it or take an interesting approach?” It certainly helps having been a shorts screener at a few festivals. You realize what people are making over and over and over again. Let’s just say zombies, gun toting drug deals gone bad, heavy abuse stories, the apocalypse, grim reapers, the afterlife … you get the point.

With that said, usually the first few ideas you have are the first few ideas everyone has. So go deeper. Make a list. Usually the crazier ideas you have that are further down that list are the more unique and interesting ones.

As far as approaching story structure, I’m a big fan of creating a pretty simple spine or backbone for all of my scripts. It doesn’t matter how insane or crazy or out there your script is, but what are the fundamentals? This is where I start.

Main Character: Which character has the biggest character arc? Who’s POV is this from?

Want: What does your character want? (Love? Acceptance? Fame? The Girl?) What kind of tangible goals do they have?

Flaw: What’s your character’s flaw? I always start with the seven deadly sins. Wrath, Sloth, Lust, Greed, Envy, Pride, Gluttony … and then thinking of things like lack of confidence or loss of faith. What is the internal flaw that my character is going to grow from throughout these five to ten minutes? Are they going from Pride to Humility? Or Lack of Confidence to Confidence? Or Wrath to Peace? What their flaw is and what they’re learning are the most important elements of any story. Basically how does your character change?

Inciting Incident: What is the event that changes this from any other day? What sets your story in motion? Is it discovering an alien? Or getting grounded? Or watching someone’s head explode?

Stakes: What’s at stake? What heightens this situation for us? What’s challenging our character’s flaw and forcing them to grow? What keeps us on the edge of our seat to find out what happens next? Will he tell her that he loves her? Will they get out of the cave alive?

Climax: What is the pinnacle of this story? What kind of situation can you put your character in so that they have to make a huge choice? What is this moment of crisis?

Choice: What’s the choice your character makes? Hopefully they’ve learned something and make a choice away from their flaw.
Learns: What does your character learn in the end? You want your character to change or grow, so usually what they learn is the opposite of their flaw. Confidence, selflessness, humility …

Theme: This is usually one word that I’ll hang my whole story on. On former projects those words have been: Strength, Fear, Monster, Manhood … this is the word I write on a post-it and tack to my computer. It’s a word I’ll come back to when I find myself in a rut with a specific detail … whether it’s what kind of job they go to, to what kind of stuffed animal they cart around. I go back to that one word.

I feel like if you can break your script down into really really simple terms, a word here or there for each of these things, it simplifies and demystifies the writing process. This is what really helps me.

But again, the most important question you should be asking yourself about your story or your film … “What makes this special?”

Beasts of the Southern Wild Case Study

Ibrahim Mahdi — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 15:00:58 +0000

Benh Zeitlin’s fantastic allegory “Beasts of the Southern Wild” started as a play, was grounded in a short film, cast with non-actors, filmed on the bayou, and was produced by a bunch of friends from college and before. It premiered at Sundance, won the Grand Jury Prize and got picked up by Fox Searchlight, then premiered at Cannes and won the coveted Camera d`Or for a director’s first feature.

On January 10, 2013, the film was nominated for four Oscars, in the categories of Best Picture, Best Director (Benh Zeitlin), Lead Actress (Quvenzhané Wallis), and Adapted Screenplay (Lucy Alibar & Benh Zeitlin). Hear from the team behind this year’s hottest independent break out about their inspiration, their collaboration, and creative drive.

Spurlock Sisters at Biennale College Cinema: Week Two

Kim Spurlock — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 21:50:27 +0000

For the Spurlock Sisters’ first blog entry, visit: http://filmmakermagazine.com/64191-spurlock-sisters-at-biennale-college-cinema-part-one/

They say that creative works are never really finished, we just let them go at some point. I guess that’s what deadlines are for. The new versions of step outline, budget and schedule for A Case of the Dismals were due a week after we arrived at San Servolo, at 2:00PM. So of course I finished at 1:55. I had also ‘finished’ a couple of hours earlier when I thought the deadline was noon. With a sigh of relief, Mai and I clicked ‘send’ and off our little package went to the Biennale. We then had about 15 minutes to savor the accomplishment before rushing off to begin our second week of intensive prep. The concentration this time around? The Pitch. We had three days until we pitched Dismals to the folks at the Biennale, so we dutifully ingested our umpteenth espresso and headed to class.

We hit the ground running with a cold pitch of our project to our mentor group and the trainer. The great thing about working on a pitch is that you begin to see where the mechanics of your script are working and where they aren’t. It forces you to distill your story and whatever it is you are trying to say with it.

I think I mentioned before that it would be interesting to compare my Biennale experience with Emerging Narratives and Emerging Visions at IFP Week last Fall, when I was there with another project The Whispering Giant. Probably the major difference is the length and the breadth of the training. While the Biennale is two weeks of story, budget, schedule, pitch and distribution intensives, EN and EV spent a day focusing on our pitch to industry folks for feedback. Emerging Narratives then follows with several days of industry meetings with producers who have expressed interest in your project. All three of these initiatives offer superb training and exposure for first and second-time filmmakers.

Photo by Tomer Bahat

The morning of our official pitch to Alberto Barbera (Director of the Film Festival) and the Biennale College, Mai and I woke up early to practice a couple more times before we headed to the cafeteria to eat breakfast and find out the running order of the teams. A Case of the Dismals would be dead last. I guess we’re a hard act to follow!

By lunch break, we were pretty nervous. Ten teams had finished their pitches and were already celebrating over Spritzes and Prosecco. Didn’t want to end up snoring in the aisles when they called our names, so Mai and I stuck to espresso while we had a nice chat with Amy Dotson.

The Spurlock Sisters and Amy Dotson

As our moment approached, I watched the teams ahead of us with a mixture of admiration and anxiety. These producer/director duos we had gotten to know over the past couple of weeks were impressive – they’d really managed to bring their presentations together in lucid and exciting ways. Had we come as far as they had?

Finally our names were called. One of my biggest problems to date had been talking too fast and I had been working hard on enunciating each and every word – even though it sounded to me like I was speaking under water. As we were handed our mikes, I took a deep breath and scanned the crowd for a smiling face. The rest is a blur. All I remember is looking out at one point and seeing our mentor motioning to me with his hands to slow down. My sister, who is a bit more level headed when it comes to these things, says we did great.

The rest of the day was a boozy, joyful affair spent carousing with the other teams in a Venice pub before a delicious dinner back at the Biennale, and a bittersweet party back on San Servolo where we said our goodbyes. While jokes about Battle Royale and the Hunger Games had been tossed back and forth along with tongue-in-cheek murmurings of secret poisons to eliminate the competition, I had grown to truly admire these folks and knew that I would miss them when we returned to the States.

We would find out within 24 hours which three teams would be invited back to the Island, but for now we just enjoyed one another’s company.

IFP Alum @ SXSW 2013

Justin Ferrato — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 19:09:28 +0000

We’re so thrilled about the 2013 South by Southwest Film Festival’s line up and congratulate our IFP Alumni who will premiere at the festival!

IFP staff will be present throughout the festival, stay tuned for updates if you’ll be at SXSW and come say hi!

Below is a list of the filmmakers who have have participated in one of our IFP programs.

Congratulations to all of our filmmakers!

Before You Know It- WORLD PREMIERE

IFP Spotlight on Documentaries 2012
Director: PJ Raval

Three gay seniors navigate the adventures, challenges and surprises of life and love in their golden years.
(World Premiere)

Brothers Hypnotic- WORLD PREMIERE

IFP Spotlight on Documentaries 2009
Director: Reuben Atlas

Eight brothers, extraordinary brass musicians from Chicago’s South Side, test their brotherhood and their father’s legacy against mounting mainstream success.
(World Premiere)

Short Term 12- WORLD PREMIERE

IFP No Borders International Co-Production Market 2010
Director/Screenwriter: Destin Daniel Cretton

The film follows Grace, a young supervisor at a foster-care facility, as she looks after the teens in her charge and reckons with her own troubled past. An unsparingly authentic film, full of both heart and surprising humor.
Cast : Brie Larson, John Gallagher Jr., Kaitlyn Dever, Rami Malek, Keith Stanfield
(World Premiere)

12 O’Clock Boys- WORLD PREMIERE

IFP Documentary Lab 2011
Director: Lotfy Nathan

Pug, a young boy growing up on a combative West Baltimore block, finds solace in a gang of illegal dirt bike riders known as The 12 O’Clock Boys.
(World Premiere)

Big Joy: The Adventures of James Broughton- WORLD PREMIERE

IFP Documentary Lab 2012
Directors: Stephen Silha, Eric Slade

A documentary about embracing your passions and becoming the person of your dreams, disguised as an inspiring biopic about pioneering filmmaker and poet James Broughton (1913-1999).
(World Premiere)

Good Ol’ Freda- WORLD PREMIERE

IFP Spotlight on Documentaries 2012
Director: Ryan White

The story of Freda Kelly, a shy Liverpudlian teenager asked to work for a young local band hoping to make it big: The Beatles. Their loyal secretary from beginning to end, Freda tells her tales for the first time in 50 years.
(World Premiere)

Mr. Angel- WORLD PREMIERE

IFP Spotlight on Documentaries 2011
Director: Dan Hunt

Chronicles the extraordinary life of trans male porn pioneer and educator, Buck Angel. It’s a moving & provocative story of a man’s search for acceptance from his family and the world. An inspirational tale of an unlikely hero.
(World Premiere)

Our Nixon- NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE

IFP Documentary Lab 2012
Director: Penny Lane

Recently discovered Super 8 home movies filmed by three of Richard Nixon’s closest aides – and fellow Watergate conspirators – offer an intimate and complex new glimpse into his presidency in this all-archival documentary.
(North American Premiere)

These Birds Walk- WORLD PREMIERE

IFP Documentary Lab 2012
Directors: Omar Mullick, Bassam Tariq

The film documents the resilience of a 6-year-old Pakistani runaway as he tackles one critical question: where is home? The streets, an orphanage, or with the family he fled in the first place?

Henry Bean on Writing Dialogue

Jacob Appet — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 16:59:23 +0000

[See post to watch Flash video]

Henry Bean warns against flashy dialogue.

From the 2012 Script to Screen Conference.

2013 NYC Spirit Award Screening Schedule

IFP Staff — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 16:05:02 +0000

To Gain Access, Join IFP Today!

Use discount code SPRT13 to get 20% off Individual Membership.

Screenings are for IFP and Film Independent members only on a first-come, first-served basis. Member ID is required for admittance.

Screenings Added at reRun Theater!

147 Front St. Brooklyn, NY 11201

Friday, February 1
Moonrise Kingdom – 7PM
Silver Linings Playbook – 9:45PM

Monday, February 4
Amour – 7PM
Rust & Bone – 9:45PM

Tuesday, February 5
How to Survive a Plague – 7PM
Keep the Lights On – 9:45PM

Wednesday, February 6
Gimme the Loot – 7PM
The Color Wheel – 9:45PM

Thursday, February 7
Beasts of the Southern Wild – 7PM
Middle of Nowhere – 9:45PM

All other screenings take place at NYIT Auditorium

1871 Broadway, New York, NY 10023

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 16
7:00 pm Bernie
9:15 pm Gimme the Loot

THURSDAY, JANUARY 17
7:00 pm Sister
9:15 pm The Perks of Being a Wallflower

FRIDAY, JANUARY 18
7:00 pm Middle of Nowhere
9:30 pm The Waiting Room

SATURDAY, JANUARY 19
2:00 pm The Central Park Five
4:45 pm Amour
7:30 pm Silver Linings Playbook

TUESDAY, JANUARY 22
7:00 pm Compliance
9:00 pm Seven Psychopaths

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23
7:00 pm How to Survive a Plague
9:30 pm Magic Mike

THURSDAY, JANUARY 24
7:00 pm Your Sister’s Sister
9:00 pm Moonrise Kingdom

FRIDAY, JANUARY 25
7:00 pm Keep the Lights On
9:15 pm The Sessions

SATURDAY, JANUARY 26
12:00 pm Once Upon A Time in Anatolia
3:30 pm Celeste and Jesse Forever
5:30 pm The Loneliest Planet
8:00 pm Gayby

SUNDAY, JANUARY 27
2:00 pm Safety Not Guaranteed
4:15 pm Fill the Void
6:15 pm Here
9:00 pm Robot & Frank

MONDAY, JANUARY 28
7:00 pm Sound of My Voice
9:00 pm Killer Joe

TUESDAY, JANUARY 29
7:00 pm The Invisible War
9:30 pm End of Watch

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 30
7:00 pm Valley of Saints
9:00 pm Return

THURSDAY, JANUARY 31
7:00 pm Marina Abramovic: The Artist is Present
9:30 pm Four

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 1
7:00 pm Beasts of the Southern Wild
9:15 pm Starlet

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 5
7:00 pm Ruby Sparks
9:15 pm Smashed

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6
7:00 pm War Witch
9:00 pm Rust and Bone

Celebrating George Gund III

Sandra Schulberg — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 17:31:51 +0000

The indie film world is mourning the loss of George Gund, and so am I. This modest magnificent man often pretended to not hear or not see, yet he absorbed and adopted the interests and needs of thousands whose worlds he crossed.

George Gund’s support for the Sundance Institute, San Francisco Film Society, Pacific Film Society, and Cleveland Film Society is well known and documented, and it was heart-warming to see Robert Redford show up to honor his friend. But what is less known, remembered by only a few of us, is that George played a crucial role in launching the American independent film movement by funding the filmmakers’ own self-help organization, the IFP, in its embryonic stage. When American indie filmmakers were being viewed as scruffy and illiterate and irreverent, George was there. When the indie film movement was anything but Sundance-glamorous, George was there. When we composed the unheralded “Eastern Europe” of American filmmaking, George was there. He helped us come out of the shadows just as he helped dozens of East European filmmakers come out of the shadows.

As Tom Bernard recounted at the memorial service in George’s honor on January 25, George inhabited many worlds. Often they coincided. Besides film, another of his great passions was hockey. One year they were at Cannes together, and Tom was surprised to learn George had produced a film of his own, set in Czechoslovakia, that was hidden away in the Market section. The next day Tom called George to ask, “George, why did you make that film, because it’s not very good.” “That’s all right,” George said, “because we were able to smuggle out four hockey players while making it.” That was George at his skulking best, prefiguring ARGO.

George’s niece Catherine Gund gave a masterful eulogy, holding us spellbound for more than an hour with her detailed evocations of George’s hilarious and sometimes frustrating foibles. While we sat in Grace Cathedral on Nob Hill in San Francisco, dwarfed within its towering dimensions, the afternoon light sparkled through the skyscraper-high stained glass windows just as George did. In his deep silent burly fashion, under the famously bushy eyebrows, George sparkled too.

Catherine evoked George’s legendary generosity. He would often shuttle filmmakers around the world in his private plane. I remember one trip home from the Munich Film Festival, a place where Eberhard Hauff & Ulla Rapp brought early practitioners of New German Cinema together with fledgling American filmmakers. It was one of George’s famous haunts. He treated us to late night dinners at his favorite hotel, and towards the end of the Festival would start to sort out who was going where next. You could hitch a ride on his plane, even if he wasn’t on it, as long as you were willing to make some unscheduled stops along the way. No one, the crew least of all, wanted to use the onboard bathroom with its folding cloth door, so that year we stopped to pee in Copenhagen. After a delightful lunch with the pilot and his wife in the Tivoli Gardens, we continued across the Atlantic. After I had set up the IFP in New York, director John Hanson had persuaded me to help him research and produce a movie on the Mesabi Iron Range, and we had settled in the tiny town of Eveleth, Minnesota, which happened also to be the home of the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame, one of the points on George’s compass. That year, George’s pilot landed us in Hibbing, practically on our doorstep.

After the memorial, the party in George’s honor shifted to the Fairmont Hotel, where others rose to speak spontaneously. Touching and funny tributes came from his son, George Gund IV (aka Crunchy); his grandson, George Gund V; his brother Gordon Gund; and his widow, the indomitable filmmaker Lara Lee, whose Synthetic Pleasures poster is framed in my indie film archive.

Recollections about George have started to pile in. I cite just a few. Joana Vicente, producer of many indie movies and current Executive Director of the IFP, writes: “What a great loss for us all. I met George at a festival in Brazil many years ago. I won’t forget his passion for and dedication to our community. He was unique and will truly be missed.”

Nicole Guillemet, longtime Vice President of the Sundance Institute, writes: “So many fond memories with George — from a trip to Prague to meet with Havel, to the Olympics in Albertville, to the cowboys’ poetry gathering in Nevada, to smuggling lobsters at the June lab and films at Havana Festival…An extraordinary friend, patron of the Arts, and film scholar.”

Rob Nilsson, co-director with John Hanson of Northern Lights and our early partner in New Front Films, writes: “He was a hero to me, a man of the people who knew how to use his wealth for Art at the grass roots. He and Jeanette Etheredge were instrumental in support of the Tenderloin yGroup which made the 9 @ Night feature film series with homeless, inner city residents, actors and all comers in the San Francisco Tenderloin. I’ll always remember him, a man who didn’t say much but listened a lot, and who helped out countless ground level filmmakers, cowboy poets and visionaries of every stripe. Okunrin Meta to George!”

I will be eternally grateful to George Gund for his early support of the IFP, and to his staff at the time, especially Barbara Katz, for finding a way to channel his enthusiasm into our specific programs. But what remains in my heart is George’s vision, especially his desire to champion the underdog; this will endear him to me forever.

Sandra Schulberg

IFP Founding Director

Spurlock Sisters at Biennale College Cinema: Week One

Kim Spurlock — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 16:00:41 +0000

So I was thinking Don’t Look Now, but my sis had Scooby Doo on her mind as we drifted through the eerie fog on Venice’s Grand Canal. We were headed towards San Zaccaria, where we would catch a boat for the last leg of our journey to San Servolo island.

Mai and I met up in Frankfurt – she from LA and I from Brooklyn – to fly together into Venice for the Biennale College Cinema, where we would develop and pitch our feature film A Case of the Dismals. The fog thickened as we boarded the waterbus to the Island. Any thoughts of Nicholas Roeg and Shaggy dissolved in our minds as San Servolo emerged from the mist like a mirage. My first thought? Welcome to Shutter Island.

San Servolo was known for hundreds of years as the “Island of the Mad” because it served as Venice’s official insane asylum, so naturally I felt a bit spooked on the approach.

San Servolo

Luckily things got decidedly less creepy after some prosecco and friendly conversation with our fellow filmmakers and the Biennale team. Amongst the 14 other Director/Producer teams from Africa, South America, Europe and Asia, I met fellow Emerging Visions Director Tim Sutton, whose humor and warmth boded well for our stay. I was actually curious to see how the Biennale Program would compare to my experiences with Emerging Narratives and Emerging Visions last fall. For sure, I figured there would be more of a competitive element since only three of the teams would move forward for the second lab, as well as the 150,000 Euro to finance their microbudget project.

On day one, all the teams and mentors gathered together for a round robin introduction, where we had the first opportunity to informally pitch our projects. In hindsight, I can’t believe how far everybody came by the time we pitched to the folks at the Biennale ten days later. Really blows my mind.

From there, Mai headed off to spend the next several mornings with her producing mentor combing through our budget while I re-worked the creative side of things both in a group setting with a mentor and one-on-one with a script consultant. I loved how these sessions reinforced each other, with feedback from both mentor and consultant helping me to chisel out the essence of my story. At one point as I was reworking a sequence of our film where adolescent girls become lost in a mountain forest, mentor and consultant echoed one another with a comparison to Picnic at Hanging Rock: atmospheric, haunting, a bit ominous and subtly sexual…

View from the Island

As week one drew to a close, the attitude among the filmmakers remained supportive and friendly, though many of us were sick and all of us feeling the stress of a deadline: by the end of the week we were to submit a new and improved version of our story, budget and schedule. Luckily, evenings gave us a chance to relax and wine/dine Italian style. The Biennale treated us to lovely dinners in Venice proper. Primi platti, secondi platti, and great conversation with a diverse crowd of cinephiles… a little bit of film geek heaven. Too be continued….

Savoring the Small Moments at Sundance 2013

Dan Schoenbrun — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 16:04:41 +0000

This January’s Sundance Film Festival was my first, and though I came armed with a three-inch binder’s worth of printed out screening schedules, flight itineraries, custom made Google Maps, and much, much more, I quickly learned that it was the kind of thing that you just can’t quite prepare for. As soon as I hit the ground in Park City, many of my plans – films I couldn’t wait to see, parties I just couldn’t miss – were quickly rewritten as I adapted to the unique flow of Park City.

Sundance is a festival where you’re constantly checking your watch; stressing as one movie’s credits roll about how you’re going to get to the next one. At parties, it seems as if everyone is not so much socializing as jockeying to find out from everyone else which films are on the edge of a sale. It’s the kind of festival where when my colleague and friend Nick Dawson woke up one morning in intense pain, and called a taxi to take him to the ER, the Park City dispatcher responded, “I’m not familiar with that venue.”

Indeed, there’s an urgency and an intensity to the festival that’s all too easy to get sucked into. So perhaps the most valuable thing I figured out early on was to savor the small moments, and to just kind of zen out. Once I adopted this philosophy, I was able to settle down and really enjoy myself. Here are just a few of my favorite moments from the festival:

Films Coming to Fruition

At IFP, we support hundreds of work-in-progress films and young filmmakers each year. At Sundance this year, we were lucky enough to have twelve alumni projects premiering. Professionally, it’s always invigorating to see so many works that you’ve supported start their journey on the festival circuit and beyond. And on a personal level, it’s sincerely moving to see filmmakers who I know have been toiling away on projects for years finally introducing them to the world.

My first film of the festival was Shaka King’s Newlyweeds, a comedy about an aimless young couple in love with each other and with marijuana, but not necessarily in that order. IFP first supported the project back in 2011 when King attended our annual Independent Film Week as one of our Emerging Narrative screenwriting fellows. Back then, the script was still an early draft, but King’s charming and unique voice was already shining through. During Film Week, IFP put together a reading of a section of the Newlyweeds script in partnership with SAG Indie and casting agent Paul Schnee. I still have a very vivid memory of seeing King’s words come to life in front of an audience for the first time. And now, two years later, it was great to see that happen again on the big screen, with much of the same cast as first appeared in that screenplay reading two years ago.

Amari Cheatom and Trae Harris as Lyle and Nina in Newlyweeds

Similarly moving was Ain’t Them Bodies Saints, the sophomore feature from David Lowery, a wonderful young filmmaker who has been a friend of the IFP family for some time now (his micro-budget debut St. Nick came through our Filmmaker Labs all the way back in 2008). The script for Ain’t Them Bodies Saints was a part of our No Borders International Co-Production Market two years ago, but the screenplay only hinted at the majestic, ambitious, and wonderfully visual work that Lowery has concocted. Working to great effect with established actors such as Casey Affleck, Rooney Mara, and Keith Carradine, Lowery has put together a meditative, haunting, and beautiful ode to the dying myth of the American outlaw. It’s a film that pays off years of hard work on Lowery’s part, one that should skyrocket him towards the top of the list of crucial American auteurs.

Rooney Mara and Casey Affleck in Ain’t Them Bodies Saints

Beyond these two films, there were so many other projects that IFP has been working with for years that were the talk of the festival: Stacie Passon’s complex character study Concussion (Narrative Labs 2012), which sold to Weinstein’s Radius for seven figures, Alexandre Moors’ Blue Caprice (Narrative Labs 2012), a dark meditation on the DC Sniper attacks, which received nearly unanimous rave reviews, After Tiller (Documentary Labs 2012), a controversial documentary about third-trimester abortion doctors that seemed to be the talk of the festival everywhere I went, and many, many more.

Making Time for Slamdance

Up the hill from the frenzied party hopping of Main Street, Park City’s Treasure Mountain Inn plays host each year to Slamdance. An indisputably smaller operation compared to the festival that most people descend on Park City for, Slamdance is still a vital facet of the independent scene. Showcasing work from emerging filmmakers, the festival has a bootstrappy, DIY feel to it that’s quite charming indeed.

This year I served on the Slamdance Documentary Jury, an opportunity that not only helped me to familiarize myself with the workd of many talented emerging storytellers, but also helped me to escape the constant insanity that is the Sundance Film Festival. There’s a sincerity and integrity to Slamdance – whether illustrated by the daring and unorthodox programming choices, the awesome parties (the opening night event featured a pop-up barber shop smack in the middle of the party), or just the fact that everyone at the festival – filmmakers, programmers, press, industry – seemed to be on a first-name basis with one another.

Still from Nicole Teeny’s Bible Quiz

As my co-jurors and I deliberated in the Slamdance main office, I couldn’t help but notice a wall of cubbies stuffed with backpacks and coats, as if everyone at the festival was part of one big grade school class. I dare you to find anywhere else in Park City that replicates such a vibe.

Festival Forum Progress

The programming team at IFP spends much of its time supporting storytellers, but we feel that it’s equally important to help those people who are dedicating themselves to helping storytellers. That’s been the mission of the IFP Festival Forum, an association and alliance of festival professionals that launched three years back at Independent Film Week. Since then, I’ve watched the group grow in scope, membership, and mission, as our very dedicated Executive Committee has put a plan in place to transform the group into an independent 501c3 run by and advocating for festival professionals.

It’s a lofty goal, and one that will take a lot of work to put into effect, but at the group’s annual brunch for festival leadership at Sundance, a resounding majority officially ratified a proposed set of bylaws and strategic plan for this evolution. Not only that, but the group also announced a set of exciting new recruits to the Executive Committee – including the San Francisco Film Society’s Ted Hope, the Hampton Film Festival’s Anne Chaisson, and Sundance’s Sarah Pearce.

Following the brunch, we all set to work with four hours of subcommittee sessions, where members of the Festival Forum convened to continue brainstorming and implementing next steps for the organization. Over these sessions, I watched representatives from festivals all across the world take time off from their packed Sundance screening schedules to convene and work together on strengthening their industry. Time will tell exactly when the Festival Forum completes its transformation into the organization that the Executive Committee has envisioned it becoming, but it was inspiring to see progress being made.

In Praise of Doubt

Amy Dotson — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 16:00:28 +0000

It turned out to be incredibly prophetic that my first day in Venice, Italy as one of the leaders for the Biennale College-Cinema was spent at collector François Pinault‘s incredible Punta della Dogana. This beautiful museum opened in 2009, with its closest neighbor – the Santa Maria della Salute Church- constructed almost four hundred years prior. It was but the first example of old masters sitting side-by-side in conversation with the new I experienced during this magical and inspiring week.

Santa Maria Della Salute Church, Venice

Filmmaker and fellow IFP Lab leader Jon Reiss and I entered the exhibition. In Praise of Doubt was based upon the curatorial notion of “questioning the idea of uncertainty and our convictions about identity,” It too displayed modern art masters like Jeff Koons and Donald Judd alongside a wide-range of younger, lesser-known artists, many of whom have never been included in previous exhibitions of the Pinault Collection before. For many of them, like our filmmakers, this was their first time engaging audiences with their work on the international stage.

These themes and ideas closely mirrored what would soon be consuming the teams of emerging filmmakers on the island of San Servalo, where FILMMAKER Magazine’s Editor-in-Chief Scott Macaulay & I were privileged to work with a group of five teams at the Biennale developing feature films in Egypt, Lebanon, The Philippines, Italy and England.

In concert with other experienced mentors and their fellow artists from around the world, they were pushed again and again for two weeks to communicate their vision: to fine tune their story worlds, enrich their characters and dig deep into their own personal narratives to create something totally fresh and engaging. Above all, they were forced to revel in and embrace the uncertainty of what was to come and what they might uncover.

I have to admit, I really felt for these artists. Although it seems like yesterday, I couldn’t help but remember my own transformation in Venice eighteen years prior when I arrived on the island with little more than a pair of unfashionable overalls and the pack on my back. As an art student from a small, southern university, I was certainly wasn’t equipped with the language needed to express myself. I too was there living amongst strangers. And I was terrified of how I would survive when seemingly my only skill-set was a proclivity for welding complex structures. It was a time in my life where there was a lot to doubt on a daily basis.

All to say, my world was small before Venice.

But the art, the people, and the copious espressos fueled me. I went out and explored. I tried new things, and sometimes failed spectacularly. For every night that I reveled in the experience and appreciated the opportunities given, there were plenty where I felt like this horse sculpture by Maurizio Cattelan which aptly confronts viewers at the entrance of the Dogana.

Untitled, Maurizio Cattelan

Luckily, the many teachers, artists and friends I met eventually got me talking about my work. It all became real – not just the art I was making and the stories I was telling, but the idea that this could be my life. And while I eventually exchanged my acetylene torch for a cheap digital camera, my experiences in Venice gave me above all the courage of conviction to keep pushing forward and become comfortable with the unknown.

Thus, the most emotional and meaningful part of the Biennale College- Film for me was watching these personal transformations unfold anew, some slowly and others adapting at a shockingly quick pace. Seeing these filmmakers find their own courage to change, – in this case, overcome fears of public speaking or letting go of cherished, deeply personal storylines – was a reminder that inspiration and collaboration in Venice can truly do wonders for the creative mind.

In particular, it was a beautiful sight indeed to watch Shireen Seno’s Nervous Translation and Vatche Boulghourjain’s Tramontane develop. Quiet and evocative directors whose projects told stories of self and country, they were adept at creating unbelievable story worlds with rich characters and detailed elements that left you slackjawed and wanting, These stories seem like a distant relative of Edward Kienholz, whose large-scale installation ROXY was appropriately tucked away in a secret corner the Dogana.

ROXY, Edward Kienholz

More still were the types of projects that took cues from old dramatic structures and spun them in fresh directions. Deeply personal narratives Roland Jobson’s Into the Light & Kasem Kharsa’s I Dream of Empire and their dark, nuanced visuals have scenes that continue to play out in my mind. They mingle in my memory along with Paul McCarthy’s mutilated mask series, She/Man, all playing with time, gender and form in a way that feel simultaneously original and ancient.

Paul McCarthy’s “She/Man”

The ultimate winners of the Biennale – the three projects which will receive $150,000 Euro prizes and the opportunity to premiere at the 2013 Venice Film Festival – were all shockingly strong, conceptual pieces. Each provoked an almost visceral audience response as their stories and visuals unfolded in their pitches. Thai artist Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit’s A Year of June and IFP Alum New York-based Tim Sutton’s Memphis both wowed, and I look forward to seeing them come to life in the coming months.

Memphis’ John Baker and Tim Sutton at the Biennale di Venezia Pitch

And then there was Alessio Fava’s Yuri Esposito, a meditative and beautiful project Scott & I worked with chronicling the slowest man in the world. The project won as well and will go into production this spring. The filmmakers assure me that their protagonist may be “lentamente,” but the project will be delivered on time!

Director Alessio Fava, Producer Max Chicco and Yuri Esposito

To see it all in motion was a true joy and there’s not enough gelato or Chinotto in the world to thank Gucci, the Biennale’s Paola Baratta, Venice Film Festival head Alberto Barbera, and the amazing team of Savina Neirotti, Jane Williams, and Michel Reilhac for all they’ve done for these filmmakers. And as their sole U.S. partner, it was an honor for all of us here at IFP to have worked with everyone on this program from idea to inception. To see it all become real right before our eyes, watching these young filmmakers make work amongst the backdrop of one of Italy’s most achingly beautiful and ancient cities, was truly a sight to behold. I have no doubt we’ll be hearing quite a lot from these artists in the coming years and encourage you to discover them for yourselves at http://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/collegecinema/.

The College’s Jane Williams, Michel Reilhac, Amy Dotson and Savina Neirotti

Dream = Reality: Filmmaker Tim Sutton on Moving into Production at the Venice Biennale

Tim Sutton — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 18:00:06 +0000

Leaving Venice at 7am, I was planning to shlep my way to the airport via two vaporettas and a bus – you know, back to reality. Yet, by, divine intervention, I was lucky enough to hop a free ride in a water taxi with the Artistic Director of the Biennale Cinema College directly to the airport. It was glorious – the quiet, glassy water, the rosy morning light, a slight breeze to nurse my exhaustion. As we hummed along, he said, with poker face intact, ‘It is even more delightful in the summer.’ He went on to Berlin, I went to visit a friend in Rome and it crossed my mind that I was pretty much living in a dream – and later on that day the dream turned into my reality: Memphis would be one of the 3 films financed by the Biennale and will premiere at the 2013 Venice Film Festival. I’ll be honest, the first thoughts I had were guilt and fear – guilt because of the 12 incredibly daring film projects that did not get funding, and fear that 6 months is an insanely tight schedule to make something of quality. Over wine (and a serious plate of Roman lamb) that night, those feelings dissipated into a pure feeling of excitement. Both John Baker and I believe in our project – in our ability to truly realize this film – and now we had one of the most important art institutions in modern history believing in it too. An awesome realization to consider, and potent fuel to add to the fire that will be this film. We now get to make the film.

Aside from the intensity of the process of proving our film ready to be put into action, as well as the creative jolt of energy we put toward the story, the thing I will take away is this – and if it is a cliche, well, so be it: American indie filmmaking is just one fraction of the larger universe that is global independent cinema. There are so many new waves and new cinematic ideas coming from diverse spaces around the world: the (literally) first Arab science fiction film will hopefully be made this year and it will resemble La Jette more than Alien; Israeli and Lebanese films will creatively question identity and trust in ways that American filmmakers do not attempt; South African and Thai projects will (again, literally) expand the concept of cinema in its 21st century form…I guess my point is that telling cinematic stories on micro-budgets not only matters; it is the now…and the future. We’re just thrilled the Biennale Cinema College believes thatMemphis is a valuable part of this now, and that future.

Tales From Venice Biennale : The Good, The Bad and The Ugly with Tim Sutton

Tim Sutton — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 18:06:20 +0000

I mentioned the Biennale Cinema College grounds are a former insane asylum, right? Because we have all gone entirely bonkers. The schedule has been one of crushing deadlines on rewrites that have occupied much of our free time, budget analysis and re-analysis and production schedule fine-combing down to the dollar (and Euro) and minute. Okay, so,

The good: Our project, Memphis, is looking really strong – the characters now feel like real people and a key scene at the end has gone from an interior to an exterior and, for some magic reason, it makes the entire concept work in a more natural and organic way. The budget and schedule are air tight and, even more important, truly feasible. And it isn’t just our project – everyone’s film here has gone through transformations and changes and, with the bulk of the work done, each project stands on firmer ground than when they arrived – the lab works.

The bad: during this process, we have all gone somewhat insane or suffered a flu/fever on this island. I walked by an Italian producer yesterday and instead of greeting me he simply said, ‘Blah blah blah.’ And it was perfect because I knew exactly what he was saying! A Thai film project has changed its title and storyline 3 times in 5 days (and it is awesome, btw). A Spanish producer and I guzzled wine last night as the conversation around us was on a philosophical approach to immersive media. I thought he might have lost consciousness twice during the conversation. Maybe I did.

The ugly: on Thursday, each project presents their work to the head of the Venice Film Festival, the head of the entire Venice Biennale, along with numerous journalists and students coming from as far as Rome to watch us deliver or melt down. Pressure. So, say a prayer for Memphis and, as everyone says right before festivals announce: fingers crossed.

Tales from Venice Biennale with Tim Sutton

Tim Sutton — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 16:00:15 +0000

I figured why not start with a couple of masterpieces to get me in the right frame of mind. So, packing up to head off to the Venice Biennale College Cinema workshop to pitch my second feature, Memphis, I did the math for the long day of travel ahead: book – Geoff Dyer’s Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi. Movie - Joachim Trier’s Oslo, August 31st. I figured those two daring and beautiful pieces were the right first steps in getting into the mindset to engage in what lies ahead – ten days of collaborative development with fourteen other film projects to try and carve out which ends up one of the three fully funded microbudget projects to premiere at the 2013 Venice Film Festival. But it gets even more intense when it turns out we’re staying on an island that is home to an ancient monastery-turned-mental-hospital-turned-university. The room I am staying in feels like all three. The seclusion of the campus just across a waterway from San Marco square is both beautiful and well, ghostly. And the mist that comes in off the lagoon as thick as velvet helps both said beautiful and ghostly achieve even greater depths.

Filmmakers from Israel, Lebanon, Phillipines, Thailand, Brazil, UK, Italy, South Africa…and a sister team from the U.S. along with me and my producer, John Baker (Dragonslayer), so the mix isn’t just providing a diverse community, it is entirely inspiring. After running my first feature, Pavilion, through the IFP Narrative Lab in 2011-12, I knew there would be some of that inspiration for sure. However, housed on the watery outskirts of Venice – a city that may have created the term ‘wonder while I wander’ – this lab has an endless sense of creativity and intensity. Every day, thus far, John heads off to his producer’s grilling – the base of which are the questions ‘can you actually get this film done in time and on budget’ and ‘how do you define the producer’s role’ – while I work with a group leader and four other projects – defining our creative goals, challenges, and directions – in essence, proving our project’s validity. The afternoons, I engage with story consultants to try and defend and expand the notions of the story I am trying/hoping/praying to make. Evenings are social and filled with the type of dialogue I missed by not going to film school – theory, references, personal histories – beautiful film nerd stuff – over a glass or two of wine. And then coming back by vaporetta to our little insane asylum in the deepest fog to sleep it off and press restart. So far, so good.

Hobbit Titles: An Unexpected Journey in Confusion

Mark Litwak — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 16:34:18 +0000

Warner Brothers, New Line, and its affiliates (“Plaintiffs”) recently achieved a rare courtroom victory by obtaining a court order restraining distribution of a film they claimed unfairly competed with one of its titles. The target of their ire was The Global Asylum’s (“Asylum”) film The Age of Hobbits. Asylum was set to release its film on December 11, 2012, three days before New Line rolled out its film “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.” New Line’s film revolves around the Hobbit characters, which first appeared in J.R.R. Tolkien’s 1937 novel, The Hobbit, and were later in his The Lord of the Rings book trilogy, and the basis for the hit movie trilogy Lord of the Rings, which earned $3 billion dollars at the box office. New Line’s film is the first in a series of three films, all shot in New Zealand by Sir Peter Jackson, produced at a reported cost of $500 million dollars, and set to be released over the next few years.

New Line’s film had its world premiere in Wellington, New Zealand, on November 28, 2012 and has been the subject of intense promotion and advertising. I was in Wellington right before the world premiere and was surprised at the massive and ubiquitous nature of the promotion across the city. Not only were Hobbit characters placed on buildings, but museum stores and numerous other outlets carried movie merchandise. Tourism New Zealand spent $10 million dollars promoting the trilogy. The promotion began when I boarded my Air New Zealand flight to Wellington and was delighted to watch the most entertaining in-flight safety video I have ever seen. It starred Tolkien elves, dwarves, Hobbits, and a wizard. The video has become an online hit viewed by millions. The carrier has even rebranded itself the “Airline of Middle Earth,” and plastered a plane with images from the film.

Asylum’s film, on the other hand, is a low budget indie film reportedly made for $2 million dollars. Asylum claimed that the word “Hobbits” as used in its film did not refer to the fictional Tolkien creatures, but to a human sub-species whose skeletons were discovered in Indonesia in 2003. In Indonesia, archaeologists discovered a human sub-species with the Latin name Homo Floresiensis, which they nicknamed “hobbits” because of their small stature.

The legal dispute, in its simplest terms, comes down to this. Asylum claimed it had the right, under the First Amendment, to make a movie about ancient Indonesian people and refer to a name commonly used to describe the short-statured ancients in its movie title. Plaintiffs, on the other hand, asserted that Asylum infringed on their trademarks and tried to ride on the coattails of its massive promotional campaign and trick moviegoers to purchase the Asylum movie, thinking they are buying the Warner/New Line film.

On August 31, 2012, Plaintiffs sent Asylum a cease-and-desist letter demanding that it refrain from using the “Hobbit” Marks. The parties then discussed Asylum’s asserted fair use defense and possible changes to the title, design, and promotional materials. Asylum changed the design of its promotional materials, but refused to remove the word “Hobbit” from the film title for the domestic release of the picture.

On November 7, 2012, Plaintiffs filed a complaint against Asylum for trademark infringement, false designation of origin, trademark dilution, false advertising, and unfair competition. Then, approximately three weeks before the scheduled release of the Asylum picture, Plaintiffs filed an application seeking a temporary restraining order stopping the release of the Asylum film.

As most movie aficionados know, there is a long history of independent filmmakers trying to cash in on viewer interest in topics made popular by the major studios. Roger Corman produced Black Scorpion, which imitated the Batman movies, Forbidden World, a knockoff of Alien, and Piranha, which borrows liberally from JAWS. Asylum has produced a number of low- budget films that resemble major studio releases. The company made a low-budget version of H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds, which was released the same year as Steven Spielberg’s film based on the same 1898 public domain book. Blockbuster reportedly ordered 100,000 copies of the Asylum film, far more than it had for any of Asylum’s previous titles. Seeing how profitable such films can be, Asylum produced several low-budget knockoffs, sometimes called mockbusters, including Transmorphers, Almighty Thor, Abraham Lincoln vs. Zombies, Snakes on a Train, and Paranormal Entity.

The major studios were not amused, but it was questionable whether they could legally stop Asylum. 20th Century Fox threatened legal action over the release of The Day the Earth Stopped, a film similar to The Day the Earth Stood Still.Last May, Universal Studios filed suit against Asylum over their film American Battleship, claiming infringement of their movie Battleship. Asylum then changed the title to American Warships.

For the most part, Asylum has been successful in releasing its pictures and defending them from legal assault. The company claims that it has released more than 150 films and has only been sued twice for trademark infringement. One case was settled, and Asylum prevailed in the other.

Asylum’s legal success involved the film Haunting of Winchester House. Asylum was sued by the owners of the Winchester Mystery House, a popular tourist attraction in San Jose that consists of a 160-room Victorian-style mansion as well as a museum, gift shop, and café. The attraction is billed as the world’s most haunted house. Sarah Winchester, according to legend, created this mansion to fend off ghosts.

The owners objected to Asylum’s plan to produce and market its movie, which allegedly was based on a “terrifying true story.” When Asylum asked for permission to film at the Winchester Mystery House, the owners informed Asylum that they had signed a contract with another producer for exclusive rights to the Winchester story.

The Asylum movie begins with a shot of a Victorian-style structure, but not the actual Winchester Mystery House. The movie includes the ghost characters of Sarah Winchester, her adolescent daughter, and her brother, who was deaf and could not speak. These characters, as well as the ghosts of those killed by Winchester guns, haunt Sarah Winchester’s home. However, the real Sarah Winchester did not have an adolescent daughter or a brother who was deaf and unable to speak.

The trial court dismissed the case against Asylum on summary judgment. On appeal, the appellate court agreed, stating that in trademark infringement cases involving First Amendment concerns, the finding of likelihood of confusion must be particularly compelling to outweigh the First Amendment interests of filmmakers. The owner of a trademark does not have the right to quash an unauthorized use of its mark by another who is communicating ideas or expressing points of view.

However, with its Hobbit movie, Asylum apparently crossed the line. So the question arises, where exactly is that line? How closely can a filmmaker imitate another work or title without having a judge halt its distribution?

It is rare for a court to restrain distribution of a film especially when copies have already been shipped. Films, like newspapers and books, are protected expression under the First Amendment. A party seeking a preliminary injunction must show that it is likely to succeed on the merits and will suffer irreparable harm if the relief is not granted.

A basic principle of copyright law is that ideas, themes, facts, subject matter, and historical incidents cannot be copyrighted. Anyone can write a book about George Washington, and they can even borrow facts from prior books without infringing those authors’ copyrights. Moreover, film titles generally cannot be registered as trademarks. Only a distinctive title to a series of books, periodicals, newspapers, or television programs like Bonanza could be registered. The reason is that trademarks are used to identify the origin of goods or services. Single books or films are one-offs. Their titles describe that particular work, not a series of works. Courts can, however, protect titles from confusingly similar uses, under the law of unfair competition, if the title has acquired a secondary meaning. A secondary meaning is when the title is sufficiently well known, that consumers associate it with a particular author’s work.

While courts are very protective of filmmaker’s First Amendment rights, the law is also concerned about protecting consumers from being misled about the origin of products, which is what the laws of unfair competition and trademark address.

There have been a number of cases in which courts have wrestled with a conflict between the freedom of expression of a filmmaker and the owners of trademarks and other rights. A commonly cited case is Rogers v. Grimaldi, which Asylum relied upon in its defense. In that case, Federico Fellini conceived, co‑wrote, and directed a film entitled “Federico Fellini’s `Ginger and Fred’.” The movie was a fictional work about two retired dancers. The dancers made a living in Italian cabarets imitating Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, thus earning the nickname “Ginger and Fred.” The story was a satire about the world of television. According to Fellini, the characters did not resemble or portray Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. However, Ginger Rogers brought suit, claiming that Fellini violated her rights of privacy and publicity. Her complaint alleged that the defendants violated her rights by creating the false impression that the film was about her or that she sponsored, endorsed, or was involved in the film, and that it violated her right of publicity, and defamed her by depicting her in a false light.

The district court decided that Fellini’s movie was a work protected under the First Amendment, and that a trademarked term could be used in the title of an artistic work if the use of the term has some artistic relevance to the work and does not explicitly mislead consumers as to the source and content of the work.

The Court of Appeals affirmed the lower court, explaining that movies, plays, books, and songs are all works of artistic expression and deserve protection, even though they are also sold in the commercial marketplace and thus can be the subject of consumer deception. Consequently, when the title of a movie or a book has acquired secondary meaning—that is, when the title is sufficiently well-known, that consumers associate it with a particular author’s work—the holder of the rights to that title can prevent the use of the same or confusingly similar titles by other authors.

The court concluded that filmmakers can use a celebrity’s name in the title of an artistic work where the title does not explicitly denote authorship, sponsorship, or endorsement by the celebrity or explicitly mislead as to its content. The court also held that Oregon law on the right of publicity does not bar the use of a celebrity’s name in a movie title, unless the title was “wholly unrelated” to the movie or was “simply a disguised commercial advertisement for the sale of goods or services.”

Other cases have given less weight to the First Amendment rights of filmmakers. In American Dairy Queen Corp. v. New Line Productions, Inc., the defendant produced and was preparing to release a film entitled Dairy Queens, which was described as a mockumentary satirizing Minnesota beauty contests. The plaintiff was the Dairy Queen ice-cream chain, which claimed trademark infringement and dilution of its trademark. The district court found that the likelihood-of-confusion factors weighed in favor of the plaintiff. Then, it considered whether the defendant’s First Amendment interests were sufficient to outweigh the plaintiff’s trademark interests in its Dairy Queen trademark. Ultimately, the court found that because other alternative titles like Dairy Princesses or Milk Maids were available, “the balance between the public’s interest in free expression and its interest in avoiding consumer confusion and trademark dilution tilts in favors [sic] of avoiding confusion and dilution.” Dairy Queen Corp. won because the court distinguished Rogers v. Grimaldi on the grounds that the Rogers case involved a title that directly referred to the content of the film – performers known as Ginger and Fred. On the other hand, defendant’s film was about beauty pageants in Minnesota, without any connection to plaintiff’s ice cream stores. The Dairy Queen decision has been widely criticized. Moreover, there are many cases that stand for the principle that filmmakers can refer to trademarks in their film, provided they do not do so in such a manner as to mislead moviegoers that the trademark owner is somehow affiliated or endorsing the picture.

In Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, Inc. v. Pussycat Cinema, Ltd., the defendant exhibited a pornographic movie, “Debbie Does Dallas,” which portrayed a “Texas Cowgirl” engaged in sex acts. The character wears a uniform strikingly similar to that worn by the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. Ads for the movie showed the character in the uniform, and included such captions as “Starring Ex-Dallas Cowgirl Cheerleader Bambi Woods.” In fact, Bambi Woods had never been a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader.

The Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders brought suit, alleging that they had a trademark in the particular combination of colors and the design of their uniforms. The uniform in which they appear and perform consists of a blue bolero blouse, a white vest decorated with three blue five-pointed stars on each side of the front of the vest and white fringe at the bottom of the vest, tight white shorts with a belt decorated with blue stars, and white boots. The trademark was not registered at the time, although Plaintiff contended that it was protected as a common law trademark.

The defendant contended that the film was a parody or satire on female cheerleaders and was protected expression under the First Amendment. Moreover, the defendant claimed that no one could rationally believe that the film originated or was associated with the actual Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders.

The court disagreed and issued an injunction against further distribution of the film. The court found that the association with the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders, both in the film and in the advertising, had the single purpose of exploiting the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders’ popularity in order to attract an audience to view sex acts in the movie.

Then there is the Agatha Christie case. Casablanca Records produced a film titled “Agatha” about the famous mystery writer Agatha Christie. The story is a fictionalized account of an 11-day disappearance of Christie in 1926. Christie is portrayed as an emotionally unstable woman who engaged in a sinister plot to murder her husband’s mistress. The heir to Christie’s estate brought suit to enjoin Casablanca from distributing the movie, alleging unfair competition and infringement of the right of publicity.

During her life, Agatha Christie agreed to have her name used in connection with various motion pictures and plays based on her books. Her heir alleged that Casablanca’s use of the name “Agatha” and “Agatha Christie” would cause confusion in the minds of the public in general, and Agatha Christie readers in particular, by creating the impression that the movie and novel were authorized or even written by Ms. Christie. The court, however, summarily dismissed this claim, without much explanation other than finding that the heir “can prove no set of facts in support of [this] claim which would entitle [them] to relief.”

These cases were decided by different judges, under different state laws, and federal and state laws have evolved over time. Still, it is difficult to distinguish how the use of the word “Agatha,” is not likely to confuse moviegoers about the origin of the film about her, but the use of the word “Hobbit” is likely to confuse moviegoers about the source of Asylum’s movie.

The judge in the Asylum case seemed to be greatly influenced by Plaintiffs’ data showing that Asylum’s title was likely to mislead moviegoers about its movie. Plaintiffs presented evidence from a weekly tracking study conducted by Nielsen National Research Group (“Nielsen”) in which 30 to 40 percent of survey respondents indicated confusion about the source of “Age of Hobbits.” The survey included 1200 respondents divided into two groups. The Test Group was shown an image of the “Age of Hobbits” poster while the Control Group was shown the same poster with an alternative title. Thirty percent of those in the Test Group who had an opinion about the source of “Age of Hobbits” (about 200 respondents) said they believed the movie was made or distributed by Plaintiffs. On the other hand, only 6 to 14 percent of the respondents in the Control Group, who were shown the movie poster “Age of Java Men,” associated the film with Plaintiffs.

The court also mentioned that Asylum’s release of its film three days before the release of the Plaintiff’s film demonstrated intent to capitalize on the publicity surrounding Plaintiffs’ film, and its similar artwork and prominent use of the trademark showed intent to deceive.

Vicky & Lysander – From NYU Dorm to LogoTV OR A Tale of Two Lovers

Damon Cardasis — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 22:30:02 +0000

Shannon Walker as Vicky and Damon Cardasis as Lysander

You never quite know where something will lead. We wrote a ridiculous 5 minute sketch in college about a self proclaimed “power couple,” took those characters and created an “interactive dinner party/performance art piece” (as some folks have said), and have now sold Vicky & Lysander to LogoTv.com. Weird.

To us, the most fascinating and funny characters are the ones who are super-deluded. Beyond help deluded. Perhaps this is why a social climbing, politically incorrect, obsessed with being cool couple is something we continue to revisit…

Vicky and Lysander at a dinner party

Vicky & Lysander (as the worst Dinner Party you’ve ever been to) was an unexpected success. Winning “Best Borderline Performance Art” in the NY Press 2010 edition, and selling out every night for three months at Grand Opening in the Lower East Side was extremely risky and thrilling. We had little idea of what we were doing and, in fact, the trial dinner party we did the night before the show opened bombed big time. Our sweet friends did their best to pretend it was funny but we quickly realized after that first dinner that you could not script or bullet point out topics of conversation, and that we were going to have to be ready for the possibility of ANYTHING happening. Our interactive dinner party was going to have to be an hour and a half of mostly improvisation. And that is what we did. For 80 performances. Great news – It seemed to work, it was a fun time, and we learned something VERY important. You don’t have to have all the “i”‘s dotted and “t’”s crossed to start a project. You just need to friggin’ get started and figure the majority of it out along the way. This is a lesson that we have carried with us in our work for the LES* Film Festival and the web series we just sold.

To clarify for all the sticklers and old school marms that are reading this, we don’t mean “winging it” in the sense of not preparing or not working your butt off, we mean “winging it” (last time we use that phrase, promise) in the sense of trusting yourself and your ideas and figuring out how to make the rest work. Because you CAN if you believe in your idea, have a team that believes in it as well, and you remember to stay positive. The most important thing is to get started, cause there’s never going to be a “more opportune time,” there’s never going to be 3 million dollars sitting around (unless you’re from old Robber Baron money). The best time is NOW and the biggest compliment we hear, whether or not people like what we do is, “Wow, I’m so impressed that you guys actually DID something. Most people just talk about doing something.”

Still shot from “Vicky & Lysander”

In regards to the details or any inside advice; we shot the web series this summer with our friends and LES* colleagues and compatriots Tony Castle and Roxy Hunt of BFD productions. In keeping with the theme of the LES* Film Festival, which we all do together and because we had no other option, we shot it all on a budget of $0. That’s right Z-E-R-O!

The idea came after having not done anything with Vicky & Lysander for two years and wanting to take it in a new direction. Tony and Roxy have their own 5d camera, a boom and two lavs, we all had apartments to shoot in, we had NYC to run around and play in, and there’s brand new cutting edge, you heard it here first, software called Final Cut that allows you to edit from your own computer (wink). Completely DIY filmmaking. That was really what it took. All of it done by all four of us. Tony & Roxy as directors and producers, editors, sound mixers…Shannon & Damon as writers, producers, actors and occasional boom holders and our friends as our awesome guest stars and extra crew when needed!

Still shot from “Vicky & Lysander”

We shot on the weekends, weeknights, and anytime that we could as we didn’t have the luxury of endless hours. We didn’t set out to sell it, we set out to make it and put it online and then send to friends. Selling it was the cherry on top and something very unexpected that came up. Our thinking going in was “No matter what, we will have created more material and learned something new in the process. Plus it will be fun! What’s wrong with that?” That and the fact that we knew all it would cost us was our time. This seemed like a pretty good bet to us.

So that’s our advice. Just get started. Make product. Team up with people that you know are reliable, smart, and willing to work hard. You don’t need an entire timeline and chart. Figure out the problems as they come. Be passionate and willing to work very hard. Don’t listen to the nay-sayers and pricks. There’s a million people that love cutting something apart before it even gets started. One person we met told us (in an obnoxious condescending tone with complimentary eye roll), “Oh…everybody is making web series these days…” Well good for them and good for us and shut the fuck up cause we don’t need anymore road blocks. Having no money and being only four people certainly brings enough. TUNE THESE DOUCHES OUT!

Still shot from the series

At the end of the day. We like these characters. We made something we like. We had fun doing it. And funny enough, someone else liked it too and hopefully others will as well. Good luck and God speed!

Sincerely,

Damon and Shannon

A new episode of Vicky & Lysander airs every Wednesday @ 3pm on Logotv.com. For more information please go to www.vickyandlysander.com or watch below:

Get More:
Watch Vicky and Lysander Full Episodes, Vicky and Lysander, Logo TV

Top 10 Things Learned in the IFP PMD LAB

Jon Reiss — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 11:00:11 +0000

Jon Reiss at the 2012 IFP Narrative Lab

I have had the good fortune to be involved in IFP’s Independent Filmmaker Labs for the past several years now and I have seen innumerable benefits to the films and filmmakers who participate. The Labs provide an opportunity for first-time filmmakers to not only receive feedback on their films from their peers and experienced filmmakers but it is the first lab to prepare filmmakers for the essential work of distribution and marketing.

This year we launched the IFP PMD LAB (Producer of Marketing and Distribution) the first of its kind. This year, the PMD Lab worked in conjunction with the Filmmaker Labs, with all the participating PMDs attached to a film in the Filmmaker Labs.

Since the end of the year if full of 10 best lists – I thought I would compile the 10 best results of the inaugural year of the PMD Lab.

1. Defining What A PMD Is. I think this is of critical importance as this nascent crew position develops. A PMD is not just a social media manager. To be a PMD a person must be involved in all aspects of a film’s distribution and marketing, including audience identification and engagement, creating a distribution and marketing plan, budgeting that plan, creating marketing elements, creating and managing other assets to help promote the film, etc. All of this in concert with the filmmakers. See this post for more. I think the PMD trainees were amazed and excited about the scope of this position.

2. Learning how to identify audience. After understanding the goals of the team, the first assignment for the trainees was to identify the audience for their film. Many of the films had already started this process in the spring Filmmaker Labs sessions. But rarely do first-time filmmakers fully understand their audiences in the first go round. It also takes time for the notion of niche vs. core audience to sink in – and how to view how audiences can expand from a core.

3. Learning how to engage that audience. This is a career-long process and can be daunting at first. It is important again that it is not just about social media – we stress that it is crucial to know how each particular audience learns about films and then to target that source - influencers, social media, organizations, traditional media – whatever works.

4. Develop marketing tools for the film (after understanding who the audience is). We have the PMD trainees (and in fact all Lab films) create initial marketing materials most of which are essentials for a press kit: logline, one line synopsis, short synopsis, key art, website and, if possible and appropriate, trailer and social media sites.

5. Workshop those marketing tools. One my favorite parts of the Filmmaker Labs and PMD Labs are the Marketing Labs held right before IFPs Independent Film Week. Each team presents the marketing plan for the film and it is workshopped with a panel of professionals. Some heated discussions result. The process either helps crystallize the beginnings of a plan for the team – or makes them realize they have a ways to go. Either way I find that they are so much further along than most filmmakers by starting this process in post.

6. Writing a distribution and marketing plan for their films. The last assignment for the PMDs was to write a distribution and marketing plan for their films. I am a broken record on this: every film is different and needs a unique plan. It is essential that PMDs learn not only how to write these plans – but to understand all of the aspects contained within. It is hard to teach this in a crash course (which we had in September and December). But what I found most instructive was:

7. Evaluating different distribution options. In the December Distribution Labs, we had the opportunity to see each of the 20 filmmaking teams present their distribution plan, and to have that discussed by incredible experts in emerging distribution models. It became very apparent what types of distribution options are available to filmmakers and how those can be crafted for each individual film.

8. Learning how to budget that plan. In order to execute a plan you have to figure out how much money you need to execute the plan. Going through an extensive distribution and marketing budget can be daunting – but it is also important to know what you need to pay for in order to achieve that film’s goals.

9. Creating a community of PMDs. The trainees told me that one of the best outcomes of the PMD Lab was the community that they created amongst themselves. While we had monthly phone sessions and 2 separate Lab meetings, the trainees would contact each other on a regular basis, which has continued even after the Lab’s completion. They are even supporting other films from the Labs that did not have PMD trainees. Several of the trainees have been so excited by the concept that they will be participating in the PMD website that we intend to put on the IFP site next year and to determine a way that PMDs around the world can find community (stay tuned!).

10. Learning how to develop a career as a PMD. This was a strong interest for the trainees – naturally. What I stressed is that the PMD is just like any other film position. You have to start small to build your way up – finding any way to gain experience. Little by little filmmakers are realizing that they need to budget for this crew position. One of the goals of the above mentioned site is to provide a centralized place that filmmakers can find PMDs for their projects.

If you think you can be a PMD please feel free to contact me so that I can keep you abreast of these developments.

Jon Reiss is a filmmaker, author and strategist who wrote the book Think Outside the Box Office and is the Director of the IPF PMD Lab. Follow Like

IFP Distribution Lab Recap: The Final Frontier

Oakley Anderson Moore — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 18:00:38 +0000

It had been two days since the last day of the IFP Distribution Lab – ending the yearlong 2012 IFP fellowship for 10 documentaries and 10 narrative films from first-time directors. With two days left in New York, I found myself sitting in a small theater in Brooklyn looking nervously at the backs of heads. A small handful of people had cruised over on this rainy Sunday for a test screening of my first feature documentary, Brave New Wild. Every time a punchline went unheeded, I swigged a Dixie cup full of cheap red wine. It’s very scary to show the film you’ve worked on for years to a live audience, knowing that it’s both the ultimate expression of your individuality and something you desperately need others to like, laugh at, or approve.

Still from “Brave New Wild”

And no sooner do you get used to the fact that people will watch your private work and have their public opinions about it, good or bad, than you begin the proverbial dog-and-pony show: distribution. Despite all this internal dialogue, the IFP Distribution session left me hopeful about the process because it empowered us with smart, creative, satisfying options. If you are about to get to distribution on a film, here are a few things that I thought were worth thinking about:

No seriously, what is your film festival strategy?

Sure, it’s gotta be really useful if you can premiere your film at a top-tier festival because maybe this will put you on the radar of industry who might make your dreams come true. But the honest truth is that every year, really wonderful films don’t make it in to the top tier festivals. Some become wildly successful regardless. Some films premiere at a top tier festival and disappear without nary a buzz. So ‘get in to a top tier festival’ should not be the extent of your strategy. Start considering your film festival run as a bonafide theatrical run where you get to show your film in theaters to audiences across the country (or world). For many films, it will be the extent of your theatrical distribution, and you might want to harness the press and connections with audiences at festivals to launch your film. Are you going to sell festival DVDs? What’s going to be on your website during the fest that people can look at from their smartphones? Are you going to ask for screening fees? When and how and why?

You gotta fight for your (Split) Rights.

When you’re making your first film, the hazy distribution ‘plan’ sorta starts out as two imaginary steps: 1) get into the Film Festival of your dreams 2) next thing you know, a deus-ex-machina distributor swoops in and your film is screening nationwide at Big Shot Megaplex 2000. But in this [rare] traditional model, one distributor gets all your rights for a long, long time. And because it costs a lot of money for a theatrical run, cross-collateralization means unless you get money upfront, you’re not going to see any. Not to mention, you don’t have any say in how your film is put out there.

If there’s anything that Jon Reiss (Think Outside the Box Office) won me over on during the Labs, it’s that forgetting about the traditional model and splitting up rights may be the best thing for your film. When you split your rights up, for example, you can sell your broadcast rights to whatever TV channel you can book, sell your digital rights to a digital aggregator who can get you on iTunes, and then sell DVDs and merch off your website/ via a fulfillment company, etc. You can tailor strategies that you think will work for your particular film and audience. A few things to keep in mind when you actually get down to parceling these off: don’t give rights to an entity that doesn’t have a history of making money off those rights, don’t give exclusivity unless you’re getting paid extra for it, and think about a clawback clause – where you get your rights back if a certain amount of time (6 months, 1 year) has elapsed and a minimum amount hasn’t been earned on those rights. It sounds a little daunting as a filmmaker to go in and negotiate these things, so if you don’t know if you’ll have the chops, hire a lawyer to negotiate for you.

Consider your own damn theatrical run.

Creating a month or two tour of one-off special event screenings can turn your film into an amazing theater-going experience. Use the network you’ve been growing while making your film to get a full house where the audience is engaged, excited, asks questions, talks to people in the film, maybe even dances and drinks a beer with you, and thinks about it all week afterwards. All the while, spread the word of your film, sell some DVDs, special merch, and promote for your digital release.

Map of future screenings

As Dylan Marchetti from Variance Films pointed out, if you call a theater and let them know that you sold out your last screening, and want to book their theater for a Tuesday night for your next one, odds are they will be interested. The world is your oyster, as long as you are willing to put in the time and effort. If you’re trying to move on to your next film as part of your goals or have a rigid work schedule, this probably won’t sound as desirable, but as for my Producer Alex and I, we’re looking forward to packing the ’76 VW van we filmed our doc in, and living the er, dream for a month with the film. Of course, you often barely break even on a theatrical run like this – but independent film has always been a pretty lousy get-rich-quick scheme to say the least. At least this way, you can make a film, build an audience, work on the ancillary market, and have some bargaining power when you start on your next film.