thanks futureofmusic.org – Today’s post is by Brian McTear, co-founder of Philadelphia’s Weathervane Music Organization– a nonprofit community that works with independent musicians to support and advance their careers. Weathervane’s efforts revolve around a program called the Weathervane Music Project Series: a curated series of audio and video recordings featuring the artists, their music and artfully produced video of the actual recording sessions.

When some people think about the lives of musicians, they may …

by Zak Forsman – As the team here at Sabi Pictures develops our evolving strategy for distributing Heart of Now and White Knuckles in 2010, VOD and DVD have been strongly recommended by consultants like Stacey Parks of Film Specific as having the best potential for direct revenue. So I have been following VOD in particular, hoping it might fulfill its promise to supplant a deflating DVD market but also …

This edition of TCIBR is brought to you by IndieFlix – Hunter Weeks left a cubical job to embark on a filmmaking career and within a three years has completed two documentaries and is in post on a third. One of the core elements of his strategy is to mix a DIY production and distribution approach with a variety of promotional partners. Hunter and Josh Caldwell his producing partner, have …

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This edition of TCIBR is brought to you by IndieFlix – Brian Clark joins us for a discussion about filmmaking, audiences, breaking the rules and the value of going DIY. Founder of GMD studios and co-founder of indieWire, Brian has been at the forefront of the independent film scene for well over a decade. GMD studios has created digital experiments, campaigns and games that flow seamlessly between the …

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Over the next few days we’ll be posting various videos from the DIY DAYS LA event. The day consisted of a number of keynotes (Robert Greenwald, Marshall Herskovitz), panels (Tommy Pallotta, Femke Wolting, Alex Johnson, Micki Krimmel, Mark Stolaroff, Ondi Timoner, Hunter Weeks, Saskia Wilson-Brown), case studies (M dot Strange, Arin Crumley, Lance Weiler), a series of special video presentations (Matt Hanson, Brett Gaylor, Brian Chirls, Christy Dena, Timo Vuorensola) …

This edition of TCIBR is brought to you by IndieFlix and Breakthrough Distribution – Inventing the Movies is a new book by Scott Kirsner that details Hollywood’s epic battle between innovation and the status quo. Scott joins us for a discussion about cinema’s past, present and future. Of particular note for filmmakers is a discussion around the pull economy / attention economy and how building and maintaining audiences is going …

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This edition of TCIBR is brought to you by IndieFlix and Breakthrough Distribution – Casey Walker has turned to the internet to raise the funds for his debut feature film, FREE FOR ALL…BUT YOU!. By putting a different spin on a model that helped a college student raise a million dollars for school, Casey has found a legal way to gather funds for the film. To date he’s raised over …

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We often discuss the importance of embracing other models and schools of thought when it comes to filmmaking. Much can be learned from the music, gaming and software industries. Filmmakers are after all entrepreneurs and the following presentation at The Next Web Conference 2008 by Adeo Ressi, The Founding Member of TheFunded.com, holds some interesting insight into the venture funding world. Now most filmmakers won’t go searching for venture funding …

This edition of TCIBR is brought to you by IndieFlix and Breakthrough Distribution – Our guest today is Ondi Timoner writer / director of the critically acclaimed doc DiG. Ondi’s most recent film, Join US is an intimate look at cults and mind control. Over the course of the discussion Ondi was very candid about the distribution of both her films and how the landscape for Docs has changed in …

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This edition of TCIBR is brought to you by IndieFlix and Breakthrough Distribution – Karin Chien is an independent film producer based in New York City. She’s produced a number of independent films such as Robot Stories, The Motel, and Undoing. For films such as Robot Stories and Undoing, Karin and her team applied a hybrid DIY approach to the theatrical release of each that created additional value in other …

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This edition of TCIBR is brought to you by IndieFlix and Breakthrough Distribution – Dan Goldman is a critical acclaimed comic book artist and illustrator. His most recent project “Shooting War” went from being a free online comic to sparking a bidding war. Various major publishing and production interests battled it out for the publishing and film rights. Goldman is a strong believer in the concept of crowdsourcing and …

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This edition of TCIBR is brought to you by IndieFlix and Breakthrough Distribution – Today we are joined by writer and director Steve Balderson. Often working from his home state of Kansas, Steve is a strong proponent of DIY filmmaking and the fact that movies can be made anywhere. He has written and directed narrative features (Pep Squad, Firecracker) and docs (Wamego: Making Movies Anywhere, Phone Sex). In our discussion, …

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In this special video podcast Christy Dena interviews workbook project founder Lance Weiler. Dena, a cross-media entertainment strategist, mentor, designer, writer and PhD researcher conducted the interview for her universe creation podcast. Here’s what Dena had to say about the interview.
Filmmaker Lance Weiler is the special guest on this first video podcast at UC101. Weiler talks about the unique ways he has experimented with extending the storyworld of his …

For anyone who isn’t reading Brian Chirls’ blog you are missing out on a valuable resource. He’s a self professed Indie Nerd Filmmaker (Director, Distributor, Technologist) with a unique perspective on the emerging digital DIY movement. In addition to contributing to the Workbook Project he is also the Head of Theatrical for From Here to Awesome.
by Brian Chirls – Here at SXSW, I’ve met a number of cool, smart, ambitious …

Power to the Pixel is a conference that focuses on funding, producing and distributing films in the digital age. The next edition of PTTP will be held in Paris this coming June. Liz Rosenthal the founder of PTTP was kind of enough to share the following video. Please feel free to embed and spread.

The final Power to the Pixel session brings together five pioneering filmmakers who are reinventing the …

We’re happy to introduce another contributor to the Workbook Project. Steve Balderson is a DIY filmmaking machine. He self funds, produces, and releases his own films. Some of the films have been shot on 35mm and others on miniDV. He’s taken his work on tour and staged his own “freakshows” in cities across the country. We’re excited to have him join the project and if you happen to live in …

by Alex Afterman – Since 2003 I have run a video label called Heretic Films. I used to refer to our company as a DVD label, and sure enough DVD is what we specialized in (with occasional forays in to theatrical and television, but I always was clear with potential acquisitions that first and foremost we were a DVD company).
Back in the old days it was easy to see …

M dot Strange reports – This was part of a presentation called “Adventures in self distribution” I describe the journey I took with my animated feature film “We are the Strange” From my bedroom to Sundance and beyond and back to my little studio again after turning down Hollywood deals and deciding to self distribute and make my films my way.
M dot Strange: Berlin Talent Campus 08 from M dot …

Tom Quinn reports – I flew home to Philly on Saturday and brought a wicked cold with me so am behind on this post, but we had some great news this weekend: The New Year Parade took the Grand Jury Prize for Best Narrative at Slamdance 2008!! We couldn’t be more thrilled or humbled. Some terrific reviews went up this week as well:
VARIETY: “Because Quinn …

This edition of TCIBR is brought to you by IndieFlix and Breakthrough Distribution – Over the holiday break we recorded two editions of TCIBR that looked back on 2007 and forward to 2008. In part one we took a look at the year in digital entertainment. In part two we focus on films and distribution trends. Mark Stolaroff of the No Budget Film School and Paul Harrill of Self Reliant …

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So, we’ve been in Park City for five days now and my head is spinning. We premiered the film on Saturday and had a great crew in town: Jen Welsh, who plays Kat, Greg Lyons, who plays Jack, my finance Beth, high school pal Tom Bilotta, and Greg’s ECC bandmate, Josh Ostrander. Of course, 10AM on a Saturday is a difficult slot – especially after a ton of great parties …

The news of deals being struck is beginning to filter out of Park City. But behind the deal making that has become legendary is the reality of having to deliver the film. Long after the buzz has dwindled producers will start the long haul of delivery. For some outlets it can be minor but for others it can be a labyrinth that will take money from you at every turn.
It …

The promise of unlimited choice and shelf space due to an emerging on-demand universe of content has many in the industry struggling to figure out how new media revenue should be divided. This highly contentious issue is at the center of the current WGA strike. But while the WGA and the Hollywood studios duke it out over Internet residuals, many independent filmmakers are simply trying to figure out how to …

I’m pleased to introduce a new contributor to the Workbook Project. Kfir Pravda is a marketer, content creator and blogger. His blog “Media, Technology and Rebel Filmmaking” is read and quoted by investors, venture capitalists, CEOs of technology companies, content creators and bloggers.
Kfir reports – In the past things were clear – broadcast television required a specific level of production. Lighting, sound, camera quality – all were parts of …

This edition of TCIBR is brought to you by IndieFlix and Breakthrough Distribution – Our guest today is doc filmmaker Don Argott. Don exploded onto the scene with his feature debut Rock School, an entertaining doc about the Paul Green School of Rock. Rock School was acquired by Picture House for a low seven figure advance out of the LA Film Festival. For his newest doc Two Days in April …

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At the beginning of 10 MPH you’ll see Josh and I trying to get sponsors to help out with the whole Segway thing. It was really tough as many of the companies we talked to felt there was no opportunity for ROI. Independent art was not worth their investment. But over time with some work on our strategies, we’ve learned how to intrigue sponsors more and were actually able to …

This edition of TCIBR is brought to you by IndieFlix and Breakthrough Distribution – Over the holiday break we recorded two editions of TCIBR that looked back on 2007 and forward to 2008. In part one we take a look at the year in digital entertainment. Our guests include Scott Kirsner of CinemaTech and Woody Benson, general partner of Prism Venture Works.

To listen NOW click the play …

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Scott Kirsner of CinemaTech sits down with Dolby EVP Tim Partridge as he lays out his vision for how digital 3-D moviemaking will take over the world.
Partridge says that in the early days of Dolby’s audio noise reduction (and later, Dolby’s digital sound), industry insiders predicted that the new technology would only be used for big action pictures. These days, 3-D is regarded as something for action pictures and cartoons, …

One of the goals of the Workbook, is to create a “social open source” project that encourages content creators to share information with one another. Yesterday we held the first in a series of discussions around the current state of the industry. A group of filmmakers came together at the IFP’s NYC offices for some food and conversation.
Participants included: Josh Zeman, Zachary Mortensen, Esther Robinson, Doug Block, Ry Russo …

This edition of TCIBR is brought to you by IndieFlix and Breakthrough Distribution – Our guest today is Ira Deutchman, an industry veteran who founded New Line Features. While at New Line Features Deutchman aquired and released films such as; Jim Jarmusch’s “Night on Earth,” Robert Altman’s “The Player” and “Short Cuts,” Roman Polanski’s “Bitter Moon” and “Death and the Maiden,” Mike Leigh’s “Naked,” and the …

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This edition of TCIBR is brought to you by IndieFlix – Our guest this week is producer and co-founder of Ghost Robot, Zachary Mortensen. Ghost Robot has been producing independent features, shorts, and music videos for the last five years. In our discussion Zach shares his experience with producing, getting the most out of test screenings and the importance of building a solid web presence for your work.

Special Note: Today …

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Make movies yourself. Distribute them on your own. 10 MPH’s director Hunter Weeks writes a thorough overview of how he and Josh successfully made 10 MPH one of the most talked about indie films of 2007.
AN INTRODUCTION:
If you watch 10 MPH, you’ll see that Josh and my approach to getting into the film industry was one of blind faith. We had no formal training in making films and very …

This edition of “TCIBR” is brought to you by IndieFlix – Tiffany Shlain is a writer, director, and producer of innovative short form work. Her most recent project THE TRIBE, is an unorthodox, unauthorized short film about Jewish people and the Barbie doll. Tiffany and her team have been able to reach their audience in an interesting and unique way that is returning a profit and engaging audiences around the …

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by Alex Afterman – Current conventional wisdom is that independent distribution is a broken system. Well guess what? Coming from someone inside the business that’s absolutely right.
There are so many more challenges and problems these days in indie distribution than when I started Heretic Films, my company, 4 years ago. First of all, the digital cinema revolution – which is, don’t get me wrong, a great thing, …

This edition of TCIBR is brought to you by IndieFlix – Our guest today is writer, co-director and star of THE BEACH PARTY AT THE THRESHOLD OF HELL, Kevin Wheatley. On Oct. 19th, National Lampoon will release the film theatrically in 27 cities. Kevin discusses how he and co-director Jonny Gillette created a post apocalyptic political comedy with limited resources and how they plan on reaching their audience.

For more on …

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This edition of “TCIBR” is brought to you by IndieFlix – Today our guest is attorney Dan Staorius. Dan specializes in entertainment law and his clients include a cross section of people working in film, television, music, publishing and interactive media. In our discussion we focus on lessons that can be learned from the music industry. In many ways music leads film and the current trend in artists going direct …

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This past weekend Arin Crumley of Four Eyed Monsters and myself did a panel about all things DIY called “Fast Forward – Filmmakers Seize Control.” The Vancouver International Film Festival held a special one week forum around the art and craft of filmmaking. Brian Chirls of FEM was kind of enough to man the camera – he had done a viral marketing panel earlier in the week.
Big thanks to the …

This edition of TCIBR is brought to you by IndieFlix – Today our guest is Sarah Jo Marks. Sarah Jo is a freelance producer, film festival programmer, producer’s rep, and film distribution consultant. Through her company At Risk Films, she often helps clients bring their work to the marketplace. During our discussion we cover a wide range of topics pertaining to the DIY distribution and promotion of non-fiction work.

For more …

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A number of panels and interviews from last week’s IFP Filmmaker Conference have surfaced online. The following is a collection of media and links.
Scott Kirsner from CinemaTech talks with Brett Gaylor, a Montreal-based filmmaker who is exploring new ways that large groups can collaborate on documentaries. Shot at the 2007 IFP Filmmaker Conference in New York.

The Four Eyed Monsters team recorded a panel on Viewer Habits with Andrew Barron (Rocket …

This edition of TCIBR is brought to you by IndieFlix. – Today our guest is documentary producer and director Hunter Weeks. His most recent film, 10MPH is a documentary about his and filmmaking partner Josh Cladwell’s cross country trip. Shot over the course of a 100 days, the filmmakers travel the country via a slow moving segway scooter in search of the American Dream. In our discussion …

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Producing a feature-length motion picture is a daunting task. All the more so if you do it without the support of a major studio using money you have raised yourself. But according to independent filmmaker Lance Weiler, “the real struggle” comes after the film is completed. Distributing a theatrical feature — and doing so profitably — poses an even greater challenge. As Weiler put it during a recent interview with …

Scott Kirsner from cinematech sent in this interview with Jaman CEO Gaurav Dhillon.

From Scott
“Jaman makes independent films from around the world available online. In this conversation, we talk about how the site is different from all other online movie marketplaces, Jaman’s social networking features, the terms of the deal Jaman offers to filmmakers, the site’s ability to send content to an AppleTV, and what some filmmakers are doing to market …

In this editon of “TCIBR” we are joined by two established documentary producers / directors – Esther Robinson (A Walk Into the Sea, Home Page) and Doug Block (The Heck with Hollywood, Home Page, 51 Birch Street). Today’s discussion is devoted to the art and craft of the documentary. A range of topics are covered such as; fundraising, producing, festivals, distribution and the importance of community.

For more …

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Today we sit down with Andrew Baron the creator of Rocketboom. An early player in the daily videoblog space, Rocketboom launched in 2004. Over 200,000 viewers download Rocketboom daily across a wide variety of outlets. Andrew explains how he created his own daily show and turned it into a self sustaining model that has a staff of six people.

For more info on Andrew and Rocketboom click here.

To …

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Today we focus on the Writers Guild of America scandal that has been heating up over the last few weeks. In question is the multiple millions of dollars that are owed to guild and non-guild members for foreign-levies royalty payments. We are joined by Stefan Avalos (The Game, The Last Broadcast, Ghosts of Edendale) who has written an investigative piece exposing the scandal, and JF Lawton (Pretty Woman, Under Siege) …

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By Arin Crumley (co-creator of FOUR EYED MONSTERS)
If you make art of any kind – film, music, fine art, etc… – and do it well, or even if you don’t, at some point, someone might see a way they can make money off of your creations. At this point, a deal needs to be made. I just came back from the Guadalajara Film Market where I only made one …