Today we are joined by Scott Kirsner (Inventing the Movies and http://cinematech.blogspot.com) and Woody Benson (partner at Prism VentureWorks). Our discussion covers a number of trends from 2008 and also makes a few predictions for 2009. Subjects covered include CPM vs. engagement, remix culture, media social graphs, length of content, building audiences and new production funding trends.
Related: Scott Kirsner recently finished an extensive series of case studies for ITVS that …

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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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Lisa Salem reports – When David Hastings’ play ONE SMALL STEP was taken up to the Assembly Rooms at the Edinburgh Festival this month – the festival’s most respected venue – the outlook was quite pragmatic: take the show up there, expect a financial loss but gather thy reviews and hope they harvest into eyeballs and cash in the form of a UK tour of the play over the …

Channel 4 in the UK is running a project called ‘Osama Loves’ as part of its Islam Season. The project is currently in blog form and will be made into an hour-long film aired on the channel sometime in September.
Farrah and Masood are in the last week of their journey across the world – attempting to find 500 ‘Osamas’ in 50 days to ask each one of them, “What do …

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 – Jeff Gomez turned his childhood passion for role playing into a successful transmedia venture. His company Starlight Runner Entertainment has expanded the intellectual property of brands (Hot Wheels, Magic: The Gathering , Pirates of the Caribbean) by developing cross-platform storyworlds that engage audiences in new and interesting ways. The design and builds of these worlds have …

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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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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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I’ve just return from Hot Docs where I participated in a panel of judges for the newly formed Convergence Lab. Created by DocAgora, the lab focuses on a number of projects. The lab brings together producers, filmmakers and interactive designers in an effort to develop cross-media strategies for their projects.
Cross-media (the telling of stories across multiple mediums, devices and platforms) is a topic that we discuss often – an exciting …

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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:: PROJECT -Nerdcore Rising is a fun glimpse into the world of the nerd hi-hop movement. Negin Farsad’s doc follows the trials and tribulations of MC Frontalot as he embarks on his first national tour; complete with strange opening acts, missing gear, and a single groupie that follows them from the Florida panhandle to New Orleans.
WHY: An entertaining look at a subculture that has legions of dedicated fans. What’s …

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 …

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 …

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 …

I’d like to take a moment to introduce a new contributor to the Workbook Project. Zachary Mortensen is an accomplished producer and co-founder of production company Ghost Robot. He’s produced numerous feature films, shorts and music videos. Recently, Zachary opened a new web shop called Space Unicorn which is helping independent filmmakers to build an online presence for their films. In his first article Zachary breaks down the importance of …

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 …

Tom Quinn reports – I fell behind on the blog this week because we are working to get our assets together for Park City. Everything is lining up really well and the mounting interest has been exciting. It’s shaping up to be a great premiere on the 19th!
Most recent news first: My good friend and designer Matt Hanemann just sent me the poster artwork at 2AM. …

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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This edition of DiF is brought to you by IndieFlix and Breakthrough Distribution – In this edition of the Design in Film podcast, we take a look at Michael Haneke’s remake of his own 1998 film “Funny Games.” Both brutal and thought provoking the film takes an interesting minimalistic approach towards the design of its trailer, poster and site. Scroll down to listen to the podcast.
Trailer

Poster:

Site:

To listen …

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* PROJECTS
Esther Robinson’s debut feature, A Walk Into the Sea: Danny Williams and the Warhol Factory is a touching and deeply personal cinematic journey. The doc centers on her Uncle Danny who was a talented filmmaker and Andy Warhol’s lover. In 1966, Danny mysteriously disappeared. The film’s subjects include Andy Warhol, Edie Sedgwick, Paul Morrissey, Brigid Berlin, Billy Name and what may be the earliest known footage of the …

In my 2nd job out of college, I worked for a dotcom in the San Francisco area. It was high times and everyone was rolling. I had the privilege of sitting next to the PR person they hired and she had quite the silver tongue. I tend to absorb as much as possible, so I listened to her pitching People Magazine, ZD Net, USA Today, and various other news agencies. …

The new Case Study section of the Workbook, will focus on projects in development, production and distribution. The first case study details the Head Trauma cinema ARG (alternate reality game) which not only promoted the movie’s DVD and VOD release but also became its own revenue stream.
Like everything else associated with the Workbook the Case Study section is an experiment, so if you have questions, suggestions or know of …

With the advent of the Internet, we make instant judgments on something after viewing its website. Especially movies. Before making films, Josh and I both worked for a software company managing websites. Between this and numerous things we tried to do on the side, we learned how to design websites and master web marketing. This, in my opinion, is one of the keys to our success. The following is a …

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 – 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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Tom Quinn reports – After an amazing week at the IFP Market and Conference, I am prepping my film for Friday’s Sundance submission deadline. The six days spent in New York were all remarkable thanks to months of hard work by the IFP staff, especially Amy Dotson who programmed the Lab and Emerging Narrative sections. Here’s a quick overview of our week:

Lab fellows with John Sayles …

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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Our guest today is filmmaker Jon Reiss. Jon has made a number of features, both fiction (Cleopatra’s Second Husband) and non-fiction (Better Living Through Circuitry and Bomb It). For his latest film, Bomb It he traveled to 5 continents to document graffiti culture. In our discussion Jon shares how he funded, traveled and is looking beyond the festival circuit to bring his work to audiences around the world.

To find out …

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Our guests today are festival programmers Doug Jones (LA Film Fest) and Matt Dentler (SXSW). Doug and Matt share their insights into the festival process and how filmmakers can best prepare for their journey on the festival circuit.

For more info on Doug and the LA Film Fest click here.

For more info on Matt and SXSW click here and here.

To listen NOW click the play button below.

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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 …

By Christy Dena –
In 1917 poet Guillaume Apollinaire gave a lecture, L’Esprit Nouveau et les Poetès, on what he described as the ‘visible and unfolded book of the future’. He wrote that creators in the future will, ‘like conductors of an orchestra of unbelievable scope,’ have at ‘their disposal the entire world, its noises and its appearances, the thought and language of man, song, dance, all the arts and all …

Since I’m knee deep in pulling together the next HEAD TRAUMA cinema ARG, I thought I’d share some of my promotional materials. The following is an invite followed by a press release for the event. We started by hitting horror blogs and then moved into some indie film and general movie outlets. When I come up for air next week I want to layout a detailed description of how we …

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 …

When it comes time to creating digital assets for your work, I’ve found that it’s important to devise a plan that will work for your target audience. Finishing the film and expecting people to find your site, and keep returning over time – just isn’t going to happen. But a couple things can help you in your quest to get your work found, and along the way your fans might …

Scott Kirsner from CinemaTech was kind of enough to share the following interview. The interview is broken into 3 sections. Make sure to stop by Scott’s blog and to check out his newest book “The Future of Web Video.”

From Scott
“I sat down with

In an interesting experiment FOUR EYED MONSTERS has joined forces with film community site Spout.com Together they are running a 1 week promotion which started yesterday. The promotion has the full movie running on youTube and for each person who signs up for a FREE Spout.com account FEM will receive a dollar.

In traditional models of distribution this type of internet releasing has been known to cause issues with selling …

Cutting through the static
by Lance Weiler
Last November the internet hit a major milestone, over a 100 million sites with registered domain names and active content. The web is considered to be the great equalizer for filmmakers, one which promises cost effective promotion and distribution. But where do you start and what’s the best way to design a cost effective online promotional campaign that can help you build an audience for …

A few weeks ago the HEAD TRAUMA mashup / cinema ARG had its first screening. The event was a collision of movies, music, gaming and theatrics. In a previous post I questioned the viability of traditional theatrical releases for “truly” independent films. The mashup / cinema ARG has promise and event driven theatrical experiences could in fact become an interesting model for independent distro.
- The event attracted …

From time to time I’ll touch on elements that will be covered in the first edition of the workbook in detail. Tonight I wanted to share the online press kit that I made for HEAD TRAUMA.
Since I was handling all the press for the movie, I needed to have a centralized place where I could send the press. Because I was on a tight budget, I wasn’t about to put …