A friend and follower of Pedal sent Amanda and I a link to an upcoming Film Independent workshop. The focus is DIY film distribution, and it’s speaker is Jon Reiss, the author of an upcoming book called the DIY Bible.

At first glance, the program sounded really interesting to attend – it pushes hard the idea that using digital distribution and a self-release approach, you can get your film in front of many more people. Rather than waiting around at countless film-fest to be picked up and carried out on the shoulders of some generous big-budget studio.

But the part that I found disappointing was the cost of a ticket: $250. That’s for a 3 hour group class. Which… isn’t much tiome when attempting to squeeze in even a few possible solutions to digital distribution.

I think Film Independent is an important group, I think they are strong voice in the film community. I think groups, like FI, that focus on the DIY movement are smart and, at best, pushing a progressive (if sometimes disorganized) business plan for the future of film-making… and maybe at worst, just exploiting the buzzword to sell seats.

I’m not writing this with the intention of making enemies at FI – I just feel strongly that the DIY approach is more than a business model or a how-to, it’s a community, one that was grown out of the idea of sharing and finding creative ways to release your work.

The DIY Days workshops that are put on through the WBP are free to attend – and they still manage to pull in very high-level and successful filmmakers who have done things their way. The last DIY Days I attended in LA featured: Robert Greenwald, and Ondi Timoner. It was a very educational, and very inspiring day – and it lasted twice as long as the upcoming FI event.

If you want to teach a DIY workshop and you have to charge to $25, $50 a ticket to make ends meet and to see to it that the event actually happens – then fine. I wouldn’t think twice about paying that kind of money for a 3 hour class geared towards poor, ambitious, indie-filmmakers. If you have to charge $250… then you’re doing it wrong.

I’m not making the point that professionals, authors, experts, hobbyists, etc shouldn’t charge to share their process, especially one that took decades of experience to shape. But there is a time and a place… and a line that can be crossed where you go from helping others, to exploiting others to the point of defeating the purpose (of DIY).

Indie filmmakers don’t have that kind of money to spend on workshops. And even if they did, in my opinion, they shouldn’t be putting it towards group workshops (taught by a person who never had to pay someone else $250 to teach him how to do what he is teaching you how to do). That kind of money can go a long, long way in pushing your project online.

If you are interested in DIY distribution: then you should be able to name 2 or 3 films off the top of your head that took that route. And if you can do that: then you can probably track the steps they took in getting to where they are today (blogs, interviews, meet-ups). And if you can do that: then you should be able to pick and choose what approaches are still relevant, which fit your ideal model, which can be condensed and built upon.

Find people that inspire you – follow filmmakers who take risk, who make mistakes. Ask questions, and remember that finishing your film and releasing it isn’t always a straight line. I’d love to hear people’s thoughts on this.