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Sundance Institute Artist Services Program Expands Self-Distribution Opportunities
to Filmmakers Supported by Six Additional Organizations
The Bertha Foundation │ BRITDOC │ Cinereach │ Film Independent Independent Filmmaker Project │ San Francisco Film Society
Artist Services Announces Collaboration with REELHOUSE, VHX, VIMEO and TUGG, Offering Filmmakers Additional Platforms and Tools
Los Angeles, CA — Keri Putnam, Executive Director of Sundance Institute, today announced that the Institute’s Artist Services program – which provides Institute artists with exclusive opportunities for creative self-distribution, marketing and financing solutions for their work – has expanded to include selected films supported by one foundation and five nonprofit organizations. Additionally, these organizations will join with Sundance Institute in continuing to shape the program and the services it offers. [...]
And I mean that with all the love I have for the world.
Let’s be frank:
- You want to get your movie made.
- You want to live a creative life.
- You want to give voice to the unspoken and the underheard.
- You know you can do it — if only you get a chance.
What are you waiting for? Don’t ask for permission. Don’t wait to be discovered. And don’t expect to get any help. Who needs it? [...]
Today’s guest post is once again courtesy of Jon Reiss. Back before Jon wrote the book on DIY distro in the digi age (literally), he and I started brainstorming on the need for a marketing & distribution lab for filmmakers, somewhat modeled on the existing screenwriting & directing labs that many organizations run. We had some real specific goals on this and pitched it to several key entities. Everyone wanted to do it, and I believe everyone still wants to do it. Money and time still are limited supply though, and our dreams have been deferred. Yet, the initial steps have been taken by a couple of organizations, and most recently Film Independent put together: Seize The Power last weekend. Jon’s post below, is a bit of an extension from that remarkable collection of speakers and participants and information.
I heard a number of comments after this weekend’s LAFF Seize the Power Symposium that people where overwhelmed – that their brain’s had been fried by so many ideas and so much information. To me that’s a sign that we succeeded. When Film Independent and the Los Angeles Film Festival asked me to help them devise the Symposium (and accompanying Distribution Boot Camp for competition filmmakers) we were in immediate agreement that the event would focus on: 1. Nuts and bolts practical information for filmmakers. 2. Forward thinking thought leaders indicating what the future might be. 3. Practical case studies of filmmakers who were using the new tools of distribution and marketing. We wanted to avoid people sitting on a panel rehashing how we got here. I also get the same brain-fry feedback when I give my weekend workshops – and I’m delighted. This is what I suggest to people:
1. Focus on the Inspiration and Creative Potential [...]
We are now treated to another Jon Reiss guest post. Jon holds the world record for the most comments on a single TrulyFreeFilm post, but he is one of our New Model Gurus, helping to pave the path to the emergence of a sustainable Artist/Creator Middle Class. We he speaks, I listen.
Two weeks ago I wrote a guest post here about the need to educate filmmakers on distribution and marketing their films. This weekend the Los Angeles Film Festival is hosting a truly wonderful event which I am proud to have developed in collaboration with LAFF and Film Independent (with strong push and support from Ted): Seize the Power: A Marketing and (DIY)stribution Symposium.
The Symposium is designed to focus on the nuts and bolts solutions to the current distribution and marketing malaise plaguing our industry. The intention is to provide an introduction to a wealth of new tools for filmmakers (and all artists/media content creators) as well as strategic guidance from many of the key practitioners and thought leaders in our field. It is an antidote to the concerns of too much talk talk talk on this subject with little true education.
In addition there is a non-public component that you can participate in via twitter. I will be giving a distribution and marketing boot camp to the LAFF competition filmmakers Friday June 18th 9am – 12:30pm and 2:30pm – 5pm and Saturday June 19th from 9am-11:30am. All times PST. We will be tweeting bullet points on #totbo We have done this in the workshops I have given in the past month – and we have found that people around the world start to participate and chime in – creating a global discussion around these topics.
The Symposium: Starting Saturday afternoon at 1pm – Ted kicks it off with a presentation on the need for the artist entrepreneur to encourage filmmakers to think expansively about their creative output in order to create sustainable careers. [...]
Film Independent sent out the following email:
We have spent the last ten years making the Film Financing Conference an invaluable experience for filmmakers, and as the industry is swept by very significant changes, we want to rise up to meet those changes with programs that meet filmmaker needs at this moment. With that in mind, the Los Angeles Film Festival has created Seize the Power: A Marketing and (DIY)stribution Symposium, a new program specifically designed to help filmmakers navigate marketing and distribution in the growing age of new media and to promote an open dialogue on the impact and exciting possibilities the changes in our industry bring. [...]
I have always supported the idea that you need to vote for the world you want with your dollars. I am the odd bird that believes in both optional and mandatory contributions to a better world; what’s all the beef about taxes? If our tax dollars really went to things I cared about, I would be all for more of them (as long as there was REALLY HEAVY penalties for corruption too that is). Hey, I’d even vote for mandatory conscription if it had more options than just military and if they provided some real training to the participants. But that’s a different subject, better suited for rants elsewhere. Let’s get back to the world of cinema…
Hopefully this will become easier to both identify and give in the new year with the rise of crowdfunding models.
Hopefully this too will become more widespread and easier with crowdfunding in the new year.
- @nathanwrann I am glad you thought Adventureland was excellent. I guess now I can offer you the $ back guarantee. Thx 4 not stealing it!
- Rob Zombie grew up in Haverhill, MA I blv. I grew up next door. How come we make such dif movies? We drank the same h2o but dif koolaid..
- Intnl Panl on Climate Chg (IPCC) predicts up to 30% of species worldwd r @risk of extinctn @a glbl temp increase of a few degrees Celsius.
- @FrontAve I recommend you contact an Indie Film mag or blog and offer to cover it for them if they can get you press credentials.
- Throw out ystrdy’s papers & reYer yr brain: IndieFilm v3.o is blossmg right now & if u aren’t participatg in http://bit.ly/11hC60 u r 2late
- Wow. My A Thousand Phoenix Rising speech for Film Indep. has just been translated into Spanish: http://bit.ly/4fHbV
- Hey, whoever sent me the box set of LoveTrain: The Sound Of Philadelphia, thank you! But it seems an intern threw away any note that went w/
- RT @prachman: the more we learn things on our own through inspiration, the more we own them.
- Even when it is more questions than answers, it is worthy. It is part of our process of discovery.
- Great co Adventureland is in! Goodbye Solo, Life Is Hot in Cracktown, Nights & Weekends, Rudo y Cursi, Sunshine Cleaning, Trouble the Water
- With this I pass Babe Ruth’s HR ttl & Quaalude’s ID# in # of tweets. Old Good Machine office was 417. What is it all about? GadDagGodDog?
- Forget about exhib glut, what about DVD glut. So many great DVDs came out on Tuesday!
- @vdovault min wkly amount of intros is bcz IndieFilmBiz crumbling needlessly. We have tools content & knowhow but every1 is solo. Why?
- the P2P user attends 34% more movies in theaters, purchases 34% more DVDs & rents 24% more films than avg Internet user.http://bit.ly/3XO51I
- What would happen if we all introduced 10 of our associates, friends,comrades, contacts to each other every wk? This wk I’ve done >20.
- Qualities Of Better Film #29 of 32: LEAVING SOME THINGS UNEXPLAINED now up at: http://www.hammertonail.com/
- I used RSS feeds to gather info but my mailbox just filled up unread. Now I use Twitter for the same thing & I like it better.
- @chlotrudis U R right! “COLD SOULS was really good! Witty, funny, moving, visually stunning and original.” Everyone MUST see this film.
- @JavianAshtonLe Thanks 4 help on Adventureland. Still wondering how many others optd to help t artist vs stealing (& thus how to survive).
- Mike Goodridge is going to moderate conversation w/ Thomas Mai & me at Toronto Intl Film Financing Forum 9.13.09 I hope you can come.
- I am a fan of t “my mind’s been blown by the life I’ve chosen” genre of film. There’s been a bunch, but WeLiveInPublic does it really proud!
- My wife just said (lovingly) that in the Adventureland bts featurette my hair looks like PeeWeeHerman’s, only sideways! & she’s right…!
- Bordwell: Storytllg is * all about control. It smtmes obliges t viewr 2 take advntrs she couldnt imagine. http://trulyfreefilm.blogsp…
- @prachman Ah, don’t go looking for the brightside. It’s one of the reasons why most films are redundant and dull. Same thoughts retold.
- Thx @SportaboutSarah! Thx @dom_lefebvre Thx @CineVegas I love that you love Adventureland! The world should follow all of you!
- Avg Studio director? male, 93% white, prev directed 6.1 films, age 45.62. Hmmm… Ready for a change? http://bit.ly/6v5Tp
- Big Fan opens 8/28. I loved it. Patton Oswald & Kevin Corrigan are the best screen team since, since, since… just the best period.
- @filmstudiesff Thanks & I dig your stuff 2. Here’s to more thoughtful mindful film consideratn! Btw check out http://www.hammertonail.com/
- Want to help out a struggling IndieFilm producer? Tweet; “I love Adventureland”. Also “Buy the Adventureland DVD now!” Thanks muchly.
- Completed my Adventureland Tweet Sentiment check with http://twitrratr.com/ Gives clearest presentation of 3 but still more to be done w/.
- We need to put “love” next to Adventureland more often. Just checked http://twendz.waggeneredstr… and many mentions w/o sentiment.
- “The work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dreams shall never die.” ~Ted Kennedy
- September 4th at 8pm, Alec Baldwin hosts WILLIAM KUNTSLER: DISTURBING THE UNIVERSE at Guild Hall in East Hampton. http://bit.ly/2TCRzq
- Here is something I really like about some films: http://thesearethosethings….
- Want to see a whole lot of great stuff? Check out: http://marcschiller.postero…
- RT @MarcDSchiller “This fan created vide for Grizzly Bear’s “Two Weeks” is absolutely lovely http://post.ly/2roW ” I 100% agree!
- Wondering what’s the best way for composers & musicians to break into FilmScoring? Surely there is some easy way to access filmmkrs.
- The best thing to do when you don’t have the money is work on the script. But what’s the second best thing to do?
- Our next Goldcrest Screening is Wed Sept 2nd. NY Premier of Pastor Brothers’ CARRIER starring Chris Pine & Lou Pucci. A Likely Story Prod.
- Tweetfeel says 71% of TwitterUniverse feel the right way about Adventureland — they love it! What did I do wrong that its not higher?
- I wonder how many ppleare going to race out & buy the ADVENTURELAND DVD when it hits the shelves today? How soon until it is on BitTorrent?
- Adventureland DVD hits the streets tomorrow. I am definitely putting this one in my collection.
- Just met with my IFP MADE IN NY mentoree — who’s great. You can’t SAVE INDIE FILM without being a mentor or 2 or 3. Better get yours asap.
- @kvpi print is a different sort of attentn & commitmt, & thus pleasure. We lose much with its loss. We gain w access & speed but lose more
- Fantastic! Harvey Pekar has a new comic up for free over at Smith: http://www.smithmag.net/pek… & follow him at:@PekarProject
- No News IS bad news. I nvr thought that havg a hometown newspaper was a privilege. I hope the NYTimes nvr goes bust: http://bit.ly/1JWP1x
- “The tree of crazy is an ever-present aspect of America’s flora.”: Rick Perlstien on Birthers, HealthCareHecklers etc: http://bit.ly/cJcUL
- @alisap27 tipped me to Poland’s Why Twitter Doesn’t Matter (Much) To Film Marketing: http://bit.ly/RDzqQ
- How great Costume Designer Arianne Phillips got started (& why she’s successful): http://bit.ly/18uP91
- Top Indie Distribs this yr? First Run & Zeitgeist. Then: Argot, IFC, Koch Lorber, Regent & Strand – @indigochameleon http://bit.ly/ZblWc
- RT @gflahive By Michael Erard: A Short Manifesto on the Future of Attention http://bit.ly/4SGYr #filmmakers MUST READ
- Bordwell: “Storytelling is artistic tyranny, and not always benevolent.” http://bit.ly/dICOz
- RT @noahharlan Bordwell on transmedia, specifically work of @lanceweiler and @tedhope (& HT’s @filmmakermag) http://is.gd/2sTxg – Must Read
- Bordwell: Storytelling is crucially all about control. It sometimes obliges the viewer to take adventures she could not imagine.
- Chris Jordan AGAIN does some great art that dramatizes the real story well:http://bit.ly/phIk5
- 90% Americans don’t listen to music on cell: http://bit.ly/Wscdj but Blkbstr puts movies on some cells: http://bit.ly/OOAQX
- @powertothepixel ‘s position on digital innovation should be adopted by all: http://bit.ly/gSDnu
- American consumers looking for less exp alt to local cineplexes (click twice to enlarge: http://bit.ly/SqYPG (thanks to Reed Martin)
This site could not have been built without the help and insight of Michael Morgenstern. My thanks go out to him.
Help save indie film and give this guy a job in web design or film!
