Okay, this isn’t the only answer, and I don’t have the energy to do a comprehensive list, yet… but as I sorted through my various AM emails, a saw a common theme in two of them.
What saved Morris was a trip to the countryside: they organised a tour around the village halls of south-west England, where their film became a word-of-mouth hit. That allowed its makers to bypass the distributors and go straight to the exhibitors. Morris was finally picked up by the Picturehouse cinema chain, which agreed to roll it out on wider release, beginning last week.
“We just booked a week-long theatrical run in Philadelphia through Landmark for The New Year Parade and are going to see how that community-based release works for us. Will keep you posted!”
Lance Weiler has a nice, albeit short, piece in Screen Daily on the audiences role in crafting cross-platform narratives (aka transmedia). Here’s a taste, but check out the whole thing:
Pre-production, production and post are melding ― so why do most producers wait until the film is finished to engage their audience? The art and craft of how stories are designed, delivered and shared must catch up with the realities of how audiences are consuming them. This points to a number of new and exciting storytelling possibilities. The audience is telling us what they want, we just need to start listening.
Lance will be at Power To The Pixel, along with yours truly, Brian Newman, and a host of other fantastic folk that I can’t wait to meet.
Lance Weiler gave an excellent presentation at Power To The Pixel in London a few weeks back. As he points out: competition is the problem.
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!
