Tag: The Conversation

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Truly Free Film

Thoughts on “Free” From The Conversation: NYC Edition

Today’s guest post is from producer Smriti Mundhra.  I confess I have been slow in my posting and should have run this last week!

If the sun came out in New York City this past Saturday, I didn’t see it. Instead, I spent the day in Columbia University’s Uris Hall with about two hundred fellow filmmakers participating in The Conversation, an all-day conference about the future of independent film funding, marketing and distribution. There was a lot to talk about.

The program for The Conversation consisted of panels, discussion groups and breakout sessions, each featuring both indie fllm stalwarts (Eugene Hernandez, Scott Macaulay, Bob Hawk) and new media trailblazers (Lance Weiler, Arin Crumley). But it was Ira Deutchman, CEO of Emerging Pictures and professor at the university’s graduate school of film, who dropped the first bomb in his opening remarks when he quoted a businessman with whom he recently had lunch: “Film? That’s not a business, that’s a hobby.”

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Truly Free Film

University Challenged: Educational Approaches To Filmmaking

Today’s guest post is from James Fair.  I follow it with a note of my own in regards to the same subject.  James is a lecturer and filmmaker based at Staffordshire University in England. He graduated from Bournemouth University and University College Dublin. He believes that recent activities within his three universities point towards a fundamental difference in educational approaches towards filmmaking.

Two events happened quietly in the back rooms of a couple of English universities last week that indicate an interesting direction that is emerging within film disciplines of British universities; Staffordshire University decided to partner the 72 Hour Movie (link: http://www.72hourmovie.com) project at the Melbourne International Film Festival and Bournemouth University closed the first round of entries from alumni for a £100k budget film project (link: http://www.bsma.ac.uk ). These extra-curricular projects are flagships designed to illustrate just how relevant their courses are to industry, to future students and industry alike.

Nothing is unusual there, as many universities internationally have sought ways to engage with future students and industry in a variety of disciplines for years. However,

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Truly Free Film

Precisely: The Conversation

Scott Kirsner has blogged about the the highlights of The Conversation last weekend, which I had the pleasure of participating in.  

film is just one component of a story that you start telling before your first festival showing… and continue to build on and embroider even after you’ve released the DVD and digital download. The “movie release date” becomes just one milestone in this conversation between you and your audience. Some people who participate in the conversation may never actually buy a ticket or a download… while others may become so engaged that they buy everything you offer, and help market your movie to everyone they know.

Bill Cunningham riffs on that further at Pulp 2.0:

This is two things:

1) utilizing the power of the internet to be different media all at once.

2) This is branding. Intellectual property building.

Filmmakers and novelists and other creatives need to figure this out now. Their book, comic, movie, animation, music, radio drama, is only the beginning. A book isn’t just between the covers. A movie isn’t just onscreen.

Don’t think small. Think about how you can add to your creation. How you can translate it. How it can have further value – both to you and your audience

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Truly Free Film

The Conversation: Live in Berkley 10/18

Scott Kirsner, Lance Weiler, Tiffany Shlain and others put together a great program at Pacific Film Archives this past weekend, bringing together folks from the tech, social entrepreneur, and film worlds.  There was a lot of great stuff on the new world of DIY/Hybrid Distribution.  I imagine Lance will post a lot of it over at The Workbook Project.  

This is a nice low angle (i.e. I am not quite so wide in real life — or rather I still like to think my self not so wide) shot of my “Coffee Chat” with Scott and Dean Valentine of Comedy.com.  It captures and highlights my nasal honk quite well though.   It’s the end of the session Q&A and I rant on the transformation from an impulse to a choice economy of entertainment, throwing in some speculation on the coming Post-Fest Era to boot.

On changing Festival world, Variety has an article on how the financial crisis has effected film festivals. Worth checking out.