My Bumpy Road through “Hollywood” — THE BLENDED SCREENS: WHY SHORT FILMS?

Above the common question “How long is a short film?*” should be the more significant question, “Why a short film?” Good short films are enjoyable and moving, with stories that can have an impact as strong as good feature-length films or powerful TV series. You can laugh, cry, and be inspired watching a good short …

From the Ivey Business Review: “Arrested Economics — Assessing Netflix’s Original Content Business”

Story-makers, the shift in the independent film industry includes new opportunities in what is commonly called "television." The new creative opportunities are exciting. Here's the second of two discussions about these new opportunities. Arrested Development and House of Cards aren't designed to deliver the metrics Wall Street expects, and this means a lot about how …

From the Ivey Business Review: “Original TV Series — The Illusory ‘Silver Bullet'”

Story-makers, the shift in the independent film industry includes new opportunities in what is commonly called "television." The new creative opportunities are exciting. Here's the first of two discussions about these new opportunities. Streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon see original TV series as the path to success. It's not. But consumers win. Reposted …

Crowdfunding and “Hey Zach Braff STFU and pay for your own movie” [UPDATED January 2014]

Why is there controversy about projects such as Rob Thomas's VERONICA MARS and Zach Braff's WISH I WAS HERE going to crowdfunding for the money to make their projects? The surge in Perks-based Donor Crowdfunding over the past few years was primarily built on the concept that creative projects dreamed up by common folks with …

THIS IS THE SECOND ‘GOLDEN AGE OF TELEVISION.’

When looking at what I've termed "The Blended Screens" -- the destruction of all the different ways that used to define what we were watching (it was a "movie" because it was shot on film and shown in a movie theater; it was a "TV Show" because it was shot on tape and broadcast by …

“Story-making”

Production is morphing into ... what? Is it "filmmaking" if there's no film? Are we "taping" a program if there's no tape? Are they "films" or "movies" it they are viewed on a smartphone? Is it "Television" if it's streaming online on demand? The technology of production and the delivery methods are no longer pertinent …

THE UNIVERSAL FILM ACCESS POINT

How will independent filmmakers fully embrace digital distribution for maximum value? It's a new world, and the old methods cannot be squeezed and twisted to work in it. There will be a new approach to bringing indie films to the audience. I call it the UNIVERSAL FILM ACCESS POINT. The old world existed because of …

Filmmakers and Email versus Social Media

As filmmakers, we need to grasp how to reach our audience and let them know our film exists, and communicate how the film might interest them. This used to be the jurisdiction of distributors, but that old world is in turmoil and may be dead. With filmmakers scrambling to figure out the theoretical pathways of …

The cost of asses-in-seats

Here's what I think specifically about MARKETING LOW-BUDGET INDIE FEATURE FILMS (NARRATIVE FICTION). This is an effort to help visualize the numbers needed for this new world of filmmakers becoming responsible for their own direct distribution. For a successful low-budget indie feature film, it is reasonable to expect an audience of approximately one million people …

Indie filmmakers and BRANDING

BRANDING. Most people don't think much about branding, and when they do, they take a look at a logo, think of it as “a brand,” and move on. But a brand is so much more than a logo. It is the entire perception, the emotional feeling evoked, of a company, person or product. The brand …

My Bumpy Road Through “Hollywood” — Is the INDIE FILM BIZ dead or not?

Did the Pythons have the indie film biz in mind when creating their masterpiece, Monty Python and the Holy Grail? Aside from the buffoonery of this so-called business, what else could have inspired the great scene, "I’m not dead"? It says a great deal about the flux of the indie film biz that yesterday, on …

My Bumpy Road Through “Hollywood” — Further Clarification of the PMD and Economics, by Jon Reiss

REPUBLISHED WITH PERMISSION "This from the man himself, Jon Reiss, in response to the many wonderful posts this week from Michael R. Barnard, Lucas McNelly and Dennis Peters regarding the PMD." ~ Sheri Candler Marketing & Publicity Let me clarify some of my feelings about the PMD. I will add my universal caveat that every …

My Bumpy Road Through “Hollywood” — Indie filmmakers abuzz about new PMD position

Right now, the indie filmmaking community is grappling with the new concept of a role called PMD, the “Producer of Marketing & Distribution.” The confluence of the collapse of the indie film biz, scores of digital distribution options, and the ascent of social media has resulted in an incredibly strong and vibrant online community of …

FREE IS NOT WORTH THE PRICE, PART 2

Continued from FREE IS NOT WORTH THE PRICE, PART 1 We are now feeling the impact of that un-analyzed, self-serving desire, “I want it FREE.” The impressionable college generation coming of age at that time threw away moral discernment in the face of the “free on the Internet” mantra and nearly destroyed the music industry. …

FREE IS NOT WORTH THE PRICE, PART 1

The New York Times reports on the malaise hitting the very-important-to-Hollywood trade papers, especially Daily Variety. [“Trade Papers Struggling in Hollywood”] Daily Variety is suffering the fate of many news publishers (even the New York Times), but attracts attention because of its reactions to its problems. This important trade paper recently fired staff critics, now …