HD For Indies

UPDATED - scroll down

I've mentioned this idea before, but indies, do be realistic - the odds of getting into Sundance are HARSH:

films submitted: 3624
films to be screened: 121
truly indie films likely to be picked up for significant theatrical distribution that didn't already have it going in: my guess, 1-3

It is PLENTY hard enough to make an indie film - a great many die on the table, so to speak, and never get finished. Of those that get finished and submitted to Sundance...this year, 3.33% of submitted films will be shown. Ouch. And of those that were actually indie-outta-left field, perhaps 3, maybe 4, will get picked up for meaningful distribution at best. Maybe just 1. So if we presume 2 truly indie films get picked up, that's 2 out of 3624, or 0.055%....or one in about 1800 (OK, 1812 to be exact).

Is your movie ready to beat out 1811 other films?

Really?

I'm ALL FOR people pursuing their dreams. I'm already thinking of the short I want to make when I get my own Red One (hey, who wants to help?). But be sanguine about the odds, the results, and especially the business case. If you want to make a movie, do it for the right reasons, and be ready to be happy about the time you spent and the money it cost, and be ready for it to not have tangible, financial results.

Especially at the box office.

Then think about cable, direct to DVD, and any other market that might pay you for your content.

Source:

"For the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, 121 feature-length films were selected including 87 world premieres, 14 North American premieres and 12 U.S. premieres representing 25 countries with 55 first-time filmmakers, including 32 in competition. These films were selected from 3,624 feature film submissions composed of 2,021 U.S. and 1,603 international feature-length films. These numbers represent an increase from last year when 1,852 U.S. and 1,435 international feature length films were considered."

-mike

FRIDAY UPDATE

There's some good stuff in the Comments on this one.

Many (fairly) took me to task for sounding all "Debbie Downer" in this post. Whilst cranky when I wrote it, the underlying driver wasn't "U R Hoserated." A much happier way to fix/spin/"I'd like to amend and revise my prior statements" it would be to be Zen about it - the making and finishing of the movie should be a BIG chunk of the reward.

Don't count on financial rewards to consider it a successful adventure was my point.

There, am I closer to half full now?

: )

Also, the odds ARE tough. But unlike rolling an 1812 sided dice and hoping it comes up with the one right number, the odds aren't as bad as they look...not all sides of that dice are the same size. There's a LOT of lame submissions out there (small dice sides). And the commenter that stated that the number of quality submissions is about the same? That makes sense to me - I could see quality submissions going up SOME, but not on track with/at the same rate as overall submissions (the good submissions are the bigger sides of that 1812 mega-dice).

The juju I'd suggest - plan, plan, plan like a Bad MF; have a GREAT script, Stay On Target, have a good technical plan in place so you don't have to worry about codecs on set for more than 3 seconds a day (that stuff should alllllll be resolved before you record your first frame!), etc.

The flip side is MOST movies are weak. Make one that rocks. Take Juno for instance - they just let'er rip, and it ROCKS for that reason. The storyline is pretty tame - teen pregnancy, decides to adopt, falls back in love with boyfriend - with that log line, my stomach aches from Movie Of The Week syndrome. But their attitude, and OMFG - the DIALOG - makes that movie SING. Lines like "Honest to blog!" and music with lyrics like "my mp3-dvd-rumble-pack guitar" made me LOVE THIS movie. Is all about the attitude. The cinematography? Lighting? Sound design? I dunno, I never really noticed them, so they quietly and professionally did their job right. But it is the script, and acting, and Ellen Page* in particular that made it a winner.

Making a movie that just plain fucking RAWKS? THAT takes Nerves of Steel, Balls of Brass (or metric female equivalent), and Heaps O' Determination.

: )

-mike

* As I said to Erica (girlfriend) recently, there are three young actress performances that have knocked me off my feet in my lifetime - Natalie Portman in The Professional, Kirsten Dunst in Interview with the Vampire, and Ellen Page in Hard Candy. That girl is going places.

Labels: festivals, film festivals, Sundance

Got an email from my friends over at Alamo Drafthouse:

Beginning on January 1, teams can sign up at www.filmmakingfrenzy.com to compete in REWIND KINDLY, a filmmaking competition inspired by BE KIND REWIND sponsored by AMD and Dell. Teams will have until January 18 at midnight to complete and upload an up-to-five-minute, homemade, low-budget remake of a popular Hollywood film. It's free to compete and you can choose any movie under the sun to remake!

Submitted films will be screened at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema South Lamar on January 22nd and 23rd followed by the AMD/Dell Rewind Kindly awards ceremony and "best of" screening on January 24. After the awards ceremony, stick around for the first midnight screening of the movie we cannot wait to see: BE KIND REWIND.

First prize is a brand new quad-core Dell editing station with a 30-inch monitor and runner up is a Dell 17" laptop. The winning films will also be included in the Alamo Drathouse preshow for the duration of the BE KIND REWIND theatrical engagement. See www.filmmakingfrenzy.com for complete details.

Director Michel Gondry continues the surreal efforts of ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND and THE SCIENCE OF SLEEP with the imaginative comedy BE KIND REWIND. Jack Black plays a man who accidentally erases every movie at a local video store, then he and the video store employee (Mos Def) must reconstruct every film by acting them out. The movie opens at the Alamo South Lamar on January 25.

Labels: Alamo, contest, festivals

I've been sitting on this tidbit until everything got nailed down - but it is now definite - I'm leaving for Spain in the morning!

I'm going to the Independent Film Academy to give a 2 or 3 panels on topics like HD for independent filmmaking (ya think?), Why Red Matters, and an overview of digital cameras for indie moviemaking - everything from DV to 4K.

The conference is FREE, and takes place during the same time as the Sitges Film Festival (see link below).

The conference runs the 6-12, there is a Program page that gets updated regularly. What I know for sure is that I'll be giving my first presentation Saturday afternoon, and I have many many Keynote slides to present (and plenty more to finish!).

Lots of good stuff to see and do in Sitges, which is close to Barcelona and on the coast from what I've been told. I've never been to Spain, and haven't even looked through my Lonely Planet Guide to Spain yet.

I'll be posting lots of notes and whatnot from the other stuff I see.

Sitges festival - Festival Internacional de Cinema de Catalunya

This is their first year to do IFA, should be a really interesting week.

So if you're in Spain and have the time, come by and check it out.

OK, must go pack....

-mike

Labels: festivals, film festivals, IFA, Sitges

Variety.com - South by Southwest sets lineup

South By SouthWest (often written SXSW, and locally known as "South By") has announced their film line-up for the film festival beginning March 9th.

SXSW is my hometown film festival, I've been on panels there for about 12 years or so, and will be on a panel this year as well (panel lineup gets officially announced Feb 13th).

Read on for highlights of the upcoming line-up.

Hollywood Reporter's coverage: From war pics to politics: SXSW sets festival lineup

Labels: festivals, SXSW

(click the picture to load video)

Hey all -

I've been back a few days but trying to catch up on my world. Here (finally) is the video I shot of the distribution/acquisition rights panel that Scott Kirsner (of CinemaTech blog fame) moderated. Officially, it was titled "Rights Licensing in the New Era of Distribution."

This is a punt posting of what I saw one day at Sundance - I could edit & improve audio, but I don’t have time. I made a quick tour of the New Frontier Lounge noting the vendors present, then went and sat in on the Distribution Rights Panel that was moderated by my fellow blogger and buddy Scott Kirsner. Also on the panel were Orly Ravid of Wolf Releasing, Jean Pruitt of Independent Film & Television Association, Tracey Mercer of Revelation Entertainment & also Clickstar (Morgan Freeman’s distro), David Straus of withoutabox.com, Linda “O”, head of acquisition of shorts and podcasts for Shorts, Intntl.

I shot this using movie mode on my little Canon S450 snapshot camera by holding my arm up for 45 minutes, so pardon the shaky camera work. I got the first 35 or so minutes than ran out of room on my camera card, purged some stuff and got about 5 more minutes, missing the last 20 minutes or so unfortunately. But there is still much info of interest on here.

Yo Sundance - it was open to the public, so I’m posting this here. If anybody has a problem with that, please let me know, link below.

Enjoy and soak in the info.

NOTE - I posted this article as the video was still uploading and I left the studio - so if the video doesn't show up or is incomplete, check back later. I'll be back in a few hours to check on it and make sure it is working.

-mike

PS - David Straus of withoutabox.com talks about new services they are going to roll out, I'm interviewing him in next few days to get more info on that, will report here about it.

Labels: distribution, festivals, Kirsner, online distribution, Sundance