As many of you know, I’ve travelled to many places in Latin America over the last few years, mainly talking to Latin filmmakers about both the business and the craft of moviemaking. The most common question that comes up is why, given the size of the Latin population in the U.S., is there not a larger market for their films in our country? The answer is actually quite simple. Just as films from Colombia don’t typically travel to Mexico, and Mexican films don’t necessarily work in Argentina, we don’t have a single Latin culture in the U.S. It is a fragmented market with large, but distinct cultures. There is an available audience, but it’s not the reliable mass audience that people think it ought to be.
Not that I’m truly an expert on the subject, but last week, I was asked to be on Joe Torres’s show “Tiempo” on local WABC-TV to speak on the subject. Here is my interview in two parts…
Warning: This post is only for complete gadget freaks, of which I am admittedly one.
Around 5 years ago, I was on a train from New York to Washington DC to attend a historic meeting. A bunch of independent filmmakers had been summoned to meet with Dan Glickman, the new head of the MPAA to discuss issues related to independent film. I was on the train with five other filmmakers, and on the entire trip we were playing with our Treo 650′s. We were trading apps (yes there were app phones before the iPhone), beaming the apps to each other via infrared port, and showing off all the tricks we had learned on the device.
In point of fact, at that moment in the not too distant past, everyone I knew in the film business had the identical phone. Why? Indie filmmakers are always on the move, and need to carry their office with them wherever they go. The 650 was a beautiful device, and with some hacks and third party software, it did pretty much everything one could ask for, and more. (more…)
The following is from one of my students at Columbia. This is an issue that all film lovers should be aware of. Please voice your words of protest as per the instructions below…
Dear Ira,
The Italian government of Silvio Berlusconi decided to close the Italian National Film School (Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia) with the excuse to cut expenses and save the country from a new Greece-like financial collapse.
Even if the general intent can be considered righteous, cutting one of the main institution of the italian cinema and the most important school for the future filmmakers is definitely the wrong place where to look for restoring the budget of a state, especially in a country like Italy where the cost of politics and bureaucracy is one of the highest in the world.
Now, the Italian National Film School students and faculty are protesting against this injustice. (more…)
Some of you are already aware that I brought 12 of the Columbia University producing students with me to Cannes this year. My goal was to demystify the event, and to give them a ground level tutorial so that if they end up coming back in any capacity, they could hit the ground running. I asked them to write up some of their experiences at the festival, and I’ll share links when they are posted. In the meantime, here is a great shot of the gang at the IFP party.
Scott Kirsner just informed me that videos of many of the panels at “The Conversation,” held at Columbia University back in March, are now available on line. Below is the video of my apparently controversial opening remarks, which many people interpreted as dashing the hopes and dreams of aspiring filmmmakers everywhere. But listen carefully to what I’m saying. It’s about pragmatism, not pessimism.
The following press release was meant to go out this coming September, but apparently a draft was accidentally left in a bar on Madison Avenue, and immediately found its way to the web.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 23, 2010
NEW SONY TELEVISIONS TO BE PROTECTED FROM PROBLEMATIC CONTENT
NBC UNIVERSAL PLATFORM NO LONGER SUPPORTED
Sony Corporation announced today that its new line of LCD televisions, to be introduced later this month, would have built-in protection against what it termed “problematic content.” Sir Howard Stringer, Sony’s Chairman, CEO and President said “Sony’s goal is to create an environment where consumers can trust that what they are getting is worthy of the TV set it is being played upon.” Right out of the box, all content from NBC Universal will be blocked due to what Sony is calling “its instability.”
In a lengthy public memo elaborating on the reasons for the new strategy, Stringer said, “Sony has had a long history of working with NBC. In fact, every TV we’ve ever built could get NBC programming. However, there are the issues of reliability, security and performance, and NBC’s programming fails on all three fronts. NBC’s late night schedule is just one example of why Sony has determined that the network is not a stable platform.”
In reponse to criticism that Sony is creating a “closed” platform, Stringer responded that (more…)
A few years ago, I was involved with a lovely little film called “Red Doors.” After a stint on the film festival circuit, we sold the film to a company called Polychrome Pictures, and that was when the trouble began. Let’s just say that the company never lived up to its obligations; never paid the advance, kept trying to renegotiate the deal, and on and on.
Finally Polychrome and its principals went bankrupt, and there is still pending litigation on behalf of a number of filmmakers who were also screwed by these folks.
Today I discovered that one of those filmmakers has posted all the transcripts of the bankruptcy hearings. It makes for fascinating reading (read from the bottom up). Check it out at http://kissesandcaroms.com/blog/?cat=1
Last week, I went to a conference at the Columbia Business School, and I saw a presentation by Columbia Professor and branding expert David Rogers. He was giving a summary of major themes the emerged from a recent branding conference that he organized. In the aftermath of “The Conversation” and “DIY Days,” I wanted to share these ideas with the indie film community as we grapple with our own branding strategies going forward. I’ll just tick off the major points here, and you’ll have to go to David’s blog to see the explanations.
1. Stop thinking of customers as individuals. Start thinking of them as networks.
There’s been a lot of speculative discussion lately about how to change the way films are booked into theaters. There have been experiments like Moviemobz in Brazil, and proposals like Critical Mass Ticketing from withoutabox. Screening request tools are being created by Brian Chirls and separately by the OpenIndie team. In that context, I thought I’d share the following link from the Emerging Cinemas venue in Key West, the Tropic Cinema. The article describes in great detail the complexity of booking an independent theater. Perhaps this can start a larger discussion about how to reconcile our urge to create new models of theatrical distribution with the realities of running a theater. Thanks to the Tropic for sharing this.
It seems that my kickoff speech at “The Conversation” had at least one comment that seems to be causing some distress. I said (quoting a business school professor) that “film has never been a business…it’s a hobby.” Let me clarify why I brought this up, and perhaps it will ease some of your minds.
First, I WAS QUOTING SOMEONE ELSE. As much as I don’t mind being provocative, this was the point of view of a third party, who was not judging the individuals in the room, but was making an observation that the creation of content has never been a good, consistent business…a hard concept to argue with.
My point in bringing it up was that as much as my entire life has been a quest for a business model that reconciles my urge to promote quality work with a need to make money, that goal has been nothing if not elusive. The biggest challenge we face as filmmakers and marketers is sustainability.
I also made another point, which is that success can only be measured relative to what you really want. The majority of serious filmmakers that I know are making films for reasons other than making money. They are expressing themselves through their art, or making a political point, or both. Does that constitute a hobby? Perhaps that’s too pointed a word. Some people have complained that it makes it seem frivolous. Again, it wasn’t my word.
Listening throughout the day to the various panels and speakers, I don’t see a clear through line to some new dawn. I see a lot of cross-currents that make me feel that such conversations are important, as much for batting around new ideas as for some kind of reality check.
I’ll have more thoughts about the cross-currents I was feeling, but that is for another day. Feel free to comment after the jump. (more…)
Warning: This post is only for complete gadget freaks, of which I am admittedly one.
The following is from one of my students at Columbia. This is an issue that all film lovers should be aware of. Please voice your words of protest as per the instructions below…
Some of you are already aware that I brought 12 of the Columbia University producing students with me to Cannes this year. My goal was to demystify the event, and to give them a ground level tutorial so that if they end up coming back in any capacity, they could hit the ground running. I asked them to write up some of their experiences at the festival, and I’ll share links when they are posted. In the meantime, here is a great shot of the gang at the IFP party.
The following press release was meant to go out this coming September, but apparently a draft was accidentally left in a bar on Madison Avenue, and immediately found its way to the web.
A few years ago, I was involved with a lovely little film called “
There’s been a lot of speculative discussion lately about how to change the way films are booked into theaters. There have been experiments like Moviemobz in Brazil, and proposals like Critical Mass Ticketing from withoutabox. Screening request tools are being created by Brian Chirls and separately by the OpenIndie team. In that context, I thought I’d share the following link from the Emerging Cinemas venue in Key West, the Tropic Cinema. The article describes in great detail the complexity of booking an independent theater. Perhaps this can start a larger discussion about how to reconcile our urge to create new models of theatrical distribution with the realities of running a theater. Thanks to the Tropic for sharing this.
It seems that my kickoff speech at “The Conversation” had at least one comment that seems to be causing some distress. I said (quoting a business school professor) that “film has never been a business…it’s a hobby.” Let me clarify why I brought this up, and perhaps it will ease some of your minds. 
