Interviewing Elmo

Just got back from the Traverse City Film Festival, Michael Moore’s exemplary use of film exhibition to educate, enlighten and grow a community. Michael and the festival’s incredible Executive Director Deb Lake, asked me to moderate Q&As and panels, and I was glad to oblige. The filmmakers and audiences were enthusiastic and made for a number of great events. My personal favorite was a panel discussion with the entire filmmaking team behind the film “Being Elmo,” the story of Kevin Clash, the man who created the Elmo character on “Sesame Street.” Here is a quick snippet of a moment in the panel, when I actually got to interview Elmo. This was recorded by a cell phone in the front row, so forgive the sound quality.

If you want to hear the entire panel (with great sound quality), it is also available below (courtesy of Interlochen NPR Radio).

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Looking Back at the Last 15 Years of Distribution

The video below is of a panel that I participated in last weekend at the Film Society of Lincoln Center. It was in honor of the 15th anniversary of indieWIRE and the idea was to reflect on the changes that the film distribution business has undergone during that 15 year period. In spite of the large number of people on the panel, a lot of information was discussed. It was fun seeing all these people in one place (and several other prominent folks in the audience) especially because we’ve all worked together at one time or another. Anyway, enjoy!

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Marty Zeidman – A Small Tribute

This past Sunday morning, was the memorial service for Marty Zeidman at the Landmark Sunshine Theater in Manhattan. For those of you who didn’t know Marty, he was a very well-liked and respected film distribution guy, who is commonly credited as having helped to bring independent films more into the mainstream.

Back when I was at Fine Line, I was increasingly frustrated by the fact that New Line distribution, which was handling Fine Line’s films, was sacrificing our product in order to placate their big chain customers. In other words, our films were booked into the wrong types of theaters so that New Line could get “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3” on the right screens. I finally convinced the powers that be that we should take distribution in house, and I put out the word out on the street that I was looking for someone to run it. Bert Manzari, then of Landmark Theaters, called me to suggest that I talk to Marty Zeidman, who had recently left Miramax. Continue reading “Marty Zeidman – A Small Tribute”

Kickstarter Project Support

Like many of you, I have mixed feelings about Kickstarter campaigns that are helping to finance micro-budgeted films. On the one hand, it’s great that so many projects are finding the necessary financing through this simple, but apparently effective mechanism. On the other hand, I am inundated with requests to donate by the many people I have encountered in my years in the business. I simply cannot afford to donate to every film that comes along, and I don’t want to have to spend the time evaluating the projects, or the emotional stress of choosing among friends.

Therefore, I have decided that the way I will help support these projects is to dedicate some small amount of real estate on this web site to support one project at a time. As soon as each project’s deadline passes, I will replace it with another. By focusing on one project at a time, I will hopefully help a worthy film get off the ground.

Right now, I’m helping to promote a documentary called “Growing Small.” You can learn more about it by checking it out in the right hand column—>

If you want to be next, just drop me a line by clicking here. Please don’t Facebook me, or Google+ me or email me bat my business address. Just use the designated link above. Don’t expect any acknowledgement or discussion. Whatever somehow strikes my fancy will end up being promoted here for a period of time. It’s a very small contribution, but makes me feel like I can do a little something to help.

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Tech Test Completed

Check this out…We just completed a test of the technology we are using to do a live Q&A with participants in the UK and Australia, that will be broadcast live into Emerging Cinemas venues this Saturday morning. The film is “Third Star,” which will be screened at 11am Eastern time as part of the “From Britain With Love” series, followed by the Q&A with the director from Sydney and one of the cast members and the writer from London. In NY the screening will be at the new Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center. For other locations, check out the Emerging Cinemas web site. Or if you can’t make it to the theaters, you can watch the Q&A live at www.tinyurl.com/britfilmlive at approximately 12:40.

Here’s what the test looked like. That’s me standing in for the director.

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A Theatrical Showcase Points the Way

For a very long time, I’ve been proselytizing to just about anyone who would listen about how digital projection could change the way we think about a theatrical release. While most people in the industry focus on cost savings, which can be substantial over time, I’ve been fascinated with the disruptive element–the fact that our entire notion of what constitutes the traditional theatrical model has been built around the economics of shipping these precious items called “prints” around. These assets, once bought, beg to be used as often as possible to justify their cost. Yet, every time the print is run through a projector it is deteriorating, and constantly at risk of being severely damaged. Switching from one film to another in the projection booth is a clunky process of splicing and unsplicing reels, subjecting the prints to even further potential damage. It’s not for nothing that the budgets for theatrical release are called P&A, indicating that the budget for prints has a prominence that is equal to or greater than any other part of the distribution budget. Continue reading “A Theatrical Showcase Points the Way”

Digital Projection WILL NOT Convert Art Houses Right Out of Existence!

There has been a lot of discussion recently among the mission-driven, independent art houses in the U.S. regarding the transition to digital. The art houses are stuck between a rock and a hard place due to the cost of DCI compliant (studio approved) equipment that would be necessary to show such cash cows as “Black Swan” or “The King’s Speech” — equipment that the art houses simply can’t afford — while the vast majority of the real indie movies that they play are not available in that format. Further angst is caused by the sense that it is only a matter of a few years before there simply are no more 35mm prints available. In the midst of a lot of doom and gloom, Russ Collins, the Executive Director of the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor and a leader of the Art House Convergence wrote the following guest blog…

By Russ Collins

Maybe I’m just too much of an optimist. Instead of seeing digital cinema as a harbinger of Art House doom I see it as an exciting opportunity. Digital conversion AND the preservation of celluloid exhibition formats are, to me, soluble issues that will be most effectively addressed by “new model” community-based, mission-driven Art House cinemas. Digital cinema can provide wider, quicker access to both historic and contemporary cinema repertoire and is much more accommodating to local filmmakers. Additionally, we get the benefit of digital restoration on wonderful old celluloid movies. Continue reading “Digital Projection WILL NOT Convert Art Houses Right Out of Existence!”

Columbia Producers Are Coming to Cannes

For the second time, the entire second-year Creative Producing class from Columbia University will be coming to the Cannes Film Festival. The purpose of the trip is to have them witness first hand how the business operates, and to demystify the world’s most prestigious film event. Below is a photo of most of them in Sandra Schulberg’s Feature Film Financing class, the day that Ted Hope (the guy in the middle)was the guest speaker. Memorize those faces and say hi to them on the Croisette.

photo by Sandra Schulberg

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It’s All About Collaboration

One of the many unique attributes of the Columbia University Graduate Film Program is our emphasis on collaboration. So I found it particularly gratifying to see how many of the films that will be showing at this year’s film festival are collaborations between student directors and student producers. Here are a few interviews with the producer/director teams:

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HP’s Big Mistake

Anyone who knows me well, knows that I simply don’t do Apple. I’m not going to go into all the reasons here because today I want to rant about another company, HP.

As you can read elsewhere in my blog, my current smartphone is a Palm Pre +. I love just about everything about it, but with enough frustrations and nitpicks that I was recently flirting with the idea of switching to an Android device. I looked at the Motorola Droid Pro, which has a profile that is almost perfect for my needs (physical keyboard is a must), but switching to Verizon means losing international compatibility and the ability to be on line and on the phone at the same time. Continue reading “HP’s Big Mistake”