I’m part of a Shooting People team teaching a workshop on how filmmakers can best use the web at the Frontline Club in London on Saturday, July 4th. The workshop will include case studies on films that have harnessed the power of the web, tips on using social media, and online strategy and resources for filmmakers. If you’re looking for help distributing and marketing your film online then Digital Bootcamp is for you! I’m working on some lovely slides for…

I’m really excited to see Brett Gaylor’s Girl Talk documentary, RiP: A Remix Manifesto, which recently won the audience award at IDFA. The more I read and learn about Creative Commons, debates around fair use and the amazing work of people like Lawrence Lessig and Cory Doctorow, the more I realize what a vital debate this is to be having at this time. The ability to re-use and re-mix has always been part of our creativity. With innovations in technology…

I’m at the second and final day of The Conversation today. I’ve been too busy to blog but you can follow updates from me and other attendees on Twitter. I’ll post an update when footage from the panels is put online. Lots of good ideas coming up that should be shared.

Just a heads up that I am also blogging over on the Shooting People TOOLS blog about the new(ish) digital, webbified world of production and distribution. Check it out for a link to download the Shooting People/BAFTA Short Sighted book of contacts for filmmakers making shorts (including some tips for filmmaking in a Web2.0 world written by moi), plus lots of other good stuff: most recently links to the Peter Broderick indieWIRE articles on new distribution strategies and The Film…

I’m moderating this panel on Monday at 10am at the Conference during Independent Film Week. If you want to find out where the money is, and I know that you do!, please stop by. FILMMAKING 2.0 Show Me the New Money Where do you begin when navigating the wide variety of traditional and new media services, sites and opportunities being promoted to assist filmmakers in raising money? How do these tools and services differ from traditional private equity and film…

It has been so frustrating not having time to blog about all the films and other events I attended at HotDocs and then Tribeca. Work has foiled me every time. It has just been a nutty couple of weeks – full of good things but no time to sit and think and write. Yesterday I got home and was so tired that I watched the end of Music and Lyrics and then the end of Just My Luck before crashing…

Marc Andreessen has written an interesting post about how the writer’s strike may accelerate a shift of power from the studios to the talent. He argues that the entertainment industry is shifting toward the entrepreneurial model of Silicon Valley which means that the creators will also be the owners of their product. I think many of the points he makes are very prescient but all this talk about free this and free that glosses over the time and talent that…

I discovered the Whole Earth Catalog when I was at college and working in a small independent bookstore in Brighton in the UK. The catalog was originally published in 1968 and contained a wealth of information from books to tools to classes and beyond. It had a joyful DIY, countercultural feel and every page contained huge amounts of amazing ideas. I discovered Buckminster Fuller through Whole Earth and immersed myself in his ideas about “whole systems.” Whole Earth had a…

If you haven’t checked out Lance Weiler’s Workbook Project yet then go there now because it is fast becoming an invaluable toolbox for indie filmmakers. The Workbook Project describes itself as “a social open source experiment for content creators” and Wired Magazine have called Weiler “One of twenty-five people helping to re-invent entertainment and change the face of Hollywood.” Here’s more about it from the site: Our goal is to create a free resource for content creators that will become…

Tomorrow Unlimited, a bunch of very creative people who used to be involved with RES, are putting on “a weekend showcase of emerging creativity and ideas” here in New York June 8-10. The Series then moves to Los Angeles June 14-17. One of their panels is on participatory filmmaking: If anyone can be a director now, what happens when everyone’s a director? Matt Hanson, Martin Percy and Chris Doyle will all be participating. I’m particularly interested to hear what digital…