Shooting People and DCTV bring you a great new event to kick off 2010. You don’t want to miss this!

Are you confused about all the different digital options when it comes to distribution for your film? You are not alone! The web has given us many more opportunities for getting our films in front of audiences but it can be a minefield for filmmakers trying to navigate the new terrain.

Join us for a masterclass with Matt Dentler, head of programming and marketing for Cinetic Rights Management (CRM). Dentler will explain the latest in digital distribution and what he looks for when seeking films to distribute. He’ll also gaze into his crystal ball and tell us what to expect in the future. If you are currently making or distributing a film you can’t afford to miss this. It’s the perfect start to a new year of savvy filmmaking!

About Matt Dentler & Cinetic Rights Management:

Matt Dentler is the head of programming and marketing for Cinetic Rights Management, a New York-based company that releases independent films into the digital marketplace on broadband and cable VOD worldwide. Prior to that, he spent five years producing the SXSW Film Conference & Festival in Austin.

Through its label “FilmBuff,” CRM brings audiences the latest, greatest and classic festival favorites from around the globe. FilmBuff delivers the festival and arthouse experience to audiences via portals such as iTunes, Hulu, Netflix, Amazon, SnagFilms, Time Warner Cable, Comcast, and more.

Monday, January 11th, 7:30pm
DCTV, 87 Lafayette Street, NYC

Tickets available via Brown Paper Tickets – just $8 for Shooting People members!

Scott Kirsner’s CinemaTech blog is always a great place to find out about technical innovations in the film world and now he was written a book, Fans, Friends and Followers: Building an Audience and a Creative Career in the Digital Age, that compiles interviews with artists doing great and interesting things with their work and includes lots of useful content for filmmakers in search of an audience (yes, that means you!).

In the introduction Kirsner introduces us to the New Rules:

We’ve entered into what I call the era of digital creativity. In this era, artists have the tools to make anything they can envision, inexpensively…They can build teams and collaborate across great distances, bridging divides of language and culture. They can cultivate an audience and communicate with it regularly, carrying it (or at least a segment of it) with them from one project to another. And they can take control over the transaction, whether it is selling a work of art on eBay, a book through Amazon, or a ticket to a live performance via Brown Paper Tickets.

If you are a glass-half full type, you’ve already realized that the era of digital creativity presents incredible opportunities. You can do what you love, reach an audience, and earn some money. What starts off as a small fan base can quite suddenly go global, enabling you to quit your day job and earn a solid living.

The flip side is that there has never been a noisier, more competititve time to try to make art, entertain people, and tell stories. Everyone is doing it, and so there is an incredible surplus of content in every art form.

In 2000, 973 full-length films were submitted to the Sundance Film Festival, generally considered the best platform for launching a new indie movie. By 2008, that number had risen to 3,624. (Just 121 were accepted.)

And to that I would add that most of those 121 did not receive any kind of traditional distribution offer!

Kirsner includes a list of useful strategies, things he learned while interviewing people for the book (eg. Create Opportunities for Participation, Understand the Power of the Link, Choose the Platforms You’re Going to Use). Some of these strategies may sound obvious but it’s one thing to say them and quite another to actually do them.

The interviews are divided into five sections: Film & Video, Music, Visual Arts, Writing, and Comedy & Magic. The Film & Video section includes interviews with a diverse range of people including: Sandi DuBowski, Robert Greenwald, Ze Frank, Steve Garfield, and Gregg and Evan Spiridellis (JibJab Media).

There’s also a useful reference section in the back with a bunch of great links and some supplemental reading, including links to smart people like Kevin Kelly, Lance Weiler, and Clay Shirky.

You can download a 35-page sample of Fans, Friends & Followers on Kirsner’s website and order the book there too. Or buy it from Amazon using the link below.

Another great event for future-minded Shooters.

EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT ENDS THIS FRIDAY 12TH SEPTEMBER!
Register now to save 25% off the full ticket price.We’re bringing together pioneering visionaries, filmmakers and entrepreneurs who are changing the way that independent films are financed, created and reach audiences. This year’s speakers who will be participating at both the Conference and the Workshop Sessions include:

YOMI AYENI, Creative Director, Expanding Universe
ARIN CRUMLEY, Award-winning Filmmaker
ADAM ERLEBACHER, Co-Founder, PlaceVine
JAMIE KING, Filmmaker and Digital Rights Activist
BRIAN NEWMAN, President, Tribeca Film Institute
SARA POLLACK, Manager Film & Animation, YouTube
SLAVA RUBIN, Co-Founder, IndieGoGo
M DOT STRANGE, Award-winning Filmmaker
LANCE WEILER, Award-winning Filmmaker and Digital Innovator

For details about the programme and updates on speakers please visit:

www.powertothepixel.com/category/london-forum-2008

We’re doing a bit of a catch-up on things that have been happening in the blogosphere over the past few weeks and wanted to draw your attention to this piece by Noah Harlan on the Filmmaker Magazine blog – written after he returned from the Sundance Producer’s Lab. In it he addresses online, ad-supported business models and comes to the conclusion that “In an ad-based model you would need a minimum of at least 800,000 viewers and possibly as many as 3.3 million just to break even.” Give it a read and make sure to read the comments – there are interesting thoughts from people like Jan Rofekamp (FilmsTransit), Doug Block (D-Word) and Scott Kirsner (CinemaTech).

We blogged earlier about Laure Parson’s excellent new blog on digital distribution. She has recently relaunched the site with even more resources for filmmakers including a list of online markets and a discussion board. The latest interviews on the blog include Doug Block, Sujewa Ekanayake, Caachi, IndiePix and Shooting People’s Ingrid Kopp. This is a great resource for folk trying to get a handle on all the latest distribution options. If you find this helpful be sure to check out Lance Weiler’s Workbook Project too.

From the Tribeca Film Institute’s website:

The Tribeca Film Institute asked Intelligent Television to launch an examination of the current economics of independent film and video distribution in the United States to help producers, distributors, and funders better understand current realities and trends in the film and video distribution market.  This study, supported in part by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, is intended to be of mainstream value—documentary films and education film and television remain popular, and education ranks high among the subjects American viewers watch online, tied in popularity with music, after news and comedy. “The Economics of Film and Video Distribution in the Digital Age” (PDF Download) thus investigates current financing models for independent educational media, the revenue that such film and video productions have realized from sales and licensing, and the potential for alternative models of video and film distribution in the digital age.

Have you had a look at the films in The YouTube Screening Room yet? Launched in June, the Screening Room is a curated space that allows you to watch 4 new films every second Friday – many of them films that have played at film festivals like I Met The Walrus. Brent Hoff from Wholphin explains why this is such a great thing, as the Screening Room facilitates “an explosion of community. . . based solely on what people love.”

Sara Pollack, Film Manager at YouTube, wrote about her thoughts about the role of YouTube and digital distribution back in May in The Independent:

We’re starting to see ever more sophisticated uses of the medium, from major studios as well as indepen-dent film-makers. Of course, most people simply put their finished work on YouTube to promote their films and to make some money from advertising. But many are putting experimental ideas on the site to gauge the reaction and refine their plans, while others have used viewer feedback to determine where in the world to arrange showings when distribution budgets are tight. The point is that film-makers are involving the viewer in every stage of the process – from ideas-generation, to editing, to distribution.

Movie-making has always been about collaboration. But the new kinds of interactivity we’re seeing are blurring the division between fans and film-makers. Look at m.strange’s We Are the Strange, which viewers have translated into 17 different languages; look at

Four Eyed Monsters, which is about the couple who made it and how they met on a social networking site, and which has drawn so many video responses from viewers that they’ve edited their favourites into a follow-up film.

The mainstream is catching on. After its success online, Four Eyed Monsters got a DVD release, and after 32 million views, an amateur nature film called Battle at Kruger has been adapted for an hour-long National Geographic special

There’s an interesting article on Digital Journal about Cinetic Rights Management, including an interview with Janet Brown and Matt Dentler from the company. Many of you may have heard of Cinetic but CRM is a new addition to the company, focusing specifically on exploiting digital rights which means they will be able to leverage films that aren’t going to get traditional theatrical or television distribution. This is what CRM say they can offer the filmmaker/producer on their website:

• Pioneering sales negotiation and strategy
  
• Digital encoding logistics
  
• Committed grassroots marketing
  
• Collated accounting and reporting

From the article:

“We act as a conduit for these smaller films that don’t have a fighting chance to compete with blockbusters,” notes Matt Dentler, a sales agent for one-year-old CRM. Dentler knows all too well about plucky indie films — his last job was director of the well-respected South by Southwest film festival. “Big budget films dominate the market, while other films don’t have the manpower to support a $20 million marketing budget.”

So how can an indie film attract eyeballs before its release? CRM is pursuing deals with various portals, although Brown is tight-lipped about specifics. Dentler mentioned the firm will try to get word-of-mouth buzz to prominent bloggers, while also embracing online-video campaigns to release scenes, outtakes and trailers on various media. Some strategies may involve podcast interviews with directors; others may use offline screenings to help build momentum. “These aren’t new tools,” Dentler admits, “but we’ll apply them correctly to the films that best fit them.”

Brown says CRM will focus on all films where the digital rights are cleared. Back catalogue titles can be spread virally, as well, such as the 1994 classic Hoop Dreams. Dentler envisions those kinds of films garnering new audiences. “There are younger fans who have never seen Hoop Dreams so if they heard about it online, maybe they’d want to rent it somewhere,” he says.

“We bring a specialized skill set,” Brown says. “We get these films to audiences who want to see them.”

Easier said than done. CRM is trying to stay on top of social media and blogosphere trends in order to give producers a much-needed digital boost. But it has to promote films online without irritating Web surfers and give audiences something fresh and exciting. The real challenge to promote a new film comes when the public is being bombarded by billboards and trailers from the major studios, stiff-arming less expansive campaigns by smaller films.

“The easiest way to not go viral is to try going viral,” Dentler says, half-laughing. “There’s no perfect science in how to market and brand films. We’re hopeful our deals with major portals will lead to a satisfying and enjoyable experience for everyone – filmmakers, studios and movie fans.