Your web presence is waiting

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A website is not enough. Not anymore.

Today, independent filmmakers need to be everywhere and do everything: Facebook, Twitter, Vimeo, Youtube, blog, maintain a mailing list, upload a gallery, operate a shop, display a trailer, Kickstarter, Tugg, etc. Etc.

In two words, you need a web presence.

Oh, and by the way, write and produce a killer film in your spare time.

What if you could concentrate on your craft and hand over the heavy-lifting of your web presence to someone else? Enter assemble.me

This New Zealand outfit has it figured out. Their offerings expand as your project travels from development, to funding and production, to festivals and exploitation. See all the features.

Says James Franklin,

“My take is that people are getting there and we’re seeing projects succeed. But I think the issues are not around the economic model but rather if filmmakers have the ability or the appetite to do this themselves — that’s the elephant in the room!”

Their pricing is a mix of set up and monthly fees, ranging from $500 to $3000 and $19 to $99 monthly. Pay nothing until your site is ready to go live.

My take: worth checking out. Sure, you’ve got to pay but, as they say, you’ve got to spend money to make money. You’ve got the dollars for marketing in your budget, right? It’s Show Business, baby!

Yet another reason to choose Indiegogo

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Crowd-funding is a lot of work.

First of all, it’s a full-time job creating and maintaining your campaign. (Forget for a moment the all the work of putting your project together and then actually making it.) Now you’ve got to fulfill all those perks you promised your backers.

Indiegogo wants to help you.

“Today we’re launching our Film Fulfillment Program, which will provide Indiegogo campaigners streamlined access to free or discounted rates on film distribution and fulfillment services with our program partners, VHX and Yekra.”

Check out VHX and Yekra to learn more.

Then see the special deals Indiegogo has brokered for you. Sign up through the links at the bottom of the page.

My take: kudos to Indiegogo for smoothing things out for indie filmmakers!

Indie Koala shows the way

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From Canada’s capital comes a bold adventure in indie self-distribution.

It’s called Indie Koala.

“We are three Ottawa independent filmmakers who are passionate about making, watching and promoting indie films and indie filmmaking and we started this service in April 2013 because we couldn’t find a site that was artist-run and was a one-stop-shop for local independent content.”

Taking their cue from the belief ‘Think Global, Act Local,’ three Ottawa filmmakers have created an online exhibition space for independent films, boot-strapping VimeoPro‘s pay-to-rent capability.

Nevertheless, the majority of their shorts are free to watch.

My take: kudos for b(r)anding together!

One reason to choose Indiegogo: Outpost

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Indiegogo has recently broadened the crowd-funding landscape by promising to allow producers to host their campaigns on their own websites.

It’s called Indiegogo Outpost.

You’ll be able to mirror your campaign in two places: on Indiegogo and on your own website.

Here’s a high-profile example: Matthew Arnold and Freddie Wong’s Video Game High School Season 3 on Indiegogo and at Rocket Jump.

My take: if you have a well-trafficked website, it makes sense to appeal directly to your audience, rather than to first send them over to Indiegogo. One more way to increase the power of your brand.

$10K to show ‘Movies Matter’

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The CFC‘s Reel Challenge is back.

This year they want you to show how movies matter to Canada.

“In 2011, the film and television sector supported 262,700 full time equivalent jobs, while contributing over $5 billion to the Canadian economy through production and distribution alone. From special effects studios and soundstages that create jobs, to film festivals that bring in tourists and all of the jobs and people that are supported by the film industry, movies are more than just entertainment.”

The rules: keep it clean and under 60 seconds. There are no categories this time.

The prize: $10K to the winner, $5K to the runner up.

The deadline: Sunday, January 26 at 11:59 PM EST.

The details: here.

My take: Always fun! Nice that they’ve limited them to one minute. Enter if you’ve got the chops. Disclosure: I am not bitter for not winning with my animation: Right to Copy.

Sundance by the numbers: not pretty

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Cultural Weekly has released a sobering infographic asking ‘Are Indies the 8th Studio?’

Analyzing Sundance data from 2014, they conclude that the 4,000 plus feature films submitted had combined budgets of over $3 billion, making Independent Film the ‘Eighth Studio’.

“There are seven major movie studios: Warner Bros., Disney, Universal, Sony/Columbia, Lionsgate, 20th Century Fox, and Paramount. Can we now reasonably call independent filmmakers the Eighth Studio, because their aggregate production expenses clearly put them in the major studio league?”

The sobering news? Sadly, less than 2% of that money is ever recouped.

In other words, more than 98% of that money is, I won’t say ‘lost’ but rather, locked up in the produced films. I believe the goal of the new mediascape is to find a way to unlock this value.

Other insights: the odds are four times better on getting a feature into Sundance than a short. And the supply of new films continues to rise in spite of flat demand from Sundance.

Check out a hi-res version of the infographic.

My take: if you’re going to spend real money making a film, you need a serious business plan outlining how you’ll recoup it. Something radical that goes straight to your viewers, perhaps skipping festivals and traditional distribution channels. Or, don’t spend real money.

The new 10 commandments of low budget filmmaking

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Elliot Grove and the Raindance Film Festival have issued ten new commandments of low (no) budget filmmaking.

They are:

  1. Thou shalt have a fantastic screenplay.
  2. Thou shalt understand keywords and SEO tools.
  3. Thou shalt secure some development finance.
  4. Thou shalt spend proper time in pre-production.
  5. Thou shalt understand the shoot and exploit it to maximum advantage.
  6. Thou shalt not fix it in Post-Production.
  7. Thou shalt clear all music in your film.
  8. Thou shalt prepare professional publicity and marketing materials.
  9. Thou shalt use film festivals to launch your film.
  10. Thou shalt create a distribution strategy.

See the annotated version.

My take: I can get behind all of these except number nine. Seems to me that’s really part of number 10. Not having much, if any success, at film festivals, I’m not convinced. I guess what I really need is a paid-for-performance film festival agent. Any suggestions?

CineVic presents SOULstice

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If you’re in Victoria and looking for something to do on Saturday night, come on down to the Victoria Event Centre on Broad Street for CineVic’s SOULstice.

The first half of the evening is the Film Festivus: Silent Night screening.

“The challenge: Filmmakers make an under-6 minute film in 5 weeks in the spirit of the holidays. This year the screening will be called Film Festivus: Silent Night, and you guessed it—we’re challenging you to make a silent film. No dialogue, no sound effects, no foley. Just your winter story and an instrumental soundtrack. You can go for the classic black & white look or dazzle us with full-on technicolour. Title cards are permitted for traditionalists. The theme for the films is: ‘The Longest Night of the Year.'”

Music and dancing to the The Garden City Soul Club rounds out the evening.

My take: the films are usually top-notch. I made one a couple of years ago; see Sad Santa, Glad Santa.

Disclaimer: I sit on the board of CineVic.