PHOTO STREAM: MORE SUNDANCE PHOTOS AND EVENTS

Producer Nekisa Cooper (Pariah) and the IFP’s deputy director Amy Dotson joined Chicken & Egg Pictures in Park City to honor WMM‘s Debra Zimmerman with the 2012 Good Egg Award.

Director Josh Radnor spoke about his film Liberal Arts, his experiences at Kenyon College, and David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest.

Sarah Barnett, the EVP of the Sundance Channel, and Nancy Klasky Gribler, the EVP of Marketing for Sundance Cinemas, caught up at the Sundance Channel’s party.

The cast of the new Sundance Channel television show, Push Girls.

The director (Leslye Headland, far left) and cast of Bachelorette in one of the more raucous Q&A portions I’ve witnessed.  Apparently some of the cast members (Rebel Wilson) had a bit too much to drink before the screening, and were finding it difficult to focus on the questions being asked. That’s okay though because Wilson made her love and respect for Headland obvious, while also admitting to loving Kirsten Dunst because she was in Bring It On.… Read the rest

IFP LABS: HOW TO MERCHANDISE EFFECTIVELY

By Dan Schoenbrun

A recurring topic all last week at IFP’s Marketing and Distribution Labs was how indie filmmakers can get the most out of their film’s release, both monetarily and in terms of marketing. Friday morning the conversation turned granular (but no less interesting) with lab leaders Jon Reiss, Amy Dotson, and Milton Tabbot discussing the pros and cons of various forms of merchandising.

Stressed repeatedly – the key thing to remember is that each film requires a distinct merchandising campaign. Think about your film’s core audience, and what kinds of products they would most likely be interested in. Then plan accordingly.

Here’s a list of merchandising opportunities that filmmakers should consider when taking their film out on the festival (or screening) circuit.

Sell DVDs at Screenings
If you’ve already had DVDs pressed by the time your film is screening, you should seriously consider selling them directly to the audience after the film. It’s a golden opportunity to reach fans directly, and one of the only instances where you’ll get to keep one hundred percent of the profits. Probably best not to sell at your festival premiere, but at subsequent theatrical screenings, it’s a tactic that could prove lucrative.

Important: If you’re in the process of negotiating DVD distribution, make sure to find out from the distributor if they’ll allow you to sell DVDs in this kind of scenario.

Equally important: You should make sure to negotiate a price below market value at which you can buy mass quantities of your DVD directly from the distributor.

Print Postcards, Business Cards, or Both
This will be essential to the marketing campaign surrounding your festival appearance(s). Make sure your postcards are visually appealing, and that they advertise the time and location of your screening. There was some debate this morning about whether postcards or business cards were ideal for this sort of marketing. Business cards, one filmmaker argued, are less likely to be discarded because of their wallet-friendly size. Whichever option you go with, make sure that your physical marketing materials clearly and effectively get the word out about your film, and about how … Read the rest

BLACKHOUSE FOUNDATION STRESSES STRATEGY AND COMMUNITY IN THE FESTIVAL PROCESS

By Dan Schoenbrun

Last night at HSBC’s corporate headquarters in New York, The Blackhouse Foundation celebrated the launch of the 2012 film festival season with a networking event and panel discussion focused on festival strategy.  Now in its fifth year, Blackhouse is a non-profit organization set up to support communities of black filmmakers throughout the festival process. The Foundation has had a presence at many of the top North American festivals, including Sundance, Tribeca, Toronto, and the LA Film Festival.

Blackhouse exists to help black filmmakers at all stages in their careers, a fact made clear by the event’s attendees. The talent in the room ranged from NYU film students in production on their theses to up-and-coming documentarians like Michael Brown (whose first feature 25 to Life is currently in post production).  Also in attendance were more established filmmakers such as Gun Hill Road director Rashaad Ernesto Green and Precious producer Lisa Cortes (who also serves on Blackhouse’s board.)

A sense of community pervaded over the proceedings. And indeed, the importance of such a community was stressed during the night’s panel discussion. Blackhouse co-founder Carol Ann Shine spoke of the sheer number of filmmakers competing for shelf space in today’s film festival environment. She stressed that filmmakers should align themselves with organizations such as Blackhouse, stating that “having a community behind you, or a village so to speak, really does help.”

Meanwhile panelists Basil Tsiokos of the Sundance Film Festival, Cara Cusumano of the Tribeca Film Festival, and Amy Dotson of IFP discussed what filmmakers can do to make sure that their submissions stand out from the masses. Dotson stressed the importance of a compelling artistic statement, one that captures the passion behind the filmmaking process. “I want to know you as a person,” she explained. “That you’re not in this for a hobby.” Cusumano recommended reaching out to programmers directly, arguing that “people think the process is impenetrable. It isn’t.” She even stated that she appreciates it when filmmakers deliver their submissions to her in person, then stick around to chat with for five minutes. Tsiokos reacted to this statement with bewilderment – … Read the rest

ALL OVER BUT THE PAELLA: EVEN MORE IFW SNAPSHOTS

By Dan Schoenbrun

Independent Film Week wrapped up last night with a closing night party swankier than most of us in the non-profit indie film world are used to. There were lobster rolls. There was paella (seriously, more paella in one place than I’ve seen over my entire life.) And there were three-hundred underfed indie filmmakers. Not a bad deal

This was my third time at Film Week, and easily the best. Over five days, we hosted 2,200 filmmaker/industry meetings, as well as a conference, a screening series and a boatload of other special events. Here are some final photographic highlights:

Writer/Director Thomas Hyungkyun Kim pitches his screenplay The Singing Road during Project Forum on Wednesday morning.

The Sundance Film Festival’s David Courier, IFP’s Amy Dotson, WithoutaBox’s Christian Gaines, and the Sarasota Film Festival’s Tom Hall at Wednesday’s Festival Forum, a meeting of the minds and roundtable discussion for film festival programmers and executive directors.

Actor/Writer/Director/Musician Ryan O’Nan, whose The Brooklyn Brothers Beat the Best premiered earlier this month at TIFF, presents the design for a promotional 7-inch record during a marketing workshop.

Filmmaker David Lowery (St. Nick, the upcoming Ain’t Them Bodies Saints) hits the lanes at Wednesday night’s Brooklyn Bowl party in Williamsburg.

Well, that’s all I’ve got. To all the filmmakers, industry, staff, volunteers, and anyone else who attended this week – I hope y’all had as rad a time as I did!… Read the rest

13 TAKEAWAYS FROM THE IFP NARRATIVE LAB

By Scott Macaulay

The recently concluded IFP Narrative Lab was a dense week of study and mentorship as our participating filmmakers, all with films somewhere between rough and fine cut, were given guidance about picture lock, sound design, scoring and music licensing, festival strategy, distribution deals, and DIY, self and hybrid distribution efforts. Amy Dotson and Rose Vincelli from the IFP did a fantastic job of putting the program together. Susan Stover, Jon Reiss and I were the lab leaders. In addition, an inspiring group of editors, filmmakers, producers and industry vets came in to lend their expertise.

At the end of the Lab I emailed Susan and Jon and asked them to tell me a few things they’d want to stress. Along with a couple of my own, below is that list. It’s not a summary of the week by any means. Rather, these are 13 points, some obvious and some not, that we wanted to emphasize one more time.
Understand Your Goals. Why did you make this film? To tell a personal story? To experiment artistically? To score a commercial success? To break into the industry? Some combination of the above? Understand your own reasons for making the film, and try to make sure that you are aligned with collaborators in the post, sales, distribution and marketing spheres who understand that vision and are working towards it with you.

Or… Make Sure Your Film Knows What It Is. Another way of saying the above — make sure your film knows what it is and is comfortable in its own skin. Is it a flashy commercial proposition or an intriguingly reticent festival flick? Make sure to have an understanding of the current film ecosystem and know where your film sits on the food chain, who its natural audience is, and who its potential supporters will be.

Make the Best Film You Can. A seemingly obvious point, but one that can be hard to achieve. Have you cut short your creative options because you’ve rushed to meet a festival deadline? Or, even worse, is your festival premiere your first test screening? Have you … Read the rest