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A short letter this week as we are ten days away from closing our new issue and I'm deep into our "25 New Faces" feature. I've got a ton of screeners, an email box full of recommendations, and a bunch of scripts (most of them in digital form, thankfully) to plow through. The challenge is never to simply find 25 cool up-and-coming filmmakers; there is always a lot of great work from inspiring young people if you look hard enough. The challenge is to balance the list with a diversity of work that references the different journeys independent filmmakers are traveling today. I'll admit to a bias towards people following very singular paths, those who are not submitting themselves to the uncertainties of the studio and specialty development and production system but who are inventing their own systems of support.
I guess "new models" is the business flipside to a filmmaker's "systems of support." Finding a new model for independent film production and distribution seems to be on everyone's mind right now. (For the record, I'm not so sure that the old model was that great or effective or remunerative, but it might have floated the dreams of some filmmakers a bit better than today's broken-down non-model does). I need to do some more thinking about the whole new model question. It's hard, though. As Jon Taplin has been writing for a while on his blog, we (as in American society) may be in an Interregnum -- a historical period when old models are dying and new models are unable to form. (Taplin is writing about economic growth and American democracy, but you can apply his basic argument to film too.) I guess the first thing you have to do when thinking about new models is to decide where to start. As a producer, is it about taking the economic components of the business (development, financing, production, marketing, distribution, exhibition) and rebalancing them in a way that matches your empirical take on the current landscape? Or is it about working backwards from the work itself? Maybe start by imagining the kind of film you-d want to see, and then figuring out how your business needs to reshape itself in order to support that work. What kind of overhead do you need (or not need)? What time horizons -- long or short -- should be planned for? Where would this work be seen, how and by whom? How does your own creative process need to shift in order to make it? What relationship to risk should you have, and can you afford it given the rest of your life? What level of energy do you need, and can you muster it? Should you seek to guide the creative process more, or allow for greater elements of chance and serendipity? That's a lot to think about... which is why I will go back to my pile of screeners. On a side note, this is the final week you can subscribe to Filmmaker and get the new "25 New Faces" issue in the mail. See you next week. Best, Scott Macaulay Editor IFP PROGRAM ALUMS SCREENING AT NYC FESTIVALS Top Discussions Film Calendar, DIY Distribution, Current Cinema |
Cyrus The Killer Inside Me I Am Love 8: The Mormon Proposition Lovers of Hate Wah Do Dem Video short from EditFest Ben Chace and Sam Fleischner, Wah Do Dem IFP: Alums at NYC fests Fest Deadlines Join our Forums To read more posts from our blog, click here. BEN CHACE AND SAM FLEISCHNER, WAH DO DEM With Jamaica in the American news again (just barely) due to the ongoing siege and popular counter resistance taking place surrounding the attempted U.S. extradition of alleged Jamaican drug kingpin and folk hero Christopher Coke, perhaps there is something timely about the release of Ben Chace and Sam Fleischner's Wah Do Dem. read more JUNE Anaheim International Film Festival Final Deadline: June 20 Late Deadline: June 30 Extended Deadline: July 7 Festival Dates: Oct. 13-17 Chicago International Film Festival Next Deadline: June 25 Final Deadline: July 12 Festival Dates: Oct 7-21 Harlem International Film Festival Next Deadline: June 25 Final Deadline: July 9 Festival Dates: Sept. 22-26 London Independent Film Festival Early Deadline: June 26 Final Deadline: March 5 Festival Dates: April 14-25 |