Guerrilla Filmmaking

INVENTING THE MOVIES a must read! (PART II)

CHAPTER 10. COMING TO TERMS WITH THE NET.

"In a suburb south of Los Angeles, it looked as though a band of cell-phone-obsessed nomads had set up camp in the parking lot surrounding an office complex: a small village of tents had sprung up overnight, and white trailers were parked in neat rows.

A yellow AMC Gremlin was being towed slowly around the neighborhood by a truck; inside the car were the actors Morgan Freeman and Paz Vega, and a movie camera was mounted on the bed of the truck to capture their conversation.

The movie they were making, 10 Items or Less, tells the story of a famous actor (Freeman) who enters and then alters the life of a convenience store cashier (Vega). It was fairly typical for a low-budget movie made without studio support: costs were being kept under $10 million, the shoot would be completed in just fifteen days, and the script didn’t call for any flashy visual effects or elaborate sets. (In 2006, when 10 Items was made, the average cost of producing a studio movie was $65 million.) It was also being shot on 35-millimeter film, like most movies of its vintage."

INVENTING THE MOVIES a must read!

Scott Kirsner is a journalist who writes about innovation, with a special focus on the ways that new technologies are changing the entertainment industry.

He writes regularly for Variety and The Boston Globe, and has been a contributing writer for Fast Company, BusinessWeek, and Wired. He edits the blog CinemaTech (est. 2005), and is the author of The Future of Web Video, one of the first books about the business and creative possibilities of online video, originally published in November 2006 and updated in March 2007. Scott’s writing has also appeared in the New York Times, The Hollywood Reporter, Salon, the San Jose Mercury News, and Newsweek, among other publications.

This is so far, the book of the year for me! Scott makes you understand the future of filmmaking, a lot of the stuff that's in the book is not new, but the way he analyzes the different phases of cinema starting from 1894 untill tomorrow it's simply fascinating.

He's been generous enough to share the introduction of his book with everybody, but also he's sharing one of the best chapters, the number 10th: Coming to Terms with the net.

Today I'll be sharing the introduction of his book that you could find in the next page. Tomorrow the amazing chapter 10th, so stay tuned.

IFP FILM WEEK COVERING: DIY Theatrical Distribution

• As audiences for films become more segmented, how can filmmakers work directly with art house and alternative venue programmers to showcase their latest content and bring audience back to the theatres? This session will bring together DIY filmmakers and programmers to discuss what works best to market, position and program independents films in art house theatres and alternative venues to maximize financial impact for both parties.

"The old model is broken, but it's still in place and the new model it's not fully functional" this was the conclusion of Wendy Lidell, president of International Film Circuit, in other words, we're in a moment of transition where the filmmaker, specially the guerrilla filmmaker, it's in absolute control, because the studio executives and the indie filmmakers don't know how to confront the new model, but for us nothing has changed, on the contrary, we have more resources.

The panelists: Karen Cooper, Director of the Film Forum, Ned Hinkle, Director of the Brattle Theater, Cynthia Swartz partner of 42 West PR and Cora Olson, Filmmaker. Brilliantly moderated by Mark Elijah, Founder of Rooftop Films.

Highlights of the panel down here

IFP FILM WEEK COVERING: No Budget, No Problem

• How can filmmakers utilize new technologies to get their next project budgeted, developed and completed for less time and money? Hear how filmmakers around the world are actively using new technologies and innovative cross platform collaboration for creative and financial gain to get their big ideas with small budgets off the ground and out to global audiences.

My favorite quote from the panel was "Technology is no substitute for craft" by Bryan Poyser, the rest of the panel was conformed by Barry Jenkins, Todd Rohal and Melissa Scaramucci, it was moderated by Gabe Wardell, Executive Director of the Atlanta Film Festival.

All the filmmakers agreed that the best way to start is starting! Bryan Jenkins said "Film is like a sport, you need to train to be good, and the only way to train is making films".

Funny how this entry is totally in the same line of yesterday's interview.

Here the highlights of the conference, boost the volume, I was kinda far.

NO BUDGET, NO PROBLEM Independent Film Week.

The IFP brings again the Independent Film Week between September 14th and 19th in NYC. With dozens of panels but only a handful designed to the Guerrilla Film Community I feel that we need our own Guerrilla Film Week, so while I plan this GFW that could take quite some time I will leave you here with the three panels that I think could be helpful for the Guerrilla Filmmakers out there...

Niche Marketing Tools As an audience for films become more segmented, how do savvy distributors, marketing execs and publicists suggest independent filmmakers build buzz for niche films, particularly online and through the use of alternative new media technologies, before their films hit the marketplace.

INDIE FILMS CRISIS? IT'S BULLSH*T! Stop the whining and Self-distribute

A few posts ago I started smirking while I was reading all this news about how indie films are in crisis, the reason is simple, now more than ever, the Guerrilla Fillmmaker has all the weapons to have a prolific career and live out of making films. Not that I'm happy about the Indie Film future, I just think it's a storm in a glass of water. A few years ago when all the big studios started to open independent divisions (Fox Searchlight, Warner Independent, Focus Features...) everybody was saying how the independent films were going down since they were not independent anymore, they were studio controlled too. Now that all that divisions are closing, there's another crisis because they are closing them?

Creativity, Uniqueness, Vision, Voice and very Low Budget

Reading the post from established screenwriter John August about his experience loosing his virginity, as a Director with the film The Nines: Sundance, The Nines, and the death of independent film make me smile, it was not a traumatic experience, maybe because since a few months ago my mindset as a screenwriter has been changing , or migrating to a territory called Guerrilla Filmmaking.

After reading John's post, I was more than convinced that maybe Independent Filmmaking is in a crisis, but Guerrilla Filmmaking (which is independent too) is not! Actually this is a perfect moment to do it...