• A worrisome disconnect

  • Posted on 13th Dec
  • Category:

  A long story for a short post. Don’t ask me why, but I’ve been meeting with hedge fund managers a lot lately, as well as other smart investment banker types who are all smarter than me or anyone I know, especially (if only?) when it comes to economic issues. They are all apoplectic about the future. Not a little worried, I’m talking buy a home in the middle of nowhere, buy a gun and fend off the mutinying hordes kind of shit. Raise a billion dollars to capitalize on the possible future failure of the EU, the Euro and then probably everyone on earth except China and Brazil (who might just slow down, if we’re lucky). The conversations are pretty open, and if there’s more than one “money guy” in the room, they’re not arguing over the disaster to come, just how to profit from it, or avoid some pain.Let me be clear – NO ONE debates this potential reality, just how to profit from it.

  I’m not being hyperbolic when I say that hanging out with them can cause pulling of hair and gnashing of teeth. You literally leave the “party” worrying about your future; but having none, you just give up and settle into a despair some might call existential if anyone existed anymore who said anything interesting like that.

  Then I meet with people in the film, music and arts worlds. None of this is mentioned. If I bring this up, they laugh nervously and say something like “Oh, things are still bad, and that’s why we’re seeing things like OWS, but I think it will all work out. My donations are up this year.”

  I don’t know. Maybe I’m crazy. Maybe I’m pessimistic (lets not get me started on how pessimists are always optimistic, it’s a phrase…), maybe I’m like a blogging version of Michael Fucking Shannon in Take Shelter and am having a nervous goddamn meltdown. That is a reasonable assumption actually, but no…I’m thinking that wishful thinking comes from us here in the arts, not from those more ensconced in the business side of things. Also known as reality.

  There’s a big disconnect between those of us in this world and that one. I’d love to think that this one will win. I’m more sure that one will prove true, and while that in and of itself may make a better world, history is against us on all counts. If you aren’t thinking about how this might, and let’s just pretend it’s a big “might” for now, impact your future, then let’s just agree that you are potentially ignoring a very big, uncomfortable, very possible truth. Those of us in “this” world (the arts) should be thinking about this possible future and what it might mean. Best case, we have fun running apocalyptic scenarios on our future; worst case, we’ve wrestled with gun-ownership issues we thought were worth leaving to right-wing-nuts. Either way, we’ll all be in a better place tomorrow, and perhaps we can build a better system for that future regardless of what it might bring. Doing the usual thing, which is ignoring this disconnect (as we seemed to be doing in the run up to September, 2008), doesn’t seem to be the most prudent action.

• The Window Project at GSU

  • Posted on 7th Dec
  • Category:

  Georgia State University (GSU) in Downtown, Atlanta has sent out this call for submissions. I don’t usually post these, but this is a really cool opportunity for media artists, and you can’t believe the foot traffic that goes by here in what is otherwise a car-town. Check out the info below and submit something cool:

  Now accepting submissions for The Window Project.

  See a previous installation of this unique space in this short video:

  http://vimeo.com/28944126

  The submission process is on-going. Each installation will be screened nightly from dusk until dawn for one month. We have current openings in 2012 for:

  April, 2012               Submission Deadline is Feb. 1, 2012
  May, 2012                Submission Deadline is Mar 1, 2012
  June, 2012               Submission Deadline is Apr. 1, 2012
  July, 2012                Submission Deadline is May. 1, 2012
  August, 2012           Submission Deadline is Jun. 1, 2012
  September, 2012    Submission Deadline is July. 1, 2012
  October, 2012         Submission Deadline is Aug. 1, 2012
  November, 2012     Submission Deadline is Sep. 1, 2012

  The Window Project is a curated outdoor, new media installation space facing the southern end of Woodruff Park from the windows of the Digital Arts Entertainment Laboratory (DAEL). The infrastructure consists of six high definition projectors synchronized to create a rear-projection screen that stands over six feet high and spans over 80 feet in width and can be seen from any vantage point in Atlanta’s central park and from the main pedestrian path of students of Georgia State University. The mission of The Window Project is to create a public art space that engages the community and enhances the Georgia State University campus and downtown Atlanta.

  We invite the participation of local, national and international emerging and established moving image artists to submit current work reconfigured for six projectors around a curved surface or new work specifically created to take advantage of the multi-projector format. This space and format allows artists to break from the constraints of a single screen on a flat surface with a prescribed viewing point. We do not seek a specific theme for the content, but expect that it should be of high visual, technical and conceptual quality and well suited for this unique public space, which is large, but subtle due to the curved glass and location on a downtown building window.

  This project is sponsored by the Digital Arts Entertainment Lab. DAEL is a multimillion-dollar entertainment research and production facility located in the heart of downtown Atlanta on the campus of Georgia State University. Through industry and university partnerships, DAEL facilitates the creation and testing of digital media content. DAEL incubates emerging media arts businesses, trains graduate students and engages in user-centered media research.

  How to Apply:  Please email a brief artist statement, a link to artist website and up to 5 images or videos to: eli@gsu.edu with “The Window Project” and your name in the subject line. If an emailed/internet submission is not possible, a CD or DVD can be sent in the mail. Feel free to email questions to eli@gsu.edu as well.

• Rooftop Films Benefit – Light the Spark

  • Posted on 6th Dec
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  Live in New York City? Well if you do, and probably even if you don’t, you probably know that Rooftop Films is one of the best film organizations around town. They not only present hundreds of films on Rooftops (and beaches, and…) all year round, they also give grant money to filmmakers, rent equipment and teach filmmaking. And they’re a heckuvalotta fun. I joined their board of directors this year, and that gives me the honor of shamelessly plugging them here – which I’d do even if I wasn’t on the board.

  Let’s face it, what other film organization does all of this and then holds its annual fundraiser for just $50 bucks? That’s right, for just $50 you can hang out with some awesome filmmakers, meet cool people, listen to music, learn about what’s next for Rooftop Films and…network with potential donors. That’s right, they’ll be there too, but don’t tell anyone I told you that. This kind of action would set you back $500 to $1000 + at other organization’s benefits, but Rooftop Films is cool like that. Trust me, the evening will be fun enough to warrant the $50, with booze, food and entertainment. AT&T is helping sponsor the event, and I personally guarantee that anyone who buys a ticket will have a good time while supporting a great organization.

  Full details are below and here. Can’t make it, but still want to support the organization (for less or more than $50)? Click here and make a donation.

  Here’s more info from Rooftop Films:

  Rooftop Films and AT&T honor the Rooftop Filmmakers’ Fund grantees in an intimate benefit, and light the spark for Rooftop’s 2012 Summer Series, our 16th year of Underground Movies Outdoors.

  YOU’RE INVITED TO LIGHT THE SPARK

  You are invited to this intimate benefit with emerging filmmakers Sean Durkin (director of Martha Marcy May Marlene, starring Elizabeth Olsen), Gillian Robespierre (director of Obvious Child, starring Jenny Slate), and dozens of other Rooftop alumni whose careers we’ve helped ignite.

  Your contribution at this party will help sustain Rooftop through the cooler months and help us prepare for another amazing year of outdoor cinema. Gather around the hearth and be a part of Rooftop’s vital community.

  Filmmakers in attendance/ live music from Rooftop bands / Complimentary food and drink!

  Learn more about what we do for filmmakers HERE

  Can’t make the benefit? Make a tax deductible donation HERE, or inquire about our Funder’s Circle at donate@rooftopfilms.com.

• VOD: Losing Millions

  • Posted on 5th Dec
  • Category:

  If you were to sit down and try really hard to make the worst user interface on the planet, I bet you couldn’t do a better (worse) job than Time Warner has done with it’s On Demand system. This holds true across all cable companies, but Time Warner is reputed to be the worst one, according to all my friends who broker with these clowns.

  When I bother to turn on my cable and search for something to watch On Demand, it is a painful experience. Nine times out of ten, the system won’t start, leading me to NY1 no matter what I do. Want to watch a preview? Oops, that will get you stuck again. Want to get out of one of their ingenious channels, like “In Theaters,” good luck.

  The system is so bad that the aggregators who put films in the system literally tell you that your film title should be low in the alphabet (or start with a number) so that you end up earlier in the A-Z list because most consumers don’t make it past the C’s. Really.

  This would all be cute, except I’m willing to bet that it’s costing the film industry millions. Billions maybe. Lots of recent reports, like this one from The Wrap, point out how much money indies and Hollywood are making from VOD. It is the future, and I’m not arguing against it. But the fact that consumers will put up with this much crap to watch their movie at home, on demand, tells me that there’s a staggering amount of value being left on the table. If these interfaces worked at all, I’m willing to bet that VOD revenues would skyrocket – not double, but increase by a magnitude of 300% or greater. It’s likely the top reason that people turn to pirate sites – they’re that much easier to use.

  Why do cable companies use such shitty technology today? Why do film companies allow this travesty to continue?

  My only guess is that cable companies can’t compete with Silicon Valley. All the good engineers go to tech start-ups and cable companies (and their device makers) are left with the bozos who can’t compete. Either that or cable company executives are the bozos left behind… but that can’t be right, could it?

  Nope. My real guess is that it’s just another case of the industry collectively sitting on it’s ass accepting the status-quo. This makes for a nice space for disruption, but it makes for a crappy consumer experience, which come to think about it is the new mantra for all things in film consumerism – crappy consumer experience.

• Rejecting the movie theater argument

  • Posted on 30th Nov
  • Category:

  It’s time I come out – and admit that I no longer care about seeing films on the big screen at the movie theater. Horrible of me to suggest. No serious film lover could say this. Blasphemy. On and on.

  Yeah, whatever.

  I used to simply argue that of course, I love seeing films on the big screen like everyone else. I’d argue for anyone’s right to watch it when, where and how they want to see a film, but would always push for them to see it the “way it was meant to be seen” which was on the big screen. But I can’t anymore. The experience sucks. Staying at home and watching it is the better option.

  I bring this up today because Anthony Kaufman, a critic whom I deeply respect, has a post on IndieWire about why viewers should only watch great arthouse films like Melancholia on the big screen.As he says: “Waiting to see a film in your living room is hurting that film, insulting it; it’s like saying to a good friend, “You’re not good enough to meet me for dinner; how about we just catch up on the phone, or via computer screen, instead?… Of course, there are plenty of films that should be relegated to such a space. Just not the good ones.” His is not the only article on this I’ve read lately – there’s been a spate of such articles lately, driven by (I assume) the huge shift from the importance of box office to the rise of VOD.

  But here’s the problem I’m having: Film critics, film industry and almost every single person I know who is apoplectic about people watching films outside of the theater are missing a key point – that they don’t (usually) watch such films the same way that others do. Nope. They watch them in private screening rooms rented by distributors and publicists. Or they watch them at film festivals. A lucky few get to watch them on their own home/company theater screen. Many actually just watch screeners at home or in a festival/market room with banks of monitors, but that’s another story. This is not going to the movies.

  Going to the movies is getting a crap, broken seat because you didn’t show up 20 minutes early. Or it is getting there 20 minutes early and watching crappy advertisements while waiting for the Regal train to start the show (why, oh why must all theaters show a train riding through popcorn on a film strip track??). It is watching an interminable amount of bad trailers for films I don’t want to see. It is sitting next to not one, but two crying babies, in the 10pm showing of Drive for chrissakes. It is watching the film projected through the wrong lens, too darkly, or the wrong aspect ratio, or with the curtains improperly adjusted. It is watching it in spite of the irritant of an usher watching me with a device to ensure I’m not pirating the film. It’s not having the heat, or the AC, properly adjusted. It’s not having my favorite adult beverage with me. It’s waiting in line for an half an hour because the theater is too fucking cheap to pay more than one kid the minimum wage to make me my popcorn (or even sell me my ticket). It’s hearing a subway train rumble through my film – in both the Angelika and MoMA. It’s sitting with my knees cramped like I’m in an airline seat while at Film Forum. It is getting to the theater and finding out that the film is playing on the smallest screen that theater has. It is all of this and so much more. The list of problems is not small.

  None of these problems are encountered by those film-goers who get to watch most of their movies away from the masses in the fancy screening room or the film festival. Heck, you didn’t even have to pay for the show.

  I used to put up with it, because you know, I am a cinephile and all that. But I’m a convert. I’ll sit at home and watch my films. I’ll try to catch the cinematic masterpieces at film festivals and private screenings when I can. But while I understand the argument for the big screen, I’m not necessarily sure I buy it even for the best of cinema.

  I went to film school at Emory. While the professors did their best to get us film prints for most of our classes, the simple fact was that to watch the majority of film history, I had to watch it at home – off crappy VHS, Laserdisc and DVD. I watched Rules of the Game, Ikiru and Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors over twenty times each this way. It didn’t diminish my awe. Nope. I watched them again and again, and I’ve now watched each of them multiple times on the big screen. Did I love it when I got to see them on the big screen – sure, but I can’t honestly say I didn’t love them just as much before.

  Most consumers today have pretty good home theater systems, and I’m willing to bet that the percentage of cinephiles, who would even care about this problem, with good set-ups is even stronger. Most of them are adults. You know, capable of making a decision as to whether or not they want/need to see something on the big screen. Trying to stop this trend is impossible and crying about it won’t stem the tide of change. Especially not when most (not all) theater owners are content to keep offering the same dismal experience over and over again. Kudos to places like Alamo, the Enzian and Night Hawk who are trying something different and make it worth my dollar – I’ll spend my money and watch a film on the big screen at their locations whenever I can. But for the most part, I’ll watch my cinema in my home, comfortable and with my cinema-conscience clear. It’s better that way.

• Killing the Film Fest Panel

  • Posted on 29th Nov
  • Category:

  I’m a frequent speaker on panels at film festivals and conferences. I just spoke on one at IndieMemphis and I’m about to speak on two more at the IFFS Film Festival Summit. I’ve run festivals with panels, and I’ve produced a conference of panels. So it is with full cognizance of my hypocrisy that I state – they are worthless and it’s time to kill all panels.

  They are the zero-sum game of every festival and conference. Why? Because the only knowledge that can be gained from them is accidental, as in when someone accidentally says something they shouldn’t say, self-aggrandizing, as in learning that yes, indeed you are smarter than all the experts they’ve assembled on-stage, or misanthropic, as in when you lose all faith in humanity when the moderator democratically opens the mic to questions from the audience and the first question isn’t a question but rather a pitch for the film the questioner just made or some product they’re trying to sell. The best you can hope for is getting all three in one panel.

  Most panels seem put together for one obvious reason – to make the festival look better. Bring in a few key industry players, put them on a panel and take photos for the catalogue and tout the educational benefits in your next grant application. Step back for one second though and ask yourself how educational these panels are? How different are these panels/conferences than the ones held at a Ramada every weekend “teaching” you how to make millions from flipping real estate? How much can I learn from a panel of five “experts” who each spend most of their time trying to talk about how great their company is at doing X thing? Especially when each “expert” has about five total minutes to say anything of value.

  Okay, I’m being overly harsh here to get this started, but seriously: We need to rethink the purpose of and usefulness of these panels.I’ve met many festival staff and none that I’ve met are hucksters trying to steal your cash – really, most of them truly want to help filmmakers learn more about the business, or help audiences to learn more about the subject of the film or about the people behind or on the screens. They work hard to put these panels together, but let’s face it – most of these panels don’t work.

  Ostensibly, we hold these panels to teach some audience members something they might not know. In a good panel, this remains true, and what makes a good panel is probably a sliding scale dependent upon things such as how knowledgeable is the audience in attendance. Not that I know everything, but when I went to my first film festival panel I knew a lot less about the film business than I know now, and I learned a lot more.

  But, when I think back to the earliest panels I attended, I find that most of what I learned came from just one panelist – there’s usually one person telling it like it is and sharing the real knowledge that most people just gloss over. I’ve learned a lot from one on one sessions as well, where a well informed interviewer speaks with some person from the biz (though I learn less when this person is a famous actor/director…hmmm). I’ve learned a lot when the panel isn’t about film, but what’s covered in the film – where the speakers were experts on the topic and we could delve deeper. Again, however, I find that because of politics, these panels tend to have the director, two producers and one expert and I’d learn more from a good moderator and the expert alone.

  You may see a theme emerging here, and it’s because I do as well: less is more. I think what we need are less panels with 4, 5 or even 15 panelists (yes, at Sundance two years ago they had that many people on stage!). We need more one on ones, more panels where two people debate (or agree) on a topic. Let’s hear just from the expert. Let’s talk just with the director. Let’s hear what the entertainment attorney thinks for one solid hour. Let’s hear what the DP learned on set for one hour. Let’s hear a talk between just two festival programmers. Sure, we might not get “well rounded” discussions, but we’ll get more in depth discussion.

  I’ve participated in a couple of such panels lately, and they worked much better than the usual system. I know this is nothing new – I’ve gone to such panels at SXSW for years, for instance, but I am saying they remain the rare exception to the usual boring panel where the only value is often putting a face with a name to meet them later at the bar.

  So, we need to shake up the format a bit. We also need to change how we integrate the audience. I don’t have an easy answer here, but what should be the most democratic, interesting part of the panel usually becomes the most unbearable. It’s not that the audience is dumb, but somehow, we tend to get the worst questions from the floor. I’ve attended a few panels where questions are submitted to the moderator via slips of paper, email and even Twitter and the moderator picks the best ones. This seems to work better, but while the anonymity helps some people ask better questions, I’m sure it upsets others who want their voice to be heard. Some of my favorite panel moments have been when an audience member (usually well informed) attacks a speaker and they engage in a debate, and who would want to stop that? I’m not sure how to make this part better, but if you have ideas, please suggest them in the comments.

  We also need to rethink panels in light of technology. No, not just “hey, we can put these up on the web,” but how does this fundamentally change things? Like showing a film in a movie theater, panels have existed because they are the most economical way to get a lot of butts in the seats to see what has been assembled. Like watching a movie in a theater, panel attendance won’t go away entirely, but it might be time we consider whether pulling together 10-100 speakers to speak to an audience of hundreds to low thousands still makes sense?

  I don’t want the monotony of presentation styles it represents, but I’d love to see a TED-like phenomenon for film. Sure, the attendees get to network (and pay a lot to do so), but the rest of us can learn a heck of a lot, from some of the smartest folks not-really-in-the-room, for free. You could duplicate this year round pretty easily and have something pretty interesting for the field. This doesn’t make sense for the small, regional fest, but it would for some others.

  I would be missing one of the biggest festival problems if I didn’t also bring up – they are usually very white and very male. This one seems obvious – we need more diverse speakers up there. I don’t know what will finally change this, perhaps all white men must refuse to speak on panels unless they are more diverse. I’ve written about this before, and it’s brought up over and over, but I bring it up again here because it can’t be said enough!

  I definitely don’t have all the answers here. I’m attending the IFFS Film Festival Summit next week…to speak on two panels…and I’m hoping this might spark some conversation with other attendees there. I’m hoping to hear some ideas from my (small) audience here in the comments and elsewhere. What would make a better panel? How can we better include audiences? What would a fest panel look like if we started over today?

  In the middle of writing this post, I saw a tweet from Matt Dentler saying “Fact: 85% of film festival panels around the globe are a waste of time.” I retweeted that and so did a few others – it’s obviously on many people’s minds. I got one interesting response from Randy Finch: “Paradox? I know (+ respect) u from film fest panels. #wearethe15%”

  I agree with Randy – I’ve met many great people as a result of these panels. So, perhaps we shouldn’t kill them. Instead the question is: How do we re-imagine them in a way that keeps the good (networking, education) and gets rid of all the bad?

  
  

• Hooray for Tumblr!

  • Posted on 17th Nov
  • Category:

  Hooray for Tumblr!

  staff:

  Yesterday we did a historic thing. We generated 87,834 phone calls to U.S. Representatives in a concerted effort to protect the Internet. Extraordinary. There’s no doubt that we’ve been heard.
  So just to keep you updated: The well-intentioned, but immensely flawed “Stop Online Piracy Act” is still in the House Judiciary Committee. The hearing was yesterday and now members will debate and bring amendments to the bill. The Committee will reconvene in a few weeks — the date has yet to be scheduled. Nothing has been brought to a final vote. Everything is still very much in play. We’ll keep you posted on what’s going on and what you can do to help. But for now, we want to thank you.
  One encouraging thing we heard yesterday:

  
  

  I don’t believe this bill has any chance on the House floor. I think it’s way too extreme, it infringes on too many areas that our leadership will know is simply too dangerous to do in its current form.
  

  — Representative Darrell Issa
  We also want to express our tremendous gratitude to our friends at Mobile Commons who, on 30 minutes notice, hooked us up with their amazing platform (and provided their expertise) to automatically connect callers with their Representatives.
  

• Cutting the middle man

  • Posted on 16th Nov
  • Category:

  I was on a phone call today with a well-known and liked film industry person who remarked to me “You know we thought that the digital world was going to cut out the middle man, but it’s actually created more than ever.” Worse still, we decided that not only are their more middle men, but they’re doing less actual good for the creators than the previous middle men – at least the old middle men knew how to market your film, for example.

  Sad, but true, state of affairs in the film industry. Creative people are creating more brilliant stuff than ever before. The profits accrue to a handful of aggregators in the middle who aren’t adding much value, and the consumer still has a heck of a time getting what they want (when they want it) either.

  The more things change…

• Internet Censorship Day Nov 16th

  • Posted on 15th Nov
  • Category: Newsletter

  If all goes as planned, I’ll be joining many others on Wednesday November 16th for Internet Censorship Day. That is, if I can figure out how to paste code correctly to this site…UPDATE: I couldn’t get the code to work. I stink, but I still support this cause!

  What is it? Well, it’s a protest against a bill being considered in the US Congress that would be very detrimental to the future of the web. It’s an attempt to curb piracy, but it could have a much bigger impact, and it could be bad. I could explain it all here, but the campaign site does a good job, and the video below does it even better.

  What this video and join the cause:

• RICKY on LEACOCK: Kickstarter campaign launches

  • Posted on 4th Nov
  • Category: Newsletter

  I’ve been helping filmmaker Jane Weiner launch a Kickstarter campaign for her new film, a work-in-progress called RICKY on LEACOCK on the legendary documentary filmmaker. I’ll be posting a lot of updates here on the campaign – how it’s going, what we’re learning about raising money this way, other ways you can help. I’ve helped many filmmakers with Kickstarter campaigns, but this one is a bit different to me – I’m supporting her with my work and my donation to the campaign, not just because I like Jane and her films, but because I want to be a part of honoring his legacy – to documentary films, but also to the field more broadly and even to the “amateur” filmmakers posting videos online today. I’ll be writing more about this soon, but if you too are a fan of Ricky Leacock, please consider supporting this campaign, by making a donation on Kickstarter or by simply helping us to spread the word. Thanks!

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