March 24, 2021
What I remember most about my first SXSW is the freezing cold. To the best of my memory, it was March of 1997, and Austin had a freak late winter that year, and we were not prepared. I had traveled there from Atlanta, and expected things to be warm. We nearly froze to death in the late night/early morning as we spent more time than any rational human should spend in the outdoor area of Emo’s (the old one) in an Austin winter, as we awaited a stellar show from The Cows. But we weren’t rational. My girlfriend and I were young enough to think we were rock stars, not just spectators, and we were out to prove that at minimum, we could party like them. I didn’t even watch a film that year, though we did go by the UT campus where the films were playing, and picked up a schedule, but it barely seemed like the film fest existed. Music was the thing, and we were pretty gakked.
That was a sad year in Austin. Townes Van Zandt had just died in January, and it seemed like our entire plane was filled with musicians who were still in mourning for the legend – including Jimmie Dale Gilmore, who was on our flight. I knew Towne’s music a little, but not like I do now – I did not come early to some of the greats. But within a year, I returned and met the filmmaker Margaret Brown through mutual friends, and she kept telling me about her documentary in progress… for 8 years, which is about how long a biopic doc seems to take. I would finally return for the premiere of Be Here To Love Me in 2005, and learned a lot more about this legend, and I made sure to go out and buy all his albums on vinyl before they sold out when her movie hit the screens.
The premiere party for her film included so many legends of the Texas music scene that it remains one of the best live shows I’ve seen. It also taught me an important lesson of SXSW and film festivals – never leave an incredible party for one somewhere else. They never get better; just stay where you are (and I did). That was also another great thing about SXSW – you could be there for film, but see some of the best damned musicians just by chance, even though (contrary to popular wisdom) the film, tech and music conferences don’t truly overlap or intermingle. I don’t think there’s been a year since that I haven’t stumbled into a show that I never expected while in Austin.
Back in 1997, I think the most country thing I saw was the aforementioned Jimmie Dale Gilmore on an outdoor stage with the Supersuckers, who had just made an approximation of a country album, but were really a punk-a-billy band. We saw a lot more of those down on South Congress at the Continental Club. And the next year, I woke up in my crash pad across the street from the Continental to find out that the owner of the hotel (being torn down) next store – the San Jose – was hosting one of the best gigs in town in her parking lot, right outside our door. Those shows, and the hotel, were featured in this year’s Through The Plexi-Glass, the Last Days of the San Jose. As the film shows, that part of town changed dramatically, and she doesn’t even own the hotel anymore. Kinda like the folks in Austin don’t own the town anymore – it’s been overrun by the techies.
I kept attending SXSW each year, and increasingly spent more time at the film festival. It was a great place to discover something a little different, less IndieWood than Sundance, especially in those early years, and it was developing a reputation for great documentary programming, thanks to the founding producer of the film fest, Nancy Shafer. I worked with her later at Tribeca, but didn't know her then. I got to know more of the staff around 2000, and especially in 2001, when I was on the short film jury. Fun fact – the liaison who made sure we got to each screening was none other than Matt Dentler, who went on to run the festival, and then continued on (after Cinetic) to be one of the film honchos at Apple.
By 2001, the film fest was finally reaching its zenith. Everyone dates that to a few years later, when Dentler took the reins, and he did an amazing job, and helped put many filmmakers on the map. But the film fest was getting attention from the industry long before that, and it was kinda the secret place to go to hang out with great filmmakers, the cast of the films, and the “captains” of the industry, all while having a Shiner Bock on the roof of some warehouse that has long-since been turned into a start-up’s HQ. That was what made it so special – anyone could get into any party. You could meet anyone who was anyone, just by sharing a cigarette or a joint, and there was zero pretension. That remains true (kinda) to this day – the lack of pretension, at least among the film crowd.
There was also almost no free beer – the joke was that you should go to the tech parties to get your drunk on with free drinks, stop by the film parties to meet the industry, and then end up at the music parties, which would make you forget anyone you’d met earlier. But you’d always close down the night at Club Deville on Red River. It was the unofficial late night party headquarters for almost everyone in the film industry, and I met at least half of my best friends in the industry to this day, after-hours in the backyard of Club Deville (opened 1997, closed 2013). Most of those folks, I met serendipitously – by complete chance of being in the same place, maybe with a few common friends, maybe not.
And as I’ve mentioned before, that’s another thing we can’t duplicate in the virtual festival world, and it impacts those just starting their career, or breaking in, more than anyone else. So much of this business is about who you know, and you meet them at these events. For a very long time, I’ve argued that the single best way to diversify the industry would be to give more stipends and invite more diverse guests – filmmakers, press, industry – to SXSW, because you can make more connections there than almost any other festival, and it’s definitely lacking in diversity (like the industry).
That is the beauty of SXSW each year – serendipity (something film fest director Janet Pierson also noted in a recent interview). A few years ago, I was flying into Austin later at night, and I’d booked my flight so late that I had to go there via Atlanta. On the second leg of the flight, I was seated next to Paul D. Miller, better known as DJ Spooky. We’d met once before at an arts event, and we slowly reconnected and chatted a bit on the flight. When we landed, he invited me to dinner with him and a friend who was picking him up, and needing a ride and a meal, I accepted. His friend turned out to be Turk Pipkin, a well-known character-actor based in Texas (he played Aaron Arkaway, the narcoleptic evangelical on The Sopranos), who I’ve known probably since 2001 as well. They were headed to Chez Nous – not only my favorite Austin spot, but where I needed to go to meet my friend who lets me crash with her and her partner each year, and who waits tables there (when not editing, both of which are things you can make a living on if you have old-school rent in Austin). We drank wine, ate French food and conversed until very late that night. The next day, I bumped into Paul again as he was DJ’ing a private George Clinton show, and he snuck me in – all the kind of serendipitous things that happen every year in Austin.
Why am I waxing on about Austin and SXSW? Because the virtual edition just took place this past week, and it made me nostalgic for the town and the IRL fest. This year, I was watching the films from home, on my couch. I’m wasn’t drinking any Shiner Bocks, much less giving myself nose bleeds. I watched seventeen films at the festival this year, which was more films than I’ve ever seen at a SXSW (maybe even more than when I was on the Jury), and most of them were quite good. I rarely have enough time to watch that many films, due to everything else that’s going on, and that’s the simultaneous upside and downside of an online SXSW – the convenience of watching films, without the interruption of something better to do just down the street. For the record, my faves were: Language Lessons; Lilly Topples the World; We are As Gods (client); Mau; Without Getting Killed or Caught; The Drover's Wife, Here Before, and I'm Fine: Thanks For Asking (and I missed some other great ones).
I enjoyed not having to leave home. But I missed the Driskill Hotel, and the impromptu meetings in their bar, the lobby or the front restaurant. Or on the street, or some rooftop. Or jumping in someone’s truck for a side trip to the Salt Lick. Or heading to some band showcase in East Austin, wondering if you’ll get back in time for your screening. I missed going by the Four Seasons to see the lions roam – meaning the VC’s “attending” the tech conference from the hotel lobby.
I also missed the buzz – walking past the original Alamo (which closed; and now the famous replacement, The Ritz was closed as part of the bankruptcy as well), or the Paramount, and seeing a line full of people you know and deciding at the last minute to try to jump in for what must be a great film. And having to wait in that line, because SXSW famously doesn’t give much privilege to anyone. For some reason, that buzz doesn’t translate online to social media. I’ve been involved in one way or another with about five films that have premiered at SXSW over the years, and the buzz from those premieres was palpable. I don’t think that was true for any film this year, even the best ones.
I logged in for some of their panels – you can spend an entire SXSW just attending panels. And it’s a good way to put a face to a name, so you know who to meet at one of those parties later. In fact, that’s one of the only reasons to attend a festival panel, as far as I’m concerned, as they rarely impart actual knowledge. Hell, for ten years straight, I moderated the same panel (film financing), so I know a bit about this (ok, I think it was a good panel…). The other reason to attend those panels is because it’s one of the rare times in life that you can sit back, and just contemplate a subject, and that often leads to insights that aren’t even covered on the panel, but that you’d never have thought about without giving yourself the space to just think about one subject for an hour and change. But that also didn’t happen on the Zooms. They force your attention and the conversation into something less interesting than any IRL panel I’ve ever attended. But – a big but – I like that I can catch up on what I missed online, for awhile longer, as most sessions remain online until April 18th- that’s pretty cool.
None of this is a knock on the organizers – of this fest or any other one. They did the best they could with what they were dealt, and after a year of planning and watching other festival’s experiences, I guess SXSW did it as well as anyone else, if not better. But if I’m honest – having attended multiple great festivals online now, I can’t put much value in any of the offerings beyond the wonderful ability to watch a film in my pajamas at home. That, and your sales agent being able to use it as a selling point in talks with buyers, who are also missing that audience buzz. I get the fact that it allows people to attend who never could before – because of distance, or price, or abilities, and all of those other good things. And that’s why I agree with those fest organizers who plan to keep hosting online and hybrid events going forward. I think they all need to “up their game” in terms of production values, and cut down on panels and do more 1:1 talks, but hybrid is here to stay. And maybe my problem is just that I’m not in any VR headgear – Eric Kohn at IndieWire has a great rundown that is the contrary opinion to mine; and most of what he enjoyed was because of the virtual experience, so I recommend reading his take as well.
But the beauty of a great film fest is really only found in person. SXSW isn’t the only place either (here’s my thoughts on Cleveland, for example), but it is a special one. That’s why I’ve been attending it for 25 years now, and will again next year. It’s something fest professionals would do well to remember in the rush to hybrid events – the best part of almost every festival is something that it gets from its local character, and that’s why we bother to have these things and attend them. For all of those little things that can’t be duplicated online. I know cinephiles will say it’s all about the big screen, but for me, a festival is all about the little things, around the outside of the screens, and I hope that I’ll get to attend another one before next year’s SXSW! So, vaccinate up, wear your masks, and let’s find a new normal so we can experience festivals like they should be once again.
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Film
LightShed Has AMC as a sell and a target of 1 Cent: Ouch. Industry analyst LightShed Partners thinks AMC is way overvalued even at its current $10.50 share price (as of this writing), and is putting a target of 1 cent, which seems based on some pretty solid math (the article is behind a free/e wall). While I would quibble with some of their analysis of theaters, I agree with most of their argument - mainly that even if we see a post-corona surge in interest, we have too many screens and AMC is not well positioned for the future.
Studio Movie Grill Files for Chapter 11: Another one bites the dust... actually, they'll remain open as they reorganize, but I will bet you a dollar that they'll be merged - likely with another Texas based indie chain - by year's end.
Warner Ends the Experiment, agrees to 45 day window with Regal: The window is back. But at a more decent interval of 45 days between theaters and HBO. Deadline reports.
Read Field Of Visions response to China’s reported censorship of coverage of The Oscars® ceremony following the nomination of DO NOT SPLIT: ICYMI, here's the response from FOV and the director of DO NOT SPLIT, and a link to watch the film. It's gonna be very interesting to see how the Academy deals with China and other foreign censorship issues over time, given how much they're going to be reliant on film's performance there, as the US market continues to shrink in importance.
Now we Know the Carbon-Footprint of your Streaming: Turns out that one hour of streaming Netflix in 2020 "used less than 100gCO2e (a hundred grams of carbon dioxide equivalent) – that’s less than driving an average car a quarter of a mile," according to a report commissioned by Netflix from DIMPACT as reported in WiredUK. Bad, but not as bad as some reports, and that's the point here - using real science to determine the impact of streaming so Netflix and others can take steps to mitigate the damage. I mean, we need to feel good about watching Tiger King while the world dies around us.
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Branded Content
The NYT Takes a Look at Brand Funded Movies: Brand funded films finally make a news article in the paper of record, as they cover brands making "Hollywood-style" films instead of ads. It's a decent overview of the space, but to be honest - it reads more like a branded content piece for Imagine Entertainment than anything else. Still, it was good to see one of my earliest projects get a plug (Patagonia's DamNation, which we premiered at SXSW btw), and you can do worse than focus on Imagine - they are leading in the space.
Roku is Launching a Brand Content Studio: By acquihiring folks from Funny or Die. Hollywood Reporter has the story, and it's a smart next step in their original content ambitions. I hope the brands are smart enough to own the IP they're paying for, at least. In my experience, most smart brands don't need the studio, just the distribution, but it's one way to jumpstart the business.
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Miscellany:
#BookTikTok Sells Books: A few weeks ago, I wrote about the phenomenon that is #FilmTikTok, and now the NYT has an article about how #BookTikTok is leading to increased sales of featured titles, rediscovery of old ones and its getting a lot of interest from authors and publishers.
NFT's are a Pyramid Scheme - They're all the rage right now, but there's a lot of noise and not much reality behind the hype. And now, a lot more people are calling them a bluff. This is probably one of the best articles about the problems, and I love this quote about artists supporting one another's work there: "Artists would be far better off simply sending each other checks, posting a photo of the checks on social media, and then just keeping those checks in a drawer." For more on this concept, read Amy Castor, or...if you need more proof, read this thread: Pretty crazy stuff. The short of it:
Trust in the Media is at an all-time low: Axios reports on a study from Edelman. "Fewer than half of all Americans have trust in traditional media...56% of Americans agree with the statement that "Journalists and reporters are purposely trying to mislead people by saying things they know are false or gross exaggerations;"
58% think that "most news organizations are more concerned with supporting an ideology or political position than with informing the public," and 57% of Democrats trusting the media and only 18% of Republicans." Check out the chart below:
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