Here we go. Everyone warned us we’d drink ourselves to death (covid transmission being high in bars and restaurants), but it turns out that Turkey & Stuffing will be the sin we couldn’t resist long enough to stave off a winter of discontent. Think you were sick of Covid a few weeks ago? Just wait til March.
But first, the good news. If there was a silver lining for film in the last week, it was surely DOC NYC’s announcement (PDF) that they had record attendance at their festival this year. According to the press release, “more than 38,000 viewers watched more than 2.8 million minutes of films on DOC NYC’s streaming platform—the festival’s 2020 edition also saw significant growth in traffic to its website, with more than 250,000 visitors from across the U.S. and more than 180 countries. DOC NYC also saw major growth in its numbers of followers on all its social media platforms, creating an active and vibrant online community that produced more than 110,000 online interactions.” Interestingly, you can’t find previous audience numbers for DOC NYC’s events on any earlier press releases or announcements, but let’s just trust them and say – congrats, and an excellent job in a pandemic year.
Festivals have done a pretty good job of transitioning to online. I still think the model sucks for many filmmakers, but leaving those concerns aside (and for another article), the problem is that it might be the only sector of the business that survives the coming Winter. Productions that aren’t self-insured by the likes of Netflix and the Studios will grind back to a halt. Distributors have been hanging on by a thread, and “virtual cinema” isn’t helping them or theaters very much. I’ll spare us from digging into the depths of the misery to come, because we all know what’s next – a lot of businesses that won’t make it to see the vaccine save the world.
And that’s a pity, because all of the bullshit prognostications aside, people will return to movie theaters in the future. And they won’t just be watching blockbusters, but also an increasingly diverse set of cinema (one positive outcome of this period) that falls in the arthouse or specialty camp. But just like with restaurants – another business that’s suffering but will return – we might just be gathering in places owned by a different crop of owners, as a swath of business owners will have given up and disappeared. Someone will buy the AMC, Regals and Studio Movie Grills of the world, but those smaller chains and “mom & pops” won’t make it. Neither will many fests who don’t have the sponsorship and other support of a Sundance or DOC NYC, and how many indie producers are going to stick around another for another 6 months of uncertainty, and what investors will be there for them when the Netflix’s of the world aren’t buying those films anyway…so what films will the mid-tier distributors distribute?
The problem here – as anyone with a brain cell knows, but it can’t be said enough, is a lack of leadership. But let me cede the floor to a better expert than I to make the point. Here’s Shelli Taylor, the CEO of Alamo Drafthouse in a podcast interview with Nilay Patel on Decoder:
“The lack of coordinated government approach is crippling the nation. I know lots of people are saying this, but if there is a message to our government right now, it is critical that they have a coordinated approach.”
“We don’t have a ton of money right now, our resources are very skinny. So we’ve had to do-it-yourself as best as possible. We’ll continue to probably operate in that method, but it comes back to that need for a coordinated government approach to this. The government really could be doing a better job at providing clear guidance that does not consistently change to businesses, and quite frankly, is equitable to businesses.”
We all know we won’t get that leadership in the US before January 20th, but we don’t have to look far for examples of what we need. The headline of this ArtNews article says it all: “In a Year of Unprecedented Financial Strain, Germany Has Approved a €2.1 Billion Culture Budget—Its Largest Ever: The country added an additional €155 million to its budget over last year.” (yes, that’s the title) It may seem crazy to hope for such a headline in the US, even under a Biden administration, but as great as crowdfunding can be, we’re going to need more than donations and goodwill to save any remnants of our cultural industries in 2021 if we still want them in 2022. There’s a lobbying campaign underway now from independent cinemas, and many more from people like Americans for the Arts and Save Our Stages, as well as other sectors (here’s one for restaurants). But we’re going to need a lot more advocacy for this to come to a reality, and the indie film world abandoned its advocacy role a long time ago. We need to reconvene some leadership around this issue, and now.
Otherwise, we might find that the film of the season – Nomadland by Chloé Zhao, is more than just an Oscar contender. It might just be a harbinger of the lifestyle we’ll all be adopting once all the indie/arthouse jobs disappear.
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Film
Updates on a few conferences and festivals:
Future of Film Summit Now On Demand: The Future of Film Summit took place a week ago, and it was great. I am biased because I am on the board, and I also presented a panel on brand funding, but I can honestly say that it is one of the more inspiring (online) events. I'm crazy intrigued by virtual production and the Summit didn't disappoint, with multiple sessions dedicated to the topic. Effie Brown and Jason Blum also gave two terrific keynotes. There are multiple packages available for purchase, check them out here.
Filmocracy Fest & Panels: Takes place Dec 3-6 online. More info here. There's a new festival in online town - Filmocracy. They've got an interesting line-up of films and some great panels - I'll be speaking on one about the future of film fests, and am moderating one about marketing. Check it out.
 FilmEx Conference: From January 11-15 2021, Film Festival Alliance, together with their industry partners, will present FilmEx (#FilmEx21), a virtual gathering for film exhibitors of all kinds. FilmEx will present conversations exploring the sustainability and future of the independent film exhibition industry and how it can and might be reimagined. The conference is designed for film festival and art house cinema professionals and our stakeholders. Get more info here.
Slamdance Announces Largest Most Accessible Festival Ever - and Free Passes to early adopters - Slamdance announced its line-up for 2021, and it looks like a stellar line-up, along with some super cool ideas - including a showcase for creators with disabilities, and a mix of live/in-person drive-in events with virtual screenings. They've also programmed some great (private) events for filmmakers, but I have to say I was quite disappointed to see them sending rejection letters to filmmakers at 3am est on Thanksgiving morning (who the f does that??!!). Anyway, they also have a limited time free pass for early-adopters, meaning anyone who signs up soon, and even after that, passes are cheap. Check it all out here.
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Branded Content
Brands Need to Stand Up For Truth: John Battelle argues that its not enough anymore to make branded content that supports your CSR and ESG goals, but that in today's world of disinformation, brands also need to stand up for Truth. Sure, the NYT and The Atlantic are doing a good job of making quality journalism that speaks Truth to Power, but with most of the world (esp America) not getting their news from these sources, and more of them turning to ad-supported models - especially Facebook, for their news, that means brands need to spend part of their budget supporting "the creation and distribution of quality journalism at every level of society." Read more here, and h/t to Redef.
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Miscellany:
Goodbye Pai: The Gigantic Reese's Mug Leaves the FCC: In the glorious news, couldn't come sooner department - Ajit Pai and his enormous Reese's mug are leaving the FCC. Destroyer of net neutrality, and inveterate liar about it; ignorer of broadband inequities; roller-back of anti-monoploy rules, and all-around champion of anything bad that telcom's could dream up; Ajit Pai was among the worst of Trump's appointees, and that's saying something. I mean, sure, he wasn't ruining public lands, or public schools, or public safety, or the republic - He just happened to work in a wonky area that people pay less attention to, even though it has a huge impact on our lives. TechDirt, as usual, has a good send-off post to Pai, but FreePress wins the award for it's send-off post, stating: "“The entire premise of Pai’s failed chairmanship is a lie: He claims that his radical deregulatory agenda spurred broadband improvements and closed the digital divide. None of these claims are remotely true." Good-bye, good-riddance, and I can't wait for the reversal of most of your "policies."
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