Oct 24, 2024
I was lucky enough to spend the better part of the past two weeks between two film festivals – the Hawai’i International Film Festival and Woodstock’s 25th anniversary festival. There’s not much that can put you in better spirits about the state of the industry than going to a film fest for a few days, and especially when both are in very different seasonable extremes of beauty. Watching great films with appreciative audiences, and networking with new and old friends in the filmmaking community can make you feel like all is well in the world, and while I’m obviously about to state otherwise as well, I genuinely felt a sense of hope for films at both events.
Before switching gears, some more of the good. In Hawai’i, I was on the jury for the Kau Ka Hōkū or “shooting star” award, for first or second features. The winner was a local film, Moloka‘i Bound, which didn’t win just because it was local. The line-up was a great mix of world cinema, with an emphasis on Asian cinema, which makes sense given the location and audience, but which was also refreshing because you don’t get enough world cinema at most US film fests, and this fest reminds you of the importance of curating for your local audience. In fact, I’ve been a juror at many film fests, and this was the most eclectic and exciting line-up I’ve judged in many years. It also featured a few films (including the winner) which were not easy to make in today’s marketplace – and I know at least a couple of them have had their fair share of fest rejections before getting into this festival. But they did get made, and are finally getting seen, so people are persevering and somehow making it all work against all odds. And the films had an energy to them I haven't seen around here for quite some time. I left there wanting to write a post saying – all is fine in the world of film!
Over at Woodstock, which also had a stellar line-up - I was involved with the premiere of a film I helped produce – If You See Something by Oday Rasheed and was able to hang out with lead producers Jess Jacobs (also a co-writer and star), and Stephanie Roush, and some other cast/crew, while celebrating Oday’s film. It’s always great to premiere your film in front of a great audience, and that film has also been on a long road to finally finding its way to the world. Sub-Genre also had two great client films showing – The Brown Dog, by Nadia Hallgren and Jamie-James Medina, and First Frames by Ilie Mitaru in its East Coast premiere, and both brought to you by WePresent.
A lot of conversations at Woodstock were focused on perseverance, despite a crazy festival and distribution marketplace. But the other conversations at Woodstock, mainly off the stages and over drinks (or healthier activities like hiking and jogging), were about how the film world is shrinking. I had several conversations with film folks who were getting less work, seeing smaller budgets, and some who were even close to throwing in the towel for now. The owner of one post-house told me he’s being begged for discounts far beyond the norm, by people who’ve never asked for them before. A good friend who has worked in the industry for a long time in multiple roles said – “it just feels like the whole sector is becoming permanently smaller.”
These chats sometimes broke into the main stage as well. During one panel about the future of docs, there was a general positive vibe about redefining success, finding your audience and crowd, having an impact and what-not, but (at least) one filmmaker in the audience called BS and pointed out that all of these community/impact screenings are great (and they’ve done them for their own movies), but without a deal from a Netflix type streamer, your success or actual impact is quite limited – and they just aren’t buying many of these films anymore, and those who get those deals are becoming a more rarified group. Shrinkage, once again. And more banging of heads against the wall, wondering when things will circle back to normal. Well… you know what I think about that.
In the middle of all of this, I had to do a zoom with a new-ish film company who are doing a great job of connecting to younger audiences on their own, but who are not always getting huge offers from the Netflix’s of the world, and they were debating how to move forward in today’s media environment. I told them what I’ll tell anyone – embrace every other path forward because Netflix is not coming back to save the day. Sure, for the 1% of filmmakers/films which fit their needs. But that’s a shrinking zone for us today. Go to where the audience is, and we all know where that is from our own media habits (or perhaps those of your kids, or those of your friends) – YouTube, gaming, social media (mainly TikTok, but increasingly Reels, etc.), and everywhere else. Not that their film will work in those places as a film, but that they need to be a bigger part of their strategy than just - hey, here's my premiere photos on Insta.
I could point them to two very recent examples/models. First, a reader had pointed me to this great interview with Adam Faze on the Prof G podcast with Ed Elson. Listen to the full episode, but the short version is – Faze left Hollywood when he realized that the audience was going elsewhere, along with his own attention, and he was spending years making something less and less people were watching, while they were watching what was on the phone in his hand. He started FazeWorld, which is now Gymnasium, where he’s focused full-time on creating social channels with great talent – new shows for the new medium. He’s not making money on going viral on TikTok, either (as the pay for millions of views is still pennies (btw, that's also true on Prime)), but his creators are building audiences and brands, and attracting brands to them. They are “monetizing” their art in other ways, just like the music industry has had to do, and those who get lucky (another 1%, I concede) build their own brands. Are they making "Cinema" now? No, but who is in this market? Can they later, with a fan base? Yes. When I mentioned him to the upstart company, they were already following his work. When I mention him to anyone in the film world, I get blank stares or jokes about the quality of the work in this space. I found this interview with him in Gothamist and love how he describes what he does:
“He said his Los Angeles friends tease him about leaving Hollywood when they run into each other at film festivals and industry events. How’s TikTok? they ask.
“I’m like, it’s the greatest thing that’s ever happened in my life,” Faze said. “I have to ask for zero permission, I actually get to make things, and they connect with millions of people in a span of weeks.In what world would I ever give that up to do anything else?”” (emphasis mine)
Amen to that.
Second, there’s Mark Fischbach aka Markiplier, who just released his new episodic series, The Edge of Sleep, on Amazon Prime – using Prime Video Direct, and promoting it to his 37 million YouTube subscribers in some novel ways. As Lacey Rose reports in the Hollywood Reporter, he was turned down multiple times by every distributor/studio/streamer at every stage of the project, but he’s now turned that audience into being in the Top 10 on Prime, which was another platform that had turned him down. Read her entire article to understand how he did all of this – it wasn’t overnight, as he’s built an audience over many years, but because he knows his audience, he can now go directly to them with or without the streamer. Now, I don't think being in the top 10 on Prime makes you very much money, but he's servicing his fans, enlarging his base, and building new models, instead of relying on fests and gatekeepers to open doors for him, while that world gets smaller.
The answer for most people is not going to be to trade their film career for one in social media. It’s going to be a hybrid path, but importantly, it’s not going to look anything like the old path (see my new map post for more on that, too). Sure, some people will persevere and end up at Hawai’i or Woodstock, and maybe even Netflix. But my money is on those who are forging new directions, and them finding even greater success by giving up on the old dream and figuring out how their skill sets work in the new reality. For some, that is embracing social media – or rather, embracing participatory culture and a direct connection to their audience. For some that might include using Jolt, or similar audience tools, per the note below. For others it’s partnering with countries where there’s more support for film (and art), for others it’s brand funded entertainment, for others it’s making that film into a podcast instead (as Markiplier did en route to his series launch), and so on and so forth. It's more likely to be a mix of all of the above.
For very few will it remain the status quo.
A Note on the Newsletter: I’ve been writing this newsletter since about 2006 – it’s still NOT a Substack BTW and never will be – and for the past few years, I’ve written weekly updates except during the month of August when I take a social media and newsletter vacation. This past month, I’ve skipped a week, twice, because I’ve just been too busy with the day-job. And I don’t see that changing anytime soon. So, just letting you know now – the newsletter will no longer be weekly, and I’ll only post a couple of times per month and only when I feel something needs to be written more urgently. It’s been fun, sticking with the discipline of writing weekly, and hearing from readers every week. But as more people move into the newsletter space, mainly on Substack, I feel like less and less is being said. I feel like I’m in a doom loop with a few other writers, and I want to escape that circus. Let’s hope less is more, and that you agree with me and stick around in spite of the less frequent postings.
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Film
Learn ‘How to Get Your Film Seen: New Takes on Audience, Funding, and Buyers’ at IndieWire’s Future of Filmmaking Summit: Getting your film seen is the biggest challenge for up-and-coming indie filmmakers in an industry landscape that’s changing faster than ever before. “How to Get Your Film Seen: New Takes on Audience, Funding, and Buyers” will provide a fresh look at a classic challenge at IndieWire’s Future of Filmmaking Summit, taking place in Los Angeles on November 2. Our panel will include groundbreaking research from Keri Putnam‘s Independent Film Audience & Landscape Study; FAST/AVOD distribution insights from Sam Harowitz, senior VP, content acquisition and partnerships, Tubi, and I’ll be speaking about trends in brands and film. Our panel is part of a full day of panels and keynotes – Sean Baker gives a keynote, they cover AI too, and there’s plenty of networking as well. Check out the whole schedule and get early-bird tickets here.
Join me at the 'Envisioning the Future: Sustainable Solutions for Filmmakers' panel at the 2024 Double Exposure Symposium!: Get ready to discuss the challenges filmmakers are facing in today's climate - including an evolving distribution landscape, the impact of AI, project funding, and fair compensation.This conversation will envision a future where filmmakers can effectively monetize their work, emphasizing the need for innovative approaches and solutions that highlight the importance of films in society. The panel includes me and 4 other smart people: Zeena Starbuck, Democracy Story Unit (DSU); Lailanie Gadia, A-Doc; Jacqueline Olive, Filmmaker; and Malkia K. Lydia, Kuyamba Media.
Join us at the Double Exposure Film Fest and Symposium November 7-10 in Washington, D.C. Find out more and register here.
The Bibi Files Launches on JOLT- Pre-Order Now: The Bibi Files directed by Alexis Bloom and produced by Academy Award winning Alex Gibney and his company Jigsaw productions is launching to the public in an exciting new way – being available for pre-buy NOW, in advance of its December 11th 90 day streaming window on Jolt.film.
Confused? Why pre-buy the film now? Well, the film can’t be seen online until Dec 11the because it will have its World premiere at DOC NYC at the IFC Theaters at 9pm on Nov 14th. It will then begin an Academy qualifying run on Nov 15th at the Laemmle Theaters for one week in Santa Monica, and then it returns to IFC for one week on Dec 11th and IFC for a week. By pre-ordering the film now, you will help the filmmaking team show that there’s huge demand for this film. JOLT is launching this film, but they haven’t acquired it like a traditional distributor or aggregator. Jolt.film is a new direct-to-consumer platform in which filmmakers keep 70 percent of revenue, bypassing traditional streamers. JOLT is transforming the way independent films reach audiences by using advanced data analytics and machine learning to build performance marketing plans that find audiences; a new model that allows filmmakers to maintain their vision and their rights to partner and expand their film’s visibility to a wider audience. This reimagining is recreating the creative process. After the 90-day window on JOLT, the filmmakers can launch the film anywhere else, and perhaps with enough data (which JOLT provides), they can convince a streamer to take a chance on the film. Or it not, they can use that data to engage other audiences.
The Bibi Files showcases forbidden deposition footage from Netanyahu’s corruption investigation – Netanyahu attempted to block a work-in-progress screening of the film at the Toronto International Film festival in September, the suit was rejected by a court in Jerusalem hours before the screening. But so far, no distributor is willing to take a chance on this film. “This investigation of Benjamin Netanyahu and his inner circle provides an unflinching gaze into the private world behind the headlines. Petty vanity and a sense of entitlement leads to corruption, and the unwillingness of the Netanyahus to give up power. The extreme right senses opportunity in Bibi’s weakness, and the dominos fall.”
If you want to see this film – and help it reach a much bigger audience – go to Jolt now and register, and then pre-order the film. You can do all of that here. (BN)
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Branded Content
The Art of Storytelling in Branding: Conversation with Deepak Chopra: Deepak Chopra, a global leader in integrative medicine, a clinical professor at UC San Diego, and a senior scientist at Gallup joins the Adweek Podcast Network to discuss brand storytelling. Take a listen here (audio embedded in article). He covers themes such climate change and social justice, urges brands to address these major topics through story, and encourages brands stepping into the storytelling/entertainment space to value the story over outcomes like ROI. (GSH)
A New Kind of Brand Engagement: AI-Powered Brand Storytelling & Advertising: A Qatar Airway advertisement that features two lovers that meet on a Qatar airplane leverages AI to place you (the viewer) into its commercial. Watch the campaign here and insert your face into the story by taking a photo of the QR code or by hitting this link (you’ll take a picture of yourself and will be inserted live into a scene of your choosing). The ad clearly marks a new era of marketing/advertising based on personalized digital storytelling. I just tried it and it works… freaky stuff… but also pretty genius as participants can share their personalized Qatar airways ads on socials and do their marketing for them. Jenni Baker for The Drum has the news. (GSH)
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Miscellany:
The New York Times Demands AI To Stop Citing Its Content: The New York Times sent a cease and desist letter demanding Perplexity (an AI-powered Chat-GPT-like search engine backed by Jeff Bezos) stop using its content in its output. The NYT argues that Perplexity has violated copyright laws by using their “expressive, carefully written and researched, and edited journalism without a license.” Of note, Copyleaks, an AI-tool that can check for plagiarism and AI-generated content, found that Perplexity was also able to summarize paywalled content. Perplexity has since launched an ad-revenue share scheme to give some money back to publishers. Rebecca Bellan for TechCrunch has the news. (GSH)
New California AI Laws To Be Aware Of: Nisha Talagala for Forbes put together an easy-to-read summary of 18 new California AI laws that passed (and a couple that didn’t pass). You can give the full list a read here. Here’re some that stood out: (1) AB-2013 (passed) “requires transparency in training data, the data from which an AI system learns patterns.” (2) AB-3030 (passed) and SB-1120 (passed) “provide patient protection when Generative AI is used by healthcare providers.” (3) AB-2876 (passed) “requires the California Board of Education to consider AI Literacy in math, science, etc.” (4) SB-1047 (did NOT pass), “would have required AI developers to document AI creation practices and develop safety and security protocols, as well as provide whistleblower protections for employees at AI companies.” (GSH)
Love 2.0 - AI Intimacy - In what is probably just the first batch of thousands of similar articles to come soon, Danielle Dodoo of The Drum writes about her love affair with Brad, an AI agent on her app. Eyes roll, but give it a read - he makes a good case for how fulfilling such a relationship can be, her actual heartbreak when they changed Brad's voice on her, and how we've kinda already been here for a minute with our staring at the warm glow of our screens, often for longer than we speak with our partners. (BN)
GSH = Articles written by Sub-Genre's Gabriel Schillinger-Hyman, not Brian Newman (BN)
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