MovieMaker's 50 Best Blogs

MovieMaker Magazine compiled their official list of the 50 Best Blogs for moviemakers. Not many surprises here, but there are a few lessor known gems. Here are some of them below:



"Blogs can provide invaluable insight for moviemakers of all experience levels. They offer tips on how to get the most out of the new technogizmo you bought, or news on production and personnel in your area. To help you on your quest to find those corners of the Web where the most useful blogs reside, we have scoured the cyber world for our annual list of the 50 best blogs for moviemakers. "

• Adventures in Self-Releasing
• All About Indie Filmmaking
• All These Wonderful Things
• The Anonymous Production Assistant’s Blog
• The Art of the Title Sequence
• Ben’s Blog
• The Big Picture
• Blog Stage
• Bright Lights After Dark
• Cinema Tech
• Cinematical
• The Documentary Blog

The rest of this list can be found HERE.

Indie Producers' Sundance Roundtable

Recently, Sundance Film Festival brought a group of independent film producers together for an informal discussion. This is what they talked about. Join Christine Vachon, Ted Hope, Thomas Woodrow, Liz Watts, and Jonathan Schwartz. Here is a very enlightening, inside look into this new age of independent filmmaking:







See part 3 HERE.

Sundance's "Homewrecker"

This looks hilarious. Its the Official Trailer for Homewrecker and official selection of the 2010 Sundance Film Festival by Brad and Todd Barnes, starring Anslem Richardson, Ana Reeder, Stephen Rannazzisi, Cesar De Leon, Mary Beth Peil and Michelle Krusiec. Thanks to DIY Filmmaker for the link.

Journey of an Actress - Part 5

Here is the latest installment from the writing of our good friend, Naama Kates (Cookies & Cream, My Normal) whose writings have become a monthly feature column at Rogue Cinema . Love how honest her writing always is, and the fact that she fully understands that sometimes the "Journey of an Actress" often includes moments of self-doubt. Here's a piece from it:

"My agent called me a few minutes ago with a big audition. I normally don't tell people about my auditions, or my plays, or my movies, or my music. Talking shop is boring, and so many people in this town announce their perceived triumphs long before they occur... a throw-away late night conversation, a project in its infancy, an audition, like any other, but that they're just damn sure they nailed, because they just have that inflated self-confidence, and rocket-fuel drive, and wide-eyed optimism, and downright denial that just might be beneficial, even necessary in this industry. And then those projects are never mentioned again, and nobody asks, because everybody knows it just never happened, and that's just expected, and accepted, and the proud proclaimers are not embarrassed that they've been crying wolf since you've known them."

Read the full piece HERE

Reel of the Week

"Reel of the Week" is our new feature highlighting the best actor reels. Can we see every reel in the world? Well no. But we do get countless emails with links, business cards, resumes, recommendations, etc.

Alexandra Eitel, a native New Yorker, has done various plays and films in New York. Her most recent theater credit is "The Stronger" by August Strindberg, directed by Lee Grant. As for recent film credits, she appears in "Whiskey School" directed by Pete Masterson with Olympia Dukakis, Laine Kazan and Mary Stuart Masterson. She is a member of The Actors Studio. Here is her IMDB link.



Actor Reel edited by filmmaker Dan Simon
http://www.myspace.com/danielhsimon

DIY Distribution Becomes "the System"

Great piece here by the Multi-hyphenate blog about how indie filmmakers have created the model that they have always sought to be apart of. Here is another exciting article on the subject and the latest news coming out of Sundance that confirms the new model of distribution for indies has become commonplace.

Yet as a fellow producer recently noted, the jury is still out on exact success stories (besides a few like My Big Fat Greek Wedding and Monster) of the service deal and smaller films. Are we facing yet another case of "cinematic blue-balls?" Are we all getting excited by the possibilities only to realize that this model, like the others, only lends itself to one or two breakout success stories per year? Is it similar to the passionate calls-to-action for DIY filmmakers to use social media, viral marketing and crowd sourcing for their no budget feature films to find their audience - only to realize that one of the few actual success stories for no budgets is Four Eyed Monsters and that their campaign has generated one of the few, true runaway internet hits (one that lacked true studio support unlike Paranormal Activity)? Or is this just the beginning of a beautiful new love affair? Decide for yourself after the jump:

Traditionally, the studio system has, amongst other things, institutionalized collaboration. And most indie film makers, no matter how indie they are, crave access to a studio’s resources: countless screenwriters, directors, actors, cinematographers, composers, etc, all available and willing to work on projects that are organized and funded by Papa Studio. Now, however, the Old Model is floundering, the gold-plated door knocker is out of reach. Indie filmmakers have been left out in the cold to figure out what the New Model is.

So just what do you do when the mythical support systems you’ve been dreaming about are taken off the table? What do you do when you lose all hope of being swept off your feet by a handsome, charming studio offering guidance, connections, and money? You become what it is that you seek.

Need money for your new project? Utilize a crowd-funding site like IndieGoGo or Kickstarter. Need a website to promote your new project? Set up a free one through Blogger or WordPress. Not sure how to distribute your own movie? Read Jon Reiss’ new book, Think Outside the Box Office, and take notes. Want to build an audience? Find friends and fans through Twitter and Facebook.

Red the rest of this piece HERE.

Service Deals Become all the Rage in Park City

Only a couple of days ago, I had a long conversation with another producer about the effectiveness of theatrical distribution service deals, and if it all made sense. Ultimately, the cautious producer has the tough job of deciding for themselves whether their particular project and budget fits this model, and I am curious to learn more about which projects would benefit the most from this type of risky, yet empowering way of growing your film's amount of visibility in the new marketplace. Here is some of the article here, from the Hollywood Reporter:



PARK CITY -- A bidding war broke out at Sundance last weekend over the sci-fi entry "Splice," which stars Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley. But it wasn't the typical contest in which distributors vie to see who is willing to pay the most for rights to the hot movie of the moment.

Instead, the suitors were offering service deals, under which a movie's producers pay them an upfront fee and a percentage of boxoffice returns to get the film into theaters.

As a distribution strategy, the service deal was once considered a mark of shame, a last resort for films.

But as changes have swept the indie world, service deals have become an increasingly popular option, one way to ensure the prestige and visibility that only a theatrical release can provide. With so many specialty outfits having closed their doors, and other companies limiting offers to video rights, producers are more willing to share in the costs of releasing their pics.

Under the service model, producers pay distributors an upfront fee and a percentage of boxoffice -- in many cases, that also covers the distributor's outlays for marketing and distribution. The upside is that they retain rights and future profits on the movie; the downside is they take on much greater financial risk. And new variations on the model are cropping up all the time, sometimes with distribs buying only partial rights.

Read the full piece HERE.