Take Me Home Photo Call!

In our film Take Me Home, our lead character Thom creates a photobook of his work. He is a struggling, yet talented still photographer. We are partnering with Talenthouse.com to find the 15 images we need for the photobook, which will appear at the top of the film. 

So if you or a friend of yours are a still photographer and you would like the opportunity to have your image(s) in a feature film, go to Talenthouse.com and enter your photo for consideration. Here is the link to our page, Take Me Home, at Talenthouse.com.

For more information on the film, please check out our Web site for the film at www.takemehomemovie.com. 

Deliverables Are Done!

Today was D-Day aka Deliverables Day for us on Not Since You. After four years of ridiculously hard work, we were able to drop off deliverables of the film and corresponding paperwork to our foreign sales agent. 

What a phenomenal feeling! A huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders. I definitely feel a little lighter today. 

Deliverables are much more than just handing over the film and chain of title etc. It marks the completion of so many hours of thinking and laboring over every detail of the film's existence. And as of today, we can feel confident that we have done everything possible to make a great film. 

It's true that our work isn't over. In many respects, it has just begun as we work on breathing life into the film we created. I'm ready for this next phase and I feel a new surge of passion and excitement for getting it in front of audiences. There's nothing quite like the feeling of accomplishing a major stage and the renewed energy that develops as a result.

And now we look at how to get a theatrical for our film. Yes, that's right. A theatrical. Here we go!

Testifying on Indie Film

I want to testify. I work really hard to make really good indie films. And I struggle with my colleagues who make really good indie films to get them to see the light of day. I wish it were easy to build audiences but it isn't. And that's okay. I'll keep on working at it. 

Why is it so hard to build audiences? Well it's really hard to compete with the resources that the studios have. They can funnel money toward advertising and marketing. I can try my might with my limited resources. I can tweet and update facebook and myspace pages and promote the film as much as possible. But do I have a chance?

I hope. 

And my colleagues hope.

We work as hard as we can to express ourselves and we won't stop. Why? Because we love movies. And we will keep making them. No matter what. 

So while many will lament the state of the industry. I will say, let's keep making movies. We need them. 

Paranormal Activity

As an indie filmmaker, I can't ignore the fact that one of our own, director Oren Peli, has created a film, Paranormal Activity, from practically no resources at all and it has blown records upon records in sales. Nice! Congrats Oren Peli! You are living the indie filmmaker dream right now. 

There are thousands of Oren Pelis out there and Oren struck gold! All it takes is a really good idea that is executed well and hits with an extremely wide audience. Sound easy? Sure! Is it? Hell no -- which is why the indie world is in the crapper at the moment. 

No one knows what is going to hit like PA has. So unfortunately it is a gamble that every filmmaker must make each time he or she starts a new project. And those gambles have been taken a lot by filmmakers, which has led to billions of dollars of investment dollars going down the tubes.  

Oren Peli, whatever you were thinking when you came up with the idea for PA obviously was smart thinking! It's the perfect indie film business model. Make something for dirt cheap that can go on and make high profits. 

As a rule, micro-budget films don't tend to do big business. Paranormal and Blair Witch were anomalies that many filmmakers have continued to try to emulate. Each year, Sundance is loaded with dark or quirky features that were made for less than $100k that tend to get good critical acclaim but they don't seem to do huge business at the box office. 

Smaller films that have a chance of bursting out of the indie distro hell seem to be those that tap into primal fear and laughter or are super charming/quirky/unique that a wide audience is drawn to its uniqueness yet relatability (being relatable is key). And many of these that achieve some success are not micro-budget (in the six figures or less). They are low budgets (seven figures). 

But how awful to think that terrific dramas could be forsaken because they are bad business. The question should be: how can we make them good business. What key ingredient is missing? Or do all the micro-budget films need to be only horror in order to do well? 

Distribution U and the 10 Principles of Hybrid Distro

I attended Distribution U last weekend and learned a great deal about self-distribution. Peter Broderick and Scott Kirsner put on the seminar and they did a wonderful job presenting ideas for how indie filmmakers can take control of the sales of their films. 

The philosophies they presented work well for films with budgets under $1 million. If your film is close to $1 million and above, it's recommended that you go the more traditional route of distribution. However, I think the following ideas can be used on any kind of film, both big and small.

During the seminar, Peter Broderick went over 10 principles of hybrid distribution. Here's what he recommends: 

1. Design a customized distribution strategy.

2. Split distribution rights.

3. Choose effective distribution partners.

4. Circumscribe the rights (meaning carve up the rights to those who can handle them the best).

5. Craft win-win deals. Words to live by: "No deal is better than a bad deal."

6. Retain direct sales rights, i.e. DVD & digital downloads on the film's Web site. 

7. Assemble a distribution team, consisting of: Strategist or Producer Rep, Foreign Sales Agent, Web Site Manager, Outreach Coordinator, Fulfillment Company for DVD Sales

8. Partner with Nonprofits and Online Communities

9. Maximize direct revenues (products you create v. third party)

10. Grow and nurture audiences. 

AFM & SNL

Things are going well at AFM for Not Since You. We had a great screening in which most of the buyers stayed through the entire film -- often buyers only stay 10 mins or so in AFM screenings since they are running around. So we feel good about that. 

At the same time, I am coordinating some SNL interviews this week so once again, busy, busy, busy. 

I attended Distribution U over the weekend too and have some great notes that I plan to share later this week, once the SNL gig is over. 

So stay tuned!

Prepping for the American Film Market

Well, we had our premiere of Not Since You and a week later we are prepping for a screening for buyers on Thursday. And we are finalizing our deliverables for our foreign sales agent. So busy, busy, busy through this week. Then attending Distribution U on Saturday. Looking forward to learning some new things. I'll post what I learn!

Not Since You Premiere a Success!

We had a wonderful premiere of our film on Sunday night. It was a full house and everyone seemed to really enjoy the film! I'm still recovering - ha!

A couple of colleagues even blogged about the film. Leslie Morgan gives her thoughts here. And Andy Ramachandran of Movie Habit discusses it here. 

Thanks to everyone for helping to make it a success! Off to AFM we go with the film!

The Future of Indie Film Distribution: Peter Broderick

Here is a video in which indie distribution pioneers discuss new strategies in distributing independent films. Good info to consider:

The Future of Indie Film Distribution: Peter Broderick from Scott Kirsner on Vimeo.

Today Is Not since You's Premiere

A premiere of a film you have been working on for four years or more is a big day. And that's the day for our film Not Since You today!

I have to revel in the joy of it. So I'm up late the night before watching really cheesy TV to relax before the insanity begins tomorrow. 

One of the best things about a premiere is that you get to have a reunion with the people who helped you make the film all along the way, from the cast to the crew to the investors to the vendors and agents and managers, etc. It's a moment of closure and new beginnings for the picture.

So wish us luck as we take Not Since You to it's next stop on this indie train. We hope to see you as passengers on the way!

OpenIndie

Arin Crumley is the director of Four-Eyed Monster and now a co-founder of a movement (OpenIndie) where filmmakers can figure out how to get their films screened in a ton of cities. Arin premiered his film at the same SXSW that we premiered our film Straight Line. It's been really fun to see Arin become such a big indie figure since then. He is building a community of filmmakers to help get indie films some screenings. Check it out. I'll be joining. Where's my credit card? Click here to pledge and become a member of the site. You'll be in good hands!

Lets build OpenIndie.com Together (Half way to our Funding Goal)

We've past the half way mark towards our funding and I've been reading the amazing discussion taking place on our campaign comments and saw that already we are getting great input for how the site should function from our backers.

In addition to Kieran and I's direct responses I wanted to make a post to say that the point is this, the possibilities are endless. Kieran is a computer programmer with over 10 years of experience building similar infrastructures. So we can all bring our ideas to the table and make this thing do anything we want it too. Also I've been planning how this could all function for over 4 years by constantly envisioning this future system every time I made a new distribution move with Four Eyed Monsters. There are pages and pages of notes and ideas and sketches and drawings and concepts for how I see a new film industry functioning and OpenIndie.com is designed to be a huge part of the missing link.

But even with all of these ideas we have, it's the backers who will aid more then anybody the actual shape of this new service. First of all you guys bring money to the project which is huge. And secondly you are our base of filmmakers and users that will inform us how the system should be developed. The plan is to regularly update the backers with what the sites components are looking like as the get built. Comments about each update will play into the development and inform the direction we take phase 1. And then of course there will be phase 2 where we all get to try out the new system and learn what can improve.

So we are building the future together. What your donation means is that we are all going to make this happen together.

Of course this only happens if we fund. So please, spread the word. Reach out to a few fans of your work, see if they'll back even just 1 dollar. And if you know feature or short filmmakers, reach out to them as well. Share with them your reasons for backing this project and invite them to do the same.

Also, I've noticed many filmmakers pledging 20 dollars, I'd strongly encourage you to increase your pledge to 100 so that your film can actually be one of the 100 films that gets the free 1 hour of consulting and gets to use the service of the site. Kickstarter makes it very easy to increase your donation. Just hit the button and you can type in any number during the time frame that the campaign is live.

Thanks for supporting OpenIndie.com and have a wonderful day...

Arin Crumley 
co-founder

Do It With Others

I want to talk about Do It With Others. Last year, it was Do It Yourself and this year everyone is abuzz with Do It With Others.

I am a big proponent of Do It With Others. I think it's the ideal way to get the most publicity and best results for your film. When there is real collaboration happening, anything is possible. 

But is the real collaboration happening or even possible?

Let's talk about how it could be: 

Producer, Director, Writer, Financier(s), Cast, Crew, Agents, Managers, Assistants, Interns -- all the people who are part of the actual creation of the film. 

Each and every person above worked hard to make the film a reality at the time their specific skills were necessary for the completion of the film. The end product contains their work. And hopefully they are proud of it and they want the film to succeed. So let's say they bring their energy from the beginning of the process to the launch of the film. That's over 100 people telling others about the film and hopefully they tell 2 friends and so on. And that's just the creators of the films.

Then there are the fans, colleagues, friends, family and other filmmakers who can join in the promotion and let's not forget the Sales Agents, Producer Reps, Publicists, Production Attorneys, Theater Venues, Film Festivals, Journalists, etc. 

But, and tell me if you have found this to be true as well, too often a film is made and the 100 people who worked on the film have moved on to the next project that is currently exhausting them and paying their mortgages and bills. And suddenly that initial 100 has dropped significantly to a handful of people from the group of creators promoting the project. 

And then the fans, colleagues, friends, family and other filmmakers are distracted by their own commitments and life in general. They're excited about the project and they want to it to be a success. But life gets in the way and their own projects take priority. And the film flops.

So how can Do It With Others work if no one is really making it a priority to Do It With Others? We need to make a commitment to help one another. All of us do. And I believe the more we help one another, the more we help ourselves and our projects. Are we willing to go that extra mile to help others besides ourselves? It's the only way DIWO will work. 

How Do You Get Past the All the "No"s in Hollywood

No, No, No, No, well, No, okay, no, no again. Really, another No? That's right. In Hollywood, you get used to hearing "no" a lot. It's actually expected. And when a "yes" comes along, it takes a little bit to register. Wait, was that really a no? Hmmm. Do I dare believe I heard a "yes"? Maybe -- as I slowly begin to race toward that yes, heartily embracing it's potential for rocking my world. 

That Yes may even turn to a No, but you feel pretty damn good even getting that initial Yes. 

I hate to break to you, but you may as well get used to hearing "no" in Hollywood. It's a knee-jerk reaction. No, I won't fund your film. No, I don't like your script. No, you can't have that actor. No, you aren't invited to that premiere. No, you can't get in that party. No, you aren't accepted to that festival. No, you didn't get that job. Just face it: No is a popular word and Yes is what you will be chasing the rest of your career. When you get them, you better cherish them for another one may not come around again for a long while. 

So how do you deal with all the "No"s? You just do. You let those countless "No"s roll off your back and you try to learn from them. Why did he or she say no? There's a reason for everything. And if you can hone in on that reason, you may be able to focus on why you aren't hearing the elusive "Yes"! Or maybe that person is just a tool. Could be the case. You never know.

If you let them, the "No"s can also be very inspiring. Every time I hear a "No," I get fired up. I think, "What the hell do I have to get a 'yes' around here" -- alright, get your heads out of the gutter... And I buy that revealing dress (just kidding; wanted make sure you were still paying attention). In all seriousness, I work even harder and I set out to keep making more quality films. Boy that sounds really boring. But it's the truth. 

Each day, I think of new stories. I write. I read books and magazines and the news. I watch a crap-load of movies and TV shows. I troll the internet (again, minds out of the gutter, please), and I look for inspiration for new kick-ass ideas that can translate to the big screen. The key is hearing that "No" and kicking that negative energy right on out of your living room. Just get it out. Don't accept it. 

Remember: All it takes is ONE (IN THE BIGGEST LETTERS POSSIBLE) YES! That's right. Just one "yes" is all you need. You may hear five million "no"s but that one "yes" could be number five million and one! Just keep at it and keep getting better. 

Pangofilms (see Comments) makes a great point. Don't take it personally. That is the most fundamental step to dealing with "No"s. Filmmaking is a business. And not everyone is going to like your work. That is a fact. So get comfortable with that fact and find your audience who does like your work and cater to them. 

Not Since You Web Site Is Live!

After many months of painstaking work by our incredible Web master, we have our brand new Web site for Not Since You! Check it out at www.notsinceyoumovie.com.

Thanks to everyone who contributed their time and insights to the development of the site. We are excited to share it with the world. 

The site has lots of fun details about the film, pictures, and videos. We hope its effective in helping us draw in an audience. 

Let us know what you think!