2010: COMPLETING AND REMEMBERING

• Review the list of all completed projects
• What was your biggest triumph in 2010?
• What was the smartest decision you made in 2010?
• What one word best sums up and describes your 2010 experience?
• What was the greatest lesson you learned in 2010?
• What was the most loving service you performed in 2010?
• What is your biggest piece of unfinished business in 2010?
• What are you most happy about completing in 2010?
• Who were the three people that had the greatest impact on your life in 2010?
• What was the biggest risk you took in 2010?
• What was the biggest surprise in 2010?
• What important relationship improved the most in 2010?
• What compliment would you liked to have received in 2010?
• What compliment would you liked to have given in 2010?
• What else do you need to do or say to be complete with 2010?

2011: CREATING THE NEW YEAR

• What would you like to be your biggest triumph in 2011?
• What advice would you like to give yourself in 2011?
• What is the major effort you are planning to improve your financial results in 2011?
• What would you be most happy about completing in 2011?
• What major indulgence are you willing to experience in 2011?
• What would you most like to change about yourself in 2011?
• What are you looking forward to learning in 2011?
• What do you think your biggest risk will be in 2011?
• What about your work, are you most committed to changing and improving in 2011?
• What is one as yet undeveloped talent you are willing to explore in 2011?
• What brings you the most joy and how are you going to do or have more of that in 2011?
• Who or what, other than yourself, are you most committed to loving and serving in 2011?
• What one word would you like to have as your theme in 2011?

Go check out #1 here and #2 here.

If you’re unfamiliar with New Breed – it’s a blog on WorkBook Project that captures stories from the front lines as a group of filmmakers share their journey from script to screen and beyond.

Of the 3661 feature films submitted to the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, about 120 made it into the festival. Of those, 50 have no distribution as of this October. For the just about 3,500 total films submitted to Slamdance in 2008, 20 made it in to feature narrative and feature documentary competition, and 92 made it into the shorts programs. Of those features that got in, 5 got picked up for distribution. And then… What sort of distribution? Though there are some exceptions, as a general rule filmmakers are often faced with strict acquisitions deals demanding rights worldwide, across all platforms, in perpetuity… often for negligible sums of money.

The truth about the independent film world is that for the most part, the only ones that are able to sustain comfortably are the lawyers, the middle-men, and the studio execs. There are exceptions, of course, but for all the success stories that serve as models of the “what if?” there are an equivalent amount of quiet failures, films languishing in obscurity while their makers shrug and dutifully begin developing their next project.

Most filmmakers take it for granted that there is a slim chance of receiving a supported release, assuming, as artists do, that the fault is somehow theirs. In truth, this reality is more a symptom of an outdated, broken distribution system that can’t keep up with the spike in creative output than it is a testament to bad filmmaking. Though it goes without saying that some films could be better, what of the thousands of very good, relevant films that sit on the shelf? A sense of futility sets in: Since the filmmaker’s lot is to engage in public storytelling, there inevitably comes a time when we ask ourselves what the point is of spending all this money and energy creating films that end up reaching an audience of, like, 40 people. Why make films at all, if there’s such a slim chance of having them seen?

We here at Slamdance take this situation very seriously, asking ourselves a few simple and crucial questions: What role does a festival play in furthering its filmmakers’ success? In disseminating stories? In ensuring the continuation and sustenance of independent film? We suspect that if festivals have the curatorial purpose of introducing new film to new audiences, then they also need to further that by taking an active role in helping filmmakers harness audiences through new distribution and marketing methodologies — and not just by inviting acquisitions execs to the screenings. A symbiotic and self-empowered relationship needs to form in order for all to survive — one that is built firmly OUTSIDE of the permission-based system in which we currently work.

With all this in mind, this year Slamdance has teamed up with the WorkBook Project and the Open Video Alliance to present the first ever Filmmaker Summit.

From the Summit release, as drafted by Lance Weiler & Peter Baxter:

“The mission of the Filmmaker Summit is to jointly craft a new charter for filmmaking, storytelling and content distribution, with and by the global filmmaking community. Born out of reaction to an independent film industry in a state of turmoil, the summit aims to explore how a global filmmaking community can better understand new DIY distribution strategies, and work towards the democratization of new technologies, tools, story-telling techniques, and processes. We believe that sustainable independent filmmaking is no longer just about production. Instead it is about the ways in which filmmakers must expand their roles and take charge of reaching and engaging worldwide audiences, across all viewing platforms. The topics to be explored at the summit are set through crowd-sourced methodologies (topics voted on and suggested by the independent film community). During the summit itself we will be hearing from filmmakers and strategists from around the world, chiming in on new marketing and distribution techniques they have employed to get their content made and distributed.”

Slamdance believes that we need to help our filmmakers sustain by supporting the self-empowerment inherent in self-distribution. Though this emerging methodology is still, largely, theoretical, we believe that we can all find some working models, together.

And, let’s not forget our special thanks: to Scilla Andreen at Indieflix; Mike Beynart at Elephant Pilot and Micah Hahn at AutumnSeventy for their amazing design work; Ben Moskowitz and Josh Levy at Open Video Alliance; George Chriss; Flumotion and XMission; Zak Forsman and Kevin Shah at SABI;  Brian Newman, Brian Chirls and Chris Holland for their insight; and of course all our filmmakers.

Learn more about the summit and register to attend: http://www.slamdance.com/summit/

Logo by Michael Beynart

SLAMDANCE, WORKBOOK PROJECT and OPEN VIDEO ALLIANCE present the FILMMAKER SUMMIT, 2010

• Saturday January 23rd, 2010
• 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM (US Mountain Time)
• Treasure Mountain Inn, Park City UT // Online at http://www.slamdance.com/summit

Thanks to the generous support of IndieFlix, XMission, Flumotion

STATEMENT FROM THE PRODUCERS

The mission of the Slamdance, WorkBook Project and Open Video Alliance Filmmaker Summit is to jointly craft a new charter for filmmaking, storytelling and content distribution, with and by the global filmmaking community.Our collaboration is born out of reaction to an independent film industry currently in a state of change and how, as a global filmmaking community, we can better understand and find greater success afforded by new technology and the democratization of new tools and processes.

We believe sustainable independent filmmaking is no longer about the production itself. Instead, it’s about how filmmakers must now expand their role and take charge of reaching and engaging worldwide audiences across all viewing platforms. In this direct approach, the viewer is now collaborative, less passive and more connected then every before. New business models will emerge as a direct result of experimentation and transparency around process, the Filmmaker Summit is an attempt to chart a course towards sustainability one that is by filmmakers for filmmakers while at the same time being inclusive of the audiences that support them.

We are inviting the DIY filmmaking-loving public to pick topics to discuss through an online voting up process. These topics will then be thoroughly examined by speakers Steven Soderbergh, Brian Newman, Christy Dena, Jamie King, Timo Vuorensola, Khavn de la Cruz, Lance Weiler, Peter Baxter and Jon Reiss in a one day summit – on site in Park City (and, of course, online).

—-

The Filmmaker Summit was made possible thanks to the support shown by IndieFlix and Xmission, and to a large collaborative production effort:  produced by Saskia Wilson-Brown, programming by Lance Weiler (WorkBook Project), technical assistance Ben Moskowitz (OVA), overall support Peter Baxter (Slamdance), streaming services George Chriss (openmeetings.org) with additional support from Greg Urich, Megan MacLeod, Zak Forsman and Kevin Shah (SABI Pictures), Josh Levy, and Paul Rachman. Logo design by Michael Beynart, and program design and consultation from Micah Hahn at Autumn Seventy.

Announcing a new, invite-only, monthly film series – initially in Los Angeles – which aims to:

• showcase newer independent films that are doing the DIY Distribution rounds
• support the filmmakers by aligning them with new audiences outside the industry
• give potential non-industry audiences exposure to this new wave of content in an accessible and hip context

We are targeting taste-makers outside of the film industry as our core audience, and we are fully committed to showcasing content that is doing the independent distribution route. We’re hoping that as a result, we can help further nudge the dialogue surrounding this distribution revolution outside of the usual circles, and help pave the road towards collaboration and conversation with other industries.

We – also – aim to donate half of the proceeds back to the filmmakers (after the inaugural screening).

So, in practice: The first Tuesday of every month, at the Echo Park Film Center in Los Angeles, we will show a new indie film. We’ll also have a speaker, tasked with presenting an idea in ten minutes or less. Costs $5 to get in with passcode, and bring something to drink.

The first screening is Tuesday August 4th. The film is the b-side supported film VISIONEERS, the speaker is producer Georgi Goldman (MTV, Current…) who will be discussing her take on the medium vs message conundrum.

Check out cinemaspeakeasy.wordpress.com

Oh, and you have to know the password. It’s a speakeasy, after all.

Here’s more information, from the Cinema Speakeasy site.

Hilarious description of what Mexican mafia lords are MEANT to look like (peasants with money), as opposed to what some of them DO look like (eastern european nouveau rich cheese meets sensitive intellectual meets HOT, as above):

“They’re harder to identify because they don’t look like typical drug traffickers,” he said. “You can’t detect them by saying ‘Oh look, he has a big truck with wide tires and automatic weapons, gold chains, snakeskin boots and a big belt buckle and dark glasses.’”

From ‘Savvy young heirs give Mexico drug cartels new face’, as posted in Vancouver Sun