WILL KEVIN SMITH CHANGE INDEPENDENT FILMMAKING
FOREVER?

Kevin Smith is right.  He definitely generated a ton of hype for the world premiere of Red State at Sundance this year with basically no cost at all.  Movie sites, bloggers, fans and critics were all talking about his plan to auction off the distribution rights after the screening.

It was a ballsy move for sure.  What if the movie didn’t connect to the audience?  Would it blow up in his face?

Little did we know, selling the rights to distribute and market his film was never his intention at all.

Here is his speech after the screening:

His intention was to prove that you could make and distribute a film for far less than the studios spend on films these days.  So he bid $20 bucks on his own movie in a symbolic gesture to prove that times are changing in the independent film world.

THE LINK: Slashfilm

INDIE 2.0

His plan is simple.  Instead of selling a 4 million dollar film to a studio who would then spend 20 million to market the flick, he would distribute the film as part of a cross country tour leading to a theatrical release he would orchestrate himself.

“It’s too much ****ing horse **it, I just want to tell ****ing stories.”

So he will take his film on the road armed with 1.7 twitter followers, his ever expanding podcasting network and the word of mouth of his loyal fans.  There have even been protests both for and against the film and it’s religious themes. It’s all free publicity for Red State in the end.  Is he on to something?

This plan has been met with mixed results.

“Why would anyone outside of Hollywood be upset if he found a way to beat the studios at their own game? But the idea that what Smith is trying to do is somehow applicable to small, independent filmmakers is complete nonsense.” Screen Junkies

“Amidst your overlong monologue of self-gratification, you mentioned that instead of having the studios pay to release your film, you were going to have us, the audience, pay you out of our pockets to fund it. Then, in passing, you quickly alluded to a crucial financial figure; for this ‘privilege’ of seeing your flick, we’d each have to pay “six, seven, ten times the price of a normal movie ticket”. (Pre-sale pricing released today confirms ticketing starts at $68.25 for nosebleeds, up to $142.70) You then defended this by adding that you’d follow the screening with a Q&A. What fanboy should (or could) drop that kind of coin to see a film? And now the question that must be asked…would Dante or Randal be able to afford that?” Joblo

Personally, I think HE can pull it off but I’m not entirely sure how that will translate to filmmakers like me who don’t have 1.7 million followers to draw attention to our films.

In all honesty, I think it’s a great idea.  I think if it works it will open a lot of doors for him.  What he is doing is creating an alternative to the studio system.  Can you make a movie without spending ridiculous amounts of money on marketing?

I think it depends on who you ask.  Take Christopher Nolan’s Inception.  That movie received a ton of marketing cash in addition to the $160 million dollar production budget.  The film went on to make more than $800 million world wide. (Boxofficemojo)

Will he ever see those kinds of numbers with his new strategy?  Does it even matter?  Again, it depends on who you ask.  Honestly, I’m looking forward to seeing how well Red State does.  He is putting a lot on the line for his first Horror film.

If people do pay large amounts of money, is it because of the film or the Q&A that will follow? What if the film fails?  Will his tour have a positive or negative effect once the film reaches theaters?

On the other hand, what if the plan works and he opens a few doors by creating  a new distribution model.  He could position himself to help and inspire a lot of filmmakers out there.  Perhaps other people will follow his lead and start championing lower budget films as well.  Perhaps indie filmmakers will be more willing to release their own films as well.

A lot of people complain about the lack of originality in Hollywood these days.  Everything depends on the bottom line.  Kevin Smith’s new adventure could lead to more and more originality on the big screen thanks to the visions of countless indie filmmakers out there that don’t have access to the studio distribution system.  He’s potentially giving aspiring filmmakers another avenue to reach an audience.

I’m pretty pumped to see where this road leads.  I hope the tour stops in Toronto eventually because I would definitely pay to see Red State before it’s proposed theatrical run in the fall.

“True independence isn’t making a film and selling it to some jack ass.”

XTRA: Kevin Smith’s Red State Inspires Indie Filmmakers

INTERVIEW
SCREENWRITER/DIRECTOR DAVID SPIES

“Inspiration is a funny thing”

It can be difficult sometimes to get a short film project off the ground.  There are thousands of elements that have to fall into place.  Crew, Locations, Actors, Schedules, Budgets, Equipment…

Above all else, you need to possess a high level of dedication to a project.  You have to believe in the film you are producing.  You have to be passionate.

Screenwriter and director David Spies has that passion and used it to produce a brand new short film.

A Musing

Synopsis:  Pete Matthews is a writer that hasn’t penned a word in three years. He’s under the pressure of his deadline-driven literary agent Bill Skinner to make a change for the better, or else… Pete sets out on a local journey to find the “muse” that will unlock his once-prevalent creativity. As his panic builds, he wanders through the streets of everyday life in Seattle and discovers that the key to reviving his imagination may just rest with a local liquor mart cashier. After several unsuccessful attempts to find personal inspiration through music, art and nature, Pete is forced to take a second look at the wisdom of this quirky character.

It begins with a screenplay.

“I spent several years living in Northern California, skiing just about every resort in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.  I couldn’t tell you how many movie ideas I would brainstorm while riding a chair lift…”

David’s screenwriting journey literally took him to the mountains and back in a process he refers to as ‘self applied therapy’.  (I quite like that terminology.)  The Seattle based author enjoys writing horror and comedy with ‘A Musing’ being the latter.

“These were my two favorite genres when I was a kid. I figured the best course of action to fuel my creativity would be; write about what scares me and write about what makes me laugh.”

What fascinates me about other screenwriters is learning about their process.  Many stick to strict routines while others write only when the mood hits.  It all depends on what inspires you.

A Typical Screenwriting Day

“Most days start very early for me. I fire up the espresso machine and brew a triple grande mocha to get my morning started. My wife and kids are off to work and school and I take our dog Mazzy out for her morning walk. It’s during our walk that I brainstorm my current writing project and come up with several ideas around format, plot, characters and dialog. Once we return from our walk, I get on the computer and browse through news articles, local and current events. Believe it or not… I spend a great amount of time on twitter. I like to find those nuggets of information on screenwriting and filmmaking and share them with the world. In between tweets is usually when I start writing. I always write pen to paper until I have written several pages, then I type in Final Draft. A couple days out of the week I make a morning or afternoon trip to my local Starbucks and write for several hours. I like to people watch and pick up on conversations. This usually leads me to creating new characters and fielding ideas for fresh dialog.”

The Muse That Sparked… The Muse

What inspires a screenwriter?  It can truly be anything.  A casual glance with a stranger on the street or a moment of clarity while you stare at your ceiling before falling asleep.  When it came to ‘A Musing’, David found inspiration on a plane.

“I wrote the first draft of “A Musing” while in-flight from Seattle to Phoenix the first week of June 2010. Inspiration is a funny thing; you never know when it’s going to strike. That was the first thought I had while seated in the plane heading to Phoenix. I built off that thought by imagining the most unobvious place that one might find inspiration; a convenience store. Everyone has passed through a convenience store multiple times, but does inspiration strike while inside one? Probably not… What if the clerk at a convenience store was some kind of oracle of knowledge but he really wasn’t… it was at this point, I had the ending for the story before I had even begun to write. I knew I had something worthy to see on film.”

A Musing: The Film

David partnered with cinematographer and editor Phil Seneker.  The two combined forces to start gathering all the elements needed to get the film made.  The team took their project to Kickstarter hoping to leverage large twitter followings and savvy social media skills to secure the funding they needed.

It’s truly incredible what you can do when you use social media sites like Twitter to your advantage.  The filmmaking community online is extremely helpful and through many contacts, websites and other sources of traffic, they reached their goal.

“I built our website www.amusingfilm.com. We received so much support from the filmmaking community on our project, we moved forward with “plan A” the entire duration of our campaign. Julie Keck and Jessica King provided outstanding support for ‘A Musing’ by creating a video just for us! Additional support came from being featured on Rex Sikes Movie Beat. During our radio interview with Rex, we met and exceeded our Kickstarter goal! It was awesome!”

Check out their successful Kickstarter campaign here.

XTRA: Read my 3 part interview with Phil Holbrook, Julie Keck and Jessica King for more on indie film, screenwriting, Twitter, Kickstarter and how they produced the feature film: Tilt.

Production Begins

Every film set is different yet they all share many similarities when it comes to scheduling, locations and various unforeseen challenges.  True, there are some nightmares every now and then but I truly believe if you surround yourself with passionate and dedicated people, the experience is unforgettable.

It’s what makes filmmaking so much fun.

The one thing that was clear from the beginning is how much David loved the experience of making ‘A Musing’.  It’s evident in the amount of detail he offered on the day to day adventures on set.

“I was very impressed with the punctuality and professionalism of the cast and crew every day on set. However, scheduling of scenes was heavily condensed on the first day. Thursday Sept 30th – Our call time was 6:30am at the Sloop Tavern on Market Street. This shoot was seamless and we captured a lot of great takes. Andrew McMasters, Stephanie Hilbert and Mark Carr were great! We wrapped just after 11:00am and had lunch. The cast and crew then made their way over to Greenlake Park for a 12:00pm call time. The backdrop of the park on this warm sunny day made for the perfect shoot. Andrew McMasters and Andy Tribolini were the perfect combination for the park bench scene. We wrapped about 4:00pm then a break for dinner.

Our next location was the Locks Deli & Grocery on Market Street. We had a 9:30pm call time. This is when it started getting interesting… After being up all day and night, we stretched our production into the following morning. Things were getting a little fuzzy… washing down Baklava from the display case with convenience store drip coffee is what kept most of us going… There were multiple takes due to framing, blocking and lighting. The lighting technicians did a fantastic job on toning down the hard fluorescent light with a mix of incandescent bulbs and filters. By the end of this shoot, I did learn that one aspect of the AD’s position is like a parrot with a stopwatch. It always followed me around… We wrapped an hour over schedule at 3:30am.

Our next location was 1 Union downtown Seattle for the office scenes. We had a 10:00am call time. I recognized some little issues while on set, such as improvising scene shots due to location space, lighting and props. During an office scene an actor’s RF MIC disconnected. There were about 10 of us in a 12×14 office. The audio tech was picking up the ambient as well as the direct sound from the other actors MIC, so we didn’t notice until well after the shoot. It wasn’t anything that couldn’t be fixed later in post. Paul Eenhoorn and Andrew McMasters performed exceptionally well during the office scenes. They really seemed to hit it off and that created a perfect dynamic for the scenes.

My favorite of all scenes was at Art Forte in Pioneer Square, downtown Seattle. The lighting was warm and inviting and the artwork was perfect for our shoot. Andrew McMasters and Tonya Yorke were the perfect match for the art gallery scene. You could feel the chemistry in the air. We wrapped our final scene about 10:00pm. It was a wonderful experience working with the entire cast and crew of A Musing.”

The Finished Film

“Phil and his sound team have been working on editing and music for some time. It became a long process as there were several changes to the film edit and music along the way. In addition to editing A Musing, Phil also dedicated his time to color correction and has indicated that A Musing Film is complete as of Feb 2, 2011!”

‘A Musing’ will now take on the festival circuit.

What’s Next?

“I’ve written another short and currently laying the groundwork to fund this project. I plan to cast two of the main roles prior to releasing any details.”

What’s Your Muse?

“My muse is all around me. It’s a collection of thoughts, ideas and experiences that I come into contact with on a daily basis. It’s when serendipity strikes that my muse is born. It’s being in the right place at the right time, developing your thoughts and building off experience. It’s a matter of recognizing those unique moments in life and capturing them, writing them down on paper before they are lost.”

Finding your muse can be difficult for some and easy for others.  No matter which category you fall into, what really counts is the incredible rush of creative energy you feel when inspiration hits.  It’s all built on a foundation of passion and belief that you can create anything you want.  You just have to do it!

Special thanks to David Spies and the ‘A Musing’ cast and crew.

PS: Follow David Spies and Phil Seneker immediately.

Director Phil Holbrook just released a teaser trailer for his upcoming indie feature: Tilt.

I had the opportunity to interview Phil about the film a while back and got the full story on how Tilt came to be.

Without a doubt, if you have an idea and the determination needed you can definitely get your movie made.

Check out the 3 part series below:

• Part 1: The Movie
• Part 2: The Screenplay
• Part 3: Using Twitter & Kickstarter to fund your movie

Don’t forget to stop by the official site for more including a fantastic 9 part video series on the production.

I take great pride in being a nerd.

It’s been amazing to see how nerds have evolved on the silver screen over the years.  Old school geeks were always lovable characters who spent their time in front of computer screens instead of talking to women or playing sports.

The world of nerds was filled video gamers, programmers and hackers.

Thanks to The Social Network, you can now add game changing entrepreneur to that list.

Entrepreneurs that continue to shape the world every single day from the comforts of their desktops and smart phones.

The nerds have risen. The age of social media has arrived and site’s like Facebook and Twitter have vaulted nerds to the top of the mountain.

Nerds are cool now.

I found the film absolutely fascinating.

It truly is an interesting story.  I’m not sure how much of it was true but I couldn’t help but relate to each and every person on that screen.

The truth is, nerds are cool because we are all nerds now.

It’s normal to spend hours in front of a computer screen.  People who have never played a video game in their life spend hours dominating with Wii remotes in their hands.

On the other hand, it’s now acceptable to be a nerd and jog everyday.  Hitting the gym is no longer against the stereotype.

Athletic Nerds.

The war is over!

The Social Network captures the last decade perfectly. It’s all about the fast paced, hurry up or get left behind era that saw the creation of a website that would one day have more than 500 million members.

Unbelievable.

This wonderful film is about our evolution into a new and amazingly SOCIAL world.

1 in every 14 people on the planet have a Facebook page!

What’s fascinating to me is how it all started in a college dorm room.

It took me back to the days when I carried around Qbasic for Dummies everywhere trying to learn how to create my own basketball game.

Note: I’m not kidding either.  It had full rosters, trades, salary caps and more.  This site isn’t called The Athletic Nerd for nothing.

I found myself trying to read the code that they were typing in the film.  There’s really little chance that I would have understood it but I love the fact that we live in a time that you can create whatever you want at any time.

If it’s a good idea you can make millions.  Some people would call that living the dream.  I think the real dream is creating something you can be proud of.

To me, that’s what resonated about The Social Network.

The creators of Facebook had an idea (or didn’t depending on who you believe) and were passionate about it.  In the end, their hard work and dedication paid off.

I may not have come up with that million dollar idea or film yet but that’s not the point.

What’s important is that I keep staring at my computer screen working on my newest idea.  That I keep working with passionately and commit to a dream that anything is possible.

You just have to believe in yourself.

XTRA | The Social Network and a Brand New Blog

When you are an aspiring filmmaker, it can be extremely difficult to get a film produced. With the right amount of creativity and dedication, you can definitely pull off a short or feature film little to no money but it isn’t easy.

No matter what, if you want to achieve success as an independent filmmaker, you will have to prove what you can do with a budget eventually.

Where is the money!?

If you’re savvy enough, there are thousands of dollars out there to claim through grants, investments and sponsorship opportunities.  (There are also credit cards and personal loans but that’s another article all together.)

Today’s indie filmmaker has a whole new set of tools to play with.

In this third and final installment of our interview with independent filmmaker Phil Holbrook (@philontilt), we discuss that very issue.

Part 3: Using Twitter & Kickstarter To Get Your Film Off The Ground

Social Media

Phil is currently producing his first feature film entitled Tilt.

Check out Part 1 of our interview for more on the film.

As you can imagine, finding the funds necessary to produce a feature film was tough but Phil and his team employed an extremely successful campaign using social media sites like Twitter and Kickstarter to reach their goal.

They were eventually able to raise more than $15,000 from more than 200 backers using a method called Crowd Funding.

Essentially, Kickstarter is a social network where artists can present their projects and offer a list of benefits to anyone willing to contribute.  In order to attract these backers, you need to be clever in your marketing approach and constantly promote your film.

How do you get the word out?

Phil has nearly 4000 followers on Twitter. An extremely large percentage of those followers are fans of film.  That’s a pretty significant number of people who read his tweets and pass them on.

When asked, Phil reflected on the high level of participation needed to gain such a following.

“I’ve had my twitter account for over 2 years, but for the first year, I wasn’t very consistent and as a result, didn’t really have anyone following my account.  One day I just decided that I was going to attempt to use these free tools to be a part of something instead of begging people to be a part of my thing.  I dropped all aspirations of having some “cool” online persona and just decided to be myself.  I enjoy finding new things on the interwebs and read a lot of blogs, so I just started posting the interesting stuff that I found.  Turns out, other people thought some of it was interesting, too. With that, promoting other peoples work and just genuinely taking an interest in what other people had going on, I became part of a fantastic community of people from all over the world.  It really is an amazing time to be a filmmaker.”

Add another 2000 followers more when you factor in the duo of Julie Keck & Jessica King (@kingisafink)  The tandem met Phil on Twitter which sparked a friendship and eventually they were brought on to write the screenplay for Tilt.

It’s an inspiring tale.  Today’s filmmakers can now network with passionate professionals from around the world.  Who knows who you might connect with and eventually work with.  Imagine the possibilities creatively?

Check out Part 2 of this feature for more on the screenwriting process.

All of their followers, mentions and retweets add up to thousands and thousands of targeted film fans. 

A marketing dream.

It was time to launch their Kickstarter campaign.

Phil admits the process is challenging but also incredible rewarding if you are willing to put in the work.

“There could be an entire article written on just this question.  As a matter of fact there have been several.  And from those articles, namely David Branin’s Crowd Funding Cheat Sheet and Gary King’s Lessons Learned In The Land Of Crowd Funding, we formulated a plan for our Kickstarter campaign.  Something like this shouldn’t be taken lightly.  These campaigns don’t just happen on their own.  They are  lot of work.  However, the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks if you go into it with a plan and are prepared to follow it through to the end.”

Every single project is different and you really do have to plan out the entire campaign and follow through. It’s a fascinating concept.  In David Branin’s piece, he talks about his experience with his film: Goodbye Promise. His Kickstarter campaign successfully raised over $16,000 but what I find interesting is how he breaks down his backers contributions.

“85% of contributions were $50 or less”

There aren’t many people out there willing to donate thousands of dollars to complete strangers.  While they do exist, the nature of crowd funding is to appeal to the masses.  The thought of donating 10-20 dollars is a lot easier for backers if you inspire them with your pitch.

That’s what it’s all about.

Inspiring others to believe in your project and your passion.

They have to believe in you.

“We wanted our campaign to be personal.  We are real people making a film, and the backers are real people, too.  They aren’t just names with dollar amounts next to them.  We wanted to connect with these people.  This campaign was as much about the people who donated as it was about us or our film.  One of the coolest parts of it, was that not only did people connect with us, they connected with each other.”

You really can’t sum up the benefits of social networking better than that.

It was working.

Yet still, the Tilt team continued to push forward creatively and come up with better ways to reach people.

You’ve got to raise the bar.

Their first creation was a pretty clever invention known as Tilt: The Town.  A fictional map of Brainerd, MN that’s ‘populated’ by their backers.

“We were also prepared to adapt and try new things when the ideas arose.  With 18 days left of our campaign, I started recording a daily update video every morning, Coffee with Phil.  This was another way to connect with our backers, and even got  noticed by the Kickstarter crew and written about on their blog.”

It’s ideas like that pushed the project beyond their goal.  By constantly reaching out to people and connecting they created a community around their project. Cameras haven’t even rolled and they have a built in audience eagerly anticipating the results.

For more on Tilt’s journey, check out the film’s blog.

For even more check out these great posts over at kingisafink.com.

• The Quick and Dirty Guide To Crowd Funding
• What Makes an Engaging Crowd Funding Campaign

Special thanks have to go out to Phil Holbrook, Julie Keck and Jessica King for their amazing contributions to this feature.