Quote for Tomorrow

From Warren Ellis regarding his new book released POD, SHIVERING SANDS:

A persistent criticism of my interest in POD has been that only writers at my level of cultural awareness can make any kind of success out of it. And some of them will now be saying, well, even Warren Ellis can only move 400 copies in the first week of a POD project. But, for one thing, it is about the long game. For everybody. The book doesn’t go away. And, for another, if I’m not aware enough of you to order that POD project — whose fault is that, really? Because, I’ve got to tell you, I wasn’t born with a book deal in one hand and an exclusive comics contract wrapped around my other flipper. Hell, when I was starting out, there wasn’t even an internet.

It is about the long game. The building of a library of content and internet presence that allows people to discover and recommend your work.

Post AFM Wrap Up

There really isn't a lot to tell. Lots of product with few sales. Buyers were eager to get to Santa Monica, buy what they absolutely had to and leave. Distributors were left holding films that will be discounted at the next market where Buyers will pick up a movie or two for a song (possibly a dance too, but mainly the song).

Bill Martell has a great wrap up here and recounts our phone conversation as I drove back to Hollywood in shock. Bill and I go to AFM every year and occasionally (always) have a beer (twenty) and discuss what we've seen. This year he didn't feel compelled to go on Sunday, and I was able to wrap most of my business up then and seek out new business on Monday.

Bill calls his post "Is Cinema Dead?" and I have to disagree with the phrasing. I may be splitting hairs here, but I'd rather call his post "How has Cinema Changed and Why Hasn't the Business Changed to Meet it?" We discussed this over the phone - not only regarding a specific project we have together and how we're going to produce it well, but how we - the creative folk - are going to have to approach the business.

This ain't your father's movie business anymore. Not even at the studio level. It's not even a movie business per se, but an intellectual property business. That's due to a variety of factors we're going to have to discuss in the Electrogram. It's scary and it's exciting and it's different than to what you've grown accustomed...

But ultimately I think it's going to be far better for those looking to make their first break into media. There will be more opportunity and the possibility of more reward - more people seeing your work, more people in your genre niche seeing your work, better trend spotting, higher production value, more unusual storytelling options and choices and yes, monetization.

More later.

AFM WEIRDNESS...

Dad is out of surgery and in recovery. Mom wants him to stay overnight. He wants to go home right away (but, of course).

I am stuck in Santa Monica amongst the dead. Just got out of an okay seminar on writing genre. More on that later (promise).

But the cool news is I met William Lustig (MANIAC, MANIAC COP) and Harvey Keitel (The BAD LIEUTENANT himself).

AFM 2009: Sunday, Day One

If you've been following my tweets (@madpulpbastard) you already know how little I think of this year's AFM. I feel forced, after just one day here to call it as I see it - AFM is Broken.

I only have this computer for a little while so I'll be brief. There is an incredible chasm between the huge blockbuster movies and the low/no budget fare here in Santa Monica. No one has any interest in anything in between and there is little interest in the other ends of the spectrum.

Being that it's Sunday - I am prepared to give the market a bit of slack - but I can't see the momentum picking up anytime soon. There is a malaise here that borders on comatose. Distributors are actually forced to listen to wanna be producers pitches in the hallways. The Lobbyists - the Hollywood Reporter's terminology for those who seek financing for their "projects" - are in full force and yet they aren't even smoozing with their usual vigor. I haven't even been offered a free drink yet!

It's clear to me that unless you are already ensconced in a production deal with financing that the whole affair has to be rethought to bring it into line with the realities of the business as it is right now and how it will be in the next five years. I had a meeting five months ago on a movie that was seeking completion funding in exchange for N. American (US and Canada) rights. It was a light crime movie with a B-name cast. I politely told them they could expect about $50K for those rights, that they wouldn't have a theatrical premiere unless they financed it and that they would still have to spend more money to get it to the point to sell it to a distributor --- so they could get the money to finish the movie.

They politely declined and walked away thinking they could get a better deal. They told me they would see me at AFM. Their movie isn't here. It isn't anywhere (that I can find).

I say this not to kick those guys down - they made a choice. I tell this tale because:

It's going to get worse / different / crazy before things pick back up.

And that pick up will be a totally different animal than the AFM beast we are dealing with now. I think that beast is lying on the Serengeti plain with its tusks removed.

Yes, You Too Can Have Fun With Photoshop

All it needs now is a dame....

Like this beautiful lady.

The Internet: Open for Discussion and Application

It's here. It's in your hands.
Use it.
Otherwise it's going to get taken away.

DETERMINISM

I hate the title. (I really do)
I like the look of this though.
Shot on video with a good eye - inexpensive yet with a lush look.
I think it should move faster than it does. 2:21 is 51 seconds too long for a good trailer.

See for yourself:

Whew!

Finished the last round of materials for AFM and received confirmation the client has them and loves them because they are the greatest marketing materials EVAR!

So now I can go over to the corner and have my wonderful cardiac arrest. Isn't film wonderful?

While I'm clutching my chest over here in the corner, possibly stroking out from an aneurysm brought about by the ever present "hurry up and wait" deadlines combined with economic and social stresses -- I want to point you toward something Cousin Jill highlighted the other day.

That something points the way toward changing the game for all of us, but I'm not going to be coy about it - it does mean a revolution. Now I'm not talking about pickaxes and torches and IEDs or anything like that. What Eric Garland is calling for here is an understanding of the fundamental realities facing the motion picture business today.

Don't think so? Try this:

Garland: Yes, but Surfthechannel.com, (an online site where users can find links to a plethora of unauthorized shows and films) doesn't care about that. They're happy to serve up current and past episodes of "24." And just like music, Hollywood's first reaction to that will be "Well, that's just not fair. That's jumping the turnstile, that's breaking the rules. We have to shut that down, because if you remove that option then people will be more patient." You won't remove that option, and you're losing valuable time if you focus on removing that option at the expense of improving that option and bettering that option, beating that option. The music people used to say, "How can you can compete with free?" And now you ask anybody in digital music and they'll tell you, "I'm just trying to compete effectively with free." They've embraced the very condition that up until very recently they said they would reject. I'm telling you, you are going to compete with free. Sometimes you're even going to win, once you make the commitment to living in the marketplace as it is and not as you wish it were or as it once was

"Living in the marketplace as it is..." that opportunity knocking my friends. It's spelled H-A-R-D-W-O-R-K, but it is opportunity to think outside the theater screen or cathode ray tube / flat screen.

But unfortunately, we have to contend with the old guard who want things the way they once were:

Q: Are paywalls one of the solutions? That's what Hulu's leaders are considering.
Absolutely not. What you have is a very effective antipiracy tool in Hulu, and I'm specifically drawing on the numbers and not just citing anecdotal evidence. People really do prefer the Hulu experience. So you actually have cannibalization, for once, of a pirate market by a legitimate market. You have a legitimate market stealing share and audience away from a pirate market. Put that behind a subscription wall and they'll just go back.

Read the whole article. Front to back, back to front. It's a significant shift away from the line of "It'll never happen" or "How can I make money if I'm giving it away for free?" It's an honest assessment of what is going on right now all over the world and points to putting together business models to suit.

More on this in the Pulp Legion Electrogram. It will probably be finished around Turkey day because I will be down in Santa Monica next week attending AFM and several seminars including the SAGIndie panel, The WGA West panel and the Film Independent panel. I want to incorporate what I experience there into the e-gram.

Early rumor has this AFM tagged as a grim affair.