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My Films

My Greatest Films That No One Has Ever Seen

whathappendposterRecently Jon Brooks at KQED wrote up a very nice piece on Tom Noonan’s WHAT HAPPENED WAS (1994). That film won multiple awards at Sundance but barely go seen.  Unfortunately it does not sleep alone in my bed of barely seen almost-masterpieces.  As strong as my track record may be, it still holds some flops, misfires, and damn bad luck experiences. It’s great that Tom’s flick may get some of the love it so richly deserves, albeit twenty years after it’s debut.

On my pleasure planet, Frank Grow‘s revolutionary LOVE GOD (1997) would have turned our business on its head.  

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Truly Free Film

The True Of Heart Shall Triumph Time And Time And Time Again.

Did you notice what happened yet again last week?  The appreciation for diversity in our culture was demonstrated.  Or was it another vote against pure market forces as the driver of culture?  Depending on how you squint, you might have recognized it as either the proof of principle that a change is going to come, or a battle cry that is starting to build towards a universal “I am mad as hell and  I am not going to take it anymore”.  A downpour of bricks thrown with love towards a beast that maybe just won’t ever get it?  Hope or fear?  I think what I heard is that hope is here.

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Issues and Actions

Dept. Of The Obvious: The Film Biz Has No Gender Equality

That lack of gender equality in the film business has been clear for so long.  A lot has been written about it, and a lot more shall.  Like so much, it is a problem for everyone, not just whom it effects most.  It is all one world after all.

For a long time, white people did not accept that

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Truly Free Film

How To Get Ready For That Film Festival

You are in, and now you have all sorts of wonderful problems — the kind most filmmakers wish they could enjoy.  You know, you have to do all the things you have to do for a film festival.  I have tried to collect the various blog posts I have written or have found written by others that will really prepare you.  There’s a lot more to be written.  But this is a good start:

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Truly Free Film

The San Francisco Film Society’s Great Sundance Hope: Ryan Coogler & FRUITVALE

Last year, the film that the San Francisco Film Society had supported with grants went on to great things.  Sure prizes and deals are not the only way to measure success, and really just getting a movie made is the real achievement — and hell, getting it into Sundance is pretty damn sweet.

I have loved what I have seen of Ryan’s work so far.  I also love all he has to say about the film. I also love the the film is about something real to us all; in this case the killing of Oscar Grant at by a police officer. If you haven’t checked it out this video already, I recommend you do so now:

 

If you’d like to read more about this and the original case it is based on, this HuffPost article includes many photos of the Oakland riots that followed after the officer was sentenced only for involuntary manslaughter for two years, minus time served.

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Truly Free Film

Get Ready For The Indie Film Investment Deluge!

Let’s celebrate!  The prospects look good for a lot of smart money to be available again for appropriately budgeted indie films.  The key now being the “appropriately” part of the equation.

The days of Machiavellian moves to maximize an limited audience art film’s budget seem thankfully over — and as sad as I will be to seem some friends’ films become obsolete, I smell another golden age brewing.  Filmmakers and investors seem to have both embraced the “less is more’ ethos.  Expect may more films to be made in the lower than $5M bracket, and far fewer indie works in Mark Gill’s former sweet spot.  The large indie finance companies of 5 years ago, had to make films at higher budget levels in order to justify their overheads and salaries.  Those companies have crashed and so did the silly models of $20M art films.

The Film Biz is coming off two consecutive extremely robust film markets.  Toronto 2010 saw almost 30 deals close during the festival.  Sundance 2011 exceeded that mark.  Surely there were quite a few deals done post market too (I have not seen any reports to track this; let me know if you know any).  Coming off of two years where the prudent would not expect anything for US rights, this an exceeding positive change.  With a well produced and well positioned films, investors can reasonably hope to recoup — and then some.  Now the challenge for producers will be to be disciplined enough not to allow the budget creep to return.

There are other factors, beyond the sales market itself,  that heighten my optimism.  The

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Truly Free Film

Sundance Sales Dissection: Septien (Part Two)

Today’s guest post is from George Rush, producers rep and attorney.  Yesterday George started telling us about how he engineered the sale of Michael Tully’s Sundance At Midnight hit, SEPTIEN.  Today’s post concludes the dissection.

I had been to Sundance before with Midnight films and know it can be difficult to get good buzz.  Sundance audiences are not reflective of real audiences.  It is a mixture of film nerds, rich party people, and earnest do gooders seeking some culture.  I’ve found most people want to see the buzzed about stereotypical Sundance films—The Are All Right, Winter’s Bone.  These tickets are hard to come by.  However, midnight screening tickets are easier to come by and thus people get stuck with them.  They come in hoping for some culture and get blood and guts and farts.

I’ve seen packed houses at Midnight screenings pretty empty by the time the lights came up.  Because Michael’s film, SEPTIEN,  is so different, I felt a good number of the audience and some critics would dismiss it outright because it did not fit their expectation of what a Sundance film should be.  It sort of reminds me of a friend of mine who hates Wes Anderson movies because he expects Bill Murray to always play the Bill Murray of Ghostbusters.

Those who stayed, who bought in, would be massively rewarded by SEPTIEN, but there would be some naysayers.  So my feeling was Sundance was going to be a wildcard, with champions and detractors.