SXSW Panel Highlights: Audience-Building for Creatives (Video)

The folks at SXSW did a nice job plucking six minutes of highlights from a really jam-packed panel I moderated this past March.

The panel featured artist Natasha Wescoat, politics blogger Markos "Kos" Moulitsas, musician Jonathan Coulton, filmmaker Brett Gaylor, and animator Burnie Burns. (Everyone but Markos is featured in some way in Fans, Friends & Followers.)



I posted an MP3 of the complete panel earlier this year.... and in the current issue of SXSW World magazine, I have a short piece about audience-building on page 24.

New approaches to audience-building are a big focus of SXSW each year -- and it's obviously an issue I care a lot about.

Audio: Talking About the Future of Indie Film, at SXSW

Eight folks who were in Austin this week for the SXSW Film Festival sat down yesterday morning to have breakfast and talk about the one big idea or big challenge or big shift that we've been thinking about most these days. We recorded the conversation so you could listen in, but be forewarned that there's a lot of background noise; the restaurant was noisier than is ideal for audio recording. (It gets better as the recording goes on, as the restaurant empties out.) The order in which people speak in the recording is: producer Ted Hope, filmmaker Lance Weiler, conference organizer and producer Liz Rosenthal, technologist Brian Chirls, outreach guru Caitlin Boyle, filmmaker Brett Gaylor, producer and Filmmaker Mag editor Scott Macaulay, and me (Scott Kirsner.)

Some of the things we talked about:

- film financing
- transmedia experiences
- Creative Commons Plus licensing (ways to profit from people sharing and redistributing work licensed under Creative Commons)
- the need for more experimentation and information-sharing among filmmakers
- business models around piracy and file sharing (in particular what Jamie King has been doing with VODO)
- the desire for participation (IE, the audience is no longer just interested in passive consumption)
- the possibility of some kind of "Oprah's Book Club" movement that would involve groups of people watching and discussing films, rather than books
- the rise of YouTube, and whether filmmakers should be paying more attention to what audiences are doing (IE, watching short YouTube videos with groups of friends or colleagues), rather than insisting that the 90-minute film is the only "respectable" product to be making today

And much, much more.

I started the conversation by asking everyone to talk about one big idea or challenge that they'd been thinking about lately.

Here's the MP3, or you can listen by clicking 'Play' below.

Audio: SXSW Panel on Building Your Audience Online

I recorded Sunday afternoon's SXSW panel called "Marketing Meets New Media: Building Your Audience Online." I'm sure SXSW will post higher-quality "official" audio or video sometime soon...

The recording is about an hour long. Here's the MP3 audio, or you can just click play below.

Here's who we had:

- Scott Kirsner Editor, CinemaTech
- Natasha Wescoat Artist/Blogger, Natasha Wescoat Inc
- Jonathan Coulton Singer-Songwriter
- Brett Gaylor Filmmaker, 'RiP: A Remix Manifesto'
- Burnie Burns Rooster Teeth Productions
- Markos Moulitsas Kos Media

Three of those folks (Natasha, Jonathan, and Burnie) are featured in my next book, Fans, Friends & Followers: Building an Audience and a Career in the Digital Age. (The official pub date is in early April, but you can get the e-book now.)

Two-Sentence Movie Reviews from SXSW

Continuing the CinemaTech tradition, I'm posting two-sentence reviews of the films I saw while at SXSW this week.

- "RiP: A Remix Manifesto"

Brett Gaylor's energetic and fast-moving documentary asks whether we need to rethink the way creative products are copyrighted, with the goal of fostering more creativity. The film has a strong point of view, and dissenting voices aren't really heard from, but "RiP" seems like just the thing to spark a very important conversation about the laws surrounding intellectual "property."

- "Luckey"

Tom Luckey is a Connecticut architect who is paralyzed when he falls out the window of a house he designed. Laura Longsworth's near-perfect documentary explores in a deep and touching way how the accident changes his relationship with his wife and son, who steps in to help with Luckey's architecture practice, and the only flaw is that this very engaging film comes to a bit of a screeching halt at the end, stopping just before two very crucial events happen.

- "Observe & Report"

If you imagine Travis Bickle as a mall security guard, and "Taxi Driver" as a comedy, you'll have a bit of a sense of the weirdness that is "Observe & Report." Maybe Seth Rogen is so popular he can do no wrong, but I found the lack of consequences and one-dimensional characters to be dull and unfunny, and I stopped caring what would happen next about half-way through.

What is the Worst Possible Mistake You Could Make on Your Film's Web Site?

Sony Pictures Classics makes it on the Web site for their doc, 'Every Little Step.'

I stumbled across a trailer for the film on the New York Times site today. At the end of the trailer, they direct you to the film's Web site, EveryLittleStepFilm.com.

Good start.

Then you get to the Web site.

Is the film in release now? Being released?

No info at all.

Is it available on DVD, or coming out soon? Is it on iTunes?

No info.

All you are told is that it played in 2008 at the Berlin Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival.

Even if you as the filmmaker or distributor knew absolutely nothing about when the film was coming out theatrically or on home video... why wouldn't you give me a way to stay in touch, by entering my e-mail address or joining your fan page on Facebook, so that you could notify me when the film is out?

This is just about the dumbest thing you could do on your movie Web site. It's akin to buying a full-page ad in the Yellow Pages and forgetting to include your phone number. There's just no way for the visitor to take action and express an interest in eventually seeing the film. If I'm interested in seeing 'Every Little Step,' Sony Pictures Classics has got to hope that I'll see another ad for it once it's released, notice the title on my local arthouse's marquee, or happen across a review that lets me know it's finally out. Why take that chance, and why spend all that extra money and effort?

(IMDB, by the way, says the release date is April 17th.)

As a counter-example, check out the site for another doc, RiP: A Remix Manifesto, by my pal Brett Gaylor. You can sign up to "attend" Facebook events they've created for each of the film's screenings, subscribe to an RSS feed that lets you know about the film, follow them on Twitter, or enter your e-mail address in a box that says "Keep me posted."

South by Southwest: Panels on DVD, Digital Distribution, and Audience-Building

I'm looking forward to South by Southwest next month, in Austin.

I'll be doing two panels, and also hoping to see two docs made by people whom I've gotten to know: 'RiP: A Remix Manifesto' and 'Winnebago Man.'

I'll also be doing two panels...

On Sunday, March 15th: 'Building Your Audience Online.' The theme here connects directly to my next book, 'Fans, Friends and Followers': how do you build an audience for your work, and ideally get that audience to support you? Panelists include:

Natasha Wescoat, Artist/Blogger, Natasha Wescoat Inc
Jonathan Coulton, Musician
Brett Gaylor, Filmmaker, 'RiP: A Remix Manifesto'
Burnie Burns, Rooster Teeth Productions ('Red vs. Blue')
Markos Moulitsas, The Daily Kos

Then on Monday, March 16th: 'The Future of DVD and Digital Distribution. How long will physical DVD sales remain a viable business (and will Blu-ray help prolong their lifespan)? How are filmmakers selling digital downloads and rentals on iTunes and other outlets, and how do digital revenues stack up? Panelists include:

Matt Dentler, Cinetic Media
Rick Allen, CEO, Snag Films
Gary Hustwit, Director, 'Objectified' and 'Helvetica'
Steve Savage, President, New Video
Morgan Spurlock, Filmmaker, Warrior-Poets

Of course, I'll try to post notes and/or audio afterward. The full SXSW Film panel schedule is here.

I will also be doing the pre-release for my new book, 'Fans, Friends and Followers,' at SXSW. I'll have a few early copies for sale, and will be doing a signing at the SXSW Bookstore on Monday, March 16th at 1 PM.

Hope to see you in Austin!

IndieGoGo: A Social Network for Filmmakers Raising Money (and Their Backers)

Almost a year ago, I wrote about IndieGoGo in Variety, as part of a new wave of efforts to use the Internet for film financing. (Back then, the site was still mostly a concept, and it was called Project Keiyaku.)

Now, the site has officially launched.

I do want to see someone succeed, and create a networking hub where filmmakers can raise money. But I think filmmakers and financiers are right to be skeptical... you can see some of the debate about the model on this earlier post about IndieMaverick, a UK-based financing site. (One thing that would make me more comfortable with IndieGoGo would be an actual address, and names listed on the site of who is behind it. I know the principals, and that they're based in Berkeley, Calif., but I'm not a filmmaker or financier coming to the site for the first time...) What will it take for someone to succeed? A well-known filmmaker successfully using one of the sites to raise money for a project.

From IndieGoGo's official press release:

“DIY has been long the mantra of independent filmmaking and financing. At IndieGoGo, we push that to the next level with DIWO, “Do It With Others” which more accurately reflects the active communal process required to launch film projects”, said Slava Rubin, IndieGoGo Founder and Chief of Strategy and Marketing. “Using the tools IndieGoGo offers, we aim to empower artists to realize their goals and bring more relevant films to the people. Online fundraising is accelerating, the cost of production is falling, social networking is approaching mainstream, and user-controlled media is the future. As these trends accelerate, IndieGoGo offers a new marketplace to turn ideas into film, and fans into insiders.”

...In its pre-launch phase, IndieGoGo sought developmental feedback from a wide range of filmmakers and industry leaders. FLOW: FOR LOVE OF WATER, directed by Irena Salina and produced by Steven Starr, was selected by IndieGoGo to be its first Showcase project and was subsequently selected to World Premiere in competition at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. Other noted filmmakers planning to include projects on the site include Christopher Roberts (THE BELIEVER), Lance Weiler (THE LAST BROADCAST, HEAD TRAUMA), Michael Roiff (WAITRESS, AMERICAN SON), M dot Strange (WE ARE THE STRANGE), Michealene Cristini Risley (TAPESTRIES OF HOPE), Brett Gaylor (BASEMENT TAPES), Beth Murphy (BEYOND BELIEF), and Yung Chang (UP THE YANGTZE) which is also featured in the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.

...Slava Rubin will represent IndieGoGo on the GOING IT ALONE: DIGITAL DISTRIBUTION FOR INDIE FILMMAKERS panel at the Sundance Film Festival on Wednesday, January 23, 12:30 pm at the New Frontier on Main Microcinema.

CinemaTech Filmmaker Q&A: Brett Gaylor of Open Source Cinema

At the IFP Filmmaker Conference last month, I had a chance to sit down in the speaker green room with Montreal-based documentarian Brett Gaylor.

We talked about his current project, a doc tentatively titled 'Basement Tapes,' which focuses on the changing concept of copyright -- and which is being made collaboratively. Brett is in the vanguard of people who are exploring the way large communities of people interested in a topic can work together on a film (in much the same way people work together to create Wikipedia.) Here's the video of our conversation, pretty much uncut...