How to Get a Free Pass to Distribution U.

The two Distribution U. events that I'm organizing with Peter Broderick are fast approaching... and I've been remiss in telling you how you can get a free pass.

First, the New York edition happens November 13th at NYU's Cantor Film Center, thanks to our friends at the Tisch School of the Arts, and the Los Angeles edition happens a week later, November 20th at UCLA, generously sponsored by the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television.

Second, here are some of the people who'll be on-hand to share their advice about audience-building, social media, distribution, and crowd-funding:

Richard Abramowitz (who organized the successful theatrical rollout of "Anvil: the Story of Anvil"), Jill Sobule (the singer-songwriter who enlisted her fans to fund her latest album), Marc Schiller (the digital marketing expert who heads Electric Artists), Caitlin Boyle (semi-theatrical maven and head of Film Sprout), transmedia producer Noah Harlan, Internet guru Brian Chirls, Jim Browne (theatrical booker and founder of Argot Pictures), Adam Chapnick (founder of Distribber, the innovative company that works with filmmakers to maximize their digital revenues), Ira Deutchman (producer and Emerging Pictures CEO), Sandi DuBowski (producer/director "Trembling Before G-d" and outreach director for The Good Pitch), Justine Jacob (director of "Ready, Set, Bag!" and an attorney at the law firm Lee & Lawless), marketing consultant and former Variety chief marketing officer Madelyn Hammond, producer and producer's rep Jonathan Dana ("Road to Nowhere"), Amy Dotson of IFP and "Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo," "ZENITH" director Vlad Nikolic, Scott Macaulay (producer and editor of Filmmaker Magazine), Slava Rubin and Danae Ringelmann (co-founders of IndieGoGo), Anne Thompson (journalist and blogger "Thompson on Hollywood"), Robert Bahar (“Made in LA”), Roberta Grossman ("Blessed Is The Match"), Joel Heller ("Winnebago Man"), Skot Leach of Lost Zombies, Cora Olson and Jennifer Dubin of Present Pictures, and Ben Niles ("Note by Note").

So of course we'd love to have you join us in New York on November 13th or Los Angeles on November 20th (and you can use the discount code "friend" at either one to save a little dough.)

And if you would like to try your luck at winning a free pass to the Distribution U. workshop of your choice, just share the link to either one on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn, along with the tag "#distribu," and we'll pick a winner by Wednesday next week at 5 p.m.

Distribution U., coming to NY (Nov. 13th) and LA (Nov. 20th)

I'm really excited to be collaborating again with Peter Broderick to put together two new "Distribution U." workshops next month: one at NYU on November 13th, and one at UCLA on November 20th.

We did the first "trial" one of these last November, filling up a ballroom at USC with 200-plus filmmakers and producers. If you know people who were there, they'll tell you about the incredibly positive vibe. The attitude was: if everyone is exclaiming that "the sky is falling" on independent film, how can we survive and thrive and help one another in a world with a slightly lower sky?

The event has a couple objectives:

- Let filmmakers connect, find new ways to collaborate, and help one another succeed.

- Talk about what's changing in terms of funding, distribution, and audience-building, with actual examples and case studies, rather than theoretical predictions.

- Hear directly from filmmakers about what they've done successfully with their most recent films to get them seen by a large audience, and earn a solid return. (We also talk about what didn't work, and wasn't worth the time or investment.)

- Enable participants to sit down with industry experts for small group lunch conversations on very specific topics, like working with the media and bloggers... understanding the way VOD deals work... organizing theatrical screenings that make money... and more.

- Provide ideas and strategies to several filmmakers in the audience, as part of an on-stage brainstorming session.

- Get participants charged up and excited about new possibilities, as opposed to depressed about how things are changing.

New York Times film critic Manohla Dargis was at the first Distribution U. workshop last year, and she used it as the basis for her article "Declaration of Indies: Just Sell It Yourself." Documentary Magazine called the event "casual, participatory, and supportive." One of our industry experts from 2009 told us, "The room felt like the future to me..." (At left is Oscar-nominated producer Adrian Belic leading a lunch discussion at the first Distribution U.)

I hope you can make it November 13th in New York, or November 20th in Los Angeles. And we're so grateful to our friends at New York University and UCLA's School of Theater, Film and Television for making these two events possible.

Also: there's an early bird registration rate that will last until next Wednesday, October 13th at midnight. Grab a seat soon...and come with your enthusiasm, questions, awesome projects, and ideas.

Events for 2010: Canada, UK, NYC

I'm excited about four upcoming events, all of which involve travel to fun places and the opportunity to hang out with some leading-edge film, video, and TV folk...

In January, I'll be doing two workshops in Halifax and Montreal with Telefilm Canada. Both are called "Multiplatform, Multi-Success," and they're part of the Telefilm Canada initiative "From Cinemas to Cell Phones." (Participation in both of those requires an application.)

Also in January, on the 27th, I'll be doing a free workshop in Liverpool on "Building Audiences and Generating Revenue in the Digital Age." This is part of the Visionary Sessions series put on by Northwest Vision and Media. After my talk, the great Krishna Stott is running a related workshop. If you know folks in Liverpool/Manchester, let them know about it.

Then on March 14th at SXSW, I'll be running a session with filmmaker Gary Hustwit on "Fans, Friends & Followers: Creating Your Own Cult (of the Non-Apocalyptic Variety.)"

And we're starting to plan a NYC edition of The Conversation, likely at Columbia, in the March/April timeframe...more on that soon.

5 Spots Remain for In-Depth Workshop on Building a Fan Base & Generating Revenue, 12/1 in San Francisco

I'm doing an in-depth version of my workshop on "Building Big Audiences and Generating Revenue in the Digital Age" next Tuesday evening, 12.1.09, at BAVC in San Francisco. There are just five spots left (and the registration rate goes up on Saturday at midnight... if any seats remain.)

We'll explore several important case studies of media pioneers who've built big fan bases online, including Joss Whedon, OK Go, M dot Strange, ze frank, Michael Buckley, and Jonathan Coulton. We'll talk about online fundraising, selling merchandise, digital downloads, and other new revenue streams. We'll detail some of the really simple techniques for turning a small audience into a big audience -- stuff I've picked up, and stuff you've picked up.

And as a group we'll brainstorm strategies for several projects being developed by the workshop participants.

Even though this is San Francisco, I'm assuming that participants are artists, not techno-whizzes, so this will be a workshop delivered in plain English, with lots of time for Q&A. I want you to leave with a few practical, powerful things on your to-do list, not questions and confusion.

The full description of this evening workshop is here. Everyone will get a free paperback copy of Fans, Friends & Followers.

I wrote the book for independent artists (filmmakers, musicians, stand-up comics, writers, artists) trying to make a giant dent in the world, without a major media conglomerate's resources. And that's exactly who this workshop is for.

Hope to see you there!