by Adam Dawtrey.

Time and again, independent filmmakers around the world claim that without Michael Barker, Tom Bernard and their team at Sony Pictures Classics, there would be no market in the U.S. for their work.

Barker and Bernard are known for being frugal in buying and marketing their movies. With a tiny but long-serving staff, they have made consistent returns for 20 years in the toughest arthouse niche, which has kept them in the game when others have come and gone.

Their low-cost model gives auteurs from home and abroad not just an aud, but also a real chance of seeing profits.

Read the rest of this article from Variety.

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by Eric Steuer.

For nearly 60 years, Roger Corman has been making indie films with budgets that wouldn’t even cover the catering costs of multiplex fare like Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol.

The legendary king of B-movies has produced or directed close to 400 films, including cult classics like 1960’s The Little Shop of Horrors (which he famously shot in just two days), 1975’s Death Race 2000 (co-starring a pre-Rocky Sylvester Stallone) and the so-bad-it’s-good Carnosaur horror series from the ’90s. In the process, he launched the careers of protégés like James Cameron and Martin Scorcese, and inspired dozens of today’s other top filmmakers with his low-cost, highly entertaining movies.

Corman’s World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel, a documentary examining Corman’s legacy, hits select theaters Friday. Alex Stapleton’s directorial debut is a fun, fast-paced look at Corman and his contributions to the world of film.

The R-rated documentary is jam-packed with interviews with famous actors and directors who started off working for Corman, terrific behind-the-scenes clips from his productions, and plenty of interesting conversation with the grindhouse auteur himself. Wired.com spoke with Stapleton for insight into how Corman — who’s still making movies at the age of 85 — changed film forever through his mix of imagination and innovation.

Read the rest of this article from Wired.

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by James Carney.

There are more independent movies made in the UK each year than you imagine. With the continual improvement of affordable equipment available, more and more people are turning their hands to film-making – and the results, it’s fair to say, are mixed.

Even if your film is good – not quite the same as buying a lottery ticket – it takes a huge amount of timing and good fortune to make it stand out in this increasingly crowded market, and rise to the top.

With Black Pond, film-makers Will Sharpe and Tom Kingsley have begun their ascent.

With just £25,000 – the same figure, in dollars, with which Kevin Smith shot his first feature movie Clerks, Sharpe and Kingsley have made a movie that is causing waves on the independent festival circuit.

Selected to screen at Raindance and at the Moet British Independent Film Awards, Black Pond looks set to announce the arrival of two talented young film-makers.

Read the rest of this article from Yorkshire Post.

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from Encore Magazine.

A first time feature documentary maker has struck a deal with Woolworths to distribute his film. Woolworths will stock DVDs of Australian Joe Cross’s healthy living documentary, Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead in the produce section of its supermarket.

Cross’s story is the opposite to Morgan Spurlock’s Supersize Me. As an overweight broker, Cross sold his company and used a roadtrip across America with a cameraman, sound guy and a juicer as a way to get slim. While eating and drinking only fruit and vegetables Cross aimed to discover why people didn’t eat better.

Cross told Encore: “I did the deal directly. Woolworths are supporting the film as their view is this is a film that inspires people to eat more fresh food and they’re the fresh food people.”

Read the rest of this article from Encore Magazine.

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by Ted Hope.

Until the double whammy of Toronto 2010 & Sundance 2011, it looked like the US acquistion market for feature content had fully collapsed.  No reasonable P&L would have shown more than a modest six figures for US acquisitions.  Hybrid & DIY models have not been developed yet to consistently deliver returns in excess of this amount (or even at these figures).  Perhaps this is now changing, but it would still be foolish for any filmmaker or investor to expect this and we can’t budget for such expectation.

How many of the 7500 films produce in the US annually return 20% of their negative cost from US licenses?  Although it puts emerging filmmakers at a great disadvantage, I think the surest determining factor for predicting US acquisition potential is the filmmakers’ track record.  If you have found buyers previously, you are well suited to find them again — and even still exceeding that 20% is the exception and not the rule.

Read the rest of this article from Truly Free Film.

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by Ted Hope.

This past Wednesday I screened Andrew Haigh’s WEEKEND for my HopeForFilm/Goldcrest Screening Series.  It is a truly romantic film.  It may be a gay love story, but in it’s tale of a one night stand that could become something more, Haigh’s has tapped into a longing and hope that I never feel in any corporate filmmaking and is entirely universal.  It makes me wonder if when creators are forced to think first about the market, if their work will be deprived of love and romance.

Read the rest of this article from IndieWire.

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by David Geertz.

So you’re planning on producing an independent film — good for you, join the club. You are now officially a Slave Driver.

Before I begin this post I’d like to state that this post is mainly precursor of a series of posts to come for filmmakers and backers who see film as both an art form and an enterprise. An enterprise that pays skilled people a living wage, and provides an opportunity for those who fund those endeavors a chance at seeking a return on their money, while providing the needed funding for best and the brightest to continue to push boundaries within the moving image.

Let’s play a numbers game first before we dive into this post. Here are some assumptions that I am going to make on your behalf about your unmade film stuck in development hell.

Read the rest of this article from Hope for Film.

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by Jason Brubaker.

Times HAVE changed.  In many, many ways.  But what we call Indie Film is an era gone by.  The opportunity to create and connect has never been greater—and it means other changes are afoot.  Jason Brubaker reached out to me with what I felt was an important idea, but like many I encounter, I was too busy to participate unfortunately.

Jason recognizes that filmmakers no longer need “discriminatory distribution” and can reach audiences with their work in new and different ways.  But Jason also recognizes we need to share the info on how we do it.  Most importantly, he recognizes this is a community effort. He has done a great service to our community and deserves our thanks.  But I am going to let him tell you all about it with a guest post.  Thanks Jason!

Read the rest of this article from IndieWire.

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by Mark Olsen.

A group of like-minded young people pool their resources, make use of new, inexpensive technology and begin to make movies that capture their particular time and place. From the French New Wave to the recent American micro-budget movement, filmmakers have often come together just so. The documentary “Blank City,” which opens in Los Angeles on Friday, explores the independent filmmakers of New York City’s downtown scene in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Though the New York musicians from that era — the Ramones, Blondie and Sonic Youth, to name but a few — have been well documented, the filmmaking of that period has been less examined, even though directors such as Jim Jarmusch (“Stranger Than Paradise”) and Susan Seidelman (“Smithereens”), as well as performers such as Steve Buscemi, John Lurie, Lydia Lunch and Ann Magnuson, have gone on to long and varied careers.

Read the rest of this article from LA Times.

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from Ai Insite.

It takes guts to make an independent film. Unlike big budget studio flicks, independent films are self-financed with the hope that they’ll be picked up for distribution. And while working in this industry may present unexpected challenges, independent filmmakers see it as a true labor of love – one that allows them to create visionary pieces that create buzz and capture audiences’ imaginations.

“Independent films have the freedom to work with niche content without worrying about answering to an investor. This is why indie films have a stereotype of being controversial and experimental,” says Eve Okupniak, department chair for Digital Filmmaking at The Art Institute of New York City.

Story, characters, and craft are the three areas that make an independent film stand out from the sea of films being made, she asserts, adding that successful movies contain characters people can relate to.

“Filmmaking can be compared to a large puzzle. There are several thousand pieces that make up the whole picture,” Okupniak says.

Read the rest of this article from AI Insite.

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