by Michael Varrati.

This very weekend in the Springsteen-lauded town of Asbury Park, New Jersey, a convergence of freaks, geeks, and celebrities will occur to celebrate all things cinema.

The unifying event is known as Tromadance, and even amongst the film making community, it is relatively unique. Unlike large institutions such as Sundance or Cannes, Tromadance requires no submission fees from artists looking to have their work screened. Furthermore, there’s no admission cost for attendees, and no velvet ropes. It is a festival where celebrities and film-goers are equal, and encouraged to mingle openly.

Sponsored by the world’s longest running independent film studio, Troma Entertainment, the perks of Tromadance certainly must seem like a sweet deal to the casual onlooker. However, for those of us who are well aware of Troma’s history, it’s just another in a long line of contributions the studio has made to the championing of independent art.

The man most directly responsible for Troma’s long history is Lloyd Kaufman. A filmmaker and cinematic impresario, Kaufman has been on the front lines of the battle for artistic rights for nearly four decades.

Read the rest of this article from Huffington Post.

by Kevin Griffin.

Gus Van Sant is a rarity. Not only has he directed major Hollywood films such as Good Will Hunting and Milk, he’s also brought his unique approach to independent-style films such as Gerry and Elephant.

But even someone successful at negotiating the jungle of U.S. filmmaking recognizes that commercial considerations influence every step of the creative process.

In a surprisingly candid interview, he told author David Spaner that he’s looking to go digital to make no-budget films outside of Hollywood. He’s come to realize that the dumbing down occurs everywhere in the industry in the U.S., even with smaller film companies because everyone has learned their craft with the big studios.

“There was an expected style in making a movie, like a template, and to deviate from it was highly suspect,” Van Sant said. “You always made these a-little-more-safe decisions because money was riding on it. I got tired of it.”

Van Sant is one of numerous directors and filmmakers Spaner interviews for his new book Shoot It!: Hollywood Inc. and the Rising of Independent Film, published by Arsenal Pulp Press ($22.95).

Read the rest of this article from Vancouver Sun.

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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 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 Dorothy Pomerantz.

Thousands of people are converging on Park City, Utah, today for the start of the Sundance Film Festival, the biggest independent film festival of the year. Sundance is where films like Little Miss Sunshine, The Usual Suspects and The Blair Witch Project made their debuts.

For the past few years though, Sundance has been at the center of an industry in trouble. Like the rest of the economy, the independent film world got hit hard by the global crisis. Before 2008, Wall Street bankers with more money than they knew what to do with were directing extra funds into the film world in the hopes of turning a profit or at least getting to meet Scarlett Johansson.

Read the rest of this article from Forbes.

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This article was written by Eriq Gardner.

Anthony Millan knows how hard it is to make money in the independent film sector these days.

But after spending more than a decade as a financing consultant for Lionsgate, Relativity Media, Voltage Pictures and others, Millan recently took a major plunge anyway, raising nearly $10 million from associates and hedge funds to form Catch 22 Entertainment, his new full-service indie production, distribution and marketing outfit.

“It’s the Wild West right now in terms of financing a film,” says Millan, who hopes to invest in dozens of films with budgets ranging from $25,000-$25 million. “You have to look hard, but there are still great ways to find a nice reward, including making investments in small-budget films and gaining a profit from your own marketing and distribution.”

Read the rest of this article from Hollywood Reporter.

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This article was written by Chase Jarvis.

There’s some fun and evocative smack talking going on over at Uproxx.com that caught my attention:

“Granted, some of this is entirely the fault of the indie film scene itself, which is always rife with idiocy, and these days is basically celebrating incompetence because competence is just too Hollywood, man. The hot movement, mumblecore, seriously got its name from the fact that the filmmakers lacked the technical competence to point a microphone at an actor’s mouth.

And “The Room” and “Birdemic” are epic train wrecks well beyond just your standard bad movie, although they’re still better than anything the mumblecore movement craps out. But that’s the thing. You no longer need technical competence to achieve the two main goals of indie filmmaking: getting into the pants of disaffected hot people, or making boatloads of cash. And this is both a great thing and a problem.”

Read the rest of this article from Chase Jervis.

This article was written by Jeff Steele.

This article was written by Manohla Dargis.

“Last November inside a conference room at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, a film consultant named Peter Broderick was doing his best to foment a revolution. Mr. Broderick, who helps filmmakers find their way into the marketplace, was spreading the word on an Internet-era approach to releasing movies that he believes empowers filmmakers without impoverishing them economically or emotionally.

Mr. Broderick divides distribution into the Old World and New, infusing his PowerPoint presentation with insurgent rhetoric. He has written a “declaration of independence” for filmmakers that — as he did that afternoon — he reads while wearing a tricorn hat.”

Read the rest of this article from the New York Times.

The Ten Commandments of Filmmaking
How to Work (and Survive) in the
Film and Television Industry
by Peter D. Marshall