Brian Newman Column
This is a must-read for anyone who makes #films, wants to make them, or has friends who do. —Dana Harris-Bridson, Editor-in-Chief
“Theatrical has never been more important, or interesting
Many of the better and curated arthouses say that audiences are showing up for strong narratives, and there’s a growing sense that the theatrical window is becoming more important than ever before. If a film can make it past that first week and be doing well, the word of mouth can spread. In addition, younger audiences are coming back to theaters, especially for repertory cinema and special events. There’s a bit of a problem in getting screens — it’s a crowded marketplace in arthouse land (not the case with the megaplexes right now).
If you’re not a U.S. filmmaker, this sounds crazy, but it’s still true
So, your sales agent might take a deal from a tiny U.S. distributor for a very low minimum guarantee, and guess what — your film won’t perform well here, but you’ll close those other deals and be on to your next film. But if you raise some funds, you could do a service deal with a distributor or booker in the U.S., and keep your rights, get a better release, build your fanbase and audience, and maybe come out ahead. That’s much better than getting no distribution in the U.S. or very poor distribution in the U.S. This is a tough one, I know, but humor me — it even pays for international filmmakers to think about doing this, because it can be better for your film and your career.
This works better if you are making a film for a very specific, sizable, underserved audience
In all of these cases, the #filmmakers identified a core audience that was not being served by the media; their niche was not small, but quite large, and it was begging for good films. I always tell people: Make a film that’s film festival- and distributor-proof. Meaning: It doesn’t matter whether you get into any film fest, or if no distributor buys your film, because you have such a sizable potential audience that is hungry for your film that you can go directly to them and succeed.”
Read the full article: IndieWire
I got just a few inserts, but you should read the whole article; it is worth your time.
#IndependentFilm #FilmAdvice #FilmIndustry
Read this as you were looking for physically short filmmakers and was confused for just a second 😂 . Sounds like an amazing event!!