Posted on by bnewman in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Where’s the Filmmaker in the Online Fest Planning?
With all of these online versions of film festivals popping up, I keep getting asked by filmmakers – “should we participate in this?” Or more often – “am I missing something? Why would we do this?”
My answer is always the same – if you are launching a brand-new film that is still seeking distribution, no. If you have a short, or an older film, or one where you have locked in distribution (and if your distributor agrees), or one where you are doing a DIY release – sure, or at least maybe. But if you are trying to premiere a feature film, and you don’t yet have distribution, then as of now you can’t consider these online festivals because buyers consider them a conflict with their distribution of your film. They do NOT see it as word-of-mouth building, or good PR, or a way to test/prove audience demand. They see it as a distraction at best, and lost income, or a loss of control or a loss of premiere status at worst.
Lately, when I speak with my closer film business friends about this Fall, the topic inevitably returns to how the film industry might re-open and whether we’ll be able to attend Toronto or other Fall festivals? The answer to this is no, but my new reply is always: I’m less concerned about whether or not we will gather in theaters than whether we’ll be able to gather in Washington DC, in protest, come November when Trump tries to stop the election.
Some questions on my mind these past few days of quarantine, in no particular order.
What’s Up With Online Film Festival Timing? – While CPH:DOX had a seemingly successful online festival (see below), I have serious questions as to how this works for other fests. But my number one question remains – in a virtual world, why are all of these online festivals taking place at different time periods, dictated by old systems built to avoid conflict, when they could all take place at the same time and amplify their message? Most of them are showing the same films anyway, and even with their idiosyncrasies built in, it seems to me that it would be better to move your dates, slow down a bit and explore the power of collaboration and joint-marketing instead of just plowing ahead.
Whither the Trifecta/Fall Festivals? – I’ve heard rumors that the Trifecta (Venice, Telluride and Toronto) Festivals plan to take place in some form this September, along with many regional Fall film festivals. But I give you one quote: “There have been 10 influenza pandemics in the past 250-plus years—two started in the northern hemisphere winter, three in the spring, two in the summer and three in the fall. All had a peak second wave approximately six months after emergence of the virus in the human population, regardless of what initial introduction occurred.” (emphasis mine), This comes from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine‘s expertly named report – Rapid Expert Consultation on SARS-CoV-2 Survival in Relation to Temperature and Humidity and Potential for Seasonality for the COVID-19 Pandemic (April 7, 2020). Let’s do the math: March+6=September. So either these festivals get cancelled or we show up there and risk dying. That math doesn’t work – and your potential attendees know it, even if you and your board don’t, Fall festival folks.
Last week, I looked at all of the ways I think the film industry is going to be impacted by this crisis, and how we won’t be going back to normal. I promised a Part Two that would be more positive, but remember that I did post positive thoughts just a week earlier. If you are looking for a list of clear solutions, quit reading now. I don’t have them, and I don’t think anyone else does, either. Instead, here’s some thoughts on how we should approach this new reality – a mindset we might bring to the situation – in the form of some slogans we would do well to remember. These are mainly written towards arthouse/indie filmmakers, but I think they apply to branded content folks (my other audience) as well.
It’s not til the Tide Goes Out that You See Who’s Swimming Naked Often attributed to Warren Buffet, I think this slogan applies pretty well to the film business right now (all business?). While a lot of the damage from the crisis is unique – so many people losing jobs at once, no one can gather or work together, etc. – there’s also a fair amount of things that always sucked about the film business, but this crisis just laid them bare, to where we can’t deny their reality any longer. Guess what? Festivals – other than the top 5-6 – never helped sell films. As Marj Safinia said in a group conference call I was on recently – that was a false security blanket that has now been removed. The indie film world, and docs in particular, were never a sustainable career-path. Arthouse distribution and exhibition was always a shitty business. A lot of this was a house of cards. It sucks to have a band-aid ripped off fast, but the pain ends quicker. I know this sounds pessimistic, but it’s not – now that we’ve been forced to collectively realize that few of us have our pants on below those Zoom screens, we can also start to build something based less on fiction and more on the reality we now know we live in.
Posted on by bnewman in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Confronting the New Reality, Pt 1.
Bonnie: Don’t let it end this way. Brian: All things end badly, or else they wouldn’t end. AKA Flanagan’s Law, from Cocktail
During the past few weeks, I’ve joined many conference calls discussing how the film industry might change due to the Covid-19 crisis. And I’ve read many articles about this. With very few exceptions, they’ve all been based around an extreme optimism that assumes life will return to normal at some point. And wouldn’t that be nice?
