The State of the Documentary [Panel]

Posted July 15th, 2008 at 10:15 am by C47

Below are my notes from the one panel I attended at Full Frame - The State of the Doc. It’s a little more cheerful than Mark Gill’s outlook on independent cinema, though re-reading this now, some panelists seemed to be predicting what was going to happen.

It was moderated by Liz Ogilvie of Docurama Films. On the panel was Nancy Abraham (HBO Documentary), Christopher Black (Starz Entertainment), Greg Kendall (Balcony Releasing), David Laub (THINKFilm), Tom Quinn (Magnolia Pictures), Molly Thompson (A&E IndieFilms), and Thomas Zadra (Netflix’s Red Envelope Entertainment).

Q: How do you define success in broadcast TV?

HBO - Good ratings, reviews, press, buzz, recognition.

A&E - Docs are ratings challenged. We try to launch them theatrically to get the branding out there, make people aware of the film for television. Considered successful if financially we break even.

Magnolia - Bad Box Office for docs in 2007. Magnolia had three high profile releases - Crazy Love, My Kid Could Paint That, and In the Shadow of the Moon. Other outlets have proved successful. Cocaine Cowboy is one of the top selling films on X-Box. The new strategy is to marry content with distribution.

Starz - Starz makes docs for their film library. Create events to help branding. Lots of press is low cost.

Balcony - King Corn’s (doc about the farming industry) filmmakers sold the DVD through their site for $29.95 (cheaper now) and had community screenings for $300 and did very well. People want to see films with their community, not at a theater (I think this was meant more towards small towns). There’s a separate group of people that buy online than in the store.

Red Envelope - Their software can determine how many people want to watch since the films are on Netflix and determine the price. Since Red Envelope was formed, they have 125 titles. 40%-50% are docs.

Q: Do you think audiences are consuming films differently?

Balcony - Some like films in the theater, on TV, the web, community screenings. You get more coverage in the NY Times when you open on Wednesday.

A&E - If a film doesn’t get enough Box Office the theater can kick it out.

Magnolia - The state of specialized films is depressing. We’re all generally screwed. The theatrical experience is unmatched. To survive, we need to learn how to do it differently.

Red Envelope - In four months, Helvetica was seen 120,000 times. Half were streaming through Netflix.com.

Starz - Primary goal of documentaries is to pay off credit card debt and fund the next film. Theatrical release is an unhealthy obsession.

Balcony - Many films shouldn’t be in theaters. It’s a waste of everyone’s time. Not being in theaters feels like a failure, but that might be the right thing to do. Filmmakers always want it, that’s why they made the film.

Q: What do you see changing in the future?

A&E - Social networking growing. Bring people that have a common interest in films together (Facebook).

Magnolia - Theatrical experience is broken. We put a lot of Jesus Camp clips on YouTube, but that backfired, because then people didn’t need to see the movie.

Balcony - Make theatrical an event. One night only. You can make more money in one night than a week. We need to convert the theatrical system.

Audience Questions

Q - How can you get a deal in pre-production?
A - Generally depends on the subject, filmmaker, and if there’s that money shot (Antarctica for March of the Penguins). Typically docs are bought after they’re done.

Q - Thoughts on aesthetic quality. Concerned about viewing docs on iPod?
A - The ability iPods provide to watch during commute are great. One panelist saw 8 people watching content in the subway. Certain forms are better for iPod, while some are better on the big screen. More choices bring a larger audience, which is the end goal.

If a film works on a 3″ screen, you know it will work anywhere.

Q - Biggest mistake films make?
A - (Sort of a round robin of replies):

  • Not writing name and phone on DVD
  • Go for best quality you can afford. Sometimes stuff is turned down because quality doesn’t meet standards.
  • Picking subject that doesn’t sustain the length.
  • Not pushing hard enough. Push the subject.
  • Being too long
  • Subject covered a lot of times before
  • Unrealistic expectations with music licensing.
  • Not enough stills for Press Kit
  • High Quality (True HD) if possible
  • Follow the delivery schedule companies have. Missing a few elements can make a film unreleasable.

Q - Thoughts on short docs outside festivals.
A - Other options include iTunes, attachment to Op-Eds on NY Times site. Many documentarians with similar subjects/themes can ban together and offer one package with a bunch of shorts, perhaps on DVD.

Moment of Zen

If you want to avoid piracy, make a bad movie.

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Posted in Documentary, Film Business | 1 Comment

Driving with Geoffrey Gilmore [Part 3 of 5]

Posted July 4th, 2008 at 7:31 am by C47
This is part three of a five part adventure that involves driving Geoffrey Gilmore (the Director of the Sundance Film Festival) around Tallahassee, Diet Cokes, private jets, The Visitor, tea, a 4 am flight, and of course, coffee. Part one and Part two.

Geoffrey, the Dean, Paul and I went to Urbane downtown to meet Steve McQueen (I know, awesome name), Director of Seven Days of Opening Nights, for lunch. Urbane is definitely for the politicians and not poor college kids, but they had the most amazing butternut squash ravioli.

As for the lunch conversation, I didn’t take much of an active roll. Everyone had already seen the mystery movie, so it was fun to try to piece together what it was. Richard Jenkins was mentioned, and how the director turned down financing because he had to have him as the lead. And everyone agreed that he was perfect for the roll.

After lunch we took a tour of the Film School. The entire week leading up to the visit, the school went into clean-up mode with the carpets washed, walls painted, furniture fixed, posters displayed, and emails telling everyone to keep everything neat and organized. Walking into the school with Geoffrey, I’ve never seen it so nice. The Dean gave a tour of the school as I followed along and took a few pictures.

We then went over to Gadsden Studios. Gadsden is still a mysterious place to me. It used to be a studio where The Allman Brothers recorded1. Somehow the Film School bought it, and my first year we used it for crew drills to practice filming. Some thesis films even shot there.

Then we stopped going there. There were rumors it was sold or condemned, but neither seemed to be true. Instead it’s being converted into the offices for Torchlight, another Film School venture. I’m still trying to grasp what exactly Torchlight will do2. Hopefully I’ll figure it out before I graduate, since I’m interning with it in the fall.

But the Dean wanted to show Geoffrey what they were planning, so this was the first time I had been back in more than a year. It looked about the same as I remember, besides some new carpet and cleaned up offices. It’s no surprise I have a thing for offices, and seeing these empty ones gave me a rush of potential.

After taking the entourage to a lunch meeting, I drove Geoffrey back to his hotel to get ready for the Seven Days event that night. After sneaking a peak at a rough cut of my F3 and grabbing three Diet Cokes for Geoffrey, I returned to the hotel.

This time it was just Geoffrey and I in the car, a scenario where I was wondering what would happen. What do we talk about? “So…you like movies?”

We talked a bit about the campus layout. I asked if he’d seen Helvetica. He hadn’t. We arrived at the theater, where I dropped him off.

I met up with some friends, had an overpriced on-campus dinner, then wasted some time again. I didn’t want to go home so they wouldn’t have to wait when ready, so I parked in a nearby lot, put the seat back, and took a nap.

Some time later in the middle of deep sleep, I got the call. They were ready. Since I was right around the corner, I didn’t have much time to mentally awake.

When I picked them up they were talking about going to an after party. Fortunately, the Dean saw I was not fully present and rescued me by offering to drive Geoffrey for the rest of the night. One of Paul’s signature Iced Venti Americanos probably would have done the trick, but I didn’t argue. Another day done.

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  1. Supposedly. They were formed in Jacksonville, which is about two and a half hours away, so it’s plausible. ↩
  2. Through numerous conversations with the Dean, I’ve gathered it’s a program to connect students with projects faculty and alumni are working on. ↩
Posted in Career, Film School | 1 Comment

Get Your Coffee on Alltop

Posted June 8th, 2008 at 1:04 am by C47

Alltop, all the top stories

I’m in the Movies section on Alltop. What’s Alltop? A new feed aggregator site from VC Guy Kawasaki that tries to bring the power of RSS feeds1 to the masses. His thought is that the majority of web users don’t use RSS readers, so like a magazine rack that you can quickly and easily browse, he’s going to bring you all the top stories from the best sites on their respected topics.

So if you’d like to explore blogs organized by topic, such as life hacking, or if you’re an RSS junkie and need a few more feeds to add, then definitely give it a browse.

I am now going to vanish for the next three days as I go be a cinematographer.

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  1. Most sites and blogs that publish posts or articles offer their content through a feed, which you can subscribe to and read in an RSS feed reader, such as Google Reader. This allows you to read the content of many sites in one location. You should give it a try and subscribe to C&C. ↩
Posted in Coffee & Celluloid | No Comments