Free Screenings, Free The Producers, Free The PA's -- Oh My!
Free Links Too! What more could you ever want from our world? A living wage, perhaps?
This is a long one. I try to keep it to ten or so links or ponders, but even when I start with less, I end up with more. There must be a law to explain that. Today’s 16 long. Sorry! Not Sorry! And I have seemed to shifted to giving these away for all, but providing the more “thoughtful” posts for the paying. Hmmm… I don’t know what’s best, so I am just going to wing it and learn to love the whatever.
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Free Invisible Nation!
If you happen to be in Los Angeles next week, we have a gift for you. Please come and see our documentary INVISIBLE NATION… for FREE! In one of the city’s great screening rooms. We want to say THANK YOU. And other’s have made it so that we can. Thank you! Thank you UTA! Thank you SZB!
Thirty film festivals in. A year on the road. Great reviews (when we get them) and five or so awards (but who’s counting). So many good people helped us this far. Time to celebrate. Come see it on a big screen. And hopefully someone will soon give us the chance to do the same NYC, or where ever you may live.
Plus you will get to see for yourself why Cat Ladies make the Best Presidents and help democracy to flourish — that is, if those things might matter for you!
The screening is a week from tomorrow, Tuesday Sept 24th, at the UTA Theater, 7P. Just RSVP here for admission — but hurry before it sells out!
And if you’d like a free subscription to Vanessa’s newsletter, click here. It’s a great way to stay up on all that’s happening with the film, democracy, and Taiwan.
And check out the website for future screenings and details.
And if you happen to be in LONDON, our film has been extended at Bertha’s DocHouse, not once, but twice! Perhaps that will single to a few other countries to give it a spin. We have to do something to make the world safe for democracy, right? Get tickets here!
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What Do You Call An Industry That Refuses To Properly Value It’s “Vision Keepers”?
#MustRead. Yup we are headed downhill in a handbucket (whatever that is). Somehow I think it resonates a bit more when the NYTimes tells us all that film producers can barely survive any more. It’s truly great that they did. It wouldn’t have happened if the Hollywood Producers didn’t join forces to try to change things and make the career sustainable for more themselves and the next generation.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/15/business/economy/hollywood-producers-challenges.html
The article even generated emails and texts to me from family and friends who finally asked if this was truly how hard it is. It’s good to recognize that they must have thought I was just whining when I said my industry has ended, or that they don’t really read this newsletter, or maybe I just don’t speak my mind enough yet!
Luckily, there are those that try to make it work for others. In addition to the 100+ strong Producers United that are mentioned in the article, one of the members, Rebecca Green, has been publishing the DEAR PRODUCER newsletter regularly, and delivering such nuggets as
https://dearproducer.com/producer-support-guide/
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Well, At Least We Are Not Alone: The Television Biz Sucks Too!
It is no secret that American Indie Film, um Global Cinema, is in freefall, but at least we can take solace in the fact that we are not alone…. Wait, wait that is what Evan said, about the global television industry, and he’s got charts to prove it. And the core problem? They bet on the wrong pony! What else is new?!
“Streaming revenues from subscriptions and advertising are not close to replacing the quickly shrinking revenues from Pay TV and traditional TV ads.”
And when you dig in to the symptoms, where does it point? Amazon, Google, and Meta just grow stronger and stronger. Makes you think that the only solution is government intervention, or at least something that is built by the people for the people…. In fact, Evan has the charts to prove that too! Get ready for the rallying cry for PUBLIC MEDIA, America!
“There is a cornucopia of data demonstrating that the health of a country’s Public Service Media is directly correlated to the strength of its democracy.”
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What Is A “Career Producer”?
Thanks to Producers United, 2024 is the year that “Career Producer” entered our lexicon. Know it. Live it. Feel it. Be it. Career Producers do the work to make sure great films reach the screen.
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The Nature Of Business Today Requires All Working Classes To Have A Union
I was a production assistant for three years. It was a crucial learning period for me. I had spend 18 months in film school, but finished without really knowing anything about how a feature film was made. I was able to survive that long because I had the lease on a rent-stabilized three bedroom apartment near the subway that was across from the place that sold the biggest slice of pizza in Manhattan. I was desperate. Getting to make movies was all I wanted to do with my life. I wasn’t sure I could have survived. Sometimes I worked 20 hour days. Sometimes it felt that my job was to launder money. Or buy drugs for my bosses. I wish I could have been part of a union then. I came close to becoming a Teamster driver at one point.
Now Production Assistants might get the chance to be in a union:
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DEI Is Not Social Or Political… It Is GOOD Business
Good business lifts all boats. We are leaving money on the table.
- McKinsey: Latinos in Hollywood: Amplifying voices, expanding horizons
- McKinsey: Black representation in film and TV: The challenges and impact of increasing diversity
- ReFrame's 2023-24 Report on Gender and Hiring in TV
BTW, the Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale) is hiring a Senior Manager for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. This is a two year contract and deadline for applications is 25th September. Details for how to apply or further info: https://kbbjobs.softgarden.io/job/48844308/Senior-Manager-Diversity,-Equity-Inclusion-f-m-d-?jobDbPVId=151708863&l=de
Although, and as can be expected, others find the opposite approach to be good business too…
https://variety.com/2024/film/news/matt-walsh-am-i-racist-daily-wire-gamble-1236142545
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The Big Picture Gets A Bit Clearer… Again, Thanks To Evan Shapiro
One can only hope he gets commissioned to build such maps for the rest of the world, but the good news is the UK has. I feel he’s inching closer and closer to one of my dreams for us all. Until we can see our universe, we won’t know where we stand.
Check it out here:
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Yeah, Fall Festivals Are In Full Force, But Why Does Everyone Just Write About The Same Films?
If I want to read about anything other than the Top 10 Same Old, Same Old, where’s a cinema fan to go? Liz Shackleton brings us reports from the Asian scene and a whole lot more. I am grateful. She also delivers some analysis on the sales side. Surprise, surprise! She comes up with the same conclusions as some of us do:
“Most people are blaming lack of box office recovery and last year’s Hollywood strikes for a muted sales business, but perhaps it’s time we look beyond these issues to some of the structural problems the industry is facing. In the US and many international territories, a small cohort of companies aligned with big tech and not especially friendly to the theatrical model are gaining outsized power without accountability. Some territories are starting to look like an outright monopoly. Why are we not seeing more regulation to counter this?”
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Best Practice Guidelines For Using Generative AI in Non-Fiction Filmmaking
I told you before how I wanted to be in Camden for their programming. As unique and as strong as their curation is, most folks I know who go, go for the discussions and presentations. And those of you have been reading HFF since I launched almost two years ago, know my affection for Best Practice Presentations. So of course I am loving this:
Wouldn’t it be awesome if some producers on the fiction side now did the equivalent? Yup.
Meanwhile, read their recommended best practices here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WS4iZ2Wi_wft5x54RG-hYb45sf10W8nV/view
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Long Live Both The Termites And The Ambitious Auteurs — And Give Me A Deep Dive Any Day
What better way to spend a Saturday morning — or any morning — that to read a thoughtful, stylish, takedown of a specific film genre, or trend? And this time being “Elevated Horror”. As someone who has gotten to dabble in both the “termite” variety of DOOM ASYLUM and FRANKENHOOKER, and the highfalutin style of SUSPIRIA and NEON DEON, John Semley’s exploration of this moment in The Baffler was the sort of fun read I need more of — even if I disagree to a degree (we can enjoy both!) and totally agree in the conclusion (to terrify is an art).
https://thebaffler.com/latest/elevate-me-later-semley
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Bring Us More Stories Of The Storytellers
I am sucker for a good yarn on the greats, even the sort my friends my declare as a bit cheesy, so imagine my delight to stumble upon Ray Bradbury, John Huston, and…. Herman Melville! On my pleasure planet, not only would we be treated with in depth considerations like the one above, but we’d have them nestled with the likes of these:
https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/i-am-herman-melville/
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We Are Never Prepared For The Inevitable.
Call this why we must all think dark thoughts. Our fears prepare us for what will certainly come. It is why I consider it an act of love to point out all we are doing wrong in the FKATFB. But of course such practices extend far beyond cinema too. For instance, The Washington Post’s recent piece on:
is a #MustRead:
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You Are Gonna Have To Listen To The Teen Girls
If you want your dialogue to really be with it, you need to listen to what the teens have to say, specifically the young women. That’s who shapes language. And they always have. (HT: MetaFilter)
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-08-04/teenage-girls-linguistics/104160082
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Salt Lake City, Boulder Or Cincinnati? Taking Bets Anyone?
Yup, that’s what Sundance’s Sophie’s Choice has come down to: Stay, but perhaps more in Salt Lake, or move to Boulder, CO or Cincinnati, OH.
Read more about it here: https://www.sundance.org/blogs/sundance-institute-selects-three-finalists-to-host-the-sundance-film-festival-beginning-in-2027
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Keep Our Film Biz Alive Please! Get Your Flu & Covid Shots Now
Plus it could be a good networking community. When Vanessa scheduled our appointments at CVS to get this year’s jabs, I thought staying healthy was enough. Lo & behold it proved even a better networking opportunity than Erewhorn or AA. The producers were out in good supply. Who knew a vaccine was another op to hobnob. Maybe writing, acting, and directing are more solitary trades. Anyway, get your shot now.
Last year Vanessa and I only managed ten day lead time before we headed off to our first film festival. Yup, we got hit and were out sick for the next few legs. Get a head start.
I recently learned about a team (a prod co called Ethos - they made JOCKEY and SING SING) doing Community-Based Filmmaking where they take the appropriate SAG scale rate and pay everyone on the cast and crew the same rate. I’d love to hear more perspectives on this from the HFF community! I am starting my own production company and we’re looking into this model. It sounds like an incredible, less risky way to make a movie if talent will sign on! And if they don’t… do we really want to work with them anyway? 🤔
“Lo & behold it proved even a better networking opportunity than Erewhorn or AA. The producers were out in good supply. Who knew a vaccine was another op to hobnob.” 😂😂😂