By SHARA TIBKEN, Wall Street Journal
Google Inc.’s YouTube plans to launch an area on the video-sharing site for independent filmmakers to show their work and generate revenue for the films’ producers.
The site will feature four new short films every two weeks, with feature-length films shown on a case-by-case basis. Viewers will be able to provide comments and purchase films showcased on the site through a “Buy Now” button that allows filmmakers to link to sites that sell their work.
In the past, YouTube limited the length of clips uploaded to its site to 10 minutes to keep bandwidth costs down. The maximum file size for films will be one gigabyte, allowing for significantly longer clips.
The site will show short films from Norway, Sweden, Canada, the U.K. and U.S. in its first month and will expand the countries featured in coming months. The films will include both those that have been shown before and others that have never been screened in front of a wide audience.
On Saturday in Los Angeles, Mark Gill declared provocatively, “Yes, The Sky Really Is Falling.” Speaking at the L.A. Film Festival’s Financing Conference, the CEO of The Film Department (and former President of Miramax Films) detailed a litany of challenges currently facing independent film, yet offered his audience a happy ending. His complete prepared remarks are included below.
The recent student production, “Nothing Rhymes With Orange”, makes it’s Moxie Cinema debut tomorrow with 6:00 pm showings on Tuesday and Wednesday this week.
Sadie has just been released from rehab for a drug addiction and is trying to start a life on her own. Jace is a talented writer who spends more time taking care of her bedridden mother than pursuing her dreams. Charlotte is a free-spirited artist who finds herself in a relationship that is slowly falling apart.
Follow an old, orange couch into the homes of three very different women who face problems that free furniture just can’t solve.
This 18-minute short is written and directed by local filmmaker and MSU student Rachel Skidmore who also produced DUCK DUCK GOOSE, part of the Show-Me Missouri International Film Festival Shorts program last February.
Tickets are $3 and go towards funding Festival submissions in the upcoming year.
Sony Series Will Start on Web, Go to DVD
By SARAH MCBRIDE, Wall Street Journal
Sony Corp. will launch its new show “Angel of Death” on the Web, but it is using an approach that it hopes will drive sales of DVDs and boost other distribution avenues down the road.
“Angel,” scheduled for release early next year, tells the story of an assassin who is so haunted by her victims that she decides to kill the people who ordered the hits, one by one.
The series will be released online eight minutes at a time, over 10 weeks, on various Sony-affiliated Web sites. After the Internet run, Sony will release a traditional DVD of the series, adding scenes to tie the pieces together in a movie-like way.
APOLLO - Official Trailer from Apollo on Vimeo.
On Tuesday, June 17th at 7:30pm, and in cooperation with the Springfield Little Theatre, filmmakers from Missouri State University will showcase four short films including “…Or Not To Be,” “Nothing Rhymes with Orange,” “The Death of Alfred Bailey,” and “Apollo.”
The filmmakers’ proceeds from the festival will benefit the Missouri State University’s Digital Film Production Scholarship Fund.
From outright comedy to drama to science fiction, each short highlights the multi-faceted cast & crew talents of the region. Three of the productions are based off award-winning scripts. “The Death of Alfred Bailey” placed in the Broadcast Educators Association (BEA) Media Arts Festival in Las Vegas earlier this year. “Nothing Rhymes with Orange” won for best screenplay at the Missouri Broadcast Educator’s annual competition. The science fiction drama “Apollo” received honorable mention. Portions of “Apollo” were shot at the Landers Theatre. All four productions were the result of student work in the Media, Journalism and Film department at Missouri State University.
For more details and trailers on each of the films, I point you to Diane Dru Botsford’s slowly developing blog site. Add her to your subscription list, I have.
A moderated Q&A with the filmmakers will follow the 2 hour screening. Tickets may be purchased at the Springfield Little Theatre Box Office, online at springfieldlittletheatre.org, or by calling (417) 869-1334.
Tickets: $8
FILM LINEUP:
-The Death of Alfred Bailey
-Nothing Rhymes with Orange
-…Or Not to Be
-Apollo
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=15278607519
June 11, 2008 - The St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase (SLFS), an annual presentation of the nonprofit Cinema St. Louis, serves as the area’s primary venue for films made by local artists. With advances in affordable digital filmmaking, more and more movies are being made in St. Louis and environs, but opportunities for moviegoers to see that work are scarce, because few of the films ever screen commercially. The St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase frequently provides the only chance area filmmakers have to display their talents on the big screen.
Sunday-Thursday, July 19-24, 2008
July 19: Filmmaking Seminar/Film Program, RAC
July 20-23: Film Programs, Tivoli Theatre
July 24: Closing-Night Awards Party, Blueberry Hill
The Filmmaking Seminar covers a nice range of topics:
11 a.m. - 12 p.m. Panel #1 - Film on the Wide World Web
12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. Panel #2 - Distribution
1:45 p.m. - 3:45 p.m. Panel #3 - Legal Issues in Filmmaking
4 - 6 p.m. Panel #4 - Producing Independent Features in St. Louis
From Indiewire, by Eugene Hernandez (June 9, 2008)
Hoping to launch a viable new revenue stream for a wide swath of independent films and filmmakers, the Tribeca Film Institute has unveiled Reframe, a curated online outlet with its sights set on filtering some 10,000 films and videos via the Internet. Opening its digital doors today, Reframe is backed by a million dollars in grants from the MacArthur Foundation, and includes a partnership with CreateSpace and Amazon aimed at digitizing and delivering — on DVD or via Amazon’s Unbox service — films from leading indie, documentary, foreign and experimental filmmakers.
From the Reframe website:
Reframe is bringing together and giving due love to rare independent and alternative films, helping many become commercially available for the very first time.
In a one-stop location you’ll find work from diverse sources, such as vanguard artists Sally Potter and Ken Jacobs, and distributors like Center for Asian American Media and Documentary Educational Resources.
* We’re in the beta stage and adding more features soon — we would love your feedback and suggestions
* You can help our mission by creating a profile, curating lists and commenting on blog posts
* To make your films available on Reframe, become a partner
LOS ANGELES — Leaders of Hollywood’s second-largest actors union approved a new contract with studios that grants actors more money for Internet work — an issue that sparked a crippling writers strike this year.
The board of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists approved the three-year deal late Friday, and it will go to the union’s 70,000 members for ratification this month, the union said Saturday. The existing contract was set to end June 30.
The agreement “makes sense for all performers,” AFTRA National President Roberta Reardon said in the statement. “AFTRA members now have the opportunity to vote ‘yes’ for higher pay, improved working conditions, and continued right of consent for use of excerpts in New Media.”
The deal covers only a handful of prime-time TV shows, including HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” the CBS drama “Rules of Engagement” and ABC’s “Cashmere Mafia.”
The 120,000-member Screen Actors Guild, which is the larger and more combative of Hollywood’s two actor unions, continues to negotiate with the studios. It still has the power to shut down Hollywood film production.
The AFTRA agreement largely followed a script laid out in contracts approved by directors in January and by writers after their 100-day strike ended in February. It establishes higher fees for downloaded content and residual payments for ad-supported streams and clips. It also sets a 90-day deadline after ratification for developing a system for actors to consent to the online use of clips containing their images or voices.
SAG had pushed for more concessions by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.
The two unions had agreed to the same starting proposals but took different tacks with the studios, the first time they had negotiated separately for the first time in 27 years. About 44,000 actors are members of both unions.
In March, AFTRA accused SAG of trying to entice actors in the soap drama “The Bold and the Beautiful” to abandon the federation and said it was “in the best interests of our members” to deal with the studios on its own.
AFTRA began its own negotiations on May 7 after SAG temporarily suspended its studio talks. AFTRA’s board gave tentative approval to the contract on May 28, and hours later SAG returned to the bargaining table.
In its statement Saturday, AFTRA said its board rejected a SAG request to delay ratification of the new contract until SAG concluded its own negotiations. AFTRA’s board also warned that it might pursue “legal remedies” if SAG tried to “undermine or interfere with our ratification process.”
A call to a SAG spokeswoman seeking comment was not immediately returned Saturday.
