No, the trick these days is getting it seen. If your film doesn’t have bankable stars, a high concept or fall into one of the genre barrios (basically horror or sex thriller) then forget about getting picked up by one of the mini-majors. No, these days you’ll have to distribute it yourself.

Which brings me to John August and the film ONE TOO MANY MORNINGS. This flicked premiered at the Sundance NEXT section for micro-budget films (a few of which had stars) and then the filmmakers did something unique–they released the film via download and DVD the day after their Sundance premiere. Soon John August was blogging about the flick and he even hosted a screening and moderated the Q&A at The Egyptian last week.

So why write about this now? One, I’m curious about the fate of this film. If this works for them I have greater confidence in adopting this model for my film. Two, thanks to John August, the HD download of this film is available for $2 until this Friday. I bought this film because John seems so jazzed about it and you should too. Christ, that’s less than a latte at Starbucks.

And now I sound like I’m preaching so I’m out of here.

Me, I’m not sure. I’d love to have a smaller, lighter version of my laptop, something less crucial to my work which is easier to transport; my life is on my laptop. I’d also love to be able to haul my media with me, have something where I could upload photos, take my writing with me (so I’d need some version of Final Draft and MarsEdit) and surf the web without worrying about leaving personal information on a public computer.

All that said, the iPad is almost there. I wish the OS were more robust and it cost about $200-300 less. So, what other options do I have? Why not a Hackintosh?

I could buy a cheap Dell and hack some OS X onto that sucker. It’s not a bad option but then I can’t upgrade and I’m always circling catastrophic disaster without a life vest because neither Apple nor Dell would be willing to offer me any kind of customer support.

So, what do you think? Should I look into an iPad or a Hackintosh?

Why?

Because I got into filmmaking to make films, not to market/distribute/sell films but that’s the new game and you gotta play to win so sign me up.

If you’re confused, here’s what you need to know: no one is buying indie films. If they are, they’re giving you a 1-10% advance based on your budget for all your rights for 25 years. In short, they’re trying to f**k you.

Here’s what you do.

1. Read this Peter Broderick article. Once you’ve done that, read this John August summary.
2. Pre-order this book by Jon Reiss. I took a 5 week class with him this past summer through Film Independent and, as I’m in the process of editing an independent feature film and developing a multi-medium project, it was incredibly useful.
3. Subscribe to the Ted Hope blog.
4. Go make something awesome.

And now for the interactive portion of this post. Two questions:

1. What are you working on?
2. What are you doing to ensure your success?

First, let me say that “I get it.” When I recently turned in my TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNON CHRONICLES TV spec for contests, I suffered over every sentence, every word. Not only did I employ all of John August’s tips but I also read it from last page to first and I reread the first ten pages ten times more than the rest of the script. If I go back and find I dropped an apostrophe from a contraction, I want to commit seppuku in the shower.

But that’s not everyone’s policy. Terrible writing chocked full of grammar and spelling mistakes isn’t just for the amateur either. I once worked for a small indie film production company run by a titan in the field and they asked me to clean up a certain filmmaker’s script before it went out. This writer/director, who shall go unnamed but I will say that he won Sundance, became an overnight success, still makes films and now also stars in big Hollywood productions, handed in a script that looked like it was typed up by a retarded orangutan. I, who am not an expert in grammar, could spot the syntactical carnage miles from the page… but I digress.

I get why this guy doesn’t want to read your script. No one wants to hear the truth. I know. The older I get the more honest I get and the more folk look hurt when I give them said honesty but in this industry you gotta develop thick skin. There’s a reason that all the filmmakers that make it are jerks.

But does this guy have to be such a douche? Maybe. But do I want to hear him rant about it? Let me say this: yes, that guy was a dick for cornering you but you are a dick for writing this article. Hey, I’m sorry if your diamond slippers are too tight. Might I help you slide them off with a chainsaw?

That’s what I thought.

Every time I travel, I use a Packing List. This way I know what to pack instead of running around like a headless chicken the night before.  Yes, I know a few of you will mock me for having a list but I also know a few of you will use it on your next trip.

Enjoy and look for lots of pics from Portland.

Personally, while imbued with a healthy does of skepticism and prone to ranting, I’m looking for a glimmer of hope on the horizon. It is with those glasses and crash helmet that I begin this series I’m calling “Filmmakers are Dead” (we’ve talked about Dark Tony, right?). My goal is very selfish: I hope to better understand what’s going on and hopefully get your two-cents in the process. In order to give this series some structure, I’m gonna release one installment per basic reporter questions (i.e., who, what, when, where, why and how).

Welcome to the first installment:

Who?

As I’ve already mentioned, this is very much the old guard (mainstream media such as the studios, broadcasters and all those that profit from working with them under the current structure) versus forward thinking up-and-coming artists.

Allow me a tangent here (the first of many). Let’s breakdown these artists of the internet age into the major disciplines addressed by Scott in the interview above. We can safely say that the majority of internet artists are either musicians, animators or filmmakers. I’d like to permanently break filmmakers out from under this umbrella. Why?

1. Unlike musicians or animators, filmmakers can’t make movies by themselves in their bedrooms. Filmmakers need crews, locations and actors/subjects.
2. Films, on the whole, will always cost more than the output of musicians or animators. While Jill Sobule can hold a web-a-thon to raise $75,000 to comfortably record a very polished album, a filmmaker would need to raise anywhere from three to ten times that amount to create an equally commercially viable and polished film.
3. Independent feature films don’t lend themselves to the internet by simple virtue of their length. According to Scott, five minutes is the longest any internet video should run (after that, viewers bounce). And again, unlike the musician who can put their full length album up as individual MP3s, the feature filmmaker can’t really present their film as a chopped up series of shorts.

Let me tackle another tangent. The popular term for filmmakers of the internet age is content creator and personally, I hate that term. I know it’s meant to expand the understood scope of what filmmakers create (features, shorts, websites, web series,  games, ARGs, etc.) but it makes me sound like I’m some corporate shill pumping out widgets for customers. It strips the art out of what we do. Yes, I understand that one of the keys to survival under this is new model is identifying your audience and targeting them with laser like precision but that also means you need to brand and market yourself as a specific kind of content creator. You are the dude that makes motorcycle films, period. Me, I’m still exploring my artistic voice but I beleive all my works are steeped with the themes that drive me, Look at Scorsese. It doesn’t matter if he makes a period romance, a gangster flick, a horror thriller or even a music video, you can recognize his works by their themes and style. Me, I’m a filmmaker.

Now, let’s get back to the “them” that I simply described as the old guard. Yes, it’s easy to boo the major studios and broadcasters, their corporate parents and all their related media spawn but don’t we all want to play in their yard? I know we’re all in an economic crisis and I don’t know where they get the stones to say “instead of giving you a commercial with a six-figure budget we’re gonna demand a high quality product with a two week turn around but we’re only gonna give ya pizza money and we’re gonna call it a viral video, which we’re gonna post all over YouTube, Hulu, you name it, but we’re not sharing any of the profits. The exposure is your profit. BTW, since we’re the copyright holders we’re not gonna let you post it on your own website. Cool? My lawyers tell me it’s cool” but don’t we still do the job for the exposure and the pizza money? Hey, cold pizza will feed ya for most of the week. Plus, aren’t they scouting us, hazing us, testing us to see if we might be the right person to direct the webisodes based on their new Christian Slater series? I know it’s terribly unfair but…

Another tangent: I love how clients ask for viral videos. Um, you can’t make a viral video. You make a video, send it out into the world and it either becomes viral or it doesn’t. That’s for the internet to decide.

So now we have some idea of the players, their motivations and how they clash and commingle but let me leave you with this question: Unions and their members are always confronting major corporations (as they should) but how do they interface with new media? I’m not talking about television shows repurposed for the internet but rather original content. How do they (or any of us) make a living from new media, much less collect dues to pay for benefits? Before you answer so quickly, have you seen the budgets on new media programs? They’re all over the map: Joss Whedon‘s DOCTOR HORRIBLE cost in the low six figures, John August‘s THE REMNANTS cost over $25k and I know some folks that make internet shorts for less than $100 a pop. Want one union’s answer to new media? Check out SAG’s New Media Rate Sheet?

Next week: What?

… Okay, are you as depressed as I am? If it’s any consolation, John pointed out that the panel was made up of studio guys that make big movies, not indie filmmakers.

Yeah, that doesn’t make me feel better.

Thanks John!

(Yes, I know he was probably working on this long before I emailed but allow me my tiny fantasies.)

While it’s easy to overlook, a good keyboard is essential when writing and editing (words, images & sounds) for hours on end. I was a big fan of my old ergonomic split keyboard but when I switched to my Mac I really wanted something more pertinent. I tried an older Mac keyboard but found the rake of the keys hurt my wrists. As I’m also a Final Cut Pro user, I tried one of the FCP keyboards with all the shortcuts printed on the keys. Good God, it was awful! The tops of the keys were so small that my typing accuracy went to s#!t.

And then I saw it. Someone reviewed the Matias Tactile Pro and I fell in love. It’s sturdy as all get out, the keys are the right size and it has great action (I’m a brutal typist–I pound the keys). But what I love most is the sound — these keys are so loud I feel like I’m working at a typewriter (how I’ve missed that sound). I completely, 100% recommend this keyboard.

Note: this model has been discontinued and replaced with the Tactile Pro 2.0 keyboard (which I’ve never tested).

BTW, if you want the ultimate in ergonomic keyboards, check out what screenwriter John August uses.