My Film Blog

Advice on Navigating the Educational Market

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 14:31:25 GMT

Just back from Silverdocs, well, actually I've been back for a good two weeks but haven't had a chance to write. I am pleased that after spending one year screening great programs for our new DVD label Alive Mind, building online communitiies, and mastering the tricks of online marketing, it is all starting to take off. It has been a blast launching a company based on the templatization of self- distribution and it is even more fun to see it start to succeed. My favorite new concept: scalable.

But back to Silver Docs. It is a great small festival attended by top notch producers and filmmakers and the panels were great. I moderated a panel on the educational market, 'Old School’ is New Money: Opportunities in the Educational Market, as well as attending several others. My educational panelists included Cynthia Close from Documentary Educational Resources (DER), John Haskyll-Abrahams from Bullfrog Films, Kathy Tan from Films Media Group and Lori Griffin from Schlessinger Media/Library Video Company.

Notorious Waterboarding Film on Virgin Media Shorts

Sat, 31 May 2008 01:37:30 GMT

DarkFibre have release their notorious Amnesty International film on Virgin Shorts. You can see it HERE at Virgin Media Shorts and join in the debate. Let your voice be heard!

DarkFibre is a directing duo formed by Marc Hawker and Ishbel Whitaker. Originally from fine art background, they produced the Oscar Short listed feature RIZE released by Lionsgate.

A few notes on Search Engine Optimization.

Fri, 23 May 2008 01:23:19 GMT

Title Tag

First, make sure that you have a Title Tag in your Source Page. The Title Tag is what is displayed in your browser as well. We made a simple experiment and searched for a keyword "untitled" and received an amazing 8,610,000 pages as a result. Most of them had a Title Tag missing. What should one use as a Title Tag? The best choice is to use the name of your business or your web log, particularly if the name matches your URL.

Description Tag

This tag provides a short description of your site. Often this decription is used as a part of the snippet shown in the search results.

Keyword Tag

Keyword Tag is generally ignored by the search engines.

Read more here.

Congratulations FLicKeR

Mon, 12 May 2008 00:13:01 GMT

Welcome Nik Sheehan to the My Film Blog community and congratulations on receiving the Best Feature Documentary Award at the Hot Docs International Film festival for your film, FLicKeR. Brion Gyson is a fascinatiing figure who invented the dream machine and an unrecognized artist whose influence continues today. Interviews with Iggy Pop, Marianne Faithful, DJ Spooky and others provides a provocative protrait of an almost forgotten luminary.

I look forward to FLicKeR's New York debut.

Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program Deadlines

Sun, 04 May 2008 14:51:07 GMT

Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program
NEW DEADLINES: JULY 7, 2008 and FEBRUARY 5, 2009

Each year, the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program awards more than $1.5 million in grants to support documentary films focused on contemporary social issues. Films supported have included My Country, My Country; Why We Fight; Born Into Brothels; Iraq in Fragments; The Inner Tour; The Devil Came on Horseback; and Everything's Cool.

In a world where truth is stranger than fiction, we can help you tell the stories that must be told. If you believe that creative non-fiction filmmaking is vital to society, and you are an artist with passion for the work of storytelling, we want to hear about your project. Tell us what you see. For the rest of the story or to apply online, visit:

Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program

The Definition of Free

Sat, 03 May 2008 23:52:51 GMT

Lately, all I have been hearing about is how Word Press is "free." Now, the way I do math, anything that takes over ten hours to set-up and still doesn't function without a consultant and/or IT specialist has a cost associated with it: the cost of loss time, lowered employee productivity and no blog at the end of the month. For the last two weeks at my office we have been struggling to set-up a simple blog using WordPress.org that I have come to call the "buteverybodyusesit" software. I understand that developers and programmers love it because it is "free" and allows them to exploit gullible users in search of "free" software.

But I think there is some confusion regarding the defintion of free...

Welcome Dark Fibre Films

Thu, 01 May 2008 20:22:53 GMT

My Film Blog would like to welcome Dark Fibre Films to our nascent community. Their latest film, Stuff of Life, is number one on YouTube and CNN as of yesterday. Watch the trailer below and read the producers blog at darkfibrefilms.myfilmblog.com

Digital and Self Distribution

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 02:07:23 GMT

Great article by Lance Weiler in the Winter 2008 Filmmaker's mag about digital distribution and generating online revenue for independent filmmakers. I think the most important point of the article, besides the benefits of working with a content aggregator/distributor, is that filmmakers need to be very technically savvy when it comes to self-distribution.

A lot of times filmmakers are advised to avoid working with traditional distributors, who are essentially described as greedy vultures, and to strike out on their own. The main challenge of doing so is creating awareness of your one, lone film and connecting it to your audience. There are a gazillion websites out there, two dominant social networking sites, and an undefined marketplace. Unless your potential customer can find you, no matter how good your film is they aren't going to buy it. This is not an original idea and a book that expresses this idea very eloquently is Ambient Findability by Peter Morville.

Nick Fraser to receive Doc Mogul Award

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 16:20:32 GMT

BBC Storyville's commissioning editor Nick Fraser, a key visionary on the international documentary scene, will be awarded the Doc Mogul Award recipient at Toronto's Hot Docs in April.

The Hot Docs Doc Mogul Award is presented by Hotdocs to an individual who, over his or her career, has made a significant contribution to the creative vitality of the documentary industry both in their home countries and abroad. Last year the festival honoured Rudy Buttignol.

The 15th annual Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival will be held from April 17-27. Industry professionals that want to attend, can now register online.

NEH's America's Media Makers Grants

Tue, 01 Jan 2008 17:03:42 GMT

Grants for America’s Media Makers support media projects that explore significant events, figures, or developments in the humanities and offer creative and new approaches to humanities content. America’s Media Makers projects promote active exploration and engagement for broad public audiences in history, literature, archaeology, art history, comparative religion, philosophy, and other fields of the humanities. NEH supports the development of humanities content and interactivity that excites, informs, and stirs thoughtful reflection and urges applicants to consider more than one format for presenting humanities ideas to the public. Grants for America’s Media Makers should enable greater audience engagement with the humanities, encourage dialogue and discussion, and foster discovery-based learning across the age spectrum.

NEH offers two categories of grants for media projects, Development Grants and Production Grants.

Click here to read more...

Interview with Mark Atkin, SBS Australia

Tue, 23 Oct 2007 22:03:08 GMT

Mark Atkin on myfilmblog.com

My Lunch With Claire

Sat, 13 Oct 2007 19:20:27 GMT

Early in October during MIP COM in tawdry Cannes I caught up with Claire Aguilar, vice president of programming for ITVS over a bowl of truffle ravioli that was all the more delicious due to the weak dollar (oddly enough, I discovered that the frugal food of choice was a dozen oysters from Astoux et Brun with a glass of white wine, reminding me that one hundred years ago in New York oysters were the poor man's food because they were so abundant on the Sound, a briny contrast to their status today as a delicacy, but I digress...)

lTVS, based in San Francisco, is a CPB and foundation backed fund for independent producers that is open to both Americans and international producers, first time directors and producers as well as Tefflon industry veterans. ITVS green lights 40 projects a year that can be submitted either to the International Call, for funds up to $150,000 or Open Call, with budgets of up to $350,000. ITVS also commissions and acquires approximately 50 hours per year. At the moment, ITVS has approximately 50 programs in the pipeline and seven projects showing at the IDFA Film Festival and one being presented at the IDFA Forum in November.

As we relaxed at our sidewalk cafe, astutely ignored by the wait staff which allowed us ample time to chat while sipping our Pellegrino, I asked Claire to talk about the fund, what types of programs they are funding, how much they are funding, what funds they have, their other funding partners, the funding review process, and some of her favorite projects that she has funded.

I'll start by saying that I first met Claire a little over a year ago at the French Screenings in St. Tropez, where we were the two lone American buyers and found ourselves seated next to each other over a three-course gourmet meal in a private courtyard shaded by oak trees.

The Four P's of Production

Sun, 26 Aug 2007 18:26:56 GMT

As a buyer of documentaries, factual series and digital content, I have gotten to know many filmmakers, producers and distributors over the last ten years. I have watched friends and colleagues go from a simple idea to a a completed film, wading through the muddy waters of fund raising, securing a broadcaster, international distribution, DVD licensing -- sorting out non-theatric vs. home video -- and then on to the next project, starting the whole process over again.

Every stage poses its challenges. Producing is a solitary process that requires four components: passion, patience, perseverance, and promotion. If you lack patience, your project will never be completed; even the best timelines mysteriously morph as raising production funds can, and usually does, take more time and energy than making the actual film. Without perseverance, each rejection letter, no matter how politely worded, will be like the fatal gun shot wound rather than the spaghetti stain on the wall it really is. Perhaps patience and perseverance are manifestations of passion but passion without promotion will mean that even a great idea will remain just that: an idea.