Straight to Audience, not Straight to Video

I love this post by Sherri Candler, a Los Angeles-based low-budget film marketing advisor, where she suggests that we change the term "straight to video" (or straight to DVD) to "straight to audience." Amen!

Filmmakers have been doing this for decades, now, probably as far back as John Cassavetes. But the difference now is the presence of The Great Disintermediator- the Internet. Search engines, YouTube and it's ilk, and social networks have made it possible to find an audience simply by posting your content online. Doing that and only that will not necessarily gain you much traffic, or any money, but it can help you find what Kevin Kelly calls 1,000 true fans.

With such a core audience, you become your own distribution company, for whatever content you produce- movies, music, books, blogs, podcasts, speeches, etc. It's an approach I've been advocating for sometime here on this blog, and on the Texas Film Scene, and is also the thrust of a book I'm writing on entrepreneurship in the digital age (if you're interested in knowing when this book is shipping, email me).

Straight to audience is not as sexy as a box office release, but considering that most indie filmmakers now only score a box office release if they (a) get chosen by the Festival Gods, or (b) pay for their own 4-walling, it certainly is a lot cheaper. Straight to audience has also helped Texas filmmakers like Blake Calhoun and Mike Maden score pretty sweet Hollywood production deals on the strength of their straight-to-audience work. Besides- and I know this is heresy- on most nights, I would rather enjoy a movie on my dirt-cheap home theater system than pay $20+food+gas+babysitter for a movie ticket. At $35 per outing, it takes only 25 movies to recoup the cost of my 47-inch LCD. Avatar or Star Trek is a different story, of course.

Straight-to-audience also scares people because it sounds like sales, which it is. It's time for artists to stop fearing sales, and start embracing it. If you love what you're selling, then selling is no chore. If you don't, why are you making that movie, again?

$50 horror flick 'Colin' takes Cannes by storm

Well, actually it was fifty pounds (Sterling), but I don't have the British keyboard settings enabled. Still, pretty cheap.

Colin is a no-budget movie by London director Marc Price, which tells the story from the zombie's perspective. A nice twist, playing on the American Werewolf theme.

Price took 18 months to organize (and write?) the project, cast and staffed entirely with volunteers from his Facebook group. The project garnered acceptance to Cannes, and awards at many smaller festivals worldwide. It has done so well, in fact, that it has an extensive theatrical release schedule! Not bad for fifty bucks.

No doubt many in Hollywood will trash the movie, and call attention to all it's low-budget production faults, instead of focusing on what a determined young director was able to do with no money. Smart studios will see this as a great way to mitigate their risk. As with Texas' own Pink: The Series, and the recent Uruguayan director who made a 5-minute version of War of the Worlds for $500, studios are making big offers to small indy filmmakers who prove that they can attract eyeballs in the vast Internet wasteland, and proving once again that it doesn't have to cost millions of dollars to make good movies; Hollywood just doesn't know any other way.

Stay at home actor

I love this. Reminds me of the Tonya Harding vs. Paula Jones sketch on SNL a while back. Thanks to Robert Dugan for the link.

Austin's funniest villain? Find out Dec. 14!

I had a blast doing my comedy debut at Cap City Comedy Club back in November. Now, I'm ready to go back for seconds. Come join me and several dozen of my closest friends on Monday, December 14, at 8 p.m., for a great lineup of some 20 rookies, and a veteran headline act. It's a fun night out. Besides, after all the fiscal doom and gloom this year, who couldn't use a good laugh?

Comcast-NBC deal on the brink

Cable provider Comcast is eyeing NBC-Universal for a price of about $30 billion, according to Bloomberg. In a previous post, I predicted this would happen, since it makes sense for cable companies to find ways to add value to customers, beyond just being a series of tubes.

What about you?

What does this mean for filmmakers, actors, writers, and directors? As with vertical integration in any industry, it should stabilize the demand for content, and those artists and skilled tradespeople who provide it... for a while. Let's face it: if you want to create art that takes $40 million of stars and special effects, you need a big studio behind you. Hollywood will continue to consolidate not only structurally, but in terms of content, too: big, comic-book, tent-pole movies will become Hollywood's main (perhaps ONLY) competitive advantage. There will be fewer shows made, probably, and they will likely continue to skew young. So if you're 18 and hungry, you should still plan on moving L.A. to jump start your movie-making career.

Regardless of NBC's short-term fate, the industry still faces larger issues, including a business model that doesn't depend on traditional commercial advertising and DVD sales. The music business highlights the importance of finding new ways to monetize digital content. NBC-Universal is a player; Universal Music Group, which bought BMG, is the largest of the "big 4" major labels.

So if you don't fit the major studio demo, or want to make movies outside that niche, try looking to the indie music industry, which is finding ways to redefine what business they are actually in.

Epic development

Paramount, Lionsgate, and MGM have launched a new TV network called EpixHD. It will feature movies that are still in the "pay TV window"; that is, after their theatrical run has finished, but before the DVD release.

What sets the new network apart, though, is that it will bundle an on-demand Internet streaming service, similar to Netflix Streaming or Hulu, allowing users to watch 720p high-def movies from the Epix catalog on demand, rather than be subject to run-of-schedule, like HBO subscribers, who are forced to endure the latest episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm 56 times in a week.

Originally, the company wanted to have cable providers like Time-Warner and Cox bundle the service with existing cable packages, shifting the burden of payment from subscribers to cable providers. Verizon, for one, said no thanks. They will offer EpixHD on their FiOS TV network, but at a $9.99 premium charge. Other cable providers and ISPs are likely to follow suit.

To combat that move, EpixHD is offering a free 30-day pass on their site. No doubt they will use information they get from you to lobby the ISPs and cable providers to bundle the channel, and to spam you with offers. But hey, it'll save you $10 or so!

iPhone Bluetooth Keyboards?

They're here! Sort of.

Some innovative companies have announced portable Bluetooth keyboards for the iPhone! (Way to be cutting edge, Apple. Palm had this kind of stuff 10 years ago for their PDAs and smart phones. Yeeesh.)

Oh, but wait- they don't actually work yet. Apple has not released drivers for the iPhone, so consumers can't enjoy this very useful technology unless we hack our phone. I wrote about the need for iPhone keyboards, and the available hacks a while back on my Easy Tech Zealot blog.

I suspect the reason is that Apple doesn't want to cannibalize possible "MacTablet" customers. Truth is, most die-hard Macheads that I know would buy both. I think Apple is missing an opportunity to cement the iPhone as the platform of choice for many users, especially with Android phones hot on their heels.

Google's Android is free, with many different suppliers, phone vendors, and price points. It's hard to compete with free, and even harder to compete with Google. Remember Yahoo, Hotmail, Outlook, Internet Explorer, and MS-Office? Google has supplanted or is rivaling all of those once-leading products. It will take time, but many phone users will choose "cheap and good enough" over "expensive and elegant." Many already have. So, lighten up, Apple. Give us the BT keyboard, already!

Curtis Wayne Demo Reel

Drawing inspiration from my fellow Texas Film Scene member Tommy Kendrick's excellent short-form demo reel, I decided to re-edit mine. I took a little different approach, since I don't have the pedigree that Tommy brings. Instead of a dozen short scenes, I used just a few scenes (still short, about 90 seconds for the whole reel), but long enough to show different looks and some acting "chops," I hope. Please let me know what you think. I would love some feedback!

NOTE: HD version is available on YouTube.

UPDATE: I have heard and obeyed! Newly-updated reel now includes clip titles, as you guys suggested. To keep it short and focused, I left out other clips from comedy roles and such. Thanks for all the great feedback, folks!

Tweeting during auditions

I'm not sure if this is bad form or not.

Daryl Eisenberg of DE Casting in New York, NY, has been using the popular insta-blog service Twitter during her casting sessions, though not during the actual auditions, she claims. As an actor, I feel empathy for the people who feel slighted by her actions, and am maybe a bit icnredulous that she was not doing it during actual auditions, though I give her the benefit of the doubt, since I wasn't there.

However, it's instructive to read what she was actually tweeting. The feedback is honest and blunt, which is what most actors need. I don't think reading the tea leaves of a casting director's musings will make us better actors per se, but it can certainly help identify and eliminate behaviors these CDs feel is "unprofessional" or even just plain old annoying.

Different CDs have different likes and disklikes, and being able to listen in on their thoughts, especially during a live casting session, seems to me like invaluable acting intelligence.

What do you think?

Comcast Century Fox?

Rumors are floating that Comcast is trying to buy a film/TV production studio (perhaps the troubled NBC?). To this, I can only say, "Aha! I knew it!"