Piracy - you should be so lucky.

Tim Wu on the fears independent filmmakers face about piracy:

I decided to try using BitTorrent to re-create Sundance in my Park City, Utah, living room. No more cold, no more lines, and no more pesky Q&As with the director, so I reasoned.

But the experiment failed. Not a single 2008 Sundance film is on any major pirate site that I could find. That might be accounted for by anti-piracy measures, but here's the kicker: There are also almost no 2007 films on leading pirate sites, and none of last year's Sundance "hits." The online pirate world and the Sundance world are, as far as I can tell, separate domains.

Read Please pirate my Sundance film. - By Tim Wu - Slate Magazine.

Interview with SXSW Master Chief Matt Dentler - Cinematical

Quoth Matt Dentler, festival producer of South by Southwest's film festival:

A programmer at another festival once used this analogy and I think it's appropriate: To do this job, you have to love movies like it's a marriage. You have to love it through thick and thin, sickness and health, richer or poorer. You have to be ready to embrace it during the good times and bad. And, that's very true. It can be a daunting gig, but I don't take it for granted. I love the idea of discovering great new films or a great new voice. That keeps it constantly interesting and usually entertaining.

Read Interview with SXSW Master Chief Matt Dentler - Cinematical.

The dos and don'ts of gaining a (great) reputation on the festival circuit MovieMaker Magazine

So this article's a few years old but it made me smile and still contains a ton of great, relevant ideas. Sneaky, low-down, dirty ideas, but still: ideas.

Before Bikini Bandits was even accepted to premiere at the Philadelphia Film Festival, [director] Grasse and [producer]Alan took out full-page ads in The City Paper, the local alternative weekly, promoting their participation in the festival. This naturally pissed off festival brass, creating more press in the ensuing uproar. When the film officially became part of the festival, the Bikini Bandits team purchased every available seat at the premiere, creating a sold-out screening and generating more frenzied buzz. They then threw a big ol’ party, let 3,000 in to celebrate and left 2,000 cooling their heels on the sidewalk. Buzz, buzz, buzz.

Read Festival Beat / The dos and don'ts of gaining a (great) reputation on the festival circuit at MovieMaker Magazine.

Film Festival Screenings 101

Film Festival Screenings: "Congratulations! Your movie finally got accepted into a film festival. But wait, there's plenty of fun (and work) still ahead of you."

It's pretty basic information on the things you should be thinking about before attending your film's screening at a festival, but if you're starting at square one it should get the creative and logistical juices flowing. Use this as your launch pad for the basics and then get creative.

CinemaTech: Talking with Brian Chirls about Online Audience-Building

Scott Kirsner of CinemaTech just posted this video of his interview with Brian Chirls. If you're familiar with Four-Eyed Monsters, you've encountered some of Brian's work; while Arin Crumley and Susan Buice are the filmmakers and public face of the 4EM project, Chirls masterminded much of the internet and marketing strategy around the film. His work apparently attracted the interest of John Sayles, for whose Honeydripper flick Chirls has been working recently. Check out the video below, and take notes.

Striking writers reach deal with independent filmmakers

CNN.com:

Striking writers have reached interim contract agreements with four New York-based independent filmmakers, ending their 12-week walkout, the two sides said Sunday in a joint announcement.

The settlement appeared to be another step toward ending the national work stoppage by the Writers Guild of America that has brought film and television production on both coasts to a virtual standstill

I love the picture of the writer in the Superman suit with padded muscle definition. Classic.

Film festival for the big shots, not little guy

I love this article from the Collegian, in which a random college student who took a ski vacation to Park City during Sundance reveals her hurt feelings about being shut out of Sundance screenings.

"I primarily went out there to ski and see some friends, but I wanted to get a feel for how Sundance was, so yeah, I was a little disappointed," she said. "I thought it would be different. A lot of the stores were closed at like 6 or 7 at night for private parties and stuff. You would really have to know someone to get in."

Bird said she thinks the Sundance cannot be considered truly independent anymore.

It reads a lot like a facetious article from The Onion -- except that if it were in The Onion it would be even funnier.

Two things: if you can't get into a screening in Park City during Sundance, you're just not trying. Sure, most of the more anticipated flicks are sold out, but there are always smaller films or showings at odd times with tickets available. Then there are the satellite festivals -- there are no fewer than four other festivals besides Sundance (Slamdance and the Park City Film Music Festival, just to name a couple) going on at the same time. You can see some great movies at those fests, too -- particularly if "independent" (i.e. unknown low-budget) film is your thing. Parties are pretty much the same way -- for every high-end soirée guarded by a surly bouncer there are a handful of open-to-pretty-much-anyone parties going on at nearby condos, bistros, and retail shops. You just have to talk to enough strangers around town and make enough new friends to get invited to them.

The other thing? It's been a long time since Sundance pretended (if it ever did) to be anything but a festival for the very best independent movies out there. Sure, a lot of those independent films are well-funded efforts with full crews and big name stars, but Sundance prides itself on showing great pictures, not just the ones made by struggling and emerging artists. It all goes back to the question of "what is an independent film, anyway?" -- something people are going to be arguing about for years to come, probably without any meaningful resoluton.