My Interview With Andrew Bujalski

Hello Everyone,

I covered the 2009 SXSW and Woodstock Film Festivals for The Film Panel Notetaker.

On Monday, I published an interview I did with Andrew Bujalski in The Ithaca Journal's blogs section, in preparation for a screening of Beeswax at Cornell Cinema this weekend.

To read the interview, just click on the picture of Andrew.

Thanks,
Erin Scherer

Please Vote For My SXSW 2010 Panel

Hello Everyone,

I covered the 2009 South By Southwest Film Festival as well as this year's Rochester High Falls International Film Festival for TFPN. Recently, I submitted an idea for a panel to SXSW for the 2010 festival titled "Don't Quit Your Day Job".

My panel will cover how Filmmakers balance their film making with their "day jobs". How do you balance work with filmmaking? How do you negotiate time off? How important is your job situation to fostering creativity? I won't disclose who I'm considering for the panel (I haven't approached anyone), but I'm looking into people who work in a wide variety of employment situations, including teaching, private sector work (office, customer service, etc.), health care, freelancers, and people who work in film and television.

To vote for my panel, please click here.

Sincerely,
Erin

One-on-One Q&A: Kris Swanberg, Director/Co-Writer, "It was great, but I was ready to come home."

One on One Q&A with Kris Swanberg
Director/Co-Writer,
It was great, but I was ready to come home
Interview by Erin Scherer

Kris Swanberg (left) with Jade Healy
in It was great, but I was ready to come home

Kris Swanberg's directorial debut, It was great, but I was ready to come home debuted at the 2009 SXSW Film Festival to glowing reviews. This marked Kris' first major foray into narrative, after previously working in the documentary milieu in projects such as the short, Bathwater, and her Nerve.com web series, Boys and Girls. It was great, but I was ready to come home will next play on Saturday, April 18th at the Atlanta Film Festival.

Erin was inspired to interview Kris upon seeing such phrases as "it was great but i was ready to come home" and "ready to come home swanberg" turn up on the Google Analytics page for her blog. The interview was conducted via e-mail.

Erin: How did you become interested in film? How old were you, and what were your earliest endeavors?

Kris: I first got interested in being a filmmaker at the end of my teenage years. I went to a high school in Germantown, Tennessee, right outside of Memphis that had a great television program. Unfortunately, it was pretty discriminating against female students and I wasn’t really allowed to work the cameras or do anything technical that the boys were encouraged to do. That, of course, infuriated me and I went off to college determined to learn those very things. I had always been interested in different cultures and had decided to become a documentary filmmaker. I spent most of my time in film school doing just that.

Erin: You met Joe while you were a freshman at Carbondale. Did you two collaborate on anything while you were still in school?

Kris: Yeah, Joe and I helped each other on a lot of projects in film school, but I don't think we really collaborated on anything specific. We mostly just helped the other one with whatever they were up to.

Erin: I once read an interview with Joe, and he said that Kissing on the Mouth was based on an idea you had in college. What was the original idea, and did it differ from the final result?

Kris: Kissing On The Mouth was in part inspired by a Super 8 project I did for my intro film class in college. It was called "ex" and was an audio documentary project about people's most recent breakups. It was sort of experimental and had some visual narrative elements running parallel to the interviews. It was something that Joe really liked and when we talked about what project we wanted to make out of school that came to mind. Kissing On The Mouth, of course, became a very different project than "ex" which was only about 5 minutes long. It definitely had some similar elements though like all the audio documentary interviews that ended up in the final film.

Kris Swanberg (right) during the making of
Kissing on the Mouth with Kate Winterich

Erin: Do you think that working with Joe gave you a lot of confidence to make It was great, but I was ready to come home?

Kris: Absolutely. Joe has always had the confidence to make anything he has had the inspiration for. I've always admired that and watching him follow through with all of his projects has definitely inspired me to make mine.

Erin: Following your graduation from college, you worked as a school teacher, and you are in the process of finishing a master's degree in education. However, you told me at the Indie Go Go party at SXSW that you had been laid off from your job. Are you looking for another teaching job right now?

Kris: I taught high school in a low-income neighborhood in Chicago for two years, but last year the school closed down and all of the faculty and staff was laid off. Even though I was sad to say goodbye to all my students and to a job that I thought I was really getting good at - I definitely felt like it came at a good time. Not only have I had more time to work on my film, but I've also started my own business making ice cream and I'm glad to have more mental energy to work on those things. But I'm not entirely finished with being a teacher. Education is still a great passion of mine.

Erin: While you were teaching, what did you teach specifically? (Did you teach elementary school? Junior High? High School? Any specific subject?)

Kris: I taught film and video to 10th-12th graders.

Erin: In your short documentary "Bathwater," you profile the bathtime rituals of mothers and their children, with the mothers addressing their children in several languages. What was your intent in making the movie? How did you find the families?

Kris: At the time (and today!) I had a great interest in language and in the transference of language from parent to child. I was also interested in the ritual of bathing a child. Its something that we share across cultures and even species. I thought of combining all of those things into a short documentary using verite footage. I found the subjects on craigslist. I just advertised that I was looking for bilingual mothers and I got a lot of responses.

Kris Swanberg's Short Documentary Bathwater

Erin: With the exception of It was great, but I was ready to come home, most of your own film work (exclusive from Joe's) has been documentaries. Do you think you will return to the form, and perhaps even make a feature length documentary?

Kris: Right now I think I'm more interested in making narratives, but I could definitely see myself making more docs in the future.

Erin: It was great, but I was ready to come home debuted at SXSW last month, but you shot the movie in December. How did you manage to turnaround so quickly and get it into competition?

Kris: Well we shot the film over three weeks in Costa Rica with David editing a lot of it while we were in production. In early January I flew David to Chicago so we could finish editing here and he was able to get a pretty good cut outside of a week. Then we overnighted it to Janet [Pierson] at SXSW. As for getting it into competition - that wasn't something we asked for or even expected. We were very surprised and grateful.

Erin: How did you script the movie? Did you have an outline, or did you do what Joe and Greta did with the latter half of Nights and Weekends, and get together with Ben Kasulke over breakfast and discuss what you wanted to shoot that day?

Kris: We didn't have a script or an outline. I had phone conversations with everyone involved before we left but we didn't start to have real plans until we were already in Costa Rica together. Our entire trip was sort of a constant production meeting and we were always checking in with each other and looking at footage an reassessing what we were doing. It was almost as though we were writing the script as we were going along.

Erin: I take it that It was great... came from the desire to explore an idea--in your case, female friendships--and the story grew out of that. Am I right?

Kris: Yes. I have been wanting to make a film that explores female friendship for a while. The other themes explored in the film came about after that initial intent.

Posing for the camera with Jade Healy (left) in
It was great, but I was ready to come home

Erin: At the premiere of the movie, David Lowery stated that the movie he saw on screen was different from the one you had gone to shoot. What were you originally intending on shooting, and how did that differ from the final product?

Kris: I'm very proud of the film we made and as far as I can remember that's exactly what I wanted to make!

Erin: How did you coordinate the shoot? Did you have a tightly planned schedule? Shooting the movie in Costa Rica, did you have a problem with customs? (Getting equipment, etc.)

Kris: Costa Rica was an amazing country to shoot in and we didn't have any problems at all. As far as our schedule it varied depending on where we were in the shoot. Most days we shot between 3-5 scenes but some of those were heavily planned and some weren't and then of course some days we shot more or less. It depended on where we were and what we had to get done.

Erin: I read in Paste and at The Spout Blog that you are now running an ice cream business. Can you tell us more about it? What are your current flavors, and where can one buy it?

Kris: Yes, I have an ice cream business in Chicago called Nice Cream. You can check it out at NiceCreamChicago.com. I sell my ice cream in pints to different grocery stores and cafes in the city. I change my flavors seasonally so right now for the Spring flavors I have Earl Grey Tea Ice Cream with Shortbread Cookies, Vanilla Bean Ice Cream with Lavender and Graham Crackers, Cream Cheese Ice Cream with Carrot Cake, and Chocolate Ice Cream with German Chocolate Frosting. They're delicious!

Self Distribution Not All By Yourself @ SXSW, March 15, 2009

Self-Distribution Not All By Yourself
Sunday March 15, 2009 at 1:00pm
Austin Convention Center, Austin, TX.

Moderator:
Scott Macaulay, Editor, Filmmaker Magazine

Panelists:
Richard Abramowitz, Abramorama
Caitlin Boyle, Paradigm Consulting/Semi-Theatrical Distribution Consultant
Chris Hyams, Founder & CEO, B-Side Entertainment
Jon Reiss, Hybrid Cinema, Filmmaker & Consultant

As specialty film subsidiaries dry up and smaller distributors close up shop, self-distribution has become a much more viable option for the filmmaker. "Self-Distribution Not All By Yourself", moderated by Filmmaker Magazine editor Scott Macaulay, explored the many avenues and options for the filmmaker to self-distribute. Macaulay was inspired to give the panel its title following a conversation with Peter Broderick, in which Broderick said that no one truly distributes their movie by themselves.

The panel took a look at the expanding venues by which a filmmaker can self-distribute their film, and the panelists represented a diversity of venues by a which a filmmaker could exhibit their film: Jon Reiss is a documentarian who self-distributed his last movie, Bomb It; Richard Abramowitz has worked as a distribution consultant for over twenty years; Caitlin Boyle also works as a Semi-Theatrical Distribution consultant, working with filmmakers on finding the best venue for their work, whether it be a public library or an art house.

Macaulay began the panel by refuting a common assumption about the distribution process that filmmakers and the general public seem to have:

"The old way was that you'd take your film to a film festival, it gets picked up, the company that distributes your film buys all the rights, and they would provide for theatrical, DVD, etc., etc....The models we are talking about today are very different from the old model that used to exist for filmmakers. Filmmakers need to realize that it never really existed in the first place--that maybe it existed for about five percent of the people."

Caitlin Boyle reassures filmmakers that just because your film doesn't get picked up for distribution, that doesn't necessarily mean your film is a failure. "Doing it yourself and alternative models of distribution shouldn't be considered to be a failure, or what you do when you're groveling up from being knocked down. I think a lot of people are releasing their films theatrically by themselves, melding traditional distribution schemes with alternative distribution schemes, trying a little but of everything and making sort of a comprehensive plan, and exercising more control."

If anything, both Hyams and Abramowitz see filmmakers bypassing more traditional distributors and either releasing films themselves, or through a company like Hyams' B-Side. Self-Distribution gives the filmmaker more control of the outcome. Hyams points to the success of Super High Me, a non-fiction parody of Supersize Me starring Doug Benson which premiered at the 2008 SXSW. Between the premiere and April 20th, B-Side and the filmmakers managed to book 1,100 screenings in 820 cities with their "Roll Your Own Screening" distribution plan. They have since sold 65,000 units on DVD, and $1.4 million in DVD sales. The total spent on marketing? $8,000.

Macaulay suggested that filmmakers consider thinking about their distribution strategy early on. "I really recommend thinking about that while you're writing your script. Especially narrative--there's so much stuff now that you can do on the web to develop an audience, and also with documentaries. It will really help to figure out who your markets are. 'Where am I going to sell this? Who am I going to sell this to?' I know this sounds like a Hollywood way of thinking, but it's not. It's a smart way of thinking about your audience."

Theatrical self-distribution can be cumbersome, but there's still a payoff. Says Reiss: "I don't regret what I did. It was a lot of work, but my DVD company is very happy that I did what I did."

Q: How much does the P&A (Prints & Advertising) cost to the value of releasing films?

Hyams: We'll be releasing 15 films this year. Part of that is when you lower the risk, you can take on a fuller slate. If we had to put up $250,000 or $500,000 for every film, it would be a lot harder to take something on. One of things we try to have is aligned expectations. If for whatever reason that doesn't work, and those films don't do [the business] people hoped for, at least you don't go too far into the hole in the process. Frankly, we are in a position to take more chances on movies we think there's an audience out there for.

Erin: One book aimed at would-be filmmakers titled From Reel to Deal advises against self-distribution. While the author acknowledges that filmmakers often get low and sometimes unfair deals, he says, "attempt self distribution and you'll spend your entire life in small claims court trying to collect from each and every theater owner." Have you ever had a problem collecting money from theater owners?

Reiss: I'm the smallest fish, so I should probably talk. I was actually shocked everyone paid within two weeks. There was one guy I had to nudge--he had the biggest check. That came about a month after the screening. I was shocked I got paid. I think partially because he was working with a chain, and I've had films distributed by bigger chains who didn't pay. I dealt with the small independent cinemas, and I got paid.

Abramowitz: I can speak on the other end. I've rarely had trouble getting paid from the chains. They just put the money into the system, and they pay you. You may not get the amount you want, and it may not be as quickly as you want it to be. It's an honest count--the chains check themselves to make sure their local managers are honest.

Boyle: I've worked with everyone from tiny public libraries to large universities to art houses, and I have the same story: no one has ever been more than a few weeks. Everyone has been eager to pay.

Abramowitz: And you can get these people to pay in advance.

Boyle: They all pay in advance. They even pay without having seen the film.

Abramowitz: It's important to get counsel from someone who's done it before. John just said that he's remarkably lucky--he was incredibly persistent. Knowing which theaters to play, and which not to. There are people I have not done business with in 20 years because they don't pay. Ask around, ask other filmmakers. Check the theater's website, and which theaters play those types of movies. Check three films that are similar to yours, and you'll see 80% of the same theaters there. You'll get a sense that they're regularly playing these kinds of films, and that they're treating the filmmakers with some degree of honor.

Hyams: Another question that might be a better one is, "What do home video distributors pay?" Without naming names, there are those that do, and those that are notorious for not paying. I would encourage you that if you haven't done a home video deal, talk to other filmmakers who have and find out if they've paid, and how prompt they are. That's going to be the bigger bulk of the money coming in. Some of them make a business of sitting on their money as long as possible.

Q: How do you manage expectations for you and the filmmaker? You look at 65,000 units for Super High Me, which is great. But have you ever though, "I could've done 100,000!", or, "Why didn't I do 100,000?"

Hyams: Netflix's original estimates were around 20,000. Docs don't sell--we beat expectations pretty dramatically on that one. We have had cases where filmmakers' expectations are so out of wack that I concluded that it wouldn't be a good idea to work with them. I think it's really important to have aligned expectations up front, and to be happily surprised if it succeeds that. Docs on home video is a tough business, but 5,000 units is doing pretty well. 10,000 is doing better.

Boyle: My personal philosophy is that your film has value. Don't give your film away for free all the time. I see it as being a matter of raising expectations, but staying realistic about it. I think that a lot of filmmakers sort of undercut themselves. I meet people whose expectations are very low, very modest. They often give their movie away for free, or formulate it without a plan. I'm constantly saying to people, "You should be charging for that!" People will not bat an eye having to pay admission. I work in a different way [than the other panelists]. I often struggle with too low expectations, not too high. I'm constantly being a cheerleader.

The Incredible Shrinking (Expanding?) Film Critic Profession @ SXSW, March 14, 2009

The Incredible Shrinking (Expanding?) Film Critic Profession
SXSW Film Festival
Austin Convention Center, Austin, TX
Saturday, March 14th, 2009
Notes by Erin Scherer


Moderator:

Gerald Peary, Director: For The Love Of Movies, Film Critic for The Boston Phoenix

Panelists:

Marjorie Baumgarten, Senior Film Editor/Critic, Austin Chronicle
Shawn Levy, Film Critic, The Oregonian
Karina Longworth, Spout.com
Scott Weinberg, Cinematical, FEARnet

"What is the current state of film criticism?" Is the question moderator Gerald Peary sought to answer in this panel. He opened the panel by saying:

"It's in the best shape that it's ever been in, because there's so many critics, critics for every taste. There are more good critics now than at any point in American history, but at least in the print world, there are critics getting kicked off right and left. It's a shrinking, shrinking world in which many critics who have had their jobs for many years are being laid off, and the papers are disappearing, all part of being the end of the print world."

Peary recalled the story of a "art film" distributor calling him, ranting that "ten, fifteen years ago, every major city had a solid critic who everyone trusted. A "soft critic" who liked art films. Nowadays, the critics are writing for other critics, and not the general public, and web people have no influence at all."

Scott Weinberg commented that if the distributor had to rely on reviews to sell their movies, that they were probably not a very good distributor, then added:

"The question that irritates me is, "What is an art film? Is Benjamin Button an 'Art Film?' Is Slumdog Millionaire an 'Art Film'? Guess what? Friday the 13th is an 'Art Film'! Some people created it, it's a piece of art. I don't get these designations."

Much of the panel was devoted to the impact of the web on film criticism.

Both Weinberg and Karina Longworth responded to the distributor's rant that web critics lack relevance by mentioning that filmmakers actually want to have their films reviewed by bloggers like themselves, if mainly for publicity. Longworth stated that she was often "drowning" in requests for reviews.

In the past, it was much more difficult to obtain press credentials, due to the lack of legitimacy of blogs and irresponsible web reviewers.

"A lot of times, people are writing reviews to get invited to the next junket. Those sites I have a problem with--the sites that are only helping the marketing along without any honest insight or negativity," Weinberg said.

With more festivals and events willing to let bloggers in, Karina Longworth has seen the status of the web critic improve over time. "That was a big problem, in like, 2005. Now, not so much. Cannes is the only one that won't give me press credentials as a blogger."

Weinberg mentioned that "What I think is cool about the blog world is that the more CNN mentions a blog, the more people like Karina and my fellow bloggers earn more respect as columnists, bloggers, and writers. Right now, I think it's still anybody in in the basement with a keyboard can write, "I LOVE The Watchmen, LOL."

Yet the future is a little more bleak for print critics: Shawn Levy, Marjorie Baumgarten, and Peary all commented on the shrinking size of their reviews: they used to be able to print 800 to 1,000 word reviews; now they're lucky to print 500. Peary pointed out that as newspaper critics have cut their staff, film critics are often among the first to be cut. Peary cited an article from Variety that mentioned that 28 Critics have lost their jobs over the past several years.

Even with the opportunity of everyone and anyone to review a movie on the web, Longworth and Weinberg do not feel threatened.

"It's not just anybody writing," Longworth stated. "There's a difference between going to the movies casually, and writing a blog post about it, and someone who is dedicated, whether it's something they do in their free time, or as a profession. There's a process of natural selection: people who have something to contribute become a major part of the discussion very quickly."

Overall, they concluded that the presence of film critics can help stimulate the conversation on films, especially ones that don't get wide releases. Critics have a breadth of knowledge on the subject they're writing about, and at their best, can function as a Consumer Reports for the potential ticket buyer (or badge holder).

As Karina Longworth established: "Our goal is to get comments. Our goal is to get people talking."

Natasha Vargas-Cooper: I'm a film critic for eonline.com. I have a question that we all get asked: Do you watch movies twice?

Baumgarten: Hardly ever. There's never the opportunity. Sometimes I'll watch a movie Tuesday Night, and have a review in by 10:30 the next morning.

Vargas-Cooper: Sometimes I get a comment like, "You need to see the movie again!"

Baumgarten: I'm not the Pauline Kael type of "I don't want to see it a second time. I don't need to."

Weinberg: There are so many films I haven't seen, so if I'm going to pop in, like Nightmare on Elm Street again, why not watch Peeping Tom again?

Q: I would like any of you to address the question of availability for audiences. You go to a film festival. You see ten good films, but if I don't live in a major city, or if the film is not released on DVD, your review may sound great, but I may take no action because I can't see it.

Weinberg: If you really like a film, we want you to be frustrated. We want you to send e-mails to the filmmaker and pester them and ask, "When can I see it?" We don't want to literally frustrate you, but if there's an independent film I love that might not go anywhere, I'll treat it like There Will Be Blood.

Longworth: I'm kind of in the habit of pestering people I know in distribution, so I yell at them about movies.

Q: In the last few election cycles, I have seen a maturation of political blogs. Some are hybrid, some are print and web, and some have been just web. But in the last four years, the blog of record has become a reality, as far as who's available to the sources, what sources make themselves available to them, and also being read regularly, I'm wondering where film criticism stands in its evolution.

Peary: I just talked to Michael Barker from Sony Classics, where he's going to places like The Huffington Post into having a film critic, which they don't have right now.

Longworth: They don't have their own freelancers. They don't pay anybody.

Weinberg: I was reviewing for like, six years before anyone paid me. I figured I was paying my dues, I was honing my craft.

Q: For the better part of 30 years, Americans had Siskel and Ebert on their television screens every week. You have political shows, you have sports shows, and every other sort of panel show. Why do you think we're living in an era right now where there are only two shows devoted to film criticism, and both of them feature members of the Lyons Family?

Peary: We live in a very philistine, very anti-intellectual culture, and that's impacted our film criticism. Film critics are looked on too suspiciously by most of the public: "Why don't you like movies? Can't you just enjoy a movie? Why do you have to criticize it?"

Levy: I don't think that it's a natural thing for television to have criticism.

Q: But sports shows have it all the time!

Longworth: That's an argument, that's not criticism.

"Skills Like This" - Sneak Preview Screening - March 13, 2009

Skills Like This

Sneak Preview Screening

92Y Tribeca

New York, NY

March 13, 2009

Monty Miranda’s Skills Like This, which won the Audience Award at 2007’s South by Southwest Film Festival, is being released theatrically in New York on March 20 at Angelika Film Center through Shadow Distribution. Skills Like This is a comedy shot entirely on location in and around Denver, Colorado, about 25-year-old Max who realizes his dream of becoming a writer will never come true. Maybe Max should have attended IFP’s Script to Screen Conference last weekend instead of resorting to his newfound pastime of crime…well maybe not, or there wouldn’t be a funny movie for me to go see. Last night, I attended a sneak preview screening at 92Y Tribeca where the film’s star and screenwriter, Forest Hills, Queens, native (got to give props to my borough) Spencer Berger, spoke during a Q&A with the audience moderated by Steve Ramos.

Ramos started by saying that a lot of writers write about what they know, but being that Berger hails from Queens and the film is set and shot in Colorado, Ramos asked Berger if the story was inspired by something he may have discovered or learned. “I haven’t robbed any banks,” Berger quipped. The things closest to him in the film are the relationships between his character Max and his friends.

At Vassar, where Berger attended college, was he more classically trained as opposed to comedy, the harder of the two? Apparently not. Berger said most of the acting he did at Vassar was sketch comedy. He wasn’t a member of the drama department, but actually was a music major. So how would he describe Skills Like This? Berger called it a comedy where the main character is convinced that he’s in a drama. “Basically, I’m pretty sure that Max thinks that he’s in the fifth act of Hamlet the whole time, while everybody else is in some sort of whacky bizarro world,” he said.

At SXSW in 2007 where Skills Like This won the audience award, the film didn’t get picked up for distribution right away. It would be another two years before its release. Why did the process take so long, Ramos asked? Berger said he’s stopped complaining about it, because he’s just happy that they got to even make it in the first place and now it is finally coming out. At SXSW, they felt good about the film’s win and thought it would be a piece of cake from that point on, but the next year was really torture. “Nobody passed on it, but basically one after another, some bizarre event would occur where a distributor would get interested and someone who was in charge higher up would get replaced and the deal would fall through,” he said. They finally got their distribution deal a little over a year around May of 2008, and they still had to wait another 10 months till now before it's finally hitting theaters on March 20.

One-on-One Q&A with Daryl Wein, Director - "Breaking Upwards"

One-on-One Q&A

Daryl Wein, Director/Co-Writer/Producer/Actor

Breaking Upwards

In anticipation for his narrative feature directorial debut, Breaking Upwards, at SXSW this weekend, Daryl Wein participated in a One-on-One Q&A with The Film Panel Notetaker. Wein's documentary Sex Positive debuted at last year's SXSW.

Q: Can you tell me a little about Breaking Upwards, how it all began? What's the story behind it?

Wein: Breaking Upwards was inspired by an open relationship I was in with my girlfriend (and co-star/writer/producer), Zoe Lister-Jones a few years ago. As a means to ultimately separate, we decided to strategize our break up over a period of 12 months. It was neurotic and insane, but somehow worked for us and, rather than process the insanity of it all, I immediately entered filmmaking mode, and saw a totally unique but entirely relatable story that I wanted to share. I felt like we had seen enough relationship movies about the moment a couple falls in love. I was more curious about how you grow apart with someone, and what it’s like to negotiate that space. There was also an aspect of frustration that fueled it, as I had been seeing a lot of films that were supposed to be representing my generation in complicated relationships that I felt were falling short on a lot of levels; craftsmanship being the most obvious.

Q: The promos for Breaking Upwards are very clever and hilarious. Zoe is super funny. Did you write and direct the promos yourself? Who came up with the concepts?

Wein: Zoe wrote all the promos, and we alternated directing them. She conceived all of them and then, because there was a lot of post production involved in the three greenscreened promos, I added some final touches during the editing process. Because we have no money, and no publicist, we decided to create a viral marketing campaign on our own. We've had so much fun making them, and the response has been overwhelming. It seemed foolish not to take advantage of the marketing capabilities that the Internet now lends to anyone and everyone. It's pretty amazing.

Q: Had you seen Arin Crumley's and Susan Buice's Four Eyed Monsters, which is a fictionalization of their then real-life relationship? Did that have any influence on you for Breaking Upwards? Are there any other films or filmmakers who have influenced your work?

Wein: I did see Four Eyed Monsters. When I heard about that movie, I got really excited. I thought it was really cool what they were doing. Posting the movie on Youtube was awesome. Using technology in all the ways it did was awesome. Being a real couple was awesome. Basically, they took the whole do it yourself model to the next level. It definitely inspired me. I love to see my peers elevating the form. I can't say it directly influenced me, but it lies somewhere in my subconscious for sure. Our aesthetic is definitely different though. I like to use more actors it seems, more structured story...etc. As far as films that influenced me in relation to Breaking Upwards, I would say they are: Manhattan, Jules and Jim, Annie Hall, Water Lillies, Brief Encounter, Good Will Hunting, Amelie, Badlands, Days of Heaven, Moonstruck, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Me You and Everyone We Know.

Q: I recently went to the Upright Citizens Brigade for the first time to watch an improv show. From watching the trailer, it seems like you and Zoe might have some improv or sketch comedy in your funny bones? Is Breaking Upwards completely scripted, improvised, or a bit of both?

Wein: It's completely scripted. Zoe, our co-writer Peter Duchan, and I spent over a year finessing the script. It was really important to us to infuse every character with their own energy and arc. And to have the piece be highly structured. That said, once on set we all did a bit of improvising, as actors are won't to do, but for the most part we stuck strictly to the page.

Q: Sex Positive, your feature documentary that debuted at last year's SXSW Film Festival and won the Grand Jury Prize at L.A. Outfest, is about 1980s gay S&M hustler turned AIDS activist Richard Berkowitz who contributed to the invention of safe sex. How did you get involved in the making of that film, and what was it like to transition from making a documentary on a serious topic to a seriously funny narrative feature on the topic of a straight couple breaking up?

Wein: I met Richard Berkowitz at Zoe's mother's house in Brooklyn for their annual feminist Seder. Zoe had told me about his life, and her mother, a video artist named Ardele Lister, told me I should read his book. So knowing nothing about that time in history, I was immediately captivated. And Richard is such an amazing subject, after our first (6 hour!) interview, I knew I had a great film in the making.

To move on to Breaking Upwards was a nice shift of pace. I think more than the change in tone, the most intense transition was on a producerial level. Making a documentary for nothing has its challenges, but to make a narrative feature using a SAG contract, esteemed theater actors, acquiring insurance, permits, etc...all the logistics of it on top of acting, writing and directing was seriously overwhelming. But I think in terms of story, it's always important as a filmmaker to explore what you know and what is foreign to you. So I'm happy to have begun balancing the two.

Q: What was it like developing an all original soundtrack for Breaking Upwards that Zoe wrote lyrics for and you both sang on?

Wein: It was really fun, but like all things indie, a huge amount of work. Our friend Kyle Forester composed all the music, and is a genius, so we really owe it all to him. But the process basically entailed Zoe writing the lyrics, sending them to Kyle along with a general idea for the style of the song she was looking for. He'd compose it and send it back to us and then a dialogue would ensue. We spent a lot of days in the studio, driving Kyle crazy, but Zoe and I are both serious type A folk so we had to make sure every detail was perfect. We're really proud of the soundtrack, which is now available for download on iTunes. We'll also be selling copies at SXSW after our screenings.

Q: What's next after SXSW? Do you have any other projects in the works?

Wein: We have a few in the works, but I'll have to keep you posted once they're fully formed.

2009 SXSW Film Conference Panels

Here's a look at the panels that are planned for the 2009 SXSW Film Conference.

Deal or No Deal: The Road to Self-Distribution, SXSW, 3/10/08

Moderator:

Karina Longworth, Spout.com

Featuring:
Stacy Schoolfield, Producer, Jumping Off Bridges
Kelly Sanders, Truly Indie
Sara Pollack, Film Manager, YouTube
Mark Halperin, President, Magic Lamp Releasing (absent?)

At the very beginning, moderator Karina Longworth laid out the premise of the panel: looking at self-distribution as the first resort, as opposed to the last resort.

Stacy Schoolfield was the first panelist to speak. After producing the movie Jumping Off Bridges, Schoolfield took the film to SXSW, expecting it to get a distribution deal. There was no initial distribution deal. Instead, what happened was that a mental health field professional saw the film and thought it would be appropriate to screen for her colleagues. Later, she called theaters in 26 cities and combed Lost fansites (Michael Emerson from that show appears in the film) to promote the film. She got the ultimate flattery when fans began to incorporate clips from Bridges into video tributes to Emerson. Eventually, Jumping Off Bridges got picked up by New Day Films, a distribution company specializing in educational films.

Sara Pollack, prior to her hiring at YouTube worked on a film titled Duane Hopwood, which only received a minuscule release despite debuting at the Sundance Film Festival, and having notable names like David Schwimmer and Janeane Garofalo star in it. Pollack believes that filmmakers are becoming wise to bad deals given by major distributors, and to the virtues of self-distribution. "You know your audience best," Pollack said.

Kelly Sanders works for Truly Indie, an offshoot of Magnolia Pictures. Truly Indie, like IFC First Take, is an outlet for brokered self-distribution. Whereas Magnolia would approach the filmmaker, it is the other way around with Truly Indie. Truly Indie only accepts 8-10 pictures a year, and if the filmmaker has a promotion idea, Truly Indie will work with the filmmaker. The filmmaker must pay Truly Indie a flat fee based on the cost of the opening.

Sanders believes that theatrical releases are still important, as they bring credibility to the film. Documentaries are usually the most successful in self-distribution, as people tend to read documentary reviews.

Overall, the panel was very encouraging. I got to introduce myself to Karina afterwards, explaining that I was the girl from "HOWL (For Lindsay Lohan)". Yippee!

An Introduction to Sony's New XDCAM EX Camera System- The Little Camera That Will @ SXSW, 3/10/08, 11am.

Presenter:
Mike DesRoches, Sony Electronics Sales Support Engineer

Lately I've been in the market to get a prosumer camera for my YouTube work, and possibly, depending on the model and the affordability, make my next movie as well. I had a chance to view this camera at SXSW's trade show the day before:

DesRoches started the panel asking for a show of hands: How many of us owned a prosumer camera, and how many of us were interested in buying one. I raised my hand at the latter. He encouraged the audience to look around and find the camera that's right for them. My main issue is that DesRoches spoke at a rapid fire pace that was sometimes too fast for me to keep up while I was taking notes.

The Sony XDCAM EX is a small (for a prosumer camera) that has many benefits that a larger camera has. It's capable of a full HD frame with a pixel ratio of 1920 x 1080, and also a smaller pixel ratio of 1080 x 720. It stores video footage in an MPEG-2 Format with up to 140 minutes on a 2x16 GB Card.

The user is able to set the frame rate of 24P, expanded focus, and the option to over or undercrank. And those interested in stop motion claymation would be relieved to know that now you can finally create your homage to the Rankin-Bass cartoons that play every hoilday season. The camera has a capability of shooting at 2, 6, & 12 frames per second. The XDCAM EX also comes with an auto focus assist.

DesRoches then showed a demonstration of footage made with the XDCAM EX at the trade show, of a toy carousel rotating.

The camera comes with a battery charger, cables, firewire, operating instructions, a wireless remote and shoulder strap. If it's shipped within the United States, it comes with a free memory card. In DesRoches' personal opinion, it's the best camera you can find under $22K.

Actors' Workshop With Jeffrey Tambor, SXSW Film Festival, 3/9/08

Featured Speaker: Jeffrey Tambor, Arrested Development, The Larry Sanders Show

With:
Greta Gerwig, Actress/Writer, Hannah Takes The Stairs, Nights & Weekends

Kent Osbourne, Actor/Writer, Hannah Takes The Stairs, Nights & Weekends, Spongebob Squarepants

I'm a fan of the TV Show Arrested Development, but I really didn't have much interest in attending this panel until I discovered that Tambor would be working with Greta Gerwig and Kent Osbourne.

The panel started off with Tambor asking Kent and Greta about their insecurities as actors. Kent replied, "I'm afraid of forgetting a line." Gerwig and Osbourne played out a scene from a play by John Patrick Shanley. Once the two were done, Tambor asked Greta how her character felt about her friend, Kent's character. In first person, Greta replied: "I love him, and I hate him."

Casually, he asked Greta, "Have you ever been in love?"
"Yes!" She replied.

Greta Gerwig and Kent Osbourne in Jeffrey Tambor's Acting Workshop

Tambor advised the actors in the audience that they should rehearse as the camera is being set up, and also to write arbitraries in the margins of your script. Tambor also suggested that instead of the actor try to act well, they should aim to act badly.

"People are Ridiculous!"

Gradually, Kent and Greta became less inhibited, to the point where they were chasing each other around the room. As Tambor gave the two more suggestions, Greta and Kent experimented with their parts.

Tambor also had advice for budding directors, telling them to follow the actors to craft services, get under their skin, and be personal with their subjects.

"The more personal you are, the more personal they are."

Toward the end of the program, Tambor asked Kent and Greta if they learned anything from the workshop. Greta realized that she was a better actress than she thought she was. Tambor also took questions from the audience. Here are a couple of these questions.

Q: Do you like watching dailies?
A: No, I don't like watching dailies.

Q: What is the greatest betrayal?
A: Piss on them, I don't know. I don't think you want to hurt someone. The more you live, the more people hurt you.

SXSW- A Conversation with Helen Hunt - March 9, 2008

SXSW Film Conference & Festival
A Conversation with Helen Hunt
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Austin Convention Center – Room 16AB – 3pm

Christy Lemire moderates a discussion with Helen Hunt at SXSW.

Moderator:
Christy Lemire - Movie Critic, Associated Press

Panelist:
Helen Hunt – Director/Writer/Actress - Then She Found Me

Lemire: What’s it been like screening Then She Found Me?

Hunt: The fun part is to have other filmmakers see it.

Lemire: Your film has been 10 years in the making. What made you decide to direct the film?

Hunt: I wanted to wait to find the right story and to create a character that was me. It would take too much time to tell other directors what to do.

Lemire: How did you know you could direct?

Hunt: I didn’t know. I worked with a lot of different directors.

Lemire: Who influenced you?

Hunt: Jim Brooks. He holds a place in my psyche about movies that appeal to me. This movie is hopefully a funny movie about betrayal. I learned from Brooks that you have to have that one magic sentence. It took me at least a year to get to that sentence. It was a painful topic. Other directors who shall remain nameless have shot down the camera operator’s opinions on a film set, for example. I wanted to be brave enough to hear other people’s ideas. I was very alone. The Coen Brothers have each other. I had just me. I wanted my character and the audience to feel betrayed over and over again. The color of Bette Midler’s suit spoke to the one sentence about betrayal. How do I get all the fun out of Bette, but trick the audience? I hired good actors. I looked at The Rose and her broader work.

Lemire: Why did you cast Salman Rushdie as the gynecologist?

Hunt: It was to introduce the notion they weren’t praying to any particular G-d. I hired someone to play the doctor who is Indian. I auditioned actors and doctors, then Rushdie wanted to read the part.

Lemire: How does being a mom yourself resonate with you?

Hunt: The movie couldn’t have existed without my being a mother. You need the magic sentence of the movie and what the protagonist wants: a baby. It’s filled with potency.

Lemire: What do you know now that you wish you’d known at the offset?

Hunt: Every member of the crew matters. Make sure you get along with them and they give a shit. Ask them all to take it personally. It’s the last 10 years of my life.

Lemire: Does it help coming from acting as a director?

Hunt: I suggest any potential filmmaker take an acting class. It’s a definable learnable skill.

Lemire: Are women directors making strides?

Hunt: Yeah, the election. I don’t understand why it’s so disproportionate. One of my biggest strengths was I knew the movie well enough. I just wanted to get my movie made. My pride took a back seat. If I had been asked to take four great parts this past year, I wouldn’t have been able to make this movie. It’s better for having been smaller.

Lemire: Would you do it again?

Hunt: I wrote a script based on original material that’s similar in tone. It’s a comedy about some things that are funny and some things that are not so funny.

Audience Q&A:

Q: When you go ‘No’s,’ what kind were they?

Hunt: Every kind. Bette & I – No. Screenplay – No. People felt it fell in between in terms of its size. In the end, I just backed into the budget. It was very small.

Q: What was one of the main issues you had with music licensing?

Hunt: I didn’t have any. Had a friend who is a composer, but lost him, then found Dan Mansfield to do the music. He was a child prodigy. I wanted an acoustic score to drive the movie. Dan used my friend’s guitar. There was one cello player also we hired in New York.

Q: Did winning an Oscar help you?

Hunt: It probably helped a little, but I didn’t get a “yes” till many years later.

Q: How much trouble was it to get distribution?

Hunt: I assumed I wouldn’t, but I was invited to show it at Toronto. Here at SXSW, we have a cool little indie distributor called ThinkFilm.

Q: What’s the overall career message you learned?

Hunt: If you think you can write something, write something.

SXSW - No Budget Filmmaking - March 9, 2008

Sunday morning I was on the phone with my airline trying to re-arrange my flight so I could stay a little longer at SXSW and in the process, I missed pretty much all of the No Budget Filmmaking panel, however I did make it to the last five minutes and got to sit in on the last audience question. I really wish I was able to get there at the beginning as one of my very own questions was asked by moderator Agnes Varnum. A few weeks ago, Agnes posed the question on her blog if anyone might have any questions she could ask. My question was: With the success of your films, you’ve gotten to travel to many film festivals across the country and throughout the world. Would you say you spend more money on traveling with a film than making the film itself? Do you ever factor in the traveling into your budget, or how do you finance your trips? If anyone was at this panel and know what the panelists answers were, please send them my way. Thanks!

SXSW Film Conference & Festival
No Budget Filmmaking
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Austin Convention Center – Room 15 – 11am

Moderator:
(AV) Agnes Varnum - Editor, Doc It Out

Panelists:
(PH) Paul Harrill - Lovell Films
(TW) Ti West - Director, Trigger Man
(JS) Joe Swanberg - Director, Hannah Takes the Stairs
(AK) Aaron Katz - Director, Let's Get Down to Brass Tacks

Audience Q&A:

Q: How do you validate your success?

Swanberg: You have to be ambitious, but can’t be an asshole. You have to get along with people. Had we not screened Kissing on the Mouth at SXSW, it may be likely I’d still be a web designer in Chicago.

West: If it wasn’t for Matt Dentler, we’d be doing something else now. He watched my DVD and called to tell me it wasn’t working and wanted another copy.

Dentler: It’s not true. You guys would have done fine.

Harrill: You have to do something different. That’s what’s going to have someone call you and say I want to finish watching your movie.

West: People hate my movies. They get criticism. You have to take the good with the bad.

SXSW - Race, Politics and Drugs: A Harold & Kumar Panel - March 8, 2008

I was supposed to see Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay at a press screening the day before this panel discussion, but there was a problem getting the print to the theater, so the screening was delayed and by the time it was to take place, I already was in another screening (American Teen), so couldn’t make it. But I did hear accounts of people who saw the film at its premiere, everyone having very good reactions, saying it was downright hilarious. I’ll have to wait to see it when it comes out in theaters on April 25.

SXSW Film Conference & Festival
Race, Politics and Drugs: a Harold & Kumar Panel
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Austin Convention Center – Room 16AB – 1pm

(John Cho & Kal Penn. Photo by Erin Scherer.)

Moderator:
Robert Wilonsky - Film Critic, HDNet/Dallas Observer

Panelists:
Neil Patrick Harris - Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay
John Cho - Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay
Kal Penn - Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay
Jon Hurwitz - Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay
Hayden Schlossberg - Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay

Wilonsky: How did the idea of the sequel come about?

Schlossberg: We were presented with the challenge to continue the story going off to Amsterdam. The idea was that maybe while Harold and Kumar were at the airport, they would be racially profiled and get sent to Guantanamo.

Wilonsky: Were you anxious to get back into the roles?

Penn: We had such a great time making the first film. The second one kept getting delayed.

Wilonsky: What did you want to see with it?

Cho: We were concerned that the sequel be as interesting and as smart as the first. That’s what took people by surprise with the first. It was difficult to replicate, but the sequel did so and went further.

Harris: (Jokingly) I was very excited to cash in on the sequel. I asked for a lot of money. They told me Anthony Michael Hall was on the other line.

Wilonsky: What kind of discussion did you have with Kal and John on where the sequel was going?

Schlossberg: We all just wanted another chance. We tried to keep this thing smart and amp it up a notch. This time we all knew each other. We had to build chemistry the first time around. We needed to please the audience. This time, expectations are higher.

Wilonsky: How do you please the audience’s expectations?

Hurwitz: It’s about staying true to the characters and not making them caricatures. There the same people you know and love. People like to see these guys go through all their troubles. The challenge of the first movie was to get people to care about these two going to White Castle. The second film goes in the opposite direction and they have their freedom at stake.

Wilonsky: The first film was subversively political, while the sequel is more blatantly political. Was this important to you?

Penn: Not really. It’s great that it’s politically relevant, but my job as an actor is to create this world. The stakes are higher.

Cho: I liked it more as a conceit. It’s more of a device to amp up the stakes. I don’t think the movie has anything worthwhile to say politically. It uses the current political climate to make vagina jokes. (Audience laughs out loud!)

Penn: The first film was more about weed, where the sequel is more political, but I don’t think that’s what it’s really about. It’s more about two friends.

Wilonsky: On the commentary track of the DVD, you talk about politics.

Schlossberg: That’s mainly an accident. Our goal is to have the audience laughing constantly. The first movie had different layers to it. Like John said, it’s really about the vagina jokes. (Another big laugh from the audience.)

Hurwitz: What made us settle on this story was realizing the political resonance. After making the first movie, John and Kal did a publicity tour. Their experience at the airports wasn’t the best. They can tell this story in a completely ridiculous comic way.

Cho: The last time we flew here, Kal got asked to step over by a TSA rep at the airport and the guy behind him had a knife.

Penn: I was the big distraction.

Cho: The man had come from a camping trip and he got through security okay.

Penn: You see how racial profiling makes us all feel unsafe.

Wilonsky: What did you want to do with your roles the second time around?

Harris: I was super stoked to be a part of it again. It sort of revitalized an aspect of my career. Gave it sort of a hipness factor. Without this, I wouldn’t have been cast in How I Met Your Mother. I was making fun with instead of jokes at me.

Schlossberg: Some of the best days are when Neal shows up. It pumps everyone up. We wrote it in the first script and didn’t know he would agree, but he said yes.

Audience Q&A

Q: How hard was it to get non-white actors in the leads?

Hurwitz: It was important for us to not make David & Jason Go to McDonald’s.

Schlossberg: In our initial meeting with the guys they loved the script. We wanted to make “this” movie. It was something you thought would be difficult, but it wasn’t.

Cho: My agent called saying these producers love you. It was hard not to be suspicious. I was paralyzed with gratitude when I was offered the part.

Penn: We met at a party. Hurwitz said, “Whoa! You don’t have an accent.” I put up my wall. Got talking and read the script. I had a weird conversation with people about limiting roles.

Schlossberg: It was very important in the first movie to lace in some Korean and Indian cultural things throughout.

Q: Why didn’t you get the rights to show the clip from Sixteen Candles in the first film?

Schlossberg: One of the biggest laughs in the movie is the clip of Long Duck Dong from Sixteen Candles, but we didn’t get the rights to use it.

Hurwitz: We don’t know what John Hughes’ motives were. We wanted Harold and Kumar to be at ease in the world. Even those they’re frustrated for getting picked on, they’re better than that.

Q: Did you run into any resistance about content?

Schlossberg: It’s a virtual no. They’re done on a certain budget where the studio just let us do what we wanted to do. There was a lot of frontal nudity.

Q: When you got the script for the sequel, what did you think of it initially?

Cho: (Jokingly) I was thrilled. I thought this whole torture business was a great fortune to all of us.

Penn: I have no part in that comment. I loved that the stakes were higher. I was amazed we were going to do the scene with the George Bush look alike. It’s just a satire. In the majority of countries in the world, if you satirize the leader, you’ll probably get thrown in jail.

Q: How difficult was it to get distribution the first time around?

Schlossberg: People ask us if White Castle came to us. We wrote it in the script because White Castle was an authentic place that would fit into the story. When writing a screenplay, you don’t have to think about the business. With White Castle, it turned out to be a family-run business. They loved Harold & Kumar.

Hurwitz: We weren’t ware of the exact challenges of distribution for the first movie. As soon as New Line tested it, they knew they could release it wide. New Line was also supportive of the sequel.

Q: How did Harold & Kumar change for you in the roles you are offered and take?

Cho: It’s my calling card at this point. I’m not sure how much it’s changed. It’s a tough question.

Penn: A clear example is The Namesake, based on an amazing novel. I tried to get the rights to make it into a film, but Mira Nair already had. I tried an aggressive approach to get involved. Her son asked her to audition the guy from Harold & Kumar. Without him being a fan, I wouldn’t have been offered The Namesake.

SXSW 2008 Film Winners Announced

The SXSW press office sent me news of the festival award-winning films. And the winners were:

Jury Awards

REEL SHORTS

Special Jury Award - "The Second Line," Director: John Magary.

Winner - (Tie) "Warlord," Director: David Garrett & "Small Apartment,"Director: Andrew T. Betzer

ANIMATED SHORTS

Special Jury Award - "I hate you don't touch me or Bat and Hat," Director:Becky James

Winner - "Madame Tulti-Putli," Director: Chris Lavis & Maciek Szczerbowski

EXPERIMENTAL SHORTS

Special Jury Award - "Upwards March," Director: Kaveh Nabatian

Winner - "Safari," Director: Catherine Chalmers

SXSW WHOLPHIN AWARD

Winner - "Glory at Sea," Director: Benjamin Zeitlin

MUSIC VIDEOS

Special Jury Award - (TIE) Group Sounds, 'Temporarily in Love,' Director:Randy Scott Slavin & Cornelius, 'Fit Song,' Directors: Keigo Oyamada &Koichiro Tsujikawa

Winner - TV on the Radio," 'Me-I,' Directors: Mixtape Club & Daniel Garcia

TEXAS HIGH SCHOOL COMPETITION

Special Jury Award - "Inflections," Director: Matthew Campbell

Winner - "Picnic," Director: Wesley Bronez

ON NETWORKS GREENLIGHT AWARD

Best Original Production - "The Guild," Director: Jane Selle Morgan

Best Original Series Idea - "Knock Off," Written: Brandi-Ann Milbradt

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

Special Jury Award - "Full Battle Rattle," Directors: Tony Gerber & JesseMoss

Grand Jury Award - "They Killed Sister Dorothy," Director: Daniel Junge

NARRATIVE FEATURE

Special Jury Award for Cinematography - "Explicit Ills," Director: MarkWebber

Special Jury Award for Best Ensemble Cast - "Up With Me," Director: GregTakoudes

Grand Jury Award - "Wellness," Director: Jake Mahaffy

Audience Awards

EMERGING VISIONS

Winner - "In a Dream," Director: Jeremiah Zagar

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

Winner - "They Killed Sister Dorothy," Director: Daniel Junge

NARRATIVE FEATURE

Winner - "Explicit Ills," Director: Mark Webber

24 BEATS PER SECOND & LONE STAR STATES Winners will be announced on Monday, March 17th.

Pictures from SXSW 2008

Check out the pictures I took at SXSW here.

FYI, the pictures from the Harold & Kumar panel discussion were taken by Erin Scherer.

I also want to plug Hatbox in Austin, TX, where I purchased the Western hat you'll see me sporting in a few of the pics.

SXSW - Fact or Fiction: Blurring the Lines Between Docs & Narratives - March 8, 2008

SXSW Film Conference & Festival
Fact or Fiction: Blurring the Lines Between Docs and Narratives
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Austin Convention Center – Room 15 – 11am

(L to R: Ronn Mann, Jared Moshe, Karim Ahmad, Mike Akel, Evan Shapiro & Sean Farnel)

Moderator:
Sean Farnel - Hot Docs

Panelists:
Ron Mann - Director, Grass (SXSW 2000)
Jared Moshe- President, Sidetrack Films
Karim Ahmad - Programming Dept, ITVS
Mike Akel- Writer/Dir/Producer, SomedaySoon Productions
Evan Shapiro - GM Exec VP, IFC TV

Farnel opened with a definition of the word ‘documentary’ from the book For Documentary: “images perceived as signifying what it appears to record.” Farnel said that this definition gets to the heart of documentaries and filmmakers have to make a choice about documentary reality. He then points to a sense of polarities in the style of documentary films, those being either cinema verite (ie. Herzog) or stories exactly how they happen (ie. Maysles).

Farnel: How should filmmakers represent the facts?

Mann: All documentaries are propaganda. Some docs are influenced by a hybrid faction/non-fiction form. It’s an evolution of an art form. I think I’m working in the essay form. I’m telling my version of the truth. In the late 1980s, there was a movement of filmmakers being the protagonist. You need to search for authenticity that everyone craves.

Farnel: What is your distinction for documentaries?

Moshe: In some ways, all documentaries are hybrids. As much as you see the truth, it’s the way the director wants you to see it. For example, Kurt Kobain About a Son was a highly constructed documentary that used hours of archival audio and was shot around that structure. For the film Beautiful Losers, they made a different kind of film based on what they had. You have to make a movie for people to watch.

Farnel: What are some choices made in representing events on how they unfold?

Ahmad: For example, Susanne Mason’s Writ Writer is a film of the construction of history. The filmmaker struggled with how to make prison journal writings compelling to an audience. Taking them verbatim wouldn’t have worked as well. She took composites of the journals to portray the subject’s personality. She was upfront about the process.

Farnel: How can documentaries influence narratives? What are some strategies?

Akel: Chalk was a mockumentary with scripted improve using both actors and non-actors. We shot it before ever seeing The Office. We entered it into the True/False Film Festival and didn’t try to fool people there. The dilemma in storytelling is, do the actors know they are funny and how do we use them? There’s tension when using real people mixed in mainly as background performers.

Shapiro: We saw Chalk and didn’t know it wasn’t a documentary until half-way through the film. It works because you can’t tell the difference between the high school administrators and the actors.

Farnel: Are documentaries such as American Teen blurring the lines?

Shapiro: American Teen uses some re-creations. It’s a folly to say anyone is a purist. The second you put a camera on a person, that person changes. It’s a telling of a truth, but perhaps not the absolute truth. Teenagers today manipulate reality with their Myspace pages, telling their own stories. It’s the absolute version of painting a picture, using the elements at your disposal to create a character and story and to dramatize the situation.

Farnel: What is the responsibility of the filmmaker in terms of being transparent?

Shapiro: It is dependent on the point of view trying to be projected. For example, Michael Moore. He risks having his entire point undermined if it turns out it’s been manipulated. It’s up to him to be as transparent as he possibly can. It's supposed to be a work of art, I think it is okay.

Farnel: Is there any responsibility about constructing a scene?

Mann: No. I have a dream sequence in Go Further. I’m working as an essayist. I’m excited about the new form. Tales of the Rat Fink also has both documentary and dramatic elements to it. It’s all scripted, but based on writings. In Grass, there are a lot of re-creations for the point of ironic humor to get across a political message. That’s the tool that I have been using in different genres.

Akel: It’s about context. At True/False, the programmers didn’t want us to tell people if it was real or not. We need to give it some context while we can. I was teacher and it comes from my experience. We have a responsibility to ourselves as storytellers and to the audience, but to what degree is a big question.

Mann: I do have a responsibility to history. Don’t manipulate the facts. Do a lot of research.

Shapiro: Even in history text books there’s some manipulation. As an artist, the responsibility is not to change the facts. Audiences have to come in with their eyes wide open.

Farnel: What is ITVS’ policy?

Ahmad: Most of our projects go to PBS, which has a strict policy. If the film is constructed from the filmmaker’s point of view, PBS may be more accommodating. It’s taken on a case by case situation. Films don’t exist in a vacuum anymore. At ITVS, we do a lot of marketing and outreach to interact with the audience.

Shapiro: It’s interesting that PBS has strict guidelines. The prism is always there. There will always be a perspective on what you do and working within boundaries.

Audience Q&A:

Q: How does fair use fall into documentaries?

Shapiro: I’m trying to push my company on the fair use issue. Trying to create insurance on fair use. Fair use is the only way to not manipulate in the first place on the get go. A very vibrant well-constructed public domain enables us to get closer to the truth. It’s up to the filmmaker to use the Best Practices in Fair Use. For IFC’s Indie Sex, we had to use fair use or we couldn’t do it.

Q: What percentage of re-enactment can there be for a documentary to be considered for an Oscar?

Farnell: The Road to Guantanamo is a good example. It didn’t qualify for an Oscar nomination because it had too much re-creation.

The Skinny on Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg Panel At SXSW

I didn't get a chance to go the panel discussion with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg at SXSW, but Variety's The Circuit points to a Variety article about how the audience wasn't all too pleased with the moderator's moderating skills. I can't emphasize this enough, but a moderator can either make or break a panel discussion. Seems like in this situation, more things were broken than made. Only wish I could have been there to judge for myself.

SXSW - Stanley Nelson: History in the Making - March 9, 2008

I took plenty of notes at panels during SXSW over the past few days, so I thought I’d start by posting notes from my very favorite panel there by far, that being the discussion with historical documentary filmmaker Stanley Nelson. I had been a fan of Nelson’s documentary Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple, and really wanted to hear him speak about that and other films I have yet to see. Not only did he show clips from a few of his docs, he also showed a sneak peek of his upcoming film Wounded Knee that’s slated to air on PBS sometime next year. It was the first time the public has ever seen it. I often like panels that include film clips because they bring a lot of perspective into the discussion.

SXSW Film Conference & Festival
Stanley Nelson: History in the Making
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Austin Convention Center – Room 15 – 1pm

Pail Stekler moderates a discussion with Stanley Nelson at SXSW 2008.

Moderator:
Paul Stekler - University of Texas

Panelist:
Stanley Nelson - Exec Producer, Firelight Media

Stekler began the discussion by saying he had seen Nelson’s documentary Two Dollars and a Dream years ago and liked it a lot. Since then, Nelson has made multiple films including The Murder of Emmett Till and Jonestown: The Life and Death of the Peoples Temple. Now Nelson is finishing a film about Wounded Knee.

Stekler: What if any challenges do you face in making historical documentaries?

Nelson: Every film has a different challenge. One challenge is that you’re usually limited to the historical context. A lot of my films end up on TV and you have to work within the time slot. I kept Jonestown down to one and a half hours. You have to determine what you will leave in and what you will take out. You’re telling history, but also making entertainment.

[Clip of Jonestown: The Life and Death of the Peoples Temple. Scene of the last day of People’s Temple in Guyana before the massacre in 1978.]

Stekler: What was the challenge of making Jonestown? What was your game plan?

Nelson: Early on in the process, I found members of People’s Temple that were still alive. I wanted the film to be told by the people who were there. I originally thought we were going to do re-creations, but once I found out how much footage there was, I didn’t need to do that. I started collecting the footage there was. Nobody had ever put it all together. There was so much footage that NBC shot. One of the real limitations of the film was trying to do it without narration.

Stekler: Why do filmmakers shy away from narration?

Nelson: I think it’s a kind of style. For example, a lot of documentaries on HBO have no narration. In films that were about such topics as anorexia or rehab, you don’t really learn too much about the topics themselves, but more about the stories of the people dealing with them.

[Clip of The Murder of Emmett Till. The scene is a re-creation of the taking of Emmett Till with narration.]

Stekler: What were some of the challenges and the structure for Emmett Till?

Nelson: In 1955, Emmett Till was a black kid from Chicago who visits his uncle in Mississippi and gets murdered for whistling at a white woman. I found people who were witnesses to the murder who say things they never said before. It wasn’t my original intent. I had been there to get the historical perspective. When I first got the idea for Emmett Till, I wanted to see what also has been done on him before. There was an 11-minute short called Eyes on the Prize.

Stekler: Tell us your funny story about the re-creation of that scene?

Nelson: The last bit of them washing out the truck, that’s me in the overalls. I received a call from the MacArthur Foundation that same day between takes, and I was dancing.

Stekler: Did this film make the news?

Nelson: The last two people interviewed in the film had never talked about it before. I showed the film to an audience at the Schomburg Center in Harlem and a lot of people got mad and wanted to go down to the town where the murder took place. The case had been re-opened and investigated. They turned evidence over to the D.A. and it was decided not to do anything with it. Even though the suspects were put on trial, the case was never really investigated.

[Clip of A Place of Our Own about and African-American community on Martha’s Vinyard. The scene with Isabelle Washington, Adam Clayton Powell’s first wife.]

Stekler: Tell us about A Place of Our Own?

Nelson: I was interested in what African American lives are like. I wanted to do a film about black resorts. When I grew up, it was an unknown place. It had a black population in the summer. I mixed together a personal story of my own family history and this place. It was really strange. I would never do it again. It involved a lot of sharing. My editor and my wife pushed me to do it. It asked about growing up on an audio tape, and the editor listened to it and asked further questions. It was really hard. Why would anyone care? It was such a disaster that I thought no one would ever see it. I got it down to a fine cut and sent it to Sundance, where it got in. What was fascinating was I don’t think I had a clear idea when I was making this. I found home movies. I asked friends and family to get involved. The bad thing was that 95% of the home movies were made on the beach, and not within the homes.

Stekler: How do you see your role as a filmmaker?

Nelson: I’m very interest in the black middle class, because that’s my history and I don’t see them on film and TV. I’m also interested in telling stories of the institutions behind the history.

[Clip of Wounded Knee that will air on PBS’ American Experience sometime next year. Scene is an animated recreation of the children of Wounded Knee being sent to boarding school.]

Stekler: Tell us about Wounded Knee.

Nelson: In 1973, American Indian groups took over the town of Wounded Knee to draw attention to the massacre that happened there in 1890. The difficulty in making films about historical events is, how do you tell the story without a huge amount of back story? The film starts with the siege of the town, and then goes into the back story.

Audience Q&A:

Q: Have you ever been approached to do a social change documentary?

Nelson: I try to do a mix between historical and social change films. Running was about an election for city council in New York City in 2001. I did some10-minute short films on affirmative action. I’m doing one on immigration. Trying to do different things kind of gets old unless you take yourself away from it for a while.

Q: Is it always organic or do you start out knowing what your films will be?

Nelson: I don’t always know what they will be. I put an idea on paper and turn it into a proposal. I don’t do too much research. I don’t usually go into a pitch meeting and get a check right away. For Emmett Till, I got some books and only read the intro, table of contents and index. Then I begin a proposal. You need to know more than the people you’re applying for money from know.

Q: What choices did you make for the animation in Wounded Knee?

Nelson: One of my advisers didn’t like it. I had to try to figure out what there is new to do. A lot of people know something about boarding schools. I found a book of ledger art with drawings from their time at the schools. We thought it would be great to animate it. It’s been kind of controversial with the production team. We asked ourselves, does the animation make light of the actual events? They’re not complicated drawings. We hired an animator for it.

SXSW - Bi The Way - March 8, 2008

SXSW Film Conference & Festival
Bi The Way
World Premiere
Friday, March 7, 2008
Alamo Lamar 1 – 9pm

Video: The filmmakers with the cast of Bi The Way pose for a jump shot after the World Premiere at SXSW.

Directors: Brittany Blockman & Josephine Decker
Producer: Martha Shane
Cast: Josh Caouette, Jonathan Caouette, David Chapman, Lisa Diamond, Helen Fisher, Michael Musto, Pamela Moore, Dan Savage, Tahj, Taryn Wayne

Bi The Way is a feature documentary where filmmakers Brittany Blockman & Josephine Decker travel across U.S. to meet men and women from all walks of life who speak about what it means to be bisexual in America. After the World Premiere screening at SXSW, the two along with producer Martha Shane and several of the film's interviewees answered questions from the audience.

Q: What inspired you to make Bi The Way?

Brittany: It all started with an accidental viewing of The OC in the spring of 2005. I heard it was the 90210 of the new generation. I dropped the remote and was completely shocked to see Mischa Barton's character kissing another girl. Almost every mainstream show was featuring a bisexual character. I wanted to find out what was going on with the bi-media buzz, ie. Madonna & Britney Spears. We wanted to get in touch with America. I think we're going through a sexual revolution.

Josephine: The idea was scary to me. It's been a real journey, both emotionally and spiritually. I came from a liberal family in a conservative part of Dallas, but sexuality wasn't something we talked about.

Q: How did you find your subjects to interview?

Brittany: Through the Internet, word of mouth and Myspace.

Josephine: We really spent a long time in Utah trying to find bisexual Mormons, for example.

Q: How hard was it to get permission to go on school grounds to talk about sexuality?

Martha: People were open. We were honest with them. It's a question of being forthright with people.

Q: Did you get confused with labels?

Brittany: We were looking for people who encapsulated the whatever generation. Everyone has their own individual unique experiences. I don't think there is any prescription for bisexuality.

Josephine: The original title was going to be "In Search of the Ultimate Bisexual."

Brittany: One of our goals with this movie was to make it okay to say, "I don't know what I am."

SXSW - Second Skin - March 7, 2008

SXSW Film Conference & Festival
Second Skin
Spotlight Premiere
Friday, March 7, 2008
Austin Convention Center – 9pm

Director: Juan Carlos Pineiro Escoriaza
Producer: Victor Pineiro Escoriaza
Producer: Peter Schieffelin BrawerCast: Andy Belford, Anthony Cronin, Matt Ellsworth, Chris Mitchell, Heather Cowan, Kevin Keel, Dan Bustard

Directly following the screening of the Zellner Bros.’ Goliath was a documentary by director Juan Carlos Pineiro Escoriaza called Second Skin about computer gamers who participate in the virtual world known as Massively Multiplayer Online games (MMOs). Pineiro and crew were drenched with thundering applause as they entered the auditorium and introduced the film. Second Skin portrays a unique perspective of the lives of these gamers, who for the most part, spend much of their waking lives playing games such as Warcraft and Everquest. Some are married, some are single, some have met their soul mates by playing the games. The film explores the obsession behind this phenomena and how it can either bring people together with mutual interests as a community or adversely affect one’s life. There’s even a place for gaming addicts to go for support, a sort of 12-step program run by a woman who’s son was also addicted.

After the screening, Juan Carlos, Victor and Peter came out to answer questions from the audience. They were asked what inspired them to make their film. Victor answered that he played games such as Star Wars Galaxies and was transfixed by the experience of people interacting with each other from very long distances.

When asked how long it took to complete the film, Juan said it took approximately two years, 400 hours of footage and 900 pages of transcripts.

Asked if some of the computer companies whose games are represented in the film denied them rights to depict their games due to the fact the film confronts the issue of addiction, Juan said that Sony and Second Life were very cooperative, but the makers of World of Warcraft were hard to get a hold of.

One audience member asked if the filmmakers had any problems getting access to their subjects. Victor replied that so many of the people were very willing to share their stories. It was unbelievable and a miracle.

For the question, did your presence as filmmakers make the subjects look at their lives differently, Juan felt the best way to answer that was to bring the subjects in attendance who had only just seen the film for the first time themselves, out of the audience an up to the podium to answer the question. One of the gamers said that it coalesced things that were already there and forced some self-reflection. Another gamer said the film has been a testament to the Internet. The online experience can broaden one’s life. Juan concluded that their stories are specific and of everyday humans.