The writers are going to lose this strike. The WGA is finished. I know for some of you that is a pretty grim prediction, because essentially the writers deserve to win. The writers want an increase in residuals from 4 cents to 8 cents per DVD sold. If you ask me even 8 cents per…
The phrase “Bollywood” sounds phony. For those fresh to this spurious phrase, it is the pseudo name gloss to the Mumbai Hindi film industry; a simulated pirated version of the American movie industry – Hollywood. Piracy in Mumbai film industry starts from here itself. Piracy in the Mumbai film industry is three-fold. Firstly, it is…
Aspiring directors will be given the chance to work with some of the best talent in the music industry through the second Radar Festival. Kylie Minogue, Just Jack, Maximo Park and Richard Hawley are just some of the artists who have released their tracks to the festival for up and coming directors to work with….
Who is Sid Kali? I’ve written, directed, and produced two full-length urban features, CONSIGNMENT and IN WITH THIEVES, plus have a third feature in production titled STASH SPOT. Some people feel that when you attach the word urban to an independent film the story will be based on slices of life that unfold in housing…
“The greatest roadblock to success for an independent producer is not access to name talent or a great script or even money – it’s distribution.” That’s the view of Mark Byers, independent writer/producer, and co-creator of the S2ScreeningRoom.com website. Byers has worked in the independent film industry for over 25 years, both in the United…
At a time when international cinema and DVD revenues are declining and TV audiences are dwindling, why would a young company spend time signing up distribution rights for all sorts of independent content from all over the world? The answer might elude, confuse or scare many of the traditional media giants, but this is exactly…
Each year the MarchĂ© du Film (Cannes Market) publishes Focus, a summary of key facts and figures for the international film industry from the previous year. Focus 2007 provides box-office and admissions statistics for all of the world’s key film markets from 2006. » Download Focus 2007 (PDF)
Piracy – no, not the eye-patch type, but the copyright infringement variety. Product piracy has been with us since the industrial revolution, but today it is most common in the distribution of music, films and television shows. Compared to the film and TV industries, those music bods have been there, done that, bought the t-shirt…
In order to speak of appropriation we must first answer the question: What do we mean by film text? As Christian Metz put it since the 1970s in his article “The Imaginary Signifier”1 published on Screen, film implies the entire institution of filmmaking: the creation, the distribution, and the exhibition of the work. The term ‘text’ derives…
HungryFlix.com, the Internet’s first distributor of premium, independent video content exclusively targeted to portable media players such as the Apple iPod and Sony PSP, is re-launching a live public beta. HungryFlix.com is drawing video content providers from across a wide range of genres. The site accepts feature length and short films, documentaries, animation, how-to videos, sports videos…
Right this very second, in the heart of every struggling, undiscovered screenwriter, in the dark, hidden corner deep within, there is a voice, a clear whisper, saying one thing: You’re never gonna figure this out. And this is not referring to the story with its gaping hole, the finale missing a payoff, the hit and…
Finding foreign distribution for your independent film is an entirely different beast than finding domestic distribution. While it’s true that foreign distribution used to be responsible for 70% of the sales that were made on a film, unfortunately the same is not true today. Once upon a time you could rely on good ol’ foreign sales for paying your…
