IT’S THE END OF THE WEEK AS WE KNOW IT
September 25, 2008
(This week’s blog post brought to you by scenechronize, the radically useful software for the indie producer.)
Another week, more preposterousness to report:
- The meltdown continues…
- …And that includes the Emmys.
- But at least one indie production company secured financing.
- Spielberg reaches a quicker-than-anticipated deal with the Indians. My Indian sources say he caved on a few major points, all to secure funding before the US economy got even worse, which could have threatened his deal overall.
- Harvey’s distro deal with MGM gone bye-bye.
- Indie producers and filmmakers should steal a page from Apatow by making YouTube stars with millions of fans into legit Hollywood types…
- C’mon, you know you’re excited about Oliver Stone’s “W.” Long live Thandie Newton!
- The Christian film market continues to inspire.
- NY Film Fest takes its star turn, while Austin comes of Age…
- The awards race begins in earnest.
- Who can argue with Ken Burns?
- The IFP rolls out its weekend edition.
- Marcy Drogin, consultant to Mandalay, Participant and CBS films, throws her hat in the ring.
- Scott Rudin vs. Harvey Weinstein. This could get ugly.
- Yoga gets the Hollywood treatment.
- Tyler Perry continues to show us how it’s done.
- CAA is turning Japanese I really think so.
- Sarah Silverman injects herself into American-Jewish politics…
- …And College Humor gets into the feature business.
When super indie producer Ted Hope Speaks… YOU LISTEN!
September 19, 2008
Yours truly was at the receiving end of a mass-email about the state of independent film sent out by Ted Hope, legendary independent producer of such films as 21 GRAMS, AMERICAN SPLENDOR and the newly released TOWELHEAD. Not surprisingly, Mr. Hope has… Hope.
I worked with Ted back in my NYC days and could post all day long about what a great guy he is. Instead, I reprint the email in full:
Subject: Indie Film Lives: Welcome To The New World… finally!
It’s INDEPENDENT FILM WEEK here in NYC. Although I haven’t participated in many events, the activity and other’s efforts are benefiting me and everyone else greatly. The intense focus on and embrace of the coming reality is completely inspiring.
Instead of the negative view towards a changing paradigm, people are recognizing that the benefits of being part of an audience driven (the crass like to say “consumer”) model and the abandonment of the gatekeeper/limited supply past. Somehow I find it ironic that this recognition of the change from a top down to a bottom up (or push vs. pull) film industry structure is occurring simultaneously with an economic collapse and hopeful presidential power shift. The current financial crisis in America has been compared to the collapse of the Berlin Wall, in that unregulated capitalism is literally bankrupt, like authoritarian states with communist run economies previously collapsed. The film industry paradigm shift is not of the same seismic shift, but it is the biggest change we’ve had in our little corner.
On Monday night, I had the good fortune to be invited to a dinner put together by Lance Weiler and Arin Crumley & Susan Buice. These filmmakers have not only embraced the new world but have been inspiringly innovative in their efforts to reach, build, and motivate audiences. The dinner was a spin off of their DIY Days. I have been making films for twenty years now and the business model has never truly worked for the films I make and want to make. Yet, this was the first time that ANYONE has pulled together a brainstorming session on what to do about that, and for that alone these folks are elevated to True Indie Film Heroes on my chart. More on this dinner later (they filmed/recorded it), but check out everything you can about what these filmmakers are doing (if you haven’t already) and you can watch the future arrive.
Peter Broderick, who has been preaching the DIY Distro gospel longer than anyone I know (and thus is also on TIFH chart), has written a great two part article on the benefits of living in the real world aka the new world for IndieWire. It’s REQUIRED READING.
The hysteria of the last six months in Indieville is built partially on our collective relunctance/sluggishness to abandon an old model which has long been recognized as being inapplicable to most filmmakers work, but also out of the slow drip of the inevitable. For fifteen years we have all heard of the dawning of the new era when we will have instant crystal clear downloads of everything under the sun on every screen everywhere anytime. And we are waiting and waiting and waiting. And still waiting. The reality is the core audience could give a hoot about that future. They like the here and now just fine (and granted most are old and grey and bald like me — or two out of three). Reality check: the glorius future is still a long way away still.
Have you wondered why, though? Who’s keeping your pleasure at arm’s length? Did you know that in the last three years the US had dropped from 3rd to 16th in terms of internet penetration among countries? I just got back from Asia. South Korea has 80% Broadband penetration! Imagine what that could do for all of us.
We can’t drag our feet any longer. We are on the precipice. Truly. For the first time in our cultural history, we have the opportunity to truly have the culture we want — whatever it is, in it’s multi-headed truly glorious diversity. Once, all filmmakers had to consider mass audiences. Now, if you reach them, you can create for niches, even niches that once never existed. It’s hard to even fathom what this means. But it’s also on the verge of being taken away from us. Truly. The phone companies, cable companies, the Hollywood Studios, and the MPAA have banded together to take away the first utility to promote democracy (and innovation, participation, and free speech). On Monday I got to speak up about The Key Issue In The Entire History Of Independent Film at IFP’s IFW Filmmaking 2.0 panel: NET NEUTRALITY. The theater was 33% full at best (ugh), and only six people in the audience said they knew what “Net Neutrality” meant (UGH!) It’s nothing to be embarrassed about, but it is something to take action about. I am going to be writing more about it on my blog INFO WANTS TO BE FREE (one of my many, mind you… please check them all out), but you can get super clear info on it now from both SaveTheInternet.com and PublicKnowledge.org. On the panel with me was Art Brodsky from the latter entity, and I was completely impressed with him. Follow that blog, that man, that issue. We need to get active on this.
I should point out that the presidential candidates have incredibly different views on this subject. If you want to endorse the candidate that supports Net Neutrality — and thus by extension truly supports true independent film — click and give here. And if you are in NYC next Monday, you know where you should be (or will, when you click there).
On another note, a film I produced, TOWELHEAD, is in the theaters now. I truly think this is an incredible film. It does what I love most about film: it helps us deeply understand people and situations that we would never otherwise have the opportunity to do so. And it does it with grace, artistry, and humor. Go, take some friends, and if each and everyone of you do not feel it was a warranted investment of your time and money, I will personally refund your money (on proof of purchase of course!). And feel free to forward this email to your friends — I will do the same for them.
Finally, if you are in LA, and care what I have to say, please come to Film Independent’s Filmmaker Forum. I am the Keynote Speaker there on Saturday September 27. I am saving up some stuff to discuss there. Come join.
Fine Print: If you are receiving this, it’s because you are in an email group of mine currently entitled “INDIE FILM LIVES!”. If you would like me to remove you from this list, simply email me and tell me so. Ditto, if you know of someone who would like to be added, or if you have a suggestion of something to circulate. Either way, please be sure to specify the name of the list. Further, by accepting this email, you recognize that your continued participation on this list, is arbitrarily decided by me and greatly enhanced by you providing me with some good recommendations every now and then, so please send me some good stuff soon.
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THE END OF THE WEEK AS WE KNOW IT
September 11, 2008
What’s your buzz ? Here’s what I learned in this skool called life:
- our economy is so bad that even if another Cold War did start, we’d lose.
- Man On Wire made me cry and took my breath away. (And miss performing stunts!)
- the Toronto film fest was… Okay. But Mickey Rourke ruled in Venice.
Oh. I have to log off now. An elephant just walked in the room.
THE DAY I PUNK’D JERRY LEWIS IN FRONT OF 600 PEOPLE AND THE MEDIA
September 4, 2008
After my first year in LA, Go-Kart Records mensch and NYC expat Greg Ross expanded his record company to include a DVD arm, aptly titled Go-Kart Films. With no money, I helped him launch it to the tune of 2-5 releases a month (Crazy, I know). The launch of the new division was complete, and with new distribution thru Koch it seemed like we could one day be one of the next little DVD labels that could…
Ye old VSDA (Video Software Dealer’s Association– now named the less venereal disease-sounding the Home Media Expo) is the annual DVD trade event in Vegas where video store owners and DVD distributors big and small all congregate in Vegas to “do business.” And for someone who just got off years of the film fest circuit actually “daring” people to come see a movie at parties, we were poised to rock it… hard. (And we did. The dude who writes for Home Media Retailing said something like Go-Kart Films was, literally, the Grand Central Station of the year in his ’state of the DVD industry’ post-convention newsletter. That was because we brought a whole crew to shake things up at the normally stuffy trade convention. We had people running around in costumes as characters from the films, bellydancers from our instructional DVD… you get the picture.)
Incidentally, this was the first year of the event where it was not paired with it’s evil twin, the AVN (Adult Video Awards). (…And let’s just say that after the first day of previous conventions, most of the video store owners, studio home ent. execs and content providers found their way to the other side of the convention floor.)
The big ta-doo the year Go-Kart Films rolled into town was the keynote speech by none other than Jerry-freakin’-Lewis, living legendary maniac. It so happened that Jerry had a book to promote (Dean and Me: A Love Story), a DVD box set of his Jerry’s Classics, and other things to pitch. A friend of mine who’s a producer of one of the popular network entertainment magazine shows happened to have a galley copy of Jerry’s new book, which I got to read. (Hilarious. What a ballbuster that guy is. And I didn’t know Deano has a nosejob!) Anyway, since I was going to be within spitting distance of the madness that is Jerry Lewis the next week at the convention, I told my friend:
Me: Heya, maybe next week I can get the book signed for you. Would you like that?
Him: Sure… That’d kick ass!.. But whatever you do, make sure you bring it back to me, because legally, the network owns it– But my boss will love it if I return it signed. Just don’t lose it, okay?
Simple as that. Fast forward to the first day of the convention, where Jerry Lewis is scheduled to speak in front of over 600 people (mostly video store owners from around the country.) I was a few mins late to the event due to my playing chaperone to the bellydancers and sweaty out-of-work actors we hired to wear the crazy character costumes. I arrived just in time to hear the association president finish his diddy about the evils of DVD pirating. I had to sit in the waaaaay back as Jerry came out to do his schtick. And schtick it was. First of all, in between each pitch for one of his new projects (the book and DVD box set), he’d go on about other things in which he was involved in a very, well, “infomercial” kind of way. There’s no other way to describe it. Besides probably being paid a nice sum to just speak at the event, I’d bet he was even getting paid for mentioning products in his speech. (Didja hear that his charity for special needs children broke a new record this year?”)
In talking about the years of back-breaking physical comedy that gave him spinal trouble, Jerry revealed to the audience an experimental remote morphine injector. He presses a button anytime he feels pain and viola!– no pain, high as kite. The morphine injector seriously looked like an early 80’s TV remote control.
So I sat what seemed like a hundred yards away from the stage behind a bunch of video store geeks, plotting how I was to get Jerry Lewis to sign my friend’s copy of his book. I could see that after the speech Jerry would probably just duck into the green room from the back of the stage, the entrance to which was guarded by security. Even getting to the front of the stage was near impossible, as it was blocked by photographers. Then came the opportunity. Jerry finished up his keynote and with a tone that could only be described as pissiness, told the crowd:
So they want me to take questions from the audience. I don’t really want to, but fine.
That’s when a few convention PAs came out and walked around with a microphones. This was my chance. I raised my hand and was called on. I decided to act like one of the geeky store owners and have fun with it. This was the guy who got famous for interrupting other peoples acts by pretending to be a busboy after all…
Me: Hi Jerry, big fan. I read your new book recently and wonder if there’s any chance of making into a movie like The Kid Stays in The Picture…?
Even from many yards away I could see Jerry’s wheels turning. Then, he went right to it.
Jerry: My book? It’s not out yet. How’d you get a copy?
Not wanting to out my network friend, I decided to lift a line from the book…
Me: From a friend of the friends. (meaning a gangster.)
I lifted the book up high for him to see. From many yards away I could see his eyes bulge out of his head.
Jerry: Come over here, kid.
With that I gave the mic back to the PA and jogged towards the stage like the video nerd I was pretending to be. As I got closer, the photographers in the orchestra section parted the way like I was Moses at the Red Sea. Jerry came to the edge of the stage, bending down. As I approached I leaped up, letting my foot catch the tip of the stage and somersaulted, landing right in front of Jerry on stage! (How would he know I used to be a stuntman?)
On my knees, I presented the book to him and pulled a Sharpie pen from my jacket for the now-public book signing. The crowd went wild. Jerry was stunned. He looked at me, looked back to the crowd, then looked back at me with daggers in his eyes as if to say No one steals the show from Jerry Lewis.
Jerry: Where’d ya get the book, punk?
He was not happy. On my knees, Sharpie in hand, scared to death, I mumbled something like:
Me: Uh, can we talk about this later?
Grabbing the book from my hands, he turned from me toward the audience and took a few steps downstage. He held the book up high and said:
Jerry: This is what we mean by piracy ladies and gentlemen!
The crowd went nuts. Jerry, genius that he is, took the unexpected (brought on by yours truly) and turned it around to make a comment on the theme of the convention’s opening day. Brilliant. The crowd was eating it up. Stuck there on my knees, but having a bit of a performer in me, I slowly hobbled my way downstage towards Jerry. The crowd started laughing. They really started to think this was all part of the show. What’s next?, they were probably thinking.
Jerry, not knowing I was coming up behind him “walking” on my knees, couldn’t figure out why the crowd was laughing. To be sure, he was being dead serious. Then he got it. He turned back to me with snake-eyes and gave me a look that said: You hobble one more inch and I will back-hand you so fast your head will spin. I stopped dead in my tracks. Whoa, I thought: Jerry Lewis has intense hatred for me. Better knock it off. So instead of risking legions of Frenchmen calling for my assassination, I curtly slipped off the stage into the photographer pit as Jerry went on riffing about piracy, waving the book he swiped from me.
The photographers all gave me a pat on the back, “Good show!,” “You were great!,” “Hilarious, man!,” and the like. It was true–even they thought it was all planned. I stood there, stunned, heart pumping. Jerry finished up, and as expected headed straight back to the greenroom from the stage’s secret exit. The photographers made a mad rush to the backstage entrance but to no avail. The security guard was letting no one back. No one that is… Except me! The guard waved me over and let me through as if I was Jerry’s firstborn. He, too, thought I was part of the show… Jerry Lewis’ sidekick!
Hearing my friend’s voice in my head about making sure I brought the book back, I took a deep breath and went in. Walking very slowly though the hall I was able to find the greenroom by following Jerry’s voice, in the midst of one of his famous tantrums:
What the [CENSORED] was that?! I hate these people!
I rounded the corner and spied inside the room. As Jerry sat in the middle on a chair freaking out, a few DVD industry VIPs huddled against the walls. Apparently, they were to have met Jerry after the speech for a little ass-kissing. But Jerry was having none of it. The publisher of the big DVD trade paper was there, a few studio home ent. exits, all scared to death as Jerry continued his tirade.
I waited for there (finally) to be a lull, and made my move. On my knees again, I hobbled into the room. Some of the VIP execs got a kick out of it, getting Jerry’s attention. He turned towards the door I had entered, and I swear his nostrils were flaring with so much anger I could almost see his boogers. He could not believe that the punk kid who tried to steal his show was actually now in his greenroom. He started to boil and waved the book in front of me, finally blurting out:
Jerry: WHERE’D YA GET THE BOOK FROM?!?!
I decided to come clean. On my knees, I explained, pleading for mercy.
Me: I’m sorry, Jerry, it’s my friend’s book who works for a magazine show– I told him I would try to get it signed for him, that’s all. I’m not selling them out of my car or anything, no piracy involved whatsoever…
Jerry: WELL, YOU’RE NOT GETTIN’ IT BACK!!
And with that he shooed me away. Everyone in the room was stunned. Then, all of the sudden I (metaphorically speaking) took the dress off grew a pair:
Me: Can I at least have the note from my mother that’s inside the book?
Jerry looked at me like I was the biggest liar in the world, then flipping through the book to prove it– His eyes landed on the note from my mother which read:
Have a great time at the convention, Billy. I love you very much! -Mom
And that’s what did it. The only thing that was able to tame the legendary temper of Jerry Lewis was a loving note from a mother. All the sudden (well, at least for a few seconds) he was a pussycat. Sensing the change in his disposition, I hobbled on my knees a little closer, getting the Sharpie ready so he could sign (or at the very least to grab the book from him and run like hell.) He looked up at me, with the fire back in his eyes:
Jerry: You know why I’m pissed?!!
Me: Cause I punk’d you in front of 600 people?
Jerry: No– I’m pissed because the publisher hasn’t sent me MY galley copies of the book yet!!
And there it was. It made so much sense. Actors… it’s all about them, whether it’s where their name falls in the credits, being the first to receive the shwag or in this case– getting a copy of the book he wrote before some asshole confronts him with it at a trade event. I went into hyper-comforting mode:
I know how you feel, Jerry. It’s the same in the DVD business. When we get the copies ready we send them out to the press first, and the filmmakers always feel jilted. It’s wrong, I tell you- wrong…
I pulled out the Sharpie pen.
Whatya say?
Jerry gave the ‘aw shucks, no hard feelings’ look and swiped the pen from me.
Jerry: What’s your name, kid?
Me: Uh, I’m really just planning to sell it on the internet, so can you just sign your name–
With this, I actually heard a gasp from somewhere in the room. I quickly recovered:
Just kidding! The name’s Keenan.
Jerry scribbled in the book. And FINALLY, handed it back to me. Mission accomplished. I thanked him profusely and apologized for the trouble I’d caused him, shook his hand and got up from my knees to my feet and turned to walk out the door with an extra spring in my step when I heard Jerry Lewis call out my name:
Jerry: Oh, Keenan–
I thought to myself, “Wow– Jerry Lewis just called my name. We’re on a first-name basis now.” I turned back to him, smiling.
Yes, Jerry?
Maybe he was gonna ask me to hang out with him, dinner in the boom-boom room, Vegas style?
I’m not gonna see you again, am I?
Ouch. My new best friend breaking up with me already. Well, at least I got the book back. With my best Vegas lounge lizard voice, I decided to yuk it up.
I’m here all week. Thank you very much…
No one laughed. I raced for the door.
NEXT WEEK: SHIRLEY “HURRICANE” MACLAINE HITS INDIEVILLE WITH AN ASSIST BY LINDSAY LOHAN (PRE-LESBO)
