Filmmaker's Help

Hollywood and the economy of the calculated sequel

2008-10-19T22:10:00.001-06:00

There seems to be a shortage of original thought in the industry of film and from what I am hearing from the audience members they are getting tired of the bigger explosion and faster paced action selling the show.
What about art? Why isn't that being really cultivated in the market?
Well it's a lot like the recent bailout of the stock market. The choices were made clear and what should have been done wasn't.
I will clarify this. One politician stood up in the forum and said that if the government was going to try to bail out the economy it should give the $700,000,000.00 distributed to the citizens of America instead of to the very people responsible for the debacle in the first place. (that is paraphrased of course or I would have named and quoted)
But he was right. Look at what the money distributed to the people would have done:

For each citizen that would have been about $300,000.00 as a economic boost from the government.
What would the majority of American's do with the money?
Spend it of course. They would pay off debts and buy new cars, electronics and all the things that they buy now and some would even invest in the stock market.

Honestly who cares what the stock market does if they don't have money on the line?

But the people we elected to make decisions with that kind of money, our tax dollars, decided to give it to the failures that got everyone scared in the first place.

I personally think that is stupid. They don't trust their own constituents.
I think it would have made this a much better country to live in over the next five years and before the money is spent they should put it to a vote.
This is supposed to be a representative democracy. The problem I see is the the elect are representing the wrong people.

And so it is with Hollywood. Instead of letting the artist have free reign in the creation of the cinematic piece, the industry is controlled by the non creative financial types and decisions are based for distribution on what a film just like x or y has boxed in the past. The sure thing, or as close as they can get.

Very much like Paul Zane Pilsner talked about in his book, "The Next Trillion". Predominately about the wellness industry. He talked about the drug companies being a for profit group making decisions for research and development based on not what the world needs, but on the profit generated in the outcome of the research. He gave the example of a comparison of the profit between a one pill cure for cancer and a maintenance drug that the patient (customer) would take for the rest of their life.
The decision is obvious. The greater profit is in the maintenance drug of course.

Therin lies the problem with a capitalistic approach to decisions of this nature.

Don't get me wrong I'm up for profit just like every red blooded American, but where do you draw the line between sanity and profit margins?

Art and politics, The carving of the future by the desire for the almighty buck.

Help starts here

2008-03-27T14:52:00.021-06:00

Here in the world of the web we take for granted that the world knows what is happening around them. The television as we know it is changing and looking more and more like a monitor connected to the internet. Who will lead the market and how can the industrious small business owner capitalize on this trend?

If you look through the data compiled here you might be able to follow the process I'm getting at. The viability of the small business built on the platform of online distribution and monetizing the product of film direct to the consumer.

Is it such a bad thing for the independent to profit?

Surveys have shown that when given the option the consumer will support the local small business if cost isn't an issue.

There is an opportunity here to capitalize on a trend that we haven't seen the likes of since the inception of cable networks.

A workable model in the future might look like this: a crew of ten on the set many of whom will take acting roles, and three or four producers similar to groups like Kids in the Hall, or Monty Python, but technology has gotten so light and available as to open up more genre'. They will most likly be shooting in a small studio with green screen technology creating from start to finish in house stories to market directly to the consumer.
The production company would employ others to promote the film and using blogs and social networking tools create a fan base with steady contact through a mail list.

a beginning video on how to checkout the video player free for yourself is here:

You can join us in "ourspace" to make this a better help. Set up a profile and post videos at www.filmmakershelp.ning.com

Or see it full screen here:
The Brave New World of Portable PPV
But if your really smart you'll learn how to use this:
Download: The Brave New World of Portable PPV

The beginning of the trail of information is at the following links, you will find all you need to get you started with the why we market the way we do, and how to step by step get not only started down the road for DIY distribution but how and why to get front page ranking on the search engine.
Remember to be as honest as you can so that when people find you they were really looking for you in the first place, a much better way to market we think than spamming and yelling at them with big ads.

See what marketing guru Seth Godin has to say about it then come back here for the next step.
http://filmmakershelp.wordpress.com/

Social networking for the filmmaker part 3

2008-03-27T12:02:00.003-06:00

Let's get down in there and figure out how to use some tools to make the traffic that comes to your site stay and be glad they found you.
some tools you'll find very helpful are called Scribd and squidoo, you find some very interesting things in here. Again if you find better videos for these tutorials or make a better one, post a comment here to that effect and we'll post it here for all to vote on and even give you kudos on our front page with recognition for your help.

That's a really good start for the squidoo but some more practicle excercises can be found on this link:

so if your ready to start building a lens go there, if you want to get some data on scribd go here:

Social networking for the filmmaker part2

2008-03-27T11:44:00.006-06:00

Given a basic understanding of what social networking is there are many social networking and bookmarking sites here is a great way to economize your efforts to put the word out about you and your films. It's called Social marker, and wait til you see what it can do for you.

Here is part 2 for you, if you have comments or a better video place those comments here and we will take a look and probably post the video suggested.

There are a lot of videos down this line of information so comment on your favorite ones here to help us find the best of the best for you.

Follow this chain of social bookmarking click the link to the next page of videos.

Social networking for the filmmaker; how and why part1

2008-03-27T09:46:00.006-06:00

Here are the next videos we have found to help you get started driving traffic to you site. This string will show you how to get on the sites and set up a powerful system to drive traffic to your site.
Remember this is a social environment, and honesty is the king. You must be accurate about your subject, or your efforts will be wasted. Being accurate will ensure that the traffic you drive to your site know what they are going to find there.
So here are three videos to help you get started, be sure to comment and show your appreciation for the makers of the videos when you can, we all appreciate their efforts here.

My search for good help, brings me to a crossroads.

2008-03-26T22:59:00.005-06:00

I have found for you, and placed here on this blog, a compilation of helpful tips on how to make some of the tools you will need, work easily for you.

I feel the screen capture videos, coupled with standard video for theory, is best for quick study, then some practical exercises for you, to do that; start working right away. So let's start with the obvious; how to setup a blogger account. This is really more valuable than I can explain here without boring you, so we'll have those things available on other pages, as we are asked to make them available. Follow the links through the tutorials and you'll get as far down the rabbit hole as you are willing to go.

A word of caution: Be very careful not to act too soon. There really is time for you to prepare for a properly executed launch, because if you don't, it could mean disaster. You have to bear in mind, we are talking about the social network here, so opinion is king. You have to fill certain criteria for long term success:

Honesty; You have to as forthcoming as possible with your agenda, but make it so valuable to stay on your list, that people don't mind the agenda. Honesty will actually help your business grow by word of mouth, uh hello, do you want to be on a thousand blogs for being a jerk? No that would be disastrous, but being on a thousand blogs for the help you've given or the contribution you've made now that is powerful! That will definitely help you reach your goals.

Willingness: There are a lot of reasons people will like you, your sales pitch, no matter how good the copy is, isn't one of them. if you want to be popular in the social network you need to actually contribute to the group and provide good exchange whenever you do business.

Second chances are hard to come by these days, so think of the people in your community and respond to comments take a little criticism when it comes and make an effort to eliminate any reason to criticize.

Here's how this works I will give you links to videos, posted on blogs, many of which are made by others; in most cases you will find I like to do business with companies with good tutorial archives. There is a buzz around here about a contest for the best tutorial videos but there are some things we need to make clear first. So that prospective contestants understand the need for the specific catagories and the purpose of this site, and really help each other in the process.

So let's start with getting a blog then go to the first set of videos That will really get you cooking.

Also Very important, You should have a unique domain and here's how to set it up from blogger:

You will experience this as we go through more videos and link to other blog pages I'll show you how to do the same thing.