Posted by T on The Auteurs Website.

PRODUCTION JOURNALS #1: JON REISS | THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX OFFICE

In this exclusive video for The Garage’s Production Journals Jon Reiss, director, filmmaker and author of ‘Think Outside The Box Office’, delivers the keynote speech at the 2009 Copenhagen Documentary Festival Forum, talking about the future of independent film distribution, the collapse of the festival acquisition model and the wider marketing challenges facing the contemporary filmmaker.

I’d like to use this film as a starting point for a series of Garage threads and a wider debate on independent film production, distribution and marketing. The crisis of industry that Jon describes in this speech is accurate: but are his proposals for change definitive? We are clearly at a juncture in the development of global film culture: the means of production have been democratised (to an extent), but getting control over distribution remains a serious difficulty for many many filmmakers.

Anyone who’d like to take part (and take this debate seriously), please watch the film and drop your thoughts back into this topic. We have more interviews with producers, distributors and independent filmmakers coming— this is simply the opening shot.

Join the discussion here.