Home – Films
Jon Reiss is a critically acclaimed filmmaker, author, and one of the most widely recognized media strategists in the business. As a consultant, he has advised hundreds of filmmakers and film organizations throughout the world on distribution strategies and supervising the releases of their films. He began his film career at the notorious Target Video where he not only shot seminal bands such as Black Flag, Iggy Pop, Throbbing Gristle, The Cramps but also filmed and edited a series of videos documenting Mark Pauline’s Survival Research Laboratories’ early performances. He also collaborated with SRL using the machines in a short fiction film, A Bitter Message of Hopeless Grief, which played numerous festivals including Sundance, Berlin and New Directors/New Films.
His feature films Bomb It, Better Living Through Circuitry and Cleopatra’s Second Husband have all been released theatrically in the US and broadcast throughout the world, premiering at Tribeca, Sheffield, Full Frame, BFI London, Big Sky, Seattle, Rotterdam, the LA Film Festival, and more. He has also directed numerous music videos including notoriously Happiness in Slavery for Nine Inch Nails.
Home – Books
We are excited to announce that Think Outside the Box Office — Jon Reiss’ groundbreaking step-by-step nuts and bolts guide to distributing and marketing a film — celebrated its third printing last year.
2011 also saw the release of Selling Your Film Without Selling Your Soul, a new book co-authored by The Film Collaborative, Jon Reiss and Sheri Candler, which presents a series of in-depth case studies examining the ways that today’s filmmakers are approaching new distribution models.
2013 will see the release of two more books from director and author Jon Reiss. The first is devoted to the PMD; the second takes the structure outlined in Think Outside the Box Office and applies it to all art forms.
Reiss also contributes to Filmmaker Magazine, the Huffington Post, Indiewire, Screen Daily, Moviemaker Magazine and other publications.
Home – Strategy
Jon Reiss is a media strategist who helps filmmakers and companies navigate the new distribution and marketing landscape. He has worked with and consulted for IFP, Paramount Studios, the Sundance Institute, Screen Australia, Film Independent, Creative Scotland, The South Australian Film Corporation and numerous film schools and festivals to devise ways to educate and help independent filmmakers in the new economic landscape. He has conducted his TOTBO Master Classes over four continents and is the year-round distribution and marketing lab leader at the IFP Filmmaker Labs and the Director of the IFP PMD Labs he co-created with the IFP. He also teaches at the Film Directing Program at Cal Arts.
Reiss is a critically acclaimed filmmaker whose experience releasing his documentary feature, Bomb It with a hybrid strategy was the inspiration for writing Think Outside the Box Office: The Ultimate Guide to Film Distribution in the Digital Era, the first step-by-step guide for filmmakers to distribute and market their films. He also co-wrote Selling Your Film Without Selling Your Soul.