Blog
Launching New TOTBO Workshop Webclips
I am kicking off a series of excerpts from my Think Outside the Box Office Master Classes today on my new YouTube Channel TheJonReiss. I am rebooting my YouTube channel because even though I had some decent views on YouTube.com/jfilm1 – it didn’t feel like that accurate or searchable. Since I am going to start releasing regular content not only from my workshops, but also interviews with filmmakers, artists and people on the cutting edge of audience engagement, I thought it was time to start fresh. On the channel you can also see excerpts from my film and music video
Excerpt: Insiders Guide To Independent Film Distribution
Excerpt from “Insiders Guide To Independent Film Distribution” (2nd Edition, Focal Press) by Stacey Parks. Available in paperback and kindle versions at www.FilmSpecific.com/Book. Interview With Filmmaker Jon Reiss On Target Audience Q: Tell us about Target Audience and what will happen if a filmmaker doesn’t identify this early on in the process? A: To me a target audience is one of the niches that exist in the world that would be interested in your film (or anything that you do). A niche is a group of people focused on a particular interest. They are accessible. You can afford to market
5 Do’s and Don’t’s on a Successful Video On Demand Release
I met with Nolan from Gravitas, who I feel is one of the companies that really gets VOD for independents, and he started saying – “filmmakers should watch out for this… it would be great if filmmakers would do…” And since he was listing them off – I immediately asked him to write up 5 Dos and 5 Don’ts of VOD for filmmakers – and he graciously obliged – and here it is – Thank you so much Nolan for your continued generosity in helping filmmakers navigate this new space: By Nolan Gallagher, Founder and CEO Gravitas Ventures Jon Reiss
Keys to a Successful Film Launch Pt 1
Keys to a Successful Film Launch Pt 1 By Jon Reiss and Sheri Candler For the past six months, my company, Hybrid Cinema, has been working on the release of Bob Hercules’s new documentary film Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance,about the history of the Joffrey ballet. This is a capsule post to explain the highlights of launching a documentary into the marketplace when working with a modest budget. Future posts will go more in depth on certain aspects of this release. With at least 35,000 feature films on the film festival circuit every year, by some estimates, very few films are going
Sound It Out!
Over the last five years an independent record shop has closed in the UK every three days. SOUND IT OUT (75 mins) is a documentary portrait of the very last surviving vinyl record shop in Teesside, North East England. A cultural haven in one of the most deprived areas in the UK, SOUND IT OUT documents a place that is thriving against the odds and the local community that keeps it alive. The film is directed by Jeanie Finlay who grew up three miles from the shop, and represents a distinctive, funny and intimate film about men, the North and
My Events at Park City 2012
For those of you attending Sundance and Slamdance this year, I will be participating in a number of events which I hope you can attend: On Friday, January 20th from 11 am to 12:30 pm I will be at the New York Lounge at 545 Main Street with Matt Dendler of Cinetic Rights Management for an Empowerment Town Hall moderated by attorney Steven Beer. On Saturday, January 21st, I will be participating in the Black House Panel on Alternative Distribution from 3:30 to 5 pm. We will be discussing the latest developments in the distribution landscape and where success is
An Innovative Launch for Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance
An Innovative Launch for Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance By Jon Reiss For the past four months, my company Hybrid Cinema has been working on the release of the new film Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance directed by Bob Hercules about the history of the Joffrey ballet. I will be writing a number of posts outlining the unique path that I and my partner on this release, Sheri Candler have taken to release this documentary about the history of the groundbreaking dance company The Joffrey Ballet. In my book Think Outside the Box Office and in subsequent posts, I have
Wishing You An Amazing New Year in 2012
I want to thank all of my readers for your wonderful contributions, support, words of wisdom over the past year. For the past several months I have been working on the release of a new film Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance under my new entity Hybrid Cinema releasing entity – partnering with Sheri Candler Marketing and Publicity. Over the next few months I will be writing about how we have approached the release of this film on a variety of subjects – including what I believe is the first national simulcast straight from a film’s festival premiere (January 28, 2012),
Two New Documentary Film Funds
Here are two new cool opportunities for filmmakers. The Bertha BRITDOC Documentary Journalism Fund – for filmmakers from around the world working at the intersection of film and investigative journalism — films that break the important stories of our time, exposing injustice, bringing attention to unreported issues and cameras into regions previously unseen. £250,000 a year for 3 years is available to filmmakers as a mixture of grants and investments. Soniya Kirpalani’s We The People, about a miscarriage of justice against migrant workers in Dubai, is announced as the first production grant. Jess Search said, “This fund is urgently needed.
“25 to Life” Campaign Launch
25 to Life is a feature documentary about William Brawner, a young man who contracted HIV at the age of two, and kept his HIV status a secret for over twenty-five years. Now he seeks redemption from his promiscuous past, and embarks on a new phase of life with his wife, who is HIV Negative. This film paints a riveting picture of an average American community that is upturned by one man’s HIV diagnosis. 25 to Life, a documentary film by Mike Brown, is celebrating its campaign launch on World AIDS Day on December 1st from 7:00 – 9:30 pm
Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance
Hybrid Cinema is pleased to announce the world premiere of the feature length documentary Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance at Dance On Camera Festival’s opening night in New York City on Friday, January 27, 2012 at 8:30pm. A repeat presentation will occur at Dance On Camera on the following day, Saturday, January 28th at 1:30pm. Both Dance On Camera screenings of Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance will be held at Walter Reade Theater in Lincoln Center. A stellar line-up of dance world panelists will be featured in Q&A sessions at both New York City screenings of the film. Joffrey: Mavericks
Distribs, theaters take on new media
Check out this interesting new article in Variety on the ever-changing world of film distribution. Yours truly was one of Gregg’s sources. Firstrun screenings have become events by Gregg Goldstein Can kung-fu fighting monks, cave screenings and feral, caged Santa Clauses save the movie biz? Exhibitors sure hope so. Around the globe, theaters and distribs are fighting competition from new media by turning firstrun screenings into the kind of events one expects at a theme park or state fair. London’s Future Cinema, set to hit New York and Paris next year, draws up to 17,000 people for its surprise Secret
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