Declaration of Indies – Reiss and Broderick in the NYT Today

Manohla Dargis interviewed me for an article on self distribution for the New York Times – it came out today. Proud to be in the company of the esteemed Peter Broderick! Declaration of Indies: Just Sell It Yourself! By MANOHLA DARGIS Published: January 14, 2010 LAST November inside a conference room at the University of […]

Think Outside the Box Office Review by Erin’s Woodstock Movie

“Anyone who is serious about surviving in the contemporary independent film world needs to read this book.” This review from Erin’s Woodstock Movie gives a good background as to my path to writing the book. Book Review: Think Outside The Box Office By escherer The successes of low-budget independent films at Sundance like Slacker, Clerks, […]

25 Points to Consider in Approaching Your Festival Premiere: Part 2

The first part of this article concerned how to approach festivals if you want to still pursue a more conventional sales oriented strategy within the new landscape of distribution for independent film.

This second part will address what you should consider if you are going to use your premiere festival (or one of your festivals) to launch the actual distribution and marketing of your film.

Changing the Life Model of a Release – Response to Brian Newman

Brian Newman has been tearing it up lately on his blog Springboard Media. While I don’t always agree with him, he is very thoughtful and has great insights into what is going on these days in the indie film world. I just tweeted his post from today Filmmaking and Releasing – Changing From the Male […]

21 Great Free Thinkers of Indie Film from Ted Hope in The Wrap

Jon Reiss — After adopting the DIY approach for his film Bomb It, Jon chose to share the lessons he’s learned in ever increasing ways, from his blog (and this one), to articles for Filmmaker Mag, to finally to the must-have artist-centric distribution book “Think Outside the Box Office.” Anyone considering creating a truly free film, this book is mandatory reading first.

Think Outside the Box Office one of Brian Newman’s Recommended Reads

Recommended Reads from Brian Newman’s Blog Springboard Media There’s been a lot of great writing both in print and online (and at times, both) for filmmakers this year. It’s late in the year, but I thought I’d give my quick summary of some great titles that I think are required reading for any filmmaker – […]

Check out Selfhelpless Blog – The future of film?!?

You have to check these guys out. Selfhelpless Met them on Twitter tonight. They are releasing their film/premiering it on Bit Torrent first (in my mind as a premiere event to draw attention and audience) and then releasing merch to their awaiting fans. You can link to their blog above – or I’ve liberated it […]

Blog Review for Think Outside the Box Office –

“”a jam-packed treasure trove of how-to DIY advice and real world examples – worth far more than the list price. In fact, I’d grab your copy now before Reiss figures out what an enormous value this is and starts charging the big bucks for weekend-long seminars!”

Justine Jacobs on DIY Distribution and her film Ready Set Bag

Doug Block from D-Word turned me onto filmmaker Justine Jacobs and her film Ready Set Bag. She did a post on D-Word and he turned me onto it – I contacted Justine and she is letting me republish it here: I wish there was a secret recipe. Bottom line we got tired of waiting for […]

Review of Think Oustide the Box Office by Content NOW

Content NOW Here’s the pull quote: “Written in a light conversational tone and beautifully organized over 354 pages, Jon, a noted filmmaker (Bomb It, Better Living Through Circuitry) and CalArts teacher, passionate about connecting filmmakers to their audiences, arms filmmakers with the arsenal needed for a killer DIY direct to fan film marketing campaign. This […]