Jon Reiss

PMDs In Action

As you know, Sheri Candler, and I have been reaching out to working Producer’s of Marketing and Distribution (PMDs) and a few have contacted me with some festival and awards news:

Stephen Dypiangco who is currently working as a PMD on “How to Live Forever” by Mark Wexler is also working as a PMD on a short film  “God of Love” which was just nominated for an Oscar.   Pretty exciting for Stephen and his team – and the first Oscar nom for a film with a PMD.   Perhaps next year there will be a feature nominated with a PMD!

Sally Hogsdon who is based in England is working as a PMD for “Sound It Out” was just announced as part of the SXSW lineup.  She is working with James Collie of “Beyond Biba” fame who is working as the distribution consultant on the film.    I had the pleasure of meeting when I was in London last spring for the first TOTBO workshop.

Kinyarwanda which was one of the IFP Filmmaker Lab films in 2010 won the World Cinema Audience Award: Dramatic at Sundance.  Tommy Oliver started off on Kinyarwanda as the PMD but then got so involved in the film he now has full producer credit (and I am hoping he still claims PMD credit as well).

Congrats to all.  If you are a PMD and have some exciting news and/or want to be in the loop for a PMD tips, news etc – drop me an email through this blog!

Exciting Times in Park City

I just returned from Park City where I had the pleasure to judge the Slamdance Documentary Competition. I saw some compelling and inspiring work. Being a judge forced me to actually see films at a film festival for the first time in two years since embarking on the TOTBO project (usually I am lucky to see one film). In addition, I got to catch nearly all of “Gandu Asshole” – a stunning visual and narrative feast by first time Indian filmmaker Q that is headed to the Berlinale. Last but not least, I got the opportunity to see the finished version of the moving and brilliantly structured Kinyarwanda, a film I mentored in the IFP Filmmaker Labs.

It was a very exciting time at Park City. First off, more films have sold at this year’s Sundance Film Festival than in recent memory and that is good news for independent film as Ted Hope points out in his blog it “should give investors more confidence that you no longer have to rely just on foreign; the US acquisition climate seems quite robust again.”

However, I am concerned that filmmakers see these sales and think they can revert back to depending on the festival acquisition system to handle the distribution and marketing of any and all of their films. I hope all will analyze the elements that were most attractive to the buyers (name cast, compelling documentary subjects, past success with a similar film) before assuming that the old days are back.

I got the sense there is a growing awareness that while sales happen for some films, filmmakers understand that the system cannot and does not handle all films. In fact, these sales make up a small percentage of films on the festival circuit each year, much less than the films produced every year. More and more filmmakers are understanding the need to engage audiences on their own – or with partners – and craft unique distribution and marketing strategies for their films.
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Lessons from the Lab: Advice to Films Heading for Their Festival Premiere

Almost two weeks ago I wrote a piece for those who did not get into the Sundance or Slamdance Film Festivals. Today, I want to write one for those who got in, or will be getting into similar sales oriented prominent festivals in the coming months. First off – congratulations – you got into one of the premiere film festivals in the world for independent film.

This post was inspired by the recent completion of the first year of the newly expanded Independent Filmmaker Labs run by IFP that I helped convert into completion distribution and marketing labs. (I plan to do several of these posts highlighting information that we either learned as a group – or were stressing to the participating filmmakers). To be honest, this advice applies to all filmmakers – whether or not they are going to a premiere festival.

1. Know yourself, know your film. When you are accepted into one of these prestigious festivals you are accosted by many people who want to help you sell your film. You should have a sense of who you are and what your film is in order to evaluate what you are being told by those who want to help you. In order to do this you must: Continue reading →