Screen and Screen Again: A Primer for Distribution Neophytes
I Wake Up Screening: What to Do Once You’ve Made That Movie
By Michael Galinsky
If you are a filmmaker, Buy This Book! How’s that for a pull quote? John Anderson and Laura Kim have done filmmakers a big favor by writing this truly insightful guide to the very practical, and all too human, realities of dealing with a finished film. Anderson, a writer for New York Newsday, and Kim, a publicist for many notable independent films and now executive vice president of publicity and marketing at Warner Independent Pictures, have taken the time to put together a straight-talking primer for filmmakers who haven’t navigated the shark-filled waters of festival participation in their quest for distribution.
I certainly could have used this book a dozen years ago when I made my first film. It was a good film (really, it was), and I looked forward to taking it to film festivals. Thirty-five rejection letters later, we were a bit stunned. Eventually we got the film to its audience and it played in 10 countries, but it was a very painful and disheartening experience. I had a lot of unreasonable expectations, and I didn’t have any idea how to move forward with the film. I’ve learned a good deal of the information found in this book the hard way, and as such I appreciate what a great tool I Wake Up Screening is.
Anderson and Kim have sought out the insights of countless filmmakers, distributors, members of the press and publicists, all of whom weigh in with painfully honest observations. The world they describe is very small and incestuous—not unlike high school—where reputations can quickly form and be hard to shake. Anderson and Kim are integral players in this world, and would likely have been quoted themselves throughout the book, had it been written by another writer.
The authors open the book by advising filmmakers to take a long hard look at their work before showing it to anyone else. The number of films being produced has risen astronomically (which means there’s a bigger audience for this book), as has the number of fairly decent films. So, the authors urge, do everything you can to make your film great. The next painful counsel: if it’s not that great, maybe you shouldn’t show it to too many people. Given the cliquey nature of this world, where filmmakers, distributors and press people interact in the clubby atmosphere of film festivals, this suggestion makes a lot of sense.
Each important point in the book is fleshed out by stories from a cross-section of colleagues. Distributor Bob Berney of Picturehouse, for example, talks about a filmmaker who showed his first short to Billy Wilder. Wilder’s advice was to put it in a box and never show it to anyone again. The filmmaker listened, and went on to make other films. Jeff Dowd, a producer’s rep, recounts telling one of his clients to either find the money to fix their film or pull it from a festival. They did a day of re-shoots, re-edited the film and subsequently made a big sale with it. While the book’s focus is largely on the commercial aspect of the industry, the information is useful to documentary filmmakers, since, more than anything else, it is a book about social networking.
The first quarter of the book deals with the practical matters of finishing a film, such as legal issues and strategies for marketing and publicity. The middle of the book concerns how to approach the festival circuit. As the book is a series of no-holds-barred conversations, the subtle and quixotic nature of the filmmaker/distributor/press person/ press agent dance is laid out in a clear and concise manner.
While it’s clear that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to getting one’s film out into the world, it’s important for filmmakers to understand the different pressures that festivals, distributors and press people are dealing with. With thousands of films floating around, and only a few of them really marketable or truly fantastic, the vast majority of people who work in the industry are understandably a bit jaded, and hungry for good information. I Wake Up Screening might come across as a bit harsh to a first-time filmmaker, but the book is undeniably useful and I strongly recommend it to anyone who is hoping to get his or her film distributed.
For a Song: How to Get the Music You Want
Hey, That’s My Music! Music Supervision, Licensing, and Content Acquisition
I recently read an article about Elmer Bernstein. In it he discussed writing the music for Animal House. He was confused about how to handle it, so he queried director John Landis, who told him to treat it as if the film were deadly serious. Immediately I remembered the scene where John Belushi exhorts his frat-mates to fight back against the university. I could hear the music swelling as he delivered his viscerally inspiring directives. Without that music, the film wouldn’t have been the same, and quite possibly could have been a total failure.
We can’t all hire Elmer Bernstein—especially since he’s no longer with us—but we should recognize what an important role music plays in our films. If you’re lucky, you have friends in a band who make amazing music, love your film and understand your goals. You buy them a pitcher of beer and they give you all the music you need for your documentary. If you’re not so lucky, you fall in love with that Rolling Stones song that you’ll never be able to use.
In any case, you’re going to have to have some kind of contract (actually, several kinds of contracts for each piece of music) before you can sell your movie to anyone else. In Hey, That’s My Music!, music supervisor Brooke Wentz lays out all of the ins and outs of getting permission to use those tracks, what contracts you’ll need and how to get people to sign them.
As de facto producer on many of our films, I’m always stuck with the task of talking bands and labels into letting us use their songs. With each film we’ve made, we’ve been able to pay a little bit more, but not nearly as much as anyone wants. For filmmakers who don’t know bands or composers and don’t have a big budget, it can be a difficult slog. Frankly, there are so many people and so much paperwork involved for most songs released by major labels that it’s difficult for small docs to scrape together the funds to make it worthwhile to even do the paperwork for most rights owners.
Wentz dispenses a lot of useful advice (including sample letters) about how to contact the different owners and beg for a break. Her best advice, though, is to realize when a negotiation is going nowhere and just let it go. As she points out, major labels need to see cash flow and they ask for large sums of money, while many indies want to get their music used for exposure value. Wentz also gives good advice about using music libraries, sound-alikes and composers to reign in costs and effectively place music.
Hey, That’s My Music! is aimed a bit more at the wannabe music supervisor and music-maker than the average filmmaker. That is, it has a lot more information than the average filmmaker is going to find useful, but it does include all of the information that a filmmaker is going to need. Moreover, understanding the business perspective of the content owners and industry workers can be useful when negotiating with them.
Frankly, music licensing is a lot more complex than anyone wants it to be. However, when a filmmaker really wants that song, he/she will often go the extra mile to get it. If you’re that filmmaker and you have to have that song, it probably makes sense to read Hey! That’s My Music!. Like anything else, music licensing is based on relationships. Either hire a music supervisor who does have the relationships or educate yourself so that when you do approach the song owner you’ll be able present yourself professionally. Who knows? You just might get the song—and then you’ll really need the contracts provided in the book.
About 4 years ago, as filmmakers constantly buffeted about by the vagaries of distribution, we decided to start a distribution company to take matters into our own hands. We knew that there were literally hundreds of great films being made each year that weren’t finding viable distribution. We had self distributed before and decided to make it official by taking on Garrett Scott and Ian Old’s film, “Occupation: Dreamland”.
Even before that film hit theaters we realized that landscape was shifting. It was clear that the internet was going to have a huge impact on filmmakers ability to get their work seen.
As a result, we’ve developed rumur.com as a solution for marketing and distributing our work directly with audiences. We hope that you’ll find the site simple to use, and if you’d like to sell your film on rumur send us a note
michael, suki and david
