The Blair Witch Project is now available for download from the iTunes Store. I doubt anyone will get motion sickness from watching it on their 2.5" video iPod screen, so I recommend viewing it on a bus, train, or plane to get the full effect.

Link to The Blair Witch Project at the iTunes Store.

But there is one important difference between BWP and SoaP, and all these bullshit pronouncements about the "failure" of the blogosphere to open a movie only obscures the real lesson Hollywood needs to learn.

It's hard to see past the massive Blair Witch backlash, but when BWP was released it was met with a chorus of favorable reviews. People were anticipating BWP before it came out and loved the movie after they saw it.

Once people saw SoaP, word of mouth about the film spread faster than the hype that fueled its anticipation. Whatever desire I had to see SoaP was quickly eliminated by the chorus of reviews that could be summed up with the words "it was all right."

The deafening buzz over Snakes on a Plane proves the power of the internet to generate heat. The disappointing opening of Snakes proves that you still need to make a good movie.

Deadwood
Sopranos
Lost
Arrested Development
The Office (UK & US)
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
30 Days
Spike Lee's amazing HBO doc When the Levee Breaks

Hard to get me into the cinema when most flicks can't compete with the above list. But I'm back, and the movie responsible? Snakes on a Plane. I'll explain in the next post.

I guess like anything it all comes down to execution, but it will be interesting to see how the content changes as advertisers burrow themselves into the production process.

Marion Spiegelman, Sr. Vice President, Business Affairs, Film Finances, Inc.
Art Stribley, Executive Vice President, Mercantile National Bank
Elizabeth Untiedt, Vice President, City National Bank, Entertainment Division
Vicki Cherkes, Head of Business Affairs, GreeneStreet Films
Producer Joe Caracciolo Jr.
Kirk Sullivan, Senior Counsel, Foley and Lardner, LLP

The panel will focus on how to go about putting together financing for your project. I've been asked to moderate this panel, so I thought I would put out the call for questions -- what would you like to know from this group? Post your questions and I'll report back after the panel.

Click here for more information about the panel, including how to register and attend. Download the PDF file there for all the details.

Thanks!

"We are adamant about overturning this decision in an expeditious manner to ensure that as many people as possible, including young adults who represent the future of our nation, are able to see one of the most important and thought-provoking films of our time in theaters on June 25."

What, no show times or theater locations?

born into this
into hospitals which are so expensive that it's cheaper to die
into lawyers who charge so much it's cheaper to plead guilty
into a country where the jails are full and the madhouses closed
into a place where the masses elevate fools into rich heroes

born into this
walking and living through this
dying because of this
muted because of this
castrated
debauched
disinherited
because of this
fooled by this
used by this
pissed on by this
made crazy and sick by this
made violent
made inhuman
by this

the heart is blackened
the fingers reach for the throat
the gun
the knife
the bomb
the fingers reach toward an unresponsive god

the fingers reach for the bottle
the pill
the powder

we are born into this sorrowful deadliness
we are born into a government 60 years in debt
that soon will be unable to even pay the interest on that debt
and the banks will burn
money will be useless
there will be open and unpunished murder in the streets
it will be guns and roving mobs
land will be useless
food will become a diminishing return
nuclear power will be taken over by the many
explosions will continually shake the earth
radiated robot men will stalk each other
the rich and the chosen will watch from space platforms
Dante's Inferno will be made to look like a children's playground

the sun will not be seen and it will always be night
trees will die
all vegetation will die
radiated men will eat the flesh of radiated men
the sea will be poisoned
the lakes and rivers will vanish
rain will be the new gold

the rotting bodies of men and animals will stink in the dark wind

the last few survivors will be overtaken by new and hideous diseases

and the space platforms will be destroyed by attrition
the petering out of supplies
the natural effect of general decay

and there will be the most beautiful silence never heard

born out of that.

the sun still hidden there

awaiting the next chapter.

-Charles Bukowski, from The Last Night of the Earth Poems, 1992

Here is indieWIRE's story on the unfolding situation and of course filmmaker Michael Moore has something to say on the subject.

This only reinforces my belief that we as filmmakers must figure out new ways to distribute films and find our audiences.

Because after sucking down FORTY OUNCES OF FROZEN SUGAR WATER, you realize to be truly satisfied, you need to EAT THE GODDAMNED STRAW.

I really can't wait to see Morgan Spurlock's Super Size Me.

First, let me also admit that I have not seen The Passion of the Christ nor do I feel compelled to do so (twelve years of Catholic school education is quite enough, thank you). I do, however, have problems with using the word "indie" to describe what the film is rather than as a description for how the film was financed and made.

In fact, the only thing that links "indie" films together is that they are financed and made outside the studio system. It is time to separate issues of quality from the term "independent." Hollywood has churned out a great film or two and independents have produced a lot of crap. Mel Gibson financed and made his torture-fest outside the studio system and that makes it independent, regardless of how much money he has in his bank account. Same goes for George Lucas. The man finances his movies himself, controls every aspect of production and has final cut. He is an independent filmmaker. You may not like his movies, you may think they are no better than the latest Hollywood flick hogging up the screens at the multiplex, but they are independent movies.

Obviously, movies like The Passion of the Christ and the Star Wars flicks are special cases when it comes to release patterns of independent films, as they do share more in terms of content and style with Hollywood than the typical indie film. I can understand why indieWIRE might decide not to track these movies in their charts, but if you attempt to apply the criteria of "indie" as a genre, then what of the Kill Bill movies, financed by Disney via Miramax? Should those movies be considered "independent?" I'd argue they are not.

Clearly this is an important discussion for a media outlet calling itself indieWIRE. So what is indieWIRE's official criteria for determining whether a film is "independent" or not?

Adweek has reported on the awards won by a campaign I directed and cowrote with my partner at Haxan, Ed Sanchez. It was a three-month online narrative campaign for the ESPN NFL Football console video game. Check out this 9-minute video on iFilm for an overview of the story, and then go look at Beta-7's blog for more of the story.

A creative director at another agency had this to say:

"It's so ahead of its time it's almost unjudgeable," added judge Guy Seese, creative director at Cole & Weber/Red Cell in Portland.

Awwww, shucks!

This kind of marketing is a natural for films... I wonder why more independent filmmakers don't sit up and take notice? More on this subject soon...

DMAC Orlando also promises seminars and other programs for filmmakers. Here's wishing DMAC a long and prosperous future!