It's back! Wayne Robbins is a filmmaker, late of Los Angeles.

Postcard from Los Angeles

Dear Jared,

Please note that as of the date of this dispatch, the pipeline from New York to Los Angeles has officially been closed from the LA side. Sorry! You missed the window and we’re not industrious enough out here to remember how to re-open the damn thing.

Fakes, fires, sushi, porn stars, liars and sunshine. What more can you really ask for? (Answer: Work) ...Since I left NYC for Gloss Angeles oh-so-many-moons ago, I have learned several things about people: 1) they do not like the truth; 2) they will turn off the porch light if you come to their house in need but will whip up margaritas if it’s them that needs; and 3) if someone else wants it, then so do they.

In the cage match of the century that is NYC versus LA, one thing is for certain, the former will fight you just to get in the ring and the second will cancel at the last minute. But at least here you can still get a good burger at ******** [Editor’s note: Redacted so as to not Corner Bistro the only place I have left]. Shhh, don’t tell anyone...

The gloom in June sends you to your doom. So they say. Say that one ten times fast...

Oh, and I can see the Sign from my balcony. A balcony is a thing that attaches to the outside of your home (generally more than one room out here) on which you can stand and see trees. Trees are tall, nature-ish, wooden thingys that stick out of the ground... Ground is something that’s below pavement...

...Would the last one out of NYC, please bring me Ben’s Pizza?

Yours in Sciento... er... Kabbal... er... Oh what the hell, Jack and Coke!

-Wayne

P.s. Say hello to Godfrey, Ryan, Rob, Dylan, Roderick and Hoover...

P.s.s. Lindsay Lohan just got hit by a paparazzo in front of my house. That never happened at 71 Thompson Street. Yeah right. “It wasn’t me.”

I told ya it'd be back... Fredrik Carlstrom is a producer and founder of the production company Third Factory. He also heads up the (idea) republic, a New York based branded content agency.

Here's Fredrik:

If it’s true what they say, that markets are conversations, then it’s time for us who create entertainment to start being noteworthy. Our marketing needs to stop interrupting what people are interested in and become what people are interested in. Our content needs to be something people choose to spend time with, not what they are forced to run from.

Last night, on television, there were a hundred or so commercials. The people who weren’t skipping them over with their TiVo’s, might recall one or two. Even the cheapest and nastiest cost $100,000, just to produce. While, believe it or not, others cost $2,500,000.

This morning, tens of millions of people got emails with a link, or a film or an image. Sent to them from a trusted friend, millions looked at it, many will downloaded it to their computer to watch again and again. And pass it on, in turn, to some of their friends.

Technology is pioneering how people are getting (or avoid getting) information and entertainment. And as with every conversation, if you’re too dull, you won’t get invited back. Or, as in our example, by the press of a button, skipped over and ignored.

After having presented an idea to a client he insisted on testing it. We reluctantly agreed. The results were a disaster. 80% hated it. Some even found it offensive and the client wanted to kill it. How many liked it so much they would consider buying your product? we asked. Not many, only 15%, he answered. By how much do you want to increase your sales? we asked. Would, say 3% be good? That would be fantastic, the client replied. So why then, we asked, do you care what 80% think of it, when 15% love it? The idea was executed and worked wonders.

The problem with many of today’s marketing campaigns is that people get branding and democracy mixed up. They believe that, like in a democracy, the majority wins. But that isn’t true, not even in certain countries.

In October of last year, Gawker Media, an online publishing house with titles such as Gawker.com, Wonkette.com, Defamer.com and Gizmodo.com, wanted to establish their title Fleshbot.com, as the online magazine for unusual and witty, sex culture.

We licensed the right to the long lost film “Necromania”. An erotic film directed in 1971, by the famously bad director Ed Wood (portrayed by Johnny Depp in the Tim Burton film with the same) it had been lost for over 30 years. We designed, packaged and sold it on DVD under a sub-site to Fleshbot, named Fleshbot Films, becoming in a sense, a mini distributor.

By an integrated email and PR campaign, aimed at mainstream media as well as key people in the art house film world, we got press in publications and on sites all over the world. These included media outlets we knew we could never advertise in, even if we paid for it, including The New Yorker, BBC, CNN, Reuters and Yahoo!

By selling the DVD, the campaign ended up having no net cost; in fact, it created extra revenue for Gawker Media as well as attracting a million additional “unique visitors” to the site after the launch on October 18, 2004.

Unique visitors by month:
September 2004: 1,158,005 visitors
October 2004: 1,531,964 visitors (+373,959)
November 2004: 2,144,984 visitors (+631,020)
Total increase: 986,979

Welcome one, welcome all to Friday Guest Blogging! Hopefully every week (for now fridays, but the day might change) we'll have a contributer from the film world, party world, music world, or, well, anyone world I choose share their thoughts. Our first guest blogger is Ryan Werner. For those who don't know him (and shame on you for that), Ryan is head of distribution at Wellspring. He has recently released such films as The Brown Bunny, Tarnation, and Palindromes.

Here's Ryan:

When Jared asked me to be a guest writer on his blog, I immediately felt intimidated because I know his newly loyal readers want to hear about New York nightlife first and foremost. He suggested that I write about my experiences at the Tribeca Film Festival instead, and I agreed.

There is always major discussion about Tribeca - what it means, what it stands for and most importantly why does it have to be so damn close to Cannes. This year, a lot of the discussion started to become more positive than in the past. First, the festival moved its dates up giving exhausted industry people a bit of a rest before they start things up again. In its fourth year, the festival seemed to begin to show signs of moving into much more than a local showcase. There were more than a handful of premieres that stirred up excitement. In fact a few of the ones I attended at the Tribeca Performing Arts Center had the feeling of a first screening at Toronto or Sundance. Still, the festival has a ways to go before they can truly compete. However, I give the programmers a lot of credit for raising the bar each year. I suspect it won't be long before this festival flexes even more muscle. I have to agree with Anthony Kaufman's recent blog about the juries though.

Tribeca came this year in the midst of our release of Todd Solondz's PALINDROMES. For my money, this is the kind of bold and audacious filmmaking that I look to festivals to introduce. The closest thing to this in Tribeca that I saw was Caveh Zahedi's I AM A SEX ADDICT, a surprisingly honest and often times funny biographical illustration of the title. There were also a number of highly anticipated local premieres such as Wong Kar Wai's 2046 which just about everyone I know lined up for. I had seen the movie twice already and contemplated seeing it again. It's one of the most ravishing, romantic films ever made and something that keeps playing over and over in mind. The one film that I really looked forward to but missed was NIGHT WATCH which will also be released this summer.

All this brings me to the parties which I know Jared's loyal readers have been waiting to hear about. I didn't go to as many parties as normal, I did manage to make it to Showtime's party at Nobu which without saying probably takes the award for best party, best food, etc.. By the next week, the team behind our movie THE BEAT THAT MY HEART SKIPPED had arrived. Director Jacques Audiard (READ MY LIPS) and his gorgeous cast - Romain Duris and Aure Atika - made the trip. We had a great time party hopping with them and when we had enough of the festival events, we managed to drop by various local hotspots. This is not my speciality. I leave that to Jared and also Sophie Bouchart who is working here at Wellspring. Sophie managed to take us on various nights to Marquee, Bungalow 8, The Maritime's Hiro, Select, Crowbar and the Tribeca Grand. A real tour of the town for our friends from France, just a regular nite on the town for you, loyal readers. I should mention also our trip to the Embassy Suite's hot spot, Chevy's known world-wide for it's "fresh-mex." No Tribeca Film Festival is complete without a stop at this most fortunate chain restaurant.

One of my personal highlights was co-hosting a dinner with Strand Releasing for our our two French films at Duane Park Cafe. Strand has Cote d'Azur at the festival, a real crowd pleaser that premiered in Berlin. All of us at Wellspring really admire Strand, and it was great to see Marcus in town. It happens that Strand was the company that brought Audiard to America's attention with the release of A SELF MADE HERO. Wellspring has also released two films by the directors of COTE D'AZAUR so it only made sense that we share a dinner. It was a great turnout including many members of the press and various other friends.

The festival ended for me at a party in a hotel room at the Embassy Suites just floors above the closing night party. While I wasn't in the mood for a big party, this was a great alternative with new friends and a few old ones. I managed to eat a tray of cookies when no one was looking and then somehow we had a midnight delivery from Dominos which I probably ate 90% of. I can't say I felt proud the next morning but somehow it was a good end to the festival.