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“The glory days of independent film, when hot young directors like Steven Soderbergh and Mr. Tarantino had studio executives tangled in fierce bidding wars at Sundance and other celebrity-studded festivals, are now barely a speck in the rearview mirror. And something new, something much odder, has taken their place.”
More proof that “we’re all indie now” from Michael Cieply in today’s New York Times. Forget only making independent movies, Cieply examines the innovative tools aspiring filmmakers are using to market and distribute their own work.
August 19th, 2009 at 4:29 pm
I’m frustrated that Cieply’s NYTimes piece is getting passed around like some new magic candy on Halloween when in reality Cieply’s article doesn’t prove a thing and certainly doesn’t examine anything innovative or otherwise(although I might be tempted to call him a tool). Filmmakers have been getting their own work out to the public for years (let’s travel back to “Mary Jane’s Not A Virgin Anymore”, 1997); have put their films free on the Web for years (start with “Party Girl”, 1995), and that “odd approach” of “Anvil! The Story of Anvil”?? I guess Cieply is talking about the film that very successfully traveled the film festival circuit, and then wisely choose a distribution deal with hybrid distributor guru Richard Abramowitz (that’s his Abramorama company so blithely dismissed by Cieply) who crafted a release uniquely designed to take full advantage of what Sacha and Anvil could bring to the table (way beyond just money, by the way, although we can all feel Sacha’s pain having to pay for it himself). Barry Avrich may think filmmakers have it “figured out” by coddling up to concierges (one of the more ludicrous points in Cieply’s article who more likely heard of one filmmaker doing it and decided this was a “wave”) but I challenge anyone to name one overworked, overbooked, sleep deprived tastemaker (festival programmer, sales agent, buyer, producer, financier) in Toronto who races to a promotional party or screening based on a “tip” from a hotel concierge. Cieply’s article would hold more interest for me if he’d actually done a little journalistic homework and given his thesis a little historical context. I could use a good article on real innovation in the new world of indie film distribution.