Comments on: Building A Better Screenwriter: Behind The Scenes At The 2008 Sundance Labs http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/building-a-better-screenwriter-behind-the-scenes-at-the-2008-sundance-labs/ Wed, 20 Aug 2008 10:16:13 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 By: MrsWakely http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/building-a-better-screenwriter-behind-the-scenes-at-the-2008-sundance-labs/#comment-62620 MrsWakely Mon, 12 May 2008 17:11:29 +0000 http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/building-a-better-screenwriter-behind-the-scenes-at-the-2008-sundance-labs/#comment-62620 I had a film at Sundance recently. Got a small release. No money made. Film broke even with dvd and foreign. I've never been to the Sundance lab. It sounds pleasant, but, where the rubber meets the road, of course, is whether or not your film gets accepted, and, if it makes money? You might get to make another. If not? Don't hold your breath. At a certain point, you run out of gas with the process. The indie film world in broken. It needs it's own distribution system, and it needs it's own financing system. There are maybe three festivals that are truly markets for American indie film, and if you don't get into one of them, or get pre-bought with a release attached (extremely rare), you're done. It's on to dvd and foreign to, if you're lucky, very lucky, get any deals at all, since you're now considered tainted goods, to try and make some money back for your financier(s). There is a whole "whack-off" culture in indie film surrounding Sundance, where "filmmakers" who have had a film or two accepted and released, but haven't made any money, are indie darlings for a while. Same with some actors, who aren't making any money either, by the way. Any. It's more than a bit of a racket, to be honest. The top dogs at Sundance and a few others, make a year-round living, yes, working hard - sometimes - but mostly lording their ridiculous power over a bunch of young filmmakers who are suffering through their days like beauty contestants waiting to see if anybody like their rendition of "On a Clear Day You Can See Forever." Redford hovers in the background, participants in the Lab and the festival waiting for a sighting, like some mystical bison roaming the Park City forest who will grant you film wishes if you spot him and say the right words. Then, Redford occasionally emerges to make a Hollywood movie, like "Lion for Lambs," that, let's be honest, wouldn't get into his own festival. In other words, it's a racket, a big, schmoozy-wooz,ooh-look-who-it-is! - we're reading a screenplay in a cabin! Dry-hump, that 99 times out of a hundred ends up spitting out lab participants and festival participants to the real world, where, in most cases, in 3 years or so, are saying "would you like whip cream on your venti butterscotch latte'?" Indie film needs an infrastructure that works, that is a meritocracy, Darwinian, yes, as it should be, but that is separate from the Hollywood rot and festival whack-off hype that infests it right now. I had a film at Sundance recently. Got a small release. No money made. Film broke even with dvd and foreign. I’ve never been to the Sundance lab. It sounds pleasant, but, where the rubber meets the road, of course, is whether or not your film gets accepted, and, if it makes money? You might get to make another. If not? Don’t hold your breath. At a certain point, you run out of gas with the process. The indie film world in broken. It needs it’s own distribution system, and it needs it’s own financing system. There are maybe three festivals that are truly markets for American indie film, and if you don’t get into one of them, or get pre-bought with a release attached (extremely rare), you’re done. It’s on to dvd and foreign to, if you’re lucky, very lucky, get any deals at all, since you’re now considered tainted goods, to try and make some money back for your financier(s). There is a whole “whack-off” culture in indie film surrounding Sundance, where “filmmakers” who have had a film or two accepted and released, but haven’t made any money, are indie darlings for a while. Same with some actors, who aren’t making any money either, by the way. Any. It’s more than a bit of a racket, to be honest. The top dogs at Sundance and a few others, make a year-round living, yes, working hard - sometimes - but mostly lording their ridiculous power over a bunch of young filmmakers who are suffering through their days like beauty contestants waiting to see if anybody like their rendition of “On a Clear Day You Can See Forever.” Redford hovers in the background, participants in the Lab and the festival waiting for a sighting, like some mystical bison roaming the Park City forest who will grant you film wishes if you spot him and say the right words. Then, Redford occasionally emerges to make a Hollywood movie, like “Lion for Lambs,” that, let’s be honest, wouldn’t get into his own festival. In other words, it’s a racket, a big, schmoozy-wooz,ooh-look-who-it-is! - we’re reading a screenplay in a cabin! Dry-hump, that 99 times out of a hundred ends up spitting out lab participants and festival participants to the real world, where, in most cases, in 3 years or so, are saying “would you like whip cream on your venti butterscotch latte’?”

Indie film needs an infrastructure that works, that is a meritocracy, Darwinian, yes, as it should be, but that is separate from the Hollywood rot and festival whack-off hype that infests it right now.

]]> By: Crewguy http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/building-a-better-screenwriter-behind-the-scenes-at-the-2008-sundance-labs/#comment-62571 Crewguy Mon, 12 May 2008 15:23:03 +0000 http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/building-a-better-screenwriter-behind-the-scenes-at-the-2008-sundance-labs/#comment-62571 "free of...vested interests"? With Robert Redford and Sundance? Please. “free of…vested interests”? With Robert Redford and Sundance? Please.

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