New Culture Hacker column


The Winter issue of Filmmaker Magazine hits newsstands this week. For my Culture Hacker column I spent some time with a number of entrepreneurs who are bootstrapping startups. MakerBot Industries, Loveland and NeighborGoods all share what it takes to get a company off the ground in difficult economic times. I was struck by the many parallels between entrepreneurs and independent filmmakers.

A discovery and distribution award

The WorkBook Project launches a new Discovery and Distribution Award – after the success of FROM HERE TO AWESOME which assisted 22 films in reaching theaters, living rooms, mobile devices and computers we’ve decided to expand the concept into film, music, gaming, design and software. The first edition of the WBP Discovery and Distribution Award will give a filmmaker a week long theatrical run in LA with full PR, Street Team and Social Media support. The filmmaker keeps 100% of the box office. In addition 20 feature films will receive a digital distribution package that will place them on Hulu, Xbox, iTunes and NetFlix. For more info visit www.workbookproject.com/award

A new infrastructure

I recently contributed a post to Thompson on Hollywood. There’s been quite a bit of talk about the woes of the industry and I thought I’d contribute something to the discussion that focused on some simple steps towards the future.

Where the industry goes from here is going to require a rethinking of the infrastructure that supports it. To realistically move forward, innovation, experimentation and R&D is needed to help create an OPEN framework that will improve the funding, creation, distribution and discovery of truly independent work.

Here are some thoughts:

1. Keep it Open. As the industry shifts, it is key to build the next generation of discovery, creation, and distribution upon systems that embrace the following:
– Open software/hardware that encourages innovation and rewards improvements on functionality.
– Open business models that enable filmmakers, distributors, exhibitors, and audiences to sell, trade, and share films in ways that directly reward performance and encourage a healthy sense of competition.
– Transparency: In the age of connected devices and the real-time web, there is NO reason why tracking, performance and reporting can’t be accessible in real-time.

:: Read More