Coelho puts MySpace on hold for Festival gamble

After first signaling that he was ushering in a new era of filmmaking and distribution, Paul Coelho is apparently re-thinking the distribution plans  for  Experimental Witch.

When I first heard about it, I looked forward to following  Coelho’s crowd-source filmmaking experiment for Experimental Witch, when he announced his plans to solicit MySpace friends to help make the film, and then distribute the film in partnership with MySpace. The plan sounded innovative and fresh, and his announcement of the winners of the MySpace competition signaled this might really work. I had visions of a new model for filmmaking and film distribution.  Very exciting stuff!

Turns out, the monumental shift I was anticipating may be a while coming. Coelho appears to be sliding back towards the classic ‘festival first’ mentality. It seems a “major European Festival” is considering accepting the film as long as it’s not shown anywhere else first, including on the internet. Coelho, hoping to grab critical attention, as well as a possible theatrical distribution deal, by showing the film at major festivals, announced he’s delaying the MySpace premiere while he woos the festival circuit.

This is turning into to a textbook case of old-world film distribution clashing  against, rather than embracing, new-world approaches to reaching audiences:

Old-world: Exclusivity.  Filmmakers allow their films to be trapped by a festival vs. New-world:  Open and accessible.  Filmmakers insist on distribution freedom.

I wonder if the day will ever come when festivals drop this archaic requirement of  our-festival-first exclusivity, and realize that festival audiences are not necessarily the same as global audiences, and that one doesn’t negate the importance of the other. 

I can only imagine the MySpace filmmakers that contributed to Experimental Witch, not to mention Coelho’s fans, are disappointed in the delay.  It’ll be interesting to see what happens next.

Film distribution: old world vs. new world

I’m back from taking some time off from work and blogging and facebooking and twittering and MySpacing and virtually everything else.  It felt good to unplug and get away for a while, and enjoy the beauty and quiet of nature during the unfolding of Autumn in New England. 

Now it feels good to dive back in.

If by chance you haven’t yet read this wonderful 2-part article from IndieWire that discusses film distribution in the old world vs. the new world, I urge you to take the time to do so: part 1 and part 2.

Winners selected for Coelho’s “Witch of Portobello” MySpace film experiment

When I first heard about Paulo Coelho’s MySpace collaboration for turning his latest book into a film, I knew this was the kind of experiment in filmmaking by crowd sourcing that would be interesting to follow. 

Over 6,000 people subscribed to Coelho’s proposition.  I don’t know if that means he received 6,000 video entries, or if it also represents other forms of participation from MySpace users.  In any case, he recently announced the provisional selection of the winning videos that will be part of the film.  As expected, the provisional winners will have to comply with some fine print and complete required legal transactions. 

Coelho mentioned the film now runs at 380 minutes, much too long for commercial distribution. He does want, however, to show the full cut on the Internet, before submitting an edited version to film festivals.

In the meantime, you can watch the provisional winning videos.

The problem with movies is there are too many of them

The Wall Street Journal joins the chorus of “too many films and too few theatrical slots”. 

It’s yet another example of why alternative film distribution models may eventually save the day.

City Council to filmmaker: “Don’t film here, we don’t want bad publicity.”

Fergus Falls, Minnesota — apparently it’s hard out here for a filmmaker to make a movie, even when he offers to pay the city $10,000.  Dav Kaufman wanted to shoot some scenes for his psycho-thriller at a former treatment center that is scheduled to be redeveloped into a college.  The  campus developers didn’t like the idea, saying the film would bring negative publicity and give the school a bad reputation.   They convinced the city fathers to reject the filmmaker’s offer.

A pity.  Not to mention a bit shortsighted on the part of the developers and city council.  How cool would it be to be able to say, when marketing the new college to potential students, that a psycho-thriller was filmed there?  It could have been a great opportunity for potential partnerships to market the school and the movie, and perhaps even put Fergus Falls on the map.  Not to mention adding a few quid to the city coffers.