Tag Archives: social media

Can Indie Film Achieve a Network Effect?

In a recent post entitled Networks And The Enterprise, Fred Wilson explains how his firm Union Square Ventures invests in networks. He included this line. My uber goal of writing this post is to explain that the wired and mobile … Continue reading

Posted in Distribution, Independent Film, Innovation, Internet, Mobile, Social Media | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Movie Theaters Should Think Like Netflix

This piece appeared on the Future of Film blog in April of 2011 and was by far the most successful post (measured by traffic, comments, tweets and likes) during the blog’s first year of existence.  It is a “what if” … Continue reading

Posted in Distribution, Hollywood, Innovation, Internet, Movie Theaters, Social Media | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Storytellers and Audiences: Back Together Again

Storytellers and audiences have entered into a new relationship with each other as the Internet continues to reshape our mass media landscape.  Whether it is the ability of a fan to directly fund a creative project, comment on a show, … Continue reading

Posted in Innovation, Internet, Mobile, Social Media, Storytelling | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Filmmakers Need to Find a New Lens

Yesterday Sara Kiener wrote a great post on Hope for Film on the pros and cons of Kickstarting for Theatrical Distribution.  It led me to write this comment on the blog which I repost here in modified form. I have … Continue reading

Posted in Distribution, Independent Film, Innovation, Internet, Marketing | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

99% of All Filmmakers Should Crowd Fund

The original version of this piece appeared a year ago on  the Future of Film Blog at Tribeca Film.com, a blog I created and edited. There is nothing more frustrating and time consuming for a filmmaker than raising the money … Continue reading

Posted in Independent Film, Innovation, Internet | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Another Crack in the Mass Media Wall

Our mass media ecosystem relies on a constant flow of money to sustain itself in its present form. This flow of money comes from many directions, including but not limited to TV advertising revenue, basic and premium cable subscriber fees … Continue reading

Posted in Advertising, Distribution, Hollywood, Innovation, Internet, Marketing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 16 Comments

The 1,000 True Fans Strategy

In the movie business, the audience is usually described as either mass or niche.  Typically, Hollywood movies seek a mass audience and independent movies seek a niche audience. Today, there is a new way of thinking about the audience that … Continue reading

Posted in Distribution, Independent Film, Innovation, Internet, Marketing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Are you Mister Jones?

In 1965 Bob Dylan released Ballad of the Thin Man, which contains this memorable three line chorus, “Because something is happening here. But you don’t know what it is. Do you, Mister Jones?” These lines were referenced in an excellent … Continue reading

Posted in Independent Film, Innovation, Internet | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

What if you could tip a filmmaker?

At the end of 2011 Louis CK pulled something off that a few years ago would have seemed like an impossible dream. He created a video of his own standup comedy show, put it up on his own site to … Continue reading

Posted in Independent Film, Innovation, Marketing | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Paul Schrader wants to be your friend

Two months ago, my wife and I were leaving a movie theater when I turned on my smart phone and got the following email message from Facebook. “Paul Schrader wants to be your friend.” Somehow having just come out of … Continue reading

Posted in Independent Film, Innovation, Marketing | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments