Farcical Results

Week 7 is done for the COWTOWN FILM SERIES. Each week I get happier and more nervous. I’m still not done with my documentary, even though I’ve made some progress. I’m just looking forward to the end of the run. What the hell was I thinking? TEN WEEKS! What a dumbass I can be.

We had a technical glitch to start the show. I had bought John Whitney’s JVC deck that plays DVCAM tapes. I used it the week before for the main show and it worked flawlessly. This week, during the trailers, the audio was dropping in & out every other word. I waited until the trailer ended, then already had the other Sony DVCAM deck waiting on standby underneath it (as I don’t trust technology 100%). I got the S-video and audio cable switched out in less than a second, got the tape to eject no problem. I inserted the tape into the new deck and hit PLAY. After a second, it immediately powered off and showed me an ERROR MESSAGE – ERROR C32. I unplugged the deck and plugged it back in, holding down the EJECT button (an engineer’s trick I learned is that eject gets a priority if you are holding it down when the power comes up). Nope. No tape. I tried this 6 times and eventually it spit the tape out. Not eaten (thankfully). Pushed it back in and then it played flawlessly for the rest of the show.

Now that was in all about 3 minutes, but that is an ETERNITY with a live audience sitting in a dark theater staring at a black screen. Now, my backup is to have a DVD player on standby with the whole show on a DVD-R just in case I lose both decks, but that’s triple redundancy and NEVER a bad idea. People are paying MONEY ($) to see these movies, so I owe it to them, as well as the filmmakers, to ensure that their movies play, and look as good as they can. I’m not some wannabe punk that pretends to be a filmmaker; one day I want to be the real deal, so I try to present like the real movies as close as I can.

John Whitney’s MEASURED SACRIFICE got good reactions, as it’s a high end piece. I wish more of these pretend wannabe camcorder jockey’s could have seen this. It’s the kind of movie they think they’re making, but actually surpasses expectations. John has vision and skills. So few people actually understand and know what it is a DIRECTOR does. They are WRITER/PRODUCERS who think they are WRITER/DIRECTORS, but are completely clueless as to what DIRECTING actually is. In some ways they think just photographing the scene is enough, or worse that “cool shots” are what make a director. The INTENT and MEANING of the camera as a storytelling tool get wasted on these fools, and their “films” are little more than sad attempts. I only wish these types of beginners had a respect for seeing people’s work and being able to talk to them about HOW they achieve the same goals only at that much more professional level. We’re talking about similar budgets and yet one looks like a real movie and the other looks like a junior high talent show, yet they both strive to be “professional”. To have the opportunity to see these kinds of movies and then TALK to those filmmakers, and NOT do it seems to me to be as ludicrous as not learning from cinema history. Some people are ignorant, so what can you do? NOTHING, or blog about their ignorance.

Since we had a ton of SHORTS before THE FUNNY MAN from Mike McGraner, I played most of the TELEMARKTERS and UNCLE PETE’s and that’s the last any of these will play at the COWTOWN series. Again, UNCLE PETE killed, and the TELEMARKETER shorts played well, in fact the ending with the crying telemarketer got the first public reaction I wanted. It’s a risky ending with showing a cute (very very cute no less) Telemarketer crying her eyes out. This ending usually meets with silence as the audience doesn’t 100% know how to feel since we’ve been bashing these fairly off screen anonymous annoyers. This screening, after seeing most of those shorts play interspersed with other shorts and genres, the ending bit with the crying was met with laughter, but that specific guilty, almost politically incorrect “Oh Oh Ohhhh” laughter, and as I recently discussed – the laughter is infectious so more people joined in with those giggle-starters. I was complimented a lot on the UNCLE PETE shorts, as I didn’t take credit at any point or do any kind of Q&A for those. More and more people said they want to show people those online and spread the word. So my goals of going VIRAL may still happen, just taking even LONGER than I expected to occur.

I finally got rid of WINDOWS VISTA ™ on my basement computer. Unlike the last desktop that had that atrocity, this one was easy to remove with my XP discs. The last time, the Windows XP disc didn’t recognize the VISTA ™ partition and I had to get the hard drive manufacturers disc to format the drive and nuke the partition before I could install. I hate WINDOWS VISTA™. I think it’s a piece of Shiite and a waste. I do enough processor intensive work that I need a workhorse and I couldn’t care less how pretty the desktop is. I clear off any color, black background, with the most basic, unobtrusive work areas and I need every ounce of memory and resource to go towards my video and film work. On the same machine, my editing computer in the basement, with 2 gig of RAM, I saw over 1.5 gig of RAM being used just sitting there with WINDOWS VISTA ™, but the exact same machine using WINDOWS XP ™, it only uses 344 meg of RAM. That’s around 20% of the memory being used otherwise. The machine now runs literally 4x-8x’s faster depending on the process. Needless to say, SCREW VISTA™.

Now that some of the posters have started to come in and seeing how the designs look in print, I’m happy. We’re going to get some HORRORS OF WAR posters printed for the screening, but I had so much trouble with the IN THE TRENCHES poster, that I almost gave up. I wanted something classy and minimalist. Thanks to Photoshop ™, people tend to “over” design. Simple sometimes equates to elegance. There are so many people out there claiming to be graphic designers with no eye for composition or colors or just a general concept of aesthetic. I wish I could do more, but alas, I’m just not that interested. I only do what I have to do out of necessity.

My first attempt was mediocre to ugh.



This to me is precisely what I described above. Too busy for the same of being busy, like I have to use as many images as possible to get the idea across because I like each of the images individually. I was NOT happy with the design. It simply wasn’t what I wanted. I can’t explain it beyond the fringes of describing why you prefer one color over another or a flavor of ice cream. I didn’t think I’d have it in me to do what I wanted. As I have said, I am not a graphic designer, nor am I particularly proficient with Photoshop ™. Then I saw this DVD design that reminded me of some old MILES DAVIS album covers from the 1950’s and 1960’s, that I got deeply inspired and took a shot. Here it is:



And I came up with this because I was inspired by the truly elegant layout:


NOW I was happy. This was simple and what I feel is iconic for what the documentary is about. Neither John nor I are in the picture on the poster, but it’s not about ego. I wanted to show a photo that I felt encapsulated the idea of being “behind the scenes” of a low budget film. Jason Morris’ photo was perfect. To make it hold up to being poster sized, I chose to “stylize” the photo so that at its magnified level, it would have sharp, clean edges on everything. I dig it for its simplicity.

For the upcoming film ACCIDENTAL ART, I wanted very much to have a SAUL BASS style poster. In the year since that poster was made and designed, I’ve started to see posters that are similar and greatly inspired by Saul’s stylistic designs, IE BURN AFTER READING.



Styles and interests are cyclical. What goes around comes around, and this is true in popular culture over and over again. Geek becomes sheik at some point. The trick is riding the wave whilst being true to one’s self.

That’s all I got for now my dear readers.

Your faithful narrator,
Peter John Ross

Posters, Politics, and Pricing

Okay, so I’m getting ready (finally) to screen HORRORS OF WAR and IN THE TRENCHES OF AN INDIE FILM at Cowtown on November 13th. Part of what I am doing, and what I have asked the other filmmakers to do, was make and print posters. I decided I wanted a special edition poster for HORRORS OF WAR exclusive to this last and hopefully final exhibition. Since the film fits the “Grindhouse” style, we went with some grungy midnight movie style posters of yesteryear.



I wanted to give some tips on printing, as I’ve been doing posters for movies and screenings for 8 years. Now, some basic information people need to be aware of are as follows:

1. Movie Theater posters (called “one sheets”, not to be confused with the 8.5”x11” ONE SHEETS used in selling a film) are 27”x40” (length by height).
2. Real Movie Theater one sheets also have a reverse image on the back because they are usually illuminated from behind in poster cases outside and inside the theater.
3. An early, pre-release poster is called a “TEASER” or “TEASER ONE SHEET” with a simple design or concept style.
4. Smaller posters, especially reprints, are 23”x35” in size. These are what most posters you buy rolled up in bins (Spencer’s gifts anyone?).
5. 11”x17” legal sized posters are most often used to plaster walls and phone poles.

Getting your own poster printed can be a very pricey. I prefer to work with local printing companies. I feel like people give giant corporations enough money and there isn’t enough cash heading into the pockets of smaller, personal companies. So I am definitely willing to pay 10%-20% more for local work to the mom & pop shops. So in the past, when buying 27”x40” posters, they cost between $35-$45 each. Yikes, kind pricey. Today I was pricing those and shops were also trying to stiff me with a $25 one time “file” fee for having to deal with any kind of digital file from me. That means $60 for the first poster.



I have been using CAFEPRESS.COM for a while and without a doubt most of their products are greatly overpriced, and the quality of merchandise tends to be mediocre to poor. But they do offer a 23”x35” for only $17.99 and that’s a deal. The quality of the product looks amazing. I did a SONNYBOO poster, some earlier HORRORS OF WAR posters, etc. and the look pretty top notch. Paper quality, detail, and text all have very sharp properties. Their shipping is pricey, but they also tend to be fairly quick on turnaround too. I am going with them almost exclusively. I give them **********, the whole ten stars.

So lately, I’ve been collecting up posters for my own movies or movies I worked on. I’ve got the cool GOODNIGHT CLEVELAND poster because I like the color scheme and very simple design. I never dreamed when I was a kid, with the many STAR WARS one sheets on my walls that I’d ever own a movie poster with my name on it, especially a movie I either worked on, and even more unbelievably a movie I MADE. I frame my posters and it inspires me to keep working harder and get better as I make more movies.



Now, I’m struggling with the design for IN THE TRENCHES. I want simple and elegant, but my ideas keep getting too complex to quickly. I saw a CRITERION DVD cover art that might be a great inspiration for the aesthetic I have in mind. I’m also really into the BLUE NOTE RECORDS jazz LP designs from the 1950’s, and I like those color palettes and styles.

I do NOT consider myself a designer or particularly good with Photoshop or anything with print. This is not my forté so thankfully Phil Garrett stepped up to do the main designs for HORRORS OF WAR, but I’m stuck on the IN THE TRENCHES poster.

My Sexy Fiancé Veronica and I went with my father to see “W.” and it was okay. I agree 100% with most reviews that I don’t know who he made the movie for. It wasn’t scathing enough for liberals and it wasn’t flattering or sincere enough for conservatives. At the same time, it is a good film, but I’ll bet it suffered from the highly compressed shoot to post production schedule. As is usually the case with Ollie Stone, we can expect to see a “director’s cut” or special edition on DVD later when he has more time to comb through and make more informed decisions on the cut. Someone asked me why this film was put out at all if it won’t affect the election. My response was that it’s really meant for the opposite; the film benefits from the election, not the other way around. If they released this in January as George W. Bush left office, less people would care, and it will be less potent. It’s all about timing and they wanted to cash in on the box office of being the first film to take on a sitting president in 100 years.

Peace out my friends,
- Ross

Castigating the Clochards

Well now mister helper, THE SIGNIFICANCE OF TAD BARLOW broke our box office record for the COWTOWN FILM SERIES’ 6th week. It was several years in the making and obviously a labour of love for many involved. There are moments where one can vicariously feel the sense of accomplishment and the joys of screening a film for the first time. Todd Russell and David Ball’s Q&A (to which I felt no need to really participate and they went with it very naturally) was genuine and enthusiastic. I love being some small part of giving that gift to people, even when I don’t know them very well.



The after-party went on till the bar closed. Funnily enough people accused me of being “shit-faced” because my eyes were bloodshot and nasty, but that was from a lack of sleep. I cannot drink, and I don’t indulge. I used to drink and when I was particularly young, I had a problem with the bottle. These days being overweight and having gout prevent me from even having a sip.



It was great to see so many supporters out for the screening. I am most grateful to that core group of people who have been coming consistently from the first day. From some of the “newbies” on the scene to some of the professional/semi-professional filmmakers, there are some people, who I didn’t at the time know that well, that truly support the real filmmaking scene. I’m trying to show movies from the one notch or above amateur level material.







Yet again, the Uncle Pete shorts killed. It was risky this week because the audience had a lot more grey hair (as if mine isn’t pretty grey, but theirs matched an older demographic). These are risqué and an older, more mature crowd may not appreciate the irony.



I have a mathematical theory on comedy in a movie theater presentation. What happens is that the people who “get it” will laugh out loud once for sure, but they only give the laugh one more shot. If LESS people laugh on the second laugh, they feel self conscious and won’t laugh again. The other option, that thankfully happened for me this week, MORE people laugh; then the old axiom “Laughter is infectious” becomes somewhat viral and true. Basically, the few laughing make the rest of the audience feel it’s OKAY to laugh at the humor, or they feel like they are being informed what is and isn’t funny by the rest of the audience they are in.The amorphous audience can be swayed one direction or another by the collective vibe.



Equation:

If LAUGH 2 < LAUGH 1 = NO MORE LAUGHS, lame crowd and a “miss”

If LAUGH 1 > LAUGH 2 = MORE LAUGHS, hip crowd and a "hit"



This is the premise and art form of theatrical exhibition. Steven Spielberg made his whole early career on studying and practicing this art. I have followed this path with all the film festival screenings and my own presentations. It is the best way to learn the effectiveness of your INTENT versus REACTION of the audience. The more you can intuit the prediction of an audience reaction to something you write-direct-edit etc. the more effective you can become with the tools of the trade, IE moviemaking. This is why the so called “rules” of filmmaking can be such potent utensils. They work and have worked so well. This is also why film history becomes crucial TO ME. You have 100+ years of cinema history of what has and has not worked to study and use to your advantage. Never lose sight of the genuine emotional intent and try to please yourself as an artist, but if your goal is to also satisfy an audience, practice will make your efforts more on the ball.







I think my practice at these results in my events and screenings having decent attendance, especially in comparison to others I’ve been to. I have seen some pretty horrendous screenings and there are even some basic screening opportunities that could be so greatly enhanced with just a teeny bit of forethought, but some people are incapable of learning, or not interested in advancing this part of the filmmaking process. I guess that’s why they don’t get much better. Stagnation kills the growth of anything.



We shot the elements for the title sequence for IN THE TRENCHES OF AN INDIE FILM against Ye Olde Green Screen. I saw some of the results last night and I am pleased. Later today I’ll see the first pass of the title sequence. I had a very specific idea of what I wanted, but since I’m buried in editing still, I’ve asked TJ Cooley to do the actual title sequence, and if he adds some of his usual style to it, it might make a good demo reel piece as it is complex and cool. I wanted a :30 second JAMES BOND opener, not too long or anything as I just want to get to the meat of the movie.







We’re making a special ONE SHEET poster for the double feature screening. I like the idea of alternate poster designs, even if it’s only for my wall when it’s over. I’m amazed at how many people have an active interest in seeing HORRORS OF WAR November 13th. I get so blinded by my own being sick to death of it that people new on the film scene weren’t involved or got to know people who were and want to appreciate seeing what they’ve done. I’m far more excited about the documentary, if the still-procrastinating-in-progress-need-to-edit-attitude can be construed as “excited”.



There will be no Q&A for the HORRORS OF WAR double feature because the Documentary will cover pretty much most things anyone would ask. I have not done much to promote the screening yet, but since someone from the film didn’t know HORRORS OF WAR was even playing, I figure I might need to let people know.



Well, I’m going to see “W.” tonight with my father. He’s excited as hell because he’s an Ex-Republican and the real W. converted him. We haven’t had much chance to speak in the last few weeks so I want to talk to him about the economy etc. I never used to get jazzed to talk to my pops, but these days he’s become someone I like to spend time with. Life sometimes changes on you.



Peace out and don’t smoke crack – that’s a ghetto drug!



- Ross

Bilious & Brutish Interlopers

So we had a productive week here in the Columbus Film community. First off, the inaugural MOFA meeting, that’s Mid Ohio Filmmakers Association (imagine if it had been Mid Ohio Filmmakers Organization, it would have been MOFO). Now there speculation has begun that yours truly was behind this. I am not. All I did was take the several interested parties I knew of, who have dissatisfaction with the other film group, and put them in the same place at the same time. I have been asked my opinion on a few things, and gave said opinion, but the rest is on them. They did an amazing job putting together a meeting that, the Bar of Modern Art estimates, was over 70 people.

What an amazing contrast to the other Columbus film group! Their last meeting topped out at 11 people in attendance. Now, the two groups serve very different purposes. One is a social and networking opportunity, the other is basically a seminar and screening opportunity for first time or amateur filmmakers. Several people who are at more of a professional level needed a chance to meet and mingle with their peers and those transitioning beyond the confines of camcorder movies. I think both groups are important, and cater to a different audience entirely.



Strangely, one of the analysis I have come to reading people’s reactions is that it feels like, as it always does, people are drawing lines in the sand between the two groups. It always comes down to a kind of high school mentality for some people. It’s like we have the popular, good looking people forming one group, and the geeks and freaks in their kind of A/V club. Neither group is excluding anyone per se, but there are those feelings, whether self generated, or based on some tinge of reality, that cause people to feel cast out or unwelcome. I hope people overcome these mythical obstacles and just enjoy both groups for what they are.

Now the MOFA meeting was the night before the COWTOWN FILM SERIES week #5. I was afraid it would affect attendance, and it did, but we still hit our average of around 48-52 people in attendance for Johnny Wu’s THE RAPTURE. I was pleasantly surprised. Again, for the compare/contrast crowd, that was significantly more than the grand total for all combined screenings at a local film festival recently.



With less than 2 minutes before the end of the movie, the DVCAM deck seized up and stopped. I ran full tilt to the projection booth, saw the error message, so I unplugged the unit, plugged it back in, ejected the tape, expecting to see a devoured cassette unspooling, but it wasn’t. I pushed the tape back in & pressed play and it finished out fine. There’s nothing I hate more than poor presentation. I may have to switch over to DVCPRO and rent a deck if there are any more problems with this deck. I ran the head cleaner, but I don’t trust it. I have also put an offer out to purchase a deck that can play back DVCAM tapes, as a backup, but that cuts into the emergency funds and savings with the new Great Depression staring us in the face, but I am responsible singularly for the presentation at the COWTOWN FILM SERIES. I have to maintain the highest level of professional presentation. This is MY responsibility and I love other people’s movies enough to do whatever it takes, sacrifice something of my own, fall on the sword, to make someone else look as professional as I can make it.



Johnny always does an entertaining Q&A and he’s practiced at it, so I had very little to do or say. That was good, as I am getting burned out. After that show I realized I’m only at the HALFWAY mark. What the hell was I thinking? 10 weeks? This is a lot of work. I subconsciously knew what I was doing, but consciously, I have gotten older, more tired, and this is a massive undertaking. Is it worth it? Hell yes. I’m having a blast and so is the crowd. Even when the movie isn’t to the individuals liking, they still find merit or at least enjoy themselves at the after party.

Luckily, I got pretty far ahead on the work and the tapes. I have the next 4 Cowtown shows already completed and on tape…. Unless I have to convert them to DVCPRO, which will suck solely because of the time, but I will do what I have to do. As it is, I can just skate in, setup my system, and then we rock right into the pre-show. I have all the levels and connections all setup.

Today I’m buried “IN THE TRENCHES” trying to get this documentary finished. Finally my workload really is starting to drop off, which I thought would be a good thing, but it really isn’t. Business and freelance prospects are starting to feel the initial wave of the economy crash. In 3-4 months, we’ll all see the catastrophic effects of what’s happening with the stock markets. When the trickle down gets to “Main Street” (gotta love 24 hour news channel buzzwords), everything will dry up for a time. Expect Xmas to be dismal this year, but personally, I don’t get much into the season anyway.

Obviously, this blog is a minor form of procrastination preventing me from starting work on the documentary, so this is it.

Peace out,
Peter John Ross

PROGRESS, WITH A PARTICIPLE OF PARTYING

The stock market plummets, yet my stock goes up some. With the meager success of the COWTOWN FILM SERIES, along with it come the many people who either forgot me or just plain want something for nothing. This type of pattern belies the reality of our society here in the U.S. I no longer have harsh feelings, as it’s not personal, it just evolves that way. My absolute trust is something I don’t give away often. People play games and the expectation remains that people want you to play their games or you become some kind of pariah. I have no interest in the games. I actually mean exactly what I say and say exactly what I mean (without having to write it in a long winded, over bloated style).

Looks incredibly likely we’re going to set up a winter 2009 COWTOWN FILM SERIES. By then, several more features will be completed. It won’t hurt to have some new shorts from several people done by then too.



I actually got to edit last night on the documentary for November 13th. I forced myself into looking at it, doing some re-synching of audio, and that (as I knew it would) lead to me cutting stuff. I went into AVID and exported some raw footage to use as “B-Roll”, and to enhance some scenes I have. I actually cut the new OPENING of the whole documentary. It’s an interesting hodge-podge of stuff from one of the bigger days. Pacing for a feature length movie and a DVD-Extra are two radically different things. The old opening cannot be used as it’s not really apt, nor is a clip-highlight thing really apropos to what the overall theme.

I have decided to shoot something cool for the opening title sequence. Using the theme of “IN THE TRENCHES OF AN INDIE FILM”, I saw this technique that I want to apply using silhouettes and creating a virtual 3D trench. Where I’m going to find the time and inclination to shoot and create this, I don’t know, but hopefully there are enough gaps in my work schedule now to pull this off. I think I can. Power of positive thinking? Coming

The laundry list of things left to be done doesn’t seem as heavy now that I’m more or less coming up with my game plan on how to attack this and finish it on time. I may even replicate on DVD-9. I haven’t decided if I want to. Maybe when the movie is done I can say.



Something new in my mind is to utilize (with permission) some of the TV clips and interviews. It will help finish the “story” and explain a few things for us too. I realized nowhere at any time (other than on VIEWFINDER) do we address the whole TWO DIRECTORS, ONE FILM aspect. So that has to be inserted since we answered it eloquently together on that show (And the one of the only times John Whitney and I appeared together).

The hardest part is editing me? I hate looking at and even worse so, listening to me talk. I hear myself talk enough to other people, and now I have to hear me talking to myself? Ugh. I always understand other people’s hatred of me when I edit anything of me speaking.



I only procrastinate on something when I’m simply burned out. Anything to do with HORRORS OF WAR pretty much keeps me singed on the edges and crispy on the inside. I want to move past this movie, but this documentary is the last string attached. If I finish it, then screen it, and then it truly will be over. I can let it go away forever as more of a memory than this albatross.

The next phase is prepped and ready to go, but I cannot start until I keep my word and finish what I started. At least that motivates me to get ‘er done. This week I should be able to make even more headway on finishing the documentary. I plan on giving the project several more hours and whole days this week. If I can crack the nut, and get over the hump of initial work, then I can slide into home plate with a bit more ease.

Working on this makes “V” very happy. My being in his presence creates a sense of unbridled contention. As I type, he lays in a ball next to me, utterly decimating a box that he claimed as his mini-apartment that has lost 2 of its walls to his weight leaning against them. This guy makes me laugh. Cousette pretty much sleeps all the time now. She’s getting old. Poor girl.

We partied at Jessica’s Saturday night. My Sexy Fiancé Veronica ™ and I had a blast, as did most people present. I missed being social. That’s not an issue these days. With every Thursday night after parties for COWTOWN, soon to be MOFA meetings (Mid-Ohio Filmmakers Association), rehearsals, and my day job, I have no problems being the little socialite. I see and talk to people a-plenty lately.

That’s all I got for now acolytes of Boo. The Boo his self has grown tired and must allocate some time for working.

Peace,
Peter John Ross

RETRIBUTION AND REVELATION

Week four of COWTOWN went extremely well. JOHNNY APPLEWEED from Johnny Cotugno and Tamara Reynolds played for a packed crowd of over 200 people. In the short film line up, I added the SAD KERMIT short from Backwards Slate’s Max Goah. Man oh man did that hit well with the audience, as I knew it would. I programmed it after the Uncle Pete and Telemarketer shorts; you have to ditch your ego and program what works best and that piece I knew was a home run.

 

During the trailers, I did something a bit different. Since several of the audience members are repeat viewers, I felt that the trailers start to get a bit grating being the same every week. So for HORRORS OF WAR, I decided I’d mix it up since I personally have several trailers. Since it was a comedy night, I played the Japanese DVD trailer, and just in case the joke was lost, I added a title at the end that said “Now in English” and thankfully it got laughs, big laughs no less. Even more cool was that about 6 people approached me to say that the thought the trailer was so kick ass, they want to see the movie again.



The great and powerful short film channel MOVIEOLA from the Great White North has approached me about showing the new short films. I had not been quite the marketing whore I once was in that I never submitted the Telemarketers or Uncle Petes to them. Since they bought a British TV network too, this is a bigger outlet than it once was. Thank god I have a connection and history with them as competition for air time is fierce these days.

The big SUZUKI push ended. I’m blitzed. Even though this was a smaller order, which only meant that I did more of the work myself instead of bringing in more people to help. Now that the economy has crashed, only a few weeks off from my earlier prediction of Mid-to-Late-August, we can expect a serious draught in work for many in the film & video realm.

I had an interesting discussion relating to the effects of the economy on filmmaking on various levels. The “indie film” will die a pretty immediate death, from the $1,000-$1,000,000 stages. Private investment has just left the building as everyone’s property and stocks have plummeted. The mini-majors in Hollywood will be the first ones to feel the squeeze as the banks pucker up the credit.



What most people don’t realize about a major Hollywood film is that they are financed not by investors in most cases, but low interest loans from banks. Warner Brothers, Sony, Fox, and Disney have assets and values so they can get a loan, as opposed to private investment. That means that now that there is less credit available to banks from bigger banks, there is less money for Hollywood, even though they are, in a general sense, profitable. Since virtually every single “indie” studio had been gobbled up by the big studios, there ain’t no money for Indies either.

So with private investment, studio deals, all out of the option window, what can we do? In a lot of cases, just wait it out. Practice. Make shorts. What else is there? We’re screwed for the time being.

The home video market had already been decimated by piracy, gluttony of product, and a lack of profitability thanks to Netflix, Video on Demand, and alternate sources. It seems the very same things that widen our audience diminish our chances of fiscal success.



The future is unwritten. We face various forms of uncertainty. My prediction remains positive, as the unknown is the future. I know that the next generation, the next wave will be in the unexpected, unpredictable new form.

- Peter John Ross