Deal or No Deal: The Road to Self-Distribution, SXSW, 3/10/08

Moderator:

Karina Longworth, Spout.com

Featuring:
Stacy Schoolfield, Producer, Jumping Off Bridges
Kelly Sanders, Truly Indie
Sara Pollack, Film Manager, YouTube
Mark Halperin, President, Magic Lamp Releasing (absent?)

At the very beginning, moderator Karina Longworth laid out the premise of the panel: looking at self-distribution as the first resort, as opposed to the last resort.

Stacy Schoolfield was the first panelist to speak. After producing the movie Jumping Off Bridges, Schoolfield took the film to SXSW, expecting it to get a distribution deal. There was no initial distribution deal. Instead, what happened was that a mental health field professional saw the film and thought it would be appropriate to screen for her colleagues. Later, she called theaters in 26 cities and combed Lost fansites (Michael Emerson from that show appears in the film) to promote the film. She got the ultimate flattery when fans began to incorporate clips from Bridges into video tributes to Emerson. Eventually, Jumping Off Bridges got picked up by New Day Films, a distribution company specializing in educational films.

Sara Pollack, prior to her hiring at YouTube worked on a film titled Duane Hopwood, which only received a minuscule release despite debuting at the Sundance Film Festival, and having notable names like David Schwimmer and Janeane Garofalo star in it. Pollack believes that filmmakers are becoming wise to bad deals given by major distributors, and to the virtues of self-distribution. "You know your audience best," Pollack said.

Kelly Sanders works for Truly Indie, an offshoot of Magnolia Pictures. Truly Indie, like IFC First Take, is an outlet for brokered self-distribution. Whereas Magnolia would approach the filmmaker, it is the other way around with Truly Indie. Truly Indie only accepts 8-10 pictures a year, and if the filmmaker has a promotion idea, Truly Indie will work with the filmmaker. The filmmaker must pay Truly Indie a flat fee based on the cost of the opening.

Sanders believes that theatrical releases are still important, as they bring credibility to the film. Documentaries are usually the most successful in self-distribution, as people tend to read documentary reviews.

Overall, the panel was very encouraging. I got to introduce myself to Karina afterwards, explaining that I was the girl from "HOWL (For Lindsay Lohan)". Yippee!

An Introduction to Sony's New XDCAM EX Camera System- The Little Camera That Will @ SXSW, 3/10/08, 11am.

Presenter:
Mike DesRoches, Sony Electronics Sales Support Engineer

Lately I've been in the market to get a prosumer camera for my YouTube work, and possibly, depending on the model and the affordability, make my next movie as well. I had a chance to view this camera at SXSW's trade show the day before:

DesRoches started the panel asking for a show of hands: How many of us owned a prosumer camera, and how many of us were interested in buying one. I raised my hand at the latter. He encouraged the audience to look around and find the camera that's right for them. My main issue is that DesRoches spoke at a rapid fire pace that was sometimes too fast for me to keep up while I was taking notes.

The Sony XDCAM EX is a small (for a prosumer camera) that has many benefits that a larger camera has. It's capable of a full HD frame with a pixel ratio of 1920 x 1080, and also a smaller pixel ratio of 1080 x 720. It stores video footage in an MPEG-2 Format with up to 140 minutes on a 2x16 GB Card.

The user is able to set the frame rate of 24P, expanded focus, and the option to over or undercrank. And those interested in stop motion claymation would be relieved to know that now you can finally create your homage to the Rankin-Bass cartoons that play every hoilday season. The camera has a capability of shooting at 2, 6, & 12 frames per second. The XDCAM EX also comes with an auto focus assist.

DesRoches then showed a demonstration of footage made with the XDCAM EX at the trade show, of a toy carousel rotating.

The camera comes with a battery charger, cables, firewire, operating instructions, a wireless remote and shoulder strap. If it's shipped within the United States, it comes with a free memory card. In DesRoches' personal opinion, it's the best camera you can find under $22K.

Actors' Workshop With Jeffrey Tambor, SXSW Film Festival, 3/9/08

Featured Speaker: Jeffrey Tambor, Arrested Development, The Larry Sanders Show

With:
Greta Gerwig, Actress/Writer, Hannah Takes The Stairs, Nights & Weekends

Kent Osbourne, Actor/Writer, Hannah Takes The Stairs, Nights & Weekends, Spongebob Squarepants

I'm a fan of the TV Show Arrested Development, but I really didn't have much interest in attending this panel until I discovered that Tambor would be working with Greta Gerwig and Kent Osbourne.

The panel started off with Tambor asking Kent and Greta about their insecurities as actors. Kent replied, "I'm afraid of forgetting a line." Gerwig and Osbourne played out a scene from a play by John Patrick Shanley. Once the two were done, Tambor asked Greta how her character felt about her friend, Kent's character. In first person, Greta replied: "I love him, and I hate him."

Casually, he asked Greta, "Have you ever been in love?"
"Yes!" She replied.

Greta Gerwig and Kent Osbourne in Jeffrey Tambor's Acting Workshop

Tambor advised the actors in the audience that they should rehearse as the camera is being set up, and also to write arbitraries in the margins of your script. Tambor also suggested that instead of the actor try to act well, they should aim to act badly.

"People are Ridiculous!"

Gradually, Kent and Greta became less inhibited, to the point where they were chasing each other around the room. As Tambor gave the two more suggestions, Greta and Kent experimented with their parts.

Tambor also had advice for budding directors, telling them to follow the actors to craft services, get under their skin, and be personal with their subjects.

"The more personal you are, the more personal they are."

Toward the end of the program, Tambor asked Kent and Greta if they learned anything from the workshop. Greta realized that she was a better actress than she thought she was. Tambor also took questions from the audience. Here are a couple of these questions.

Q: Do you like watching dailies?
A: No, I don't like watching dailies.

Q: What is the greatest betrayal?
A: Piss on them, I don't know. I don't think you want to hurt someone. The more you live, the more people hurt you.

SXSW- A Conversation with Helen Hunt - March 9, 2008

SXSW Film Conference & Festival
A Conversation with Helen Hunt
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Austin Convention Center – Room 16AB – 3pm

Christy Lemire moderates a discussion with Helen Hunt at SXSW.

Moderator:
Christy Lemire - Movie Critic, Associated Press

Panelist:
Helen Hunt – Director/Writer/Actress - Then She Found Me

Lemire: What’s it been like screening Then She Found Me?

Hunt: The fun part is to have other filmmakers see it.

Lemire: Your film has been 10 years in the making. What made you decide to direct the film?

Hunt: I wanted to wait to find the right story and to create a character that was me. It would take too much time to tell other directors what to do.

Lemire: How did you know you could direct?

Hunt: I didn’t know. I worked with a lot of different directors.

Lemire: Who influenced you?

Hunt: Jim Brooks. He holds a place in my psyche about movies that appeal to me. This movie is hopefully a funny movie about betrayal. I learned from Brooks that you have to have that one magic sentence. It took me at least a year to get to that sentence. It was a painful topic. Other directors who shall remain nameless have shot down the camera operator’s opinions on a film set, for example. I wanted to be brave enough to hear other people’s ideas. I was very alone. The Coen Brothers have each other. I had just me. I wanted my character and the audience to feel betrayed over and over again. The color of Bette Midler’s suit spoke to the one sentence about betrayal. How do I get all the fun out of Bette, but trick the audience? I hired good actors. I looked at The Rose and her broader work.

Lemire: Why did you cast Salman Rushdie as the gynecologist?

Hunt: It was to introduce the notion they weren’t praying to any particular G-d. I hired someone to play the doctor who is Indian. I auditioned actors and doctors, then Rushdie wanted to read the part.

Lemire: How does being a mom yourself resonate with you?

Hunt: The movie couldn’t have existed without my being a mother. You need the magic sentence of the movie and what the protagonist wants: a baby. It’s filled with potency.

Lemire: What do you know now that you wish you’d known at the offset?

Hunt: Every member of the crew matters. Make sure you get along with them and they give a shit. Ask them all to take it personally. It’s the last 10 years of my life.

Lemire: Does it help coming from acting as a director?

Hunt: I suggest any potential filmmaker take an acting class. It’s a definable learnable skill.

Lemire: Are women directors making strides?

Hunt: Yeah, the election. I don’t understand why it’s so disproportionate. One of my biggest strengths was I knew the movie well enough. I just wanted to get my movie made. My pride took a back seat. If I had been asked to take four great parts this past year, I wouldn’t have been able to make this movie. It’s better for having been smaller.

Lemire: Would you do it again?

Hunt: I wrote a script based on original material that’s similar in tone. It’s a comedy about some things that are funny and some things that are not so funny.

Audience Q&A:

Q: When you go ‘No’s,’ what kind were they?

Hunt: Every kind. Bette & I – No. Screenplay – No. People felt it fell in between in terms of its size. In the end, I just backed into the budget. It was very small.

Q: What was one of the main issues you had with music licensing?

Hunt: I didn’t have any. Had a friend who is a composer, but lost him, then found Dan Mansfield to do the music. He was a child prodigy. I wanted an acoustic score to drive the movie. Dan used my friend’s guitar. There was one cello player also we hired in New York.

Q: Did winning an Oscar help you?

Hunt: It probably helped a little, but I didn’t get a “yes” till many years later.

Q: How much trouble was it to get distribution?

Hunt: I assumed I wouldn’t, but I was invited to show it at Toronto. Here at SXSW, we have a cool little indie distributor called ThinkFilm.

Q: What’s the overall career message you learned?

Hunt: If you think you can write something, write something.

SXSW - No Budget Filmmaking - March 9, 2008

Sunday morning I was on the phone with my airline trying to re-arrange my flight so I could stay a little longer at SXSW and in the process, I missed pretty much all of the No Budget Filmmaking panel, however I did make it to the last five minutes and got to sit in on the last audience question. I really wish I was able to get there at the beginning as one of my very own questions was asked by moderator Agnes Varnum. A few weeks ago, Agnes posed the question on her blog if anyone might have any questions she could ask. My question was: With the success of your films, you’ve gotten to travel to many film festivals across the country and throughout the world. Would you say you spend more money on traveling with a film than making the film itself? Do you ever factor in the traveling into your budget, or how do you finance your trips? If anyone was at this panel and know what the panelists answers were, please send them my way. Thanks!

SXSW Film Conference & Festival
No Budget Filmmaking
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Austin Convention Center – Room 15 – 11am

Moderator:
(AV) Agnes Varnum - Editor, Doc It Out

Panelists:
(PH) Paul Harrill - Lovell Films
(TW) Ti West - Director, Trigger Man
(JS) Joe Swanberg - Director, Hannah Takes the Stairs
(AK) Aaron Katz - Director, Let's Get Down to Brass Tacks

Audience Q&A:

Q: How do you validate your success?

Swanberg: You have to be ambitious, but can’t be an asshole. You have to get along with people. Had we not screened Kissing on the Mouth at SXSW, it may be likely I’d still be a web designer in Chicago.

West: If it wasn’t for Matt Dentler, we’d be doing something else now. He watched my DVD and called to tell me it wasn’t working and wanted another copy.

Dentler: It’s not true. You guys would have done fine.

Harrill: You have to do something different. That’s what’s going to have someone call you and say I want to finish watching your movie.

West: People hate my movies. They get criticism. You have to take the good with the bad.

SXSW - Race, Politics and Drugs: A Harold & Kumar Panel - March 8, 2008

I was supposed to see Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay at a press screening the day before this panel discussion, but there was a problem getting the print to the theater, so the screening was delayed and by the time it was to take place, I already was in another screening (American Teen), so couldn’t make it. But I did hear accounts of people who saw the film at its premiere, everyone having very good reactions, saying it was downright hilarious. I’ll have to wait to see it when it comes out in theaters on April 25.

SXSW Film Conference & Festival
Race, Politics and Drugs: a Harold & Kumar Panel
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Austin Convention Center – Room 16AB – 1pm

(John Cho & Kal Penn. Photo by Erin Scherer.)

Moderator:
Robert Wilonsky - Film Critic, HDNet/Dallas Observer

Panelists:
Neil Patrick Harris - Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay
John Cho - Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay
Kal Penn - Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay
Jon Hurwitz - Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay
Hayden Schlossberg - Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay

Wilonsky: How did the idea of the sequel come about?

Schlossberg: We were presented with the challenge to continue the story going off to Amsterdam. The idea was that maybe while Harold and Kumar were at the airport, they would be racially profiled and get sent to Guantanamo.

Wilonsky: Were you anxious to get back into the roles?

Penn: We had such a great time making the first film. The second one kept getting delayed.

Wilonsky: What did you want to see with it?

Cho: We were concerned that the sequel be as interesting and as smart as the first. That’s what took people by surprise with the first. It was difficult to replicate, but the sequel did so and went further.

Harris: (Jokingly) I was very excited to cash in on the sequel. I asked for a lot of money. They told me Anthony Michael Hall was on the other line.

Wilonsky: What kind of discussion did you have with Kal and John on where the sequel was going?

Schlossberg: We all just wanted another chance. We tried to keep this thing smart and amp it up a notch. This time we all knew each other. We had to build chemistry the first time around. We needed to please the audience. This time, expectations are higher.

Wilonsky: How do you please the audience’s expectations?

Hurwitz: It’s about staying true to the characters and not making them caricatures. There the same people you know and love. People like to see these guys go through all their troubles. The challenge of the first movie was to get people to care about these two going to White Castle. The second film goes in the opposite direction and they have their freedom at stake.

Wilonsky: The first film was subversively political, while the sequel is more blatantly political. Was this important to you?

Penn: Not really. It’s great that it’s politically relevant, but my job as an actor is to create this world. The stakes are higher.

Cho: I liked it more as a conceit. It’s more of a device to amp up the stakes. I don’t think the movie has anything worthwhile to say politically. It uses the current political climate to make vagina jokes. (Audience laughs out loud!)

Penn: The first film was more about weed, where the sequel is more political, but I don’t think that’s what it’s really about. It’s more about two friends.

Wilonsky: On the commentary track of the DVD, you talk about politics.

Schlossberg: That’s mainly an accident. Our goal is to have the audience laughing constantly. The first movie had different layers to it. Like John said, it’s really about the vagina jokes. (Another big laugh from the audience.)

Hurwitz: What made us settle on this story was realizing the political resonance. After making the first movie, John and Kal did a publicity tour. Their experience at the airports wasn’t the best. They can tell this story in a completely ridiculous comic way.

Cho: The last time we flew here, Kal got asked to step over by a TSA rep at the airport and the guy behind him had a knife.

Penn: I was the big distraction.

Cho: The man had come from a camping trip and he got through security okay.

Penn: You see how racial profiling makes us all feel unsafe.

Wilonsky: What did you want to do with your roles the second time around?

Harris: I was super stoked to be a part of it again. It sort of revitalized an aspect of my career. Gave it sort of a hipness factor. Without this, I wouldn’t have been cast in How I Met Your Mother. I was making fun with instead of jokes at me.

Schlossberg: Some of the best days are when Neal shows up. It pumps everyone up. We wrote it in the first script and didn’t know he would agree, but he said yes.

Audience Q&A

Q: How hard was it to get non-white actors in the leads?

Hurwitz: It was important for us to not make David & Jason Go to McDonald’s.

Schlossberg: In our initial meeting with the guys they loved the script. We wanted to make “this” movie. It was something you thought would be difficult, but it wasn’t.

Cho: My agent called saying these producers love you. It was hard not to be suspicious. I was paralyzed with gratitude when I was offered the part.

Penn: We met at a party. Hurwitz said, “Whoa! You don’t have an accent.” I put up my wall. Got talking and read the script. I had a weird conversation with people about limiting roles.

Schlossberg: It was very important in the first movie to lace in some Korean and Indian cultural things throughout.

Q: Why didn’t you get the rights to show the clip from Sixteen Candles in the first film?

Schlossberg: One of the biggest laughs in the movie is the clip of Long Duck Dong from Sixteen Candles, but we didn’t get the rights to use it.

Hurwitz: We don’t know what John Hughes’ motives were. We wanted Harold and Kumar to be at ease in the world. Even those they’re frustrated for getting picked on, they’re better than that.

Q: Did you run into any resistance about content?

Schlossberg: It’s a virtual no. They’re done on a certain budget where the studio just let us do what we wanted to do. There was a lot of frontal nudity.

Q: When you got the script for the sequel, what did you think of it initially?

Cho: (Jokingly) I was thrilled. I thought this whole torture business was a great fortune to all of us.

Penn: I have no part in that comment. I loved that the stakes were higher. I was amazed we were going to do the scene with the George Bush look alike. It’s just a satire. In the majority of countries in the world, if you satirize the leader, you’ll probably get thrown in jail.

Q: How difficult was it to get distribution the first time around?

Schlossberg: People ask us if White Castle came to us. We wrote it in the script because White Castle was an authentic place that would fit into the story. When writing a screenplay, you don’t have to think about the business. With White Castle, it turned out to be a family-run business. They loved Harold & Kumar.

Hurwitz: We weren’t ware of the exact challenges of distribution for the first movie. As soon as New Line tested it, they knew they could release it wide. New Line was also supportive of the sequel.

Q: How did Harold & Kumar change for you in the roles you are offered and take?

Cho: It’s my calling card at this point. I’m not sure how much it’s changed. It’s a tough question.

Penn: A clear example is The Namesake, based on an amazing novel. I tried to get the rights to make it into a film, but Mira Nair already had. I tried an aggressive approach to get involved. Her son asked her to audition the guy from Harold & Kumar. Without him being a fan, I wouldn’t have been offered The Namesake.

SXSW 2008 Film Winners Announced

The SXSW press office sent me news of the festival award-winning films. And the winners were:

Jury Awards

REEL SHORTS

Special Jury Award - "The Second Line," Director: John Magary.

Winner - (Tie) "Warlord," Director: David Garrett & "Small Apartment,"Director: Andrew T. Betzer

ANIMATED SHORTS

Special Jury Award - "I hate you don't touch me or Bat and Hat," Director:Becky James

Winner - "Madame Tulti-Putli," Director: Chris Lavis & Maciek Szczerbowski

EXPERIMENTAL SHORTS

Special Jury Award - "Upwards March," Director: Kaveh Nabatian

Winner - "Safari," Director: Catherine Chalmers

SXSW WHOLPHIN AWARD

Winner - "Glory at Sea," Director: Benjamin Zeitlin

MUSIC VIDEOS

Special Jury Award - (TIE) Group Sounds, 'Temporarily in Love,' Director:Randy Scott Slavin & Cornelius, 'Fit Song,' Directors: Keigo Oyamada &Koichiro Tsujikawa

Winner - TV on the Radio," 'Me-I,' Directors: Mixtape Club & Daniel Garcia

TEXAS HIGH SCHOOL COMPETITION

Special Jury Award - "Inflections," Director: Matthew Campbell

Winner - "Picnic," Director: Wesley Bronez

ON NETWORKS GREENLIGHT AWARD

Best Original Production - "The Guild," Director: Jane Selle Morgan

Best Original Series Idea - "Knock Off," Written: Brandi-Ann Milbradt

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

Special Jury Award - "Full Battle Rattle," Directors: Tony Gerber & JesseMoss

Grand Jury Award - "They Killed Sister Dorothy," Director: Daniel Junge

NARRATIVE FEATURE

Special Jury Award for Cinematography - "Explicit Ills," Director: MarkWebber

Special Jury Award for Best Ensemble Cast - "Up With Me," Director: GregTakoudes

Grand Jury Award - "Wellness," Director: Jake Mahaffy

Audience Awards

EMERGING VISIONS

Winner - "In a Dream," Director: Jeremiah Zagar

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

Winner - "They Killed Sister Dorothy," Director: Daniel Junge

NARRATIVE FEATURE

Winner - "Explicit Ills," Director: Mark Webber

24 BEATS PER SECOND & LONE STAR STATES Winners will be announced on Monday, March 17th.

Pictures from SXSW 2008

Check out the pictures I took at SXSW here.

FYI, the pictures from the Harold & Kumar panel discussion were taken by Erin Scherer.

I also want to plug Hatbox in Austin, TX, where I purchased the Western hat you'll see me sporting in a few of the pics.

SXSW - Fact or Fiction: Blurring the Lines Between Docs & Narratives - March 8, 2008

SXSW Film Conference & Festival
Fact or Fiction: Blurring the Lines Between Docs and Narratives
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Austin Convention Center – Room 15 – 11am

(L to R: Ronn Mann, Jared Moshe, Karim Ahmad, Mike Akel, Evan Shapiro & Sean Farnel)

Moderator:
Sean Farnel - Hot Docs

Panelists:
Ron Mann - Director, Grass (SXSW 2000)
Jared Moshe- President, Sidetrack Films
Karim Ahmad - Programming Dept, ITVS
Mike Akel- Writer/Dir/Producer, SomedaySoon Productions
Evan Shapiro - GM Exec VP, IFC TV

Farnel opened with a definition of the word ‘documentary’ from the book For Documentary: “images perceived as signifying what it appears to record.” Farnel said that this definition gets to the heart of documentaries and filmmakers have to make a choice about documentary reality. He then points to a sense of polarities in the style of documentary films, those being either cinema verite (ie. Herzog) or stories exactly how they happen (ie. Maysles).

Farnel: How should filmmakers represent the facts?

Mann: All documentaries are propaganda. Some docs are influenced by a hybrid faction/non-fiction form. It’s an evolution of an art form. I think I’m working in the essay form. I’m telling my version of the truth. In the late 1980s, there was a movement of filmmakers being the protagonist. You need to search for authenticity that everyone craves.

Farnel: What is your distinction for documentaries?

Moshe: In some ways, all documentaries are hybrids. As much as you see the truth, it’s the way the director wants you to see it. For example, Kurt Kobain About a Son was a highly constructed documentary that used hours of archival audio and was shot around that structure. For the film Beautiful Losers, they made a different kind of film based on what they had. You have to make a movie for people to watch.

Farnel: What are some choices made in representing events on how they unfold?

Ahmad: For example, Susanne Mason’s Writ Writer is a film of the construction of history. The filmmaker struggled with how to make prison journal writings compelling to an audience. Taking them verbatim wouldn’t have worked as well. She took composites of the journals to portray the subject’s personality. She was upfront about the process.

Farnel: How can documentaries influence narratives? What are some strategies?

Akel: Chalk was a mockumentary with scripted improve using both actors and non-actors. We shot it before ever seeing The Office. We entered it into the True/False Film Festival and didn’t try to fool people there. The dilemma in storytelling is, do the actors know they are funny and how do we use them? There’s tension when using real people mixed in mainly as background performers.

Shapiro: We saw Chalk and didn’t know it wasn’t a documentary until half-way through the film. It works because you can’t tell the difference between the high school administrators and the actors.

Farnel: Are documentaries such as American Teen blurring the lines?

Shapiro: American Teen uses some re-creations. It’s a folly to say anyone is a purist. The second you put a camera on a person, that person changes. It’s a telling of a truth, but perhaps not the absolute truth. Teenagers today manipulate reality with their Myspace pages, telling their own stories. It’s the absolute version of painting a picture, using the elements at your disposal to create a character and story and to dramatize the situation.

Farnel: What is the responsibility of the filmmaker in terms of being transparent?

Shapiro: It is dependent on the point of view trying to be projected. For example, Michael Moore. He risks having his entire point undermined if it turns out it’s been manipulated. It’s up to him to be as transparent as he possibly can. It's supposed to be a work of art, I think it is okay.

Farnel: Is there any responsibility about constructing a scene?

Mann: No. I have a dream sequence in Go Further. I’m working as an essayist. I’m excited about the new form. Tales of the Rat Fink also has both documentary and dramatic elements to it. It’s all scripted, but based on writings. In Grass, there are a lot of re-creations for the point of ironic humor to get across a political message. That’s the tool that I have been using in different genres.

Akel: It’s about context. At True/False, the programmers didn’t want us to tell people if it was real or not. We need to give it some context while we can. I was teacher and it comes from my experience. We have a responsibility to ourselves as storytellers and to the audience, but to what degree is a big question.

Mann: I do have a responsibility to history. Don’t manipulate the facts. Do a lot of research.

Shapiro: Even in history text books there’s some manipulation. As an artist, the responsibility is not to change the facts. Audiences have to come in with their eyes wide open.

Farnel: What is ITVS’ policy?

Ahmad: Most of our projects go to PBS, which has a strict policy. If the film is constructed from the filmmaker’s point of view, PBS may be more accommodating. It’s taken on a case by case situation. Films don’t exist in a vacuum anymore. At ITVS, we do a lot of marketing and outreach to interact with the audience.

Shapiro: It’s interesting that PBS has strict guidelines. The prism is always there. There will always be a perspective on what you do and working within boundaries.

Audience Q&A:

Q: How does fair use fall into documentaries?

Shapiro: I’m trying to push my company on the fair use issue. Trying to create insurance on fair use. Fair use is the only way to not manipulate in the first place on the get go. A very vibrant well-constructed public domain enables us to get closer to the truth. It’s up to the filmmaker to use the Best Practices in Fair Use. For IFC’s Indie Sex, we had to use fair use or we couldn’t do it.

Q: What percentage of re-enactment can there be for a documentary to be considered for an Oscar?

Farnell: The Road to Guantanamo is a good example. It didn’t qualify for an Oscar nomination because it had too much re-creation.

The Skinny on Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg Panel At SXSW

I didn't get a chance to go the panel discussion with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg at SXSW, but Variety's The Circuit points to a Variety article about how the audience wasn't all too pleased with the moderator's moderating skills. I can't emphasize this enough, but a moderator can either make or break a panel discussion. Seems like in this situation, more things were broken than made. Only wish I could have been there to judge for myself.

SXSW - Stanley Nelson: History in the Making - March 9, 2008

I took plenty of notes at panels during SXSW over the past few days, so I thought I’d start by posting notes from my very favorite panel there by far, that being the discussion with historical documentary filmmaker Stanley Nelson. I had been a fan of Nelson’s documentary Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple, and really wanted to hear him speak about that and other films I have yet to see. Not only did he show clips from a few of his docs, he also showed a sneak peek of his upcoming film Wounded Knee that’s slated to air on PBS sometime next year. It was the first time the public has ever seen it. I often like panels that include film clips because they bring a lot of perspective into the discussion.

SXSW Film Conference & Festival
Stanley Nelson: History in the Making
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Austin Convention Center – Room 15 – 1pm

Pail Stekler moderates a discussion with Stanley Nelson at SXSW 2008.

Moderator:
Paul Stekler - University of Texas

Panelist:
Stanley Nelson - Exec Producer, Firelight Media

Stekler began the discussion by saying he had seen Nelson’s documentary Two Dollars and a Dream years ago and liked it a lot. Since then, Nelson has made multiple films including The Murder of Emmett Till and Jonestown: The Life and Death of the Peoples Temple. Now Nelson is finishing a film about Wounded Knee.

Stekler: What if any challenges do you face in making historical documentaries?

Nelson: Every film has a different challenge. One challenge is that you’re usually limited to the historical context. A lot of my films end up on TV and you have to work within the time slot. I kept Jonestown down to one and a half hours. You have to determine what you will leave in and what you will take out. You’re telling history, but also making entertainment.

[Clip of Jonestown: The Life and Death of the Peoples Temple. Scene of the last day of People’s Temple in Guyana before the massacre in 1978.]

Stekler: What was the challenge of making Jonestown? What was your game plan?

Nelson: Early on in the process, I found members of People’s Temple that were still alive. I wanted the film to be told by the people who were there. I originally thought we were going to do re-creations, but once I found out how much footage there was, I didn’t need to do that. I started collecting the footage there was. Nobody had ever put it all together. There was so much footage that NBC shot. One of the real limitations of the film was trying to do it without narration.

Stekler: Why do filmmakers shy away from narration?

Nelson: I think it’s a kind of style. For example, a lot of documentaries on HBO have no narration. In films that were about such topics as anorexia or rehab, you don’t really learn too much about the topics themselves, but more about the stories of the people dealing with them.

[Clip of The Murder of Emmett Till. The scene is a re-creation of the taking of Emmett Till with narration.]

Stekler: What were some of the challenges and the structure for Emmett Till?

Nelson: In 1955, Emmett Till was a black kid from Chicago who visits his uncle in Mississippi and gets murdered for whistling at a white woman. I found people who were witnesses to the murder who say things they never said before. It wasn’t my original intent. I had been there to get the historical perspective. When I first got the idea for Emmett Till, I wanted to see what also has been done on him before. There was an 11-minute short called Eyes on the Prize.

Stekler: Tell us your funny story about the re-creation of that scene?

Nelson: The last bit of them washing out the truck, that’s me in the overalls. I received a call from the MacArthur Foundation that same day between takes, and I was dancing.

Stekler: Did this film make the news?

Nelson: The last two people interviewed in the film had never talked about it before. I showed the film to an audience at the Schomburg Center in Harlem and a lot of people got mad and wanted to go down to the town where the murder took place. The case had been re-opened and investigated. They turned evidence over to the D.A. and it was decided not to do anything with it. Even though the suspects were put on trial, the case was never really investigated.

[Clip of A Place of Our Own about and African-American community on Martha’s Vinyard. The scene with Isabelle Washington, Adam Clayton Powell’s first wife.]

Stekler: Tell us about A Place of Our Own?

Nelson: I was interested in what African American lives are like. I wanted to do a film about black resorts. When I grew up, it was an unknown place. It had a black population in the summer. I mixed together a personal story of my own family history and this place. It was really strange. I would never do it again. It involved a lot of sharing. My editor and my wife pushed me to do it. It asked about growing up on an audio tape, and the editor listened to it and asked further questions. It was really hard. Why would anyone care? It was such a disaster that I thought no one would ever see it. I got it down to a fine cut and sent it to Sundance, where it got in. What was fascinating was I don’t think I had a clear idea when I was making this. I found home movies. I asked friends and family to get involved. The bad thing was that 95% of the home movies were made on the beach, and not within the homes.

Stekler: How do you see your role as a filmmaker?

Nelson: I’m very interest in the black middle class, because that’s my history and I don’t see them on film and TV. I’m also interested in telling stories of the institutions behind the history.

[Clip of Wounded Knee that will air on PBS’ American Experience sometime next year. Scene is an animated recreation of the children of Wounded Knee being sent to boarding school.]

Stekler: Tell us about Wounded Knee.

Nelson: In 1973, American Indian groups took over the town of Wounded Knee to draw attention to the massacre that happened there in 1890. The difficulty in making films about historical events is, how do you tell the story without a huge amount of back story? The film starts with the siege of the town, and then goes into the back story.

Audience Q&A:

Q: Have you ever been approached to do a social change documentary?

Nelson: I try to do a mix between historical and social change films. Running was about an election for city council in New York City in 2001. I did some10-minute short films on affirmative action. I’m doing one on immigration. Trying to do different things kind of gets old unless you take yourself away from it for a while.

Q: Is it always organic or do you start out knowing what your films will be?

Nelson: I don’t always know what they will be. I put an idea on paper and turn it into a proposal. I don’t do too much research. I don’t usually go into a pitch meeting and get a check right away. For Emmett Till, I got some books and only read the intro, table of contents and index. Then I begin a proposal. You need to know more than the people you’re applying for money from know.

Q: What choices did you make for the animation in Wounded Knee?

Nelson: One of my advisers didn’t like it. I had to try to figure out what there is new to do. A lot of people know something about boarding schools. I found a book of ledger art with drawings from their time at the schools. We thought it would be great to animate it. It’s been kind of controversial with the production team. We asked ourselves, does the animation make light of the actual events? They’re not complicated drawings. We hired an animator for it.

SXSW - Bi The Way - March 8, 2008

SXSW Film Conference & Festival
Bi The Way
World Premiere
Friday, March 7, 2008
Alamo Lamar 1 – 9pm

Video: The filmmakers with the cast of Bi The Way pose for a jump shot after the World Premiere at SXSW.

Directors: Brittany Blockman & Josephine Decker
Producer: Martha Shane
Cast: Josh Caouette, Jonathan Caouette, David Chapman, Lisa Diamond, Helen Fisher, Michael Musto, Pamela Moore, Dan Savage, Tahj, Taryn Wayne

Bi The Way is a feature documentary where filmmakers Brittany Blockman & Josephine Decker travel across U.S. to meet men and women from all walks of life who speak about what it means to be bisexual in America. After the World Premiere screening at SXSW, the two along with producer Martha Shane and several of the film's interviewees answered questions from the audience.

Q: What inspired you to make Bi The Way?

Brittany: It all started with an accidental viewing of The OC in the spring of 2005. I heard it was the 90210 of the new generation. I dropped the remote and was completely shocked to see Mischa Barton's character kissing another girl. Almost every mainstream show was featuring a bisexual character. I wanted to find out what was going on with the bi-media buzz, ie. Madonna & Britney Spears. We wanted to get in touch with America. I think we're going through a sexual revolution.

Josephine: The idea was scary to me. It's been a real journey, both emotionally and spiritually. I came from a liberal family in a conservative part of Dallas, but sexuality wasn't something we talked about.

Q: How did you find your subjects to interview?

Brittany: Through the Internet, word of mouth and Myspace.

Josephine: We really spent a long time in Utah trying to find bisexual Mormons, for example.

Q: How hard was it to get permission to go on school grounds to talk about sexuality?

Martha: People were open. We were honest with them. It's a question of being forthright with people.

Q: Did you get confused with labels?

Brittany: We were looking for people who encapsulated the whatever generation. Everyone has their own individual unique experiences. I don't think there is any prescription for bisexuality.

Josephine: The original title was going to be "In Search of the Ultimate Bisexual."

Brittany: One of our goals with this movie was to make it okay to say, "I don't know what I am."

SXSW - Second Skin - March 7, 2008

SXSW Film Conference & Festival
Second Skin
Spotlight Premiere
Friday, March 7, 2008
Austin Convention Center – 9pm

Director: Juan Carlos Pineiro Escoriaza
Producer: Victor Pineiro Escoriaza
Producer: Peter Schieffelin BrawerCast: Andy Belford, Anthony Cronin, Matt Ellsworth, Chris Mitchell, Heather Cowan, Kevin Keel, Dan Bustard

Directly following the screening of the Zellner Bros.’ Goliath was a documentary by director Juan Carlos Pineiro Escoriaza called Second Skin about computer gamers who participate in the virtual world known as Massively Multiplayer Online games (MMOs). Pineiro and crew were drenched with thundering applause as they entered the auditorium and introduced the film. Second Skin portrays a unique perspective of the lives of these gamers, who for the most part, spend much of their waking lives playing games such as Warcraft and Everquest. Some are married, some are single, some have met their soul mates by playing the games. The film explores the obsession behind this phenomena and how it can either bring people together with mutual interests as a community or adversely affect one’s life. There’s even a place for gaming addicts to go for support, a sort of 12-step program run by a woman who’s son was also addicted.

After the screening, Juan Carlos, Victor and Peter came out to answer questions from the audience. They were asked what inspired them to make their film. Victor answered that he played games such as Star Wars Galaxies and was transfixed by the experience of people interacting with each other from very long distances.

When asked how long it took to complete the film, Juan said it took approximately two years, 400 hours of footage and 900 pages of transcripts.

Asked if some of the computer companies whose games are represented in the film denied them rights to depict their games due to the fact the film confronts the issue of addiction, Juan said that Sony and Second Life were very cooperative, but the makers of World of Warcraft were hard to get a hold of.

One audience member asked if the filmmakers had any problems getting access to their subjects. Victor replied that so many of the people were very willing to share their stories. It was unbelievable and a miracle.

For the question, did your presence as filmmakers make the subjects look at their lives differently, Juan felt the best way to answer that was to bring the subjects in attendance who had only just seen the film for the first time themselves, out of the audience an up to the podium to answer the question. One of the gamers said that it coalesced things that were already there and forced some self-reflection. Another gamer said the film has been a testament to the Internet. The online experience can broaden one’s life. Juan concluded that their stories are specific and of everyday humans.

SXSW 2008 - Goliath - March 7, 2008

Yesterday, I flew into Austin, Texas. On my flight were the fellas from Magnolia Pictures, and none other than former CBS News Anchor Dan Rather. Today was the first day of the SXSW Film Festival. I picked up my badge in the morning, and was supposed to see a press screening at 2pm of Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay at the Alamo Drafthouse on S. Lamar, but apparently the release print hadn’t quite made it to the theater, so it was re-scheduled for 5pm, but I wouldn’t have had enough time to get to the Austin Convention Center to see Goliath, which I have posted my notes from below. (FYI, I have just returned from a couple of parties. It is 1:44am Central. I plan to post my notes from the Second Skin World Premiere sometime tomorrow, and I will try my best to post as many panel notes as I can within the next few days. Please stay tuned.)

SXSW Film Conference & Festival
Goliath Screening
Narrative Feature Regional Premiere
Friday, March 7, 2008
Austin Convention Center – 6:30pm

Participants
Director/Screenwriter/Actor: David Zellner
Producer/Editor/Actor: Nathan Zellner


South By Southwest Film Festival Producer Matt Dentler introduced the Zellner Bros. before a screening of their latest feature comedy, Goliath. The film is about an every day Joe played by David Zellner whose wife leaves him and his best friend Goliath, a cat, mysteriously goes missing leading him to spin out of control as he learns of his pet’s whereabouts. The Zellners inject a lot of original humor to this seemingly depressing story, which actually does take a turn to the utterly bizarre, yet uplifting finale.

When asked by an audience member where David came up with the idea for the film, he said it was after seeing a dead cat on the side of a road and wondering whose it was. Being that there were dark musical undertones in certain scenes, another audience member asked about what some of their decisions were for the sound design. David said they wouldn’t normally choose something so base-y, but they wanted to portray an underlying sense of dread for those parts of the film. Nathan said they added string instruments to help balance out the darkness.

They were then asked about their process of filmmaking. Nathan answered that the film was shot last summer on nights and weekends. They often use much of the same crew form their previous short films, and they structured out the story before shooting it.

In one scene, David’s character is signing divorce papers with his soon-to-be ex-wife. There are several pages with lots of colored “sign here” stickers and the scene take a while to complete. One audience member asked why they chose to make that scene so long. David answered that it shows the pain of divorce. He actually shot several versions of it where there were longer and shorter stacks of paper. He thought the marriage and impending divorce had to come full circle. It wouldn’t have served well as a quick montage scene. It was more grueling drawn out.

After the discussion, David and Nathan pointed out some of the cast members in the audience, one of which was filmmaker Andrew Bujalksi who has a small role in the film as one of the bosses of David’s character.

SXSW Film Panel Schedule Now Available

As indicated in a previous post, today SXSW posted the complete film panel schedule online. Panels run from Saturday, March 8 through Tuesday, March 11. See here which panels you'd like to attend if you'll be in Austin during the festival.

SXSW Film Festival 2008 Panels Announced Today, Yeehaw!!!

Here's the latest news from the SXSW press office about the planned panel discussions. Stay tuned to The Film Panel Notetaker in March when I'll be there covering the panels over the first few days of the fest. I am especially looking forward to the Stanley Nelson, Helen Hunt, and Writers Strike panels, and the Harold & Kumar panel seems very clever and inventive. I don't think I've ever seen a panel on drugs, politics, and race before, at least not all in the same session. FYI, the entire panels lineup and schedule, will be available on the SXSW Website on Friday, February 15, which I will for sure be checking out so I can plan my entire SXSW schedule including what films I want to see.

SXSW Announces 2008 Film Panels

Billy Bob Thornton, Helen Hunt, and Stanley Nelson Among Speakers

Austin, TX ­ February 12, 2008 - The South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference & Festival is happy to announce its complete slate of panels and workshops for the 15th annual event in Austin, Texas. The SXSW Film Conference will take place in the Austin Convention Center during March8-11, and is open to all SXSW Film, Gold, and Platinum registrants. In addition, the SXSW Film Conference will co-host joint sessions with the SXSW Interactive Conference. Nearly 200 industry veterans and experts are on tapas speakers for the panels.

Among the newly-announced additions to the panels schedule are: A Conversation with Billy Bob Thornton & Dwight Yoakam on March 11, ComingSoon: The Making of a Trailer scheduled for March 10, An Actor's Workshop with Jeffrey Tambor on March 9, Drugs, Politics, and Race: A Harold & Kumar Panel and What the Writers Strike Taught Us on March 8. These panels join already announced highlights such as A Conversation with Harlan Ellison, Stanley Nelson: History in the Making and A Conversation with Helen Hunt, both confirmed for March 9.

The SXSW Film Conference will conclude on the afternoon of March 11 with A Conversation with Moby, where BMI's Doreen Ringer-Ross will conduct an interview with the prominent musician and film composer.

New this year for the SXSW Film Conference is Global Doc Days, an event built around programming by various international film organizations. In the Austin Suite of the Austin Convention Center, countries such as Mexico, Canada, Norway, and China will present some of their latest documentary programming to SXSW Film Conference participants. Global Doc Days will strive to bridge gaps between international documentary industries, and place itself as one of the only venues in the United States where such activity occurs. Two selections from Mexico, the documentaries Born Withoutand The Old Thieves, have also been added to official festival screenings lineup of SXSW.

The entire panels lineup and schedule, will be available on the SXSW Website on Friday, February 15.

SXSW Film Festival Announces 2008 Film Lineup

South by Southwest today announced the film lineup for its 2008 festival, which takes place from March 7-15 in Austin, Texas.

According to the festival press office, "Over the course of nine days, 114 features will screen at the festival, with 65 of those having their world premieres at SXSW 2008. Among the high-profile films added to the festival's "Spotlight Premieres" category are: Kimberly Peirce's Stop-Loss, Nicholas Stoller's Forgetting SarahMarshall, Martin Scorsese's Shine A Light, Michael Almereyda's NewOrleans Mon Amour, Joe Swanberg & Greta Gerwig's Nights and Weekends, Jay & Mark Duplass' Baghead, Liz Mermin's Shot In Bombay, Nanette Burstein's American Teen, Aaron Rose & Joshua Leonard's Beautiful Losers, Sylvia Stevens' Chevolution, Morgan Spurlock's Where in the World is Osama BinLaden?, and the festival's Closing Night Film, Stephen Walker's documentary Young@Heart. They join previously announced titles such as Opening NightFilm 21, as well as Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, DreamsWith Sharp Teeth, Then She Found Me, and Run, Fat Boy, Run."

FYI, The Film Panel Notetaker will be in Austin for the first few days of the festival covering the panel discussions. The complete list of panels is expected to be announced soon. In the mean time, you can view a list of most of the panels that are being planned here.

indieWIRE's "An Evening with Generation DIY" (Swanberg, Gerwig, Katz and Hillis) @ Apple Store SoHo – Thursday, August 23, 2007

DIY filmmaker Sujewa Ekanayake (Date Number One), who was in town from DC, and I headed over to the Apple Store in Soho Thursday night where we met up with A.M. Peters (NO Cross, NO Crown) for indieWIRE’s “An Evening with Generation DIY.” After the panel discussion, we met up with iW and other film bloggers at Botanica. The indieWIRE posse was there along with filmmakers Craig Zobel (whose film Great World of Sound is being released by Magnolia Pictures on Sept. 14 in NYC – See my notes from GWOS Q&A at BAM from back in June), Doug Block (51 Birch Street), Arin Crumley (Four Eyed Monsters), Michael Tully (Silver Jew), The Reeler’s S.T. VanAirsdale, Basil Tsiokis (NewFest artistic director), Agnes Varnum (Doc it Out), Pamela Cohn (Still in Motion), Matt Dentler, and this list goes on.

indieWIRE's "An Evening with Generation DIY" (Swanberg, Gerwig, Katz and Hillis) @ Apple Store SoHo – Thursday, August 23, 2007

Panelists:
Joe Swanberg (JS) – Director / Writer / Producer /Cinematographer /Editor, Hannah Takes the Stairs
Aaron Hillis (AH) – Director/Cinematographer/Co-producer, Fish Kill Flea
Aaron Katz (AK) – Director/Writer/Editor – Quiet City
Greta Gerwig (GG) – Hannah/Writer, Hannah Takes the Stairs
Matt Dentler (MD) - South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival Producer

Moderator:
Eugene Hernandez (EH)– Editor-in-Chief, indieWIRE

EH- “The New Talkies: Generation DIY” series at IFC Center brought us together tonight. Matt Dentler programmed a lot of these films at SXSW, which played a role in facilitating a place for these filmmakers to come together. How does this relate to DIY and Mumblecore?

MD- The term Mumblecore came from an indieWIRE interview with Andrew Bujalski (Mutual Appreciation). It’s a frustrating label. Seems limiting by creating a brand where a brand doesn’t need to be, but it has opened up doors to the filmmakers. The New York Times published an article about Mumblecore. People are starting to wonder what this movement is. Mumblecore represents excitement and enthusiasm about new films, but is not used too often, because it’s limiting. The films are bound by like-minded sensibilities. So far, they’re all good films.

EH- A lot of these films hadn’t played theatrically until recently. What’s the state for emerging filmmakers?

MD- Festival programmers are disenfranchised by what the media considers indie films. Mumblecore films open up a dialogue. SXSW took a stance to not program Sundance leftovers. I didn’t know any of these people before we selected their films.

[Clip screened from Hannah Takes the Stairs]

EH- What was the process of making this film?

JS- I had clear idea about the scenes, and we had time to try different things.

GG- There was no script. It was all improvised. You shouldn’t do anything in front of Joe or he’ll find a way to work it in the movie.

EH- What challenges are there to this process?

JS- Hannah is different from my other films, because they started from a script. Hannah was just a two-page outline so the actors could figure out who their characters were. The finished film was different than the movie we expected it to be. It’s a process of discovering the movie as you go along. I like to be excited and not know what’s going to happen. I edited the film each day after shooting. At the end of the day, we had finished scenes.

EH- How exciting was it for you Greta?

GG- I never acted in a film before (except for voicemail scene in LOL). I didn’t have any pre-conceived notions. It was a process of figuring out where the movie was going and finding out who Hannah was. All of Hannah’s boyfriends end up relating to the scar on her foot. It became a theme. We discovered it, liked it, and repeated it.

EH- You’ve had three years of features playing at SXSW. How do you feel your view of your process of filmmaking has changed?

JS- I started out more experimental. The shooting style hasn’t changed that much. I acted all of my previous films, but not in Hannah. The projects I’m acting in I tend to shoot more. Moving forward, I’m interested in telling more stories. My first film (Kissing on the Mouth) was more of a process of showing it to audiences at festivals. Audiences responded to the more narrative aspects.

[Clip screened from LOL]

EH- What is your connection to LOL?

AH- Partners with Andrew Grant on the DVD distribution label (Benten Films) with Ryko Distribution. We saw so many films flying under the radar. Our first title, LOL, comes out next Tuesday. I also co-directed the documentary Fish Kill Flea about a rag tag flea market in Upstate New York. It’s not a Mumblecore movie, but is DIY.

EH- What do you think as a blogger your take on DIY films represents?

AH- Have no lofty generalizations. Mumblecore tries to pigeonhole these films. I think it’s neat that we’ve come to a place without budgetary gatekeepers. It’s exciting these films are getting attention.

MD- There was a DV revolution in the late 1990s where you could shoot everything on DV, but didn’t have access to the editing equipment we have today. One of my favorite films is Tarnation.

[Clip screened from Fish Kill Flea]

EH- How did the idea for IFC’s “The New Talkies: Generation DIY” come about?

AK- IFC Center was going to screen my film Quiet City, then IFC First Take acquired Hannah Takes the Stairs. We talked about other films like Andrew Bujalksi’s Mutual Appreciation and the Duplass Bros.’ The Puffy Chair.

EH- What do you think ties these films together to be grouped as a series?

AK- Aesthetic qualities, shot on DV, except for Mutual Appreciation, which is shot on film. All films are different from one another, but attempt to explore the world around us in a truthful way with day-to-day life.

EH- How did your film Dance Party USA come about?

AK- I went to school in North Carolina and talked about what to do after school. Figured out a $3,000 budget I saved from working. Shot the film in Portland, Oregon.

MD- After viewing the screener DVD, I contacted Aaron right away. It’s really important to have your contact info on the DVD.

[Clip screened from Quiet City]

Audience Q&A

Q: In your (Joe’s) films, there seems to be a certain level of intimacy during certain scenes. How many people are on the set while shooting these scenes?

JS- There were four people including cast and crew on Kissing on the Mouth. I don’t like anyone to be there who doesn’t need to be there, so there are no distractions.

AK- On Quiet City, there was a five-person crew. Relatively small. Everyone is comfortable with each other.

AH- Three people on the crew of Fish Kill Flea.

Q: In Anthony Kaufman’s indieWIRE blog, he posted an entry regarding commercial distribution of films will be these types of films downfall. How do you feel about that?

JS- This is true for all movies in general. The best experience is having no expectations walking into a film. Commercial expectations change all the time. The film community is starting to look a lot like the music industry.

AK- I’d like people to be able to see my movies.

EH- As a performer, what kind of pressure does that create?

GG- It gives more people the opportunity to see me naked. I don’t really see a downside to it. I’m writing more things and acting in more films. It’s more pressure to be reviewed. Kind of scary.

AK- My next film is set in the 1970s, so it will require more money to make. It’s a positive thing to continue making the films I want to make.

Q: What are your next film projects?

JS- Nights & Weekends starring Greta about a long distance relationship. The web series Butterknife.

AH- Short film sometime in October to turn into a feature documentary about the decline of train culture in America.

AK- A 70s piece.

GG- The Duplas movie, Baghead. It screws with genres. They don’t want me to say too much about it.