Festivals have been a hot topic in the blogosphere as of late for their role in the distribution landscape. Recently, Jonathan Marlow of Green Cine Daily caused a bit of a stir when he suggested that festivals, which have replaced traditional theatrical as a distribution mechanism for indies and docs, start ponying up part of their ticket sales to filmmakers. AJ Schnack, DIY Filmmaker Sujewa and several others got into the fray, arguing that festivals provide benefits to filmmakers that go beyond screening fees. (It’s my opinion that this all should work on a kind of intern- paying job- mentor hierarchy in which the middle level of films, who are the most hard-hit in the current move away from independent theatrical exhibition, get fees from fests). But how many filmmakers are really even thinking about distribution at this point?

NewFest, The New York Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender Film Festival, is celebrating its 20th year with its 2008 festival going on now. Kyle Schickner, director of NewFest centerpiece film Steam (starring Ally Sheedy and Ruby Dee) shared some of his thoughts about distribution:

(ICI): How much thought did you put into distribution in general before you started shooting?

Kyle: One has to of course always be aware of distribution on some level, but honestly, I try to just put together a good film, something I would like to see, and figure others will respond to it as well. The problem with taking distribution into to much consideration, is you start to make decisions based more on selling the movie, and less on what serves the film best. And then what you get is “What Happens in Vegas”.

(ICI): Did you alter the way you produced the film itself in anticipation of screening it online and on mobile/portable devices?

Kyle: Sadly no. I am an analogue man in a digital world. My co-producer is always trying to get me up to speed.

(ICI): How difficult do you feel it is for independent filmmakers to access the many different marketplaces for broadband and mobile distribution?

Kyle: It is difficult for independent filmmakers to get access to ANY audience. But I think in the next 5 years, there will be a “revolution” with all the new technology (like what is happening with music) and voices that would normally not get heard, will find an audience. In many instances a huge audience. Hollywood is always a decade behind the trends.

(ICI): Do you have any concerns, hopes or positive experiences to share about digital distribution past/present/future? Do you feel like GLBT films will have an easier or more difficult time accessing an audience digitally?

Kyle: GLBT content will have a much easier time finding an audience. One of the things FenceSitter Films does is we make movies that deal with women, people of color and/or the GLBT community and unfortunately, mainstream Hollywood has always felt there these is simply not a big enough market for these films. Obviously we feel differently, and all these new outlets will prove once and for all that the GLBT community is STARVING for content and will seek it out.

I’ll be heading to the Where Film and Internet Collide event tonight at IFC Center and to the follow-up at the Apple Store SoHo on Sunday 6/8. In anticipation, or in case you can’t make it, here’s a survey of some recent panels and discussions on the topic:

The Future of Cinema panel at Cannes 08, May 21, 2008
Gaurav Dhillon (Jaman Founder), Wayne Clarkson (Telefilm Canada Executive Director), Elliot Kotek (Moving Pictures Magazine), Marc Halperins: (Magic Lamp Releasing CEO Founder), Git Scheynius: (Director Stockholm Film Festival), Ana Serrano: (Director of CFC Media Lab @Canadian Film Centre), Bruno Chatelin: (filmfestivals.com fest21.com co-founder), Wolf Siegert, PhD. (Director of IRIS® Media – live from CeBIT Australia)

A couple of Sundance 08 podcasts:
Rights Licensing in the New Era of Distribution (m4a)
Going It Alone: Digital Distribution for the Indie Filmmaker (m4a)

And from SXSW08:
The Real Dragon: Understanding the Web and Digital Media in China (mp3)

Unraveling Independent Film Distribution, American Cinematheque, December 4, 2007
Bob Aaronson (Red Envelope Entertainment (REE), a Netflix Company), Gary Garfinkel (Senior Vice President – Content Strategy & Acquisition, Showtime Networks), Barry Schuler (Managing Director, DFJ Growth, Former Chairman & CEO, AOL, Inc.), David Shultz (President, Vitagraph Films LLC (Theatrical), Ted Sarandos (Chief Content Officer, Netflix) Mike McClellan (VP Film Buyer for Landmark Theaters Corp), with moderator Margot Gerber (American Cinematheque PR Director).

Cinecity Podcast: Cineville-Online Distribution, November 27, 2007 (mp3)
Brits Andrew Sparrow (New Media Lawyer and Author of Film & Television Distribution & The Internet: A Legal Guide For The Media Industry), Tracey Gardiner (Fulcrum TV and Producer of SURVEILLANCE), Heather Millard (Film Sales & Distribution, Spier Films) and Marie Foulston (Online Co-ordinator, Soda Pictures) with Screen South‘s Miranda Robinson moderating.

Power to the Pixel: Adventures in Self-distribution, October 26, 2007
Lance Weiler (Director, Head Trauma), Jeremy Nathan (DV8), Matt Hanson (A Swarm of Angels), Arin Crumley and Susan Buice (4 Eyed Monsters) and moderated by Liz Rosenthal.

At the Media that Matters film festival this evening, I was chatting with some of the filmmakers about the way they approached their distribution plans early in the production process. I was interested to learn from one of the filmmakers, Ben Herson of African Underground: Hip Hop in Senegal, that though the short is part of a larger project and a feature is almost complete, the original plan was really to create these bite-sized clips, produced and edited in a matter of days, and post them to every available online media outlet possible. Speculatively, one might imagine that this viral approach would be challenging- sure, it’s good to get your work out there, but won’t it just sink into the sea of YouTube, Google Video, and other outlets’ overwhelming volume of content?

The lesson seems to be: no. The good stuff will float. Just as you could go to 30 film festivals in a year and then wonder, “are there amazing films that weren’t submitted/accepted that I am missing?” and as long as you were covering a good range of regions in your fest-going, there probably were not too many undiscovered gems that you didn’t have a chance to see. So a development strategy for filmmakers, especially in documentary, may simply be to blanket the world early on in the project and see if they get noticed. Certainly audience response is not the only reason to make a film, but it is usually an advantage when you are looking for money.