SPEAKER UPDATE

// June 15th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // FHTA, Philadelphia, SF, boston, news, vid

The following speakers are confirmed for DIY DAYS Philadelphia. Check back often as we’ll be updating the list on a regular basis. Full schedule details coming soon.

Scott Macaulay (film producer and editor of Filmmaker Magazine)
Dan Goldman (Shooting War and founder of Dandelion)
Esther B. Robinson (filmmaker, producer and founder of Art Home)
Brian Newman (CEO of the Tribeca Film Institute)
Lance Weiler (Founder of WorkBook Project and culture hacker)
Scott Kirsner (journalist - Variety, Wired, Boston Globe and author of Fans, Friends, and Followers)
Lina Srivastava (creator of the Transmedia Activism framework)
Michael Monello (co-founder of Campfire Media and producer of the Blair Witch Project)
Alex Johnson (co-founder of WBP Labs, co-creator of RADAR)
Brian Clark (founder of GMD Studios)
Brian McTear (music producer and founder of Weathervane Music)
Arin Crumley (filmmaker Four Eyed Monsters and As the Dust Settles)
Anita Ondine (writer / producer / CEO Seize the Media)
Chuck Wendig (writer / developer of games, film and TV)
Hunter Weeks (Director/Producer 10 MPH, 10 Yards, Ride the Divide)
Noah Harlan (film producer and mobile app developer)
Leah Kauffman (editor of Phrequency)
Jesse von Doom (founder of CASH Music)
Geoff DiMasi (founder of P’unk Avenue)
Vicki Callahan (author and co-creator of Transmedia Activism framework)

Check back as we’ll be updating this on a regular basis over the next few weeks.

Know of someone you think would be a good speaker let us know.  work [@] workbook [dot] com

DIY DAYS is coming to Philadelphia

// May 17th, 2009 // 3 Comments » // NYC, Philadelphia, news

The WorkBook Project and PIFVA present DIY DAYS Philadelphia

DIY DAYS is coming to Philadelphia with a day of speakers, panels, roundtables and case studies. This marks our second year of the roving conference / unconference which encourages a sharing of information and resources while providing an opportunity for networking. This year’s series of conferences expand to include music, gaming, software in addition to film.

SATURDAY
AUGUST 1st @ UArts

FREE but space is limited
8:30 AM registration opens
9:15AM to 6PM Conference
6:30 to 8PM After Party and Mixer

More details coming soon

LOOKING FOR VOLUNTEERS
We’re currently looking for volunteers to help us organize and run the various stops on our DIY DAYS global tour. Potential stops this year include Philadelphia, LA, Portland, London, and Stockholm. If you’re interested in lending a hand please drop us an email work [at] workbookproject [dot] com

DIY DAYS LA: When the Audience Takes Control

// December 30th, 2008 // 6 Comments » // LA, NYC, boston, featured

It was the end of DIY DAYS LA and the mics began to drop like flies. In the end we were left with a single mic for five people.

PANEL DESCRIPTION: The future of independent film is not in content aggregation, which is quickly becoming commoditized, but in audience aggregation. Sustainability for filmmakers lies directly in the hands of the audience. Direct to audience models have shaken the core of the music industry. But the power of Kevin Kelly’s “1,000 true fans” seems good in theory but where do you start? What are the steps to building an audience around your work and most importantly how do you keep the conversation going? Discussion Leader: Saskia Wilson-Brown (Current TV) - Arin Crumley (Four Eyed Monsters) - Micki Krimmel (expert in social media and online community) - Alex Johnson (digital media strategist / filmmaker) - Lance Weiler (The Last Broadcast, Head Trauma)

DIY DAYS LA - When the Audience Takes Control - panel

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<center><b>DIY DAYS LA - When the Audience Takes Control - panel</b></p> <p> <span class=”mceItemEmbed” src=”http://blip.tv/play/kG3FjxeIsVY” mce_src=”http://blip.tv/play/kG3FjxeIsVY” type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” width=”524″ height=”325″ allowscriptaccess=”always” allowfullscreen=”true”></span> <br/><br /> <a href=”http://workbookproject.com” mce_href=”http://workbookproject.com”>fund, create, distribute and sustain</a></center>

DIY DAYS NYC: a dinner gathering

// November 28th, 2008 // 2 Comments » // NYC

For DIY DAYS NYC we ended up doing a different format then the other events in LA, SF and Boston. The NYC event was a casual dinner gathering and an open discussion. The evening was made possible thanks to Storybids and indieGoGo. It was an evening of good food and conversation. Dinner guests included Ted Hope, Faye Dunaway, Lance Hammer, Susan Buice, Paul Rachman, Lance Weiler, Arin Crumley, Joseph Morin, Slava Rubin, Steven Raphael, and Jennifer Kushell.

The following is the dinner broken into three parts.

Intros:


Part One:


Part Two:

DIY DAYS BOSTON: Notes from David Tames

// October 29th, 2008 // 1 Comment » // news

Special thanks to David Tames of Kino Eye and MassArt for hosting DIY DAYS Boston. Full videos from DIY DAYS Boston coming soon! Until then here is a detailed breakdown of the event. Make sure to visit part one and part two if you’ve not already read them.

By David Tames - This post concludes my coverage of DIY Days, a conference held in Boston at MassArt on October 4, 2008. Please visit part one and part two if you’ve not already read them. Do keep in mind these notes do not necessarily represent the views of the various speakers at the conference, sometimes it includes my own parenthetical thoughts, which are not always clearly delineated, but the goal is to preserve the essence of the conference.

Navigating The Distribution Divide

Lance Weiler (filmmaker and DIY Days co-organizer) gave a presentation comparing traditional independent film distribution and a hybrid DIY model. Much has been written about the erosion of the independent film distribution business over the past year, including the widely circulated and discussed “Yes, The Sky Really Is Falling” message delivered by Mark Gill at the Los Angeles Film Festival’s Financing Conference.

Many distribution companies have closed, specialty films are experiencing lackluster box office results, and with the replacement of video stores with big-box retailers, shelf space for independent films is shrinking. And all of this is happening at the same time the supply of independent films is skyrocketing due to the democratization of production, post-production, and distribution. Here’s a juicy quote from Mark Gill’s piece in IndieWire:

Here’s how bad the odds are: of the 5000 films submitted to Sundance each year– generally with budgets under $10 million–maybe 100 of them got a US theatrical release three years ago. And it used to be that 20 of those would make money. Now maybe five do. That’s one-tenth of one percent.

Put another way, if you decide to make a movie budgeted under $10 million on your own tomorrow, you have a 99.9% chance of failure.

OK, so we have a problem, but where are the new business models? What models can independent filmmakers use to get their film in front of an audience?

Lance’s presentation slides are available as a PDF download: diydaysBoston.pdf (the two charts in this post are from the presentation).

Lance began his discussion with an explanation of current release windows, which is rapidly compressing due to changes in the marketplace. Right now, mainstream distributors think in terms of the following windows and in this order for the most part:

1. Festivals: indie filmmakers have traditionally seen this as a gateway to a distribution deal and did not have to worry about the other windows, I think a classic example of the old way is Darren Aronofsky’s Pi, the film premiered at Sundance where it picked up an award and the producers quickly sealed a distribution deal, however, this is rarely the case for independent filmmakers, these stories are exceptions to the rule, and it’s becoming more and more rare with the decline of speciality film distributors. Arin Crumley and Susan Buice’s Four Eyes Monsters, provides a classic example of the more realistic and difficult DIY model, none of the specialty distributors saw a way to make money with the film, however, the film did indeed find an audience, but the filmmakers had to take distribution into their own hands (which at this point has been written about widely, it has become an excellent case study).

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