DIY Distribution: apparently it's a misnomer

Got home too late last night to post about yesterdays film stuff. That will happen again tonight too, but maybe morning is a better time for this anyway. We did 2 things yesterday.

We went to a master class on Do It Yourself Distribution by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady who took charge of their own theatrical distribution for their 4th film Detropia. It was really interesting, though they were very clear that every film needs it's own strategy and if it were their first film they wouldn't have done it this way. But it was their 4th film, it had earned a prize at Sundance, their 2nd film had been nominated for an Oscar, they had a fan base and a good network in the industry, and this was a social issue documentary on a timely subject. All of those things worked in their favor. But it was interesting to learn how much they had to invest to make it work, and who were the "essential hires" who are what make "do it yourself" a misnomer. (A booker, and a publicist, and a team of interns) And they still sold the domestic TV rights (early in production to PBS to get funds just to make the film), and sold international to someone else with the expectation that it's not really going to be a good international film, and then after sold DVD and digital rights to someone who then does all the work for Netflix, iTunes, Amazon, etc.

Then we had a very lovely dinner in Falmouth at a Mexican place on main street.

We ended the night with a feature length documentary called Married and Counting about a couple of guys from New York City who, in honor of their 25th anniversary, wanted to get married in as many states as would allow them. So between December 2010 and April 2011, when their actual anniversary was, they got married 6 times. The film followed them around for it and then continued to their NY wedding after that became legal. I think I cried at every wedding, and also when the one guy's father refused to come. And as icing on the cake it was narrated by George Takei.

And actually it was George being named on the poster that tipped us over into staying up for a late show. (Not that 9 is so late, but getting out at 11 and then needing to drive an hour home makes for a late evening.) That got Linda and I talking at dinner about ways to make my thesis film more likely to play in an academy qualifying festival. Having a name actor is definitely a way. Then we started brainstorming for each of the films I'm pitching which character might be most appealing to someone people could recognize. It was a fun conversation, and all the more fun because it's not just a fantasy.