Portland Independent Film Night Premiere

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Contact:
Howard DiNatale

Company Name: Outlet Publishing

Email Address: outletpublishing@gmail.com

Twitter: @howardpdx, @outletpublisher

Web site address: www.outletpublishing.com/pifn

Portland Independent Film Night to premiere at Alberta Street Public House.

Portland, Oregon, March 9 —

Outlet Publishing will be hosting a monthly independent film night at Alberta Street Public House beginning March 20, 2012. Portland Independent Film Night will provide Portland’s independent filmmakers with a free opportunity to screen their films for local audiences. This event will feature a short film followed by trailers, a feature length film and a videotaped Q&A session with the director.

Films must be submitted as .m4v files and must adhere to length requirements: 90-120 minutes for feature films, 26-30 minutes for short films, and under 1 minute for trailers. Submitted films will be pre-screened and are subject to content requirements: films must be shot in Oregon and cannot be hateful (racist, misogynistic, or homophobic).

Filmmakers wishing to submit their films can contact Howard DiNatale on Facebook or Twitter. Emails sent to outletpublishing@gmail.com and will receive responses within 48 hours.

Alberta Street Public House is an Irish style pub and live acoustic venue. The Happy Hour menu, which contains a wide selection of drinks and specialty foods, is available from 5pm to 7:45pm on weekdays.

Outlet Publishing is a Beaverton based company specializing in entertainment marketing and media distribution. It was founded in 2009 by filmmaker Howard DiNatale.

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Using Story in the Film Business

I've been a fan of Peter Guber before I knew who he was. Guber has produced many of my favorite films including: Rain Man, Taxi Driver, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Midnight Express, Batman, and The Color Purple.

Sunday Morning Shootout (his AMC television show) sparked my interest in the business side of film. He coaxed his guests to tell stories that gave me a better perspective of the motion picture industry.

Story's uses in the creative side of film are well known. It also has uses in the business side of film, a topic which I've written about on this site. Story has many business applications. I'll list a few of them here.

• Story pitches must be well crafted and emotionally engaging (like the screenplays they represent)
• Personal stories are useful for team building (I've successfully used this approach in management classes)
• Transmedia storytelling can immerse audience members in the world of the story during a pre-release campaign (Lance Weiler's Pandemic 1.0 is a perfect example)
• Successful leaders analyze their personal backstories to identify strengths and weaknesses
• Visioning is a type of storytelling that CEOs use to unite their organizations behind a common message
• Anecdotes can get you into a job interview (or audition). They can also give you jobs (I've done this).

Many of Peter's anecdotes involve celebrities such as Michael Jackson, Bill Clinton, Nelson Mandela and Gene Simmons. Tell to Win is a star studded book that gives practical advice (a rare combination). 

The insights in Tell to Win have a value that is far greater than the cover price. I highly recommend it for anyone interested in the entertainment business or the art of leadership.

I received no pay or incentive to write this review.

If you've ever wanted to be like Roger Corman, this is the right time for it.

Studio attempts to shrink theatrical release windows created uncertainty in the theatrical operation industry.

AMC and Regal responded by entering the specialty acquisition market. Smaller theatrical chains such as 2929 Entertainment already use this vertical integration strategy.

This means that the value of the PMD skill set just increased. Marketing and negotiation skills must be used to build and measure an audience before a film's producer approaches the distributor.

The AMC/Regal partnership will be successful if the films it acquires are competitive with the mainstream movies playing in the same theaters.

To compete with mainstream movies, producers will need to create films that can lure the average consumer away from mainstream movies.

Films from the science fiction, fantasy, horror, and action genres are likely candidates. These films will need to have better ROI (return on investment) and lower ticket prices than their mainstream competitors.

Why "Every Filmmaker for Himself" doesn't work and what I'm going to do about it.

I love the PMD idea and I think its revolutionary. Unfortunately, I've become aware of a problem that it isn't going to solve.

Until now, independent film has not been an industry. It has been a loose collection of DIY heroes like John Cassavetes, Jim Jarmusch, Robert Rodriguez, Kevin Smith, and Ed Burns. 

I became a filmmaker because I wanted to be one of those guys. It was going to be Me vs. The System. I was in love with the myth until I learned that my heroes were the exceptions. Most independent filmmakers work very hard to make films that usually don't get seen.

During a recent visit to Open Film's website, I noticed that most of the filmmakers on the site had 1-5 movies each. If any of those filmmakers had a last name ending in the letter z, I'm sure I didn't see them. 

It gets worse. If I was a consumer without any filmmaking knowledge, I would be more likely to pick the filmmaker with the most movies to watch. The large number of choices in his channel makes him appear credible. There is also a greater chance that his channel will contain something I like.

If some of these filmmakers have a PMD in their crew, their chances improve until a majority of filmmakers have a PMD in their crew. Then they return to being another face in the crowd.

If 20 filmmakers formed a group and each had 2 films, 40 films would be available to view. Suddenly that Open Film account or YouTube channel isn't about one guys films, it's a content distribution channel. Many filmmakers means that the distribution channel will contain a steady stream of content.

As a PMD, I can get better results if I build a brand with a group of filmmakers behind it, rather than one. If I approach Netflix or iTunes with audience data and a reputable brand, the filmmakers that I'm representing have a better chance of being distributed on those platforms.

I benefit by getting more work and the ability to make a living as an independent filmmaker and marketer. I'm happy if I can pay the bills and have enough left over to make 1 or 2 short films per year. If I wanted to make millions, I would have picked a different business.

I want Outlet to be a co-operative business that connects filmmakers and handles their marketing and distribution needs. Since this was not my original vision for the business, I'll have to write a new business plan and connect with other filmmakers.

If filmmakers in other cities create these types of businesses, an independent film industry could become a reality.

Applying Service Marketing to the Movies.

The sky is not falling in Hollywoodland, but the situation is not good.

Adjusted for inflation, home video sales have decreased 26 percent since 2004. Box office sales dropped 2 percent during the same period (Cieply, 2011). 

New physical formats (Blu-Ray) and new theatrical formats (digital 3D) have not reversed the motion picture industry’s downward trend (Stewart, 2011).

New formats and technologies have not helped the motion picture industry because they are expensive. Expensive production and projection equipment requires ticket price increases. Demand suffers as a result.

When a theater shows a 3D movie, they often show a 2D version of the same movie on a different screen. This results in theaters with reduced viewing choices. I suspect that reduced viewing choices also hurt demand.

The theatrical experience does need to be different than the home viewing experience, but new formats are not the answer.

The answer lies in service improvements.

The current system depends heavily on opening weekend revenue. This short-sighted goal is prioritized over goals that can provide long-term revenue.

The movie needs to be surrounded by an experience that is worth repeating.

Consumers should have more control over the theatrical experience. Consumers should be allowed to control the programming schedule in their local cineplex.

Example: You have a group of 10 friends who want to watch the latest Burton movie at a specific time of day. Your group places its request on the theater website or smartphone application. When the theater owner bases his programming choices on a realistic level of demand, his ticket sales should increase.

Problems with the theatrical experience should be resolved when they occur. This is necessary because happy customers are repeat customers.

Consumers are showing their dissatisfaction by staying home and I can't blame them. Netflix, Redbox, iTunes, and Amazon allow them to watch what they want to watch when they want to watch it. Theaters do not have the same flexibility.

This blog post doesn't mean that I despise the motion picture industry. I think that the decision makers are stuck in an outmoded way of thinking.