Amazon Studios Wants Your Movie or Screenplay

Amazon (yes – that Amazon) is getting into the movie biz. Amazon Studios was just launched as a place where budding filmmakers and screenwriters can submit their work for cash and prizes. A combined $2.7 million in monthly and annual awards will be doled out in this program’s inaugural year.

Amazon Studios will also partner up with a major Hollywood studio. Here’s the gist:

Amazon Studios has a first-look deal with Warner Bros. Pictures, which means we’ll be presenting our top projects to Hollywood’s biggest studio for consideration as theatrical feature films. And winners of the Amazon Studios Annual Awards won’t just get money—they’ll also get a meeting with Warner Bros. development executives. [from Amazon Studios home page]

Deadline for submission is January 31, 2011. Click here to get started. You should first read their FAQ’s – especially your rights. (fyi…you’ll be entering into an 18 month, exclusive development agreement with Amazon Studios – but you’ll get paid!)

The 1st Annual Vimeo Festival and Awards

There are two weeks left to enter your videos into the first-ever Vimeo Festival and Awards. If your video premiered online within the past two years, you should head over to vimeoawards.com and submit it ASAP! The grand prize includes a $25,000 grant to produce your next film/video. These awards are open to ALL videos online, not just videos on Vimeo. Judges include David Lynch (Blue Velvet ) and Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me).

Film4Prizes Highlights Top Film/Video Contests That Pay

Film4Prizes is a cool site that maintains a database of several online film & video contests which include many with cash prizes. Here are a few interesting contests that they list:

- “HP You On You Contest” – top prize is $40,000.

- “Nobody’s Gonna Lay a Finger on My Butterfinger” Video Contest – top prize is $25,000.

- The Reason Project video contest – $10,000 top prize.

Their database is sort able, so you can choose which contest suits you best. Definitely worth checking out.

DIY Screenings & Distribution

Some call it “four-walling,” others DIY distribution. Filmmakers now have direct access to their audience like never before and are forgoing the middlemen who used to control the route to theatrical distribution. By and large, artists are now able to gauge their audience’s demand/interest for their work and market it directly to them. CinemaTech’s Scott Kirsner highlighted this movement in his recent book, Fans, Friends And Followers: Building An Audience And A Creative Career In The Digital Age.

Filmmakers are building databases of their fans’ e-mails and zip codes and are utilizing that data to book their film in local theaters – on their own. I believe that the directors of Four Eyed Monsters, Susan Buice and Arin Crumley were the first to use this approach for their 2005 film. They provide a great tutorial on their site titled, “Hearts and love-o-meters” (they used heart-shaped markers that grew with the number of requests for their screening).

Here are some tools and sites that can help you create maps, book theaters and screen your film:

- Box Office Widget – provides a tool for you to collect email addresses of people who are interested in seeing your film and charts them geographically.

- “How To Make A Screenings Map With Google” – Self Reliant Film’s Paul Harrill shows you how – well, the title of the post says it all.

- Theatrical Mapping Project – The Workbook Project (http://workbookproject.com/) – among many things – is building a collaborative database of theatrical venues that can show digital work.

- Brave New Theaters – Provides the ability to utilize a community around your film. Think, MySpace/Facebook fan page with a purpose: fans screen your film at home, small theater, community center, etc.

- Eventful.com’s Demand service – empowers fans to influence where their favorite films appear by creating viral grass-roots campaigns to “demand” them in their town. Filmmakers are then able to use their service to make informed decisions about where to appear and can communicate with their fans via targeted email tools.

- MobMov – a.k.a. Mobile Movie is reviving the great American drive-in. Powered by cars and video projectors, “mobmovs” are easy and affordable to set up. Check out their tutorial. If this interests you, check out Popular Mechanics – “How to Make Your Own Drive-In Movie Theater.”

- How-To Notes On Producing A 1 Week Long Run Of A Feature, With Info. On Gear & Costs” – The quintessential “DIY Filmmaker” (who owns that moniker) – Sujewa Ekanayake – explains, in detail what it took to screen his film, Date Number One for a 7 day run in Kensington, MD.

Free Film School via the Vimeo Community

Their moniker is “Vimeo: People connecting through video.” This includes many filmmakers who are sharing their knowledge – creative & technical. Within Vimeo’s 28,000+ channels, lives several micro groups dedicated to the filmmaking process.

Here are a few good ones:

• ­SHOOT FOR THE EDIT – This channel is for sharing editing and shooting techniques for beginning and advanced video producers.

• ­FILM SCHOOL – FILMMAKING – This is the free Film School of cinemacuteo.com which are published videos tutorials to make your film projects, from the special effects, to the steadycam, lights, cranes.

• ZACUTO USA – Creator of FilmFellas, a Webisodic series devoted to getting to the heart of the indie film movement.

• FILMCAST Live! Channel - A Channel Dedicated to the craft of Cinematography and Motion Picture Camera Operation.

I’m sure I missed some so check it out for yourself at Vimeo.com.

Free Access to the NAB Show

If you are interested in attending the NAB Show in Las Vegas this month (April 18-23), Tuvel Communications is offering Filmlinker readers FREE access to the show. Below is a special registration code that will give you a FREE exhibits-only registration.

*Free Exhibits Passport Code: TP01

This pass includes access to the exhibit floor and the opening keynote – a $150 value. Visit nabshow.com/passport to redeem your admittance.

When there, check out their Post|Production World Conference which includes seven different Adobe, Apple, Avid and Mac Certification Courses.

*PLEASE NOTE:  the pass code provides free access to the NAB Show exhibit hall and the opening keynote ONLY, not any of the conferences being held in conjunction with the NAB Show.

IndieClix: Affiliate Marketing for Indie Filmmakers

IndieClix is an affiliate marketing management platform that gives filmmakers a new way to sell and market their films. It utilizes other people’s websites and blogs as referral outlets that get compensated for every sale – same as Amazon.com and many other affiliate programs.

The program was originally created by Magic Rock Entertainment to support Neoflix clients (another e-commerce service created for filmmakers and distributors). Its functionalities worked so well that it allowed for a greater expansion into the IndieClix program.

An affiliate can be a website, blog, or anyone who provides a sales referral, and is then paid if that referral translates into a lead or a sale for the merchant. A group of affiliates is like the “outside sales” for an artist or distributor, and an effective affiliate marketing strategy gives the artist/distributor a worldwide sales force. Indieclix handles the affiliate sign-up, creation of affiliate marketing programs, tracking of the sales lead, and the compensation and reporting for both sides. Magic Rock serves as the neutral third-party that ensures affiliates and filmmakers/distributors are equally served.” [excerpt from Magic Rock’s explanation of the program]

Click below to see their tutorial video that explains the whole program:

Continue reading IndieClix: Affiliate Marketing for Indie Filmmakers…

Film Racing Coming to a City Near You

Film Racing is a great creative concept that’s like “Mission Impossible” meets “The Amazing Race” in a marathon filmmaking competition.  Filmmakers form teams in each participating city and have 24 hours to complete an original short film (no longer than 4 minutes) based on an assigned theme and surprise element. Each team receives an e-mail on Friday night with a theme (like “revenge”) and a surprise element (like a prop – “toothbrush” or action – “slap”). The plot of your film will need to incorporate the assigned theme and element. The completed films are then due back at the film drop-off location by 10PM on Saturday night.

Since 2007, Film Racing has given out over $120,000 in cash and prizes to the winning filmmakers to aid them in their future projects. The winning films from each city compete for thousands of great prizes and one team will walk away with the “Best Film of 2009″ title. [from official site]

Anyone can enter this “race” and each team is responsible for providing their own equipment and crew. See if your city is in the race by clicking here.

Best Practices for “Green” Filmmaking

A new Code of Best Practices for Sustainable Filmmaking was just released by the American University School of Communication’s Center for Social Media and Center for Environmental Filmmaking.

…filmmakers create carbon debt with our work. However, as in other industry sectors, we can take action immediately to reduce consumption and waste in our profession; to educate peers, employees and interns; and to support policies that register the true environmental costs of production.” [from centerforsocialmedia.org]

This initiative also includes tools such as Checklists (actions needed to create a sustainability plan), Carbon trackers (track production activities that use energy and produce carbon emission) and some relevant web resource links. Check out the “downloads” below:

Continue reading Best Practices for “Green” Filmmaking…

Online Film Distributor – Caachi – Gives Filmmakers 75% of Sales Revenue

Caachi is another interesting site that offers a ‘no-strings-attached’ online distribution deal for indie filmmakers. On top of the non-exclusive, cancel-anytime agreement, they pay .75 cents for every dollar earned to the filmmaker.

Marketing your film will always be a challenging endeavor and Caachi adds a unique element – an affiliate program. Similar to any other affiliate program (i.e. Amazon, iTunes, etc.) website owners can display ads and earn revenue through direct sales of any or all films from Caachi’s library. This allows for an expansive reach beyond a “viral” campaign. Also, the Caachi Vidget (video widget) can show off your film’s trailer via an embeddable code ready for any social networking website like Facebook and MySpace.

Caachi also offers free films. Check it out here.  FYI…to download films, you’ll need to use the open-source video player Miro.