Tribeca Film Festival: Can Social Media Help "Indie" Filmmakers Make It Big?

Posted by David Sullivan on May 28, 2010 in BLOG, FESTIVALS | 0 comments

A true artiste may argue that in the end it does not matter how successful a film is, so long as the story is told. But if the true purpose of filmmaking is to tell a story, is it really a story if no one is watching?

With that in mind, filmmakers of the 21st century are left pondering the age-old question that suffocates the starving artist: what does it take to make my story heard? No doubt there now are a slew of technological luxuries at our fingertips – cheaper equipment and easy-to-use software – to make films with. But once the film is made, what does it take to get the buzz out?

That question was discussed this past Friday, April 23 at the kickoff event for the Meet the Filmmakers series being held at the Apple Store in SoHo throughout the duration of the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival. Producers Karin Chien, Lisa Cortes (Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire), Mynette Louie, Jason Kliot, Jay Van Hoy and MaryJane Skalski were the featured panelists at the kickoff event.

Enter the catchphrase du jour: Social Media. Can Facebook and Twitter level the playing field for independent filmmakers? More and more often production crews are hiring social media specialists to help spread the gospel of a film. And it may seem, at first, that social media is the golden ticket, but not so fast, says those in the business

“The people we’re trying to reach aren’t affected by social media,” Kliot said. “Unfortunately when it’s more about auteurism it doesn’t tend to help us. I think that’s a problem … a disconnect between a truly artistic film and social media.”

Skalski echoed Kliot’s sentiments. Last year Skalski produced a film, Dare, which is geared toward a high-school-aged audience. Hoping to capitalize on the tech-savvy youths, Skalski’s production crew hit the social media networks, promoting the film. Yet in the end she felt it did little more than “preach to the converted.”

The truth is, no matter how far social networking can take a film, old-fashioned, hard-nosed distribution, and deep pockets, are still the successful equation. Cortes, who’s reeling off an amazing success story with Precious, admitted that deep pockets and celebrity support (Tyler Perry, Oprah Winfrey) breathed life into the film. “You have to have pockets to compliment” the film, she said. “Resources are always the brick wall we hit in turns of how far we can run.”

But another brick wall filmmakers hit is when their films are denied by the large distribution companies. What then? Should filmmakers commit the next year of their lives, once their film is done, to distributing and promoting it on their own? Many people say yes. “You’re about half done when your film is ready to premier at a festival,” Skalski said. But with self-distribution comes freedom, she adds. “Now you’re not so easily stopped if the handful of big distributors don’t want to do your film. You can do it yourself faster than you could 10 years ago, in some degree.”

The Do-it-Yourself approach may be the wave of the future for all independent filmmakers. Kliot predicted that within a few years all the big distribution companies will only work with commercial films, leaving the little guy drowning. But there is a life raft. “Indie makers will be selling mainly on VOD (video on demand), and directly to people,” he predicted. “And then I think it’ll be the maker’s job to go out there.”

But filmmakers shouldn’t be concerned with where and how to promote their film before the last scene is shot. Cortes didn’t jump onto Precious because she anticipated heavy support from some of the biggest names in television today. “We made the movie because we read the book in 1996 and it haunted us for 13 years,” she said.  Of course, the commitment to the art itself is easier said than done, particularly for those who are trying to make a living in film, because inevitably dollars are needed to keep the machine running. Yet, when economics enter the early stages of the filmmaking process, the authenticity of the film is in jeopardy.

“I don’t think great art comes from thinking about your audience before you think about your work,” Kliot said.