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Okay, so I have succumbed to the beast and joined Twitter. You can follow me at www.twitter.com/todfilm. Now you can follow my inane and utterly boring ramblings throughout the day.

Getting A Job In Hollywood In a Recession

If you have a job in the film industry in this economy you should be thankful! This weekend, most of us in the US will be spending time with friends and family. I actually prefer it over Christmas because there is no obligation to get presents, to visit relatives or to decorate. This holiday is all about getting together and eating as much as humanly possible. And of course, the infamous Black Friday the day after, when all of the stores announce their big deals for the Christmas shopping season.

If you are out of a job and looking for work, my heart goes out to you. Most of the big companies won't be hiring anyone until after the first of the year. Right now is a very tough time in the film business. A lot of companies have been announcing layoffs, including Lionsgate, The Weinstein Company, Canwest and more. It's even been affecting the international buyers as well. Despite what they want you to think, we are in the midst of a global recession. So it's time to hunker down and try and wait it out.

But as a way of giving back and helping out, here are a few places to begin your search for a job in the film industry:
www.showbizjobs.com
www.entertainmentcareers.net
www.mandy.com
www.hcdonline.com

And you can sometimes find stuff on non-industry related sites like:
www.monster.com
www.craigslist.org

It's important to try and keep busy while out of work. Now is the perfect time of year to start volunteering for your local charities. Additionally, you may want to think about going back to school and taking some classes while out of work. You need to do everything you can to market yourself and make yourself more attractive to employers. Hang in there until after the first of the year, when budgets have been approved and companies start hiring again. Hopefully, things will start to turn around soon.

Attendance drops at AFM

The headline says it all:

From Variety:
Attendance drops at AFM
Market buyers down 6% for L.A. film event

As one buyer told me, "You could practice archery on the second floor."

Year after year, the attendance has decreased at AFM. But this year the difference was notable. I had about half the number of meetings I would have at other markets. Most of the buyers I spoke to said they were leaving on Sunday, halfway through the market. By Monday and Tuesday, the only people wandering the halls were producers desperate for money trying to find money for their ill fated projects.

What is the cause?
Some of the blame can be placed on the global financial crisis. Asian buyers are usually a large presence at the market. But they have been hurt hard by the financial crisis.

But there are other factors at play as well that I have touched on previously.

What is the solution?

The length - The market is way too long. Maybe back in the heydays of the 90s their might have been enough product to warrant a seven day market. But nowadays, most of the markets are shrinking to four or five day events. AFM should really be a Wednesday to Sunday event.

The timing - I know they will never move the market back to February. But the timing of the market is horrible. It's right after Toronto and MIPCOM. Most of my buyers I met with a few weeks prior so it makes no sense to meet again a month later. I know they originally moved it from February because it was too close after NATPE and Sundance. I know timing will be bad regardless. But looking back, it makes sense to have a market midway between Toronto and Cannes. And next year, with the possibility of MIFED coming back, AFM is going to have to change strategy in order to stay relevant to the international film community.

Location - I know that Santa Monica has been home to AFM for a long time. But personally, I think that they should think about moving it. The city, the theaters and the hotels have all become rundown. Where to move it to? Hollywood becomes an option. You have the Mann 6, Hollywood and Highland and the Arclight all down the street from each other. And you have the Renaisance and the Roosevelt hotels just down the street. That also makes it easier to have the tie-in to the AFI Film Festival, a tie-in that has never really been all that effective since they are across town from each other. Or they could do like the LA Film Festival has done and move to Westwood. I love the new setup of the LAFF. It's so much more convenient and everything is within walking distance. It's a lot more convenient than trying to cram into the Sunset 5.

We'll see what the market looks like next year. Next market up for us is NATPE, which isn't a huge priority for us. There's a bunch of smaller markets but nothing huge until MIPTV and LA Screenings in the Spring. So now it's just a matter of cleaning up the outstanding deals and gearing up for the Spring.

Post MIPCOM, Pre-AFM

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..." - Charles Dickens

Things are so crazy right now finishing up from all of my MIPCOM follow up and getting ready for AFM next week. However, I just wanted to talk real quickly about something that was the talk of MIPCOM: the global financial crisis and its effect on the international film business.

Everyone that I talked to at the market was wondering aloud about the global financial crisis and how that would effect our business. And the conclusion is that there are both good and bad aspects of what is happening internationally. Firstly, there is less cash around for some of the smaller companies and distributors, who seemed to be less of a presence at the market. But all of the major buyers, broadcasters and distributors were still out in force and buying. But I think that the downtown in the economy is mitigated by one thing: the writer's strike.

The writer's strike kept the studios from producing as many movies and TV shows as they would normally. That meant that the appetite from some of the broadcasters was greater due to a lack of studio product to fill their pipeline.

However, the further implications of the financial crisis has yet to be seen. Plus, there is the anxiety over the negotiations for the SAG contract. At one point, a strike seemed imminent and studios halted production. But with the recent increase in production, it seems that the studios seem to believe that there will be a resolution to the SAG conflict in the near future. But only time will tell.

Looking forward to the AFM market next week, things seem a little quieter than in years past. I think it may be due to several things:

1. A lot of the US minimajors have gone away. Warner Independent, Picturehouse, New Line are all going away or are already gone. On top of that, the recent exodus of executives at the Weinstein Company will most likely mean their acquisition appetite may be diminishing as well.

2. Back in 2000-2001 when I first started going to AFM, there were still plenty of bigger budgeted completed pictures that were available. A lot of these films were financed by big film funds from European countries. Unfortunately, one too many risky investments didn't pay off and these funds wound up drying out as a source of investment. (There are also other reasons for this as well that I don't have the time to go into.)

3. It could also be a simple perception issue due to the fact that AFM is now more spread out. It is no longer just in the Loews but has spread over to Le Merigot as well. And with the addition of screening rooms in Le Merigot and the Fairmont as well, buyers are more spread out than ever.

4. Timing: AFM used to be in February between MIPCOM and MIFED in the Fall and Cannes in the Spring. But people complained about the proximity to Sundance and Berlin so they moved it to November.

5. Communication: It used to be a lot more difficult to connect with and talk to distributors from around the world. With the spread of email, video conferencing and digital online screening rooms, it's easier than ever to get someone to buy your product without ever having met face to face. For a lot of the smaller distributors, it could be a cost cutting measure to not have to travel halfway across the world for a film market.

Either way, we'll be fine. We have a steady flow of product and big pockets. It's some of the smaller companies out there that may have to scramble harder to stay afloat in this new world economy.

Coffee to your door

So the news can finally be announced! My short film Coffee is going to be released as part of the short film compilation First Out 3 from Alluvial Filmworks. The street date for the DVD is January 6th and should be available from most major retailers including Barnes and Noble, Blockbuster, Virgin Megastore, etc.

I'm pretty excited as this is a first for me. It's been a long and interesting journey that began with a short film script I wrote while in a screenwriting class at UCSB. Then back in 2003 after turning 30, I decided to get off my ass and finally start making short films. I had always wanted to make this short script into a film. After a year of editing and post-production, the short film made its premiere at the 2004 Austin Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. Then I spent another two years going to various film festivals.

At the time, the options for distribution on short films was severely limited. I had several offers from fly-by-night, start-up internet companies that wanted to take my film for free and put it up on the internet. I was always wary of these deals and waited for the right opportunity. Now I am glad I turned those offers down. So I guess the lesson is to take your time in evaluating offers, vet the company making the offer and don't sign with any company that you don't feel comfortable with.

Click here to pre-order the film on Amazon.com.

Now I guess it's time to get off my ass again and make another short film or two.

When is enough enough?

"Art is never finished, only abandoned" - Leonardo da Vinci

As we get ready for MIPCOM and AFM, I cannot help but think about deadlines and the nature of this business and art in general.

When I was making my short films, it was easy to keep editing and re-editing. Unfortunately, the law of diminishing returns means that you get less and less of a benefit the more you tinker with a film. At a certain point, you need to say to yourself, this is probably the best it is going to get. There will always be those problem children, the scene that doesn't feel quite right or the awkward edit. Eventually you have to learn to look over those small little details and look at the bigger picture. There are tons of little goofs and mistakes in most films. Heck, imdb.com has a whole section devoted to mistakes in movies. Some of my favorite ones:

1. Star Wars: Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When C-3PO and R2-D2 are in the control room of the Death Star, as the storm troopers get the door open and go storming in one of the storm troopers hits their head on the door. This goof was highlighted in the remastered version with a comedy "donk" sound effect.

2. My favorite movie Harold And Maude: Crew or equipment visible: When Maude pulls the banjo out of a cabinet, you see the reflection of crew and lights.

3. There's even a whole debate about the bandage on Ving Rhames' neck in Pulp Fiction.

But the point of this post isn't about pointing out goofs in films. The point is that you eventually have to stop tinkering and get on with things. The same can be said of scripts as well. You can tinker and tinker away at a script until it doesn't resemble the original script. And usually, by that point, the thing that made the script interesting in the first place is gone. It's a delicate dance to know when something is done enough to start showing it to people. Show it too early and you've made a bad impression. Take too long and you've lost all your original passion and excitement over your project.

I know there are a lot of writers out there that have been tinkering with their scripts, changing a page here or there but never getting anywhere. When you are lost like that, it may be a good idea to step back and try and take an objective look at the script.

There's also the story of Wong Kar Wei, who was supposedly in the middle of a long drawn out editing process on his film Ashes of Time. It was dragging on so long that he decided to go out and make a simple and quick movie in order to clear his mind and rediscover his passion for filmmaking. The film was Chungking Express. He shot it in 23 days and it wound up being the film that was his big break on the international film circuit.

Ultimately, I guess my point is to be careful of being too much of a perfectionist. Your script will never be 100% perfect. Your film will never be 100% perfect either. Films are messy things. And it's those little imperfections that make films so interesting and intriguing. So get it as good as you possibly can and then move on to the next project.

2008 - The Summer Of Music

Well, the summer is officially over. And it seems this was a summer of music for me. I've never been to so many great concerts in one short time span. Part of it was due to having some disposible income. Another part of it was that there were so many great bands that came to Los Angeles this summer.

This summer, I saw:
The Dresden Dolls, The Police, Elvis Costello, Black Kids, Amanda Palmer of The Dresden Dolls, George Michael, Yaz, Janet Jackson, and Goldfrapp

There are also so many more I want to see in the coming months, including Stars, Dan le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip, Sigur Ros, James, David Byrne, Duffy, Antony and the Johnsons, etc. There's just too many good acts and not enough time and money to see them all.

Music and film are inexoribly linked together. As a filmmaker and watcher, I find that film is an art form that is truly multidisciplinary. It brings together painting, music, writing, and several other art forms all into one experience for the audience. I think that's part of the reason why it holds such a fascination for me. It can truly transport the audience to another time, another world, or another dimension.

There are a lot of great music acts out there that are surpassing the traditional path of establishing an audience. With Youtube and Myspace and Facebook, a band can create a community of fans, without having to deal with the antiquated methods of the record industry. It's never been easier to discover new music. I have easily spent hours upon hours exploring the internet, watching videos and listening to new music. I rarely listen to the radio anymore. Who needs to when I have 30 gigbytes of music on my ipod?

One of these days, I'd love to explore my dual fascinations of music and film. Perhaps one day I'll make a music documentary or music video.