Off the Grid

Going dark for the next couple of days for covert ops including:

- laptop is in intensive care unit. Your prayers are appreciated. Computer access is only from the safehouse so my email response time is extremely slow.

- moving offices to new location. I am setting up a new pulp headquarters so I can do both the film and the marketing work under one roof. Been saving the $$$ to set the office up and in a few months I will be working on the corporate stuff.

- writing my story for Astonishing (Astounding? Amazing? Alzheimer's?) Adventures. Been deconstructing the whole character and story with a hammer and found new strata of cool underneath it all. Found out my hero is not so much a Skull as he is an enigma...

Laptops and Coffee

Don't mix.

Which is why I'm typing this out on the old "stone knives and bear skins" desktop while the "mean machine" dries out.

Aargh.

How I See It...

Scott Eggleston commented on my previous post below:

Do you see digital downloads yielding more profit than DVDs, even for microbudget indies? How soon do you see it happening?

(Takes off glasses, cleans them)

From a very practical point of view, yes I think digital downloading will be more profitable than DVDs. It's a simple matter of there being fewer expenses, more inexpensive marketing opportunities, and a wider distribution field. Let's break that down:

Fewer Expenses:

There are all sorts of expenses for DVDs - mastering, authoring, replication, packaging, and shipping. This adds to the cost of the DVD, and delays getting that disc on the shelf for the consumer to buy it. That means for a disc that costs $3.00 to manufacture, it is sold wholesale to a retailer for $8.00 then sold to consumers for $14.99.

For digital downloads, all I have to deliver is a master to a server, create links to the download and I'm pretty much off and running. The consumer - no middleman really required unless desired - pays a couple of bucks to either buy or rent the movie. That means that if I were selling my download online for $3.00 then about $2.50 of that cost goes back directly to me to defray the cost of production. That $.50 goes toward...

Marketing Opportunities:

That money goes toward banner ads, press, and other expenses. No need to buy ad space in industry catalogs to the tune of about $5,000 each. You can reach your audience directly and by establishing a talkback forum online (the software is free) you can generate all sorts of PR and other opportunities.

People can sign up to get updates. Your can do co-op advertising and marketing with other like-minded websites, phone companies, etc... (example: Spout.com)

And let's not forget the merchandising opportunities as well. Establish a CafePress stor for no cost and design your merchandise. Sell the script as an e-book with production notes and pictures. Get the T-shirt, coffee mug, etc... No cost to you.

A Wider Distribution Field:

The net is everywhere as are cell phones, and ipods. More of these than there is shelf space available for your DVD. With the web your "store" is always open, and can be available around the world. No expense of selling deals territory by territory.

When it's Going to Happen:

It is happening now. Right now, and building all the time. The studios aren't TOO involved yet, but they will be involved. Very involved, and on a variety of fronts - content, infrastructure, acquistion of social networks to market from, and physical things like satellites and fibre optic cable delivery systems.

Welcome to the future.

Maybe I Should Consider a Name Change from DISContent to..?

Content Agenda (which you should be reading by the way) has an interesting article today regarding the growth of the entertainment industry due to convergence.

Highlights from the Pricewaterhouse Coopers Report (which, if someone has access to a PDF copy of it, I would be very grateful!) include:

• Content, distribution and technology companies need to aggressively seek out new relationships to accommodate the shift toward convergence," said Jim O'Shaugnessy, global chairman of PwC's entertainment and media practice. "Companies will need to test new business models to address increased fragmentation and intellectual property in a digital era.
• Brazil, Russia, India and China will account for 24% of global growth in that period.
• The U.S. will remain the single largest market for entertainment and media, but is growing at the slowest rate -- just 5.3% a year to reach $754 billion in 2011.
• The fastest-growing region will be Asia Pacific, ramping up at 9.6% a year to reach $470 billion by 2011.
• Filmed entertainment is predicted to rise globally by 4.9% a year to $103 billion. TV network revenue will grow by 5.8% a year to $228 billion, but TV distribution will power ahead by 9.3% a year to $251 billion.
  Even that growth rate will be dwarfed by spending on Internet advertising and access, which will grow by 13.4% a year to $332 billion by 2011.

Back in 2002, I got into D2DVD because I could see where the market was going... I am now envisioning another business model, and while it includes DVD -- that media is further down the food chain. I don't even think it's a chain anymore...

A web perhaps?

The Future at Your Fingertips

I am a firm believer in "just doing it" when it comes to learning how to operate computers, video cameras, writing screenplays (especially for shorts) and learning who and what about the film/media business. Hands on experience is a great teacher and reinforces the lessons learned. There are no great secrets about writing or filmmaking that can't be learned by diving in and making some mistakes. Some of those "mistakes" can turn out to be "happy accidents" that lead toward developing a style and point-of-view.

But every now and then, a concept or methodology eludes our grasp and we need some expert guidance - or at the very least guidance from someone who has "been there and done that."

Scott Kirsner's generally excellent blog Cinematech has an interesting post up about Metacafe's production school, that really kicks ass in terms of a good reference point for the film beginner. The resource page is especially interesting and helpful as it collates dozens of links to free software and web resources . This is good for those of us who can't always break open the trust fund or even the piggy bank, and for the seasoned pro who wants to experiment.

I am particularly fond of all the video tutorials, something I could have used back in the day when I was futzing around with a 3/4" deck and a camera.

These kind of production and post resources, combined with the screenwriting links in my sidebar create an unbeatable arsenal for the newly mashed pulpster. There's no excuse not to go out and create your own pulpy masterpieces. I expect to see hundreds of new projects launched within the year, and want screeners and links sent to me upon completion...

Oh dear God, what have I done?

Be Someone of Distinction

Mike Curtis over at HD for Indies has a podcast up of an interview he did with the guys over at Fresh DV. I suggest all the independent DiY types go over and check it out if you haven't already, because there's important info that directly pertains to your future in the entertainment business...especially as we become more enmeshed in the web.

What Mike discusses and what we try to preach at the Church of the Holy Pulp is how marketing goes hand in hand with the creation of content. It's important - now more than ever in this age where you can find anything and everything on the web - that you create entertainment that is distinctive and speaks to the audience you want to go after.

You have to stand out in the crowd (or in the case of a DVD, out on the shelf). See there's a lot of what I like to call "indie crap" out there. Stuff that we've all seen before and better. You cannot become bogged down in that swamp. You have to rise above with stuff that:

a) Has production value (looks good, sounds good, moves well).
b) Is accessible (easy story hook that people can pass on to others)
c) Is entertaining.

People want entertainment from the web. Studios right now are slowly getting involved because there isn't enough money in it for them to just jump right in and dominate. When they do put programming into play and their production dollars and stars show up onscreen - more people will jump into downloading. Already we have doubled the amount we've downloaded from a year ago, so now is the time to develop entertainment that people want to invest their time.

Develop a reputation for delivering quality entertainment to a specific audience and the web is yours. You can't be middle of the road - it all looks the same - so be distinctive.

Just When You Were Wondering...

Where do Clowns go when they die?

The answer is : Lionsgate!

A new film starring cult faves Brinke Stevens, Debbie Rochon and of course, our pal Eric Spudic! Directed by Steve Sessions in Hurricane Katrina land.

Fast, Cheap & Written That Way

No, I'm not talking about the story of my life, I'm talking about the new book from John Gaspard who gave us FAST, CHEAP & UNDER CONTROL: LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE GREATEST LOW-BUDGET MOVIES OF ALL TIME.

This is a good book and reinforces many of the principles I try to impart through this humble blog. Gaspard interviews many screenwriters of low budget movies, and reveals several great screenwriting lessons...

BUT -

What would have made this a better companion volume is if Gaspard had re-interviewed the subjects of his first book. If UNDER CONTROL is about directing and producing the low-budget masterpiece, then it seems to me that he should have developed his "case study" format further in WRITTEN THAT WAY by dissecting the screenplays of those low budget masterpieces. Instead, Gaspard gives us new scripts and movies to ponder.

In this way, WRITTEN is not so much a companion volume as it is a sidenote, and lacks the focus the subject matter requires in order to impart the most value to readers - screenwriters and filmmakers who wish to break into the business.

--------------------------------

What are the top ten low-budget pulp movies? Discuss.

I'm One of the Walking Dead...

Last night during our Geekerati discussion on zombies, I started to feel nasty and had a slight cough. By 10 pm I was hacking like an asthmatic and doped up on cold medicine.

Now I'm in bed.

Alone. (damn!)

Let this be your lesson: Get your shots before discussing zombies with Shawna and Christian...or else you could end up like this. Go get them now and download the podcast. We are exceptionally brilliant in all things of no consequence whatsoever.

No Words Required...

Genius, Guns and 4G Media...

I've been thinking a lot about Good Film v. Great Film and Good TV v. Great TV and it appears that I am not the only one, especially in light of the whole Sopranos ending. How and why some (most) media is mediocre and some of it is great has been debated on and off for quite some time. I think a lot of it can be boiled down in this quote by Judd Apatow in his interview in this week's LA Weekly:

Of his subsequent adventures in the small-screen trade, Apatow is scarcely more charitable, and it is one of the ironies of his career that this former wunderkind of that supposed “writer’s medium” has found far greater creative freedom in the movies. “You don’t really have any freedom on television, because you make television with a gun to your head,” he says. “You write a script, and then they say, ‘If you don’t make these changes, we won’t make your pilot.’ Then, after you make your pilot, they say, ‘We will not pick it up as a series unless you get rid of this actor or make these other changes.’ And then, when you’re on the air, they say, ‘We can cancel you at any moment if you disagree with us about anything.’ It’s just a terrible process that makes garbage unless you luck out and find an executive who really understands what you do and has some respect for the way that you work.”

Yowza.

I think it's fairly safe to say that for the most part, the best movies and television come from a singular, uncompromising vision. That's not to say that a lot of voices and sweat and blood and tears from a lot of different sources don't contribute to that vision, but rather they serve that vision. That is, Director Vincent Van Patten and actor James Gandolfini serve the vision of The Sopranos set forth by creator David Chase (as does everyone else involved in the show).

I think it's also safe to say that a show like The Sopranos would never have survived the network television process. It survived (and flourished) because it was on a "non-network" like HBO. As I sit here I can imagine the notes Chase would have received from The CW:

Executive: Can we make him younger?
Chase: He's a man with a wife and two teenage kids...
Executive: Thinner perhaps...with more hair?
2nd Executive: And does he have to be so mean all the time?
Chase: He's a New Jersey mobster...I don't know if you've ever been introduced to one, but they're not all that... "huggable."

And so on...until David Chase is convicted for a mass slaying at the CW offices.
(See the exclusive footage only on Entertainment Tonight!)

It was to HBO's (and our) benefit that they got out of Chase's way and let him tell the story he wanted to tell. All he had to be was good, which evidenced by the DVD sales, the ratings and the number of Emmys on his shelf - he was.

So what's all this have to do with you, me and the rest of the community trying to peddle our entertainment wares?

It means that part of the formula for your storytelling success means that you have to have a vision for your story - how it looks, feels, smells, tastes - and how it makes others feel. If you can't see it, they ain't gonna believe it.

It also means that, thanks to that little thing called the internet, it's getting easier and easier to get your singular vision out there to the masses. What used to take massive amounts of time and PR dollars has been compressed into some software you get for free. Software you are encouraged to use and share your vision with others.

It also means that you don't necessarily have to feel the cold steel of a gun barrel to your temple when you're writing, or directing or producing your story. You don't have to hesitate or second guess yourself when you make your lead character someone who's not too likeable.

It means you can, if you want, do-it-yourself.
Case in point: These folks here.

So if this is what you want to do with your life - make media that is - then you can.
No excuses.
It's been laid out before you - the tech, the marketing, the distribution.

All you have to be is good. (no pressure)

Your Mad Multimedia Bastard...

took part in a discussion on "Independent Film" in the Geekerati podcast.

My wonderfully nasal tones will also be heard this wednesday night at 7pm pst.

Enjoy (your mileage may vary)!

ACTION SPEAKS LOUDER (at a bookstore near you)

I received this the other day from my new friend Eric Lichtenfeld, author of the book ACTION SPEAKS LOUDER: Violence, Spectacle and the American Action Movie. I will be reviewing the book later this month for DISContent readers, but in the meantime I wanted you to be aware of Eric's upcoming signings and discussions here in the LA area. After reading the book, I am certain you will get a kick out of the insightful analyses Eric makes of those movies we pulpsters all hold near and dear to our black hearts.

Here's the info from Eric himself:


I'd like to invite you to one (or more! of my upcoming book signings. Come to one or come to several; it would be a pleasure to see you and a privilege to have your support.The dates, times, and locations are below. For more information on the book, please see this URL (if you haven't already):http://www.upne.com/0-8195-6801-5.html

If you know anyone who might be interested, please spread the word.

Thanks very much.
Hoping to see you, and hoping you're all well.

Best,
Eric

Tuesday, June 12th 12:00-2:00PM (signing)
Borders Books and MusicCentury City (in the Westfield Shopping Center)
10250 Santa Monica Blvd. (310) 552-1411

Tuesday, June 26th 7:00 PM (signing and discussion)
Borders Books and Music Westwood
1360 Westwood Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90024 (310) 475-3444

Thursday, July 12th 7:30pm (signing and discussion)
Borders Books and Music
900 State Street Santa Barbara, CA 93101 (805) 899-3668

Go to one of the events and tell Eric the Mad Pulp Bastard sent ya!

Question, Question who's got a Question?

So the offer I made Tuesday is under way.

And here's the first.

Roger needs a logline. Here's what he sent me:

Gangland Hollywood

In 1940s Los Angeles, mobster Mickey Cohen struggles to take over the Hollywood rackets and ignites a bloody -- and bizarre -- gang war with the Italian Mob.This is based on the true story of the Mickey Mouse Mafia and the Battle of the Sunset Strip.

Here's the basics:

Act I. Chicago, 1931. Mickey meets Al Capone and wants to be just like him (power and respect). Cut to Los Angeles, 1947. Bugsy Siegel is gunned down and right-hand man Mickey takes over and expands. This pisses off fellow mobsters Jack Dragna and Jimmy the Weasel Fratianno, who don't like Jews in the Mob. They plot to kill Mickey.

Act II. Mickey ingratiates himself in Hollywood by doing favors for Sinatra, Judy Garland, Martin and Lewis, and even a little old lady. Dragna and Fratianno try to kill Mickey six times, but he always survives due to dumb luck. Mickey doesn't retaliate much because at first he doesn't know who's trying to take him out, but also because he doesn't want to lose his standing in the Hollywood. Or the PR battle like Capone did.

Act III. Mickey battles the LAPD in court trial after court trial, with a few successes. But the FBI and the IRS want his head. Plus, the bodies keep piling up as Dragna and Fratianno take out Mickey's boys (and even his lawyer). Mickey ends up convicted of tax evasion, just like Capone.It's a fascinating story that would be unbelievable if it weren't true. Dragna's inability to kill Mickey earned the LA Mob the nickname "Mickey Mouse Mafia." Time-wise, this fits right between Bugsy and LA Confidential.

---------------------------------------

Okay, the idea and the central character are there - Mickey seems like a "dumb luck" sort of gangster who is really charming and has a lot of famous friends. I see this as having elements of GET SHORTY and HUDSUCKER PROXY to it as well. What's the exact genre? I would almost say comedy because you use the Mickey Mouse element and Mickey the gangster seems like he succeeds in spite of himself.

But what is Mickey's weakness? What is his flaw that keeps him from succeeding?

Your outline above doesn't say this, but I would start the movie with the trial and Mickey testifying and the rest of the movie occurs in flashback.

What are the two movies that encapsulate the feel of this movie?

You start to answer these questions and you start to distill the elements that will make up a great logline for your story. You may actually have to go back and rewrite based on your new logline...

Answer these questions and I'll get back to you with a few ideas for loglines...

Biff! Bam! and of course, POW!

Stan Lee's company Purveyors of Wonder (POW!) Entertainment has signed a content deal with Disney. Details here.

Lee solidifed this deal after about five years of work developing STRIPERELLA (with Pamela Anderson for Spike TV), WHO WANTS TO BE A SUPERHERO? (for the SciFi Channel), LIGHTSPEED (a SciFi Channel Saturday movie written by friend of the blog Steve Latshaw), MOSAIC (a D2DVD animated movie) and THE CONDOR (another D2DVD animation movie)...

Oh yeah, there's that other stuff he's known for too.

What he will be doing is developing characters and stories for multiple platforms - mobile phone, internet, film and television - taking the POW! brand everywhere he can.

Hmmmmmmmm.....

I Have Seen The Future...

Convergence is one of those things that doesn't happen all of the time but when it does it's magic. What I'm rambling about is when two separate things happen and then someone puts them together. The most memorable, and delicious examples of convergence are:

Chocolate and peanut butter.
Porn and the internet.

(Yeah, I said it. You shake your head, but you know it's true!)

Well two things have happened recently to change the way we will do things in the future:

This (content)

And This (delivery or distribution).

Suddenly, it becomes very easy to access and study vast libraries of material; to build worlds based on that material through photographs and graphics; to apply those worlds to movies and games in whole new ways.

(Can someone say, "holodeck?")

Suddenly, it becomes possible to VR crime scenes, disasters, warfare, etc... based on photographic uploads in realtime. Imagine cameras from all sorts of soldiers - live. Imagine them posting all their pics and video instantly to the web and a commander telling his soldiers where and when to move across the battlefield... all in real time.

Suddenly, it becomes possible to take all the footage from video surveillance cameras and exactly time out a crime. Analysts (and lawyers) are going to have a field day with this one.

Welcome to the future. It just got a whole lot weirder.

D2DVD Remakes!

MGM and Hyde Park Entertainment are pacting to make a series of D2DVD remakes of MGM franchises. First up is a remake of Brian DePalma's DRESSED TO KILL (which coincidentally was an AIP / Samuel Z. Arkoff production). You can read the Variety story here.

As the D2DVD market grows at the studio level, you'll notice more and more of these pacts between a studio distributor and a small producer. Why?

Because studios, by their very bureaucratic nature don't know how to produce a small movie (meaning a movie under $5M). They hire out producers to make these movies for them. In this case, Ashok Armitraj is a producer who has a plethora of experience producing movies in this budget range. I think he was producer of record for a lot of Bill Martell's made-for-cable movies (along with Andrew Stevens), and knows how to put the money up onscreen.

"The Club" Welcomes Its Newest Member

Fun Joel Haber

(Who appears to have gone to the barber for the occaision)

Congratulations!

Ramble, Ramble, Ramble...

I thought it was high time we had another Q&A session here at DISContent. Think of it as bar talk without the beer, unless you bring your own.

This Friday, I will open up the blog to questions that you've been dying to ask:

Writing (Screen, short story, articles, marketing copy/taglines, PR)
DVD
Pulp Filmmaking
Movie Marketing and Design
Distribution / Representing movies
New Media
Los Angeles
The future of entertainment
TV Shows
Other stuff I like.

I am an equal opportunity advice-giver and venom-spewer, and what I don't know I can find out quickly. This is your chance to find out what goes on in my rapidly-aging yet still child-like cranium. We can shoot the shit, we can gossip, we can workshop and we can speculate.

Anything in this topic range is fair game.

You have a logline and title you want to test?
You want to know the possible outlets for your "Zombie love affair in drag" epic?
You want to know why so many movies fail?
You want to know the future of DVD?

Then go for it.

Starting Friday, June 8th, 2007 at 8AM PST (11AM East coast) until 8PM PST I will -- answer all your questions, consult with you, and give you the straight poop. All the lessons I've learned from the trenches are yours to mull over. Hell, for drama's sake I will debate (notice I didn't say argue) with you. No harm, no foul. Nothing personal about it at all.

I warn you now that you may not like my answers, but thems the breaks.

For you lurkers out there, and from my stats I see there are quite a few of you, this is your opportunity to get involved, to contribute and to make yourself known.

I will see you Friday...

DVD Premieres Hit in June

Newsarama reports that the anime sequel to the popular HIGHLANDER franchise, HIGHLANDER: THE SEARCH FOR VENGEANCE will be on shelves, June 5th (tomorrow!). You can read an interview with Producer Galen Walker, who represents Imagi Animation Studios.

Video Business magazine has a report today on upcoming DVD Premieres and the state of the DVDP portion of the industry. Highlights include:

SONY:

THE CONTRACTOR starring Wesley Snipes
WEINERS starring Jenny McCarthy

BUENA VISTA:

TINKERBELL a CGI movie with Brittany Murphy providing the title character's voice.

FOX:

BACHELOR PARTY 2
LAKE PLACID 2 (partnered with Sony)

UNIVERSAL:

BRING IT ON: IN IT TO WIN IT (note one of the sequels in the series starred Hayden Panettierre of HEROES)

WARNER:

BABYLON 5: THE LOST TALES
RETURN TO HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL
A DENNIS THE MENACE CHRISTMAS

MGM:

STARGATE: THE ARK OF TRUTH (partnered with Fox on both)
STARGATE: CONTINUUM

NEW LINE:

SAFE HARBOUR - first in a series of Danielle Steel DVD Novels. (partnered with Warners)

Sequels to:
HAVOC, CELLULAR, 8 SECONDS, UNDISPUTED, FRIDAY and THE PLAYERS CLUB.

New to the Clambake

Okay, god love them all, But the blogosphere has gone on an all-clam diet lately and its time someone did something about it. For the one or two of you who don't know, a clam is a joke or a concept that is so old it has gone stale, been seen a million times in movies and television and is considered an example of "bad writing." Especially when it applies to comedy writing. I don't think that clams apply just to comedy as we all can think of a bunch of them that apply elsewhere ("It's DIE HARD on a ....")

The topic started with Jane Espenson , then nested in the mud over at The Artful Writer with a few detours along the way I'm sure. Craig is, with the help of his readers, trying to name all of the clams that have been raked into the screenwriting burlap sacks over the years.

Well, we're gonna do something a little different here at good old DISContent, not because we're contrary bastards (though that does apply), but because in our neck of the writing woods, we're often given clams with which to make a gourmet meal. We have to do more than just identify the bad, we have to take that clam and make it work. Many a time I've been given a location or a costume or a previous movie and had to craft a new movie, "that is a sequel but not because sequels don't sell..." (???????????)

So here's the deal. We're going to make clam chowder!

Head over to Craig's place. Look at all the comedy clams he has listed...
Then give them some spin in a new direction to make them different and tasty (or at least tastier than raw clams). Steam 'em, fry 'em or throw 'em in the pot and make chowder.

For example:

The Factory: This is a visual one. Someone gets hurt in a factory, and a worker flips the “Days Since An Accident” sign back to 0.

The Chowder version: Someone gets hurt in the factory, and one of the co-workers tells the victim to buck up while the victim fountains blood everywhere. The co-worker pulls a stapler and duct tape out...Later we see him on the production line, pale as a ghost, hand backwards on his arm as he waves to camera...

(Comedy is not my forte, but you get the idea)

or -

If you'd like, find a D2DVD clam and spin that around. Here's one:

"It's DIE HARD in a building...."

[Wipes Tear From Eye]

Just finished watching "Family of Blood" the second episode of the Doctor Who two-parter which started with "Human Nature."

Bravo.

It had something for everyone - aliens, scarecrows, romance, action, drama...

But most of all, and this is something that I find lacking in most scifi on television these days, it was genuine.

Bravo.

This is not the Doctor Who I grew up with (and yet it is), and I couldn't be happier. If someone comes up to me and asks why I'm watching this program, I'll point to these two episodes in particular and say, "Sit back, relax and prepare to feel something. I know that's not what you've come to expect from television, but just watch..."

Bravo.

Hat off to Paul Cornell, the writer of these two episodes based upon his original Doctor Who novel.
Brilliant.
Hats off to Russell Davies for choosing Paul's story, and bringing him into the fold.
That's what we call "brilliant producing."

Here's the trailer for Season Three.

[Sniff]