SAGIndie

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW TO GET YOUR FILM MADE AND SEEN – IN ONE BOX!

When:     August 1, 2010. 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Where:    The Downtown Independent Film Theater. 251 S. Main St., Los Angeles, CA 90012

REGISTER NOW: http://famasterclass.eventbrite.com

Special discount code: SAGmember

Filmmakers Alliance’s INDEPENDENT FILM MASTER CLASS is the complete, all-in-one package – a definitive, step-by-step, one-day seminar for independent filmmakers offering all the information you need to get your film MADE and SEEN. The INDEPENDENT FILM MASTER CLASS is a clean, clear, concise and complete independent filmmaking blueprint for your film project that will allow you to sustain your life as a filmmaker!

• Concept, Story and Script Development – Developing ideas and concepts that work! Then, writing that script in a way that will get your film made without compromising your vision.
• Film Financing and Crowdfunding – Where to find the money and what you need to do to get it. Also, exploring new strategies in raising money for your film.
• Pre-production and Production – How to get the most filmmaking bang from your budget – creatively and cost-efficiently managing your project. Also, how best to work with actors, crew, locations, unions, guilds, crafts to ensure your film not only gets made, but looks exponentially more than its cost.
• Filmmaking Tech Tools and Online Filmmaking Support – Make your production easier to manage and giving yourself tighter control of your project by turning your computer into a portable production office (and saving the cost of overhead). There are amazing new tools online and beyond to help filmmakers – at every stage of the filmmaking process -manage the once overwhelming task of creating, shooting, finishing, promoting and distributing a film. Find out what they are and how best to use them.
• Post-Production – New technologies and methodologies are making it easier to high end work with a low end budget. Find out what they are and what you need to do give a stunning, world-class finish to your film and how to prepare for it long before you reach post.
• Festivals and Distribution – Understanding the festival circuit and how to use it to your film’s greatest advantage. And devising and executing a distribution plan that will give your film it’s best shot at success and sustain your filmmaking life!

Speakers include no-budget filmmaking specialist Mark Stolaroff, post-production expert, Michael Cioni, Colleen Nystedt founder of the innovative web tool MovieSet, self-distribution guru Marc Rosenbush, writer-director Sean Hood discussing concept/story development and screenwriting for Indie features, writer-director Liam Finn serving up war stories on his no-budget first feature “Rejouer“, filmmakers Diane Bell and Chris Byrne talking about financing and other issues putting together their award-winning Sundance favorite “Obselidia“, AND MORE TO BE ANNOUNCED!!

REGISTER NOW: http://famasterclass.eventbrite.com

Special discount code: SAGmember

The seminar also includes filmmaker case-studies and open Q&A periods, so come prepared with your specific filmmaking questions – the ones that most have you stumped – so that we can take you to the next level.

SEMINAR SPECIAL – 10 filmmakers will be selected from the attendees for a FREE 6-session series of consultations. You MUST submit your project to masterclass@filmmakersalliance.org no later than June 30th for consideration. Please submit no longer than a single page synopsis, a filmmaking resume and links to any previous work. Please DO NOT send video files or full scripts.

THE SEMINAR WILL BE FOLLOWED BY A RECEPTION ON THE ROOF OF THE DOWNTOWN INDEPENDENT FILM THEATER!

REGISTER EARLY: http://famasterclass.eventbrite.com

Special discount code: SAGmember

Ticket Prices:

• $175* – Includes seminar fee plus one year of Filmmakers Alliance membership.
• $125* – General seminar fee only.
• $75* – Seminar fee for FA members only (with special discount code: SAGmember)
• $50 – Live Interactive Webcast. The URL to enroll in the Live Interactive Webcast is COMING SOON!

*Fee includes lunch and parking.

Get your tickets and start making your film NOW!

THANKS SO MUCH FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

All the best,

Filmmakers Alliance

The 2010 Los Angeles Film Festival, starting June 17th and running until the 27th, will be happening downtown this year and, as a sponsor, we couldn’t be more excited!

As you can see from the map above, everything will be pretty much taking place at L.A. LIVE (right near the Staples Center), and also at venues only blocks away. If you’re in Southern California, we highly recommend you try and attend.

Check out the great line-up: http://filmguide.lafilmfest.com/tixSYS/2010/filmguide/
And more info on the venues: http://filmguide.lafilmfest.com/2010/venues/ 

The critically-acclaimed director of BOMB IT! and distribution expert and author will present a step-by-step guide into the Dynamic New World of Hybrid Distribution and Marketing.

Day One goes over how to create a distribution strategy and marketing plan unique to your film, the various available markets for your film’s release, how and why to engage your audience as early as possible, digital rights, and more. It ends with a networking happy hour with industry reps.



Day Two discusses advertising campaigns, and transmedia platforms, as well as live workshopping of a few films.

Special guest speakers include Lance Weiler (THE WORKBOOK PROJECT) and Caitlin Boyle (FILM SPROUT).

Finally, all attendees get a DVD-Rom toolkit to take with them.

June 5th and 6th, 2010
New York Film Academy, Union Square, NYC

Tickets are only $150 for the weekend for IFP members and SAG/SAGIndie members.

Also, to get your FREE COMMUNITY MEMBERSHIP to IFP (worth $35), sign up here: www.ifp.org/registration-form. Type in the code FORG10.

For more information, click HERE or visit IFP.org.

Spend the weekend with Mark Cuban, Ted Turner, Laura Ziskin, Ridley Scott, Gale Anne Hurd, Bruce Cohen, Brian Grazer and over 100 of the industry’s greatest producers in film, tv and new media.

There will be extraordinary panels, one on one mentoring roundtables, workshops, exhibits and incomparable networking opportunities. Go HERE for a complete listing of speakers and sessions.

When: June 4-6, 2010
Where: 20th Century Fox
Price: SAG industry discount ($595)
Tickets available but going fast, so register now (code: SAG2010) at producedbyconference.com

It’s no secret that even though we have “Screen Actors Guild” in our name, we at SAGIndie are very much about the filmmaker. That’s not to say we’re not supportive of the professional actor, because we are. Very much so. We promote SAG low budget contracts in order to help actors get work. We LOVE professional actors.

]However, in order to get them work, we must connect with established and up-and-coming independent filmmakers. Producers, directors, writers, educators – basically anyone who needs to understand that just because you’re making a film on a shoestring, doesn’t mean you can’t hire a professional actor.

So, when we travel to festivals, we’re always looking for the ones that cater to the filmmaker. In general, we like to see that (A) filmmakers are attending and (B) they’re taken care of. Nothing makes us happier when a festival goes out of its way to make the attending filmmakers feel like royalty.

The Maryland Film Festival in Baltimore, which I recently attended, did exactly that. It was my first time in Baltimore and upon arriving downtown I was instantly enamored with the beautiful cityscape. By the time the opening night gala was getting underway, the festival HAD me. Minutes after checking in I ran into Festival Director, Jed Dietz, who was mingling with the crowd before the opening screening, treating everyone as a dear old friend. Then, when the actual screening commenced, they did something extremely fresh and unique– they screened a group of spectacular short films. Something I’ve rarely seen before. More surprising than that, they actually flew the short filmmakers out so they could attend.

It doesn’t stop there. The Maryland Film Fest also takes care of past participants. They invite alumni of the festival out to network and enjoy the great Baltimore weather. Many of whom had nothing but glowing things to say about the job Dietz and crew have been doing. Other highlights included the day-long industry panels, the historic Charles Theater as the primary venue, and special presentations from Baltimore greats Dan Deacon and John Waters.

Overall, it was a professionally run festival in an amazing part of the country. There was plenty to do and they treated the visiting filmmakers like family. Maryland Film Festival, you’ve captured our heart.

On June 6, 2010 Actor, writer, and film director Steve Buscemi will talk with Emmy Award-winning journalist and Co-Host of WNYC Radio and PRI’s The Takeaway, John Hockenberry, about creating unforgettable characters that ultimately drive a film’s narrative and impact. The afternoon will feature film clips from the actor’s career as well as brunch at an award-winning Brooklyn eatery.

It is our pleasure to extend an advance invitation to SAG and SAGIndie members. The event will be publicly announced this Friday May 14th, so please take advantage of this opportunity to secure seats to this intimate event.

Actor as Auteur Brunch To Benefit ISSUE Project Room
Presented in Collaboration With SAGIndie
Sunday, June 6, 12pm – 2pm
$125 Per Person ($95 tax-deductible, three-course brunch is included.)

SEATING IS LIMITED. BUY TICKETS
For more information please call 718-330-0313.

There are numerous iconic characters in film history, from The Little Tramp to Charles Foster Kane to Colonel Kurtz to Travis Bickle, all of them well drawn and directed. However, had Chaplin, Welles, Brando or DeNiro not played these roles would the film had the same powerful impact on our culture? Can a case be made for actor as auteur?

It is difficult to imagine Buscemi’s roles and their indelible effect on each film without his personal, stylized approach in bringing them to life. They emit essential energies striking a balance between deeply held neuroses and outward bombast. From lead roles in films like Fargo, Resevoir Dogs, Living in Oblivion, Trees Lounge, and Ghost World to supporting roles and cameos in films such as The Big Lebowski, and Barton Fink, his presence breathes life into every corner of a film. “Buscemi is a quiet tyrant of artistic fury who threatens to overrun every frame he’s in with the inner desperation he projects even in his most subtle performances,” says Hockenberry.

SAGIndie is a gentle and loving union between the hard working thespians of the world and the passionate filmmakers who buck the system. Since its formation in 1997, SAGIndie has been traveling to film festivals, trade shows and conventions spreading the word: Just because your film isn’t produced by a studio doesn’t mean you can’t use professional talent. www.SAGIndie.org

ISSUE Project Room, a registered 501(c)(3) organization, was established in 2003 by visionary artist Suzanne Fiol, and is a vibrant nexus for cutting-edge, multi-disciplinary arts in Brooklyn. ISSUE supports emerging and established experimental artists through more than 200 programs each year including music concerts, literary readings, films, videos, dance, visual and sound art, new media, critical theory lectures and discussions, site-specific work, commissions, educational workshops, master classes, and genre-defying interdisciplinary performances that challenge and expand conventional practices in art.  Support for ISSUE has been provided by CHORA, a project of the Metabolic Studio, a direct charitable activity of the Annenberg Foundation led by Artist and Foundation Director Lauren Bon. CHORA aims to support the intangibles that precede creativity. www.ISSUEProjectRoom.org 

What event would open with Candis Cayne and Wilson Cruz dancing to Lady Gaga’s Telephone?

It was the 2010 GLAAD Media Awards and Cayne and Cruz hosted the colorful event. I was in attendance that evening, as SAGIndie is a sponsor of the GLAAD Awards. The event featured a pre-event cocktail party with a silent auction, where everything from a spa weekend, to wine baskets, to a new car was available for bids. This was followed by a live auction. At the live auction trips to London went quickly as did personal redecorating sessions with a top designer. The raised funds went to GLAAD to help the organization continue spreading its message of equality and peace.

During the awards show, GLEE took best comedic series and the cast, including Dianna Agron, Chris Colfer, Jane Lynch, and Kevin McHale were there to accept it. Outstanding film went to A Single Man and Outstanding Reality Program went to RuPaul’s Drag Race. The event had some serious moments, including a speech by Constance McMillen, the young teen whose high school cancelled prom after she asked to bring her girlfriend. She presented one of two special awards that evening.

The two special awards were handed out to honorees, Drew Barrymore and Wanda Sykes, who took home their awards for their success in entertainment, as well as their support and positive inclusive of the GLBT community in films, television and the media in general. The event ended with a spirited performance by American Idol winner Adam Lambert. Decked out in a leather studded jacket and blue streaked faux-hawk he performed a couple rock-heavy songs that got the audience on their feet. All in all, a successful evening.

Tribeca Films is having a NY theatrical run of all of their titles May 5th–18th at Tribeca Cinemas. As a member, you can purchase tickets at a 20% discount by using the code below.

Tickets can be purchased HERE.

Our Tribeca Film Festival Bowling Party was mentioned in this week’s print edition of People magazine. Check it out: