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Lights,
Camera, Point and Click: By Mary Phillips-Sandy So you're an independent filmmaker, and you've just spent the past two years living on rice to get your Masterpiece Feature made, and now it's finished and you love it and your mom loves it and even the audience at that little film festival loved it. Now what? Welcome to the world of "looking for a distributor." The goal is to get a distributor - big or small - interested in buying your movie. Why? Because otherwise, no one will ever see it unless you schlep it around the country yourself, knocking on cinema doors from Seattle to Portland (Maine, that is). Now quick, cut to a small, cluttered office with a creaky fax machine. Welcome to the world of "being an independent distributor." This guy knocked on your door, and you were blown away by his movie, and you agreed to distribute it. Now what? Now you have to convince movie theater owners that they should show this gem. That means endless (and costly) promoting, advertising, bartering, pleading... you get the idea. It's a world of hard work and, all too often, low returns. Indie filmmakers want distributors to distribute their films. Indie distributors want theater owners to show the films they distribute - because if no one ever SEES THE MOVIE, the whole process is not only frustrating but futile. Enter the wave of the future. Of course, it's online. But even those of us who border on tech-know-nothing realize that the internet can grease the wheels of all those little indie film carts. Here is a form of technology that's getting cheaper and easier to use every day. Here is something that allows you (or me, or anyone) to get into millions of homes and say "hey! look at my movie!" Welcome to the world of BuyIndies.com. When the site launches on January 15, it will become the first interactive, automated e-commerce community for film distributors and independent filmmakers. Already, the founders of the site have over 50,000 titles in their catalog, representing films from small distributors and individual filmmakers alike. Buyers can browse by title or category, and order online with their credit cards. Voila - a central clearing house for indie film treasures (and, I'm sure, some duds) that anyone can access, any time. Know this about me: I have occasional flashes of fear when I stop and think about our society's headlong rush into online living. I worry that too much of life is being lived through computers, and yes, I know my worry is a smidge hypocritical, seeing as I'm a contributing editor to this fine online magazine you're reading. Nevertheless, the bottom line is this: sites like BuyIndies.com (and there'll probably be similar sites within a month) have the potential make life a bit easier for independent filmmakers. It'll also make it easier for people like me to find out about new movies I might want to see. Still, my gut tells me that if someday my lucky stars line up and I get my Masterpiece Feature made, I'll have a moment of doubt at the idea of selling it online. Isn't that somehow... impure? Maybe, maybe not. Then again, if I had a choice between selling my film online and not selling it at all, well, I think I know what I'd do. Interested in having your film distributed on the BuyIndies website? Contact Anishiya Taneja, BuyIndies.com Director of Distribution, at anishiya@buyindies.com. BuyIndies co-founder Michele LaMura is really cool and is also a founder of newenglandfilm.com.
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