By
Aaron Cowman
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Internet as a medium, film festivals topics of debate at roundtable discussion
Opportunistic film producers got the chance to learn what it takes to make it in the industry at the "Independent Feature Film Distribution: The Inside Story" roundtable discussion yesterday at the UA.
J. David Williams, president and CEO of Providence Entertainment, a major American independent films distributor, led a panel of University of Arizona faculty and local independent filmmakers in a forum for reviewing policy and procedure in the film market.
Williams explained to the audience of about 50 people - mainly media arts students, gathered in a classroom in the Harvill building - that in today's market, advertising plays a major role in whether ticket sales are high or not.
"In the past five years, marketing expenses have gone up 270 percent, and a lot of that has to do with the dot-com," he said.
The Internet and film festivals were major topics of debate in the group.
Pablo Toledo, an adjunct instructor in the media arts department, said that he favors the Internet as a medium for film.
"If I don't get distribution, I am going to hold on to my film and wait for the technology to catch up to me," Toledo said. "(The Internet) is a career move."
Robert Loomis, another adjunct instructor in the media arts department, said that he views film festivals with mixed feelings.
"It's a bit of a double-edged sword," Loomis said. "In some ways, it at least provides the illusion that you have more opportunities to show your film in more places. The really bad part about festivals is that the same people who previously were going to smaller art theaters are people who comprise a good portion of the festival audience, and what happens is they see your film, or films, at the festivals.
"Theaters pay the filmmakers. Filmmakers pay the festivals. So the filmmakers are the real losers here."
Today's independent film market is larger than ever, and the film festivals are proof of it, Williams said.
"There is another new festival every two days in the United States," he said. "Sundance applications this year was 4160. They narrow that down to 36. Out of those 36 films, seven got distribution."
Many times, independent films do not prosper in the United States because of the popularity of major distributors like Miramax and Paramount, Williams said, often driving filmmakers to seek markets in other countries.
Panel members also emphasized that not all independent films easily make money in the same way movies such as "The Blair Witch Project" and "The Brothers McMullen" did.
"If you do not get an advance from a distributor, you will never see any money," Loomis said.
Gus Kyriakakis, a media arts senior, said that he found the discussion informative but rather disheartening.
"It's a little discouraging," he said. "There are so many films being made. Digital films and digital effects take away from the value of the film."
