Just back from Silver Docs, well, actually I've been back for a good two weeks but haven't had a chance to write. I am pleased that after spending one year screening great programs for our new DVD label Alive Mind, building online communitiies, and mastering the tricks of online marketing, it is all starting to take off. It has been a blast launching a company based on the templatization of self- distribution and it is even more fun to see it start to succeed. My favorite new concept: scalable.
But back to Silver Docs. It is a great small festival attended by top notch producers and filmmakers and the panels were great. I moderated a panel on the educational market, 'Old School’ is New Money: Opportunities in the Educational Market, as well as attending several others. My educational panelists included Cynthia Close from Documentary Educational Resources (DER), John Haskyll-Abrahams from Bullfrog Films, Kathy Tan from Films Media Group and Lori Griffin from Schlessinger Media/Library Video Company.
The educational market is not homogeneous. Companies represented on our panel varied from primarily university/college catalog to solely K-12, traditional DVD to VOD solutions for districts, from social issue programs to curriculum correlated content. One thing all of them have in common though is that they do not release programs into the home video market. This is because traditional thinking says that the lower home video price point will cannibalize the higher non-theatrical price point. The first question I would advise any producer looking for a DVD distributor to ask is whether or not your doc has stronger home video or educational potential. Generally speaking, a best-seller at Block Buster is not the evergreen title that keeps on selling year after year to schools, libraries or universities although there are exceptions.
The diversity of the educational market was also illustrated by the best-seller examples of each company. All of the major educational distributors generally have one unique strength: the most comprehensive library (Films), the most social-issue oriented collection (DER), an environmentally focused library (Bullfrog) or a collection that supports state and national standards (Schlessinger Media). The best sellers varied from Bullfrog Films' documentary China Blue to Schlessinger Media's Families From Around the World, a multi volume series that supports geography and social studies standards for grades 2 - 5. The second bit of advice I would offer to any producer is to research the educational market and find the right distributor. Talk to them early on, but remember, most only acquire finished programs and do not generally invest in production.
The educational market is also highly innovative since it is not driven by competition and is technology friendly due to government and state funding. While some of the more traditional education distributors have shied away from offering programs via streaming or VOD, others such as Films Media Group and Schlessinger Media have built their own digital platforms. These platforms are populated with their libraries and offered on a download or subscription basis. Third question for producers to ask the educational distributor is about digital revenue models. Often, royalties are not paid on a per title basis but pro rata.
As producers navigate distribution waters and various offers, remember to probe beyond the initial "How much is the advance? And what is the royalty?" and keep in mind that a high royalty of a few units can be less actual money than a lower royalty and more units.
But if a distributor offers you cash up front, I suggest you cash that check and move on to your next project.
add comment Title Tag
First, make sure that you have a Title Tag in your Source Page. The Title Tag is what is displayed in your browser as well. We made a simple experiment and searched for a keyword "untitled" and received an amazing 8,610,000 pages as a result. Most of them had a Title Tag missing. What should one use as a Title Tag? The best choice is to use the name of your business or your web log, particularly if the name matches your URL.
Description Tag
This tag provides a short description of your site. Often this decription is used as a part of the snippet shown in the search results.
Keyword Tag
Keyword Tag is generally ignored by the search engines.
Web Site Content
The content of your site is the most important factor in SEO. Search engine bots scan your content periodically. It is believed that the best practice is to add the most important phrases and keywords in the beginning of your content starting with the headline. Please keep in mind that embedded content is not indexed by the search engines as it is placed in "script" tags and can easily disrupt the search engine bot. From the point of view of SEO any embedded content, such as YouTube is completely useless in achieving the higher ranking and findability.
Ensure that all critical content is reachable.
To access content, it needs to be reachable. Users and web crawlers reach content by navigating through hyperlinks, so as a critical first step, ensure that all content on your site is reachable via plain HTML hyperlinks, and avoid hiding critical portions of your site behind technologies such as JavaScript or Flash.
Ensure that content is readable.
To be useful, content needs to be readable by everyone. Ensure that all important content on your site is present within the text of HTML documents. Content needs to be available without needing to evaluate scripts on a page. Content hidden behind Flash animations or text generated within the browser by executable JavaScript remains opaque to the Googlebot, as well as to most blind users.
Ensure that the keywords you want people to search for are in your
Content.
Consider this text:
“We have hundreds of workshops and classes available. You can choose the workshop that is right for you. Spend an hour or a week in our relaxing facility.”
Will this site show up for searches for [cooking classes] or [wine tasting workshops] or even [classes in Seattle]? It may not be as obvious to visitors (and search engine bots) what your page is about as you think.
Along those same lines, does your content use words that people are searching for? Does your site text say “check out our homes for sale” when people are searching for [real estate in Boston]?
Read more on the official Google Blog
Optimize the images included on your site.
Many sites receive the majority of traffic from the search engines from people looking for images. If you include images on your site, make sure that you fill out the "Description" and "Title" fields in the Insert/Edit Image Window (for the users of Moxietype software) or ALT attributes for the users of the traditional programming tools. Please see the clip below on how to make your images discoverable for your users.
Last thing to add is that the amount of content plays a crucial role in search engine ranking. It is believed that users who post frequently get a much higher Page Rank in search engine results.
Lately, all I have been hearing about is how Word Press is "free." Now, the way I do math, anything that takes over ten hours to set-up and still doesn't function without a consultant and/or IT specialist has a cost associated with it: the cost of loss time, lowered employee productivity and no blog at the end of the month. For the last two weeks at my office we have been struggling to set-up a simple blog using WordPress.org that I have come to call the "buteverybodyusesit" software. I understand that developers and programmers love it because it is "free" and allows them to exploit gullible users in search of "free" software.
But I think there is some confusion regarding the defintion of free, which Word Press itself notes:
About the GPL
The GNU General Public License, or GPL, is an open source license. Open source doesn't just mean that you can view the source code - it has political and philosophical implications as well. Open source, or "Free Software", means you are free to modify and redistribute the source code under certain conditions. Free doesn't refer to the price, it refers to freedom. The difference between the two meanings of free is often characterized as "Free as in speech vs. free as in beer." The GPL is free as in speech.
So, while I am all for free beer and free speech I am also for the clear distinction between the two meanings of free.
Great article by Lance Weiler in the Winter 2008 Filmmaker's mag about digital distribution and generating online revenue for independent filmmakers. I think the most important point of the article, besides the benefits of working with a content aggregator/distributor, is that filmmakers need to be very technically savvy when it comes to self-distribution.
A lot of times filmmakers are advised to avoid working with traditional distributors, who are essentially described as greedy vultures, and to strike out on their own. The main challenge of doing so is creating awareness of your one, lone film and connecting it to your audience. There are a gazillion websites out there, two dominant social networking sites, and an undefined marketplace. Unless your potential customer can find you, no matter how good your film is they aren't going to buy it. This is not an original idea and a book that expresses this idea very eloquently is Ambient Findability by Peter Morville.
So read the article below to learn about the various digital distribution platforms and remember, before you opt for self-distribution, ask your consultant specific questions and then do a budget:
1. What kind of site elevates my findability factor?
2. Do I understand what search engine optimization means?
3. Do I understand the difference between a static and a dynamic site?
4. Social networking sites: how do you effectively use them?
5. How much money will self-distribution cost me?
• web designer/master
• an outreach coordinator
• publicists (film and online)
• a distribution consultant
• a producer’s rep
• theatrical booker and interns
And don't forget to account for your time... time not spent making your next film.
The promise of unlimited choice and shelf space due to an emerging on-demand universe of content has many in the industry struggling to figure out how new media revenue should be divided. This highly contentious issue is at the center of the current WGA strike. But while the WGA and the Hollywood studios duke it out over Internet residuals, many independent filmmakers are simply trying to figure out how to generate any kind of distribution income from the Net. And for these independent filmmakers, the biggest issue is how precisely to navigate today‘s fragmented world of digital distribution so that revenue even becomes a possibility. In 2008, filmmakers have many decisions to make in terms of outlets, partners and the best ways to drive audiences to their work.
Early in October during MIP COM in tawdry Cannes I caught up with Claire Aguilar, vice president of programming for ITVS over a bowl of truffle ravioli that was all the more delicious due to the weak dollar (oddly enough, I discovered that the frugal food of choice was a dozen oysters from Astoux et Brun with a glass of white wine, reminding me that one hundred years ago in New York oysters were the poor man's food because they were so abundant on the Sound, a briny contrast to their status today as a delicacy, but I digress...)
lTVS, based in San Francisco, is a CPB and foundation backed fund for independent producers that is open to both Americans and international producers, first time directors and producers as well as Tefflon industry veterans. ITVS green lights 40 projects a year that can be submitted either to the International Call, for funds up to $150,000 or Open Call, with budgets of up to $350,000. ITVS also commissions and acquires approximately 50 hours per year. At the moment, ITVS has approximately 50 programs in the pipeline and seven projects showing at the IDFA Film Festival and one being presented at the IDFA Forum in November.
As we relaxed at our sidewalk cafe, astutely ignored by the wait staff which allowed us ample time to chat while sipping our Pellegrino, I asked Claire to talk about the fund, what types of programs they are funding, how much they are funding, what funds they have, their other funding partners, the funding review process, and some of her favorite projects that she has funded.
I'll start by saying that I first met Claire a little over a year ago at the French Screenings in St. Tropez, where we were the two lone American buyers and found ourselves seated next to each other over a three-course gourmet meal in a private courtyard shaded by oak trees. Claire is active in the international market, flying to Africa, Portugal, and France (and that's just in the last eight weeks) to find projects that meet her programming needs, encouraging international producers to submit to the International Call as well as meeting with her international colleagues. The only requirement for submission to the International Call is that the topic cannot be about or by Americans; it is for international producers addressing global topics. Rather than ask her to describe the fund's objectives, I asked what her two favorite recent projects are; with no hesitation she replied, "
That's easy: Stranded and Waltz with Bashir."
Stranded: The Andes Plane Crash Survivors is a documentary featuring the remaining survivors of the Uruguayan soccer team whose airplane crashed in the Andes. They survived for seventy-two days. According to Claire, what makes the doc so compelling is the personalities and their survival stories.
Likewise, Waltz With Bashir is an animated doc about an Israeli soldier's attempt to remember his involvement in the Sabra and Shatila massacre in Lebanon in 1982. Unusual as it is animated, the doc's strength is it's a personal story that has historical and current relevance.
Two other docs that Claire cited as coming directly out of the International Call were House of Saad and Cuba: An African Oddyssey. Both broadcast internationally and were co-produced with Nick Fraser of the BBC, who is frequently a partner along with other European broadcasters, such as TV2 in Denmark. The next submission deadline for the International Fund is February 1st.
On the domestic front, the next deadline for submission to the Open Call Fund is January 11th. The deadline for the International Fund is February 1.For both funds, ITVS receives roughly 300 submissions of which 30 are recommended and sent out for review. The review panel is a mix of commissioning editors, scholars, and media professionals. The reviewers recommend 10 from the 30 and then convene to discuss and finalize the recipients. The process from submission to release of funds takes five months.
Budgets submitted to Open Call go as high as $350,000. On average, Claire shared that a PBS budget is $600,000 per project with the majority of the money going above the line and that it is not unusual for there to be three executive producers attached to a project. A similar project from the U.K. would be made for $300,000. ITVS believes in providing enough money for a filmmaker/producer to pay themselves but often suggest that filmmakers also approach the NEH, the Sundance Fund, and POV for additional money as well consider seeking international co-pro partners if appropriate.
ITVS's funds have increased over the last eight years, even though under Michael Pack's time at the CPB there was pressure to fund and commission 'conservative films.' As Claire wryly pointed out, while they canvas for ethnicity and gender, it would be awkward to ask about a producer's political beliefs and integrate that information into their review process.
Leaving politics aside, as well as producing as a career for the wealthy as we polished off our pasta, we moved on to the thorny issue of contracts, schedules and deliverables. Since ITVS is a funding source and broadcaster rather than a grant agency, they ask for exclusive U.S. broadcast rights for a 4-7 years period as well as a credit and revenue share based on the contribution of the net. Many docs that they fund broadcast on the Sundance Channel, Nat Geo and Link TV in addition to PBS.
As our bill arrived I thanked Claire for her time and her support of MyFilmBlog. You can find Claire's profile and blog here and more information about the submission process at the ITVS Web site. You can learn more about MyFilmBlog here.