Named one of “10 Digital Directors to Watch,” by Daily Variety, Jon Reiss has directed three feature films most recently Bomb It about graffiti, street art, and the battle over visual public space throughout the world. His experience releasing Bomb It with a hybrid strategy was the inspiration for writing Think Outside the Box Office: The Ultimate Guide to Film Distribution in the Digital Era, the first step-by-step guide for filmmakers to distribute and market their films. Reiss will be conducting a workshop from July 31^st to August 1^st all about DIY distribution, at the San Francisco Film Society. BTB spoke with Reiss via Skype last week while he was in Melbourne, Australia.

How did you get started with DIY filmmaking?

Jon Reiss is the author of Think Outside the Box Office: The Ultimate Guide to Film Distribution in the Digital Era

I guess I got started with DIY filmmaking back in the San Francisco punk rock scene. That’s how I got into film in first place. At the time, I was an Economics major at Berkeley and was a planning on getting a PhD in Economics at Stanford but somehow ended up living in a rat-infested loft in San Francisco shooting punk rock bands.

[I went] to Paris to show the videos and I thought, “Why not go to the rest of Europe?” So, I started booking tours throughout Europe and that was really my first experience with DIY distribution. It was also my first experience with creating events and using non-traditional venues — that I’ve now come to champion — which is, I believe, the future for independent films.

At the California Institute for the Arts you teach a class called “Reel World Survival Skills: Everything I Wish I Had Been Taught in Film School.” What does the syllabus look like?

Half the syllabus looks like my workshop. I added a section on pitching, a section on film finance, grants, business plans, a section on rights and acquisitions. I do a whole survey of the industry.

The Cal arts students like it  because, like most filmmakers and most film students, they have heard that something is amiss in the film distribution world; they are not sure what , and they are not sure what to do. So it’s great to hear that something else can be done.

I firmly believe that this new process of distribution and marketing needs to be integrated into the filmmaker process much earlier. Filmmakers should realize making a film and connecting a film to the audience are in a sense part of one whole.

And if you think about it, most filmmakers go into film to connect with an audience. The current system, however, has separated filmmakers from the process of audience connection.  And that’s a mistake, because there are many benefits to filmmakers who embrace a direct connection with their audience.

Your film, Bomb It, was a feature documentary covering the explosion of graffiti culture throughout the world – and premiered at Tribeca in 2007. Tell us about the experience and how that changed your impression of the distribution business?

At that premiere, we thought we had a decent chance of selling our film to a distributor. I had managed to get my previous two films distributed and I thought this one was better and therefore would get better distribution. We hired a publicist, packed five 500-seat houses, and turned away some 200 people at each screening. Lines around the block. And I thought for sure  several distributors would see that and say, “Let’s get this movie!”

We got some offers for overall deals, but without an advance. We were offered maybe a $10,000 advance on one but were smart enough to know that any overall deal we took would not amount to making any money. That experience made me realize, something in the market was shifting. And I don’t mean to be egotistical saying that, “If my film didn’t sell then we must be in a down market,” but, based on my previous experiences, I realized things were different. That same year at Sundance, only four out of 200 films sold. Same went for Toronto. So that’s when everyone kind of recognized that the sky was falling.

At that point I thought, “If no one is going to release my film, I’m going to do it.”

Jon Reiss will be conducting a workshop at the San Francisco Film Society from July 31 to August 1

What do you tell filmmakers who struggle to raise money, or worse, raise money and then struggle to find a distributor?

I tell them to take the money they have to make the film, and split it in half. Make the movie with one half and save the other for distribution and marketing. I almost guarantee them they will thank me later.

I know how hard it is to make a film for no money. That’s why I created this position of the producer of marketing and distribution or PMD. At one of my recent workshops, out of 40 people, eight wanted to be a producer of marketing and distribution. So that’s the solution for filmmakers who are overwhelmed with the making of the film. Bring someone else on board who wants to do this work.

What should filmmakers expect to takeaway from your crash course coming up in San Francisco?

They will come away with a new step-by-step method of how to approach the distribution and marketing of their film. That process needs to start as early as possible. What writing the book helped me do was systematize my approach and provide an accessible way for people to see the new distribution and marketing landscape. Even though the amount of information is overwhelming, the process is not overwhelming.

Give us your best guess as to what the film business will look like in 10 years.

I think you’ll see a lot more people creating content that isn’t just a feature film. You’ll see much more trans-media and cross-media elements to features. You’ll see filmmakers creating long-term relationships with fan bases. I think you’ll see a much more robust digital distribution industry. And you’ll see more companies designed to help filmmakers connect with audiences. You’ll see consumers subscribing to curatorial websites to access content.

Filmmakers will be much savvier too, realizing that its far more beneficial for them to cultivate a fan base over the course of their career and not just for an individual project.

But the one thing you won’t see is kids coming out of film school under the impression that all they have to do is make a movie and let a distributor handle the rest. Although that might still be possible, they will certainly recognize that if a distributor for their film doesn’t exist — there are a plethora of other options.

From the Producers Workshop in Boston

This was the first time I had attended the Producers Workshop in any capacity and it was also the first year they designated an entire class on the broad subject of new media. I was thankful for being invited and thankful that the Workshop’s Director, Judith Vecchione, WGBH, and CPB recognized new media as an integral part of a producer’s training in working with public television. Oh yes, and I was thankful for the air conditioning in the WGBH building (I had forgotten just how humid New England can be in the summer).

The session was co-facilitated by myself, Dave Peth, interactive producer at WGBH and Dan Sonnet, interactive producer for PBS. We decided to structure the first part of the session as an overview, covering a wide range of topics from trends in trans-media storytelling, to social media (a formal debate of the pros and cons of Facebook and Twitter), to digital distribution, to games (you’d be surprised how much documentary producers know about digital games). We then spent the latter half of our three-hour session discussing some new media projects that the producers were working on. Projects ranged from a role-playing game to an episodic web series, to a user-generated content campaign. It was exciting to have producers share their ideas with us and their peers so openly and accept honest and constructive feedback considering this is a relatively new discipline for all of us.

I often tell film producers that not every project needs to have an elaborate multi-platform strategy. Just because applications for the iPad, or alternate reality games exist, does not mean they have to become a central component of your film. And this is why it’s critical for filmmakers to learn about these technologies and their differences. There may be one or several technologies and strategies that are best suited for a project and can provide inspiration for new ways to engage audiences and tell a specific story. Or, one may realize that, beyond some basic digital promotion and distribution presence, there is not a whole lot more that these new tools have to offer for them.

No matter what, though, as an independent media maker these days, it’s impossible to ignore the ways in which the Internet, and digital media overall, have affected how stories are told and distributed. I’m not suggesting filmmakers need to learn how to write code or design games, or spend 10 hours per week on Facebook to be effective in the digital space. After all, many filmmakers don’t have to edit or shoot their own films to be effective producers or directors. It’s a matter of understanding what these new tools do and how they can be most useful or creatively implemented that is important.

Hopefully, this session at the Producers Workshop and similar seminars for independent producers such as the CPB-sponsored BAVC Producers Institute will improve the familiarity among independent filmmakers of the possibilities and limitations of working in the digital environment.

Last night, ITVS hosted the Washington D.C. premiere of the landmark new documentary Bhutto, about the life, career, and tragic death of one of the world’s most dynamic leaders — and the first woman ever to lead an Islamic nation — Benazir Bhutto.

The film debuted at Sundance 2010 to rave reviews and Independent Lens series producer Lois Vossen quickly moved in to secure Bhutto for next season; it will air in March 2011 in celebration of Women’s History Month.

But last night, Bhutto belonged to official Washington. Nearly 400 invited guests, members of Congress and the Washington diplomatic corps, journalists, and other notables were regaled with reflections and remembrances of Ms. Bhutto’s life and work.

The pinnacle of the evening though, was a surprise appearance by another dynamic woman leader, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who took the podium during introductory remarks to share memories of her friendship with Benazir (watch the Speaker’s remarks below).

Having the Speaker at our event was truly an honor, especially for a San Francisco-based organization like ITVS! Introductory remarks were also made by Patricia Harrison, president and CEO of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (see below).

Following the screening of Bhutto, a visibly moved Husain Haqqani, Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States, took the stage to talk about Benazir’s political legacy, and the continuing struggle for democracy in Pakistan. He also acknowledged Ms. Sanam Bhutto, Benazir’s sister and only living sibling, who was also in attendance.

The event wrapped up with a brief discussion with the filmmakers (producer Mark Siegel and director Duane Baughman), hosted by veteran journalist Judy Woodruff of  PBS NewsHour (watch the discussion below and read Woodruff’s report on the film for the Online NewsHour).

All in all it was quite an evening. Friends and supporters gathered to celebrate Mrs. Bhutto’s life, prominent members of official Washington turned out to support the ongoing and very consequential U.S. relationship with Pakistan, and once again, ITVS fulfilled its mission to bring independently produced programming to diverse audiences in support of civic dialogue and public education.

One thing is certain, however you might be inclined to judge Ms. Bhutto’s political legacy, this an important film that will educate millions of Americans about the turbulent political history of modern Pakistan.

A scene from the PBS Interactive Workshop in Washington, D.C.

Silverdocs is a seven-day internationally renowned film festival that celebrates independent thinking, diverse voices, and free expression and fosters the power of documentary to enhance our understanding of the world. Jen Kaczor, senior producer at ITVS Interactive and Independent Lens, participated in this year’s PBS Interactive Workshop entitled “Building Your Digital Toolbox.” She reports from the steamy East Coast:

The AFI-Discovery Channel Silverdocs Documentary Festival, presents an opportunity for those who work in disciplines that touch documentary film to connect and share expertise in their fields.  The goal of the “Building your Digital Toolbox” workshop was for filmmakers to present their online strategies to extend the reach of their films, and for a group of us who work in the PBS interactive realm to give feedback and input.

The panel, moderated by Stephen Gong, executive director at the Center for Asian American Media, included:
Lauren Aguirre, executive editor, NOVA Online
Kevin Dando, director, PBS Digital Marketing and Communications
Mary Hope Garcia; senior manager, PBS Interactive
Jen Kaczor, senior producer, ITVS Interactive
Catherine Quayle, Web editor-in-chief, Need To Know
Theresa Riley, director, P.O.V. Interactive

The three projects covered vastly different subjects: the longest-runing pick-up softball game, which happens in Central Park every Sunday; a project on chocolate, how it’s produced, and the perspectives of four people who are effected by chocolate in very different ways; and the mission of an Appalachian grandmother who is trying to stop mountain top coal mining from destroying her community. The strategies proposed by the filmmakers included social media, iPhone apps, outreach campaigns, and online games.

The panel asked questions and offered feedback, covering questions about audience and goals of the films. Panel attendees had questions for the panel members as well, wondering what panelists most successful online projects had been. Ideas shared included taking advantage of Facebook and its tools, offering features that gave users a chance to find out info about themselves and be able to “compete” with their friends, and considering the ongoing commitments required for efforts that called for user-generated content or long-term maintenance.

It was great being a part of hearing about the online strategies of documentary makers — which are becoming de rigueur to plan for early on — and the perspectives of my public media interactive colleagues. I was also glad I got to check out some of the great docs at the festival, including a short called The Poodle Trainer, about, well, what you think?

A Discussion with Filmmakers from the Geneva Forum on Social Change

Geneva is a hotbed for international dealings whether it be diplomacy or finance, and the GFSC represented that to a tee by attracting participants whose work reaches so many corners of the globe: international organizations, NGOs, private corporations, diplomatic corps, foundations, the list goes on. In one room I would meet someone working to develop water and energy conservation programs for an entire country on behalf of USAID, and then turn around and meet another person who started a foundation to support youth in a small village in Africa with nothing more than what was in their savings account and the help of a few friends. The amount of brain stimulation and soul inspiration to be had was off the charts!

As I mentioned earlier, ITVS presented four films at the GFSC: Garbage Dreams, A Village Called Versailles, Pickles Inc., and Project Kashmir. There was a lot of buzz around A Village Called Versailles and people were eager to see the film and discuss what’s happening with the Vietnamese American community in the Gulf Coast right now in the aftermath of yet another disaster — the oil spill. The level of awareness and concern that I felt in those conversations showed me what a small world we truly live in, and that global citizenship isn’t just a pipe dream.

"Garbage Dreams" filmmaker Mai Iskander at the Geneva Forum on Social Change

We were incredibly lucky that Mai Iskander, director of Garbage Dreams, was able to attend. Mai and I co-presented a workshop on community empowerment and education where we showcased The Garbage Dreams Game, an innovative online game that teaches us about the interconnectedness of recycling to local economies and the lives and livelihoods of its citizens. Mai also provided a great deal of insight into the Recycling School, a model program run by the Spirit of Youth Association which is featured in the film; through their efforts, young Zaballeen are not only given economic opportunities but educational opportunities where there would otherwise be none. Mai said of the experience, “the forum was an important opportunity to engage those interested in social entrepreneurship and sustainability in powerful dialogue. I am so honored that Garbage Dreams was included in a conference that offered real, objective insight into the nature of social and cultural progress.”

Keynote speakers at the GFSC included Marc Koska, founder of Safepoint and inventor of a non-reusable syringe, which cannot pass on an infection to further users; Arnaud Mourot, Executive Director of Ashoka Europe, a leading association of over 2,000 social entrepreneurs worldwide; Dr. Graham Clewer, Director of Ethical & Community Trade for The Body Shop; Arthur Wood, Founder of Total Impact Advisers, and a leader in creating and implementing new Social Financial models with cutting edge global social entrepreneurs.

My time in Geneva was deeply inspiring and invigorating and I’m looking forward to carrying this energy towards cultivating new partnerships with the many contacts made.

Chi Do
ITVS Associate Director of Communications

Wendy Levy, director of the BAVC Producers Institute

Filmmakers, do you know your alternate reality from your augmented reality? If not, you may want to get a glimpse into the future of documentary film by checking out what’s going on at The Bay Area Video Coalition’s Producers Institute for New Media Technologies.

The Producers Institute is a 10-day residency for independent producers who, in collaboration with teams of strategists, technologists, and NGO partners, develop and prototype multi-platform projects related to their documentary projects. Now in its fourth year, the Producers Institute has gained recognition as an incubator for cutting-edge content and thought leadership in public and social interest media. That’s why we’re especially excited that four producers are participating this year with projects related to their ITVS-funded films: Pamela Yates, Granito (Open Call, 2009); Roland Leguiri-Laura, To Be Heard (Open Call, 2008); Nicole Newnham and Maren Grainger-Monsen, The Revolutionary Optimists (Open Call, 2009); and Jehan Harney, Dream of America (Diversity Development Fund, 2008).

This year, ITVS staffers were lucky enough to attend some of the events and activities, including the day of final presentations. By then, producers’ eyes were bleary from a full week of non-stop brainstorming, whiteboarding, designing, wire-framing, and developing their prototypes. Despite the frenetic schedule, the producers presented some impressive work that ranged from the aforementioned alternate reality and augmented reality game prototypes, to geo-targeted mapping projects, to mobile social applications, and much more. Videos of the final presentations should be posted soon, but to learn about the specific project proposals, you can click here. To get a re-cap of the week from the archived Twitter feed and to see more pics, click here.

If you’re not quite sure how these new technologies are integrated into a documentary film project, one example is BAVC Producers Institute alumni and ITVS-funded producers’ The Returning Home Project , an interactive media and story-sharing site created by Gita Pullapilly and Aron Gaudet producers of The Way We Get By.

Wendy Levy, director of the Institute, has continued to grow the program in dynamic ways that recognize the needs of mediamakers to further develop and sustain their projects. This year, representatives from NGO organizations were added to the teams to provide an added perspective of community engagement and potential partnership. As consumers multitask on multiple screens, there are multiple opportunities to interact and engage with them; but there are also more distractions and more competition for their attention than ever.

That’s why the Institute’s strategy sounds like a recipe for success: combining — in one room, for one intense week — great social-interest storytellers, NGO organizations with deep links to communities, and technologists who understand the new tools to reach and engage with those communities. Or maybe it sounds like the plot for a great new reality show – augmented or otherwise.

— Matthew Meschery, Director of Digital Initiatives at ITVS

The afternoon session kicked off with clips from two films: The World According to

Sesame Workshop CEO Gary Knell moderates the final panel of the day

Sesame Street, a look at the making of “muppet diplomacy” through versions of the iconic children’s show produced by local producers in other countries; and The Team, a documentary look at the Kenyan soap opera of the same title that marries conflict resolution with popular storytelling.

Moderator Gary Knell, CEO of the Sesame Workshop, carried the theme of the clips into the discussion, highlighting the importance of “indigenous” partnerships to achieve local impact.  Mburugu Gikunda, executive producer of The Team in Kenya, reinforced that idea with his story of how his work combines television, radio and local screenings as equally important to getting people to act.  “When people see it in their living rooms, they are very passive,” he said.  “When they watch it in a group, there is encouragement to one another to take some action with it.”  New media, he continued, represent new opportunities.

Capacity crowd at the Newseum listens to the State Department's Jared Cohen

But what do people do with these opportunities?  Jared Cohen of the

USIP's Sheldon Himmelfarb closes out the day's program

Secretary of State’s Policy Planning Staff contrasted the stories of twitter in Iran and Moldova with an awareness of the “dark side” of technology, emphasizing how people looking for social impact innovate using whatever tools at their disposal.  For David Kleeman, Executive Director for the American Center for Children and Media, that’s why one of the most important missions should be creating platforms that extend the digital reach to people and places where it hasn’t yet reached.  Peace building also needs to start earlier and be more fully integrated into education and media literacy efforts.  Why do we teach kids how to read critically but not watch video critically?

Good question, agreed Shamil Idriss.  But impact goals and an open source model have contradictions, he warned.  “You have to be ready to hear things that are really hard for you to hear” and to allow for contrasting narrative to find new ways to get to more people in more places than ever before.

And don’t give up on traditional media, added Sandra de Castro Buffington, director of Hollywood, Health and Society at USC Annenberg Norman Lear Center.  Transmedia means working across all available platforms, with each platform adding essential information.  The key is making sure the information is accurate—we already advise Hollywood screenwriters on getting their medical information right, so why not global economic development, poverty and other topics of interest to peace building stakeholders?

CPB president and CEO Patricia Harrison set up the second panel, “Storytelling 2.0”, observing that “Mutual understanding and respect begins with someone else’s story.”  The challenge in this 21^st century media world of audiences turned media makers, she said, lies not only telling those stories but in the fact that “you have to shut up long enough to listen to someone else’s story.”  Public media is tackling these issues across radio, new media, and television, including documentaries like Project Kashmir, the ITVS-funded documentary that premieres May 18 on the PBS series Independent Lens.

Patricia Harrison, President and CEO of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting addresses the leadership summit

After clips from the film were screened for the audience, moderator Jamie Tarabay asked how can films like Project Kashmir and their filmmaker promote this understanding and respect?   “When you’ve reached people and they’re moved by it” said Orlando Bagwell, director of Ford Foundation’s Freedom of Expression Program, “and they want to do something—what do you do with this moment?”   New media tools combined with storytelling open up new possibilities to engage audiences and get them to act—whether it’s giving money for Haiti relief or volunteering in their communities.

“You need time to get to know the person behind the story,” added Harrison, along with a “firewall of independence” where storytellers can speak their mind and be seen as credible and authentic.  Even then, how do you compete in the marketplace?  “We need to create material that feeds the beast,” said Project Kashmir director Geeta Patel, not simply tell stories to people who watch documentaries.  That means bringing more humor, plugging into popular formats like love stories and action movies to reach audiences who “might not read the newspaper but they watch the Terminator.”

That’s hard but it can be done, said Mir Ibrahim Rahman, CEO of Geo TV Network Pakistan, recounting the story of a film about two brothers and their experience with radical Islam that surprisingly went on to huge box office success.  The key is to find the sweet spot where you can surprise audiences, promote more understanding, and survive financially.  Rachel Goslins, executive director of the President’s Committee on the Arts & Humanities, shared her experiences with Hollywood players who also search for that sweet spot, citing the grave challenge that face even movie stars “with a huge appetite for trying to figure out how to use their powers for good.”  Another strategy, she said, were efforts to make mass media Hollywood stories that are already being told more accurate, such as better representation of Muslims in the last few seasons of 24. The panel wrestled with the concept of authenticity, credibility and the brutal demands of the marketplace before adjourning for lunch.

ITVS Staff writer Eric Martin posted to ‘Beyond the Box’ live from the Newseum during the day’s proceedings:

The third “Media as Global Diplomat Summit” got underway at the Newseum on a bright Washington DC morning, with a mix of some 250 dark-suited power brokers and quick-typing bloggers filling the room.  The question of the day:  how can those working in conflict resolution and public interest media “seize the moment” presented by new technology and new stakeholders?

More than 300 people gathered at the Newseum's Knight Conference Center for the "Media as Global Diplomat" leadership summit

Hosts from ITVS and USIP, which co-presented the summit, opened the session by framing the day.  USIP president Dick Solomon described how “traditional notions of public diplomacy have not kept up with [new] technologies” while his colleague Sheldon Himmelfald brought to life a media world where children consume 12 hours of media every day, in a multimedia presentation that contrasted cognitive scientific data with video clips of Ohio militia calls-to-arms and optimistic journalistic partnerships in Burundi as opposing forces in the battle of peace and hate.  ITVS Sally Jo Fifer announced progress in the form of the International Documentary Exchange Act, recent legislation now moving through Congress that would support a two-way media exchange between the U.S. and other countries based on the work of the ITVS Global Perspectives Project.

The first panel, “The New News,” got underway against the backdrop of a clip from the Academy Award-nominated documentary The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, funded by ITVS and slated for broadcast on P.O.V. in the summer of 2010.  Panel moderator Jamie Tarabay, the NPR correspondent who was part of the news team that won a DuPont-Colombia Award for coverage of Iraq, contrasted the age of controlled information depicted in the film with the explosion of today’s media environment, challenging the panelists to reconcile the possibilities and realities of 21^st century media.

“Can you take people to an unexpected place?” asked panelist Frank Sesno, director of the School of Media and Public Affairs at George Washington University, emphasizing that this should be a central part of the journalists mission no matter what the medium.  For panelist Rebecca MacKinnon, co-founder of Global Voices, that sometimes means including “voices that advocate violence, sometimes they need to translated and explained—we need to have a discussion around them.”   Veteran broadcaster Marvin Kalb emphasized the importance of breadth and context, but defended the independence of the journalist as paramount.   “Is our job to promote peace or war?  My answer to that is no.” What journalism must do instead , he said, is push us to search deep and wide for what is truthful, not simply rely on sources that reinforce our beliefs.  “There’s so much chatter in the world today that we end up eating at smaller and smaller tables.”

In response to a tweeted question from a blogger in Egypt about the failure of U.S. mainstream media to criticize the invasion of Iraq, Huffington Post correspondent Dan Froomkin agreed that “No  one has done a better job for propagandizing for war than the traditional media,” outlining his vision of media mission “To hold the powerful accountable, to connect people, to tell powerful stories and tear down falsehoods.”

“We have to put the pendulum back in the middle,” added panelist Riz Khan, Al Jazeera English senior news anchor, reminding the session that the “Internet is still primarily an English language medium”.  Until that changes, he said, until places like China, Pakistan and the Middle East have more ownership of the conversation, the potential of new media as a neutral meeting ground will be limited.

Please join in via chat or by using the Twitter hashtag #magd. How do you think the media is doing in helping divergent cultures understand and empathize with one another? Is technology delivering on its promise to democratize media in a true sense? What could we be doing better?

Dive in and be heard:

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