Soy Andina: The Blog

The Return of Film Consultant Wendy Sax

Just ran into an old friend from my Lincoln Center days — Wendy Sax, probably best known as the IFP market director and producer of the Sundance award-winner Songcatcher. Well good news for you aspiring screenwriters and filmmakers - Wendy's now focusing full-time on her consulting/doctoring work. Need your script reviewed? A coach to help guide you to the right producer and through the Independent Film jungle? Contact Wendy.

Invite to Silverdocs/Sunny Side of the Doc Rendezvous

Good news and a potential big step on the road to distribution — an invite to one of the world's most prestigious documentary co-financing conferences, where projects with partial financing or distribution already in place are invited to pitch their projects to secure finishing funds and distribution deals:

Dear Mitch,

The SILVERDOCS: AFI/Discovery Channel Documentary Festival is very pleased to invite you to take part in the Washington Sunny Side of the Doc Rendezvous, January 27-29, 2006 with your project, SOY ANDINA. The Rendezvous will be a gathering of approximately 200 participants converging from France, Canada, Japan and the U.S. to pitch projects to one another in hopes of creating international co-productions.

Latin American Video Distributor to Close

Email today from Latin American Video Archives (LAVA). Unfortunate but somehow not surprising. I've wondered how small educational distributors stay afloat.

It is with great regret that we announce the termination of LAVA’s distribution services as of December 31, 2005. The future of LAVA’s other two services – our informational website, www.latinamericanvideo.org, and the video archive – has not yet been determined.

Behind the Scenes with Editor Walter Murch

A fascinating 8 minute interview on NPR with legendary editor Walter Murch about his work:

"My job as an editor is to gently prod the attention of the audience to look at various parts of the frame."

The editing process is tedious work: "I like to think this is sort of a cross between a short-order cook and a brain surgeon"

Doculink

Need help getting your documentary made?

Doculink is THE place. A terrific, well- run online community of documentary makers who really help each other and know their stuff.

Even in past few days they've come through again, with excellent recommendations for the hard drive I'm about to buy to store our precious video clips. And a recommendation of a repair place for Ingrid's audio gear.

Best Practices in Fair Use

News from Pat Aufderheide, the media journalist, professor and director of the Center for Social Media in Washington:

Hi Mitch! congrats on the return! We're releasing the Doc Filmmakers' Statement of Best Practices in Fair Use on November 18, and I'd love for you to spread the word.

More from the IFP....

The best part of conferences is usually the networking, schmoozing and socializing that happens between the formal sessions. Definitely true here. Reconnected with more people I've known for a long time - Doug Block (who's new film 51 Birch Street has gotten rave previews; my old pal Liz Ogilvie from Docuclub days, now with the distributor Docurama...a whole bunch more.

The funniest reconnection was with the ex-boyfriend of a friend I last saw a dozen years ago. He literally stopped me in my tracks in front of the Puck Building, blurted out my name and gave me an affectionate hug. Thing is, I didn't recognize the guy. At first. But then we caught up and it was real nice. Steve lives in Asheville, NC now, a place I'd like to visit. He's a producer and has all these projects in the pipeline. (By the way, after all these years, I still really don't understand how any independent producers make money or can juggle all these projects. I'm overwhelmed with one.)

I entered three sessions but only stayed for one, The Art of Editing, with an all-star lineup: Larry Silk, Chris Hegedus and D.A. Pennebaker, Paula Heredia, Susan Froemke, Megan Cunningham. Nothing revelatory but the presenters were charming and smart. Comments noted:

"For a complex film, figure it's gonna take 8 months minimum"

"It's a constant struggle"

"It's an enormous responsibility to make a film about a real person"

"You should budget to shoot some more after you begin editing"

How to choose an editor? Work with someone who:

"....you communicate with well, who you feel at ease with. You can fight and disagree, like sisters and brothers, but in the end you listen to and respect each other."

"...is graceful with the craft of editing."

"....can help you figure out the structure, the story. Ask them how they do that."

After hearing these top editors talk about how hard it is, I feel kind of validated - like, it's par for the course, we're all in this together. I can go to funders and say - hey, it took these Oscar winning docs a year and $100,000 to get it right, they went through editors and four rough cuts....

On other hand, it leaves me feeling uneasy, even disheartened. Does it HAVE to be this long and hard? It would be nice to hear a filmmaker or editor say "you know, the editing went really great, it was fun, fulfilling, and we came in under budget!"

As for the other two sessions I entered - Distributing Docs and Finding Funding - I stayed just a few minutes for both. I'd heard the presenters and their talks before. Which in some sense is also validating - I know this stuff. The funding session kind of pushed my buttons though. Same presenters from the same handful of foundations that always show up at these conferences, that give grants to about .001% of applicants. Sure there's some bitter grapes here 'cause I haven't gotten any money from them! But hey, why not present some coaching and case studies from producers who've raised money from other sources? I'm doing it, plenty others are too.

Back in the Mix, at the IFP

Been back in New York 5 days and until yesterday had spent nearly all that time by myself at home or at Starbucks. Way too much alone time to think and worry. But I'm in a holding pattern. The plan is to resume editing real soon - but it depends on whether our biggest donor writes another check and whether Ingrid the editor confirms availability after 2 months in Africa. I've got emails/calls into both.

So it was a good thing that the annual IFP market started yesterday. I was ambivalent at first about going. After 4 years of talking about "Soy Andina," I want to show up at these industry events with something to show, not just schmooze.

On other hand, the documentary film folks cut you a lot of slack, they know how long it can take. And it's just good to see people. So I went down to the Puck building and within a few minutes ran into old friend right away - Steve Mendelson from Project Rebirth, Tracy Holder with her work-in-progress doc on Joe Papp...but the real bonus was Peter Broderick's Maximizing Distribution presentation. The guy's an evangelist for self-distribution and using the internet to reach core audiences and sell videos directly to consumers.

There was a party last night for the film people, and I was thinking of going but vegged out in front of the television to watch my beloved New York Giants beat the New Orleans Saints. I can't remember the last time I watched a TV show, here or in Peru. I was also reading an article in the Times about the Emmy's and realized I hardly recognized any of the shows or actors. Sort of proud of that, shunning mostly vapid TV culture, but also reminded me of how out of the mainstream loop I am in the USA at times!