3 Responses

1. Paul Birchard

   August 16th, 2007 at 6:06 am

   1

   Dear Agnes,

   THANK YOU so much for posting the online discussion about “Building an online fan base…” - I listened to half of it at about 4:00 a.m. the other day and had to go back to bed as my head was reeling with all the smart, useful, unselfish ideas the panel was sharing!

   I wonder if I may ask your help. My first feature film - a documentary enitiled U & ME & TENNESSEE - an American romance… has just been accepted at the Raindance Festival in London.

   They have also offered us the chance to have the movie streamed from the Tiscali website (Tiscali is an ISP here in the not-so-U.K.) as part of the Raindance Virtual Film Festival - there are all sorts of restrictions I can choose, as to which countries I will allow to view it, for example, and also they will watermark the movie so any bootlegs will clearly display their origin…

   I just would like a quick opinion on whether or not you reckon this is a good choice. Raindance are saying it won’t (or ought not to) prejudice other festivals from accepting the movie, as it can only be a one-off and does not constitute “distribution,” but I am not sure if I can envisage all the ramifications involved if we agree to show the movie…

   I also would like to thank you for your tackling of the Fair Use issues - I first read these some months ago on the Self-Reliant Filmmaking blog and found them incredibly stimulating, esp. because these are issues that might have an impact on U & ME & TENNESSEE.

   By the way, I’m the only actor (my day job) ever to have left Hollywood, based himself in Glasgow, and lived to tell about it! You may recently have seen me opposite John Cusack in the opening scene of 1408 (I was “Mr. Innkeeper”…) and in lots of other stuff here and there….

   Thank you again, and I will be in touch via this or your other blog in the next day or two…

2. Agnes Varnum

   August 17th, 2007 at 7:19 am

   2

   I can’t answer for other festivals, obviously, but making the film available for a short period of time (during Raindance) with the DRM you describe, doesn’t seem like it should raise issues for you later. Consider that I watched several films during the Tribeca Film Festival that I downloaded from Jaman.com. The files expired after the festival rental window.

   It was great because I wouldn’t have seen those films otherwise. It’s hard to balance new media options with the old marketplace of exclusivity when all you want is for people to see your movie! But, as I said, it seems that Raindance is thinking about the issues and trying to address them in a way that would allow you to keep other options open.

3. Paul Birchard

   August 17th, 2007 at 7:41 am

   3

   Dear Agnes,

   Thanks for your cogent and quick reply - Yes, there DO seem to be all sorts of DRM-restrictions that will be placed on the RAINDANCE/TISCALI web fest - I feel a lot more at ease about having U & ME & TENNESSEE streamed after reading what you have to say.

   Thank you again, and I hope you’ll take a look at the website for our movie - It’s about 97% complete (some more links to be added and the photos page needs to be completed - also the music will be added once we’ve completed the recording…

   http://www.u-me-tennessee.co.uk

   ALL THE BEST !

   - Paul Birchard