Indie Game: The Movie
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“You May Have Made the Most Amazing Film in the World, But You Have Zero Followers on Twitter”: VHX’s Jamie Wilkinson on Building Film Communities
Jamie Wilkinson, CEO of the direct-to-fan online video platform VHX, had some words to filmmakers on Peter Katz’s Hollywood 2.0 podcast. Specifically: amp up your social media game. In the conversation, which also discusses some of the platform’s early successes, the role of filters and gatekeepers, and VHX’s partnerships with distributors, he preaches the virtues of building an audience online. “How do we get people promoting each other’s works?” he asks. “You may have made the most amazing film in the world, but you have zero followers on Twitter. How are you going to get the word out? In the […]
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 26, 2014 -
Bond/360 Launches “Pay What You Wish” Four-Movie “Creativity Bundle”
Hailed as revolutionary back in 2007, “the Radiohead model” — pay-what-you-wish downloadable media pricing — never flourished in the years following. Even Radiohead abandoned it. Yet, as Bond/360 is setting out to prove, it may still have its place when it comes to independent film. Tonight at midnight they’re launching a four-film “Creativity Bundle” download through VHX. Pay what you want to own — not rent — four movies. And, just as Radiohead’s In Rainbows was one of their best, these titles (or at least the two I’ve seen) are excellent: Indie Game, Helvetica, Sign Painters and Beauty is Embarrassing. […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 13, 2014 -
Teasers, Extras, & Deluxe Editions: Protips from Indie Game Director Lisanne Pajot
The following guest post by Indie Game director Lisanne Pajot was supplied by VHX. — Editor VHX is an internet distribution platform built for premium video that empowers artists to sell their work from their own websites. The company has enlisted Lisanne Pajot, co-director of Indie Game: The Movie, as their first Filmmaker Ambassador, providing guidance and tips for filmmakers for selling their films online directly to audiences. In the following post, Lisanne discusses the importance of deluxe editions. As a VHX Filmmaker Ambassador, I talk to creators everyday. I am often asked: “What should I use as a teaser?” “How many minutes of extras should I include?” “What kind of content should be in my Deluxe […]
by Lisanne Pajot on Jun 19, 2014 -
Should You Stream Your Festival Premiere on VHX?
Good podcast conversation today at TFI Live with Jason Guerrasio speaking with producer Marilyn Ness (E-TEAM) and Indiegogo’s John T. Trigonis about the nascent trend of live streaming features for crowdfunding backers. They discuss the live stream of Steve James’ Life Itself alongside its Sundance premiere. For $25, 1,900 Indiegogo backers took James and his team up on their offer. Trigonis talks about the effort from the Indiegogo point of view, and Ness discusses why she and her team couldn’t do such a release. The conversation expands to include discussion of the types of films that would and would not […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 25, 2014 -
Indie Game: The Movie Filmmakers Announce New Special Edition
Lisanne Pajot and James Swirsky, directors of Indie Game: The Movie, are not only skilled filmmakers but also very savvy businesspeople. They chose to self-distribute their film rather than sell themselves short by giving it away to a distributor, and did a brilliant job of connecting with their audience and maximizing the potential of their product. (You can read their evolved thinking on self-distribution in a Filmmaker article they penned earlier this year.) Now the pair say they have reached “the end of a life-changing, 3-year odyssey” of Indie Game with the just-announced the release of a Special Edition, which […]
by Nick Dawson on Jul 24, 2013 -
How to Succeed at Self-Distribution if You’re Not Louis C.K.
James Swirsky & Lisanne Pajot are the directors, producers and distributors of the Sundance award-winning feature documentary, Indie Game: The Movie. Before we began production on Indie Game: The Movie, we saw Louis C.K. perform in our hometown of Winnipeg, Canada. It was a great show. He was hilarious, and we walked away cemented in the idea that Louis C.K. is one of the funniest people on the planet. Creatively, it’s hard not to be inspired by someone performing at the top of his or her field. However, little did we know, two years later, Louis C.K. would be inspiring […]
by Lisanne Pajot and James Swirsky on Jan 17, 2013 -
PAJOT AND SWIRSKY’S “INDIE GAME”
The following article about Lisanne Pajot and James Swirsky’s documentary Indie Game was published during the Sundance Film Festival. The film opens today in Los Angeles, New York (at the IFC Center), San Francisco and Phoenix. For a complete list of venues and upcoming screenings, check out the website. Independent film, depending on how you define it, has had many births. But for the purposes of this blog post, let’s consider the one in the 1980s, just before the launch of this magazine. She’s Gotta Have It, Parting Glances, Poison, True Love — these were narrative features made by lone […]
by Scott Macaulay on May 18, 2012 -
SUNDANCE CLIP ROUND-UP: “INDIE GAME: THE MOVIE,” “ARBITRAGE,” “THE COMEDY”
Those of us not in Park City this weeked will have to make due with the slow-trickle of “Exclusive Clips” that have begun floating around the internet. First up, Wired shares a sequence from Lisanne Pajot and James Swirsky’s Indie Game: The Movie, a documentary about video-game programmers. In the above clip, Tommy Refenes, one of the film’s main subjects, nervously shares an unfinished version of his new game at a convention in Boston. Next, Deadline.com shares this tense clip from writer-director Nicholas Jarecki’s hedge-fund psychological thriller, Arbitrage. Featuring Richard Gere and Nate Parker, the clip hints at the film’s […]
by Jane Schoenbrun on Jan 22, 2012 -
“INDIE GAME: THE MOVIE” | directors, Lisanne Pajot and James Swirsky
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Friday, January 20, 3:00 pm –Yarrow Hotel Theatre] There’s something deeply powerful about watching someone in the moment going through a life-changing experience. Film, the documentary genre specifically, was a strong way for us to tell the surprisingly dramatic story of making video games, in Indie Game: The Movie. Until recently, video games haven’t widely been considered an art form. The technical part of game-making (the coding and software part) sometimes hides the fact that game development can be very personal and creative. One of goals for the film was to show what these developers go through is […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 20, 2012
