Sundance Artist Services
-
Quick Takeaways from Sundance Artist Services Distribution Workshop in Seattle
Launched in 2011, the Sundance Institute’s Artist Services program was initially designed to help Sundance alumni filmmakers get their work in front of audiences in a shifting industry environment in which DIY distribution strategies were increasingly an option. While digital distribution opportunities continue to be offered to Institute alumni, Artist Services has expanded its educational initiatives and online resources to include all indie filmmakers, not just ones who have screened at Sundance. Through online resources, live workshops, and a network of allied organizations, the program provides support and insights on creative funding, marketing, and distribution. Artist Services also holds daylong events around the […]
by Paula Bernstein on Oct 11, 2016 -
Sundance’s Missy Laney Joins BitTorrent to Collaborate with Filmmakers
Last week, BitTorrent announced that it had hired Missy Laney as the company’s new Director of Creative Initiatives. Laney, who has spent years at the Sundance Institute as the Manager of their Artist Services Program, will focus on collaborating with filmmakers to build sustainable distribution strategies and guide platform development for creators. While at Sundance, Laney led their creative funding initiative with Kickstarter and oversaw digital and direct-to-fan distribution efforts. During that time, Laney guided over 250 filmmakers through successful crowdfunding campaigns, including Sean and Andrea Fine’s Oscar Award-winning Innocente, Adam Nimoy’s documentary For the Love Of Spock, and David Alvarado and Jason […]
by Paula Bernstein on Apr 18, 2016 -
Sundance Announces Groundbreaking Transparency Project at #ArtistServices Workshop
Data — it’s the most coveted property in independent film. While studios base their greenlight decisions on finely-honed models derived from the financial performance of numerous other pictures, many independent filmmakers perilously based investor pitches and distribution decisions on anecdotes and hearsay. What used to be simple extrapolation (“If that film grossed X, it probably did Y on home video”) has become a near impossible exercise in the age of digital distribution, in which paltry box-office returns hide “the real numbers” — a dizzying matrix of VOD stats, download figures, Netflix license fees and more and more obscure sub-categories of […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 26, 2015 -
43 Takeaways from Sundance Artist Services Day at the IFP Filmmaker Conference
“The most important task is to make great movies,” said Sundance Institute Executive Director Keri Putnam at the start of Thursday’s Artist Services Workshop at IFP’s Filmmaker Conference. “All this talk about audiences is meaningless unless you have something in your heart you want to get out there.” However, Putnam’s comments were not to construe that filmmakers shouldn’t think about the rapidly changing world of distribution, marketing and audience building. As Putnam went on to say, it is “easier, less expensive to make a movie, but no easier to find an audience. There is a volume of movies and a […]
by Scott Macaulay on Sep 22, 2014 -
Why Didn’t Shane Carruth Change the Distribution Paradigm for this Year’s Sundance Filmmakers?
While many Sundance filmmakers last year this time were nervously awaiting distribution deals, one had done something completely different. Upstream Color director Shane Carruth entered the festival with a DIY distribution plan already in place. He partnered with Sundance Artists Services’s Joseph Beyer and distribution consultant Michael Tuckman, devised a theatrical campaign and swift VOD rollout, and was already at work on merch for the large fan base eager for the follow-up to his cult classic Primer. Carruth and his team pre-screened the film for journalists, including Filmmaker, and, we responded by endorsing both the movie and its distribution paradigm, […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 25, 2014
