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Truly Free Film

Buffalo 8: Building Your Film Library for Value, Longevity and Leverage

 By Matthew Helderman, & Luke Taylor
 
At Buffalo 8 – we began our careers in the film business working as Assistant Directors on smaller independent sets, bouncing from project to project in the lower indie space.
 
Not only did AD’ing offer great insight and experience in to the the filmmaking process — but it also enlightened the reality that the film business is heavily driven on contracted labor that constitutes/requires the laborer to be present to continually earn wages.
 
As we began working 14-16 hours days – the hype and glamor that often surrounds the entertainment business was nowhere to be found — and so began our true education into the world of film production. 

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Truly Free Film

How Can Creators And Audience Best Collaborate Today?

That essentially was the question we explored on the 3rd episode of ReInvent Hollywood on the audience.  Check out the 10 minute recap here:

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Truly Free Film

How Holes in Data Analysis Can Overstate the Prevalence of Racism, Sexism and Success in Film

By Beanie Barnes

Data is a funny thing.  It can, at once, confirm and discredit the exact same theory.  For example, if a $500m film makes $100m at the box office on its opening weekend, it could mean that the film is a) a bust or b) gaining momentum.  Such was the case with Avatar.   By the end of 2009, several people were calling the film a “flop,” but by mid-2010, it was obvious that, of all the words to describe Avatar, “flop” was not one of them.  And although the film has been hailed as a marketing and technological success, if it had failed, it very likely would have been called it a marketing and technological bomb (with marketing heads rolling at the studio).

Misreading data is prevalent in film.  It isn’t so much that we misread the tea leaves, so much as it is that, rather than reading the tea leaves as they are, we’re more prone to read the leaves the way we want to see them or only read the leaves at the surface while overlooking others hiding below.

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Truly Free Film

Inside the Writers’ Room: Post #5: Collaborative Writing or The Explosion of Storytelling

By Christina Kallas

attachmentPaddy Chayefsky once wrote that “television is an endless, almost monstrous drain” (The Television Plays, 1955.) And he continued: “How many ideas does a writer have? How many insights can he make? How deep can he probe into himself, how much energy can he activate?” Furthermore, “he (the writer) has no guarantee that his next year will be as fruitful. In fact most writers live in a restrained terror of being unable to think up their next idea. Very few television writers can seriously hope to keep up a high-level output for more than five years.”

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Let's Make Better Films

Free Reading To Enhance The Art And Business Of Your Film

We move things ahead by sharing what know and learn.  That has been the impetus behind this blog and many others.  The same can be said about case studies. Lately it has also become the impetus behind handbooks and the like.  Here’s a few you must download and read:

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Truly Free Film

Buffalo 8: The Realities of Raising Capital for a Feature Film

 By Matthew Helderman, & Luke Taylor

Introduction
The difficulty in raising capital for any venture is two fold: first off, the market is crowded with opportunities that are currently earning strong returns. The stock markets, the bond markets and the traditional high yield sectors of real-estate, speciality finance and lending all present solid outlooks financially.
Second off, speculation is the killer of many financial deals. Being pragmatic and logical – who wants to invest in an opportunity when the return not only is unlikely but the timeline is completely unknown?

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Issues and Actions

Must Read Interview

I was definitely “on message” with this interview for this really beautiful Danish magazine The CIFF Gazette.  I think I capture what will be the next chapter in the future of film pretty f’n well, if I do say so myself.