Be The Media

BE THE MEDIA contributor Peter Broderick featured in BusinessWeek

Peter Broderick, author of "The Revolution in Digital Movie Production and Distribution" in Chapter 8 of BE THE MEDIA, was featured in the June 2008 issue of BusinessWeek.

Broderick is President of Paradigm Consulting, which provides consulting services to filmmakers and media companies.

He was also the founder and President of New Wave Films, which helped launch the careers of exceptional filmmakers.

Recently,Broderick has given a presentation at the Cannes Film Festival on 'cutting edge distribution" and a keynote in Hungary on the future of distribution.

The article, titled "Indie Filmmakers Hit Their Target," was written by John Tozzi and discusses the growing number of independent filmmakers choosing to distribute to their target audiences rather than taking the traditional route through distributors. In order to do this, many turn to the Internet.

According to Broderick, "Filmmakers need to be as creative about their distribution as they are about their production." This means they have to stray from the norm and come up with innovation tactics. The producers of King Korn, compiled a list of food activists and organic farmers while they were filming. Once the film was complete, they had a roster of people who would genuinely be interested in their film that examines the role of corn in the U.S. The producers, Curt Ellis and Ian Cheney are clients of Broderick's. They also booked their film for single-night screenings and sold DVDs on location.

The people who created the film are the ones who best know who would be interested in watching it. For that reason, it makes sense for the filmmaker to distribute his own film. According to Ellis, "I think we felt in some way that we were better able to communicate with our core audience than a distributor who's used to dealing with mass audiences."

Distributing your film on your own has a huge potential for profit. If a film sells in stores for $25 after paying royalties to the distributor,  the filmmaker would make about $2.50 per DVD. Selling this same DVD through his Web site, the filmmaker would net around $20 a sale. "There are a number of filmmakers who made more than $1 million selling one DVD from one Web site," Broderick said.

Web sites also offer another benefit. E-mail addresses can be collected from those who purchase the DVDs, giving the filmmaker an entire contact list of people who may be interested in future related films or products. Thus, Broderick asserts that an e-mail address as valuable as a sale itself.

In Chapter 8 of BE THE MEDIA, Broderick teaches YOU how to produce and distribute your ultra-low budget digital film.

Interested in learning more?
Buy an advanced copy of BE THE MEDIA now:

Power to the People!

For John Lennon's birthday, see the movie. War is so over. IMAGINE. PEACE.

\o/ \o/ \o/ * Every Day's a Holiday With Mary * \o/ \o/ \o/

Thank You Mariela!
"You're Our Favorite Person"

Cindy Sheehan joins Jane Fonda, Maria Muldaur and Holly Near at the SIR! NO SIR! Benefit

Don't miss this INCREDIBLE evening:

Cindy Sheehan joins Jane Fonda, Maria Muldaur and Holly Near at the 'SIR! NO SIR!' Benefit Wednesday, February 22 at 142 Throckmorton Theater, Mill Valley.

Read Jane Fonda's letter of support here.

Some recent local articles about SIR! NO SIR! are included below:

Marin Independent Journal: Don Speich’s article about St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, which served as a sanctuary for Vietnam War servicemen.

Marin Independent Journal: Beth Ashley article on Jane Fonda and SIR! NO SIR!

San Francisco Chronicle: Leah Garchik wrote about how Jane Fonda is helping to raise funds for David Zeiger's movie SIR! NO SIR!''

For more information visit SIR! NO SIR!

BE THE MEDIA presents - SIR! NO SIR!

BE THE MEDIA proudly presents SIR! NO SIR! in it's northern California PREMIERE at the Mill Valley Film Festival.

“Anyone waging war with American troops might want to listen carefully to the largely untold story of David Zeiger’s new documentary, ‘Sir! No Sir!’ of how some of the most dedicated troops became some of the most damaging supporters of the movement to end the war in Vietnam.” - Los Angeles Times

PREMIERE: Saturday, October 8th at 5pm

CineArts@Sequoia Theater
Mill Valley Film Festival
25 Throckmorton Avenue - Mill Valley, CA
Tickets are $10. Reserve your seats at www.mvff.com

FUNDRAISER: Saturday October 8th 7-9pm
The Sweetwater Saloon
153 Throckmorton Avenue Mill Valley
Tel: 415 388-2820.
Donation ~ $50, to help fund the general release.

After the premiere, join us for a fundraising reception with guests:
• David Zeiger: Former organizer in the GI Movement, and director of “Sir! No Sir!”
• Keith Mather: One of the 9 For Peace–GIs who refused orders to Vietnam and took sanctuary in a church, and the Presidio 27–inmates in the Presidio Stockade charged with mutiny for protesting the killing of an inmate
• Country Joe McDonald: Singer and supporter of the GI and veterans movements
• Holly Near: singer, songwriter, activist

For more information, visit Sir No Sir. Presented by Be The Media. Sponsored by The Ruth Group. Thanks to Global Exchange and Media Alliance and the New College Media Studies MA program for sponsoring a similar event last weekend in San Francisco!

"Someone Tell The President The War Is Over"

Frank Rich in today's NY Times:

"Someone Tell The President The War Is Over"

"But our current Texas president has even outdone his predecessor; Mr. Bush has lost not only the country but also his army.

Neither bonuses nor fudged standards nor the faking of high school diplomas has solved the recruitment shortfall."

Sir No Sir!

Keep an eye on the upcoming film "SIR NO SIR" by David Zeiger, which recently won the audience award for Best Documentary at its premiere in LA.

The film received the first standing ovation since Fahrenheit 9-11.

The Los Angeles Times said: "Anyone waging war with American troops might want to listen carefully to the largely untold story of David Zeiger’s new documentary, ‘Sir! No Sir!’ of how some of the most dedicated troops became some of the most damaging supporters of the movement to end the war in Vietnam.”

The film is about the GI Movement against the Vietnam War. It chronicles the anti-war cafes that popped up around army bases, the anti-war alternative press, the incarceration of anti-war GIs at the Presidio in San Francisco, and the FTA tour with Donald Sutherland and Jane Fonda.

Fascinating movie, coming to Mill Valley Film Festival in October and soon afterwards to a theater near you.

The assassination of Richard Nixon

by Norman Solomon in Alternet:

"If you see the new movie The Assassination of Richard Nixon, you might feel compelled to think again about such matters – and maybe in a new way. Inspired by a real person named Samuel Byck who went through a personal meltdown 30 years ago, this stunning film makes more difficult our usual psychological evasions about people whose failures include inability to pull themselves out of tailspins.

You may never see a more powerful performance on a screen than the one in this movie by Sean Penn. (Full disclosure: He's a friend.) I agree with Newsday reviewer Jan Stuart, who wrote that the film is "a triumph for its star and the writers, who make us cringe with empathy for a man who taps into the latent loser in all of us."

Michael Moore Wins People's Choice Award

From DemocracyNow.org:

"Michael Moore's documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 has won best film at the US People's Choice Awards, voted for by the US public. Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ won best drama, despite both films being snubbed so far at US film awards in the run-up to February's Oscars. Nominees for the People's Choice Awards were picked by a 6,000-strong Entertainment Weekly magazine panel, and winners were subsequently chosen by 21 million online voters. Here is Michael Moore accepting the award last night: "We live in a great country and we all love our country very much and I am so amazed that you did this - the people of America - that you voted for this film. I can't thank you enough. I'm honored and gratified and I know that there are many people tonight - mothers and fathers across this country - with sons and daughters in Iraq. Our prayers are with them and I dedicate this award to them tonight. I want to thank, most of all, the people out there who voted for this. I don't want you to give up. This country is still all of ours. Not just right or left, democrat or republican, it's all of our country. I love making movies and I'll take this as an invitation to make more 'Fahrenheit 9/11's."

Watch out for "a scruffy guy in a baseball cap"

From The Guardian (UK), by Gary Younge:

"He doesn't do undercover. And he is not someone who easily melts into the background. But when an industry thinks it is about to become the latest target of filmmaker Michael Moore, precautions have to be taken.

According to the Los Angeles Times, at least six of America's largest pharmaceutical firms have issued internal notices to their workforces warning them to be on the lookout for "a scruffy guy in a baseball cap" who asks too many questions. Rotund and amiable he may seem, but this could be Moore, digging for dirt for his new movie, provisionally titled "Sicko."