tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40670364193973728262024-02-19T00:18:25.210-08:00Thoughts on film.Megan Griffithshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00865750554716179672noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4067036419397372826.post-75657782566836640882023-05-03T08:34:00.010-07:002023-05-03T09:29:09.039-07:00The SADIE Creative Distribution Blog (archived from sadiefilm.com)<i>(All good things must end, and soon we will be closing down the SADIE website. Not wanting the amazing blog we created on that site to be lost to the internet void, I am assembling it again here, in the order of the original posts. Enjoy.)<br /></i><br /><br /><b><span style="font-size: large;">SADIE Premieres At SXSW</span></b><br /><br />We had a fantastic world premiere at SXSW 2018. The film was extremely well-received and the great majority of our cast were able to make the trip to Austin to support the film. Sophia Mitri Schloss, Melanie Lynskey, Keith L. Williams, John Gallagher, Jr., and Tony Hale joined Megan Griffiths, Jennessa West, Lacey Leavitt, Jonathan Caso, Eliza Shelden, T.J. Williams, Jr., Amey Rene, and Celia Beasley for an excellent premiere Q&A. Check out the video below (captured by Sophia's proud mom Irene Mitri.) For a fun highlight, go to the six minute mark to see Keith & Melanie's hilarious response to SXSW Festival Director Janet Pierson's question: "What stuck out in this experience for you?"<div><br /></div><div><a href="https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/267121914?embedded=true&source=video_title&owner=2335306" target="_blank">WATCH HERE</a></div><div><br /><img height="320" src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ae4f93c89c1723785c400d6/1525029105245-X8BYTI79XX3DM9C91IF1/SADIE_PRemiere.jpg?format=2500w" width="205" /><br /><br />April 28, 2018<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><b>SADIE IN 60 SECONDS: WOMEN IN FILM</b></span><br /><br />We're so excited to unveil the first video in our new series SADIE IN 60 SECONDS. These one-minute videos highlight aspects of our film and the production, providing a glimpse behind the curtain into issues that are important to us. The WOMEN IN FILM piece focuses on the fact that our production was made up of 50% women--more than double the industry norm. This didn't happen by accident--it was a priority for our whole team to not only seek out skilled female crew and department heads, but also to hire up and coming young women for our PA and intern roles in order to nurture the next generation of female filmmakers. We're really proud of the gender parity represented on our set, and thrilled to share this first video on #femalefilmmakerfriday during SADIE's run at Geena Davis's Bentonville Film Festival, which champions inclusion in all aspects of entertainment media.<br /><br /><a href="https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/268004664?embedded=true&source=video_title&owner=2335306" target="_blank">WATCH HERE<br /></a><br />May 4, 2018<div><br /></div><div><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><b>SADIE IN 60 SECONDS: CREWTOPIA<br /></b></span><br />In honor of SADIE's Seattle premiere, for the second installment of SADIE IN 60 SECONDS we are shining a spotlight on our incredible crew. 50% women, 50% men and 100% amazing, these stalwart crewtopians braved the soggy and freezing conditions of January in the PNW with a smile and an enthusiasm that humbled us every day. So grateful to them all for their hard work, their humor, their positivity, and the artfulness that they brought to every frame of SADIE.<br /><br /><a href="https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/271876425?embedded=true&source=video_title&owner=2335306" target="_blank">WATCH HERE<br /></a><br />May 25, 2018<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><b>ADVENTURES IN CREATIVE DISTRIBUTION: SADIE And The Mountain Ahead</b></span><br /><br />by Megan Griffiths<br /><br /><img height="213" src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ae4f93c89c1723785c400d6/1535395353343-9N8NNO6463D0292RXZU6/MG_Set.jpeg?format=1000w" width="320" /><br /><br /><br />Welcome to the first of what will be an ongoing blog series in which we attempt to lift the curtain on the process of creative distribution in (almost) real time. With the release of my most recent film SADIE, my producers and I have made the decision to take our fate into our own hands. We weighed the options available to us and ultimately determined that this film required the kind of special handling that we just wouldn’t get from a traditional distribution arrangement. It is a project that is very meaningful to us, and one that we have always hoped would contribute to a larger cultural conversation. We want to be engaged participants in that conversation.<br /><br />SADIE is the story of a girl who will stop at nothing to preserve her father's place on the home front. Sadie (Sophia Mitri Schloss) is the daughter of a soldier and models herself after his military example. When her mom (Melanie Lynskey) begins dating a new man (John Gallagher, Jr.), Sadie vows to drive him out by whatever means necessary. He is the enemy, and if she’s learned anything from the world she inhabits, it’s that the enemy deserves no mercy. The film also stars Tony Hale, Danielle Brooks, Tee Dennard and Keith L. Williams.<br /><br />With six films under my belt I’ve had many experiences with distribution, and I’ll be honest with you—it can be a rough phase of the process for a filmmaker. You're entrusting something you care deeply about to someone new. And even if this new person really loves your film, it will just never be as important to them as it is to you. It can’t be. They are juggling multiple acquisitions, determining release plans and parceling out pieces of their P&A budget to lots of other high-maintenance filmmakers who, like you, believe their film is the highest priority.<br /><br />After spending so much time and putting so much thought into making your film, it can be demoralizing to feel unable to be an active participant in its long-term life. Whether in success or failure, I think every filmmaker wants to feel that they’ve done everything they could--to have no regrets. But I know a lot of filmmakers, and I don’t know any who feel that way about their film’s release. Are our expectations too high? Or are we just allowing ourselves to be disempowered due to a lack of understanding of this phase of the process?<br /><br />Information about the mechanics of distribution is heavily and needlessly shrouded. The recent Sundance case study detailing the creative distribution efforts behind the film COLUMBUS offered a very rare and illuminating glimpse at both the challenges and the rewards of embarking on this kind of journey. We want to continue that tradition of transparency and information-sharing. We want to include you in our process as we bring SADIE into the world. We may fall on our faces, but if we do we will learn from it, and we want others to be able to learn as well.<br /><br />We have spent the past few months digging in and having conversations with many who have released their own films and who have lessons to share. The overwhelming majority led with a warning: it is a mountain of work. One person described it as “three times more work than making the movie and no fun at all.” Daunting though that may be, we decided to push forward up the mountain.<br /><br />We feel incredibly empowered by this decision. The promise of retaining the autonomy to release our film with care and specificity is incredibly exciting. This film was created with intention, and we plan to deliver it to the world with intention. We are forming a team of incredible people who are specialists in their fields and are bringing huge enthusiasm and expertise to getting SADIE in front of an audience and engaging with the communities with whom our themes might resonate. We will be introducing the team in our next blog and they will be contributing posts of their own with insights from their very specific vantage points, from impact campaigns to the ins and outs of digital marketing.<br /><br /><img height="213" src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ae4f93c89c1723785c400d6/1535395192152-3UZ454HSLNNH67GKE483/MG_Sophia_Keith_School.jpg?format=1000w" width="320" /><br /><br /><br />Broadly speaking, we are planning a small, targeted theatrical run as well as a college/community discussion tour to raise the profile of the film outside of the major markets and engage with all kinds of audiences—especially young people—on the social issues the film tackles. We will then roll out the film on iTunes and Amazon and other digital platforms. We are incredibly fortunate to have been able to partner with Amazon via their Festival Stars deal, and will be building our release timeline to lead in to our February 2019 Amazon streaming premiere. <br /><br />This is a huge endeavor, and we will be relying on our friends, supporters and fans for help in summiting this mountain. Thank you for your support in spreading the word about SADIE and for taking part in the conversations we hope to have with our audience. We will continue to post about our experiences and we promise to convey the good, the bad, and the ugly—all the things that go into distributing a film—in an effort to help those of you who are thinking about creative distribution as a strategy for your film. Thanks for joining us.<br /><br />Want to stay really up to date on all things SADIE? Follow us on <a href="http://twitter.com/sadiefilm">Twitter</a>, <a href="http://facebook.com/sadiefilm">Facebook</a>, and <a href="http://instagram.com/filmsadie">Instagram</a>, and subscribe to our <a href="https://www.sadiefilm.com/subscribe/">newsletter</a>.<br /><br />August 27, 2018<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><b>ADVENTURES IN CREATIVE DISTRIBUTION: Producing The Release<br /></b></span><br />by Lacey Leavitt<br /><br /><img height="320" src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ae4f93c89c1723785c400d6/1537849435353-PPEFC5TO8KUNX5MJB2U9/SADIE+Cast+and+Producers.jpg?format=1000w" width="320" /><br /><br /><br />From left, clockwise: actor Tony Hale, co-producer Jonathan Caso, producer Lacey Leavitt, producer Jennessa West, writer/director Megan Griffiths, actors Melanie Lynskey and John Gallagher Jr., makeup artist Nancy Hvasta-Leonardi, and leading lady Sophia Mitri Schloss.<br /><br /><br />This past weekend I spoke on a <a href="https://dearproducer.com/">Dear Producer</a> panel at the Los Angeles Film Festival, where SADIE was playing. Curated by Dear Producer founder Rebecca Green (IT FOLLOWS, I’LL SEE YOU IN MY DREAMS), the other panelists were Steven J. Berger (THE FEELS, SLASH) and Avril Z. Speaks (JINN, HOSEA). It was a wonderful conversation in front of a sold out crowd and the topic of distribution eventually came up. All four producers had similar stories about experiences where distributors had promised to be good partners in the negotiation phase but wouldn’t put anything more than “meaningful consultation” rights in the contract. That almost never turns out well for the film/filmmakers. This isn’t because the distributors don’t care about films, it’s because a lot of them have to deal in bulk numbers in order to be financially solvent. So they might only have the bandwidth to truly focus on 2-4 film campaigns a year, with the others getting a more standardized treatment: new trailer, new poster, the occasional social media blast, short and perfunctory theatrical run, and then straight to VOD, hoping the cast and reviews alone can drive sales. They rarely do.<br /><br /><br />With these kinds of experiences ringing in our minds, our SADIE team made the decision in the early phases of pre-production to set aside $50k of our budget specifically to supplement the marketing campaign of our eventual distributor and ensure that our film had a fighting chance. Our executive producer Eliza Shelden recognized the intrinsic value of this strategy and was very supportive of it. What we didn’t realize at the time was that we would ultimately be handling the theatrical distribution ourselves, and that $50k was not going to get us where we needed to go when it came to hiring our team, traveling our actors, "eventizing" our theatrical screenings, and most importantly marketing the film outside of our existing sphere. Luckily, by the time we actually made this decision, we had another purse to draw from in the form of a $100k non-recoupable bonus from Amazon (which we opted into through their Festival Stars program). This gave us roughly the same distribution budget as the other films we’d researched that had taken this approach, and gave us the confidence and resources to proceed. But I’m getting ahead of myself…<br /><br />_______________<br /><br />BACK TO THE BEGINNING<br /><br />I have been working on this film for nine long (and wonderful) years. Megan first showed me the script while we were still trying to make our first feature together, THE OFF HOURS, in 2009. THE OFF HOURS was the first feature that I’d produced, Megan’s second feature as a director. We’d been on many film sets by the time we started making that film, as we’d both made our living as crew members on various films before making the full time leap into producer and director. When we set out to make THE OFF HOURS we’d never raised money for a feature film before. We’d never budgeted a feature film before. We’d never cast actors out of LA or NY before. So our strategy was to reverse-engineer the process. What format do we want to use? Let’s call the rental houses (even though we’re nowhere near ready) and get quotes on their packages. Who created the contracts for other indies locally? Let’s hire them to do our paperwork. Who funded recent Seattle independent films? Let’s see if they’re interested in our project. Who were the casting directors of some of our favorite films? Let’s hire one of them to cast THE OFF HOURS. I’m a big fan of reverse-engineering/research. In our modern, digital age, there is no excuse for neglecting to educate yourself on the business (and art) of indie film as you wade into it.<br /><br />Since THE OFF HOURS, Megan and I have both packed in almost a decade of feature film experience. I’ve been fortunate enough to produce and co-produce some projects by some of my favorite filmmakers and people: Megan, Lynn Shelton, Todd Rohal, Colin Trevorrow. I’ve experienced films getting standing ovations and bidding wars at Sundance and films where our sales agents have had to beg somebody, anybody, to give us any kind of distribution deal. This is the experience I took into SADIE’s festival and distribution run, and it’s been a valuable bedrock to have. I also had an amazing producing partner, Jennessa West. Jennessa has twenty years experience as a producer and had just come off of a producing SJ Chiro’s beautiful feature <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/lane-1974/id1273958159">LANE 1974</a> (also starring Sophia Mitri Schloss--our Sadie--in the title role). This was not the first rodeo for any of us.<br /><br />So yes, we had all taken multiple feature films through the distribution process. But we had never actually run a distribution campaign before. We didn’t even know everything we didn’t know…still don’t! But, as we did when we started making THE OFF HOURS, we reverse-engineered the process and found three ways to close the gap and inform ourselves how to budget our time and money.<br /><br />1. RESEARCH<br /><br />Christopher Horton, Director of the Sundance Institute’s Creative Distribution Initiative, has been doing fantastic, groundbreaking work for independent filmmakers for years through the Artist Services program. Recognizing the changing (mostly for the worse) landscape for independent film distribution over the last few years, the Creative Distribution Initiative launched its grant program with supporting the Kogonada film COLUMBUS, produced by Danielle Renfrew Behrens and Giulia Caruso. They then created a <a href="https://www.sundance.org/case-studies/creative-distribution/columbus">case study</a> detailing that process and released it on the Institute’s website. Whether you are a first time filmmaker or experienced Sundance alum, the case study is available online and is an invaluable resource. (It also inspired us to blog about our distribution process, in the spirit of continuing to illuminate the creative distribution process for other filmmakers!)<br /><br />We used the case study as our starting point, and took notes on the film’s distribution budget, timeline, and team. This was our “rough draft” and touchstone for strategy and budget, and I still go back and review the case study from time to time. <br /><br />2. ASKING FOR ADVICE<br /><br />Not too many narrative filmmakers we know have gone down this road before. I had met Danielle Behrens at the Sundance Creative Producing Summit years ago (when she was there with the fantastic doc THE QUEEN OF VERSAILLES) and reached out to her to see if we could ask some questions about the <a href="https://www.columbusthemovie.com/">COLUMBUS</a> distribution after we’d sifted through the case study. She was incredibly generous with her time and advice, and helped clarify some questions we had after putting together our rough plan. She also gave us a great heads up: it is SO MUCH work. Be prepared for how much work self-distribution is. Going into this process with a clear vision of the road ahead was very important.<br /><br />Courtney Sheehan, Executive Director emeritus of the <a href="https://nwfilmforum.org/">NW Film Forum</a> in Seattle, was another valuable resource as we planned and budgeted our distribution strategy. Her background as an exhibitor, and her connections within the arthouse theater world meant that her feedback and advice was coming from a much different place than most of the industry professionals we knew and that was incredibly helpful. She helped us recognize how useful academic screenings could be for us in cultivating conversations with youth about the film’s themes, a big goal of ours.<br /><br />We spoke to Kathleen McInnis of <a href="https://see-throughfilms.com/">See-Through Films</a>, a savvy publicist and distribution strategist who specializes in documentaries. She was also incredibly generous and helpful, giving us a different perspective than we’d heard before and opening us up to ideas on how to connect with audiences that she’s utilized in the subject/audience-specific world of docs. <br /><br />Megan had a conversation with writer/director/editor/composer Shane Carruth (UPSTREAM COLOR, PRIMER) about his experiences. Shane is a passionate and intelligent filmmaker who not only makes groundbreaking films but was a trailblazer in his <a href="https://www.indiewire.com/2013/01/primer-mastermind-shane-carruth-goes-the-diy-distribution-route-with-upstream-color-41877/">self-distribution of UPSTREAM COLOR</a>. He was generous and transparent in that conversation, sharing what he learned in his journey and recommending vendors to speak with.<br /><br />Megan also recently spoke with <a href="https://twitter.com/jimmycthatsme?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">Jim Cummings</a> about the decisions he’s making on the creative distribution campaign for his film THUNDER ROAD. Like SADIE, THUNDER ROAD premiered at SXSW 2018 and is mounting a creative distribution campaign. Like Shane, Jim is a vibrant multi hyphenate (writer-director-actor) and is almost evangelical in his dedication to the distribution of his film. It was great to talk and compare notes with someone else going through a very similar process, on a very similar timeline.<br /><br />3. INTERVIEWS WITH VENDORS<br /><br />We had a budget in mind at this point in the process, and then started reaching out to the various positions we knew we’d need (theatrical booker, social media marketing, etc) to start those conversations. We interviewed many more people than we eventually hired. Although not everyone was the right culture fit, it was helpful to hear their take on our project and what they would do if they had the opportunity to work with us. And these conversations also allowed us to adjust the budget based on everyone’s quotes, as we’d overestimated in some categories, underestimated in others.<br /><br />_______________<br /><br />THE FUTURE<br /><br />We are four months into this process and still have yet to see exactly where it will lead us as we ramp into our October 12th opening weekend and then our digital launch. As we navigate through the remaining months of our release I’m sure there will be many, many lessons. At this point, I’m not sure that I’ll ever be this hands on in the distribution process again but I do know one thing: I will always make it a point to raise additional funds at the outset for the marketing campaign. Even if you don’t go down the Creative Distribution path, it gives you a true seat at the table with your distributor, and leverage during the negotiations. With us, it gave us enough leverage in the negotiation phase to feel truly excited and empowered to leave subpar distribution deals on the table. And it’s brought us on this exciting journey. While the road has been challenging, it’s also been one of the most rewarding experiences of my producing career so far.<br /><br />Next week in the blog, our distribution strategist Mia Bruno will be taking the reins to talk about how to utilize strategic outreach to support your theatrical release and how to use your connection with the themes of your film to empower yourself in creative distribution.<br /><br />Thanks for taking this journey with us, and as always, please follow us on<a href="http://twitter.com/sadiefilm"> Twitter</a>,<a href="http://facebook.com/sadiefilm"> Facebook</a>, and<a href="http://instagram.com/filmsadie"> </a><a href="http://instagram.com/sadiefilm">Instagram</a>, and at our<a href="http://www.sadiefilm.com/"> website</a>. And<a href="https://www.sadiefilm.com/subscribe/"> join our newsletter list</a> to have the news delivered right to your inbox! <br /><br />September 24, 2018<br /><br /><br /><br /><b><span style="font-size: large;">ADVENTURES IN CREATIVE DISTRIBUTION: It’s A Strategy, Not A Formula</span><br /></b><br />By Mia Bruno<br /><br /><img height="317" src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ae4f93c89c1723785c400d6/1539014756707-F6XW6C08W9RCIL2TIFK6/Mia%2BBruno%2BHeadshot.png?format=1000w" width="320" /><br /><br /><br />If there is one concept that I hope that every filmmaker and distributor can start to embrace it is this: Distribution is a strategy, not a formula. What works for a horror film is not necessarily going to work the same way for a romantic comedy. What works for a budget of six figures is going to look different from a budget of five figures is going to looks different from a budget of nothing. And what worked in 2011 is most certainly going to be challenging to make work in 2018. But when was deviating from a formula something that scared artists?<br /><br />I work with filmmakers and distributors to custom build distribution campaigns that are specific and effective to the film for which they are designed. This includes a combination of knowing how to use windows and timing, booking theaters, booking events, doing grassroots marketing and impact producing, and doing sales to the platforms directly. I was likened recently to a "distribution doula." It is not an inaccurate description.<br /><br />When the SADIE team approached me, they were in a situation that many filmmakers are in: they had played in a notable film festival to great fanfare, but weren't impressed with what traditional distributors were offering them, either in financial terms or in the form of support for the release. Recognizing that they had been enterprising and creative enough to get the film made and qualifying for Amazon's wonderful Festival Stars bonus, they decided to venture out on their own into the waters of creative distribution, and brought me on to help guide the way.<br /><br />We started with a discussion around the goals they were looking to achieve: money was one (it usually is, as filmmakers tend to prioritize getting their investors' money back so as to maintain those relationships). Another was visibility—as already established filmmakers, they wanted to continue to be able to tell the stories they wanted to tell on their own terms. The third and most important was impact: they had made the film to contribute to a larger cultural conversation around youth and violence. Their hope was that this film would be able to serve as a discussion point for audiences to talk about the violence we are bombarded with in our society, how it affects us and our nation's youth, and to galvanize people to consider what they might do as individuals to challenge the status quo.<br /><br />The reality of the distribution marketplace is that it is constantly changing. Platforms are constantly morphing into new entities. Distributors appear and disappear. A strategy that worked for a film even a year ago may be totally ineffective for a film today. For SADIE, we built a strategy that incorporated many traditional aspects—a theatrical run followed by a digital launch, compelling marketing assets that highlighted the film as a riveting and necessary conversation piece, digital marketing and social media. Within that we layered more innovative aspects to pull in different audiences outside of just a cinephile world: direct outreach to youth groups, free screening events for teens, conversations with women in media groups to talk about how female anger is depicted and other themes of the film, outreach to military family groups to discuss how they specifically grapple with absence and violence, and youth developmental screenings for educators to talk about how to identify and deal with young anger before things go too far. Our strategy was comprehensive—addressing the notable benchmarks of traditional distribution while expanding around it to bring in and engage new audiences.<br /><br />We have worked on this campaign for many months together, come up with fresh ideas and burrowed down into data and analytics. When there is no distributor on board, there is no one to blame for difficult news. But conversely, there is the peace of mind to know that every rock is being overturned, every opportunity explored. And the excitement that when one strategy doesn't work, there is always the flexibility to pivot.<br /><br />It behooves us all to experiment a little, to be nimble enough to adjust our approach if the data doesn't bear our theories out, and to develop a nuanced understanding of how the marketplace works and the value and consequences of atypical decisions. Making distribution a process that is based on informed assumptions allows for trying new things and challenging existing paradigms without ignoring potentially lucrative opportunities that may exist in a more traditional sphere. <br /><br />The reality is that we are living in a time when there is no longer a "one size fits all" model when it comes to storytelling (as evidenced by so many things, certainly beyond just this film). If Netflix and Amazon can riff around their distribution strategies, then why can't independent filmmakers do the same? With fewer formulas, we have more fluidity. <br /><br />This is a time when we can approach distribution with the same creativity that it takes to make a film.<br /><br />Thanks for taking this journey with us, and as always, please follow us on<a href="http://twitter.com/sadiefilm"> Twitter</a>,<a href="http://facebook.com/sadiefilm"> Facebook</a>, and<a href="http://instagram.com/filmsadie"> </a><a href="http://instagram.com/sadiefilm">Instagram</a>, and at our<a href="http://www.sadiefilm.com/"> website</a>. And<a href="https://www.sadiefilm.com/subscribe/"> join our newsletter list</a> to have the news delivered right to your inbox! <br /><br />October 8, 2018<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><b>A SPECIAL THANK YOU BLOG<br /></b></span><br />From writer/director Megan Griffiths<br /><br /><img height="266" src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ae4f93c89c1723785c400d6/1539791492011-7T4E64Q7QHGZDITP9SS9/Crew+Photo+%281+of+2%29.jpg?format=2500w" width="400" /><br />Crew photo by David Chen<br /><br />On the heels of our theatrical opening weekend and basking in the glow of some of my favorite reviews, I wanted to take a moment to spread some love. <br /><br />Every person who was part of this production made this film better by their participation, so I’m commandeering the blog to call out many of them by name and swing the spotlight onto their contributions.<br /><br />First up, David Lipson. David worked with me as a consultant in the early days of SADIE’s existence and read many, many drafts of the script, sitting down for long conversations with me about the characters and the story that helped me plumb the depths of Shady Plains Trailer Park.<br /><br />Aron Michael Thompson was one of the first people to believe in this project and gave a critical infusion of support in the earliest stages, when we truly needed it.<br /><br />Sue Corcoran rallied the troops in those terrifying weeks of early prep when you're still not 100% sure you're going to get to make a movie at all. And she went on to make a beautiful behind the scenes video that captures the love and hard work of everyone on set.<br /><br />Alix Madigan read this script back at the Sundance Creative Producers Lab in 2011, resonated with both its darkness and its message, and was a stalwart supporter through the project’s life.<br /><br />Rebecca Luke spent years visualizing this world as we waited for the stars to align, then brought all that forethought to bear in costume design that underscored our themes in an understated yet very powerful way.<br /><br />My aesthetic twinsie Ben Blankenship brought his customary gusto to building out the world, even pointing us to the trailer park where we ultimately shot, which matched almost exactly to the one that existed in my mind as I wrote. He also pulled together an extraordinary team who created a lived-in, authentic world for our actors to inhabit.<br /><br />Scott Larkin & Dave Drummond ran all over the region finding just the right locations to bring Sadie’s world into three dimensions. Then Scott worked through the production to land us at each spot, deploying his charm arsenal so that we were welcomed, or at the very least tolerated, by even the grouchiest residents. <br /><br />Gretchen Oyster kept us on track and her warm heart brought me the comfort it always does on set, even while we shot in freezing conditions.<br /><br />What T.J. Williams, Jr., and his team managed to do behind the camera without enough gear or hours of sunlight boggles the mind. T.J.’s deep understanding of how to get sh*t done on set was invaluable, but his ability to make me smile even in the most challenging moments was appreciated beyond measure.<br /><br />Cheryl Cowan kept her eye on the details and a smile on her face, her good spirits always keeping the tight quarters around the monitor a welcoming place to spend the long days.<br /><br />Jonathan Caso made sure we all had what we needed to get the film made without starving or freezing, gracefully making that always impossible distinction between "need" and "want."<br /><br />Sophia Mitri Schloss, Melanie Lynskey, John Gallagher, Jr., Danielle Brooks, Tony Hale, Keith L. Williams, Tee Dennard, and everyone else in our incredible cast brought not only authenticity and depth to each of their characters, but they also brought warmth, kindness and laughter to our chilly set. Their generosity with each other and with our whole crew truly created a family. And a special note of appreciation to Melanie, who came on board early and stuck with us as we pushed for years to get Sadie off the ground (and Mark Duplass, who made that fateful introduction). And to the parents of our young stars for raising such incredible children.<br /><br />Amey Rene, Megan Rosenfeld and the whole AR casting team helped us to pull together that outstanding ensemble listed above, and, with their impeccable taste, culled the very best from our talented local community of actors to round out the supporting roles.<br /><br />Celia Beasley sat with me for many months fretting over frames and tiny moments, marveling over performances, and being my partner in the journey to chip away to find the very best version of Sadie.<br /><br />Mike McCready made my teenage dreams come true by agreeing to collaborate with me on this score, and then blew right past that old hallowed version of him in my head with his generosity and commitment. Not to mention he brought in Molly and Whitney from Thunderpussy, whose radical, badass feminine energy was exactly what we were missing. Sitting in on their first recording session was one of the singular pleasures of this entire experience.<br /><br />Mia Bruno, Anna Feder, Ben & Katherine from Thin Pig, and Adam & Rob and the whole team at Brigade guided my producers and I through the new minefield of creative distribution with energy and enthusiasm, and opened our eyes to previously unknown ways to empower ourselves as filmmakers.<br /><br />Eliza Shelden made all of it possible through her giant leap of faith, and gave herself over to the experience with a stunning degree of trust, which is truly the most amazing gift you can give an artist. Her deep understanding of what we were trying to accomplish with this film and her enduring commitment to helping us usher Sadie into the world are rare traits to find in a financial partner, and have buoyed us throughout this journey.<br /><br />After pushing this boulder up the steep hill of development for seven years, those last few yards into production were some of the hardest to cross. Thankfully, Jennessa West came along with her confidence, effortless competence, and tireless work ethic, leaned fully into the boulder's relentless weight and sharp corners and tipped it over the summit at last.<br /><br />Lacey Leavitt has been on this train the longest. Before THE OFF HOURS was even shot, she read this script and pledged to get it made with me, then proceeded to take it to Rotterdam, the Sundance Institute, and the IFP conference and, despite hearing plenty of them, never took "no" for an answer. And she also joined me for the SADIE roadshow, taking our film from Seattle, WA, to New York, NY, to Maryville, TN, and everywhere in between, and engaged with audiences in the challenging and meaningful conversations we always hoped to start.<br /><br />There are so many others, and every one of them made this movie happen—our incredible art department, grips and electricians (including Mike Astle, doing double-duty as key grip and the watchful eye of Sadie’s absentee dad), our crafty and catering team, our stalwart AD team and PA’s, our army of interns, and everyone who provided support on set and off. I am grateful to, and thankful for, you all. <br /><br />October 18, 2018<br /><br /><br /><br /><b><span style="font-size: large;">ADVENTURES IN CREATIVE DISTRIBUTION: Social Media Marketing</span><br /></b><br />by Ben Rapson<br /><br /><img height="155" src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ae4f93c89c1723785c400d6/1540173952041-YYJXTDX2UUPXJ0BB47P8/SADIE+blog+header.png?format=1000w" width="400" /><br /><br /><br />At its core, film promotion is like film production: the art is what’s important, but it all comes down to time and money. Success depends on how well we can use every minute of our work and every dollar of our budget. At Thin Pig Media, we know this kind of hustle well. So when we met the filmmakers behind SADIE, we jumped at the chance to join their creative distribution team.<br /><br />Social media offers myriad techniques for finding new audiences and driving website clicks. In fact we keep learning new ones every day. But let’s face it: they all require either our attention, our resources, or both. It’s imperative that we discover all the best techniques and then prioritize them. <br /><br />That’s why we chose to focus our social efforts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. And it’s also why our action plan is based on a master calendar with a constantly shifting task list. You could say we have that in common with film production as well: lots and lots of spreadsheets.<br /><br />We’re right smack in the middle of our marketing campaign for SADIE, but already we’ve seen immense growth in our fans, followers, impressions (below), reach, engagement, website clicks, and video views. So what are we learning?<br /><br /><img height="318" src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ae4f93c89c1723785c400d6/1540173819333-NHD57J5N499W9R1AFS9A/SADIE+blog+Sprout+stats.png?format=2500w" width="400" /><br /><br /><br />OUR POSTS<br /><br />Content is Still Crucial<br /><br />Content is how we refer to the photos, videos, copywriting and links that eventually get whittled down into a social media post. And the reason we say ‘content is crucial’ is that bad content goes nowhere. The people we’re trying to reach need to see things they care about, and it won’t work to simply share the official poster again and again. In other words, the “how” of what we post online will never be as important as the “what” and “why.” <br /><br />From the beginning of our collaboration with SADIE’s team, we knew we had hit the content jackpot. They came to the table with ten behind-the-scenes videos featuring their cast, composer, and the powerful themes of the film. In addition, they gave us branding assets, dozens of print quality stills from the movie, behind-the-scenes photos, links to their positive early reviews, and a calendar of all their film festival appearances. As clients go, they’re a dream.<br /><br />Of course the filmmakers weren’t alone in the content creation process. Distribution Strategist Mia Bruno and Academic Consultant Anna Feder have worked hard to book theatrical & academic screenings and worked with SADIE's intern Bobbin Ramsey to connect with organizations whose missions are aligned with the film's themes, giving us frequent, relevant updates to share with our growing fan base. Adam Kersh and his team at Brigade are helping the film garner reviews from news outlets and bloggers. And the SADIE team worked with an editor to deliver a top notch trailer, which has become the primary content piece for growing our audience.</div><div><br /><a href="https://www.facebook.com/Sadiefilm/videos/2060410534270514"><img height="204" src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ae4f93c89c1723785c400d6/1540175358586-G0I32XXYCFW826FBWOGV/SADIE+Trailer+Facebook?format=2500w" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/SADIEfilm/status/1053372580223164416"><img height="320" src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ae4f93c89c1723785c400d6/1540174290837-FCA18NCE59PD0MD6777W/Screen+Shot+2018-10-21+at+7.11.04+PM.png?format=1000w" width="209" /></a><br /><br /><br />OUR TIME<br /><br />Organic (Unpaid) Growth<br /><br />Yes, social media has transformed in recent years into a pay-to-play advertising market. But we don’t overlook the free methods and tools that each social channel offers. There are dozens of ways to establish and grow our brand that don’t cost a dime—they only cost our time. <br /><br />The most obvious example is posting publicly. We have enough good content that we can post about SADIE multiple times every day on all our channels. This way, as our audience grows, we’re giving them consistent news and info to get them more interested in the movie. Certain types of content work better on each channel, whether it’s longer stories and videos on Facebook, bite size moments on Instagram, or articles and GIFs on Twitter.<br /><br />Beyond that, we Like and Share the Facebook posts of media outlets and organizations that are related to the themes of the film. On Twitter, we Retweet good content about women in film, gun violence, and the opioid crisis. We find indie film influencers to engage with. On Instagram, we can scour hashtags to diversify the kinds of users we target, and build our brand by sharing things we like onto our IG Stories. And on all three channels, we manually mine for new fans and followers. It can be a rabbit hole, so again, it’s important to prioritize the methods and tasks that show us the best results. <br /><br />Of course, the best free way to get our content into more users’ feeds is to have it shared by others—especially the well-known members of our cast. We’re lucky to have co-stars that are recognizable from popular shows like Orange Is The New Black and Arrested Development. Since their audiences are much larger than ours, our numbers spike whenever they post about us or share our content. Sometimes it really is about who you know.</div><div><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/thedanieb/status/1049280953020022784"><img height="216" src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ae4f93c89c1723785c400d6/1540175646373-T6UBJ2W29UENX6NQKX27/Screen+Shot+2018-10-21+at+7.33.34+PM.png?format=2500w" width="320" /></a><br /><br /><br />OUR MONEY<br /><br />Advertised (Paid) Growth<br /><br />For all the groaning about advertising being necessary on social media, we have to admit that there are some extremely effective tools available on each network. Facebook and Instagram Advertising allow for robust targeting and many visual options. Twitter is great at seamlessly integrating brand Tweets into users’ feeds to avoid annoyance. After surveying the field of choices, we organized our campaign into three phases:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Building Our Audience</li><li>Prospecting for Website Clicks</li><li>Retargeting for Purchases</li></ul></div><div><br /><a href="https://www.instagram.com/sadiefilm/"><img height="400" src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ae4f93c89c1723785c400d6/1540174852813-1BW4UP5FBFDNEEKT777X/SADIE+Instagram?format=1000w" width="275" /></a><br /><br /><br />To build our audience, we used Page Likes ads and post “Boosts” on Facebook, as well as Post Engagement ads on Instagram. We used geo-targeting to limit our reach to those cities where the film would be screening theatrically. We also zoomed in on users with interests like ‘independent film’ and ‘Cannes Film Festival’, because we knew that our movie would appeal to lovers of films that strike the heart and challenge the mind. We also ran a few A/B campaigns to test our content with military families and school safety activists.<br /><br />As our fans and followers continue increasing, we’ve started running Prospecting campaigns, which deliver the SADIE trailer to our newest target audiences. Facebook’s technology is so effective that our trailers on Facebook and Instagram are being seen at a mere $0.02 per 10-second view. These ‘video views’ ads also include a Get Showtimes button that drives website clicks to SADIE’s Upcoming Screenings webpage. <br /><br />Lastly we retarget. Retargeting is when we serve our ads to people who have already seen our content or visited our website. Using Facebook’s Custom Audiences tool, we retarget our most engaged users with a stronger call-to-action about buying tickets ASAP. What’s more, Facebook allows us to create Lookalike Audiences, which give us lists of new users who are most similar to the people that have watched our trailer. <br /><br />OUR BOTTOM LINE<br /><br />After all this wonky internet speak, it still comes down to this: our effort on social media is only one arm of a larger Creative Distribution strategy. Every member of our team is working their butt off, doing what they specifically excel at. There are movie lovers out there looking for the powerful and gripping cinematic experience that SADIE promises. Our whole team depends on one another to find those people who are already looking for us. <br /><br />October 21, 2018<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><b>ADVENTURES IN CREATIVE DISTRIBUTION: Building An Academic Tour For Your Film<br /></b></span><br />By Anna Feder<br /><br /><img height="194" src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ae4f93c89c1723785c400d6/1541378257678-97OZMLKICOJA5AQDD7LW/Screen+Shot+2018-11-04+at+4.37.15+PM.png?format=1000w" width="320" /><br /><br /><br />Blue indicates states that we have visited or are planning to visit on our SADIE academic tour (so far).<br /><br /><br />I have been a curator for over twenty years, starting at various film festivals and now as the director of programming at Emerson College running a film series that I founded almost seven years ago. The series, <a href="http://web.emerson.edu/brightlights/">Bright Lights</a>, screens 50 films a year for both an Emerson college and external community audience. While few colleges and universities have an exhibition program on this scale, screening opportunities are plentiful at institutions of higher learning across the country. <br /><br />SADIE is a film that has many points of access for an academic audience. As a film with a 50% female crew, a female writer/director and producing team, and the story of a mother and daughter’s relationship at heart, women and gender studies programs were an excellent starting point for potential hosts. A character struggling with opioid addiction provided another way to frame the discussion. The film’s predominant theme, the impact of violence on youth (particularly girls), created yet another way to engage an academic audience. <br /><br />We started reaching out to schools with a well-organized package with links to the film, a comprehensive discussion guide (including tips on hosting a successful screening) and several possible options for licensing the film with talent in person or available via Skype to suit a variety of budgets. I also made myself available to consult with schools on how to find funding, engage with internal and external partners and promote the event. <br /><br />We started with a fairly robust list of institutions across the country, tapping in to relationships I have through the <a href="https://ufva.site-ym.com/">University Film and Video Association</a>, the <a href="http://www.arthouseconvergence.org/">Art House Convergence</a> and other professional contacts. That list was shared with the director and producers, who added additional contacts. We ended up with a list of over 40 schools (mostly colleges and university and a few high schools). <br /><br />We began reaching out in the summer hoping to lock screenings for the fall semester. We spent a fair amount of time and energy trying to find the correct contact and then weeks of emails back and forth with faculty who were checking their work emails sporadically. In the end we were able to secure screenings at 17 institutions and have hopes of planning more screenings in the spring.<br /><br />There were several challenges we encountered, from trying to identify who to talk to at each institutions, to dealing with varying timelines and the filmmaker’s changing schedule. Planning the academic screenings concurrently with the theatrical also made things a little more difficult. I would recommend to anyone planning an academic run of their film to do so after they’ve exhausted all possible theatrical screenings. As an exhibitor hosting free screenings in a robust film landscape with several art house cinemas and film festivals, I try not to screen films until after all paid screenings have happened in my area.<br /><br />While academic screenings present a very real revenue source and exhibition circuit for your film, it is difficult to research who might be interested (and have the funds/motivation) to host a screening of film. For schools, these events require a significant amount of work, including audience building and sourcing funds for licensing and hosting visiting artists. <br /><br />Companies like <a href="https://www.swank.com/college-campus/">Swank</a> and <a href="https://www.criterion.com/">Criterion</a> have cornered the market on licensing films for non-theatrical exhibition, particularly colleges and universities. The films that they are pushing range from Hollywood blockbuster action movies, to small budget, art house, social issue documentaries. They make it easy for schools to book a film with them, providing a blu-ray and materials to market the screening. In order to effectively compete with distributors such as these, I have long advocated for an academic cinema consortium that would operate a circuit for independent films (on South Arts’ <a href="https://www.southarts.org/touring-arts/southern-circuit/">Southern Circuit</a> model). Filmmakers could apply to have their films chosen for the circuit and schools would pay an annual fee to license a group of films that would come prepackaged with filmmakers in person or on Skype as well as marketing materials, discussion questions and other resourced to enable anyone to host a successful event. Too many filmmakers currently must re-invent the wheel as we did, starting from scratch and spending a fair amount of time and energy doing so. Hopefully one of the larger funders of indie films (<a href="https://cinereach.org/">Cinereach</a>, <a href="https://www.fordfoundation.org/">Ford Foundation</a>, <a href="https://www.pbs.org/">PBS</a>) can be encouraged to put resources in to making this a reality. <br /><br />In the meantime, if you are interested in forging a academic exhibition path for your film, I would recommend: 1) determining the points of interest where your film might overlap with traditional areas of study, 2) building out an easily shared submission packet with a link to the film, filmmaker bios, information about the film and what you can offer as a filmmaking team in terms of your time and participation, 3) creating a discussion guide with questions that might help hosts to launch the conversation post-screening, and 4) dedicating some time to coordination for each event, working with the school to help them successfully reach the audiences you’re targeting. Screening for an academic audience can be very fulfilling, as students tend to be a media-savvy and engaged audience. For the SADIE filmmakers, these screenings have yielded many of the best post-screening conversations of their screening tour, and have served to re-enforce their reasons for making the film in the first place.<br /><br /><br />November 5, 2018<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><b>ADVENTURES IN CREATIVE DISTRIBUTION: Lessons From My SADIE Internship<br /></b></span><br />by Bobbin Ramsey<br /><br /><img height="320" src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ae4f93c89c1723785c400d6/1543597786161-NWXQAPWYIHTIWDIBW7FO/Bobbin+Ramsey+Headshot.jpg?format=1000w" width="255" /><br /><br /><br />Hi! My name is Bobbin Ramsey, and I have been working for the past six months as the creative distribution intern on SADIE. <br /><br />A little about me: I have spent my professional years as an active and successful theatre director in Seattle. In 2015, an unexpected curveball came my way - I was offered the opportunity to direct a horror film called DEAD BODY. Though I had always been an avid audience member, I had never imagined myself to be a filmmaker. I jumped at this immensely exciting offer, and through the intense collaboration, the energy on set, the immersion into storytelling - I discovered a newfound passion for filmmaking. <br /><br />Then in May of this year, I met Megan through a mutual friend and she asked if I'd be interested in joining SADIE's creative distribution team. Since my experience with DEAD BODY I have been seeking opportunities to learn as much as possible about the independent film industry, and creative distribution was something I knew very little about, so I eagerly accepted. My education started immediately.<br /><br />The first thing I learned was the reasoning for creative distribution—why taking on this momentous task was the right way to go for SADIE. After watching the film the first time, it was clear that real care needed to be taken in the conversations around and ways of engaging in the film. Since the story deals with the intense, terrifying, and heartbreaking relationship that our country has to violence, it made sense that Megan and the whole team wanted to ensure that the film was reaching people in the way that would have the most impact. It was so exciting to see the team taking ownership of the film that way, and creating their own path for building and engaging with audiences. <br /><br />Next, I learned about the distribution strategy that they had developed: a national theatrical release, an academic tour, and a robust social media and online campaign. I was assigned to do outreach work for the theatrical release and the academic tour which entailed brainstorming appropriate interest groups, doing research on each of the communities where the film would screen, and reaching out to people to let them know the film would be in their area. We reached out to organizations focused on military families and women in filmmaking, college courses around the effect on violence on child psychology and the relationship between women and violence, and youth organizations interested in cultural events, leadership, and sociopolitical issues. <br /><br />Though it was an immense amount of cold-calling (and cold-emailing), we received more responses and interest than I had anticipated. We formed partnerships with groups all around the country, and college faculty sent their students to see the film as part of their course work. Art and storytelling is such a powerful tool to ignite discussion, and people were eager to interact with the opportunity we were offering them. One profound lesson from this experience was how important word of mouth is for the success of a theatrical run. Reviews make an impact of course, but a good recommendation from someone who relates to the story and themes of the film often yields many others who will be personally affected. <br /><br />Throughout my internship I had other responsibilities including creating academic discussion guides and editing audience response videos, among other things, and it all taught me the immense amount of planning, detail, and forethought that goes into an undertaking like this. You have to think about your audience every step of the way. I know that for me, the audience can slip into being a secondary consideration when you’re in the midst of scripts and sets and shooting, but this was a powerful reminder that we do this all for them - and we have to do everything possible to find and connect with those who will be impacted by the stories we tell.<br /><br />Even after almost six months of working with the SADIE team, there is a still a lot that goes over my head and a lot left to learn, especially around the more technical elements. However, I was given an invaluable and in-depth look into the post-production and creative distribution side of the job. There is so much information available about making a film, but less about getting it out into the world—beyond festivals and industry screenings, and into the hands of the people who will appreciate it the most. After you’ve poured years of time, energy, and skill into a project, knowing how to extend its reach and have a profound impact on people is an unmatched piece of knowledge and something I will hold onto as I take my next steps as a filmmaker.<br /><br />December 2, 2018<br /><br /><br /><b><span style="font-size: large;">ADVENTURES IN CREATIVE DISTRIBUTION: Digital Marketing</span><br /></b><br />by Katherine Boehrer<br /><br /><img height="333" src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ae4f93c89c1723785c400d6/1544896687642-OJA6B87WDW1QN993MX7Y/Screen+Shot+2018-12-14+at+12.54.35+PM.png?format=1000w" width="400" /><br /><br /><br />These days, your online presence can make a huge difference for your brand, whether you are marketing a store, restaurant, hotel, or, yes, a film. Social media plays a huge part in this, as Thin Pig Media’s Ben Rapson <a href="https://www.sadiefilm.com/blog-1/2018/10/21/social-media-marketing">wrote about</a> earlier this year. But there are other ways to spread the word about your film online as well. I’m here to talk about the other side of our digital efforts —digital advertising, SEO, and email marketing—and how other films can take advantage of them as well.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://www.sadiefilm.com/"><img height="165" src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ae4f93c89c1723785c400d6/1544897443553-V6EO5BYXGJ8DJ0K3IHZG/Screen+Shot+2018-12-15+at+10.10.04+AM.png?format=1000w" width="320" /></a><br /><br />Start with Your Website <br /><br />Your website is the heart of your film’s presence online. It’s where we want users to go when they search for you on Google, where we want to send them from our advertising and social media efforts, and where they will end up once they click on a link in one of our emails. We want your website to be easy to use, have all the relevant information about your film — trailer, screenings, and later links to watch online — and be findable by search engines. To make sure it’s findable, it’s important to do an SEO audit and make sure your website has the proper page titles, meta descriptions, and text with the right keywords on your web pages. This also helps your website’s page titles and descriptions show up properly in link previews on social media. SADIE’s website was already built on Squarespace, so all we needed to do was optimize for search and social. After optimization, it’s essential to make sure your website is up to date with all the latest news, screenings, and contact information.</div><div> <br />Engaging Fans Through Email Updates</div><div><br /><a href="https://www.sadiefilm.com/subscribe/"><img height="185" src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ae4f93c89c1723785c400d6/1544897620533-72RGM04KAGKVVK93IIJU/Screen+Shot+2018-12-15+at+10.13.26+AM.png?format=1000w" width="400" /></a><br /><br />You’ll want a simple form to allow website visitors to sign up for your newsletter. Having a newsletter is a great way to keep in touch with your film’s best fans, let them know first about news and releases, and provide valuable content (like this blog). For SADIE, we used Squarespace’s new email marketing feature. This allowed us to seamlessly set up a sign-up form and keep our campaigns all in one place. For email marketing, your number of subscribers, open rates, and click rates are used to measure success. We boosted the initial subscriber list by asking SADIE fans to subscribe through personal requests, social media, and a website pop-up. Open rates are largely dictated by the email subject line and the time and day the message is sent (weekday mornings are best). Click rates are typically determined by how strong your calls-to-action (CTAs) are in the body of your email, and also how engaging your copy is. Having clear CTAs is important for users to easily understand what you’d like them to do next, whether it’s read your blog post or watch a new trailer. <br />Promote Your Theatrical Release Through Digital Ads<br /><br />Digital advertising allows you to reach a highly targeted audience that you choose with video, image, and text ads. Just like social media ads, you can even place these orders yourself and set a budget that is right for you. <br /><br />For SADIE, we wanted to boost attendance at theatrical releases and screenings across the country. Alongside targeted advertising on Facebook and Instagram, we utilized YouTube and display advertising to reach key audiences in our target cities. YouTube pre-roll advertising is a great way to promote a film because you only end up paying for actual video views (longer than 30 seconds) or interactions (clicks) on your ad. If a viewer chooses to skip your ad before that, you don’t pay. For SADIE, we advertised the trailer and several shorter cuts of the trailer and linked back to “Find a Screening” page on the SADIE website. Video advertising is a great choice because it is so engaging, and of course, it is a natural fit for a film. <br /><br /><img height="86" src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ae4f93c89c1723785c400d6/1545065949507-XE9TGJ9JHOJRP6NIGL9L/Screen+Shot+2018-12-17+at+8.56.53+AM.png?format=2500w" width="640" /><br /><br /><br />We also used display ads to drive viewers to watch the trailer on the SADIE website. Display ads on the Google network are shown across a variety of websites and apps, reaching interest groups where they spend their time on the internet. For both our YouTube and our display ads, we targeted movie lovers, parents & family-focused individuals, art & theater aficionados, and a variety of other interest groups. Of course, we also limited our geographic targeting to those who were in cities that SADIE would be screening. We also made sure to retarget those that had been on the SADIE website to remind them to find a screening to attend in the future. <br /><br />Once the film was available on demand, we changed our calls to action and drove people directly to the film’s page on iTunes, where they could purchase or rent the film. Throughout our campaigns, we refined our targeting and placements to achieve the best click-through rates and longest video views at the best price. These are all metrics available through the Google Ads platform. This is an important step for any campaign, and if you choose to run digital or social media ads, it’s important to evaluate your success and make edits accordingly throughout your campaign.</div><div> <br /><img src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ae4f93c89c1723785c400d6/1545065377047-MA4F9LKQNTGRSPUDFHA1/SADIE_DisplayAd_250x250_Adults.jpg?format=500w" /></div><div><br /><img src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ae4f93c89c1723785c400d6/1545065422574-TLR8TJ5QCRGIOBZVYQ1W/SADIE_DisplayAd_250x250_Gun.jpg?format=500w" /></div><div><br /><img src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ae4f93c89c1723785c400d6/1545065485179-NVCLWZ4MFQC3NN2SQA3D/SADIE_DisplayAd_250x250_Bedroom2.jpg?format=500w" /></div><div><br /><img src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ae4f93c89c1723785c400d6/1545065509348-T8SOA76HT6K4EGTGKO90/SADIE_DisplayAd_250x250_WAR_WatchNow.jpg?format=500w" /><br /><br /><br />(These are examples of just a few SADIE display ads. We created a variety of these in three sizes—250x250, 300x600, 728x90—and continually tested which generated the most traffic to ensure we were spending our limited budget efficiently.)</div><div><br />Benefits of Digital Advertising<br /><br />The great thing about digital and social media advertising is its target-ability and its scalability. You can target very specific audiences that you define based on your knowledge about your film and your goals. If you have a limited budget, you could choose to target only your primary release cities and only target those individuals who are most likely to attend a live event. Or you could focus exclusively on a retargeting audience to drive conversions. Whatever your budget, there are strategies you can use to reach new audiences and engage with your current fans. <br /><br /><img height="90" src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ae4f93c89c1723785c400d6/1544897253550-R73LQCNN3VML3PO449NT/KB+Graph.png?format=2500w" width="400" /><br /><br /><br />Growth in website traffic leading up to the theatrical release.<br /><br /><br />Your film’s presence online—your website, blog, digital ads, email blasts, and social media—is an important component of building your brand and telling a story about your film. By taking an active role in all of these areas, you can help connect your film with an audience with whom it will resonate most strongly. Digital advertising is becoming more accessible every year, so don’t be afraid to give it a try to help expand the reach of your film! <br /><br /><br />Katherine Boehrer works as Digital Advertising Manager at Thin Pig Media and loves geeking out about all things marketing.<br /><br />December 17, 2018<br /><br /><br /><b><span style="font-size: large;">ADVENTURES IN CREATIVE DISTRIBUTION: Lessons From Our Theatrical Release</span><br /></b><br />by Megan Griffiths<br /><br /></div><div><a href="https://variety.com/2018/film/news/under-appreciated-movies-2018-solo-first-man-1203090394/?fbclid=IwAR1MVGN2kKRAgFsGJEX2bc8Xc_w9dDZMX0uifDs6DsQuBNPUmHfQxixpZ0o"><img height="284" src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ae4f93c89c1723785c400d6/1546300698535-GA80VY82I8SMB5D1CST1/Variety_Under+Appreciated.jpg?format=1000w" width="320" /></a><br /><br /><br />This year, our team made the momentous decision to turn down offers from traditional distributors and <a href="https://variety.com/2018/film/news/megan-griffiths-sxsw-teen-drama-sadie-1202918074/">build our own distribution model</a>. We accepted an SVOD deal from Amazon via their <a href="https://deadline.com/2017/01/sundance-amazon-video-direct-launches-film-festival-stars-program-1201888669/">Amazon Festival Stars</a> program, then set out to <a href="https://www.sadiefilm.com/blog-1/2018/9/24/adventures-in-creative-distribution-producing-the-release">produce the theatrical and TVOD releases</a> of SADIE on our own terms. We made SADIE to contribute to a cultural conversation about youth and violence, and we wanted to actively engage in that conversation in our release. We walked in with our eyes open, knowing we were facing a mountain of work, but also knowing that we wouldn’t be satisfied unless we finished the process of releasing SADIE without a single ounce of energy left on the table. <br /><br />We have had highs and lows. Premiering at SXSW, engaging with audiences, reading our favorite reviews and getting featured on <a href="https://variety.com/2018/film/news/under-appreciated-movies-2018-solo-first-man-1203090394/?fbclid=IwAR21XednhX2xaJbDxWtfLUVuizVz9zc-dQe6JUWwT9Fe9OFh5BFdCxxAdNk">Variety’s list of the 10 Most Under-Appreciated Films of 2018</a> were amazing highs. Showing up to venues after doing everything in our personal and financial bandwidth to promote those screenings to find only a handful of audience-members in the seats, not so much.<br /><br />2018 was an excellent year for movies, which is a wonderful thing for audiences everywhere. However, it made it a particularly challenging year to release a small film and find a way to register on the radar of the movie-going public without a huge advertising budget. <br /><br />We started this blog in order to provide a glimpse behind the curtain of distribution. In that spirit, we wanted to reflect on some of the things we have learned on this journey so far--essentially the lessons of our theatrical release. We hope that these disclosures serve to both caution and inspire filmmakers who are considering the daunting, empowering leap of releasing their own films.</div><div><br />THE BARRIERS <br /><br />There are many gatekeepers in this business--festival programmers, critics, distributors, and more. These people serve an important curatorial function, especially in light of the sheer numbers of films that are now made and released each year (<a href="http://www.panix.com/~dangelo/nymaster.html">an average of more than two per day</a>). We knew going in that we’d need to pass through some gates--what we didn’t fully appreciate was that beyond each gate was another gate and another keeper. <br /><br />An example: early in our theatrical booking efforts, we learned that two major national chains had expressed interest in releasing SADIE in their cinema networks. We were thrilled, knowing how many venues each chain included, thinking we would get to pick and choose the markets where we would play. It didn’t turn out to be quite that straight-forward, as once the chain’s programmer opened the first gate, we discovered we still had to await approval from every individual theater. <br /><br />SADIE has never been a no-brainer--for financiers, distributors, or for audiences. It is designed to confront the viewer to consider uncomfortable truths. Yes, there are light moments and appealing actors giving beautiful performances, but there are also tough questions that many people just don’t feel like engaging with--particularly in this political climate. That doesn’t mean the film is less worthy but it certainly presented a challenge at each point in the process when we came to a new gate.<br /><br />Some programmers are bold--they believe strongly in a film and take the chance on playing it even if they know it might be tough to fill seats. But the majority are struggling to stay afloat in this era of streaming services and can’t afford to roll the dice; they make choices based on what they know will provide a financial return and keep their doors open. It’s understandable, but it doesn’t always lead to the embrace of riskier work that may have a more difficult time connecting with mainstream audiences. And hey, some might just not dig your movie. <br /><br />More frustratingly, even the individual programmers in those major chains that did express interest in SADIE did so on their own timelines. Most were not willing to confirm our film until mere weeks before our release date (presumably due to wanting to save space for larger titles or successful films that might hold over for another week), meaning we wouldn’t have any certainty of when or where the film would screen as we were mounting our promotional campaign. <br /><br />Ultimately, we chose to book the film outside of these larger chains at smaller independent theaters. These venues worked with us to lock in dates far enough in advance of our release to leave a window for us to build buzz. They also did not require the long window the chain theaters would have before our VOD release, allowing us to better capitalize on the momentum from our theatrical press. We played at some fantastic independent theaters, including the Northwest Film Forum, where we sold out almost every screening over our opening weekend, and the Alamo Drafthouse in Winchester, VA, where the Winchester Film Club did an incredible job of promoting our event. Our Distribution Strategist Mia Bruno and our Creative Distribution intern Bobbin Ramsey worked with the venues to do outreach in each community where we played and forged some amazing partnerships (more on that in Mia’s blog <a href="https://www.sadiefilm.com/blog-1/2018/11/19/adventures-in-creative-distribution-merging-the-traditional-with-the-innovative">here</a> and Bobbin’s <a href="https://www.sadiefilm.com/blog-1/2018/11/30/adventures-in-creative-distribution-lessons-from-my-sadie-internship">here</a>).<br /><br />Playing smaller theaters also allowed us to avoid Virtual Print Fees (VPF), which distributors must pay at all major venues where their films are screening. <a href="https://www.artsalliancemedia.com/blog/vpf-the-end-of-an-era">This article from Arts Alliance Media</a> does an amazing job of detailing the history of these fees and why they initially became de rigueur (and why they may soon be moot), but basically in budget numbers VPF’s represent an additional $850 per theater. This probably goes without saying, but that is a lot of money for a small film. Especially a small film trying to reserve money for the two most important markets of them all...</div><div><br />THE IMPORTANCE OF NEW YORK & LA<br /><br />When your P&A (prints & advertising) budget is limited, positive reviews in major market publications are your best chance of building awareness for your film. Given the fact that papers like the New York and Los Angeles Times only review films that are released in theaters, that makes it critical to secure a good date in a good theater in New York City and Los Angeles. Unfortunately, since there are a finite number of venues and screening times in those cities any given weekend, and 600-700 films a year vying for those spots, that puts the power securely in the exhibitors’ hands.<br /><br />We had offers from some venues in NYC and LA that were in farther-flung reaches of the cities. Some of the more centrally-located theaters proposed programming SADIE in off-peak hours, like 5 p.m. and 11 p.m. nightly. At the time when we were making these decisions, our theatrical run was in front of us. Our hopes were high that our money and effort, coupled with positive reviews, would push the film into the collective consciousness and get people out for opening weekend. We decided to make an investment in booking the films in highly populated areas at prime viewing times, so we four-walled (bought-out in advance) our venue NYC and did a rental/box-office split for our venue in LA.<br /><br />Should we have? The receipts from our week-long runs at each venue certainly didn’t justify it on a purely financial basis. We rationalized the cost as a publicity expense, since reviews were the primary factor in the decision, and in that regard we fared better--the reviews we generated from our time in those markets were majority positive (though nothing so rapturous that it tipped the scale in any major way and lit our box office on fire). <br /><br />Would we have garnered the same number of reviews if we’d gone with the less expensive options of off-peak times or lower-traffic neighborhoods? Perhaps it just matters that you play somewhere, anywhere in each city, and proximity and venue name recognition don’t factor into it. Perhaps we didn’t need to play in those cities (or get those reviews) at all and that money would have been better spent on digital ads for our iTunes release. Certainly that is one school of thought. However, our digital sales have been generally higher in regions where we also screened theatrically, so maybe it was all worth it in the grand scheme. It’s truly hard to know what the perfect strategy would have been, even with 20/20 hindsight.<br /><br />We encountered one other unanticipated wrinkle as we neared the end of this process. Since our LA theatrical arrangement only allowed for two screenings per night, we ultimately did not meet Academy qualifications (which require three screenings per night during your LA run), so we were unable to submit our composer Mike McCready’s incredible work for best score and song consideration. A good reminder to review the qualification checklists for any awards you might be vying for to ensure your decisions early in the process support your long-term strategy.</div><div><br />ACADEMIC SCREENINGS<br /><br />In one of our early calls with a traditional distributor in the weeks following our premiere, we brought up the idea of an academic screening tour. The distributor dismissed the idea out-of-hand, saying they’d tried it before and found it to be more expense and trouble than it was worth. That ended up being a critical moment in our conversations around whether we’d take a swing at creative distribution. SADIE deals with themes around what our society is teaching our youth about violence and problem-solving, and we wanted to bring that conversation to those it might impact the most.<br /><br />The decision to make academic screenings a cornerstone of our release strategy has been one we’ve never questioned. We took SADIE to 18 schools in 11 states (and one Canadian province). That’s almost twice the number of venues we hit on our theatrical run. Part of this effort was the <a href="https://www.southarts.org/touring-arts/southern-circuit/">Southern Circuit</a>, which brings filmmakers to the South for a series of screenings at participating institutions within driving distance of each other. This model is something we wish existed in more regions, as it brought us to six schools in eight days and provided a well-organized framework and communication chain. But between our own university connections and the schools we reached through our academic outreach consultant <a href="https://www.sadiefilm.com/blog-1/2018/11/4/creating-an-academic-circuit-for-indie-films">Anna Feder</a>, we built out a tour that brought us to many places that SADIE may never have reached otherwise.<br /><br />Many of the schools we visited for our academic tour were in underserved communities that rarely had the opportunity to talk to filmmakers or even watch independent films on the big screen, so the events tended to draw large and engaged crowds and yield excellent conversations. And on the budgetary side, the schools covered travel expenses and paid a fee to screen the film, so our tour generated a decent profit as well.<br /><br />Something else we took from our academic experience was this: the ability of kids to handle and process challenging material is dramatically underestimated in this culture. In the decade we spent trying to get SADIE to the screen, we had many, many people tell us that the barrier we faced was that we were trying to make a movie starring kids but for adults. If there’s one myth that’s been dispelled in this journey, it’s that one. By far the best questions we received during our many post-screening discussions came from young people. We had a screening at a high school in Washington State where 130 kids, mostly sophomores and juniors, came out at 7:30 a.m. to watch SADIE, engaging in a thoughtful and deeply inspiring conversation afterwards (when it was still only 9 a.m.!) We won the Gryphon Award at our international premiere at the Giffoni Film Festival in Italy, and it was awarded to us by a jury of 16- and 17-year-olds from 50+ countries. Kids get it. They understand what’s going on in our culture right now and they want to talk about it.</div><div><br />TAKEAWAYS<br /><br />The odds are against those approaching the theatrical release process independently. Many excellent films released this year even via traditional distribution companies have struggled to register on the national radar. Which films will capture the American imagination and become critical or box-office juggernauts remains impossible to foresee. Bottom line: Every filmmaker wants to do what they can to connect with the audiences that will resonate with the story they’ve told, and as this industry continues to go through immense change, we’re all experimenting, pushing, and working to determine how to do that. <br /><br />We probably won’t ever really know whether every choice we made was the right one. We followed conventional wisdom about the NYC/LA press, pushing for reviews in hopes that that press would publicize the film in a way that we couldn’t afford to do with P&A money alone. And while we received many great reviews (and likely gotten a bump in digital sales as a side benefit) we may have put too much stock in the belief that any single review would be a game-changer. But we also made a decision early on that we wanted to hand-deliver this film to as many audiences as possible and be active participants in conversations around youth and violence. After 53 post-show discussions with a diverse population of movie-goers from one end of the country to the other, we can say with all certainty that we accomplished that goal. <br /><br />Exhausting though it may have been, it was so rewarding to travel around the country and attend our many screenings. We never knew who would be in the audience or what would come up for them after the credits rolled. The discussions we had when the lights came up at those screenings consistently helped to remind us of why we chose to embark on the nine-year journey of making SADIE in the first place. We learned something about the world we live in and the people who inhabit it at every stop on our SADIE tour. And we even got a little hope for the future via the intelligent questions and observations of the many young people we met. <br /><br />A final anecdote: When we were in the South screening SADIE, there was a young woman in the audience who came up to talk to me after the Q&A. She told me she came from a military family and could relate to Sadie’s family life, but she was bothered that I portrayed Sadie playing violent video games in the film. She was a big gamer herself and bristled at the connection being drawn between Sadie’s gaming and the bad choices the character made. I explained my reasoning, as I have to others when this has come up: I don’t take issue with violence being portrayed in media (video games and beyond), but I do worry about how it affects our collective empathy and our feelings about violence as a problem-solving tool when we watch so many characters take lives without consequence and without any connection to the emotional ramifications of the act. She took that in and her whole demeanor shifted. She said she agreed and told me about two games she’d found which she thought bucked that trend--creating worlds that built empathy towards their flawed central character (like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellblade:_Senua%27s_Sacrifice">Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice</a>) or where empathy towards an opponent and alternatives to violence were built into the game’s DNA (like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Undertale">Undertale</a>). I felt like we both walked away having learned from the short interaction, and it stands out as a highlight of this journey.</div><div> <br />THE METRICS<br /><br />43 - States where SADIE has now been seen via theater or VOD<br /><br />22 - States where SADIE played on a big screen<br /><br />53 - Post-Screening Q&A’s (40 attended by Megan, 33 attended by Lacey, 18 attended by Sophia, 14 by other members of the team, and three via Skype)<br /><br />10 - Cities where we played in theaters<br /><br />18 - Academic Screenings (including the <a href="https://www.southarts.org/touring-arts/southern-circuit/">Southern Circuit</a>)<br /><br />5 - Buzz Screenings (IFP, <a href="https://seejane.org/events/influencer-screening/influencer-screening-sadie/">Geena Davis Institute</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcnLwYHqWNk">SAG/LA</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6NBEMcpZzs">SAG/NYC</a>, <a href="http://www.theqandapodcast.com/2018/11/sadie-q-megan-griffiths.html">Jeff Goldsmith Podcast Screening</a>)<br /><br />2 - Awards Received (the <a href="http://www.giffonifilmfestival.it/en/winners-giffoni-2018.html">“Gryphon Award - Best Film” at Giffoni Film Festival</a> and <a href="https://www.grandcinema.com/gcblog/tacoma-film-fest-2018-wrap/">“Best Performance: Sophia Mitri Schloss” at Tacoma Film Festival</a>)<br /><br />81% - Critics Score on <a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/sadie_2018/">Rotten Tomatoes</a><br /><br />90% - Audience Score on <a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/sadie_2018/">Rotten Tomatoes</a><br /><br />121,000 - Number of minutes our <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=4s&v=sO8_CNvwp_Q">theatrical trailer</a> has been viewed on YouTube<br /><br />41,237 - Authentic <a href="https://twitter.com/sadiefilm">Social Media Engagements</a> <br /><br />1,161,531 - Total <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Sadiefilm/">Social Media Impressions</a><br /><br /><br />We’re still in the midst of SADIE’s digital release, and will report back in a future blog with our thoughts on the lessons we’re still learning from that part of the process. In the meantime, thank you to everyone who attended a screening and engaged with us. We’re glad that we (and SADIE) found you. And if you’re a filmmaker enjoying this blog, please leave us a comment and let us know if there’s more you’d like to learn from our experience. <br /><br />December 31, 2018<br /><br /><br /><b><span style="font-size: large;">WE ARE NOT STUCK IN THIS CULTURE, WE ARE THIS CULTURE</span><br /></b><br />by Megan Griffiths<br /><br /><img height="202" src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ae4f93c89c1723785c400d6/1548624206266-C6I3LLFXV4IA283ZRJ5D/Screen+Shot+2019-01-27+at+1.23.07+PM.png?format=1500w" width="320" /><br />Writer/director Megan Griffiths on the set of SADIE. Photo credit: David Chen<br /><br /><br />In the aftermath of a school shooting, we tend to dissect the people immediately surrounding the shooter. Were his parents nurturing? Did his fellow students bully? Did the officers who were once at his doorstep do enough to interfere with his destructive tendencies? As we look to find ways we might prevent other lost souls, others with mental illness, other sociopaths, other pathologically lonely people from making these same disastrous choices in the future, these questions can be valuable pieces of the puzzle. But when our scrutiny doesn’t extend beyond that intimate radius, it also provides cover to avoid a larger examination of ourselves and our culture. As someone outside the nexus of the latest active shooter, is it possible that I am still culpable in his choices? What am I doing to encourage and disseminate the idea that violence is a solution? Am I doing anything to actively counter that narrative?<br /><br />The United States spends more than any other nation on our military—almost three times more than the next highest spender (China). We are the world’s enforcer and Americans take great pride in our military dominance. We spend $600 billion a year teaching our nation’s youth one very loud lesson—might makes right. The country with the deadliest arsenal wins. Diplomacy is utilized to varying degrees depending on who sits in the Oval Office but wars, surgical strikes and armed occupation have always been our stock and trade, our headline-grabbers, our chief export. Whether we go to battle for valiant reasons or not, and whether we ever really “win” any war (and those are whole other conversations), the take-away remains the same: the only way to stop a bad guy with a nuke is with a good guy with a nuke. <br /><br />Young men and women enlist in the armed forces for any number of reasons: to protect and serve; to stand up for an ideal; to escape destitution or afford an education; to honor a tradition; to prove something; to be heroes; for brotherhood; sisterhood. Once they are accepted, they are trained to enact medical procedures, to de-escalate hostile situations, to be adaptable and responsible, to communicate with people from other cultures in other languages. But they are also taught to kill. They are taught to rationalize an other’s death as a necessary evil, to distance themselves from personal choice. How else could they cope? <br /><br />These lessons—dehumanization, white hats versus black hats, force as solution—are regularly reinforced by our media as well. We collectively spend billions to cheer on superheroes as they epically battle their foes, and to engage in first-person bouts where our avatar leaves someone else’s avatar in tatters. Examining violence through film, television and video games can be constructive—a way to parse the complexities of our world and understand those who make choices we don’t understand—but very often the characters we watch, these surrogates for ourselves, mow down enemies without thought, without pause, without any psychological effect at all or any attempt to understand the “why.” If I took out a gun and shot someone on 5th Avenue, it would impact me for the rest of my life. But when was the last time you saw a vigilante or soldier in a video game truly reckon with the life he just took, or reckon with the part of his own humanity that was lost with the squeeze of the trigger? Yes, we live in a brutal society, but what comes of disconnecting emotionally from that brutality? What is the collective impact, what is the message to those coming-of-age with these narratives filling their minds, when we don’t show its tangible and intangible consequences? <br /><br />We all distance ourselves. When we make personal choices that perpetuate violence in our culture, we rationalize or ignore, or perhaps don’t even realize it’s happening. We dodge meaningful dialogue about our accountability in the violent acts of others. We look for others to blame. We wait for others to change. We don’t look to ourselves. We don’t change. <br /><br />Villains, both real and fictional, have origin stories. Osama Bin Laden had one, the Joker had one, and every mass shooter has one. And yes, the people with whom they interact in their daily lives contribute to those stories in huge ways. But we each contribute too. The choices we make as consumers perpetuate the dissemination of consequence-free, gleeful, psychosocially-vacuous violence to people all over the earth. The people we elect to public office determine how much of our city’s, our state’s, and our nation’s budgets are directed towards building our police force and military arsenal as opposed to, say, rehabilitating our violent offenders or treating the mentally ill. The ideas we put into the world, the work we do as creators, contribute to a collective conversation and can change hearts and minds. Our decisions are not made in a vacuum and they do not fall on deaf ears. <br /><br />There’s a Zen concept that asserts, “you are not stuck in traffic, you are traffic.” We are not stuck in this culture, suffering from a predicament thrust upon us by faceless others. We are this culture—every individual, conscious, buying, selling, voting, living, breathing one of us—and this predicament is our own to solve. <br /><br />January 28, 2019<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><b>NO NEED TO TAKE OUR WORD FOR IT...</b></span></div><div><br /><a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B07HM8MFG9?fbclid=IwAR3gdpp-0Dh_kHJ9CETkjJB3eDgDVx2ZHprwDNt4ahlNzJQXM6L05nVH2Lw"><img height="320" src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ae4f93c89c1723785c400d6/1551218019996-0KI6XDEVW1IECZ71VDCE/SADIE_Amazon_Graphic_3-4.jpg?format=1000w" width="240" /></a><br /><br /><br />This week, SADIE will have its <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Sadie-Sophia-Mitri-Schloss/dp/B07JVG4DH7">launch on Amazon Prime</a>. This is a film we spent nine years making and one into which we poured our hearts and souls, from the long road of development, through the cold but rewarding days on set and the heavy scrutiny of the editing room, to our SXSW premiere, and through the past nine months as we’ve embarked on our creative distribution journey, pushing SADIE out into the world and trying to connect with audiences alongside the crowded and excellent slate of films 2018 had to offer. <br /><br />So of course WE hope you’ll watch it. <br /><br />But no need to take our word for it! Below, we’ve assembled a list of our favorite pieces that have come out about the film since our premiere. <br /><br />Hopefully these wise strangers will give you the final nudge to stream the film <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Sadie-Sophia-Mitri-Schloss/dp/B07JVG4DH7">on Amazon Prime</a> and maybe even to tell a friend (or ALL your friends) to watch it too.<br /><br />Thank you! <br /><br /><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6504868/videoplayer/vi3561338905?ref_=tt_pv_vi_aiv_3"><img height="185" src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ae4f93c89c1723785c400d6/1551220235205-V6QFNDWH0AAPZCP8CJEE/image-asset.png?format=1000w" width="320" /></a><br /><br />PROFILE<br /><br />To kick things off, check out <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6504868/videoplayer/vi3561338905?ref_=tt_pv_vi_aiv_3">IMDb’s profile</a> on Megan and SADIE, recorded at SXSW last year. It’s a short and sweet two-minute look into the film and its themes about consequence-free violence, as well as Megan’s process as a filmmaker.<br /><br /><a href="https://variety.com/2018/film/news/under-appreciated-movies-2018-solo-first-man-1203090394/"><img height="284" src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ae4f93c89c1723785c400d6/1551217814481-DHJI8XO9X6TNHTGPQ2ZP/Variety_Under+Appreciated.jpg?format=1000w" width="320" /></a><br /><br />VARIETY & BEST OF 2018 LISTS<br /><br />Secondly, we have had a really fantastic champion in Variety’s Joe Leydon, who wrote <a href="https://variety.com/2018/film/festivals/sadie-review-1202736022/">this beautiful review</a> calling the film “quietly absorbing and methodically disquieting“ when the film premiered, and then included us on <a href="https://variety.com/2018/film/news/under-appreciated-movies-2018-solo-first-man-1203090394/">Variety’s Most Under-Appreciated Movies of 2018</a>, commenting that we “drifted into and out of limited theatrical release without raising the ruckus that was their due.” <br /><br />We also made an appearance on the <a href="https://film.avclub.com/the-best-films-of-2018-that-we-didn-t-review-1830781168">AV Club’s Best Films of 2018 That We Didn’t Review</a>. They said, “fiercely talented newcomer Sophia Mitri Schloss plays the title character as a sort of Machiavellian open wound,” continuing, “writer-director Megan Griffiths devotes nearly equal attention to everyone in Sadie’s life—particularly her loving but distracted mother, played with heartbreaking emotional transparency by Melanie Lynskey. John Gallagher Jr., Danielle Brooks, and Tony Hale all pitch in to create a richly detailed hand-to-mouth community.”<br /><br /><br />NPR RAVE <br /><br />Back when SADIE came out last October the fine folks at KPCC’s Film Week (the weekly film review show on LA’s National Public Radio affiliate) called it their “favorite film of the week” and said they “really, really, really loved it.” They talk for about three minutes and if what they have to say doesn’t convince you to watch, I don’t know what will.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://www.talkhouse.com/colin-trevorrow-jurassic-world-talks-with-megan-griffiths-sadie-for-the-talkhouse-podcast/"><img height="215" src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ae4f93c89c1723785c400d6/1551221297298-DW8C2KQVIZ6L571AA543/Megan-Griffiths-Lacey-Leavitt-Talkhouse-Podcast-Final-1024x689.jpg?format=1000w" width="320" /></a><br /><br />PODCASTS<br /><br />If you’re looking for something to queue up in your car or while you’re at the gym, we also did a few podcasts that were incredibly fun and great conversations. <br /><br />For <a href="https://www.talkhouse.com/colin-trevorrow-jurassic-world-talks-with-megan-griffiths-sadie-for-the-talkhouse-podcast/">The Talkhouse</a>, Megan spoke with friend and fellow filmmaker Colin Trevorrow (who many may know as the director of one of the top grossing films of all time, JURASSIC WORLD). The two talked about blockbusters, diversity, "overnight" success, and much more. Producer Lacey Leavitt also pipes in with some wisdom throughout.<br /><br />Megan also chatted about 12 MONKEYS and making movies about mental illness with April Wolfe for her podcast <a href="https://www.maximumfun.org/switchblade-sisters/switchblade-sisters-episode-49-12-monkeys-sadie-director-megan-griffiths">Switchblade Sisters</a>, and with Jeff Goldsmith about her career trajectory and how it all led to SADIE for <a href="http://www.theqandapodcast.com/2018/11/sadie-q-megan-griffiths.html">The Q&A with Jeff Goldsmith</a> (warning: this podcast contains spoilers and may be best listened to after watching the film).<br /><br />INTERVIEWS<br /><br />We did a couple fantastic interviews, one of our favorites being Megan’s interview with <a href="https://womenandhollywood.com/sxsw-2018-women-directors-meet-megan-griffiths-sadie-a868c96123bb/">Women And Hollywood</a> where she was asked about the #TimesUp movement and said, “I believe it’s a long overdue conversation — one that women have been having for years, and one that I’m thrilled men are finally beginning to engage in. It’s well past time to challenge the power imbalance in our industry. The world needs inclusivity right now. We need diverse stories and the empathy that those stories bring to our hearts, and we need it urgently.”<br /><br />We also loved Film Inquiry’s coverage of the film—both their <a href="https://www.filminquiry.com/interview-megan-griffiths/">interview with Megan</a> (where Megan and interviewer Lee Jutton talk in depth about the cast, the film’s themes, and how challenging it is to get a film like SADIE made) and their <a href="https://www.filminquiry.com/sadie-2018-review/">fantastic review</a>, where Lee says, “Griffiths highlights the particular problems faced by a sector of society often looked down upon by those in a more privileged place and does it with a refreshingly non-judgmental eye. You understand the tough, often uncaring world in which these people have all spent their entire lives and how that has shaped their identities. As a result, all of them are painted in such diverse shades of grey that it is impossible to form a simple, singular conclusion about any of them.”<br /><br /><br />BUILD NYC<br /><br />Lastly, if you’ve got a half an hour to spend, we loved this <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncJvGUsDKvY&list=PLc9xeLo4O97ikMILbO0Y4EfJ2LNQLaooF">BUILD NYC interview</a> with Megan, which dives deep into the themes of the films and also how we brought it into the world. It’s such a comprehensive overview of everything we wanted to talk about with this film, we recommend checking it out.<br /><br /><br /><br /><img height="320" src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ae4f93c89c1723785c400d6/1551281299036-HKEGME1UKJN1X2O23C8T/Tony+Hale+Selfie.jpg?format=1000w" width="240" /><br /><br />OUR INCREDIBLE CAST<br /><br />"Lynskey, one of indie cinema's finest actors, is once again superb in her emotionally complex turn. Gallagher Jr. delivers career-best work as well, infusing his portrayal with subtle shadings that keep us intrigued throughout. And Schloss is a revelation as the emotionally disturbed teen, her performance all the more impressive for its restraint." - <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/sadie-1150489">Frank Scheck, Hollywood Reporter</a><br /><br />“The film boasts a major turn from Sophia Mitri Schloss…you simply can’t turn away from her.” - <a href="https://www.indiewire.com/2018/03/sadie-review-megan-griffiths-sxsw-2018-1201937512/">Kate Erbland, Indiewire</a><br /><br />“Sophia Mitri Schloss is absolutely revelatory in the film’s titular role... Her motivations for her actions are deeply felt, and provide a terrifying glimpse into how the violence of the world around us can shape the mindset of a child by convincing them violence is the only answer to their problems.” - <a href="https://www.filminquiry.com/sadie-2018-review/">Lee Jutton, Film Inquiry</a><br /><br />“Gallagher Jr. makes Cyrus into something more than just another guy from the wrong side of the tracks; he shows us how society makes it so hard for certain people to pull themselves out of the mire, instead leaving them to spiral further downward.” -<a href="https://www.filminquiry.com/sadie-2018-review/"> Lee Jutton, Film Inquiry </a><br /><br />“Danielle Brooks … brings together contradictory notes of an everyday anguish endured through everyday kindnesses, and in a rare way that elevates a secondary character from mere support to one who underscores everything the film wants to say.” - <a href="https://www.flickfilosopher.com/2018/10/sadie-movie-review-coming-age-hard-way.html">MaryAnn Johanson, Flick Filopsopher</a><br /><br />“Sadie is an arresting experience, anchored by Schloss’s dynamic work.” - <a href="https://filmpulse.net/sadie-review/">Ken Bakely, Film Pulse</a><br /><br />“Lynskey continues to demonstrate why she should be recognized amongst the best actresses working today with her nuanced and emotional performance.” - <a href="http://berkreviews.com/2018/03/11/sadie-2018/">Jonathan Berk, Berk Reviews</a><br /><br />“Sophia Mitri Schloss gives an unforgettable turn in her title role.” - <a href="http://www.moviecriticdave.com/review/sadie">MovieCriticDave.com</a><br /><br />"Schloss is intensely affecting as Sadie." - <a href="https://awfj.org/blog/2018/10/07/movie-of-the-week-october-12-2018-sadie/?ct=t(Y_COPY_01)">Betsy Bozdech</a><br /><br />"Schloss and Lynskey deliver heart wrenching performances in this strikingly femme-centric film which shoots an arrow right into the heart of domestic disruption that results from faraway wars." - <a href="https://awfj.org/blog/2018/10/07/movie-of-the-week-october-12-2018-sadie/?ct=t(Y_COPY_01)">Jennifer Merin</a><br /><br />"At its most mesmerizing when fixed on Schloss’ unblinking gaze; a child at war with forces — and consequences — that she can’t yet understand." - <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/movies/sadie-carves-beautiful-details-in-a-powerful-honest-story/">Moira Macdonald, Seattle Times</a><br /><br /><br />February 26, 2019<br /><br /><br /><b><span style="font-size: large;">ADVENTURES IN CREATIVE DISTRIBUTION: The SADIE Case Study</span><br /></b><br />Written by Lacey Leavitt (originally published via <a href="https://dearproducer.com/distribution-case-study-sadie/">Dear Producer</a>)<br /><br /><i><br />“We’ve spent a lot of time as a culture trying to reckon with the effects of the intense exposure to violence faced by soldiers, but what about the effects of similar exposure on those at home? How does this steady diet of violence (from the real-world carnage of war, mass shootings and police brutality, to the fictional, cartoonish bloodshed filling our screens) impact those coming of age in this era? When all they see are adults solving their problems with force, what does that teach kids about how to solve their own problems?” - Megan Griffiths</i><br /><br />Sadie is the story of a girl who will stop at nothing to preserve her father's place on the home front. Sadie is the 13-year-old daughter of a soldier and models herself after his military example. When her mom Rae begins dating a new man, Sadie vows to drive him out by whatever means necessary. He is the enemy, and if she’s learned anything from the world she inhabits, it’s that the enemy deserves no mercy. <br /><br />THE ROAD TO GREENLIGHT<br /><br />Making the film was a long, challenging process. Writer/director Megan Griffiths wrote the script in 2009 and showed me the first draft to see if I’d be interested in producing. Megan is one of my favorite directors to work with, as well as one of my favorite overall human beings, and I really resonated with the characters and themes of the script. It was an easy, automatic, enthusiastic YES for me. Unfortunately, throughout our process, nothing else would ever come together that quickly again.<br /><br />The next eight years was a journey that included me attending the Sundance Creative Producers Lab and the Rotterdam Co-Production Lab and both Megan and I taking the film to IFP’s No Borders Market. Raising money was a challenge, as film financiers thought a drama for adults, but starring a young girl, was too risky an investment. (And, in those early years when the cultural climate was slightly different, we were asked several times if we’d consider making Sadie a boy.) During the long development process of SADIE, Megan and I made 9 other feature films between the two of us! But we’d always come back to SADIE after each project ended and wonder when and how the stars would align for us to be able to make the film.<br /><br />We eventually attached Melanie Lynskey (HBO’s TOGETHERNESS, THE INTERVENTION) as our adult lead, Rae. Melanie is the kind of actor who attracts other talented actors to want to come aboard your project, so soon after we also attached John Gallagher, Jr. (THE MISEDUCATION OF CAMERON POST, HBO’s THE NEWSROOM) as Cyrus, the new man in Rae and Sadie’s life.<br /><br /><img height="180" src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ae4f93c89c1723785c400d6/1556291299485-PSP1D2KDAAUUAWADMYIO/Melanie_John_Bar.jpg?format=2500w" width="320" /><br />Melanie Lynskey as ‘Rae’ and John Gallagher, Jr. as ‘Cyrus’ in SADIE<br /><br /><br />As we neared the end of 2016, a critical mass had hit to get the ball rolling: there was a break in Megan, Melanie, and John’s respective schedules and it seemed like it was now-or-never to make the film. Jennessa West (LANE 1974) joined the team as my producing partner and Jonathan Caso (OUTSIDE IN) as a co-producer. We re-approached a film investor who had long been a fan of Megan’s work and this script, Eliza Shelden, but who had formerly passed on the project because the timing wasn’t right. But it turned out that the stars now aligned for her as well, so she came on board as our sole investor and we were officially greenlit and finally off and running.<br /><br />Above and beyond the film’s modest $650k budget, we raised and set aside an additional $50k to contribute to the eventual distribution marketing campaign. This was something we prioritized because we knew that putting SADIE into the world would require some special handling whether we partnered with a traditional distributor or decided to distribute it on our own, and we did not want to become powerless victims to a boilerplate distribution plan.<br /><br />We set dates for the shoot for January 2017 and Tony Hale (VEEP, ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT) came on board in the role of Rae’s other suitor and guidance counselor at Sadie’s school. Danielle Brooks (ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK) joined the cast as Rae’s best friend Carla. And despite doing a nation-wide search, our perfect Sadie turned out to be Sophia Mitri Schloss who, like Megan and me, lives in Seattle. We shot for 19 days in Washington State.<br /><br />PREMIERE/PRESS REACTIONS<br /><br /><img height="320" src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ae4f93c89c1723785c400d6/1556291367285-8KH2T0CQZQ51OAOQ6Q7R/SADIE+Cast+and+Producers.jpg?format=1500w" width="320" /><br />SADIE Cast and Producers at 2018 SXSW Pizza Hut/Getty Images Lounge<br />Photo credit: Getty Images<br /><br /><br />The film premiered at SXSW 2018. The screenings were packed with enthusiastic and engaged audiences who asked insightful questions. Press reactions were incredibly slow to come out, especially annoying considering we’d chosen to host an advance screening in New York for press. After leaving our premiere, we saw that only one review had posted and it was mixed. Having that be the sole review for the days following our premiere was torturous (and likely harmful to our distribution prospects). But once the other reviews did come out, they were overwhelmingly positive. Almost surprisingly so, considering our difficult subject matter and controversial ending!<br /><br />“Equal parts coming-of-age story and slow-burn thriller, writer-director Megan Griffiths’ quietly absorbing and methodically disquieting drama is a genuine rarity… Griffiths and Schloss tease and disquiet you with the possibility that Sadie will stop at nothing to get what she wants. But even that’s not sufficient to fully prepare you for what happens when they make good on that threat. Or for what happens next.” - Joe Leydon, <a href="https://variety.com/2018/film/festivals/sadie-review-1202736022/">Variety</a><br /><br />“Griffiths exhibits a strong grasp of tone, filming the proceedings in a visually gloomy fashion befitting the characters' hardscrabble lives. And the performances are uniformly first-rate. It's no surprise that Lynskey, who has quietly establishing herself as one of indie cinema's finest actors, is once again superb in her emotionally complex turn. Gallagher delivers career-best work as well, infusing his portrayal with subtle shadings that keep us intrigued throughout. And Schloss is a revelation as the emotionally disturbed teen, her performance all the more impressive for its restraint.” - Frank Scheck, <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/sadie-1150489">The Hollywood Reporter</a><br /><br /><img height="180" src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ae4f93c89c1723785c400d6/1556291426319-7X6JV05LGZOYIZPSGCQ2/SADIE_Junkyard60.jpg?format=2500w" width="320" /><br />Sophia Mitri Schloss as ‘Sadie’ and Keith L. Williams as ‘Francis’<br /><br /><br />DISTRIBUTION OFFERS<br /><br />The core reason behind making the film was Megan’s desire to add to the cultural conversation about youth and violence. All of us producers, including our executive producer, were unanimously on board with that goal. Like most filmmakers, our two main objectives in finding the right distribution path were: getting as many people to see the film as possible and to recoup our budget/turn a profit for our financier. A third objective, which emerged after a particularly inspiring Seattle International Film Festival screening for high school students, was to be able to screen the film to as many young people as possible in order to bring the conversation to those it would impact the most. We felt that an academic tour of SADIE to colleges and community groups (especially those with a teen and/or violence prevention focus) would be the best way to achieve that goal.<br /><br />Cut to: lackluster market conditions. Distribution offers came in with the best one being from a reputable, name brand film distributor that offered a 10 city day-and-date theatrical and VOD release, with a minimum guarantee of only about 25% of the film’s budget. Team Sadie was faced with a decision: take a loss financially, but have a reputable film distributor behind a 10 city theatrical push, or follow the creative self-distribution playbook outlined by films like <a href="https://uproxx.com/hitfix/shane-carruth-on-swimming-upriver-and-self-distributing-in-upstream-color/">Shane Carruth’s UPSTREAM COLOR</a> and <a href="https://www.sundance.org/case-studies/creative-distribution/columbus">Kogonada’s COLUMBUS</a>. The latter might turn out to be a financial loss and would require additional time spent on “producing” the distribution, as well as significant capital to fund the release, but it would mean that we as filmmakers would have creative control over the marketing and distribution of the film, empowering us to make decisions about how our film was presented to audiences.<br /><br />As Megan and my fellow producers and I have all worked with various indie film distributors over the years, we have had a variety of experiences with how our films have A) have been marketed to audiences and B) have connected (or not) with those audiences. With SADIE’s nuanced drama, we knew it was incredibly important to frame the film properly and be thoughtful in our strategy. The discussions we had with our potential distributor made us realize that we had very different ideas for how to market this film; they wanted to go with more of a BAD SEED-like approach and market SADIE as a thriller starring a young girl (how far will she go?!). While it was possible that marketing this as a more traditional thriller genre film might get more people to rent or buy initially, we felt we’d severely risk audience backlash. In other words, if someone paid $4.99 expecting to see a thriller/horror film, they would likely feel misled after watching the dramatic slow-burn of SADIE and review the film accordingly. In turn, those negative reviews could drive down the overall rating, counteracting the marketing messages of the film and potentially alienating a larger audience than it would attract. It’s possible it would’ve netted more money for the film, but it wasn’t a guarantee, plus we would definitely be throwing one of our main goals (creating an environment for meaningful audience discussion about youth and violence) out the window. While we asked for mutual approval over poster and trailer, the distributor was only willing to give us “meaningful consultation.” And as we all know, that is not very legally meaningful at all. So knowing we were starting in two pretty different places, we did not have faith that our opinions would be heeded much–or at all–when it came to marketing the film.<br /><br /><img height="320" src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ae4f93c89c1723785c400d6/1556291606344-9ZE23EPRMHYFGBME1DOS/_MG_8852.jpg?format=1000w" width="320" /><br />Producer Lacey Leavitt and writer/director Megan Griffiths at the Geena Davis Institute screening of SADIE, Photo credit: Credit Mary Schwinn<br /><br /><br />Lastly, the distributor did not want to entertain our idea of an academic tour at all. Not only did they not want to mount one (understandable, if it’s not already part of their services), they didn’t want us to take the film to colleges or high schools even if we were doing all of that work and covering our costs. They felt the screenings would cannibalize the film’s sales with those audiences. We felt that an academic tour would raise awareness within the 18-25 year old demographic, who we didn’t see as naturally discovering the film with the distributor’s vague marketing plans.<br /><br />So ultimately, we decided to walk away from the traditional distribution offers and instead take the $100k non-recoupable bonus from Amazon Prime Video as part of their <a href="https://www.indiewire.com/2019/01/sundance-2019-market-amazon-video-direct-festival-stars-likely-pulled-1202032051/">Film Festival Stars</a> program (a program which ended in December 2018), pair that with our $50k we had set aside for marketing, and mount a creative distribution strategy for our film ourselves.<br /><br />DISTRIBUTING SADIE<br /><br />Megan and I, along with my producing partner, Jennessa West, and co-producer Jonathan Caso, committed our late spring and summer of 2018 to developing our creative distribution plan. Jennessa and Jonathan were shooting another feature that fall so Megan and I cleared our fall schedules to work full time on SADIE’s theatrical release. But there was no way to handle all of the aspects of the distribution ourselves. We needed someone with the contacts and access to book theaters, someone who could help us navigate and price out the academic bookings, a publicist, and a social media and digital marketing agency. To get a more detailed picture of the breakdown of roles, you can read our <a href="https://www.sadiefilm.com/blog/2018/9/10/adventures-in-creative-distribution-introducing-the-team">detailed blog post at SadieFilm.com.</a><br /><br />CORE TEAM<br /><br />MIA BRUNO: Distribution Strategist, Theatrical Booking & Impact Campaigning<br /><br /><br />THIN PIG MEDIA: Digital Marketing & Social Media Management<br /><br /><br />ADAM KERSH/BRIGADE MARKETING: Publicity<br /><br /><br />ANNA FEDER: Academic Outreach<br /><br /><br />BOBBIN RAMSEY: Distribution Intern<br /><br /><br />ADDITIONAL DISTRIBUTION PLAYERS<br /><br />GIANT INTERACTIVE: Digital Aggregator<br /><br /><br />MICHAEL LANGE: Trailer Editor<br /><br /><br />YEN TAN: Poster Design<br /><br /><br />DAVID ROBBINS: Deliverables<br /><br /><br />SIMPLE DCP: DCP and Blu-Ray creation<br /><br />Everyone on the team was a genuine supporter of the film, worked very hard to position the film to succeed, and was a lovely person to boot. While the core team all had specific titles, there was some overlap of roles. If anyone had a personal connection to a college, they put us in touch directly. Adam did several reach outs to theater programmers he knew personally. Mia was incredibly helpful with positioning the film. In other words, a dream team. We had weekly calls between the core team, adding other individuals if necessary.<br /><br /><img height="217" src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ae4f93c89c1723785c400d6/1556291707873-FZODQ12RHHUZFPC3CODG/Screen+Shot+2019-04-22+at+2.17.50+PM.png?format=1000w" width="320" /><br />Producer Lacey Leavitt, actress Sophia Mitri Schloss, actor Keith L. Williams, and writer/director Megan Griffiths at the SAG-AFTRA Foundation LA screening, Photo credit: Amanda Edwards/Getty Images<br /><br /><br />We started assembling the team in May of 2018. We had a hard Amazon Prime VOD premiere date of February 28, 2019. Reverse engineering from there, we landed on a fall theatrical date, which eventually solidified as October 12, 2018. This lead us to a TVOD (iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, Vudu, etc.) window that started with iTunes on November 6, 2018, an inDemand window that started January 1, 2019. We also licensed our airline rights to Alaska Air via the SIFF channel and officially started airing in the friendly skies in April 2019.<br /><br />In the lead up to these theatrical release dates, we built out our social media and digital campaigns. Adam/Brigade targeted key reviewers in LA and NYC and we created an influencer screening strategy wherein we had various screenings with organizations that we felt would help boost our signal to our target audiences, such as the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media and the Screen Actors Guild in Los Angeles. And in NYC we had another SAG screening as well as one with IFP during IFP Week.<br /><br />Running parallel to all of this, we booked academic screenings across the country, mostly woven throughout the lead-up to our theatrical premiere and again in the winter, between our TVOD and SVOD premieres. Ultimately we screened the film in 22 states and collectively attended 53 post-screening discussions between September and December 2018.<br /><br /><img height="180" src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ae4f93c89c1723785c400d6/1556291772258-0Z6KWZWDFJNZQ7XV1MTN/20181118_182152.jpg?format=2500w" width="320" /><br />SIFF Cinema Uptown Marquee in Seattle, Photo credit: Megan Griffiths<br /><br /><br />RESULTS<br /><br />SADIE did get the robust academic tour we hoped for, which was both profitable and immensely gratifying. Not only did we get bookings at individual universities, we were fortunate to be selected for the 2018 fall tour of the <a href="https://www.southarts.org/touring-arts/southern-circuit/">Southern Circuit</a>. This program brings films to rural universities and towns in the south, providing under-served audiences with access to independent films and filmmakers with screening fees and per diem to travel and engage with students via post-film discussions and classroom visits. The conversations Megan and I had with students and community members from Tennessee (Johnson City, Maryville), Georgia (Oxford, Athens, Statesboro), and South Carolina (Clinton) were some of the most rewarding experiences we’ve had in our entire careers.<br /><br />Financially, the film has not yet recouped its production budget, which is obviously disappointing. We were really hoping to not only create meaningful conversation around the film but also build enough awareness and a large enough audience so that the film could turn a profit. First and foremost to allow our financier to recoup, but also to prove that making a smart, nuanced drama is not a lost cause in this indie film landscape. We wish we could point to SADIE as an example of a film that challenges its audiences and makes them think without cheap thrills or gimmicks but yet still succeeds financially. As filmmakers, it’s honestly disappointing to “fail” in that way, especially because the audience response, when we do get the film in front of people, has been so overwhelmingly positive.<br /><br />Even in this crowded marketplace and with our limited means, we do feel that SADIE made an impact on those who saw it, and we hope that it will continue to find its audience as time passes and people discover it on Amazon Prime, iTunes, and other digital platforms.<br /><br />THE METRICS<br /><br />43 - States where SADIE has now been seen (via theater or VOD)<br /><br /><br />22 - States where SADIE played on a big screen<br /><br /><br />54 - Post-Screening Q&A’s (41 attended by Megan, 34 attended by Lacey, 19 attended by Sophia, 14 by other members of the team, and three via Skype)<br /><br /><br />10 - Cities where we played in theaters<br /><br /><br />18 - Academic Screenings <br /><br /><br />5 - Buzz Screenings (IFP,<a href="https://seejane.org/events/influencer-screening/influencer-screening-sadie/"> Geena Davis Institute</a>,<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcnLwYHqWNk"> SAG/LA</a>,<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6NBEMcpZzs"> SAG/NYC</a>,<a href="http://www.theqandapodcast.com/2018/11/sadie-q-megan-griffiths.html"> Jeff Goldsmith Podcast Screening</a>)<br /><br /><br />164,246 - Number of minutes our<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=4s&v=sO8_CNvwp_Q"> trailer</a> has been viewed<br /><br /><br />18,648 - Clicks on our <a href="https://www.sadiefilm.com/">website</a> generated through social media<br /><br /><br />53,515 - Authentic<a href="https://twitter.com/sadiefilm"> Social Media Engagements</a> <br /><br /><br />1,731,378 - Total<a href="https://www.facebook.com/Sadiefilm/"> Social Media Impressions</a><br /><br />WAS IT WORTH IT?<br /><br />At the end of the day, Megan and my fellow producers (including our financier) and I all agree that yes, we are glad that we self-distributed SADIE. Of course we wish we would have had more financial success, but we do believe we had greater success in bringing the film to audiences than the distributors we were speaking to would have had. There’s no way to know that for sure, but with the thoughtfulness of our marketing materials and campaign, and the personal interactions we had with audiences across the country, we just don’t think that a traditional day-and-date theatrical/VOD release would’ve garnered more engaged fans than we did ourselves. <br /><br /><img height="180" src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ae4f93c89c1723785c400d6/1556291839089-I548GRQVFP46BKL0K2Z7/Danielle_Bar.jpg?format=2500w" width="320" /><br />Danielle Brooks as ‘Carla’ in SADIE<br /><br /><br />So yes, we feel that it was worth it. We are proud of the work and care that we put into SADIE’s release and we are grateful to now have a more detailed understanding of the distribution process. Not only do we feel that we did right by SADIE, we are much more educated on the issues and difficult decisions facing distributors. Even if we never self-distribute again, we feel our increased knowledge base will be very helpful when working with future distribution partners.<br /><br />We decided early on that we wanted to share as much information as we could in order to lift the veil on the self-distribution process for other filmmakers, so we started a blog about our experiences which we added to throughout our theatrical, TVOD and SVOD releases. Those blog entries can be found here {<a href="https://www.sadiefilm.com/blog">https://www.sadiefilm.com/blog</a>}.<br /><br />As a producer, this experience has given me a lot to think about in terms of what projects I can sustainably take on in the future. I don’t want to solely think about money in the choices I make, as a major part of the reason I am in this business is to tell meaningful stories, but financial return is an undeniable part of the decision-making process. A producer needs to raise money, and that becomes more challenging when your prior films have failed to break out in a financially significant way—unfortunately, a slew of good reviews will not make an investor whole. I love SADIE, and I’m so proud of it—the last thing I want to do is run scared from films that make space for important conversations to take place. Which isn’t to say that audiences don’t have an appetite for the D-word (drama); but viewing options and habits have changed dramatically over the years and episodic work seems to be where most of us get our fix for stories about well-drawn characters in authentic, realistic worlds. (In fact, we entertained the idea of converting SADIE into an episodic during our long development process). So until audiences are ready to reward these types of films with their box office dollars, I can’t say it won’t impact the projects I commit to (and the avenues I pursue in getting those projects made) in the future.<br /><br />All that said, films with specific and niche audiences, especially documentaries, tend to fare well in the self-distribution space. Even without the support of organizations like the Sundance Institute’s Creative Distribution Fellowship (which was instrumental in helping narrative films like COLUMBUS and <a href="https://www.indiewire.com/2018/09/thunder-road-jim-cummings-sundance-self-distribution-french-theatrical-1202005318/">Jim Cummings’ THUNDER ROAD</a> succeed), films can connect with community groups and build an audience through grassroots methods, where not everything depends on a broad and expensive ad campaign.<br /><br />In other words, if you find yourself with a film that you believe in but without a distributor who is willing to formulate a plan you feel confident will connect to an audience (at a fair price to you, of course), you do have options. This is true especially if you plan ahead as we did, and set aside money early to support your own release. Creative self-distribution can be incredibly empowering and can serve to connect you directly with audiences that may continue to follow your films for years to come.<br /><br />Just don’t say I didn’t warn you as to how much work you’ve got ahead of you.<br /><br />May 7, 2019<div><div class="body entry-content"><div class="sqs-layout sqs-grid-12 columns-12" data-layout-label="Post Body" data-type="item" data-updated-on="1525441485404" id="item-5aec61106d2a73ece941a142"><div class="row sqs-row" style="margin-left: -15px; margin-right: -15px; position: relative; width: auto;"><div class="col sqs-col-12 span-12" style="float: left; padding-right: 0px; width: 902.014px;"><div class="sqs-block html-block sqs-block-html" data-block-type="2" id="block-5a801e815cfef2af8c97" style="clear: none; height: auto; outline: none; padding: 0px 15px 15px; position: relative;"><div><footer style="margin-top: 2.5em;"><div class="meta"><div class="info"><div><article class="hentry author-lacey-leavitt post-type-text sqs-frontend-overlay-editor-widget-host" data-item-id="5ba9b15ef4e1fc2155f2cdb6" id="article-5ba9b15ef4e1fc2155f2cdb6" style="margin: 0px auto;" tabindex="0"><footer style="margin-top: 2.5em;"><div class="meta"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>OTHER ASSETS</b></span><span class="date"><div class="info" style="font-family: proxima-nova; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.32px;"><br /></div><div class="info" style="font-family: proxima-nova; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.32px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sO8_CNvwp_Q" style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; letter-spacing: normal;" target="_blank">SADIE Theatrical Trailer</a></div><div class="info" style="font-family: proxima-nova; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.32px;"><br /></div><div class="info" style="font-family: proxima-nova; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.32px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5fiCsCmUyk" target="_blank">BEHIND THE SCENES FEATURETTE</a></div><div class="info" style="font-family: proxima-nova; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.32px;"><br /></div></span><a href="Sophia Mitri Schloss talks about playing Sadie in SADIE" target="_blank">Sophia Mitri Schloss talks about playing Sadie in SADIE</a></div><div class="meta"><br /></div><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZ2hLcyNw6U" target="_blank">Melanie Lynskey talks about playing Rae in SADIE</a></footer><article class="hentry author-lacey-leavitt post-type-text sqs-frontend-overlay-editor-widget-host" data-item-id="5ba9b15ef4e1fc2155f2cdb6" id="article-5ba9b15ef4e1fc2155f2cdb6" style="margin: 0px auto;" tabindex="0"><br /></article><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqN93zxQ1Ig" target="_blank">Danielle Brooks talks about her role as Carla in SADIE</a><span class="date"><section class="comments-wrapper" id="comments-5ba9b15ef4e1fc2155f2cdb6" style="background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.7); font-family: proxima-nova; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.32px;"><div class="squarespace-comments sqs-frontend-overlay-editor-widget-host" data-comment-state="2" data-item-id="5ba9b15ef4e1fc2155f2cdb6" data-public-comment-count="0" id="comments-5ba9b15ef4e1fc2155f2cdb6" tabindex="0"></div></section></span></article><br /><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZ_CcuYWJ1M" target="_blank">Tony Hale talks about playing Bradley in SADIE</a><br /><a href="https://www.youtube.com/@sadiethefilm4214"></a></div><br /><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=761dJGUf2Uw" target="_blank">Mike McCready Talks about creating the score for SADIE</a><br /><a href="https://www.youtube.com/@sadiethefilm4214"></a></div><div class="info"><br /></div><div class="info"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div class="info"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>WATCH</b></span></div><div class="info"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div class="info">Stream on <a href="https://www.vudu.com/content/movies/details/Sadie/1012470" target="_blank">VUDU</a></div><div class="info">Rent/Buy on <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HM8MFG9/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_ep_dp_xpz5BbPW10FX6?ss_campaign_id=5be59116f64c3f0001ae9c7c&ss_campaign_name=SADIE%20::%20Order%20Sadie%20and%20our%20Original%20Soundtrack%20TODAY!&ss_campaign_sent_date=2018-11-09T19:39:12Z&ss_email_id=5be5e24610815a000176e860&ss_source=sscampaigns" target="_blank">AMAZON</a></div><div class="info">Purchase DVD on <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B083LRHJ8H?fbclid=IwAR0BA0SY9yYfUq2H5Xuv-9xJ5WGxLXwiIX4aQ6fcrvc_rgNhwgOmvkDXkIg&ref=myi_title_dp" target="_blank">AMAZON</a> or at <a href="https://www.walmart.com/ip/Sadie-DVD/796391434" target="_blank">WALMART</a></div><div class="info"><br /></div><div class="info">Buy the <a href="https://geni.us/SadieSoundtrack" target="_blank">SOUNDTRACK</a></div><div class="info"><br /></div><div class="info"><br /></div><div class="info"><b><span style="font-size: large;">FESTIVALS & AWARDS</span></b></div><div class="info"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b>South by Southwest 2018 (World Premiere)</div><div class="info"><br />Giffoni Film Festival 2018 (International Premiere)<br /><br />-Winner of the Gryphon Award for Best Feature-<br />Tacoma Film Festival<br /><br />-Winner of Best Performance in a Narrative Feature, Sophia Mitri Schloss-<br />Los Angeles Film Festival</div><div class="info"> <br />Seattle International Film Festival <br />Bentonville Film Festival <br />Independent Film Festival Boston <br />Las Vegas Film Festival <br />Free State Film Festival<br />Twin Cities Film Festival<br />Bahamas International Film Festival<br />Ellensburg Film Festival <br />Woods Hole Film Festival <br />Port Townsend Film Festival<br />Tall Grass Film Festival<br />Film Fest Tucson<br />Orcas Island Film Festival<br />Northwest Filmmakers Festival</div><div class="info"><br /></div><div class="info"><br /></div><div class="info"><div class="row sqs-row" id="yui_3_17_2_1_1683131161811_72" style="margin-left: -15px; margin-right: -15px; width: auto !important;"><div class="col sqs-col-6 span-6" style="float: left; padding-right: 0px; width: 451px;"><div class="sqs-block html-block sqs-block-html" data-block-type="2" id="block-4a03f685ca1b97996229" style="clear: none; height: auto; padding: 0px 15px; position: relative;"><div class="sqs-block-content" style="outline: none;"><h3 style="line-height: 1.6em; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">REVIEWS</span></h3><h3 style="line-height: 1.6em; margin-top: 0px;"><br /><span style="font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">"Equal parts coming-of-age story and slow-burn thriller, writer-director </span><a href="http://variety.com/t/megan-griffiths/" style="font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">Megan Griffiths</a><span style="font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">’ quietly absorbing and methodically disquieting drama is a genuine rarity." - Joe Leydon, </span><a href="http://variety.com/2018/film/festivals/sadie-review-1202736022/" style="font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">Variety</a><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">“…as a character study of a young, simmering, resentful girl cheated by circumstance and life at a crucial age, the drama’s combative, aggrieved center is earned, authentic and genuinely tragic." - Ally Johnson, </span><a href="https://theplaylist.net/sadie-trailer-exclusive-20180921/" style="font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">The Playlist</a><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">"Set in the close-knit, secret-filled world of a trailer park, the film is an emotionally violent coming-of-age story crafted with vivid detail." - John Fink, </span><a href="https://thefilmstage.com/reviews/sxsw-review-sadie-is-a-provocative-emotionally-violent-coming-of-age-drama/" style="font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">The Film Stage</a><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">"By once again venturing into a place that few too other filmmakers are willing to look, Griffiths delivers a drama that crackles with a sense of discovery, not only for the characters onscreen, but for audiences who so rarely see people who could so easily be their neighbors given the dignity of having their stories told on screen." - Stephen Saito, </span><a href="http://moveablefest.com/sxsw-18-review-sadie/" style="font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">Moveable Fest</a><br /><br /><span style="font-size: large;">INTERVIEWS<br /></span><br /><a href="https://nofilmschool.com/2018/03/sadie-megan-griffiths-interview" style="font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">How 'Sadie' Went From Almost a Decade in Development to One of SXSW's Most Timely Stories</a><span style="font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;"> - Erik Luers, No Film School</span><br /><br /><a href="https://www.filminquiry.com/sadie-2018-review/" style="font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">SADIE: A Coming-of-Age Drama Both Disturbing & Deeply Moving</a><span style="font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;"> - Lee Jutton, Film Inquiry</span><br /><br /><a href="https://soundcloud.com/betweenuspodcast/episode-28-social-workers-daughter" style="font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">Episode 28: Social Worker's Daughter</a><span style="font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;"> - John Totten, Between Us: A Psychotherapy Podcast </span><br /><br /><a href="http://deadline.com/2018/03/sadie-michael-kelly-megan-griffiths-sxsw-video-interview-1202334859/" style="font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">With ‘Sadie,’ Director Megan Griffiths Counters Notion That Violence Is The Answer To People’s Problems</a><span style="font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;"> - Matt Grobar, Deadline</span><br /><br /><a href="https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2018/03/16/25919553/local-director-megan-griffiths-on-her-new-film-sadie-i-wish-youth-and-violence-was-a-less-relevant-theme" style="font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">Local Director Megan Griffiths on Her New Film, Sadie: "I Wish Youth and Violence Was a Less Relevant Theme"</a><span style="font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;"> - Jake Uitti, The Stranger</span></h3><div><span style="font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="info"><br /></div></div></footer></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>Megan Griffithshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00865750554716179672noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4067036419397372826.post-33740102172858233142020-12-14T11:30:00.000-08:002020-12-14T11:35:34.522-08:002020 Seattle Film Institute Graduation Address<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGw2A5vDtFfFsikrWcbU8L6cpFJ-i-X5AF-IsIJ4rCbq_lQstSfzIgmHB8GCiZLxU6z4NFUVZ2MujgM4PnF4OvsWhBRf35VddRRBTandPIZtTniZKXB5sBBfhvpljEMAldK3jN36xGCxVz/s2048/MG_SFI.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="2048" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGw2A5vDtFfFsikrWcbU8L6cpFJ-i-X5AF-IsIJ4rCbq_lQstSfzIgmHB8GCiZLxU6z4NFUVZ2MujgM4PnF4OvsWhBRf35VddRRBTandPIZtTniZKXB5sBBfhvpljEMAldK3jN36xGCxVz/w424-h264/MG_SFI.jpg" width="424" /></a></div><br /><p>Hello Seattle Film Institute class of 2020! What a surreal time it must be to be turning this corner—but what a perfect time to be leaving behind one chapter of your life and beginning a new one. 2021 is bound to be a year of renewal. </p><p>I’m here today to talk to you about what you’ve just gotten yourself into by choosing this line of work. The film industry is one that is constantly evolving. It keeps you on your toes in the best of times, and I don’t think anyone would define 2020 as the best of times. I’ve been a part of this business for 20 years now and have spent the majority of that working in independent film—first mostly as a crew member, and eventually directing my own work. I have watched the industry evolve from inside the trenches and there are two things I can tell you: 1) it has never been easier to make a film and release it, and 2) it has never been harder to get anyone to notice or care. </p><p>According to a quick Google search, in the year 2000 approximately 350 films were released. In 2018 that number was almost 900. The number of studio films released has remained almost the same in that period—about 100 per year—so it’s independent releases that have exploded. Meaning, the competition between small films is getting steeper all the time. On top of that, due to COVID’s impact on brick & mortar cinemas, the future of theatrical distribution is on very tenuous ground. People coming out of lockdown may not return to their pre-COVID viewing habits. The kind of communal cinematic experiences that drew many of us to filmmaking in the first place have been put on pause this year, possibly never to resume. </p><p>The monumental decision of Warner Media to release their 2021 slate of films, including massive tentpole releases, on their streaming platform HBO Max signals a future where the vast majority of films will be seen primarily on home screens (or, <i>shudder</i>, phone screens). This shift has been happening for a while, but theater owners and some of the most powerful directors and their agents have flexed their muscles to keep theatrical experiences alive. Before COVID, they had managed to keep the dam from breaking completely, but it is uncertain how much longer it will hold. We are looking at a strong likelihood that, as creators, we’ll be releasing our films on streaming platforms alongside a growing tide of other films, including many with multi-million dollar advertising budgets. </p><p>So, what does all this mean for you, class of 2020? Personally, I’ve always found it to be more productive to look forward and try to navigate the landscape in front of you instead of looking over your shoulder to the past--so let's talk about how to proceed. When it comes down to it, I think finding success comes back to what has always mattered most—knowing exactly who you are, how to infuse your personal voice into your work, and how to convey to an audience that what you have to offer is unique, special and worthy of their attention. You also need to proceed with your eyes open and with a plan. Ask yourself some pragmatic questions: What will I do to generate income until my film work can sustain me? How will I maintain a creative practice that will fulfill me and keep me sharp even when it’s not my primary work? What will I do each day to forward my ambitions so that eventually I will achieve my goals? </p><p>It also behooves us to study our industry, to pay attention to what is working and not working for other filmmakers, and to look at our own habits as viewers. What drives your choices? We are creators but we are also audience members. I’m sure you’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the intricacies of production and what stories you want to tell--as you should, those are excellent things to be thinking about. But don’t forget that the work does not end when you lock picture, and that reaching an audience is its own steep climb. I encourage you to consider what it is about your work that would drive you to seek it out if you had nothing to do with making it. Listen to how people respond to your work and never stop challenging yourself to get better. You aren’t done learning just because you’re graduating. In fact, if my experience is any indication, you’ve only just begun. </p><p>Consider your destination—in an ideal world, what is the career that you want? Keep that destination in mind, and don’t let a day go by where you aren’t working towards that in some way. These days I can often be found directing television shows, but I continue to develop features and episodic ideas because I love telling stories in which I can have a true authorial voice. When I started out, the work I did on my own creative projects happened in between day jobs at a variety of tangentially film-related places: a film lab, a corporate video house, a negative cutting facility, taking pictures of kids with Santa Claus at Nordstrom, even a short stint teaching production here at Seattle Film Institute almost 20 years ago. As I got a bit further into my career, I wrote my own scripts in between jobs shooting, editing, assistant directing and producing other people’s films. Most of these other jobs sustained me financially and all offered opportunities to learn from others’ mistakes and be inspired by their successes—but I never got too comfortable, because I knew I hadn’t yet arrived at my destination. </p><p>It's also important to recognize and be open to opportunity. When I was at film school I wanted to direct but I focused on cinematography as well, thinking that it was a more practical path to pay my bills as I worked to get my own films made. After graduating, I had a respectable reel and was able to get some jobs shooting shorts and features, but cinematography is a glamorous role and competitive enough that it was a challenge to find a real foothold and enough work to keep my rent paid. About five years into my post-academic life a friend from film school, Todd Rohal, asked me to assistant direct his feature THE GUATEMALAN HANDSHAKE in Pennsylvania. I hadn’t AD'd before, but I understood the basics and wanted to be part of the project--and he had no better options--so I figured why not? It was a hugely challenging job, but we got it done, and I found that there was a big part of my brain that truly responded to this work of keeping the set running smoothly and being part of getting a film I loved across the finish line. When I came back from that job I noticed that there were very few people AD’ing on an independent scale in Seattle. I saw a niche that I could fill and ended up working as a 1st AD for five years after that. It was the role that finally allowed me to quit my many day jobs and spend my days on set, it was the vantage point that taught me more than I’d ever thought to ask about the way a production operated, and it was the avenue through which I was able to become a true part of my city’s film community and meet the people who would make my directing work possible. </p><p>One of those people was Seattle-based filmmaker Lynn Shelton. In 2005, she made her first feature film, WE GO WAY BACK. It happened soon after I had returned from Todd’s shoot in Pennsylvania, so I was a newly minted “experienced 1st AD”—and one that was still willing to work for cheap. I was hired to work with Lynn and we quickly found common ground in terms of how we believed a set should operate. We both prioritized treating people well, inviting collaboration, and creating a safe space so that everyone could do their best work. We continued to collaborate in various ways over the years—I worked on HUMPDAY, $5 COVER: SEATTLE, and YOUR SISTER’S SISTER, she acted in a few of my films, she was a consulting producer on my film THE OFF HOURS, we co-wrote a feature based on a This American Life story and sold a show to HBO (these latter two were sadly never made). She was a few years ahead of me in her career, so our professional relationship always hovered somewhere in between mentor and peer. She was unselfishly supportive of me in my ambitions, recommending me for jobs and vocally shouting out my work, but we also relied on each other for feedback on every script and rough cut. Lynn was an excellent audience—her notorious burst of laughter following every joke, audible gasps following every twist and turn, and an ability to help illuminate areas where I could push farther and dig deeper. Most importantly, she was a true and wonderful friend—always eager to hear about my life and share her own. She was a person I was happy to see every time I saw her. </p><p>In a year of high highs and low lows, Lynn’s loss was the most devastating low. The shock of it leveled me and so many others. In the weeks following her death I saw an outpouring of grief from not only her family and friends, but from people far and wide who had known her through her work. She made eight features and directed dozens of television shows, and in doing so, she made an indelible impact. She used her work to explore, to learn, and to find humanity, and that resonated for people all over the world. On a local level, she raised the bar for the work coming out of Seattle. She allowed so many of us to see our aspirations played out in real time. She showed what kind of art was possible if you led with love and a genuine curiosity about your fellow humans. She inspired us and forged a path for the rest of us to follow. </p><p>Graduates, you are entering this industry at a volatile, challenging time, but I hope you can take some inspiration from these words, and from filmmakers like Lynn. Lynn brought herself into her work, she trusted her instincts, she fought for her vision, she worked tirelessly to achieve her goals, she rolled with the punches, and she did it all while treating those around her with respect. As we emerge into a post-COVID landscape, we will all be reaching out to an audience of people who have been altered in deep and inextricable ways. In a time where tragedy and turmoil has scorched the earth, filmmakers can provide a great service by trying to make sense of it all through our work, by centering the complexity of human experience in our stories and probing challenging questions. As it always has, stepping up to this task will take a good dose of tenacity and positivity and grit, but the soil is rich and new things are ready to grow.</p><br /><p></p>Megan Griffithshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00865750554716179672noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4067036419397372826.post-62604329815132894972018-01-12T09:12:00.000-08:002024-01-09T09:57:13.261-08:00Creative CitizenshipA few months back, my sister <a href="http://sbgriffiths.com/">Siân</a> (who is a fiction writer) used the phrase "literary citizenship" in conversation. I asked her what it meant and she told me that essentially it was about supporting the industry that you hope will support you. She expanded, "Rather than thinking of writing as a solitary act and seeing the publishing industry as something that owes writers something, literary citizens look at how to help foster and promote their fellow writers."<br />
<br />
I hadn't heard the phrase before, but it immediately resonated with me. All artists are part of a creative community, and one can be an upstanding citizen in our community... or not.<br />
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But what makes someone a good citizen? Theodore Roosevelt said, "The first requisite of a good citizen in this Republic of ours is that he shall be able and willing to pull his weight." Fourth grade teacher Mariely Sanchez says a good citizen meets the following criteria:<br />
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<li>Volunteers to be active in his/her community</li>
<li>Is honest and trustworthy</li>
<li>Follows rules and laws</li>
<li>Respects the rights and property of others</li>
<li>Takes responsibility for his/her actions</li>
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In terms of the film industry, I think good citizenship takes work and self-awareness and humility, and sometimes the skin of a rhino. It means thinking of a whole that is larger than yourself, even as you're hyper-focused on your own work and success.<br />
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I'm sure this is far from an exhaustive list, but if I were a fourth grade teacher, I'd include the following on my "good creative citizenship" list:<br />
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<li><b>Support your fellow filmmaker</b>. You're not going be the only person to succeed, and why would you want to be? You'd just be all alone at the top. Not to mention the fact that you don't really want to alienate people on the rise--they're the ones who might help you rise too. Be gracious. It's just good karma. </li>
<li><b>Mind your own house. </b>Focus on your work and try not to compare it with the work of your peers. We all get jealous. As an ambitious person striving so hard for recognition, it's natural to feel some feelings when you see your dreams coming true for someone else. Acknowledge the moment for what it is, see if there are any lessons to take from the other person's journey, then get back to your own work. It's the only thing you have control over.</li>
<li><b>Be grateful for the opportunities you get, don't get hung up on the ones you don't. </b>Avoid bitterness. Bitterness only hurts the bitter. There are a lot of us creative people out there and the opportunities can be scarce. It's disappointing to be passed over, but the only productive response to rejection is to evaluate yourself and see where you could have improved, then do the hard work necessary to prepare yourself for the next chance you get.</li>
<li><b>Be a direct dealer</b>. If you have issues with someone, approach that person and address those issues as soon as you can. Resolve it without dragging others into it or letting it fester and grow into something worse than it is. The difficulty of broaching that initial conversation is nothing compared to the challenge it could blossom into if left unaddressed.</li>
<li><b>Seek feedback and provide it when asked</b>. Honest criticism can be tough to hear, but as a creative person, holding your work up for scrutiny is the only thing that will allow it to really shine. Accept it gracefully, and try to give it as you'd receive it. If you're watching someone else's work, consider how you deliver your notes--just like directing, you want to talk about what's not working in a manner that gives the recipient of the note something useful and actionable to work with. A culture of thoughtful critique makes everyone's work better.</li>
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If Ms. Sanchez's fourth graders can do it, I feel like we should be able to do it too.<br />
<br />Megan Griffithshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00865750554716179672noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4067036419397372826.post-55195084373618266732017-12-18T13:34:00.000-08:002017-12-18T13:34:15.295-08:00Owning SuccessSomeone told me once that women are far more likely than men to attribute professional success to luck. Once I heard it, I couldn't stop noticing it, not just in others but in myself as well. Is it societally baked-in, this reticence to own our accomplishments? Is it another case of women just trying to avoid appearing cocky, arrogant, assured, for fear of being disliked and, in turn, losing work?<br />
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Yes, luck is a factor in success. Sometimes you just have to be in the right place at the right time or the opportunity simply won't present itself. And certainly some individuals are luckier than others in terms of having the means to be in those situations in the first place. But there are other factors that go into capitalizing on that moment: ambition, focus, skill, social grace, work ethic. If you don't have those, all the opportunities in the world won't help you.<br />
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Henry Winkler (yes, The Fonz) has said there are two secrets to success in the film business: tenacity and gratitude. You need the tenacity to persevere through endless rejection, to overcome doubt and fear, and to put in the work required to keep moving towards that ever-distant goal post. And you need the gratitude to keep you grounded in the fact that none of this can be done alone. Relationships have to be built and maintained and collaborators must be thanked for the part they play in your success. We have to constantly grant ourselves permission to enjoy ourselves and remind ourselves to appreciate our situation.<br />
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I think we can acknowledge the role of fortunate circumstance (and continue to do more to increase access to opportunity for under-privileged and under-represented folx) without downplaying our own agency in, and our own tenacity and gratitude for, our achievements.<br />
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This tendency to brush off any acknowledgement of our successes is just one of the societally ingrained behaviors that women must be conscious of and work actively to overcome. Through countless portrayals of sainted mothers and self-sacrificing girlfriends, we've also been taught the merits of acquiescing and putting our needs second, neither of which serve us as leaders. Additionally, we often don't garner the immediate respect that comes with conforming to the general physical description of a "director" (white, male, usually wearing a ball cap,) so we have a higher bar to clear just walking onto a set. We are not given the presumption of competence.<br />
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I often use the expression "fake it 'til you make it" regarding my struggle to overcome my own natural shyness. First as an AD and then as a director, I had to push past it so the cast and crew would get what they needed and expected from me--someone who was assured, unequivocal, and <i>just the right kind of </i>forceful on set. It's not impossible to learn or assume traits that don't come naturally to you, but when the exact opposite behavior has been expected of you for your entire life, it can be a bit of a reset.<br />
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This isn't to say that there aren't loads of culturally-entrenched "female" attributes that come in super handy as a filmmaker. First and foremost, empathy and an understanding of how to get what you need while allowing others to feel heard and valued. These "emotional" assets may actually be harder to fake than the "power" traits above. Perhaps not coincidentally, they are less often seen as an integral part of a director's job.<br />
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Ultimately, all of us must find a balance between what's expected of us and what tools we carry in our particular tool belt. But when it comes to the demeanor with which one carries & comports oneself, these are things you can master, or at the very least attempt to control. There's only one place in life where the cards you are dealt is purely based on luck, and that's the circumstance into which you're born. Everything else combines a little right-place-right-time and a lot of hard work and self-assurance.<br />
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These days, when I find myself tempted to use the word "luck" or "lucky" to explain how something came to be, I stop myself and consider my role the achievement, then own it without apology.Megan Griffithshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00865750554716179672noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4067036419397372826.post-53726108993552388252017-11-30T11:25:00.000-08:002017-11-30T11:25:54.908-08:00The Pervert/Genius Problem (cross-post from The Talkhouse)<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #222222; font-family: crimson, serif; font-size: 21px;">
<i>This article was originally published at <a href="http://www.talkhouse.com/the-pervertgenius-problem/">The Talkhouse</a> on 11/29/17:</i></div>
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The lack of respect for women — their autonomy, their intelligence, the value of their contributions — is inescapable in our culture. It exists even in the hearts of women, because the same society that shaped the Harvey Weinsteins of the world has shaped us too. Last year, Anne Hathaway <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2017/04/anne-hathaway-hollywood-sexism" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: #01bcc8; text-decoration-line: none;">admitted</a> that she had not trusted female filmmakers as easily as the men she’d worked with, and that she was coming to terms with the idea that she too was harboring internalized misogyny. All of us are victims of the pervasiveness of this problem, and all of us have work to do to fix it.</div>
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To misunderstand the cultural moment that has brought us all of these scandals is to make it about individual men and what should happen to them. Of course personal consequences are necessary, but we can’t let that eclipse the reality that on a larger level this is a moment for deep societal introspection, a willingness to look at ourselves in reflection of these men and their work, and a commitment to change everything.</div>
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But part of this path forward is finding some kind of resolution to the glaring question: What about their art? Do we just bury films directed by Roman Polanski, Woody Allen, Alfred Hitchcock, Nate Parker, produced by Harvey Weinstein, or acted in by Kevin Spacey, Sean Penn or Dustin Hoffman? Stop listening to Michael Jackson, David Bowie and R. Kelly? Deny the cultural milestone that was <i style="box-sizing: inherit;">The Cosby Show</i>? What about the other artists who contributed to these pieces? Are they just more casualties of these men’s acts?</div>
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It’s a debate that re-emerges every time a new perpetrator is unmasked, which now seems to happen on the hour. There are <a href="http://time.com/3423/how-do-you-solve-a-problem-like-woody-allen/" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: #01bcc8; text-decoration-line: none;">arguments</a> that the two things — one’s art and one’s personal life — should be held apart, and judged independently. And there are those who <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/reacting-to-the-louis-ck-revelations" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: #01bcc8; text-decoration-line: none;">say</a>, “Fuck these men and the horse they rode in on. They robbed us of entire bodies of work from the women they chased out of the business. Burn their legacies down.”</div>
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Alongside this rising tide of accusations of misconduct, there has been a growing swell of voices calling for increased diversity in this industry. Cultivating the number of underrepresented voices behind the camera broadens the scope of the stories we’re exposed to, and by extension broadens our minds. I believe this deeply, because as a filmmaker I know how much of myself is infused into my work. Choices are made — about what the characters do, their reasoning process, the way they dress and the way they treat each other — and the filmmaker’s worldview seeps into all those crevices. And that can be a very good thing.</div>
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But what if the filmmaker’s worldview is sexist? Racist? What if the filmmaker, in his personal life, rationalizes his own instinct to masturbate in front of an unwilling second party, or to rape them? What if he has an attraction to underage girls and a lifetime of practice internalizing the accompanying shame, or what if he has no shame at all? What if those justifications and those prejudices and those predilections have been part of their work all along? What then?</div>
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I don’t think we can simply hit the Delete button on the legacy of every artist who has preyed upon women. The sad reality is that if we did that, we might not have much film history that would survive. This industry has a deeply rooted problem, and it goes back to the very beginning. But also, if we just erase or suppress these people’s work, we’re failing to do the first thing one must do when one wants something to change: acknowledge its existence plainly and reckon with it.</div>
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While I don’t advocate ripping these men’s pages from the history books, that does not, however, mean I think we should continue to celebrate them as we did before their personal lives became part of the picture. The work of these individuals can and should be looked at anew, in the context of their deeds, and we should study, or at the very least note, the impact of their worldview on the art we hold so dear.</div>
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Woody Allen has been using his films to rationalize his attraction to younger women for decades. One only needs to watch, to give the most obvious examples, <i style="box-sizing: inherit;">Manhattan</i> or <i style="box-sizing: inherit;">Whatever Works</i> (or read the plot for his <a href="http://www.indiewire.com/2017/10/woody-allen-elle-fanning-movie-adult-teenager-sex-scene-1201890099/" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: #01bcc8; text-decoration-line: none;">upcoming film</a>!) to see that he has, over and over again, provided us the blueprint for how to excuse his behavior. And he’s just the most obvious.</div>
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Brett Ratner has spent his career reinforcing homophobia and sexism on a massive scale to global audiences. There is an entire generation of men and women that have been raised on the toxic masculinity that pervades Ratner’s films. They are the same people who chuckled around him when he lied about “<a href="https://www.wmagazine.com/story/brett-ratner-olivia-munn-actresses-accuse-sexual-misconduct" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: #01bcc8; text-decoration-line: none;">banging</a>” Olivia Munn, or looked the other way when he <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/11/arts/ellen-page-brett-ratner.html?_r=0" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: #01bcc8; text-decoration-line: none;">outed</a> Ellen Page. He is a prime beneficiary of the bro culture he helped to build.</div>
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Louis CK has made an art form out of confronting his own uncomfortable desires, but in the process, he has also created fictional worlds where he is forgiven for these desires, or at least asked us to laugh at them. In <a href="https://www.salon.com/2014/06/03/this_would_be_rape_if_you_werent_so_stupid_louies_most_disturbing_scene_yet/" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: #01bcc8; text-decoration-line: none;">season 4</a> of <i style="box-sizing: inherit;">Louie</i>, he pushes Pamela Adlon’s character into a wall, kissing her against her will, forcing her to stay in his apartment despite her very clear and forceful refusals. After these protestations, which include her saying, “This would be rape if you weren’t so stupid,” her character admits she has feelings for Louie and the two start dating. It’s a very generous reimagining of non-consensual advances that in retrospect might as well have had Louie looking into the camera saying, “See guys? I’m not so bad!”</div>
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Roman Polanski has always been the toughest for me. His film <i style="box-sizing: inherit;">Repulsion</i>was a major, formative influence on my work. <i style="box-sizing: inherit;">Rosemary’s Baby</i> and <i style="box-sizing: inherit;">Chinatown</i> exhibit mainstream storytelling at its most effective, and most artful. But Polanski has also raped children. Looking at his work through this lens, his paternal condescension for his female characters feels more visible. In <i style="box-sizing: inherit;">Carnage</i>, a character played by Christoph Waltz gives us a clue to how Polanski feels about a thinking woman when he says, “The women we like are sensual, crazy, shot full of hormones. The ones who want to show off how perceptive they are, the gatekeepers of the world, they’re a huge turnoff.” Does this perspective on women make his filmmaking choices any less effective? Quite the contrary — the strength of his technique allows him to inject his worldview straight into our veins.</div>
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This is not about just these men in the headlines. This is systemic. This is everywhere. This is the protagonist of <i style="box-sizing: inherit;">Revenge of the Nerds</i> donning a Darth Vader costume in order to <a href="https://decider.com/2016/08/20/so-that-happened-revenge-of-the-nerds/" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: #01bcc8; text-decoration-line: none;">rape</a> someone, and the film treating the moment as a triumph of the underdog; this is Ace outing the antagonist in <i style="box-sizing: inherit;">Ace Ventura: Pet Detective</i> as a transgender person and every male in viewing distance <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFL1UXuHJ-A" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: #01bcc8; text-decoration-line: none;">puking</a> in disgust; this is a woman being repeatedly, brutally beaten in <i style="box-sizing: inherit;">The Hateful Eight</i>, and the filmmaker <a href="https://www.rogerebert.com/balder-and-dash/hipster-misogyny-the-betrayal-of-the-hateful-eight" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: #01bcc8; text-decoration-line: none;">playing it for laughs</a>. We watch, we learn, we perpetuate the cycle.</div>
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The world we all exist in now has been shaped by our media and media-makers. Looking at the art of these men with both eyes open, the beauty and the ugliness coexist. One can appreciate the strengths of a piece while acknowledging and challenging its flaws, and also factoring in the harm done — by both the art and the artist, and both the obvious harm and the more insidious. The deification we often bestow on these auteurs can make the process of holding them accountable difficult and painful, but they’re not gods, and we never should have treated them that way in the first place.</div>
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While I can’t advocate jettisoning people’s entire back catalogues, what happens to these artists going forward is another matter. Once the veil has been lifted on their transgressions, anyone who continues to provide new opportunities for them to do more of the same kind of work becomes complicit in disseminating the artist’s worldview. But does that mean they should stop creating? <a href="http://www.wtfpod.com/podcast/episode-863-kim-deal" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: #01bcc8; text-decoration-line: none;">Marc Maron</a>, on his podcast, recently described this time as a “fucking massive, turbulent learning moment for men.” In the same monologue, Maron struggles with reconciling his friendship with Louis CK with what he now knows. After acknowledging those who wonder whether he can retain that friendship, Maron arrives at this observation: “It’s probably the best time to be his friend, when he wants to make changes in his life.”</div>
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There’s compassion in that. A driving force of my work has always been the idea that behind every villain is a very sad story of a broken human being. Can these men be saved? Can they learn any lessons from this mass public shaming? Surely there’s <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2017/11/17/im-a-feminist-i-study-rape-culture-and-i-dont-want-al-franken-to-resign/" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: #01bcc8; text-decoration-line: none;">value to the perspective of a reformed man</a>, who might better reach others who are broken in the same way, and who might actually make work that engenders change. Is it naïve to hope that these men could grow from this, and maybe even consider their future work an avenue for repentance?</div>
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Who knows? A big part of me just wants to tell them to go suck it and let the ladies take the wheel for a while. They’ve had their chance, and allowing them to be ejected carves out much needed room for new voices, voices that deserve to be heard, and who have been kept out (or <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/11/13/16637250/sexual-harassment-abuse-art-legacy" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: #01bcc8; text-decoration-line: none;">chased out</a>) of rooms for too long.</div>
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This shit is complicated. But I guess where I am landing is: Movies and television are a huge part of our education as to how the world works and who we want to be. (If that wasn’t true, I wouldn’t have spent so much of college trying to channel Janeane Garofalo in <i style="box-sizing: inherit;">Reality Bites</i>.) The worlds created inside our movies and television have an effect on the world outside of them. At the same time, a film is not separate from its maker, it is a reflection of its maker. And that context matters too. Let’s hold our storytellers accountable, both for the work they’ve already created and the work they’ve yet to create. And as filmmakers, let’s harness the medium’s power to do better.</div>
Megan Griffithshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00865750554716179672noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4067036419397372826.post-81779071945282112972017-06-04T10:47:00.003-07:002017-06-04T10:47:35.503-07:00Trajectory - A Repost of a 2014 Interview with Hammer to NailA Conversation With Megan Griffiths (LUCKY THEM) by Michael Tully<div>
June 4, 2014</div>
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Megan Griffiths has been deeply embedded in motion picture production for over a decade, yet after directing her first low-budget feature upon graduating from college (<i>First Aid For Choking</i>, 2003), she fell into a groove working as a producer and First Assistant Director on features in and around her adopted hometown of Seattle (<i>Zoo, The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle, The Catechism Cataclysm, Your Sister’s Sister</i>). </div>
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After struggling for years to get her second feature off the ground, with the help of some very devoted producers, she finally made it happen. <i>The Off Hours</i> world premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and went on to receive a Spirit Award nomination (for Ben Kasulke’s cinematography). Since then, Griffiths has managed to return to the director’s chair while exploring new genres and terrains. For anyone who wants to be a director yet knows how hard it is to sustain a career without becoming pigeonholed, Megan Griffiths’ trajectory is something to admire and aspire to. </div>
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In the days leading up to the release of her latest film, the star-studded naturalistic comedy Lucky Them, I hopped on the phone with Griffiths to discuss her path of the recent few years. </div>
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Hammer to Nail: I’d love to break down how you got to where you are right now. Would you say that <i>The Off Hours</i> getting into Sundance was the real starting point for you as a director versus being a producer or an AD? </div>
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Megan Griffiths: Definitely <i>The Off Hours</i>. I made a feature before that but it was like eight years before that, and then I spent all that time basically both trying to get <i>Off Hours</i> made and then also working on a bunch of other stuff. I was pretty firmly in the assistant director chair until <i>Off Hours</i> and that’s mostly gotten me out of that chair. After shooting <i>Off Hours</i> I did AD <i>Your Sister’s Sister</i> and <i>The Catechism Cataclysm</i>, but I was also a producer on both of those things. </div>
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H2N: There are obviously many talented folks in our world who AD and set dress and PA and grip and whatever else, but deep down they have their own movie they want to direct. What finally got you over the hump to actually make <i>The Off Hours</i> after so many years of trying? </div>
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MG: It was actually the producers of <i>The Off Hours</i>—Lacey Leavitt, Mischa Jakupcak, Joy Saez—they were all on it for like five years. We had just finished working on this other person’s movie, and we thought we were going to a funder’s meeting type of thing, we got invited to this thing where they were like, “Come talk to people and they might be investors, they might help you make <i>The Off Hours</i>,” so we went out and talked to them and realized that they weren’t investors, they were really just people who were trying to get their own projects made, which wasn’t gonna amount to us getting funding for the movie. So we went out to dinner afterwards and basically just started saying, “Why don’t we just do it for whatever we can pull together?” We had this one person who had invested in the film way earlier, like 2007, and had taken her money back when the economy fell apart, and she said at the time, “If you ever get the movie going, I’ll invest again,” and so we went back to her and she gave us $10,000. We said, “Okay, we’ll make it for $10,000 and if we can’t get any more money we’ll figure out a way to make it for $10,000.” And then we set a start date, which was my birthday, and then just drove towards it like a bunch of crazy people. It was actually Mischa who said, “Let’s just do it,” and then we just said, “Fuck it, yeah, let’s do it.” </div>
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I should also add to that part of the reason we did it too is that so many crew members kept telling me they would work on it for free, who I’d worked with as an AD. I had all these relationships with crew, and people were so encouraging that that was a big part of it. Working as a crew member myself, I had a lot of goodwill in my corner. </div>
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H2N: Regarding <i>Eden</i>, I’m pretty sure that project happened because of <i>The Off Hours</i>, which is pretty cool because it’s not like there’s an obvious link between those two movies in any way at all, or am I totally off base here? </div>
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MG: Okay, so <i>The Off Hours</i> was at Sundance, and I got the script for <i>Eden</i> when I was at the Salt Lake City airport coming back from Sundance. So it was really immediate. It was this guy Colin Plank who worked on <i>The Off Hours</i> who had, unbeknownst to me, the whole time he’d worked on my film, had been sort of scouting me, I guess. He had some money for the film and ended up raising more. I wrote a new draft of it. I came on as a writer first. I was like, “Why don’t I write a version of the film I would be really excited about making and if you wanna do that one then we’ll go off and make that movie.” I was also trying to scale it back because he didn’t have enough money to do what the original script was aiming for, so I sent him my draft and he was really on board with all the changes and excited about it, so then I came on as a director. </div>
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H2N: What was his role on <i>The Off Hours</i>? </div>
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MG: He helped us with locations. He came into the office and was basically offering to invest in exchange for a producer credit, but we weren’t open to the idea of anyone else getting a producer credit because our three producers had been on the film for so long. So we said no thank you to that but he said, “Well how can I help? I’ll just volunteer.” Our location manager was part-time, so he stepped up and filled out the other part of that job, which was much needed, so it was great that he did it. </div>
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H2N: Talk more about the transition from agreeing to do a rewrite and agreeing to direct it. Were they begging you or had you fallen in love with the material to the point where you pushed hard for it yourself? </div>
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MG: Well, he asked me to direct. I was the person who proposed being a screenwriter first because I wanted to make sure we were on the same page. I’d seen a lot of people—I know you know a lot of people in this category too—who have gone into a project where they were not on page with the producers and they’re trying to make different movies and it just always results in a horrible situation. </div>
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H2N: I’ve never heard of that happening to any of our friends, I don’t know what you’re talking about. [both laugh] </div>
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MG: I was trying with all my might to avoid that situation. I’d rather not do the film than do the version I don’t like. But [<i>Eden</i>] ended up working out pretty well. I would say more people should do it but my agents keep telling me no one should do that because there’s this potential for you to rewrite a script that ends up being given to someone else. </div>
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H2N: It’s interesting you said the “a” word because I want to ask about your agent’s role in this trajectory. I had actually thought <i>Eden</i> had sprung from that world but it clearly didn’t. </div>
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MG: I didn’t get an agent out of <i>Off Hours</i>. I had a couple meetings but everyone kept telling me that nobody watches drama. [both laugh] So I had a problem getting an agent! I actually went to LA right before SXSW when <i>Eden</i> premiered, and tried to take meetings with managers and agents but couldn’t get a meeting to save my life. And then I went back right after SXSW, having just received the Audience Award, and it was a different world. I took all sorts of meetings and that’s when I got my reps. </div>
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H2N: Well, yeah, but <i>Eden</i>’s not a comedy! </div>
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MG: It’s not. It’s not a straight drama, though, either. I think people were excited about the fact that there were some thriller type elements in it. For whatever reason—I do think the Audience Award helped quite a bit—but just in general having something not quite so small like <i>The Off Hours</i>. </div>
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H2N: You can talk as freely as you’d like about this stuff, but <i>Eden</i> took a long while to come out. I know that a long turnaround is commonplace but I guess I’m mostly wondering how long after SXSW did you know that a deal was in place and you were going to be getting a release? </div>
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MG: I don’t think the deal was signed on that movie until maybe five months after SXSW. It was a tough sell. It’s a weird movie that way because people who watch it seem to respond well to it. It was well received critically and we actually got a few audience awards, which kept surprising me because it’s such a dark film. It seemed to me that people were happy they saw it after they’d watched it, but getting people to the theater to see a movie about human trafficking is a tough proposition. I think it was really scary to distributors because no movie about this subject has really ever done well except <i>Taken</i>, and we didn’t exactly have the same approach as <i>Taken</i>! [both laugh] I just feel like people were really freaked out by the idea, but once they did get it, I think they found it challenging and maybe didn’t work outside the box enough to actually get people out to see it. I think it’s just the nature of the film. I’m proud of it and I’m happy it did as much as it did, but I feel like there was an opportunity there for us to do more and we’re all kinda bummed out by the fact that it didn’t. </div>
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H2N: I hear ya. It’s hard in a thumbnail description to clarify that a movie like <i>Eden</i> does have some uplift in it. Most people are probably like, “Ehhh, I’d rather not go down that rabbit hole today, thank you very much.” </div>
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MG: I’m as guilty as anyone of keeping things sitting on my Netflix queue that are not “easy” views, and I’m sure <i>Eden</i> is that movie for a ton of people. [both laugh] A few people have told me that. “It took a while for me to watch it but I finally did and I’m so happy I did.” It’s there, people can discover it! </div>
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H2N: Okay, so you’re finished with <i>Eden</i> and say to yourself, “Okay, I need a new project. I’m not an AD anymore, I’m a director.” How do you get from <i>Eden</i> to the next one? </div>
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MG: That’s when I got my agent, so I did the rounds and had general meetings in LA, but none of those led anywhere initially. At that point, I definitely didn’t feel like I was looking for AD jobs. I was trying to stay in the director’s chair. I guess it was right after SXSW, after I got my agent, I was hanging out at SIFF with Colin Trevorrow [director of <i>Safety Not Guaranteed</i>]. He and I were just chatting about upcoming projects and he said, “Oh, you know what, I’ve been talking to this producer who is doing this Paul Newman/Joanne Woodward film called <i>Lucky Them</i> and I feel like you’d be really good for it. She was asking for directors, would you mind if I sent you the script?” So that one came through a friend and not my agent. I just read the script and bonded with the producer Emily [Wachtel]. She’d been working on the movie at that point for like a decade at that point, and I told her that I had worked on a film for a really long time myself—<i>The Off Hours</i>—and I couldn’t imagine giving it over at that point, so I was grateful that she would even consider trusting me with this decade’s worth of her life. And I think she liked hearing that and that’s what sealed the deal on that film. We worked together to move it from New York to Seattle, because it wasn’t originally Seattle. </div>
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H2N: That’s a massive change, though, so right away it seems like for her to even consider that is showing a huge act of trust on her part. Was that you pitching it because of your comfort zone and your tight crew, or was it creative as well because obviously the Pacific Northwest music scene is so historically significant? </div>
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MG: Basically that was the conversation. On the very first phone call, she told me they had already started talking about not shooting it in New York because they just didn’t have the kind of budget to make it there. They considered Nashville and Seattle and were looking at other cities and I said, “Come out to Seattle, I’ll introduce you to my team, you can see some of the places where I’d want to shoot.” And she and couple of the other producers—Amy Hobby and Adam Gibbs—came to Seattle and I showed them around and introduced them to people like Lacey. Just because it’s such a great group of people, and they had seen <i>Safety Not Guaranteed</i> and <i>The Off Hours</i> and <i>Eden</i> and Lynn’s [Shelton] movies, and were aware of what the Seattle crews were capable of, so it actually wasn’t very difficult to convince them. </div>
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H2N: Factoring all that into the equation, it’s still a big decision, especially when you’ve been working on something that long, so I think it’s a testament to them that they were able to swallow their NYC dreams and embrace this opportunity. </div>
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MG: I give the producers a lot of credit—Emily in particular—for a few things. One of which is the openness to changing it. Because that was a big change in the script, but Emily and I worked together to revise it. She was never too precious about the material and instead wanted to find the best version of it. The other thing I give them a lot of credit for is trusting me to make something that’s comedic after watching <i>The Off Hours</i> and <i>Eden</i>! [both laugh] Because they’re not exactly “comic samples.” </div>
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H2N: Those movies are romps! </div>
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MG: I think <i>Lucky Them</i> is closer to who I am as a person, it’s just more my personality. But they didn’t have any proof of that except for Colin Trevorrow saying, “Trust me, I think she can pull it off.” And they went with it. I also got surrounded by a lot of people who’d done comedy before so that didn’t hurt. </div>
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H2N: Speaking of <i>Lucky Them</i>, which is why we’re “really” here right now. Did you have time to rehearse? You’re working with such seasoned pros that I wonder if you merely had some conversations to get on the same page before shooting? How did the process go for this film in particular with regard to directing actors and capturing a tone, because it isn’t an outright Comedy; it’s naturalistic and lived-in at the same time? </div>
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MG: It was pretty conversational. We ran some scenes in prep and we did a table read, but for the most part Toni [Collette] and I and Emily would sit around a table and talk about Ellie’s character, and then when Tom came it was talking about who they are and what they wear and all that stuff you do with actors. I’ve never really had the luxury of rehearsal time with actors with any film that I’ve done, and I’ve come to enjoy the process without it. You just have a lot of conversations on the phone or when they get to town about who the people are. You’re not running scenes or anything but when you get to set and do the blocking rehearsal and questions come up, you can address them there. I don’t think we had anything that would be considered traditional rehearsal time. Oliver Platt and I and Emily went through every scene of his line-by-line before we started shooting, because he’s very meticulous that way. We also only had two days with him so we wanted to make sure we capitalized on that. </div>
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H2N: Without jinxing things, you’ve gone from drama to comedy and now it’s lining up that you’re heading in a different direction. </div>
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MG: I like the idea of not being pigeonholed. There’s definitely a through-line of “character based drama” in all of the movies—<i>Off Hours</i> is pretty straight drama and then <i>Eden</i> is drama-thriller and <i>Lucky Them</i> is drama-comedy—and the one that I think will be next is a psychological thriller, and that one I’m sure will have some drama in there too, why not? [H2N laughs] I like the idea of trying to expand and work different muscles and try different genres and not stick to one category for too long. </div>
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H2N: Are you receiving any sort of blowback? Historically, in the studio-agent system, and in my admittedly limited experience, it seems that it’s looked at as weird to want to hop around, when the reality is that as a creative person if you’ve just done something it’s so much more intriguing and exciting to swim over to another island. Are you simply surrounding yourself with people who support the idea of not sticking to one genre? </div>
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MG: I think there definitely is a double-edged sword there, because I look at other filmmakers who work in one genre and get really good at it, and they’ve developed a following based on that. Someone like Rian Johnson. He’s developed a following of people who like what he does, and it’s not like his movies are all the same but they’re in the same ballpark. So that’s the downside of moving around: it’s hard to develop a group of people who are interested in you as a director because it’s not the same audience for every movie. The nice thing about having a few different sample pieces is because I’m interested in various things, I now have different samples to send out for different projects. Steven Soderbergh is a great example of someone who has been able to hop genres but he’s definitely an exception to the rule. </div>
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H2N: Usually when I do these conversations it devolves into sorrow and hopelessness about there are too many options out there for viewers and it’s impossible to find audiences for our comparatively small movies. Can you give me a positive, optimistic take on the impending release? </div>
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MG: Alright. I feel good about this movie’s chances… if people are aware of it. It’s an easy one to go see, because it’s pretty light and fun and it’s about music and it’s got people in it that are enjoyable to watch like Toni Collette and Thomas Haden Church and Johnny Depp. Right now, I feel like the tide is going in a good direction and I’m hoping that a lot of people come out to see it—especially in New York, because those opening weekend numbers are so critical, as you know, and basically the entirety of your theatrical future depends on that weekend. I’m doing everything I can to push that opening weekend in New York, and then following weekend in LA, to show that this movie can be popular and that people will want to go see it. </div>
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H2N: Okay, that’s optimistic enough for me. You didn’t make me cry, at least. </div>
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MG: It’s cautiously optimistic! </div>
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— Michael Tully</div>
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Megan Griffithshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00865750554716179672noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4067036419397372826.post-10967756008003827672015-02-19T10:21:00.000-08:002015-02-19T10:21:17.834-08:00The Upside of Rejection'Tis the season of rejection. Independent filmmakers spent the fall pushing through the post process to get their projects ready for Sundance, SXSW, Berlin, Rotterdam, Tribeca, and on and on. And as those festivals come and go, they leave in their wake many, many broken dreams for those who didn't make the cut.<br />
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I have been on the downside of this equation and yes, it sucks. Films are personal. If you did your job right there's a little of your soul in them. When your film is rejected, it's basically impossible to be objective about it. You want the very best life for this thing you've brought into the universe. And despite the advances in DIY distribution you really just can't beat the power of a good festival premiere, and the associated publicity, to register on your audience's radar.<br />
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I have had films premiere at Sundance, Toronto, SXSW and Tribeca. I have also been rejected by those same festivals (and others) many, many times over. Did those rejections sting? Definitely. Some of them hit me really hard. But now that a few years have passed and I can view the situation from a slightly more removed vantage point, I find I am actually grateful. No, seriously, I am.<br />
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I'm grateful for the humility those rejections instilled, the pragmatism they inspired, the way they stripped away any sense of entitlement I might have felt for success. Because I'm not entitled to it. No one is.<br />
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I'm not usually one for sports references, but accepting defeat and then heading back on the field is the only way anyone has ever won a championship. And let me tell you, getting seven consecutive rejection letters from Sundance has a way of making you really appreciate it when suddenly the phone rings on the eighth. My touchdown dance was a sight to see.<br />
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But with all due respect and gratitude to the festivals that eventually did accept my films, I also know this: Experts are wrong all the time. People who program film festivals are generally smart, savvy people with highly attuned taste, but they'd be the first to tell you that they make mistakes. They allow great films to slip through their fingers. They have bad days where they watch films with less patience or get bullied by the marketplace to give precious slots to less deserving films that might have more draw. They are gatekeepers and they are needed in this world, but they aren't perfect.<br />
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Ultimately, as filmmakers we will face rejection. Honestly, the rejection we face at the festival level is great training for the rejection we will continue to face consistently throughout our careers. It's a tough and competitive business and you've got to keep your heart, your wits, and your humility intact.<br />
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And at the end of the day if you have made a film that speaks to something authentic, that connects with even one other person, it can get rejected from every festival in the world and you've still accomplished something pretty magical.<br />
<br />Megan Griffithshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00865750554716179672noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4067036419397372826.post-83534713133924017772014-12-01T09:58:00.000-08:002014-12-01T09:58:17.949-08:00Dear Los Angeles,Los Angeles, my feelings for you are complicated. On the one hand, you have all that sweet mid-century architecture, a wide selection of vegetarian food, picnic weather in October, and several of the best people I know (and, okay, a couple of the worst, but this is the plus column).<br />
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You also happen to house the hub of my chosen industry. There is no other place where so much of the population can relate to the simultaneous contentment and nauseating uncertainty of following your creative passion. And there is certainly no other place where one has such unparalleled proximity to potential collaborators, professional idols and unabashed dreamers.<br />
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The thing about you, Los Angeles, is that mingled with that ever-present yellow haze, you also have this intoxicating air of possibility. The word "no" is rarely spoken. "Maybe" is emblazoned on the city crest. Maybe your pilot will be produced, maybe that marquee actor will sign on for your film, maybe everything will click. But when you try to grasp on to something, to pin it down, you realize that air of possibility is often just that: air. Swirling around you, making you feel cool, when really your body temperature hasn't changed at all.<br />
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Perhaps that's a good thing. Perhaps living in a state of maybe is useful. Perhaps it fuels creation, makes a person dig deeper and work harder to find that extra something that will transform the maybe into that ever-elusive yes. Perhaps that air of possibility puts wind in the sails of our figurative boats.<br />
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But what if that pleasant breeze and constant gentle movement is making people forget that their boats also have oars? That they can also move ahead on the strength of their own arms and backs? What if everyone is just floating indistinctly, waiting for the breeze to eventually take them in the direction they want to go, their own power over their fate becoming an afterthought, a last resort?<br />
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Los Angeles, I wonder if you ever consider the inherent peril in a system that has the majority of people awaiting permission to move forward. The unbalanced power structure that impacts every level of interpersonal interaction, infusing so many encounters with an awkward transactional dynamic in which the less powerful individual has something to gain from the more powerful. The negative effects that being on the needy end of that dynamic can have on a person's psyche and, by extension, their creative output. The way it drives creators to generate rehashed versions of past successes rather than nurturing the stories that authentically reside within, that have a chance of saying something true and organically felt.<br />
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And as rough as this dynamic can make things for those on the downside of the equation, it's no October picnic for the powerful either. Those who dole out "maybe's" each day, more often than not just avoiding the confrontational "no" that might come back to haunt them even though they have no plan to ever make that "maybe" a "yes."<br />
<br />
And it extends outside their offices--the casual hang, the trip to the barista, the family reunion--the hopeful are everywhere in LA. It's easy to see why a person in that position might begin to avoid those in a lower power tier altogether, to seek out only those in their same bracket, to dodge those uncomfortable bullets of expectation. And what then? The decision makers are now confined to a tiny, unnatural universe of like-minded privilege and rarified air. They no longer walk amongst the people, and therefore they no longer know anything about the experience of the people, and therefore they no longer tell stories that reflect the experience of the people, and the product becomes a glossed over, unrecognizable version of reality that gets branded as "Hollywood."<br />
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So, Los Angeles, you see why I resist you even as you pull me in. I worry that my choices are either to be one of the hopeful, waiting breathlessly to be granted entry, or one of the gatekeepers, retreating ever-backwards from the human experience that is actually the city's main export. And I don't like those choices, because productivity and authenticity matter. But I also know there are surely more than just these two options. Because I know Los Angelenos who are creating great, original work, who are grounded human beings, and who remember their own oars. People who may be battling a flawed system but who also seem to be coming out ahead. Knowing that those people exist doesn't make me any less conflicted about you, Los Angeles, but it does manage to make me slightly more optimistic.<br />
<br />Megan Griffithshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00865750554716179672noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4067036419397372826.post-43069887150143594912014-09-22T10:17:00.002-07:002014-09-22T11:42:48.019-07:00In Defense of Unmarketable FilmsWhen I put on my producer hat, it is often for projects that could be categorized as risky. Or unconventional. Or, if one is being less polite, unmarketable. And, being a person who tries to make a habit of looking at the world through multiple perspectives, I can understand that categorization and how it makes potential investors, production companies, even actors, a bit nervous to get involved. Even if they personally like it, they worry that they will be in the minority; that their money/time/reputation is on the line for something that might just not play to the masses.<br />
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I'm really glad I saw <i>Welcome to the Dollhouse</i>. I'm really glad I saw <i>Safe</i>. <i>Me and You and Everyone We Know. Schizopolis. American Astronaut. Pi. George Washington. Pink Flamingos. Memento</i>. I'm glad these films exist. But if you were to look at these films on paper--their market potential, the established success of similar movies--would any of them have been considered a safe financial bet? Doubtful. Does that factor in to whether they should have been made? I don't believe it does.<br />
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These films and many more like them, while perhaps not for everyone, made an impact on the world of cinema. They challenged audiences and influenced a generation of filmmakers to try weird shit. Challenging norms is important. Sometimes this translates into mainstream success, when filmmakers like Christopher Nolan and Darren Aronofsky and Stephen Soderbergh are given their shots at bigger projects and the freedom to incorporate their sensibilities and they end up shifting the way movies are made in Hollywood.<br />
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But some people don't make a weird indie films in an effort to gain entry into the larger industry. Some filmmakers can't be (or don't want to be) contained in that universe because their vision is not designed to be mass produced or marketed. John Waters, Todd Solondz, Miranda July, Cory McAbee. Their filmmaking is driven by something less definable--to push at the boundaries of things, to explore the crevices, to scratch an obscure itch, to poke, prod, provoke. They have something to add to the conversation that is truly different--something people may not even realize is missing from the current landscape until this new and unique thing comes along.<br />
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New and unique don't work in the marketing paradigm of our current system. Today's marketing is all about reaching out to a known, definable audience and building from there. A book sold well--let's adapt it. A movie did great business--time for a sequel. There's a beautiful foreign film that Americans will never watch because they hate subtitles--take the reading part out and remake it in English! Find something that people already like and then feed it to them again in a new form. It may be solid business sense, but how many times can you regurgitate something before it's completely inedible?<br />
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We are living in a particularly risk-averse time. People are downloading movies for free, no one is going to theaters, and distributors are making way, way, WAY less money than they used to. What that means is that they are spending less money on fewer acquisitions. What that means is that the people who finance films in the first place are seeing less return and getting more cautious about what they invest in. Which translates to those financiers trying to determine which films are the safest, what attachments will bring what amount of sales in foreign markets, what movie this movie is like and how can we tap into that audience that already liked that other thing and get them to come back for more. The people who invest in art for art's sake are pretty busy trying to keep theater, opera and ballet afloat. What time do they have for the less noble world of for-profit cinema?<br />
<br />
You can say that these films are small and niche and should be budgeted accordingly, but what about that ambitious new idea that simply can't be pulled off for a micro-budget? Should it just not get made?<br />
<br />
I don't know the answer to these questions. All the arguments for familiarity, consensus, and repetition of patterns follow a financial logic that I can't really argue with as a person with no capital on the line. But there's this nagging question that escapes that line of reasoning: If no one supports the visionaries, what will become of the visions?<br />
<br />
<br />Megan Griffithshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00865750554716179672noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4067036419397372826.post-14513584054096051742014-08-12T00:21:00.000-07:002014-08-12T00:21:00.609-07:0017 Things I Learned From Working on Other People’s Films<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Cross-Posted from <a href="http://trulyfreefilm.hopeforfilm.com/2014/08/17-things-i-learned-from-working-on-other-peoples-films.html">Hope For Film</a>: </b></div>
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It’s a pretty rare thing that a director has the opportunity
to watch other directors at work. As a crew-member, I had a front row seat to almost
every aspect of the job, pre-production through post. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">I never worked on a film that didn’t teach me something—whether it fell
in the “to emulate” or “to avoid at all costs” column.</b> These lessons helped
me direct actors, assemble good crews, communicate effectively, have realistic
expectations, and generally feel at home on a film set. </div>
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A little about me: In the past four years, I have directed
three features (<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1646981/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Off Hours</i></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">, </i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1734433/?ref_=nm_knf_i1"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Eden</i></a> and<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1885299/?ref_=nm_flmg_dr_1"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Lucky Them</i></a>) and been a co-, exec-,
consulting, or straight-up producer on four others (<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1772371/?ref_=nm_flmg_prd_6"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Catechism Cataclysm</i></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">, </i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1742336/?ref_=nm_flmg_prd_5"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Your Sister’s Sister</i></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">, </i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3243764/?ref_=nm_flmg_prd_4"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Koinonia</i></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>and<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3731580/?ref_=nm_flmg_prd_1"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Greens Are Gone</i></a>). This recent
uptick in creative productivity comes after a <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0341722/?ref_=tt_ov_dr">decade spent working
below the line</a>—first as a director of photography, then briefly an editor,
then a 1<sup>st</sup> assistant director. Admittedly, much of the time I spent
crewing was also spent longing for the day when I would be helming my own
projects, but luckily I wasn’t so busy moping around that I missed out on all
there was to absorb from working on other people’s films.</div>
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<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Give them what they need so that they can
give you what you need.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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Crews and actors don’t work in a vacuum. There is a
collective goal in play at any given moment on a set, and in order to achieve
that goal, people need information. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The
system is highly interdependent</b>. Logging time on a variety of sets allows
you to learn how departments run, what details people need to operate at their
peak, and how to communicate that without pissing anyone off. The better you
get at giving people what they need, the more you’ll find that they’ll provide
the things that you need. </div>
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<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Watch and learn.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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An underappreciated benefit of serving as an AD is that you
have a front row seat to basically every aspect of the filmmaking process. You
can listen in on conversations between all the key collaborators and watch what
unfolds afterwards to see which methods of communication were most effective. I
learned a lot from my vantage point, but here are a couple huge generalizations
I noticed regarding communication: <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Actors
respond to clarity, crews respond to decisiveness, and everyone responds to
respect</b>.</div>
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<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Hire people you trust, then trust them.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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There are few things more annoying then being micromanaged.
It undermines one of the most critical elements of a harmonious, productive
environment: <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">trust</b>. If you don’t
trust someone, don’t hire that person. Once you have lined up your team, give
them some autonomy. When people feel ownership in the creative process they are
more invested and their work reflects that.</div>
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<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">You can create and curate your community.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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When I began working in the industry, I ran face-first into the
age-old clash of production vs. crew. This is the notion that there are
opposing sides on a set, both of whom feel the other is taking advantage of
them. As an AD, you are right at the heart of this battle. The only way to I
found to fight this ideology was to disprove it, production by production,
individual by individual. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Good
communities are built</b>. It takes a commitment to fostering communication and
open dialogue about what is working and what is not. It takes admitting you’re
wrong once in a while and changing your ways. It takes the strength to address
things directly and without emotion, with the common goal of making the set
into a place where you want to be. Added benefit: once you know your community,
you can curate your own sets to ensure the people you bring into your sacred
production bubble are people who share your filmmaking philosophy.</div>
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<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Try to relax. <o:p></o:p></b></div>
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Over the years, I worked with many first time directors and
found a pretty consistent common denominator lurking behind all bad choices:
fear. Fear is the enemy of creativity. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Feeling
out of one’s element can be a huge distraction</b>. Immersion helps. Working on
a lot of sets helps you get comfortable in that environment and frees you up to
focus on what you should be focusing once you are at the helm.</div>
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<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">6.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Treat people as collaborators, not
employees. <o:p></o:p></b></div>
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Many directors and producers emanate the vibe that their
crews should be subservient and/or grateful to be there. Pro tip: this approach
does not instill dedication or passion for the work. Instead, it fosters a
sense of obligation and erodes any sense of the communal creative experience
that leads to great films.</div>
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<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">7.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The vibe on set translates to performances.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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Imagine an environment where you are at your most productive
and creative—somewhere you can truly bare your soul. Are there people yelling,
texting and insulting each other all around you? I didn’t think so.</div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">8.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Set boundaries.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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There are a lot of bitter people who work in film. Understandable—it’s
easy to become bitter when you feel people are constantly working you to the
bone and not appreciating your many sacrifices. The best way I’ve seen to
sidestep this common trend is to <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">set
boundaries early and clearly</b>. You may worry that you’re not being a team
player, but I’d always rather have someone tell me up-front that they’re
feeling taken advantage of than see it come out in the form of anger after the
fact.</div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">9.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Barriers won’t just go away because you
don’t like them. <o:p></o:p></b></div>
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It’s the nature of independent film that compromises have to
be made. I’ve seen a lot of directors refuse to bend—cling to some unrealistic
ideal until the very last second and then sulk when they inevitably must
scramble to find another way. Look at the parameters of your schedule and your
budget realistically as early as possible and figure out how to work within
them while still protecting the heart of your film. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">If you don’t choose your own compromises others will impose them on you</b>—and
you probably won’t like their choices.</div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">10.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">No one is there to sabotage your film.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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Something a lot of people seem to fail to comprehend is that
everyone on set is there to get a film made—ideally a great one. When your AD or
line producer asks you for information, they aren’t conspiring against you.
They are trying to help make your film happen. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Hiding information does not serve you.</b> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Be transparent</b>. No one knows what you need unless you ask for it. You
may hear no, but at least then a conversation can begin about how to achieve it
some other way. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">You’re a director, be direct.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">11.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">People want to work on good movies.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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Contrary to popular belief, when the script is bad the crew
knows it. And when they don’t feel any connection to the material, the job
becomes about the paycheck. Most people got into this business in the first
place because they love film. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">A good
script</b>—one that has been properly developed and made to be the best it can
be—<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">gives everyone a reason to show up
each day and believe that they are part of something special.</b> Not to
mention that the better the script, the more access you have to those who are
talented enough to be discerning.</div>
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<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">12.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Money is not the only resource.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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My producers and I spent many years trying to raise money
for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Off Hours</i> before it dawned on
us that it wasn’t the only path to getting the film made. We had all worked on
the crew side for years and we had garnered a lot of goodwill in our community.
You can’t just expect everyone to bend over backwards to fulfill your vision,
but there are endless ways to make helping you something that helps them too—allowing
them to step up to a key role, giving them good material for their reel,
sponsorship possibilities, or even just the promise of you hiring them again in
the future on a fully budgeted production. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Find
the win-win</b>.</div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">13.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Don’t burn your investors.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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A lot of things that happen on other people’s sets don’t
have a direct impact on other filmmakers. Actors or crews have a bad experience
and they attribute it to a specific production or set of people. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Not so in the world of film finance</b>. If
those brave people who are willing to enter the risky world of indie film
investment encounter a production that loses them thousands or millions of
dollars, especially through negligence or poor management, they aren’t about to
stick around and watch it happen again.</div>
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<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">14.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Feedback is good.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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People who seal themselves away to complete their
masterpiece will almost always end up with something that could’ve been way,
way better. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Seek out and embrace the
opinions of others, ideally others who have no reason to please you or be kind</b>.
Wouldn’t you rather hear it from that random dude in a small screening room when
you can still do something about it than read the same opinion printed in
Variety for the whole world to see?</div>
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<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">15.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Things don’t sell for as much as you think.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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I have been fortunate enough to share condos at film
festivals with filmmakers who have sold highly buzzed-about films. What I
learned: price tags are lower than you read about. It’s not the 90’s anymore. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Reset your expectations and be aware of the
market you are entering</b>. This realization allowed us to finally move forward
and make <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Off Hours</i> at a budget
level that was much, much more responsible than the idealized version we had
initially envisioned. Just because it’s what you want to make it for doesn’t
mean it’s what you should make it for.</div>
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If you think there’s someone on your set who won’t affect
the outcome of the project, or who will never end up in a position of power over
you, who you can abuse with impunity, you’re wrong. You just are. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">You will be working with these people the
rest of your career, if you’re lucky</b>. Don’t be a dick.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
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There are exceptions to this, of course, but generally speaking
the people who succeed in the world of independent film work really, really
hard. This goes for crews, actors, directors and producers alike. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Working on other people’s sets is a
reminder that nothing comes easily, but the opportunity to spend your days
pursuing something you’re truly passionate about is worth fighting for</b>.</div>
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BIO: Megan is a working filmmaker and a work in progress.
Her latest film <a href="https://vimeo.com/95605961"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Lucky Them</i></a> (starring Toni Collette, Thomas Haden Church, Oliver
Platt and Johnny Depp) is available everywhere with a WiFi connection via <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/lucky-them/id874778498">VOD</a>. Her
film <a href="https://vimeo.com/82563845"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Eden</i></a>
(sometimes known as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Abduction of Eden)</i>
is available <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/eden/id600653758">online</a>
as well, and <a href="https://vimeo.com/32896093"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Off Hours</i></a> can be found through the film’s <a href="http://www.theoffhoursfilm.com/">site</a>. She also has a <a href="http://thecinechick.blogspot.com/2012/11/getting-into-film-business.html">blog</a>.</div>
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Megan Griffithshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00865750554716179672noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4067036419397372826.post-86303678105710950252014-05-29T22:30:00.000-07:002015-03-23T08:41:13.734-07:00LUCKY THEM - Reviews and InterviewsSo many amazing posts and reviews have been coming out around the release of LUCKY THEM that I've decided to try to archive them all in one place so I can return to them and read them whenever I feel blue. Please excuse the blatant self-promotion and enjoy some positivity along with me:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://variety.com/2013/film/reviews/lucky-them-review-toronto-1200609104/">Variety - Review</a><br />
<a href="http://variety.com/2013/film/reviews/lucky-them-review-toronto-1200609104/">by Justin Chang</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://moveablefest.com/moveable_fest/2014/05/megan-griffiths-lucky-them.html">Moveable Fest - Megan Griffiths on Staying True to Lucky Them</a><br />
<a href="http://moveablefest.com/moveable_fest/2014/05/megan-griffiths-lucky-them.html">by Stephen Saito</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/reviews/lucky-them-20140529">Rolling Stone - Review</a><br />
<a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/reviews/lucky-them-20140529">by Peter Travers</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://thedissolve.com/reviews/832-lucky-them/">The Dissolve - Review</a><br />
<a href="http://thedissolve.com/reviews/832-lucky-them/">by Chris Klimek</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.avclub.com/review/rock-critic-toni-collette-hunts-famous-ex-engaging-205125">The A.V. Club - Review</a><br />
<a href="http://www.avclub.com/review/rock-critic-toni-collette-hunts-famous-ex-engaging-205125">by Mike D'Angelo</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://tribecafilm.com/stories/toni-collette-lucky-them">Can We Talk About Toni Collette in Lucky Them?</a><br />
<a href="http://tribecafilm.com/stories/toni-collette-lucky-them">by Karen Kemmerle</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://nypost.com/2014/05/28/indie-charmer-lucky-them-boasts-a-rock-solid-cast/">NY Post - Review</a><br />
<a href="http://nypost.com/2014/05/28/indie-charmer-lucky-them-boasts-a-rock-solid-cast/">by Lou Lumenek</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.today.com/video/today/55269755#55269755">Today Show - Ryan Eggold Performs</a><br />
<a href="http://www.today.com/video/today/55269755#55269755">Kathie Lee & Hoda</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://rooftopfilms.com/blog/2014/05/filmwaxradio-episode-214.html">Filmwax Radio - Podcast w Megan/Emily</a><br />
<a href="http://rooftopfilms.com/blog/2014/05/filmwaxradio-episode-214.html">by Adam Schartoff</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.today.com/entertainment/toni-collette-lucky-them-its-deep-funny-2D79710382">Today Show - Toni Collette Interview</a><br />
<a href="http://www.today.com/entertainment/toni-collette-lucky-them-its-deep-funny-2D79710382">by Kathie Lee & Hoda</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1490276379001?bckey=AQ~~%2CAAABAY6g5IE~%2Cg0_gr83Y4h2gsONEuiYgmhMw_6Z52KwP&bctid=3582669530001">Access Hollywood - Toni Collette Interview</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.957kjr.com/media/podcast-the-bob-rivers-show-podcast-bobriverspodcast/part-2-may-22nd-2014-the-24806280/">Bob Rivers Show - Megan Radio Interview</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.vanityfair.com/vf-hollywood/toni-collette-thomas-haden-church-interview?mbid=social_twitter">Vanity Fair Article - "How Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward Put Toni Collette, Thomas Haden Church, and Johnny Depp Together in Lucky Them"</a><br />
<a href="http://www.vanityfair.com/vf-hollywood/toni-collette-thomas-haden-church-interview?mbid=social_twitter">by Bennett Marcus</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.fandor.com/keyframe/megan-griffiths-getting-lucky-in-seattle">Fandor Interview with Megan Griffiths about LUCKY THEM</a><br />
<a href="http://www.fandor.com/keyframe/megan-griffiths-getting-lucky-in-seattle">by Sean Axmaker</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://blogs.indiewire.com/womenandhollywood/guest-post-carrying-the-collaborative-spirit-into-the-realm-of-distribution#.U4udXOkdUyx.twitter">Guest Blog on Women in Hollywood about Summer Indie Movie Challenge</a><br />
<a href="http://blogs.indiewire.com/womenandhollywood/guest-post-carrying-the-collaborative-spirit-into-the-realm-of-distribution#.U4udXOkdUyx.twitter">by Megan Griffiths</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/06/01/toni-collette-on-the-realistic-joneses-lucky-them-and-crying-in-the-sixth-sense.html">Daily Beast - Interview with Toni Collete </a><br />
<a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/06/01/toni-collette-on-the-realistic-joneses-lucky-them-and-crying-in-the-sixth-sense.html">by Melissa Leon</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2014/05/catching-up-with-megan-griffiths-and-emily-wachtel.html">Paste Magazine - Interview with Megan Griffiths & Emily Wachtel</a><br />
<a href="http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2014/05/catching-up-with-megan-griffiths-and-emily-wachtel.html">by Michael Dunaway</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://blogs.nordstrom.com/fashion/listen-up-5-questions-with-megan-griffiths-director-of-lucky-them/">5 Questions with Megan Griffiths</a><br />
<a href="http://blogs.nordstrom.com/fashion/listen-up-5-questions-with-megan-griffiths-director-of-lucky-them/">by Jenny Yule</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/lucky-them-2014">RogerEbert.com - Review</a><br />
<a href="http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/lucky-them-2014">by Christy Lemire</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.villagevoice.com/2014-05-28/film/lucky-them-movie/full/">Village Voice - The Nimble Lucky Them Seeks Out a Grunge Legend</a><br />
<a href="http://www.villagevoice.com/2014-05-28/film/lucky-them-movie/full/">by Chris Packham</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.examiner.com/article/toni-collette-and-thomas-haden-church-look-for-a-rock-star-lucky-them">Examiner - Toni Collette and Thomas Haden Church Look For a Rock Star in Lucky Them</a><br />
<a href="http://www.examiner.com/article/toni-collette-and-thomas-haden-church-look-for-a-rock-star-lucky-them">by Carla Hay</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.hammertonail.com/interviews/a-conversation-with-megan-griffiths-lucky-them/">A Conversation with Megan Griffiths</a><br />
<a href="http://www.hammertonail.com/interviews/a-conversation-with-megan-griffiths-lucky-them/">by Michael Tully</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-lucky-them-movie-review-20140606-story.html?track=rss&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&dlvrit=95867">LA Times - Review</a><br />
<a href="http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-lucky-them-movie-review-20140606-story.html?track=rss&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&dlvrit=95867">by Martin Tsai</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://museemagazine.com/culture/reviews/film-review-lucky-them-2013/">Musee Magazine</a> - <a href="http://museemagazine.com/culture/reviews/film-review-lucky-them-2013/">Review</a><br />
<a href="http://museemagazine.com/culture/reviews/film-review-lucky-them-2013/">by Belle McIntyre</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.seattlemet.com/arts-and-entertainment/culture-fiend/articles/a-fiendish-conversation-with-megan-griffiths-june-2014">Seattle Met - A Fiendish Conversation with Megan Griffiths</a><br />
<a href="http://www.seattlemet.com/arts-and-entertainment/culture-fiend/articles/a-fiendish-conversation-with-megan-griffiths-june-2014">By Seth Sommerfeld</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://seattletimes.com/html/movies/2023829629_luckythemxml.html?syndication=rss&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter">Seattle Times - Reviews</a><br />
<a href="http://seattletimes.com/html/movies/2023829629_luckythemxml.html?syndication=rss&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter">by Moira Macdonald</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.kickseat.com/now-showing/2014/6/13/lucky-them-2014.html">Kicking the Seat - Review</a><br />
<a href="http://www.kickseat.com/now-showing/2014/6/13/lucky-them-2014.html">by Ian Simmons</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://mynorthwest.com/382/2543336/Interview-with-Megan-Griffiths">Interview - KIRO Radio</a><br />
<a href="http://mynorthwest.com/382/2543336/Interview-with-Megan-Griffiths">by Tom Tangney</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.northwestmilitary.com/music-and-culture/movies/show-and-tell/2014/06/Lucky-Them-hunts-for-a-musical-urban-legend/">Weekly Volcano - Review</a><br />
<a href="http://www.northwestmilitary.com/music-and-culture/movies/show-and-tell/2014/06/Lucky-Them-hunts-for-a-musical-urban-legend/">by Jared Lovrak</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.inlander.com/spokane/rock-of-love/Content?oid=2317116">The Inlander - Review</a><br />
<a href="http://www.inlander.com/spokane/rock-of-love/Content?oid=2317116">by Mike Bookey</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2014/jun/20/lucky-shows-off-real-seattle/">The Spokesman Review - Lucky Shows Off the Real Seattle</a><br />
<a href="http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2014/jun/20/lucky-shows-off-real-seattle/">by Nathan Weinbender</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sfreporter.com/santafe/article-8846-give-the-punters-wha.html">Santa Fe Reporter - Review</a><br />
<a href="http://www.sfreporter.com/santafe/article-8846-give-the-punters-wha.html">David Riedel</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2014/07/lucky-them.html">Paste Magazine - Review</a><br />
<a href="http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2014/07/lucky-them.html">Monica Castillo</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.trespassmag.com/review-lucky-them/">Tresspass - Review</a><br />
<a href="http://www.trespassmag.com/review-lucky-them/">by Sarah Ward</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/review/toni-collette-brings-her-many-talents-to-megan-griffithss-lucky-them/story-fn9n8gph-1227249849924">The Australian - Review</a><br />
<a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/review/toni-collette-brings-her-many-talents-to-megan-griffithss-lucky-them/story-fn9n8gph-1227249849924">by Stephen Romei</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/entertainment/movies/lucky-them-review-toni-collette-rocks-out-on-eccentric-comedy-20150304-13umku.html">Brisbane Times - Review</a><br />
<a href="http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/entertainment/movies/lucky-them-review-toni-collette-rocks-out-on-eccentric-comedy-20150304-13umku.html">by Jake Wilson</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://echonewspaper.com.au/lucky-them-a-coming-of-middle-age-story/">Echo Newspaper - Review</a><br />
<a href="http://echonewspaper.com.au/lucky-them-a-coming-of-middle-age-story/">by Tracey Fox</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sydneyartsguide.com.au/lucky-them/">Sydney Arts Guide - Review</a><br />
<a href="http://www.sydneyartsguide.com.au/lucky-them/">by Richard Cotter</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/thomas-haden-church-takes-the-long-route-to-road-trip-movie-lucky-them-20150304-13uq1q.html?fb_ref=Default">Sydney Morning Herald - Thomas Haden Church takes the long route to road trip movie Lucky Them</a><br />
<a href="http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/thomas-haden-church-takes-the-long-route-to-road-trip-movie-lucky-them-20150304-13uq1q.html?fb_ref=Default">by Phillipa Hawker</a><br />
<br />
<a href="https://thedissolve.com/news/4941-cable-pick-of-the-day-3315-lucky-them-on-showtime/">The Dissolve - Pick of the Day</a><br />
<a href="https://thedissolve.com/news/4941-cable-pick-of-the-day-3315-lucky-them-on-showtime/">by Tasha Robinson</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/movies/lucky-them-is-the-best-thing-toni-collette-has-done-in-years/story-fn93z3ob-1227248043961">News.co.au - Review</a><br />
<a href="http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/movies/lucky-them-is-the-best-thing-toni-collette-has-done-in-years/story-fn93z3ob-1227248043961">by Leigh Paatschon</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://blogs.abc.net.au/wa/2015/03/christian-horgan-reviews-lucky-them-.html">ABC Australia - Review</a><br />
<a href="http://blogs.abc.net.au/wa/2015/03/christian-horgan-reviews-lucky-them-.html">by Christian Horgan</a><br />
<br />
<a href="https://popcornfeminist.wordpress.com/2014/06/08/lucky-them-indies-deliciously-detestable-leading-woman/">Popcorn Feminist - ‘Lucky Them': Indie’s deliciously detestable leading woman</a><br />
<a href="https://popcornfeminist.wordpress.com/2014/06/08/lucky-them-indies-deliciously-detestable-leading-woman/">by Sarah Edmonds</a>Megan Griffithshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00865750554716179672noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4067036419397372826.post-91146187091355847472014-04-15T14:24:00.001-07:002014-04-15T15:01:56.286-07:00In defense of Crewtopia.I was recently made aware of an open letter in the local IATSE newsletter that took umbrage with the word "crewtopia" and apparently with the philosophy behind it. Since I have had a big part in popularizing this expression, I figured I owed the author a response.<br />
<br />
The letter insinuated that the term paints Seattle as a "backwater with an inferiority complex." The word crewtopia is one that was coined in New York when Lacey Leavitt and I were talking to another filmmaker about our experiences working in Seattle. We were trying to come up with a way to do justice to the massive affection we have for the crews we have been lucky enough to work with on our productions, and the words crew and utopia became one. I've used it regularly ever since in both casual conversation and national press, and without fail I invoke it to convey exactly how talented, hard-working and incredibly special the crews in this city are. I honestly don't understand how it could be interpreted to make Seattle look inferior in any way.<br />
<br />
The IATSE letter went on to speculate if any of us who use the word "really know what ‘crew utopia’ is to the working crew." I spent a decade as part of Seattle's working crew--in many roles, from PA, to DP, to 1st AD--and I understand on a core level what it means to feel respected by those above the line, as well as what it feels like when that respect is not there. Animosity between "crew" and "production" is unfortunately not rare in this business, whatever region you work in. And it's understandable, as there are plenty of people on both sides of the line who perpetuate this divide by mistreating or distrusting those on the other side. But that doesn't mean it should remain the norm.<br />
<br />
I came up in the scrappy, make-it-work world of low budget film--where rules tend to be flexible and often broken for the sake of getting the film made. As I worked alongside Seattle and Spokane crews on features of mounting budgets, I began to more deeply understand and embrace the regulations that the unions have worked so hard to create and enforce. On THE OFF HOURS, my producers (all former working crew) and I chose to run our set as much as possible as if we were operating under a union contract--not because we had to, but because we wanted to demonstrate to our crew the respect we had for their time and energy. I've seen many, many other producers of non-union films do the same. I'm not sure that the author of the IATSE letter understands that the elements he lists (living wages, reasonable hours, thorough preparation and mutual respect) are things we all want, and things that those he's criticizing have been prioritizing and striving to provide for years.<br />
<br />
I don't write this post to stir up any ill feelings. I have great respect for the author of the letter in question, and for the union in whose newsletter he chose to air his feelings. I cherish my relationships with the members of IATSE Local 488 and would never want to endanger those relationships. I wrote because it seemed that the notion of crewtopia was being unfairly represented in a public space, and I felt the need to defend it in a public space. I'm certainly not above criticism, and am very open to hearing where my colleagues and I might continue to improve and do better by the community here in the Northwest.<br />
<br />
Since THE OFF HOURS, I have been fortunate enough to be able to bring a few higher budget films home to Seattle. Lynn Shelton, Lacey Leavitt, Jennifer Roth, Mel Eslyn and others have brought many more. None of us would have been able to do this were it not for crewtopia. Our crews are the foundation upon which our films are built. They provide the passion, the positive energy, and the true dedication to the work that makes the films what they are. I know it's kind of a silly word, but crewtopia represents something special to me and many others. I hope this letter has done something to help illuminate the spirit in which the word was coined.<br />
<br />Megan Griffithshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00865750554716179672noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4067036419397372826.post-6174679991106279332014-04-12T15:43:00.000-07:002014-04-12T15:43:59.131-07:00Going the distance.I have been neglecting this blog space pretty woefully of late. Neglecting it to such an extreme, in fact, that I just discovered this post I wrote almost a year ago. At that point I was right in the midst of editing my fourth feature, LUCKY THEM, and the timing was perfect to compose a blog post about post. A year later it's maybe not quite as timely, but hopefully useful enough to excuse the belatedness.<br />
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KEEP CARING<br />
While you're making your film, every little detail feels vitally important. The cast and crew are devoted to translating the script to the screen and the director stands at the center of a tornado, receiving thousands of questions a day. Once the storm subsides and production wraps, the chaos abruptly ends. The director is left holding the resulting footage, often alone or in the company of only one or two others. Months stretch ahead with many more questions waiting to be answered regarding what will stay in the film and what will go, what can be done to enhance what is great and what can be done to overcome what isn't. The passion that has been driving the process up to this point can be hard to sustain once you're sitting in a quiet room and the urgency has drained away. But this phase of the process will determine your film's fate just as much as any other, if not more. Care about every detail. Consider every facet of the work. There are things that can be done to make your movie better all the way up until you deliver it to your first festival or your distributor. Never stop caring.<br />
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SEEK CRITICISM<br />
When I first started editing my films in film school, I would shut the door and keep the sound low--that's how self-conscious I was about my work. But shutting yourself away and toiling in solitude does you no favors. I was soon forced out of my shell my mandatory feedback sessions. The rules were simple: show your work, encourage critique, and keep your mouth shut. If someone asks a question, don't answer it, throw it back out to the other viewers. If no one else can answer it, you know it's an issue that you need to address. If everyone else seems clear on the question, move on. Don't get defensive of your work--remember, you asked them to come. It's not exactly fun to sit in the midst of a discussion about all the things that aren't working in your film, but wouldn't you rather experience this discomfort in a room of your peers instead of reading these criticisms in a published review of your finished work? It's important to expose your film to actual audience members, welcome their feedback and use it to make your film the best it can be before unleashing it on the rest of the world.<br />
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TRUST YOUR INSTINCTS<br />
I say this a lot, but that's only because it's true always and forever in every stage of the process. As a filmmaker you are nothing without your instincts. Feedback is critical, yes, but it's not an end result. You need to be able to sort through that feedback and parse it for useful information, then apply your own instincts to determine the solutions to those problems. Following your gut isn't a natural skill. If it were there would be a lot more people living their dreams in this world. You need to practice trusting yourself until it is second nature. Do it every day, not just in your creative projects but in your life.<br />
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SEEK CREATIVE SOLUTIONS<br />
Once you take your film out to real world test audiences, you may find that there are elements of the story that are unclear or pieces that people just aren't putting together. There are a lot of ways to solve these problems, and they don't all revolve around going out and reshooting. Strategic pick-up shots and the use of ADR can go a long way towards clearing things up. On EDEN, we did one solitary pick-up of a hand holding a ring. It solved the one story issue we were having in our test screenings. We inserted new lines in via ADR to answer other questions that arose most frequently. And as a result, no one has ever brought up these issues since.<br />
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DECIDE WHAT YOU REALLY WANT FROM THE FILM<br />
Do you want to make money, do you want people to discover the film, or do you want people to discover you? These are the choices that were given to me by the sales agent of THE OFF HOURS. My response was probably the same as every other filmmaker who has ever been asked that question: Can't I have all three? Maybe some people are fortunate enough to get fame, fortune and a wide release for their films, but most people have to settle for one, if any. Ultimately, with TOH, we determined that the most important thing was to get the film seen. We figured that if the film wasn't going to be a break-out hit, we weren't likely to make a big profit, and that the least we could do for our investors and collaborators was to get their work into the world however we could. We played as many film festivals as possible, submitted the film for awards, and when we were nominated for our Independent Spirit Award we paid to have four thousand screeners sent out to the voters. That strategy ended up succeeding in another way--as people were exposed to the film they began to notice the strong work of the cast and crew. It became a calling card piece not only for me as the director, but for the producers, our DP <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1848388/">Ben Kasulke</a>, production designer <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0087551/">Ben Blankenship</a>, costume designer <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1936774/">Rebecca Luke</a>, and our amazing cast, many of whom are breaking out now in a big way. There are many ways to measure success, and box office is just one of them.Megan Griffithshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00865750554716179672noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4067036419397372826.post-24038209870586074372012-12-15T14:38:00.001-08:002016-05-09T08:26:12.693-07:00Making your film.So, you have a script (or a treatment or a scriptment), you have friends who are encouraging you to go out and do it, and you have a passionate belief that your movie needs to be made. There are countless numbers of budding and well-established filmmakers who have arrived at this same conclusion and they, like you, need money, equipment, crew, cast and copious luck. It is a very difficult thing to be patient and wait for your turn--any preschooler will tell you that. But you can make use of that time waiting, so that once you reach the front, you are truly ready.<br />
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WHY YOU, WHY THIS?<br />
Something I heard a lot during the seven years I spent putting together my film THE OFF HOURS was this: Why do <i>you</i> have to make <i>this</i> movie? What is it about this story that is important? Why are you the best person to tell it? In my case, I felt like I had something to say about overcoming inertia that I hadn't seen handled in other films. I had watched a lot of friends give up on their dreams and pursue paths that promised more security. I personally struggled with the choice of going after a more traditional measure of success--home ownership, medical insurance, a savings account. It occurred to me that all people make these kind of choices at some point. Some decide in high school that these are their priorities and they go after degrees that lead to stable careers. Then there are those who cling to their artistic hopes through college and on into graduate school, who leave school with bills to pay and must retreat into "real" jobs to cover these debts and who never return to their true passion. And then there are those who never allow themselves to have any dreams at all. I felt like I had an understanding of this cultural issue that I wanted to talk about with my film. The film was about something bigger than the characters within, something that touched me personally, and that I suspected had impacted many more. That was why I had to make THE OFF HOURS. Knowing the answer to this question for your film will keep you motivated to persevere in the face of countless obstacles, and it will also give others a reason to help you make it happen.<br />
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BE REALISTIC ABOUT YOUR PROSPECTS<br />
Once you have determined that your film is worth making, one of the first things you must do is sit with your producer and make a plan. This is when you figure out in the cold light of day what exactly you need to make your film a reality. And you will want the world--large crew, large budget, A-list stars, the works. Maybe you have that kind of money at your disposal, and maybe you would even make excellent use of those dollars. But a step that is often overlooked is to really think about your film's prospects in the marketplace. This may mean facing the fact that your slow-burn movie about night-shift diner workers might not be the next LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE. Is that a reason not to make it? No. But it definitely warrants a recalibration of your expectations. The market for indies these days is not good. Sure there are still the occasional multi-million dollar sales, but much more frequently films are sold in the 5-6 figure zone (or not at all). And in this brave new world, where so much of our entertainment can be found for free, earning revenue on your film once it's out there is getting more and more challenging. You have to be aware of these realities when you set out to make your movie. Be honest with yourself about what its chances are and then try to work within those limitations.<br />
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REALIZE THAT MONEY IS NOT THE ONLY RESOURCE<br />
Chances are very good that you won't have the budget you want when you make your film. There are very few examples in history of filmmakers saying "we just had too much money!" There are so many elements involved in making a film that it's very easy to spend more, and very hard to spend less. But hopefully money isn't the only resource you have. Maybe you have skilled friends, or access to equipment, or maybe you know a restaurant owner who wants to help you cater, or people who own the perfect apartment for your primary location. Because there are so many different things that go into a film, it stands to reason that you have some connections that can help in one way or another. The important thing to remember when you go to utilize these other resources is that it can't be a one-sided deal. If it's not mutually beneficial, you can burn out generosity quickly. Try to work with people to figure out a win-win scenario, so you both come out of this project feeling like you want to do it again.<br />
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GET THE SCRIPT RIGHT<br />
I think this one is pretty well-covered territory, but it bears repeating. A script is really never finished, only abandoned (to paraphrase DaVinci.) It is a work in progress up until the moment you are shooting, and then it continues to evolve in the editing room. Make sure to read your own work with a critical eye. Give it to others and encourage them to do the same. I have a rule with my scripts. If anyone asks to read one of them, I send it their way with a single request--they have to tell me honestly what they think. While it's nice to hear "It's great!", it's really not that helpful. Push people to be critical, ask them if they ever lost interest (and if so, where), ask if they responded to the characters, if there was anything that confused them or made them check out. Sometimes people don't know how to provide constructive feedback, so asking questions (and truly welcoming the answers) helps. Take that feedback and go back and try to resolve those lingering issues. Once you go into production you'll be surrounded by people who are trying to translate your script into shots, set dressing and performance--you'll want it to be something you can stand proudly behind.<br />
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FIND YOUR COLLABORATORS<br />
I think one of the most important things you can do at the beginning of your career is to assemble a good team. This is where it's helpful to get to know your community through working on other people's films, but you can also find people through posting the job and interviewing the applicants. (For example, it was only through answering a Craigslist ad for a cinematographer on the micro-budget film <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0335406/">SHAG CARPET SUNSET</a> in 2001 that I began to find my way into the Seattle community.) Obviously it is important to find people who know their job, but it's equally important to find those who share your filmmaking philosophy. The set environment is a delicate ecosystem, so you want to populate it with people who have an awareness of their impact and a sincere respect for the other departments and the cast. This respect starts at the top--you have to find the people you trust, and then respect them enough to give them space to do their job. Treat people as collaborators, not employees, and your crew will be more invested in creating something great.<br />
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FAKE IT 'TIL YOU MAKE IT<br />
Confidence is key when you are directing a film. No one respects a director who hems and haws over every choice, or one who isn't clear and direct about what they want. You need to be able to make strong, fast, good decisions and make it apparent that you are the right person to be leading this effort. If you are naturally confident, awesome for you. But if you struggle with shyness or don't love being in the public eye, you have to work to overcome these obstacles as quickly as you can. Fake it if you have to--eventually that commanding personality that you've been assuming will become a natural part of you.<br />
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CREATE YOUR ENVIRONMENT<br />
A responsibility that the director shares with his/her producers is the task of creating a productive on-set environment. For your crew, this means having open lines of communication and talented, positive people who understand what it takes to move the production forward efficiently. For your cast, this means keeping the off-screen drama to a minimum and making the set feel safe and comfortable. Actors deliver better performances when they allow themselves to get truly vulnerable. There's nothing worse for an actor than to walk onto a clearly hostile set and then try to perform. This is true of the crew as well. No one does their best work if they are distracted by petty issues and tension. Every set has stress--it's the nature of working with limited time and resources. But dealing with it as quietly and efficiently as possible will protect your actors and allow for everyone to be at the top of their game.<br />
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CARE MORE THAN ANYONE ELSE<br />
I've heard many a filmmaker talk about how someone ruined their movie--the props guy was texting the whole time, or the gaffer was drinking on the truck. Sometimes you will find yourself with destructive elements on your set. It happens. But you can't necessarily rely on others to carry you to victory. You can't ask others to work hard unless you're willing to work harder. You have to care about your movie more than anyone else. This starts when you're trying to get the film off the ground and it doesn't end ever. You will have sales agents who put you at the bottom of the pile and distributors who are putting out fifty other movies along with yours. You have to be prepared to keep caring and working to get your film out into the world until the job is done. If that seems like too big a commitment, independent film may be the wrong business for you.<br />
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SAY THANK YOU<br />
Some might say that "action" and "cut" need to be the two most oft-employed words for a director, but don't underestimate the power of "thank" and "you". Be sure to express your gratitude to those around you. They could be anywhere right now, but they are here on set with you making this film happen. Thank people sincerely and often. It's the least you can do and it goes a long way.<br />
<br />Megan Griffithshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00865750554716179672noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4067036419397372826.post-3146390166470837142012-11-19T01:04:00.003-08:002012-11-20T21:17:14.149-08:00Breaking into the film business.So, recently I've been gaining a little modest traction in this oh-so-fickle business. And as I try to figure out what the next phase of my career will hold, I've been finding myself reflecting on the long and strange path that has led me here. <br />
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My time in the film industry hasn't been a straight line or a overnight phenomenon. I received my MFA in film production over a decade ago. A quick glance at my <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0341722/">IMDb page</a> will illustrate that it took me a while to find myself solidly in the director's chair. I've held a lot of different roles on a lot of different productions, almost entirely within the burgeoning independent film scene in Seattle.</div>
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During this period I learned. And learned and learned. From my own mistakes, from other people's mistakes, from our occasional successes. Did I want to be making my own films? Hell yes. Desperately. The whole time. But looking back now, I am incredibly grateful for the years I spent working on other people's films. I am a better filmmaker because of the time I spent waiting, watching and learning.</div>
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People occasionally ask me my advice on breaking into this business, and rather than repeating myself ad nauseum, I thought maybe I should just write down my thoughts somewhere. Here, actually. So here you go...some tried and true, hard-earned lessons, from this cinechick to you:</div>
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LISTEN MORE THAN YOU SPEAK</div>
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This is a good rule in any business and, frankly, in life in general. Be an observer. If you want to direct (or write, or act), observation of human behavior is a super important skill. But whatever you want to do, it never hurts to understand people. And you will always learn more by listening to others than you will by listening to yourself. </div>
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LIVE FRUGALLY</div>
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There are very few people who work in film who did not start off working for free. I personally spent about five years working a day job and volunteering my nights and weekends on small indies before I was able to get paid to be on a set. Five years is a long time. Granted I was starting off at a time when there were fewer films being shot in Seattle and most had much lower budgets. I also think my case is a bit unique because I was focused from the outset on key positions on set. I had the opportunity to pursue paid PA work much earlier, but I chose to act as a DP (and eventually AD) on smaller films instead because I knew that would be more creatively fulfilling to me. The point is, you don't just decide to work in film and then automatically get paid to do it. Working for free in those early years was a huge part of my development as a filmmaker. You have to pay your dues--it humbles you, it teaches you, and it makes you very grateful when your time finally comes. So unless you've got a trust fund laying around somewhere, it helps to learn to live frugally. I never grew accustomed to a high standard of living--I kept my expenses as low as possible so I could retain the freedom to stay focused on independent film. To be honest I'm still trying to figure out how to make a sustainable living in this business. But I chose this path and I love what I do. I regret nothing. </div>
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PROVE YOURSELF INDISPENSABLE</div>
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As someone who has been on the hiring end of several films, I can tell you without question that skill is only one of many factors that I consider. When presented with two people of equal talent, I will always, every time, go with the person who has the better attitude. Actually, sometimes I'll hire the person with less experience just because I think they have the right disposition for the work. You can train people out of inexperience, but you can't train them out of perpetual grumpiness. People who show up to set on time, ready to work and with a smile on their face, whether they are an intern or a union professional, will always get hired again. Positivity and enthusiasm are two of what I consider the most important traits in a crew member. The third is focus. This goes along with that thing I already said about listening more than you speak. If you are focused and paying attention on set, you will always know what's happening now, what's happening next, and how you can be a part of making it all happen more quickly. For a shining example of someone who exemplifies all of the above, see <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2082125/">Garrett Cantrell</a>, who I will have on every set forever if I have my way. I met Garrett when he was an unpaid art intern. First chance I got, I hired him as a key PA. Next thing you know, he's one of the most sought-after key grips in the region. Yes, he's excellent at his job, but he honed his skills by getting on a lot of sets, and he got on those sets because he has a kickass attitude. Watch and learn, everyone.</div>
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HELP CREATE THE COMMUNITY YOU WANT TO WORK IN</div>
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When I started AD'ing, I immediately encountered the resentment of crews who had been too often burned by "production" and the frustration of producers who felt crews expected more from them than the budget allowed. This disconnect is far from uncommon in the film industry, but it's something I think we have made great strides to overcome here in Seattle. Over the past decade, I've seen what was once a random assortment of fairly embittered individuals evolve into a strong and mutually-respectful community. That didn't happen all by itself--those of us making our living in this industry manifested that change. And as a more coalesced unit, Seattle has yielded fantastic films. When people ask me why I want to make my films in Seattle, I always tell them it's because of the amazing, hilarious, passionate, and highly skilled crews. I'm proud of what we created here, and I want to see it continue to grow. But listen, I realize that it's not a candy-covered wonderland all the time. While we're all striving for crewtopia (I made that word up), it is still a rare gift to find yourself on a set that is completely devoid of difficulties. You may still have bad experiences. The worst thing you can do about this is get angry. The best thing you can do is learn and help others learn by communicating what your issues are. Don't yell and insult. Don't sulk or grumble or be passive aggressive. Reason with and educate those who you believe are causing your problem and try to help create the community you want to work in. Give others the benefit of the doubt--chances are they (like you) are only trying to make the best film possible.<br />
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TREAT EVERYONE WELL ALL THE TIME FOREVER</div>
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Common courtesy is incredibly underrated in this business. Because of time constraints, budget constraints, and general stress levels, people tend to develop bad attitudes. Fight this urge. Just like they say in ROADHOUSE, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTh5JzRziHE">be nice</a>. (Also, when in doubt, trust Swayze.) Relationships are literally everything in this business, so nurture them. Rebuilding burnt up bridges is hard work, especially when you didn't have to set fire to them in the first place.</div>
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ALWAYS HAVE A CREATIVE OUTLET</div>
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Yes, I am thrilled that I was a part of so many crews over the past decade. But I would have gone insane if I wasn't also working on my own projects on the side. The whole reason I began writing my film THE OFF HOURS is that I realized how necessary it was to me to have a creative outlet. The film is about people who don't have that--who get stuck in routine and stasis and boredom. It's also about breaking those cycles and living the life you really want. Find something that stimulates you and then do it every chance you get. And yes, I realize that last sentence sounds dirty.</div>
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TRUST YOUR INSTINCTS</div>
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As you go through life, you will face choices every day. Factors such as money, time and obligation might influence those decisions. But don't forget to listen to your instincts. Your brain will tell you what you "should" do, your gut will tell you what will make you happiest. I have faced decisions in my life where my brain said one thing and my gut said the other, and I have never regretted going with my gut.</div>
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Okay, stepping off my little soapbox for now. I hope there might be some little nuggets of usefulness for others within these ramblings. Please feel free to comment and disagree or back me up and keep the conversation going.</div>
Megan Griffithshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00865750554716179672noreply@blogger.com17