Click Clique Deals with New Media "Frenemy"
By Lisa Delgado |
0 Comments |
New media: friend or foe to filmmakers? The experts in a lively Tribeca Talks Industry panel, Click to View: The Future of New Media, offered diverse viewpoints, but they all laughed knowingly when moderator Georg Szalai of The Hollywood Reporter referred to it as a “frenemy.” Indeed, new media content and distribution offers a mix of benefits and perils—but no one wants to be left out of the tiny-screened fray. “It can’t be ignored,” proclaimed Gaurav Dhillon, founder of film site Jaman.com. “For filmmakers, it’s a way to market to an audience that otherwise may be playing games on the computer, the young people who, given a chance, would rather go browse on the Web, etc.” Furthermore, digital media brings unprecedented opportunities for interactive, social elements in filmmaking, he remarked.
After recently getting her feet wet in the mobile market with Green Porno—a comical short film series about mating bugs—Isabella Rossellini is now pondering the peculiar task of turning it into a game, she said.
Certainly new media bring no lack of fresh challenges and opportunities, but profits are often elusive. Rossellini paid herself just a few thousand dollars for writing, directing, and starring in Green Porno, which had modest financial support from the Sundance Channel, but many other new media creators find remuneration completely elusive, she said. “It was amusing to make as an experiment, but I feel sorry for people who need to make money,” she added. Szalai then asked how many people in the audience had ever paid to see a film online—the paltry show of hands spoke volumes. The vampire of digital piracy threatens to suck dry the small profits the TV and film industry might find online, observed Rick Cotton of NBC.
On a more hopeful note, online films can be a powerful calling card and publicity raiser, the panelists agreed. In a Q+A at the end of the panel, one filmmaker in the audience asked if a Web series would be a valuable addition to her portfolio. Jason Hirschhorn of Sling Media offered the success story of Lonelygirl15 and other viral hits as inspiration. Citing one online film that has been seen in 65 countries, Dhillon advised, “Think global.”
“That’s why I did sex,” quipped Rossellini, sending the audience into giggles.
