Content vs Distribution: An Argument and A Perspective

There's a long running argument in the entertainment world... content or distribution? Which is King? Personally, I've always thought that content is king, but that could just be the storyteller in me. Tell a good story, make it compelling, make it good and it'll find its way. Cream always rises to the top... or was it shit always rises to the top? In any case, there's a lot of people out there who disagree with that and think that distribution is King. Go ahead, make whatever you want, the people who distribute content will decide what's good and who watches. At the end of the day, you need to get past the gatekeeper. Really, if you think about it, this whole argument is basically the studios versus the indies, isn't it? The studios are the ones who have the agreements with the theater chains, they own the networks, they have the distribution. They can make shit movies and still make a buck. Indies, on the other hand, are all about content. They have to sell their films, they have to find an audience. If their content stinks, that's it, it stinks and hopefully their parents like it... because they probably funded it. Both sides have a point and it's not a new argument. So, what is it? Content or distribution?

Up until recently, the distribution side probably won out. Who's kidding who? If you didn't want to go through the networks, the studios or the theater chains, how were you going to get anyone to watch your content? What was the result of that system? Well, you had Tuesday nights where the best thing on TV was "Coach" and you got a lot of Dolph Lundgren movies... with all due respect to Dolph, I loved his movies. Today, the networks, studios and theater chains are actually starting to lose a bit of their power. Sure, you still have to go through a network, studio or cable provider, but there's 100's of channels that run lots of indie content, there's plenty of DVD distribution outlets that will stock your film and there's tons of film festivals that'll give you a theatrical screening... and that all goes without mentioning the one distribution outlet that's shaking the very foundation that the studios, networks and theater chains were built on - the internet. From downloading legal indie content to piracy to Hulu and Boxee, the power really is starting to shift from distribution to content. Now, tell a good story, make it compelling, make it intriguing and you can find an audience, one way or the other.

Now, I don't think that it means that it's going to be any easier to distribute your film... or, should I say, successfully distribute your film. I still think you're going to need help, which I think will see the rise of a new breed of agent or manager, one that helps you navigate this 'new world' of distribution and just takes a percentage of profits. This is an area that we at Dead Harvey are hoping to get into, to be honest. We know and study the landscape and see a world of opportunity for good films and good content that studios, networks and theater chains would generally ignore. As usual, if any of you would like help in this area or just want our opinions, we're more than happy to give it - like I said, we're still studying this landscape and would love to work with some 'test subjects', so to speak. However, if reaching out for help just isn't your thing and you'd rather just read something, here's links to two articles that I recently found, which gave me the idea for this post.

Screen: Indie Filmmakers Find Alternatives to the Multiplex - I actually read this offline in Wired magazine, one of the few magazine that I actually still purchase... and then found it online to share. A great one page article on how indie filmmakers are finding out new ways to make money.

Backyard Filmmakers Are Hollywood's Greatest Fear: Analysis - funny thing about this article is that it was written 5 years ago. It's a good read, but the sites he mentions and the technology he talks about are currently outdated. However, I think that makes the article all that much more valid.

Have a great weekend, see you next week!

Interview with Jason Baustin, Director of "Cowboy Killer"

When you think about taking a film from concept to completion on next to no budget and next to no crew, the task can seem daunting. Almost impossible. However, each year, hundreds, if not thousands, of filmmakers attempt the impossible - to make a feature. I shouldn't say impossible... if Andy Warhol's "Sleep" can get positive reviews and get watched, anything could. What I should say is, each year filmmakers set out to do what studios do each year with a fraction of the resources - to make a feature that people will watch and enjoy and THAT is a difficult task.

For me, filmmaking is like building a pyramid... or a log cabin. The bottom, the foundation, needs to be strongest - the story or concept. Next, there's the screenplay - dialogue should be sharp, characters well drawn out. After that, you should set realistic goals and figure out how you're going to deliver this project - what's the budget, what are we going to film on and will that be able to tell the story properly? From there, it gets easier and easier, until you're just executing... until you get to post-production and, subsequently, the marketing and distribution of your film, but I digress. For me, you'll set yourself up for success by having a strong concept/story and then figuring out how you're going to deliver that story. These are things that Jason Baustin and company did extremely well when setting out to make "Cowboy Killer".

"Cowboy Killer" is a throwback to 70's grindhouse... and a good one, at that. I actually saw the trailer a ways back and when I first saw it, I actually thought someone had unearthed some old flick that no one had ever seen. It's not that the story is terribly original, however the main character and his story is. I'd actually go as far as to say, given the right exposure... Roy Thompson, the Cowboy Killer, could be a cult horror icon. In the end, the film blends comedy and horror with a fantastic killer and it's delivered in a great package. In fact, about halfway through the film, you may even forget that you're watching a micro-budget feature and feel like you actually have unearthed some old gem from the 70's. We had the pleasure of discussing the film with director Jason Baustin and, to quote the film, "you're in for a damn treat".

First off, tell us a bit about “Cowboy Killer”. Where did the idea come from and when did you know you wanted to make it?

"Cowboy Killer" came from a side character which was created in Cacchiotti Productions previous film "The Life I Lived." If you check out that film you will get a glimpse of the character (Roy Thompson) who came to be the "Cowboy Killer." Ben Solenberger created the character and worked with Jaymes Camery to create the offbeat script. We decided to make it because we all had some free time and wanted to launch our careers.

If you don’t mind us asking, what was the budget for the film and how did you go about securing financing?

The budget was around 15k, but we only paid for the necessities.

The key to the film and what made it work for me is the killer. You did a great job of creating a believable killer and Paul Bailey played him perfectly. Talk about bringing that character to life.

Oh Roy Thompson. We knew that only Paul Bailey would be able to pull this character off. To be honest, Paul had a great sense for the story and derangement of the character, so I didn't have to direct him that much. We did some rehearsals and made sure to make him believable. What I like about Roy Thompson, is that he believes he is a good person and doesn't realize he is a psychotic killer.

You mixed comedy with horror quite well in the film. Some of the characters were goofy, like the town drunks, and some were more serious. Talk about blending horror and comedy.

I'm not going to say this part was easy, and I did struggle quite a bit with this part. I wanted to make sure the tone would come out properly and not be completely ridiculous. I tried my hardest to make sure the funny parts were humorous and the scary parts were unsettling. I think the music selection helped with this.

The film had a great retro, grindhouse feel to it. Talk about how you created that look and feel and why you shot it the way you did.

Why thank you! I guess I can thank my DP Jason Simmons and myself for Color Correcting. Shooting on Digital Video can be a tricky thing, and I didn't want it to look like all the crappy horror films in the marketplace. We shot it very traditionally with the Master Shot Technique, but I tried to edit it to make it more interesting since most of the shots were static. To do this, we did many takes...up to 25 for a single scene. As for Color Correcting, I went through each scene and tried to create a custom look that fit the tone.

Okay, tell us a bit about yourself. What are your influences and what got you into indie film?

I am a huge film buff. To be honest, I am interested in all genres of film. I wasn't always a horror film lover, only recently. But I really like films with suspense and tension like No Country for Old Men and Bug. I wanted to make movies to see if I could.

Film school: Yes or No?

Yes. American University. I think traditional film school is a great way to study the classics and learn the technical aspects of filmmaking.

When you set out to make the film, what was your benchmark for success? As in, what were you hoping to accomplish? Did you just want to get a film done to open some doors, did you want it to make money, were you looking for critical success?

With this film, I knew we weren't going to get any critical success. I think what Cacchiotti Productions wanted to do, is see how far we could take a horror film on a low budget. We did it more for the experience and enjoyment. We did want to open some doors and make some money...which we hope will happen.

Did you enter the film in to any festivals? If so, how did it do? What are your thoughts on the indie horror festival circuit?

Unfortunately we spent all our money on the film so we couldn't submit to festivals.

Talk about getting distribution and what you had to do after the project was completed. If there was one thing you would do differently, what would it be? If there was one thing that you know you did right, what would that be?

Basically we had to send out hundreds of screeners to small indie distributors. We looked in video stores and found movies comparable to ours and looked up the distributor and contacted them. I think the production schedule of filming was really hard for us. We shot two weeks straight and then stopped. We rarely had extra time. I would've changed that. However, we had the right team to pull it off. Ben Solenberger, Jaymes Camery and Jason Simmons really made this movie possible.

If I was an indie filmmaker, just in pre-production on a new project, what’s the one piece of advice you would pass on to me?

Make sure your script is right. The story is the most important part. It needs to be interesting and make sense. As a viewer and I want to take away something from a film, a message. Unfortunately most low-budget indie films are so worried about the effects and look that they lose touch of the themes of the film and alienate the viewer.

Talk about the indie horror scene. Where do you think it is now and where do you see it going?

I think it is coming back. The past few years has been slammed with so many "Saw" type of ripoffs. I think Creature Features are in high demand.

Where can people find out more about “Cowboy Killer” or, better yet, buy a copy?

Please visit our website at CowboyKillerTheMovie.com

What’s next for you?

I hope to make some more short films to hone my craft and then attempt another feature. But I don't think it will be a horror.

Linkapalooza - October 1, 2008: The Film Industry Continues Marching Into The Digital Age

I used to actually link to a lot of horror fan shit in the past, but I've started to just link to things going on in the industry that I think will interest indie filmmakers... as well as stuff that I think indie filmmakers need to know about. Anyhow, today is no different. There's just too many changes going on in the industry to not comment or look into.

Michael Moore to release film online for free on msnbc.com: I'm not a big Michael Moore fan. Let me just get that out there... and it has nothing to do with his political stance, it's more his stance as a filmmaker. I don't want to get into a debate on it, but I think he's fantastic at getting his point across, which makes him a great filmmaker; but piss-poor at getting the truth across, which makes him a shitty documentary filmmaker. Now, having got that off my chest, let's give a bit of free promotion to "Slacker Uprising", his next film. His last film, "Sicko", was pirated very early and every torrent site had it 3 weeks before it came out in the theaters. Knowing that, he's releasing "Slacker Uprising" for free, for three weeks, as a free download beginning Sept. 23 and he claims it's gift to his fans. Go to slackeruprising.com and sign up, you can download it after a few clicks. However, here's the thing. Nothing's for free... and I see what he's doing here, but it works out well for you, the audience. First off, he probably has some deal with bliptv.com, they are the guys who are distributing it. They're going to get a bunch of traffic, so I'm sure they paid something. Also, I think he looks at this as a loss-leader. When you sign up, he asks you to punch in the email addresses of friends who may be interested. So, he gives away the film for free, but at the end of the day he gets a massive database of fans that he can now email, spew his rhetoric on and sell other shit to. I have other thoughts here, but I'll save them... Any way you slice it, interesting concept and delivery.

SanDisk rolls out new medium for music on SFGate.com: Ever heard of a company called SanDisk? You probably have, you just don't know why... SanDisk is a California based company that "designs, develops, markets and manufactures products and solutions in a variety of form factors using its flash memory, controller and firmware technologies." Yeah, so, they're a tech company that specializes in flash memory (meaning that no power is needed to maintain the information, it has faster access times and it's REALLY shock resistant. Translated, it's perfect for portable devices). Now, here's why they're an interesting company... they're partnering up with some of the biggest music labels to create a new music medium based on its microSD cards and it'll feature full-length, pre-loaded albums and additional content. They call it slotMusic AND it's going to be compatible with more than "a billion cell phones, MP3 Players, PCs and game consoles". So, as an indie filmmaker, why should you care? I'll tell you why. The first version of the microSD card will sell with 1GB of storage, with future models having up to 8GB of storage. What's that mean? That means movies are next. So, let's see here... if your movie could be distributed on a microsSD card, you just opened yourself up to a billion potential new devices for your film to be watched on. Yeah, I'd say that's significant. Between online distribution, DVD releases, VOD and now stuff like this... really, why are you still thinking about a theatrical release? Think EYEBALLS... so many eyeballs.

Coming Soon From Paramount Pictures: Digital Feature Films on adage.com: I've stopped keeping track of all the mainstream Hollywood people who are now venturing into web-based projects, but you can now add Paramount to that list. Like I've said a thousand times, the best part about these guys rolling out projects like this, is that you can watch what they do, how they do it and figure out what worked for them and mimic them. By Paramount Digital's own admission (in a round-about way), they don't know how to release this shit, but they're going to try a few different ways, including: "free, sponsor-supported, subscription and via paid download". So, let them spend the money testing it out, then figure out what worked for them and do that.

Q&A: JJ Abrams Talks 'Fringe' on Forbes.com: This is a wicked little interview with JJ Abrams about his new show "Fringe", which I'm starting to waver on a bit... but that doesn't take away from the concept, marketing and everything behind the show. But, am I the only guy who's waiting for something kick-ass to happen? Start tying shit together, already! Anyhow, it's cool to see what the thought process is like for a guy like Abrams, who could probably get anything green-lit that he wants. It's little interviews like this, that you need to soak about and think about next time you're putting together your own project.

Exclusive Interview with Actor, Writer and Producer Joshua Nelson

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Brad's Bizzare Movie Spotlight: "Chickenfut"

When I watch an indie movie, I'm looking for something different. Yet when something is so different and just plain f'ing weird I get really fired up. That's the beauty of the indie. movie. It will give you something Hollywood either never has the balls to do or would just plain never think of. And the time to find something that's actually original could never be more relevant than now, when it seems Hollywood is playing it as safe as possible by spending so much of their time attempting to relaunch franchise after franchise.

That being said, I'd like to take this opportunity to showcase those really f'ing weird movies that are out there. Sure, it takes a lot of searching, but that makes it all the more worth it when you do find that diamond in the rough. These are the movies that you have to make your friends watch because explaining it just isn't enough. You've just got to see other's people's reactions to truly do the movie justice.

Dead Harvey is proud to present the very first in it's bizarre movie spotlight: "Chickenfut". Here's it's description from the back of the box: "When an awkward German exchange student is possessed by the spirit of his prized chicken, he is given the power to fight back and avenge the death of his beloved Gisela. Young Gunter's bizarre and tragic tale speaks to anyone who has suffered at the hands of the cruel and the mighty."

Pretty f'ing weird huh? Wait 'till you see it. After the student gets possessed by his chicken, he slashes the s out of people with a stick and looks like a giant chicken foot and squawks and moves around like, well, a freakish man chicken. F'ing awesome. Dead Harvey salutes director Harrison Witt for breathing new life into the indie. genre!

For more info. on, "Chickenfut", you can check out the website at www.chickenfut.com. Attached is a link where you can view the entire movie at undergroundfilm.com. Enjoy and if you've seen a movie that's weird as s, send it our way and we will do our part to share it with the world!

EXCLUSIVE DEAD HARVEY INTERVIEW with JACOB COONEY, director of "The Frolic"

"The Frolic" is based on the Tom Ligotti short story of the same name. It's a supernatural thriller about a prison psychologist who uncovers a deadly supernatural force in one of his inmate patients, the child loving murderer, John Doe.

Dead Harvey had the pleasure of downing some beers with Jacob Cooney, the director of "The Frolic" as he filled us in on how he got his first directing gig roughly three months after receiving his B.A. As the ale flowed, he talked about the process of adapting the short story from the great Tom Ligotti and how he secured the actors and other necessary elements to make such a well executed flick. Cooney is down to earth, well spoken, intelligent and down-right inspiring. The performance he gets out of the villain, (Maury Sterling) will send a brutal chill down your spine. And with the reverence he gives to the author's material, I hope Hollywood gives this guy a shot at a big budget adaptation. Dead Harvey hopes you enjoy the interview as much as we did.

Clip 1 - Adapting A Short Story
Clip 2 - A Supernatural Vibe
Clip 3 - Adapting On A Budget
Clip 4 - Adapting On A Budget II
Clip 5 - Ligotti's Opinion Of Frolic
Clip 6 - How The Frolic Got Financed
Clip 7 - The Road To Directing
Clip 8 - Film School: Yes or No
Clip 9 - Making It
Clip 10 - Film School: Yes or No II
Clip 11 - Shawshank Was The Clincher
Clip 12 - 1st Big Break
Clip 13 - The Casting Process
Clip 14 - A SAG Agreement
Clip 15 - What Was It Shot On?
Clip 16 - The Look
Clip 17 - The Locations
Clip 18 - Directing Style
Clip 19 - Approaching The Actors

For more information on Jacob Cooney and "The Frolic", you go to Myspace page here. To buy a copy of The Frolic, you can get it off the Wonder Entertainment site here.

Exclusive Dead Harvey Interview With Roger Scheck, Director of "Nobody Loves Alice"

When I received a copy of "Nobody Loves Alice" I thought it was just going to be another run of the mill slasher flick that I'd end up fast forwarding after the first half an hour. To my surprise, not only was I drawn into the movie, I was highly impressed. This film has gore, fantastic performances, great directing and a well written script. I was even more impressed when I found out it's director, Roger Schek, made it when he was in school. To say the least, "Nobody Loves Alice" is an outstanding debut that we here at Dead Harvey highly recommend. Keep an eye for Roger Schrek. I have a feeling he's going to be a major talent.

DH: Tell us about yourself. Where are you from and what got you into making movies?

RS: I was born in Kansas and raised in McAlester Oklahoma. In high school I became interested in still photography. Soon after that a friend of mine introduced me to the idea of making movies. He gave me the movie True Romance and told me to watch it. I took it home and watched it
three or four times. That movie really made me think, “I have to do this”. Right after that the same friend gave me The Last House On The Left, I went home and watched that film about four times that night. After that I realized, “I can do this”. That summer I made my first
short film and have never stopped.

DH: Film school: yes or no?

RS: I attended the North Carolina School of the Arts. I learned so much at NCSA. It truly is an incredible program. In my opinion it's the best film program in the country.

DH: What was the inspiration behind, "Nobody Loves Alice"?

RS: I had written several screenplays before Nobody Loves Alice but due to budget I couldn’t make any of them. I set out to write a script I could afford to produce. I was waiting tables at the time when my boss received a phone call from a woman that said she had been in that day
and he was so sweet to her that she had to meet him outside of the restaurant. Having to deal with customer satisfaction he told her that he was glad she had a good experience and to come in and have a drink on the restaurant. He then proceeded to tell her that he had a girlfriend. Not two minutes later the phone rings again and it’s his girlfriend, she said that the previous call was her friend and that she just wanted to see if he would cheat on her. In that instant I know what Nobody Loves Alice was going to be about.

DH: Are there any directors or movies that influenced, "Nobody Loves Alice"? If so, how?

RS: So many films and directors have influenced me. My biggest influence at the time of making Nobody Loves Alice were Asian horror films, especially films by Takashi Miike. I enjoy the slower evolution of the story. After all it’s about the story and characters, not the splatter
and gore. Don’t get me wrong that is part of it, but it’s not the reason I sit down to watch something.

DH: Describe your directing style.

RS: My style is very loose. I give my actors a lot of freedom to meld the character and make them their own. If I like what they do I let them run with it, but I have no problem letting them know something isn’t working. However some of the greatest moments in Nobody Loves Alice
come from the actors being able to just play with the lines and emotions.

DH: "Nobody Loves Alice" was impressively made on such a small budget. How did you pull it off?

It was challenging but we were very strategic where we spent money. The majority of the money had to go to converting Alice’s room and the blood effects. I had a very talented and resourceful crew that was able to make things look great with very little. We only had twelve
days to shoot the film so that also cut down budget.

DH: The performances in the film are outstanding. Describe your casting process and how you selected the leads.

RS: I worked with Nitzan Mager (ALICE) on a short film entitle Motherhood, you can see that film on my myspace. I actually wrote the part of Alice for her. So, knowing what she was capable of I was able to create a great character that I knew she would be great playing. Philip Ward (ALEX) acted in a film that I was Cinematographer on. I also knew his abilities and created that part for him. Phillip was enrolled in the acting program at Elon University at the time so he was able to bring me a lot of the cast from people he had worked with previously. He was sort of the casting director. He had actually been scene partners with Amanda Taylor (Abigail) in school so they already had a relation ship they could play off and bring to the film.

DH: What did you shoot on and how long of a shoot was it?

RS: We shot on the Canon XL2. In my opinion Canon blows it’s competition out of the water. The image the XL2 produces is a big part of why the film looks so good. It’s build to be lit like you’re working with film. It’s competitors at the time were point and shoot idiot proof cameras and their image quality suffered. We shot for twelve days over our winter break from NCSA. We never went over 12 hours during production except for the last day. That was the final fight scene and Dave Martin, the cinematographer and I had to stage the fight scene. That took about 18 hours.

DH: What obstacles did you overcome to get your film made?

RS: There were several obstacles that could have presented themselves. However, the production went very smooth. We planned everything out so meticulously in preproduction that we had very few problems. It was so smooth that on one particular day I was able to get 48 different camera setups.

DH: How did you secure distribution? Any tips for people trying to get their movie out there?

Distribution is a painful process, especially when you don’t have a named star. There are a lot of sharks out there and all they want to do is steal your film. I had a couple of different offers on the table and when I asked around I found out that they all had tricky ways of accounting for income, ways in which they hide profits from filmmakers. In fact I talked to about 100 people all of which have never seen a penny from these companies. Indie-Pictures is a new company that is changing the face of distribution. I have a substantial voice in all the decisions made regarding the distribution of my film from what festivals we enter to designing the artwork to how we spend money on advertising. My advice for those filmmakers seeking distribution is to ask around about the companies interested in your film. Try to put a named actor in your film even if it’s a small part. Get even a C list actor if you can. But, if I knew then what I know, the most important piece of advice I would give to you is skip the sharks and contact Todd Taylor, CEO of Indie-Pictures he is revolutionizing the distribution process for filmmakers. www.indie-pictures.com

DH: What's next? And, last but not least, any plans for a sequel?

RS: I have several projects I am trying to get off the ground in all different budget ranges and genres. As far as a sequel, there are two more installments of Nobody Loves Alice. We are currently working on the scripts and have investors interested. So keep your eyes open for the sequel to Nobody Loves Alice, Somebody Loves Alice.

Sincerely,
Roger A. Scheck
Scheck Media
www.myspace.com/scheckmedia
www.myspace.com/alicefilm
www.nobodylovesalice.com
roger@nobodylovesalice.com

CALLING OUT ALL SOBRIETY CHALLENGED FILMMAKERS IN THE LOS ANGELES AREA...

I've been slammed, busy with personal life and day job duties lately, but thank God new Dead Harvey team member, Brad Paulson, hasn't been... He's been drinking his face off, watching indie horror screeners and, generally, enjoying his own company while, also, prepping for a new indie horror that he's co-writing and directing. (more on that later) However, you can only spend so much time by yourself, drunk. So, he's got a message to all indie horror filmmakers in the L.A. area who are looking to network a bit, shoot the shit, get some promotion and have a beer or two. A note from esteemed Dead Harvey team member Brad Paulson:

Damn, this Mai-Tai is good. Very tasty. So is this Red Nectar ale. Don't worry, that statement wasn't sponsored. This is an independent site, after all. Seriously though, if any beer companies or any one representing a beer and/or hard alcohol company is reading this blog and wants to sponsor Dead Harvey in all it's artistic endevors, you can email me at brad@deadharvey.com or Ted at ted@deadharvey.com and we'll email you an address to send the booze to on the asap. Coupons also work, just so you know. Okay, time to move on with what's new...

Next up, I will be interviewing the director of "Blood Sucking Babes From Burbank" for a Dead Harvey exclusive. Furthermore, I'm going to seize this opportunity to put the call out to all the indie filmmakers that have sent me screeners and, of course, those who haven't. Contact me at brad@deadharvey.com and, if you live in los angeles, I will buy you a beer and we'll do an interview for the site about the movie you're promoting and your company.

I'm looking forward to the, B.S.B.F.B. interview since I've been a resident of the Burbank area for the last few years.

Best,
Brad

Linkapalooza - April 21, 2008

Trigger Street was originally some sort of production company formed by Kevin Spacey in 1997 and, quite frankly, I'd never heard of it. So, after 5 years of what I can only assume has been underwhelming success, they founded TriggerStreet.com in January of 2002. Here we are in 2008 and I JUST came across the website... need a bit of help getting the word out there, Kev? Anyhow, I was going to cut and paste a bunch of info from their about us page, but it's a lot of artsy babble. So, is it a good site for horror? I don't know, but scripts are scripts and short films are short films and on this site, you can upload your scripts, short films, books and other stuff, then have people read it, watch it and discuss it. If you're looking for exposure, networking or feedback, go check it out. It may be worth it. I believe there's a bunch of industry professionals involved, you know... besides Spacey.

Quick note, Friday the 13th will be rated R - link at Bloody-Disgusting. Well, thank God. At least it's got that going for it, which is nice... and, by the way, I'm STILL not excited to see it.

Funny that I come by two online film competitions/website film initiatives within a couple days of each other and both are backed by Hollywood professionals. It's just crazy, it's like this internet thing is catching on. Here, I thought it was just a bunch of tubes. Filmaka doesn't have Keyser Soze or K-PAX behind it, but it does have Deepak Nayer, an acclaimed movie producer and Sandy Grushow, the former head of Fox Television Entertainment launching it. What they're trying to do is build a new kind of studio that taps into an aspiring community of moviemakers on the Web to cultivate the next great talents. Similar to Lester Burnham's site, but a lot less artsy fartsy.

Big media slams Martin, FCC on "a la carte" cable issue - link at ars techna. This is just kind of interesting, as they're arguing about the future of cable. Personally, I see positives to both. The 'a la carte' style of programming should, fundamentally, improve the quality of programming by forcing the studios to make products that people will buy, but packaging things up would be cheaper and offer consumers more channels, as well as let lesser known and new shows get air time. You see, if it were 'a la carte', you would be able to pay a premium to see what you want, such as specific sports, movies or big shows. However, other shows that may be fighting for market share may never even get made, as no one would be ordering them. You think that they axe shows without giving them a chance now? I don't know, this is a great debate... My theory is that, eventually, unlimited programming will be available through various providers and it will all be supported through marketing and advertising dollars. We have to move forward as an industry and, if that's the case, I'd say that the 'a la carte' system would work best. Get consumers used to a system where they get what they want, when they want... and have them pay for it as a premium. Then, let it evolve.