Entering The Post Post Period

Jeannette Goes to Cannes!  

I just took these 10 babies over to J. Fitz's office. 

He's going to Cannes tomorrow and taking them with him to give to select distributors. Vive la France!

The past week has been pretty intense as we move truly past the post production period and firmly into the post post period, also known as the "holy f**@ what the bleep do I do now period?!"  I got the 22 page Marketing and Distribution Blueprint from Jon Fitzgerald and what is exceeding clear, in answer to the question is:  a lot and in all directions.

Film Festival Submissions:

This is critical and has to be ongoing but the lag time between submitting and being notified is so excruciatingly long that it cannot be the only plan in motion to get the film out - at least in our case where timing is of the essence.  

This week I submitted the film to The Hamptons International Film Festival, which has a perfect category for us called "Films of Conflict and Resolution - films that utilize the power of cinema to increase awareness and understanding of the human realities of war and conflict."   How can we not be picked for that?!!

I also submitted the film to the Telluride Film Festival, which, by all accounts is the most enjoyable, although non-competitive film festival around.  Apparently the Telluride Festival is really interested in cinema itself, as an art form and as a tool to be used consciously within society.  Some fantastic filmmakers have had their first films shown there - I really hope we get selected to that one. 

Here's a quote about it from their website: 

“The most exclusive film festival of all is Telluride. Why? Because it is the most difficult to get to, it doesn’t announce its program in advance, it charges the press for a pass and it has as its guests some of the best filmmakers in the world. It’s one of the friendliest and most democratic, as if the least important attendees were just as consequential as the most distinguished.”
– Derek Malcolm, The Guardian (London)

Next Step:  Producer's Reps

The next person that I need to find to join our team is a Sales Agent, otherwise known as a Producer's Rep.  What this person does is contact distributors on our behalf and sell the film for us.  They look at the contracts, have the contacts, and they work on a  commission basis so they have incentive to make the best deals possible.  I'm not sure how much they take but from what I understand it ranges from 5 to 15% of all sales.  These people are not to be confused with Foreign Sales Agents - these reps specialize the Domestic and North American markets.

Last fall I did the Film Independent Distribution Summit, in anticipation of this post post period eventually arriving and I met a few of these mythical creatures - Producer's Reps.  My immediate impression was that they were pursued like the prettiest girls at the Hollywood Dance, which makes me not want to pursue them at all (I have a bit of a contrarian nature, unfortunately).  In my brief conversations with them, or watching them speak on panels, they seemed very nice, bright and true film lovers. Some were also attorneys (which is great when there are contracts to be read through) and those had that certain gleam in their eye... you know, a little less "lover of film" and a little more "lover of green."  But all of them looked a bit harried and overwhelmed - at that point they were all heading to Sundance and somewhat crazed.  Now, of course, they're all heading to Cannes and completely nuts.  And then it will be Toronto or whatever.  Regardless of timing, I have to find a way to get to them and distinguish myself from the crowd.  I have some of their phone numbers (from a list from Jon Fitz) and I suppose I'll have to start getting on the phone and cold calling them.  But that never really seems like a great plan - I need personal connections to these people.  Anyone?  

I've left several messages for Jeff Dowd (the producer's rep who was the inspiration for The Big Lebowski character) because when I met him at the DGA, he actually KNEW who Jeannette Rankin was, which was a first, and he seemed really interested.  He has not, however, returned my calls so far...  What up with that?

In the meantime, my neighbor's son, Joel Heller, who is a documentary editor, referred me to a friend of his, Sarah Jo Marks, who reps very select documentaries that she really loves.  Her company is called At Risk Films and one of the films she repped was "Can Mr. Smith Get To Washington Anymore?" which won the Audience Award at Silverdocs (the premiere doc festival in the US).  Sarah only reps docs and we aren't really a doc, but I'm hoping that she will fall in love with our film and what it stands for and want to take it on.  Otherwise, maybe she'll give me a lead to another rep more suited to "A Single Woman."  

Political Fundraiser Screenings:

While we wait to get into one of the big festivals, we are planning to have a Fundraiser Screening of "A Single Woman" for Cindy Sheehan, who is running for Congress in San Francisco (aiming for mid June) and also for Dennis Kucinich, who is an incumbent Congressman in Ohio and one of my idols.  I am very excited about this plan as it serves so many excellent purposes:  it helps candidates that promote peace and who are essentially continuing to forge forward with the policies and positions held by Jeannette Rankin; it brings the film to the attention of progressive and politically minded people, who are our audience base; and it gives us a tangible event that Luisa can publicize.  It is very difficult to get press attention without anything to attach it to, such as a release date or an event screening.  These screening will be newsworthy!

Other Screenings:

There are two other screenings that we are planning to do in the near future.

First and foremost, the Cast and Crew Screening, which hopefully will be at the end of the month at Sony.  I still don't have a firm date... but I'm working on it.

Also the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (of which Jeannette Rankin was a founding member) is having their triennial congress in Des Moines, Iowa from June 25-29th and Jeanmarie Simpson (who stars in and wrote the film) is also a very active participant in WILPF.  We are hoping to do a screening there as well, which will help continue to create interest and buzz for the film while being true to Jeannette and her message.

Foreign Sales Agents...  I'll leave this topic for another day, I've got a lot of studying to do on that score before I have anything of substance to say about it.

Thanks for checking in - please comment here and tell me if you have any leads for my on reps or just want to weigh in on anything!