COPPER POT AT IFP FILMMAKER CONFERENCE

How have I not been to the IFP Filmmaker Conference before?  It’s such a wealth of resources and people right in our own backyard.  This week I was lucky enough to spend a few days at the conference and took five meetings with industry insiders during their Meet the Decision Makers day.  Overall, I’m very impressed with how much information is available and how well the conference was put together.  Rose, the producer of the event, kept sessions on time and flowing and programmed an event of relevant panels that did a great job of arming independent filmmakers with pertinent information to help them in a challenging and ever changing industry.  Here are a few of my most memorable take-a-ways.

Number One – DO WORK!

A major theme of all panels and all meetings was that now more than ever, the filmmaker needs to work their ass off in a number of disciplines if they hope to get their movie made and seen.  I know this doesn’t seem like a revelation but to many it was.  Obviously making a good independent movie takes a ridiculous amount of work, but that’s just where the work begins.  These days a successful indie creator not only has to be a great filmmaker, but also must serve as a financial wiz, die hard marketer, social networker, distribution expert, designer, web specialist, festival guru, travel agent and more.  All this obviously leaves many filmmakers wondering when they’re going to all this work.  Unfortunately, there’s no good answer here and this means that many great films will get made that are never seen because no one is doing the legwork beyond getting the movie made.  Don’t let this happen to you.  If you’ve gone through the trouble of dedicating your life (and probably your wallet) to making your film, don’t stop there.  Keep working.  Ask favors, read books, send the emails, make the calls, go to IFP, make connections, all in an effort to get your movie seen by as many people as possible.

Number Two – Stay Current.

I was about to say, lots of things are changing, but that’s not true.  Everything is changing.  In the film world and more specifically the indie film world, nothing is as it was ten or even five years ago.  Distribution, finance, production techniques, equipment; everything in our realm is different and will probably be different again by the time I get this post up.  Do whatever you have to do to stay up to date with it all.  I’m buried in the indie film world and yet I somehow hadn’t been introduced to TUGG or Slated.  Two great emerging technologies that stand to really have a positive impact on our industry.  It’s a great example as to why events like IFP’s Filmmaker Conference are so important.   Read more, connect more, talk more to your peers, not to mention establish more relationships with your peers, so you can have a fighting chance of keeping up with the evolution of this business.

Number Three – It takes a Village.

The natural culmination of number one and number two is that you have a better chance at success if you don’t go it alone.  Surround yourself with great people.  It’s the same with any endeavor really so this comes as no surprise either, but the indie films that succeed have great teams behind them.  Often times we get caught up in our own projects and because we dedicate so much time, money, effort, etc into birthing these screen gems, we have a hard time letting others in.  Do it.  Take a step back.  Accept help.  Seek it out.  The more people who are experts in their own field that you can involve in your project, the better.

The room fills up as another panel is about to begin. 

So while those tid-bits give you a few things to think about, let me also pass along a couple concrete and actionable pieces of advice that were echoed on more than one occasion during IFP.

• You need to be fanatical about growing your email list.  This is essential for when you want to rally your audience when you have a finished film.
• If you’re creating a film you must have a Facebook page for that film.  Having a robust Twitter following is a plus too.
• If you’re blessed to get into a top tier festival like Sundance or TIFF, hiring a publicist for the event is a must.

There is certainly more to be gained from IFP’s Independent Filmmakers Conference than I can offer up here, so next year you should plan to go.  In the meantime, IFP has been generous enough to post up videos of all of the panels this year so check them out.

REFLECTING ON OUR FIRST TRIP TO EGYPT

It was just over three months ago that we traveled to Egypt for the first time.  We were there filming WE MUST GO, our documentary about the national soccer team and its American ex-pat coach Bob Bradley as they try to get back to the World Cup for the first time since 1990.  Truthfully, we didn’t know too much about the country then.  By no means did our short trip to Cairo and Alexandria make us experts, but it did give us all some wonderful experiences which have shaped how we’ve viewed the country.

Do we have a full grasp on the complexities of Egyptian politics?  No.  Not even close.  Can we offer intelligent solutions to the issues the country faces?  Definitely not.  Can we even speak more than a handful of Arabic words?  Nope.  Yet, we’re compelled to reflect a bit about our experiences in Egypt as they just don’t line up with the images we’re seeing of people burning flags at the US Embassy in Cairo.

If you follow our blog, you know that WE MUST GO took us to Tahrir Square in the hours after former president Hosni Mubarak was sentenced to prison.  We entered Tahrir intimidated, not knowing what to expect or how we would be received.  But what we found was a passionate rally and a warm welcome.  We were there to add to the country’s narrative and our mission was appreciated.  Men and women stopped us, painted the Egyptian flag on our arms and thanked us for coming (and we thanked them for having us).  The reception was nothing like what has unfolded at the Embassy over the last day.  As the images of men scaling the walls and tearing down the US flag have filtered to us, I can’t help but think of witnessing Clay’s exchange with a man in Tahrir.  At the time, we wrote:

“Many protesters spoke only Arabic, but managed to communicate even though we spoke only English.  Clay had one of the most defining moments of the day, or perhaps the trip, when two young men offered to help him get a better vantage point to shoot from.  They stood on top of a giant flowerpot and reached down to pull him up.  One spoke no English whatsoever while the other spoke enough to get by.  In halting English, he translated for his friend who told Clay to look at his face and, specifically, his beard.  He told Clay that men that look like him do not hate Americans.  They welcome us.  It seems he was as aware of the images we see back home as we were.

For me, that experience was symbolic for our time in Tahrir.  We had come to expect one thing, but found something completely different.   Admittedly, this is still probably an overly naïve and simplistic view of what was happening today.  There are complex political issues at play, issues which we’ve only just begun to understand.  It’s impossible to grasp a new country and its people and culture in four days and we won’t pretend that we have.  Are we more connected to what the people are going through?  Maybe.  Are we more compelled to continue to try to understand?  Absolutely.”

We can’t dissect what’s happening in Egypt at the moment, we can only reflect upon what our experience was.  We’d rather focus on moments like Clay’s interaction in Tahrir instead of the tense images being transmitted home and the vitriol being spewed on message boards.  While the extremists are the ones the media focuses on, our experience has shown us that the country isn’t populated by flag-burning protesters who hate America, just like America isn’t full of people who believe Islam is evil.

Someone yesterday asked me if we’d be returning to Egypt amidst all of these protests.  Without hesitation, I answered, “Of course.”  And why wouldn’t we?  Everywhere we went, we were welcomed by friendly, hard-working people trying to navigate the complexities of post-revolution life–they’re just not the ones that make the news.  Naïve or not, that’s the Egypt we know and believe in.  We remain as compelled as ever to try to understand what the people of Egypt are going through so we can create an accurate portrait of the country in WE MUST MUST GO.

WE MUST GO AND KEI: MEMORABLE MOMENTS

Shooting documentaries has taken all of us at Copper Pot Pictures around the world.  In this blog post, we celebrate a few of the most memorable moments from our time in Africa while shooting WE MUST GO and KEI.  Below, we’ve shared some raw footage from these moments.  Why would we show the raw footage and not the final shot?  We’re hoping that, just maybe, all of the camera jiggles and focus adjustments that didn’t make it into the final films will help give you a greater sense of what it was like being there on the day.

WE MUST GO – BALL BOYS AT EGYPT vs MOZAMBIQUE:

Our most recent trip to Africa took us to Egypt where we began documenting Coach Bob Bradley’s incredible story (to learn more visit the WE MUST GO website).  We love this moment.  While playing their first game back in Egypt since the horrific Port Said riots which left 74 dead (a game that had no fans in the stadium for security reasons), our cameraman focused in on these two ball boys who were just super excited to see the match.

WE MUST GO  – TAHRIR FROM THE ROOFTOPS

While shooting our Bob Bradley doc, we found ourselves in Tahrir Square on the same day that Hosni Mubarak was sentenced.  Tensions were high–it was incredible.  Our B camera crew scurried to the rooftops to try to capture the scale of the gathering.  Check out this video of them coming down from their perch.

WE MUST GO  – THE 74 HONORED IN TAHRIR

As night fell, we noticed a new group coming into Tahrir.  They were the Ultras: a zealous football supporter club.  They waved a huge flag with the number 74 on it.  Contained within those numbers were the 74 names of the people who died in the Port Said riot, which has been called the worst football catastrophe in Egyptian  history.

KEI – KIDS EMERGING FROM THE GRASS

While in Sierra Leone filming with Kei Kamara, we happened upon an empty pitch.  We were filming the rocky field when these kids emerged, not unlike Shoeless Joe Jackson in FIELD OF DREAMS, from the grass.

KEI –  KIDS PLAYING PICK UP

These same kids then put on a display of skill of which none of us could have expected – especially because of the condition of the field and the fact that most of them played barefoot.

KEI  – RUNNING OUT ON THE PITCH

Possibly the most amazing experience of our documentary lives – running through the tunnel and then out onto the pitch before the Leone Stars vs Egypt African Cup of Nations match.  Fun fact: it was actually the last game before Bob Bradley took over as the coach of Egypt.  We are glad that we shot this in slow motion, but are bummed because when you shoot this way, you can’t record audio.  It was the loudest we’d ever heard a stadium.  The camera work stumbles a bit as our camera man loses focus of his subject and gets wrapped up in the epic moment.