An Independent film is a feature film which is produced mostly or completely outside of the major film studio system. Some of our best and most popular films––American Beauty, To Kill A Mockingbird, Pulp Fiction, Monty Python and the Holy Grail and Psycho, to name a few,––were Independent films. Independent films are sometimes distinguishable by their content and style and the way in which the filmmakers' personal artistic vision is realized. Usually, but not always, independent films are made with considerably lower film budgets than major studio films. In what promises to be a fascinating presentation, New York Film Critics series producer Mark Ehrenkranz, will provide us with an inside look at independent films: their conception and development, packaging and financing, production, marketing and much more.
The discussion will include the process of developing an idea to taking a film to market and everything in between. Mark will explore the developmental stages of how to plan, write a screenplay, how to package a project and how to fund it. Once a film is fully or partially funded, what must a filmmaker do to begin production and finish post production? Upon completion of a project, how does a filmmaker market it and premiere it at festivals and screenings? Once a movie has a mode of distribution strategy so that audiences may see it, the process continues with PR, marketing and managing the revenue. This talk will explore the entire lifespan—one that has been compared to bearing offspring from baby to adult and the various cycles with which a project experiences for both the movie fan and or professional.