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Dear FCC: No Special Favors to Hollywood!
Chad Bergeron

The only thing stopping Hollywood from releasing movies to VOD earlier is… Hollywood. They could do it if they wanted to. There’s no law stopping them, there’s not technical limitation.

They’ve imposed an artificial limitation as a lever to get what they want. If there were actual serious demand for movies on VOD sooner, I seriously doubt Hollywood would leave the money lying on the table.

Conference Report: “The Conversation: The Future of Cinema, Games and Online Video: New Tools, New Distribution, New Rules”
Vicki Callahan

A report from this conference that discussed strategies of change and survival in our ever shifting media landscape.

Distributing with Abundance
Katy Chevigny
Media distribution, and its quicksilver changeability over the last few years, dominated the conversation on a wide range of NAMAC panels at last month’s conference. It started the first morning, when Rick Linklater, asked by Janet Pierson to assess the state of affairs today, conceded that it’s both the best of times and the worst of times for independent makers.
Microcinemas Meet Macroeconomics: The siren call of DVD lures alternative exhibitors into distribution
Shari Kizirian

Hollywood claims that more than three billion dollars are lost each year to pirates who illegally copy VHS tapes or burn DVDs for the home market. So fierce is the concern over black market revenue losses that the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) agreed to provide screeners to Academy members (who vote on Oscar nominations) only if they sign a pledge that the tapes would be strictly for personal use. Screeners on DVD, a format that has supplanted VHS as the industry standard, were not offered as an option.

SHIFT
Larry Daressa

The following sketches ideas which will be developed more fully in a forthcoming article on California Newsreel's 30th Anniversary and its implications for independent social change film production and distribution. The author is Co-director of California Newsreel but the views expressed here do not reflect those of California Newsreel.

I suppose, in the overused parlance of the time, this should be an occasion to "celebrate" California Newsreel and its 30th anniversary. Age, however, disposes me towards more sober and sobering reflections.

The Living Documentary: Journey Across the US
Dorthea Braemer
One late evening while editing, we members of the Termite TV Collective decided to go on a roadtrip across the United States and spend all of our time shooting and making videos along the way. We were tired of always squeezing our video work in between other jobs and commitments. We wanted to see new things, explore America, and see what was going on out there with our own eyes. We called this journey "The Living Documentary," and for awhile we carried this idea in our heads like a crazy but precious dream.

But you are probably wondering, who is Termite TV?

Report of the NAMAC 2003 Youth Media Salon
Dave Yanofsky
The National Alliance for Media Arts and Culture s Youth Media Initiative includes activities to share and disseminate promising practices from youth media organizations across the United States. Over three weeks in July, nearly 100 youth media professionals participated in an online salon to share stories from the field. Participants focused on the state of youth media, as well as on specific challenges and success stories from the field.
Distributing Independent Media: A Report From NAMAC's Online Salon
Chris Kennedy
During the months of February and March of this year, NAMAC convened an email salon, moderated by distribution and marketing consultant Steve Ladd, to discuss the future of independent media distribution. With the rapid development of digital technology making even the immediate future difficult to map out, the salon was seen as an opportunity to trade ideas and strategies about distribution in the face of this change.