S. Leo Chiang was in town to present his new documentary film, “A Village Called Versailles” at the Asian Arts Initiative that night.

It was only a two two hour class, and should’ve been longer. Here’s my notes from the class.

Notes from Master Class with S. Leo Chiang (http://www.newday.com/filmmakers/Leo_Chiang.html)

Frontline World – a short version of “A Village Called Versailles” was commissioned by them.

In the educational market shorter films are good b/c they allow for screening and discussion time in class.

20-30% of proceeds go to a filmmaker from an educational film distributor

Generally, there is a 1-year cycle of outreach and getting the film out there once the film is completed. Although there is plenty of outreach work to do during the production phase.

(I need a link to TWN on my homepage for Finding Common Ground in New Orleans.

In production, filmmakers should build contacts.

Distributors often have two tiered pricing for the educational and community markets.

“Under Our Skin” has had a successful outreach campaign, good website, and positive feedback.

Producing a discussion guide may be a bonus for educators and give the film a possible advantage over similar titles out there.

Groundspark – “respect for all” project. 4 films, so far, in a series about tolerance for LGBT and alternative families. The filmmaker created a nonprofit to ‘house’ the films and generate support for the films to be used as educational tools.

Filmmakers and distributors often use a fulfillment processor, such as Transit Media. They take the orders, do customer service and ship out the order.

Mailing lists & email lists: MDR provides lists of educational institutions and individuals for a fee. Rents lists of individuals at schools – for example a targeted list to A/V librarians or specific professors.

Email harvesting. On the ethical / non-ethical border? What are the legal ramifications?

One can / should collect email lists from friends and associates who belong to professional groups, such as a society for sociologists, etc…

Postcard mail campaign cost upwards of $5000 for 10,000 postcards. And a 3% response rate is considered good.

Mailing postcards is oldschool. But printing postcards for screenings and business purposes is still a good idea.

He’s used tracking through giving out promo codes for purchase.

Email list companies include: iContact, Constant Contact and Vertical Response. They charge in different ways. Constant Contact charges per contact in your online database. Vertical Response

charges per email address you send out – you buy in bulk $10.00 per 1,000 email address.

It’s important to gather contacts in various fields and then get quotes from, ideally, prominent professors, etc… in terms of the educational market. Different quotes for home distro.

Academic journals may review films – so it’s a good idea to get in touch with them to see if your film would be of interest to review. They are very selective though.

Also good to try and get a review in places like Booklist or Video Librarian trade journals.

Present or propose to do a panel or workshop on your film. Do a co-presentation with an academic. Could be costly because of travel to the conference, plus attendance and stay. But sometimes worth the investment.

University screenings are great. Ask the hosting professors or organization to request that the university buy a copy for their library. If present, could get an honorarium and travel reimbursement.

Ask folks to post to listservs.

New Day Films – a filmmakers’ cooperative for distribution. Need to apply. Also important to have money to foot your own distribution / outreach related costs. Potentially a lot of work is still involved. You are expected to do all the legwork in getting your film ‘out there.’ But provides a supportive community and network. They take care of distribution logistics. Now doing streaming video.

I began by tagging along with a middle-aged couple, both proud dumpster-diving artists and subversives.  I recorded our brief adventure with my still camera and audio recorder.  Here are the photos:

I was also excited that my son, Noam, got to meet them.  He had a lot of fun playing around with Angela’s interactive flash / video piece – which can be seen below.

Try. I just finished listening to Anna Deavere Smith’s book on CD Letters to a Young Artist: Straight-Up Advice on Making a Life in the Arts while driving to pick up noam. It’s a self-help survival manual written in the form of personal letters to a fictional reader named “B.Z.,” a high school-age painter who is struggling to gain support for an art program. The title is a play on Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet.

Deavere Smith’s Letters is a kick-in-the-ass. It is uplifting yet unafraid of grittiness. She encourages readers to get-going, practice practice practice, to exercise, concentrate, find mentors and press palms. On the other, it is written with a mentor’s parent-like tough love. At times, she releates conversations with people who she has connected with through her research for acting, play writing or social life. For instance, she quotes a bull rider whose determination astounds her. She feigns a rough, masculine voice and says, “you’ve got to ride with all the try you got.” Or something to that effect. Personally, I think her character acting voices ingratiating. It would, for me, be more effective if she spoke in her normal voice – which on its own sounds New Yorker, ex-smokery.

While the theater is her milieau, the book is equally appropriate for any type of artist trying to make it in the world. And to the author, “making it” does not have to mean monetarily. She shared a story about a long-time friend of hers who works half of the year at a fancy french restaurant and spends the rest of the time traveling around the world.

Artistically and professionally speaking, Deavere Smith herself is very successful on many levels. She is a well recognized performer, has taught at highly regarded universites, done speaking tours, started an organization called the Institute on the Arts and Civic Dialogue. On top of all that she was granted a MacArthur “genius” award among other notable funding. Beyond that, she seems confident, super hard-working, and friendly but fierce. I’d love to sit-in on a class of hers, ’cause being that she teaches at NYU’s Tisch School, you know those courses cost an arm and a leg.

Ultimately the book is beneficial because I need the kind of encouragement that she offers. I think I should listen to it a second time.