Washington Heights Film Society

Fifth Form and I were invited to screen on Saturday night, March 16th as part of  the Washington Heights Film Society's Meet the Filmmaker series.  Q&A moderated by critic George Robinson to follow.

Details to follow.

Wide Release

It doesn't get any wider than releasing on the ol Internet and that's where Fifth Form is at long last.  You can find us on Indieflix.com.  Please like the film (in the FB sense, that is) when you get there.  And join the FB group to tell everyone what you thought.  Feedback is much appreciated.

Enjoy and thank you for supporting Indieflix.com, a great site for independent film and Fifth Form, a great independent film!

Ode to Etta James

At Last.....I got word from Indieflix that Fifth Form is set to be live on their site on Oct. 2.  Let everybody know!

It's been a Long Time

From the triumphant world of filmmaking to the dirty and decrepit world of film distribution. No doubt, "mistakes were made" on my part but that does not forgive the ineptitude and borderline criminality that I have come across. Our producer's rep, after, relative to our budget, receiving a hefty down payment proceeded to do, what, I'll never know. They finally "sold" the film to another middle man who would further slice and dice what profit there may be. In other words, the producer's rep didn't sell to a distributor, they sold to a sales agent who would then sell to a distributor.

This sales agent has now gone out of business. I guess. As has their parent company. I guess. I don't know for sure because I never received any correspondence from them and have not been able to reach anyone at either of these companies. In the meantime, I have been contacted by another company that wanted money upfront to "sell" my film and, being considerably more wary this time, questioned and questioned and was unable to find out who had even seen my film or where.

I am embarrassed that I fell for the gambit the first time around but it is a desperate game with a lot of players and very few winners and our producer's rep did seem like our best shot to get our film seen at all. I was wrong. They are still out there so if you're googling Ostrow and Company because your film was just in a festival and you've gotten an enthusiastic email or phone call because you heard from them, I hope your search lands you here. As for Trillian and Media 8, don't worry about them, they've run for the border.

Incidentally, I did try and contact my producer's rep for an update on Trillian et al and never received a response. I have now turned my attention to Indieflix.com and hope to have good news soon that Fifth Form will finally be available online.

Last Week and The Future

Our screening last week went very well. Good crowd. Lots of laughter and a substantive Q&A. I love hearing people who have seen it before say that they liked it even more the second time. That is one of the most gratifying compliments I can get.

I'm expecting another good house at our screening next month in Philadelphia.

I've also been lining up teaching jobs and will be leading several summer film camp sessions through the Austin Film Festival and an Adult Film History class through the JCAA. So, if you or your kids are interested, let me know and I can point you in the right directions.

New Initiative

Trillian called yesterday and has chosen Fifth Form to be part of their new sales initiative. They're streamlining their distribution process so that everything can take place online and should be sending out a focused package of films to about a thousand different outlets within the next two months.

The head of distribution described the process like this, "Once everything's online, it will be like getting a DVD on Amazon. DVD and TV distributors will just have to click on our site and we'll have everything available for them." Their parent company, Media 8, has put a lot of manpower and financial muscle behind this and I'm hoping that Fifth Form will be more widely available soon.

Hometown Screening

Couldn't be happier with how last night's event at the Harrisburg JCC turned out. Wonderful job promoting it by the Jewish Festival Director and the Patriot-News. If you haven't seen the article, the link is on the film's facebook page. Many positive responses from 15 and 80 year olds. Apparently the film has broad appeal.