360DigitalInfluence

The films are great at this year’s Sundance Festival, of course. Filmmakers and fans come to Park City knowing that they should be given the rigorous selection process for dramas, documentaries, and short films. What I am most impressed by, however, is the emphasis on social media from attendees and organizers alike. I’m not just talking about the #sundance hashtag; text update alerts, cohesive blog coverage and multimedia commentary about the challenges the industry faces have been integral in differentiating this week from past festivals.

Frank conversations about changing distribution models have been simulcast due to high demand for panels about artists’ digital rights and the increasing use of online channels as Americans spending fewer dollars in theaters. Studio heads and first time filmmakers alike have expressed their concerns about their ability to be profitable following a recent observation from former Miramax head and Sundance panelist Mark Gill that that “the sky is falling” on independent film.

CinemaTech blogger Scott Kirsner used the New Frontier multimedia series to point out the importance of online community building for filmmakers who opt of signing deals with major studios. Two companies at the festival that have been mentioned as options for artists looking to gain broader fan bases online are the crowdsourced film finance community IndieGoGo and the market and forum IndieFlix.

On the topic of marketing, Webby Awards founder Tiffany Shlain was asked how filmmakers can intelligently promote their work and short films in particular. She praised Creative Commons’ licensing options for creative work, and it was surprising to see that only half the crowd of producers and directors said they were familiar with the free set of tools that the nonprofit offers.

Kara Swisher of the Wall Street Journal’s All Things D introduced her conversation with the “Icons of the Digital Age,” including the founders and CEOs of Hulu, Netflix, and Google’s video service, as timely given that Internet video is preparing to “eat the lunch” of traditional film distribution. The impact that audiences choosing to watch films on portable screens and for free on sites like BitTorrent can’t be overestimated, and it’s refreshing to hear journalists, artists, and film studio heads acknowledge the changing arena in ways that the record industry has failed to.

The film blog Spout’s analysis of the drastic changes to the film landscape provided a perfect synopsis of the conversations so far: “A movie lover’s passion for film doesn’t recognize boundaries between Hollywood blockbusters, unsung independent achievements and viral clips from YouTube.”