All About Indie Filmmaking: Change Is Afoot in the Sundance Landscape

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Change Is Afoot in the Sundance Landscape

Geoff Gilmore, the longstanding leader of the Sundance Film Festival, is moving on from his leadership role as Chief Programmer at Sundance to take on a leadership role as Chief Creative Officer at Tribeca Enterprises.

This is not a lateral move for Gilmore. He's not moving as Chief Programmer of Sundance to become Chief Programmer of the Tribeca Film Festival. Rather, he will be running the parent company of the Tribeca Film Festival and guiding Tribeca Enterprises' overall content on a global level.

What will this mean for both Sundance and Tribeca? Will Sundance become smaller and more intimate without Gilmore's presence? Will the Tribeca Film Festival suddenly feature less mainstream-type films and go for the more auteur indie films. We won't know for a while but rest assured change is afoot on both coasts due to Gilmore's move.

Gilmore claims he wanted to move back to NY and that is the reason for the shift. I can't blame him. I love NY and threaten to move back daily. It's not that LA isn't lovely and a great place to be; there's just a magnetism about NY. It's hard to stay away for too long.

One things is for sure: I'm glad Gilmore will still be in the indie film community. At least he didn't leave Sundance to go run Warner Bros. We need people like Gilmore to help keep indie films on everyone's radar and provide platforms for launching our babies. This next year is going to be very interesting...

No comments:

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Filmmaking Terms

Abby Singer - The second to last set up of the last shot of the day.
Adaptation - A screenplay based on a written work, such as book or short story.
Attachment - Verbal or written agreement attaching talent to a film project.
Day Out of Days - Calendar detailing the days each actor will work on the film.
DDACS - Detailed Dialogue Action Continuity Script
Deal Memo - Short form deal between film production and cast or crew.
Development - The period in which the screenplay is finalized for pre-production and other key elements, like financing, cast, and crew, may be attached.
Digital Intermediate - The process of digitizing a 35mm or 16mm film print, resulting in a digital version of the film that can be corrected and from which a final output to film or tape is made.
HD - High Definition; a higher resolution than standard definition.
High or Low Hat - A camera mount that allows for filming low angles.
Magazine - Lightproof film container that attaches to the camera and holds both exposed and unexposed film.
Martini Shot - Final set up of the last shot of the day.
One Liner Schedule - Shooting schedule condensed with each day's schedule on one line.
Pay or Play Offer - An offer from the producer to talent stating that the talent will either be paid or played (required to perform) by a certain date.
Pick Ups - New shots to be filmed that were not part of the original shot list.
Post Production - The period following principal photography in which the film or TV episode is completed.
Pre-Production - Often referred to as Pre-Pro; the preparation period prior to principal photography.
Principal Photography - The primary period of shooting the film or TV episode.
Production Draft - The version of the script that is used during film production.
Reshoot - A period of filming during which shots of the movie or TV show are re-filmed.
Screenplay - A script for a movie or TV show.
Script Breakdown - Detailed list of items and people needed for each scene in the script, from which a schedule and budget are made.
Shooting Schedule - Detailed schedule of principal photography, including lists of items needed from each department.
Shot List - List of shots to be filmed during principal photography.