Friday, December 4, 2009

The Globetrotting Future Weather Gals


The Future Weather team has been traveling across the country in the continuing journey to get the film we so passionately believe in to the big screen. Last month, Jenny was at the Nantucket Screenwriter's colony, which was part of her Showtime Tony Cox Screenwriting Award. While she spent time meeting screenwriters and revisiting the script, I flew to California for the Film Independent (FIND) Producer's Lab. Before the Lab began, I was invited to attend FIND's Filmmaker Forum. The Forum is a 3-day event bringing together studio executives, distributors and filmmakers to discuss the state of independent film.

The message was not always a hopeful one as the prospects for funding and distributing independent film are suffering alongside the big studios popcorn features. The good news is that quality indie films are still finding their way to the marketplace. The best way to ensure that Future Weather will make it there is to continue staying informed on the state of the industry and adapting to the changing landscape. We got a great start to doing just that during the seven-week FIND Producer's Lab.

Film Independent selects ten filmmakers each year to attend the Lab where the Fellows are introduced to advisors who give valuable feedback on their projects. The goal of the Lab is to help the filmmakers get their projects into production by refining their budget, schedule and financing plans. Previous Lab projects have included the 2009 release Amreeka, which won honors at the Cannes film festival and was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance.

This has been an exciting month in our filmmaking journey! We learned so much during our travels about how to survive and flourish in the new state of indie film. Stay tuned over the coming weeks as we will be updating the blog with all the tidbits of information we picked up along the way.

Happy Fall!

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