MY CAPS LOCK IS ON Producing independent film in Seattle, Los Angeles and beyond.

SIFF Panels

Well, I looked over the SIFF panels and classes and here's my unofficial guide to attending them. Basically, I noted which seemed like good ideas for the bulk of us NW filmmakers, and which seemed like useless pieces of crap.

Screenings & Events

Attainable HD
Wednesday, June 06, NOON
SIFF Cinema

This is really the only useful non-job-specific class offered. It supposedly covers the differences in the various digital formats and gives you workflow advice. As usual, the class is held at a time when most indie filmmakers will be unable to attend because they have REAL DAY JOBS. Thanks.

Events

Screenwriters Salon: TheFilmSchool
Master Class: Writing the NW Indie
Saturday, May 26, 11:00 AM
Northwest Film Forum

Yuh-huh. What? Read the description and try to tell me that they aren't basically trying to tell you that only writers who go through the Film School will get their scripts produced through the NW Production Market. The faculty is so well versed on writing that the event description doesn't even fit the allotted word count! It's billed as writing the "NW Indie" but really it's all about writing a good script, regardless of location. Save yourself the trouble and send your script to an experienced reader who can point out your flaws and strengths.

Casting Crash - A Case Study
Saturday, June 02, 2:00 PM
Northwest Film Forum

Bo-ring! Another example of Hollywood telling indies how to make movies. Sure, if you had the budget and the clout of Hollywood's top producers you could get a cast like Crash had too!

Variety Panel - Digital Distribution: Fantasy Or Reality?
Saturday, June 16, 10:00 AM
Northwest Film Forum

This sounds like an interesting panel and is on my short list of ones to attend. Unfortunately a one-hour class just is not long enough for a topic that could envelop an entire weekend devoted to it. My guess is that, once again, you'll hear stories of how mega-million movies (or movies with mega-million dollar marketing departments behind them) made it to the online world. You'll also no doubt hear about technology that may be years away and still financially out of reach of the average indie. Still, distribution is such an important part of the indie business plan that it would behoove you to try and make this one.

Variety Panel - The Impact Of The Internet On Movie Coverage
Saturday, June 16, 11:30 AM
Northwest Film Forum

Who cares? Nowhere in this panel description do I see how it would help an indie or make things more accessible for indie filmmakers, so skip this one.

Evolution of Music in Film
Saturday, June 16, 4:00 PM
Broadway Performance Hall

Again... BO-RING. I mean if you like music, awesome. I do, too. But who cares about whether they use popular music or more traditional orchestral scores? Again, it's a panel about how the rich kids play and not about how the indies can compete. Skip.

There you have it, my unofficial guide to SIFF panels for 2007. Enjoy!