This year's Vimeo Festival + Awards screened a bevy of award-winning awesome videos (many of which we featured here on NFS), and also featured a number of workshops, panels, and the like. I showed up on one panel as a sort-of surprise guest, joining Brian Newman (who recently guest-posted here) to talk about "the art of getting paid." Whether it's an art or not, in the independent film world getting paid at all can sometimes feel like a triumph, and so we talk about many different approaches, including web series, merchandising, Kickstarter, this web site, and more. The full panel is below.
First, however, since the panel is on "the art of getting paid," allow me to use this space to present not just the official Vimeo blurb, but also a paid advertisement (wink wink):
If you want to make a living doing what you love, you need a plan. At the 2012 Vimeo Festival, fundraising expert Brian Newman and maverick filmmaker Ryan Koo sat down for a practical discussion designed to help career-minded creators. Their candid back-and-forth touched on lots of moolah-related topics, including where the money is, how to make smart sacrifices, and what self-promotion skills come in handy as you try to drum up dollars.
Sweet, I'm a "maverick filmmaker!" Here's the panel in full. It's long -- play it in a window while you do something else (preferably something you're paid to do).
Were we "on topic" enough? It was a challenge to navigate the conversation away from focusing entirely on my Kickstarter experience, especially given so many filmmakers are thinking about running their own campaign, but I tried to stress the kind of experimentation I talked about in the No Film School manifesto -- all of which, two years later, still applies. I hope something in there was useful! Any tips of your own for getting that money?
