It hasn’t been easy writing a blog about filmmaking without having a project of my own to show since my 2007 fly-by-night production of The West Side. The main reason for this? I tried to get something made in the studio system. 200 pages of screenplay and twenty-something meetings later, I arrived at the conclusion that I should’ve stuck to the DIY route. However, there’s another reason you haven’t seen a new project from me in a while: I haven’t had access to a camera, to actors, or to much of anything, because I’ve been living out of a suitcase for ten months. Why did I decide to do this — and why do I recommend others do the same? (more…)

Just wanted to share how I got myself to New York. Back to your regularly-scheduled content!

They got paid by one company, and there was an assumption that the company would take care of them, providing health care, a retirement plan, and eventually, some sort of tacky gift to celebrate their 30 years of service.

But this isn’t the case for my generation; I don’t know anyone my age who’s going to work for one company for 30 years. Times have changed and no (large) corporation is going to take care of anyone, except maybe its executives. Indefensible golden parachutes. Fading pension plans. Growing income inequality. The writing is on the wall: it is up to us as individuals to take care of ourselves and forge independent careers.

I did the titles and transitions in After Effects; they’re hand-drawn masks with the “Wiggle – gelatin” behavior applied.

On the web, my name is often misspelled, and in person, no one knows how to pronounce it (even though it’s phonetic). So at the start of the panel I spoke on, Writing for a New Landscape: New Media & Cross-Platform Opportunities, I ripped my name placard down the middle, eliminating the “Bilsborrow.” I placed the two end pieces together, and in doing so, changed my public-facing name to Ryan Koo (I’m not legally changing it). My logic: “In terms of personal branding, you have to have a name that people can spell.”

Mobilizing audiences from project to project is an increasingly important component of realizing a self-sustainable career, so this move seems like a no-brainer. As a filmmaker, or as any kind of artist, your name is more important than any corporate brand. The music industry is learning this the hard way: ”Nobody really cares about Sony records or Universal. You don’t seek out stuff that’s being released on Universal as a fan.” But you do seek out a band or individual’s work. When I saw a recent article that attributed Avatar to “20th Century Fox,” I just shook my head; no one outside of the film business cares that it’s a 20th Century Fox film. They care that it’s a James Cameron film.

Afterward, I opened the guide to read about the next panel, and immediately realized I’d done the right thing: there in the conference guide was my name misspelled as Ryan Kilsborrow-Koo.

[Photo from eisenw]

The second episode of RADAR that I directed and DP’d with Zack is live today. Check out the episode below, and stay tuned to RADAR for future episodes on cutting-edge arts and culture. (more…)

Zack and I directed, and I DP’d, the first episode of RADAR Season 2, which kicks off today with the episode “Undetermined Measurements.” Check out the episode below, and stay tuned to RADAR for future episodes; Zack and I also directed another forthcoming episode in Season 2, and a number of very talented directors helmed the others. Thanks to Lance Weiler, Alex Johnson, Janine Saunders, and the rest of the RADAR crew! (more…)

When I say it that way it looks like we’re featured alongside the industry heavyweights, but there are of course dozens of other panelists, including Rick Allen (pres., Snagfilms), Frida Torresblanco (prod., Pan’s Labyrinth), Gary Hustwit (dir., Helvetica), Lance Weiler (dir., Head Trauma), Barry Jenkins (dir., Medicine for Melancholy) and many others. Check out the schedule of events and get tickets to whatever tickles your fancy. Everyone’s talking these days about the economic hard times indie film has fallen on, and the re-thinking of the market — along with the ongoing developments in digital distribution — should make this a very interesting conference.

Zack and I are on a panel Monday, September 15th at 2:30pm entitled Case Study: Your Film Online. On the panel, we will be talking about our film… online.

Also see the press release and list of alumni.

I’m not sure when I started reading Filmmaker; in high school I subscribed to the similarly-themed The Independent, but at some point made the switch to Filmmaker. By the time I was out of college, I was eyeing the annual New Faces filmmakers with a touch of envy, wondering how I could transition from North Carolina-based corporate videography to New York-based narrative filmmaking.

The answer, I’m sure, is somewhere in here.

Thanks to Scott Macaulay for selecting us (and for writing a very complimentary profile) and to Richard Koek for taking a photo befitting of an Urban Western.

–At the Film & Video Webbys, we were the assholes. Maybe gracious and humble was the way to go, but everyone was saying those things and our speech was at the end of the show, so we went for something more memorable. Sorry, girl.

–The Webby Awards are at an interesting crossroads; they’ve been around for 12 years but are only now on the cusp of becoming well-known. Considering most of us spend more time surfing the web than we do watching TV, viewing movies, reading books, or going to plays, you’d think the web would have an awards show as prestigious as the Oscars, Emmys, etc. The Webbys are certainly the foremost Internet award, but they still have a ways to go.

–To further distinguish the award, the show-runners could axe many of their hundred or so categories, such as “Best Rich Media Advertising: Business-to-Business.” Maybe there really were hundreds of entries in that category. Or maybe there were more like nine entries, five of which were in turn nominated, two of which were then winners (the Webbys add a popular-vote “People’s Voice” award in addition to the judge-determined Webby Award). Add on the Official Honorees distinction and the show starts to feel like “everyone gets a star.” As a nominee (for Best Drama–certainly not a category that would be dropped, I should note), I tried to watch as many as possible of the other nominees, but I couldn’t make it through the 25+ Film and Video categories, not to mention the hundred other Website, Mobile, and Interactive Advertising awards.

–On the other hand, there should be awards for websites in a broad array of categories, given the Internet is such a broad and varied community. I’m not trying to bite the hand that feeds us; we couldn’t be happier about the award itself, or the accompanying shows and events. The boost in interest we’ve gotten because of winning the award will hopefully be career-launching. But it’s also in our best interest to hope the award continues to gain prestige; at the very least, the Webbys need to start prodding their sponsors for a higher percentage of their operating expenses to reduce their reliance on fees from participants (which is the most immediately obvious explanation for why there are so many categories).

–The first act of WALL-E is entrancing. It’s one of the greatest first acts ever committed to digital screens or celluloid film, for children or adults. But (minor spoiler alert) I was jarred by the appearance of actual live human beings in a Pixar film, in the form of Fred Willard no less; I’m still grappling with Stanton, et al’s decision to portray the Earthbound human civilization as a live-action digital video relic, but then 3D-animate the masses of human beings who appear on the spaceship. I get why they did it, but I’m not sure I like it. (That specific decision, I mean; while I think the second half of the film is a bit disjointed, as a whole it nevertheless ranks up there with Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, and The Incredibles as Pixar’s best… and that’s saying a lot).

–At-home high definition is anathema to the movie theater industry; since I bought a cheap HD projector for my apartment, I’ve seldom set foot in a theater. This isn’t a new observation, but I’ll add to the chorus of voices: for $12 a ticket–$35 if you go with a friend and buy popcorn–the theater had better be a vastly superior experience than home, and it’s not. At the very least, the sound and visuals should be unbeatable, but when I eventually get a Blu-ray player, WALL-E will be brighter, sharper, and more colorful on my own wall than it was at the theater. And WALL-E will cost the same to own on disc (digital, re-watchable, with behind-the scenes interviews, commentaries, deleted scenes) as it did to see the analog film reproduction of it projected once in the company of strangers. I hope theaters find a way to right the ship, but at this point it’s simple economics as to why attendance is down (and yes, box office records are still being broken, but that’s due to increased ticket prices and more screens, not increased attendance).

–In other world news, “Mission Accomplished.” We got that oil–oho! And not only mission accomplished for Mr. Bush, in light of gaining control over Iraqi oil through no-bid contracts for American companies worth up to 75% of the country’s profits; also for Mr. Bin Laden, who stated in 2001 after 9/11 that his goal was to get oil to $144/barrel. Last week, it hit $145.85. Congratulations, oil barons/religious zealots! Somehow, you both won.

–On the other hand, neither of them can be blamed for the direction our auto industry took–or, more accurately, didn’t take–in the ’90s. Between 1974 and 1989, fuel efficiency doubled; since then, how much more efficient do you think our cars have gotten? Actually, the question is, how much less efficient have our cars gotten? The average car in 1989 got 27.5 MPG and today the average car gets right around 25. One could point to the fact that a higher percentage of hulking SUVs on the road today lowers the MPG average across the board, but the 1989 Toyota Camry got 27 MPG, while the 2008 Toyota Camry gets… 22. Surely that doesn’t represent 20 years of scientific progress? Granted, there is a hybrid Camry, which gets 34 MPG, but even that only represents a 25% improvement on a 20 year-old relic. As the New York Times points out, this mileage crunch was entirely preventable, and it’s our politicians who are largely to blame–on both sides of the aisle–although it was Republicans who passed a six-year bill in 1995 that expressly forbade the highway administration from spending any money to elevate fuel efficiency. Justify your existence!

–Speaking of which, I’m still waiting for an Obama-Edwards ticket. Pretty crazy: when I wrote that here two years ago, not only was I convinced Clinton was certain to get the nomination and anyone else even having a chance was wishful thinking, but I also had Obama penciled in as a Vice nominee because I didn’t think anyone’s star could rise that fast. Yes We Can!

–I’m excited to announce I’ll be doing television commercials for the McCain campaign.

–Kidding…

–Sorry, this temporarily became the so-not-film-school-that-it’s-politics-school; back to movies.

–The Dark Knight is going to make a metric ton of money, but how much of its opening weekend gross will be inflated by Heath Ledger’s baffling, sobering, premature death? Over the course of its theatrical run, domestically, internationally, including cable TV airings, adding in DVD and Blu-ray sales and all the other ancillaries, how much will the increased interest in the film because of his death end up being “worth?” No one wants to profit from an event like that, and no one wanted it to happen… but it did happen, and people are going to end up being richer because of it. Unsettling.

–As parts of The Dark Knight were actually shot on IMAX film stock–and scanned in at 8k for the DI–this is the film to see in an IMAX theater. So much so, in fact, that I had to buy tickets two weeks ahead of time; even the 2AM, 4AM and 6AM showings that I thought were listing errors on Fandango.com (“they must mean PM, right?”) for opening weekend were sold out. If you’ve been wanting to see a grown man run around in a glorified Halloween costume on an 80-foot screen at 6AM Monday morning on your way to work, now’s your chance.

–This late-night ticket phenomenon was also reported in the pesky New York Times; they somehow manage to beat nofilmschool.com to every story!

–Because I apparently write a lot about Christopher Nolan projects, I’ll keep going on The Dark Knight: my West Side co-director Zack is predicting a $114 million opening weekend, which I initially filed under “just another example of Zack’s boundless and unreasonable optimism,” but I’ve slowly come around to believing he’s on the money. Despite the movie’s dark subject matter, it’s both a sequel and a comic book movie, which collectively dominate the top of the all-time box office charts. At Media Predict, where “trading” ends 30 days before the film opens, the over/under finished at $101.5. We’ll see.

–The Brothers Nolan (Christopher and Jonathan), who have worked together in some form on Memento, The Prestige (one of my favorite films in recent memory, which I attempted to explain as a polemic on the price of religion), and now The Dark Knight, are at the top of their game. (Batman Begins was directed by Christopher, but penned by Blade scribe David S. Goyer, and Christopher’s other studio picture, Insomnia, was adapted from the Norwegian original by Hillary Seitz, an apparently prolific script doctor). So, yes, I’m really looking forward to this massive Hollywood blockbuster; I’ll get off the Nolans’ collective jock now.

–Wait a second, Bush is “pushing” for an average of 31 MPG by 2015?! We were getting 27 MPG in 19-fucking-89 and a mandated 12% improvement over 26 years is being called “aggressive”!?

–Sorry. I don’t own a car and I live in a city where mass transportation is readily available, so I’m allowed to be incredulous. If you’re in the market for a car and care about these things, however, you may be wondering which is better for the planet: a new Prius or a used compact sedan.

–Our screening and panel at IFC Center was a great experience and is covered a bit here and here. It was great to meet and chat with the other participants, and I was surprised at how well The West Side’s visuals held up on the big screen. As for the panel, I learned for the hundredth time that I’m much more coherent in writing, with or without editing, than I am when talking. Good thing this isn’t a podcast.

–If the most common approach for an aspiring filmmaker to break into the industry in the ’50s and ’60s was to get a studio apprenticeship, if the path in the ’70s and ’80s was to go to film school, if the path in the ’90s and ’00s was to direct music videos and commercials, the ’10s and ’20s will see the internet become the most prolific source of new talent. And not just for people who can film a video of their cat mowing their lawn; legitimate directors at the highest echelons of the industry will be most commonly discovered via their hitting the “Upload” button.

–That’s about as self-interested a statement as you’ll find. But you are, after all, at nofilmschool.com.

–On the other hand, reading about The Wire’s Ed Burns and how much of the greatest television show in history was informed by his personal life, one gets to thinking about how much more important real-world experiences are than anything they can teach you in a school, much less a film school. I’ve successfully avoided paying a lot of money to incubate in a film classroom, but on the other hand I’ve been stuck in a cubicle day in and out and haven’t traveled outside the country in two years. Day jobs are a bitch.

–Thus the name of our nascent production company: Exit Strategy.

Here, the nitty-gritty from our press release:

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – MAY 6, 2008 – The 12th Annual Webby Awards today named The West Side as Best Drama Series of 2008. The show is self-produced by co-creators Ryan Bilsborrow-Koo and Zachary Lieberman.

Described as an “Urban Western,” The West Side transforms contemporary New York City into a unique, alternate universe by melding together elements from two disparate film genres: the grit of an urban setting with the tradition of the American Western. Presented in episodic form on the Internet at http://thewestside.tv, the show is written, directed, produced, shot, edited, and designed by Bilsborrow-Koo and Lieberman.

“This award is a perfect example of the opportunity the Internet represents for truly independent filmmakers to showcase their abilities,” said Bilsborrow-Koo. Added Lieberman, “for the judges to recognize the quality and ambition of our show is a great honor.”

Bilsborrow-Koo and Lieberman will be honored at the star-studded Webby Film & Video Awards in New York City on June 9th.

–

More here.

The West Side has been nominated for Best Drama Series at the 2008 Webby Awards, which are the “Oscars of the Internet” according to the New York Times. With only two episodes up (as we just posted the third this week), we somehow bested 80 episodes of the Michael Eisner-backed Prom Queen—along with some other undoubtedly better-funded shows—for a nomination.

While it’s up to the judges to determine who wins amongst the five nominees, there’s also a People’s Voice award determined by… well, people. If you consider yourself a person, please head on over to the voting site, complete their quick registration, and cast us a vote!

And no, there would be no way to gerrymander the internet without some sort of convoluted system of awarding delegates per district instead of the overall popular vote, but I just wanted to use one of my favorite words. Unlike certain other ongoing elections, at least you know if you cast your ballot for us in the Webbys that your vote has no chance of being discarded by a superdelegate.