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News from Sundance: Kara Miller's Sundance Diary
Kara Miller sends us news from Sundance
Tue, 12 Sep 2006
...ends today!...
The Script Factory Writers’ Group - a select group of particularly talented writers who joined us for masterclasses during 2003/04 - included a number of screenwriters who are fast building a promising career. Two of them – Alex Rose and Kara Miller – are in Sundance this week screening their films.
In a Script Factory first, Kara is sending us a daily blog to let us know how it feels to be a first-timer on the A-list festival circuit!
Friday 21 Jan 2005
Flew to the US via Atlanta. Darned long flight but I'm beaming. I'm on my way to Sundaaaaaaance film festival! Yeehi!
US immigration: I'm a Jamaican who now has a UK passport too. Once they scan it and see that I'm Jamaican usually I have a hard time entering the US. NOT THIS TIME... When I told the immigration officer that I was here with a film... It was like it was, just for a moment, party time! It might sound small but to me it was 'woah'! The immigration officer welcomed me in to the States smiling.
Kara Miller enjoys the bright lights at her first Sundance
I arrive at my lodging before midnight. It's effectively an army barracks. There's a girls' dorm and a boys' dorm - bunkbeds and I'm happy to be here.
Saturday 22 Jan 2005
The Director's brunch at Sundance Village
Food galore. Everything you can think of / dream of. Acres of tables with the most exquisite platters. Lawd. On my filmmaker's budget this is much appreciated. Then, flipping heck, there he was... Robert Redford. So close I could touch him. He began to tell a story to us about how he tried to get an indie film off the ground after Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and back then, even though a studio was helping him, nothing happened with the movie because there was no market for indies and so they dumped it. And that was when he thought – ‘you know what I'm going to create a market for it. I'm going to create a forum for indies to thrive’. And here it was. I was pretty inspired because what I saw up there was a man who'd dug deep into his own pocket and heart to help others.
Weird. I was sitting in the same room as Tarantino and Soderbergh and a whole host of others had done in the past (this was also the place where the Sundance Labs are held). One filmmaker told me he'd spent the whole brunch sitting beside Tom Vinterberg (Festen, Dear Wendy) and it was amazing. I know anything is possible. Because I'm here. Sitting in this room. Dreaming is believing. I've met loads of directors (shorts and features) including the lovely Dave McKean who I met with his family on a long haul flight back in 2003 (his kids taught me how to play Pokemon cards). He was making his film Mirrormask and I was prepping Elephant Palm Tree. And now we're both here. So cool.
The producer of Elephant Palm Tree (great, determined, fun, unstoppable Louise Decoteau) has arrived and we're off to see On a Clear Day - the UK film by Gaby Dellal and [fellow Script Factory Writers’ Group member] Alex Rose's film (Peter Mullen, Brenda Blethyn) that opened the Salt Lake City section of the festival. It was a touching, funny film that had us laughing and crying and for me I was just so moved by just how 'herself' Gaby Dellal was. I felt like it could be one of us up there. 
Photo: Joss Barrett
Peter Mullan takes the lead in On A Clear Day from a script by Alex Rose Like it was possible to give your heart so completely to a project and have it work, against all odds. I don't know her but I felt proud. Darned proud. Same goes for Alex Rose, the writer, so cute (looks like a young Frank Sinatra) and talented too.
Crowds chasing Pierce Brosnan down Main Street - Pierce Brosnan is here with a film called Matador and something weird's happened. They must have put something in the water because word has it that today, otherwise sensible people (film lovers et al) chased the poor man down the street. The man had to really pick up speed - proper Chariots of Fire running.
p.s. the mountain air has given Louise and I mild altitude sickness and we've found we've had giggle attacks at the most unusual times. We'll get over it. Apparently it's a common thing.
Sunday 23 Jan 2005
Elephant Palm Tree screens for a Sundance audience
Elephant Palm Tree / Police Beat premiere (at the Raquet Club). Today's our premiere. We're screening with a feature (Police Beat - in the American Dramatic Competition, up for the coveted Grand Jury Prize). This will be the first of five screenings total. I met Geoff Gilmore - the person who runs the whole fest. He's so kind-eyed and warm. I feel like I'm home. Like this is some sort of true Caribbean place where my casa is your casa and even strangers can feel welcome. Boy.
And when Geoff introduced the film, the things he said about of the 4000 shorts entered, they chose 82 and out of the 82 they select a special few to screen before features. I just wished my mother and my father were here to see this, to hear this. It didn't seem real. And when I got up to say a few words, I developed a slight stutter, became a little inarticulate, huge crowd all looking. But they got the drift. I was happy to be there. Louise and I, after all our hard work.
Afterwards people were coming up to me saying how they felt about the film and I felt like hugging them. They'll never know what it means to have an audience member come and say how a film you made touched them.
A cheating husband faces the music in Elephant Palm Tree
Writers Guild of America (west) party - Fiore restaurant
Well this was just great. Here I met filmmakers who inspired the hell out of me. One feature film director with a film in competition explained how his parents had cashed in their pension funds to help him make his move and it's got into Sundance and he just wants to pay them back. He will. It's great to meet these other filmmakers because I really see I'm not alone. Borrowing to make films, to finish films, to enter them into festivals. Just for the love of it. For me it's because it's who I am. A director. From the first day of my first shoot, I knew I'd finally found the thing that I am, the thing I'll be for the rest of my life. Wow.
Tomorrow I'm going to look up [fellow Script Factory Writers' Group member] Cath Le Couter and my other fellow shootingpeople.org lot. 
Writer/Director Cath Le Couteur
They've got a film called Unknown White Male in the documentary competition and Cath's promised me a badge! One thing I've noticed is how supportive we all are of each other - they've been lovely and I can't wait to see the film.
Monday 24 Jan 2005
Tonight was the shooting people party at their condo but I ended up missing it because of preparation for our midnight screening at the Egyptian. It's a flipping shame because there were promises of hot tub et al. Not to mention meeting the other Shooters and hearing how everyone is. I'll see them at director's brunch on 27 Jan, if not before [I hope it's before!]
Tonight was our screening at the Egyptian. Main Street is packed and everywhere's hummers [huge American vehicle twice or even three times the size of a Land Rover!!!!] coz Snoop Dogg is playing tonight and people have gone mad - police are here and the fire dept coz people are trying anything to get in (including making a run for it! But these American bouncers mean business).
Our screening at the Egyptian...
Festival goers queuing to get in were forced to watch as Louise (producer) and I did naff poses as we got a friendly Sundancer to stand in the middle of the road (while abovementioned hummers sped towards her) to get shots of us at the famous Egyptian (it's the Sundance venue - it's the one I always hear mentioned /see in my DVD extras - I always watch the DVD extras - e.g. see the photo of Open Water team in front of the Egyptian on their DVD extras...)
I spent a long time talking to the projectionist. he's from Idaho (the Potato State) and he's been in the biz since 1978 (started by carrying reels up to the projectionist). He spoke about how so many multiplexes have untrained people (not projectionists) threading up the film and so actually there's less and less demand... [we didn't even get onto the topic of digital projection which can be beamed direct to the cinema so definitely won't need projectionist). It's pretty sad. Somehow it's nice to think some loving hand is there with your film always on the look out to check everything's OK.
Tuesday 25 Jan 2005 - [to be continued]
Andrea Arnold is here and her short WASP is one of my favourite shorts of all time. I've seen it 5+ times and would happily watch it again. I heard this morning that WASP was nominated for an Oscar! I'm so happy because it's just incredible (the detail of it, the Staffordshire bull terrier, the acting, costume, production design, everything, just amazing). I'm a real fan so I'm proud! I wonder if I should write a message and leave it in her Sundance mailbox? Why not? I will! Yeeehi! It'd be cool to meet her, but don't know what I'd say beyond 'Wow'.
Tuesday 25 Jan 2005 - [...continued]
Louise (Elephant Palm Tree producer) left today. Boy we had a blast! I can't believe she left just as the weather was turning cold.
Some other people I've met up here have been nominated for an Oscar this morning:
Kirby Dick ("Twist of Faith") - feature documentary
Taika Waititi and a guy called Cliff [who was the amazing Dad in Whalerider] - ('Two Cars, One Night') - short film
Also fellow shooter (shootingpeople.org ) Ashvin Kumar was nominated for best short with 'Little Terrorist'.
Wow! This all goes to show anything is possible and anything you can dream of you can do / have. Even Oscars! Wonderful.
Alternative distribution panel (Yarrow Theatre)
This was a pretty interesting panel discussion: Stephen Friedlander (exec VP Warner Independent - they made 'Before Sunset'); Mark Urman (head of US theatrical for Think Film - distributors of specialised content in the US - 'Spellbound', 'Story of the Weeping Camel'); Marcus Hu (Strand films - niche e.g. 'Tony Takani'); Laura Michalchyshyn - exec VP Sundance channel - they act as 'first window' pay cable (22 million homes) and also vides on demand and DVDs; Peter Broderick (Paradigm consulting, formerly of Next Wave films); Ted Sarandos (chief content officer for Netflix.com); filmmaker Hal Hartley.
A few interesting points:
- Warner independent: A woman stood up saying she felt that her indie film didn't have a chance to be made because she couldn't get a star. Stephen Friedlander was very clear - a small film with a big star is not neccesarily the best thing - it may create the wrong expectations in an audience and added to the cost of having that star - hair, make up, entourage etc. - he told a very juicy story about a particular experience he'd had when he was at his previous company where the film grossed _less than_ the star's hair and make up bill! He explained the whole idea of indie is to keep costs down, make a great film (with or without star) and then turn a profit (because it didn't cost a fortune to make) e.g. Napoleon Dynamite.
- Hal Hartley: has started to sell products from his film (CDs of sound tracks etc.) on his website and he said that much to his surprise it's darned profitable...
- Peter Broderick:
1) Peter Broderick added to this and said that thanks to the internet you can make a film and sell it yourself. And when you make your next film, you can email everyone on the mailing list who bought the first DVD (that's assuming they didn't hate the first movie...) and offer them to the chance to be 'patrons' and to prebuy the DVD in order to fund them next film... Someone stood up and said that'd be more work than it was worth and then he said something very interesting. He said many people use fulfillment houses - and this is what he said:
you pay out:
$3.95 fulfillment company charges to to fulfil order (shipping and handling)
You pay $3 - 5 per copy from your video / DVD supplier.
you charge:
If you charge $25 plus $5.95 shipping and handling then you have profit of say $20 (depending on how much actually pay suppliers) vs $2.50 profit when your film is at Blockbusters.
2) He said you need to have a core audience that's already into a certain thing (he used the example of the v. successful self distributed motorcycle film 'Faster' [? not sure of exact name]) and market to them using their sites etc. He said develop a v. tightly targeted distribution strategy based on your core audience and you won't necessarily have to spend big bucks on advertising. None of this is new news (except for that fulfillment stuff) but it was interesting to hear these guys say it.
Salt Lake City screening - Broadway screen 4
Our film was screened in a multiplex (like Warner Village west end / Vue but loads bigger!) and it was cool to watch it with film lovers (most of the audience were local and not filmmakers). I still can't get over the magic of this.
Blackfilm.com / BMW party (Park City Marriot)
There were BBQ'd wings, macaroni cheese, spare ribs (not for me), cornballs etc. - real down south cooking. And some serious getting down on the dance floor (to hip hop, dancehall, you name it) by young and old, black and white... I didn't dance though - too shy for some reason. A cold's coming on.
CAA party at Harry O's (in the Chef Dance space, Main Street)
Wow. The CAA party is said to be _the_ Sundance party. To be perfectly honest, I've _never_ been to a party like this before. They said bring photo ID - I brought my passport - keen or what?! There were like 10 bouncers on the door and even some celebrities were trying to blag to get in! Suffice to say, once inside, sat in a corner (I really didn't know anyone here) but still ended up meeting and having some truly amazing chats with some darned inspiring directors et al and saw close up people I've only read about.
When I was walking home to my army barracks dorm in the Chateau Apres (darned good place $30 per night for a dorm ex. taxes - for any of you coming to Sundance next year. To get a room, you need to book by Sept / Oct and a room sleeps up to four people and costs $85. You can book later if you want to book a place in the dorm) I began to feel not so well.
26 Jan (to be continued)
AAAARGH! I wake up and I can barely move. The flu. I drag myself up and out (I'm at Sundance after all - death's door or no death's door).
I went to two panel discussions: Music and film, the creative process (Sundance House) and Sundance short film stories (Digital Centre) - but funnily enough there were no real gems revealed (or am I missing something - it could be the flu - I can barely keep my eyes open...).
26 Jan (continued)
I did nothing else today but shiver and cough. Everyone in Sundance seems to have exactly the same thing but the few that don't literally fly across the room for fear of contamination (and I don't blame them!). I wish I'd done the same (actually no, I'd have done just the same) - kissed one less cheek, shook one less hand. Joints hurt. Head heavy. On the shuttle on the way back to where I'm staying, I opened my eyes and there I saw getting off the bus, walking by me... Faye Dunaway that looked 30 / 35 if she looked a day. I blinked for a second and then she jumped off the bus. I thought I was going mad for a sec before the whole bus erupted in "that was Faye Dunaway!?!"
Thursday 27 Jan 2005
I saw a film (Thumbsucker-Tilda swinton, keanu reeves - funny, touching) and bought some Tylenol and cough medicine.
Friday 28 Jan 2005
The Edit Room masterclass (Filmmaker Lodge)
The one big thing I got was just how much even (especially) in documentaries, the 'real' person's communication to the audience can be manipulated.
Case Study - Me You and Everyone we know (digital centre)
This is a Film Four / IFC films production - I'll write more tomorrow but for now I'm off to see Dave Mckean's 'Mirrormask'.
28 Jan continued...
Me You And Everyone We Know (Miranda July) - there were some really interesting conversations during the case study / panel about the use of HD (they shot on a Cinealta - the 900). I saw the film afterwards and it's true... It looked just like film, even though it was originated on HD and projected on HDCAM... Nothing more to say about it except it's a special, funny movie [with a truly funny / delightfully shocking concept introduced of "back and forth" invented by an 8 year old]
Mirrormask! Flipping Heck! Dave McKean (the great illustrator I met with his family on a long haul flight in 2003), the director of Mirrormask has created something incredible. It's low budget British film but feels like it cost a fortune and I haven't seen anything like it before. It feels like a wonderful, British wizard of Oz on some kind of hallucinogenic drug and it stars Rob Bryden (Marion and Geoff), Gina Mckee and a great newcomer whose name I can't remember. It was produced by Lisa Henson (Jim Henson's daughter). Dave McKean at the Q & A, said that he and the writer of the film stayed at the Henson house in Hampstead surrounded by Muppets in a house completely untouched since Jim Henson died (so circle dial, pre-touchtone, phones etc.).
Elephant Palm Tree (Raquet Club)
This is our final screening. I get up to do the intro and I'm just so aware of the love in the room. I've never been to a festival like this, with an atmosphere quite like this... I'm going to miss this place.
Friday 29 Jan 2005
Director's Finale Brunch (Sundance House)
All the programmers and senior staff wear aprons and flip pancakes! [Mike Plante (Senior programmer) and Roberta Marie Munroe (Head shorts programmer) - I've taken a photo which I'll send] The staff here have been incredible. So warm and so dedicated. Christie Machan, the shorts' guest liason, was one of those people who helped make my first Sundance the best festival I've ever been to. I don't think I've ever been treated quite so gorgeously at a festival before.
During the brunch I sit with and chat with a guy called Ira (Sachs) - he's got a film here called Forty Shades of Blue. He said it took him seven years for the project to get off the ground but it was worth it. It was great to chat with him - he'd really put his life on the line and now he'd finished the film and it was in Sundance and he was happy.
Live-in Maid - saw this movie at the Egyptian today about a formerly wealthy Argentinian socialite and her maid during the economic meltdown in Argentina. I hope this film gets distribution because it's beautifully observed and flipping funny too!
Sundance 2005 awards ceremony and party...
WASP won best international short (yeeeehi!)
FAMILY PORTRAIT won best American short (heh heh - this is so great. Patricia was another director I met up here who was lovely person and determined).
Oh my goooodness! Ira (Sachs) won the top prize at Sundance - he looks so happy! - the Grand Jury Prize for FORTY SHADES OF BLUE!
LIVE-IN MAID (foreign), FOREST FOR THE TREES (foreign) and ME YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW (American [three of my favourites] got special mentions. I haven't seen SQUID AND THE WHALE YET - it's meant to be brilliant (and won best screenplay and a directing prize) - for more info on all the prizes go to www.sundance.org
The party starts and it's great to see the volunteers (1500 of them come from all over the world to work at the festival and often they do things like stand at the freezing bus stop all day just so they can help you get to where you want to go - rain or shine) letting their hair down and sipping pink champagne. Elsewhere in Park City, the dismantling has already begun - it's the end of the festival. Kinda sad but beautiful. I want to come back, next year... With a feature. I can definitely say, after being here for 10 days: anything is possible.
love
Kara
xox
You can read more about Kara by clicking here, and Alex Rose by clicking here.