In the meantime, check out the Creator Playbook, a streamlined, and very helpful guide to all creators looking to leverage the platform.  The second edition came out last week.

On a more pure social collaboration level, Stage 32, a new site for filmmakers, screenwriters, actors, crew, agents, etc., is quite live and active, with over 10,000 members in more than 120 countries.  While getting funding is part of what the site enables with networking, it’s also about casting, getting crew, finding directors and classes, and just getting advice.  We love the registration via Facebook and how easily it’s integrated there.

The founders of Stage 32 are in the filmmaker’s corner.  The two are Richard “RB” Botto, a screenwriter/actor/producer and Curt Blakeney, president of Edge Public Relations.  They’ve made it a very personal experience, with your home page containing all the things you have added and want to add, suggestions of networking, wall communications.

We’ll be watching in the months ahead to see how it grows, but it’s certainly active, with multiple projects being added at all hours.  Any social network is only as strong as the socializing it attracts, but the tools are here on Stage 32 for filmmakers to connect in meaningful ways — not just in a contest.

As content creators ourselves, we understand what a long journey it can be to develop your own original ideas into successful projects. And we know how important it is to have the right forms of support along the way. There are not many organizations out there who are dedicated to helping emerging artists.

The Alliance for Family Entertainment who have been involved with getting such shows as “Gilmore Girls”, “Everybody Hates Chris” and “Friday Night Lights” on the air are sponsoring a FREE contest. (Full Disclosure: UC is involved with this project! YAY!) They’re looking for comedy screenplays having to do with the modern American family.

The winner will receive $5000, guidance and input from John Wells, whose work includes ER, Third Watch and The West Wing.

Dust off that :30 minute screenplay you polished last year or finish up on the one you started a couple weeks ago. THIS IS WIDE OPEN AND READY FOR THE TAKING!!!!

Submit and additional details here: ComedyWriterContest.com

DEADLINE: October 28th at 11:59 am ET.

If you’re a hip hop head, having grown up in the 90′s listening to the likes of Tribe, De La, Jungle Bros., then this is a a film for you.   As much as the film documents the origins of one of the  most influential hip hop groups ever, their rise, inter personal issues, and eventual break up… this film is much bigger than them.  It’s really an ode to an era of hip hop, and tells the story of innocence and growth beyond where anybody ever expected it to go.  Tribe is merely a vehicle in my opinion here.

There are the expected cliched stories of egos (or perceived) run amuck, but the purity of the Native Tongues movement still comes through.  Rapaport does a great job of sticking to the script so to speak, of telling the story he, and I think a lot of people want to see.  A straight forward and sober portrait of a group that was instrumental in not only elevating a genre, but I’d argue, preceded and paved the way for the likes of Black Eyed Peas to make fun party jams that all races could get down together on.  The interesting thing is that ATCQ was really afrocentric in their whole persona, and at the same time, all about peace and love.  They don’t get enough props for that.

Big up, go see the film, big up to Michael Rapaport for clearly pouring his heart into a small doc that is an important piece of history… Now as Rapaport said in the Q&A, who’s going to do the WU doc?   “It would take like 7 directors and they’d all lose their minds.”

LETS DO IT!

Ok, we know, we’ve been pretty quiet lately in the megaphone social broadcasting about ourselves sense that is. We’ve been hard at work on a new video series that’s set to launch with GOOD and Ford called “Reinventing the Outdoors” which we’re really proud of. It’s been a ton of work, and in the coming week we’ll be posting the stuff.

So that said, we’re gearing up for a little European holiday/meet the creators tour. I’m going to be doing my best Chev Chase, while trying to stay out of trouble.

We’ll be in the following spots, and we’re looking to connect with creators, be you a blogger, a digital enthusiast, what have you in every city.

Tel Aviv
Jerusalem
Budapest
Berlin
Istanbul
Amsterdam
London
Belgrade

STAND UP!!! Dates to come, looking forward to buying ya’ll a round of drinks. If anybody has recommendations for good pub type spots, please feel free to ping me direct.

For the past month now many of us have been teased by the, well, teasers that acclaimed filmmaker Vincent Moon (of Takeaway Show fame) has put out to promote his latest film An Island this month. For the film he teamed up with 8-piece band Efterklang to inhabit a small island off the Danish coast for a 4-day shoot. What resulted is an album-length film, full of collaborative performances with around 200 local musicians and even children. And no Vincent Moon film is complete without incorporating his brilliant ideas on how to film each song. From the teasers you can already tell it must be a stunning film (watch them below)

Beyond the film itself, I’m incredibly excited by Moon’s idea to allow people to host free premieres of the film across the globe, even in their own living room. I was tempted to host one myself, but then I saw Noise Pop Festival will be screening it twice in San Francisco tomorrow night at Fifty24SF Gallery. Still, I might host one in my living room anyway just to have a personal copy! Here are some more screenings happening possibly near you (click here for the full list).

• 02.03 - San Francisco, US / Noise Pop-Up Shop / more…
• 02.04 - Brooklyn, US / A Brooklyn Co-op Facility / more…
• 02.05 - Los Angeles, US / Erin’s Place / more…
• 02.05 - Chicago, US / Uptown Girl / more…
• 02.11 – Washington, DC, US / Lamont Street Cinema Lounge / more…
• 02.12 - Washington, DC, US / The Preston / more…
• 02.18 – San Francisco, US / ATA / $6 donation on entrance
• 02.22 - Brooklyn, US / Tandem Bar / more…
• 02.25 – New York City, US / DCTV / free tickets
• 02.26 - San Diego, US / South Park Estate Jr. / more…

I hope to see more filmmakers take the “host a screening” approach. What a great way to not only to gain lots of viewers, but to give people the option to screen it in their own way. It also allows for some unique experiences to be had surrounding the screening that might make the event even more memorable. If you haven’t seen them yet, check out the teasers:

AN ISLAND – 1st TEASER – Vincent Moon & Efterklang from Rumraket on Vimeo.

AN ISLAND – 2nd TEASER – Vincent Moon & Efterklang from Rumraket on Vimeo.

AN ISLAND – 3rd TEASER – Vincent Moon & Efterklang from Rumraket on Vimeo.

I just watched this video from filmmaker Sam O’Hare that he made while at Coachella Music Festival in the Spring. The stop motion, birds eye, style of this video really messes with your sense of scale. You’re watching this massive festival with thousands of people, but it makes you feel like you’re looking at one of those museum dioramas with tiny soldier figurines recreating a famous battle. Check it out below:

I’m kinda pshyced to see the fest winner “Last Minutes with ODEN” Doc is so in right now. BTW unrelated note… Catfish” was kinda ill right?

Remember LonelyGirl15? YouTube’s 5th birthday was last week and I’ve finally gotten around to watching the “YouTube Stories” series they produced– 2 minute interviews with select creators about their successes with the medium. The stories, and this interview with the director, contain interesting little insights about creating for YouTube that are worth checking out–

What kinds of techniques do you use to make these videos look so good and feel emotional?
When we all make YouTube videos, we’re creating for a screen size of about 630 by 350 pixels, so go in close. Use eyes, use foreheads, look at the way people move their mouths when they talk…all that says a lot, beyond just the words. Use that emotional power of the face to amplify what they are saying. Shoot as close to the face as possible, because we’re trained by thousand of years of evolution to respond to those movements of the face. And don’t forget hands, which can speak in the opposite way…or in sync…and reveal much. In the end, we want viewers to feel they’ve had a chance to meet these subjects over a cheeseburger or a beer and really feel them viscerally.

What is something about YouTube users you didn’t know before you started this project?
What I didn’t fully understand was how much the content creators have given their lives over to communicating with others. They’ve found their mission. Sharing their talent or passion with the world. Despite realities of family obligations, old jobs, the need to learn a bit more about technology, the people who shine come through because of sheer passion and faith. They believe that what they are doing on YouTube will change the world, and the effort that belief inspires in them usually gets to a positive outcome.

– Inside the Making Of “My YouTube Story,” interview with documentary filmmaker Stephen Higgins

The story behind LonelyGirl15

The new archive is designed to compile interviews with producers, agents, lawyers, executives and journalists who were involved with entertainment in an off-screen sort of way.

I’m a little skeptical of the need for this, as it seems like it may just be a channel for the self-absorbed to self-glorify, but I think it could also be a valyable record for future historians.