Jessica Ryan

There is a lot of talk about this community filmmaking movement. Ivan Askwith and I believe it will require the creation and adoption of a new above-the-line role: the Community Producer. This new role would designate an experienced practitioner who is responsible for cultivating, strengthening, and managing communities from project inception through distribution and beyond, with an understanding of the distinct patterns of how communities organize across fan culture, movement building, activism and impact.

Copy. Composition. Master. Royalties. PRO. Sync.

Hollywood used to be run by folks that understood that a successful film, or character, or auteur is more than first weekend box office revenue — it is the most valuable asset ever, that is built over time and lasts for decades. Bob Evans was driven by taste and instinct, and used capital to back people, repeatedly — Coppola, Polanski, Friedkin — not just “big IP”. He understood that cultural value compounds around unique voices in ways financial models can’t predict.

These proof of concept short stories have emerged as something akin to the dizzying deals made for spec scripts decades ago. This sale also marks 12:01 Films and Verve’s 25th short story overall on their current run… Several of the stories have been adapted and published as novels through a Simon & Schuster label called 1201 Books. The real proof of life for these short stories will be the success of the movies made from them. About four of them are moving close to production starts.