Dear Collaborators,

We're thrilled to share some new developments.

In our first few months, The Film Collaborative has already provided its services to more than 35 independent films.

And TFC is proud to announce that we'll be working with veteran French sales company, Studio Canal, on US sales for Percy Adlon’s Mahler on the Couch, which is having its US Premiere screening at the Los Angeles Film Festival. In addition, TFC is associated with three other films at the 2010 Los Angeles Film Festival. We are handling domestic distribution, including theatrical distribution, of Israeli-filmmaker’s Haim Tabakman’s EYES WIDE OPEN, a doomed love story between two ultra-Orthodox Jewish men in Jerusalem. Set to release theatrically in Los Angeles on June 25th immediately following its festival screenings, the film will be released in the Summer on VOD and on DVD in the Fall. In addition, TFC is acting as a distribution consultant on the camp horror film ALL ABOUT EVIL, starring Natasha Lyonne. TFC also provided distribution consultation for the documentary GASLAND during the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. TFC encourages you to go to the filmmakers' website, see the film and join the movement to help stop the irrefutably destructive impact of natural gas drilling. Gasland screens at LAFF and premieres on HBO at 9:00 P.M. EDT on June 21st. The filmmakers have a new site for the film which goes live this week.

Also at LAFF 2010, TFC co-director Orly Ravid, who focuses on new media for the company, will be part of the Festival’s “Seize the Power: A Marketing and (DIY)stribution Symposium” including its Boot Camp for filmmakers, and a seminar on June 19th, at which Ravid will moderate a digital distribution discussion and present the organization's approach to helping filmmakers navigate the ever-changing space.

Other new films working with The Film Collaborative include the SXSW and HotDocs docu AMERICAN: THE BILL HICKS STORY by Matt Harlock and Paul Thomas, and the Sundance Award-winning documentary WE LIVE IN PUBLIC. TFC is serving as distribution consultant on AMERICAN: THE BILL HICKS STORY, a partly animated documentary of comedian/icon Bill Hicks that uses new animation and story-telling techniques to elucidate one of modern culture’s most inspirational figures. WE LIVE IN PUBLIC (directed by Ondi Timoner, the only filmmaker ever to win the Sundance Documentary Award twice), reveals the effect the web is having on our society, as seen through the eyes of “the greatest Internet pioneer you’ve never heard of.” TFC is consulting on international sales for WE LIVE IN PUBLIC, in association with Interloper Films and Recreation Media.

Comprised of principals Orly Ravid and Jeffrey Winter and a 16-member Advisory Board, TFC is now proud to announce that is bolstering its foreign sales activities by working with veteran foreign sales agent Ariel Veneziano’s new company Recreation Media. Veneziano previously served as a sales executive at Icon Entertainment International, GreeneStreet Films and Alliance Atlantis and recently launched his own boutique outfit, Recreation Media. As part of TFC’s mission to help independent filmmakers, the company also refers filmmakers to its outside partner companies, and Ariel Veneziano’s track record is envisioned as part of that solution. Recreation Media’s first film in association with TFC is the Timoner doc WE LIVE IN PUBLIC, in association with Interloper Films, Inc.

In regards to the new relationship, Recreation Media’s Ariel Veneziano says “Orly and Jeffrey's innovative model for The Film Collaborative is perfectly suited for the new market landscape in the digital era. It's a real pleasure to start this relationship on the international distribution front.”

TFC is also adding two new members to its Advisory Board as well as two new members to its Board of Directors. New Advisory Board members are Jeff Rosen of Breakthrough Distribution and Thomas Mai of Festival Darlings. New Board of Director members are Fran Marranca of BFF Consultants and Lauri Apelian of Ocean Sky Entertainment.

About the new Board members: Jeff Rosen founded Breakthrough Distribution, in 2006 to help filmmakers maximize distribution and audience while retaining their rights. Over the past four years the company has developed custom distribution strategies for and assisted over 200 producers market and distribute their projects. Thomas Mai, founder of Festival Darlings, is film distribution strategist and public speaker with fifteen years of experience selling feature films.

Fran Marranca is the Founder and Principal Consultant of BFF Consultants. Launched in 2007, BFF Consultants brings to its clients Fran's 20+ years of media and entertainment experience in print, internet, event marketing, entertainment and management, along with her vast network of colleagues in the media industry. Lauri Apelian is an established feature film producer and owner of Ocean Sky Entertainment, based in Los Angeles. In addition to producing the Clive Barker franchise, The Book of Blood, she was a Producer on the feature film Princess Kaiulani, currently in release through Roadside Attractions. She began her career as a talent and literary agent representing clients such as Wolfgang Petersen and Bille August.

The Film Collaborative is very pleased to have the support of and offers its members three additional law firms in addition to McGuireWoods as its “Legal Service Partners.” The three new law firms are: 1) Abrams Garfinkel Margolis Bergson, LLP, AGMB, a full-service law firm with offices in Los Angeles and New York City; 2) Greenberg Traurig, LLP, an international, full-service law firm with approximately 1775 attorneys serving clients from more than 30 offices in the United States, Europe and Asia; and 3) Gray Krauss Des Rochers LLP, a full service entertainment law firm concentrating in film, television and music.

Cherie Song of McGuireWoods is the non-profit’s legal counsel and the firm is the non-profit’s first Legal Services Partner.

Lastly, before signing off, we humbly remind you we have just fifteen (15) days left to raise money on indieGoGo. We would like to continue helping filmmakers for free or for very marginal fees so we appreciate any support you can give, because even just a few bucks goes a long way.

For those who don't subscribe to the blog per se but want to read it, please go here to check it out. We'll post a new one after LAFF.

THE FILM COLLABORATIVE
Filmmakers First.