Excerpted from:

THE PRODUCER'S NEWSLETTER

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Edited by Daniel Sollinger rosehammer@yahoo.com
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Independent Producers Association Website: http://crowdedfire.com/ipa/index.html
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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

I want to thank everyone who sent in information about what they were doing. It is so easy to get tunnel vision as we work on our individual projects. It is refreshing to see the diversity in projects that people are working on ranging from Intrinsic Values’ Beyond the Ocean, which just was accepted into the Sundance Film Festival (Congratulations) to Martin Kunert’s and Eric Mane’s very fun web site for the romantically challenged. (http://www.LOVEgaga.com). I was also very pleased to get an e-mail from a producer idol of mine: Polly Platt (Broadcast News, Say Anything, and Bottle Rocket). She is looking for scripts, so check out the Classified section. Also check out the way Jeff Gomez breaks down what it takes to get your short film shown. We have curtailed the monthly networking sessions and will be going for a less is more approach. More on that in the months to come. I hope you enjoy this edition of the newsletter. Keep me posted so I can keep everyone else posted. Thanks for the support.

Daniel Sollinger
Editor

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"Red Light August," written and directed by Jeff Gomez has been selected for airing on "Independent View" the highly rated indie forum for the San Francisco PBS affiliate KQED. Program Director Scott Dwyer selected the film after learning about it from a web site. Gomez, a noted interactive content creator, has made use of the Internet to promote his film. Produced by Jonathan Gray and Robert Spinak's Bobo Pictures (formerly Simian Pictures), Andrew Sullivan's Zealous Pictures, and Gomez's own Starlight Runner Entertainment, "Red Light August" is the story of the fragile friendship that developes between Eric (Adrian Johanssen), a teen street hustler, and Boothe (Richard H. Blake), a mysterious artist whose bizarre midnight rituals belie his struggle with obsessive-compulsive disorder. On a recent visit to Silicon Valley to raise venture capital for his Internet startup Streetcorner Entertainment, Gomez visited Dwyer to deliver his "Red Light August" beta tape. After ogling the thousands of videotape submissions piled in Dwyer's office, Gomez asked the programmer why he chose to pursue a film that hadn't even been submitted for consideration. The answer, for those producers hungry for tremendous exposure for their short films, proves insightful. Gomez reports that Dwyer seems to be looking for several elements in submissions that he unfortunately finds a rarity in American short films:

  1. The film should not state the obvious. (e.g., we all know that guns kill and love hurts, but what is your specific experience of such things?)
  2. The film should be a mature piece (i.e., not the experimental musings of a film school student), with attention paid to production value. PBS is independent, but it is television, so the film should look good and have a broadcastable transfer.
  3. The relationships in the film should be unusual and complex, but the narrative ought to be relatively traditional.
  4. It helps to tackle contemporary issues without being trendy. The film's social conscience should emerge from the characters and their environment.
  5. In the case of San Francisco's tolerant and diverse population, it helps to have a gay appeal, but without necessarily pandering to gay staples (AIDS) or clichés (doomed romance).

KQED, the largest PBS affiliate, has an audience of 2 million subscribers, 12 million viewers, and the largest gay contingent in the country, will be airing "Red Light August" uncut on "Independent View" at 10:30 PM on the third or fourth Friday in January. Dwyer plans a vigorous promotion of the film, aided by the production's wealth of publicity materials. This include full coverage on the KQED web site, an article in their subscriber publication (circ. 2 million), commercials on the station, and a clip and announcement on "Independent View: Filmmaker Focus" airing the half hour before the actual film unspools. Dwyer is also recommending the film to PBS affiliates in San Diego, Los Angeles, Boston and New York. Producer's Newsletter subscribers can contact Jeff Gomez at Carthalion@aol.com.