The Conversation

The Conversation 2010 Wrap-Up: Links, Tweets, Pics, and More

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Kirsner) — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 16:27:00 +0000

Thanks to everyone who was part of The Conversation @ Columbia on Saturday — what a high-energy group of pioneers!

We'll try to collect as much media as possible related to the event here. Feel free to post other links as a comment below. (We hope to post some video of the main panels soon...)

- Host & advisor Ira Deutchman's kick-off speech.

- The Twitter stream from the event.

- "Thoughts on 'Free' from The Conversation," from Smitri Mundrha at Truly Free Film

- From The Film Panel Notetaker: Film Links Worth Clicking from The Conversation.

- From Eugene Hernandez of IndieWire:

- Brian Newman's pre-event notes about audience engagement, and a post-event essay titled "Selling Your Film: When Is The Best Time? From that second piece:

- Notes from David Tamés at Kino-Eye:

- Scott Kirsner's iPhone pics of the event, on Flickr.

- "The Conversation in a Nutshell," from filmmaker Adam Reid.

- Chris Thilk from Voce Communications, a sponsor of The Conversation.

- Slides from the "Cultivating Your Twitter Following" session with Joselin Mane and Angela Aviles- Clinton.

- Blog post from Leah Hurley of Web Direct.

- Speaker/moderator Aina Abiodun: video and related material from her session on product placement and marketing partnerships.

- Event notes from Latinos in Entertainment.

Convo NYC Sold Out / Looking for Shooter

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Kirsner) — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 01:37:00 +0000

Both happy and a bit sorry to say that the New York edition of The Conversation, March 27th at Columbia University, is now sold out. (I've already gotten a handful of e-mails from people asking how they can get in...)

But ... we are looking for a one- or two-person crew to shoot the three main panels of the day and help us share them after the event (likely on Vimeo or a similar site). You'll get a comp pass to the entire day, which will let you participate in the lunch discussions and afternoon workshops. Get in touch with Scott if you're interested.

Update: We found someone great. Thanks for the responses!

JibJab Interview: Making & Monetizing Web Content

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Kirsner) — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 18:08:00 +0000

NewTeeVee just posted this video interview I shot with JibJab co-founders Gregg and Evan Spiridellis, who were at The Conversation in 2008. We shot it in their nifty green screen studio, in Venice, Calif.

It's a nice warm-up to some of the topics we'll be discussing at The Conversation 2010, which happens next Saturday at Columbia University...

We've just added a number of great lunch discussions and workshops to the agenda, so check it out. We're expecting the event will sell out sometime this weekend.

Finally: A Date, Place, and Some Early Speakers for The Conversation 2010, in New York

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Kirsner) — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 20:55:00 +0000

I'm excited that we're finally announcing the date, location, and a few of the early speakers for the next edition of The Conversation, a gathering we first held in the Bay Area back in 2008. (If you were at the inaugural Conversation, you may have already gotten an e-mail about this next one.)

It'll be held Saturday, March 27th at Columbia University (thanks to the support of faculty member Ira Deutchman and event manager Daisy Nam there.) Those of us on The Conversation's advisory board are working to recruit some amazing speakers and sponsors, and ensure that this East Coast event will be inspiring, invigorating, and most of all -- useful.

We'd love your help spreading the word. If you happen to tweet about it, you can use the hash tag #convoNYC.

Registration is now open and there is a steep discount if you sign up before February 14th, when the price goes up $25.

We are also soliciting your ideas for speakers, topics, and workshops you might want to run at the event, on the conference's wiki.

Confirmed speakers, moderators, and workshop leaders include:

Peter Broderick talks with Scott Kirsner about the future of indie film distribution

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Kirsner) — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 01:02:00 +0000

Distribution consultant Peter Broderick was one of the most popular speakers at The Conversation 2008.

A few months later, at the Sundance Film Festival, he sat down with Scott Kirsner, editor of the blog CinemaTech, for this interview.

The Future of Indie Film Distribution: Peter Broderick from Scott Kirsner on Vimeo.

Future Conversations

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Kirsner) — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 16:34:00 +0000

There's been some talk in the last month about organizing more CONVERSATIONs this year.

One thought is a series of online events that would include video interviews with forward thinkers, along with the chance for you to ask them questions and float ideas of your own... live. The advantage here is that you'd be able to hear from one person in great detail, and we'd have plenty of time for questions.

Another is to do another "real world" event, possibly in New York, building upon last October's gathering in Berkeley. The upside to these live events is the chance to make new connections and get face time with speakers and other participants.

(And the two ideas aren't mutually exclusive.)

We're very open to hearing your ideas about speakers you'd like to hear from, topics you'd like to see covered, and anything else...

More photos from The Conversation 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Kirsner) — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 16:29:00 +0000

Alyssa Stern, the logistical genius behind The Conversation, recently uploaded some more photos from the event. (The one here is Mike Shiley at one of the Saturday afternoon workshop sessions.)

SF360.org Pic from The Conversation

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Kirsner) — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 20:02:00 +0000

Anna-Mae Chin from the San Francisco Film Society was one of the people who helped us get the word out about The Conversation.... and she just posted this snapshot of me, Lance Weiler, and Tiffany Shlain.

Thanks, Anna-Mae!

LECTURE: Redefining Digital Content Distribution

noreply@blogger.com (A Conversationalist) — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 21:16:00 +0000

A lot of people missed my lecture on Saturday about license-based digital content distribution, so Scott suggested I post a link to it here. Please read it at your convenience and let me hear your thoughts:

Redefining Digital Content Distribution, or Why Apple is About To Get Its Ass Kicked

You can email me directly or through Facebook.

Notes from The Conversation on CinemaTech

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Kirsner) — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 15:11:00 +0000

I posted some not-very-copious notes from the event on CinemaTech...mostly quotes, data points, and predictions that struck me as so good I couldn't not write them down. But it's far from a comprehensive run-down of everything smart that got said...

Tiffany Shlain at The Conversation. Clip 1

noreply@blogger.com (A Conversationalist) — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 04:17:00 +0000

Here is the first of a series of clips from an interview I did with Tiffany Shlain. In it, I ask her about the biggest challenges facing independent filmmakers today.

Larry Jordan
HDFilmtools.com

Videocast from The Conversation

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Kirsner) — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 17:32:00 +0000

Lance Weiler, one of the co-hosts of the event, broadcast much of it live from his Nokia cell phone, via Kyte. You can see that footage archived here...

Blog Coverage

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Kirsner) — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 17:24:00 +0000

Dutch Rall posted some thoughts on the event.

Roger Erik Tinch of CineVegas had some notes on the opening session with John Batter and the session on 'New Forms of Storytelling.'

Larry Jordan blogged a bit of Friday's proceedings.

Pics from The Conversation

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Kirsner) — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 16:02:00 +0000

JD Lasica has posted a great set of photos from the event, featuring the JibJab Brothers, Reed Hastings (that's him at right), Tiffany Shlain, Slava Rubin, Chris Thilk, and a number of other participants.

JD's blog, which focuses on social media, is here.

What Independent Movies Need to Learn from Graphic Novels

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Kirsner) — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 18:00:00 +0000

Christopher Allen of Skotos (an interactive storytelling/gaming studio) gave a great 10-minute talk yesterday in the "Open Ideas Forum" session... and he has posted the slides on SlideShare.

One interesting idea was that filmmakers should be making comic books and graphic novels related to their movies -- either to sell or for promotional/marketing purposes.

What Independent Movies Need To Learn From Graphic Novels

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: novels graphic)

Woody Benson Video Interview

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Kirsner) — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 17:56:00 +0000

Chris Albrecht from NewTeeVee was at the event, and he posted this video interview with Woody Benson, one of The Conversation's advisors (and a panelist on the 'New Rules of Finance and Funding' panel on Friday.)

Just click Woody's nose to play it...

Shameless plug

noreply@blogger.com (A Conversationalist) — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 09:20:00 +0000

Great to meet everyone, and have some great conversations this weekend. I can't help but use this opportunity for a shameless plug for a talented kid... check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sjj0G0EKEHk

Open Forum Sessions

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Kirsner) — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 17:54:00 +0000

We just added all the Open Forum Sessions to the schedule... check them out here.

Tweets and Flickr Pics from The Conversation

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Kirsner) — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 12:26:00 +0000

Interesting way to track the tweets and Flickr photos from The Conversation, posted by people like Bill Holsinger-Robinson from Spout, Ingrid Kopp from Shooting People, Christopher Allen, and Roger Erik Tinch from CineVegas.

Some polls for Saturday

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Kirsner) — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 12:22:00 +0000

Here are links to some of the polls we'll be using on Saturday... you can vote on the Web (as well as via cell phone).

- How I'm Feeling About the Future

- Questions for Dean Valentine and Ted Hope

- What Kinds of Games Do You Play?

Photos from TheConvo 2008

noreply@blogger.com (A Conversationalist) — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 16:11:00 +0000

All of the photos taken by Christopher Allen at the conference are uploaded automatically by EyeFi from his digital camera directly to Flickr. Once approved they are all placed in the theconvo 2008 set

Event Schedule for Mobile Phone Viewing

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Kirsner) — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 13:57:00 +0000

We just posted a schedule that's suitable for viewing on mobile phones with Web access...

It's at http://www.tinyurl.com/theconvo.

Questions?

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Kirsner) — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 15:11:00 +0000

If you have questions about the event, please post them below as a comment... we'll answer as quickly as possible. (Click "E-mail follow-up comments..." if you'd like to be notified when we reply.)

Recapping DIY Days, Future of Digital Distribution, and Looking Ahead to The Conversation

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Kirsner) — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 14:03:00 +0000

Lance Weiler and I had a chat earlier this week in which we recapped the DIY Days Boston event, talked about the two "Future of Digital Distribution" events organized in LA and SF by ITVS and the Paley Center for Media, and looked ahead to The Conversation, on October 17th and 18th.

Here's the MP3.

From SF360: Let's Talk About the Future of Cinema

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Kirsner) — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 00:43:00 +0000

Wrote a short piece this week for the blog SF360, published by the San Francisco Film Society (which has been a huge supporter of The Conversation).

Here's the opening: