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MM Notebook
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As we go to press with this ninth anniversary edition of MovieMaker, the publisher in me is tempted to take the magazine’s pulse in print—probably because we’re feeling pretty robust lately. The past six months have seen our subscriptions numbers rise dramatically, important new advertisers come on board, our newsstand reach continue to expand, and our ever-popular Website get an enormous and sustained boost in traffic. Much of this is the result of a very shiny silver lining—the challenges of the 2001-2002 economy post-9/11 spurred us to seek out new industry alliances, and those relationships are now paying dividends. Because more of you are responding as never before to what we do here, we’ve never been healthier. The publisher and the entire MovieMaker family would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank you for all the positive feedback, and for patronizing our advertisers.
Still, the editor in me doesn’t believe that aggressive marketing tells the entire story behind MovieMaker’s recent success. Not surprisingly, our fortunes have always been fused to the fortunes of the independent film industry. But if you believe only the barrage of media doom and gloom, many more fortunes have been lost than made in independent film lately.
The environment is terrible and getting worse—or haven’t you heard? Production companies are being cut down faster than the Brazilian rainforest. Financing is drying up faster than the Sea of Galilee. The distribution bottleneck is choking us off faster than the air on the 405.
Most of us accept these reports because it’s easier to get swept up in the sky-is-falling spin than to look a little deeper. But acceptance makes the positive direction at MovieMaker particulaly perplexing. Could it be that prospects for independent moviemakers aren’t actually as bad as we’ve all heard? Do any of us even know what the truth is, or are things changing so fast around us that we who live aboard the merry-go-round find it impossible to focus on the landscape?
No story is ever black and white, and as 2003 dawns—year 15 of the modern independent film movement—we decided to ask a diverse group of moviemakers to slow down for a moment to reflect and offer some personal perspective on the industry’s present and long-term health. To take its pulse in print. So much has changed since November, 1993, when the first issue of MovieMaker rolled off the presses. Most of us never take the time to track the remarkable journey that indie moviemaking has made during the past decade. But as you’ll see on page 70, people involved in this art and business every day are overwhelmingly positive not only about where we’re going, but where we are. Many thanks to everyone who participated, especially those like Sherman Alexie, who took the question to heart, and those whose excellent answers we were unable to print because of space limitations.
Be sure to check out our third annual rundown on
the best places to live as an indie moviemaker. Thanks to Lenny
Smith for a fine job on that tough assignment. Also special thanks
to Shelley Friedman for an enlightening discussion with her Oscar-winning
producers, Patrick Gorman for his report on Hong Kong cinema,
and Patrick Francis for the personal account of his friendship
with Andre de Toth, a unique artist and gentleman I’m really
going to miss. At MM we believe in the value of remembering those
who affected our lives; thanks to Bob Mastrangelo for his second
annual piece on “Unsung Heroes." As we enter our 10th
year and look forward to celebrating issue #50 I’d like
to once again remember my brother, Matthew, to whom this venture
is dedicated. Happy moviemaking—see you in the spring. MM
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This story was published in the Winter 2003 MovieMaker Magazine. The headline was:
MM Notebook
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