The producer credited with helping to launch the careers of Vincent Ward and Jane Campion says he would sell his films for $2 on the internet if it would get them to fans when they wanted them.

John Maynard wants New Zealand to pioneer an iTunes-like system for movies - getting films out quickly and cheaply on the internet to stop people turning to illegal downloads.

The Australasian producer, who has worked on two movies each by Ward and Campion, said the growth of iTunes had slowed illegal downloads of music. This week he told the Screen Production and Development Association (Spada) conference New Zealand could lead the world by adopting a similar model for films.

"It could happen in New Zealand - it's one of the few places in the world I know that can change very, very quickly culturally," he said. "I would rather sell my movies for $2 a download and make it available to its audience" than have people steal them.

In April, the Motion Pictures Association representative in New Zealand - Tony Eaton of the New Zealand Federation Against Copyright Theft - recommended Hollywood studios create a New Zealand website for legally downloading movies to reduce internet piracy.

Yesterday, Mr Eaton told the Spada conference that more than a third of the $6 billion film studios lost to piracy in 2005 was from illegal internet downloads.

He said the new James Bond film Quantum of Solace had been illegally downloaded 3.2 million times - before its New Zealand release.

Until recently, the federation's focus has been on pirated DVDs. Demand for movie downloads in New Zealand has been stunted by slow broadband speeds. But it is expected to increase when broadband gets faster.

Sony Pictures New Zealand general manager Andrew Cornwell said music downloads were easier to sell because they downloaded much faster than films.

There is a huge battle brewing between film producers, ISP's, Copyright Law and the consumer. Hopefully, the consumer will win.

Written by Mitch Santell
Today we are in the final days of editing our first release, "Truth, Lies & Misinformation." As I was scouting over the internet today, I found this article that I know will be of inspiration and another idea toward your own production and film. Enjoy and read on......... (this blog is for educational purposes only so be aware that we find the best content on the net and place it right here)........

by Eric D. Snider
The Internets are saving independent film again! Often the biggest dilemma for small-time filmmakers is that distributing their movies, whether in theaters or on DVD, costs too much money. So we're seeing more and more films skip theaters, skip DVD, and go straight to the Internet, where movie downloads are becoming increasingly common.

The latest development is that a company called Cinetic Rights Management is releasing its catalog of indie films through Amazon's Video on Demand service and its CreateSpace DVD on Demand system. The arrangement will allow customers to rent or buy digital copies of films that aren't available anywhere else, many of which are just as worthy of being seen as the ones that were lucky enough to get theatrical distribution. (And that often really is the only difference between a movie that makes it to theaters and one that doesn't: luck.)

The new arrangement launches today with the featured title On Broadway (pictured), a gentle comedy about a Boston man who writes and stages a play in the back of his pub. The cast includes Eliza Dushku, Will Arnett, and New Kid on the Block Joey McIntyre.

On Broadway is a new film, but CRM will be releasing many of its older titles through Amazon, too, including the Oscar-winning 1984 documentary The Times of Harvey Milk and 1995's A Modern Affair, a romantic comedy about a man and woman who meet at a fertility clinic. The newer titles include Your Mommy Kills Animals, a documentary about animal-rights extremists; and Happy Birthday, Harris Malden, a rather delightful comedy that I reviewed at CineVegas earlier this year and that I'm glad to see is getting some kind of distribution.

And that's really why we're telling you about all this -- because we're excited about the way new technology is making it possible for small films to find audiences. I've never used Amazon's Video on Demand service, I don't know how well it works, and Amazon certainly ain't givin' me a kickback for mentioning it. But it's there, and more and more titles are being made available through it. Digital distribution is the way of the future! I, for one, welcome our new Internet overlords.

For many North Americans, Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire will be the first slice of cinema sampled from the location of the world’s largest film industry.

The city formerly known as Bombay, India – Mumbai - is home to Bollywood, a massive film industry that cranks out twice as many films annually as Hollywood. But it is only courtesy of a 52-year-old Englishman that a Mumbai movie is finally connecting with the average North American movie fan, via film festival acclaim, critical raves and growing Oscar buzz. "[Mumbai] is just coming at you the whole time and you can't control any of it," says Slumdog Millionaire director Danny Boyle of the world’s fifth most populous metropolitan area during a recent interview with FilmStew in San Francisco. "You can try. You can futilely try to control it and you'll end up with rubbish." "What you've got to do is just embrace how out of control it is and how impossible it is apparently to find a pattern in anything, but if you do trust it, there is a pattern there," he continues. "It does work. Against all the odds, it does work and you will find it eventually. The country gives it to you back eventually.” “You start work, and you think, 'We're never going to get this. We're never going to get anything done today.' By 4 o'clock in the afternoon, you've got everything you've ever wanted."  


The story of a teenager from Mumbai's slums who makes the most of an appearance on the Indian edition of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, Boyle's heartfelt drama (co-directed with local Loveleen Tandan) has been creating a stir ever since its world premiere at August's Telluride Film Festival. It went on to win Audience Awards at the Toronto International, Chicago and Austin Film Festivals and has been nominated for six British Independent Film Awards, including Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Independent Film. Harrow native Dev Patel, who received a British Independent Film Award nomination for Most Promising Newcomer, plays Jamal, the 18-year-old accused of cheating when he gets to within one answer of winning the quiz show. Boyle's original plan was to cast all of his actors in India, but he ran into trouble when it came to casting Jamal. Not that the young Indian actors he saw weren't good actors. "But they are all built like bodybuilders," Boyle reveals. "If you want to get on in Bollywood, you have to look like a hero. You've got to be able to take the shirt off and kind of like dance in the waterfall in Switzerland. They all looked wrong. I didn't want anybody that looked like that." It was Boyle's 17-year-old daughter who clued him to Patel, a co-star on a favorite TV show, the British series Skins. "Dev plays a comic character in it. He was good and he looked dead right for me. He was kind of nothing looking, not particularly handsome, a bit scrawny, and I kind of liked that look. And I met him, and he was cool," Boyle recalls. In the film, Jamal faces arrest and even torture when the powers that be decide that there is no way that an uneducated Mumbai "slumdog" could possibly know so many correct answers. The only way to clear himself is to tell his life's story, the source of his knowledge springing directly from hard experience. It was those twin conceits of the game show and personal history revealed and taking on nearly epic proportions that enthralled Boyle when he first read Beaufoy's screenplay. "I love the idea of India, that it was portrait of India that was clearly changing,” he explains. “It’s such an extraordinary culture and history and yet it's clearly changing all the time. Those are things I responded to, that I jumped at." "I've always wanted to make a film about seeing a person age," he adds. "Normally, it's done, they're 80 and they're on their deathbed and they're reminiscing, and they're trapped by their memories really in a way. But he's 18 and he's got a fistful of memories, and they set him free really, because he's got his whole life in front of him really. I loved that fact, that was quite kind of radical, and I thought, quite cool. I'd never seen that before."

This November 14-15th marks the tenth anniversary of the Melbourne Independent Filmmakers Festival and it is sure to be a crowd-pleaser! This year's fund-raising festivities will be held at the beautiful

Premiere Theaters Oaks Stadium 10 and will feature new cutting edge international films, independent films from Florida and international filmmakers, the winners of the Florida Today's annual filmmaking contest, and a special engagement of a film that is being called independent filmmaking world's Cinderella story, Touching Home starring four time Oscar nominee, Ed Harris.

The Melbourne Film Fest prides itself on bringing some the finest independent film work to an enthusiastic local audience and this year is no exception. This year's festival line-up will feature 2 Previews, 44 short films and 3 features.
There are plans for an exclusive wine-tasting and silent auction on Friday night sponsored by Von Strasser wines and the Yellow Dog Cafe and it is set to co-incide with the premiere of the new James Bond movie, The Quantum of Solace. There will be a Friday night comedy program at 7:00 pm and a horror program at 9:30 pm which will also feature selections of some of the best genre movies from this year's entries and the MIFF's past ten years.

On Saturday at 10:00 am, the matinee program begins featuring Florida made films, Florida Today 90 Seconds to Fame winners and 2 features. This will culminate in an opportunity to me the filmmakers at a roundtable forum for a Q& A session. At 3 pm, award-winning filmmaker Alex Ferrari will teach his seminar "Guerilla Marketing and Self Distribution for Your Indie Film" for the discounted price of $50 (All sales to support charity).

At 6 pm, the red carpet reception begins at the Premiere Theaters Oaks Stadium 10 and the 90 second winner of the Florida Today's film contest will be shown followed by the Miller Brothers' feature film, Touching Home. The Miller brothers will be in attendance and there will be a VIP courtyard reception following the screening sponsored by Florida Beer and many local restaurants including Chart House, La Placita, Meg O' Malley's, Miyako's, Mustard's Last Stand and many more. Live entertainment by Robin & Eddy and an awards ceremony will follow.

For more info on ticket sales go to
www.oaks10.com
Exclusive Wine-tasting Friday Nov 14th $100.00
Friday Comedy Program $10.00
Friday Horror Program $10.00
Saturday matinee & Meet the filmmakers $10.00
Seminar- Alex Ferrari "Guerilla Marketing and Self Distribution for Your Indie Film" $50.00
VIPparty, Red Carpet & "Touching Home" $50.00
ALL PASS $65.00(Does not include Wine-tasting and Alex Ferrari's Seminar)

For more info on the Melbourne Film Fest go to
www.3boysproductions.com
www.myspace.com/melbfilmfest