The Culver Studios

By Richard Verrier

In an industrial yard behind Burbank's Bob Hope Airport, dozens of orange forklifts and 135-foot-high booms stand idle, gleaming in the afternoon sunlight. As recently as two years ago, the yard was largely empty because the equipment was busy being used to hoist cameras, rig lights and build sets for "Iron Man," "Get Smart," "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" and other movies shooting throughout Southern California.

"I've been doing this for 25 years and I've never seen such a sustained downtime," said Lance Sorenson, president of 24/7 Studio Equipment, who recently had to lay off two of his drivers and has imposed three- and four-day workweeks for the rest of his 44 employees. 

Across town in Culver City, at the landmark studio where "Gone with the Wind," "Citizen Kane," "The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet" and "The Andy Griffith Show" were filmed, there's a similar story. Now an independent production facility known as the Culver Studios, the soundstage complex just lost one of its largest tenants, the syndicated game show "Deal or No Deal." That program will tape future episodes in Waterford, Conn., a suburban town known for its nuclear power plant, large state park and assortment of shops and family-owned restaurants. The chief draw: Connecticut's 30% production-tax credit.

"It's a huge blow to us," said James Cella, president of the Culver Studios. Others also have been hard hit by the outflow of production to other areas, known as runaway production.

At Modern Props, also in the Culver City area, nearly half the employees have been laid off, and those remaining are on 20- to 40-hour workweeks. John Zabrucky, the company's founder, thought he'd gotten ahead by opening a satellite office in Vancouver, Canada. But now so many states are offering tax incentives to film and television producers that he can't keep up.

Hundreds of small blue-collar businesses like these sustain Southern California's entertainment industry. Many are struggling amid a sharp drop in local film and TV production triggered by the recession, a rise in runaway production, and the fallout from a writer's strike and a yearlong contract dispute between studios and the Screen Actors Guild. According to the state Employment Development Department, jobs in movie and television production were down 13,800 in May compared with a year earlier.

On-location feature film production in the area has fallen to its lowest levels on record. Student films generated as much activity on the streets of Los Angeles in the first quarter of 2009, when only a few movies, including "Fame" and "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel," were shot there.

California's share of U.S. feature film production dropped to 31% in 2008 from 66% in 2003, according to the California Film Commission. That largely reflects a falloff in the Los Angeles area, where feature filming activity in 2008 was nearly half what it was at its peak in 1996.

Television production, which recently has been a more reliable source of jobs in the region, is also declining. A recent survey from FilmL.A. Inc. found that 44 of 103 TV pilots this year were shot in such disparate locations as Canada, Illinois, Georgia, New York, Louisiana and New Mexico.

More than 30 states have sought to outbid one another with tax credits and rebates aimed at luring productions away from California. Sacramento has responded with its first-ever film-tax credit program, but most analysts think the credits are too small and restrictive to have much effect.

"L.A. is at risk of losing a good part of one of its signature industries, just like it did with the aerospace industry in the early 1990s," said Jack Kyser, chief economist for Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp.

Few know that better than Cella, of Culver Studios. He previously ran Steiner Studios in Brooklyn, N.Y., and was tapped to run Culver in 2006 after a group of investors including Lehman Bros. acquired the 14 soundstages from Sony Pictures Entertainment for $125 million. But the studio's business took a big hit recently when NBC Universal and Endemol USA opted to move "Deal or No Deal" to Connecticut.

The show brought in more than $1 million in rental income to Culver Studios, Cella said, adding that there was little he could do to keep the producers from leaving. "I could give them this space for free and it still wouldn't compete with Connecticut," he said. The studio, which still hosts "The Bonnie Hunt Show" and others, has seen its occupancy rate slide to 46% from 85% in the last year.

Howie Mandel

Serving Los Angeles and Vancouver

The Motion Picture Association of America released a sharply stripped down annual snapshot of the film industry on Tuesday, abandoning its decades-long practice of compiling information about movie production and marketing costs.
The organization’s “state of the business” report outlined routine box office and attendance statistics, but omitted the most heavily scrutinized section of the annual briefing: costs and whether they have gone up or down. The reports are typically over 20 pages in length and contain detailed (and rare) statistics on spending by the major studios and their specialty divisions.

Dan Glickman, the organization’s chief executive, said he made the decision to scrap the financial component because it has become too complex to gather the data. “There is nothing conspiratorial about this,” he said in an interview. “We don’t have the numbers. We didn’t do them. I’ve been concerned about the validity of those numbers for years”

Studios are notorious for keeping their financial information private – or generously rounding the numbers up or down – and the M.P.A.A.’s accounting has long been considered squishy given the difficulty in gathering such granular information across the globe. But moviedom typically pays close attention to the report because there are so few official sources of information about the industry.

To the exasperation of some studio executives, last year’s statistics depicted a sharp rise in spending by specialty labels, which make and distribute films intended for the annual awards races and others aimed at genres like horror. Such divisions’ investment in production rose 6 percent to an average $42.9 million per movie in 2007, while marketing costs jumped 44 percent to $25.7 million.

Mr. Glickman used a speech at ShoWest, a convention for movie theater owners taking place here, to note that entertainment has emerged as one of the country’s few major growth businesses. At a time when most industries are suffering harsh retrenchments, Hollywood is churning out one of the few products that people are still lining up to buy.

“It’s nothing to apologize for,” Mr. Glickman told ShoWest attendees Tuesday morning – a comment that appeared designed to debunk recent articles in the trade press that said he was reluctant to publicly tout a strong box office for fear of further hurting the industry’s lobbying efforts in Washington.

Wellywood is angling to make more money and keep it through new co-production deals being sought with the Hong Kong film industry.

A who's who delegation of film and gaming production executives has addressed the Hong Kong film industry after signing a memorandum of understanding that it is hoped will lead to Chinese money bankrolling New Zealand productions.

The conference, at Hong Kong's HK$2 billion (NZ$460.2 million) digital creative community Cyberport, lists some of Wellington's creative luminaries as speakers, including the head of Peter Jackson's Park Road Post, Aimee McCammon, production veteran Dave Gibson and Jos Ruffell, of leading game makers Sidhe Interactive.

Institute of Screen Innovation director Laurence Greig said the meeting would bring big benefits for the New Zealand industry.

Cyberport and the Hong Kong film producers Shaw Brothers were good examples of large, experienced businesses keen to learn from Wellington, he said.

Cyberport chief executive Nicholas Yang said New Zealand was a role model in the way it had achieved global status and earned international acclaim.

New Zealand already had a co-production treaty with Korea but one had not yet been established under the free trade agreement with China.

"We want to get a framework that will accelerate a co-production treaty so we get groups from China and Hong Kong looking to produce films in Wellington and New Zealand.

"Wellington features on the world stage as a centre of innovation but we haven't got the scale when it comes to capital to produce our own content."

Typically big-scale production houses came to New Zealand to work with the expertise but took all the profit potential away when they left.

More capital access would allow New Zealand companies to own more of what they produced to increase future homegrown earnings off that.

"We are trying to migrate the New Zealand industry from being famous for producing other people's films and games to producing our own and owning the content," Mr Greig said.

Wellington Mayor Kerry Prendergast was a delegate and signed the deal.

LOS ANGELES – "Slumdog Millionaire" took the best-picture Academy Award and seven other Oscars on Sunday, including director for Danny Boyle, whose ghetto-to-glory story paralleled the film's unlikely rise to Hollywood's summit.

The other top winners: Kate Winslet, best actress for the Holocaust-themed drama "The Reader"; Sean Penn, best actor for the title role of "Milk"; Heath Ledger, supporting actor for "The Dark Knight"; and Penelope Cruz, supporting actress for "Vicky Cristina Barcelona."

A story of hope amid squalor in Mumbai, India, "Slumdog Millionaire" came in with 10 nominations, its eight wins including adapted screenplay, cinematography, editing and both music Oscars (score and song).

"Just to say to Mumbai, all of you who helped us make the film and all of those of you who didn't, thank you very much. You dwarf even this guy," Boyle said, holding up his directing Oscar.

The filmmakers accepted the best-picture trophy surrounded by both the adult professional actors who appeared among the cast of relative unknowns and some of the children Boyle cast from the slums of Mumbai.

The film follows the travails and triumphs of Jamal, an orphan who artfully dodges a criminal gang that mutilates children to make them more pitiable beggars. Jamal witnesses his mother's violent death, endures police torture and struggles with betrayal by his brother, while single-mindedly hoping to reunite with the lost love of his childhood.

Fate rewards Jamal, whose story unfolds through flashbacks as he recalls how he came to know the answers that made him a champion on India's version of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire."

As he took the stage to accept his prize for playing slain gay-rights pioneer Harvey Milk, Penn gleefully told the crowd: "You commie, homo-loving sons of guns."

He followed with condemnation of anti-gay protesters who demonstrated near the Oscar site and comments about California's recent vote to ban gay marriage.

"For those who saw the signs of hatred as our cars drove in tonight, I think it's a good time for those who voted for the ban against gay marriage to sit and reflect on their great shame and their shame in their grandchildren's eyes if they continue that support," Penn said. "We've got to have equal rights for everyone."

For his demented reinvention of Batman villain the Joker, Ledger became only the second actor ever to win posthumously, his triumph coming exactly 13 months after his death from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs.

His Oscar for the Warner Bros. blockbuster was accepted by Ledger's parents and sister on behalf of the actor's 3-year-old daughter, Matilda.

"I have to say this is ever so humbling, just being amongst such wonderful people in such a wonderful industry," said his father, Kim Ledger. "We'd like to thank the academy for recognizing our son's amazing work, Warner Bros., and Christopher Nolan in particular for allowing Heath the creative license to develop and explore this crazy Joker character."

Since his death, the 28-year-old Ledger has gained a mythic aura akin to James Dean, another rising star who died well before his time.

The Joker was his final completed role, a casting choice that initially drew scorn from fans who thought Ledger would not be up to the task given Jack Nicholson's gleefully campy rendition of the character in 1989's "Batman."

In the months before Ledger's death, buzz on his wickedly chaotic performance swelled as marketing for the movie centered on the Joker and the perverted clown makeup he hid behind.

Ledger's death fanned a frenzy of anticipation for "The Dark Knight," which had a record $158.4 million opening weekend last summer.

The previous posthumous Oscar recipient was Peter Finch, who won best actor for 1976's "Network" two months after his death.

Cruz triumphed as a woman in a steamy three-way affair with her ex-husband and an American woman in Woody Allen's romance.

"Has anybody ever fainted here? Because I might be the first one," Cruz said, who went on with warm thanks to Allen. "Thank you, Woody, for trusting me with this beautiful character. Thank you for having written all these years some of the greatest characters for women."

"OK, that fainting thing, Penelope," Winslet joked later as she accepted her best-actress prize for "The Reader," in which she plays a former concentration camp guard in an affair with a teen. "I'd be lying if I haven't made a version of this speech before. I think I was probably 8 years old and staring into the bathroom mirror, and this would be a shampoo bottle. But it's not a shampoo bottle now."

It was Winslet's first win after five previous losses.

"Slumdog" writer Simon Beaufoy, who adapted the script from Vikas Swarup's novel "Q&A," said there are places he never could imagine being.

"For me, it's the moon, the South Pole, the Miss World podium, and here," Beaufoy said.

The epic love story "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," which led with 13 nominations, had three wins, for visual effects, art direction and makeup.

"The Dark Knight" had a second win, for sound editing.

"Milk" writer Dustin Lance Black offered an impassioned tribute to Milk.

"If Harvey had not been taken from us 30 years ago, I think he would want me to say to all the gay and lesbian kids out there tonight who have been told they are less than by the churches, by the government, by their families, that you are beautiful, wonderful creatures of value, and that no matter what anyone tells you, God does love you and that very soon, I promise you, you will have equal rights, federally, across this great nation of ours," Black said.

"Man on Wire," James Marsh's examination of tight-rope walker Philippe Petit's dazzling stroll between the towers of the World Trade Center in 1974, was chosen as best documentary.

The acting categories were presented by five past winners of the same awards, among them last year's actress winners, Marion Cotillard and Tilda Swinton, plus Halle Berry, Nicole Kidman, Kevin Kline, Sophia Loren, Anthony Hopkins, Shirley MacLaine and Robert De Niro.

It was a much different style for the Oscars as each past recipient offered personal tributes to one of the nominees, without clips of the nominated performances. Awards usually are done in chit-chat style between a couple of celebrity presenters.

After last year's Oscars delivered their worst TV ratings ever, producers this time aimed to liven up the show with some surprises and new ways of presenting awards. Rather than hiring a comedian such as past hosts Jon Stewart or Chris Rock, the producers went with actor and song-and-dance man Hugh Jackman, who has been host of Broadway's Tony Awards.

Instead of the usual standup routine, Jackman did an engaging musical number to open the show, saluting nominated films with a clever tribute.

Jackman later did a medley staged by his "Australia" director Baz Luhrmann with such performers as Beyonce Knowles and "High School Musical" stars Vanessa Hudgens and Zac Efron.

"Slumdog Millionaire" went into the evening after a run of prizes from earlier film honors.

The film nearly got lost in the shuffle as Warner Bros. folded its art-house banner, Warner Independent, which had been slated to distribute "Slumdog Millionaire." It was rescued from the direct-to-video scrap heap when Fox Searchlight stepped in to release the film.

"Slumdog" composer A.R. Rahman, a dual Oscar winner for the score and song, said the movie was about "optimism and the power of hope."

"All my life, I've had a choice of hate and love," Rahman said. "I chose love, and I'm here.

This is very cool. Recently saw a blog sharing the true story of making the film Dream Awake. Check out the below the lessons learned through the process.

Looking forward and backward at the same time ...

Guess it's that time of year once again, resolutions and all that?  I'll certainly toss out a few here, but more importantly I'd also like to throw out what I'd do different when I shoot my next film.  In other words, what lessons did I truly learn from this one?  Now some of us might call this listing our regrets, but I prefer taking that in a more positive stride.  I mean, aren't we all here to learn, life being quite a demanding school and all that? ...

Lessons Learned
(I'm sure there are more)

1) Hire the 1st AD sooner -- Scheduling a low budget indie and then logistically pulling it off is paramount in the low budget realm.  A good 1st AD is essential to making that happen.  We had him, but he came aboard awful late in prep.  That did handcuff us some, but it wasn't deadly.  However, next time that will be higher on my priority list ...

2) Hire an editor for the shoot -- I now see the logic of that.  Having someone doing a rough cut when we were shooting certainly would have helped, not only to see what we had but to insure that we go after what we didn't ...

3) Hire a publicist before, during and after the shoot -- Is there such a thing as too much publicity?  For indies like us I doubt it, but when it's very minimal you're starting out of the gate behind the curve.  We didn't hit this one right ...

4) Hire someone to really control the budget -- Since we didn't do #1 on cue, that put us behind the momentum of the shoot in keeping track of cash, cash flow and cash reserves.  Having someone experienced and aware of this should help close that gap ...

5) Be more competent -- This one I direct directly at me, being the director and all, and everything else I was, or still am.  As a perfectionist at heart, I was sometimes disheartened at how thin I had to spread myself out.  I knew sometimes I had to set certain priorities of the moment and let other things drop by the wayside, always hoping others could pick up the slack.  Sometimes that happened, sometimes not.  But no matter what, I was (am) always responsible in the end ...

6) Fewer challenging locations -- Yeah, let's go film a feature on a high mountain and bring up a lot of people and equipment where no motorized vehicles can go.  And then let's do it in the heat of the summer and go where there are no facilities for everyone.  And let's do it all low budget under the regulations of the federal government and local Native American tribes.  Right ...

7) More prep time -- Don't we always want this luxury?  Yeah, but I only want a couple more days. Just a couple more, can't I?  It may seem that upfront more prep time will add to the budget, but properly managed more prep time can certainly save you time (and money) on the back end ...

8) Less post time -- This is only so because ours has gone on longer than normal, and certainly longer than was ever intended.  If we had done things normally, this probably wouldn't be here.  Anyway, next time we will have a real Post Supervisor, as I've shockingly realized this is not my forte ...

9) More $$$$$ -- Ha, no brainer, huh?  Cash dough, we can always stand to swim with more.  The trick is taking those extra dollars and stretching them out better than before, since this is where the rubber will always meet the road.  Good luck doing that in this economy.  You may have to hit up that rich eccentric Uncle, or learn to count cards in Vegas ...

10) Less hats to wear -- As a low budget indie filmmaker this is usually difficult to avoid.  But, please forget about the romance of being a filmmaker, because just being in love with the idea of being a filmmaker can never sustain you when you have to actually do the hard work.  On the other side of that coin, when those hard realities do set in, don't try and to do it all.  You may harm the project beyond what you can repair.  In other words, get out of the way of your ego and don't fall in love with yourself ...

11) Relax & have more fun -- At the heart of it all.  Always keep your vision and grow with it, but let go, relax and have fun within it.  There were times I got so caught up in the frenzied moment that I didn't savor it enough before it passed.  Each day slow it down a bit and take it all in, because who knows, you may never get to make another film again ...

Independent Film is any film not produced by a major studio. Some are large budget and some are small budget. Clerks was produced for only 27,000 dollars on credit cards and was sold to Miramax for 1.5 Million Dollars. One film that played a huge role in the development of smaller budget films is sex, lies and videotape.

The film was written by Soderbergh in eight days on a yellow legal pad during a cross country trip (although, as Soderbergh points out in his DVD commentary track, he had been thinking about the film for a year).

Soderbergh's commentary also reveals that he had written Andie MacDowell's role with Elizabeth McGovern in mind, but McGovern's agent disliked the script so much that McGovern never even got to read it. Laura San Giacomo who was represented by the same agency had to threaten to leave that agency in order to be able to play Cynthia. Soderbergh was reluctant to audition MacDowell but she surprised him, getting the role after two extremely successful auditions. The role of John would have been played by Timothy Daly, but delays in completing the financing for the film led to Peter Gallagher getting the role instead.

sex, lies and videotape is important in film history for making independent film a widely known genre. In his book Down and Dirty Pictures, Peter Biskind explains that the unprecedented international success of this low-budget film was instrumental in the beginning of the 1990s independent film boom. The film is also important for launching the career of Steven Soderbergh, who became a recognized director of both mainstream and arthouse films, and for launching or boosting the careers of many actors. Prior to this picture, leading lady Andie MacDowell was principally known as a fashion model whose entire performance in Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes had been dubbed over by Glenn Close. The film was also significant in that it featured James Spader playing the sympathetic protagonist, as in many of his past films he was best known for playing the role of the villain (in particular Endless Love, Pretty in Pink, and Less Than Zero).

The following was announced this past week in regards to the original film:

Park City, UT—Sundance Institute announced today that Steven Soderbergh's sex, lies, and videotape (1989 Sundance Film Festival Audience Award Winner) and Wendell B. Harris's Chameleon Street (1990 Sundance Film Festival Jury Prize Winner) have been selected for the Festival's From the Collection screenings. Each year the Festival presents two retrospective screenings of influential feature-length films from the Sundance Collection at UCLA, paying tribute to significant works in the history of independent film. The series reflects Sundance Institute’s commitment to collect and preserve independent films for contemporary and future audiences. Celebrating its 25th year, the 2009 Sundance Film Festival runs January 15-25, 2009 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden, and Sundance, Utah.

sex, lies, and videotape / U.S.A. 1989 (Director/Screenwriter: Steven Soderbergh)—Steven Soderbergh's ground-breaking debut film about a man who films women discussing their sexuality, and his impact on the relationship of a troubled married couple. The Oscar-nominated film won the Audience Award at the 1989 Sundance Film Festival and the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. The film is credited for its pivotal role in revolutionizing the independent film movement in the early 1990s. In 2006, sex, lies, and videotape was added to the United States National Film Registry as being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." Cast: James Spader, Andie MacDowell, Peter Gallagher, Laura San Giacomo.

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.

A growth in infrastructure is also fueling the acceptance of small budget films
Written by Gouri Shah

Walk into any multiplex today and chances are, a majority of the films being played out on those screens are small budget films featuring new talent. Whether it is the hilarious comedy about non-resident Indians called Loins of Punjab, thriller Johnny Gaddaar featuring newcomer Neil Nitin Mukesh, films such as Bheja Fry and Life in a Metro, or internationally acclaimed films such as The Namesake—industry experts say it is clear that audiences are developing a sensibility for small, independent films.

The box-office takings aren’t bad either: Madhur Bhandarkar’s Traffic Signal, which cost Rs5 crore to produce, made Rs15 crore at the box office, says an industry analyst. Right on cue, some film production houses are setting up separate divisions or companies under the parent brand to work on small budget projects. These have budgets less than Rs5 crore, and are generally less dependent on commercial success than mainstream Bollywood films.

“Today, production houses don’t have a choice but to start looking at small budget films or independent films. With actors turning producers, producers are now looking at lesser known names and smaller projects as an effective way to keep the ball rolling,” said Taran Adarsh, trade analyst, and editor of Trade Guide, a film business weekly. Top Bollywood actors such as Shah Rukh Khan, Juhi Chawla, Aamir Khan, Arjun Rampal, Ajay Devgan and wife Kajol have set up film production houses of their own. But why would studios set up separate divisions for budget films? Industry experts say there are several reasons ranging from de-risking their portfolio and clarity in brand strategy, a shift to large studio formats, to ensuring the inflow of new talent. They are also using high-content “art” films as an inroad to the international awards scene and markets beyond non-resident Indians.

“Today, with multiplexes, these small budget films can actually be made, and can be given a theatrical release to audiences with a growing sensibility for such work,” said Siddharth Roy Kapur, executive vice-president, marketing, UTV Motion Pictures.

These projects have a longer shelf life compared with bigbudget films, where the opening week is extremely crucial. “So, you could release a few prints first and the perception created by running full house for the first few weeks is extremely effective. Buzz is built purely on word-of-mouth,” said Navin Shah, chief executive officer, P9 Integrated Pvt. Ltd, which has a separate unit, P9 Searchlight, for small budget films.When it comes to selling an independent or small budget film, it’s vital to work smart. “You are catering to a discerning audience and, more often than not, (are on) a modest marketing budget,” said Shah. His company, which was responsible for marketing Traffic Signal, sponsored T-shirts with the logo ‘Traffic Signal’ for a large group of traffic cops running the Mumbai Marathon early this year.

There are two revenue streams for both big and small budget films: theatrical—through the number of prints sold—and non-theatrical—comprising home DVDs, satellite rights, DD telecast rights, etc. The only difference is that the territories and rights for big budget films are much larger. They also have additional streams of revenue comprising music rights, downloadable properties such as wallpapers, ringtones, music and international releases which are very rare for small budget films. Still, small is clearly getting big in filmdom.