Carter Country Shows True Wyoming Snowboarding

RETRACTION: Turns out it was not TGR behind this film. The filmmaker called last night to let us know. He is an up and comer from the Jackson area with an as-yet unnamed production company. Our apologies for the confusion.

The guys at Teton Gravity Research just put together this great little biopic about Mark Carter, professional snowboarder, part time ranch hand, and native of tiny Ten Sleep, Wyoming.



To see the original blog post, visit the TGR website.

Popcorn Horror

Cool online venue for short horror films. If any of you indie types take advantage of this, let us hear back on the outcome. We're always on the lookout for potential resources.

NEW LOCATION

I could describe the place myself, or I could let this fantastic website do the job for me: sunrisemine.blogspot.com

According to owner John Voight, it was created with an eye towards location professionals, and that extra effort really shows through. Here's a case where a property owner is doing everything right -- getting the right shots, laying them out in advance, and taking the time to reach our to the film community. He's offering up an entire abandoned town as a filming location, free of permitting hassles and full of personality. Give it a look. This might just be your next location.

2011 Backcountry Film Festival

So hey, looks like this happened.

"On Thursday night, the Winter Wildlands Alliance Backcountry Film Festival makes its winter tour stop at Snow King Resort in Jackson Wyoming. The festival was created in 2005 to help grassroots and professional filmmakers show audiences their love of skiing, snowboarding and the winter outdoors. Since then, the festival has been viewed in towns and cities around the world. More importantly it has also raised thousands of dollars to help efforts that strive to preserve winter environments."

To view the full article, visit TheMountainPulse.com

Meet Me at the Stagecoach!

So your remember Jennifer Tennican, right? She won the 2011 Wyoming Short Film Contest last spring for this hot little number:



And as good as it is, this short is destined to be nothing more than a bonus feature. Tennican is currently working on the full length Stagecoach Bar documentary, and although it's been partially funded with her WSFC winnings, she still needs a little extra in the way of finishing funds.

She's got a Facebook page set up called 5 Days to $5K, and she could use a little help. So hit the link, make a donation, win cool stuff in the raffle.

CASTING CALL: "My Collection Obsession"

NATIONAL CABLE NETWORK

AND THE PRODUCERS OF

“MY COLLECTION OBSESSION”

ARE CURRENTLY LOOKING FOR SERIOUS AND DEDICATED COLLECTORS OF ALL KINDS.

IS COLLECTING A PART OF YOUR DAILY LIFE?

ARE PARTS OF YOUR COLLECTION IN EVERY ROOM OF YOUR HOUSE?

DO YOU HAVE UNIQUE AND SPECIAL OBJECTS THAT YOU ARE EXTREMELY PROUD OF?

IS THERE SOME OBJECT, COLOR, FABRIC, ETC… THAT YOU HAVE TO HAVE ON YOU EVERYDAY?

REQUIREMENTS:

v COLLECTORS MUST RESIDE WITHIN THE UNITED STATES & U.S. TERRITORIES/CANADA.

v YOUR COLLECTION MUST EITHER BE TRULY GRAND IN SCALE, EXTREMELY UNIQUE OR RARE, OR HAVE AN AMAZING BACK STORY.

v COLLECTING MUST BE PART OF YOUR LIFESTYLE, NOT JUST A SMALL SIDE HOBBY.

IF INTERESTED, PLEASE SEND A DESCRIPTION OF WHAT YOU COLLECT, AND WHY AND HOW YOU DO SO TO MYCOLLECTIONOBSESSION@GMAIL.COM IF AVAILABLE, PLEASE ALSO INCLUDE ANY PHOTOS, ARTICLES, OR VIDEOS THAT WILL HELP US ASSESS THE EXTENT OF YOUR COLLECTION. ALL SUBMISSIONS WILL BE KEPT FOR INTERNAL USE ONLY.

Film classes take on statewide project

John Little had only been at his new job at Central Wyoming College for a few weeks when he volunteered to take on a big assignment — one that would ultimately test his skills as a filmmaker and as an instructor.

Little, who was hired to start a new film program at Central at the request of the Wyoming Film Board, offered to create a video for the Wyoming Summit on Community Colleges. The film included stories on students, alumni and community partners from all seven of Wyoming’s community colleges and is being shown in Cheyenne to Gov. Matt Mead, state officials, college presidents and board members and industry partners in December.

In a very small window of time, Little developed the concept, was involved in the majority of the filming, directed, produced and edited the video though he also turned it into a class project for three of his film courses.

“It was a great class experience,” Little said. “They literally had hundreds of hours of practical experience, the kind of hands-on training that is really important for film students.”

To read the full article, visit the cwc website.

Heading South

Hey Wyoming Indies! We just got this one in the mail. If any of you guys give it a try, let us know how it goes.

Call for New Indie Films!

Are you a filmmaker ready to screen your work in front of new audiences? If so, apply today to be a part of the 2012 - 2013 Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers.

Southern Circuit is the nation's first regional tour of independent filmmakers, providing communities in a nine-state region in the South with an interactive way to experience independent film and engage with indie filmmakers. The tour utilizes an intimate context to connect audiences with filmmakers and films they might not otherwise have the opportunity to see. Films, including animation, documentaries, experimental and narrative work, can be submitted for consideration for the Circuit through an annual nationwide open call for submissions.

Southern Circuit is open to any filmmaker living in the United States with a valid driver's license. Filmmakers may submit a feature-length work or a group of short films whose combined time reaches feature length - at least 45 minutes with a maximum of 120 minutes.

Apply here! The application deadline is Wednesday February 15, 2012. Early Bird Registration ends Tuesday January 31, 2012.

For more information about Southern Circuit, visit the Southern Circuit website or contact Teresa Hollingsworth at thollingsworth@southarts.org.

Universal Chief Ron Meyer: Noteworthy Remarks, and the Future of the Hollywood Blockbuster

So this recent interview from longtime studio head Ron Meyer has some interesting quotes, and it's worth reading in its entirety. However, there are a few comments that really speak towards the future of the studio system:

"'[A critical hit is] great when it happens. But we did A Beautiful Mind, and I don’t know that we’d do A Beautiful Mind again. That’s the sad part. It’s great to win awards and make films that you’re proud of and make money, but your first obligation is to make money and then worry about being proud of what you do.'"

"'[At the Mountains of Madness and The Dark Tower] are both good projects, they just were more expensive than made sense for us to spend. If I thought that we could get a better return and everybody was willing to cut their gross, I wasn’t afraid of the price — I was just afraid of the return. I didn’t want to invest, you know, $200 million to not make enough to show that that was worth investing that money.'”

I know, I know: the studios are risk averse. We've heard it before. Yawn. But read between the lines. Coming from a studio head like Meyer means we're in for fewer mega-budget monsters like Avatar and more middle of the road flagship projects. The $200M range is just too high for the calculus, meaning we'll see more $100M - $150M offerings coming down the pipe. Adjust your expectations accordingly.

OPEN CALL for International Documentary Pitch Session

The Big Sky Documentary Film Festival is hosting the second annual
Big Sky International Documentary Pitch Session on February 23, 2012.
The pitch will take place as part of Big Sky Doc Shop (Feb 21-24), a
four day non-fiction industry forum during the ninth annual film
festival.

Entry Fee: $25

Submission Deadline: January 6, 2012

Filmmakers have the opportunity to pitch their work-in-progress (WIP) documentaries to some of the top commissioning editors and funders for documentary film in North America. All documentary forms and all subjects are eligible to submit. Commissioning editors will critique and comment on each pitch. A maximum of 15 projects will be accepted to pitch in this session. Potential participants should submit a brief (250 words maximum) project summary and an additional one-paragraph project status report. A short (5 minutes maximum) sample reel of the work-in-progress may be submitted (via vimeo, youtube.com, blip.tv, etc.) in addition to the written application. Selected projects will have 20 minutes to pitch their project and show a short sample (if available) for the panel. Selected projects will be required to pay an additional $75 to participate, and will be notified of their acceptance by January 11, 2012.

Confirmed participants include: Diane Weyermann (Executive Vice President, Documentary Films, Participant Media), Yance Ford (Series Producer, POV/The American Documentary), and Reva Goldberg (Communications and Fellowships Manager at Cinereach).

Enter via Withoutabox.com