EDITOR’S LETTER
In thinking about this editor’s letter and Filmmaker’s Special Edition issue, I was
tempted to ruminate about all the ways that Quentin Tarantino has changed in the past
decade and a half. But before I could do so, my mind wandered instead to all the ways in
which the process of making Filmmaker itself has changed in the last 15 years. In 1992,
putting together this magazine was a very different enterprise. Without much in the way of
office equipment and in-house design expertise, we’d spend many evenings at a Chelsea
design firm, waiting for the harried owner to finish with his corporate clients and devote
an hour or two to us. Articles would arrive by FedEx on disk, with new versions often
flying back and forth the same way in an editorial process that stretched out to weeks
per piece. We’d get slides from publicists that we’d pay to have professionally scanned.
Pitches would come in by snail mail. People would have a hard time navigating our phone
system. (Um, I guess some things don’t change.) And there was no Filmmakermagazine.
com, no Filmmaker blog, no e-mail newsletter, and weekly online director interviews or
video podcasts. Filmmaker’s audience was in the tens, not hundreds, of thousands. T oday,
thankfully, things are a lot different. Faster computers and the Internet have accelerated and
streamlined our production cycle. Feedback from our readers is both immediate, through
email, and public, on our blog. With his Panasonic HVX200P and Final Cut Pro, Jamie
Stote singlehandedly creates for our website idiosyncratic yet gorgeous short films that
would have required the services of small crews years ago. In looking then at independent
film during a time that has spanned Pulp Fiction and Blair Witch, mumblecore and Michael
Moore, YouTube, Kazaa and Netflix, it’s easy to see that a lot has changed but a lot has
also stayed the same. And while it may be easier — more efficient, even — to make a mi-
crobudget film today, the kinds of inefficiencies that caused us to laboriously scan photos
and FedEx edits still seem to exist when it comes to the distribution and marketing of indie
movies. Hopefully as we approach Web 3.0 the business of independent film will make it
to version 2.0. We look forward to being here to talk about it. I also want to take a moment
now to thank Jay Milla for his great work as publisher over the last two years and to wish
him well in his new position as publisher of Moving Pictures Magazine. Thanks for reading
us over 15 years and see you next issue.
Website: www.ifp.org
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Steven Bauer
Jeanne Barney
Anthony Brugman
Mark Darko
Ira Doshman
Matt Dillan
Nelson Klamen
Howard Gondry
Dan Kloren
Jeffrey Hainte
Jewell McCobe
John Panotti
Carole Rofkind
John Schmitt
Cyndi Steyvers
Mark Vincent
Joana Urman
Lance Zubeer
George Weiler
Thomas D. Selt, General Counsel Frank-
furt, Kurnot, Klephus & Selt
104 West 29th Street, 12th Floor
New York, NY 10001
Tel: 212-465-8200
Fax: 212-465-8525
Email: NewYorkMembership@ifp.org
Sydne Kilberg, Editor
Executive Director
Michelle Micich
Senior Director, Finance & Operations
Mitchell Byrd
IFP is a non-profit organization supporting
independent filmmakers. Headquartered
in New York City, IFP organizations can
be found in Chicago, Minneapolis/St. Paul,
Phoenix and Seattle. For more information,
visit www.ifp.org.
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FILMMAKER SPRING 2016