The hottest topic of conversation leading up to this year’s Sundance Film Festival? That virtually no one is actually going to this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Over the past couple of weeks, what started as a whisper has steadily grown into a ear-splitting groan, and with the Festival beginning tomorrow, it’s become a meme that’s too pervasive to ignore.  I had heard either directly or via reliable second-hand testimony that a number of familiar faces (including a celebrity photographer, the film critic for a very high-profile weekly magazine, and a publicist representing a major distributor) were all skipping the festival this year; on the indie/freelance journalist end, reporter Anthony Kaufman took to his blog to detail the five reasons he’s decided not to head out to Utah.

Once the “Sundance: it’s gonna be a ghost town!” chatter had certifiably reached fever pitch, I went looking for Sundance regulars who would go on the record about why they’re skipping the festival this year, and what they plan to do instead. Always the skeptic, I had initially wondered if the Sundance Ghost Town Meme was a fiction invented by publicists and sold to the media in order to cover for what many expect to be a down year for sales. But when it came down to it, 5 out 6 of the people who were willing to talk to me at length and on the record about their planned Sundance absence were at least part-time journalists. Now, I wonder: is there even going to be any media left for publicists to sell fictions to?

In my conversations with five journalists about their Sundance dealbreakers, a number of common threads emerged. I break them down after the jump. If you’ve got your own not going to Sundance story, do let us know in the comments.

It’s The Economy, Stupid.

As could be expected, for every person I talked to about skipping Sundance, the crap economy was a factor. In some cases, the issue was as simple as not being able to afford a place to stay, but most stories were more complex than that.

It’s no secret that times are tough, but the news that one Sundance stalwart, who literally wrote the (or, at least, a) book on festivals, is sitting out the trip for the first time in a decade and a half does give one pause. “This is the first time in something like 15 years that our publisher Chris Gore isn’t going, [and] the first time in over 12 years that our managing editor (previously Mark Bell and Eric Campos, now myself) will not be going,” says Don R. Lewis of Film Threat. He’ll be reviewing movies remotely from screeners, and otherwise the site will rely on coverage from three freelancers based in Salt Lake City. “The reason,” says Lewis, “Is mostly financial. Ad revenues are down everywhere and each year Sundance absorbs at least 3/4 of our budget for the entire year.” The expense may have been worth it at one time, but these days, it’s hard to justify. In part, because …

Sundance is not the only game in town.

Almost everyone I talked to noted that skipping Sundance would make it easier for them to attend another festival or festivals — SXSW, Cannes, and CineVegas were amongst those mentioned –– which, for a variety of reasons, can be more valuable.

Brian Chirls attended Sundance in 2007 and 2008 as a video blogger, first for the Sundance Channel and then for FILMMAKER Magazine. He says he had “a great time” the first year, but by his second trip, the bloom had fallen off the rose a bit. “In terms of networking, I met far fewer people. Panels and discussions at the New Frontier for the most part seemed stale, a rehash of the year before at best. Parties seemed a bit less accessible and less fun in 2008 than the year before — with the exception of the Timecrimes karaoke party, which probably justified the entire trip.”

This year, instead of making the Park City trip, Chirls will attend Rotterdam and Berlin back-to-back — and he’ll have some help with the cost. “Rotterdam is covering my flight, hotel and festival credentials for me to present a workshop at Cinemart. Most American festivals won’t cover those expenses for speakers.” He’s also looking forward to revisiting a few North American events he found particularly valuable in 2008. “South By Southwest was better last year for new ideas and innovation, and it had more fun, memorable films by accessible filmmakers.  I can see the same panels and workshops at London, Independent Film Week or Berlin, and better ones at SXSW or From Here to Awesome/DIY Days. Sundance, charming as it is, just doesn’t have exclusivity on good people, good films or good ideas.”

Not only that, but even films which do play Sundance are often readily accessible soon after the festival ends, either through traditional distribution channels or at other festivals. “So much of Sundance is reported and shuffled immediately into circulation that I feel comfortable taking the chance that I can catch [the films] soon enough,” says Shawn Levy, film critic and blogger for The Oregonian. Levy says he’s looking forward to getting “a different tack on the year by attending SXSW, Seattle International Fest and a couple others (prolly Toronto).  It may be that I’m wrong and that Sundance is truly the place to begin the movie year.  But after 8 or 10 of ‘em in a row, I’ll at least test the theory.  That said, I’m going to miss eating at El Chubasco terribly.”

New Media Gets No Respect — Or Funding.

“I’d previously covered the festival for Nerve.com, but they can no longer afford me,” says freelance critic Mike D’Angelo. “Or so I assume since their film coverage is now restricted to their Screengrab blog, for which last I heard they were paying contributors roughly a tenth of what they’d paid me. If you’re a freelancer there’s just no business model that works right now — I’m sure I could interest Las Vegas Weekly in an wrap article, but that would cover at best 20% of my expenses. So I’d have to line up five or more. Ugh.”

D’Angelo says he may go to Toronto or Cannes, but if so, it’ll be on his own dime, with freelance writing enabling him to break even. Hopefully. The trips “would essentially constitute vacations; I don’t anticipate that anyone will be paying me enough to cover my expenses.”

And then there’s the issue of access. Print outlets may be drying up, but online film critics, even those with a serious reputation and following, still have to fight for respect. “Last year we applied to cover Sundance for the first time, and when we were rejected I was furious because outlets with a third of our traffic and clout were invited to cover the festival,” says Ed Gonzalez, co-creator and film editor of Slant Magazine. Figuring that “festivals such as Sundance seem to insist on punishing first-time applicants,” Slant applied again for 2009. “We did get in, and in exchange for a festival badge my correspondent was willing to go to Park City on his own dime.” But…

Prop 8

Gonzalez believes that the protests surrounding California’s Mormon-backed Proposition 8 and the threatened boycott of the festival itself (particularly the Holiday Village venue, a Cinemark theater owned by a major financial supporter of the Yes on 8 campaign) have had a palpable effect on the character and lineup of this year’s Sundance. “We understand the Mormon church has nothing to do with Sundance, and that the ban on all things Utah is patently absurd in that it gives the haters in the church what they want,” he says. “But it seems as if the energy of the Prop 8 protests has noticeably rubbed off on the festival. I don’t know if these protests had a direct effect on film submissions, or how films were programmed and will play at the festival this year, but the especially paltry and unpromising lineup this year seemed to suggest that it had, and that it was probably in our best interest to wait until next year, when that cloud will have hopefully dispersed.”

Chirls also names Prop 8 as a factor in his decision to stay away, but only in that he imagined it will contribute to “lower attendance,” and thus getting in the way of his “primary purpose … to network.”

Sundance Just Isn’t Worth The “Pain In The Ass.”

A couple of non-journalists I talked to said they were skipping the festival to attend the inauguration, which falls on the festival’s sixth day this year, but as it overlaps with Rotterdam, just barely precedes Berlin and falls right smack dab in the middle of awards season, Sundance’s spot on the calendar can make it tricky for any film writer with never-ending deadlines. Especially one from Portland. Says Shawn Levy: “The holiday/Oscar-bait movies are still premiering in towns like Portland, and the Portland International Fest screenings start, like 60 hours after the Sundance awards are announced.”

“Let’s be honest,” says Film Threat’s Lewis. “Sundance is an enormous pain in the ass. That’s not a knock against Sundance, it’s a fact. It’s cold, it’s crowded, it’s slippery, it’s hard to find time to eat and sleep, there’s thousands of looky-loos crowding the screenings, the movies are a total crap shoot and everyone ends up sick. As much as I’m sure I’ll be sorry I missed it this year, as of right now, we’re all kind of glad we aren’t going.”

“Of the Big Three [including Cannes and Toronto], Sundance is for me easily the most expendable, in that the films tend to be largely mediocre, the weather is abysmal (I don’t ski), and the screening conditions are still like something out of a ’60s Rotary Club meeting,” says Mike D’Angelo. “Not much of a siren call. Two dozen major films by world-class auteurs shown in magnificent theaters on the Riviera in May, very different story. For that glorious experience I’m prepared to eat the cost myself.”