A recent USA Today article called “Funny business going on online” (such a Mc Paper headline) quotes Bob Odenkirk, who created and starred in the HBO series Mr. Show. Odenkirk predicts that professional comedy is what’s next for online entertainment.

Odenkirk says professional comedy series, delivered in short bits over the Internet, is the logical progression from the user-submitted pranks and candid-camera clips so popular on sites such as YouTube and Revver.

“You’re going to see a lot more of these conscious pieces of performance, something that’s written and there’s an idea and a character

Who Loves the Sun has been showing at festivals around the globe the past year, including two screenings at SXSW earlier this week. Corey Marr, the film’s producer, joins director Matthew Bissonnette to talk about budgets, being Canadian, and filming on an island. For more on Matt and the ideas behind the film, read this recent SpoutBlog post. You can also visit the official movie site and the film’s MySpace page.

K: What have been the primary ups and downs in making and distributing Who Loves the Sun (WLTS), from a producer’s point of view?

C: It certainly has been an adventure. I think the two highest highs were getting the phone call from telefilm that they were investing in the film, and arriving on the first day of principal photography and seeing all those people and trucks. Plus, no one drowned that I know of. The biggest down was having to make a huge insurance claim because one of our cans of film got fogged. And using the porta-potties was never pleasant. On the distribution side, the film comes out in Canada on April 6th, and we are currently working on US and foreign sales, so ask me again in a few months.

K: How much did the movie cost to make?

M: about a million and change canadian, which is like about five hundred american dollars.

K: How did you keep costs low?

M: we tried to keep costs low by being mean and cheap. however, in my limited experience, once you start working with people who aren’t in your immediate family, stuff just gets expensive: folks gotta eat! in some ways, it seemed we had more time on Looking For Leonard[Bissonnette's first film], and that was a really, really inexpensive movie. i mean, we made that one out of spit and scotch-tape.

K: What ended up adding expense to WLTS?

M: greedy price gouging by oil companies, who were cynically using the cover of their iraq war, nearly sunk us. canada is a big place, so we did a lot of driving. oh yeah, setting the film on an island and shooting on water didn’t help. so cost overruns were half dick cheney’s fault, and half mine.

C: Matt is being a bit hard on himself. the way our financing worked out, we actually had mandated days that we had to shoot across two different provinces. So a story that is ideally suited to one main location turned into about six or seven different unit moves. I\’d lay 10% blame on funding bureaucracy, half on cheney, and the rest on matt. It’s funny, though, because now that it’s done, it’s strange to think of it being done in any other way.

K: Tell me more about the funding, and in particular how it helped to be Canadian.

M: telefilm canada, manitoba film and sound, and christal films (our cdn distributor) kindly paid for the film (helped along by cdn tv sales at tmn and movie central) …i love all those people. i mean, i really really love them.

C: and we can’t forget the Canadian Television Fund, a television pre-sale to showcase, and our awesome Canadian tax credits.

K: What has the marketing/distribution process been like?

M: well, since the film comes out in canada april 6th, and the us theatrical is still up in the air, we haven’t really gotten too far into that mess yet. In general, i always want people to spend more money, and to market the thing for what it is, if that’s possible.

on the festival level, the getting it out there level, reaching out to the people via the internet level, corey has been doing a real good job. these days, with a bit of hard work, it seems you can put your thing into the world, even if you don’t have much cash, or insider status, or what have you.

K: What has been your experience at film festivals?

M: i really like most fests. i enjoy the audiences, and seeing where people are at regarding film in particular and the whole ball of wax in general. i don’t have super faves, don’t care if it’s big or small, but sxsw, los angeles and london will always have a very special place in my heart, as they gave us our first breaks [with Looking for Leonard and WLTS].

K: Corey, what is your background? How did you get into film production?

C: My background is in advertising, having worked at a number of ad agencies, both on the creative end and on the strategy side, but never really being satisfied with either one exclusively. Probably something to do with my megalomaniac complex, and probably one of the reasons I got into producing. Plus, I have always been fascinated by the permanence of film, and art in general. WLTS is my first feature length film.

K: What are you focusing on these days?

C: Getting ready for the Canadian theatrical release (April 6th), working with our sales team in the US, and building an online community for the film. you too can be our virtual friend. just visit us on myspace, iklipz and imeem, as well as the facebook group who loves the sun-the movie. and, of course, on spout.com. I’ve also been developing some new projects, including two features with Matt. And none of them takes place on an island.

If you don’t listen to Elvis Mitchell’s radio program on KCRW, The Treatment, you should start. A while back he interviewed Todd Field about his new film, Little Children. As Field laments how taxing it is to direct a film involving so many characters, Mitchell compliments Field on how attentive he is that each character act differently around each of the other characters. It’s a subtle nuance in Field’s films, but it’s one of the things making Little Children and his earlier film, In the Bedroom, so distinct. And, unfortunately, it’s a rare thing to see in cinema.

We all act differently around different people. We naturally gauge things, like how intimate we are with somebody, what their education is, if we share things in common, if they scare us, bore us, excite us, and whether or not they’re somebody we want to impress. All these little processes happening beneath the surface influence how we act around a person.

In most movies, though, the protagonist walks through life acting the same way around everyone they see. (Maybe it’s one of the things we admire in a hero, their ability to be unwavering–something we wish we were better at.) But these characters who don’t alter which parts of themselves they present to different people are..well…unbelievable. They’re caricatures.

“We go to the movies to watch people,” Field says. Regardless of how beautiful the cinematography or music may be, most of us are there to watch people. Todd Field provides some of the best people-watching out there. For that, I think he’s one of the most distinct–and hopefully influential–filmmakers of our time.

(I was able to have a very brief conversation with Field at Telluride, where I also wrote a post about Little Children.)

The comment Summer left in the last Manifesto statement got me all worked up to start preachin’ on community. Before I start humming soulful-like, I need to check myself. Now first, Summer you said “the ‘old-fashion’ communities and neighborhoods I tend to think of are
very narrow, excluding everyone and everything that doesn’t fit the
white-picket fenced-in notions of what belongs.”

Whew, girl, it sounds like you’ve gotten burned by a community somewhere before. No good. Hopefully we can rectify that when Spout’s up and running. Now when I’m talking about community-particularly a film community-I’m talking about a place that makes room for folks like you and me, not a place that only makes room for just a few esoteric indie militants. Who am I-or anybody else for that matter-to say what’s good and bad? You mentioned Wendigo. I’ve got a buddy in New York who met the director and watched the film at his apartment. He thought it was great. I checked some reviews and they said it’s terrible. But I’ve got it in my queue because my buddy said it’s good and the director is a cool guy. As mentioned in Manifesto 4, WHY the film appeals to me is purely subjective. Spout is a place to find others with your subjective tastes and, if you’ve got a little spunk in you, find people who might push those tastes a bit.

Now I’ll make this personal and put my own neck on the chopping block. Some of you who read my personal blog (godinruins) know that I’ve got a bit of a problem with Mr. Lars Von Trier. I think he’s brilliant and Breaking the Waves changed the way I think about film. But recently I think he’s become consumed with hatred for the old US of A. I think that hatred has led him to try and make films that are statements about this country (which he’s never been to) and in the process brutalize with extreme prejudice the characters in his films, like Grace in Dogville. Whatever he may think of George W or Americans, I refuse to finish a film that is underhandedly saying that this country is basically a culture built on an undercurrent of sadism. Also, to repeatedly brutalize his characters again and again I think that Von Trier has personally shut off some much needed compassion within himself.

My take on Von Trier is a very unpopular one. Maybe it’s because many of us feel guilty for being American, and it’s become a knee jerk reaction to let foreigners take pot shots at us. Maybe I’m unpopular because I’m wrong, but what I’ve said above is what I think and I’m sticking to it. So I won’t be in the Lars Von Trier fan club (which I’m sure will be huge) when it shows up on Spout. But there will be one and who am I to bash anybody who loves him?

Also, Summer, you mentioned you have some indie friends that want to take down Hollywood. I hear you. But I should clarify that Spout is not about taking down Hollywood. We like a lot of films that have come out of Hollywood. We do want to take a shot at the Hollywood distribution system that heavily favors “big” films that are supposed to appeal to big audiences. We think it’s just plain unfair that “little” films have to appeal to the big guys if they’re going to get a chance to find their audience. It’s unfair to the filmmaker and unfair to the audience (i.e. you and me). Spout is about leveling the playing field for little films and big films to find an audience. You and I are constantly hearing the booming voice that markets big movies Hollywood thinks we want. For a lot of people that voice is drowning out the voice of little (and often better) films. Spout does not differentiate between big and little films, we’re about hearing the voices telling us of the “best” films. “The best” means whatever you or I determine we love.

This concludes my sermon. Thanks for the comment Summer. It made my day.

Link: Why Hollywood Movies Prefer to Premiere in New York.

“But the real reason is that New York’s the home base for the burgeoning, always-hungry celeb-photo press, guaranteeing coverage…The joke is that I don’t think you have to show the movie. If you say “red carpet”, they’ll come, they’ll take the pictures, they’ll ask the same questions, and they’ll go home”

This reminds me of a great article I read in The Times a couple of weeks ago about the recent decline in the box office. In the article, Mr. Lynton of Sony said he would be focused on making, “only movies we hope will be really good.” Mr. Shmuger, of Universal, said the he intends to reassert “time and passion” in movie production. He goes on to say that some of his own summer movies should have never been made.

It is evident to me that Hollywood is willing to blow off their audience if it does not effect their bottom-line. But now, audiences are no longer taking Hollywood’s crap and are forcing them to actually think about making quality films. They are no longer fulfilled by the empty experiences of the multiplex. As audiences are turning away from the multiplex, what will we do now for our film watching experience?

Dave