Doug Block's Birch Street Goes Truly Indie

In an exciting piece of news, the Hollywood Reporter's Gregg Goldstein is reporting that Doug Block's 51 Birch Street will see a theatrical distribution this fall via Truly Indie.

For those of you not familiar with Truly Indie, it's Landmark Theatre's newish program designed to help filmmakers self-distribute their films for a somewhat marginal fee.  We chewed it over extensively here last fall (see the posts here, here, here, here, here and here).  Some thought it was another great tool for filmmakers to be able to access.  Others thought it was another attempt by THE MAN (in this case Landmark's head honchos Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner) to stick it to the people.

The great thing about 51 Birch Street going the Truly Indie route - aside from the obvious thing of the film reaching a greater audience - is the fact that director Doug Block is the original docu-blogger (I bow to his pioneership) and has been a great advocate for filmmakers learning from each other's experiences.  (If you're not familiar, please check out D-Word and his current blog Around the Block: Doug Block's Doc Blog - and try saying that 5 times fast.)  Having Doug experience the Truly Indie experience - and hopefully writing about it on his blog - will provide great insight to the program.

Doug is also going to be up in Toronto next week participating in a panel on a case study of 51 Birch Street - which is sure to be a fascinating look at his festival experiences, his brushes with other distribution offers and his decision to go the Truly Indie route.  Doug and TIFF Doc Programmer Thom Powers gave a preview on the Toronto Doc Blog.

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On a personal note, as I looking around the Truly Indie website, I found that one of the films currently in the program is Jacques Thelemaque's The Dogwalker, which featured an outstanding performance by my friend  Pamela Gordon, who appeared in my very first short film, but sadly died of cancer in 2003.  My most recent short, The Heir Apparent, was dedicated to Pamela, one of the most supportive and outstanding people I've ever met.  I'm thrilled that Truly Indie is providing a way for audiences around the country to see Pamela at her best.

Comments

[Doug Block]

Thanks for the mention, A.J. Yes, the Truly Indie new is truly exciting, and I will be blogging about it. So far, I have nothing but disgustingly good things to say about the experience, which is bad news for my blog but good news for other filmmakers.

Can't wait to see your film in Toronto and look forward to meeting you at the party. I can tell you, you've got a great rep, so you're in terrific shape for a sale.

Oh yeah...

Doug Block's Doc Blog
Doug Block's Doc Blog
Doug Block's Doc Blog
Doug Block's Doc Blog
Doug Block's Doc Blog

Best...
Doug

[AJ Schnack]

Looking very forward to meeting you in Toronto, Doug, and excited to hear all about your experiences with Truly Indie.
Best,
AJ