Social networks as the ultimate PR — they could make critics and other “gatekeepers” obsolete.

Which of course scares the hell out of the gatekeepers.

If 356 million people (that’s 5% of the human race) can watch a YouTube video called “Charlie Bit My Thumb!” then it’s possible to find ways to market your work. BUT…if every filmmaker tries to market his or her own work, then they’re all working against one another (“pick MY site rather than his!”). The answer is to aggregate: artists in their fields need to connect, to work together to build their audience together … 

Edith Zimmerman claims in her article for the New York Times Magazine, “Dealing With Your Own Cultural Irrelevance (at Age 28),” that in her viewing of a YouTube video:

 ‘I saw something that made me feel old, isn’t that crazy?’  She adds, ‘Then again, the Internet is a new kind of barometer for keeping track of exactly how old you feel: how many things you don’t get, how many mini-Internet worlds you can’t find the door to…’

To which I answer … No. Because the Internet is about NOT having to think in terms of any one barometer. The viewing public on the Internet is more diverse, may I say even fractured, than six columns of print can contain …

Geoffrey Gilmore recently blogged about the certainty and diversity of change in the world of independent film. He spoke in particular about the profound changes underway in the landscape of independent film distribution, in our techniques of filmmaking and forms of storytelling, and within the indie viewing audience itself. He sees a need to embrace the future and encourages filmmakers to create the maps and develop the guideposts to help navigate the complexity of change underway in the industry today.

“… The problem with discussing innovation in film is that the new universe exists as a range of choices and options. It is not simply a movement from a world of analog to a world of digital. The direction for what the future will bring in one sphere is not necessarily the same for another. An optimal strategy for reaching a horror film audience on VOD is certainly different from trying to connect with film connoisseurs of Asian art cinema …