Way back when in the mid-90s a film called "The Brother's McMullen" hit it big with audiences and critics alike at the Sundance film festival. I personally liked the film too. It also was one of the films along with "Clerks" that told me (and many others) that I could be a filmmaker. Not because of the storytellling or content mind you, because of the budget. $25k for "The Brother's McMullen" (and $28k for "Clerks").

Cut 15 years ahead to today and what is Ed Burns doing? He's releasing a new $25k movie. I guess there hasn't been any inflation since 1995.

If you don't know who Edward Burns is he's probably best known (to mainstream commercial viewers) for his roles in "Saving Private Ryan", "15 Minutes" (opposite Robert Dinero), or from his appearances on "Entourage". He's really created a nice career staying in the indie world, but also being relevant in the Hollywood system (mainly as an actor). And to those who follow indie film, you probably know he's directed a handful of really nice movies over the past decade (along with acting in them) and is continuing that trend today.

His latest film is called "Nice Guy Johnny" and to be honest, while I am interesting in seeing the film, I'm more interested in how he's financing and distributing it.

ALL filmakers (that's film, TV, web, whatever) should check out this very interesting interview with him on his latest film and on how he is trying to reshape (indie) distribution...

http://motionlifemediablog.wordpress.com/2010/09/21/interview-with-ed-burns/

Interestingly, a lot of what he's talking about is being done in one form or another (and with varying degress of success) in the web series world right now.

-Blake

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