Today, November 22, the international networking organization dedicated to the support and promotion of independent filmmaking called Shooting People, turns ten years old. In the UK, lo these many years ago, Cath Le Couteur and Jess Search set up SP after making their first short film. The organization launched with a single email bulletin to their friends. A decade later, SP now sends out over half a million bulletins to over 37,000 members across the UK, New York and California.
Initially a free service, paid memberships were introduced in '02 to help them stay even more relevant to their constituency and to sustain a viable structure to keep things growing. In 2006, it opened in the US (a year's membership is $40) which expanded the network's scope even more, and enabled more international collaborations and partnerships to take place. Over 200 films are cast and crewed each week using Shooting People. That's pretty impressive. Patrons of SP include Mike Figgis, Morgan Spurlock, Richard E. Grant, Sally Potter, Danny Boyle, Stephen Woolley, Christine Vachon, Nick Park, Martha Fiennes and Stuart Beattie.
Members of Shooting People include directors, producers, actors, editors, technical crew, and other independent film organizations, all passionate about creating cinema collaboratively, creatively and yes, inexpensively, with sometimes the bare minimum of resources. SP publishes textbooks, produces DVDs of short films, and organizes hundreds of educational events. Starting in '09, across the UK, SP will partner with BAFTA to roll out the "Short Sighted" events, day-long intensive training sessions teaching filmmakers how to use the Internet as a marketing and distribution tool.
Over the course of its existence, SP has added many useful features to its site, such as a member search tool to enhance networking; free downloadable resources such as contracts and best practice documents; podcast filmmaker interviews; three independent film expert-curated blogs; an independent film calendar; a member profile service; and the Watch Film Facility where members can upload their work for flash video streaming for exhibition to their peers and other industry folk. Right now there is a special interactive web birthday space where members can upload photos of their work spaces with ten word captions to wish SP a happy birthday. There are tons up right now at http://shootingpeople.org/birthday.
On Tuesday, December 9, here in New York, Shooting People will host a holiday party for its members starting at 7:00 p.m. until the wee hours at ACE Bar on East 5th Street in the East Village. Join the network and come out and celebrate.
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