The Year of the Indie
Evan Shapiro
General Manager, Independent Film Channel
Friday, March 3, 2006
2:00 PM
The Independent Spirit Awards have been called the "yin to the Oscars' yang" and they're up at the mike before the Academy Awards this weekend. Their annual event originates on Saturday from Santa Monica, Calif., and it has become the vanguard in indie film, honoring filmmakers who bring a unique vision to the art of making movies.
Are the indies going mainstream? In an interview with washingtonpost.com, Evan Shapiro of the Independent Film Channel said, "Rather than indie films catching up to the mainstream, the mainstream has caught up to indie film."
Shapiro, executive vice president and general manager of the Independent Film Channel, will be online Friday, March 3, at p.m. ET to discuss the Independent Spirit Awards and this year's Academy Awards.
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Evan Shapiro: This is Evan Shapiro, I'm the general manager of the Independent Film Channel and I'm coming to you from the beach in Santa Monica, the site of the 2006 Independent Spirit Awards and we're getting ready here for a star-studded, uncut, uncensored movie awards experience.
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Arlington, Va.: What is an "independent film" these days? It seems like many of the Academy Award nominees this year (Brokeback, Capote, TransAmerica) would be considered pretty "independent".
Evan Shapiro: Those are independent films and their nominations are a sign that the mainstream is finally catching up with great independent films. What makes an independent film is a combination of three things: the studio. An independend film studio is one concentrating on films of a certain budget size. Years ago those studios were all truly independent. Now many of them Miramax and Focus are part of larger studio systems.
Number two is budget. Usually independent films are made for far less money and targeted for niche audiences.
The third and last is theme. You'll note that all of the nominated Spirit Award films and the Oscar nominated independent films have to do with themes of alienation of one sort or another. This is a common theme for independent film -- not so much for blockbusters.
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Bethesda, Md.: So what's the deal out there. Are many stars going to come to the Spirit Awards?
Evan Shapiro: Yes. A lot of actors, directors and other people who work in film consider these the most prestigious of the film awards. Independent film is the kind of film most people in the industry would prefer to make so winning an award here is extra special. Also, these are the only awards of the entire season to be broadcast truly live, uncut and uncensored on IFC. The Oscars will have a seven-second delay and it's on the network that censored the Rolling Stones at halftime of the Super Bowl. On IFC, they're on live, truly live, 2 p.m. Pacific/5 p.m. Eastern. No delay, no censorship, no commercials and with Sarah Silverman as the host we are really on a wire without a net.
We are a network dedicated to free expression and the Independent Spirit Awards embody that.
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New York: If independent film is growing at such a rapid pace wouldnt it benefit the mainstream theaters, i.e, Loews to open up more independent theaters. How cool would that be!
Evan Shapiro: Very cool. And what's great is that those plans are in the works. You've got Landmark Theatres nationwide, a great independent film chain. and what you will see with the merger of AMC and Loews is that the company will probably dedicate certain Loews locations to the demand for independent film.
A great example is the corner of 42nd St. and 8th Ave. in New York City. Loews has 13 screens and across the street AMC has 25 screens -- 38 screens on one street corner (granted, it is New York City). I've talked to people at AMC and Loews and they are dedicated to making independent film more accessible.
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Baltimore, Md.: Tell us a little about the IFC show. Is it at all like the Oscars?
Evan Shapiro: No. It's not at all like the Oscars. It has awards. It's on the beach. People come in beachwear and whateve the heck they want to. Flip flops, tuxedo jackets and shorts. But these are America's best filmmakers. They sit around, they drink, they get up on stage, they talk. There's no orchestra playing them off. Our band is the Chrystal Method.
People come up on stage and accept the Spirit award for various categories. There are actors awards and directors awards and awards for first-time directors, overall ensemble and films under %500,000. The types of films represented are far different, so the voices on stage, many times, are ones you won't hear anywhere else. However, when there are lots of big stars as well and when they get on stage, everyone's given free reign.
Imagine this: George Clooney wins an Independent Spirit Award on Saturday and an Oscar on Sunday, which speech do you think will be what he truly wants to say? On the show where he can say everything he wants or on the show where he'll be delayed by seven seconds and cut off after six?
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D.C.: Why not reward true indies (non-studio) instead of just giving more attention to the mainstream?
Evan Shapiro: Good question. I vote for the Independent Spirit Awards and I vote for the best film that the Film Independent Board says are eligible. You'll note the inclusion of many films on many different categories that are "true indies." For best picture, The Three Burials of ... that's a great film that hasn't gotten that much recognition that the Spirit Awards will honor in 40 million homes in America and 65 countries around the world. Tommy Lee Jones won for that film in Cannes but hasn't gotten too much attention in the states. We've been promoting that film since Cannes through our news reports and now again with the Independent Spirit Awards.
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Boise, Idaho: What actor/actress was the coolest to meet in real life at the Spirits?
Evan Shapiro: Quentin Tarantino was good. Maggie Gyllenhaal was really smart and really charming. But my favorite so far was Scarlett Johanssen. She was not at all like I expected. A tough, New York woman It proved how good an actor she is. She has all the Hollywood glamour that you see up on screen and yet she's a very down to earth New York chick.
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Louisville, Ky.: I'm happy to see that independent movies have come as far as they have. When you see a movie like Napoleon Dynamtie appearing in board game, lunchbox, and t-shirt form everywhere, you know that finally, higher quality entertainment has hit a mass audience. I'd like to think a combination of DVD, Internet access, and pop culture awareness (thank God for VH-1) has led to this, but I also think more distributors are willing to chances based on prior successes.
While some of us who enjoyed independent cinema when it was trule independent might lose a bit of cache, I'm all for advancing American culture, even it's only advancing on the coasts.
That said, my favorite independent film of the year was Junebug -- just a wonderful, complex film that I can't help but feel was overlooked.
Evan Shapiro: I say Hurrah! That was very a very articulate on why more independent film in all forms is good. However, it's spreading far more than on the coasts. You had a comment just a couple seconds ago from Boise, Idaho, a very red state, and we just did a survey of 3,000 independent film fans from the lower 48 states and the top ten states for independent film were Utah, Wyoming and Alabama. Independent film is about an original voice and America loves original voices.
Watch the show: At 4:30 Live Red Carpet coverage on WE network. 5 p.m. ET/2 p.m. ET live, uncut, uncensored on IFC. And AMC will broadcast the highlights at 10 p.m. ET/PT, an edited-for-family viewing version.
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