SDCC Documentary - One Show Only in Seattle 5/14

There's a lot chaos and innovation in the film exhibition space. With everyone watching to see how distribution evolves in a digital age where people often prefer watching a movie at home. With the cost of film production dropping due to lower cost equipment, CGI availability etc. the financial barriers to make a high quality motion picture have changed. But exhibiting your movie in a theater remains complex. As a unrepentant fan of theater going I find it sad that too many great movies I see each year go straight to video. Keeping others from watching with that communal experience.  Now sure - sometimes I curse that group viewing too - with the ringing phones, flashing lights and people who won't shut the hell up. And I do watch an increasing numbers of film at home - the quality of current options is very high. But I believe in choice - and the current environment (not including SIFF's awseome multiple movies per day per theater goings on at the Uptown) are constrained. Leaving folks on the social media sites lamenting their must see film of the year isn't coming to ........

Enter Tugg.com a new business that allows folks to demonstrate demand up front for a film and in doing so guarantee a screening. I'm going to be writing a whole lot more about Tugg.com in the future. But right now I'm taking their service out for a ride - by helping bring the oddly named new film from Morgan Spurlock, Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope to Seattle on May 14th. It'll be showing at Pacific Place that evening. Tickets are $9 and can be reserved via the film's event page on Tugg.com. There's a certain minimum number needed to guarantee the screening happens, so if you'd like to attend please sign up as soon as possible. If that minimum is hit then the show goes on (and your credit card is charged). If it's not then you pay nothing and we all find something else to do on the night of May 14th. With SIFF just a few days past that think of this as your last chance to see a movie without waiting on line.

Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope was the closing night film at Fantastic Fest 2011 and follows a number of fans through their San Diego Comicon experience of 2010. I was at Fantastic Fest this year, and missed the film - only to later realize the one year I did attend Comicon was in 2010. I've heard generally good things so I'm super excited about this screening. For full disclosure the film is available today on VOD channels - but don't you think a film about community should be seen in a public space?

Hope readers will find it interesting - please share your experiences good or bad around Tugg.com - I'll be talking through the whole experience at some point in the future after the screening. On the surface I'm very excited about Tugg providing a (hopefully) scalable way for small film-makers to bring their film to any theater in America (or the world). Digital projection for all the controversy seems to be perfect to enable this particular activity. Eliminating the cost of transporting heavy film reels to setup a screening. Yeah, yeah - more on that later. Right now just go buy a ticket. ;-)