Tis the season to hang out with filmmakers from across the state and share some holiday cheer… and a few drinks. This year the Indiana Filmmakers Network took our holiday party to Moe’s Irish Pub at the Hamilton Town Center and the result was incredible. It was Tuesday December 8th. This was by far the largest gathering I’ve seen of indie film types. It seemed like everyone was there and ready to unwind. We had people from all over Indiana and a few that were home for the holidays from other parts of the country. The award for furthest travel to attend went easily to Logan Huffman. The Indianapolis native was back in town awaiting the resumption of shooting the new V series in Vancouver BC,  February 2010.

The Indiana Filmmakers Network (IFN) has been around for about 10 years. It’s mission is to Inform, Educate and Promote the film industry in Indiana. I joined the IFN a little over two years ago. At that time the group had all but dried up. There were only 8 people at the first meeting I attended. I was asked to become a volunteer board member early last year. We had already started rebuilding the group and the meetings in 2009 averaged about 40 attendees each month. Last year’s party was held at one of the board member’s home and was plagued by an ice storm. Attendance was a meager twelve people… though we all had a great time, it was disappointing. This year we had a very cold rain storm… and the attendance was fantastic. We had told the folks at Moe’s that we were expecting around forty people. Instead we ended up with somewhere around sixty. The crowd spilled out into the bar area of Moe’s. It was great.  The staff at Moe’s did a wonderful job keeping us supplied with food and drinks.

For those of you who were not able to make it… you missed a great night full of  food, contests, prizes, give aways, and networking. I know of many good connections that were made that night.  You might want to clear your schedule next year… I think it’s only going to get better.

No, it can’t be?

Have I been doing this for 2 years already? I guess the calendar doesn’t lie. In the Fall of 2007 I started a little website called IndyFilmNews.com, little did I know how many people I was reaching out too.

Things have changed tremendously since then.  When the site first started it was predominately a forum and secondly a News Site. The Forum users were mainly a group of people I had worked with on different projects over the years. The Forum continued to grow and attract others who had similar interests. It reached it’s peak in January of last of 2009.

Then Facebook took over.

Don’t get me wrong I’m as addicted to Facebook as the next guy. But, it seems to have killed online forums. I have started a Facebook Group and Fan Page to help spread the word about IndyFilmNews.com. There’s still traffic on the IndyFilmNews Forum and I hope it continues… but I don’t think it will get back to the level it was.

The funny thing is that traffic on IndyFilmNews.com has not dropped with the Forum post count. The number of visitors is up and the page views have stayed  level. Over time the Actor and Crew Profiles and News have really grown.  There are now over 100 Actors and Crew Members listed on the Profile pages. The number keeps rising weekly.

The number of filmmakers in Indiana is vastly larger than I ever imagined. I keep stumbling onto more and more. The fact that there were 30 teams completing in the 48 Film Project this year speaks volumes.  The major film festivals in Indianapolis are also doing a great job of pushing Indiana films. The Indianapolis International Film Festival and the Heartland have both featured tracks of Indiana based films. In February of this year I joined the voluntary board of the Indiana Filmmakers Network. This group was holding meetings with 6-8 attendees two years ago. The average meeting now is over 40. There are filmmakers of all levels attending.   From guys making low budget horror film with a cheap camcorder, to guys producing $500,000 Features, and everything in between. They all share a common love for the industry and want to see it grow here in Indiana.

Actors have also been making to the meetings, and I’m glad to see it. A few weeks ago I attended a Indy Stage & Screen meeting. this group meets the last Monday of the month downtown Indy at the Elbow Room. They are a group of professional actors that also care about growing the film community. In the northern part of the state the Mid-America Filmmakers are doing a great job helping each other make and promote films.

Erin Newell at Film Indiana is also doing a wonderful job helping filmmakers in any way she can. From tax incentives to location securing. I glad to we have someone like Erin on our side in the government. She loves this stuff as much as we do.

I want to thank everyone who has supported and added to IndyFilmNews.com, your interest is what keeps this site alive and ever changing.  The site is not going away anytime soon…I’ve already paid for the next 3 years of web hosting! I’m looking forward to see what happens next!

–chuck budreau

IndyFilmNews.com