Thanks for the opportunity to detail the new Filmmaker Alliance website. The following is a brief overview that hits all of the high points of the new site. 

New Filmmakers Alliance Website Overview

As you may know, Filmmakers Alliance has been operating in and serving the Los Angeles filmmaking community since 1993. As a result of many evolutionary changes, we are now launching a global support initiative through our website. The goal is to provide support for, and empowerment of, filmmakers at every stage in their creative growth and through every stage of the filmmaking process. Additionally, this support and empowerment will be seeded with an aesthetic and social perspective that challenges filmmakers to create truly meaningful and impactful media.

The tools and resources that comprise this support will be aggregated through "white label" partnerships with various sites and applications that service the needs of filmmakers. Additionally, we will create our own programs/apps and resources when necessary and as a technological bridge for creating compatibility between 3rd party programs and apps.

The system of support we will be offering to filmmakers can be broken down into three main areas of thematic focus, creating a  tripodal support base comprised of:

Education

Empowerment

Exposure

EDUCATION

The educational component of our tripodal support system will be delivered through downloadable and thus portable video segments of film education covering a complete range of filmmaking and filmmaking-related topics (and sub-topics).  Obviously, there will be much practical knowledge, but there will also be a wealth of guidance for filmmakers in creating work that speaks to an aesthetically ambitious and/or socially-responsible consciousness. The the video segments will be delivered through a main site, but also available through thousands of partner sites and mobile platforms.

There will also be organized articles, blogs and recommended reading to supplement the video education.

EMPOWERMENT

The most ambitious segment of the site provides direct filmmaking support. It will basically aggregate all of the online filmmaking resources currently available to filmmakers and organize them in an intuitive way, allowing filmmakers to easily develop, create, manage and distribute film projects. It will also allow filmmakers to manage their filmmaking lives beyond a single film. Some of what the site will provide includes:

 

1. •Facebook-type social networking tools including profile pages, fully customizable notifications, newsfeed, groups, messaging, chats, blogs, status posts, video and image upload, event posting and more.
   

2. •Project pages.
   

3. •Virtual production office (via multiple partners) with a virtual production manager that gives filmmakers the option to be guided through productions.
   

4. •Community editing space/project sharing via Stroome.
   

5. •Key, downloadable databases, documents and apps.
   

6. •Festival Submission via Withoutabox.
   

7. •A Craigslist-type posting board for crew calls, film equipment sales and rentals, events and other film-related stuff.
   

8. •Member uploads of resource files (stock footage, music, sound), documents, programs and any other shareable resources.
   

9. •An individual calendar and a public scheduler for crew members to show their availability.
   

10. •Ratings/review for videos, crew members and blogs. Actually nearly anything input/uploaded by members.
    

11. •Hot Set (What’s in Production, Competitions and Challenges, Crew Calls, Production Needs, Screenings, Job Board, Member Discounts, Special Promotions).
    

12. •Watch list - sends notifications of any changes to any page, project or profile that you list in the watchlist.
    

13. •Quick-Links - gives the member the ability to put one-button links to favorite pages on the home (profile) page, so they can easily find them again (much like a bookmark).
    

14. •Match Box - Like a search engine, but a space that basically allows you to find other filmmakers based on certain defined criteria such as geography, crew position, resources available, etc..
    

15. •Site activity tracking - The ability for admin to track the activity patterns of every member, allowing the site to suggest resources, tools and connections to members. Site will also offer incentive rewards for the most active members.
    

EXPOSURE - THE SCREENING ROOM

The Screening Room is essentially three things - a curated online screening series,  a video upload service and a self-distribution lab - with the over-all goal of giving filmmakers the opportunity, info and tools necessary to bring their completed projects to the public. This will be supported by marketing tools for building both regional and global audiences. Event creation/marketing and online ticketing will also allow filmmakers to organize and market their own localized screenings. 

Summary

It is Filmmakers Alliance’s goal to create a site that works as not only a great educational, organizational and management tool, but as a marketplace for ideas and creativity. In short, the new FA website will be a complete home for filmmakers and a destination for film lovers. Obviously, the preceding is just an overview of what we will be creating and the site itself will certainly not emerge complete overnight. With the relatively modest funding we are raising, however, we plan to bring it to a stage where it can be self-supporting and grow organically from there through the participation of partners and users.