Recycle Your Media Waste

I am adding two sites to the Resources list today that you should definitely keep on file: CD Recycling Center of America and GreenDisk.com. Both are excellent resources for properly and securely disposing your unwanted cds and dvds.

I recommend using CD Recycling center for personal use in addition to office use, since they do not charge you for their services. The facility takes cds, dvds, and any of the packaging that goes along with it. The only costs to you are shipping and the time it takes to sort your items. However, you must register with their site and notify them of your upcoming shipment.

Got a PA twiddling their thumbs in the corner of the office? You may also download graphics to properly label your recycling bins.

Greendisk is a useful resource for production and post production offices and film festivals that generate or collect mutiple and various types of media waste. For a fee, they take the following items:
-All forms of electronic media and their cases: diskettes, zip disks, CDs, CD-Rs, CD-RWs, DVDs et al, video tape (i.e. VHS), audio tape, game cartridges, DAT, DLT, Beta or Digibeta, and virtually all other type of computer tapes.
-Hard drives, Zip and Jazz drives, jump drives, etc.
-All forms of printer cartridges including both inkjet and toner.
-All types of cell phones, pagers, PDAs and their chargers, cables, and headset accessories.
-All types of rechargeable batteries (not regular alkaline ones) and their chargers.
-All of the cords, cables, boards, chips, etc. attached to or removed from a computer.

They also take small computer accessories such as Ipods, digital cameras and laptops, but you must use their specific shipping materials. You can purchase boxes that can be used for collection and shipment, as well, for your office's workstations. If you purchase your boxes through them, they also include postage, processing and an audit report with a Certificate of Destruction. Greendisk helps to complete the cycle by selling recycled CDs and cases. You can also include one of these companies' links printed on the artwork of your new dvd cases to pass on the good word.

One last note: if you're sending off "obsolete" unused media, such as blank DV tapes, DVCAMs, or Betacams, try donating it to a local film school that is probably still using such stocks.

have a good weekend

I'm checking out for a few days. Going to shoot a student film this weekend. Wish me luck ('cause I'm definitely going to need it). If you happen to have an environmental film, check out the Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival in Nevada City, CA. Their final without a box deadline is coming up (September 30th). Enjoy your bbq parties and the last days of summer. Happy Labor Day and see ya next week.

The world wide web: the final frontier

Beginning the film festival process (otherwise known as the “whore yourself out” process), can be very daunting. When you’re a beginning filmmaker, it is THE way to get seen and be taken seriously. But, like every other stage of the game, it gets expensive.

A great way to save some costs, as well as consumption, is optimizing the use of your website. If you don’t already have a website for your film, then you’re already two steps behind every Joe Schmo out there that thinks they’re the next Wes Anderson. You want to use your website to provide festival programmers with easy access to your press kit or a trailer. Allow your photographs to be downloadable, and post a pdf of your bio, synopsis and director's statement.

I also suggest for short filmmakers that you post your film on a “secret” page of your site. This is a page on your site that can’t be linked from your home page. Only you can provide the url to select viewers. You can go even further by setting up a page or user account that is password protected. The importance of protecting your film online is to prevent it from being considered public content. Most of the big festivals will disqualify you if your film is publicly available online. Plus, you want your audience to watch your film at the festivals you get into. You can use this method for programmers, talent agents and managers, producers, and fellow filmmakers that you are likely to meet on the film festival circuit. You can even use this to post scripts for your next potential project. Not only does this give you fast turn around, but it saves you money on dvds, dvd cases, shipping costs, and the gas it takes to get you to Fed Ex. Everyone will be so impressed with how business savvy you are.

If you absolutely have to provide a hard copy of your film, I suggest using Eco-Wallets from Discmakers. They print their cases on recycled cardboard that is lighter than standard cases, and with vegetable-based inks.


PS. Thanks to Lex for helping me with this post. He suggests using godaddy or namenova to register your sites, and hasweb for web hosting.