What is Stream? An Introduction

Stream is a new magazine devoted to filmmakers who want to exploit new technologies in producing, promoting and distributing their work. It's not as complicated as it sounds: We wish simply to be enablers. Filmmaking is the cultural phenomenon of our times, in the way that rock n roll was a generation or two (or three) ago. Once upon a time, any kid could pick up a cheap guitar and make their own noise. Now that cheap guitar is a cheap video camera, and they're not making noise, they're making cinema. And they don't necessarily have to be kids, either. Stream Magazine is devoted to them and their efforts, helping them make the most of their creative potential and keep up with ever-quickening pace of change in the commercial and technological landscape.

We want to provide a place where filmmakers can share information, exchange ideas and learn how to get their work made and (crucially) seen. The Web is breaking down old barriers and creating all sorts of exciting new avenues for people to get their work out there. But it's still as difficult as it's ever been to stand out from the crowd, if you don't know what you're doing. That's where Stream comes in.

We're the sister site of Wonderland, a new concept in filtering out high quality work among the great deluge of video on the Web. Click on over there and see what's going on. But be forewarned: You could lose a couple of hours browsing some of the great titles showcased in its ever-growing database.

The heart of the Stream operation will be a daily blog written by Eric Kohn. He's a graduate of New York University, where he majored in cinema studies, and he now works in Brooklyn as a film journalist and critic. His writing regularly appears in the New York Press, indieWIRE and The Hollywood Reporter. For the blog, Eric will scour the indie landscape to find compelling new developments for digitally-oriented filmmakers; he'll also be reporting on coverage by the mainstream media, breaking it down and analyzing its significance for the solo practitioner.

In addition to the blog, which we call the Feed, we'll also be regularly publishing Moviemaker profiles, as well as columns on Tools & Technology and Rights & Revenue. As with any new magazine, it'll surely take Stream a little while to find its stride. What will help, of course, is if we hear from readers about what they want from the magazine. There will be a fully open line of communications between Stream readers and Stream writers. We encourage you to use it and tell us what you think -- good, bad, or otherwise.

In an interview that will be posted soon on Stream, Lance Weiler, the director and proprietor of the excellent filmmaker resource Workbook Project, helps sort through the sometimes perplexing array opportunities that exist today for filmmakers. But he also exhorts them to keep their focus on the essential task at hand. "Just pick up a camera," he says, "and have a good time with it and enjoy it and learn the craft of filmmaking by doing it."

Our sentiments exactly. Welcome to Stream. We hope you'll come back often.

What is Stream? An Introduction

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