Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Film Podcasts - Vol. 5: Spout.Com

by ERIK MCCLANAHAN

Spout.com is a great site for movie-lovers, combining the ideals of social networking and blogs to make a haven to share and discover films. Kevin Buist and Paul Moore are the hosts of FilmCouch, the weekly podcast for Spout. Moore started the site with some friends after working freelance in film production for several years. Karina Longworth is a frequent contributor to the show; she’s also the managing editor for Spoutblog (and founding editor for Cinematical). Coincidentally--or not--they all come out of art schools. In 2007, FilmCouch was nominated for a Webby Award. The show has been running for almost three years now. I spoke with Kevin and Paul at length about the show and the site.

The Aspect Ratio: How did the idea for the show come along? What got you into podcasting?

Paul Moore: We started FilmCouch as an experiment. Spout.com is all about people passionately talking about movies. At the office, we're talking about movies all the time. And we pretty much said, "How can we talk like this and put it up on the site?" Podcasting seemed like an obvious choice. When we got nominated for a Webby Award for podcasting in 2007 (which we lost to npr.org) it sort of solidified that we were going to keep doing this.

The Aspect Ratio: What is your goal or mission statement with the podcast?

PM: We open each show saying we talk about what's "truly interesting in the film world" regardless of how big or small the movie/filmmaker/news is. Really we're on an exploration of life through the movies we watch. And we'd like people to engage in that exploration and, as a result, maybe be a little more adventurous with the movies they watch and how they think about them.

The Aspect Ratio: Give me some insight in to the state of podcasting. Since it is such a young medium, where do you see it going? What can we expect of podcasting in the future?

Kevin Buist: I think ad-supported content will grow a lot, especially video. Also, I think podcasting will start to have an influence on mainstream radio and television. The importance of blogs is already pretty obvious, but I think podcasting is still finding a voice and audience

The Aspect Ratio: What do you love about your podcast, and the act of podcasting itself?

PM: We can talk about movies that are interesting. We can wonder into what really grabs us, why a film is important. We're not constrained to what's opening Friday night (the press cycle) or people wondering, "What am I listening to? A review? An interview?" Podcasting is a space where you can talk about movies the way you'd like to hear them talked about without the stupid questions asked on entertainment talk shows or the dry theorizing of a college lecture.

The Aspect Ratio: What do you hate (or what bothers you) about podcasts and podcasting?

PM: Podcasting is kind of a stepchild of radio and the Internet. If your show isn't on radio or hosted by a celebrity, it's not easy to get new converts online. I think the biggest disconnect is podcasts ask for a different behavior--sit down and listen--on the Internet which is mostly geared toward "glance at me and go away." As a result, they haven't taken on that mantle of a fresh alternative to radio the way blogging has with print media. And, Google doesn't index a sound file, so it's hard to build search ranking. To stumble on a podcast you typically have to be looking for a podcast. Whereas you don't have to be looking for blogs to stumble on a great blog post.

The Aspect Ratio: Where do see your show going? How long do you think it will last?

PM: Indefinitely. If Spout didn't fund our little weekly endeavor, I think Kevin and I would still find a way to get it out there. It's just too much fun. Who gets to spend a morning each week arguing over things like how politically subversive Raquel Welch's bikini is in One Million Years BC?

The Aspect Ratio: Any format changes to your shows that have been considered? How has the show developed since its inception?

PM: We sort of organically fell into a two-part show and often those two parts have a loose theme running through them. But it's fluid. Kevin and I really love the Radiolab show and lately we've been trying to keep up a fast pace and a sound variety like they do. Karina was contributing a segment regularly for a while, but her writing and travel schedule made it difficult for her to produce something each week. So, now we call her when there's something that's up her alley. We got feedback from our regular listeners and they really wanted to hear more from Karina, specifically what she’s watching. So we began the media diet with her. The other thing we’ve changed is to open up the dialogue between our listeners on the show.

The Aspect Ratio: Do you think podcasts should follow a set of rules (length, structure, etc.)?

PM: Although we keep the show to less than a half hour, the only rule we work by is that it should never feel long. When I mention to somebody who listens that the show's around 25 minutes, and they respond with, "Really? It's that long?" That's the goal. Get in and out. Admittedly, we do it better some weeks than others.

KB: Podcasting is great because it is so open, we could do something with whatever length or structure we want. But I do think there's something nice about having a set form that listeners can expect. Mentioning Radio Lab again, I get annoyed when they release podcasts on their feed that aren't actual Radio Lab shows, I feel cheated when I download one and it's only ten minutes.

The Aspect Ratio: What podcasts (filmic or not) do you listen to?

PM: Radiolab, like I mentioned, and other NPR podcasts like The Treatment and The Business, PRI's The Sound of Young America (although I don't know if they count since they're radio shows also), The Kasper Hauser Comedy Podcast, Filmspotting, Grammar Girl, and The 404 from C-Net

KB: Radio Lab, Filmspotting, Escape Pod, Blizzcast, Fresh Air and This American Life.

The Aspect Ratio: Talk about Spout.com a little bit.

PM: It’s a community of movie lovers. It’s purpose is to help people find a movie they’ll love, which sounds maybe a little corny, but the way we look at it is Hollywood is about convincing 40 million people they’re going to love the same movie. Within Spout.com we’re trying to make a level playing field between big blockbusters and really tiny movies so each individual can find movies they will love. Some will be The Dark Knight, and some will find Dear Pillow, which I think is one of the smallest and most under-lauded and best films of its year.

The Aspect Ratio: I’ll have to put that one on my Netflix queue.

PM: It’s intense. I’m not going to lie to you. It is intense, but that’s part of what’s so amazing about it. It’s shot on video by this Austin filmmaker named Brian Poyser. It’s several years old now; extremely low budget, and it’s a movie that will make your skin crawl. If you have a wife or girlfriend turn it off immediately until they are out. There’s absolutely no nudity or sex and it’s all about pornography. It’s the opposite of titillating. It’s the most authentic movie about pornography. Do not rent it for date night though.

The Aspect Ratio: What was the impetus for founding Spout.com?

PM: I founded it with three other friends. Initially we were meeting in a basement talking about this idea. We were young filmmakers who, thank God, had the presence of mind to go to a few film festivals before we bit off the big enchilada of making the proverbial first feature. We realized there were so many great films out there and they were dying on the vine at these festivals, and the problem that we realized was marketing and distribution is ancient, and needed a big reinvention.

The Aspect Ratio: Do you strive to talk about lesser-known films and highlight some up and coming filmmakers? I really love your coverage of film festivals.

PM: Spout.com is a start up company. I think there’s a lot of things that differentiates us from other Web sites but the main thing being that there’s always been a really core passion for great movies and seeing those movies get a shot at finding an audience. One of the ways that manifests is at film festivals. Hiring a blogger like Karina Longworth, although I shouldn’t call here a blogger. She happens to blog, but she’s an amazing writer. She’s the future of film criticism. People are eager to talk about their films at festivals.

The Aspect Ratio: I know Karina lives in New York but you’re based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Do you prefer being in the Midwest in what we typically don’t define as a film-centric community?

PM: Yes, totally. I’m not going to lie it’s not without its struggles being out of the loop sometimes. Particularly when there’s a movie out we really want to see. It’s like, dammit! It’s not coming to this city for six more weeks. So being out of the loop in that way is inconvenient, but going to film festivals all the time is a huge way of staying connected. We keep in contact with everyone through festivals.

The Aspect Ratio: I heard about the genre of films called, I hate to use this term now, “mumblecore”—

PM: [laughs] Yeah Joe Swanberg has forbidden me from ever saying the “M word” word again.

The Aspect Ratio: [laughs] Yeah that’s probably for the best now. But I was turned on to many of these films and filmmakers through FilmCouch. You really championed Swanberg, the Duplass Brothers, Andrew Bujalski and others associated with the “M word” as you put it. Do you think there’s a future for some of those guys?

PM: Oh yeah. What I find really exciting is the future they are creating for themselves. This is sort of my lecture that I given in panels for film festivals—I think what’s really exciting as far as three case scenarios, I believe it was South By Southwest 2005 when Joe Swanberg was there with Kissing on the Mouth, Arin [Buice] and Susan [Crumley] with Four Eyed Monsters and the Duplass Brothers with The Puffy Chair all met in Austin and became friends. I love that starting point of where they met and looking at where they’ve gone since then. I think the Duplass Brothers set out to do more commercial appeal kind of movies, and they’re doing that in Hollywood and realizing Hollywood moves really, really slow. I like that, you know, we’re in the industry but not of the industry kind of philosophy. But on the other end of the spectrum you have Joe Swanberg who’s like I’m not in the industry, I’m not of the industry and the industry can kiss my ass. I probably shouldn’t be speaking for him like that, I think if he got the offer to make…he wouldn’t turn down a million dollars or something, but you can tell he really values the freedom that he has. For him I think he’s built up a really strong community at film festivals and built up his budgets. He’s a working filmmaker working with the people he wants to work with on the projects he wants. Arin and Susan really threw themselves in to their project; they got into so much debt making that movie. They were somehow just magnets for pioneering, grassroots Internet marketing for a movie. I think those are three stories that will be indicative of the future of filmmaking. That’s my sermon.

The Aspect Ratio: Talk about the Butterknife series that was featured on the site exclusively. Do you think you’ll do more stuff like that in the future?

PM: It was an experiment for us. A lot of what we do is an experiment. It’s on the table but we don’t have anything in the works right now.

The Aspect Ratio: I know you guys don’t really see yourselves as critics by definition. Do you see what you do with the podcast and the Web site as a new form of word of mouth and creating a community of people that can trust each other’s opinion? Is that where you see film criticism going in the future?

PM: This is dangerous territory. Talking about where film criticism is going in the future…it’s a mess and I think there are people…I need to be careful what I say.

The Aspect Ratio: You can just talk about Spout, which to me seems to take the idea of a social networking site, but with movies where people can help each other discover films that they might not know about. That in a way is what film critics do.

PM: Yes, on that level most definitely. I think there’s film criticism that is a vital organ in keeping film culture and the art of film alive. As far as that aspect of film criticism that helps people decide what to watch, I definitely see Spout helping to fill in the gaps that are just widening daily. The amount of film critics being laid off, the amount of movies that are not…there’s just no bandwidth to write about them. For every Pan’s Labyrinth that comes out, there will be 50 critics who’ll write rave reviews of it. Then there’s dozens that are showing up in New York every weekend, also foreign films, that nobody will write about. So for that gap, being able to get some exposure for those small movies, yeah I think Spout is definitely trying to fill that gap.