DISPATCH FROM LOS ANGELES: Insiders, Observers, and Many Others Wonder: Is the Sky Really Falling?

"Attached. Locked," Mark Gill said in a brief email to PR reps late Tuesday, June 17th. He was sending a final PDF version of "Yes, The Sky Really Is Falling," a keynote speech he would deliver in a few days at Film Independent's Film Financing Conference during the Los Angeles Film Festival. "Let's talk about what to do in terms of publicity," he noted in the short message, time stamped near midnight. By Sunday, 24 hours after the speech, numerous people were buzzing about his remarks, but on Monday, as insiders began forwarding online links to the transcript speech, the reaction intensified. "I've already received it nine or ten times," an industry insider told Gill, "I am going to scream, please make it stop!" In the past four days -- as of late morning local time today (Thursday) -- the article had been read on indieWIRE more than 99,100 times, a whopping immediate response.
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FIRST PERSON | Film Department's Mark Gill: "Yes, The Sky Really Is Falling."

On Saturday in Los Angeles, Mark Gill declared provocatively, "Yes, The Sky Really Is Falling." Speaking at the L.A. Film Festival's Financing Conference, the CEO of The Film Department (and former President of Miramax Films) detailed a litany of challenges currently facing independent film, yet offered his audience a happy ending. His complete prepared remarks are included below.
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