The first time I went to a film festival, Planet in Focus in Toronto, it was a truly eye-opening experience. It was like looking through a window to a world I previously had no concept of, and by that I mean the film industry. Up to that point, I was a Hollywood movie watcher and was learning the basic tools of production in school but I couldn’t have told you anything about what made up the industry or how it worked. Obviously, I am enamored with this world since I continue to make exploring it my business. This experience is familiar to everyone, as at some point we are all beginners at something that we hope to make our work or hobby or whatever.

Yesterday’s PodCamp NYC was another such experience. I’ve written a lot about how SXSW 2006 opened my eyes to new thinking in new media, web 2.0 and building communities online. But PodCamp was a window into the business of new media. It wasn’t that helpful in terms of figuring out how to launch a new podcast, which I’m hoping to do at Renew Media, because I already know most of the tools - from actual production to dissemination and building audience. I didn’t have any issues to work through with the podcast as I haven’t started it yet, and I couldn’t take advantage of the opportunity to meet the “big” names there because I didn’t know who I should be looking out for.

Who am I talking about? Chris Brogan, C.C. Chapman, Christopher Penn, Jay Moonah, Leesa Barnes, Jason Van Orden, Bryan Person and many more. They are folks who are on the frontlines of the new media industry and have a lot of experience to share. I didn’t hear all of them speak but no matter, because all of them are recorded and online in sessions from various previous PodCamps - Boston was first, Toronto was recent, if you want to start exploring; NYC media archives will be up shortly.

I don’t want to go too much into the Camp phenomena; it’s branded as an “unconference” meaning anyone can add a presentation and talk about what they are an expert in and others come to learn and share, not just sit like blobs. It’s kind of odd that these guys who kicked it off continue to travel around to speak at them, so in that regard, it’s the same as any other industry conference. That was one of my revelations.

No matter what industry you belong to, there are a handful of movers and shakers. They have talents and inclinations toward growing their own profile, the profile of their industry and by sharing the tools and tricks they’ve learned, they do ok for themselves and hopefully help others in the process. Sound familiar? It should, because it is the very discussion being had by film bloggers! Docs That Inspire’s Joel Heller flew in from Austin to go to PodCamp and as I haven’t seen him since SXSW, I wanted to ask what he thought of an LA Weekly article by Ella Taylor that mentions our panel. I had written an unpublished, bile-filled post about this particular paragraph, and I was curious for another take on it:

Significantly, the most buzzed-about (and vigorously hyped) new film was Hannah Takes the Stairs, a self-consciously rough-hewn comedy credited to beloved SXSW regular Joe Swanberg. In fact, this entertainingly skittish piece about a romantically confused playwright who works her way through three of her colleagues, leaving behind her a trail of low-key devastation, is a collaborative effort by its small cast, which includes Mark Duplass (The Puffy Chair) and Andrew Bujalski, whose excellent Funny Ha Ha (See film review) and Mutual Appreciation stand out as clear influences. Taken together, these loosely structured, minimally plotted movies, collectively made by what Bujalski has dubbed the “mumblecore movement,” speak to a fragile culture of impermanence and addled identity crisis. To judge by their enthusiastic reception by audiences roughly the same age as the filmmakers, such films are coming to define the diffuse sensibility of a generation. Or at least its opinion makers, among them young bloggers from all over the country who, according to a lively film-blogging panel moderated by the IFC Blog’s Alison Willmore, are a new breed of writer altogether. Many of them got into blogging because they’re filmmakers, and they define themselves more as commentators or town criers spreading the word than as reviewers. Far more than the fraternity of grumpy old print film critics, bloggers see themselves as part of a community that includes casts, crews, Internet idlers and anyone else who will listen. Yet if this is a community, it’s one that bonds around alienation and incompleteness.

First off, she doesn’t bother to mention our names, but moving on. Joel and Mark Rabinowitz have been writing about film for a long time; they can give you their resumes better than I, but with all due respect to them, they ain’t kids. They are long-time media professionals. Paul Harrill was on the panel also; Paul is a professor of film in addition to his own filmmaking and blogging. The dude has breadth to his career that deserves respect. I’m not sure how old Lance is, but I would venture to guess that he, Alison and I were the youngest on the panel, and I know I’ve been working in media (with a salary) for 5 years. Certainly not as long as many, but long enough to have a decent sense about what is going on around me, and I believe that Lance and Alison fall into that category or better.

Yes, the themes of Joe Swanberg’s work, and perhaps the rest of the ultra-indies also, around “alienation and incompleteness.” He’s in his mid-twenties and that is typical for that age in our times (anyone heard a John Mayer song recently?). Ms. Taylor is entitled to her opinion, but making a comparison between what we do and what Joe does, I wonder if she has read any of our blogs? Since she couldn’t remember our names for her article, my guess is not.

You know I get around to my point eventually, right? What does this have to do with PodCamp? I, like most other bloggers I presume, took the opportunity to self-publish for any number of reasons, but the biggest was probably rather than wait for someone else to grant us permission, we decided to take the reigns and do what others weren’t. This is valuable for some readers and less so for others, but if you show your meddle, you will accomplish your goals. Joe Swanberg doesn’t wait for some studio to green light him, he just makes his films happen and the industry is starting to notice.

Want to podcast, blog, make movies? Everything you need, except talent and original ideas, is online and mostly free. But you don’t need talent or original ideas to start, so don’t let that stop you! For inspiration from folks who have “made it,” PodCamp and any other industry conference can help you with that. For practical matters, PodCamp is great once you are up and running and want to bounce ideas off of others who are doing similar work, but it’s much better if you actually join the community by doing rather than by sitting in the audience listening to those who do it talk.