Bill Plympton's "Idiots' Diary"

The Idiots' Diary is a bi-weekly, in-depth look at the distribution process of an Indy film, Idiots & Angels. Written by Indy King Bill Plympton, it's a "warts and all" look at the travails of animation distribution on a shoe string budget as he takes the on the big guys: DreamWorks, Pixar and Disney.

Mr. Plympton is considered the King of Indie Animation and is the only person to hand draw an entire animated feature film.

Born and raised in Portland, Oregon, he graduated from Portland State University in Graphic Design. Bill Plympton moved to New York City in 1968. He began his career creating cartoons for publications such as New York Times, National Lampoon, Playboy and Screw.

In 1987 he was nominated for an Oscar® for his animated short Your Face. In 2005, Bill received another Oscar® nomination, this time for a short film Guard Dog. Push Comes to Shove, another short film, won the prestigious Cannes 1991 Palme d'Or.

After producing many shorts that appeared on MTV and Spike and Mike's, he turned his talent to feature films. Since 1991 he's made 9 feature films, 6 of them, The Tune, Mondo Plympton, I Married A Strange Person, Mutant Aliens, Hair High and Idiots and Angels are all animated features.

Idiots’ Diary #5: Big Meeting

By Bill Plympton | Thursday, August 12, 2010 at 8:35 am | Blog: Bill Plympton's "Idiots' Diary"

Posted In | Blog Categories: PR | Site Categories: Business, Films

A shot from Idiots & Angels.

So now the craziness begins. I've got 2 hard dates for Idiots & Angels: Oct. 6^th at the IFC Center on 6^th Ave in NYC and Oct. 29^th at the Laemmle Sunset 5 in LA. So like Patton I'm devising a 2-prong attack. First, I'll invade NYC using low-cost but more personal forms of advertising: Facebook, Twitter, blogs, Skype. We can save a few bucks and then I'll turn my forces onto LA.

Idiots’ Diary #4: Finding an Indie Cinema in NYC

By Bill Plympton | Monday, August 9, 2010 at 9:36 am | Blog: Bill Plympton's "Idiots' Diary"

Posted In | Blog Categories: Indie Cinema, Business | Site Categories: Business, Films

A shot from Idiots & Angels.

I've narrowed my list of available NYC indie cinemas to 2: IFC Center and Cinema Village. Both are quite good and have a history of showing animated films. Both theaters seemed interested in Idiots & Angels, so I sent each booker a screener of the film plus the great reviews it got from Variety and The Village Voice. My plan, and I do have a plan, everybody should have a plan, is this…

Idiots' Diary #3: I’ve Decided to Self Distribute Idiots & Angels

By Bill Plympton | Wednesday, August 4, 2010 at 1:40 pm | Blog: Bill Plympton's "Idiots' Diary"

Posted In | Blog Categories: PR, Indie Cinema | Site Categories: Business, Films

So I've decided to self distribute Idiots & Angels. The biggest hurdle is finding a cinema in NYC. There are a whole lot of films looking for cinemas and not a whole lot of cinemas, so the trick is the find one that suites my audience. Animation fans.

Idiots' Diary #2: Indie Distribution is not Self Distribution

By Bill Plympton | Tuesday, August 3, 2010 at 1:31 pm | Blog: Bill Plympton's "Idiots' Diary"

Posted In | Blog Categories: Business | Site Categories: Business, Films

Many people think that if you can't get the Weinsteins or Sony Picture Classics to distribute your film then it must be crap. Perhaps for some films that may be the case, but let me talk about the differences between indie distribution and self distribution.

Idiots' Diary #1: The Ongoing Travails of Distributing my Feature, Idiots & Angels

By Bill Plympton | Monday, August 2, 2010 at 1:23 pm | Blog: Bill Plympton's "Idiots' Diary"

Posted In | Blog Categories: Guidelines | Site Categories: Business, Films

A lot of you people have been following my travails with Idiots & Angels. First, making the film, then in distributing the film. In fact, I always say there are 3 major steps in the success of a film.