By Kristina Cooke 1 hour, 50 minutes ago
NEW YORK (Reuters) -
While Isabella Rossellini enjoyed her
foray into new media with her short films about insect sex, she
is not sure they could turn a profit, given that so much
content is available on the Internet for free.
While a strike by screenwriters recently brought television
and movie production to a halt over the issue of Internet
royalties, actors and directors are also concerned about what
they should earn for work distributed online, Rossellini told a
panel discussion at New York's Tribeca Film Festival.
"It is unclear how the money comes back," said Rossellini,
55, who wrote, directed and featured in a series of short films
about the sex life of insects called "Green Porno" that were
made for the screens of cell phones, iPods and laptops.
Rossellini, who after years of acting and modeling is one
of the world's most recognizable faces, said it was easy for
her to be experimental with the backing of Robert Redford and
the Sundance Channel, but added she was still trying to work
out how to make money in new media.
Her 20 minutes worth of short films cost $70,000 to make,
out of which she paid herself $3,000.
"My agent won't like me saying this, but I have a lot of
time on my hands and I have money saved from my modeling days,
so I can work for very little money, I have that possibility,"
she said. "But I do feel sorry for people who try to make a
living out of this because the money's not there."
Rossellini said she was particularly protective of artists
given that her mother, Ingrid Bergman, was paid a modest salary
while working on the hit "Casablanca" movie and never saw a
penny in royalties.
After the damaging 100-day strike by screenwriters ended in
February, major Hollywood studios and the main actors' union
are now in contract talks that also feature the issue of
Internet royalties.
LACK OF CONSTRAINTS
Rossellini enjoyed making Green Porno so much that she is
working on a new series about the animals we eat.
"I'll be eating clam and then, when I'm about to eat it, I
say 'What if I were a clam' and then there will be me in a clam
costume," she said.
One thing she likes about new media film-making, she said,
is the lack of constraints on length or format.
"The reason I made them very short, though, is because you
are going to be watching them in a context that is more
distracting than if you are watching TV on your couch at home,
or a movie in a movie theater," she said.
She also found the interactive aspect of new media
interesting.
"The films triggered a dialogue with the audience, which I
hadn't foreseen," Rossellini said.
And, of course, on the Internet the key is to find a
subject that travels around the world.
(Editing by John O'Callaghan)
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