I have a fairly large collection of “pitching sessions from hell” stories, but there was one that stands out because I blew it—afterward. This was early in my career, and actually the pitching session itself went great. The executive loved the idea and commissioned a script for a TV movie. How to apply “show, don’t tell” in screenplays…
For our movie distribution book, we clearly defined our audience: filmmakers who are interested in DIY or Hybrid or P2P distribution methods. Not everyone and not even every filmmaker…
Previsualization – previz – is a buzzword that sounds more complicated than it is. It’s actually something you’re almost certainly doing already…
I see that there’s a one day workshop being offered with the pitch, “Who better to teach you to understand characters than EXPERT BEHAVIOR ANALYSTS?” It’s not my intention to diss the people offering the workshop (which I also why I’m not going to name them)—they are both screenwriters as well as Expert Behavior Analysts and sound like a couple of smart guys with credible credits.
With sites like Indie GoGo and Kickstarter, filmmakers can finally raise money without asking permission. And while the vast majority of filmmakers limit their crowdfunding campaigns to a few thousand dollars – some filmmakers get super ambitious…
Independent moviemaking has changed forever. If you are still holding out for the Sundance dream, you are wasting your time. What is the Sundance dream? It’s the thought that you’ll make a movie, get into Sundance and garner a gazillion dollars…
I often receive emails from filmmaking subscribers asking how they can get their work produced and seen. My response is – grab a …
If you forget everything else about filmmaking success, you must not forget the importance of you audience. Your audience is your business. Without an audience, you have no business…
A few weeks ago, I spoke about independent film distribution at the HollyShorts Film Festival in Los Angeles…
At speaking events, people always ask me questions about DIY or Self-Distribution – usually wondering if these methods are better than handing over all rights for some middle-man to get them into the many VOD outlets. My response is always the same…
I have been writing a filmmaking book. It outlines the whole modern moviemaking philosophy – and originally I thought I would stay with the modern moviemaking theme, and possibly call it “Confessions of a Modern Moviemaker.” While I like the idea because, historically books that begin with the word “confessions” seem to intrigue readers… I also fear the title might be a little too gimmicky. I need your help…
Regardless of distribution technology, your audience still values the visual representation of your movie as a tangible product. And in ways akin to marketing an eBook via Amazon Kindle, you still need a killer design to represent your movie.
Some screenwriters think that just about every screenplay should open with a bang of some kind: perhaps a literal explosion, or a murder, or a chase.Those may well be good choices for certain stories, but my take on this is that what an opening actually needs to do is to prompt two questions and one feeling in your audience…
Here is a great filmmaking article over at No Film School detailing how some no-budget filmmakers garnered over 200K by selling their movies on iTunes.
People always point out that a relationship with an agent is something like a marriage, but without the sex (usually). Which means that sometimes there will be a divorce—at this point, the high profile one is J. K. Rowling dumping hers…
Over the past few months, I have been working with Kenton Hoppas on his first feature, Career Courier. One of the ways he …
If you can write a good romantic comedy you’ll find lots of people interested. The problem is that it’s getting harder. The reason …
The Modern Moviemaking Movement was authored by nine of the most prominent filmmaker thought leaders in the world, including Jon Reiss of the famed book Think Outside The Box Office… And this action guide aims to help you navigate a filmmaking world driven by HDSLR technology and non-discriminatory distribution.
I haven’t tested Final Cut Pro X, but from what I hear – I do not want to. As usual, I think our friends at Apple have made early adopters beta testers for a product with a whole bunch of bugs…
If you find yourself with a movie and no idea how to sell it, get back to the basics. Unless you get an awesome distribution deal, then you are responsible for the success of your movie. The good news is, most of your sales will come from the internet. And you can get started today…
For filmmakers, the demand is HIGH for quality filmmaking and screenwriting how-to material and solutions. Make Your Movie Now! offers you with an affiliate program…
I wanted to provide you with some context. About 12 years ago, I produced and directed my second short film. After drinking a half bottle of wine, it seemed like a good idea to post it her
Before I moved to Los Angles, I stopped by my Pennsylvanian hometown for the Harrisburg Arts Film Festival. And there I saw a short movie called Burying Dvorak by a little known filmmaker named Levi Abrino. I gotta tell you, the film was awesome. Levi is talented…
As we enter the remaining six months of 2011, I am trying very hard to do a little less grinding, and hopefully finding time to have a lot more fun…
If you have seen me speak, you probably noticed that I use a lot of self-deprecating humor in my talks. For example, I usually talk about how bad my acting is, or how bad my movies are…
The key to movies like this is keeping things moving so the audience doesn’t have time to think about it until afterward, and keeping the explanations short…
If you have a Kindle, and enjoy reading filmmaking stuff – I wanted to let you know that you can now access this …
I think what we can learn from documentary makers is to pause before we launch into the obvious story and dig deeper to see if there’s a more interesting, perhaps more subtle, one lurking underneath…
As a filmmaker, one of the challenges you face is how to finance a film. When I was starting out, things were much different. Back then, if you wanted to finance a movie, you had to cross your fingers and wait for the gods to grant you permission…
You don’t really want totally arbitrary events in your script, but if you need to capture their attention, put it in and then in the next draft work your way backward in the story so it has some motivation…