What If You Choose Filmmaking As Your Next Small Business?
Most filmmakers either they understand the studio business or they understand indie filmmaking. But what about filmmaking as your next small business?
screenwriting
Write or Acquire a Screenplay? Here’s How To Take Action!
Do you write or acquire a screenplay? Think about it. Screenwriting is the heavy lifting for your movie. Without a good script, you …
How NOT To Get Your Screenplay Read (For Smart Screenwriters)
A few years back I had the first draft of my first screenplay ever. Like a lot of folks who dream of Hollywood success, I was eager to share my work with the world. Problem was, I had no idea what I was doing. Through a friend of a friend, I was put in contact with an “entertainment attorney.”
I Wrote A Screenplay, Now What?
If you just wrote a screenplay, congratulations. You just completed one of the hardest things to do in Hollywood. And if you’re like …
How To Write A Logline For A Screenplay
If you wrote a complicated, character driven script and you’re trying to figure out how to condense it into one log line, have a trusted friend read your script and then ask him or her tell you what it’s about.
Stop Asking Permission And Make Your First Feature
Stop asking permission to make your first feature. As a film producer, you do not need someone else to validate your talent. You …
How To Stop Rewriting And Start Filmmaking
The importance of having an awesome screenplay can’t be overstated. Your script is the blueprint for your film. And because your movie script …
How To Make Your First Feature Without Going Bonkers
Sooner or later the filmmaking bug hits you. . . It’s like a far off voice or compulsion. But like breathing, for the serious independent filmmaker, the need to make a feature is always present.
How To Use Foreshadowing In Your Screenplay
To avoid having any one element of foreshadowing be too obvious, often the writer will throw in some red herrings–some things that could be foreshadowing but in fact don’t pay off or pay off in a different way than we expect. The person who has the gun in the drawer may become an immediate suspect in our minds, but later maybe we see him use it to light his cigarette and we realize it’s not a real gun (of course he may have a real one somewhere else….). That kind of misdirection keeps the audience guessing.
5 Easy Ways To Get Your Screenplay Noticed
In this screenwriting article, motion picture executive Scott Kirkpatrick shares five tips to get your screenplay noticed.
Movie Work is Reality (And Why Work Ethic Trumps Talent)
I know you’re tired. I know you are working a day job that drains all of your energy. But if you don’t finish your screenplay, make your short, or plan your feature this year, who will…
5 Screenwriting Secrets Every Writer Should Know
In this filmmaking article, producer Jason Brubaker talks about the importance of screenwriting and having a good screenplay.
How To Give Your Screenplay Emotional Intelligence
If you want to write a good movie, you need to give your screenplay emotional intelligence. “Chasing the Monster Idea” is a book by …
I Wrote My First Screenplay, Now What?
If you just finished your first screenplay, congratulations! Writing a script is a super cool accomplishment. But don’t go crazy. Just because you have …
Why Finishing A Crappy First Draft Is Essential For Screenwriters
Screenwriting is starts by writing a crappy first draft. And the real writing begins in the rewrite. This is because nobody writes a …
7 Tips On How To Make A Backyard Indie This Year
This filmmaking question came from one of our readers named Paul. He wondered how to make a movie on a shoestring. So I put together five workable tips…
Seven Steps to To Being A More Productive Screenwriter
Do you want to write your screenplay faster but without giving up quality? Here are the top tips based both on my own experience in writing more than 100 episodes of TV as well as TV movies, a feature film, and script doctoring, as well as the experience of top writers I’ve interviewed…
Warning: Lazy People In Hollywood Can Hurt Your Career
The other night a friend of a friend of a friend kept telling me how upset he was that someone stole his movie idea. The story had something to do with space and time travel and a villain… I don’t remember. I asked him if he actually wrote a script, or if it was just an idea. He told me it was just an idea. Said he thinks someone overheard him at the local coffee shop.
Will My Movie Make Money (How To Create Sales Projections That Matter)
Will my movie make money? This is not a new question. A decade ago, I read Adventures In The Screen Trade where William Goldman said something that has stuck with Hollywood heavyweights ever since: “Nobody Knows Anything.” Now…
The First Time I Got Fired (In The Movie Biz)
And although everyone was happy to teach me the inner workings of production, off set, it was my responsibility to scrub toilets and mop the floors. I didn’t mind the crap work. In fact, scrubbing toilets taught me a valuable lesson. I realized if I can keep my dreams bigger than the crap, I can get through pretty much anything. I had no choice but to become the most successful janitor this company ever had. And I never complained. Someone had to do it, and at the very least, I ate lunch with a group of talented film and video professionals.
Use This Secret Filmmaking Strategy So You Can Get Your Film Made
Have you ever known a filmmaker who sent their demo reel into the Hollywood abyss? Maybe they sent it to an agency or a production company in hopes someone would discover their talent and hire them. Similarly, many screenwriters and aspiring actors have been known to employ this strategy too.
Filmmaking: How To Create A Promotional Hook That Your Audience Remembers
If getting a name attached to your movie is difficult, you’ll need to emphasize your hook. And if you’re lucky, your hook will be memorable. Do you have any controversy in your story?
How To Write A Screenplay You Can Produce (Yourself)
Listen. If you’re an ambitious writer, I’m going to tell you a secret. There is no better feeling in the world than the day you stop sending query letters and instead, you start producing your own work. For years and years, you have dreamed about seeing your work on the big screen. You know you’re good. So why ask for permission?
Why Screenwriting Agents Won’t Read Your Script (And What To Do)
If you are a screenwriter seeking screenwriting agents, stop. Read this article to find out alternatives to seeking screenwriting agents.
7 Killer Resources For Filmmakers Seeking Independent Film Investors
Before you seek out independent film investors to help you realize your filmmaking goals, you need to do your homework. The following film producer suggestions provide basic action steps. But before we get started, a little disclosure:
How I Got Started In Filmmaking
In the morning, I would wake up with cupcakes mashed in my hair, stare at my fat face in the bathroom mirror, and leave for my appliance sales job. When sales were slow at the store, I would order cheeseburgers, and start eating. One day, when I really felt bad about my sad existence, I decided to do something. I went into my cubicle and started writing a screenplay. Since I never wrote a screenplay, I had no idea what I was doing. But I was so frustrated, and fat, and hating my life, that it didn’t take long until I had a first draft…
The Secret of Pitching to Film Investors (Shhhh. Don’t tell.)
“How do you plan to sell this movie and return my investment?” That’s the question prospective film investors are going to ask you.
How A Filmmaking Mentor Can Help You
As a filmmaker, establishing a mentor is invaluable. Without my mentor, I would have never gone to NYC, would have never made a movie and would have never fell on my financial face—and recovered. Consequently, I would have never made the move to California, produced features or written these words.
Script Breakdown and Film Scheduling
Making a good movie starts with a good screenplay. And assuming you’ve written, or you control the rights to a fantastic script that you would like to produce, the next step creating a script breakdown and film scheduling.
How To Sell Your Screenplay
If you want to know how to sell your screenplay, you’re in luck. When I was working for an indie producer in New …