Screenwriting With Jim Makichuk
As a screenwriter, your goal is to get your writing made into movies. So you write and write and write. And through perseverance …
As a screenwriter, your goal is to get your writing made into movies. So you write and write and write. And through perseverance …
Attaching the right talent to your movie can be the difference between long term success or failure. And for a filmmaker gaining experience, this process can be daunting. Back when I started out, I had no idea how to find a casting director or what to say to them. But it is important to remember that many industry professionals will take on smaller jobs in-between bigger projects…
As a filmmaker, it is easy to think that movies made in Hollywood set the standard. But what if you do not live …
Grab Your Copy Of Filmmaking Stuff So You Can Take Action And Make Your Movie Now! Are you looking for filmmaking books? As …
For those of you following filmmaking stuff, you know that I have been working on an awesome and comprehensive filmmaking book for quite …
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…
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…
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…
I’m pretty skeptical about script contests as a way to further your career. There are success stories but I think they’re the exception. So I was interested to read the view of Chad Gervich on the Script website. He says that winning a script rarely gives you the edge
Since starting Filmmaking Stuff, many screenwriters have written me, asking if I could provide advice on how they can protect their screenplay from theft. I usually tell screenwriters that most producers will not go through the process of raising a gazillion dollars without compensating the screenwriter fairly.
Earlier this week, I caught wind of an indie production company based in Australia called Rapidfire Productions. This is a production company that operates as a self sustaining modern moviemaking business. They develop movies, get money, make their movies and through their own distribution arm, the company reaches the masses.
Or it may be that in the middle of my script things drag along too slowly–a common problem of first drafts. In that case, reminding myself that the traditional story model calls for escalating conflict can lead to better consideration of how I can add incidents that ramp up the tension and drama.
Here is the official Filmmaking Stuff list of the top 3 filmmaking books! (I didn’t put them in order. Rather, I just listed the one’s that really resonate with me.)
For those of you considering producing your first feature, Film Scheduling is an invaluable part of the process. Your 1st AD is in charge of taking your screenplay, breaking it down and providing the initial schedule. That information is later used to budget your movie.
Based on my decade of making movies (and prior to that, working as a reader for a producer in New York City) – I am in the final stages of production. This screenwriting system will be based on a new step-by-step, fill in the blank approach to writing a movie script.
If you’re a writer, or a writer director or a writer-director-producer, or simply a producer working with a writer, sooner or later it …
Somewhere between then and now, I relocated to Los Angeles, spent time working as an executive for a fortune 500 Investment bank, started a production company, garnered producer credits on some feature films, became a cult zombie fighting action hero (dream come true!), and made friends with some of the most well respected professionals in the industry.