Filmmaking Stuff Filmmaking Stuff provides resources for independent filmmakers. The website includes articles on how to take a story idea from script to screen, including articles on scriptwriting, producing, finance, shooting, editing, directing, marketing, distribution and how to build an audience. Filmmaking Stuff also has articles detailing how to make money making movies – including interviews with Hollywood Producers, Directors, writers and other filmmaking professionals.

Quiet please…we have speed…ACTION!

A new website is being launched today that will help take filmmaking out of Hollywood, and put it into the hands of everyday, creative people so that they can combine their life’s ambition of being a filmmaker with owning their own business.

makeyourmovienow.com is the brain child of Jason Brubaker, a Los Angeles-based independent filmmaker and an expert in Video On Demand distribution. He has hosted another filmmaking website, Filmmakingstuff.com for years and is taking his experience to the next level.

“makeyourmovienow.com is focused on helping YOU make, market and sell movies more easily,” he says. “The ways movies finally make it to market has changed. makeyourmovienow.com is specifically designed to help grow your fan base, build “buzz” and create community around your title.

“If you want to make a living making movies, you need to realize that your library and the subsequent audience you source (over your career) are your major assets. And, as a result, your most important filmmaking focus (aside from doing good work) is to acquire and keep a customer,” he emphasizes.

For filmmakers in need, makeyourmovienow.com covers the four key areas of film production: screenwriting, film financing, filmmaking and distribution.

Tell your filmmaking friends!

Posted under FILMMAKING

As a filmmaker, one of the toughest parts about making a movie is knowing where to start. The following film production checklist will give you an overview of the low budget, independent filmmaking process. If you want a copy for yourself, you can grab this PDF.

1. Read and study everything you can about the filmmaking process. Also study internet marketing. A good place to start is www.filmmakingstuff.com

2. Write or acquire a screenplay you want to produce.

3. Do an initial breakdown, schedule and budget of the project. How much does it cost?

4. Looking at the initial budget, is there anything you can get for a discount, or free, or barter?

5. Talk with a lawyer and figure out your best money strategy.

6. Following the law, go after the money. This will require strategy, persistence and enthusiasm.

7. This will be one of the tougher parts of the process, but it will make the movie possible.

8. Most people will want to know how the money is going to be spent, what they can expect in return and how will you eventually get their money back. Filmmaking is a risky business, full of unknowns and you should never sugar coat the potential risk involved in this business.

9. Have a plan for the movie when it is complete. Will you take the festival route? Will you market it to colleges and universities? Will you send it directly to sales agents and acquisition pros?

10. Were you able to get the money? If not, here are some (but not all) of your options.
A. Choose a new project.
B. Alter the screenplay to cut costs.

11. Get more favors and freebies.

12. Assuming you did get the money, pick a date for production.

13. Hire a lawyer to help you with contracts and releases. If you’re short on cash, do a web search for lawyers for the arts in your state.

14. Since many of these folks will be working for free, expect a lot of “no’s” before you find the right fit for your show.

15. You can make your jobs easier if you find someone with film production experience.

16. Finalize your script. Get it to a point where you aren’t going to keep changing things. Once you get to this point, consider it a locked script.

17. Number your scenes. Then break down your script, grabbing each element, location and character. Create a schedule.

18. From your schedule and breakdown, create a final budget. You probably know how much money you have to work with. If you find you don’t have enough you have two choices:
A. Get More Money!
B. Modify the script and schedule.

19. Get your crew. I suggest working with a seasoned Physical Producer / Line Producer / Production Manager to help you get organized. These folks will probably look at your schedule and tweak it.

20. Additionally, if you’re going to direct and product, having these folks around to help out will open the door to relationships with 1st ADs and crew. These folks will help you hire the right people. They may also know a thing or two about tax credits in your state. This could be invaluable!

21. I know. Money is tight. So instead of hiring a locations scout, you’re going to have to scout and procure locations yourself. This means you’ll knock on some doors and introduce yourself, your project and your goals.

22. It is at this point when I warn you – what can go wrong with a location probably will. So you will want to have a 2nd and 3rd location added to the mix. This way, should something happen, you’ll have a fall-back plan.

23. Assuming you’re directing this sucka yourself, you might find a director of photography who shares your sensibilities and has equal enthusiasm for the project.

24. Your DP will help you design a look and mood for your movie. Given your cost constraints, you’ll most likely shoot in HD.

25. MARKETING: Create a website specific to your movie. Make sure you have a way to get site visitors on your mailing list. Have a place for press, so that they can download your press kit and materials. Check out www.MovieSiteHost.com

26. Then as you get into production, you will be able to add a movie trailer. (Increase the size of your mailing list and establish a website you can later modify into a sales funnel.) To build your audience mailing list, check out www.AudienceList.com

27. If you’re lucky, you already know some talented actors interested in your project and working with you. You’ll have to work out a deal with these folks. LA and NYC offer various websites that help producers find actors. But if you’re in rural USA, you might have some difficulty with these options. I suggest partnering with local university drama departments and local theaters to fulfill your casting requirements.

28. Once you have all of your actors, you will want to find a location for a table read. Go through the script. If you wrote it, now is a time to take some notes for a final tweak. Just know – anything you change in the script also changes the budget and the schedule.

29. Seriously, don’t skimp on food. You will want someone in charge of Craft Services. They should be good at going out and getting deals on food and catering. If you can not find anyone to do this for you, you’ll have to do it yourself.

30. Make sure you have adequate food. If you’re doing a union shoot, there are guidelines and rules you must follow. If you’re doing a non- union indie, then some advice is: DON’T GET CHEAP! GET QUALITY!

31. Do you have all of your permits, releases, location agreements? Do you have production insurance? There are so many different types of insurance, it will make your head spin. Make sure you talk with some experienced professionals to make sure you have adequate insurance for your movie.

32. Meet with your Camera Department and find out how much tape stock you’ll need (assuming you’re shooting in HD or HDSLR). If you’re shooting film, which might be costly for your first feature – you’ll want to have an idea of these needs too.

33. Try to take as many naps as you can. This is a fun, but stressful time. So sleep. Exercise. Eat.

34. Once you have all the above stuff checked off the list, you’ll want to meet with your department heads and make sure everyone’s needs are being met. Assuming you’ve maintained limited locations, with a limited cast and crew, you will probably still be baffled by the amount of questions that come flying at you.

35. Seriously, you would think you’re making a gazillion dollar movie. But this is indication people care about their work. They care about the movie. And they want to make it a success.

36. This goes without saying, but don’t be a jerk. Seriously, you’re making a movie. It’s a real accomplishment and it’s one of those great things you can do in life. In fact, it’s quite awesome. So push forward. ENJOY!

37. Did I mention you need plenty of sleep?

38. Produce your movie. Do well. Don’t loose your temper and have fun!

39. During production, try to constantly get press to profile your movie. It would be great to create buzz, get people to your website and get them to opt into your newsletter mailing list. www.AudienceList.com

40. After the WRAP, have a wrap party. Don’t sleep with anybody or get drunk or make a fool of yourself! You’re a professional. Act like one.

41. After you recover from your hangover, you’ll probably start editing the movie. I suggest sharing the edit suite with another set of eyes.

42. Your first cut will be rough. Screen it with a group of people who have never seen the movie. Get feedback.

43. Take the feedback and refine your edit. After that, take a week off – don’t look at the movie or play around with it. Then, when you come back to the suite, refine and refine again.

44. Have another small screening with people who have never seen the movie. Take notes. Then take those notes back to your edit suite.

45. Add some sound FX to your movie. Clean up actor dialogue and rough areas. Remember, audio is often more important than visual.

46. Screen the movie again with a new, small set of people. Take notes. Go back and refine.

47. When you have a cut you’re happy with, then you can begin to plan your next strategy. For example, will you go to film festivals? Then you should have a target list in mind.

48. You may have several opportunities for traditional distribution. With some qualified professionals, analyze the deal. Find out if the deal will fit your business objectives, if not, move on to the next deal.

49. What if there are no deals? Hopefully you have a strong mailing list, a marketable hook and a plan for reaching your target demographic.

50. As such, refine your website into a sales funnel hub. Upload your movie to one of the many VOD sites and refine your movie poster and artwork. (To sell your movie via VOD, check out www.MovieSalesTool.com)

51. Also, upload your trailer to YouTube and all the other video sites on the internet. I prefer to stream from YouTube because I don’t have to pay the streaming bandwidth.

52. Write press releases related to the release of your movie. Have a blog component that details your movie and allows other people to comment.

53. Play around with your key words and Search Engine Optimization. (My next course?)

54. Create conversations on website forums related to your type of movie. DO NOT SPAM!!!

55. Create both a Facebook and MySpace page for your movie. The purpose of this page is to lead people back to your site.

56. Have a button on your website so people can tweet about your movie.

57. In addition to this, if you have the budget, purchase some offline advertising in publications related to your movie.

59. All of these methods are intended to get people back to your website. The purpose of your site is to get people to watch your movie trailer and click the BUY NOW button. Anything that distracts these visitors must go!

60. If they don’t click, then at least try to get them to opt into your mailing list.

61. Out of all the people who click the BUY NOW button, some will actually buy.

62. Consider using that money to purchase more advertising and repeat the process.

63. Sooner or later, you’ll figure out how to jump- start your next project. And you will realize that making movies and making money making movies is possible.

64. Tips from the trenches: On average it takes 7 meetings to make a relationship.

65. If you aren’t getting rejected every day, you are not working hard enough for your goals.

- – -

If you like this filmmaking checklist, download a FREE copy by clicking here: Make Your Movie Checklist

Posted under FILMMAKING

As a filmmaker, making a feature takes time. You need a great team, which includes a great production crew. And you also need money. And you also need a little luck!

When I moved to Los Angeles, I had planned on making at least one movie per year. And despite the US economy and some other challenges, I am very happy about the features I have helped to produce. But as a producer, no matter how many movies you make, you always wonder when the next feature will take shape. And that can make anyone a little movie-stir-crazy!

Then one day, the pieces start to come together…

The first plan for my next movie is an idea. So over the weekend, I met with some key members of my film production crew, including my writer friend. Collectively, we have started working a rough idea into a fine-tuned movie, complete with a marketable hook and an established, niche target audience. If you’re just tuning into filmmaking stuff, you’ll quickly learn that starting with a defined target market in one core strategy I employ to gear us towards an eventual return on investment. (More on this in the distribution and finance articles found at Filmmaking Stuff.)

Anyway, we are getting close to finding our hook. Once we have it, we will then work on characters. Once we have the characters – and their individual objectives, we will then expand the hook into a 3 acts. We will then populate this plot with our characters. And scene by scene, we will work out ways to add something interesting into the action.

I know the system I describe may seem a bit regimented for most writer/filmmaker types. And while I agree that nobody knows nothing, by building our indie films from the marketing hook first, and the the story later (and not the other way around)  we at least have the confidence that a niche market for our movie exists. (Remember, a movie marketed to everybody is nobody! So it’s niche’s that make you riches.)

I’ve received emails from a few of you asking if I would share more stuff from the trenches. So in the days, weeks and months to come, I will continually provide insight on how we are gonna take this concept from script to screen.

If this type of front line filmmaking stuff would be valuable to you, and if you’re not already on our mailing list, you can join our filmmaking community by going here: www.FreeFilmmakingBook.com

Posted under FILMMAKING

In case you haven’t noticed, filmmaking is changing. With the emergence of awesomely great DSLR technology, making a movie is getting cheaper.

In years past, the cash threshold necessary to propel a project into production was cost prohibitive. This alone served as a major obstacle to most every aspiring independent filmmaker. Add the need for complex technology and the skilled professionals necessary for the equipment, it’s it’s easy to understand why most would-be feature filmmakers never took action.

For example, in years past, if you wanted to create an awesome picture (on a budget), you shot Super 16mm – And later, if the film was picked up, you could easily blow up Super 16mm picture to 35mm. And, I repeat – these steps were once considered an affordable option.

And let’s say you decided to follow this “economic” filmmaking route – if so, you had to raise enough money to not only cover the film and equipment, but you paid for your DP, your camera operator, someone to pull focus, someone to load the film, someone to lay dolly track and someone else to push your dolly – and once the film was in the can, you paid to get the film processed, create dailies, get it color corrected, transferred to video, edited and blown up to 35mm.

Then you crossed your fingers. . .

“UGH! Can you imagine trying to make movies like that? It makes very little sense. Especially now.”

Everything has changed. It’s been almost a decade since I’ve heard anybody in the filmmaking community seriously consider shooting their first feature on film. And why would they? These days, if you want to make a great looking movie, you grab your $2,000 DSLR camera and you start shooting.

That’s it. No film stock. No silly processing costs. No silly blow up costs. You simply take your camera out of the bag, point and shoot.

Then you edit on your computer and upload to several of the video on demand websites and that’s it. You’ve created a product (your movie) and you have taken your product to market (via digital self distribution).

AMAZING! (Or is it?)

Seriously. For producers, the evolution of DSLR is totally awesome. For all below the line crew working to make a living – this isn’t so good.

Using my previous example, let’s compare shooting Super 16mm to shooting on a DSLR. Take out an eraser and eliminate 80% of everything I just mentioned.  No more need for heavy dolly track and a dolly. No more need for the person pushing the heavy-duty dolly. Eliminate your focus puller and your film loader. Eliminate a few production assistants. And totally eliminate film processing. Not necessary.

This shift in filmmaking technology is going to create more and more projects. And unlike years past when making a movie required a gazillion dollars, the modern filmmaker can now produce viable projects “out of pocket.”

And yes, while many of the screenplays will continue to suck, rest assured that the picture will look good.

“OK. What’s the downside to modern film production?”

Producers no longer need a million dollars to make a good looking picture. Simply put, this is bad for the freelancer community.

Let’s say you’re a filmmaker looking to hire a sound guy. Normally you would have to pay him $500 dollars or more per day (which is a low figure for some, I know). Well if you’re a filmmaker shooting your first feature on a budget, are you really going to pay that day rate?

Probably not.

You’ll probably find a sound guy and get him to bring his own equipment, and you’ll offer to pay him peanuts. And if he doesn’t take the job, you’ll find someone else to replace him.

And this is the problem with modern filmmaking. There is an overwhelming supply of product in the marketplace, a glut of manufacturing – and revisiting economics 101 – your production (AKA, your indie film) can now be produced cheaply. (Sure, your product might be junk? But I’m not debating that here.)

Think of it this way, in years past, producing goods in an assembly line required hundreds of man hours. But as technology evolved, many of these jobs were replaced by robots. Well, the same can be said for many freelance production professionals. More movies, minus less budget money and something’s gotta give.

“So why don’t indie film producers just raise more money?”

Distribution.

Couple an ever growing glut of movie products coming into the marketplace with a measurable erosion in traditional distribution deals, and you can understand that the indie movie industry is saturated with an over supply of movies and less outlets.

So given these unfavorable odds of a big payday, why would any filmmaker risk a few million on a budget with increasingly less opportunities for a traditional deal?

In this regard, the only option is for producers to keep their budgets low. That way, in the event these filmmakers do not garner a traditional distribution deal, they can at least recoup some of the budget through digital self distribution.

So how can freelancers make a living making movies?

First of all, I’ve been talking about low budget indie feature films. Freelancers can still find work in the corporate, industrial, BIG budget and commercial world. And if you’re going to make a living working solely on low budget, independent pictures, I suggest you consider tweaking your strategy.

1. Get a job to pay the bills and then start producing your own movies. Seriously. I’m sure you’ve probably worked with a few morons and thought “I should be making my own movies.” So DO IT! (I’ll now plug one of Jason Brubaker’s products.)

Go to http://www.GetMovieMoney.com and get your hands on “The Indie Producer’s Guide To Financing Your Movie.” I wrote it. It’s a step by step guide to help you start thinking like a producer.

2. If you don’t want to produce your own movies, then do this. In addition to your day rate – or whatever deal those producers try to throw at you. . . Ask for back end points and at least an associate producer credit.

For clarification, what I’m suggesting is different than deferred pay. I’m suggesting you get your hands on a piece of the action. You’ll want to get a lawyer to draw up the paperwork – but imagine owning one percent and a producer credit on 100 movies. Some of those movies will hit. And when they do, you could potentially get a nice stream of cash.

Think about this – what if you got $50 dollars a month from 25 movies (25×50=$1250per month) – for life? In this regard, you would have an extra 12K per year in addition to your other work. Not great, but better than nothing, right?

- – -

I don’t know if this sounds impossible or not to you. But with all these changes, including DSLR technology as well as digital self distribution, we can only expect things to change even more.  The future of filmmaking is a broad topic and I welcome your thoughts and comments.

Posted under FILMMAKING

Over the holiday season, I spent some time back east with family and friends.

Aside from shoveling snow and fighting the cold winter in Pennsylvania, getting outside of Hollywood for a few weeks provides a time of relaxation and reflection. And at the same time, spending time with friends and family almost always reveals coming trends in the movie industry.

Let me explain.

Based on some popular entertainment oriented Christmas gifts, it’s evident that changes in the movie industry are upon us. Thanks to VOD innovations like the the Roku HD Player and some new television sets that directly link to the internet, I predict that 2010 will be the beginning of the end for movie rental kiosks, movie rental stores and as a result, studios will experience further decline in physical DVD sales (including Blue Ray.)

While my prediction may be a little ahead of the curve, I think it’s important to prepare your movie business accordingly. These innovations (over time) will eliminate traditional, physical movie sales channels – Diminished revenue may result in less production and you might experience a decrease in movie production work.

Conversely, streaming, down-loadable movies on demand will also create a enormous opportunity for filmmakers wishing to reach the global masses without asking permission. For the right producer, this is an exciting time!

But in order to profit from these innovations, let’s analyze the ripple effect. Here are some things we might expect:

5 (possible) PREDICTABLE movie business DECLINES

1. Decline in traditional home video channels (video rental business, video delivery business and home video purchases will decline.)
2. Decline in traditional hardware like DVD Players and Blue Ray Players.
3. Decline for dub houses, DVD manufactures and DVD shipping boxes.
4. Less pre-sale predictability. Tell your investors that you’ll put the movie on iTunes and then try to project potential revenue. Have fun.
5. Less investor cash means there will be two motion picture tiers for your day rate: micro budget features and mid-to-high budget studio features (with theatrical outlets for distribution.) Budget ranges in-between are becoming increasingly too risky to finance.

7 (possible) PREDICTABLE movie business OPPORTUNITIES

1. Providers of VOD and digital down-loadable content will increase.
2. Innovations in hardware (TV Sets, Roku Devices and TiVo type products) will increase.
3. Instead of getting your day rate, more professionals will be forced to take back end points. (This is the movie making equivalent to getting start-up stock options.)
4. State movie production tax incentives will influence production of higher budget pictures.
5. Distribution channels will be many. Look for more and more indie production companies to create in-house marketing arms and PR firms to promote movies across the globe.
6. Additionally, movie internet marketing experts will become an asset to your production. (OK – a little self serving. But after successfully producing and marketing one of our movies on the internet, this is something I’m passionate about.)
7. This is totally optimistic: but we might also expect more outlets for TV content. HDTV accessible website will spring up where you’ll post your content, build a VOD following and leverage your following to increase targeted advertising revenue. (Check out Hulu.com for an example.)

Great. What does this mean for you?

Save your money! Speak with a financial adviser and learn how you can make a financial plan for your future. Seriously. Learn how to make your money work for you. Then -

If you want to produce movies: these industry changes mean you should cultivate relationships with “name” actors and join forces with all the folks you’ve been working with for years and years. Start to create your own micro-budget projects and get super creative on the financing end. Find folks with equipment. Work out deals and see if you can pay in both up-front money and back-end points.

Additionally, if you go this route, you should become friends with movie producer marketers, PR professionals and sales consultants who have successfully sold movies over the net. These folks will help you create a plan for ROI – And while nothing is guaranteed, if you can create 5-7 movies in your career that supply your bank account with cash each month, it’s a nice place to be.

If you make money working as a freelancer – you may have to change some of your focus (as is very common) to television commercial work, corporate video work and high-end music video work. These avenues seem to have more frequent production instances… And you don’t have to give up months for money.

Surviving the Movie Industry in times of change is similar to surviving other industries going through change. Necessitated by the need for cash (survival), many of you will be forced to see the world as an entrepreneur. Even if you aren’t ready, you may have to learn how to produce your own profitable movies.

Posted under FILMMAKING

As they say, when trying to promote a movie that folks have otherwise not heard of, all ink is potentially good ink.

And in this regard, even if you’re producing your movie somewhere locally you need make sure you present your marketing message with consistency. I say this because, regardless of publication or geography, most anything written about your movie will end up on the internet.

So always be mindful of how you present your project

LOCAL PUBLICITY

If you plan on producing your movie outside of major film cities, like Los Angles and NYC, then getting the attention of local press might be pretty simple. And you might even be able to attract attention for a short movie. Why is this important? Because you will want to keep an ongoing collection of all good press written about your project.

ACTION

1. If you’re shooting in a small town, contact your local news. You’ll probably get written up in the paper. You might even get interviewed for the nightly news.
2. If you’re working in Los Angeles, this could prove to be a bit more challenging, but not impossible. In the big cities, try to contact journalists who write about your type of small movie.
3. When these folks agree to profile your movie, try to think of interesting topics you can discuss.
4. If they take pictures, get yourself around some lights and equipment. That will make you look like a serious filmmaker.
5. Finally, as they say in sales, if you don’t ask for the sale, you don’t get the sale. Do not be afraid to call journalists up and treat them to lunch to discuss your project. Never know where that will go…

In The Publicity Handbook, you’ll get the Inside Scoop from More than 100 Journalists and PR professionals on how to get great publicity. If you can learn to master publicity in the early stages of your filmmaking career, imagine what you can do when you projects become ginormous!

Happy Filmmaking!

Posted under 21 Part Filmmaking Mini-Course

Publicity is great. Especially when it’s free. And especially when the publicity is international.

When we produced our first zombie movie, we had the great fortune of being profiled in a national entertainment magazine. In fact, once the magazine hit the stands, so many people flooded our website that our server went bonkers.

HOLLYWOOD PUBLICITY

Getting publicity for movies in Hollywood is made easier when you have a few movie stars attached to your project. But even if you aren’t producing a big studio picture, there are still a few simple ways to get your project noticed.

Yes. You’ll need to present your project as newsworthy and cool if you hope to attract press attention. And this is super important, but you’ll have to target journalist and publications focused on your type of movies. For example, if you were making a horror movie, unless you had some crazy tie-in, I hope you wouldn’t approach a dog lovers magazine to run a story…

Instead, I hope you would craft a pitch specific to the publication.

ACTION

1. Get your production listed in the Hollywood Reporter and Daily Variety. You can do this online.
2. You’ll probably get a call or two from potential distributors or acquisition executives. Don’t get overly excited. Their job is to find material to acquire. Take down a number for later. Then get back to making your movie.
3. Create a press release or hire a publicist. If money is an issue, check local colleges and universities to find PR students seeking experience. Then create a press kit.
4. Have you created a website for your move? Pick a domain name and a hosting company.
5. Make sure all press material clearly lists your contact information and your website, if you have one. Make your press kit a down-loadable PDF on your site.

When I first moved to Hollywood, I saw Michael Levine speak about Public Relations and Publicity. I’ve since utilized some of his strategies when promoting my movies. I’ve also read one of his books. It looks like he’s since updated. Check out Guerrilla P.R. 2.0: Wage an Effective Publicity Campaign without Going Broke.

Posted under 21 Part Filmmaking Mini-Course

I’m here today to remind you that whenever you’re producing a movie, a whole lot can change between development and prep. Assuming you can get the the cash and an entire team of people to help you, it’s now time for the real work!

So what does that mean?

SCHEDULE

When you have all the filmmaking stuff you need, you’re no longer operating from theory and planning… You’re now in action mode!

You need to modify your initial, ideal schedule for the real world realities of production. This means you’ll need to pick your shoot dates and call times.

It is at this point in the process when most filmmakers get the brilliant idea to just shoot the movie on the weekends, spanning a few months.

As a potential upside to the weekend strategy, you’ll have less “hey, I have another gig that pays more those days”conflicts with your actors and crew. And you might score some great deals on rental equipment. But as a potential downside, you run the risk of loosing momentum and potentially having your entire project fall apart.

So you have some thinking to do. But the good news is, assuming you’ve found an experienced 1st AD or Line Producer to work with, you’ll be able to combine ideas and figure out the best gameplan for your show.

ACTION

1. Remember, your schedule and your budget are related. Add another day and your costs compound. Subtract a day, and you save money. Any changes to the schedule change the budget.
2. Figure out when you can begin production. The time of the year will impact on your budget. Hot weather will require different provisions than cold weather. And how will rain impact your shooting schedule? Do you have a plan B? How about a plan C?
3. Once you set a shoot date, then it’s showtime! You need to check and recheck your equipment, calendar, actors weather and crew to make sure everything is proceeding as planned.

This is both an exciting time, and a time of high stress. I’ve been on more than one show where I witnessed people crying. These were not tears of joy. But seriously, the important thing to remember is, you aren’t doing brain surgery. So if you make a mistake in the process, learn from it, creativity recover – and then move on! Always remember that making movies is an awesome profession. And if you aren’t having fun, even on a bad day, what the heck are you doing?

My First Movie: Twenty Celebrated Directors Talk about Their First Film and My First Movie: Take Two: Ten Celebrated Directors Talk About Their First Film should probably be on your bookshelf. The folks profiled in these books offer a great, human, emotional perspective to the movie making process.

Happy Filmmaking!

Posted under 21 Part Filmmaking Mini-Course

As I mentioned in previous lessons, the name of the game in your first feature is to cut the need for hard cash, while at the same time preserving or improving your production value… You want to make your  movie look more expensive than it is.

I also mentioned how some filmmakers employ bartering or trading to get the necessary resources.

Now, does cutting your budget and exchanging cash for favors involve A LOT of creativity and planning – YES! But we are talking about your first feature. And if you can learn to cut costs and be creative with virtually no money, imagine what you’ll accomplish when you actually do have money!

That being said – in the last lesson, I spoke about the traditional way business professionals find investors and raise funds by exchanging private equity for cash. Today, I’m going to talk about a lessor known, yet very popular way some filmmakers make their movie. It’s called the risk share method.

GET THE MONEY, PART 2

The other, more common, yet sometimes overlooked way to produce a feature is simply to ask your cast and crew if they would like to partner up and throw in some cash. Now, this is complicated and VERY RISKY and if done incorrectly, could get you into a lot of legal trouble (SO YES, TALK WITH A QUALIFIED LEGAL AND TAX PROFESSIONAL)…

But if you have 20 people working on your movie, and each throw in a few hundred dollars, you’re in the money.

ACTION

1. If you go this route, SPEAK WITH A QUALIFIED PROFESSIONAL to help you out, as this sort of structure is ripe for lawsuits if something goes wrong.
2. Get everything in writing!
3. Understand who controls the process and who doesn’t. You don’t want an equity owning production assistant telling you what you can and cannot do with your finished film. And if you take shortcuts, this could happen.

Now again, this risk share strategy has many pros and cons – way too many to write about here. But for some filmmakers, being able to successfully structure a project this way, while at the same time doing it legally could be the difference between getting a movie made, or not.

It’s been a long time since I’ve read Extreme DV at Used-Car Prices: How to Write, Direct, Shoot, Edit, and Produce a Digital Video Feature for LessThan $3,000, but I seem to remember that Rick Schmidt mentioned the risk share model in the book. I could be confused about that… But Rick Schmidt is quite a filmmaking inspiration and his book is totally worth a read.

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Once you build momentum during production, assuming you meticulously planned everything, you’ll soon find that most everyone working on the movie will fall into a collective, collaborative groove. And it’s an awesome feeling!

PRODUCTION, PART 2

Even when everything is going as planned, or sometimes better than planned, you still need to make sure you pay attention to the little things. For example, I met with one producer who told me how props was sure wardrobe would bring the watch… And wardrobe was sure props would bring the watch. When it came time for the shot, nobody had the watch. This minor boo-boo resulted in overtime and meal penalties for over 30 people.

See what I mean? Minor hiccups can have not-so-minor consequences. One too-many of these overlooked elements can hurt the moral on the set, slow down production hurt the final product.

ACTION

1. I’ll repeat this over and over for as long as I live – but when you’re making a feature, food is currency. Make sure you have great food on set. Don’t get skimpy. Don’t expect fast food or pizza or generic treats and cookies to fit the bill. Get good food!
2. The other thing I’ve learned the hard way is this… Sound! You’ll need very good sound. So many times sound is overlooked. And by the time the filmmaker figures out he or she has a problem, it’s usually in the editing room. And it’s usually too late!
3. The other thing you’ll need is legal releases. You’ll need releases for just about everything in your movie. The most common releases are actors and talent, crew and locations. There are probably many more that I’m forgetting. So make sure you speak with a qualified attorney who has experience in this arena. But basically, the motto to follow is CYA. (Google that!)

As a recap: Shot list, cutaways, sound, FOOD and legal releases!

I’m pretty sure I mentioned Robert Rodriguez and how he started his filmmaking career. But I think his story is one of the best stories from the trenches. His passion for doing what he wanted to do, when he wanted to do it resonates so strongly with me, that I can’t help but credit Robert with much of my early inspiration. Plus, this was before HD – so making a movie was almost twice as difficult! Check it out: Rebel without a Crew: Or How a 23-Year-Old Filmmaker With $7,000 Became a Hollywood Player.

Happy Filmmaking!

Posted under 21 Part Filmmaking Mini-Course