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.

The Cannon EOS 7D is changing the ways filmmakers make movies. Image via Wikipedia

Last week I had a debate with my buddy about filmmaking class. And no, I’m not talking about the classroom. But I am talking about social filmmaking status.

Basically the debate went like this: how do you decide what movies are “real” movies and what movies are “fake.”

(I know. Stupid debate, right? But if you read this, I’ll dispel a myth and forever end Hollywood movie snobbery. Promise.)

In other words, let’s say you’re a filmmaker and you decide to grab your Cannon EOS 7D and shoot a feature – how do you determine if you made a real movie or not?

ARE YOU READY TO LEARN THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A FAKE MOVIE AND A REAL MOVIE? Then here is the official Jason Brubaker criteria to determine if you created a “real” movie:

Does your movie make money?

If the answer is yes, you my filmmaking friend have a real movie.

“But there are no stars in your stupid movie that you made for 20K on a borrowed camera.”

“Yeah. But it makes more money than that Tom Cruise box office bomb.”

Do you see where I’m going with this?

I don’t give a crap about the idiot Hollywood snobs who would much rather ignore you and your HD camera. And so what if you never worked with Spielberg or for that matter any “name” talent. And who really cares if some band of ivy league film school graduates spent their 30k making an 8 minute, 35mm short, when you decided to make a feature?

Seriously.

The only thing that matters is if your movie makes money.

Again, seriously.

You’re a filmmaker. If you want to be in business, you must create a product. Your product is a feature film. And if you happen to shoot your feature for no money, with limited locations, with scenes that are under-lit, starring no name actors – but you actually FINISH your feature film and you find your audience and they agree to buy your movie, guess what?

1. First of all, you are what us business minded folks call “efficient.”
2. Secondly, by keeping your overhead low, it will take less sales to recoup your initial investment.
3. And most importantly, you have just created a REAL movie. You are a real, professional filmmaker.

So “F” any Hollywood snob that tells you otherwise. I mean, be nice – but seriously, tell em’ to take a hike. They are probably just worried about job security – and they should be.

Here is why:

Take a look at the ever eroding options for traditional distribution. There are more feature films than ever with better and better images for less of a budget. And very soon, the entire world will be flooded with high production valued content – the likes of which Hollywood has never encountered. (For a historical reference, read about how inexpensive product and cheap labor killed Bethalam Steel and compare this to what’s happening in Hollywood.)

So as a filmmaker, you now have a few choices:

1. Wait around for someone to discover your project and give you a gazillion dollars – so that you can have a “real” movie that will play the festivals and probably end up on iTunes and Amazon.
2. Move to Los Angeles, fetch coffee on various “real” productions so that you can one day make a movie that will probably play the festivals and guess what? End up on Amazon and iTunes?
3. Or starting today, you can create a movie structured around your current cash and equipment and location limitations that will (this is the kicker) play the festivals and probably end up on iTunes and Amazon.

Do you see what I’m getting at? Theatrical distribution is not a viable outlet for independent filmmakers. And video stores are changing and becoming a less viable sales outlet for indie filmmakers. So where does this leave Hollywood filmmakers and you? You got it. The internet.

And yes, I’m once again referring to:

digital self distribution.

(Tell your filmmaking friends – it’s time to face reality.)

You see, for any business to survive, you need a product (or a service) and a group of people willing to recognize that the value of your product outweighs the value of their cash.

Your movie is your product. And thanks to innovations in both production and digital self distribution, there is really no difference between the dollars spent for “real” Hollywood movies or your movie.

And if you’re making a living doing what you love, who really cares if some idiot thinks your work is sub par? I mean, this debate never bothered Roger Corman, so why should it bother you?

Now the important question is – what does this mean? For that answer, I offer a FREE filmmaking book:

www.FreeFilmmakingBook.com

- – -

Jason Brubaker is a Los Angeles based independent producer and an expert in digital self distribution. He makes movies and he writes about making movies. More of his articles can be found at www.filmmakingstuff.com

Posted under Filmmaking

As a filmmaker, one of your first jobs might be fetching coffee. Image via Wikipedia

When I was first starting my filmmaking career, I thought long and hard about the prospect of film school. At the time, I figured a degree from one of the top film schools would increase my odds of garnering success. Now, after having worked in the game for awhile, I can honestly tell you that very few people, if any, have asked me where I went to film school.

Here are 5 Filmmaking Tips So You Can Learn Filmmaking Without The Fluff:

1. Your Film School Degree Will Collect Dust: Nobody cares where you went to school. They just care if you can contribute value to their professional lives and their movie projects. (By the way, I’m not saying you shouldn’t go to college. I’m just saying that unless you plan on becoming a film professor – get a degree in business.)
2. Learn How To Sell: In the film business, people with sales skills can write their own ticket. Start learning how to sell.
3. Your Material Rules: Control good material and you’ll have something to sell. What is good material? Great screenplays. Seriously most screenplays suck. If you’re confused about this one, refer back to #2
4. Be Nice To Everyone: The PA fetching coffee today will control your job tomorrow. (Or one day, in addition to making movies, he might just own one of the most prolific filmmaking website in the world.)
5. Don’t Ask Permission: I say this over and over, but many of you are still knocking on doors, hoping that somebody will discover you. Don’t do that. Unless you have GREAT MATERIAL, that everybody wants, chances are nobody cares about your movie project more than you.

Anyway – If you like these tips and want more of them, I am giving away my latest book for free. I do this because it helps you avoid all my silly filmmaking mistakes. And it helps me promote myself. To claim your free Filmmaking Book, go here:

www.FreeFilmmakingBook.com

If you like this filmmaking stuff, make sure you tell your friends that Los Angeles based indie producer, Jason Brubaker gives away some great filmmaking stuff!

Posted under Filmmaking

If you’re a first time feature filmmaker, you do not need a gazillion dollars to join the feature club. But you will need to learn how to replace money with ginormous creatively. And once your screenplay is complete, then the next step in the filmmaking process is your initial breakdown and schedule.

Breaking down the script means you go through your screenplay, number each scene and highlight each element, including locations, characters, props, make up, wardrobe, picture vehicles and special FX…

All of these things cost money. And once the script is locked, any modification you make to the story or schedule, no matter how minor or major, will subsequently impact the budget.

My producer friend Forrest Murray always says the script, schedule and budget are the same document. You’ll need all three to make a movie… But in the process, if you change one document, you’re actually changing all three.

I’ll chat about this some more later. For today, let’s focus on your initial schedule so you can eventually get to your budget.

Schedule Your Movie And Save

1.After you highlight each element, you’ll want to figure out when you want to shoot your movie and how long you plan to shoot.

2.You can determine this by choosing how many pages you want to shoot per day. Then you can decide if you want to shoot 5 days on and 2 days off, or 6 days on and 1 day off. Or maybe you want to shoot your movie over a few weekends.

3.Everything in the script will impact your budget. There is software for this. Final Draft offers an add-on called Tagger. Tagger allows you to go through the script and pick out elements and highlight them in various colors. Once all elements are selected, you can eventually import this list into your budget and schedule software program.

4.After giving this your best effort, if you still feel stuck, seek expert advice.

5.Eventually, these elements will have a price in your initial budget. What is the price of each element? How much does your movie cost?

Many motion picture professionals make a living just breaking down, scheduling and budgeting movies. So it’s a pretty complicated and creative area. As a first time feature filmmaker, it save you many headaches if you partner with an seasoned 1st AD or Line Producer who could guide you through the process.

If this is not possible for you, I suggest reading every article on the subject as well as watching every YouTube video. This will teach you how to think like a cost conscious, responsible producer.

Regardless of your decision to complete your own breakdown or hire someone else for the job, the reason you’ll need an initial schedule is because this will give you a good starting point… You’ll utilize this information to figure out your budget. You’ll also be able to figure out if you need to cut an element or two, or not.

Cut Your Budget

Once you have your initial schedule, (and assuming this is your first feature), I suggest you create a budget for your movie in the neighborhood of $500K. Before you go crazy thinking this is a lot of money (or a little money), I want you to know you don’t actually have to spend $500K in hard cash to meet the needs of your budget.

In fact, once you determine you’ll make your movie at $500K, you are going to spend the next few weeks working backwards to see how much hard cash you can replace with sweat equity, discounts and favors from friends and family. Why $500K? Because if you actually have the elements budgeted, there is a good chance your movie will look better than if you budgeted for a mere $50K.

The reason for this is mostly psychological. By setting your budget at 500K, you’re going to start out with goal that forces you to get a higher production value than if you simply settled for pocket cash.

Later, with the application of tremendous creativity, it will be possible to reduce a $500K budget after discounts, free food, locations and salary adjustments quite significantly.

Do you have friends who own locations you can utilize for free? Do you have access to discounted equipment? Can you finish your movie faster than scheduled?

Do you have a friend with an edit suite?

Can you shoot some scenes outside during the day to reduce the need for extra lights? Can you find free food for your cast and crew? These are just some of the ways you can reduce that $500K budget.

One of my buddies was able to do this on the cheap. He had a location budgeted for $5K. However, after my buddy spoke with the owner of the location, the fee was reduced to zero. How? My buddy (a creative producer) agreed to shoot a promo for the owner’s business. Another filmmaker friend got free food for his entire shoot simply by asking.

The food supplier was thanked in the credits.

Deals like this happen. But it takes creativity to find opportunity. Here are some questions to ask:

How much money do I have?
How can I reduce expenses?
Can I get free food?
Who do I know who has the location I’m looking for?
How much money will I need?

The other reason you want to keep your first feature budget low is to allow greater opportunity for return. In the event you get a standard distribution deal (which is becoming more and more rare), your movie should look expensive.

If your budget is $500K and the movie looks like $500K, but you only spent $50K or $30K $15K in ultra-low-budget hard cash, and someone pays you back your budget, then you just made a crazy profit!

Nice work.

And in the event you do not get a standard distribution deal, then you’re not quite as deep in the financial hole as you otherwise would be.

Posted under Filmmaking

Somewhere between 11th and 12th grade, when most of my (then) classmates were taking weekend trips with their families to check out prospective colleges, I was goofing off.

I know, I know. Maybe I shouldn’t admit that.

But at age 17, a college education wasn’t high on my list of priorities. And besides, I knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to make movies.

I can’t remember exactly what drew me to movie making. But I was always intrigued by the camera and how you could look through the lens at something and bring it to life in a new and unique way. I know there are a lot of fancy technical terms to describe the cinematographic stuff I played around with, like forced perspective, snap zoom and the excitingly overused P.O.V. shots! But I didn’t think about any of that stuff. Back then, I had a VHS camcorder with a built in microphone and I had one movie making mission: I just wanted to have fun.

One summer, my buddies and I build a skateboard half-pipe in my parent’s back yard. We would spend hours and hours under the hot summer sun, almost always capturing our sessions on videotape. And then as the sun was setting, we would go inside and use 2 VCRs to edit the footage. (Push play on one and record on the other, etc.) Being able to play around with the footage and also add some much appreciated heavy medal music to the final cut was not just a great way to end an exhilarating day of skateboarding – but the work and effort we put into making the skate videos look good was enough to make me realize a career making movies would be the only type of career that mattered.

As such, when asked about my college plans, I had only two criteria:

1. The school would have to have women.
2. And the school would have to offer a film program.

Back then, I thought a traditional film school with hot women was heaven. Not to mention, I was also convinced that a traditional film school degree would help my chances at becoming a successful Hollywood filmmaker. I remember doing my research and trying to determine which school of cinema offered my best chance at success for a career making movies.

Whether fortunately or unfortunately, after calculating the cost of a four year film school coupled with the realities of my family’s let’s-further-your-education budget, both my parents and I were persuaded to vote unanimously for one of the many Pennsylvania state schools. So, instead of NYU or UCLA, I ended up at Bloomsburg University of PA…

And while the school did not have a formal film program, it was a great experience. I mean, at least there were woman (Huge education and nursing school!!!). And as a result, I forgot about my film passion – for a bit…

It wasn’t until my senior year of college, when I once again caught the film bug.

I had learned of a movie making class where everyone in the course bucked up and paid to produce a 16mm short movie. The class wasn’t offered every year… And it was only offered in the summer. Suffice it to say, I did everything I could to get into that class. And while it was clear from the fist day that some folks were taking it for (what they thought would be) an “easy credit,” I took the class, well, because I HAD to!

With shall we say, a very strong level of passion – I convinced the class to let me write and direct the movie. I got a lot of push back. But after some heated negotiation, the instructor permitted me to have half of the directing credit. The other half was shared with my buddy Ryan (I’d like to add that Ryan also caught the movie making bug and he is now working as a well respected grip on some of the biggest movies in Hollywood). But anyway, we went out to various locations and made our movie. We even animated a title sequence (the old-fashioned way, I might add). Then we got the film processed, edited on a flat bed and physically cut the film. And when we finally projected our movie on the screen, we thought we had something spectacular!

After graduating, I moved back with my parents in Pennsylvania and took a job selling household appliances. Since promoting dishwashers and garbage disposals was not inline with my movie making aspirations, I got a little depressed. I kept wondering how I would make a career making movies. The only piece of work I had was that 16mm film. And it was literally film. So, in order to show it to someone, I needed to get it transferred to video. As such, I contacted various Pennsylvania production houses in the hopes one of em’ had the equipment to transfer the film. And after several calls, I eventually found someone.

As luck (and life) would have it, the people I met at that production company put me in touch with the local film community (Harrisburg, PA). And through those guys, I found work fetching coffee, which eventually led to other jobs (boom operator, dolly pusher, production coordinator), which introduced me to new people who eventually opened a door to New York City, where I basically took every production job I could find… Student shoots, corporate video, TV commercials and the occasional hockey game upstate. All of this happened while I lived in the corner of some dude’s kitchen and slept on an inflatable air mattress. It was also during this time that I put the finishing touches on my first screenplay.

Eventually this work and networking led to a position as an assistant to an indie producer. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Now, after having produced numerous short movies and three features, I’m beginning to think my on-the-job training was a pretty good film education.

I share this story for any parents or aspiring filmmakers weighing the options between traditional film school or other alternatives. If you just want to learn the nut-and-bolts of filmmaking, then the basics can be learned in a much shorter time-frame than four years! After you learn the basics, it’s having a sense of clear goals, combined with a great work ethic and a subsequent hard working reputation that will ultimately open the doors to your dreams. And when these doors open, you’ll quickly realize your Hollywood success has more to do with your experience and attitude than your degree.

I repeat – experience and attitude are major prerequisites for success in any endeavor, especially making movies.

So to wrap this up, my thinking is: Film school is good for aspiring filmmakers who want to meet and spend four years with friends who share similar interests, determination and drive. These people will form the foundation of your professional network. And if you attend one of the BIG schools, it’s going to look great on your resume…

Problem is, unless you plan to teach, most people will never ask to see your degree. The other problem is, depending on your film school, you may never get permission to direct or produce your own projects. This could be a bit disheartening when you’re paying FIFTY-THOUSAND-DOLLARS (or more) for an education that allows you carry cables and fetch coffee. (Come to think of it, if you’re going to fetch coffee and carry cables, you may as well get paid for it!)

I’m not saying you should forgo college – I certainly didn’t. And being completely frank, my four year degree has accelerated my success in some very non-direct ways. But I am saying this: Before you set yourself up for a traditional film school degree (and the debt that goes with it), you might consider testing the water by attending one of the many short term, hands-on filmmaker workshops offered by reputable filmmaking organizations.

Most of these workshops are taught by working filmmakers and industry professionals, and are conducted at various times and locations throughout the year. For the most part, these workshops will provide you with a basic education, a peer group and importantly, enough nuts-and-bolts filmmaking experience so you can make an informed decision on whether or not a traditional 4-year film school is right for you.

As always, take time to do the research.

Here are 5 popular nuts-and-bolts filmmaking workshops, worth considering:

1. The New York Film Academy
2. The Maine Media Workshops
3. Rick Schmidt’s Workshop
4. My friend Peter Marshall’s Workshops
5. One on One Film Training

Posted under Filmmaking