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.

Before you make your movie, you have to seriously decide if you can stay excited about your story for the long haul.

While the timeline is different for all filmmakers, it may take you months or years to:

1. Raise the financing.
2. Package your movie with cast and crew.
3. Get your movie seen and selling.

If you aren’t willing to commit at least a half-decade to getting your movie made, seen and sold – then filmmaking may be the wrong business for you.

If you like these tips, check out my filmmaking tools.

Posted under FILMMAKING

As filmmakers and screenwriters, it is easy to procrastinate. And it is a slippery slope. Despite your best efforts, sometimes life gets in the way of your projects. Next thing you know – a whole year goes by and you are no closer to completing your projects than before.

Veteran Screenwriter Jurgen Wolff has a solution. He is hosting a virtual Massive Action Day on Saturday, Oct. 1.

Here is a quick description of Massive Action Day:

On the Massive Action Day YOU declare a goal for the day on the MAD website and then check in once an hour to report on your progress and say what you’ll do in the next hour.

Jurgen offers tips on a short hourly live video feed and participants encourage each other via the chat window–it’s motivating and makes it fun to focus on getting a lot done.

One participant said it was the most productive day of her life.

Massive Action Day is all online and it’s all FREE…

Jurgen even gives away prizes along the way. He stays online for 17 hours, so it works for just about any time zone. You can get more information and sign up here: www.WritingBreakthroughStrategy.com/MAD

Posted under Filmmaking News

Not all filmmakers are ready to make a feature. And some filmmakers have not yet made a short.

From time to time, I get emails from new filmmakers seeking short film ideas.

Over the past few weeks, I have been working to create a new resource for any filmmaker who is seeking short film ideas. It’s called 101 Short Film Ideas.

Even though the name may sound a little generic, the system is designed to help you overcome any creative blocks.

In addition to having an action guide that contains 101 short film ideas, As part of this system, you will also get my ten step audio program for short movie success.

This is mp3 audio that you can put on your iPod or mp3 player and listen to it anywhere. If you are looking for short film ideas, check it out here.

If you are looking for 101 Short Film Ideas, CLICK HERE

Posted under STUFF

Crowdfunding is one of coolest film funding models to emerge in our moviemaking lifetime.

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.

Earlier this month Koo from NoFilmSchool decided to implement his own $115,000 crowdfunding campaign. And he stopped by Filmmaking Stuff to share his experience.

Jason Brubaker
It might help readers if you share a little about your background.

Koo
My name is Koo and I’m an independent filmmaker and writer. I run the website NoFilmSchool, which is a site for filmmakers and independent creatives. And I co-created the “urban Western” web series The West Side, which won the Webby Award for Best Drama Series.

Jason Brubaker
What are you working on now?

Koo
I’m now planning on making my first feature film, and I’m currently running a crowdfunding campaign to hopefully turn the dream into a reality.

Jason Brubaker
What made you start NoFilmSchool?

Koo
I actually started NoFilmSchool in 2005 as a personal blog, but in 2009 I told myself I should either quit wasting time with a blog and shut it down, or fully commit myself to re-launching the site as something larger. I pursued the latter with the idea that I could hopefully build an audience online by sharing as much helpful content as possible; if I was successful, it would allow me to run the site as a steady side job (while working on a screenplay), instead of jumping from project to project as a freelancer (and always putting off the screenplay, which is what I found myself doing as a freelance shooter/editor/writer/director).

Jason Brubaker
So you went for it?

Koo
Yeah. It took a year of living out of a suitcase and a lengthy detour into learning how to run a website, but eventually traffic to NoFilmSchool grew to the point where I was able to do just that – run the website, write my screenplay, and not have to seek out freelance work.

Jason Brubaker
It is great when you focus on helping other people. Good things come.

Koo
On a more basic level, NoFilmSchool is simply the website I wish I’d had to help me out in my career from the beginning. Whatever I’ve picked up along the way, I try to share it there.

Jason Brubaker
After your success with the website and also producing online content, what made you decide to make a traditional feature?

Koo
After our success with The West Side, we spent a couple of years trying to get our next idea made, and it just wasn’t happening. The economy was terrible at the time – this was 2008, when the first big crash was taking place. And our project, titled 3rd Rail, was inherently risky for film studios.

Jason Brubaker
What made it was risky for the studios?

Koo
It’s an online, interactive experience as opposed to a standard feature, and therefore established film business models don’t apply. Online content represents a great opportunity in the DIY space, but it brings with it a lot of challenges once you start seeking significant amounts of other people’s money.

Jason Brubaker
Yeah. Any time you involve money people, your responsibility increases. And you have to be ready for it.

Koo
When I co-directed The West Side I didn’t feel like I was ready to make my own feature. But once I started researching and writing Man-child, the voice of doubt that usually causes me to throw a script in the trash can was surprisingly M.I.A. The more I worked on it the more I became excited to make the project. After several months of researching and writing, I knew definitively this had to be my first feature.

Jason Brubaker
I love it when projects put you in the flow. Your current feature is focused on Basketball? How come?

Koo
I’ve played basketball all my life, so it’s a personal project to me. But just because I play basketball doesn’t mean I know a lot about the youth basketball world. I’m talking about middle schoolers, as opposed to the college and pro athletes you typically see in sports movies. The more I researched it, the more I felt it was a story I had to tell. And while it’s definitely a basketball movie, my hope is that the film will also speak to those who don’t have a particular interest in basketball or even sports, because it’s a fascinating and unique world.

Jason Brubaker
Can you speak to that a little more?

Koo
These kids are nationally ranked by the time they’re 12, and they start hearing whispers of fame and fortune very early – but usually they don’t have a whole lot in their lives at that age. This dichotomy – what they could have in a few years as opposed to what they actually have, right now – could be larger in youth basketball than anywhere else in American society.

Jason Brubaker
I noticed you are utilizing crowdfunding to finance your movie. Can you explain crowdfunding?

Koo
Instead of the traditional route of independent film finance, where a few individuals put up the bulk of a film’s investment, crowdfunding is when you ask for small amounts of money from a large number of people. If enough people believe in your film enough to pledge $10 (in the case of Man-child, this gets backers a download of the full film when it’s done), your film is enabled by a community as opposed to an individual.

Jason Brubaker
How is your experience with the campaign thus far?

Koo
Crowdfunding can be a harrowing experience, because in many cases (including that of Man-child), the campaign is all-or-nothing: if you don’t make your goal, you get $0. At the same time, it can be incredibly empowering, to see support pour in from all corners of the world. It’s like nothing I’ve ever experienced and we’re only 1/3 of the way through the campaign.

Jason Brubaker
Why did you go with Kickstarter over IndieGoGo?

Koo
I think IndieGoGo’s got a great thing going, they originally launched with a focus on film projects, and unlike Kickstarter they accept international projects. They also allow for tax-deductible contributions for projects with fiscal sponsorship. However, I went with Kickstarter because I’ve always really liked the design of their site (I was a designer at MTV for three years, so I’m probably more sensitive to this than most), and they’re a more popular site. Plus, I’ve been a serial funder of other Kickstarter projects for the past two years, so I already felt like a member of the community.

Jason Brubaker
You raised a few thousand in the first few days. What do you attribute this to?

Koo
Crowdfunding $115,000 sounds doable only because it’s been done before But when you break it down I actually have to raise a few thousand dollars not just in the first days, but every day of the campaign. The campaign is running for 38 days and that means I have to average $3k/day to make the goal. I never know where the next dollar is going to come from and so I’m constantly scrambling to come up with new ways of reaching new people.

Jason Brubaker
What are some crowdfunding tips you can share with other filmmakers?

Koo
In terms of having a big launch, my tips would be to build up your audience online long before you even think about launching a crowdfunding campaign. I’m not talking weeks or months, I’m talking years. You’ve got to have credibility and it helps a ton if you have a mailing list. In my case I’ve been giving away a free 114-page eBook on DSLR Cinematography – you know about free eBooks as much as anyone, Jason – and I have been doing this for a year.

Jason Brubaker
Yes. I think we both focus on building genuine relationships with our audience. Which, I believe all modern moviemakers must now do.

Koo
It’s by no means a quid pro quo – you don’t have to donate to my crowdfunding campaign if you read my eBook or website – but I hope that people who come back to the site often and read my newsletters would be more likely to back my project than they would be a stranger’s.

Jason Brubaker
I really like your website and the value you provide to the filmmaking community. Has this positively impacted your campaign? I mean, did you get a great response with your initial email blast?

Koo
In light of how many subscribers and website visitors NoFilmSchool gets, I have 600 backers so far. It is not a huge number. But what I have been amazed at is how generous the backers are. There are more $120 backers than there are $5 backers, and this has been an unbelievably pleasant surprise! For someone you’ve never met in person to believe in you enough to pledge $120 (or more) to help you make your movie is an eye-opening, life-changing experience. Even if my campaign doesn’t make its goal, I will have learned a lot from the campaign thanks to all of the backers and messages I’ve received.

Jason Brubaker
What advice do you have for other modern moviemakers with a goal of making a movie?

Koo
Don’t put yourself in a position where a gatekeeper can tell you no. Grab a DSLR and do it yourself on the cheap. Even if you make something bad or otherwise fail at your pursuit, you’ll have learned something. You don’t learn nearly as much by knocking on doors and hearing “no.”

Jason Brubaker
I totally agree with this philosophy. Asking permission is a waste of time. Never do it!

Koo
When taking a DIY approach, I would say that you should just try to make the best possible short you can. Someone will click on a link, find your video, and if it’s not good, within 20 seconds they’ll click away. If you’re making a “calling card” type of project, there is no value to being prolific – no one says, “wow, this guy made 30 videos.”

All that matters is whether the one they stumble upon is good. And remember, these aren’t just friends, family, and anonymous people bored at work watching. If you get any sort of buzz, producers, agents, and other filmmakers will be watching it too. Put your absolute best foot forward and the rest will follow!

- – -
If you would like to help Koo make his movie, follow this link: Koo’s Crowdfunding Kickstarter Campaign.

Posted under FILM FINANCING

As a filmmaker, your website is one of the most important tools on earth for helping you reach your audience. The problem is, most filmmakers are visually oriented, but not marketing oriented. As a result, most movie websites suck.

Here are 3 movie website tips to help you avoid common movie website blunders:

1. Nobody cares about cast and crew bios – unless you are trying to get people to BUY NOW. If that’s the case, you can rest assured people won’t BUY NOW. They will spend all their time reading about your cast and crew… And after they read about your actors, they will exit your site.
2. You have a bunch of reviews on your site with links to the review sites. You can now send your prospective paying audience to another website… Where they can not only read your reviews, but they can also read the reviews of other, competing movies and BUY THERE. Awesome!
3. You decided that paying for a 3rd party email service is not worth the cost. So you decide to forgo all list building efforts. Because, after all – your list is your business. And without a list, you have no business. But somehow the $19 dollars a month for your Audience List is still too expensive (Audience List pays me to promote. But there are others, like Mail Chimp and Constant Contact and Vertical Response.)
4. Google Analytics is too complicated. So you decided not to include it or track visitor data. As a result, you think people are coming to your site. But you aren’t sure where they come from, what pages they visit and most importantly – you have no clue which pages your visitors exit from.
5. Instead of paying to have your site optimized for SEO, you decided instead to have your kid cousin create the site. It looks awesome, by the way. Full of all sorts of stuff that increases load time and confuses search engines. Nice work!

Obviously, I am taking on a satirical tone. But it’s for your own good. Working with several filmmaker clients, I see a lot of websites that look awesome. But they do nothing to entice someone to click the BUY NOW button.

Speaking of the BUY NOW button, every serious filmmaker should check out The Indie Producer’s Guide To Modern Movie Distribution. It costs less than a dinner and a movie, but it provides over a half-decade of movie marketing information. (OK. I’m biased. But it took me a long time to create it. And I think it’s totally valuable!) To find out more about film distribution guide, click this link.

Or not… Truth be told, not everybody wants to sell their movie.

Posted under DISTRIBUTION

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.

While I encourage you to think big, if you are basing your movie business on the Sundance dream, you are making a BIG mistake in filmmaking.

To help you, I got together with a few other cutting edge modern moviemakers. Together we created a book entitled the Modern MovieMaking Movement  – We think it is a valuable filmmaking resource. And because we are giving it away for free, there is no reason not to grab YOUR copy.

As of today, the Modern Moviemaking Movement has been downloaded around 10,000 times. That is a lot of filmmakers! So I am raising the bar. With your help, I would like to get the book into the hands of 30,000 filmmakers.

But I can’t do it alone. If you would like to help spread the Modern Moviemaking Movement, could you kindly tweet or email or post the following link to every filmmaker you know? >> http://bit.ly/pQSxoG

Thanks for being a Modern Moviemaker!

Posted under FILMMAKING

Distribber Screenshot Image via CrunchBase

If you are looking for film distribution, there are a lot of ways to enter the marketplace. If you have been reading Filmmaking Stuff for any length of time, you know that my my film distribution strategy emphasizes three factors:

1. Video on demand distribution is the future.
2. Internet marketing is now essential.
3. You do not need a Middle-Man.

If you are looking for an easy way to access the marketplaces, check out my friends at Distribber. My affiliate link is www.MovieSalesTool.com (Yes, I get paid to promote. And I like the company.)

For a one time, up-front investment, Distribber will help you to get your movie into iTunes. As part of the iTunes deal, Distribber will also handle your Amazon VOD submission for free.

Check out the Distribber FAQs – There is a lot of useful information on how modern VOD film distribution works.

Distribber also holds a weekly Q&A conference call. I am usually (but not always) on the call. And if you’re interested, it is held on Wednesdays at noon Pacific time.

The conference call is hosted by the Distribber CEO Adam Chapnick. Adam will be happy to answer any questions you may have. You may find some of the questions asked by the other filmmakers useful as well.

Here is the film distribution conference call info:

Distribber dedicated dial-in number
1 (605) 475-4333

Access code
785208

After you get your movie into the marketplace, you will also want information on how to market and sell your movie. For that, I reccomend checking out the indie producer’s guide to Film Distribution. In it, you will get a no-fluff strategy on how to get your movie seen and selling.

Posted under DISTRIBUTION

As a filmmaker, your success relies on other people willing to help you realize your movie projects. The problem is, many would-be filmmakers surround themselves with toxic people.

The great motivational speaker Zig Ziglar always says, “You can’t fly with the eagles if you continue to scratch with the turkeys.”

And I believe this is true.

Take a moment and think of the people you spend the most time with. Are they helping you or hurting you? For some of you, the person you spend the most time with is your significant other. Is he or she supporting your filmmaking aspirations?

If not, then you have to make tough decisions.

Posted under FILMMAKING

If you want to make a movie, you need to stop making mental lists of all the reasons why your movie won’t work. You need to stop pretending that you need more money. You need to stop letting life pass you by…

This is the problem with most filmmakers. They get paralysis of analysis. They make excuses. And then another year passes without a feature.

I know why. You’re afraid of failure. You’re afraid that if you make a movie, everybody will know how bad you suck as a filmmaker.

I get it. But here is the deal. A large percentage of the population is going to hate you anyway. So you may as well accept this and make a movie.

How?

Instead of asking yourself what you need to make a movie, ask yourself this question: “Given the resources that I have right now, what is the movie that I can make this year?”

Posted under Uncategorized

I know what you’re thinking – Why is this filmmaking, modern moviemaking advocate of internet VOD distribution talking to you about how to design a DVD cover?

Because…

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.

To help explain this further, I reached out to my buddy Ian Hannin. If the name sounds familiar, it means you probably read popular comic books. Over the past decade, Ian is responsible for coloring some of the most popular comic books in existence for Marvel Comics and DC Comics.

But in addition to Ian Hannin’s comic book coloring experience, he also designs movie marketing materials, such as movie posters, virtual covers, DVD covers and the actual artwork that goes on a DVD disc to make it look pro.

Jason Brubaker
How important is having good movie art for filmmakers?

Ian Hannin
People judge a book by the cover. Same with DVD or virtual DVD. You need to have high end, awesome illustration.

Jason Brubaker
What components of movie marketing art are most important?

Ian Hannin
Make sure the design complements the subject matter and tone of the movie. A lot of filmmakers fail to think about their target audience when designing movie marketing collateral.

Jason Brubaker
What’s the biggest mistake filmmakers make in their design?

Ian Hannin
The craftsmanship of the DVD cover often leaves a lot to be desired. In the popular marketplaces, such as Amazon and iTunes, your movie will be competing for virtual shelf space with expensive studio titles. Your job is to create high resolution, easy to read and enticing movie marketing materials… Does the movie artwork draw you in and make you want to see the movie?

Jason Brubaker
A lot of filmmakers try to do this themselves. What is your advice there?

Ian Hannin
If you have someone in your team good at graphic art, awesome. Just make sure your art complements the movie and helps you attract your target audience. But if you don’t have a good guy on your team, you can always email me. Maybe I know someone.

Jason Brubaker
You mean like you?

Ian Hannin
Maybe. HaHa!

Jason Brubaker
How can filmmakers hire you?

Ian Hannin
Go to www.IanHannin.com and contact me through the contact page.

Jason Brubaker
How much do you charge?

Ian Hannin
Depends on the package. Just email me at www.IanHannin.com. Let me know what you’re looking for.

Jason Brubaker
Thanks for stopping by Filmmaking Stuff!

Ian Hannin
Thanks. Happy to help filmmakers in need of art!

- – -
Next time you need to make your filmmaking stuff look awesome, reach out to Ian Hannin and see if he can help you. Oh, also, in full disclosure, I am friends with Ian. He will probably buy me a burrito for any business I throw his way.

Happy Filmmaking!

Posted under INTERVIEWS