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.

Filmmaking Checklist For Fim Production Image via Wikipedia

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.

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

Posted under Filmmaking

Progress through the eyes of a space man. Somehow this relates to filmmaking. Image via Wikipedia

So you want to produce an independent movie? Great. I think this is the best time in history to finally make your indie movie.

Why? Let me provide you with 3 uplifting reasons to help you make your movie now:

1. First, the cost of production has gone down dramatically for micro-to-low budget movies. These days, technology provides ways to get more bang for your buck. You can make your movie look super expensive, add some kick-butt FX and also get an awesome, high resolution image.

Assuming you’re super crafty, stuff that once cost millions can be done for under 10K.

2. Secondly, once you complete principal photography, you can complete your entire post product with the power of a laptop. To give you newbies some perspective – nearly a decade ago, you would originate your content on film, not HD. After that, you would then pay to have the film processed, color corrected, transferred to video, edited and then transferred back to film. You would also handle your sound design in much the same way. (And to really give you perspective, I had to physically “cut” my film on something called a flatbed editor.) UGH.

Anyway – today you can walk to your local Mac store and get a laptop and software that does this for you.

3. And finally, once you have a polished, finished movie, getting your work to the world is much easier. With some good internet marketing and the use of social networking tools, you no longer need a middle-man to get a return on investment. And while digital self distribution is still rough, we are only a few years away from VOD becoming the norm.

Anyway, I hope you are totally jazzed about making your movie. Sometimes self doubt and procrastination can really get in the way of good ideas. If you can help it, don’t let it. Please keep pushing forward. Believe me, there are many people out there making movies and making money making movies that are far less talented than you.

Just believe in your ability to make your movie now. Trust me, when you get to the other side you’ll wonder why you waited so long!

Posted under Filmmaking

If you’ve made a movie or you’re working to make your movie (and I hope you are), you might also be thinking about how you’re going to sell the sucker.

I mean, despite the fact that filmmaking is fun there is a business component to it. If you fail to think in terms of Return On Investment (ROI), then getting money for your next movie is going to be even more difficult than the first, for two reasons:

1. You’ll need to worry about money to put food on the table.
2. Your prospective investors will want to see your track record.

As a filmmaker, the other factor we have to consider is our initial budget. Go too high and the chance of return could diminish. Let me explain.

I’ve chatted with a few heavy-hitting friends in the industry (that I hope to interview soon) and there is talk about what I’m going to call the “no-man’s-land” of indie movie production. That is, there is a budget range from roughly 2.5M-10M that is becoming increasingly difficult to finance.

Tax credits and other deals aside – What I’m suggesting is due, in large part to changes in movie distribution and the subsequent challenge of generating enough revenue to recoup the initial investment.

Indie film financing was always a crap shoot – but take away potential sales channels and add the fact that technology now permits virtually anyone to make a decent looking movie and you can begin to understand why this is happening.

While I’m on the subject, I’m not just talking about the indie movies. I’m including studios as well. Thanks to the success of Paranormal Activity,  there is now word that Paramount is going to launch a micro budget division and begin to churn out movies under 100K.

From a business standpoint this makes sense. You invest 100K and you get 100M – That’s pretty good! (Understatement).  But from holy crap perspective, the ripple effect of a studio churning out no-to-low budget movies could potentially rip a hole in the ways Hollywood traditionally operates. (BTW, Paramount is not the first studio to attempt this. But thanks to VOD outlets and more digital projectors in theaters, what didn’t work at this budget level in the past could very well work now.)

Lets talk some numbers…

Traditionally, when movies are financed most people including grips, gaffers, craft services and other crew – they get paid on the front end as part of the movie’s budget. We can also include some agents, managers, lawyers, Teamsters, writers, actors – and mostly everyone else too.

On the micro budget level however, there isn’t enough money up-front to pay these folks what they were formally worth. So there are a few options. Hire less people. Hire non-union folks. And offer to pay Teamsters deferred pay with the added bonus of copy and credit. (I’m adding some humor here – but can you imagine Paramount trying to offer a Teamster deferred pay?)

Ok, so what does this mean for you and your movies? Well just look at the music industry. Recording studios and record companies took a nose dive. But that hasn’t stopped people from making music or making money making music.

Instead of asking some idiot in a suit for permission to make music, musicians can now find their audiences, build a following and sell their music… Without a middle man – globally. That’s pretty amazing.

The same wide open world applies to your movie. Do good work and people will notice. Do bad work, and well, you still have the opportunity to find the 20 people in the world who think you’re brilliant. And in terms of pay structure – I made a joke earlier about deferred pay. But I am not totally opposed to some well structured back end deals. I mean, 1/4th of 1% of 100M is – it’s nothing to sneeze at.

Of course, as we all know there is no guarantee that any movie project will make money. So for you and me and most indies, it will take roughly two years of hustle to churn out a movie that we can be proud of. For the studios, they are going to churn out micro-budget movies like widgets in a factory.  The odds of success, for both of us  – the indie filmmakers and the studio are getting closer equal.

And I think that is something worth celebrating.

Is anyone else excited about this? Please feel free to comment.

Posted under Distribution

Over the past decade, everything has changed for the indie filmmaker. These days, there is no excuse not to make a feature film. But just as importantly, there is no excuse not to view your filmmaking as a business. That means, you not only have to focus on making the movie – but you really need to have a strategy for making money from your movie.

Many filmmakers spend years making their first feature, only to have their hopes of prosperity evaporate at the first sign of rejection and disappointment. The festival circuit can be hard enough. Add thoughts of a non-existent traditional distribution deal, and you might find yourself becoming very cynical.

To avoid some heartache, before you start rolling the camera, I recommend creating two idealized plans for how your movie will make money:

PLAN A: You get everything you want. Your distribution is solid. You have a great audience. You’re now financially free and you have money in the bank for at least two more motion pictures.

PLAN B:You did the festivals. You got the meetings (or maybe you didn’t) but nothing happened. You got a lot of hot air, but no action. If this happens, what is your strategy for making money with your movie?

www.filmmakingstuff.com

Posted under Distribution