Filmmaking Stuff

Filmmaking resources for indie filmmakers, including, screenwriting, financing, producing and film distribution

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At Filmmaking Stuff, we are dedicated to providing filmmaking articles related to production, production equipment (cameras, lighting, audio), film scheduling, budgeting, casting and directing. From time to time, we will also include articles from guest filmmakers. We have provided the following ideas and filmmaking tips so that you can take action and make your movie.

What Happens When Two Films Have The Same Title

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“Where is the murder?”

Complicated emotions arise when you hear one of the most infamously polarizing directors of a generation is making a big budget horror movie with the exact same title as your micro indie rom-com.

Our movie is called Split because it’s about bowling.

M. Night Shyamalan’s Split is about a murderous villain with multiple personality disorder.

We shot our film 3 years before his eventual box office smash James McAvoy vehicle was announced and our title has always been the same. We have the copyright and WGA numbers to prove it.

split the movie

Here’s What Happens When Two Films Have The Same Title

We’d been powering through post for a while like many indies, owing to the usual costs of necessary pieces, friends working for nothing and a career’s worth of favors cashed in. We had to pick cheap and weren’t giving up good, so fast had to go.

Finally last year, we decided on one of several distributors that had expressed interest in The World’s First Romantic Bowling Comedy and released wide a few months later.

The bowling community was enamored, our cast was praised, people loved our heart-warming story about a misguided, over-achieving young woman trying to make her professional bowler dad proud by getting married before she turned 30.

We’d done exactly what we’d set out to do: make a movie about love of both movies and bowling – with bowlers, for bowlers.

Then a year after the dawn of our distribution deal, M. Night sets in. His Split of course is a much bigger movie, and is reportedly his true return to form. His opening weekend is nuts, people love it. Shalom Shyamalan, except then it starts to not be so great for us.

Very quickly, our Split starts showing up advertised as the horror movie. All over the internet. On reputable sites and illegal ones. All with incorrect images, swapped synopsis and all.

People are watching our movie and wondering when all the kidnapping and murderin’ is gonna start!

Leaving aside how even seeing your indie flick on illegal sites feels, it’s exponentially worse when people start throwing angry comments at your fun-for-the-family, girl-meets-boy movie through no fault or negligence of your own.

Who knows how many people skip over our title assuming they’ve already seen it or don’t want to watch a murder movie

Some of our online ratings have suffered from the confusion as well, which are lifeblood to a small picture like ours. But, the good news is reviews from people actually wanting to watch our movie are overwhelmingly uplifting and positive.

This continues to be quite an experience. In a shocking twist (couldn’t resist), no one from M. Night land has reached out to us at any point. But I’m sure his team is getting inundated with people clamoring to see more bowling in their horror movie.

Check out SPLIT: The World’s First Romantic Bowling Comedy today free with Amazon Prime or you can rent or purchase it on iTunes, Google Play and more.

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Jamie Buckner is a Kentucky born, Brooklyn-based filmmaker. His feature debut as a producing writer/director, the World’s First Romantic Bowling Comedy: SPLIT, is currently available via Amazon Prime, iTunes and more. His follow up project: Call Us Ishmael, an academic documentary look at the fans and community surrounding Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick is coming soon. He is the founder and president of Derby City Productions.

The Shocking Truth About Modern Moviemaking

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The other day I got into a debate with a friend about modern moviemaking. We were arguing over the difference between a “professional” movie and  an “amateur” movie. He contended that a professional movie needed a certain budget, cast and crew. And of course, I argued the opposite.

While the whole conversation was stupid, it reminded me that some people still think you need to ask permission to make money making movies.

When it comes to modern moviemaking, the only thing that matters is your end product. In this case, your product is a feature film. And if you are only able to shoot your film with a limited budget and limited locations, with scenes that are under-lit and contain no-name actors, that is okay – as long as you finish your film and find an audience that buys it.

modern moviemaking

The Shocking Truth About Modern Moviemaking

This mindset very much defines the entire modern moviemaking movement.

  1. You are efficient at using the resources you have right now to create your film.
  2. You don’t spend a ton of money, so you can recoup your initial investment faster.
  3. When you take a finished a product to market (a film over 70 minutes), you are a professional.

Modern Moviemaking Is All About Taking Your Finished Product To Market 

While many executives in Hollywood want you to believe that you need A-list celebrities, an expensive camera, and a budget in the hundreds of millions to make a real movie, this is a bunch of BS. The shocking truth about modern moviemaking is that if your movie makes money, no matter what the circumstance, then it is a real movie and you rock.

The Industry Is Changing

The options for traditional distribution are becoming increasingly sparse. DVD is dead and theatrical distribution is not a viable outlet for independent filmmakers. However digital distribution and cheap production technology now provides solid opportunities to get you film made, seen and selling.

There is no excuse to not start creating a film structured around your current cash, equipment, and location limitations.

There is no longer any difference between the dollars spent on “real” Hollywood movies and the dollars spent on your movie. And this is the essence of modern moviemaking.

How To Make Your First Feature Without Going Bonkers

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If you’re making short films, sooner or later you’re gonna start brainstorming ways to make your first feature film. This makes sense. Production gear is cheap (well, relatively speaking) and distribution is accessible.

first feature

How To Make Your First Feature Without Going Bonkers

Consider the following tips before making your first feature film:

1. Spend the next months making a few more short films. This will grant you valuable filmmaking experience. This is your time to experiment. Play around with different camera angles, locations and edits. Honing your filmmaking skills through short films will prove super valuable when you begin filming your first feature film.

2. Read EVERY screenplay you can! This will teach you pacing and get you well accustomed to the standard three act structure. Scripts can also increase your film knowledge. When reading a script, envision how you would shoot each shot.

3. Allow the script for your first feature film is to evolve. Real writing begins with rewriting. As long as you have a deadline, it’s okay to refine and rewrite your feature film script until you get it right. Then when you hit your deadline, stop writing and start planning your film.

4. Go out of your way to create relationships with rich and successful people. You never know. The first millionaire I met was a local car dealer. And my buddy Tom Malloy met his first film investor at a poker table. Expanding your network never hurts. But you must be willing to put yourself out there.

5. Avoid anyone in your life who sucks your filmmaking energy. This is YOUR passion and YOUR dream! No one should get in the way or bring you down.

If you follow the above steps for six months, you will put yourself on the path of producing your first feature film. You’ll gain a new sense of confidence and this will put you ahead of the gazillion wannabe filmmakers who are not truly dedicated.

What are you waiting for? Get going and greenlight yourself. Anything is possible. But nothing is possible without action. Go out there and create your first feature film!

5 Little-Known Factors That Could Affect Your Indie Film

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My first short indie film was a two-day shoot with a crew of maybe four. We had a budget of under a thousand dollars, which also needed to cover post and festival submissions. Our cast worked for credit and supplied their own costumes. And because we didn’t hire a professional sound crew, some of the audio was unusable. Ugh. I shiver at the memory.

indie film

5 Little-Known Factors That Could Affect Your Indie Film

Every filmmaker learns lessons on their first film and well, pretty much every film after that too. In an effort to help you learn from my mistakes, here are five little-known factors that could affect your indie film.

1. Location Power: Find out if you need a generator for your lighting and gear because if so, you should know these are very heavy and your DP will likely need a truck with a way to get it up and down. Also, you do not want to blow a fuse you can’t fix in the middle of your shoot.

2. Parking Expenses/Gas: This is such an easy thing to forget to add to your budget and yet, it can add up insanely quick. It’s best to have your parking needs planned for in preproduction but don’t forget these include fees and gas for any crew vehicles (and FYI, rental trucks are gas guzzlers.) Have petty cash on hand also for runs your PAs do, and they will do runs.

3. Get Releases For EVERYTHING: Have ALL needed releases ready to be signed, when the person is RIGHT IN FRONT of you or your team. Releases are not just for actors and people in the shot. They are needed for the use of private property, copyrighted material and photos… Tracking people down for these after the film is shot is time-consuming and tedious. Additionally, your releases will be required to sell your film. So don’t mess around with this.

4. A Trained Still Photographer: Still photography is an important part of your shoot. Set photos can come in handy for marketing and promotion purposes not to mention, audiences love behind the scenes shots. Trained photographers will use the proper gear to keep their camera’s actions silent and flash from being in your shot. This is extremely important for your coverage.

5. You Get What You Pay For: If you aren’t paying for it, then it’s wise to have backups ready to spring into action. People will commit till they’re blue in the face and yet still consider it voluntary and not a real job. On one of my shoots, I was able to have an extra stand in when a cast member didn’t show because I had given all the extras the entire script so they would know the story. Because of this, one extra learned his lines quickly, already knowing the context of the scene within the story and was able to replace the missing actor.

As a little bonus advice, make sure you wear comfortable shoes and clothes. This is not the time to wear those boots that look cool but kill your feet and it’s best to have clothes that you can move freely in. While this may sound like common sense also, trust me, it isn’t for everyone.

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Armed with knowledge learned on many production jobs, Christina Parisi began making films in 2006. Her short films have played at film festivals throughout the world and can be found on Amazon and GaiaTV. Her latest short documentary, Just Married, is about to hit the 2017 festival circuit. As Christina seeks financing for her co-written feature script, Driving Your Mind, she spends her time working as a script analyst and writing her personal blog, Life As I Know It. 

Cynicism Won’t Make Movies

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Getting your movie made can be frustrating. I know the feeling.

Over the course of a year, I get involved in hundreds of conversations with people with the hopes of making a deal. Most of the deals fall apart. And even though this is part of the game, every time I experience a setback, I spend a few days moping.

Then I find my next project and repeat the cycle.

Experience has taught me that if you consistently put yourself out there and make new friends and try to put together new deals, sooner or later something will work out.

Call it the law of probability. Call it par for the course. But never let yourself get jaded or cynical. Cynicism won’t make movies.

cynicism wont make movies

 Cynicism Won’t Make Movies

As a filmmaker, it’s easy to make excuses for why you aren’t making movies. Maybe you don’t have enough experience, time, money, connections, friends or [fill in the blank with your best reason HERE.]

A few weeks ago, I found myself watching a movie with some Hollywood acquaintances. At the end of the movie, one guy started blabbering on about why the movie was horrible and why the filmmaker should call it quits.

Then his wife joined in and suddenly everybody starts criticizing Hollywood, other movies and people.

The conversation escalated into a cynical bitch session with bullet-points as to why screenwriting work is hard to find. Keep in mind these are all people in the conversation make a very nice living in entertainment.

But based on the conversation, you would have thought they dug ditches for a living… Ugh.

If you’ve been in this game for any length of time, you probably met these people. If not, you will.

These people are frustrated with their current work. And instead of writing more and doing more to level up their careers, they find it easier to embrace cynicism.

This is a trap for all of us.

And the thing to remember is, cynicism won’t make movies.

Here is the filmmaker challenge:
For the next 30 days, force yourself to stop complaining and refrain from voicing anything negative.

The reason for this exercise is simple. If you can do this, you will stop talking and start doing. And the ongoing goal is to ask yourself the right questions.

One of my favorite filmmaking questions is, “Given the resources that you have now, what is the movie that you can make this year?” And if you would like some professional filmmaking tools, make sure you check out: www.MakeYourMovieNow.com