independent filmmaker

How To Become A Modern Independent Filmmaker

Many times an independent filmmaker considers indie film to be sacred and avoids working with studios. Other filmmakers think studio movies are the ONLY movies that count. They discount indies as a calling card to simply get noticed by the studios. And yet other filmmakers just want to get their film made! Years ago it … Read More

first feature

How To Make Your First Feature Without Going Bonkers

Sooner or later the filmmaking bug hits you. . . It’s like a far off voice or compulsion. But like breathing, for the serious independent filmmaker, the need to make a feature is always present.

foreshadowing in your screenplay

How To Use Foreshadowing In Your Screenplay

To avoid having any one element of foreshadowing be too obvious, often the writer will throw in some red herrings–some things that could be foreshadowing but in fact don’t pay off or pay off in a different way than we expect. The person who has the gun in the drawer may become an immediate suspect in our minds, but later maybe we see him use it to light his cigarette and we realize it’s not a real gun (of course he may have a real one somewhere else….). That kind of misdirection keeps the audience guessing.