The public fascination with comic book superhero characters have been exploited by movie production companies for years. Hollywood has been creating feature length comic book movies, movie serials and TV shows to continue to whet our appitites. But as special effect technology and costume designs became better and better, Hollywood kicked it up a notch with feature-length high budget productions. Superman, the Movie and the 3 sequels started in the 1970s and the ’90s and beyond brought us Batman, The Hulk, the X-Men and the now infamous Spider-Man, to name a few. full story »
If you are not busy making your movie, you should get busy making your movie.
‘How can I start,’ you whine, ‘when I don’t have any financing?’ I know it seems you can’t roll film or tape until you have some money, but your lack of funding isn’t permanent, is it? You will have money at some future time, won’t you? You must have faith that things will get better, or they won’t. full story »
If you want to broadcast across Hollywood that you are an amateur, pay the rental company’s published rate card amounts for your production equipment. No professional pays rate card!
I don’t even know why they bother to print rate cards, except to give you an idea of the top of the price range, how high not to go in your negotiations. full story »
You may believe a thorough knowledge of filmmaking and the entertainment industry is enough to make you a good movie producer. While it certainly helps to know the nuts and bolts of movie production, and even the details of financing and marketing a movie, that knowledge is not enough to create a good producer. It might make for a good studio executive, or other job out of the fray, but you need to develop specific skills, to help you make an independent film. full story »
You’re youngster has been in several school plays and says she really want’s to be an actress. She’s talked you into it. She’s taken acting classes, she has had the head shot taken, and has a resume, albeit a short one. Now here you are, at your first real audition. You both have that “deer in the headlights” look. How can you help her, and what should you expect? full story »
The word ‘Professional’ is often bandied about by indy filmmakers, and I’ve heard and read many things I just wouldn’t expect a ‘Pro’ to say, though the person writing or saying them claims to be one. Time for a definition of terms.
Question: What qualifies a person to be a Pro? full story »
Can a creative pitch alone get your script produced? Pitching the script is an art that is much talked about, put into college curriculums and lauded by the Pop Culture. But, there’s a big factor missing from creative pitches. It’s fundamental; but broadly ignored by key creative people. full story »
I recall many years ago when people were saying that movies were a thing of the past, that people would be entertained with the internet and video games. Well, not so! In fact, the movie business (including movie rental) is big business and it’s not likely to go away anytime soon. full story »
Romance is serious business. Or is it?
Which do you think your husband would choose if put to the test:
a.) Watch the beautiful tearjerker movie, The Notebook
b.) Do anything that doesn’t involve watching The Notebook full story »
This is my 20th year working in the film industry on over 40 film productions. Throughout that time I have never met a new film school graduate who has a clue about handling the most important aspect of ALL filmmaking - the MONEY! I had always assumed (wrongly, it turns out) that film students just weren’t interested in knowing about film budgets. However after a recent survey of film students at a reputable film college we learned that film students DO intuitively understand that knowing the language of film budgeting is crucial to their careers in film. Surprisingly, over 80% were enthusiastic about learning more about film budgeting! full story »