Those who follow my blog know how much I respect Bob McKee, great inspiration of so many independent filmmakers. Here is a small piece from his Big Thinking.
Category Archives: BLOG
GIVE IT ALL AWAY! Show your movie for free and watch what happens…
Crazy and Thief from Cory McAbee on Vimeo.
I am convinced that films should be screened for free. This is crazy by Industry standards of course, because there is still a bums (asses) in the seats mentality for film product, like there was from the age of Lumiere, Edison and Nickelodeons.
The “shoot for cash” mentality has lead us to awesome films and now heads for infinite action hero sequels. More coming on your visual plate by the way. The stock of Marvel stories is infinite, and there will always be a Ben Affleck to take a Batman role.
4-10K digital magic and FX do the box-office magic. From “Transformers” high-end production value have ridiculed and knocked-out indie filmmakers trapped in adult or teenage drama themes investigating life and its real-life dilemmas.
Here today you find a film distributed for free and made for passion. More and more movies that matter are made because someone has something to say, sell or not. Undistributed films find lots of places online to screen and enlarge their followings from festival appearances.
Getting your movie made requires no budget and no stars, no pre-sales and no big business. Now, if you wrote an A-listhe screenplay and have a star attached, go for the option, the sale and the kill – with all its compromises attached. But if you have an idea for a quirky film that bends the marketing rules, why not go for it anyway and shoot it rather than try and twist, butter and sugar the script.
There are so many ways to make a first picture open gates for you and start-up your careers. Career, yes. From simple ideas developed well and given away.
enjoy the show
/daniel
Take the Sundance & Gates Foundation short film challenge?
Sundance and the Gates foundation welcome (and fund sinner) films about solutions to poverty, cinematic celebrations of innovation and problem-solving for common global problems.
find all the info here
Also check out the Nuffglobal.net doc film contest about Climate Change, from way back in 2007.
LISTENED TO A SCREENPLAY PODCAST LATELY?
This podcast help new writers press launch their pin-ball into play. After a short personal intro, the useful interview with the creative network Stage32 begins.
The interview is with Richard Botto, head of stage32.com, mighty-popular online hangout for productive writers:
So If you:
are a writer with Hollywood ambition looking for a network
I suggest listening to at least part of this 55 minute podcast
It’s the next best for a screenplay writers, after moving to Los Angeles.
The entire podcast series can be found on iTunes and on www.sellingyourscreenplay.com
if you prefer full engagement the Youtube show is here:
Which online script coverage do you use? [part 1]
Today we start a ride thru script services online, sites that offer feedback and written notes on formatted, completed screenplays. There is a fee to pay, but in this case, it’s lower than the average.
On top of that, Script Analytics offers a proprietary coverage system that you are probably curious to try out. So am I.
8 tips for spontaneous performance from Ken Loach
There are as many acting methods out there as there are personal journeys through the craft of story and film. As Ken Loach shares in this video, you get to a method by trial and error until something seems to work and make sense. To get performance that plays as “real”, Ken resorts to techniques familiar to many indie makers: follow the story, not the budget, play the scene not the plot… and more.
This previous text comes from the Berlinale 2013 and the awesome award-winning blog Mentorless.com
8 Ken Loach Tips to Get Spontaneous Performances http://t.co/VTtrDpuoK2 -loach-capture-spontaneous-performances/ via @mentorless @cinemahead
— cinemahead (@cinemahead) March 13, 2014
experience The freedom Lab
REMEMBER THE GIFT TROJAN HORSE ?
I love “Fitzcarraldo” (by Werner Herzog, with Klaus Kinsky), a story about mad vision in the Amazon forest. And yet, the making-of film “Burden Of Dreams” (by Les Blanc) completes the movie organically, not only as a Blue-Ray added value. The same I can say about “Apocalypse Now” and its making-of film “Heart Of Darkness”.
Independent films can tell their making-of story as an organic making-of doc as well. The story of a movie starts with idea, and journeys thru development, Kickstarter / Indiegogo campaigns, etcetera.
The image that comes to mind is the Trojan Gift Horse, full of power within, and only in appearance a predictable offering.
Once inside the gates, the movie-horse can open and reveal hidden content.
4 GOOD REASONS TO CHANGE A MOVIE TITLE
While I was blog-posting about an indie documentary which is still in the making, the filmmakers told me they had changed the title.
WHY CAN THAT HAPPEN?
1. You change a title because you can. When you make a truly independent film, you own it. You owe no lip-service to anyone, and no one owns your imagination, you can come up with your own title. MAke it free, make it unique, make it awesome. COMMENTS WELCOME: WHAT is YOUR FAVORITE MOVIE TITLE EVER?
2. A GOOD TITLE GETS YOU INTO FESTIVALS
From my experience organizing festivals, I know Good titles get noticed and watched first, before juries get tired, overwhelmed.
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3. ABC comes before RTS in the ALPHABET.
Use a title that will end up on top (or bottom) of a list, but not in the middle. Special characters are ben better #HashtagTitle comes before “A Good Title” Worth changing for.
4. IF YOUR TITLE INCLUDES A TRADEMARKED NAME or BRAND, better to change it now. TIP: more Pirate is to leave the original title, get the publicity-making reaction before the fine, then find an even better, legal title.
Russian American filmmakers Kirill Mikhanovsky made an indie feature film in Brazil entitled “Dreams of Fish” and – before going to the Cannes Festival – changed the name to “Ana”. No problem. “Ana” won the award for best young director.
NEXT POST: REMEMBER THE GIFT TROJAN HORSE