We are not going to kid you. Making money making movies is hard work and it doesn’t come easy. This is the real deal: if you want to make a living from movies if not to be rich, you have to think business. Think about what the audience wants to see. It is NOT about what you want. This website provides a bunch of helpful articles to help you on your way of becoming a successful moviemaker.Most feature films are produced either by the major Hollywood studios or by hundreds of U.S. and foreign independent production companies. The independents range from major companies just below the rank of the well-financed, all-purpose studios, to medium and small continuing companies, to firms that go bankrupt after just one production.

Since the introduction of DV technology, the means of production have become more independent; called independent filmmaking. Filmmakers can conceivably shoot and edit a movie, create and edit the sound and music, and mix the final cut on a home computer. However, while the means of production may be independent, financing, distribution, and marketing remain difficult to accomplish outside the traditional system.

Most independent filmmakers rely on film festivals to get their films noticed and sold for distribution. However, the Internet has allowed for relatively inexpensive distribution of independent films; many filmmakers post their films online for critique and recognition. Although there is little profitability in this, a filmmaker can still gain exposure via the web.

The filmmaking production cycle consists of five main stages: 1-Development, 2- Preproduction, 3-Production, 4-Post-production, 5-Distribution.

Technologies such as DVD, FireWire connections and professional-level non-linear editing system software make movie making relatively inexpensive.

Popular software (including commercial, consumer level and open source) includes: Avid Xpress Pro, Cinelerra, Kino, Adobe Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro and Final Cut Express, iMovie, Sony Vegas,

Popular digital camcorders, mostly semi-professional equipment with 3-CCD technology, include: Canon, GL2 XL-1s, XL-2, Panasonic AG-DVX100/AG-DVX100A/AG-DVX100B , Panasonic AG-HVX200, Sony VX-1000/2000/2100, Sony PD-150/170. Most of these camcorders cost between US$2,000 – $5,000 in 2003, with costs continuing to decline as features are added, and models depreciate.

Additionally, open source software holds the potential for increasing high-level editing capabilities being available for also increasingly lower prices, both free and paid software. I would recommend to take a look at this website http://www.internetvideomag.com/index.htm.

Posting videos for profit is a great way to make a lot of money from your own movies. Look at these sites: -eefoof.com – Make It. Post It. Profit., -Podtrac Podcaster Home, -Revver, -VideoEgg:,

Other High Traffic Sites are: -Google Video, -MetaCafe Funny Videos & Movies, -YouTube Broadcast Yourself.

Here are some more Video Sites: -blip.tv (beta), -Bolt: Watch Videos, Share Photos, and Upload Music to your Online Profile, -Buzz Net, -ClipShack, -Dailymotion Share Your Videos, -DropShots Free Video Hosting & Photo Sharing. Upload Video Now!, -Jumpcut [Make Amazing Movies Online], -motionbox: Videos, -Video Bomb – Most Bombed All-Time, -Watch, Share, Create – Grouper Video, -Welcome to eyespot, -Welcome to vSocial – The Video Clip Sharing Community.

ARTICLE BY filmanchor.com. © 21/08/2006 This article is available for reprint in your ezine, website or ebook. You MUST agree not to make any changes to the article and the RESOURCE BOX MUST be included. info@filmanchor.com Article Source: http://www.filmanchor.com/

About The Author

Film Anchor is an online resource for media makers. Here we can exchange information helpful to the production and distribution of projects. The site includes articles, FAQs, a dynamic database of links to other sites and film and video related files.

We bring you together at http://www.filmanchor.com. Learn the secrets of filmmaking.

I am lucky. I have no problems coming up with very good ideas for movies. If I never had another idea for the rest of my life, I would not make a sizable dent in the ones I already have. Screenwriters who struggle with coming up with an idea tend to be visibly annoyed when I tell them this. I think I’m comfortable sharing this with others because I know movie ideas really mean nothing and please nobody in and of themselves, so there’s not much to brag about. I guess you can get lucky and sell an idea, but in terms of what’s important, a motion picture screened in front of people, a great idea is simply a member of the orchestra that achieves that vision.I’m not sure where all the ideas come from, but I can tell you where I was, and by telling you this, perhaps this will help you come up with your idea. First, you should know what you want to write. A feature? For the studios? For yourself to direct? Maybe a low budget script for someone else to direct. Will it be shot on film or digital video? Are you looking for an idea for a short film? Perhaps you have a particular genre in mind.

Parameters are excellent tools for creativity. The irony is restriction spawns wonderfully imaginative ideas. If you can write about anything or anybody, with absolutely no conditions, it becomes harder to settle and find that jewel of an idea. So determine your conditions, every one, and embrace them, because there you will find the frame of your idea. In other words, knowing your movie has to be shot on digital video in four weeks with two Asian women in their thirties at an antiques store will narrow your thinking and concentrate your imaginative power.

Is it necessary to have parameters before we come up with an idea? Of course not. You can always find a very special idea and that idea will determine it’s own boundaries. But if you have needs for your screenplay, determine those needs, and it will help.

So after you have determined the conditions for your screenplay, or if you have not, now you can come up with your idea. What’s a good place to start? The newspaper. Read a thick newspaper. Read through all sections. Read the obituaries. This is our world. Artists look at the world and become moved to express themselves. I read the newspaper anyway, but many times I find something, even one line, which is highly inspiring. By looking through the newspaper with fresh eyes, we become open again to what affects us. I also find the newspaper will confirm instincts I might already have about an idea.

And make sure you read the section you normally never read at breakfast. Trust me.

Okay, you’re reading the newspaper, and you might find something interesting. Documentaries can also be great reservoirs for inspiration. Awesome documentaries abound these days and they often contain imagery, facts, and revelations that may provoke an idea out of left field. Now don’t run out and rent 20 docs and lean into your DVD waiting for the logline to come out of the screen and hit you over the head. Just watch what is interesting and forget about what you need.

Walk where you would normally drive. Take the train to work if you don’t. Get on a public bus, or go rent a car and drive. Spend the day at the airport. Take a different way to work each day for a week. Make a list of ten stores you would never for the life of you visit for any reason at all, go to all ten and browse for 20 minutes each. These disruptions in your environment will open your eyes. You’ll be able to take in more of your world, and it will effect you and make you think.

We’ve run out of ideas because we are bored by what we see. You’re shut down. You don’t need to get on a plane or visit a foreign country to clear your head and help you focus. Your distant planet is down the street, walking distance.

Another inspiring action is to take the day and go to a series of garage sales. The homes, the neighborhoods, the people and the stuff they’re trying to sell you will definitely make you think. There are a million stories in what people pick up and keep as belongings in their lives. Try an estate sale. I have left estate sales feeling as if I knew the personal habits and longings of the recently deceased, simply by the possessions they kept until their death. It’s not difficult to find these sales, they happen every weekend and right close by.

Take up a new sport. Enroll in a language class. Sign up for a course at the Red Cross. I picked up a basketball one day and start playing after many years and I felt like I had a new movie in my head every time I stepped on the court. Getting an education in something new gets us humble and that humility keeps us open to new information and this makes us creative. If we feel like a master, we’ve run out of ideas. As students, we accept there’s more out there, and that attitude will spawn discovery and fresh perspective.

Finally, when I don’t know what I should write about, I ask myself what’s troubling me. If you take a second to pause and get quiet with your heart, you will find you desperately what to say something very important. Let that something speak.

One more thing. Please don’t write about you know, like they always say. Let somebody else do that, and you, you write what you want.

Article URL:

http://www.bluecatscreenplay.com/About/advice.php

Copyright © 2006 BlueCat Screenplay Competition

About The Author
Gordy Hoffman

Winner of the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at the Sundance Film Festival for LOVE LIZA , Gordy Hoffman has written and directed three digital shorts for Fox Searchlight. He made his feature directorial debut with his script, A COAT OF SNOW, which world premiered at the 2005 Locarno International Film Festival. He is also the founder of the BlueCat Screenplay Competition. Dedicated to develop and celebrate the undiscovered screenwriter, BlueCat provides written screenplay analysis on every script entered. In addition, Gordy acts as a script consultant for screenwriters, offering personalized feedback on their scripts through his consultation service, www.screenplaynotes.com. For more articles by Gordy on screenwriting, visit www.bluecatscreenplay.com.

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.

So that’s a good place to start. Generate a little faith, and step out on it. Actively visualize how your film will look, and sound, and how it will be financially successful.

Visualization is key here. It literally costs nothing, but makes the real movie possible. I recommend the book, “Creative Visualization” by Shakti Gawain.

Ignore any negative people in your life, and drive yourself on faith that your movie will get done. Visualizing your movie may seem like a waste of time, but is one of the best uses of your time. Visualizing your movie is working on it.

A present lack of money should never keep you from working on your independent feature. Besides visualization, there are many things you can do until the money arrives.

Work on your script. Read it, then read it again, and rewrite it. Punch up the dialogue, fix the scenes, weed out weak characters, get to the point of each scene.

Your script is never perfect, it needs work. Working on it a terrific use of your time before financing arrives. Have parties, where you and your friends read it aloud, just like doing a radio play. Take note of audience response, and revise accordingly. After each revision, read it again, and again.

When funding comes through, you will know your script inside and out and upside down. You’ll know the scene numbers, without looking at the script.

Once your script is polished, start planning. Now you need to be as artistic as possible. Read your script again, with your Director hat on. Imagine what the players look and sound like. Make notes in the margins of your script, and figure out how you’re going to do it. For now, don’t even think about the money.

Once you’re sure how the movie will go together, start breaking the script down. Make lists of all the cast and crew and props and costumes and locations that you will need. Assemble your ideal team, on paper. Figure out how many special effects shots there are.

Then make up your preliminary schedule. Think through the shots and get a real understanding of how long setups and shots will take. Just because a shot only takes two sentences in the script, doesn’t mean it will only take twenty minutes to shoot.

Obviously, after you’ve broken down the script, and know what you’ll need to buy, then you make up your budget, last of all. Really think about each line item and do some research to determine realistic costs for crew and equipment. Call labs and rental houses and get rate sheets.

The good news is a practical budget and schedule and artwork will help you get financing. When you show Investor Prospects you’ve really put some thought into how the money will be spent, they’re much more likely to see it your way, and give you the money.

You might read “Secrets Of Raising Money For Your Movie,” by Sam Longoria, to learn how to gather and approach investor prospects.

http://secretsofraisingmoneyforyourmovie.com

You should be using your TBF (time before financing) to network. When you call those labs and rental houses, get to know the people who work there.

Ask for names, and write them down. They’ll be good resources when the time comes, to get things at a discount. Not only can they help you on rates, but they’ll know crew wanting to break into features, who will also work at lower rates.

Join a filmmaking group. A good one is IndieTalk, http://indietalk.com It’s online, and you can reach it from anywhere. Networking with other positive filmmakers gets you moral support, and you can learn from the mistakes of others. Be selective, don’t hang with people unless they have a “can do” attitude. If you let them, individuals and whole groups can waste your time! If all they want to do is argue or debate, move along.

Pitch in! Help out on other filmmakers’ shoots, to get a better idea of how a set runs, and how long setups and shots take. This helps scheduling your own film.

By lending a hand to other filmmakers, you also make deposits at the favor bank. You will need to visit the favor bank repeatedly as you make your film, so it’s best to have an account there. If you help on their projects, it will be hard for your new filmmaker friends to deny you assistance, when you call.

Put your face before the industry. Filmmaking associations have events where industry professionals speak. Go to these. Be bold, and push through the minions and introduce yourself. Go to film festivals and be sure to attend the mixers and panels. Go to film markets, and sit in the lobby and talk to everyone.

When your financing comes through, and you have a green light to start pre-production on your film, you will already have done most of the work, just about everything but casting. Your schedule and budget will be done, you will have leads on crew and equipment, and your script will be in top form.

About The Author
Angela Taylor is a Hollywood producer, and a seven-time Telly Award winner.

She teaches Independent Producing at http://hollywoodseminars.com

© 2005 Angela Taylor, All Rights Reserved. You may forward this in its entirety to anyone you wish. Hollywood Seminars, Box 2449, Hollywood CA 90078 USA