The guys at the National Film Society recently succeeded in the Kickstarter campaign for their Awesome Asian Bad Guys web series. (Featured, by the way, on Filmmaker’s curated Kickstarter page….) They’ve posted a thank-you video offering their top five Kickstarter campaign tips. Speaking of Kickstarter, Zak Forsman’s piece on how to do a campaign is one of the best things we’ve ever published on the site. Bookmark it for when you do your own campaign. P.S. While linking to the National Film Society above I came across their latest video, a “Who Is Jean-Luc Godard?” spot. If only for the […]
Here’s something I’ve always wondered: why are film investments always focused on the film, not the filmmaker? In other words, why don’t investors taking a chance on a first-time filmmaker get more than just the usually non-existent returns from that debut feature? Often what hits after the debut of a first feature is not the film but the filmmaker. The movie gets bought for a modest amount and usually underperforms, often leaving the investors with some degree of loss. But, after that film, the filmmaker is, well, a filmmaker, and in a position to move on to bigger and more […]
You cannot create a film career by crowdfunding. Let me say it again. If you believe that crowdfunding has the potential to reach levels that will allow you to make movies on a consistent basis, movies that can compete with commercial fare or even modestly budgeted union-made films, you are going to be severely disappointed. I’m assuming that a career in film is what you want. But if your only goal is to get a project produced and have it seen by those who attend the hundreds of film festivals in the U.S. or the thousands of festivals that have […]
The deadline of October 22 is fast approaching for the Biennale College – Cinema, a new initiative open to first and second-time directors that will lead to the production of three micro-budget films. In a program led by the Venice Biennale in partnership with Gucci, 15 producer-director teams will take part in a ten-day filmmaking workshop, after which three projects will be selected for further development and production funding in the amount of €150,000. Projects must be able to developed, produced and edited within five months, and they will then premiere at the 2013 Venice Biennale. The Call for Application […]
A recent panel on State Tax Incentives sponsored by Media Services and Film Incentives Group, LLC., was centered on tax credits for Massachusetts and Rhode Island, but much of the advice is applicable to other state programs. It’s important to note that while many states offer some form of tax incentive for filmmakers, there are several important differences between the various programs: whether it’s a rebate or a credit, transferable, has a cap [the state has a total limit per years for all credits], the minimum production budget requirements, and several other details. Also covered was: different ways to use the […]
Independent Film Week kicked off on Sunday at Lincoln Center and co-writer/co-producer of Brooklyn Flee, Devon Kirkpatrick, and I sat in a room full of Emerging Narratives filmmakers nervously awaiting our moment to practice pitch our scripts in front of an esteemed industry panel. We spent two hours the day before sketching out our thoughts over bad guacamole and happy hour Chardonnay, attempting to figure out what makes a good two minute pitch. After a few hours, Devon and I parted ways needing to take a moment to center ourselves before a hectic week. I went home to fall asleep […]
Part of the No Borders orientation the first day is getting up in front of all the other participants in the program and pitching your project. I am very glad they made us do this–it prepared us for a week of meetings and pitching–but this was something Kat [Candler] and I were not exactly prepared for. To our credit, this fact was buried in a rather lengthy email (way to keep us on our toes, IFP). You could feel the collective nervousness from the group, but regardless, it was no big deal and it went great, no one fell off […]
The IFP’s Independent Film Week’s Filmmaker Conference kicked off today, beginning with a case study of Beasts of the Southern Wild and ending with a conversation, moderated by IFP Executive Director Joana Vicente, between producer and Killer Films head Christine Vachon and producer, screenwriter and Focus Features CEO James Schamus. Below are 12 tips from the latter event — advice aimed at producers and, in some cases, anybody else, from two veterans with deep, decades-long roots in the independent community. 1. Consider producing. Christine Vachon and James Schamus are producers, but they both remembered a time when they were not. […]
A recent NPR story, “When a Kickstarter Campaign Fails, Does Anyone Get Their Money Back?”, raised the issue of failed crowdfunding campaigns and financial restitution to supporters. It’s a relevant topic as Kickstarter is increasingly acting as a pre-sale, customer-financing platform for sundry consumer, tech, and design goods. iPod wristwatches, RAW-shooting cameras, tripods and remotes, aquariums — many projects, some from creators with manufacturing backgrounds and some without, are bypassing the angel investor round and raising start-up capital directly from their customers. And while these are creative projects, they’re different from the short films and features we highlight on our […]
The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation was created in 1934 by the then head of General Motors to bestow grants related to science, technology, and economics, and to make these subjects more appealing to the general public. Part of a shift towards doing so via the arts can be attributed to Doron Weber, who runs the Public Understanding of Science and Technology program. Weber introduced the concept of providing sometimes sizable grants to narrative films, dealing with science or the science community, over a decade ago, when the idea was relatively novel and returns were a total question mark due the […]