Scarcity and Abundance in the Digital World By Lance Weiler.

When was the last time you saw a movie that made you say “Wow!” with the wide-eyed, not-yet-jaded glee of a six year old? What was it for you? Insane special effects? Narrative trickery? Deep and resonant emotion? The perfect ending? I was 6 1/2 years old — at that age, the 1/2 is very important — when Back to the Future came out in theaters, and I remember seeing it with my father. The movie floored me — the whole thing. Marty’s relationship with Doc as well as his own father (Crispin effin’ Glover!), the effects, the music, and […]

The pitch — boiled down to its simplest terms, it’s when someone with an idea tries to sell it to someone with the money or resources to get it made. Writers and directors can pitch their own original ideas or pitch their creative skills to win a job on an already-developed for-hire project. For decades, these pitches were purely verbal. They were about “being good in the room.” But today the pitch game is changing, and it’s a harder game to play than ever before. A great verbal presentation is still key, but filmmakers are increasingly supplementing their pitches with […]

John Cassavetes once described the role of the director as essentially indirect: “I don’t direct the film. I set up an atmosphere and the atmosphere directs.” Atmosphere and budget may seem like two very different issues, one ephemeral and elusive, the other pragmatic and denumerable, but in practice they are intimately linked. Decisions regarding the selection and number of cast, crew and locations; the scheduled duration and pace of the shoot; the resources at its disposal—each choice is at least partially determined by financial limitations, and each, in turn, affects the atmosphere of a production and the qualities of the […]