The Do-It-Yourself Filmmaker (eBook)

Foreword xv
Introduction xix
1 Life Lessons for Surviving outside Hollywood 1
1. Three Paths to Glory 2
1.1 Studio movies 3
1.2 Indie movies 5
1.3 Micro-budget movies 6
2. To Live and Die in Los Angeles 9
3. Do You Need to Go to Film School? 11
4. When Should You Give up on a Screenplay? 11
5. How a Casino Dice Dealer Wrote a Movie That Ended up
in Every Video Store in North America … in An Age of
Such Things As Video Stores 13
5.1 Know who you’re getting into bed with! 15
vi The DIY Filmmaker
5.2 Hire the best entertainment lawyer you can
possibly afford 16
5.3 Trust your instincts with casting 16
5.4 There’s no such thing as a do-over 18
5.5 When hiring a director, choose one who has
actually been on a movie set 18
5.6 Don’t direct the movie about of life 19
2 Working As a Director
(It’s All about Relationships) 21
1. The First Assistant Director (AD) 22
2. The Director of Photography (DP) 23
3. The Script Supervisor 24
4. The Producer 25
5 The Production Designer 26
6. The Hair and Makeup Artists 26
7. The Sound Engineer 26
8. The Talent 27
9. Writer on Set 28
3 Micro-Budget Screenwriting: What to Consider
before You Write Your Movie 29
1. Top Ten Considerations 30
1.1 Limit locations 30
1.2 Limit characters 32
1.3 Kids, Weather, Animals, Blood, and FX Effects=
Just Don’t Write ‘Em! 32
1.4 Write longer dialogue scenes 34
1.5 Limit the page count 34
1.6 Beware of overreliance on postproduction
digital solutions (fixing it in postproduction) 34
1.7 Avoid exterior night shots 34
1.8 Avoid special prop or makeup needs 35
2. B Movies 36
3. Writing a Logline 36
Contents vii
4. Writing the Synopsis 37
5. Rewriting: Keats Never Did This 39
5.1 The first five pages of the script 41
4 Making the Movie You Can Afford 49
1. Scheduling 53
2. Learning to Adapt 54
3. Budgeting Levels 57
3.1 Get the best cast you can 59
3.2 Save money for postproduction 59
3.3 Save money for festivals 60
3.4 Keep a contingency fund 60
4. Budgeting: Four Categories 60
4.1 Above the line 60
4.1a Development 61
4.1b Story and other rights 61
4.1c Producer’s unit 61
4.1d Director’s unit 62
4.1e Talent 62
4.2 Below the line 65
4.2a Production staff 65
4.2b Production design and art direction
(set construction, set decoration, props) 66
4.2c Director of photography, cameras, and lenses 67
4.2d Camera crew 69
4.2e Gaffers, grips, and lights 69
4.2f Production sound 70
4.2g Effects (mechanical and special) 71
4.2h Set operations 71
4.2i Wardrobe, makeup, and hair 72
4.2j Transportation and locations 72
4.3 Postproduction 73
4.3a Editing 73
viii The DIY Filmmaker
4.3b Color correction 73
4.3c Visual effects 74
4.3d Score 74
4.3e Post-sound design and mixing 74
4.4 Other costs 74
4.4a Insurance 75
4.4b Legal 75
4.4c Budgeting software 76
4.4d The ever-evolving budget 76
5 Fundraising 79
1. Private Investors 80
1.1 Create a pitch package 83
2. Crowdfunding 85
2.1 Anatomy of a Kickstarter campaign that was funded 86
2.1a Assemble a team 87
2.1b Conceive the plan 87
2.1c Video pitch 87
2.1d Text pitch 87
2.1e Gifts 91
2.1f Personalize email 93
2.1g Social media 94
2.1h Updates 94
6 Legal and Tax Aspects 95
1. Creating the Legal Entity and Structuring
the Investments 95
2. Tax Credits 97
7 Casting 99
1. Where to Find Actors 100
2. Auditions 101
3. Callbacks 102
Contents ix
8 Postproduction 105
1. Editing 105
2. Scoring the Film 110
3. Sound Design 111
4. Color Correction and Visual Effects (VFX) 113
5. Putting It All Together and Rendering the Cut 115
9 Marketing and Distribution 117
1. Distribution 119
1.1 Distribution basics 122
2. Film Festivals 123
2.1 The different levels of film festivals 123
2.1a Tier 1 festivals 124
2.1b Tier 2 festivals 124
2.1c Tier 3 festivals 125
2.1d Tier 4 festivals 125
2.2 How festivals select films 126
3. Deliverables for Film Festivals and Distributors 127
3.1 Key elements in an electronic press kit (EPK) 127
3.2 Deliverables for distributors 129
4. Film Markets 130
5. Representation 131
5.1 Unions and guilds 131
5.2 Sales agents 131
5.3 Entertainment attorneys 132
5.4 Talent agents and managers 132
5.5 Publicists 132
6. Types of Distribution Agreements 132
6.1 Production Finance Distribution (PFD) Agreement 133
6.2 Negative Pick-up Agreement 133
6.3 Presale Agreement 133
x The DIY Filmmaker
6.4 Terms to understand in the contracts 133
6.4a Rights 134
6.4b Platforms 134
6.4c Length of time 135
6.4d Distribution fee 135
6.4e Recoupable expenses 135
6.4f Right to make changes 136
7. Boutique Distributors 136
Download kit 137
Table
1 Top 20 Grossing Movies in 2012 4