Good Advice! 8 Documentary Dos & Don’ts From a Vet Programmer

“Making Smarter Movies” or “I Need the Eggs!”

When I left school, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I immediately started working in theater in New York City. I lived on a steady diet of MSG-laced Chinese food in a studio apartment on the Upper West Side about the size of this lectern. Then I kicked around in the real world, eventually went to a fancy business school, and after graduating promptly refused to take any job that would have me - because all I could think about was producing and directing. In other words, I needed the eggs.

Rule One: Make Smarter Movies!
That’s not the same as making better movies. Everyone says make better movies, and everyone wants to. But that’s like a director telling an actor to act better. Sounds good, but what does it mean?

Rule Two: Respect the money!
Not just the talent.

Rule Three: Before Rolling Cameras… think ‘Market.’Most businesses have a complete plan from the start of a project, which includes the whole chain from manufacturing through distribution.

READ MORE by James D. Stern - http://www.indiewire.com/article/james_d._stern_making_smarter_movies_or_i_need_the_eggs_-_now_what/

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Screenwriter JIM UHLS: Tricks of the Trade

Jim Uhls is not your average screenwriter. For one thing, his nickname is "Professor Peculiar." For another, as this exclusive off-kilter discussion of his craft demonstrates, Uhls is eager to break the first rule of Fight Club : He talks about Fight Club. A lot.

That seminal film, directed by David Fincher (Se7en, Panic Room), pushed every boundary possible for a studio movie, and Uhls' darkly funny script, adapted from the Chuck Palahniuk novel, is a wickedly subversive example of how to successfully adapt an "unadaptable" book.



© 2009 YouTube, LLC

THE BUDGET MISTAKE THAT FIRST TIME FILMMAKERS MAKE

Today, everyone who can pick up a camcorder makes short films to get their feet wet and their films play on youTube and other streaming websites. Some become popular with millions of viewers, but most fall by the wayside.

Encouraged with a high number of viewers, more and more new media filmmakers are setting their sites on making a feature as a follow up. It does not matter that they have never made a longer film before. Most amateurs are soon faced with the realization that they will never obtain millions of dollars in funding to create their silver screen vision. Their only hope to produce their film then hinges on writing a budget with little money but high expectations and "wishful thinking" to insure that their film will be completed.

"No budget" and "zero budget" filmmakers usually work with "bare bones" budgets of a few hundred to a few thousand dollars. "Micro budget" filmmakers work with a few thousand to tens of thousands of dollars.

Filmmakers trying to produce theatrical films (not TV or documentaries) with more realistic initial budgets of 100k to 500k begin to learn that their project could have a budget of around 2.5 to 7 million as a low-budget feature, even if it's a non-union shoot.

Continuously under-budgeting, first time filmmakers often think of film budgeting as if they were taking a bank loan. They believe that the smaller the amount needed the better, when in reality, the reverse is probably true for making films. Film funding companies make their money funding films and they tend to be extremely aware of and all costs including the latest union and non-union fee structures, etc.

"Thriller"

Millions of people had seen the 1,500 plus CPDRC inmates of the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center, Cebu, Philippines at practice! With Michael Jackson's untimely death, the video is becoming a new internet destination.

"Thriller" (original upload)


Michael Jackson - Thriller live (1987)

MEASURING CONSUMER APPEAL

If you want to learn the "true" inherent audience appeal of programs, networks, personalities and characters.

This info is necessary to make informed decisions about scheduling, program compatibility, new show acceptance/rejection potential, "staying power" of returning shows, star power/cast chemistry, genre appeal, and program development needs.

A variety of key audience measures are obtained throughout the year for over 50 different demographic segments in the areas of personality and character appeal, program/network likeability, audience impact and current viewer emotional connection. The "advertiser value" of programs can also be determined in a variety of ways.

READ and LEARN MORE - http://www.qscores.com/pages/Template1/site11/30/default.aspx

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