Penguin June 13th, 2009
Saw this list over at Deadline Hollywood Daily:
1. Change the title of your indie film to begin with an “A” or a number to get higher placement on iTunes.
7. Genre always makes a difference. Forget costume dramas and spoofs.
10. Financiers basically want a return on their investment. “I encourage indie producers to understand their film’s audience as much as they can. Understand what you mean when you pitch project. I want to support a film, but I care about capital and return on that capital. I just want to get my money back,” explained banker Hallren.
16. Build a fan base for an indie film before it’s even made.
24. Before an indie film gets to the marketplace, producers must know who the audience is for the film, counseled Dennis Rice, Founder of Visio’ Entertainment. “If you can’t market your film, you shouldn’t make it. If there’s no audience, you can’t get a return on investment.”
34. There is opportunity for indie producers as long as they don’t get hung up on a 35mm theatrical film release. Ira Deutchman, CEO of Emerging Pictures, explained: “With digital, we can begin to play around with release patterns.”
What I find really interesting about the list, is the emphasis on reaching the audience. From scripting to final distribution, it’s all about:
- What audience am I going for?
- What are they expecting?
- How do I let them know this film exists?
- How do I get this film in front of them?
All these become easier and overlapping when you involve social media.
- Penguin
Related posts
Tags: Audience, Filmmaking, Tips
Penguin May 7th, 2008
John August has a fantastic post about learning how to write story structure:
My advice for you is to dedicate one day a week to disassembling good movies. Take existing films (and one-hour dramas) and break them down to cards. Think of yourself as an ordinary mechanic given the task of reverse-engineering a spaceship. Figure out what the pieces do, and why they were put together in that way.
Here are the questions you need to ask about each scene or sequence:
- As the audience, what am I expecting will happen next?
- What does the character want to do next?
- Is this a good moment to let the character achieve something, or knock him back?
- How long has it been since we checked in with other character and subplots?
- What would have happened if this scene had been cut? Or moved?
By asking these questions about other people’s movies, you can take some of the pressure off.
[...]
I think you can keep making breakthroughs in your writing, but only by challenging your preconceived limitations.
This is great advice for any novice/intermediate screenwriters. I know I’ve been struggling with the same question. Now to actually get to writing.
-Penguin
Related posts
Tags: John August, Screenwriting, Structure, Tips
