Writing/Film Schools/AF Tip

Your Angry Filmmaker Tip.

All writing is re-writing.

- - from The Angry Filmmaker Survival Guide (coming in Spring 2008)

I don’t believe that I made up that line but I certainly live by it.

Too many Filmmakers believe that unless you’re on the set you’re not making your movie. Bull Shit! Your movie is made in the writing stages, and in pre-production.

Not enough Filmmakers spend time on their scripts, re-writing, getting feedback from people they trust, and then having readings of the script so they can hear how the dialog sounds, and if it flows. Does the story make sense?

No, we have to hurry up and get out on location so people know that we’re filmmakers.

Before I shoot any of my films I probably do 8 or 9 drafts of my scripts. I also send it out to two groups of people I trust. Note I said people I trust. I want my screenplay read by people who are going to be honest with me about the story and the characters. I have 12 people I give my stuff to, in two groups of six. I give draft 5 (or 6) to one group of friends with a questionnaire. I require them to read the entire screenplay at one sitting.

Why one sitting? Because your script should read like a movie plays. People should be able to read it in the time it would take to watch it. That is a rough estimate. (I once spent 5 hours reading a friend’s screenplay that was 160 pages long. It was way too dense.)

I’ll continue this train of thought next week.

I get asked all the time by students and people who want to be filmmakers, “Should I go to Film School?”

It’s a good question and I usually respond by asking people what they want to do. Do they want to write and direct? Do they want to shoot? Edit? Depending on what their answer is determines my answer.

If you want to write and direct I think film school can be a good thing. You can learn about story structure, plot and character development, and how to work with actors. You also get to make mistakes and screw up on your student films, which is great because once you get out you are not allowed to screw up. There is a lot of money riding on what you are doing so it had better be good.

If you want to shoot or light, find a good DP you can learn from and volunteer with them until you have learned enough to go out and start doing it.

If you want to edit I think you should go to film school. Why? Because editing is just as much a craft as any other part of filmmaking. Just because you can use Final Cut, or Avid doesn’t make you an editor. It makes you an operator. Real editors know why they are cutting things certain ways. They are exploring ways to assist in the story telling. Most of the great editors I know can talk about editing in technical terms, philosophical terms, and story telling terms. When I was in school we read Pudovkin and Eisenstein. We watched the French New Wave and saw Godard break the rules, we also read Godard and knew that he knew the rules he was breaking, and why.

Too many people think they can make a movie. It’s not that easy, and making a good movie is even harder.

Do you need to go to film school to make movies. No! Lucas and Spielberg went to film school and their movies suck. They just make lots of money. And if you just want to make money go to LA.

Tarantino didn’t go to film school he just watched movies, and that’s why he is constantly stealing stuff from other films. At least he steals from foreign films.

It’s really up to you if you want to go to film school or not. One of the great things about USC when I was there was that the faculty dumped on the students constantly. We had a 50% drop out rate in my group. They wanted to know how badly you wanted to make films. If you thought it might be fun, or easy, you didn’t last long. They wanted only serious filmmakers. And some of those filmmakers have gone on to make crap. At least they got a good education. (People think I make crap, but at least I make smart crap!)

I guess that’s what I miss. Films like so many other things in our culture have been “dumbed” down. I was trying to find something to see at the theater last week and I failed. I can’t see wasting my money on the crap that is out there. I picked up an old film from the library and loved it.

I wish more filmmakers, if they don’t go to film school, would at least go out and rent old films, classic films and foreign films. I also wish that people would read more. And by reading I mean books. It’s amazing what you can learn from books. Like how to tell a story.

And here is something that has always bothered me. Why are people proud of the fact that they don’t read. Like reading and learning is a bad thing? It certainly says something about our society.

Reading is a great thing! It doesn’t hurt, and you might even learn something! I am at the point anymore where I don’t even care what books people read, as long as they read.

People who want to make films need to step away from their computers and stay out of theaters. They need to read books, and live life. Go out and do things, then make movies about what they know. Too many people are already making movies who obviously don’t know anything. Don’t believe me, check out You Tube, and your local multiplex. Sometimes there’s not much difference in content.

Enough of this, I need to get back to work.

If you get a chance check out an obscure BBC series called Father Ted. There are only 7 episodes (to my knowledge) the main actor had a heart attack and died after the 7^th episode was shot. It’s about three priests on this island off Ireland. It is funny, irreverent, and features some wonderful dialog. A true gem of a show that would never be allowed on the air over here.

Don’t forget my Masters Class in Filmmaking this summer through the Franklin Film Institute. Go to www.independentcinema.net for more details. There is still space available.

Find out more about the Angry Filmmaker @ www.angryfilmmaker.com. There are a lot of great tips contained in my work books. Buy one and see for yourself. You just might learn something.

Does Cleveland Rock?

June 1, 2008

A buddy of mine is moving to Cleveland this summer and is looking to meet other Independent Filmmakers. Is there a film scene in Cleveland? Let me know.

Check out Dave Berry’s sites, Smoking Monkey Pictures on My Space, or SkyPad Industries (www.skypadindustries.com).

He is a good guy so if anyone in Cleveland is listening, drop him a note.

And if there is an Independent Film scene in Cleveland let me know, I would love to come by and do a work shop or a screening.

Later.

Kelley

Don’t forget my Masters Class in Filmmaking this summer through the Franklin Film Institute. Go to www.independentcinema.net for more details.

Find out more about the Angry Filmmaker @ www.angryfilmmaker.com. And don’t forget to buy some of my stuff!

Idiots and New Gear/AF Tip

I’m back. So let’s get to it…

First a little house keeping. I am going to slow down a bit on my blogging. Instead of five days a week I am cutting it back to one or two, depending on how I feel. After blogging 5 days a week for months, I‘ve found that the blogging is getting in the way of my other writing. And I need to make another film. My blogs will probably be a little longer than before, but they will still have all of that wonderful wit, sarcasm, anger and *(!&%^$@* language that you have all come to expect from me.

And for those who do have a problem with my language, don’t read me!

Once again we’ll start with your AF Tip of the Day.

Beware of any idiot that tells you that you NEED the latest stuff.
- - from The Angry Filmmaker Survival Guide (coming in Spring 2008)

This is something that really pisses me off! So many people think that filmmaking is all about the equipment! Filmmaking has nothing to do with equipment! It is not equipment that tells your story!

One question I am asked all the time is what kind of camera do you use? Who cares? A camera is just a tool. Do people ask what kind of a hammer a carpenter uses? A mechanic what kind of a wrench he likes? Or a doctor what type of scalpel he’s going to cut you open with? It doesn’t matter!

What is this love affair filmmakers seem to have with equipment? I mean guys like Lucas, Spielberg, Michael Bay and James Cameron all have access to the latest gear and their movies SUCK!

When we were making Kicking Bird my DP Randy Timmerman was all excited by the brand new Panasonic 24 p camera. He was dying to use it on our movie. I saw the tests he shot with the camera and it looked great. In fact it looked too good. Our movie takes place on the wrong side of town with a kid that has no future. We were shooting in January so that I would have clouds, rain and darkness. I wanted the whole look of the film to be dreary. We talked about using the camera (which we would have had to rent or worse, buy) and I said that if we used it, once we got in to post I would drain most of the color out of it and then add grain. By the time I was finished with the picture no one would ever know that we shot it with the Panasonic. (I always felt that if I was going to shoot Kicking Bird in film I would have gone with 16mm black & white.) We used a Sony PD150, a very un-cool camera that did exactly what we wanted, and it was free.

When I was doing commercials (back in another life time) many of my clients were always asking if we were going to be using a certain piece of equipment, (some insisted we rent some things). Usually these idiots had no idea what the piece of gear did, but they had to have it! They had heard that someone else had used one. I felt sorry for a lot of the post houses as they would have to spend tons of money on all this gear just so they had it. Most of the time it would make no difference whether you used a certain piece of gear or not.

Film cameras have been around forever and they all still shoot at 24 fps. I can take an Arri, an Aaton, a CP, or an old Éclair and run a roll of film through it and it’ll look great. I can also shoot with a Canon XL1 or a Sony PD150 and it will look great as well. As long as I light it correctly.

My point is, you can shoot your movies on older equipment, as long as it is still working well. Your story doesn’t care what it’s shot on. Don’t let other people tell you what you need. Think about what is right for your movie, and what you have access to. Just because a camera is old doesn’t mean that it can’t still shoot.

It is the same thing with software and editing equipment. Find an editing program that you like and learn it backward and forward. Up grade only when you have too. Remember, many classic films were edited with a razor blade and tape.

No matter what new piece of gear you buy, it will be obsolete once you get it out of the box. And that’s the way the manufacturers like it! That way they can keep selling us crap!

Don’t forget my Masters Class in Filmmaking this summer through the Franklin Film Institute. Go to www.independentcinema.net for more details.

Find out more about the Angry Filmmaker @ www.angryfilmmaker.com. And don’t forget to check out my work books. They can help you…

A few days off/AF Tip

I am taking a couple days off from blogging, don’t worry I’ll be back. Check in later this week.

And now, your AF Tip.

Murphy's Law is going to be working overtime to make sure that even the simplest things don't come together easily.
- - from The Angry Filmmaker Survival Guide (coming in Spring 2008)

And don’t forget my Masters Class in Filmmaking this summer through the Franklin Film Institute. Go to www.independentcinema.net for more details.

Find out more about the Angry Filmmaker @ www.angryfilmmaker.com. And don’t forget to buy some of my stuff!

Tour Sponsors/AF Tip of the Day

It’s my younger sister’s birthday today! Happy Birthday Jamie! I hope your day is a good one.

I am going back to a subject I have written about before.

I am going to be heading out on the road on tour soon and I am looking for sponsors. With gas prices going through the roof I need to do something so that I can continue to tour.

I am excited about the Fall Tour. I am going to be promoting my new book, The Angry Filmmaker Survival Guide: Making the Extreme Low Budget Film. A lot of my old friends are inviting me back and a lot of new places are adding me on to their schedule.

Traditionally, I do a two month tour in the Fall and in the Spring. I appear at 35-50 venues on each tour which will translate to 4,000 – 5,000 people on each tour. I am posting my blog on 5 sites, 5 days a week, where I average at least 700 new visitors a month, plus a daily readership that averages over 150 people a day. Over the last 5 years I would estimate that I have been in front of well over 25,000 film students, filmmakers, and film enthusiasts and I reach many more through my online writing.

In the past I have handed out flyers for reduced price subscriptions to Filmmaker Magazine, and for a New Filmmaker Equipment Grant Program through a Seattle based Camera Rental House.

Does anyone have any ideas and/or contacts at any companies that you think might be a good fit for what I do?

I love touring but the way things are going, if I can’t pick up a few sponsors to help me pay expenses I might not be able to keep doing it. Any ideas are appreciated.

And now, your AF Tip of the Day.

If you really must make a movie, then you should take any money you have and use it to buy more time in pre-production, better sound gear, and food for your crew.
- - from The Angry Filmmaker Survival Guide (coming in Spring 2008)

And don’t forget my Masters Class in Filmmaking this summer through the Franklin Film Institute. Go to www.independentcinema.net for more details.

Find out more about the Angry Filmmaker @ www.angryfilmmaker.com. And don’t forget to buy some of my stuff!

Workshop DVDs/AF Tip of the Day

Is it true that the camera puts on 40 pounds? The reason I ask is that I have been editing the video of my work shops and after looking at myself for the last few weeks I feel like I look fat, and old! Does the camera add years on as well? I am starting to think I’ll be able to get more work around Christmas; does anyone out there need a Santa stand in?

I hate looking at myself on tape, or in pictures. I guess it’s time to call Kirsti Alley, or Valerie Bertinelli, or maybe Princess Fergie? Are they still hawking diet stuff?

I think as filmmakers we sit too much. The only exercise I ever get is running from my creditors.

Okay, enough of this! The work shop DVDs are coming together well and I hope to have them ready for streaming and for sale soon. I’ll let you know when they are available. My workbooks are doing quite well. Bowling Green State University gave me a bulk order for their film classes and I am talking to Vanderbilt University as well. For those of you who don't know about the work books, they they offer all sorts of helpful hints and things to remember during Pre-Production, Production, Post-Production. I have also wrote one just for Sound. Check them out at www.angryfilmmaker.com/buy.htm

And now, your AF Tip of the Day.

You're not doing your movie or the cast and crew any favors by saying, "I just need to finish this damn thing! I don't care anymore."
- - from The Angry Filmmaker Survival Guide (coming in Spring 2008)

And don’t forget my Masters Class in Filmmaking this summer through the Franklin Film Institute. Go to www.independentcinema.net for more details.

Find out more about the Angry Filmmaker @ www.angryfilmmaker.com. And don’t forget to buy some of my stuff.

Scheduling Actors/AF Tip of the Day

Once again we’ll start with your AF Tip of the Day.

If a couple of your characters are going to have a major fight with each other, give them time to get in to rhythm and character on the set before you demand that they emote their brains out.

- - from The Angry Filmmaker Survival Guide (coming in Spring 2008)

I am sure most of you know what I mean by this. When you are doing your production schedule during PRE-PRODUCTION, take a hard look at the scenes you want to shoot first. I never put the intense scenes at the beginning of a shoot. I know the actors have rehearsed and know their characters but they haven’t been working on a set together that long yet. And the same thing goes for the crew.

I like to put the intense scenes or any nudity towards the end of the shooting schedule. I want the actors to really have time with each other to really get in to character. I also want my crew working like a well-oiled machine.

Since my shooting schedules are usually only 3 – 4 weeks in length I try to put the really hard scenes in the last week. Sometimes it works; sometimes they go late in the second week. As a filmmaker I am always looking at what is going to be the best for my cast, and for my crew. When I worked as an editor I saw filmmakers schedule really dramatic scenes in that first week, and I can’t tell you how many times those scenes were re-shot. And if they weren’t re-shot I know that most good directors I worked with regretted shooting those scenes early.

Don’t forget my Masters Class in Filmmaking this summer through the Franklin Film Institute. Go to www.independentcinema.net for more details.

Find out more about the Angry Filmmaker @ www.angryfilmmaker.com. And don’t forget to buy some of my stuff!

Idea Theft/AF Tip of the Day

I want to start this blog with your AF Tip of the Day.

Anyone can and will steal from you and there's usually not a damn thing you can do about it, whether you register it or not.
- - from The Angry Filmmaker Survival Guide (coming in Spring 2008)

I was approached by a fellow at one of my work shops recently. He had this great idea for a movie and he knew it would make lots of money but he was so paranoid he was afraid to even write the idea down out of fear that someone would steal it from him. Okay he was probably paranoid about a lot of things and his story idea probably won’t make a lot of money no matter what. But that got me thinking…

There really is no way you can protect your ideas or your story. So why worry about it. Yes, I believe that you should register your work with the Writers Guild (www.wga.org) or with the US Government Copyright office. (Yeah, we all know that there are no crooks working for the government…). But after that? Art Buchwald is one of the more famous people to get ripped off by the studios and look how long it took him to win his case. And he had money to fight them.

My point is this. Why worry about it? We are the creative ones, not the studios or the producers that are out looking to rip people off. Protect yourself to the best of your ability and move forward. If you really want to protect your story or script, make the movie yourself or publish the book yourself.

It just seems to me that more people are concerned with having a hit movie or writing a best seller that they don’t take enjoyment out of the writing itself. Long ago I gave up the idea of having a hit. It doesn’t matter. Yes, it would be nice to have some money, but I truly enjoy the work. I love what I do and that means more to me then worrying about if people are stealing from me. It’s certainly not going to stop me from being creative. I have something that those people who steal will never have. Creativity.

Yes, I have written notes to people who have plagiarized me and they have stopped. Mostly because they saw that I was on to them and could prove that they ripped me off.

And now you’ll have to excuse me, I need to get back to my writing. I have a lot more creating to do.

And don’t forget my Masters Class in Filmmaking this summer through the Franklin Film Institute. Go to www.independentcinema.net for more details.

Find out more about the Angry Filmmaker @ www.angryfilmmaker.com. And don’t forget to buy some of my stuff!