Don't D.I. (ALL) Y.

It's no mystery that I'm a bit of a know-it-all. I can shoot a little bit, I can edit like a mother-fucker, I have my moments as a writer, and I'm a control freak. My first film Freeze Out was completed, in a large part, by me. There is a huge DIY movement in the independent film-making community. I mean it is "independent" film right? But there are some pitfalls to doing everything yourself:

1. DON'T LIVE IN DENIAL: Most of the time I work full-time as an editor on reality TV shows. So I naturally started editing my own movie but when I got to a certain point I handed the editing reigns over to my friend Tom Gould. After I had screened my first cut to a bunch of friends I could tell that there was a bunch of stuff that I was probably too attached to. So rather than live in denial I allowed Tom free reign with the material to re-orient the story, change the style, and he managed to shave 20 minutes off the run time. Which was pretty crucial in a comedy. Then I actually went back in myself and edited even more out of it because where he had cut stuff out opened my eyes to other opportunities for good edits. I ended up with a better product because I didn't rely just on myself to make editorial decisions.

2. BE LESS HANDS ON: The more successful a director you are the less people who work for you are going to let touch your film So it's important to spend some time thinking about how you're going to articulate every aspect of your project clearly, succinctly and tactfully. From composition, acting, and lighting all the way through post-production you're going to have to tell many people what their work should evoke, appear to be, or what style touch ups it needs. Don't be a critic and tell them what's wrong. Instead, be a context provider so they can be creative. Tell them how what they're working on needs to fit into the larger whole then let them figure out how to do it.

3. TEAMING UP BUILDS EMOTIONAL INVESTMENT: One of the problems with producing my first feature is that I wrote it, produced it, and directed it. If three separate people had done those jobs there would have been 3 times more man power to get the film done. Of course, sharing responsibility requires a lot of negotiation, but in the end you'll be onto movie number two a lot quicker if you can get some other folks emotionally invested in the film. Then you don't look like a lone nutjob trying to light a scene, script supervise, look at the playback monitor, feed your actors and crew, etc. I wish I'd taken some more time on my first film to collect a core team to help me produce it and by no means am I saying I did it all myself. I just think if I'd won over a few more hearts and minds to the project before I started shooting I would have a lot more strong backs and hands to do some heavy lifting at crucial moments.

Knowing how to do something yourself doesn't mean that you should do it yourself. Just be honest and a bit producerly with yourself. Assess all your needs and think about what you really can do during your production then find as many folks as you can convince to with the highest level of expertise you can to fill every other spot. When it's all over you'll have a much better movie.

What Are You Waiting For?

I work a day job. It's in the entertainment industry but it's still not doing what I want to do. Right now I'm essentially a post supervisor. What would I like to be doing? Writing and directing some kind of movie.

Who do I blame? Me.

Fortunately, there's still hope. I have made one indy feature and it seems like right now I'll be able to get it out there on home video within the next 6 months. And having done it once I think I'll be able to do it again. But I really wish I'd done it sooner.

If I could replay my 20s all over again I would have started making my first feature as soon as I left film-school. Because no one really ever thinks of you as a "director" until you've directed something. So a word to the wise. If you really want to be a film-maker think scrappy and get started right away with actually making a film.

This is not to say you shouldn't move to Hollywood and start pitching your first feature script around town. You should. Someone might buy it and you'll be on your way. That's totally kick ass! But that also might not happen. In fact, make that probably won't.

You don't have to wait for someone at a studio to hand you a three picture deal. If no one buys your first script start a 2nd one that you can shoot for no budget on DV with your buddies. Submit it to festivals and promote it. Send it to FilmThreat.com and get it reviewed. Create a track record for yourself. See if you can't get it out on home video.

Then move onto the next one. And the next one. When you have a few features under your belt you'll find studio folks a lot more attentive when you pitch them your dream project.

Why Making Shorts is a Waste Of Your Time (Most Of The Time)

First, let me say this: I love a good short. If you can knock my socks off with a short film I'm the first person to say, "Wow that was cool (or funny, or creepy, or... insert descriptor here)."

But I won't give you a dime for it and chances are after I log off of Youtube, atomfilms or ifilm I'll have already forgotten about your masterpiece. Let me also say, having lived in L.A. land of 10000 "film-makers" who have made 100,000 one-off shorts; I've heard of precious few of those shorts acting like a lightning rod of attention that launches a successful film/tv/web producer career. I guess what I'm saying is only once in a great while will the "Spirit Of Christmas" begat the career of Trey Parker and Matt Stone.

I think the key to success with a short, given the availability of DV film-making, Final Cut Pro, etc, is to follow it up with 10-12 episodic sequels of equal or better quality. Show folks that you can create a product they can sell and then the money will follow. But probably only after you've done it a bunch of times. When you make a one off short it doesn't really prove that you're a good writer or director. You could have just been lucky. Your average executive wants proof that you can produce good watchable (and therefore marketable) material over and over again.

That said, the market is changing thanks to the friendly neighborhood internet. There is a growing market for serialized short materials on the internet and companies like Comedy Central, IFC all the way to the major TV studios are starting to scour the world for cool stuff to put on their websites.

So when you plan and script "My Super Awesome Student Film" you might want to consider outlining "M.S.A.S.F Part 2,3,4" "M.S.A.S.F The Wrath of Project Greenlight", "M.S.A.S.F Navel Gazing No More", "M.S.A.S.F Ode to Gummo", and "M.S.A.S.F Scorcese Ain't Got Nothing On Me"

Now, when you've spent all that time planning and shooting all those shorts you could have made a feature. Feature films have 1 distinct advantage over shorts. There's a huge infrastructure of people who want to buy them. You may not make money on the first one but it's a lot easier to sell a feature film than a short because distributors know what to do with them.

Film-maker Get Thy Release! And other stuff too.

I'm in the midst of trying to release Freeze Out my first indy feature on home video and I have to say I've learned a couple 20/20 hindsight lessons:

1. Get your releases signed the day of the shoot. In fact, have your performers sign the release before you shoot one frame of film/video. This might seem obvious to some of you. I even knew better but thought in one special instance getting the signature wouldn't be a pain in the ass. I have some folks who appeared in my film who I'm having to bug to sign the release a year after we did the shoot. It's not really a priority for them you know they've got life going on, things to do, and they're not really in the mood to watch a movie and sign a release. For me it's a huge inconvenience.

If you don't have forms I recommend you get some from a site like this: FilmTVContracts.com. They provide good simple forms that you can modify for you individual productions. This is especially important for people who are appearing and are not covered by a SAG contract.

2. Become chums with your SAG representative and stay in touch with them regularly until your movie is released. I produced "Freeze Out" under the Experimental Film Agreement (now no longer offered by SAG). The Experimental Film Agreement seemed like a great idea at the time. I got to work with any performer I could convince to be in my shoot for free. Now, unfortunately, I have to get them all to sign off on the film. I don't think it's going to be a problem but it's taking a long time because of the number of people involved. If I didn't have a good releationship with my SAG representative who has to guide this sign-off process for all my performers I would be screwed. SAGindie now has a much better contract called the Ultra Low Budget film agreement. It does require that you pay your actors $100 a day during the course of your shoot. However, once your film is in the can you're free to exploit the title and you don't have to go getting permission. So do your best to create a positive experience with your SAG rep when you start up your project.

3. Make sure clothing your performers are wearing (and back ground art such as pictures and posters) don't have any trademark logos on them. You'll spend a butt load in post-production painting them out if you can't get a sign-off from the trademark holder. If they're a big corporation you'll have to be really nice to a bunch of bureaucrats to get a sign off. And big corporations don't really look at accidental use of a logo as "product placement" since it's really more of a nuisance.