One of the great thing about the Raindance Film Festival is you get to reconnect with filmmakers from all over the world - a bit like a mini-Cannes
One such filmmaker is Justin McGoldrick who worked his butt off here in London last year as one of our fabulous interns - and then went back to the States where he just finished another 6 month internship
He has written up some excellent advice
Read:
5 Things I Learned As A LA Film Intern
Showing posts with label filmmaker. Show all posts
Showing posts with label filmmaker. Show all posts
Are You A Professional Or Amateur?
I was thinking around New Years Eve, 2009, looking at all the bits and pieces I had managed to do out of the Raindance office - it was quite a collection. The I realised I was nothing more than a hobbyist - I had ony spent an average of 2 hours a week. In 2010 I moved up the scale to 'talented amateur' with a grand total of 10 hours per week.
What makes semi pro?
read more details about my quest to move from amateur filmmaker to professional
9 Ways Filmmakers Develop Legendary Careers
OK it's the W/E and I have had a proverbial few. All this by way of trying to explain that I hop I am not sounding too pompous.
Anyway - the farmer side of me - the side that looks at patterns, has come up with somethiong I thought you would be interested in:
9 Ways Filmmakers Develop Legendary Careers
Anyway - the farmer side of me - the side that looks at patterns, has come up with somethiong I thought you would be interested in:
9 Ways Filmmakers Develop Legendary Careers
10 Key Film Trends for 2011
My 2 main pre-occupations are the Raindance Film Festival and the British Independent Film Awards. Every waking moment I, and the fabulous Raindance team, do nothing except watch films, read scripts and talk to filmmakers, agents, financiers and distributors.
There were a number of troubing and currently unresolved issues this year. The continued implosian of the world's bankers thanks to their indiscriminate greed coupled with awe-inspiring lack of judgement. I fear they haven't changed a thing, and that we could be in for another total whammy.
And secondly, what we are doing to the environment causes me huge concern. And finally, what of our personal freedom and the freedom of the internet as ably and aptly pointed out by the entire Wikileaks fiasco. In fact I think there are many things filmmakers can learn from Julian Assange's Wikileaks.
Here are the key things we think matter to the world of independent film, in no particular order:
1. Alternative Content in Cinema
Digital and 3D screens are being installed in many British cinemas in a trend which will sweep the world.Read the rest...
Becoming A Festival Darling
Rarely do the huge hits of film festivals work commercially, but that doesn't stop filmmakers from trying to become festival darlings.
It's relatively easy to become a festival darling: Just become an indie auteur complete with dark glasses and a black wardrobe.
If your time is precious and you want to sneak preview a few film industry insider tricks, read our article: How To Fake Being An Indie Autuer.
It's relatively easy to become a festival darling: Just become an indie auteur complete with dark glasses and a black wardrobe.
If your time is precious and you want to sneak preview a few film industry insider tricks, read our article: How To Fake Being An Indie Autuer.
Habits of sucessful filmmakers
I have been watching festival submissions and cleaning out my old files this bank holiday Monday and there are 2 things I thought I would like to share with you:
The first is an article titled The 4 Habits of Successful Filmmakers.
The second is a unique problem solver. The ultimate way to shift the buck: I am definately going to hang this one on the office wall tomorrow.
Ho hum. Back to watching submissions for this year's Raindance Film Festival.
The first is an article titled The 4 Habits of Successful Filmmakers.
The second is a unique problem solver. The ultimate way to shift the buck: I am definately going to hang this one on the office wall tomorrow.
Ho hum. Back to watching submissions for this year's Raindance Film Festival.
8 Mistakes Filmmakers Make That Kills Their Career
We see so many people coming through the door here at Raindance. Especially this time of year when submissions to the Raindance Film Festival flood in. Trouble is, many filmmakers seem to treat their career with a total lack of respect and understanding.
Avoid the 8 Mistakes Filmmakers Make That Kills Their Careers.
Avoid the 8 Mistakes Filmmakers Make That Kills Their Careers.
Sex Spams and Filmmaking
Like many film companies and organisations, Raindance is run on intern power. A great part of my day is spent with some of the newest and brightest talent in the country, training them and then watching them disappear away from Raindance into the wild wild west, and the process starts over again.
This blog is run by ex Raindance intern Charlie Burroughs who does all the hard work. I waltz along once and a while, post something kinda mediocre like this, and let Charlie pick up the pieces.
Let me tell you about one of our current interns, who has jsut, BTW, talked herself into a work experience position at Raindance, which means, financially, more or less, we buy her lunch.
Anyway, back in the summer of 2009 Frederica started a 6 week volunteer position, one that I was glad to see her fill as she had done such a brilliant job on a shorter placement the summer before.
On her first day she asked me what to do, and I gave her an impossibly difficult and complex task which i hoped would take her the entire week, and thus reduce the time I needed to spend with her. To my amazement, she finished the job in twenty minutes and asked me for another job, and again finished it in record breaking time. I could quickly see that Frederica was going to be really good,and if I was going to use her effectively, it would mean I would have to put in the effort to stay a step or three ahead of her. Exhausting.
The third time Frederica turned to me and asked for a job I was emptying my junk mail - and wow do I get a load of junk - hundreds every day. As she asked me what to do next I realised I had paused at the title of a sex spam in my junk mail folder: 5 ways To Make Her Come Every Day.
I wondered why I was pausing at this particular headline when I realised that the phrase "5 ways To Make... Every Day" is actually highly emotive. I opened the sex spam and saw a rather well structured article. I copy pasted the text into word, and did a seacrhc and relace for the work COCK replace with FILMMAKER and sent the text over to Frederica, who had no idea where this idea had come from. This new project kept Frederica silent the rest of the entire day, and the resulting article, 10 Things Filmmaker Uses Every Day is one of the highest visited page on our website.
From now on, both Frederica and I will be scouring sex spam emails to see what inspiration for new articles for Raindance.
This blog is run by ex Raindance intern Charlie Burroughs who does all the hard work. I waltz along once and a while, post something kinda mediocre like this, and let Charlie pick up the pieces.
Let me tell you about one of our current interns, who has jsut, BTW, talked herself into a work experience position at Raindance, which means, financially, more or less, we buy her lunch.
Anyway, back in the summer of 2009 Frederica started a 6 week volunteer position, one that I was glad to see her fill as she had done such a brilliant job on a shorter placement the summer before.
On her first day she asked me what to do, and I gave her an impossibly difficult and complex task which i hoped would take her the entire week, and thus reduce the time I needed to spend with her. To my amazement, she finished the job in twenty minutes and asked me for another job, and again finished it in record breaking time. I could quickly see that Frederica was going to be really good,and if I was going to use her effectively, it would mean I would have to put in the effort to stay a step or three ahead of her. Exhausting.
The third time Frederica turned to me and asked for a job I was emptying my junk mail - and wow do I get a load of junk - hundreds every day. As she asked me what to do next I realised I had paused at the title of a sex spam in my junk mail folder: 5 ways To Make Her Come Every Day.
I wondered why I was pausing at this particular headline when I realised that the phrase "5 ways To Make... Every Day" is actually highly emotive. I opened the sex spam and saw a rather well structured article. I copy pasted the text into word, and did a seacrhc and relace for the work COCK replace with FILMMAKER and sent the text over to Frederica, who had no idea where this idea had come from. This new project kept Frederica silent the rest of the entire day, and the resulting article, 10 Things Filmmaker Uses Every Day is one of the highest visited page on our website.
From now on, both Frederica and I will be scouring sex spam emails to see what inspiration for new articles for Raindance.
Getting Ready For Your Film Festival Screening
Everyone in the office is watching films for 6-8 hours a day. Shorts, features and documentaries.
It works like this:
We are just 2 weeks away from the final deadline. Every day the mailman brings one or two big sacks full of mail. I acyually enjoy dumping the bags on the floor and separating the festival entries from the bills.
The entries are then piled behind Suzanne's desk. She opens and starts the cataloguing process by stuffing the press kit and DVD into a plastic file folder, with a code, and category (ie: short feature documentary)
Amelie then inputs the films details onto our database.
Suzanne and the rest of the team watch movies every single day.
When I watch a movie I like to flick through the press kit while the movie is loading in my laptop. It's truly amazing how few filmmakers understand how to put together a press kit.
One of the important elements of a press kit is a press release.
Last year, at a similar moment of frustration with sub-par press kits, I asked Brett Welcher to write an article on hoe to write a press release. He was interning at Raindance at that time, and majoring in PR
You can read his article: How To Write A Press Release
It works like this:
We are just 2 weeks away from the final deadline. Every day the mailman brings one or two big sacks full of mail. I acyually enjoy dumping the bags on the floor and separating the festival entries from the bills.
The entries are then piled behind Suzanne's desk. She opens and starts the cataloguing process by stuffing the press kit and DVD into a plastic file folder, with a code, and category (ie: short feature documentary)
Amelie then inputs the films details onto our database.
Suzanne and the rest of the team watch movies every single day.
When I watch a movie I like to flick through the press kit while the movie is loading in my laptop. It's truly amazing how few filmmakers understand how to put together a press kit.
One of the important elements of a press kit is a press release.
Last year, at a similar moment of frustration with sub-par press kits, I asked Brett Welcher to write an article on hoe to write a press release. He was interning at Raindance at that time, and majoring in PR
You can read his article: How To Write A Press Release
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