The feature article in this month’s issue of The Director’s Chair is called  10 Tricks & Traps of Producing by Elliot Grove. “Producing Feature Films is an occupation fraught with danger, mishaps and misfortune. As Shakespeare said: many a slip twixt cup and lip. Here are the ten areas where new producers trip up.”

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by Hemant Kumar Gaba.

When I finally managed to finish my first feature length film Shuttlecock Boys which took me a good 2.5 years to pull off (normally this period would vary between 1.5-2 years for first time filmmakers, mine was just a little longer), I wondered – What do I do now ? That was my thought process in January 2011 after the film got completed.

I was not wise or smart enough before making the film to chart out the strategy on how the film will be showcased after it was complete. That’s because I was not even sure, if I will be able to make a full length feature film. I thought, let’s try it; we will see what happens.

I started figuring out what normally happens after a film finishes. If it’s a Bollywood film from a studio or with an experienced producer, the film will already have a release date and a publicity plan. But what happens to Independent Films? That was question to which I wanted to find an answer. There will be few of those Independent Films which are made on a decent budget say Rs 2 crore or above that might be released independently; some recent examples might be ‘Love You to Death’ or ‘Tutiya Dil’.

Read the rest of this article from IBN.Live.

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by Jeremy Kirk.

Experiencing Don Coscarelli’s latest, John Dies at the End, was a trip at South by Southwest. Actually, experiencing any of Coscarelli’s films are a trip of one kind or another, and the guy is such a pleasant film maker you can’t help but want to hear him talk about his earlier works. That’s why we’ve chosen Phantasm this week. One of his earliest works, it was this horror film that landed Coscarelli on the industry map, turning its success into a full-fledged career that continues to this day. It’s also his scariest and arguably his best to date.

But, as interesting as it is to hear Coscarelli speak, it’s good to have friends, and he’s brought three of them along for this commentary track. The DVD box boasts Reggie Banister, who plays the guitar-wielding ice cream guy, Reggie – Pretty sure the part was written for him – but he doesn’t appear on the commentary. Instead, it features the other two leads, Michael Baldwin and Bill Thornbury, and the Tall Man himself, Angus Scrimm, who isn’t even listed on the box.

Regardless, we’ve got the writer/director on board and three of the film’s main actors, so grab a seat and check out all the things we learned from hearing these men talk about Phantasm. It’s the commentary that’s got balls. If you haven’t seen the film, I regret the euphemism already.

Read the rest of this article from Film School Rejects.

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by Sheri Candler.

Wow, has it really been a month since my last post?? Of course I sympathize with all of you who face the same obstacle, how to keep your online site populated with fresh and interesting content? It is a real problem in this era of being not only an artist, but a publisher and continually connecting with an audience.

Truth be told, I have been blogging regularly…just not here. If any of you are so inclined, my ballet blog for the Joffrey documentary is here. And I make daily  posts to my Facebook and Twitter accounts, also fairly regularly to my Google Plus. I could do better with balancing and mixing all of my activities; some links, some longer posts, devising a Pinterest board of the week…that kind of thing. So once again, I am getting on that horse and starting back again. I hope a few of you are still around.

Speaking of Pinterest…I only recently started using it for the Joffrey project which is why all of my boards are devoted to that. Looking at them gives a good idea on the kind of thing you could use it for on your production. In my workshop presentations, I talk about posting regularly on your social channels and not just information directly about your film, but also about the interests of your audience; those who would be a fan of your film and of yourself as an artist.

I am using the boards to show Joffrey history through pictures and videos. The ballets they created, the ballets they revived, their alumni dancers, Robert Joffrey through the years as well as photos of the merchandise available to buy through our site. It’s a balance of audience interest and promotion for the film.

Read the rest of this article from Sheri Candler.

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by Chandra Steele.

Every town has gone a little Hollywood this month. Cinemas are packed with theatergoers wanting to see esteemed Oscar nominees and this week’s Sundance Film Festival previews what could be the next gleam in their eyes.

One of the Oscar favorites, Hugo, is an uncommonly gentle film from Martin Scorsese that’s a love note to those who go to the movies and also to those who create them.

Whether it’s a recent fancy or a long-time fantasy of yours to make a movie, now’s the time. Most filmmaking tools are low-cost (or even free) and easy to use. Here’s what you’ll need to create everything from the opening scene to the end credits.

Read the rest of this article from PC Mag.

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by Matt Soergel.

When Patrick Barry was in high school at Bishop Kenny, in the dark ages of the late 1990s, filmmaking was his passion, though it wasn’t an easy one to follow.

“But I guess we just did it,” he said. “You got your friends together, got to the thrift shop, found the funniest costumes you could and built around that.”

Not many amateurs were making movies back then, he says, and no wonder: Shooting and editing on bulky video camcorders was awkward, time-consuming. Then converting that video to film, so your work actually looked good when you showed it to an audience, was way too expensive.

He’s 30 now, still making movies. And things have changed greatly since the dark ages: The number of today’s budding filmmakers is “absolutely, without a doubt” booming, said Todd Roobin, head of Jacksonville’s film and TV office.

Just consider the advantages offered to them, after all: Digital technology makes shooting, editing and distributing your film far easier than the video and film cameras of the past.

Read the res of this article from Jacksonville.com

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by Joe Nalven.

I love going to the movies. But my understanding of this art form is limited to the avid filmgoer.

When I saw that Art San Diego was featuring a short film program, I looked over the list of films. I found the name of someone whom I had met only briefly, Mauricio Chernovetzky. Perhaps, I thought, Chernovetzky would reveal something more about what it is that makes movies compelling. If I understood his approach, I might see more than I usually did.

I work almost exclusively in static 2D art. Video is something I enjoy, but it is pretty much a mystery of how things get put together. Any thoughts for an outsider?

Read the rest of this article from Sign On San Diego.

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from Screencoyote.

International filmmaking takes a giant stride with the launch of Screencoyote.com, an international filmmakers’ network, dedicated to facilitating cross-border collaboration.

Scheduled to launch this month, Screencoyote promotes cross-border and local collaboration as a way round the financial pressures faced by independent filmmakers. It is also a means by which filmmakers can gain newer cultural perspectives, and achieve real influence, locally and internationally.

“The aim is to link up filmmakers all over the world, so they can pool their skills and tools to make commanding films, with or without finance. This is the kind of thing filmmakers have been waiting for,” says Screencoyote’s founder, Ishmael Annobil (above).

“The idea is simple-—if a filmmaker wishes to make a film in another town or country, but cannot afford to take crew and equipment along, he or she can simply elect fellow Screencoyote members over there to get the job done, on equitable terms,” Ishmael explains.

Read the rest of this article from The Bahamas Weekly.

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by Dani Valent.

The creation of Here, a road movie, was something of a road movie itself.

TEN years after I started writing Here with New York filmmaker Braden King, I arrived on set in Armenia: a puddled driveway, a crumble-down hotel, a gleaming church backed by a shy rainbow. As I was introduced to the 40-person crew, the script supervisor, Gaby Yepes, hid the script from me. ”You don’t want to see this,” she said, letting long hair fall over her clipboard. ”There’s red pen all over it.”

Her job was to record what happened as the film was filmed.

The script, the document that I knew intimately, every comma, every nuance sweated over, was victim to reality: actors changed lines, night fell so shots were rethought, sheep didn’t dart across the road the way they were supposed to. I could have felt devastated, protective, outraged at the licence being taken (naughty sheep!), but I felt excited: how amazing to create a template for all this activity, close attention and each clapperboard call of ”Action”.

Read the rest of this article from Sydney Morning Herald.

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by Cole Abaius.

In one of the best panels in recent memory, Guillermo del Toro and Nicholas Winding Refn chose to combine their allotted time in Hall H (for Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark and Drive respectively). What resulted was a rare conversation from two unique filmmakers who transcended the normal marketing mechanism of Comic-Con to deliver some insight and information about their processes.

There were many different facets to it, and they talked about their movies some of course, but ultimately it became a master class in making films. So here’s a little bit of free film school from two visionaries.

Read the rest of this article from Film School Rejects.

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