Hollywood Film Coach

The same year a short film I produced was nominated for an Oscar, I directed my own short film. It didn't get nominated. For years I thought that was just bad luck. It wasn't. I was living too much in my producer head as a director — and not enough in the creative choices the film actually needed. In this episode, I break down what a producer actually does at every stage of a film, why the best di...

Episode 8: Festival Strategy: How to Get Your Film Seen and Win 11,153 short films were submitted to Sundance in 2025. They selected 57. Cannes, Toronto, and Berlin tell roughly the same story. Those numbers aren't meant to discourage you — but they should convince you that submitting your film without a strategy is like buying a lottery ticket. In this episode, I break down exactly how festivals...

EPISODE 7: The Short Film That Launched Brad Pitt — And What It Teaches Us In 1992, we cast a young, unknown actor in a short film made on a shoestring budget, shot in brutal desert heat, with a crew that was learning their jobs as they went. That actor's name was Brad Pitt. The film was nominated for an Oscar. And the making of it was nowhere near as smooth as the highlight reel makes it look. In...

Episode 6: Working With Actors: What Every Short Film Director Needs to Know I've watched short films in the Oscar screening room where the cinematography was beautiful, the production design was stunning, the story structure was solid — and the film didn't make the shortlist. Because the performances weren't there. And I've watched films with modest budgets and no-name actors that made a room ful...

Episode 5: Story is Everything: The Non-Negotiable Foundation After 40 years in Hollywood and more than 3,000 short films watched as an Oscar voter, I can tell you this with certainty: the single most important element in any short film — the one that cannot be faked, cannot be bought, and cannot be compensated for by any amount of technical skill — is story. Not plot. Not concept. Not theme. Stor...

EPISODE 4: What Oscar Voters Actually Look For...   Every filmmaker wonders about it. Who are these people deciding which short films get nominated for an Oscar? What are they actually looking for? And is there anything you can do to improve your chances with them?   The answer to that last question is yes. And it starts with understanding something most filmmakers never think about: Oscar voters...

EPISODE 3: The #1 Mistake That Kills Most Short Films   In 30 years of watching more than 3,000 short films as an Oscar voter, I've seen the same mistake kill otherwise great films over and over again. Films with beautiful cinematography. Strong performances. Real passion behind them. All undone by one thing. And almost no one talks about it.   The mistake isn't weak acting or poor lighting. It's...

EPISODE 2: What I Learned Watching 3,000 Short Films Twenty seconds into a short film called Wasp , I knew I was watching something extraordinary. A woman — barefoot, in a nightgown — sprinting down a staircase with four children and a diaperless baby. No setup. No title card. Just a story that grabbed you by the collar and refused to let go. That film went on to win the Oscar. And after thirty ye...

Episode 1: There's a moment I've never forgotten. A screening room full of Academy voters, all of us silently rooting for the same film — and then, in the last 30 seconds, the filmmaker made one mistake. The room let out a collective groan. The film was never nominated. And no one could tell the filmmaker why. That moment — about ten years ago — is the reason this podcast exists. After 40 years in...