Indie Film Hustle® - A Filmmaking Podcast

Today on the show we have minimalist filmmaking guru Matt D'Avella. I had the pleasure of being on Matt's podcast The GroundUp Show back in 2017 when he was still a young and up and coming podcaster. One day I turned around and saw that Matt had built a following of over 2 million followers on Youtube. It was official, he was a Youtube star. Matt was able to build this business using his filmmakin...

I'm here to finally put to rest one of the greatest cinematic arguments of all time, is Die Hard a Christmas movie? I thought I'd tackle this epic question with my good friend Stephen Follows. In this Special Christmas Edition of the Indie Film Hustle Podcast Stephen and I use data to finally put this debate to rest. I believe without a shadow of a doubt that Die Hard is the greatest Christmas mov...

Well, it's that time of year again when filmmakers around the world get that dreaded rejection letter from the Sundance Film Festival. Did you read that, 14,200 submissions? Getting into Sundance is a lottery ticket for sure but it isn't as important as it used to be. Here's what Mark Duplass wrote about it: Annual Sundance Film Festival rejection reminder: Sundance is awesome, but Sundance is not...

The streaming wars have their first casualties and of course, it is indie filmmakers. Amazon announces that they would drop their already low per hour streaming rate from .06¢ to .01¢ in North America. When this news hit the indie film world went nuts. Why would Amazon punish creators like this? Well, there's good news and bad news. The bad news is Amazon dropped their per hour streaming rate from...

The day is finally here. My new book Rise of the Filmtrepreneur®: How to Turn Your Indie Film into a Moneymaking Business is finally out. I'm so excited to share this with you, the IFH Tribe. I've been working for months to make this happen. I wanted to give you a sneak peek at the book so in this episode, I'll be releasing the first two chapters of the audiobook for your listening pleasure. These...

Today's episode is a big one guys. You need to brace yourself. The film marketplace is going through a major shift. It is as big as when we went from Black and white films to color or adding sound to movies. Movies industry is changing from a product-based business (DVDs, Blu-Rays) to a service-based business (streaming services).  Spotify and other music streaming services have devalued music dow...

I know the title of this show is bold but in the course of this podcast I will explain what I see happening in the traditional film distribution model. My trip to this year to the American Film Market was extremely educational. I met some amazing people, industry insiders, and tribe members. I did, however, spoke to many film distributors and sales agents and discover a truth that I had suspected...

Today on the show we have the legendary indie film champion, Chris Gore. Chris is the founder of Film Threat, a magazine that's mission is to champion indie filmmakers while giving the middle finger to the Hollywood establishment. In this episode, Chris and I speak about the glorious 90's indie film scene, his time being a part of the geek channel G4, his new documentary Attack of the Doc and the...

Today on the show we have Jonathan Wolf, the managing director of the American Film Market or AFM as it's known. The AFM has gone through many changes over the years. In recent years the world of film distribution has been turned upside down and AFM has been changing along with it. I have the honor to be moderating a panel on Micro-Budget Filmmaking at this year's AFM. The times they are a-changin...

Today on the show we have filmmaker Cody Meirick. Cody is the director of the documentary Scary Stories, based on the wildly popular book series Scary Stories To Tell in the Dark. We discuss how he leveraged an underserved niche audience, how he piggy-backed off the major studio release of the narrative version and how he was able to get access to the key players in this niche. Enjoy my "scary" co...

Today on the show we have returning champion Stephen Follows. In this Halloween themed episode, we dive into Stephen's opus, The Horror Report. The report was created by using data on every horror film ever made, a data-driven dive into everything from development, production, and distribution to recoupment and profitability. Stephen Follows is an established data researcher in the film industry w...

What is "Hybrid Distribution?" Hybrid distribution is the state-of-the-art model more and more filmmakers are using to succeed. It enables them to have unprecedented access to audiences, to maintain overall control of their distribution, and to receive a significantly larger share of revenues. Today on the show we have a legend in the ultra-low budget indie film world, Peter Broderick. He coined t...

I wanted to release this Facebook LIVE event to the tribe to give them some MAJOR updates on the Distribber/Go Digital debacle. I was on the phone for two hours with Seth Freeman of Glass Ratner, the firm handing the liquidation. I do some mythbusting and drop some painful truth bombs in the episode. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/indie-film-hustle-a-filmmakin...

Today on the show we have Todd Jenkins, the filmmaker behind the new horror film Cherokee Creek. Todd went through hell making his film but when he finally finished it and put it out in the world then the fit hit the shan. Todd decided to self distribute his film using, the now bankrupt, film aggregator Distribber/Go Digital. As many of you know the Distribber debacle has caused many filmmakers ho...

Today on the show we have filmmaker David Willis. Willis is the first producer in the United States to raise over $1 million and make a feature film by using Equity Crowdfunding. Equity Crowdfunding is a new, disruptive method of fundraising in the United States, from a law that went into effect in 2016, opening a whole new avenue for filmmakers to make their ideas reality. And it's working. Movie...

I have a treat for you today. On the show we have filmmaker and podcaster Alrik Bursell from the podcast Making Movies is HARD! I've had the pleasure on be on his show before and have another episode coming up in Nov where I talk about Rise of the Filmtrepreneur. “Who am I to even have a podcast? Why is my opinion more valid than anyone else? In some ways it’s not, but that’s also kind of the poin...

The legendary Oscar-nominated actor Robert Forster has passed away. I had the honor of working with Robert on one of my films, Red Princess Blues. He supplied some remarkable narration that set up my film perfectly. He was easily one of the most professional and talented actors I have ever worked with; a professional of the greatest caliber. He will always hold a special place in my heart because...

Today on the show we have film producer, distribution expert, and today's "go-to" authority of how to get a film to market, Jerome Courshon. He has broken open the "exclusive club" of successful independent producers with his innovative 3-Day Program, "THE SECRETS TO DISTRIBUTION: Get Your Movie Distributed Now!" A producer in his own right (he secured a profitable distribution deal with Warner Br...

Ever wanted to know how to build a large following on social media? Today's guest Brendan Kane was able to get over 1 million followers in 30 days. His new book, One Million Followers: How I Built a Massive Social Following in 30 Days breaks down how he was able to achieve such a feat. Brendan Kane is a growth hacker for Fortune 500 corporations, brands and celebrities. He thrives on helping brand...

Today we are going to BLOW THE LID off this entire Distribber/Film Aggregator mess. Today's guest is Joe Dain from Terror Films. Joe has been on the frontlines of this Distribber debacle and has been affected in a large way. He had many films placed through Ditribber and has been working diligently to save the films he has placed through Distribber. Joe wrote an amazing guest post speaking the rea...

In this episode, I lay out the future of making money in independent filmmaking as I see it. The old legacy model of making and movie and handing it over to a distributor doesn't work anymore. A new model needs to be created and I hope the method I go over in this show will help you generate multiple revenue streams from your film projects. I also warn you about many concerning issues I see in tod...

First of all, we made it to 350 episodes. HOLY CRAP! Thank you all for all the love and support that you have given me, this show and Indie Film Hustle in general. To celebrate I'm launching the first-ever MAKE YOUR MOVIE BOOTCAMP. The Bootcamp is a LIVE two-day intensive designed to show you how to make, market and sell a feature film. I've been working on this for months and I finally get to rel...

oday on the show I have Klaus Badelt. We do a deep dive into the state of independent film and self-distribution. We also discuss the Distribber debacle and how filmmakers can get access to their films back from Distribber. Klaus is not only a tech entrepreneur he also writes the occasional score for feature films including The Thin Red Line, The Prince of Egypt, Gladiator, and Pirates of the Cari...

Today on the show we have writer/director Rob Smat. His niche film is THE LAST WHISTLE. It is a Football Drama with a budget 125K, the crew was almost entirely film students, shot in 13 days in Texas, distributed worldwide by Vertical Ent. for 10 theater release this past June and originated as a pitch for Rebel Without a Crew TV show and was turned down so I made it myself Rob formed a cast from...

There are a few filmmaking books that have made as big of an impact on the craft of directing like today's guest's Film Directing: Shot by Shot: Visualizing from Concept to Screen, written by director Steve Katz. Shot by Shot is the world’s go-to directing book, now newly updated for a special 25th Anniversary edition! The first edition sold over 250,000 copies, making it one of the bestselling bo...