Indie Film Hustle® - A Filmmaking Podcast

IFH has a NEW PODCAST. Introducing The Bulletproof Screenplay Podcast. Today is a CROSSOVER EVENT to introduce you to the new show.  Today’s guest blew my mind on his approach to storytelling and screenwriting. John Truby is one of Hollywood’s premier screenwriting instructor and story consultant. Over the last 25 years, more than 50,000 people have attended his sold-out seminars around the world,...

  Have you ever had to deal with paying out investors, guilds, unions, residuals, and producers from the revenue your film makes? Today's guest is David Zannoni of Fintage House, does just that but on a global scale. David helps you, the producer, ALL the rights for your film globally.  Now, this is a subject I didn't know I needed to know about. After meeting David at AFM I knew I had to have him...

How to Make Money with YouTube with Christopher Sharpe Today's guest is a bonafide Youtube Guru. Chris has not only created one but two massive Youtube Channels. His first was with his wife called Hilah's Cooking which has close to 400,000 users and launched books, speaking engagements, Food Network appearances and much more. From there he partnered with actress/yoga instructor Adriene Mishler and...

The NO Bullsh*t Guide to Making Your Indie Film with Jeff Leisawitz Have you ever been in a place where nothing is going right creatively? Do you ever feel like you are standing in your own way? Me too. Today's guest is author Jeff Leisawitz who wrote Not F*ing Around— the No Bullsh*t Guide for Getting Your Creative Dreams Off the Ground.  This little pack quite a punch.  I wanted to have Jeff on...

How to Shot a Feature Film in 24 Hours with Ivan Malekin Imagine shooting an entire feature film in 24 hours. How could you do something like that and not make it a bad stage play? Today's guest was not only able to do that but made a damn good film in the process. Ivan Malekin and his partner Sarah Jayne directed the feature film Friends, Foes & Fireworks in just one night (24 hours). Here's some...

TOP SECRET Indie Film Hustle Project Finally Revealed The day is finally here. I've been teasing you guys for months now. The top secret project I've been working on is my next feature film called "On the Corner of Ego and Desire." The entire film was shot at this year's Sundance Film Festival. The film was written, produced, directed by me, produced by Adam Bowman of Media Circus, shot by Austin...

Inside the Raindance Film Festival with Founder Elliot Grove Today’s guest is the legendary film author and founder of the Raindance Film Festival Elliot Grove. Elliot is not only the founder of Raindance Film Festival and the British Independent Film Awards. He has produced over hundreds of short films and also five feature films, including the multi-award-winning The Living and the Dead in 2006....

How to Shoot and Sell a $5000 Micro-Budget Feature Film with Claudia Pickering Today's guest is writer/director/actor/producer Claudia Pickering. She recently wrote and directed the feature film "Frisky" for just $5000. I wanted to have her on the show to discuss the tricks of the trade when making a feature for such a low budget. The film has also played at countless film festivals and won a ton...

Finding an Audience for Indie Films in 2018 with Shaked Berenson Today's guest is a returning champion Shaked Berenson from Epic Pictures. On this special edition Sundance episode Shaked and I discuss marketing and finding an audience for your indie films in 2018. We discuss their recent acquisition of the Horror Blog/Brand Dread Central and how you can use today's tools to find your audience.  Sh...

How to Package an Indie Film for Investors with Tiffany Boyle Today on the show is Tiffany Boyle from Ramo Law. Tiffany helps indie filmmakers package their projects in a way that helps them attract producers, investors, other top-end actors, and studios. We had a great conversation at this year's Sundance Film Festival. Here's some info on today's guest. Tiffany Boyle has been with Ramo Law since...

Pixar's Coco and the World of Animation with Carlos Moreno Jr. Today on the show is Carlos Moreno Jr. Carlos was the voice of a handful of characters in the Oscar® Nominated Animated Masterpiece "Coco." Coco is, by far, one of the best-animated films I've ever experienced. It one of my top five films of 2017. Carlos Moreno Jr., key to the stellar cast of Pixar's most lauded feature since "Toy Stor...

Using Algorithms to Help Sell Your Indie Film with Sundance's Liz and Jess Sundance is back on the show. I had the pleasure of having returning champion Liz Manashil (listen to her interview here) and Jess from the Sundance Institute. We discuss the very cool things they are up to at the Sundance Creative Distribution Fellowship and how they are using data to help indie filmmakers find an audience...

Insider Tips on How to Crowdfund Your Film on Kickstarter with Elise McCave On the show today is Elise McCave, Director of Narrative Film at Kickstarter. Elise drops some major knowledge bombs on this episode. She goes over what it takes to have a successful crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter, what makes a good pitch video and we discuss some success stories as well. Thanks again to Media Circus...

From Indie Films to Oscar Nominations with David Permut I'm back from Sundance! What a ride this year. So much to tell you guys. The first interview in my Sundance Film Festival Interview Series (co-produced with my buddies Adam Bowman at Media Circus PR) is legendary producer David Permut. David has produced almost 40 feature films in the course of his career.  Here are a few trailers of David Pe...

How to Become a Working Director without Film School with Cole Walliser I've always said that "film school" isn't for everyone. There is so much noise and advertising telling filmmakers that you NEED to go to film school to be taken seriously. I disagree COMPLETELY and so does today's guest! On the show today is director Cole Walliser. Here's a bit on Cole's amazing filmmaking journey so far. Cole...

Sundance Film Festival Survival Guide    This year will be the sixth time I've been to the Sundance Film Festival and I've picked up a few tips and tricks on how to survive the experience. I've many many mistakes when traveling to the festival. From the wrong shoes to not having Chapstick. These small things can turn into nightmares if not done correctly.  I teamed up with Adam Bowman from Media C...

How to Find an Audience for Your Indie Film with Media Circus Today on the show we have Adam Bowman and Paul Koshlap from Media Circus PR. These guys specialize in marketing for indie films and filmmakers. They handle digital marketing, public relations, digital advertising and much more.  We discuss the state of indie film marketing, how to find an audience for your film and tips and tricks to ge...

Out of Time & the Back to the Future DeLorean Documentary with Steve Concotelli Today on the show we have documentary filmmaker Steve Concotelli, the director of OUTATIME: Saving the DeLorean Time Machine. Out of Time is the documentary about the restoration of the screen used Back to the Future DeLorean Time Machine. We discuss how the film came to be, his Kickstarter campaign, getting the ri...

How to Get Up Off Your Butt & Make It Happen in 2018 with Eric Thomas Happy New Years everyone. 2018 is going to be insane!! I wanted to give you a gift to get your year off to an explosive start. Today's guest is Global Phenomenon Eric Thomas. Eric Thomas, Ph. D. is a critically acclaimed author, World-renowned speaker, educator, pastor and audible.com Audie Awards Finalist. ET, as he is better k...

How to Work Creatively with People and Not Kill Each Other One of the biggest issues filmmakers, screenwriters and creative types in general have is working with other people. Creativity is very personal to an artist, in any part of the process. I've seen first-hand decade-long friendships get destroyed by "creative differences". I could see the deterioration of relationships in my edit suite over...

Directing Studio Feature Films in Hollyweird with Demian Lichtenstein Today's guest is director Demian Lichtenstein. I had the pleasure of being on a panel with Demian at a film festival a few weeks ago. His generous approach to sharing his experience, knowledge and Hollywood war stories was breathtaking. I had to have him on the show to drop some knowledge and truth bombs on the IFH Tribe. Demian...

Cinematic Masterclass with Philip Bloom Today on the show we have a legend in the filmmaking blogosphere, award-winning cinematographer Philip Bloom. Philip is a world-renowned filmmaker who, for the past 10 years of his 27-year career has specialized in creating incredible cinematic images no matter what the camera. He started blogging back in the early 2000's before anyone was really doing it. I...

IFH 207: Inside the Visual Effects of Star Wars: The Last Jedi & ILM with Dan Cregan Ever wonder what it is like to work at ILM (Industrial Light and Magic) on a Star Wars film? Today's guest is one of my best friends, Dan Cregan. Dan and I go way, way back. He worked with my doing VFX on my first film BROKEN. We've continued to work together over the past 12 years. Dan has moved up in the VFX wor...

Crossover Episode: Just Shoot It Podcast I thought it would be fun to do a crossover episode with filmmaking podcast Just Shoot It with hosts Oren Kaplan and Matt Enlow. I was invited down to their studios to record a "recorded live" episode and we had a ball. The conversation was energetic and turn heated in a few places. We talked about directing, USC Film School Grads, the state of indie films,...

How to Pitch Your Screenplay in 60 Seconds with Michael Hauge You walk onto an elevator and just before the door closes Steven Spielberg gets on. You have 60 secs to pitch him your latest screenplay. What do you do? Your goal is to have your audience say “yes, I understand, and I care” after reading or watching your brand story.  If your audience just says “now I know” then you have successfully i...