Indie Film Hustle® - A Filmmaking Podcast

Blueprint to Make it in the Film Business with Stage 32 Have you ever wanted an easy blueprint to make it in the film business? I know I have. Well you are in for a treat. I had an amazing interview with Richard "RB" Botto from the online film community Stage 32.com. Stage 32 is a US-based social network and educational site for creative professionals who work in film, television and theater. Stag...

Ah, the good ol' digital vs film debate. Well you won't get any of that in the article or podcast. With Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight coming out Dec 25, 2015, and it being shot in "Glorious 70mm," there has been a lot of chatter about film again. With filmmakers like Christopher Nolan shooting 35mm and IMAX on his latest film and JJ Abrams shooting Star Wars: The Force Awakens in 35 mm, fi...

IFH 027: Kico Velarde - From Being Broke to Emmy Winner The Cinderella story that is Kico Velarde's life is remarkable. From being a struggling out of work editor to becoming the toast of the Cannes International Film Festival to winning an Emmy for producing Jay Leno's Garage. Crazy!!! His film PVC-1 - was accepted into the Director's Fortnight at the Cannes International Film Festival and was no...

Is Film School Really Worth the Cost? Let me start by saying that I’m a big believer in education and constant learning throughout life. I believe that the only way to truly experience the amazing things the world has to offer is by educating yourself as much as humanly possible. With that said, people who go to film schools to educate themselves about the basics of filmmaking are fools. Now full...

So I directed a small action short film a few years back called "BROKEN." I shot the film on MiniDV Tape (yes I'm old) on the Panasonic DVX 100a, the indie film workhorse of its day. My team and I filmed it in West Palm Beach Florida (not exactly the Mecca of the film industry) and it starred only local, non named actors.  Now once the filming was over I marketed the living hell out of that little...

Crowdfunding has always been a mystery to me. I never really understood how indie filmmakers can raise $50,000, $100,000 or $1,000,000 to make their films. I tried once with the "if I built they will come" idea but they never came.  When I discovered this weeks guest, Emily Best CEO and founder of the indie film crowdfunding website Seed & Spark, I had to get her on the show. I attempted to squeez...

I'm never surprised anymore when I speak to filmmakers and ask them one simple but powerful question, does your film have an audience? I usually just get a blank stare. This is probably the most important question you can ask yourself as a indie filmmaker. Now if you are making film as art and have no intention or care at all about making money with your film then should stop reading this email. ...

Imagine you were back in the early 1900’s, when the film industry was a newborn. People were learning and experimenting with the new technology of moving pictures. Craftsmen were excited about discovering new ways of creating art with this powerful and amazing new technology. You would think that could never be recreated in todays high tech world but you would be mistaken. May I introduce you to W...

An issue I see come up again and again is indie filmmakers shooting a format that they can't handle in post production. Currently the big buzz word is "Ultra High Definition." Technically, "Ultra High Definition" is actually a derivation of the 4K digital cinema standard. However while your local multiplex shows images in native 4096 x 2160 4K resolution, the new Ultra HD consumer format has a sli...

Making scary independent horror films in the current marketplace is difficult to say the least. Today’s sophisticated audiences are getting harder and harder to scare every day When many filmmakers start out they make a film in the horror genre. It worked for famed filmmakers like Guillermo del Toro, Sam Raimi, George Romero, James Wan, John Carpenter, Wes Craven, Roman Polanski, David Cronenberg...

Now before I get a bunch of hate mail please let me explain. I love cinematographers. You can;t make a movie without on. It's by far one of the toughest positions on set. The pressure is immense. With that said the explosion of low cost cameras and lighting gear has thrown a huge amount of "cinematographers" into the market place. This podcast is a warning to young and inexperienced filmmakers not...

The world of film distribution is filled with unknown land mines. Even more mysterious is how an indie filmmaker can get their film placed on these elusive VOD or Video on Demand platforms? That's where this episode comes in, we have video on demand expert Linda Nelson from Indie Film Rights, the film distribution arm of Nelson Madison Films. Linda walks us through the maze of VOD and film distrib...

I always get asked by indie filmmakers: “How do I get attention for my indie film?” This is one of the major challenges facing indie filmmakers/entrepreneurs in today’s noisy independent film landscape. One fast way is to get an “influencer” to focus a little light onto you or your project. Now this is much easier said than done. When I promote my projects I approach every online indie film influe...

If you have ever looked into selling your film at a film market then you more than likely have heard of the North America's largest film market, AFM or the American Film Market. The American Film Market is a labyrinth of crazy characters, thieves, wannabes, filmmakers hustling their latest film, distributors, industry professionals and of course buyers and sellers from around the globe. My guest t...

I know I'm being a bit dramatic when I say "Understand Post Production Workflow or DIE!" but I've seen and been involved with sooooooo many independent films that just die in post production because of one simple thing, they didn't understand post production workflow. Post Production Workflow is not a black art that only a few understand, granted it is getting more and more complicated these days...

I've been an editor now for over twenty years. When I was starting out I looked everywhere for some course, book, video, or anything that could teach me the black art of creative editing. There are many courses design to teach you AVID, Adobe Premiere or Final Cut Pro software but nothing on the creative process. One day I was surfing the net and found this site called "Inside the Edit." The site ...

How to Turn Your Independent Film into a Money Making Business So many independent film creators just want to think of themselves as artists. That's fine but it's called show business for a reason. If you don't understand the business you won't be able to create the show. In this episode I share with you what it takes to change your mindset and start thinking of your independent film not just as a...

Here's Part Two of my interview with Suzanne Lyons.  This week on the show I'm excited to have uber independent film producer Suzanne Lyons. She has been living in the indie film space for over twenty years. Working on SAG Ultra Low Budgets to over $15,000,000 budgets she has seen it all. Suzanne Lyons takes you by the hand and walks you through what it takes to produce your first feature film. Sh...

This week on the show I'm excited to have uber independent film producer Suzanne Lyons. She has been living in the indie film space for over twenty years. Working on SAG Ultra Low Budgets to over $15,000,000 budgets she has seen it all. Suzanne Lyons takes you by the hand and walks you through what it takes to produce your first feature film. She goes over the pitfalls, legal concerns, deliverable...

Suki Medencevic ASC and the Art of Cinematography I have found over the years that is one of the biggest technical issues in independent film. Someone borrows a friends RED Camera or Arri Alexa and thinks that's all you need. Cinematography is not only a mystical art but imperitive in today's gluttony of indie films in the market place. Good cinematography can really make your independent film pro...

This week we were lucky enough to have as out guest screenwriting guru Karl Iglesias. He has written award winning books including: The 101 Habits of Highly Successful Screenwriters, Writing for Emotional Impact, and Cut to the Chase. I discovered Karl Iglesias' work reading Writing for Emotional Impact. It really transformed the way I wrote screenplays and created a bunch of new habits that I sti...

I'm so excited to have on the show this week Dov Simens, founder of Hollywood Film Institute. He created the remarkable 2 Day Film School and has launched the careers of Quentin Tarantino, Chris Nolan, Spike Lee, Kevin Smith, Queen Latifah, Guy Ritchie & more. Dov's teaching style is entertaining, in your face and straight from the street. Real world, practical film education. Sit back and prepare...

In this episode we tackle visual effects in indie film. Visual Effects in Indie Film is really hit or miss, mostly miss. Many indie filmmakers don't any idea what to do when it comes to visual effects. Uber visual effects artist Dan Cregan takes you through a master class on indie film visual effects and tells us how he went from indie visual effects to huge studio films like Guaridans of the Gala...

So you want to move to Los Angeles and make it big in Hollywood. The question is should you? Do you need to? When should you if you do? What kind of plan should I have in place? What should I do if I live in another country? All will be answered in this episode. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/indie-film-hustle-a-filmmaking-podcast--2664729/support .

On this week's episode we discuss a dirty indie film distribution secret, Producer's Reps. Like all things in life not all producer's reps are evil, scam artists or scumbags. Many do a great job and are more than fair with the filmmakers they work for. I'm hear to warn you about the other kind of producer's rep, the predatory, conman that loves to promise the world and deliver nothing to the alrea...