Making Movies is HARD!!!: The Struggles of Indie Filmmaking

On this Thursday bonus episode we are going to play the interview from episode 264 from May 2020 with director Justin Kurzel who talks about his feature the True History of the Kelly Gang and how he parlayed a successful indie feature into directing studio features. Alrik thought this was a good match for Stephen Chbosky because they are both writer/directors working at at the studio level. After...

This week on our very special 500th episode we welcome writer and director Stephen Chbosky on the show to talk about starting his career by directing an indie feature that got into Sundance and getting management based on response to the feature and how he parlayed that to writing and directing studio features. After that we play another round of THE GAME and talk about what 500 episodes means to...

On this Thursday bonus episode we are going to play the interview from episode 322 from June 2021 with director Michelle Boyaner who talks about her life as a documentary filmmaker, how she gets her films made and how she has made it her full time job. I felt like this was a good match for Penny because they are both full time documentary filmmakers making their films on their own terms. After tha...

This week we welcome director Penny Lane on the show to talk about directing her latest feature, Confession of a Good Samaritan, why she decided to make a film starring herself and how she has so successfully navigated the festival circuit with her previous films. After that we play another round of THE GAME, enjoy! Don’t forget to support us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/mmihpodcast Leave us a Revi...

On this Thursday bonus episode we are going to play the interview from episode 20 from October 20 with writer/director Andrew Schrader who talks about sustainable filmmaking ideas and talks to Alrik and old co-host Timothy about the making of his two feature films. Alrik thought this was a great episode to play with Andrew’s latest episode because this was Andrews very first appearance on the show...

This week we welcome writer, director and novelist Andrew Schrader on the show to talk about his latest book Unnamable which is currently available for pre-order on Kindle and Amazon. Andrew also talks about the difference between screenwriting and writing a book and a little bit about his latest short film After that we play another round of THE GAME, enjoy! Don’t forget to support us on Patreon!...

On this Thursday bonus episode we are going to play the interview from episode 260 from April 2020 with director Neasa Hardiman who talks about making her first feature Sea Fever, which she coordinated across 4 countries and many different grants to do so, and what it was like to work in other environments. We thought Neasa was a good match for Nora because they both came from different countries...

This week we welcome writer and director Nora Fingscheidt on the show to talk about directing her latest feature The Outrun starring Saoirse Ronan and how she went from directing her first feature System Crasher which led her to a career in Hollywood, enjoy! Don’t forget to support us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/mmihpodcast Leave us a Review on Apple Podcasts! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...

On this Thursday bonus episode we are going to play the interview from episode 238 from November 2019 with filmmaker Dominic Mercurio who talks about making his first short film after 8 years. While Dominic and Darieus have very different stories they both talk about going back to filmmaking after taking a break, so I felt they were a good match. After that we play another round of You’re the expe...

This week we welcome director Darieus Legg on the show to talk about directing his short film Stoker Machine and deciding to leave hollywood and focus on making films 100% independently. After that we play another round of THE GAME, enjoy! Don’t forget to support us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/mmihpodcast Leave us a Review on Apple Podcasts! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/making-movies-is-h...

On this Thursday bonus episode we are going to play the interview from episode 318 from May 2021 with actor turned director Nitzan Mager who talks about taking the leap from acting to directing during the pandemic and how they made their pandemic webseries. Alrik thought Nitzan was a good match for Brian because they are both actors who then switched to writing and directing, although they took ve...

This week we welcome producer, writer, director and star of his first feature, Two Lives in Pittsburg to talk about how he made his first feature, why this was the movie he decided to make and his process for pulling it off. After that Liz aks me why is it so expensive to make a movie, enjoy! Don’t forget to support us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/mmihpodcast Leave us a Review on Apple Podcasts! ht...

On this Thursday bonus episode we are going to play the first episode where my old co-host Timothy and I talked about fundraising, way back from episode 73 from October 2016 where we talk about what we know about fundraising, back when all I had done was raise $6k for my first short film Strange Thing. This is a great match for our solo episode because it just shows how far I have come in my knowl...

This week we welcome our producer Eric Toms to interview Alrik and I all about fundraising for our films, including my successful crowdfunding campaign for Best Friends Forever After that we play another round of THE GAME, enjoy! Don’t forget to support us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/mmihpodcast Leave us a Review on Apple Podcasts! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/making-movies-is-hard-the-st...

On this Thursday bonus episode we are going to play the interview from episode 173 from September 2018 with stunt coordinator/actor and stunman Tony Vella who talks about everything that goes into pulling off stunts. Alrik thought this was a nice pairing for JJ because Tony talks about stunts from an indie perspective and we get to hear about stunts from JJ at a studio level and it makes for a fun...

This week we welcome director, 2nd unit director and stunt man JJ Perry on the show to talk about his latest film The Killers Game, how he made the jump from stunts to 2nd unit directing and how he made the jump from 2nd unit directing, to directing. After that we play another round of THE GAME, enjoy! Don’t forget to support us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/mmihpodcast Leave us a Review on Apple Po...

On this Thursday bonus episode we are going to play the interview from episode 436 from about a year ago in August 2023 with producer Melanie Miller who talks about finding her way in the industry, from being a VP at Samuel Goldwyn to starting her own production and winning an Oscar! I thought Mel was a good match for Pinky Promise because they feel like they are at similar levels and making movie...

This week we welcome Producers, EPs and the team behind Pinky Promise Films Jessamine Burgum and Kara Durrett on the show to talk about their latest film I Don’t Understand You starring Nick Kroll, how they got their production company started and how they manage a film finance company and a production company at the same time. After that we play another round of THE GAME, enjoy! Don’t forget to s...

On this Thursday bonus episode we are going to play the interview from episode 344 from November 2021 with the team at the Film Festival Alliance who talks about what the film festival alliance is and how they help film festivals grow and stand out in the sea of thousands of film festivals. Alrik thought this was a good match for Spades episode because they both focus on film festivals and how imp...

This week we welcome writer, producer and director Spade Robinson on the show from the Rogers Short Film Festival in Arkansas to talk about filmmaking in Arkansa, the film festival and her upcoming feature. After that we play another round of THE GAME, enjoy! Don’t forget to support us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/mmihpodcast Leave us a Review on Apple Podcasts! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcas...

On this Thursday bonus episode we are going to play the interview from episode 407 from January 2023 with director Roxanne Benjamin who talks about establishing a career as a genre director and her latest movie at the time, There’s Something Wrong with The Children. I thought this was a good match for Audrey because they are both female genre directors who focus on directing rather than writing/di...

This week we welcome director Audrey Cummings on the show to talk about directing her latest feature, Place of Bones, how she picks her projects and why she enjoys being a genre filmmaker. After that we play another round of THE GAME, enjoy! Don’t forget to support us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/mmihpodcast Leave us a Review on Apple Podcasts! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/making-movies-is...

On this Thursday bonus episode we are going to play the interview from episode 316 from May 2021 with producer Andrew Carlberg who talks about his life as a producer, how he got started, how he picks his projects and finds his budgets and why he still produces short films. Alrik thought Andrew was a good match for Cameron because they are both full time producers who make a living producing films....

This week we welcome producer Cameron Burns on the show to talk about moving into filmmaking, starting as a producer and how he was able to turn one successful feature into a full time career producing features. After that we play another round of THE GAME, enjoy! Don’t forget to support us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/mmihpodcast Leave us a Review on Apple Podcasts! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/p...

On this Thursday bonus episode we are going to play the first episode with Liz Manashil as our full time co-host back from episode 226 from September 2019 where she talks about crowdfunding in great detail, which was very useful for me since i was just about to start my crowdfunding campaign. This is a great match for our solo episode because this is Liz and I’s first solo episode, so I thought it...