| | | | | Tangerine Dream: The Inside Story on Sean Baker's iPhone Film |
| | Filmmaker Sean Baker has had an interesting ride on the independent film bandwagon. Going back and forth between TV and film, building an impressive body of work in the micro-budget film space, nominated for the Cassavetes Award three times, (twice in the same year!), and yet, always left off the Sundance party list.
Until this year.
And with an unlikely entry: a scrappy, rough-hewed no-budgeter starring transgender first-time actors and shot on Apple iPhones. Tangerine's origin story is as unusual and interesting as the film, and like a lot of successes, it starts with a perceived failure. Read More |
| | | | ALL-NEW NO BUDGET FILM SCHOOL CLASS!
June 6 - 7, 2015 • Raleigh Studios • Los Angeles, CA
Mark your calendars for my all-new weekend class! This is the first new 2-day class I've offered in years and I'm very excited about it. I'm calling it the Upper-Level Coursework Weekend, and it features a brand new No Budget Film School class--Course 306: Advanced Film Anatomy: Dissecting a Pig; and two new Cinema Language classes--Course 305: Think Like An Editor and Course 302: Mastering Dialogue And Subtext.
The Cinema Language classes are somewhat self-explanatory. Advanced Film Anatomy is an unprecedented, in-depth look at the making and selling of a no-budget feature, my recent film Pig. From the one-sentence germ of an idea to the most recent distributor statements, we'll cover every detail in the filmmaking process. Every trick, mistake, and number will be uncovered in this surgical approach to the film case study. And I'll include special primers on Crowdfunding and Festival Strategy.
An Eventbrite page is coming soon with more information and the ability to register. And of course, you will all be eligible for the Subscriber discount. While this class is open to anyone, it was designed as a deep dive for former No Budget Film School and Cinema Language students, and all former students will be entitled to a special student discount. See you in June! |
| | | FREE WEBINAR: How To Make A Film With Pocket Change with Mark Stolaroff, Presented by Moviola
April 7, 2015 • 11:30am PDT
Be sure to join me for this webinar I'm doing April 7th. If you catch it live, it's free and I will be answering questions via chat throughout the session. After that, it's available as an archive, but you will have to pay for it at that point.
If you're looking to make a no-budget film, (and if you're not, why are you on my mailing list??), and you've never taken my "Art & Science" class, this is a great opportunity to discover a couple of key ideas from the class. In this one hour webinar I will cover:
- Two crucial concepts for making a quality no-budget film
- How to turn production problems into opportunities
- The real lesson of Dogme 95 and how it applies to you
- The two lists that every no-budget filmmaker should have before writing their script
- The most important elements to the success of your no-budget film
- A detailed case study of Chris Nolan's $12,000 first feature Following
|
| | | | FARAH GOES BANG
Coming out on iTunes April 10
If you attended my May 2013 No Budget Film School class, then you got an opportunity to meet the fabulous filmmakers of Farah Goes Bang, just following their triumphant world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival, where director Meera Menon won the inaugural Nora Ephron Award. Meera and co-writer/co-producer Laura Goode regaled the class with their journey from college friends to filmmakers-in-crime.
I know the story well, since I met the two somewhere in the middle, when they had a story and a dream and no money, and hired me to consult. I thought the script--about a trio of twenty-something women who travel across the country from LA to Ohio campaigning for John Kerry right before the 2004 election--was terrific. Smart, bawdy and funny as hell. We discussed how they would approach the material, the road trip, the various locations, the period details, casting, (I gave them the name of an actress I had just seen at Sundance in I Am Not A Hipster and they cast her as one of the leads!) and other aspects. And then we talked about Kickstarter and how they might raise the money they needed from crowdfunding. And raise it they did. With an incredibly organized and clever campaign, they managed to raise over $80,000 from over 760 backers. Most campaigns that raise that much reach beyond their personal networks, (and usually require well-known elements to do that), but their secret was to hit all their friends and hit them hard, making sure everyone they knew pitched in to give and spread the word.
After they shot the film, they contacted me again to see if I might be able to help them in post, and I jumped at the chance to work on the film in a deeper way. Since that successful premiere at Tribeca, the film has gone on to play many more festivals, picking up several other awards. It's now coming out via the crowdfunding/distribution platform Seed&Spark next week, and I encourage you to pre-order it on iTunes. Not only will you enjoy the film, but pre-ordering insures they get better placement on iTunes so that others can discover its charms. You can get a preview of the film here and here and watch the trailer here.
Due to the success of Farah, director Menon was recently tapped to direct a new feature from production company Broad Street Pictures and producer Alysia Reiner, perhaps best known for her role on Orange Is The New Black.
|
| | | | LOS ANGELES FILM COLLECTIVE
For those of you who've taken my class and are itching to make something, but don't have something of your own, or don't know where to start, there's the Meetup group LA Film Collective. The LAFC is all about participating in the process. A member will pull the trigger on a project--a short film that can usually be shot in a day or a weekend--and other members sign up to help. That means, manning a camera, recording sound, lighting, art department, casting, acting and more. The goal is to get involved and practice, and to nurture and help everyone around you. Check out their page to learn more and to join. It's absolutely free and will pay for itself in experience and karma many times over.
|
| | | HOLLYSHORTS MONTHLY SCREENING (Los Angeles) & CALL FOR ENTRIES DEADLINE
Screening: April 23, 2015 • 7p & 9p • TCL Chinese Theater
Submission Deadline (Regular): April 10, 2015
Hollyshorts' monthly screening series continues on April 23rd with two screenings. The 7pm show is actually a feature film called Simple Being and the 9pm show is a program of shorts. As always, my subscribers get a $4 discount on these screenings. Just use the promo code NOBUDGET when you check out. That code is also good for 50% off submission fees when you submit your short film to their annual festival. The regular deadline is April 10th, so you have a week to save.
|
| | |
