| | | | The Indie Film Game is Rigged! With Naomi McDougall Jones
I'm excited to present my next Guest Expert event--The Indie Film Game Is Rigged (time for a new game)--with Filmmaker/Financier/Activist Naomi McDougall Jones. In so many words and for so many years--especially if you've taken my two-day "Art & Science" class, I've been describing aspects of an industry that is incredibly difficult to conquer. It's always been that way. But big changes over the last several years have made things worse, making the "game" nearly impossible to win. My recent experience selling my new no-budget movie and developing a bigger budget feature have really clarified for me what's going on right now.
Then I heard filmmaker Naomi McDougall Jones speak on the subject, and she articulated exactly what I was experiencing in such an insightful and astute way that I had to get her on my Guest Expert show, so you could hear what she has to say.
As an indie filmmaker, Naomi McDougall Jones experienced these hardships first hand on her first feature, Imagine I'm Beautiful, when it was released by Candy Factory back in 2014. She meant to improve on those results with her follow-up feature, Bite Me, by eschewing traditional distribution. She released the film herself with a 3 month eventized tour of the country, logging 13,000 miles in an RV, hitting 40 cities and screening the film over 50 times. She made more money in tickets sales in the first week of the tour than she did on her entire distribution of her previous film. Still, Bite Me didn't make it's money back. It's only since starting her private equity production fund The 51 Fund that's she's been able to see how completely rigged the game is for independent filmmakers making their features on spec.
In this seminar, Naomi will detail just what a losing proposition the indie film game is, and how distributors have positioned themselves to make all the profits. She'll also explain the only way for independents to make money consistently on their features. Then she'll discuss her efforts to re-imagine an entirely new system--to change the game so that indie filmmakers can finally have a fighting chance to win.
The seminar is Tuesday, September 28th at 5pm PDT, and it's FREE. Like my last Guest Expert event, this one will be conducted via Zoom Meeting. You'll have the opportunity to ask questions and interact with Naomi and I on camera, if you want, and I'll make a recording of the event available to everyone who signs up.
Click the button below to register and we'll see you on September 28th.
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| | | | | Deep Dive Into The Making of
Robert Machoian's $60k Sundance Hit
The Killing Of Two Lovers
September 20th • 5pm PDT (8pm EDT)
My next No Budget Confidential is a week away. You won't want to miss my interview with Robert Machoian, as we break down the making of his Sundance hit feature The Killing Of Two Lovers. I often say you'll never make your money back on a no-budget film, and that's kind of the theme of my upcoming The Indie Game Is Rigged! seminar above, but Robert managed to do it, one of the few, the proud--the exception that proves the rule. He didn't get lucky, and he didn't do it by playing it safe. He spent years developing his craft and learning how to make movies, and he applied what he learned to Two Lovers, his fourth feature.
We'll break down all those steps and reveal the many things Robert learned in his journey up to now. We'll not only explain the details of his shoot--what crew he used, how he cast his amazing actors, where he got the money, how he marshaled the resources of a small town in Utah, what gear he utilized--but we'll also show clips from the movie and demonstrate the bold directing choices he made and why. You'll come away enlightened and inspired to make your no-budget film after attending this FREE event on Monday, the 20th.
Sign up now; space is limited! |
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