How do you know someone is someone you are going to work with for the long term?
How do you know each other is capable of being supportive of what the other has to be doing?
What are things needed to make this unique relationship work?
The latest installment of my Film Courage interview attempts to answer precisely that:
Colin McCormick did a really great and in depth interview with me for SAGIndie. We covered a significant amount in pretty substantial detail. Suffice it to say that this excerpt is just the tip, and you will want to read the whole thing. But to begin with check this excerpt out on the similarities between producing and directing, and how they demonstrate everything has got to change:
I often say that there is the role of the producer and there is the role of the director that are remarkably similar. The producer comes in and has to extract the big vision, the dream of everything that you
This week I am presenting a new talk “How To Produce In The Emerging New Film Ecosystem”. This is not part of my “book tour” but really back to my gospel on the pulpit — my push to help drive us forward. I launched this new talk on Monday at AFM (sans any slides), and will follow it up today (Wednesday) in Napa (in an abbreviated format) and then off to Vancouver for Merging Media to really kick it home. I should have it down pretty well come end of the week I hope. I spoke a bit about this new rant to PlaybackDaily/StreamDaily and you can read about it here.
As both artist and entrepreneurs, we filmmaking types are stuck in legacy practices that have little applicability to the way the world is. We are holding back both the advancement of our craft and our culture, the cash and the capital. It is time to
Granted, Hope For Film is a good read if you are a film fan too, or really a creatively minded person, but it is all of us in the film business (or those that want to be) that my book is geared to. I’ve shared with you the reasons why I wrote it, and many have shared with you excerpts from it. Yes, there are many good reviews out there too to tell you that it is worth your time too, but none of that yet tells you how you will directly benefit from reading the book, does it?
Fortunately, Film Courage came to the rescue. They have released three prior interview segments to date, and this latest one lays out four key takeaways from my book. You’ll have to read the book of course to get the nuance and all the secrets, but if you want more details, watch the video. However, if you want a good idea of what’s in store for the read, here are my observations on my book:
Where does good work come from? Just because you can say something, doesn’t mean that you should. Stewing on an idea does not mean that it will have more flavor. We are told to go, go, go, but when is slow actually the fastest route?
Film Independent had me pull together some of our top indie producers and probe the secrets to collaborating well with directors. This panel reinforced what became clear writing my book: There is no template for a successful collaboration. There are certainly best practices to be observed but each film and each director requires a custom fit. Albert Berger, Lisa Cortes, and Lynette Howell rocked the stage with me at the Filmmaker Forum. Check it out some video highlights here:
FilmCourage interviewed me and asked “How do you know when your movie is ready to shoot?”. In the conversation, I simplify things into three steps:
The film business as of late has been cutting budgets to the bare bones and filmmakers are rising to the occasion. We prep our movies in less and less time. It’s mission impossible but we deliver it. But what get’s lost in the process?
