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Truly Free Film

Want To Spend Thanksgiving Together?

Sort of…

Now, for the first time ever, anywhere….  sort of… the full length interview Filmcourage did with me.  Got 30 minutes? I don’t know mind if you even play it in the background!

If you need a

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Truly Free Film

It Broke My Heart But The Mission Remained Intact

You’ve given me the support I needed to go forth and try to get this done. Granted, I had enough support from the beginning to actually believe there was a chance I could not just make movies, but make good movies. That is a real gift, an advantage few have. Courage, faith — those things were there, but so was doubt and fear. Love and hate. The wolves in battle.

What if it didn’t work? And then when that was true, when it did stop working, or at least start to stop working for most, what made me think I could help build something better?

What gives us the strength to make big decisions? To change our path? To take on new burdens?

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Truly Free Film

Why All Film Folk MUST Read My Book

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:

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Truly Free Film

The Dilemma And Contradiction Of Taking Time

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?

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Truly Free Film

The Priorities Of Producing Today

Our goal producing today should be to get our movies MADE well, SEEN widely, and COMPENSATED fairly.

We need to support all four legs: Artists, Audiences, Industry, and Investors.

The best thing we can do is to make sure that investors receive a risk appropriate return.

Check out all the details in this video (never mind the pretty flowers):

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Truly Free Film

Film Courage’s Top 10 of March

My interview for Film Courage made their top ten of the month.  I seem to be perpetually stuck at number 5; I guess that is truly Middle-Of-The-Road, eh?

They’ve clearly got at least four people far more interesting than I, so check them out.  You can find  Jamin & Kiowa Winans of INK there, and Sobi’s Zak Forsman & Kevin Shah, amongst a slew of others.

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Truly Free Film

Film-based "Radio" Shows

With Sundance around the corner, many filmmakers are wondering how to get some publicity for their work. The great wide open of the internet has opened a host of new options. There are audio and video podcast shows all over the web. Some still are primarily radio based, others are purely internet. Whatever they are, they are the truly free filmmakers’ friends.

From an industry standard, the gold standard remains Elvis Mitchell’s The Treatment on LA’s KCRW, yet new podcasts and shows are leaping up all over. Some are going to give Elvis a run for his money. Okay, granted none have the audience level of Elvis’ show either, but it has got to build somewhere.
Savvy producers will keep track of these shows, not just for the information they deliver, but also to use for promotional purposes themselves. Some of these shows may only garner listener ship in the hundreds, but think of that as the hub of the wheel, with each listener speaking it up via six spokes and so on and so forth, and well that wheel can get pretty large.
I have not found a list anywhere of these internet and radio film shows and felt we could use one. I hope in this new year the community, the blogs, and the film support orgs join together and really dig up the info that is in our reach that could help lift us into something far more substantial than we are now. We can’t keep our words looping back among ourselves endlessly. We have to push it out of our house and into our friends’, neighbors’ and family’s.

Some shows I have participated in are:
Film Courage (here’s my show — and btw, I was their 5th most listened to show of the year, but with your help I could easily catch #4)
I am going to do this one soon:
Others I know of but that they haven’t asked me on:
Film Snobbery (vpodcast)
Film Week (So Cal Radio 89.3 KPCC)
The Indie Music Show (vpodcast that focuses on music but also has an indie film segment)
Other similar things filmmakers could do to gain exposure:
I am sure there are a lot more similar things out there. Let us know so we can build a comprehensive list together.