Making Indie Films

As a filmmaker or writer it is important to make good work, but it is equally, if not more important, to get that work read or seen. If nobody reads or sees your work then the quality will go unnoticed and your skills will pass without recognition. No - I’m not saying prepare your Academy Award speech or get ready to collect a trophy at Sundance - I’m just saying do the diligence to get your work seen or read.

There are many ways to send out work or get it seen. Obviously for completed works there are the obvious festival routes and screenplay contests. However, there are also more offbeat ways to get your work noticed. Perhaps you have friends in the business or other filmmakers that you kick-around-with… Well, there is never any harm in getting them to read your script or you can perhaps even organize an impromptu screening for other filmmakers in your home or at a small local venue. The key is to generate interest and put your work out in the world. Building a website with your trailer and clips or posting on YouTube is another way to generate interest and have people looking at your stuff.

When it all comes down to it, perhaps you just have to start sending out emails to engage with people. You can send pitch letters or introductions or even the tried and trusted screenwriter query letter. The unfortunate fact is, your success will be more about your level of diligence than your level of skill. Remember - the indie film business is built on hard work and tenacity. Now repeat after me - I WILL GET MY WORK SEEN - I WILL GET MY SCREENPLAY READ! Say it 100 times. Say it until you believe it and then start sending out those emails!

Below is the trailer for 30 DAYS OF NIGHT… Not sure if it’s a Halloween winner or Halloween whiner…

One of the hardest parts of being an independent filmmaker or writer is keeping body and soul together while you do it. What I mean by this is simple stuff, like writing or shooting and paying the rent at the same time. Oftentimes it will be tough - almost impossible. You have worked hard, but are seeing limited cash returns on what you have made or written. This is nature of doing things creative. If you prefer the regular paycheck - then go work in a bank. Still, life isn’t always about money - sometimes it’s just about making work that you believe in. If you can somehow just keep-on keeping on, then I promise that you will ultimately get the recognition and pay-off that you seek. Meanwhile, try to find ways to use your skills to make ancillary cash. There is often unusual paid work out there for filmmakers and writers if you just do the diligence and seek it out.

Aside from cash money, I really enjoyed the trailer for BE KIND, REWIND - the latest from kooky frenchman, Michel Gondry…

I’m not sure if technically LARS AND THE REAL GIRL is an indie movie. Sure, it stars top notch indie thespian Ryan Gosling. Still, with a veteran commercials director like Craig Gillespie at the helm and a script from a SIX FEET UNDER series writer, you might imagine that any indie allusions end there. However, the reason that I have singled out Lars and The Real Girl is because of its independent spirit and more importantly the fact that if somebody WILL bankroll this kind of project then there is hope for all of us.

L-A-T-R-G concerns a lonely man, who for reasons of mental dysfunction, buys something that approximates a Real Doll off the internet and parades it around town to friends and relatives as his girlfriend. Yes! This film is about a man who buys a live size sex-doll (for what of a better word) and treats it as a real person. It looks funny from the trailer - however, this is still a movie whose central prop is a live size sex doll. It’s not something off HBO late night, but a real movie schedule to be in theaters at the weekend. It’s being released by MGM no less.

While Wes Anderson is quirky (yes quirky - don’t you hate that word?) and held-up by many as the doyen of indie cross-over. I say that this movie about a Real Doll is much more independent and subversive. I think it shows us that we can be different and contemporary and at the same time deal with more marginal issues or cultural artifacts. I found L-A-T-R-G to be quite an inspiration in some respects. It actually made me more confident in sending out the latest draft of my script.

Today’s exercise is simple. Find yourself a movie (about to be released) that inspires you - a movie that gives you a sense of possibility and makes your own project seem plausible. Savor the sense that you can and will be inspired to succeed.

Meanwhile here’s the L-A-T-R-G trailer for your edification…

Much the same as painting or creating any work of art, your script or your movie will never be finished to your sense of perfection. There will be things wrong with it, scenes you still want to tinker with, shots that you hate, dialogue glitches that you just can’t edit out. Still, despite those errors (that seem gigantic to you), there will come a point where you have to abandon the creative process. YES! Abandon the project and MOVE ON. I don’t mean leave it half-finished - NO! I just mean finish it to the best of your ability and get it out there…

If it’s a script, clean it up and start showing it to actors or money. If it’s a movie, stick the head and end credits on that sucker and start sending it to festivals. All of your work is completely useless unless you put it out there in the world. So, what I’m suggesting, whether you’re near to finishing or just stuck - finish the thing up and start getting feedback - at the very least. Remember this truly isn’t rocket science or the cure for cancer. You will not be totally judged on this piece of work, anyway - but it will be viewed more as a building block in a body of work. YES! A body of work. You can have that, but first you need to finish what you’re working on right now and get it out there.

That is my mission for the next 48 hours. To finish up and to get stuff out in the world. You need to do the same… Meanwhile, here’s a nice little interview with Wes Anderson and Adrian Brody about THE DARJEELING LIMITED…

Today is my Birthday, hence no post yesterday and only this today. My Wichita thing STILL isn’t finished - still, I’m taking the day off for R-AND-R. Hopefully this weekend it will be done, as it looks like I’ve just been hired to write a silly action romp… The trailer below might give you a few clues…

Tied up, so be content with this trailer from Barton Fink and the above picture of the troubled Lindsay Lohan …

Still in rewrite deadline hell, so a personal reminiscence about documentary filmmaking will have to suffice today…

Recently I flipped on the TV and came across a fantastic ’80s New Wave documentary entitled MADE IN SHEFFIELD. As the title suggests this 52 minute retrospective dealt with the rise of early electronica in Sheffield, England in the late 1970s and charted the rise of THE HUMAN LEAGUE, HEAVEN 17, CABARET VOLTAIRE, ABC and the lesser known but equally interesting ARTERY. This was the pop music of my youth - stylishly re-presented through a series of candid interviews by director Eve Wood. Despite catching the odd typo in some of the captions - there was something very honest and touching about this film. Apart from Phil Oakey, Martin Ware and a more current Jarvis Cocker, most of the interviewees never quite retained any great fame or mass appeal after their bubble burst. I think a great many of them are back in Sheffield. Still, the music lives on. Some of it as the greatest British pop albums of the 80s. Who can forget “Penthouse and Pavement” from Heaven 17, or The Human League’s “Dare,” or ABC’s “The Lexicon of Love.”

After remembering my youth so fondly, imagine my surprise when later (on USA Network) I heard “Don’t You Want baby..?” used as the jingle for the current CHIPS AHOY commercial. Like I said - the music lives on - unfortunately inscrupulous Ad Execs have turned the Human League into four animated cookies driving a funny car. Ah, well… At least that means a few well deserved sheckels for Phil Oakey and co.

To give you an idea of the look and flava, here is the MADE IN SHEFFIELD trailer…

I also couldn’t resist posting the DON’T YOU WANT ME BABY video clip…

I am tied-up in rewrite hell today, so this post has top be very brief. It’s one of those woods for the trees moments, so I’m just trying to cowboy up. In the meantime, I have to recommend Facebook again. It is a tremendous tool for the Indie Filmmaker. I have just managed to reconnect with so many old friends and colleagues there. On that note I need to send out a big shout to British director Q. His UK crime/gangster movie Deadmeat has been selected to play at the All Black Film Festival in Los Angeles, later this month.

Below is the deadmeat trailer…. Normal posts should resume tomorrow…