2009 December | CounterCulture Independent Filmmakers' Resource

Posted on: December 31st, 2009 You In?

This holiday, create a ripple of happiness triggered by your single act of kindness. Update your status to share what you're doing to spread joy. Then inspire others to join you by asking “You in?” The more people you tell, the larger your ripple.
We'll use our network to share your good deeds with others. We'll also be doing our own acts of kindness inspired by your updates. So whether you pay for someone's groceries or drop off a coat for the homeless, your actions will encourage others around the world to join in. How big will your ripple of happiness be?
via You In?.

Posted on: December 31st, 2009 How to Become A Guerrilla Filmmaker

A Guerrilla Filmmaker is a filmmaker who may be short on money but not on passion and vision. They have an attitude of creativity and freedom. They are often stealth, mobile and innovative in their approach. They not only break the rules but work creatively within them. Guerrilla Filmmakers are the new breed of Independent Filmmakers who embody the sort of true independence that used to inspire the independent film movement in the past, but is now often lost in the shuffle of the faux independence propagated by Hollywood studios co-opting independent themes and styles.
One hallmark of independence is that it comes out of yourself. It isn't trying to blatantly copy somebody else (although you might have influences, which is different). It isn't contriving to look or feel independent by wearing a certain style of clothes or emulating certain directors. Independence means you have a voice that needs to be heard – a statement to make and a passion to make it.
via POV-How to Become A Guerrilla Filmmaker.

Posted on: December 31st, 2009 The Alien Agenda: A Filmmaker’s Log-Chapter 1: Envisioning District 9: Watch Free

The Alien Agenda: A Filmmaker's Log-Chapter 1: Envisioning District 9 Watch for Free

via Amazon.com: The Alien Agenda: A Filmmaker’s Log-Chapter 1: Envisioning District 9: Sony Pictures: Video On Demand.

Posted on: December 30th, 2009 Independent Filmmaking Tips: Top 5 Things You Need To Know When Making Your Low Budget Film | The Film Sensei

Yes, it’s that time again here at the FilmSensei.com for a brand new batch of independent filmmaking tips. For today’s indie filmmaking tips I’m going to go back to the beginning and talk about the making of “Bite Me, Fanboy.” To be more specific, I’m going to talk about everything I wish I knew when I was making my first no-budget independent film.

A screencap from Bite Me, Fanboy — Jerome Joyce reads a comic book.

Now, anyone who has every sat around and talked to me about low budget filmmaking has heard me drone on and on about my first feature film, “Bite Me, Fanboy,” and what an incredible experience it was for me. Back when we shot the movie in 2001 I already had about 8 years of experience as a film/tv storyboard artist and a tiny bit of TV directing, but I had never directed a film of any kind — up until that point I had never imagined even wanting to do a film of my own. Comic books were my life and my one true love then and I couldn’t imagine going out of my way to work in another industry.

via Independent Filmmaking Tips: Top 5 Things You Need To Know When Making Your Low Budget Film | The Film Sensei.

Posted on: December 30th, 2009 Guerrilla Filmmaking 101

Why are you doing this? That simple question that I felt I had to answer time and time again after committing all my resources, time, energy and money to a project I didn't feel was 'commercial', and had absolutely no name talent attached was one that kept popping up repeatedly. The answer was very simple; I had to do it. I had a great script, great actors, I happened to have maybe enough money and I thought maybe, if I'm lucky, this has the potential to be a great film. The idea that it would make money never affected my decision to proceed with the film, and once committed finishing was not a question of “if”, just “when”. I thought it would be a great film. That question still looms in front of every one of my projects; 'Why am I doing this?', and, more frequently these days, 'If this was my money that I'm spending, would I still do this film?' If the answer is no, the answer is no.
If you are considering taking your first plunge into no-budget, self-financed filmmaking and believe you have a great script that you have to shoot, do yourself an enormous favor and honestly answer that question before you start. If you are sick of waiting for someone else's money to arrive on your doorstep before you shoot your first film and are financing it from whatever means available to you, it's a question that could mean everything to the bankruptcy judge at your hearing. Filmmaking this way can literally ruin your life if you walk into it believing that you're a great filmmaker and you can make all your money back on 'the other end.'

via Guerrilla Filmmaking 101 – MOTIVATION.

Posted on: December 30th, 2009 Grass Roots Marketing for Indie Films

The indie film business is a tumultuous, often unpredictable world, where survival is always a tenuous proposition. You can have a low-budget movie like Paranormal Experience or The Blair Witch Project that comes out of nowhere, (with almost no budget), and takes the world by storm, but more often than not, a single film can easily bankrupt an indie producer.
But for those with the fortitude to play in this sandbox, it’s always a labor of love.

via Grass Roots Marketing for Indie Films.

Posted on: December 30th, 2009 Secrets of the Oscar Ballots

Here are some things you might not know about those Oscar ballots, which began arriving in Academy members’ mailboxes this week:
The 11 different ballots come in 11 different colors, and cover 15 of the 24 Oscar categories. For the most part, each ballot deals with a single category. The two exceptions are the writing ballot, where Original Screenplay and Adapted Screenplay are both included, and the acting ballot, which includes all four acting awards.

via Secrets of the Oscar Ballots | The Wrap.

Posted on: December 30th, 2009 10 Hollywood Apps You Must Have | The Wrap

So maybe you finally got an iPhone for Christmas or perhaps you’ve had one for a while but never really explored the digital landscape it opens up. Time to get with the program – or application.

For a town built on being first fastest and the allure of the shiniest sleekest new thing, it is no surprise that Hollywood has taken to iPhone Apps like paparazzi to a drunken starlet.

via 10 Hollywood Apps You Must Have | The Wrap.

Posted on: December 30th, 2009 10 Screenwriters who use Twitter

Do you ever lie awake at night, thinking "I wish I knew if there are any good writers that use Twitter!"?

Those days are over, because Raindance has searched the Twitterverse to compile a list of the best writers to follow on Twitter.

via raindance.co.uk: 10 Writers who use Twitter.

Posted on: December 30th, 2009 The Twelve Days of Screenwriting Day 5 The Spirit of Christmas

The Twelve Days of Screenwriting

Day 5 December the 29^th The Spirit of Christmas

“It is required of every man,” the ghost returned, “that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow-men, and travel far and wide; and, if that spirit goes not forth in life, it is condemned to do so after death.”

“And it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us!”

There are many stories, films and even songs that all deal with the spirit of Christmas. In Dickens case, it was three actual spirits that characterized the metaphor. This semi –magical state from everything like Rudolph the Red nosed Reindeer to The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry (read it here http://www.auburn.edu/~vestmon/Gift_of_the_Magi.html)relate in part or in whole to the fellowship of man. How we treat each other, our unity despite our differences, how we as humans are responsible for each other-for our “comfort and joy” is a lesson that the magical time of Christmas teaches us.

If you haven’t recently, watch A White Christmas and It’s a Wonderful Life. There are hundreds if not thousands of Christmas movies and yet these are two that have risen to the status of cultural icons. It’s a Wonderful Life wasn’t even that successful when it was first released. Both of them deal with overarching themes of the fellowship of humanity. Look at how the particularize the struggle for the recognition of the humanity of our fellows and the subthemes that are introduced.

Look at some other Christmas classics like Rudolph or Charlie Brown and reread the venerable Christmas Carol (Read it here for free: http://www.authorama.com/a-christmas-carol-1.html) Find as many as you can and tease out if and how that theme is used in each of them.

Pull out your concepts in your special place. If both sides of the page for each is full it’s time to get a legal pad, notebook, spiral, whatever satisfies you-even a set of note cards.

Think about your stories and what great universal theme are you particularizing? Look at your concept, your characters and your story. Do they all fit with the theme? If not either see if another theme is more true to what you are telling or make some adjustments. Elucidate or create subthemes that all fit the central theme. Make some notes on how your protagonist and antagonist express the themes just in their being. They should have a conflict by their very natures.

Go back and look at classic Christmas stories, but this time look at not so classic stories and try to determine why they didn’t strike that essential chord in the audience. Maybe it was just a less than sterling production, but maybe the characters, the settings, the action and plot just wasn’t on the level of epic or archetype. Even small stories can be epic. It’s a Wonderful Life is an epic and archetypal telling of a truth. Milton said “they also serve who only stand and wait.” The B team matters. They are elementally important in humanity’s struggle. The may not be super heroes or kings or poets, but they are human kind and their victories and defeats define us.

Revisit your 12 stories. Do the high concept stories have enough humanity in them? Even great action stories have to have humanity or the conflict is superficial or we aren’t invested in the outcome. Do the Indies have great themes and archetypes even if they’re small stories in small places about small lives?

Now find a deed, a mitzvah that you can do because it’s easy for us, as writers to observe the human experience, even as we isolate ourselves. There are ways to share even with your art. If you’re in Los Angeles think about doing something real with Art of Elysium http://www.theartofelysium.org/ or Make a Film Foundation http://www.makeafilmfoundation.org/ . If you’re not in L.A. think about doing something similar. If you’re in a screenwriter’s group, maybe you could teach a class for at risk youth or mentor some young writers.

Here’s a great read on how to be part of family of man and the community of film and be a decent human: http://www.thebusinessofshowinstitute.com/personal-networking-is-investment-not-inconvenience.html

Now write two more resolutions. Maybe one of them could be to “keep Christmas in your heart” and do something like this all the time. Karma. I’m just saying. You want the hero to win, right? You want to sell that screenplay?

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