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Truly Free Film

It All Begins Somewhere

I went to NYU Film Undergrad with the idea I was going to be a director. I got a scholarship, and the school encouraged me, but I felt that my destiny as a director was to be but a hack. I could get things going, but I was just regurgitating others’ ideas (ah, if only that was enough to stop most…). Sure, imitation is a path to learning, but I was impatient too. If I couldn’t be brilliant, I at least wanted to be around brilliance. I pivoted.

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Let's Make Better Films

Movie Cliches 101: Plagiarizing Yourself

If there are only six good stories — or is it twelve? twenty-three? forty-two? — how many good lines are there?  Clearly Aaron Sorkin thinks there is a limited supply.  Write something good once, might as well write it again, right?  

It’s been out and around for awhile but I still find “Sorkinisms — A Supercut” kind of remarkable.  

 

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Truly Free Film

Film Society of Lincoln Center and Hope for Film presents : Indie Night Screening Series – FRANCINE – Wednesday August

Hello again Film Friends,

American Indie film is often too dialogue-heavy — especially when that dialogue comes at the expense of other cinematic elements like performance, image, sound, time, and process. I have always been drawn to filmmakers who are willing to challenge themselves, and the audience by setting limits to what they provide, helping all of us to learn and grow in the process. With very few words ever spoken, Filmmakers Brian M. Cassidy and Melanie Shatzky do just that with their deeply moving and highly disciplined first film FRANCINE.

Okay, some may say that when you have Melissa Leo to rest your camera on how can you go wrong. And granted it is rare to witness an actor as committed to her role as Ms. Leo is in Francine. But

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Truly Free Film

Indie Film in South Africa Part 2

By Jon Plowman

How do you turn your passion for film into a profit? How does one take all that experience built up on non-paying indie projects, and turn it into a career? I’m glad you asked. Welcome to the second part of a two-part article on indie filmmaking.

It seems to me that a lot of filmmakers are chronically losing sight of a very simple fact: there has been a total revolution in the film industry in the last few years.

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Truly Free Film

Indie Film in South Africa Part 1

By Jon Plowman

Ted asked me for this article last year. I agreed, because there are a couple of important points I’d like to put out there to encourage filmmakers in the same kind of position as I find myself. But before I could actually get around to writing the damn thing, I found myself retrenched. That’s “laid off” to most of you. I lost my job. Yeah, you know the one I mean, the one that actually pays the bills while I work on movies. My boss gave me a sob story about how he couldn’t afford to keep me on because the business was struggling. He has a wife and two small kids, and his business was their sole income. I couldn’t blame him. We feel the global recession here just as keenly as the US or Europe. So there I was, out on the street with R150 in my pocket. To put that in perspective, R1 = US$0.15, give or take.

Welcome to life as an indie film maker on the southern tip of Africa.

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Truly Free Film

Building Storyworlds Podcast (Episode 1, Featuring… Me!)

The always stimulating Lance Weiler has launched a new podcast, and this morning I was his first guest.  Check it out here.  We had a lot to talk about.

Categories
These Are Those Things

1/2 Empty Is Still 1/2 Full