The 2015 Complete Guide

to Making Movies

Ira Sachs / Mark Duplass / Lynn Shelton

Robert Duvall / Alex Ross Perry / Damien Chazelle
Justin Simien / Ana Lily Amirpour
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RichardLinklater, great
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So it’s no
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 by TIMOThy Rhys GuIdE TO MAKInG MOVIEs 2015

From Dream Issue No. 110, Volume 21

2015 GuIDE TO MAKING MOVIES

4
to screen
pg Phone: 310/828-8388
Email: staff@moviemaker.com
Web: www.moviemaker.com

by way oF Publisher & Editor-in-Chief

TIMOTHy rHyS

community
Associate Publisher
PAuL TuKEy
Vice President & General Counsel
DAVID ALBErT PIErCE
Managing Editor
KELLy LEOW
Welcome to MovieMaker’s 2015 Complete Guide (see our cover story last issue) is another prime example, Web Editor
to Making Movies. In this 12th incarnation of our and Seattle’s Lynn Shelton (see Lynn’s article on writ- MArK SELLS
Editor at Large, East Coast
ever-popular annual edition we again break down ing for improvisation on pg. 24) still another who has PETEr WEED
the moviemaking process into five essential areas of figured out a way to keep making movies on her own Editor at Large, West Coast
BrIAN O’HArE
knowledge (screenwriting, development, production, terms. All these folks are inspirational in that they are
Contributing Writers
post-production, distribution) and offer up the advice not “moonlighting” as moviemakers—this is their KJ DOuGHTON, BOB FISHEr,
and encouragement of a small army of experts who have day job, their night job, their weekend job... and they AArON HILLIS,
HAMISH MCCOLLESTEr,
all been charged with one not-so-simple task: to help you wouldn’t have it any other way. They have built their JEFF MEyErS, JOSH rALSKE,
get your movie from dream to screen profitably and art- communities, made their alliances, and now are reaping KyLE ruPPrECHT,
VALENTINA I. VALENTINI,
fully, with your sanity and self-respect fully intact. the creative rewards. As Shelton says, “Together, we ANDy yOuNG
As in prior years, we’ve been lucky enough to create something that is greater than the sum of its parts. Interns
NATALIE CHuDNOVSKy
persuade an influential auteur to introduce each sec- That is a beautiful feeling, and it’s something I live for.” HELEN CHuN
tion with an entertaining, instructive personal take So, can every aspiring moviemaker adopt this model? JASON LAM
SArA WOrTH
on the process. This time we’re excited to bring you In theory, yes. The common thread with these folks is
the musings of Ira Sachs, whose new feature, Love is that they’ve found their people. They’ve fine-tuned their
Art Director
Strange, is exactly the kind of film we like to champion skills in the art of collaboration, and that’s a lesson we KATHryN TONGAy-CArr
at MovieMaker. Why? Because not only is it cutting can all learn. They work with many of the same people Festival & Partnership Liaison
JESSICA rHyS
edge in its groundbreakingly ordinary depiction of a they’ve come to trust and they make it a priority to have
long-term love story that happens to be about two older their co-creators fully invested in the success of their
To Subscribe to MovieMaker:
gay men, but because it was made through the power of films. They see the big picture at all times and despite CALL 888/881-5681 Or VISIT
community. To fund the film Sachs raised $1.2 million their taste for the high wire, they don’t work without a MOVIEMAKEr.COM/
from 25 people, “the majority of whom were retired les- net. Or, if they do, they make sure a fall won’t kill them. SuBSCrIBE
To Advertise in MovieMaker:
bian businesswomen.” Sachs is not the kind of guy who “I reverse-engineer movies,” Duplass says. “I build IAN BAGE, 800/677-4424
waits around for Hollywood to give him permission to a film from the materials available to me, and I fit it KIMBErLy WEST, 469/319-0629
make movies—he makes them on his own terms, then into the right budget, so it’s bulletproof. The One I Love MovieMaker is Distributed by:
DISTICOr, 905/619-6565
premieres them at Sundance, lands distribution deals was designed to be done cheaply and quickly. We were
To Distribute MovieMaker at your
from the likes of Sony Pictures Classics and—you get always gonna make our money back. I never extend Event: 310/828-8388
the picture—generally does quite well for himself. myself or my investors financially; I’m proud to say I’ve
Sachs represents a breed of independent moviemaker never lost anybody any money. Being sustainable is cre- MOVIEMAKEr
®

magazine is published five times per year

that’s beginning to proliferate and flourish despite the ating content at a scope that is not going to fail. That’s by moviemaker media, llc
2525 MICHIGAN AVE., BLD. i
steep economic challenges of a transitioning industry. how you keep yourself from getting your heart broken.” SANTA MONICA, CA 90404
PH: 310/828-8388;
These are fascinating times we’re living through as in- Duplass, Sachs, Swanberg, Shelton... these are hard-
EMAIL: STAFF@MOVIEMAKEr.COM.
dependent moviemakers, and in a Darwinian sense the working, driven independent artists and businesspeople ISSuE NO. 110, VOL. 21, “GuIDE TO
MAKING MOVIES 2015.” SINGLE
branch of our family tree that’s not only surviving but who have figured out a way to turn doing what they COPIES: $8.95. SuBSCrIPTIONS TO
MOVIEMAKEr MAGAzINE: IN u.S./
thriving is becoming clearer with each passing season. love into doing it for a living. They’re an inspiration CANADA, FIVE ISSuES FOr $14.95;
10 ISSuES FOr $19.95. (INT’L,
It started with the ancient genus “Cassavetes” (Latin for to everyone who gets home from a long day on the DIGITAL ONLy)
ANNuAL DIGITAL SuBSCrIPTIONS,
auteur who fights with studio), evolved into the more re- job or in the classroom and only then can carve out an rEGArDLESS OF GEOGrAPHy,
ArE AVAILABLE VIA POCKETMAGS,
cent species “Sayles” (auteur who has working relationship exhausted hour or two for their screenplay. They’re an ITuNES AND GOOGLE PLAy FOr
$9.99
with studio) and now, finally, to the modern subspecies inspiration to those who have yet to find their people. THE NAME “MOVIEMAKEr” IS
A rEGISTErED TrADEMArK
“Duplass” (auteur who funtions as studio). My advice is to sketch out a strategy and start imple- OF MOVIEMAKEr MEDIA, LLC.
MOVIEMAKEr WELCOMES
In this issue our own Kelly Leow interviews Mark menting it today. Maybe that means digging in your uNSOLICITED PHOTOS AND
MANuSCrIPTS BuT rESErVES
Duplass (pg. 80), who sheds light on how he works and heels and being a better networker in the community COMPLETE EDITOrIAL CONTrOL
OVEr ALL SuBMITTED MATErIAL.
how he has learned to work within the system (or, maybe where you live. Maybe it means pulling up stakes and NOT rESPONSIBLE FOr uNSOLICITED
MATErIALS AND CANNOT rETurN
more accurately—work the system.) Duplass is among sailing off to a new city where the moviemaking climate THEM uNLESS ACCOMPANIED By SELF-
ADDrESSED, STAMPED ENVELOPE.

a handful of writer-director-producers who are able is more to your liking. Either way, it’s important that ALL rIGHTS rESErVED. MAy NOT
BE rEPrODuCED IN ANy FOrM
WHATSOEVEr WITHOuT ExPrESS
to maintain a sustainable economic production model you try something new, and try it now, because your WrITTEN CONSENT OF PuBLISHEr.
COPyrIGHT © 2014
without losing their creative autonomy. Joe Swanberg dreams have waited patiently long enough. MM

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 Chapter One: Screenwriting
pg
8 14 ByIntrOduCtIOn
Ira SaChS

16 On
the QueStIOn “Why”
self-knowledge, loneliness, and why
moviemaking is like sex
By ana LILy amIrpOur

18 the marrIage Of CharaCter

and pLOt
In Listen Up Philip, character begets
story, which begets character, which 18
begets story…
By aLex rOSS perry
Chapter tWO: Development Chapter three: proDuction
22 Quick and simple screenwriting advice
WrIter’S BLOCk party

for the struggling scribe

28 ByIntrOduCtIOn
Ira SaChS
44 ByIntrOduCtIOn
Ira SaChS
By eLan maStaI
30 Find
the mICrOCreWery 46 Dear
dIreCtIng the enSemBLe CaSt
24 How to set the stage for your collabo-
WrItIng the ImprOvISed mOvIe the A-team for your B-movie with
this guide to essential crew positions
White People helmer Justin Simien
on how to coax magic out of actors
rators to tell their most personal stories By pauL OSBOrne By JuStIn SImIen,
By Lynn SheLtOn aS tOLd tO keLLy LeOW
34 Budget
a Better Budget
your production sooner rather
than later—you won’t regret it!
48 Young
BuILdIng Camera-derIe
One’s Jake Paltrow and Giles
By arthur vInCIe Nuttgens on the perfect director-DP
relationship

38 Starting
make a ShOrt fIrSt
small might get you out of
By Jake paLtrOW

development hell and accelerate your

learning curve
50 Athegear-head’s
10 BeSt CameraS On the market
guide to what you should
By damIen ChazeLLe buy and what you should rent
By ryan e. WaLterS
42 A guide to hunting down the space of
LOCate yOur LOCatIOn

your dreams
54 How
ShOOtIng OutdOOrS: a prImer
to deal with planes, crickets, and
50 By paytOn dunham the wayward glances of pedestrians
By ned BenSOn
and CaSSandra kuLukundIS

58 Creative,
SOund prInCIpLeS
sonic thinking colors the
entire world of your film
By geOffrey ruBay

62 Make
SupervISIOn reQuIred
your script supervisor’s life easier!
How not to sabotage your continuity
By BenedICt paxtOn-CrICk

48
 Chapter Four:
Post-Production
Pg
10 66 IntroduCtIon
By Ira SaChS

68 Let’s
CuttIng For a deadlIne
be honest: No one submits a fully
finished cut to a festival. So how rough
is “rough?”
By Mel rodrIguez

70 One
FroM the VaultS
man’s old polaroids might be the
archival treasures your movie needs
By Frank keraudren

74 Eight
Sharper SCene tranSItIonS
tips on tightening up the seams
between your scenes
By JeFFrey MIChael BayS

76 AChIMeS For a dIMe

music supervisor explains the
ABCs of making your film sound
great, resourcefully
By ChrIStopher Mollere 62

30 Chapter FIVe: distribution

78 IntroduCtIon
By Ira SaChS

80 The
the tao oF Mark duplaSS
Robin Hood of indie film on how
to become your own studio
By kelly leow

84 The
ChartIng your FeStIVal CourSe
festival universe is ever-expanding.
Make sure you land amongst the stars
By ValentIna I. ValentInI
76
86 Our third annual foray into the labyrin-
guIde to dIgItal dIStrIButIon

thine world of video on demand ColuMnS and deptS.

By erIn trahan
4 MM noteBook
92 A DIY film engagment campaign in the
goIng VIral the organIC way By tIMothy rhyS

age of new media

By tIFFany ShlaIn and Sawyer Steele
12 ContrIButorS
96 partIng ShotS: the JudgMent oF
roBert duVall
94 Call For entrIeS / MarketplaCe
Likes: napalm in the morning
92 Hates: doing more than two takes
By andy young
95 adVertISer Index
CoVer deSIgn By Jay Shaw
MOVIEMAKER.COM kIngdoMoFnonSenSe.CoM
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Ira SachS, this
year’s Guest
pg
12 Moviemaker,
is a filmmaker
based in New
York. His most
recent film,
Love is Strange,
starring John Lithgow, Alfred Molina,
and Marisa Tomei, premiered at the
2014 Sundance Film Festival and is
distributed by Sony Pictures Classics.
His previous film, Keep the Lights On,
premiered at Sundance in 2012 and
was awarded the Teddy Award at the
2012 Berlin International Film Fes-
tival. A recipient of the Guggenheim
Fellowship in 2013, Sachs’s previous
work includes the features Married
Life, The Delta, and the 2005 Sundance
Grand Jury Prize-winning Forty Shades
of Blue. His short film “Last Address,”
honoring a group of NYC artists who
died of AIDS, has been included in
the permanent collections of both the
Whitney Museum and MoMA. Sachs
is the founder of the ongoing series
Queer/Art/Film, as well as Queer/Art/
Mentorship, programs that pair and
support mentorship between emerg-
ing and established queer artists
working in NYC.
Jay Shaw, this
issue’s cover
artist, lives in
Colorado with
his wife and
two children.
Inspired by
mid-century
Polish art,
he designs posters for both films and
musical artists. Jay has worked with
clients like Mondo, Alamo Drafthouse,
the Criterion Collection, various major
studios as well as independent movie-
makers, creating images for such films
as Robocop, Enemy, A Field in England,
Borgman, Repo Man and Nashville. Fol-
low him on Instagram (ironjaiden)
or Twitter (@ironjaiden), or visit his
website, kingdomofnonsense.com.
ana LILy amIrpour has a background in
painting and sculpting, and was bass
player and frontwoman of an art rock
band, before moving to Los Angeles to
movIemaker.com
make films.
Her debut
feature, the
Iranian vam-
pire western
A Girl Walks
Home Alone
at Night,
premiered in
the NEXT section of the 2014 Sun-
dance Film Festival and was opening
night selection at the New Directors/
New Films Festival at MoMA in New
York. She is also creator of the comic
book series A Girl Walks Home Alone at
Night, which chronicles the ongoing
blood-soaked journeys of the lonely
vampire known only as The Girl. Ana
Lily’s favorite things are Bruce Lee,
David Lynch, and dancing.
Jerome courShon
is one of today’s
leading experts
in independent
film distribu-
tion. Through
his master
classes and
consulting
services, he takes the guesswork out
of the motion picture distribution
industry. He teaches a course entitled
“THE SECRETS TO DISTRIBUTION: Get
Your Movie Distributed Now!” to both
neophyte and established producers
and directors. He has written for nu-
merous trade magazines, is currently
a regular contributor to TheWrap,
and has been quoted in publications
such as The Wall Street Journal, the Los
Angeles Times, Yahoo Movies and MSN
News. For more info about him or his
classes, visit: www.Distribution.LA
payton Dunham
has extensive
credits in
features, tele-
vision, and
commercials
as a producer,
unit produc-
tion manager,
and location manager. He is currently
co-producer on the feature Oloibiri, to
lens in Nigeria. Payton was location
manager on the films Dear Eleanor,
GuIDe to makInG movIeS 2015
Thunderstruck, Bringing Up Bobby, The
Killer Inside Me, Palindromes, Forty
Shades of Blue, and the Oscar-nominat-
ed Junebug. Payton also produced the
award-winning feature drama Madi-
son, co-produced the feature comedy
Feed the Fish, and has written various
screenplays and treatments. When not
on a distant set, he skis and writes in
Colorado with his beautiful wife, their
10-year-old daughter, Sierra, and their
Australian shepherd, Kodiak.
erIn trahan was
born in the same
town as Madon-
na, grew up in
the “Cherry Capi-
tal of the World,”
and now lives in
Marblehead, MA,
the birthplace of
the American Navy (though this last
fact is hotly disputed). She edits The
Independent (independent-magazine.
org) and co-edited the second edi-
tion of The Independent’s Guide to Film
Distribution, released earlier this year.
She writes about movies for WBUR
(Boston’s NPR News Station) and
meets with a group of rigorous poets
almost every Saturday. In November
she’s teaching a class, open to film
lovers and professionals, for Montser-
rat College of Art in conjunction with
the RIDM Film Festival in Montreal.
Learn more at erintrahan.com.
For the last
15 years,
ryan e. waLterS
has worked
as a freelance
cinematogra-
pher shooting
feature films,
TV shows, and
commercials for national brands such
as Adidas and Autodesk. He recently
launched Indie Cinema Academy,
where he and his business partner
help filmmakers advance their careers
and develop their own look as artists.
Outside of his film work, Ryan is a
connoisseur of strategy-based board
games and whisky. To see samples and
to learn more about Ryan’s work, visit
indiecinemaacademy.com
 Pierce Law Group. . . who the
independents have depended on since 1996.
Production Counsel, Film Finance,
Private Placement Offerings &
Intellectual Property Matters.
Contact: David Albert Pierce, Esq.
(310) 274-9191
PIERCE LAW GROUP, LLP
9100 Wilshire Boulevard
Suite 225, East Tower
Beverly Hills, California 90212
www.piercelawgroupllp.com
(888) 875-0756
 Chapter
One :
pg
14

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, Ana Lily Amirpour

 ScreenWriting
on Companionship and personal moviemaking

W
hen the editors of MovieMaker asked me of us got an office in the same building where we knew Todd
to be the Guest Moviemaker for their Haynes and Christine Vachon had run Apparatus, their first
annual Complete Guide to Making Mov- production company. We spent the next three years sharing
ies, I stepped up because I believe that as that space and working on our features—Kelly with River of
filmmakers—particularly independent Grass, Larry with Habit, and myself with The Delta.
ones—we are stronger for what we share with each other. If What those films have in common is that they were all shot
you sit three moviemakers down at a table and ask them to in the places where we had grown up. We shared, as screen-
speak about the problems they are facing that very day, there writers first and filmmakers second, a passionate attachment
will be more overlap than difference. One of them to a kind of cinema that comes from a very personal place.
will be trying to lock down a new financier while Scorsese made his first films on Elizabeth Street in Little Italy;
by Ira Sachs
another will be struggling with an agent and cast- Spike Lee in Fort Greene; Chantal Akerman in her Belgian
ing, and the third will just be depressed. (At that apartment; Jack Smith on the roof of his East Village loft. As
table, though, depression might be the first thing to get re- personal filmmakers, we did the same. For Kelly, that meant
solved. It doesn’t like company.) going home to Southern Florida; for Larry, it was his child-
Since moving to New York in the late ’80s, the smartest hood backyard of New York City; for me, it meant spending
decision I have made—and maybe the most Machiavellian— six months in my hometown of Memphis.
has been to develop real and committed friendships with The great screenwriter Joan Tewkesbury, who wrote Al-
other moviemakers, particularly ones I admire. In the ’90s, I tman’s Nashville, and more recently has become the Grand
shared an office on the sixth floor of an old bank building at Dame of Advisors at the Sundance Labs, put it best: “If you
Spring and Lafayette with filmmakers Kelly Reichardt (Night want to write a good screenplay, get on a bus and go there.”
Moves, Wendy and Lucy) and Larry Fessenden (Wendigo, The What I would add to that is: Bring a couple of good friends
Last Winter). with you. MM
Kelly and I had met on the set of the 1989 feature Longtime
Companion. At the time she decided I was a bit of a snob, be-
cause I was the assistant to the director, Norman René, and
spent most of my time with the actors, while she was in the art
department, lugging furniture.
Then a few weeks after the film wrapped, I ran into Kelly in
the East Village and invited her to a screening of my first short
film, “Vaudeville,” at the Anthology Film Archives. I had made
the film, about a ragtag group of traveling queer performers,
with a group of friends from college, many of whom I had re-
cently directed in a stage show across the Northeast. Having
applied to NYU, UCLA and USC graduate film schools my
senior year, and been resoundingly rejected by all three, I had
decided to make a film instead, and now, a year later, I was
ready to screen it. Courtesy of CG Productions

Kelly came to the screening, and to her surprise, thought I

had some talent, so we became friends. Larry had been mak-
ing short horror films since he was a kid, and he met Kelly
through other mutual friends who had recently opened the
film-loving Avenue A pizza restaurant, Two Boots. The three Thang Chan and Shane gray in The DelTa (1996)

The Question The Marriage of Writer’s Writing the

“Why” Character and Plot Block Party Improvised Movie
by Ana Lily Amirpour by Alex Ross Perry by Elan Mastai by Lynn Shelton
Pg. 16 Pg. 18 Pg. 22 Pg. 24
pg
16 Know Thyself
Before you Begin, ask yourself the question
you’ll spend your life answering

I
recently got back from the Sundance Institute’s labs, which are
like a week of intense therapy where you pay close attention to
yourself. The supreme question you hear there is: “Why? Why
do you want to make this film?” That question is the beating
heart at the center of this absurd, multiple-year-long process we
undertake, to create a two-hour experience for people to watch
and say, “It was cool,” or, “It sucked.”
The thing is, as the maker, you never
really know the experience of watching
by Ana Lily Amirpour your own film. It’s a trip, sitting there in
the theater wondering, “What’s this movie
like?” What you do have is your experience of every step of the movie-
making process. And if you’re not enjoying that, what’s the fucking point?
Also recently, I spoke to the film students at UCLA (where I went
to film school). I figured I’d think of it like Marty McFly, getting
in the time machine and going back to tell myself something from
the future. What I told them was how lucky they are to be in a place
where their only job is to pay attention to themselves. When you’re
in film school, your job is to ask yourself, “Why?” To pay attention
to what you think, what you love, and what fascinates you. You’re not
yet tarnished by all the pressure of the “industry” and the desperation
of “making it.”
And then when you’re finally out here trying to make your films,
it’s really fucking hard, and you feel alone and defeated. That’s when
your attention drifts to a million external things, like, “How do I get
the attention of this producer? That agent? That actor?” And you

“your first
film is truly
a freeBie.
Because the
moviemaker
you are
doesn’t exist
yet, there’s no
expectation
aBout what
type of
Photograph by Myrna Suarez

storyteller
you are.”
AnA LiLy Amirpour

Courtesy of Ana Lily Amirpour
aMiRpouR’s debut featuRe is an “iRanian vaMpiRe-WesteRn-love stoRy”—in
blaCk and White.
start to change your script to be right for this grant, or that lab, or
whatever. You change yourself to fit a million situations. And then
you’re lost.
It’s like a John Hughes film: The outcast is trying to fit in, and
then at the end of the movie, realizes she is better off being herself,
and being with the people who really appreciate her.
People ask me, “Why did you make A Girl Walks Home Alone at
Night?” My answer is that I was lonely—that’s why. But taking that
a step further, the truth is that I make films to make friends and find
real intimacy, a connection with others based on something that’s
meaningful to me. The people who make these films with you, your
cast and crew—it’s like they’re on a vision quest with you. That is
an incomparable experience. And then when the film is done and
out there, the people who are attracted to your film—the audiences,
festivals that embrace it, other filmmakers, artists, the critics who like
what you do—those are my friends. And I don’t expect to be friends
with everyone.
Your first film is truly a freebie. Because the moviemaker you are
doesn’t exist yet, there’s no expectation about what type of storyteller
you are. It’s a clean slate, and you can really do whatever you want.
Pure, unimpeded freedom. This is a powerful thing. The first film
is the perfume you’re putting on that will attract your future col-
laborators to you, so pick your fragrance wisely. Love that fragrance
intensely. It’s going to attract people into your orbit, and you want to
attract the right people.
Guide to MakinG Movies 2015
“The whole pg
17
endeavor of
moviemaking is
very much like
sex. no Two
people do iT The
same, and you
can’T learn iT ’Til
you do iT… don’T
fake iT. don’T
ever fake iT.”
I realized all of this after I made A Girl. It’s an Iranian vampire-
western-love story, and every part of my vampire’s invented mythol-
ogy, every piece of the story, every character, every costume, every bit
of music, is something I love to the point of obsession. That’s good,
because I had to talk about it, and explain why I love it, for years
while making the film.
It takes a long time to make a film. The question “Why?” never
stops being asked. It should be fun to answer. Even if you’re exhaust-
ed and it’s been two years of work and you’re still going at it, it should
be fun. Not being able to answer this question with joy and passion is,
to me, the definition of misery.
The whole endeavor of filmmaking is very much like sex. There’s
a certain basic anatomy, certain parts that fit in certain places, but no
two people do it the same, and you can’t learn it ’til you do it. Some-
times there’s crazy chemistry and it’s easy, and sometimes there isn’t
and you have to put a lot more effort in. You have to adjust, be open,
try different things. What you try to do is pay attention to what you
like—which is more about being aware of what you don’t like. Don’t
fake it. Don’t ever fake it.
What really turns you on? What fascinates the shit out of you?
That should be what burns inside you when you write, pick your lo-
cations, choose your crew and your cast; it’s what should inspire your
choices at every step of the way. Then you’re having fun, and heading
for a climax. MM
MovieMakeR.CoM
 the MArriAge
pg
18 of ChArACter

And pLot
Listen Up phiLip’s writer-
director investigates the
primary symbiosis of the
writing process

A
movie begins
with a single
image that I
want to see,
followed by a
reverse engi-
neering of who the character in
the image is and how he or she got
there. It’s an approach that allows
the writing process to back com-
Courtesy of Tribeca Film
Courtesy of Tribeca Film

fortably into plot as the images

announce themselves. Maybe it’s
a privilege of having only written
scripts that I myself would be di-
WRItER-dIRECtOR AlEx ROss PERRy
recting—it’s entirely possible that
handing one of them off to another
by Alex Ross Perry. director would reveal a shambling patchwork
of internalizations and imagery, meaningless to
anybody else. It might be about trusting myself enough to follow the
scent until the script turns into something I can call tangible.
I do not know how to write something that might be considered
“plot-heavy.” My attempts to do so, either for myself or others, have
been marked by sporadic half-successes at best. The characters come
first. Everything that follows is an opportunity to put them into a
situation that interests me, once I have some idea of who they are and
what their challenges on a minute level would be. Minute challenges
are delightful to me, and I’m not ashamed to admit that most scenes
I find exciting are moving towards little else than a character making
a point. Or being faced with obstacles that interfere with their goal of
getting from point A to point B with a minimum of interference.
My new film, Listen Up Philip, is, to me, an epic narrative. It covers
about nine months and has three different protagonists; different sec-
tions of the film follow them through different points of the narrative.
Once these three characters were more fully formed, the appeal was
in segregating them as much as possible and letting the results play
out naturally. Still, not much plot actually happens to any of them.
Two of them are almost certainly in the same place at the end as they
were at the beginning, and the third has taken two steps forward on a
very long path.
The character of Philip, a novelist, slowly became a nucleus as
questions started to pile up regarding the way people handle success,
and to what extent they do or do not change. The catalyst for this
change became the character Ike, an older, well-known and respected
writer, and hero of Philip’s. The victim of his change developed into
Ashley, a professional photographer and Philip’s suffering girlfriend.
What came next we can call “plot” but I would rather call “substance.”
A “plot-based” movie about the same things follows Philip from
rags to riches as he befriends an idol, while his girlfriend pops in and
out sporadically, never emerging as a fully formed or complex charac-
ter. The audience never gets closer to any of the other characters than
they do the protagonist. It’s a solid movie with a solid structure, and at
the end the character learns lessons and either returns to his old life,
or doesn’t. Problem is, I’ve seen this movie before. Probably about
two dozen times.
What I wanted to build Listen Up Philip on was the obvious but
seldom-asked question, “What happens to the idol when the protégée
goes home?” Also, “What happens to the spouse/girlfriend/signifi-
cant other when the protagonist moves on to the next opportunity?”
Exploring these questions became my way to enrich the characters of
Ike and Ashley, to make them more than functionaries of Philip’s nar-
rative and to suggest that he is just as much a function of theirs.
The plot of Listen Up Philip isn’t unfamiliar. It’s indebted to
works of sublime perfection both literary and cinematic, by heroes
of mine such as Philip Roth and Woody Allen. But what happens
to plot when the characters become more interesting and uniquely
your own? The “New York movie,” the “young writer movie,” the
“autumnal collegiate small town movie,” the “powerful female artist
movie”… the plot, such as it is, was within these structures, as were
the characters. But they weren’t married yet. I had a nucleus and its

MOVIEMAKER.COM
 MM_2015_OFF_Ad2_3.5x4.75.pdf 1 7/17/14 10:54 PM

DECADE
Guide to MakinG Movies 2015

2015
pg
19
R C H 10 - 15
MA G
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I VA L.OR
ST
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F I L MFE
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CALL FOR ENTRIES

REGULAR SEPT 15
LATE NOV 17

WRitinG MentoR ike ZiMMeRMan (Jonathan PRyCe)

and novelist PhiliP leWis FRiedMan (Jason sChWaRtZMan) in Listen Up phiLip

“When I am In WrItIng
Be Part of the Action!

mode, I am ‘WrItIng’
WhIle WatchIng fIlms,
WhIle rIdIng the
subWay, WhIle cookIng, Open House- Saturday, October 18 at 1 pm
WhIle readIng, and
so on…by the tIme Direct
I’m seated, It Is more Edit
of an InformatIon Produce...
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dump contaInIng the Year College with
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accumulated sInce 305 N. Service Road Dix Hills, NY 11746 www.ftc.edu 631.656.2110
• AUDIO RECORDING TECHNOLOGY • BROADCASTING • BUSINESS • CHILDHOOD EDUCATION • FILM/VIDEO

yesterday.” • J O U R N A L I S M • M A S S C O M M U N I C AT I O N • M U S I C E D U C AT I O N • M U S I C B U S I N E S S • M U S I C P E R F O R M A N C E • T H E AT R E A R T S

MovieMakeR.CoM

Pg
20
Courtesy of Tribeca Film
PhiliP’s on-and-off GiRlfRiend, ashley (elisabeth Moss),
is a suCCessful PhotoGRaPheR—and Cat loveR
orbiting elements, but there was nothing that made me excited to do
“my version.” I was stuck.
There’s a book of essays by another hero of mine, Jonathan Fran-
zen, entitled How to be Alone. In this collection of essays is one called
“Mr. Difficult” about the author William Gaddis—specifically, his
1,000-page book, The Recognitions. Franzen says that he was inspired
by The Recognitions and its structure in his own writing. The way he
spoke of its narrative shifts and de-emphasis on the “main” character,
I instantly saw Gaddis’ influence on Franzen’s novels Strong Mo-
tion, The Corrections, and Freedom. So I read The Recognitions and, like
Franzen, was blown away and inspired. Gaddis gave me things more
important than plot or character: syntax and structure.
My writing process isn’t what I would call precise. I love trial and
error; writing stuff that, before it’s even half-finished, announces itself
as useless and gets omitted. I write my outlines in a sort of unceasing
forward dash and by the end the whole thing is more or less laid out.
I do these, as well as the first draft of my script, on an Olivetti Lettera
22 typewriter that my grandfather bought in Italy and used in law
school. I don’t do it as an affectation; I do it because computers are
distracting. I like to have mine nowhere in sight when that first docu-
ment is being formed. I also like that on a typewritten page, every-
thing is still there. The aforementioned useless passages remain with a
parenthetical “(rev: omit)” at the moment of abandonment.
I sit down and plow through these pages without stopping to hit
backspace, or email, or things like that. I’ve found that in doing this,
the plot sort of seeps onto the page while being surrounded and pad-
ded with character notes, lines of dialogue and general ideas for sub-
sequent pages. The original typewritten outline for Listen Up Philip
is 17 pages. The original typewritten script (unformatted, entirely
block text) is 38. The first draft on the computer was 130. So it’s all
fairly imprecise, and also more of an act of physically writing than just
keystrokes and pressing Save.
Here is a note I decided upon while on page three of the outline:
and here is a further elaboration of this concept that appears on page
seven, so probably written no more than three days later:
MovieMakeR.CoM
Guide to MakinG Movies 2015
Looking at these, I can see the strands of plot and the visions of
structure forming around the characters, who, by this point, fully have
their own voices. There are lines in the outline (written c. September-
December, 2011) that appear verbatim in the finished film (shot and
edited c. September-December, 2013). There are also elements in it of
which I have no recollection whatsoever.
What is stimulating and rewarding about this methodology are
the surprises that appear slowly. Much of the actual goings on of the
story follows the creation of Philip, Ashley, and Ike. But as I sought
new ways to move Ike to where I needed him to be, the character of
Ike’s daughter, Melanie, found her way into more and more scenes.
It wasn’t surprising, but it was pleasant, for another voice to emerge
from the in-motion mechanics of the plot, and to find that she was
necessary to move Ike and Philip towards their final destinations.
By the time the outline is complete, the characters are who they
are ultimately going to be. The plot is laid out with room to grow
and breathe, as those 17 pages become 38. The process may not be
seamless—those typewritten pages definitely show lots of seams—
but it results in the writing process being at once both organic and
unpredictable.
The time spent at the desk, at the Olivetti or, eventually (unfortu-
nately), at the computer is playtime, and it is immensely valuable. I
“write” about 12 hours a day, but only four or five of them are actually
spent at the apparatus. When I am in writing mode, when the charac-
ters are announcing their individual peculiarities and the details of the
story are finally landing, I am “writing” while watching films, while
riding the subway, while cooking, while reading, and so on. By the
time I am seated, it is less creative and more of an information dump
containing the ideas and words accumulated since yesterday.
I imagine that, in the rigidly taught and formula-tested world of
screenwriting, there are rules that you are told to follow. Further, I
imagine that two of those rules may be, “Do not write a script that
changes perspectives and leaves the ostensible main character sidelined
for 40 minutes, unless it’s one of those triptych movies like Pulp Fiction
or all the movies that ripped it off,” and also, “Do not use voice-over.”
(I’ll defend one thing about Listen Up Philip that people seem to get
wrong: I don’t use voice-over. The film has a character called Narrator
and he provides narration. This is different because narration exists in
all forms of storytelling and voice-over only exists in visual ones—be-
cause, I suppose, the “voice” is “over” something else.)
I’m not sure if I really know how to write a script where the plot
dictates who the people are and what they do, but I imagine this
process is what leads to formulaic or unnecessarily convoluted stories
with flimsy characters. If an idea appeared that started with a story,
rather than a single image or the behavior of a character, this process
would likely be useful and necessary. It is more interesting and natu-
ral, though, to reverse that progression and see what the characters
want to do, which helps avoid situations where they may be acting
in a way that betrays who they are or what an audience would expect
from them.
I am very proud of the characters in Listen Up Philip. They fascinate
me as though they are real people and I am invested in their actions
and behaviors, more so than I am in what actually happens to them.
This, to me, is a successful marriage of character and plot. MM
Listen Up Philip opens in limited theaters October 17, 2014, and
on VOD October 21, 2014, courtesy of Tribeca Films.

22
pg
Courtesy of CBS Films
ZOE KAZAn And dAnIEl RAdClIffE bRIng MAstAI’s sCREEnplAy, What If, tO “REAlIstIC, AuthEntICAlly huMAn” lIfE
A
t some point, all writers
get stuck. And when you
get stuck, it’s natural to
reach for something you
know has worked before:
a cliché.
Of course we all want to write the most
original, unexpected, vivid version of our
story. Usually, the main challenge isn’t
imagination—it’s time. Great writing takes
time. The less time you have, the more likely
you’ll fall back on some stock trope to get
you through whatever narrative obstacle
you’re facing.
Writing is tough even when you’re being
completely unoriginal, let alone when you’re
actually trying to do something unique.
We’ve all heard people say that you can’t
teach someone to write. I disagree—you can
teach someone to write. I don’t know, how-
ever, if you can teach someone to be curious
and observant about human nature, which is
what makes writing come alive. Getting un-
stuck is about rejecting cliché whenever you
can, by always grounding your story in the
realistic, authentically human choices your
characters make. That’s a writing lesson that
can take a lifetime to learn. But if you, like
many of us, are a little short on lifetimes, here
are some quick ideas for the struggling scribe.
MOVIEMAKER.COM
1) Set the hook by forcing a choice
As early as possible in a screenplay, I try
to write a scene where the protagonist has to
make a decision between two clear choices.
Right off the top, I want the audience to be
able to make a decision—either “This character
is like me” or “This character is not like me.”
Neither choice is wrong. It’s all about
what’s right for your story. But it gives the
audience an immediate sense of how to relate
to the main character. Are they the same or
are they different?
Strong, clear, early choices get you in the
habit of showing your character making ac-
tual decisions. These can be everyday choices
in the beginning of your script or, as the plot
takes off, choices made under increasing,
relentless pressure.
If your protagonist comes off as too vague
or too stock or simply too bland to carry
your movie, try this: On page one of your
screenplay, create a situation where your
character has to choose between two options
with clear consequences. Let them reveal
who they are to the audience as soon as pos-
sible. Because that also means they’ll reveal
themselves to you as the writer.
2) forget Subtlety for one draft
We all want to be subtle writers. I’m pro-
Writer’s
Block
PArty
Rethink youR
scReenplay
and avoid the
dReaded miRe
of listless,
unoRiginal
wRiting
by Elan Mastai.
subtlety! Often, though, we get to the subtle
version by writing the obvious version first.
A vague, muddy Act Two can happen
because you didn’t effectively communicate
your character’s goals to the audience in Act
One. They sort-of-kind-of-more-or-less
get the gist of it, but if you asked them, they
wouldn’t immediately be able to say what
your protagonist wants. That can make your
Act Two feel aimless. Often, when someone
says your second act feels too long, it’s not
about page count, it’s because they never got
a clear sense of where you were taking them,
or why they were going.
Try writing a scene at the very beginning
of Act Two where your protagonist just…
says what they want. States their goal in
clear, direct language.
Does anyone ever need to see the sledge-
hammer-obvious version you wrote? No! But
this might help you realize that you actually
don’t have a clear handle on those goals,
either: “What is my protagonist’s actual goal?
And what is the crucial difference between
the thing they think they want and the thing
they truly need?”
That’s what writing this kind of on-the-
nose scene is actually about—teasing out the
conflict between your protagonist’s stated
goal versus the true destination that your

movie has in store for them.
Again, this scene doesn’t need to survive
past your first draft. But once it exists, it can
inform everything that comes after it. After-
wards, you may just remove it.
3) Don’t answer too quickly
A pretty good Act One isn’t that hard
to write. Because it’s just asking questions.
Questions aren’t the hard part. The hard part
is the answers. In classic storytelling advice:
Put your hero up a tree, throw stones at
them—but then get them down.
By questions and answers I mean plot—
why did your hero go up that tree and how
will he get down?—but also character and
theme. A good Act One raises narrative ques-
tions, psychological questions, philosophical
questions, and so on. But at some point you
have to make decisions about what the best
possible answers might be. You’ll lay out
your final answers in Act Three, but the path
to finding those answers is in Act Two, that
rocky, investigative middle section.
A problem I often see in early drafts is
that protagonists already seem to have all
the answers before they’ve even started
their journeys through the plot. They have
nothing to learn because their writers already
“Why bother Writing anything,
if you Won’t at least try to live
up to the movies that made you
Want to Write in the first place?”
know where they’re going. Writing demands
injecting a certain amount of willful blind-
ness into your characters. You may know the
answer, but your protagonist is still search-
ing, making the kind of mistakes that keeps
your plot moving forward.
4) write a “supposeD-to” enDing
The end of Act Two is one of the hardest
parts of the script to write. When I get stuck,
I think about it like this: The Act Two break
is the moment where your protagonist thinks
the movie is supposed to end. That’s how
they need to behave, as if the actions they’re
taking at the end of Act Two are what will
definitively resolve the essential conflict of
the movie.
They’re wrong, of course. They don’t
know that it’s only minute 70 of a 100-min-
ute narrative. Their choices backfire. They
think they have the answers, but they’re the
wrong answers, or, at least, incomplete. The
movie isn’t done with them yet. They haven’t
finished learning, growing, changing.
5) Make everyone’s lives worse
We spend so much time with our charac-
ters that we grow to love them. So we don’t
want to kick them when they’re down. In real
life, if someone you care about is hurting,
you don’t actively try to make things worse.
But we have to make it worse for our
characters. Tough choices made under pres-
sure are how you find out who someone is at
their core—in stories and in real life. It’s easy
to do the right thing when everything’s go-
ing great. It’s a lot harder when everything’s
going to hell. Love your characters enough
to make bad things happen to them, so the
audience can find out who they really are.
(To clarify, this is writing advice, not life
advice—don’t do horrible things to the
people you actually love in the real world. I
mean, unless they deserve it.)
So if you’re feeling stuck in Act Three,
look at the sequence of events from the
beginning of Act Three to the climax and ask
yourself, “Are things getting progressively
worse for my protagonist? Or have I unin-
tentionally made them incrementally better
without realizing I’ve sabotaged my ending?”
Going back to the hero up the tree idea:
Sometimes in Act Three, without meaning
to, we show our characters slowly but surely
working their way down the tree, branch
by branch, getting closer and closer to the
ground. They go around fixing a bunch of
smaller issues in their lives, gradually build-
ing up the tools to face their climax.
It’s totally reasonable. It’s even realistic. But
it often fatally undercuts the climax, draining
away the tension and boring the audience.
The best endings usually come down to
a choice, a big, life-changing decision with
irreversible consequences whichever way
the protagonist goes. And the most satisfy-
ing version of this climactic choice is going
Guide to MakinG Movies 2015
to happen if everything from the end of Act
Two has made your protagonist’s life worse.
Don’t have them carefully ease their way
down the tree. Make them jump.
6) Be fully yourself in the enDing, if
pg
23
nowhere else
Sometimes problems littered throughout
your script are just symptoms of a more
fundamental issue: your ending.
The ending is where all the infinite story-
telling possibilities fade away and you have to
take a stand: “How does my story resolve?”
On the way there, you can show off all you
want with twists and turns and gimmicks and
techniques, but in the end you have to make a
final decision. It’s not about what could happen,
it’s what you, the writer, believes must happen.
Boy meets girl. Do they get married and
live happily ever after? Does their initial
attraction fizzle and they eventually break
up… only to start the cycle again with
someone else? Does one murder the other
and plot to cover it up? What do you have
to say? That’s what you have to write. If you
don’t, it’ll feel false.
So, just like your protagonist should make
a revealing choice on the first page, you have
to make a revealing choice on the last page.
A writer can hide in his
own scripts, concealing
his true beliefs, taking the
audience down a narrative
path that teases countless
potential outcomes… until
the end. That’s where you
have to reveal yourself. If
you don’t, your ending will
never really land.
Sure, you can write
something that works
structurally, weaving
together plot strands and resolving character
arcs in a pleasantly schematic way. But it
won’t affect the audience the way your fa-
vorite movie endings affect you. Why bother
writing anything, if you won’t at least try to
live up to the movies that made you want to
write in the first place?
Like your characters, you’ll make your
share of bad choices and good choices as a
writer. And, like your characters, a strong
choice boldly made is always going to be more
interesting than a timid choice made weakly.
So choose. You can always rewrite it later.
In fact, you will. MM
Screenwriter Elan Mastai wrote the film
What If, formerly known as The F Word. The
film opened in theaters August 8, 2014,
courtesy of CBS Films.
MovieMakeR.CoM
 WrItIng for ImprovIsatIon:
24 an oxymoron in a bottle requires
pg
Capturing lightning

Careful
Photograph by J. Steven Schardt

preparation
by Lynn Shelton

that I ask of actors is not the

same kind made popular by
such comedic institutions as
The Second City or Upright
Citizens Brigade. There may
be some overlap in the kind of
flexibility and fluidity required
of the practitioners, but a
key difference is that with
purely comedic improvisation,
circumstances and character
profiles are generally being
thrown at performers on the
fly, requiring them to instan-
taneously build a narrative
structure on the spot, again
Lynn ShELtOn (In bLACK) wIth (L-R) EMILy bLunt, ROSEMARIE DEwItt AnD MARK DupLASS, MAKIng Your SiSter’S SiSter (2011) and again. When a moviemak-

I
mprovisation in the service of making movies can allow for an
organic and naturalistic quality of performance that is otherwise
extremely difficult, if not impossible, to achieve. Actors are forced
to genuinely react to their scene partners, since they never know
precisely what’s going to be thrown at them, and it’s pretty much
impossible for an actor to phone in an improvised performance.
There are splendid moments of actual surprise, flashes of onscreen
electricity that ripple through an entire audience.
But working with improvisation also presents a number of chal-
lenges for a moviemaker. A prominent one is casting. Everyone has
heard the adage that casting is 90 percent of directing. It’s more like
99.9 percent for an improvised film. Many actors absolutely need
pre-written dialogue as a spine upon which to build their perfor-
mances. There is no shame in this—they are actors, after all, not writ-
ers. But finding the right performer-collaborators to work with on an
improvised movie is even trickier than the normal casting process,
which is tricky enough as it is. Even those actors who are totally
game to attempt working in this way may not, as it turns out, have a
propensity for it.
Of course, not all improvisation is alike. The kind of improvisation
er approaches creating a film
with improvised performances, on the other hand, months are spent
prior to the film shoot meticulously creating detailed backstories for
each character and relationship.
This rich background work is absolutely key to unlocking success-
fully believable and grounded performances onscreen. If an actor un-
derstands what her character’s history is, what has happened up to the
present moment between her character and her scene partners, and
what her character wants in this scene, the likelihood of her feeling at a
loss for words or actions is greatly reduced. I never want to rehearse
before shooting an improvised scene, because I don’t want to lose that
“first time” magic that has the potential to occur—but we spend an
inordinate amount of time talking to make sure that everyone is on
the same page before we turn on the cameras.
I refer to this technique as “upside-down” filmmaking: Since
detailed backstory work is key to creating a successful improvised
performance, and since I want the actor to be involved in that work
whenever possible, the actor needs to be attached before that work has
been completed. The goal is to get the actors involved when the story
and characters are still loose, so that they can contribute personally to
the development process.

“i don’t want to lose that ‘first time’ magiC that

has the potential to oCCur—but we spend an
inordinate amount of time talking to make
sure that everyone is on the same page.”
MOVIEMAKER.COM
 Guide to MakinG Movies 2015

Which brings me back to the problem of casting. In my “upside-

down” approach, the traditional audition process is, by default,
thrown out the window; I basically have to rely on instinct. It helps, of
pg
25
course, if an actor has already worked in this way before. But I’ve also
cast folks who have never improvised before in their lives, both of us
just taking a leap of faith. (This worked out beautifully with Allison
Janney, for example; then again, it was Allison Janney.)
There are several advantages to this:
1) Because of their personal involvement in developing the charac-
ter, the role ends up fitting them like a glove and the level of natural-
ism goes way up.
2) The actors take real ownership of the project.
3) A level of comfort and trust is established between the actors
(and the director) which is wonderful once we’re all on set, as real
risk-taking can only take place within a safe, intimate environment.
As this collaborative character work comes along, the treatment/
outline/script is developed at the same time. Each time I create a new
draft, I share the current version with all the actors, so we can always
be on the same page. Often, ideas for the plot will bubble up during
these backstory spitball sessions. It’s then my job to rake through all
these ideas and shape them into a workable narrative.
There is a natural back and forth between character development
and the film’s narrative, but the backstory ultimately has to serve the
narrative. Often, I want something to happen in the movie and need
some reason for it to happen believably, so I drum up a piece of back-
story to serve that occasion. Alternately, sometimes I realize that a
backstory suggestion doesn’t serve the narrative and I’ll need to prune
it away. The floor is open for everyone to contribute ideas, but, in the
end, I’m the writer, and the buck has to stop with me.
My first foray into this world was with My Effortless Brilliance John Yorke’s groundbreaking book
(2008). My friend, Sean Nelson, played the lead character (based on on dramatic structure is . . .
his personality). I assembled the rest of the cast around him (cast-
ing an actual friend of Sean’s, Basil Harris, to play the friend in the
movie so we could capitalize on their real-life chemistry), and began
conversations with all the actors to develop backstories. As I came
to understand who these people were, I could write how they would
believably behave within each scene.
The script format I used was based on the outline structure that
Joe Swanberg introduced me to when I played a role in his web series,
Young American Bodies. It was a simple Word document that consisted
of a list of scenes and a brief description of what would unfold in
each one. No dialogue was pre-written whatsoever. We shot in order
as much as possible, and cross-covered the performances with two
cameras, one on each actor, so that genuine reactions would never
have to be recreated.
Humpday (2009) was inspired by my desire to work with Mark Du-
plass. I pitched him a plot premise, to which he said yes and suggested
Joshua Leonard as a co-lead. The three of us built a rich backstory for
. . . “A marvelous analysis of screenwriting.”
—Julian Fellowes
each character. I incorporated this into the shooting document (which
I deemed a “scriptment”) that was shared with the other producers . . . “Brilliant on story structure.”
and the crew. Here is how that document began: —ken Follett
. . . “Outrageously good . . . far and away
Ben and Andrew met in college and were inseparable. Both were the best book of its kind.”
wild, “try everything” types. They had planned an especially ad- —neil cross
venturous post-graduation journey in Europe, but right before they
www.profwritingacademy.com/into-the-woods @JohnYorke123
departed, Ben was offered an internship that he couldn’t refuse.
Andrew left for Europe while Ben stayed to pursue his career. www.overlookpress.com

MovieMakeR.CoM

This was followed by several more paragraphs about Andrew’s life
since college, and Ben’s wife, Anna. But beyond what was on the page,
pg
26 the actors and I had even more intell on these guys: very specific
stories such as the first day they met; the time they got drunk and
broke into the zoo; the time they took mushrooms and had an intense
conversation about the stars. The goal was to create very present,
visceral sense memories that would help inform who they were and
what they meant to each other.
I really wanted Humpday to have a strong narrative drive, so even
without pre-written dialogue, the armature for what would unfold in
the film was meticulously drawn. The “script” was a 12-page emotion-
al map, detailing what would unfold and how the dynamics between
the players would shift. Here is a sample description of a scene:
Much later that night, Ben is awakened by a knock at the front
door. Half asleep, Ben goes to the entrance and finds Andrew, scruffy
and beaming, with a worn duffle bag slung over his shoulder. They
greet each other with a warm, brotherly embrace. After the shock of
laying eyes on each other for the first time in a long time, Andrew
comes in and we see him register the house, which is pleasant and
modest but which clearly reflects house-proud residents, with little
designy touches like carefully chosen wall colors and interesting
lamps. To Andrew, who has been nomadically roaming the planet
with a small knapsack of books and a couple of pairs of underwear,
this seems like a strange planet. In a flash he realizes that his crazy
adventurer buddy, Ben, has turned into a completely different
creature than Andrew has become. And Ben realizes in a panic that
Andrew must be thinking he’s completely lost his edge.
The one part of the film that was not determined beforehand was
the final scene in the hotel room. It was Mark’s inspired idea that we
shouldn’t know how the film was going to end until we got into that
Courtesy of Magnolia Pictures
Josh Pais and allison Janney in Touchy Feely (2013)
room and let these two characters actually play it out.
After Humpday, Mark brought me the original premise for Your
Sister’s Sister. In this case, two of the three actors were not veteran im-
provisers. So, in addition to a detailed character bible, I wrote more of
a proper script with actual dialogue (in Final Draft this time) for the
majority of the scenes. Lines were written to convey the tone of the
scene, but the actors had the freedom to riff off of them. For example:
MovieMakeR.CoM
Guide to MakinG Movies 2015
INT. CHASE JARVIS STUDIO - DAY
Iris is at her desk, signing for a package, a phone receiver
cradled under her chin.
JACK (V.O.): You sure you can’t come up, at least for the
weekend? Show me the ropes?
IRIS: I’d love to but there’s too much work here. Plus the
idea was for you to be alone.
JACK (V.O.): So, no TV or internet, huh?
IRIS: That’s right.
JACK (V.O.): Are there any forks, so I can stab myself in the
face?
IRIS: It’s for your own good, Caldwell.
JACK (V.O.): Yes, mom.
Mark’s infectious confidence made improvisation easier on ac-
tresses Rosemarie DeWitt and Emily Blunt. Still, sometimes the lines
worked fine as they were written, so this film was around 80 percent
improvised. And my next film, Touchy Feely—an internally driven film
with awkward, inarticulate characters—had less of an “upside-down”
approach, and thus even less improvisation.
Another adage proclaims that the final script is written in the edit
room. Once again, this is especially true with improvised films. I’ve
often felt that one advantage I have in directing improvisation is my
background as an editor. As the actors are finding their way through
a scene, my editor brain is keeping track of whether or not we are
gathering enough material to sew the scene together later. Sometimes
the cameras will roll for 10, 20, 30 minutes on what will ultimately
be sharpened into a five-minute scene. As long as the meat is in there
somewhere, my editor and I will be able to hone in on it later. Make
sure to have an excellent editor on board when you set out to make
this kind of film. If they’ve had experience editing documentaries or
other improvised performances, all the better.
My latest film, Laggies, was traditionally scripted (by the talented
Andrea Seigel) and, except for the very occasional ad-libbed line, it
contains zero improvisation. I must say there is real luxury and relief
in working with a well-written script, and actors who can magically
make lines not seem written at all.
But I know I’ll always return to working with improvisation.
Directing an improvised film takes the collaborative nature of narra-
tive moviemaking to its highest degree. It forces me to let go of ego,
to keep my micromanaging, control-freak nature in check, and to
become the kind of director I most want to be: a curator of the best
ideas, whether they come from my own brain or the magnificent
minds of my collaborators. Together, we can create something that is
greater than the sum of its parts. That is a beautiful feeling, and it’s
something I live for. MM
Laggies opens in theaters October 24, 2014, courtesy of A24.
Courtesy of A24
keiRa kniGhtley staRs in laggies, shelton’s least
“uPside-down” featuRe thus faR
 pg
27

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Author, The Warrior’s Camera:
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Available for pre-order

September 2014
MWP.COM

MOVIEMAKER.COM
pg
28

Whiplash, Damien Chazelle

Chapter
Two :DEVELOPMENT
Be PrePared for enormous Hustle
W
hat I have learned from experience is that,
as a moviemaker, the most important things
to be are well-informed and a serious real-
ist. When you finish that script, you have
to look rigorously at where you are in the
world, and assess as best you can what is actually possible.
You need to understand: a) Who are the people or compa-
nies accessible to you who might possibly give you
money? b) How much is reasonable for you to ask
by Ira Sachs for? This is true whether you are George Lucas
or a first-time filmmaker. Understand the players
and the numbers, and if they don’t match up, reassess the play-
ing field before you step onto it.
When my co-screenwriter, Mauricio Zacharias, and I fin-
ished the script for Love is Strange, I was open to looking for
more traditional film financing than I had on our previous col-
laboration, the risqué Keep the Lights On. Once a few actors
were attached, my producers Jay Van Hoy, Lucas Joaquin, and
Lars Knudsen and I took the package as a whole to several
international sales companies to ask for their estimates as to
what they thought the film would return on the world market.
Though we got no advanced pre-sales, we did get numbers
that were in line with our budget of $1.2 million. So off we
went with those sales estimates, our script, and our attached
cast to every film production company (with money) making
these kinds of films in America.
Not one of which stepped forward with a dollar to finance
the film.
What’s important in development is to work several sys-
tems at once, always revising your plan as you go. Having
gone through the process on Keep the Lights On—which had a
budget of $650,000 and over 300 individuals involved in the
financing—I couldn’t assume that finding funding for another
film with two gay men at its center was going to be any easier. I
might wish that wasn’t true, but wishing never got me a dollar.
Neither does anger, bitterness, or entitlement.
What does get you somewhere is an accurate assessment of
potential funding sources and an enormous amount of hustle,
both of which I have.
With Love is Strange, at the same time as we were sending
our project to film financing companies, we were also quiet-
ly developing an alternate model, based on individual equity
investors: three different levels of possible involvement in the
film, each of which came with a different level of producing
credit.
We arrived at these three monetary levels (what is called,
The A Better
Microcrewery Budget
by Paul Osborne by Arthur Vincie
Pg. 30 Pg. 34
in development terms, “the ask”) after a careful assessment
of how much money we would need, how many people we
thought we could initially approach, and what level of invest-
ment we would ask for, for each level of potential involvement.
Significantly, with Love is Strange, we allowed our new fund-
ing partners to either “give” us the money, or “get it” from
their own friends and contacts (a strategy often used in both
nonprofits and in political campaigns). So if an individual
found someone to “give” us the money at a particular level,
both that investor, as well as the person who made the intro-
duction, was entitled to the credit.
Now, not every producer in the business is like Jay, Lucas,
and Lars, willing to share these credits for investment com-
mitments, but I have found the right collaborators. For us, the
most important thing is to make the movie. We won’t kill for
it, but we will share credits.
This is a model that can work for you. Your numbers might
be different than mine, but in some form or fashion, this is
how films are made. What is the value of the package you are
selling? Who do you know who might buy in? And how much
money do you think you can reasonably ask them for?
I will end this by saying that “value” is a very complex word.
It can be an economic term, certainly, but in terms of fundrais-
ing, it can also be considered in terms of cultural value, glam
value, familial value, and personal value. When raising money
for a film, the most important thing any producer (a.k.a. “hus-
tler”) can do is assess wisely the value, in all its forms, that the
finished film will have to those who decide to pay for it. MM
Courtesy of Music Box Films
Thure LindhardT and Zachary BooTh in Keep the Lights On (2012)
Make a Locate Your
Short First Location
by Damien Chazelle by Payton Dunham
Pg. 38 Pg. 42
pg
30
FleshIng
Out the
skeletOn
Crew
When assembling your
microbudget creW,

Illustration by Juan Darién / Courtesy of Shutterstock

Which positions are
essential—and Which
can you skimp on?

I
t’s not news that the digital revolution has made moviemaking
accessible to everyone. Inexpensive yet powerful cameras, sound
equipment and post-production applications have all given rise to
a massive wave of microbudget films. Twenty-two years ago, when “if a studio creW
Robert Rodriguez pulled off El Mariachi for a paltry $7,000, it was
heralded as a “movie miracle.” Now, if you toss a roll of gaffer’s
tape into the air at any film festival party it will likely bounce off a gaggle
is like an army,
of directors who just did the same thing.
These days, what distinguishes a flick produced on a shoestring
is the professionalism and craft with which it’s made. The audience
the members of
by Paul Osborne the
doesn’t care about the scale of production; if
flick looks good, sounds good, takes place in a microbudget
believable locations, and has actors delivering
credible performances, it will be taken seriously
by distributors, press and the public. The challenge to the indie mov-
creW are
iemaker is to figure out how to accomplish this with a tiny fraction of
the resources Hollywood has at its disposal—including manpower.
If you’ve ever worked on a studio production, been to film school,
commandos,
or watched making-of documentaries on HBO, you know that a
“proper” movie crew is divided into a number of complex depart- each one With
ments with a multitude of positions. A big-budget flick has hun-
dreds—sometimes thousands—of folks working on location. Even a
stripped-down crew usually means a head count of 30 to 40 people.
a specific role
In the microbudget realm, however, maintaining a crew of that size
is completely cost-prohibitive. It’s not about paying salaries (at this
budget level there probably aren’t any); you’ll also be spending money
vital to the
you don’t have feeding, staging, and providing parking for dozens of
people. Having a large crew increases your “production footprint,”
success of the
mission.”
and if you want to minimize costs on things like location fees, permits,
and insurance, then the smaller the better. A tiny crew also mobilizes

MOVIEMAKER.COM

faster, and can be more nimble if and when you choose to shoot
guerilla-style. As most of your budget will be spent during produc-
tion, working quickly and efficiently is critical.
In order to optimize your personnel for a shoestring production,
you’re best served rethinking how a crew works and identifying the
positions you absolutely must fill. If a studio crew is like an army, the
members of a microbudget crew are commandos, each one with a spe-
cific role vital to the success of the mission. Of course, every movie is
different and you should craft the crew structure to its specific needs.
Below I’ve detailed how we did this for my flick Favor, made for under
$30,000 with a team of about six people.
IdentIfy your Labor needs
Every movie needs someone to operate camera and sound, but
beyond that, all other positions are, theoretically, optional. Edward
Burns’ microbudget rom-com Newlyweds took a cinema vérité ap-
proach and was completed for $9,000 with a crew of two. Take a hard
look at your script and determine what your labor requirements really
are: If you’re doing a slasher flick with lots of gore and prosthetics,
you can’t skimp on a dedicated SFX makeup person; if you’re doing
a movie that’s largely improvised, you probably want to account for
more than one cameraman.
Whatever your specific needs, an important thing to remember is
that your crew doesn’t have to be the same size every day. On Favor,
we had a night when the crew swelled to nine people shooting bloody
practical effects in the desert, which required SFX artists and extra
hands for lighting. Another day the crew shrank to one, with only me
behind the camera “stealing” a gas station scene with a single actor,
sans permits. The trick is to schedule wisely so you can have as many
days with a lean crew as possible. For example, if your shoot is three
weeks long, identify the scenes that require the fewest crew members
and tackle them all in the first week. Perhaps you only need a few
people until week two, and then only five people until week three. In
your last days your crew may balloon to a headcount of 10, but during
your first two weeks, you’ll pay for a production half that size.
the essentIaLs
Because we hired SAG actors for Favor and were therefore
responsible for a mountain of paperwork, we needed a production
Courtesy of Paul Osborne / Conspicuous Pictures
actor Patrick day (riGht) falls asleeP on
floatinG crewMan Joe Pezzula’s booM on the set of Favor
Guide to MakinG Movies 2015
manager to deal with all the legalities and logistics. The script called
for a fair amount of specific props and some of our locations weren’t
quite camera-ready, so we brought on a production designer who
functioned as the entire art department. Every movie also needs a
cinematographer, although on many microbudget productions,
pg
31
including ours, the director doubles as cameraman.
Lastly, it’s wise to have at least one production assistant available
to make runs or fill in for any position needed at any given moment.
Get yourseLf a Joe
On Favor, we were able to boil down sound recording, boom oper-
ating, assistant camera, and grip/electric into one position, a technical
catchall-type job for which there is no proper name. The guy who did
this for us was named Joe, so for the purposes of this article, I’m nam-
ing this position after him. A “Joe” works closely with the cinematog-
rapher setting up camera and lighting gear, which in the microbudget
realm is usually very limited and simple. During rehearsals, Joe sets
audio levels, and when the camera rolls, Joe’s running boom.
I’ve met a lot of shoestring moviemakers who’ve redesigned their
crews in a myriad of ways, but interestingly, nearly every single one
of them has had a Joe. (On my friend Zak Forsman’s action-thriller
Down and Dangerous, for example, their Joe was named Sam.) Joes
do sometimes need additional help, but on an average microbudget
shoot day, they can cover almost every technical department. Make
sure you have a Joe.
PosItIons you May MInIMIze
During the day, microbudget productions can utilize natural and
available light easily, but once you’re shooting at night or in com-
plicated interior locations, you’ll want to give your Joe some relief
and bring in a dedicated gaffer. A wise scheduling move is to group
together the days you need a gaffer, so you can keep the time you
employ him or her to a tight minimum. With a shorter time commit-
ment, you can potentially get a higher-quality gaffer to sign on.
While your performers will likely provide most of their own ward-
robes, it’s dangerous to let them handle all the clothes selected for
the shoot. What if your actor brings the wrong shirt to set, or forgets
which dress you need for the second half of a scene you started
shooting two weeks ago? While you don’t need to have a costume
wrangler on set every day, it is wise to have a dedicated person to
collect all these clothes and keep them clean and organized. In order
to avoid continuity problems, the costume wrangler can create a
notebook with photographs of all the clothes, each article assigned
with a simple code which corresponds to the scenes in which it’s
used. Then the director, production manager or actor can use this
book to identify what exactly needs to be worn on any given day, and
the costume wrangler only needs to come in every so often to clean,
steam and repair the wardrobe.
Lastly, every production, no matter how small, should capture
extensive behind-the-scenes videos and photographs for later pro-
motional use. You should have a unit photographer armed with a
DSLR (for both stills and video), but you don’t necessarily need this
person every day. Identify when you are shooting your most impres-
sive stuff—the shootout in the warehouse, the fireworks-on-the-
beach scene, or the sequence when your two leads meet-cute on the
Brooklyn Bridge—and make sure those are the times you have your
unit photographer present. On the days with no UP, leave the DSLR
out on set and let your crew know that, if anyone finds themselves
with nothing to do, they’re free to pick it up and shoot whatever they
MOVIEMAKER.COM
pg
32

Courtesy of Paul Osborne / Conspicuous Pictures

Favor gaffer Lucas McNeLLy oNLy worked duriNg Night shoots, wheN the LightiNg got coMpLicated eNough to Necessitate aNother warM body

Your A-, B- And C-TeAms

While the specific needs of each production will vary based upon what’s being filmed, here are some general ideas of how
best to allocate the hands you have on deck.

Crew Size: 2
The absolute must-haves on any movie are picture and sound, so if you only have two people at your disposal, give one
the camera and other the boom mic. (Some productions have gone even further and split this in half, strapping lavalier
microphones to the actors and making do with only a single crewmember, a cameraman.) This completely stripped-down
production method is best used for films shot guerrilla-style in live locations, like Isaak James’ By Way of Home or Alex
Karpovsky’s Red Flag. To see this in action, I recommend watching the documentary Popatopolis, which follows exploitation
moviemaker Jim Wynorski’s hilarious attempt to shoot a feature with a two-man crew in three days.

Crew Size: 5
After picture and sound are accounted for, you may want to dedicate someone to handling your art department needs,
such as props and set dressing. Lighting can get complicated quickly if you’re shooting nights, so it’s wise to bring on a gaf-
fer. And as your production grows, so do logistical complications, necessitating the involvement of a production manager.

Crew Size: 10
With the addition of five more people, you can now afford such luxuries as an assistant director, dedicated wardrobe
and makeup artists, and someone to swing between the camera and lighting departments. But the smartest move is to
add a production assistant: While they may be considered an “entry-level” member of the crew, their ability to take on
multiple responsibilities is absolutely essential to the smooth operation of your set.

Crew Size: 15
With this number, you’ve reached the tipping point between a “microbudget” and “traditional” crew. You can now have a
script supervisor, a dedicated craft service person, a driver, and even more technical people. You might still be able to avoid
the world of expensive shooting permits and large production vehicles, but only barely. Having a big crew is a luxury, and, like
most luxuries, it can come with a hefty price tag. But before you break your budget, remember: You can always scale back. MM

MOVIEMAKER.COM
 Guide to MakinG Movies 2015

like. (Only do this in controlled locations, of course. You don’t want the production manager could absorb the responsibilities of location
the thing stolen.) Every time we did this on Favor someone would manager and utilize the production assistant for craft services. Ca-
invariably grab the camera and capture additional behind-the- tering can be completely farmed out to nearby restaurants, with food
scenes material. ordered by the production manager and put out by the production

Positions You MaY EliMinatE

assistant. Just make sure thought and care is placed into acquiring
quality meals, or your little crew is bound to mutiny.
pg
33
While indispensable to many moviemakers, a methodical, consci- Once you’ve figured out your microbudget crew structure and
entious director might find the most expendable position on a “stan- hired people to fill those positions, remember this one final step:
dard crew” to be the script supervisor. Because digital footage can Treat these folks like gold. A small crew, even one made up of rela-
be instantly replayed, many continuity questions can be answered tively inexperienced people, can function incredibly well if everyone
by simply watching previous takes. The actors, art and wardrobe de- cares enough to do his or her part. Respect all members of your
partments should also have their own continuity protocols in place, team and show them how much you appreciate their efforts. You’ll
and some editors don’t be surprised how much a
actually use their script tiny, dedicated crew can
supervisors’ notes. accomplish. MM
You can get by without
makeup and hair artists, Paul Osborne is the writer
provided the performers are and director of the award-
comfortable taking on this winning thriller Favor,
duty for themselves. (Most now available on VOD
professional actors have and DVD everywhere. He
theater experience and are previously directed Official

Courtesy of the Sabi Company

asked to do this for stage
productions.) The tasks of
an assistant director can
be divided up between the
production manager and
the director. Additionally,
Rejection, the acclaimed
documentary about film
festivals, and wrote the
indie feature Ten Til Noon.
the entire crew and two lead actors froM MicrobudGet Follow him at twitter.com/
action-thriller Down anD Dangerous, directed by Zak forsMan (fourth froM left) paulmakesmovies.

MOVIEMAKER.COM
 A Beginner’s guide To

BudgeT
pg
34

by Arthur Vincie.

Illustration by Juan Darién / Courtesy of Shutterstock

Don’t panic or procrastinate—
just Do it yourself, at least once

A
typical feature budget with these steps: occurs over several days, spread out over
has 30 to 40 categories, • Jot down each separate shooting location several decades. This gives you a very
anywhere from 250 to 300- in the script. The bathroom, bedroom and rough idea of how many wardrobe chang-
plus line items, and 400- living room of the same family house can es and seasonal or period adjustments
800 “details” within those count as one location. The outside of the (snow, rain, fog, falling leaves, production
items. How does anyone house, however, should count as a separate design changes) you need to account for.
figure all that out? The good news is that you location (i.e. you may have to shoot this • Determine how many scenes you have
don’t have to start from scratch, or get it right somewhere else). that require a lot of extras: sporting
the first time. The process is less mysterious • Write down each speaking role and what events, city streets, classes, dances, bars or
than it seems. scenes they appear in. clubs, weddings, funerals, and other major
• Determine how many “script days” your social occasions.
The Breakdown story takes place over, and over how long Next, create a breakdown sheet for each
First, you need to understand your script a time period. Before Midnight takes place scene in your script. The breakdown sheets
at an atomic level, so break it down. Start in one day; X-Men: Days of Future Past should contain (at minimum):

MOVIEMAKER.COM
 SAG has a rate structure built into its various agreements,
based on the limits of a film’s budget*:
• Scene numbers
• Interior or exterior Agreement Film’s Budget Minimum* Real Rate
• Set (the area where the scene is set) Limit
• Location (the larger area, house or build- Student Film $35K / 30
ing in which the set is)
• Short description
Short Film
min / student producer
$50K / 30 min $0 $0
pg
35
• Time of day
• Scene length Ultra Low Budget <$250K $110/day $296.52
• List of cast Agreement (ULBA) for 8 hours
• List of extras Modified Low Budget <$700K $290/day $781.55/day
• Picture vehicles Agreement (MLBA) $1,000/week $1,750/week
• Stunts MLBA Diversity Initiative** <$1 mil. Same as LBA
• Special equipment needs
• Pets/effects/special makeup Low Budget Agreement (LBA) <$3 mil. $520/day $1,401/day
• Props $1,805/week $3,159/week
• Set dressing LBA Diversity Initiative** <$4.2 mil. Same as LBA
Analyzing the script this way will give you Basic >$3 mil.
a better sense of its true scope. Low-budget
indie films may be long on one or two items,
* SAg is finalizing their 2014-2017 contracts right now, so rates and ceilings are speculative, based on what
but not on everything. I’ve seen of past contract increases.
** The diversity initiative gives you a higher budget ceiling, but only if 50 percent or more speaking roles are
Setting ParameterS cast with women, people of color, seniors, or people with disabilities.
Once you’ve broken down the script,
it’s time to make key assumptions for your The “real rate” includes the following (using the ULBA as an example):
production. These will guide you through
the rest of the process. Base Rate $110.00
4 hours of overtime per day 4 * 1.5 * $13.75 $82.50
1) TargeT BudgeT
at 1.5 times the hourly rate
This is what you think the film should be
made for—or what you fervently hope you 10 percent fee to cover the (110 + 82.50) * 10 percent $19.25
can do it for. (It may have very little to do actor’s agent/manager
(This is a courtesy, but pretty customary)
with reality.)
Subtotal (due to the actor) $211.75
2) Sag/union agreemenTS 17 percent of above due to the ($211.75) * 17 percent $36.00
The only union you’re likely to be SAg Health/pension/Welfare Fund
dealing with on a low-budget film will be
21 percent estimated federal and ($211.75) * 21 percent $44.47
SAG-AFTRA, unless one of your key crew
state payroll fringes (including social
members is union, or if your budget is over
security, Medicare, federal and state
$2 million. SAG specifies certain minimum unemployment, disability)
rates, overtime pay, health/pension/welfare
payments, and other rules that you have to 2 percent payroll company ($211.75) * 2 percent $4.24
service fee (estimated)
abide by. Even if your budget is tiny, you
should consider going SAG, or you might Total $296.46
run into trouble with casting.
Refer to the tables on the right for details
about SAG’s budget ceilings. Knowing the

L 866-846-5054
ceilings helps: A budget of $300K, for ex-
ample, puts you just inside the Modified Low
316 W. 2nd St Suite 402 LA, CA 90012 207 S. Broadway Suite 1 LA, CA 90012

A
Budget Agreement SAG category. It might
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be wiser to shoot for $200K—or $600K.

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3) FormaT and Camera
Shoot on the camera you can truly afford. C Full Service Production Facility in the Heart of Los Angeles

Good production design, lighting, and sound
will matter more to your tablet-viewing
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Your choice of format affects other de-
partments, and can result in different prices
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and considerations for:

• Storage for your camera masters, backup
camera masters, picture edit, sound edit,
O
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 VFX, music, and conform reels. 4K RAW
takes up a lot more room than Pro-
ResHD 422.
pg
36 • Lighting and grip: Digital cinema cameras
are more sensitive in some ways than film,
which means you can work with a smaller
lighting package, but each model handles
light differently. Your grip needs are dif-
ferent, as well—the overhead rig that can
handle the weight of a Canon 5D may not
be able to take the load of a Sony F55.
• Camera personnel: You typically need a
bigger crew for a 35mm, RED or ALEXA
rig than for a DSLR or Blackmagic
camera.
• Transportation: Bigger cameras require
more shelf space, sometimes requiring a
larger vehicle.
• Editing workflow: Your editor may need a
faster computer to handle certain footage.
You will probably have to transcode the
footage, as well.
• Syncing: Who’s syncing the sound to
your picture? Or are you shooting single
source?
• Camera rentals or purchases: It’s tempting
to buy. You can amortize the purchase
over several projects, and you can shoot
whenever you want. But today’s hot model
is tomorrow’s doorstop, so be careful.
Don’t forget to factor in other items, such
as extra cards, an onboard monitor, cables,
batteries, and support.
4) Crew Size
There are three basic categories of crew
size, each with its pros and cons.
• 2 to 18: With this run-and-gun size, ev-
eryone does a couple of jobs, but you can
move very fast.
• 30: This crew can be too big and not big
enough. But it can handle larger-scale
projects (big crowd scenes, production-
design heavy scripts) well.
• 70+: Full-size, with all the departments
represented. Able to handle most situa-
tions, but slow-moving. Requires a good
production team to manage.
Your crew size is determined by your tar-
get budget, script, shooting philosophy, and
management skills. Would you rather shoot
for more time with a smaller crew? For films
made for under $200K, the run-and-gun
crew makes the most sense.
5) DiStribution Plan
It used to be that production costs ate
up your budget. Now it’s distribution and
promotion. Distributors have retreated from
providing a lot of things, such as: trailers;
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music and effects mixes (for foreign distribu-
tion); closed captioning, subtitles and timed
dialogue lists; mastering, encoding, duplica-
tion for DVD, Blu-ray, DCP and other for-
mats; and marketing materials, like posters,
postcards, ads, press releases, promotional
events, and artwork. So you have to.
Come up with as detailed a distribution
plan as you can—yes, right now. This will
also help you sell your film to investors.
6) when anD where You Shoot
If you’re shooting far away from home,
you’ll need to transport, feed, and lodge your
crew and cast, or count on hiring local help.
Ideally, the time of year in the script will
match your shoot dates. But if your script is
set outdoors and you’re shooting in Decem-
ber (during the shortest days of the year),
you may have to add additional days to
the schedule.
If you’re shooting in the summer, you
have to keep everyone cool when they’re not
on set. Add water, iced tea, Gatorade, and
coolers to the craft budget, and buy cheap
box fans. If you’re shooting in the winter,
find a place to keep everyone warm. You may
have to rent tents, heaters, and industrial-
size coffeemakers.
Schedule
Now create a reasonably efficient schedule,
based on the breakdown and your assump-
tions. Here are some brief pointers:
• Consolidate location and actor days as
much as possible
• Get your exteriors out of the way first
• Start on days and end on nights
• Start small and end small
• The more complex a scene (stunts, extras,
actors, effects, camera moves), the longer
it will take to shoot
• Long dialogue scenes run longer than the
official scene “length”
• Try to keep the page count per day rea-
sonable (eight pages is a lot)
The FirST draFT
Start at the very first line item and work
your way through the entire budget, item by
item. Focus on the items that you have data
on, and skip over the rest for now. This will
keep you from procrastinating until you’ve
“done more research,” and you’ll be able to
see pretty quickly if you’re missing or hitting
your target.
From the schedule, you know your shoot
length, and how many days you need each
actor and location for. And from the param-
eters you set, you know which SAG agree-
ment you should be aiming for. So plug in
your cast salaries and your crew shoot days.
Add some prep and wrap days for your crew,
and rehearsal days for your cast.
You may not yet know a given location
cost or crew rate, so put in a guesstimate
for now.
Since you know your crew size and shoot
days, you can plug in your craft services
and lunch headcount, and you can figure
out your transportation budget (how many
people you need on set and the number of
people per crew van). Once you have the
number of crew vehicles you need, you’ll also
have a general idea of how much gas, tolls,
and parking you’ll need to put in for.
The Second draFT
It’s time to do some research. All those
gaps need to be filled in. Start by calling
other moviemakers in your area. They can
tell you the inside scoop about how much
they were able to bargain the camera rental
house down to, or about the crazy guy with
the mansion who rents it out because he likes
movies. They can give you an idea of the go-
ing rate for crew. You may get some referrals
out of these conversations as well.
Then call your local film office, who are
pros at hooking up moviemakers to resources.
Third, see if there’s a nearby film coop-
erative, IFP (Independent Feature Project)
chapter, filmmaking meet-up group—any-
place people network. Join and ask questions.
Go back to your budget, and pencil
in some numbers. Now you should start
calling vendors, location owners, cast, and
prospective crew members. You can test
your assumptions against reality, and adjust
accordingly. Start with people you know
and work outward. Approach at least two
of everyone you need (vendors, location
owners, crew). You want to get a sense of
the rate range.
It’s tricky to budget props, set dressing,
and wardrobe. Go back to your breakdown,
and list the significant props, furniture items,
and costumes. Pay attention to prominently
featured items, and get real information on
their cost.
The Third draFT
Once you’ve filled in your budget, compare
it to your target number. (Have a drink ready.)
If you’ve come in low, you’ve probably
low-balled some items. Look at your post and
distribution numbers. Microbudget films often
need a little more visual effects and color cor-
rection money to remove production mistakes
(booms in the shot, framing issues, etc.).
 Guide to MakinG Movies 2015

If you’ve come in high, go back to the

schedule and see if you can realistically trim
a day or two. You can find some things in the
script to trim. You may be able to trim the
number of extras or your crew size.
pg
37
Once you’ve done this draft, share it with
someone you trust. You’ll need an outside
perspective at this point. Be prepared to cycle
back through everything a few times—there’s
usually more than one way to bring the bud-
get down.
You could hire someone to budget for you,
but it’s important to do it at least once. Think
of this as a simulation of your film’s journey,
from beginning to end. Better to go through
this now than be surprised on set. And, if you
enjoy the process, you’ll have just acquired a
very useful—and marketable—skill. MM

Arthur Vincie is a writer, director and line

producer. His latest feature, the award-win-
ning lo-fi sci-fi film, Found in Time, will be
available on Amazon and Vudu in Septem-
ber. His book on preproduction, preparing
For Takeoff, is out now from Focal Press.
Visit foundintimefilm.com for more details.

115,000 square feet

of amazing
The New Vancouver Film School Campus
See it for yourself
vfs.edu/moviemaker

MOVIEMAKER.COM
pg
38 DIvIDe anD
Conquer
Stuck on
making
your feature? make it a Short firSt
“I
t’s a movie about a jazz drummer.” Cue eyes glazing over.
By the time I got lucky enough to make Whiplash, I’d ex-
perienced this reaction quite a few times. I’d always known
that this story—loosely inspired by my own experiences
in a competitive jazz ensemble—wasn’t so easily pitchable.
But it was full of terror, passion and high drama. If only I
could wring a pulse-grabbing logline out of it.
It also didn’t help that I hadn’t made
a bunch of movies. I’d made one feature
by Damien Chazelle. while I was a student, a low-key jazz
musical called Guy and Madeline on a Park
Bench, and it didn’t really have anything to do with the tone of Whip-
Miles Teller as andrew neyMan and J.K. siMMons as Terence FleTcher in The FeaTure Whiplash
lash. It was scruffy, shot on black-and-white 16mm, mostly improvised,
quiet and muted. Not the calling card I needed, especially since I
wanted Whiplash to play like a high-octane thriller.
My experience as a jazz drummer had felt that way to me. I had a
conductor who scared the living daylights out of me. I had anxiety
nightmares about missing beats, losing the tempo, coming in early
or late. I’d skip meals, lose sleep, practice ’til my hands bled and my
drum-heads broke. It was an all-or-nothing, no-holds-barred im-
mersion intp music at its most physical, its most psychologically and
emotionally demanding. A lot of this was because I was an impression-
able (and, I have to admit, wimpy) teenager at the time—but I wanted
to capture what those years felt like to me. You see that perspective in

Chazelle Chose drab white walls for the studio
in the short “whiplash,” instead of the impassioned reds in the feature
war movies, in sports movies, in gangster movies, in any movie where
physical violence is hovering just around the corner. Guy and Madeline
was about the joy of making music. Whiplash needed to be about the
terror and the pain.
I’d written my script in a fever in 2011, pissed off because another
project of mine was at a dead end. I’d been paying the bills with
writing-for-hire jobs in L.A. But instead of showing Whiplash to
anyone, I put it in a drawer for a year. To be perfectly honest, I was a
little embarrassed by it. There was a lot of me in it, and I didn’t know
what people would think. The me that was in it was not a me I was
particularly proud of.
Eventually I got over the hump—or just got too tired of living in
L.A. without making a movie of my own—and gave the script to my
agent. Her response somewhat shocked me—she really liked it.
The script was sent all over town. Everyone passed. Time and again
I’d be asked to describe the project. “Well, it’s this movie about a jazz
drummer.” That’s about how far the conversation would get.
“No, but actually it’s really more of a thriller,” I would sometimes
be able to say. I’d get a nod, a distant glance—like the person I was
talking to was wondering why we were still talking about this.
Then, I got lucky. A producer named Couper Samuelson read the
script. He gave the script to a friend of his, Helen Estabrook, who
Photograph by Daniel McFadden, Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics
was Jason Reitman’s producer. Before I knew it, four phenomenal
producers—Couper, Jason Blum (with whom Couper worked), Helen
Estabrook, and Jason Reitman—were on board.
You’d think that’d be all you need. But there was still one catch:
“It’s a movie about a jazz drummer.”
Ultimately, it was those producers’ idea that we give financiers a
taste of what Whiplash would actually look, sound and feel like on-
screen. Their proposal was this: We’d choose a scene from the script,
shoot it, cut it, and present it.
Now, I’ll be honest: I did not want to make a short. I’d written
Whiplash as a feature, and that’s what I wanted to do. But, as it turned
out, the producers’ idea was a brilliant one. Not only did it arouse
Guide to makinG movies 2015
“The idea was a
brillianT one.
pg
39
noT only did iT
arouse inTeresT
in The projecT
ThaT hadn’T
exisTed before,
iT also allowed
me To geT my
Courtesy of Damien Chazelle
feeT weT.”
interest in the project that hadn’t existed before, it also allowed me to
get my feet wet, to fine-tune what I really wanted this movie to be.
There was a big scene at the end of the script’s first act, in which
our main character, Andrew, experiences his first day in the top jazz
orchestra of his music school. He comes in full of hope. The teacher,
Fletcher, walks in, and he’s terrifying. He rips Andrew to shreds, then
tells him to practice harder. End of scene.
It’s the moment that launches us into the meat of the movie: An-
drew stripping himself to his core, both as a musician and as a human
being, in order to meet his conductor’s challenge. It’s a single-location
scene and it involves our two lead characters, some loud big-band jazz,
and some screaming (and slapping. And chair-throwing). As a short
film, it would be the perfect representative for the movie as a whole.
We put together a crew and shot the scene in three days. A fel-
low music fanatic and friend of Helen Estabrook’s, Nicholas Britell,
financed the shoot. It was my first time shooting with a real crew, and
I was far more nervous walking onto the set of this short than I was
walking onto the set of the feature a year later. The number of people,
the time constraints, the ticking clock—it was all new to me. I’d shot
Guy and Madeline with a few friends off and on over the course of a
year. Most of the shorts I’d made before that were vérité documenta-
ries. The “Whiplash” short was a different beast entirely.
For one, I’d made a mistake. I’d picked a location that looked
exactly like what my high-school band room had looked like: white
walls, big windows, open and airy and sterile. I liked, on paper, the
idea of blood-boiling rage and abject humiliation etched against such
a harmless-looking backdrop. There was an asylum quality to the
place as well, and echoes of Full Metal Jacket. Bright open light for
very dark behavior.
Sounded great. But it was the wrong approach. One, we’d seen it
before. Two, physical realism does not always equal emotional realism.
I was being true to the particulars of my own experience, but not to the
emotional undercurrents of the scene. In the mind of our lead charac-
ter—our impressionable young drummer, who dreams of being a jazz
moviemaker.Com
 Guide to MakinG Movies 2015

after scene, and so the entire look of the film would have to stem from
it. Suddenly, my look-book for the feature was filled with Caravaggio

Photograph by Daniel McFadden / Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

and Goya paintings, and stills from The Godfather, The Yards, Birth and
pg
40 The Social Network—none of which appeared in the look book for the
short. It had become clear that this was going to be a movie about old
buildings, about warm colors, about darkness—both visual and emo-
tional. Without doing the short, I might never have realized that this
was how I wanted to do the feature.
I learned other things during the short-to-feature process, like:
Don’t become a slave to what you’ve done before. When making the
feature, I wound up in the odd position of having to essentially reshoot
the short. We had a few different actors, a different location; it was a
different movie. I’d grown so used to what the short looked and felt
siMMons RepRises his oRiGinal Role like that it took me a moment to adjust to the new circumstances.
fRoM the shoRt as a Ruthlessly deMandinG ConduCtoR You’d think doing a scene you’d already done would make it easier,
right? Wrong. This was the hardest scene of the entire film for me. It’s

“This was going To like falling in love with temp music during editing; your brain waves
adjust to the patterns, and for a while anything that’s not exactly that
pattern feels off, even when it’s good.
be a movie abouT For example, there’s a moment where Fletcher slaps Andrew across
the cheek over and over. I’d shot it one way in the short: head-on, as
old buildings, a two-shot. On the set of the feature, it wasn’t working. The two-shot
felt flat. So we got side angles—Fletcher’s side, then Andrew’s. We cut

abouT warm colors, it together in post. I was pissed: I’d convinced myself that the short’s
two-shot was the only way to play the moment.

abouT darkness— Guess what? I was wrong. As soon as I let go of my preconceptions,

and watched the scene anew, I realized not that the slapping was as
good as it had been before—but that it was better. I’d been blinded by
boTh visual and my own temp love.
That’s not to say I now think less of the short. I love both ver-
emoTional. wiThouT sions of the scene. They are equally valid interpretations of the
same piece of writing, and in some cases the differences in execution

doing The shorT, i are minute. But those little differences add up. The two scenes are
wholly different beasts.

mighT never have The short did exactly what we’d hoped it would do. We shot it in
July 2012, edited it and submitted it to Sundance 2013 to help give it
a platform. We closed financing on the feature the May after Sun-
realized ThaT This dance—thanks to Bold Films, who took a huge gamble: This was still
a movie about a jazz drummer, and it had to sustain interest for not
was how i wanTed To just 15 minutes, but 100. We shot the feature in 20 days in September
2013, wrapping the first week of October. Tom Cross (an absolutely

do The feaTure.” brilliant editor who had cut the short, and whom I hope I can convince
to cut every movie I ever make) edited the film in record time, in order
to submit to Sundance 2014 in early November. We picture-locked
legend—the jazz orchestra he enters is a gleaming institution unto itself. shortly thereafter, mixed and colored in December, and took the film to
Its rehearsal room is sacred ground. And, at the same time, it’s hell. Sundance in January 2014.
So, when I shot the feature, I made sure to find a location that I was lucky to not get my own way: to send the script out even
could lend itself to those two things: grandeur and terror. This time though I didn’t want anyone seeing those skeletons in the closet; to go
I took inspiration not from my own band room, but from the more diagonally and make the short even though I’d wanted to dive straight
hallowed conservatories, jazz clubs and concert halls of the world. into the feature; to learn from my own mistakes, to learn to let go. The
Whereas in the short the location’s color palette had been one of one big failure I still can’t wrap my mind around is this: I’d thought
whites and blues, here it was all about blacks and reds. No windows that by making this movie, I’d exorcise my demons and put an end
at all, so you couldn’t escape. But a burnished luster to the walls and once and for all to my recurring nightmare of finding myself on-stage
doors and instruments, so you’d feel like you’d made it when you as a drummer and losing the beat.
entered. A rehearsal room that could subtly change during the course Well, guess what. I made the movie, and I still have the nightmare. MM
of the movie: from the warm ambers and oranges of a fire-lit dining
room or a tasteful old library, to the fiery reds and pools of shadow of Whiplash won the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award
the inner circle of hell. for U.S. dramatic features at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. It
This was a more important decision than just picking your average opens in limited theaters on October 10, 2014, courtesy of Sony
location: This was the central location of the movie, recurring in scene Pictures Classics.

MovieMakeR.CoM
SUPPORT INDEPENDENT FILM
ATTEND A SCREENING

SUBMIT YOUR FILM

JOIN THE MOVEMENT

 Casting YouR
LoCation
pg
42
R
ecently, my family went looking for a home in the
foothills of the Rocky Mountains. I had my list of
wants, including a man cave, a garage, and a nicely
sized yard. My wife wanted a spacious kitchen with
an island, and a house with no neighbors in sight. My
daughter wanted enough room to build a tree house.
All of these criteria had to be considered. It wasn’t easy—even for a pro-
fessional location manager—but eventually we found our perfect spot.
They say “location, location, location” for a reason. The right place
can make or break a film. A location often acts as a central charac-
ter, like in The Grand Budapest Hotel. Or
contains the entirety of the action, like
by Payton Dunham . the courtroom in 12 Angry Men, or the
classroom in The Breakfast Club.
When searching for the right location, a moviemaker must take
into account not only the overall vision for the film, but also how
well the location functions for the gaffer, grips, assistant directors,
art department, cinematographer, truck drivers, and even the caterer.
Furthermore, anyone from the director or producer to the UPM or
designer may be called upon to perform some of the duties that be-
long to the location manager. It’s extremely important to know what
goes into location scouting and management, and how to identify any
red flags that could disrupt a production.
Step One: preparatiOn
You’ve read the script, taken location notes, and talked with Your
team. the quest begins.
• Research. Great location scouts go online first to narrow down the
search. With so many locations with pictures online, it’s easy to get a
feel for the building in advance to determine if it’s the right look you
need. Look for business hours and potential event conflicts.
• Film commissions. Film offices, as well as city and county offices
like the Chamber of Commerce, want you to find the best-looking
places their locale has to offer. Seek them out because they know
the places (and people) intimately and can be your permit re-
source, as well as hook you up with local police if you need to shut
down streets.
• Local support. Don’t be shy about getting an entire town to help
you find locations. Enlist the efforts of postmen, police, firefight-
ers, realtors, and store owners in the search. They’ll feel like
they’re on your location crew, give you tons of leads, and in the
end, you’ve made a new friend (at least on Facebook).
Step twO: ScOuting
You’ve got several sources of information and You’re readY to go
take pictures of those leads. these are the important factors:
• Parking. All of your trucks and crew, including self-driven talent
and extras, have to park at the location you choose. Make sure you
MOVieMaKer.cOM
The righT locaTion can
make a film, The wrong one
can break iT. a quick primer
on greaT scouTing and
managemenT
have ample parking for vehicles to park and unload things (includ-
ing the generator). Those big trucks and motor homes need lots of
space to move around. If the parking isn’t adjacent to the building,
it should be very close by—you’ll thank yourself for this.
• The Load-in. All departments, especially the grip and electric
departments, have heavy gear to lug around, so it’s ideal to be on
the ground level. However, if you have to be above ground, don’t
choose a great-looking location on the third floor that only has
one small elevator or a narrow stairwell. It’s going to take tons of
extra time just loading in and out, and no one is going to be in a
good mood after huffing up those stairs. Plus, you’ll have to work
with the building to repair any nicks and scrapes along the way.
• Space. The best-looking rooms in the world won’t work for you
if there’s not enough space to accommodate the actors, cameras,
and lights. It’s never good to be crammed on top of each other with
hot lights, in a tiny space with no air conditioning, in 100-degree
August. Been there, done that, and have the sweat stains to prove it.
• Combinations. See how many sets you can get in one location, or
in one small area. After all, the longer a production can stay in one
location, the better. My team once transformed a large downtown
church into a police station, a prison warden’s office, prison hall-
ways, a basement, an upscale office, a Brazilian kitchen, and a small
Brazilian church—all in one cost-effective swoop.
tips and tricks
• Take pictures of everything. You never know what a production
designer will like, so capture everything with your digital camera,
tablet, or phone. I once discovered a man who had a small shop
where he built and repaired old wooden merry-go-round horses.
I took photos of the horses and the shop on a whim. When the
director saw them, a scene was rewritten to include the shop and
horses in the movie.
• Get lost. Start out with your chosen locations and then head
off the beaten path between targets. Switch off your phone and
your GPS. Great farms can be found down dead-end dirt roads,
great churches are sometimes hidden deep in neighborhoods, and
architects build gorgeous buildings that aren’t always right on the
corner of Broadway and Main.
• Look in every room. You might be surprised by what you find
behind every door. Sometimes a location may not be right, but you
might find a perfect prop or set piece. I once scouted an old, shut-
tered grocery store and uncovered a wooden cash register, along
with several wooden and glass display cases from the 1930s. The
art department restored them and they added great production
value to the scenes.
• Word of mouth is king. Always leave a potential location with

more information than you arrived with. If you’re scouting an
office and it’s great, find out from the owners where others like
this one are. If it’s not quite right, explain that you’re searching for
a different look, layout, and design. Ask everyone you come into
contact with about all the locations you’re seeking.
• Be flexible. You may not always be able to get exactly what you’re
looking for. For instance, airports are notoriously tough loca-
tions due to security clearance, traffic, crowds, parking, etc. Large
universities with newer buildings or shopping malls are a great
substitute because they have the capacity, the escalators, and crisp,
clean interiors.
• Look at the best location…again. On a feature I worked on, a
principal house was becoming increasingly difficult to find. In fact,
we’d already seen the perfect one, but when we’d showed it to the
director, he hadn’t bitten. Weeks went by, and the director and I were
still looking frantically. Finally I decided to take him by the same
house again. By this time, he’d looked at so many that he’d forgotten
it, and exclaimed, “This is it!” Of course, I’d known all along.
step thRee: ManaGeMent
You’ve selected the appropriate locations and production is readY
to begin—but Your job’s not over.
• Owner agreements and communication. Making a deal with
the tenant of a property, whether a home or business, is only the
Photograph by Barbara Kloth
owen wilson leads the ChaRGe in wes andeRson’s The Grand BudapesT hoTel. set in the fiCtional RepubliC of ZubRowka, the titulaR hotel was aCtually a
ConveRted depaRtMent stoRe in the GeRMan town of GöRlitZ
Guide to MakinG Movies 2015
first step. You have to make sure the owner of the property knows
what’s happening at all times and has signed an agreement. After
all, you don’t want to have trucks there, lights up, actors on the
property, with the owner telling you to leave. And he’s got you
over a barrel if you try to sign an agreement on the spot.
pg
43
• Only shoot where you have permission. It has become clear
that on the recent tragic Midnight Rider shoot in Georgia, the pro-
ducers did not have full permission to film at the location they had
chosen. Their failure to follow proper location protocol (by having
train officials on site during the shoot) cost the life of young cam-
era assistant Sarah Jones. Had they had proper permission, they
wouldn’t have needed PAs along the tracks to warn of oncoming
trains. Bottom line: Don’t shoot on active streets without police
support, don’t go down that dark corridor with an open elevator
shaft, and don’t go through the locked ranch gate.
• Clean up. I was taught by an award-winning producer that the key
functions of a location manager are to keep the cast and crew safe;
select, protect and safeguard every location; and, most importantly,
always leave locations in better condition than when you arrived.
Trust me—you’ll be warmly invited back for your next project.
Your locations might not be as specific or detailed as Wes Ander-
son’s or Stanley Kubrick’s, but if you prepare and manage locations
effectively, you’ll be that much closer to a smooth production—and
one terrific-looking film. MM
Courtesy of Fox Searchlight
MovieMakeR.CoM
pg
44

Directing the Building

Name ofCast
Ensemble Story Name of Story
Camera-derie
Goes
by Justin Here
Simien, Goes
by Jake Here
Paltrow
By to
as told Author’s Name
Kelly Leow ByPg.
Author’s
48 Name
Young Ones, Jake Paltrow Page
Pg. 46#XX Page #XX
 Chapter
Three : production
Build the World, then Get out of the Way

A
fter my third feature, Forty Shades of Blue, I
stopped rehearsing in any traditional way
before shooting. That means no table read, no
blocking rehearsal, no scene work, no motiva-
tion analysis. None of it. I avoid talking subtext
or intention—typical “directing the actor” lingo—like the
plague. This doesn’t mean that I don’t work with my actors
before we start shooting, but that job is primarily
one of relationship-building. I need to develop
by Ira Sachs the actors’ trust in me, as well as their comfort
with the script itself and with the other actors.
For Love is Strange, we started off at a steakhouse in a mall
on the parameters of Beverly Hills. John Lithgow, Alfred Mo-
lina and I had dinner to talk about our backgrounds, our lives,
and a bit about their characters and backstories. It was a get-
ting-to-know-each-other-moment, and at the end of the eve-
ning, a friendly waiter snapped a photo that I promptly posted
on Facebook. In the shot, I’m happy and excited to be making
a movie with these two, and they seem just as excited.
That was the one and only time the three of us got to-
gether before we shot their first scene of the film. The day
after our dinner, I spent a focused, but casual, afternoon with
Alfred alone on his patio, reading through every scene of his
in the movie.
I brought with me a two-page timeline that listed every
scene Alfred’s character was in and noted the length of time
between each scene. I have found that it’s harder than it looks
for all involved, particularly the actors, to keep their own story
clearly in mind. This simple linear document is very helpful
to actors, but also to production designers and costume direc-
tors; a cheat sheet for us all.
A few weeks later I flew to Calgary, Canada, where John was
on location for Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar. He and I had
another few meals together, between chatting sessions in his
hotel suite. Back in New York, I had the same informal one-
on-one with actors Marisa Tomei and Darren Burrows, and
an hour with each of the day players in the movie. The most
time-consuming part of preparing actors for Love is Strange
was several days spent teaching Cheyenne Jackson and Manny
Perez how to play Dungeons & Dragons.
Remember that a shooting day on a film is, in and of itself,
a rehearsal period. You shoot the scene from many angles, for
many hours, refining and changing as you go. But if you are
interested in achieving a naturalistic performance from an ac-
tor on a film, it is key to not let there be too much time for
conscious thought and analysis, or too much talking by the
director. If there is, the actor starts to try to please, and, worst
of all, to play the subtext.
The director’s job is to build the world and then get out of
the way. That’s not to say you shouldn’t be paying attention.
On set, I am glued to the monitor—which I swear by—watch-
ing every movement and listening to every word and syllable,
as I attempt to be the actor’s mirror.
The hardest moment for a director is the blocking rehearsal,
putting the scene in motion on location. I give myself 20 to
30 minutes for this with the DP and the script supervisor by
my side. This is the craft of the job, and it is the small adjust-
ments—building in a pause, suggesting a line come before a
cross instead of after—which are, more than anything, what
directing is about. It’s putting the words in motion, defining
the actions, mere moments before the take.
While you’re at it, stay attentive to everything else going
on that very day, that very hour. As the French filmmaker Jean
Renoir said, “When you’re shooting on a set, keep the win-
dows open, and let the world in.” MM
Photograph by Jeong Park
Alfred MolinA And John lithgow, stArs of Love is strange

The 10 Best Shooting Outdoors: Sound Supervision

Name of Story
Cameras on the Name ofaStory
Primer Principles Required
GoesMarket
Here Goes Here
by Ned Benson and by Geoffrey Rubay by Benedict
By Author’s
by Ryan Name
E. Walters By Author’s Name
Cassandra Kulukundis Pg. 58 Paxton-Crick
PagePg.
#XX50 Page #XX
Pg. 54 Pg. 62
pg
46
Becoming An Actor’s
Director Not a people persoN? No
sweat. DeAr White PeoPle’s
JustiN simieN explaiNs how to briNg
by Justin Simien,
as told to Kelly Leow. out the best iN your performers
A
s much as I’m obsessed with visuals, performance is
the most important aspect of the filming process. I
love working with actors. As director, my job is to
help everyone figure out what the center of a scene
is. It’s the moment when you realize why a scene ex-
ists, when the scene pulls the story in a new direction,
or causes a shift in a character. Every move we make is for that moment.
When I cast, I look for something I didn’t expect, that I didn’t
write, that I didn’t think about. Is someone going to play this scene
funny, even though I didn’t write it funny? Is someone going to add
layers that I didn’t write myself?
The second thing to look for is a sense of how you are going to
work together. When you have a scene read for you, you’re poking
around beneath the hood of the car to see what the actor’s craft is like.
If I tell someone, “That was great, but I really want you to do x, y, and
z,” do they have any idea what I’m talking about? Do they pull it off
with gusto?
I have a sit-down conversation with everybody before we begin
shooting, and I get a sense of how everybody works. Figuring out
their work styles is about listening to what kind of questions they
ask. Approach every actor in a different way. Some actors don’t want
to know much at all; they prefer to get there on their own and ask
questions when need be. You have to trust in their talent and that
Tessa Thompson receives noTes from JusTin simien on The Dear White PeoPle seT
they’re going to get there, but say “no” to whatever isn’t serving the
story you want to tell.
Dear White People is a satire. It takes place in a heightened reality,
and depends a lot on tone. The characters were written archetypically
to a degree; there isn’t enough space in the script for digging very
deeply into one protagonist when four are sharing the narrative.
Before we started, I gave everyone a collection of movies to watch,
including Network, one of my favorite movies of all time. The perfor-
mances are incredibly realistic, yet the things that they are saying are
so heightened. People speak with an almost Shakespearean English
that feels so obviously written by Paddy Chayefsky, but also natural.
A thematic register typically is not even necessary for the actors to
do their jobs, and sometimes it can be a little too heavy. Actress Teyo-
nah Parris (Coco) just wanted to know what the point was, and then
to figure out all kinds of ways to get there. Tessa Thompson (Sam), on
the other hand, wanted to know what the entire script was saying the-
matically, what we were doing with the shot visually—every possible
thing she could about the scene. At a certain point, Tessa even started
making fun of me: “I know you’re referencing Bergman right now—
just tell me how you want me to do the scene!” In the end, I can spend
all day perfecting my reference to Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, but if the
performances aren’t dope, I might as well have made a cartoon.
So give lots of examples. I told Tessa that her character’s manner of

“Show
actorS
47
that you
see them.
Photograph by Ashley Nyugen
actorS
can feel
that
PaRt of Dear White PeoPle’s enseMble Cast, led by tyleR jaMes williaMs as lionel hiGGins (CenteR)
speaking was something between Angela
Davis and Huey from The Boondocks.
She studied me, the way I spoke and
they’re one of many, many
delivered humor, because she felt it was
similar to the way I had written Sam. thingS a director iS looking at.”
Sam is tricky because you don’t agree
with her all the time, but you can’t help but be charmed by what she’s
saying. To pull that off, we needed to run different lines to figure out
which ones would stick and be funny, but, more importantly, build
character and help the story convene. Tessa came up with a lot of dif-
ferent ways to do the various “dear white people” lines in the script:
silky and cool, straight-up funny, experienced.
If you’re a writer-director who’s been acting a part in your head, at
a certain point you have to get out of the way. Actors aren’t puppets.
You’re there to work with an actor to create a performance—as cliché
as it is to say it—where God is in the room. Give an actor enough
room to breathe, but let them know what their parameters are so that
they’re not making choices that don’t work for the scene. What we all
want to do is feel like we captured life.
I love movies that are just blatantly movies, a piece of fiction, but you
can’t pull that off unless the acting is grounded in reality. Ask, “What
is it that you’re doing here? Yes, you are talking to a camera, and that
is something that does not happen in real life. But are you examin-
ing? Are you investigating? Are you prying? Are you trying to get this
person to leave? Are you trying to get this person to hold you?”
Coming up with verbs to play is a good way to make sure you’re
not being lazy as a director, and that you’re not doing the same scene
over and over again. During one scene, actor Tyler James Williams
(Lionel) was staring into the camera like he was looking at a news
report, and it was a struggle to come up with the words to tell him
what to do. We discussed it: “What are you doing right now? Are you
seething? Are you feeling anger?” That’s not something an actor can
play. It has to be something like, “You’re biding your time” or, “You’re
biting your tongue.”
The sheer ridiculousness of a stylized scene can make things dif-
ficult to capture. We had a lot of conversations about not veering
into stereotype, and protecting the truth. Teyonah and I talked a lot
about her character, Coco, and the kind of image we were putting out
there. She wanted to make sure she was not going to shame anyone or
glorify any sort of negative stereotype. I made sure that I was always
paying attention to her and that she knew that.
Show actors that you see them. Actors can feel that they’re one of
Photograph by Ashley Nyugen
many, many things a director is looking at. Never take for granted
what it is we are asking them to do, which is to bare all. They’re tap-
ping into the most vulnerable parts of themselves in the most ridicu-
Guide to MakinG Movies 2015
pg
lous situations, surrounded by people. It’s usually really hot; there’s
a painted wall behind them and a bunch of lights in front of them.
When they’re in the moment, they don’t always know if they man-
aged to get what the scene needed. When I told my actors to move
on, it was because we had really gotten it, and not because I was bored
or because of time constraints or because the special effects worked.
Sometimes that means, come hell or high water, doing another take
and defending an actor’s right to do another take. I had to always be
available for conversations about how takes would be used in various
contexts. Actors need that assurance to do their best work.
The trickiest thing is to know when to call it. A director is supposed
to have all the answers, and you don’t really want to admit that some-
thing’s not working without having an answer to fix it. That’s when
you just have to have the balls to say, “This isn’t working and I don’t
know why.” Don’t panic in these moments. An actor’s self-confidence
can drop when they feel like they’re just not getting it. Sometimes
you just have to say, “I have to take a bit of a breather and go to lunch.
Let’s come back and all figure out a solution together.”
As a first-time feature director, I could talk intelligently about my
script, but when we got on the set, who was the guy we were going to
get? Some actors have done a lot of work and they’re suspicious about
whether a first-time director really knows what he’s talking about. You
have to just wait it out for a couple of takes. Someone will inevitably
say, “You can’t do that. That’s not how it’s done. You’re never going
to finish your day if you do it that way.” You have to be willing to be
an asshole. Say, “It’s going to happen this way. Thank you for all the
suggestions, but the suggestion box is now closed. I have a reason why
I want to do it this way, so we’re going to do it my way, and if it costs
us? That’s a lesson we’re all going to learn together.”
A director is at the forefront of protecting the vision of a film. It’s
the worst feeling in the world when you do something because you
insist upon your way, and you get to the editing room and realize that
someone else’s way would have worked better. It doesn’t mean you’re
always right, but you have to protect your vision from your ego and
from other people’s egos. Know what you want, but know why you
want it. MM
Dear White people opens in theaters October 17, 2014, courtesy
of Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions.
MovieMakeR.CoM
 The MosT
pg
48 IMporTanT
on-seT affaIr
A director tAlks to
his cinemAtogrApher/
right-hAnd-mAn
About whAt mAkes A
greAt collAborAtive
relAtionship
I
t’s the human intangibles that give moviemaking the magic that
people talk about so reverently—the sparks of congruence that
fly on a well-oiled, harmonious set. Of the relationships played
out on that set, the one between cinematographer and director is
often the most important. And, although practical particularities
have changed as technologies evolve, the balance of responsibil-
ity and control, support and respect, will always be the backbone of a
successful team.
We asked two collaborators and friends, writer-director Jake Pal-
trow and cinematographer Giles Nuttgens, to dis-
by Jake Paltrow. cuss their long, affectionate working relationship.
The pair most recently made the post-apocalyptic
western Young Ones, a canvas of gorgeous, dusty pastels painted over a
slowly simmering well of drama.
Don’t Dictate—Direct
Jake Paltrow (JP): You and I don’t have a traditional director/DP
relationship. We talk about things for a long time before we start.
Giles NuttGeNs (GN): Employing a DP you don’t know, or even em-
ploying one for a second or third time, is very different from employ-
ing someone you’ve worked with many times. We have a past; we’re
friends. Many filmmakers are extremely good at either controlling
actors or mise-en-scène, but the overall creative space tends to stay at
a fairly staid level. With you, the whole process is very creative; you
are a very specific filmmaker.
JP: Your interpreting what I want beyond just light and camera
movement is, for me, the heart of our collaboration. You’re much
more involved in the movie than many other camera people.
GN: It’s about how you dissolve the responsibility on a set. It’s
perfectly valid to say that a director should be able to control every-
thing. As technicians we all accept that a director has a right to have
total control. The big question is whether or not the director wants
a collaborative effort and input from the other people that are on
the set.
When you allow more flexibility, you get some different results
coming at you—that you might or might not like. Somebody like
Kubrick had total control, and produced some great films. But the
George Lucas style of “we do everything and we sort it out later” is
MoVieMaker.CoM
Paltrow (l) aNd NuttGeNs (r) oN the set of Young ones. the Pair PreViously
Collaborated oN Paltrow’s first feature, The good nighT
a perfectly valid creative argument. I understand completely a direc-
tor saying, “I want to control everything,” but once you make that
statement, it’s hard to get everybody around you to reach quite the
same level as if you had given them a little flexibility.
crew communication: it takes two
JP: Sometimes I have an idea in my head but it’s hard to articulate
it to the group, whether it’s a digital effects shot or a scene needing
200 extras. Everyone thinks it’s either too complicated or too expen-
sive, and the only person who really makes it clear is you.
GN: Everybody has their own agenda, and that is the problem within
moviemaking. Growing up on the technical side, I was an assistant
on films where I couldn’t believe the separation between produc-
tion and the technical crew. I just couldn’t believe you could have a
creative result when you have two groups of people at loggerheads all
the time. And, of course, the DP’s role is to bridge that gap. When a
director’s being what the crew thinks is overly demanding, it’s the DP
who plays the arbiter between those two sides. That is very much part
of the job, a basic person skill, negotiating between the production
and a director.
It’s not just a case of telling a crew they’re wrong or they’re right.
It’s trying to get the crew to understand there’s a reason why the
director doesn’t put the camera in the obvious place. If you talk to any
experienced technician on a crew, they’ll say, “Why didn’t he just put
the camera there and do a wide shot and two cut-ins?” The answer
is, “Because then we’d be making a very boring film.” A director has
different ideas, ideas that contradict what’s obvious. The director who
doesn’t have something special in his head is a disappointment! It’s the
DP’s job to try to get the crew on board to understand that with extra
effort, there’s going to be something special.
Producers tend to play that game where if the director’s being too
demanding, they look for support from a DP. In most cases they get
a reasoned response from me, but they don’t get a response from me
that goes against a director. Because that’s not my job. My job is to
support the director.
Dit, monitor thyself
JP: We knew we were going to shoot on film, against tremendous
resistance. It seems like the first fix on all movies now is digital.
GN: I always say the reason George Lucas pushed digital was to
take the technology out of the system. It wasn’t a financial reason,
though I’m sure that was part of it—George is a good producer—but
the basic idea was taking the technology out of the process, which
opened it up for new creative moviemakers who weren’t limited by
the physicality of actually having to build something. The technol-

ogy and the size of the crews have become so big, so heavy, that every
time I go back to film, the directors and assistants look at me and say,
“Wow, this is easy.” [Laughs]
Instead of thinking about the end result, by shooting digital
we’ve chosen to think about how we monitor the end result as we’re
shooting. We’ve taken it from a shooting process to a monitoring
process. And in the monitoring process, on any digital film set,
the biggest tent belongs to the digital image technician. The DIT
has the biggest tent, and he’s the slowest person on the set, and so
you’re beholden to somebody and a load of technology that we just
didn’t have before.
On Young Ones, we had this rather small monitor that you could
pick up and move with you, and when you got up off your seat, you
took it with you. That’s how the system should work. It’s a very
efficient system if we all work together. So if a director is prepared
to pick up—and can physically pick up—a monitor and move over
behind the camera, as fast as we can move the camera, then we’re
moving quicker.
JP: With digital it’s really “what you see is what you get.” Some
could say that the downside of the mystery of film is, very often, you
end up with a surprise that you’re not that excited about. But I would
rather have the surprise, period, than knowing we have something
that isn’t so exciting.
GN: You’ve put your finger straight on it. I can adjust to high defini-
tion, I can adjust to data—but the philosophy of the filmmaking process
is different. When you are shooting on film, there are a lot of people in-
volved in the process, and the director has to place a lot of trust in them,
“The direcTor
who doesn’T have
someThing special
in his head is a
disappoinTmenT!”
NiCholas hoult as FleMiNG leveR
elle FaNNiNG as MaRy holM
All pictures courtesy of Screen Media Films
Guide to MakiNG Movies 2015
from the focus puller to the DP to the designer. He can use their eyes.
Faith in Each OthEr
GN: Lots of times I have to put my faith in the way that you con-
struct a scene. I’ll give a super simple example. In Young Ones, you
pg
49
often constructed a scene in a series of frames to the left or right, or
below or above, the preceding frame. So instead of a simple bit of
camera following [movement], it was like building up a wider frame
out of multiple single frames, one coming after the other. It’s a very
sophisticated way of growing the audience’s space. But it’s tricky,
when we’re there on the set, to know whether or not it’s going to cut
really smoothly or whether it’s the right effect on the screen. At that
point I have to throw it over to you.
JP: I remember when we first did it, you were a bit skeptical. I
think your instinct about it was probably right that day, because
that didn’t end up in the movie.
GN: It takes me a little time to get into the grammar of it, because
so many filmmakers now just follow the action. I was watching The
Color of Money, and the amount of work that Scorsese does in terms
of movement of the camera to heighten a very small moment is
really remarkable. It’s driving a very simple story in a very dynamic
way, with a massive amount of energy, pinpointing the camera to
an emotional space. Cinema is great when it’s got that control over
mise-en-scène. I do think if anything’s a weakness in filmmaking at
the moment, it’s this feeling of just following what’s going on. Then
again, I’ve done other films, particularly hand-held movies, where
everything’s edgy and disjointed. Then the editor gets in and tries to
smooth it out, and two processes are fighting there.
JP: Incorporating the post-production color process is such a gigan-
tic piece of moviemaking now. On the next one, we should identify
who the person is that’s going to be mastering our image. That
person needs to be on the movie right from the beginning, in the
prep. Because that attempt to get it exactly the way we’re imagining
it can get gunked up really quickly by post-production.
GN: We all need a baseline from which to work. And if you can find
somebody that understands the baseline from which you work, then
you can start to flex within that. But it can’t be an arbitrary flexibility.
The one thing that is important is that search for purity or truth
or belief in what you put down on a negative. My favorite scene of
anything that I’ve ever shot is the last scene of Young Ones, because
it’s simple, pure emotion between the two kids, even though they say
nothing. It’s just such a strong emotional moment. MM
Young Ones opens in theaters October 17, 2014, courtesy of
Screen Media Films.
tEch BOx
camEra: PanavisiOn millEnnium xl
lEnsEs: PanavisiOn G sEriEs anamOrPhic lEnsEs with
PrimO anamOrPhic ZOOm
Film stOck: kOdak 5203, 5213, 5219
cOlOr cOrrEctiOn: BasEliGht cOlOur cOrrEctiOn,
windmill lanE studiOs, duBlin
MovieMakeR.CoM
 50
The 10 BesT
pg
Cameras on The
markeT
SSKEtChES Of thE CAnOn EOS 7D. USE thIS lISt tO MOVE bEyOnD thE DRAwIng
DRA Ing bOARD wIth yOUR KIt
DRAw
Whether bought or rented, these smart bets
let indie moviemakers focus on keeping
themselves in business
T
he digital revolution has inundated us with choice. It
seems that every time we turn around there’s a new cam-
era being hyped, or a new sensor, or accessories package,
etc. We’d like to select the best camera for our beloved
projects, but with the paralyzing array before us, how do
we spend our (equally beloved) money wisely?
Don’t get ahead of yourself: No camera, now or in the future, will
ever be the right fit for every project and every situation. Instead of
getting hung up on which camera is the best,
the question to ask is, “Which camera is the
by Ryan E. Walters best fit for me?” Fortunately, there are three
principles that will enable independent movie-
makers to choose the right camera for any project, and I’ll apply them
to what I consider to be the top 10 camera makes on the market.
PrinciPle 1: Be realistic aBout Your needs
Take a step back and honestly evaluate where you are at in your
career. Are you just starting out? Then you have a lot of learning to
do. Embrace the fact that you are learning, and that your first work
is not going to be a masterful piece of art. (When you look back on it
in a couple of years, you’ll see how awful it really is!) And since that’s
a part of the learning process, don’t worry about shooting on the
latest and greatest camera. Instead, get something that you can afford,
which allows you to get out and create. If your camera is preventing
you from learning your craft, then it isn’t a useful tool, even if it’s the
camera everyone is talking about.
Or maybe you’ve worked in the business for a while, and now
you’re looking to upgrade. In that case, it’s time to evaluate your real
needs. Ask yourself, “What type of work am I able to do the most?”
Does the push to upgrade really come from your needs, or does it
MOVIEMAKER.COM
come from your desire to use the coolest equipment? As a gear head
myself, I know how easy it is to get caught up in the tech. But at the
end of the day this is a business, and we need to be making smart
business decisions that allow us to continue to work for years to come.
So, as you upgrade, look for a camera that will allow you to not only
deliver great results, but that will also allow you to remain profitable.
PrinciPle 2: think long-term—invest in gear
In today’s rapid-release market, that camera you bought today is
going to be outdated in a matter of months, so don’t sweat it. Buy
what you need to get the job done today, and then put your money
into as many pieces of kit as possible that will outlive your camera sys-
tem. For example, you’ll always need a tripod, follow focus, matte box,
filters, monitors, etc. Spend the extra money in quality accessories
that will last for 10 years, and worry less about the actual camera.
Buying high-quality accessories will only hurt once. Otherwise
you’ll have to upgrade all your accessories every time you upgrade
your camera, and that’s not an affordable way to run a business in
the long-term.
PrinciPle 3: evaluate the real cost
Camera manufacturers and their marketing teams are great at
hiding the real cost of their camera systems. Sure, a camera body may
only cost $3,000, but often you need to spend $4,000 to $6,000 more
in accessories to make it work. Then you’ll need a faster computer to
process the files, which adds another $4,000 to $6,000, not to mention
the additional crew you’ll need on set. Suddenly that $3,000 camera
is really costing you upwards of $15,000. And that cost is impacting
your bottom line.
So before whipping out the credit card to buy that “affordable”
 Guide to MakinG Movies 2015

camera, take into consideration the cost of the accessories you will
need to really be able to make the camera function. Look into how Sony a7S
that camera will affect the size and expertise of the crew that you need Buy: $2,500
to shoot with. (Hint: More data and specialized file types = a bigger
and more skilled crew.) Also, evaluate how the recording format im-
Rent: $125/day
With the recent release of
pg
51
pacts the storage, workflow, and processing power required to use it. the a7S, Sony has rightfully
With these principles in mind, I’ve split this list into two categories: claimed the spot of low-light
cameras you should consider owning, and cameras you should rent. king. This camera can record
amazingly clean images in the
Cameras to Buy dark. It also has the advantage
These are cameras that have a low initial cost. You should be able of being a full frame sen-
to easily recoup your investment within two to three years of cin- sor, which is roughly 1.4 times
ematography work, while still producing strong visuals to tell a story. larger than most cinema camera
Note: Rental prices vary in different markets, and are usually cheaper sensors, and about 2.1 times larger than
if you use an online rental company. Micro Four Thirds camera sensors. And while it, too, can record slow
motion, if you want to record 4K, you have to invest in an external
recorder, as it cannot do it internally.
Blackmagic Cinema, Pocket and Production Cameras
Buy: $500 - $3,000
Rent: $25 - $150/day Canon D-Series (5D, 7D, 60D, etc.)
These cameras allow you to record RAW video in a small form fac- Buy: $700 - $3,400
tor, with a wide dynamic range and great colors, at a low initial cost. If Rent: $35 - $170/day
shooting in RAW is imperative for your project, one of these cameras Canon offers a wide range of DSLR cameras that can fit any
should fit within your budget. But don’t be fooled by their low price: budget level. The D-series have a small form factor and a recording
You are going to need a slew of accessories to make these cameras format that delivers a very small file size.
work properly. And if And while these cameras are not as strong
you choose to shoot in as others when it comes to low light, they
RAW, you need a plan are remarkably clean at higher ISOs and
to copy and store the their footage is easy to work with in post, so
huge amounts of data you won’t break the bank by having to buy a
that these cameras new computer system. For the adventurous
produce on set, and to who really want to suck every last ounce of
deal with that footage quality from these cameras, the good folks
in post. over at Magic Lantern (magiclantern.
fm) have developed software for Canon
DSLRs, allowing you to record RAW
Panasonic GH4 images to your CF cards. Of course,
Buy: $1,700 this does come with the extra cost for
Rent: $85/day more storage space and a specialized
Panasonic has made a DSLR camera with features that were previ- workflow.
ously only available in higher-end prosumer and professional cameras.
With the ability to record in 4K, shoot in slow motion, output a high-
quality 4:2:2 10-bit signal, and use industry standard timecode, there’s Sony F-Series (FS700 and F5)
a lot to like about this camera. Unfortunately, like its DSLR brethren, Buy: $7,700 - $16,500
you’ll have to spend at least double or triple the cost of the camera to Rent: $300 - $650/day
outfit it with external recorders and accessories to make it function These two cameras offer high dynamic range (HDR) imagery, do
like a proper video camera. great in low light, and can shoot up to 240 fps without cropping the

“If your camera Is preventIng you

from learnIng your craft, then It
Isn’t a useful tool, even If It’s the
camera everyone Is talkIng about.”
MovieMakeR.CoM
 Guide to MakinG Movies 2015

sensor. If that wasn’t enough, they also come with all the professional
pg
52 features that we are used to having in our camera systems—XLR
inputs, dedicated buttons and controls, proper meters and menus.
RED EPIC DRAGON
Buy: $31,200
Although the AVC codec is lightweight, sometimes it can be difficult Rent: $1,500/day
to work with in post, especially if you have an older edit system. The big brother to the SCARLET, the EPIC
Also, as with the other Sony models, if you want to take advantage is unencumbered by hardware limitations
of recording in RAW or in 4K, then plan on spending extra for an and offers full 6K footage at up to
external recorder. 100 fps. At 2K, that jumps up to 300
fps (cropped). Just like the SCARLET, though,
this amount of data requires the latest com-
Canon C-Series (C100 and C300) puter hardware if you want real-time performance
Buy: $5,000 - $12,000 from the RAW files. And be prepared to handle the
Rent: $250 - $400/day large amount of storage required on set and in post for
HDR 6K RAW.
and solid
colors all
wrapped up in Sony F55 and F65
a form factor Buy $29,000
that is small, Rent: $1,500/day
lightweight, and Like their FS700 and F5 little brothers, the F55 and F65 offer HDR
still offers all of images, deliver noise-free images in low light, and shoot at high frame
the professional rates without cropping the sensor. These cameras can record their 4K
features that we imagery internally, but if you want to take it to the next level and record
expect in a video camera—this defines up to 16-bit 8K images on the F65, you’ll need an external recorder.
the C-series from Canon. While these
cameras do not offer high-speed frame rates, they are very clean at
high ISOs and record to small file formats that are easy to work with ARRI AMIRA and ALEXA
in post. However, if you want to get the most out of the C100, then— Buy: $40,000 - $80,000
you guessed it—purchase an external recorder. Rent: $1,250 - $2,500/day

RED SCARLET DRAGON

Buy: $16,700
Rent: $750/day
With its DRAGON sen-
sor, the SCARLET offers a
highly versatile RAW camera.
It records in 5K at up to
60 frames a second, or 150
frames a second in 2K using
a cropped section of the sen-
sor—all the while delivering
an HDR image and great-
looking skin tones and colors. Just
remember that you’ll have to fork
out a considerable amount of money
on proprietary recording media. And be prepared to upgrade your
computer system and increase your storage if you want to work with
this footage in real time—RAW files at this resolution require a lot of
processing power.
Cameras to rent
These are the cameras to drool over, but don’t break the bank. It
makes much more financial sense to rent these as you need them than
to buy them outright.
All images courtesy of the companies
ARRI continues to be the gold standard that cameras are measured
by—both in terms of how they work on set, and the images that they
produce. The AMIRA and ALEXA produce some of the most gor-
geous skin tones, and have the best highlight roll-off, of any digital
camera. That, coupled with their HDR recording and ability to
produce clean images in low light, make them my favorite cameras to
use when the budget allows. Be warned, though, that the ALEXA isn’t
always a bed of roses. Those shooting in RAW would do well to plan
an offline /online workflow, as the RAW files will bring even high-end
systems to a slow crawl. And the ALEXA’s heftier body makes it dif-
ficult to work with in tighter locations and with a smaller crew.
There’s nothing more exciting than a cool new camera, but the
process of choosing one is a balancing act of aesthetics, numbers and
practicality. But hey, if you didn’t enjoy a bit of juggling, you wouldn’t
be a moviemaker, now, would you? MM

MovieMakeR.CoM
 REAL WORLD TRAINING ON
RED CAMERAS & EQUIPMENT.
pg
53

TRAINING YOU CAN USE TODAY

COMPLEX THEORY SIMPLIFIED

TO ALL CAMERAS AND LIGHTS

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REGISTER FOR THE NEXT CLASS NOW AT RED.COM/REDUCATION

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MOVIEMAKER.COM
pg
54
OutSide ChanCeS
StORM ClOudS gAthER OVER MAnhAttAn In thE MIddlE Of A SCEnE
How to sHoot outdoors
in one of tHe busiest cities in tHe world
S
hooting outdoors anywhere is submitting yourself to
Murphy’s Law, but in and around New York City—as
I’m sure every moviemaker who has shot there can tell
you—it’s even more unpredictable. All the planning in
the world won’t prepare you for what may come, and
that was especially true with the perfect storm that
made landfall when we shot The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: one of
the hottest
summers
by Ned Benson and Cassandra Kulukundis on record,
27 exterior
locations, an IATSE Tier 1 budget (less than $5 million), and 40 days
to shoot two features simultaneously. (The Disappearance of Eleanor
Rigby: Him and The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Her were eventually
consolidated into The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them.)
MOVIEMAKER.COM
Photograph by Ned Benson / Courtesy of the Weinstein Company
The films are about a New York couple living in the East Village.
He owns a restaurant on Avenue B, she goes to school at Cooper
Union. It was our intention to depict this couple’s world in New
York City as authentically as possible and to capture the city that is,
as they say, a major character in any resident’s life. New York is as
good a collaborator as it is a pain in the ass. We didn’t make things
easy on ourselves starting Day One on the Manhattan Bridge, with a
company move to Hudson River Park. But while the streets beat us
mercilessly, we absolutely loved shooting the concrete jungle.
The Unpaid exTra
Walking in NYC is natural. Shooting a recognizable actor walking
in NYC with a Steadicam and crew following him or her, is not. There
is only so much you can control in terms of stray pedestrians and city
life in the background of your shots, especially on a tight budget.
 Guide to MakinG Movies 2015

“When scouting a location, bringing

your sound mixer With you Will save 55 pg

you in the long run. While the director,

producer and dp are looking at the
visuals, there Will be one person
Whose only job is to listen.”
New Yorkers can be phenomenal extras, sometimes not remotely horns, traffic, garbage trucks, people, and air conditioners—all of
caring that a Steadicam operator tracks by them with a camera, and which you will deal with in one way or another. This soundscape cre-
appearing natural as pedestrians in your scene. On the other hand, ates a reality that you can and should use.
they can easily spoil a good take by looking directly at the lens. This However, for long exterior dialogue scenes, ambient noise can be
is something to look for constantly, because if you miss it on the extremely frustrating, especially for the actors. The last thing you
monitor and move on, it can make a take unusable in editorial, and want to do is ADR an entire scene and take away the spontaneity of
reshoots aren’t an option on most budgets. a performance. Take into account what is most important in terms of
Isolating yourselves on less trafficked side streets is a solution when telling the story. Sometimes even relocating the scene indoors is best.
background activity is too much of a struggle. But if you prefer to roll We did this with one scene between Jessica Chastain and Viola Davis,
the dice, as we did, try not to call attention to yourselves when shoot- which we moved from a Cooper Square park bench into a restaurant.
ing outside. The smaller and tighter the unit, the more you will get You can’t compete with construction drilling; none of the dialogue
away with—especially in tracking shots. will be useable. Shoot what you can when you can, even if that means
When you can’t afford to own the street, you are shooting with the bringing a scene forward that requires less dialogue to work in the
understanding that you are going to be constantly contending with location you have. This way, you have a day (or even a few hours) to
the unexpected, whether it’s someone who wants to be obnoxious and find another location for your dialogue- or plot-heavy scene.
purposely ruin a take, or someone who suddenly realizes they’re walk- The city is a beast and keeps you on your toes—but an unexpected
ing into a scene, makes an “Oh, shit” face, and freezes. People who surprise may be awaiting you in the suburbs! Using Douglaston, NY
purposely avoid the camera become noticeable, bursting the fictional to stand in for Connecticut was a great idea. Sure, it wasn’t very far
reality you’re trying to create. Stay calm, keep rolling, and send your from LaGuardia Airport, but it seemed OK in terms of sound inter-
location assistants, PAs, producers, and whoever else you know to the ference when we scouted. What we couldn’t foresee was a runway
perimeter of your shot to politely reason with and herd pedestrians. being shut down, changing the flight pattern for all planes taking off
Most are just curious and want to know what is going on. The ones and landing. These now had to fly over our set.
who have no time for you will appreciate being told how to avoid this Our sound mixer and cast were forced to contend with planes fly-
nuisance, but don’t expect a “thank you.” ing over us at two-minute intervals. Trying to do an important, four-
minute-long father/daughter scene between William Hurt and Jessica
Scout for Sound Chastain was a complete nightmare. Beautifully acted takes by Jessica,
Sound can be a nightmare in the city as you contend with sirens, William, Isabelle Huppert, and Jess Weixler were all being ruined by
jet engines roaring overhead. This stressed us out and made us rush,
and rushing will never produce what you want. We would never have
shot there had we known this was within the realm of possibility, but
some things you learn the hard way.
When scouting a location, bringing your sound mixer with you will
Photograph by Ned Benson / Courtesy of the Weinstein Company

save you in the long run. While the director, producer and DP are
looking at the visuals and gauging if the crew and trucks can fit, there
will be one person whose only job is to listen. If this is not an option,
remember to pay close attention to everything you hear. Crickets, for
example, don’t shut up during the summer, to the point where you
and your crew find yourselves diving into bushes to make them stop
so you can get a clean take. The suburbs have lawn mowers, pools,
children who splash in pools, and hyper-protective dogs in the next
house barking incessantly because they know that the 40 of you don’t
belong. If you can, go to the location more than once before commit-
ting to it and make the second trip all about sound. And if you plan to
the teaM atteMpts to CaptuRe an authentiC sliCe of new YoRk stReet life shoot there at night, go there at night!

MovieMakeR.CoM
 Weather to Shoot or Not

Photograph by Sarah Shatz / Courtesy of the Weinstein Company

pg
56 Exterior shooting means Mother Nature plays a role, and she is not
known to take direction. Our first day of shooting on the Manhattan
Bridge involved a three-minute tracking shot requiring very specific
blocking: our extremely fair-skinned, sunburn-prone lead actress rid-
ing a bicycle past two septuagenarians walking along the bridge. It also
just happened to be 87 degrees, with bright sunlight and not a cloud
in sight. Under these conditions, there is no way you can get many
takes without it becoming dangerous for your actors and your crew.
We would like to give a special thanks to umbrellas, to ice coolers with
wheels, to water bottles, and to a phenomenal crew who made it their
mission to keep everyone shaded and hydrated between takes.
Summer shooting can be brutal, and heat is only one of the ele-
ments you will face. Out of nowhere, apocalyptic thunderstorms
can also appear and tear away your video village tent, leaving you
scrambling to salvage your equipment. Sometimes, though, weather
can help with the continuity of your script. We were attempting a
sequence made up of a few exterior shots, but, due to locations and
permits, we could not schedule them for the same day. These shots
were meant to happen on the same rainy night, yet were to be shot
days apart. The weather cooperated. It rained on both shoot nights
and we even captured some beautiful lightning in the background.
With a little planning and a lot of luck, meteorology can save you the
money for a wet down. (Please note: Have a back-up plan for if the
rain doesn’t come, even if the plan is a hose and/or a bucket.)
the SyNchroNicity of SurrouNdiNgS
When shooting outside, you have to completely submit to the
chaos, knowing that you have no control over it. Following James
McAvoy with a camera through Astor Place and having a group of
Korean X-Men fans in from Seoul appear out of nowhere. Filming in
Little Neck Bay during a tide change that causes the water to be too
murky to shoot in. Shooting a scene on a rooftop in Williamsburg
overlooking Manhattan and having the clouds and wind go schizo-
phrenic on you so it’s next to impossible to match the wide shots
to coverage. These problems are the reason for the phrase “fix it in
post”—which, unfortunately, most of us don’t have the budgets for.
But sometimes you get synchronicity, sometimes you dive headlong
into chaos, and things just magically go right, as was the case for us on
our last week of shooting.
One of our key scenes occurs in Tompkins Square Park with the
ElEanor (JEssica chastain) and conor (JamEs mcavoy) running into a park
two lead characters. It’s a moment from early in their relationship:
Broke and in love, they dine and dash from a restaurant into the park,
and suddenly realize they are surrounded by fireflies. Fireflies are a
rare occurrence in New York City and our assumption was that we’d
be adding them in post via VFX.
Yet on the one night we went to shoot that scene in late August—of
all the nights it could have happened—fireflies emerged by the thou-
sands in Tompkins Square Park. We walked into the park to set up and
everyone stopped in shock. Even the park ranger who was supervising
the shoot was baffled because he hadn’t seen anything like it. A night
earlier or a night later, we wouldn’t have gotten fireflies like that.
Those frames were infused with natural magic that you just can’t plan.
On a smaller production like ours, we had to give ourselves over
to the possibility that anything could happen outside or inside. There
was no money to silk out the sky for perfect light, or close off city
blocks, or hire massive numbers of extras. Instead, we made every-
thing we confronted part of the films, part of the life in the frames.
You have to love the idea of submitting yourself to chaos because to
fight it is a waste of energy. Use that chaos to your advantage and
capture it in your film, and sometimes, as in the case of our fireflies,
you might get an unexpected miracle. MM
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them opens in limited the-
aters on September 26, 2014, courtesy of The Weinstein Com-
pany. Him and Her will be released in theaters together October
10, 2014. The film was written and directed by Ned Benson and
produced by Cassandra Kulukundis.

“There was no money To silk ouT The

sky for perfecT lighT, or close off ciTy
blocks, or hire massive numbers of
exTras. insTead, we made everyThing we
confronTed parT of The film, parT of The
life in The frames.”
MOVIEMAKER.COM
 DeSigning
58 WorlD anD
pg
CharaCter
With SounD
A mAster sound
designer on how to
stArt thinking sonicAlly
S
ound is half the presentation of a movie, but it is always
in service to the whole. Sound design working at its best
seamlessly describes, enhances and elevates the image,
giving weight, character and detail to all we see. It cre-
ates the universe in which the story takes place, further
extending the reality on screen.
Sound must feel right. The audience should believe that the sound
originates from what they see on screen, as if the things they’re see-
ing—even the most unbelievable—are actually real. That’s what sound
mixers mean when we say a sound “glues onto” an image.
I have had the great honor of working on three films for Sony Pic-
tures Animation: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Hotel Transylvania
and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2—films in which sound plays
a huge role in establishing world and character. I work in exactly the
same way for a live action movie as I do an
animated one—in animation, the physics and
by Geoffrey Rubay. scale are distorted and exaggerated, but it’s the
same basic process. What is so wonderful and
terrifying about an animated project, though, is how much sound is
not present when you start. The picture editorial team has been work-
ing to create the basic track of the film, sometimes for years, but there
is always so much to do. Where do you start?
The ScripT comeS FirST
How directly a script relates to the current state of a picture can
vary enormously. But no matter how outdated the script is, disregard
disclaimers like “it’s changed so much” or “they have been improvising
every scene,” and read it. That is the thing that was green-lit. That is
what started it all.
So often I get small clues from the writer with regard to tone and
intent, setting and mood—hidden gems of information that you might
otherwise miss. As you read, let your mind wander and jot down what
pops into your head. Sometimes I end up writing visual words like
“dark” or “red” in the margin. Or I will reference a real-world item (e.g.
“hippo”) or an abstract concept (e.g. “elegant speed”) that popped into
my head. I create a document of questions or ideas, and these notes are
easy to hand out to team members to give direction or ask for input.
The words on the page, and your “mind’s eyes and ears,” can be
a very powerful combination. Key ideas and directions can emerge
without the prejudice of images driving your creativity.
MOVIEMAKER.COM
ThE “EnTIREly ORgAnIC” SwAllOw FAllS FROM Cloudy with a ChanCe of Meatballs 2, A VERITAblE J
WhaT iS iTS eSSence? WhaT doeS iT do? WhaT doeS iT do For The STory?
Decide at the beginning what the overarching theme or tone for the
film is. Futuristic? Organic? Metallic? Stone? Loud? Confusing?
When designing for a specific character or an item, use the same
analytical process. Is it large or small, mechanical or organic, realistic
or fantasical? Consider the scale. Maybe an object is small but has
enormous mass, or it is huge with little mass. Also, does the scale shift
over the course of the story? What is the sonic center of the item?
Can it be distilled down to one basic idea or overall essence?
With complex, moving things, there may be multiple centers of
sound. Sometimes the various states of the thing have nothing to do
with each other. The sound a vehicle makes in its optimal motion
state really has nothing in common with the sound that vehicle makes
when it comes to a sudden, crashing halt on the side of a building.
Looking for and identifying the sonic center can be very valuable,
because sometimes it becomes the thing to avoid.
Go orGanic
I am a firm believer in organic, both in food and sonics. Find a real-
world analog for your problem. Thinking about how a similar item
works or sounds can lead you to an answer. A familiar sound played
out of context against an unfamiliar image may make the thing more
acceptable to the audience.
Cody Cameron and Kris Pearn, the directors of Cloudy 2, wanted
the “foodimals” (food animals) in the movie to sound distinctly natural
and organic, in contrast to the mechanical villains. From this starting
point, one of the first orders of business was to record a new library
of organic food sounds. We spent a day in a controlled recording
environment with a huge array of fruit and vegetable items. These
were recorded to Pro Tools at 96 kHz, 24 bit. We manipulated the
raw materials in every way we could imagine to see what sonic treats
we could uncover, using newly acquired microphone preamps from
Pueblo Audio (puebloaudio.com ).
My favorite moment of the day came when sound editor David
Werntz slowly peeled a banana extremely close to a Sennheiser MKH
 Guide to MakinG Movies 2015

“The words on The

Courtesy of Sony Pictures Entertainment

page, and your 59 pg

‘mind’s eyes and

ears,’ can be a
very powerful
combinaTion. Key
ideas and direcTions
can emerge wiThouT
The prejudice of
images driving your
e JuRassiC PaRk oF Food—and Food sounds
creaTiviTy.”
30 and a Neumann KMR 81. We sat in the control room, listening to
what sounded like the skin of a giant space creature being peeled off
Courtesy of Sony Pictures Entertainment

of its skeleton. After the first peel, David, not hearing what we were
hearing, exhaled and said, “Oh well, that was nothing.” The look on
his face when we played it back was precious.
The Marx Brothers-like pickle characters in Cloudy 2 have small
eyes that blink and mouths that open via a perpendicular slice.
Their heads tilt when they speak, like they are hinged at the back. I
imagined that the sound of their mouths opening and closing would,
in reality, sound something like two halves of a watermelon opening
and closing. It was one of those occasions when your first impression
actually plays out on screen. The very first attempt at using the water- the sounds oF Cloudy 2’s PiCkle ChaRaCteRs
melon recordings for those movements glued right onto the image. weRe alMost all CReated duRinG the teaM’s veGetable ReCoRdinG session

Pitch, sPeed and reverse surface, played at half-speed, may sound like a gun. A gun played two
Playing sounds at a different speed, pitch or direction—all three, at times normal speed may sound like a book hitting a wooden table.
times, in varying proportions—can transform them into what you’re There are numerous free or near-free digital audio workstations
looking for. Slowing a gunshot down can make a smaller gun sound (DAW) programs or apps available on the Internet. They all allow
like a cannon. A recording of a book being slammed onto a wood you to vari-speed and reverse a sound. Find a sound clip of a movie

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that contains some amazing soundscapes and effects. Load it into your
DAW. Pitch it up in increasing intervals, starting with 20 percent. As
you pitch it up, you may hear some of the ingredients begin to reveal
Pg
60 themselves. Go the other way and pitch it down. Keep checking in
with the track as you try different settings. Now flip the track in
reverse. If you analyze sounds that you think are impossible to create
with this method, they may suddenly become very possible.
I use an application called Soundminer (soundminer.com) to search
my sound libraries. It allows me to easily listen to things at wildly
varying pitches, speeds and directions, and really kicks the creative
juices into gear. The pitch and volume settings can reset as you move
through a list of sounds, or you can keep the setting. There’s a “show
sounds in same folder” option, so when I hear something interesting
I can immediately see what its neighbors in the folder are. They also
have a roulette wheel button which I poke when I feel stuck. Things
can come into focus quickly. Even if the only sounds you start hearing
are things that will “never work,” now you have that information, too.
Don’t go it alone
Trying to create sounds for picture without guide tracks may be
dangerous, and a waste of time. I always listen to the dialogue tracks
and music temp tracks from the picture editor. Creating a sound that
doesn’t work with dialogue or music is pretty pointless. The voice is
always going to be there, so why do any work without it? If your amaz-
ing sounds work with the dialogue and music as well, you’re closer to
that magical blend that adds up to more than the sum of its parts.
incorporating Foley
A well-performed and recorded Foley track (i.e. studio reproduc-
tion of real-life sounds) can accomplish very quickly what would take
much more time to build out of sound effects recordings. For key
props and footsteps, though, I don’t rely on Foley alone. Combining
location recordings with a Foley performance adds an additional layer
“What is the sonic
center of the item?
can it be distilled
doWn to one basic
idea or overall
essence?”
Courtesy of Sony Pictures Entertainment
the Cheese spideR sizzles like a patty off the GRiddle, and has footsteps
like a 4x4 beinG slaMMed into the eaRth just above a tiny MiCRophone
MovieMakeR.CoM
Guide to MakinG Movies 2015
of interest and variation.
I worked on a film that had a few key scenes in an articulated city
bus. Location sound specialists John Fassal, Eric Potter and I arranged
to hire and record an articulated bus for on-board and exterior motor
and movement sounds. I had figured we would grab some movement
and interior sounds without the motor running, but on our first run
on board the bus, it blew a tire. We had to wait hours for a repair
truck to come and change the tire, so we ended up recording any
sound we could think of—footsteps, movement, sitting and standing,
hand grabs on metal poles, etc. We then layered in location recordings
on top of the parallel Foley tracks, creating a sound that neither Foley
or sound effects alone could achieve.
“Worldizing” a Foley track can also add a very organic ambience
to what may feel like a sterile track. Don’t be afraid of recording the
ambience from more than one location—using multiple tracks and
microphones or by recording multiple passes—and then varying the
balances later.
Moving the microphone can add a new layer of dynamism or move-
ment, too. Try using a shotgun mic in a hard-surfaced room, playing a
footstep track that is meant for a character racing past the camera and
away. Make a bold movement with the mic at the peak of the onscreen
movement. Alone it may sound odd, but layered with Foley or effects,
it can be stunning.
ambient sounDs
Approaching background sound—ambience, atmosphere, etc.—for
an animated film is very similar to a traditional live-action film. The
same questions apply: How realistic is the location? What time period
and geographic setting is it? What scale are you trying to describe, en-
hance or extend? How dense? What story can background sound tell?
In Cloudy 2, the island of Swallow Falls is an overgrown jungle
teaming with food wildlife. To create the jungle atmosphere, we
utilized many standard components, often pitched or twisted in some
way to shift the scale. Some of the sounds we created for the large ani-
mals were modified to create distant versions—the roars and plaintive
wails of a “Cheese Spider” creating a spooky, dangerous atmosphere.
Repurposing large close-up sounds (used later in a film) to create
atmospheric elements helps lend an overall thematic tone that might
not otherwise come through for the viewer.
Background often performs a similar role as music. Accordingly,
when music is in, it may be a good time for background sound to
either reduce in level, density or tone, or step aside altogether. Thin-
ning, reducing or simplifying the backgrounds in an inverse propor-
tion to the content of the musical score creates opportunities for
greater dynamics, clarity and definition in the overall mix.
What’s “right” is whatever works. “Sounds good—is good” is a
common starting point, but arriving at what sounds good can be dif-
ficult. Breaking something down by asking the essential questions—
animal, mineral or vegetable?—can be all it takes, a game of Twenty
Questions. What does the script tell you about the sound? How do
the other characters or items in the world react to the thing? How
does it react to the rest of the world? These prompts guide me to the
end of the process. Well, at least to the next round of revisions! MM
Geoffrey Rubay has worked in the motion picture sound industry
for the past 21 years, with credits as editor, designer, supervisor or
re-recording mixer on over 100 projects, including Reservoir Dogs,
Amores Perros and Star Trek (2009).
 hoW To Save Your MovIe
pg
62 Twelve conTinuiTy Tips from The scripT supervisor
of Time-Travel comedy, The InfInITe Man

W
hen your audience is distracted by even a 1. Time your scripT
very small discrepancy in your story, they are If your film is too short, you need to know now, so you can make it
no longer absorbed in the world on screen. longer without on-the-fly rewrites that compromise story continuity.
You’ve broken their suspension of disbelief, If it’s too long, make those cuts now, not on the shooting day. Inves-
and they’re thinking about their plans for tors love script timings, breakdowns and other official paperwork that
the weekend or what’s for supper. You’ve lost gives a film a veneer of respectability. This enables them to pretend
them, and it’s entirely possible you will never get them back. they’re making a real investment, not a donation. Maybe because such
Script supervisors are the audience’s representative on set, preserving preparation makes it more likely that they will earn their money back.
story continuity to look for anything that might distract them, and stop-
ping it from happening. We are also the 2. GeT your scripT supervisor early
by Benedict Paxton-Crick. editor’s representative on set. Our job is Production will be intense, pressured, and manic. Shooting mate-
to watch everything being shot, doing rial you’ll never use and wasting time fixing problems that should
an assembly edit in our head as we go, and make sure that the film will have been picked up in pre-production is a waste of your resources.
cut. And, because every director will shoot a scene differently, the SS has Your SS needs time in pre-production to know the script inside-
to make sure the film will cut as his or her director intends. out and flag potential problems as far in advance as possible. In an
The smaller your budget, the smaller your crew, and the fewer re- epically convoluted time-travel saga like The Infinite Man, knowing
sources you have, the more you need the skills of a good SS. Continu- where everyone was at any given time was a task in itself (“Dean
ity can seem like a black art, but there are a few things an independent 1 is in Bedroom A/ Dean 2 is watching Dean 1 from Bedroom B/
director can do to head off problems at the gate. Dean 3 is watching Dean 2 from the Lab/ Dean 4 is creeping up the
balcony...”). But even on a more linear movie, it’s your SS who knows
where everyone is, what they’ve been doing, and where they’re going.
Jed’s coming from the bakery; Raphael’s just found the body; it has
been two hours since the crash.
All this takes a lot of time to work out and break down. How your
SS breaks it down will depend largely on how early this person is
hired. I’ve done breakdowns and timelines on everything from horses
in a western to background geopolitical events in a thriller. They
helped cast and crew to understand what was going on, make better
decisions, and save time and money. I repeat: save money.

3. conTinuiTy is relaTive
There’s always something that doesn’t match, from shot to shot, take
to take, scene to scene. The SS decides how much these discrepancies

“iT’s called
coverage, noT
smoTherage. don’T
be afraid To call
Courtesy of Hedone Productions / Photograph by Brendan Cain

‘cuT’ if someThing’s
noT working and
The shoT’s noT
usable.”
Dean 1 (Josh mcconville) creeps up on Dean 2 (Josh mcconville)
waTchinG ouT for Dean 5 (Josh mcconville, offscreen) while
Dean 3 (Josh mcconville) keeps an eye on Dean 4 (Josh mcconville)
 Guide to MakinG Movies 2015

Courtesy of Hedone Productions

matter. So if your SS brings something up, it’s because it’s significant
enough that you need to know and do something about it. Listen,
understand, then make your decision.
Also, whatever that decision is, once it’s made, it’s done. The smallest
change reverberates through a film. Your SS makes sure that all knock-
pg
63
on effects are considered and adjusts his or her thinking accordingly.

4. Wear your editor’s hat on set The InfInITe Man Went into produCtion With a sCript superVisor but no 1st ad
Your film is an illusion, constructed from a plethora of separate, (in the end the produCers tooK out a seCond Mortgage and brought on a 1st
distinct shots, all stitched together in a new sequence to tell your ad tWo WeeKs in)
story. Plan these shots; plan how they’ll cut together.
The simple rule is that everything in the script should be covered
Continuity priority CheCKlist
Script supervisors can’t look at everything at once—they have
by at least two shots, so there’s something to cut between. For every
a priority list. In rough order, this is mine.
shot, know what you actually want from that shot. If you don’t know
what you want, how can you know when you’ve shot it? If all you • Screen direction • Largest moving object
want is a key moment or single line of dialogue, then you don’t need (entrances and exits, left to • Main characters
to worry about problems in the rest of the shot. Once you’ve got what right and right to left, and
• Person speaking
you want from it, move on. Or, if you have multiple takes, do you have so forth)
• Bright colors
what you need between them? • Crossing the line
Sometimes you will have to just hope you’ve got it and move on, • Reflections
• Eyelines
regardless—but your SS is the difference between hoping and know- • In and up
• Action cut points
ing. That script they’re marking up with colored tramlines tells the (shooting wide-to-tight)
editor what shots go where, and tells you right now, on set, what’s • Action continuity
• Hero/action props
covered and what’s not. • Action/dialogue matching
• Dressing props
• Performance continuity
5. KnoW When to stop
Yes, editors need options, but it’s called coverage, not smotherage.
Don’t be afraid to call “cut” if something’s not working and the shot’s
not usable. Just because you’re shooting digitally doesn’t mean you
should keep rolling. If the back wall of the set is missing or the actor’s
in the wrong shirt, there isn’t going to be any golden moment that
you can use. The actors’ performance should be saved for when it can
be used. In fact, the willingness to call “cut” is the single biggest dif-
ference I’ve encountered between first-time and established directors.
If you call “cut” early or go for another take for anything other
than performance reasons, tell your actors. If you don’t, they’re liable
to start giving you performance options or dialogue variations. Once
you’re covered and you’ve got the performance you wanted in the
can, then they can start giving you options.
If the performance just isn’t working, however, have some strategies
up your sleeve. Can you splice dialogue together from two different
takes, lay dialogue over the top of another shot, or shoot from behind
and lay the dialogue over that? What usable moments do you have?
How close is the performance to the script? How much does it mat-
ter? Discuss the last question with your SS.

6. toe the line

Crossing the 180-degree line is fine only when it’s deliberate and
Courtesy of Hedone Productions / Photograph by Marden Dean

you know what the effect will be. Crossing the line because you’re
unaware of it or don’t think the audience will care will make your film
sloppy—and possibly unreleasable.
Audiences aren’t thinking about the line, so they don’t notice ex-
plicitly when it’s crossed. But they do notice that something is wrong.
In a thriller or a horror movie this may be just what you want, and
deliberate line crosses can be used to maximum effect. But otherwise
it’s back to distracting the audience and taking them out of the story.

7. rehearse
If you’re shooting with a narrow depth-of-field, then stop-start
technical rehearsals will be vital for the camera just to be able to main- dean and lana (hannah Marshall) prepare to beCoMe infinite

MoVieMaKer.CoM

“EisEnhowEr said,
pg
64 ‘in prEparing
for battlE i havE
always found that
plans arE usElEss,
but planning is
indispEnsablE.’”
tain focus. But rehearsal also enables you to think about eyelines, work
out where your line is, where it changes, see if any shots are going to
be problematic, and modify the action accordingly.
From a continuity aspect, it’s very hard to repeat and match unre-
hearsed action. So rehearse your action. And remember to rehearse
with props. Check key props and key art in advance. If it’s not right on
the day, you’re all out of options.
8. Protection shots and cutaways
Just in case that wonderful crane-down track-out zoom-in swing-
around shot, taking us from the rooftop down to the street through
the car windows and out to the close-up on the water bottle in the
detective’s hand as the bullet passes through it, doesn’t quite work—
shoot a static wide of the guy being shot, OK? Just in case.
And shoot cutaways. Something—anything—at the same time, with
the same lighting setup. Cutaways are vital to enable the editor to al-
ter the passage of time within a scene, to lengthen or shorten it, cover
unseen action, or modify unnecessary dialogue. It might just save you
in the edit. Even when apparently tangential, if cutaways are short and
seamless (with what seam there is covered over by sound), the audi-
ence doesn’t actually see them. If, in a beach scene, you cut away from
your lead actor to a seagull overhead for six frames before cutting to
another angle while the dialogue continues over the top, the audience
won’t consciously notice. They’ll just see an apparently seamless cut,
whereas without that cutaway, they would notice that ugly cut that
doesn’t match between the two angles.
So make sure you always have something to cut away to: a reaction
shot from another actor, the sun, feet, a seagull.
9. shots to avoid
Over-the-shoulder shots can lock you into a cut, which can be a real
problem when action and dialogue don’t match from take to take or
shot to shot. Clean singles give you much more freedom in the edit, so
don’t rely on OTS shots unless they are necessary for the story.
As for inserts, sometimes you need them—to see the contents of that
letter, the time on that watch, the silver bullet being loaded. But a lot of
the time, you don’t. The close-up detail of what that briefcase looks like
usually isn’t important—only that we see it being handed over.
If your scene is all playing tight from the chest up, you’ll have to go
to an insert, because the handover is out-of-frame. If, however, you
shoot the action in a mid-shot, you won’t need worry about matching
action or background and you won’t need to go to another shot just to
MovieMaker.coM
Guide to MakinG Movies 2015
let the audience know what’s happening, because you’ll see the whole
action in frame. (An added benefit: Your movie won’t look like bad
daytime soap.)
10. who is your audience?
Who you expect your audience to be makes a big difference to how
the SS watches and what he or she watches out for. Decide in advance
what level of detail is appropriate to be concerned with, given your
tone, style, intended audience, and distribution platforms.
Are you making this movie for IMAX or iPhone? You’re prob-
ably hoping for a cinema release, and the audience will see a whole
lot more up on that 20-foot-tall cinema screen than you do on your
on-set monitor. Something that might be hard to notice on even a 17-
inch HD monitor will leap out of the screen on the 60-inch plasma
that most viewers now have at home.
I generally watch as a first-time cinema audience. With the puzzle-
like nature of The Infinite Man, though, we expected that part of our
audience will be repeat viewers. Details that a first-time audience
misses will be picked up next time around, and we had to allow for
that, and even drop in little clues here and there.
11. hair today
Of all the problems we encountered shooting a fiendishly com-
plex time-travel comedy romance, the one which cost the most time
and created the biggest continuity issue was our heroine’s hair being
blown about by the wind. So here’s some quick advice on hair.
Be wary of hair masking a performance. Curtain hairstyles may
look beautiful from the front, but they may also mean that on profile
shots, you can’t see your actor’s face.
An elaborate hairstyle may take an extra minute to check and fix
each take. Twenty shots on a given day with that actor, with an aver-
age of three takes each, is an hour gone from your schedule.
Look for ease of matching. If you have an actor with shoulder-
length locks, is her hair going to fall the same way each time? Or will
you end up with one take where the hair falls down the back, another
where it falls over the left shoulder, and another where it falls over the
right, leaving you unable to cut between them?
Don’t make things harder for no reason. Me, I like pixie cuts and
ponytails.
12. double uP
There are a thousand different things that can happen to a shirt/
hat/scarf/cape over the course of a shoot to change its appearance.
Don’t think you only need doubles of wardrobe items if your hero will
be hurled like a javelin from a second floor window, as in The Infinite
Man. Unless you want to be waiting around on set while a one-of-a-
kind tracksuit gets stitched back together again, get doubles.
Eisenhower said, “In preparing for battle I have always found that
plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.” Your film is going
to feel like a battle far too often. Nothing will quite go according to
plan. But if you’ve done the right kind of planning, with the help of
your script supervisor, you’ll be able to deal with it. MM
Benedict Paxton-Crick was script supervisor on the Australian
time-travelling comedy romance, The Infinite Man (written and
directed by Hugh Sullivan, slated for U..S release in 2015). For a
more detailed discussion of continuity practices, visit his website,
continuity101.com.
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 Chapter
Four : Post
pg
66

Jimi: All is by My Side, John Ridley

- ProductIon
TrusT Your InsTIncTs and Make
Your ThIrd FIlM The BesT

I
n the course of making a movie, you actually end up
making three.
The first is the one you write—the screenplay—and
when you close your computer on that last draft, you
feel certain that this is the film you want to make. But
you’re wrong.
You then go into production and you make your second
film, the one you finish the day you wrap. That’s not the
film, either.
Finally, you make your third film, the one you edit, and
this and only this will be the film that matters. It
will erase all the ones that came before it. And if
by Ira Sachs
you’re lucky, it will be the best of all. In post-pro-
duction, don’t hold on to the previous two films
you’ve made. Be attentive and responsive to what’s right in
front of you.
On Love is Strange, I had the great opportunity to work
with two different editors: Affonso Gonçalves, with whom
I have worked on all my previous features, and Michael
Taylor, whose work on other films I have admired for years.
While we were in post on Love is Strange, Affonso was also
cutting True Detective, a job that would take him over a year
(and ultimately earn him an Emmy nomination). Given
the demands of that HBO
series, we came up with the
co-editing idea, so in the
end it was really the three of
us together finishing the film.
People often ask if it’s difficult to
lose scenes in a movie, particularly ones
you love. For me, it never is. I used to have
a poster on my wall when I was a kid, an illus-
land in the last reel. After many months of editing, it was
clear to me that having only one would be better. Editing is
not like arithmatic: Often two and two does not make four. It
can make three. Or even zero.
Use a scalpel. Be your sharpest critic. Never grow too
attached. I like to do a lot of screenings before I lock picture.
I want friends I trust, and friends I don’t trust, and even some
people I have never met before, to see the movie. I listen to
every suggestion—then I ignore 95 percent of them. While
you should take in every idea, never make a single cut in
response to one particular note.
Keep in mind that at rough cut screenings, you are asking
people to make suggestions, so they feel obliged to give you
some. When the movie is done and being screened in a dif-
ferent environment, it’s a whole different ball game. I say this
as someone who has given a lot of adamant notes to friends
in rough cut screenings, only to realize, when I saw their
finished films, that I had been dead wrong.
In editing, the most important person in the audience is
you. If you don’t trust your own instincts and responses,
you’re a goner. MM

Photograph by Jean Christophe Husson

tration of a sinking boat with lots and lots of elephants
on it. Above the image was the motto: “More is not always
better.” In editing, I keep that poster in mind.
More scenes, more ideas, more good acting—more of
anything, in fact, is not always better. The script of Love is
Strange, for example, called for two big reveals coming to Ira SachS (center) and team behInd the SceneS of Love is strange

Cutting for From the Sharper Scene Chimes

a Deadline Vaults Transitions for a Dime
by Mel Rodriguez by Frank Keraudren by Jeffrey Michael Bays by Christopher Mollere
Pg. 68 Pg. 70 Pg. 74 Pg. 76
 Cut to: the
68
FInIsh LIne
pg
With a festival deadline
perilously close, hoW
can you and your editor
make the most of your
submission?
I
f you are at a point where you have a “pretty much finished” inde-
pendent film, first things first: Have a drink, congratulate yourself,
celebrate with your friends. You made an independent film and
you’ve truly accomplished something.
OK, enough. Now get back to the editing room immedi-
ately. You’re only “pretty much finished,” and that Sundance
deadline isn’t budging. Let’s dive deeper into
what “pretty much finished” means. Is it a
by Mel Rodriguez. first pass? I hope not. Is it a decent rough cut?
That’s a little better. Is it locked but no sound
mix? Pretty good. No color correction? No problem. Music? That’s a
whole other article.
Full disclosure: At the time of this writing, I am “pretty much
finished” with my directorial debut feature, In Stereo. It’s exactly 57
days until the late Sundance deadline, and I’m going through my
own checklist of what needs to get done now, and what can wait. So I
asked a few moviemaker friends of mine about how they schedule and
budget their post-production process leading up to a festival deadline.
It’s a process that lends itself to insanity (an occupational hazard).
Nevertheless, I’ve put together the following insane wisdom.
Jenny Slate and Jake lacy in Gillian RobeSpieRRe’S ObviOus Child, which pRemieRed at Sundance thiS yeaR
Know your dates and worK bacKwards
Film festivals are a year-round affair. So get organized and know
your deadlines and entry fees. A decent amount of money can be
saved by submitting to the early bird deadlines, so why not save those
extra dollars? Everything adds up.
“When we wrapped, we put together a spreadsheet of all the
festivals and the early submission dates, late submission dates, the
different fees, etc. It’s a beautiful Excel spreadsheet that Luisa Conlon,
our associate producer, put together,” explains Gillian Robespierre,
director of this year’s Sundance favorite Obvious Child. “It was very
helpful, a real breakdown of the top-tier festivals and the smaller ones,
all in one place for us to reference.”
“We were on a pretty rigid schedule, working backwards from the
start of Sundance,” says Kat Candler, writer-director of Hellion. “We
brought our editor out to the set in Port Arthur, Texas the second
week of shooting to start assembling scenes. We had a rough assembly
about a week after we wrapped in late September, and we had a big
calendar with dates we had to hit with certain cuts. Then we’d spend
days upon days and very late nights in an editing room in Austin.”
Most of the essential information about film festival rules and
deadlines can be found on withoutabox.com, or its alternatives, like
filmfreeway.com, fbiscreeners.com and indee.tv. These websites
streamline the whole process for festivals. Follow the instructions
carefully. You don’t want to get off on the wrong foot with a festival
programmer who has a keen eye for detail.
Go for the heart
Now that you have a schedule, on to the work. Let’s not kid our-
selves. No amount of spit-shine on a turd is going to fool a festival
programmer: not wall-to-wall music, not gimmicky titles, and cer-
tainly not that not-quite-a-Steadicam shot you miraculously nailed.
It’s important to remember that many very good films start out
looking ugly. Just ask any director who has sat through a first as-
sembly of his or her film, warts and all. Every director I’ve known has
wanted to head for the proverbial hills after sitting through that thing,
myself included. Our insecurities surface, even though we know it’s
just the assembly. Suck it up and dig in. Go scene by scene and put it

together until you have that first pass. Watch your coverage and pick
the takes that feel best to you now. They may change later, but those
first picks are often the right ones. Don’t think too hard about it, just
get through the first pass. Remember, you have a deadline.
“We always say that we just want to connect with a film,” says Jarod
Neece, senior programmer of the SXSW Film Festival. “It’s hard
to say what to focus on with your time because that just depends on
where you’re at with the film, and how much time you have before the
deadline. But definitely don’t spend time on sound design and color
correction. And temp music is fine. Use whatever music you want. For
submissions, go for the moon as far as I’m concerned. Basically, what-
ever it takes to get the cut in the best shape that you possibly can.”
“Use whatever
mUsic yoU want. Go
for the moon.
Basically, do
whatever it takes
to Get the cUt in
the Best shape that
yoU possiBly can.”
…But polish it as much as possiBle
“I’m an advocate of doing little things to make it look like it’s
finished,” says Damien Chazelle, writer-director of this year’s Sun-
dance Grand Jury Prize winner, Whiplash. “Things like temp music
you know you’ll never be able to use, a minimum amount of color
correction, and a few sound edits that will be improved upon in the
later mix. Try to make them forget that they’re watching a rough
cut. Always have something looking and sounding as presentable as
possible, even though it requires a little extra time, and may take time
away from hard picture-cutting.”
“We didn’t want to submit prematurely,” says Robespierre. “When
we first sat down to schedule our post, our goal was to submit a fully
finished film to Sundance with sound and color because I thought,
‘Well, I’m a first-time filmmaker, they’ve never heard of me.’ But as
the deadline came barreling in, I felt it was more important to stay in
the editing room a little bit longer, get the pacing right. So we ended
up submitting what everyone really submits, which is a good cut
without sound mix or color correction.”
Identify the unique needs of your film, too. “We did do a good
sound pass to make sure nothing was egregious,” Robespierre says. “We
wanted the perfect fart sound.” (Obvious Child’s main character, Donna,
is unusually open about the human body’s propensity for flatulence.)
Taking some extra time to improve the appearance of your film
Courtesy of A24
cosmetically could go a longer way than you think. For example,
here’s a problem that comes up when editing dialogue scenes: the
sound gaps created when you pace a scene out between two actors.
Guide to MakinG Movies 2015
Sample TeST Screening QueSTionnaire
What did you like best about the movie as a whole?
What did you like least about the movie as a whole?
pg
69
Describe the scenes you liked most and least.
Did you find anything confusing?
Did the plot leave you with any unresolved questions?
Did you find anything unbelievable or unrealistic?
Are the characters well-drawn?
How would you rate the performances and relation-
ships in the movie? (List each role/actor.)
How would you describe the movie to your friends?
You’ve gotten the pace to how you like it, the performances are
good, but you need to create a pause for, say, a tense moment. You
like the way your first actor did something in Take Three and you
want to linger on his face after he nailed the line. But in that take, the
second actor says his lines too quickly. You’d have to cut the sound
of the second actor’s lines out in order to linger on the first actor’s
performance.
You could leave that sound cut abrupt and sloppy-feeling, or you
could take the extra time to fill in the sound gaps with room tone or
atmosphere sound. The effort will make your cut feel cleaner, even
though you still haven’t done a proper sound mix. Take full advantage
of your offline editing system’s tools for basic sound and color fixes.
testing…testing…
Show your movie to different groups of people, friends, colleagues,
friends of friends. Hold informal screenings of six to eight people in
your home, or in the editing room. Rent a small theater or screening
room and show it to 20 to 40 people. Have questionnaires made up
for more structured responses.
You need to get out of your little bubble and experience the movie
from someone else’s perspective. Trust me, when you’re watching the
movie with a room full of people and something doesn’t work, you
will feel it in your bones.
“You and your editor get to know the footage better than anybody,
but it prevents you from knowing the movie as a whole,” says Chazelle.
“The best way to really get to know your movie is to see it play in
front of other people, even though I find it pretty painful most times.”
Remember, editing is the last rewrite. Writer-director Richard
LaGravanese once said that writing is like ironing: You go over a
section of the shirt, then you move further down the shirt, still getting
some of that previous section, and so on. Every day you go to work on
a film, you will look at what you did the day before, go over that a bit,
and onto the next section and so on.
The way you want your film to make people feel—whether hard-
ened programmers or the movie-going public—is the single most
important goal to remember. Nine times out of 10, the meat of your
movie is what will get them. The work is hard, but it’s what separates
the men and women from the boys and girls. MM
Mel Rodriguez III is a writer, director and editor based in Los
Angeles. He was an editor of the 2009 Sundance Grand Jury
Prize-winning documentary, We Live in public. In early 2014,
Rodriguez wrote and directed his feature debut, In Stereo.
MovieMakeR.CoM
 Another
M
y co-director, Allison Berg, and I watched Dog Day
Afternoon one day. At the end of the film, a card
notes that Al Pacino’s character, Sonny, would be
pg
70 released from prison in so many years. We miscal-

MAn’s
culated and got very excited about the prospect of
finding the real bank robber, whom we thought
was about to be released. We would interview him in prison first, then
film his release—a vérité documentary.

treAsure
As it turned out, John Wojtowicz (the real-life “Sonny Wortzik,”
or “the Dog,” as he was called) had been out of prison since 1978 and
was living with his mother in Brooklyn. We contacted him and met
him in a diner a couple of weeks later. He proceeded to grope me, eat
three consecutive meals, and show us naked pictures of his boyfriends.
by Frank Keraudren. We spoke for eight hours and discovered an incredible story that had
never been shared on camera before.
We interviewed him a few months later. It was clear that this
interview would be central to the film, but also that archival footage
was going to play a crucial part if we were to put this very personal
narrative into a broader social and historical context. After all, John
Wojtowicz and his lover Ernest Aron (later Elizabeth Eden) had held
what may have been the first public same-sex wedding in America, in
1971, a time when the American Medical Association still classified
homosexuality as a mental illness. And the broadcast of the images of
the bank robbery had interrupted Nixon’s acceptance speech at the
1972 Republican National Convention in Miami.
This was the life story of a strange Forrest Gump-type character
who had photo-bombed a few decades of American History—the Viet-
nam War, the early Gay Rights Movement, an Oscar-nominated film.

Finding Footage
Most documentaries begin with a daunting amount of shot mate-
rial. When you add in archival footage and stills, the task of editing
may seem ludicrously ambitious. How do you eat an elephant? One
bite at a time, as the saying goes. We started by making our story
work based on the single interview with our character. It served as a
blueprint to determine what archival footage we would need.
When you begin your archival research, look for anything related
Courtesy of Drafthouse Films

wOjTOwICz In fROnT Of ThE ChAsE MAnhATTAn BAnK,

whICh hE ATTEMpTED TO ROB In 1972

The arT of obTaining and

Courtesy of Drafthouse Films

ediTing archival maTerial,

via The incredible
ThE DOg As A yOung pup
life of the Dog (wITh A pROphETIC TOy gun)

MOVIEMAKER.COM
 Guide to MakinG Movies 2015

to your story. If your film is going to be about a broad topic, start

by working from a treatment, which maps out the specific stories,
anecdotes or individuals to focus on. For The Dog, we started with the “It’s one thIng to
main event (the bank robbery), and listed topics we needed for con-
text (the Vietnam War, gay rights, 1972, New York, transsexuals, etc).
have footage
pg
71
A good place to start your research process is footage.net, a site

of the vIetnam
that functions as a search engine and allows you to sift through
major archives with catalogued assets. Print or save what looks most
interesting to you. Once you have an idea of what you’d like to view,
contact the archives and ask for screeners. It’s a good idea to establish
a relationship with someone at the archive who will be familiar with War; It’s a Whole
W
your film, because your research process might last a long time. Also,
not everything will be catalogued, so this ally can help you find things
that you may have missed.
other thIng to
Ask for quotes regarding what the material will cost for certain
territories (U.S. broadcast, U.S. theatrical, and worldwide) and for
certain time periods (five years, in perpetuity, etc). Make sure you
have pIctures of
understand what is being quoted—how many theaters does “limited
theatrical release” mean? Even if you don’t think your film will have a your subject In
theatrical release, asking won’t cost you anything.
Also ask the archive if it has a minimum per order, or more impor-
tantly, a minimum “per cut.” Let’s say that an archive has a “five-sec-
unIform In
ond minimum per cut.” You will end up paying for five seconds to use
a three-second shot. It may not seem like much, but it adds up very
quickly. If you are going to order a decent amount of footage, you
Da nang
n In 1967.”
shouldn’t have to pay a “per cut” minimum.
Courtesy of Drafthouse Films

If your project is not fully funded yet, ask for a quote for festival
licenses. These allow you to license the footage for a limited amount
of time (six months, a year) to show your film at festivals, and hope-
fully sell it in the process. This will be deducted from the cost of the
licensing if and when you upgrade your license.

Other PeOPle’s things

Personal photos and memorabilia can be fantastic assets. It’s one
thing to have footage of the Vietnam War; it’s a whole other thing to
have pictures of your subject in uniform in Da Nang in 1967. Spend
time contacting your subject’s friends and family and establishing
some trust with them. It can yield hidden treasures.
After we obtained footage of John and Ernest’s wedding in 1971,
we found out that Randy Wicker, an early gay rights activist, had writ-
ten about the ceremony and claimed to have filmed it. We contacted
Randy. It turned out that Randy had not only filmed John’s wedding
ceremony but had interviewed Ernest Aron, John’s first wife Carmen,
and John’s mother, in 1972! Some of these things were audio record-
ings, some were video. He had written articles about the legal case,
and had kept these materials in a storage unit, almost forgotten for WojtoWiCz (CenteR) MaRRied Liz eden (Left), foRMeRLy eRnest aRon, in 1971
30 years. It took us a few years to find a place that could successfully
transfer some of his video footage, which was shot on an ancient reel- where he or she grew up?
to-reel format, but this stuff was documentary gold. Don’t rule out any potential source. Getty Images, newspaper
Randy had filmed members of the Gay Activists Alliance storming archives, public libraries, and national archives are pretty obvi-
the New York City Marriage Bureau. The images were incredible, ous, but don’t forget to look for any special collections connected
but it was at least six months before we realized that our subject, the to your subject. We realized that the LGBT Community Center
Dog himself, was in the footage. After zooming in on a specific frame, in downtown Manhattan kept its own archive. Rich Wandel, their
we recognized him—he was the only one of the activists who had an- archivist, had known John in the ’70s. The archive had photos of
swered “yes” to the question, “Will anyone be trying to get a marriage John and Ernest, letters that they had written to each other, and
license?” We did a freeze frame and highlighted him in the footage, other materials.
lending the already-remarkable archival image a personal significance.
Being as accurate as possible will make for a much stronger film, the QuestiOn Of Quality
even if most of the audience isn’t conscious of it. Let’s say you are The quality of archival images will range from beautiful 16mm to
showing images of New York in the ’60s, where your subject grew up. low-quality VHS tapes, or worse. Obviously, it’s always nice to have
Are they random locations, or are we seeing the actual neighborhood the best possible image quality, but quality shouldn’t trump content.

MovieMakeR.CoM
 Guide to MakinG Movies 2015

you have a lot of poor-quality material, it might be a good idea to show

“If a song Is s good, it to an online editor to get a sense of what can be done to enhance it.
Remember, though, that this requires time, and time is money.
pg
72 It can be pared
Broadcast delivery requirements will usually require certain quality
standards for archival material. Again, content trumps quality, but if
you have serious doubts, consult with an online editor.

down to a very The Rough CuT

Fast-forward a few months, or, in our case, years. You have your

sImple versIon first official rough cut. At this stage, assessing the use of archival
footage and images is important. Get down to what’s essential in your
film. Make it work without score, effects or too much finessing. It’s
and ststIll work. like a piece of music: If a song is good, it can be pared down to a very
simple version and still work. You don’t want to be making a film that

you don’t want

y only works because it’s been Auto-Tuned.
We had things in The Dog that we had worked very hard to get—
incredible footage that has not been seen to this day; hours of mes-

to be mak
makIng a sages that the Dog left on our answering machines. But we left them
out. Ultimately, treat your archival treasures like any other image in
the film—make the story work first.
fIIlm that only
f FaiR use?

works because There are instances when you may be able to use materials with-
out licensing them, but fair use will ultimately have to be determined
by an attorney, who reviews your film (at the rough cut stage, or

It’s been even earlier) to determine whether you can claim fair use of certain
images. The attorney will write an opinion letter that you submit to
the insurance company from whom you get an Errors and Omissions
auto-tuned.” policy. (You won’t be able to sell your film without E&O.) Look up
the Documentary Filmmakers’ Statement of Best Practices in Fair
Use, or the work of Michael Donaldson, the go-to attorney on the
subject of clearances and copyright.

Finishing and oRdeRing

As you reach your final cut and lock picture, sit down with a cal-
culator and start figuring out the final cost of what you have in your
cut, based on the amount of footage and the quotes that you got from
each source. Certain archives will offer you a discount to encourage
you to license a little more footage from them. If a source offers you
a better rate if you buy an extra 30 seconds of material, you might
want to get some shots that you can swap out with other shots from a
different source.
At this stage, it is wise to hire someone who specializes in archival
clearances to help you with the finishing process. A couple of weeks
of their time could be the best investment you ever make. A clearance
specialist may be able to negotiate a better rate for you and help you
Courtesy of Drafthouse Films

find last-minute replacement footage.

WojtoWiCz Was aRRested foR atteMpted RobbeRy in 1972 and Released
in 1978, seRvinG additional tiMe foR paRole violation in 1986
Archival images allow the viewer to go back in time, to see or hear
things “as they happened.” If the image is engaging, the audience
won’t be wondering about its quality.
A good colorist can perform small miracles of restoration in your on-
line edit. Our own rough cut was a strange assembly of images of vary-
ing formats, some black and white, some in color, some of them square,
some of them rectangular. With the magic of post-production and the
talents of our colorist, the finished film looks a hundred times better. If
To prepare for the specialist, make an edit decision list, sort your
material by sources, note durations and the in and out timecode for
each shot. If you have an assistant editor, thank them profusely.
Perhaps a film is never finished until you decide it is. At the very
last minute, we located footage of John’s mother, Terry, being inter-
viewed at the scene of the crime as the bank robbery unfolded. We
had known this footage existed but hadn’t been able to locate it for 10
years. The Dog was self-funded, which turned out to be a curse and a
blessing. It allowed us, oddly enough, to find more archival gold than
we ever could have if we had made the film in 12 months. MM
The Dog opened in limited theaters August 8, 2014, and on Video
on Demand August 15, 2014, courtesy of Drafthouse Films.

MovieMakeR.CoM
pg
74 Scene TecTonicS
Is your fIlm on a fault lIne?
Damage-control a
DysfunctIonal eDIt wIth
these eIght tIps for
great scene transItIons
The famously DesolaTe farmlanD seTTing of one of hiTChCoCk’s mosT Terrifying sequenCes in North by Northwest
W
e’ve all been there—the editing room-turned-
rescue center. Here’s a secret to surviving
those agonizing hours: Tightening up the
transitions between scenes, sequences, and
acts is often the key to saving a film that just
isn’t working. You’ll start thinking about how
those bigger pieces interact to create drama, like when Earth’s tectonic
plates crunch together to make volcanoes.
Everything happens during scene transitions. Characters change
and move, plot revelations surface, and the audience is the most en-
gaged. Legendary editor Walter Murch
once said transitions are “where the soul
by Jeffrey Michael Bays. of the film is frequently most revealed.”
That’s a good starting point when
thinking about transitions—as a process of unearthing the emotional
core of your story. A scene transition is change: a shift from one emo-
tional state to another, everything in turmoil.
So what are some tactics to use when piecing together your film’s
moving parts? The good news is, if you enter the editing room armed
with lots of scenery shots, reaction shots, and a good pot of coffee,
there may yet be hope for your struggling edit.
1. Design a Chess BoarD
The easiest first step is to go through all of your transitions and
make sure there’s an obvious visual shift from one scene to the
next—indoor to outdoor, chaos to calm, night to day, etc. These
binary oppositions tell the viewer that there are two separate events
to be considered in relation to each other. Not only does this provide
a necessary aesthetic jolt, it also allows the audience to follow your
story more seamlessly. A lack of distinction between cuts can feel like
playing chess with only white pieces or squares—contrast is essential
to keep track of the game. The same is true in your film. If all of your
locations look too similar, you’re going to strain the audience.
moviemaker.Com
Reprinted courtesy of Michael Wiese Productions
Make it easy to compartmentalize the different pieces of your story.
The viewer’s brain often remembers plot information based on a loca-
tion in which it was revealed. For instance, if your film has one scene
on a windy bridge, the audience will file that away in their mental
“windy bridge” folder, and recall that bridge when piecing the story
together. If, instead, your entire film takes place on the windy bridge,
your audience is going to have a harder time juggling the parts.
2. give ’em a Break
What I’m about to tell you might be a scary thought for some
readers: It’s OK to dissipate tension in your film.
The truth is, a narrow obsession with keeping things tense is a
common amateur mistake. When your film continues at a sustained
level of intensity, without variation, it can cause fatigue or boredom in
the viewer, like listening to a song that only has one note. Give your
audience a break! Remember that your tense moments will seem even
tenser if they are surrounded by periods of calm.
Establishing shots can be your friend in the editing room when
you’ve overloaded on tension and things are starting to feel worn out.
Use them after a tense sequence has climaxed. This pause will allow
your viewers to reflect and let their imaginations drift freely before
the next big event.
Story clues can be planted here, but the focus should be making
sure everyone sitting in the theater is synchronized to the same mood
in preparation for what you’re about to throw at them. Mood-setting
holds a tremendous amount of power. By changing a scene’s context,
drama becomes comedy and boredom becomes suspense.
Landscapes also tie directly into the characters’ moods, either to
match them or to contrast with them. Gus Van Sant’s Gerry has a
great example of a setting that transforms in sync with moods. When
the two Gerries (Matt Damon and Casey Affleck) start fighting, the
desert becomes rugged and stormy. When they are exhausted, the
same desert becomes a flat, white plane.

3. establish effiCiently
Establishing shots aren’t just opportunities to wow the audi-
ence with spectacular views—they’re also tools with which to tease
them. The crop-duster scene in Hitchcock’s North by Northwest is an
example of using the downtime at the beginning of a scene to stir up
forward momentum. Hitchcock opens the scene with a 60-second
wide shot of a bus dropping off Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant), who
expects his adversary to show up in each passing car. The story slowly
builds toward a completely unpredictable climax, borne from the
uneasy inertia of the setting.
Be clever in using your establishing shots to make a visual point.
Let’s say you open with a wide shot of the beach, with lots of tourists
dancing around in the sun. Then, you track over to a house with the
curtains drawn. A person walks by and enters the house; we follow
them inside. A setup like this visually underscores the irony of the
situation—that there is something suspicious going on in this beach
house and the happy people outside don’t know about it.
4. let it linGeR
The old edict of editing a scene is “arrive late, leave early,” but
be careful not to abuse this. Make sure your audience gets to spend
enough time with your hero’s important onscreen reactions. Allowing
the audience to share in the reaction to a major plot event is the best
way to form an emotional bond between viewer and spectator. When
you add music, a seemingly pointless long shot of an actor walking
away can suddenly become a tear-jerker for the audience.
Directors should never call “cut” too early, and should train their
actors to keep going even after the planned scene is finished. This can
give you valuable options in the editing room when a scene transition
requires more audience emotion.
5. show a JouRney
Movement through wide expanses of geography is one thing film
portrays best above all other forms of art. Take some time to think
about where your hero moves off-screen between scenes. After a big
moment, traveling with a character through space is a great emotional
connector. If you don’t have any footage of your character traveling
from one key scene to the next, consider picking it up when you can;
it forms a stronger connection with your audience.
In the editing room, decide which of these journeys to show
between scenes. In Garden State, Andrew Largeman (Zach Braff) rides
through town on his motorcycle presumably between every scene, but
we only see it at three key points. During these points the audience
shares in his emotional discoveries—first of freedom, then of love,
then of renewed hope.
When we think of travel in real life, we tend to think of bore-
dom. Waiting in traffic during rush hour, sitting through a long
“A LAck of distinction between cuts cAn
feeL Like pLAying chess with onLy white
pieces or squAres—contrAst is essentiAL
to keep trAck of the gAme.”
Guide to MakinG Movies 2015
flight—moments we’d rather forget. But these moments can be
intensely captivating in a movie narrative if they are expressing a
character’s emotion.
6. ChanGe youR PaCes
pg
75
Now that you’ve pinpointed all of your key moments of tension
and release, take a look at the overall rhythms of your film. Are there
still some moments that have lost their pulse? Varying the length of
your scenes is another way to fix a sluggish edit. Typically, scenes get
shorter and shorter as a film progresses, because this inherently builds
tension toward a climax.
Scene length is highly subjective, and affected by the scenes that
surround it. If you put several short scenes together followed by a long
scene, that long scene might feel like a natural variation. But if you pre-
cede it with a lot of long scenes, that last scene might feel even longer.
7. build MontaGe MoMentuM
One fix to your sluggish sequence is to abbreviate it into a mon-
tage. Keep only the essential moments and add music to bridge the
shift through time. Montage has a way of increasing tension and
allowing the audience to look at a situation objectively.
Quick cuts can bring out a character’s mental state. Let’s say your
hero is a detail-oriented detective. Using quick cuts between his
scenes as he whisks from one place to another suggests his efficiency.
If your hero is a delivery man, making quick cuts from one house to
the next can make you feel his detachment from his repetitive job.
Darren Aronofsky’s hip-hop montage style (see Requiem for a
Dream) has turned into a popular transition to propel tension from
one scene to the next, showing flashes of events in a rapid burst. It
works well in a film like Edgar Wright’s Hot Fuzz, the rush of impres-
sions seeming to reflect Nicholas Angel’s (Simon Pegg) OCD.
8. Just Cut it out
To become a true master of transitions you must come to know a
tactic used by storytellers for centuries—telling a story through omis-
sion. An invigoratingly simple trick is to delete an entire scene and see
if the story makes sense without it.
Guessing what has been left out of your film is innately satisfying
to an audience, because it challenges their imaginations to find a solu-
tion. In literature, this is a process known as ellipsis. Psychologists call
it the Gestalt Theory. Hitchcock said it best: “Drama is life with the
dull bits cut out.” So cut them out, and excavate your story. MM
Jeffrey Michael Bays, MA is the author of the book Between the
Scenes, published by Michael Wiese Productions and available
worldwide. He teaches a workshop at the Moondance International
Film Festival in September 2014.
MovieMakeR.CoM
 The InsIde
76
TrAck
pg
AndRé BEnjAMIn undERwEnt VOCAl tRAInIng, dIAlOguE tRAInIng, And lEssOns In PlAyIng guItAR lEft-hAndEd fOR hIs ROlE As hEndRIx In Jimi: All is by my side
A
few years ago, I met with director John Ridley and
a few producers for a film entitled Jimi: All is by My
Side, the story of the early years of Jimi Hendrix’s
musical career. Not long after I signed onto the
film, Danny Bramson—the renowned music
producer-supervisor on films like Almost Famous,
Say Anything, Singles, and Austin Powers—joined the team. I’d admired
his work for years and couldn’t believe I
had the chance to work with him.
by Christopher Mollere. “The placement of music in film is
so tempting, it can be overused,” Danny
told me. “Storytelling is king. Music must serve the tale always.”
MusICAl PROgREssIOns
This breakdown of our process with Jimi: All is by My Side will ring
bells with any moviemaker with a similarly music-centric film.
1. Script Breakdown
Read the script and do a full musical breakdown. In a film like Jimi:
All is by My Side, in which music is inseparable from story, we had
to figure out every scene that required music, including on-camera
performances, and scenes for which musicians had to be cast.
2. LicenSing SongS
Once you know which songs feature in on-camera performances,
start the clearance process: licensing the publishing of each song
you’re going to record playback tracks for. A playback track is a musi-
MOVIEMAKER.COM
A primer on the
bAsics of securing
music for your film
Courtesy of XLrator Media and Open Road Films
cal piece or song that is played via speakers on set or through earwigs
(in ear monitors) during the shooting of the scenes. The actors mime
playing to the songs for the scenes, and you match up the audio to
the picture in post-production. If you recorded everything live on set,
you’d be subject to the possibility of continuity being off, which would
render various shots unusable. Not to mention the fact that recording
live captures set noises, like dialogue, footsteps, and background talk-
ing. On the other hand, prerecorded tracks are recorded in a con-
trolled studio environment where what you hear is what you’ll get.
Reach out to the publisher (the entity that owns the written
work) and receive written approval from them prior to recording or
shooting any scenes. You can research the publishing information for
almost any song on the ASCAP, BMI and SESAC websites. You’ll also
need to negotiate the fee for the term and territories you are request-
ing for each song. You’ll go through the same process in post-produc-
tion, dropping in songs that are background vocals or instrumentals.
3. Studio recording
Once you have your desired songs licensed and approved for
the film, go into the studio and record. Danny called up his friends
Waddy Wachtel, Leland Sklar, Kenny Aronoff and other musicians, in
addition to André Benjamin, who portrayed Jimi Hendrix. With this
all-star band intact, Danny playing general with recordist and mixer
Niko Bolas at the helm, magic happened in the studio.
A recording session like this, with musicians of this caliber, meant
that we worked with a contractor to log all paperwork for the Ameri-
can Federation of Musicians (AFM)—it was a union session. Whether
yours is union or non-union, make sure you abide by all recording

rules. Check out afm.org for more information, and remember, try to
have a seasoned music supervisor on board as early as possible.
4. The ShooT
For on-camera performances, having a playback sound operator
who focuses entirely on the music is ideal. This will be someone with
speakers set up so music can be heard out loud on set, and gives the
musicians earwigs so that when you drop out of the music playing
on set, they can keep playing along in time for continuity. The sound
operator can log any music-related notes for post-production, too.
Anything you can do to reference a real-sounding environment
for actors will help get them in the mindset for scenes that take place
in bars, restaurants or other places that would have music playing.
A playback sound operator should play music at a realistic level for
that venue, so the actors can get a sense of how loud they should be
speaking their dialogue. Once the scene begins, the playback operator
can mute the music so there is no bleed in the dialogue track being
recorded. One of the worst things to deal with in post-production is
having actors who aren’t speaking loudly enough for a real environ-
ment, like a concert. This can’t be faked once you get into post.
5. ediTing
Editing is where you get to build the temp soundtrack, which in-
cludes songs and score. Basically, you’re creating the musical identity
of the film.
Stick to music that works within what you can afford. As gorgeous as
that famous song is, if you can’t afford it, change
it out in the cut. We call being infatuated with
an unattainable song “temp love.” The director
and producers have seen the scenes so many
times with this one amazing song that they can’t “We caLL being
picture the scene with anything else. If you do
think a song works perfectly and you want to inFatuated With
go after it, the worst you’ll hear is “no.” At the
same time, have a backup or two cleared in case
your first choice gets denied or comes back too
an unattainabLe
expensive for your budget.
SOng ‘teMp LOve.’
6. FiniShing Your Film
Once you’ve locked picture, it’s time to the diRectOR
prepare for the final mix. From here you’ll have
a spotting session, going through the entire film and pROduceRS
moment by moment to talk with the director
and producer about all the music. Then you can have Seen the
move onto licensing. Send quote requests for
both the master recording with the label, music
rep or band, and then the publishing with the
SceneS SO Many
publisher, music rep or band. On a request, in-
clude the terms of the agreement and state a fee
tiMeS With thiS
you can afford to feature the song in your film.
This is where a music supervisor really One aMazing
comes in handy. He or she will go directly to
labels, publishers, bands or music reps to try SOng that they
for approval. If you just send in quote requests
on your own, your email could sit in a general can’t pictuRe
quote request inbox for ages.
The final mix stage involves sending high- the Scene With
quality lossless files (AIFs or WAVs) of all the
anything eLSe.”
Guide to MakinG Movies 2015
songs in the film (licensed songs, original recorded songs, and play-
back tracks) to the music editor. All of the songs and score are built
into a Pro Tools session and mixed, over a few days for a smaller film,
pg
77
or up to many weeks on larger films.
BouGht foR a sonG
Jimi: All is by My Side had an overall budget of around $7 million,
which allowed for a decent music budget, but what do you do when
you need to make a lot happen with very little?
1. Great, affordable music is everywhere. Many artists are looking
to get into film projects for the exposure. Reach out to musicians you
know, music schools, colleges, local music venues, and music reps that
specialize in indie artists and local musicians playing in your town. Also
look online (bandcamp.com, indie music blogs, etc.).
2. Music supervisors know the bands looking to get their music out
there, so they can be a great resource. You might find a music supervi-
sor who works for a low or deferred fee with points on the film—or
even one who likes your film so much, they work for almost nothing.
3. If you just have to have that huge song in the film, try restricting
the options for which you are acquiring the rights. This could mean
only getting film festival rights for a year—which is generally a lot
cheaper. Ask for options in case a distributor wants to acquire your
film for release. This way you don’t have to go out for approval again
on the same song, and you know how much it will cost to acquire the
additional rights—streaming, theatrical, television, home video, etc.
4. A piece of common music licensing lingo
is “MFN:” “most favored nations.” If you get
approval on the publishing they might write
“MFN with the master,” for example. Remem-
ber that you can’t pay a lesser fee for the master
or the publishing if it is stipulated that MFN is
part of the deal for an approval on either.
5. Watch the scene without music. If you feel
it’s missing something, then music is called for.
If it plays great without music, let the scene be.
Don’t force a song or score.
6. Hiring a composer for an original score
can add continuity throughout the film with
musical themes. This can also save you some
money on scenes where you don’t necessar-
ily have to have a song, but some music would
nicely accentuate onscreen action. Breaking in
as a composer can be very difficult, and many
aspiring composers work on films for little to
no money to get the experience. You can always
let the composer retain ownership of their
score, but draw up a legal agreement if you do
so to prevent issues if the film gets a distributor.
Congratulations! Music is usually one of the
last steps in a film’s creation, so if you’ve made
it this far, you’re close to completing your
journey. MM
Jimi: All is by My Side opens in theaters
September 26, 2014, courtesy of XLrator
Media and Open Road Films.
MovieMakeR.CoM
pg
78

Love is Strange, Ira Sachs

Chapter
Five : Distribution
eARN YOUR RIGHT TO PARTICIPATe

E
ach time I premiere a new film at a festival and longed series of small events which, usually over the next
launch it into the world of audience and distri- year of your life, you experience in conjunction with your
bution, it is brutal. Even when it goes well, and film. Take it all in, and learn as much as you can about each
the film finds a good home, the process is, by step of the process, so you can put it to use in the next one.
nature, filled with anxiety and potential trau- Working with Sony Pictures Classics now on Love is
ma. You are placing something very personal into an atmo- Strange, my active participation with the company is only
sphere of business and commerce. possible because I can speak about the process in detail.
My first visit to the Toronto Film Festival was with Having, as a moviemaker, been active in my own distribu-
my first feature, The Delta, in 1996. The film was a very tion for over 20 years, I’ve earned the right to participate.
personal story of a young gay teenager grow- Be involved, ask questions, don’t expect the moon, don’t
ing up in Memphis and his romance with a accept nothing, and, most of all, keep a sense of humor
by Ira Sachs
half-black, half-Vietnamese man on a boat about it. In distribution I work as hard as I can, pushing
trip down the Mississippi. Before the film everyone as much as I can, and then the day comes when I
premiered, we had solicitous calls from every U.S. distrib- let it all go—and hope that the movie finds its audience.
utor in the business. After the film screened, not one of the At that point—having survived the screenwriting, devel-
250 industry buyers in the theater wanted to buy me a cup opment, production, post-production and distribution stag-
of coffee, let alone distribute my film (though Zeitgeist es—I’ve done all I can with my film. As the great German
would make an offer soon, and ultimately Strand would filmmaker, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, once said, “I’ll fix it
end up with the film, six months later, after it screened at in the next one.” MM
Sundance).
That was maybe the worst acquisitions experience I’ve
had. All of them, however, have that same vulnerable ring.
At a festival, my arrogance (“I’ve made something I love”)
blends with my fear (“No one wants my movie”) to create a
general dread.
So when you take your film to its first festival and the
experience isn’t all it’s jacked up to be, remember: You’re
not alone. Many of us share your misery.
Then, after a few days, you begin to get back to normal.
You see that the landscape is not as bad as you thought it
was, moments after that first screening. You settle down
into what you need to learn to take your film to the next
stage. Maybe Harvey Weinstein isn’t knocking down your
Photograph by Jeong Park
door, but what about that small company in Santa Monica
who is interested, or that festival programmer you talked to
from Kiev who loved your movie?
Finding distribution is never one grand thing. It’s a pro- Molina, lithgow and SachS on the Set of Love is strange

The Tao Charting Guide to Going Viral

of Your Festival Digital the Organic Way
Mark Duplass Course Distribution by Tiffany Shlain
by Kelly Leow by Valentina I. Valentini by Erin Trahan and Sawyer Steele
Pg. 80 Pg. 84 Pg. 86 Pg. 92
 Selling Out
pg
80 With Style
and
SOul
Career
adviCe
Courtesy of Shutterstock
from indie
Duplass at the preMiere of TaMMy maveriCk
mark duplass
F
estival hits The One I Love and Creep, FX’s The League,
box-office hit Tammy, a new HBO show, Togetherness—
that’s just some of the work Mark Duplass is serving up
this year. From the moment Duplass appeared on the
scene alongside his brother, Jay, with 2005’s The Puffy
Chair, to his turn in Zero Dark Thirty, the actor-director-
writer-producer has juggled genres and budget levels with startling ease.
Duplass’ ubiquity is made even more remarkable by his
by Kelly Leow. creative integrity and commitment to cultivating a com-
munity of younger artists. As a fairy-godfather, Robin
Hood-type hero working the system for personal and public good, the
indie icon explains how he built the castle in his “corner of the sandbox.”
Kelly leow, MovieMaker Magazine (MM): Describe your current position
in the moviemaking universe.
MarK Duplass (MD): I have one foot inside the studio system and one
foot outside of it. It’s what I loved about Cassavetes—that he would
go act in movies and take the money and go make his movies. That’s
part of what I’m doing with Tammy and The League. It also raises my
profile, so when I go make a little independent film like The One I Love,
it brings more awareness to that movie. There’s a synergy between the
studio stuff and the independent stuff and in an ideal world, they work
together in a very healthy way.
MM: You consciously think about that as a career model?
MD: One hundred percent. These days, I reverse-engineer movies. I
build a film from the materials available to me, and I fit it into the right
budget space, so it’s bulletproof. The One I Love was designed to be
done cheaply and quickly. It stars myself and Elisabeth Moss, so there’s
a certain profile to it. We were always gonna make our money back. I
never extend myself or my investors financially; I’m proud to say I’ve
never lost anybody any money. Cyrus, which is the most mainstream
film I’ve made, was a safe bet at a $6 million budget because it had
enough movie stars in it. Being sustainable is creating content at a
scope that is not going to fail. That’s how you keep yourself from get-
ting your heart broken.
MM: So you’re on your financial game from the get-go.
MD: Jay and I have become mentors to a lot of young filmmakers,
MoVieMaKer.CoM
Duplass anD Co-star elisabeth Moss in The one i Love
who come to me saying, “I’ve been in development for six years, I’ve
fallen out of financing 10 times, my cast has fallen out 12 times…” To
directors like Charlie McDowell with The One I Love or Colin Trevor-
row with Safety Not Guaranteed, I say, “Let me produce your movie.
You’re not gonna make any money up front. I’ll get you only the bare
materials you need to make it. But you’ll come out with good reviews,
make a little bit of money on this—and I guarantee the next movie you
make will get you paid.”
That can inspire creativity. In the case of The One I Love, I knew
what Charlie was good at; I knew what I was good at. We started
putting together a storyline that fit for me, Elisabeth Moss, and Ted
Danson, Charlie’s stepfather. We found a location we had access to and
a limited amount of money that I could bring to the project, and those
were our limits. We built the movie to exist inside of that.
I take issue with independent moviemakers who complain about how
the industry has changed, and how it’s so hard to get your movie green-
lit, and how nobody wants to make important movies anymore. I don’t
disagree with any of those things, but let’s stop complaining, people.
Yeah, they’re not giving us a few hundred thousand dollars anymore to
write and direct indie movies at Fox Searchlight. I get it. That time is
over. But we have something else going on here that is amazing. You
can make an epic movie with 25 effect shots and gorgeous cinematog-
raphy for under $30,000 now, if you’re careful. The 25-year-old kid
who’s got a camera and a $10,000 movie has to wade through a sea of
many more of those movies, but technology is so good. The Puffy Chair
looked and sounded like shit!
MM: Do you see yourself taking bigger monetary risks as your
career progresses?
MD: Absolutely. My financial advisers think I’m fucking crazy, and
they constantly yell at me to diversify. But I don’t care. My movies are
risky but who’s to say that independent film can’t be profitable? Even
films like The Puffy Chair, Baghead and The Do-Deca-Pentathlon have
been profitable. We make no salaries on them and trade favors and bor-
row cameras from each other. Everyone who works on the movie, from
a movie star like Kate Bosworth in Black Rock, to a PA, gets a piece of
 pg
81

Courtesy of RADiUS-TWC

“Like Robin Hood,

we piLfeR fRom
HoLLywood and th
put tHat into
independent
20
fiLmmaking.”
the movie. My movies are like co-ops where the 10 to 25 people who
work on them all have a piece.
I’m looking more and more to take financial responsibility. The
more you have control of that, the less you have that depressing
wasteland of development which every independent filmmaker hates
and fears. Jay and I do rewrite work on big Hollywood movies, so
like Robin Hood, we pilfer from that and put that into independent
filmmaking. We’re becoming a weird bastardized version of a studio.
United Artists, in the ’70s, would bring in these young filmmakers and
make their movies cheaply. Young filmmakers bring us ideas, and we
cultivate them and help bring a cast to them. We try to put as much of
the money on the table as we have available; sometimes we can do the
whole thing, sometimes we bring in some other people.

MM: What conditions need to be in place when you take on a bigger

studio project? november 12-16, 2014
MD: I don’t haggle with big movies too much on money. I say, “Can in downtown wilmington, NC
you schedule me in and out quickly?” That way I can go home to see early passes available at
my kids and get back to my other projects. Creatively speaking, it has
to be something that I feel like I’m gonna be good at. Sometimes it’s
cucalorus.org
about looking at your career from a 30,000 foot view for a second and

MOVIEMAKER.COM

pg
82
Courtesy of RADiUS-TWC
DiReCtoR/unoffiCial Duplass Mentee ChaRlie MCDowell
DisCusses a sCene fRoM the One I LOve with his aCtoRs
“Having a HealtHy
sense of tHis tHing
as a business is a
key to longevity.”
saying, “What does my career need at the moment?” Once my face
gets to the place where it has enough foreign value… I’m already at
the point where if I show up in a movie at Sundance, people wanna
buy that movie. All that stuff puts a little more control in your pocket. I
become my own studio.
MM: I love that you are entirely upfront about “selling out,” so to speak.
MD: This business of ours is very tricky. I call it a business, and
sometimes independent filmmakers are like, “Aren’t we making art?”
But having a healthy sense of this thing as a business is a key to longev-
ity. There’s definitely an element of doing certain jobs to make money,
to fund the little empire I’m growing in my corner of the sandbox.
Three months a year, I go work on The League, and with that money
I go out and make three or four pieces of art and I mentor new film-
makers with that.
I know a lot of independent filmmakers who are like, “I’m gonna try
to get as much fucking money as I can when I sell my movie!” It’s a bit
MovieMakeR.CoM
GuiDe to MakinG Movies 2015
of an “us versus them” mentality. But we’re in this ecosystem together.
I’m friends with all of the distributors. I’m like, “Hey, you, come buy
my movie, give me the money I’ve spent to make it and then let’s split
the profits together. If it’s a huge success, we all win together; if it fails
you won’t be in debt next year, when I need you to buy another movie.”
MM: What about younger moviemakers who aren’t at that position yet?
MD: It took me five years to make a decent movie. You should be
making a five-minute movie every weekend until that five-minute
movie is good. And those movies should be free; you should be shoot-
ing in your apartments or at parks. Once you make the first one that’s
good, try to get it into film festivals and write a feature that feels just
like that. When you show up at your first film festival and you have
that feature written, you’re on your way.
If you don’t get into festivals, your film’s probably not very good, so
try again. If you did but you haven’t gotten anybody to purchase your
movie, great—get a deal with Fandor or FilmBuff or Vimeo. Get your
movie out there as much as you can and use your reviews to go make
your next movie. I recommend that you get your first pay window on
Netflix, because they have 50 million subscribers. The eyeballs you get
there are so worthwhile. Sometimes your distributors are like, “I can
make an extra $50,000 if I sell it to the Epix channel,” but nobody’s
watching Epix. Don’t do that. Netflix made my career when The Puffy
Chair started streaming there.
MM: Is your level of output realistic for everyone? The DIY philoso-
phy can be exhausting.
MD: The bigger your community is, the better chance you have of
living longer and healthier inside of the independent filmmaking sys-
tem. Cut to 2021, one of the filmmakers that I’m quote-unquote men-
toring right now could very well be helping me out. They know things
about the newer cameras that I don’t know. It’s mutually beneficial. A
little stable of people helps to buoy you as you move forward.
MM: Has social media allowed you to brand yourself and your output
toward fans and collaborators?
MD: Twitter has done two things. One, I can reach my fanbase per-
sonally and drive them to projects, but two, I’m in a position where a
distributor knows that I have a bunch of followers, which drives up the
value of each of my projects. You can’t just promote-promote-promote
on Twitter. My general rule is you should have 99 regular tweets for
every promotional tweet. Don’t take advantage of your followers.
MM: What do you look for in a mentee?
MD: I gravitate towards people who are students of the human condi-
tion, because that’s what I like. Though I don’t want to become Woody
Allen… I don’t want to just do couples and feelings walking on the
street. My interests have gravitated more into genre—The One I Love
is a romantic comedy but really isn’t, and Creep is like My Dinner with
André going into the horror direction.
I like really nice, loving people. “Is this person going to enrich
my life over the next year and a half?” We just had a pool party at
our house last weekend. I had this moment where there were like 50
people in my backyard, and I was like, “I love all these people’s movies.
I’m so happy to get stoned and eat s’mores with them around my fire
pit tonight and talk about the movies we’re going to make.” I love my
community. MM
Mark Duplass stars in The One I Love, which opens in theaters
August 22, 2014, courtesy of RADiUS-TWC.
pg
84 Festival strategy
There’s no such Thing
101
as a “besT fesT,”
so look beyond The
usual suspecTs
W
e’ve all heard the tired homily about a Sun-
dance premiere being the festival holy grail,
without which your film is dead on arrival.
That just isn’t true anymore. There are
myriad festivals worldwide that offer chanc-
es to boost your presence in the circuit, get
representation, sell your film, and find funding for your next project.
It’s not that you shouldn’t try for the big guns—it’s just that the
circuit is so much richer than that. “You always go for the gold,” said
Ron Najor, producer of Short Term 12, which got rejected from Sun-
dance and premiered at South by Southwest, ultimately taking that
festival’s Grand Jury and Audience
Awards in 2013. “At a certain point,
by Valentina I. Valentini you’ll realize what the right path for
your film is.”
Thomas Ethan Harris, founder of the Los Angeles Film Festival,
longtime programmer, and now consultant, has a rule he makes his
clients follow: “If your film does not get into Sundance, SXSW or
Tribeca, you have to change your strategy, because you do not have
what the bigger-business festivals want.”
A common misstep in independent moviemaking is not having a
clear goal in mind. As an indie moviemaker, you should be thinking
about film festival strategy, budget, and both short-term and long-
term effects to your career—by the time you’re in pre-production.
What’s Your status?
Premiere status is very important for features. Like a car that loses
value once it’s taken off the lot, your film loses novelty once it has
premiered. In terms of your festival strategy, it’s important to base
your decisions on your expectations of where you’ll be premiering.
“A lot of filmmakers, especially if they’re new to the game, don’t
realize how important premiere status is,” said Drea Clark, indie
producer and programmer for the Los Angeles Film Festival and
Slamdance. “Taking the time to figure out where you’re going to
debut, both domestically and internationally, is essential. You want the
best possible launching pad for your film. If you don’t get into one of
the major marketplace fests, it’s imperative to research other options
MOVIEMAKER.COM
Photograph by Mitchell Weinstock
SAn JOSE’S CInEquESt IS A wORld-ClASS PREMIERE VEnuE
to figure out which of the lesser-known festivals would be a great
premiere home for you, based on the audience, press and industry
members they attract.
“When you have a list of festivals that seem like good goals, do
research to assess the kind of films they’ve previously played. See if
they’ve selected other films with similar tones, themes, budget ranges,
cast levels, etc. You want to set yourself up to win, especially when it
comes to your premiere.”
A little-known strategy, mentioned by an anonymous source, is
leveraging your premiere acceptances: “You should definitely use [this
tactic] sparingly. But if you get into a festival and you’re waiting to
hear back from a bigger or more prestigious one, you can alert the lat-
ter that you’ve gotten into the first one, and request for an expedited
decision. Believe it or not, a lot of programmers are very kind and will
respond to that.”
truth be told
Nothing beats a good movie. You can strategize until you’re blue
in the face, but if your film isn’t resonating with the festival program-
mers, it’s not meant for that route.
Ask for help. It behooves you to be your biggest critic, but you can
be so blinded by favors begged and tears shed that staying objective
becomes impossible. Find other moviemakers who have been through
the festival merry-go-round and ask them— nicely—to take the time.
Harris suggests befriending a consultant (he’s not plugging, he prom-
ises!) or, if you’re lucky, a festival programmer that really cares.
“Most of us are sappy suckers and just want to see cool things being
made,” said Clark. “Even if it’s not the right timing for their particular
festivals, programmers can give notes or offer suggestions. It’s not a
bad idea to ask, as long as you remember, if they turn you down, to
take it graciously. Everyone’s time is precious.”
If you’ve ever played a film at a festival, make a concerted effort to
stay in touch with those programmers, and not just when it’s conve-
nient for you. If you’ve never gotten a film into a festival, attend one,
or 10. You’ll make your face familiar in the small world of fests. And
knowledge of current films—who’s making them and who’s in them—
will come back to aid you ten-fold.

Do Your Homework
It’s not that hard—it just takes time. Visit the festival’s website or
withoutabox.com and find out what they played last.
“Film festivals all have a different flavor to them,” said Clark.
“Once you’re in the festival circuit, you begin to nod your head and
realize why a certain festival picked up a certain film. But that takes
time. It’s like trying to teach someone about wine for the first time.
You can’t read a wine label and know if it’s
good or not. You need to become familiar
with the vineyard and with different years,
soils and varietals.”
BeYonD tHe Cool kiDs
“Most of us
International festivals vary and you have
to study them, as well. For example, an
are sappy
American comedy might do well at a few,
but, in general, European festivals aren’t suckers and
looking for that genre. In both Europe and
Asia, the prevalent tone is a bit slower, a
little more avant-garde.
just want
“Film festivals abroad are quite incred-
ible,” said Vincent Grashaw, producer-
to see cool
director of Coldwater, which premiered at
SXSW in 2013, and producer of Bellflower, things being
which sold at Sundance 2011 and went on
to play almost 40 film festivals worldwide.
“There are even a handful that don’t charge
Made. even
submission fees.”
Champs-Élysées Film Festival in France,
if it’s not the
now in its third year, programs only
American films in their main competition, right tiMing
“offering Parisians a chance to enjoy the
exceptional diversity of the latest indepen-
dent productions from the U.S.,” according
for their
to their website. It was at Champs-Élysées
where Grashaw sold Coldwater to KMBO particular
Films, which played it in over 85 theaters
in France that summer. He also raves about
horror-themed Sitges Film Festival in
festivals,
Catalonia. “They come by the thousands to
see the films there. It’s like the Cannes of
prograMMers
genre film festivals.”
“Karlovy Vary International Film can give
Festival made me feel like the prom queen,
complete with a bouquet of flowers,” said
Rebecca Green, producer of the feature It
notes or
Follows. “When they found out my director
couldn’t attend, they extended the invite to
offer
me, including covering accommodations.”
Community or regional international suggestions.”
film festivals (i.e. non-prestige fests), can be
just as valuable as ones abroad—sometimes
more so if you play to the press.
“Festivals like Chicago International, Seattle International and
San Francisco International are very critic-based,” said Harris. “Look
for what I deem ‘emerging talent’ film festivals—what the industry
community and other festival programmers watch because they’re
exquisitely programmed. They may not have a ton of films with stars
Guide to MakinG Movies 2015
and glitz and glamour and distributors, but they have the right intent,
which is, ‘We’re going to take care of new filmmakers.’ Mill Valley
would be one of these, and others include Cleveland International,
Cinequest, and a particular favorite of mine, Sedona Film Festival.”
pg
85
PlaYing tHe genre CarD
If your film fits into a particular genre—even imperfectly—target
festivals that screen that type of cinema.
“The genre festival is always in your back
pocket because you’re not competing against
every feature on the circuit,” said Harris.
“You’re competing against a smaller number
and hopefully you’re the cream that rises to
the top.” He cited San Francisco’s LGBT-fo-
cused Frameline as “one of the world’s most
heavily attended festivals, with thousands
more attendees than Sundance, Toronto or
Los Angeles Film Festival.”
“However,” he continued, “There are two
exceptions to the genre-festival card. One
would be for documentarians. Festivals like
International Documentary Film Festival Am-
sterdam, Hot Docs, and Sheffield Doc/Fest
are extremely important for you to consider
alongside the standard top-tier festivals. It’s
very hard to get a documentary into Sun-
dance, whether it’s an international story or an
American one. Amsterdam and Hot Docs are
two gigantic documentary film festivals that
bring together all the press, all the buyers,
all the seekers of documentary film. That’s a
really great place to have your film.”
The second exception to the genre card
trick is short films. Premiere status for short
films does not matter in the same way it does
for features. Many of the short films that play
each year at Sundance, for example, have
previously screened at other festivals. Instead
of fixating on a premiere, then, it might be
a good idea to try for an Academy Award-
qualifying festival—winning an award there
might be the road to an Oscar nomination
for your short. One such fest is France’s
Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film
Festival, which Short Term 12’s director,
Destin Daniel Cretton, said “blew [his] mind
with the sheer number of attendees coming
to see short films.”
Closing nigHt
“You don’t live and die by any one festival,”
said Clark, “though it feels like it. Submit-
ting, waiting and then hearing about other
people you know getting in—that’s the absolute worst. But the reality
is, it’s never the end. There are so many great festivals. And if you get
into one that you don’t think of as big and prestigious and glamor-
ous, you can still do really well by your film. All festivals are building
blocks.” MM
MovieMakeR.CoM
 A LAbyrinth of
86
opportunity
pg
MovieMaker’s
Third annual
Guide To diGiTal
disTribuTion
C
ongratulations. Count yourself among the generation
of moviemakers for whom Video on Demand (VOD)
has progressed from novelty act to main attraction—
an essential component to every film’s release. But if
you’re still scratching your head over the best way to
release your film digitally, you’re not alone. The VOD
landscape has persisted in being perplexingly difficult to navigate. This
far into the game, and it’s still the Wild West.
Despite the recent call from John Sloss, founder of Cinetic Media
and FilmBuff, for VOD box office transparency, the lack of data avail-
able to moviemakers remains, to put it bluntly,
appalling. It’s nearly impossible to find basic met-
by Erin Trahan. rics for overall VOD sales per company, let alone
individual film sales, or the range of licensing fees
offered by a particular distributor.
For example, all Netflix’s Investor Relations page (ir.netflix.com)
specifies is, “We generally license content for a fixed fee and a defined
time period with payment terms varying by agreement.” Even experi-
enced indie producers can be reluctant to show their cards, protect-
ing their own interests by playing it coy. (That said, some companies
have overt mission statements to empower filmmakers, like iTunes,
Google Play and Quiver, and provide downloadable contracts that
spell out how revenue shares work—an important source of data for
our research.)
“The online video field is still too new,” said Chris Woolsey of Piv-
otshare publisher relations. Woolsey is optimistic that transparency
MOVIEMAKER.COM
Illustration by Juan Darién / Courtesy of Shutterstock
will improve across the board eventually: “Once the industry matures,
companies in the market will probably be more open to talking about
those things.”
As we watch VOD come into its own, we witness the industry grap-
pling more and more with uncomfortable realities like piracy—and
vice versa, with peer-to-peer protocol developer BitTorrent’s recent
announcement that it, too, is stepping into paywalled distribution.
Content creators on BitTorrent have previously made their “bundles”
of material (e.g. behind-the-scenes footage from 2013’s The Act of
Killing) downloadable in exchange for just email addresses. Come
September, though, BitTorrent will allow artists to charge a fee for
downloads, part of which goes to the platform itself. The company
has also been experimenting with crowdfunding-type pay models, and
we’re curious to see how their initiatives shape up.
At any rate, the contemporary moviemaker’s approach to digital
distribution accounts for non-traditional models of getting films to
eyeballs, as well, savvily mixing revenue-based and free viewership.
Take Brian Knappenberger and his documentary The Internet’s Own
Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz as a case study. (Fittingly enough,
Swartz was an Internet activist and one of the architects of Creative
Commons licensing.) On June 27, 2014, the film was simultaneously
made available in theaters, through pay platforms like Vudu, and for
free on the digital library Internet Archive—attached, of course, to a
Creative Commons license to allow sharing.
Honoring Swartz’s legacy as an advocate of an open Internet was
Knappenberger’s utmost goal, even though that meant leaving some
 Guide to MakinG Movies 2015

“[VOD] has prOVen paralleled ubiquity, but traveling players are personalized, and many
boast upgraded services or streamlined user interfaces this year. As

tO me that inDie always, use this list according to the unique distribution needs of your
particular film.

mOViemaking can
pg
87
destination PlatfoRMs
be a sustainable While this list is by no means homogenous or exhaustive, the fol-

enterprise.” lowing destination platforms trade on the power of their brand names
to drive viewers toward a single source of a film. Putting your film in
the hands of such a brand places it before an in-built audience—one
that, like Fandor’s, might pride itself on enjoying a tastefully curated
library. At the same time, a one-time licensing fee can sound the death
knell on your film—or as Ed Brown, director of the documentary Un-
acceptable Levels, put it, “They send you a check and then they bury the
body,” with many erstwhile indies getting lost in the crowd of options.
Independent moviemakers should be aware of the trade-offs involved
in seeking entry to these virtual picture palaces.

______ AmAzon InstAnt VIdeo ______

viewinG Model: Subscription (an Amazon Prime membership is $99 per
Photograph by Daniel J. Sieradski

year), rental, or purchase (for non-Prime members) // Download or

streaming
CReatoR Revenue: Revenue split (50 percent Amazon, 50 percent creator)
PRos: Exposure // No intermediaries or set-up costs // Device-friendly
aaRon swaRtz, diGital PioneeR and subjeCt of bRian knaPPenbeRGeR’s (except Android devices, though an app is reportedly in development) //
doCuMentaRy THe InTerneT’s own Boy Eligible for an IMDb listing // Viewer can sync content and watch across
multiple devices
money on the table. While the relative success of the experiment re- Cons: No price-setting control // U.S. only; no international availability //
mains to be seen, he makes a case for prioritizing accessibility: “If you Lower revenue share // Content must be at least six minutes long
take the top 10 or 20 things that are challenges for indie documentary use with: A tight budget. The no-cost model staves off risk, reducing liability.
filmmakers, piracy is not in that list, but obscurity is number one. I am
a lot more interested in getting people into the tent than making sure
everyone in the tent has a ticket. It’s weird to make a film about some ____________ FAndor____________
part of our world that’s important, then lock it up forever.” viewinG Model:
Luke Moody, film and distribution manager of nonprofit founda- Subscription ($10
tion BritDoc, shares a similar perspective. “The main problem we per month or $90
find with docs anywhere on any digital platform is discovering them per year) // Stream-
and discovering the good ones. You’re among thousands, unless your ing only
platform has its own kind of curators.” The same can be said of shorts CReatoR Revenue:
and, yes, narrative features. 50 percent of sub-
That’s precisely why we should cheer about the increasing flexibil- scription revenue
ity a platform like Vimeo now offers users. “Sales have exceeded my goes into filmmaker
expectations,” said Griffin Hammond, director of the documentary pot, doled out

Courtesy of Fandor
Sriracha, available on Vimeo on Demand. “It’s been seven months based on percent-
since I released the film, and half the revenue it’s earned was generat- age of viewers who
ed in the first month. I still get a persistent stream of daily purchases. watch a title and the iPad landinG PaGe foR wonG kaR-wai’s
I’ve made much more money through VOD sales than DVDs and the amount of time Happy TogeTHer on fandoR
Blu-rays, for example. It’s proven to me that indie moviemaking can watched of a title
be a sustainable enterprise.” PRos: Art-house prestige and curatorial chops // No set-up fees // Non-
In that spirit, MovieMaker offers up our third annual Guide to exclusive licensing agreement // Device-friendly // Gifting options // Robust
Digital Distribution, for pathfinders seeking their way through VOD’s social media promotion of titles // Diverse, growing film roster (5,000 titles)
labyrinth of opportunity. While the line-up has changed, we continue Cons: No revenue per view // No pricing control // Lower revenue share //
our aim to represent only platforms that are useful and friendly to Company branding still in-progress // U.S. and Canada availability only (so
independent film. We’ve kept last year’s classifications intact (with far) // Limited online information for filmmakers
one notable example, Vimeo, jumping the fence from one category use with: Films with high rewatchability, or films that could benefit from
to another this year). And, while industry opacity makes anecdotal curatorial groupings like the showcase features “Spotlight” and “Journey into
sources necessary for our research, the central themes of our findings Film.” Fandor boasts a sharp selection of noteworthy films that pre-date the
remain the same: Destination platforms are going strong in their un- digital era, such as many Werner Herzog titles.

MovieMakeR.CoM

_____________ Hulu ____________
Viewing Model: Ad-supported (Hulu) or subscription (Hulu Plus, $7.99 per
pg
88 month) // Streaming only
Creator reVenue: Upfront licensing fee; ad-share (50 percent Hulu, 50
percent creator); $0.185 per stream for ad-restricted films
Pros: Exposure and prestige // Upfront licensing fee reportedly higher than
Netflix’s // Ad-share revenue per view // Device-friendly
Cons: Intermediary (distributor or aggregator) necessary // Alternative
platform marketability damaged // U.S. and Japan availability only // Opaque
licensing and selection process
use with: An already sizeable theatrical/festival success nets a better licens-
ing fee.
___________ IndIeFlIx ___________
Viewing Model: Subscription ($5
per month or $50 per year) //
Streaming only
Creator reVenue: Royalty Pool
Minutes (RPM), whereby creators
are paid a fluctuating amount per
minute (the rate was $0.07 this past
Courtesy of IndieFlix
July), calculated via number of sub-
scribers and total minutes viewed
an indieflix Creator CheCKs a filM’s reVenue of the film library. “Seasonality has
Via royalty Pool Minutes an effect on the RPM,” CEO Scilla
Andreen told us. “Summer is slightly lower in overall minutes watched and
sign-ups as people are outside more, enjoying the sunshine.”
Pros: Revenue per view // No intermediaries necessary // Referral program
(filmmakers are paid a small amount for every subscriber they introduce to
IndieFlix) // Geo-blocking // Device-friendly // Acts as an intermediary to
bigger platforms (with additional associated costs) // International availabil-
ity, including in public libraries worldwide
Cons: Relatively small subscriber count, though growing (about 85,000)
// Films have to be screened at a festival to qualify for submission (though
exceptions occur)
use with: A vigorous social media marketing campaign, or a film with high
rewatchability—to chalk up those minutes. Shorts compose more than half
their library. “We are a non-exclusive global platform. Our goal is to make
your movie accessible on as many devices as possible,” said Andreen. “We
play nice in the sandbox… It takes a village to distribute a film.”
________ THe ITunes sTore ________
Viewing Model: Rental or purchase // Download or streaming
Creator reVenue: Revenue split (tiered system that depends on territory;
generally 30 percent iTunes, 70 percent creator), after encoding fee
Pros: Exposure and prestige (over 800 million active user accounts) // Rev-
enue per view // Wider international availability
Cons: Encoding fee charged to adapt films to iTunes player // Intermediary
(distributor or aggregator) necessary // No control over promotion within
the system // DRM prevents easy accessibility on non-Apple devices
use with: Films with recognizable names—otherwise, standing out from the
crowd can be difficult.
____________ neTFlIx ___________
Viewing Model: Subscription (starts at $7.99 per month) // Streaming only
Creator reVenue: Upfront licensing fee for fixed amount of time; multi-ter-
MoVieMaKer.CoM
ritory licensing deal options for some. Moving toward increasingly exclusive
deals
Pros: Exposure and prestige (50 million members) // Device-friendly //
Growing international availability (Britain, Scandinavia, the Netherlands,
Latin America, with expansion to France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland,
Belgium and Luxembourg this year)
Cons: No revenue per view // Intermediary (distributor or aggregator) nec-
essary // Alternative platform marketability damaged // One-time licensing
fee varies based on estimated viewership, or “queue demand” // Streaming
speeds variable (due in part to a notable feud with Verizon)
use with: An already sizeable theatrical/festival success nets a better licens-
ing fee.
___________ YouTube ___________
Viewing Model: Ad-supported, rental, purchase, or subscription // Download
or streaming
Creator reVenue: Ad-share via YouTube’s Partner Program; rental or
purchase revenue split as a rental partner; subscription revenue split as a sub-
scription channel (split is reportedly 45 percent YouTube, 55 percent creator)
Pros: Exposure and ubiquity // No set-up fees // Rental price and viewing
window control // Limited international availability // Embeddable rental
video player
Cons: Low partner revenue returns // Users typically need 10,000 views or
subscribers to qualify for partnership // YouTube’s demographic unaccus-
tomed to paying for content
use with: Low-stakes experimental projects or independent serial content
that is already something of a brand on YouTube
traVeling PlatforMs
Traveling platforms use players that are embeddable into all
manner of sites, bringing films to audiences instead of the other way
around. Unlike flashy destination sites, this approach is about making
a film unobtrusively ubiquitous—“Your customers will hardly know
Pivotshare exists, and that’s the way it should be,” promises that
company’s website. With controls like geo-blocking, price-setting, and
promotional affiliates, this means more flexibility, more freedom…
and more work for creators in the marketing arena. (Ed Brown, who
chose to distribute Unacceptable Levels with Yekra, is counting on at
least two years of diligence to see his documentary’s distribution
through.)
___________ dIsTrIFY ___________
Creator reVenue: Revenue split (30 percent Distrify, 70 percent creator),
Affiliate hosting (10 percent affiliate, 25 percent Distrify, 65 percent creator)
Pros: No set-up costs // Wide embedding capability (including social
networking sites) // Device-friendly// Affiliate hosting // Brick-and-mortar-
friendly: player displays upcoming theatrical or festival screenings by area,
and sells tickets // Multiple languages and currencies // Extras (multiple trail-
ers, marketing consultancy, etc) offered for upgraded membership // Ability
to sell DVDs and other merchandise // No limits on film length or format
Cons: “Indie” membership option (free) allows only about 3GB or one film;
unlimited content output requires paid membership ranging from $21 to
$528 per month // Download-to-own options not part of “indie” plan // No
gifting options
use with: Films with identifiable, passionate audiences

_Pivotshare __
Creator revenue: Revenue split
(30 percent Pivotshare, 70
percent creator)
Pros: No set-up costs // Very
flexible payment options:
rental, purchase, subscription
and tip jar // “Network Publish--
ing” feature allows multiple
content creators to publish on
the same channel, calculating fair
revenue based on statistics // iOS and Android
apps available // New dashboard and market-
ing tools soon to be released
Cons: Revenue split less favorable // Network
Publishing, while fostering collaboration,
does not disclose its allocation of revenue to
different parties // USD only; does not accept
PayPal
use with: Projects that combine the efforts
of different contributors under one product,
so revenue can automatically be delivered to
the right people. A wide variety of content is
welcome, including instructional videos.
Courtesy of Pivotshare
true to its Mission of unobtrusiveness, the Pivotshare
Player for the feature Your FriendS cloSe disPlays no
brandinG
_____reelhouse_____
Creator revenue: Revenue split (10 percent,
plus $0.50 per sale, Reelhouse; remainder to
creator)
Pros: Flexible payment options: free, paid, or
“pay what you want,” which allows viewers
to contribute to causes as they watch a film //
Official distribution partner with Sundance //
Integrated storefront available for merchan-
dise sales // Transcoding costs subtracted from
their cut // Geo-blocking available // Elegant
viewer interface with lots of room for film-
maker “extras” // Wide embedding capability
(including social networking sites)
Cons: Filmmaker payment through PayPal
only
use with: Content that has connection to a
cause (like a documentary) or that will other-
VOD TerminOlOgy
AD-suppOrTeD: A platform inserts short ads
before or during feature content. Viewers watch
the ads (often begrudgingly) with the under-
standing that ads enable free programming.
DeVice-frienDly: The range of devices on
which a player may be available are comput-
ers or laptops, tablets, iOS and Android smart-
phones, Roku, Xbox 360, Playstation’s PS3,
Nintendo’s Wii, Boxee, and different televisions.
Drm: Digital Rights Management, a set of ac-
cess control technologies. Purportedly to pro-
tect intellectual property rights, but can incon-
venience creators and customers. Some VOD
platforms tout DRM, whereas some tout them-
selves as DRM-free.
geO-blOcking: Control over the world-wide
territories where digital content can be distrib-
uted. In general, limits profit and reach, but is
sometimes necessary when different distribu-
tors own different geographical rights.
mulTi-screen grOss: A term coined by Ci-
netic’s John Sloss through his VOD distribution
company, FilmBuff, in its attempt to forward
industry transparency on VOD box office sales
figures.
mulTichAnnel ViDeO prOgrAmming
DisTribuTOr: A government term that
broadly includes cable and satellite. The subject
of recent Federal Communications Commis-
sion debates on whether or not online distribu-
tors should be included.
pAy-per-sTreAm/ DOwnlOAD TO renT/
DOwnlOAD TO Own: Different options in
paying for content, either purchasing or rent-
ing – basically, rental indicates a finite amount
of time that a viewer has access to a video.
price-seTTing: Control over the pricing of
your own content.
subscripTiOn: A viewer pays a certain
monthly or annual amount for unlimited access
to a platform’s database of titles.
wise inspire its audience to pay
for more than just a viewing
____vhX____ pg
89
Creator revenue: Revenue split
(10 percent, plus $0.50 per sale,
VHX; remainder to creator)
Pros: No set-up costs // Purchase,
rental, or subscription options
// International availability
// Device-friendly // Gift
Gift-
ing and coupon options // Robust statistics
page // Bundling of other digital products
like soundtracks in integrated store // Wide
embedding capability (including social net
net-
working sites) // Watermarked press screeners
available // Provides free crowdfunding reward
fulfillment streaming, used by such films as
Steve James’ Life Itself
Cons: Physical merchandise sold through third
party // No rental options at present
use with: VHX states that 50 percent of sales
are made internationally, so if you want to sell
outside the U.S., consider VHX.
__vimeo on DemanD __
Creator revenue: Revenue split (10 percent,
plus approximately $0.25 per sale, Vimeo; 90
percent creator)
Pros: Brand familiarity // High revenue split
for creators // Price-setting, geo-blocking con-
trol // New promo code option for discounts
// Device-friendly // International availability
// Bonus materials like trailers and behind-the-
scenes segments // Audience Development
Program offers additional financial support
to eligible films // High-quality player (“I
uploaded the same high-bitrate version of my
film to both Vimeo and another player,” said
Sriracha’s Hammond. “[There was] much more
artifacting and skipping of frames on the other
player.”)
Cons: $199 annual Vimeo Pro account needed
to upload On Demand content // Limited to
Courtesy of Griffin Hammond
Griffin haMMond shootinG his doCuMentary, Sriracha,
whiCh he subsequently released on viMeo on deMand
MovieMaKer.CoM
 20GB of upload space per week per Pro account // VOD customers must
register with Vimeo before viewing (Hammond: “You lose customers during
every chain in the checkout process, so I wish my audience could simply
pg
90 plug in a credit card and watch the film without creating a username and
password. This also means you can’t purchase a film as a gift.”)
Use with: With the Vimeo on Demand player being fully embeddable as
of 2014, Vimeo is a traveling player, anchored by a familiar destination site.
“We’re a two-way open platform,” said a representative. With funding for
upcoming episodes of the web series High Maintenance underway, Vimeo also
has plans to develop a subscription option: “We think subscription services
can migrate to a true open web proposition, and plan to launch a creator-
focused version.”
____________ Yekra ____________
Creator revenUe: Revenue split (10 percent Yekra, 90 percent creator if sale
is directly to filmmakers’ site; 10 percent Yekra, 5 percent affiliate, 85 percent
Hidden Gold: Cable, Satellite and telCo Vod
A word of advice about getting your film onto the other small screen
by Jerome Courshon
Besides Internet VOD, cable systems (Comcast, Time Warner,
Cox, etc.), satellite systems (DirecTV, Dish), and telco—short for
“telephone company”—systems (AT&T, Verizon) are an integral
part of distribution. These are very important markets for your
film, due to the significant earnings potential on these systems.
Here’s the financial breakdown for film revenue between these
segments: According to statistics from market research company
The NPD Group, cable/satellite/telco
VOD generated 77.5 percent of all
VOD movie revenues this past year,
“If you want really
with Internet VOD only generating healthy sales on
22.5 percent of the total. Cable/satellite/
telco earned more than triple the revenue cable/satellIte/
of Internet VOD.
If you’re looking for an aggrega-
telco, you should
tor to employ for Internet VOD, market on those
then, don’t ignore the cable/satellite/
telco market. If you do, you’re leaving systems… thIs
money on the table. Find out if an
aggregator has access to this market
can make a huge
segment, either directly or through any
partners. (Some that do are Gravitas
dIfference In
Ventures, GoDigital, Indie Rights, and sales.”
All Channel Films.) If the answer is
“We don’t handle this,” then find a different aggregator. If they
do, ask if your movie can be submitted and considered for this
market segment.
Ask your prospective cable/satellite/telco aggregator or
distributor what their revenue split is (as it can vary considerably
from case to case). It’s just as important to ask if there are any ad-
ditional middlemen between your aggregator and the distribution
platform. A lot of companies are aggregating for aggregators, but
you would never know it unless you were to ask. And every extra
MovieMaKer.CoM
creator for affiliate sales)
Pros: No set-up costs // Wide embedding capability (including social
networking sites) // Ability to go DRM or DRM-free // Affiliate hosting (via
“AffiliateConnect”) // High revenue split // Geo-blocking, with multiple
languages and currencies // Gifting rental available at a 20 percent discount
// A new online theater initiative // Fulfillment of DVD, Blu-ray, and mer-
chandise purchases
Cons: No shorts, feature-length only
Use with: Films with identifiable, passionate audiences.
aggregators
Aggregators are companies that negotiate the placement of films
onto major destination platforms on behalf of moviemakers who
otherwise have no access to these databases. Most also handle delivery
and encoding of a film for the appropriate formats.
middleman means a further dilution of revenue.
And don’t make this mistake about the hierarchy of your distri-
bution strategy: The cable/satellite/telco systems want to be the
first to release a film on VOD, or to do so at least concurrently as
the Internet VOD platforms. If a film is up on iTunes, Amazon or
other sites, the cable/satellite/telco systems are unlikely to accept it.
Too many producers and directors are overly anxious to get onto
iTunes and the others—not realizing
that once they do, they can forget
about exploitation in many of the other
markets.
Another tip: If you want really
healthy sales on cable/satellite/telco,
you should market on those systems,
targeting potential customers where
they’re already watching. If your film
is available on DirecTV, for example,
you’ll get the best results if you run
a promo or trailer right there on
DirecTV. This can make a huge dif-
ference in sales.
The big takeaway here is this: You
need to exploit your film in every
market that’s possible for you—both
Internet VOD and cable/satellite/telco VOD, as well as theatri-
cal, television, foreign sales, Blu-ray and/or DVD. These days,
it’s extremely rare for one deal in one market to generate enough
revenue to make you “whole,” so don’t ignore the hidden gold
that is just waiting for you to mine it.
For more information on Jerome Courshon or his “Secrets to
Film Distribution” Program for producers and directors, visit
www.Distribution.LA.
 Common VoD DeliVerables Guide to MakinG Movies 2015
Be prepared to provide a combination of the following to platforms that take on your film.
CeRtifiCate of CopyRiGht disbuRseMent foRM posteR aRt
CeRtifiCate of filM RatinG exteRnal audio still photoGRaphs
ChapteR infoRMation filM enCoded foR paRtiCulaR subtitles oR dubbinG sales reports
Cons: Still gaining name recognition // Unneces-
Closed CaptioninG site (soMe aRe pRopRietaRy) tRaileR
ContRaCt
Cue sheets oR sCRipt
filM MasteR
Metadata infoRMation
W-9 foRM
sary middleman on certain deals // Data remains
opaque despite call for transparency
pg
91
__________the OrcharD _________
__________ Distribber __________ tRansaCtion Model: Charges a 25 to 30 percent commission, which can
tRansaCtion Model: Upfront fees ($150 for Amazon, $964 for Netflix, $995 decrease with multiple films
for Hulu, $1,395 for Redbox, $1,560 for iTunes, $7,000 for cable VOD) platfoRMs: Amazon, Hulu, Google Play, iTunes, Netflix, Playstation, Xbox Video
platfoRMs: Amazon, Hulu, iTunes, Netflix, U.S. cable; deals with Redbox, pRos: No set-up fees // In-house encoding and promotion // Multichannel
Redbox Instant, Walmart, Vudu, and BestBuy reportedly underway network on YouTube // Comprehensive analytic dashboard
pRos: Existing relationships with big platforms // No revenue split // Money Cons: Holds exclusive digital rights // Marketing costs are recoupable //
back if platform denies film // Basic marketing efforts // Clear, informative Platform acceptance limited on Playstation and Xbox
website
Cons: No guarantee of acceptance on platforms // Limited international
reach (primarily U.S. and Canadian sales) // No shorts (as yet) _________ Quiver Digital _________
tRansaCtion Model: Upfront fees starting at $1,125 per feature and $500 per
short (under 45 minutes); additional fees possible
___________ FilmbuFF ___________ platfoRMs: Amazon, Google Play, iTunes, Hulu, Sony Entertainment
tRansaCtion Model: Upfront licensing or revenue split (limited information pRos: No revenue split // Access to major platforms // Non-exclusive (you
available) can also go elsewhere) // Wide range of services: quality control, repair,
platfoRMs: Amazon Instant, Best Buy CinemaNow, Google Play, Hulu, transcoding and conformance of ancillary assets like audio and key art // Site
iTunes, Netflix, Nook, Vudu, Xbox Video promises global distribution
pRos: Full service VOD distribution // In-house encoding // Growing exper- Cons: No guarantee platforms will accept content // Retailers may determine
tise in VOD-specific release strategy // Filmmaker dashboard with real-time or change pricing // Relatively small (400 title) catalog MM

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 92
GoinG ViraL the
orGanic
pg

Way
Big-impact marketing
comBines new
media with good ol’
fashioned human
engagement

L
ike many moviemakers, we think of our films as pro-
viding a moveable feast for the mind: the film being
the appetizer, and the conversation that people have
afterward—hopefully about the big questions of what
it means to be human in the 21st century—being the
main course.
So when we were brainstorming around the release of our new
eight-minute film, “The Science of Character,” we asked ourselves:
“How can we launch this film to have more impact and reach than
ever before?” The film
explores the science
by Tiffany Shlain and Sawyer Steele of how character
strengths can be
cultivated to lead a fulfilling life, and our aim was to reach the largest
possible audience of teachers, parents, and students, ingraining char-
acter strengths into daily life for the benefit of families, communities,
and society.
In the past, we had experimented with distribution strategies from
theatrical and online releases to digital distribution (Netflix, iTunes,
Amazon, etc.) and special events—but we had never had a truly global, neuroscience, social science, and character development.
simultaneous premiere, and this film was perfect for it. The film itself
was collaborative in its making, created with videos sent in from people 1) Create a Day
all over the world via what we call “cloud filmmaking,” where we write First of all, whom do you ask to create an international day? Who
a script and ask people to contribute images and videos for specific makes those decisions—the “day” committee? God? I mean, if you
sections of it. Once these “cloud films” are complete, we offer them want it to be truly official, there’s the United Nations… but we con-
to schools and nonprofits for free, with customized endings where jured some moxie and said, “Let’s just create a day, give it a name, and
we put their logo and their call to action at the end. To date we’ve see who shows up.” Guerilla day-making.
made four of these cloud films (“A Declaration of Interdependence,” We called it “Character Day,” and set it for March 20, 2014, the
“Engage,” “Brain Power,” and now “The Science of Character”), and first day of spring. (Little did we know that there was already a day
have customized the films for over 1,500 schools and nonprofits. (Visit and a hashtag, #CharacterDay, used by schools to designate a day
letitripple.org to view these and customize your own version.) students get to dress up as their favorite cartoon characters. Oops. We
We took the collaborative nature of cloud filmmaking and pushed overtook that hashtag leading up to the event.)
it a step further with a collaborative premiere: creating a day to
galvanize people in schools and organizations worldwide to focus on 2) Set GoalS
character development. Each would host their own event centered We set a goal of having 250 schools and nonprofits around the
around the film, accompanied by online resources and a big global world all screen the film and plan events around the conversation
Q&A on Google Hangout, led by experts in the fields of education, of character development on Character Day. They could do this at

MOVIEMAKER.COM
 Guide to MakinG Movies 2015

any time, anywhere, with as many people as possible, with the only media efforts. She focused her time reaching out to the Twitter com-
stipulation being that it had to be on March 20, to generate the global munities that were already engaged in the relevant conversations and
connection of us all watching the film and discussing character devel- bringing them in to join ours. Originally, we had promised the 250
opment together. schools and organizations that participated a poster of our 24 char-
acter strengths. Now that the number had more than quadrupled,
pg
93
3) Give Sneak PeekS we had to ask for the schools to cover the cost of shipping so that we
People love to be the first to participate in something. I had given could still provide the printing of the posters to everyone at no cost.
a talk at TEDWomen several years back when we launched our first The momentum from the day led us to a conversation with the
cloud film, and I contacted them about giving their TEDWomen White House, which got behind us through social media. Having
audience a “sneak peek” of the Arne Duncan, the Secretary of
film. An amazing group could see Education, tweet about getting
the film, take a postcard home involved was a huge, much-
of how to get involved, and be needed boost.
the early adopters in getting the On March 20, we had people
word out. from more than 120 countries and
over 3,000 cities tune in to Char-
4) Get Your CommunitY on acter Day. One of us attended
Board local live events to host Q&As,

Designed by Una Lorenzen

Your community is the starting
point for all outreach. Your email
list is your gold—more valu-
able than all other social media
platforms. Sending emails (not
too many, and keep them short!)
was key leading up to the event.
We also created a schedule of
Facebook posts and tweets—again,
not too many, but enough that
they’d fall into people’s feeds.
We were completely blown
away by the response. People
Illustration by Juan Darién / Courtesy of Shutterstock
while the other stayed in the stu-
dio to host the online Q&A for 24
hours, hitting all the time zones
for Google Hangouts throughout
a “thank You” stiLL hiGhLiGhtinG aLL the paRtiCipants of ChaRaCteR daY the day and night. This part was
exhausting, and next time we will
have multiple hosts share that duty.
“Provide tools and Would we do it again? Yes, but we
learned quite a bit. Most impor-
resources, but give tantly, we’d have to scale up and give
ourselves a year’s lead time instead
free reign to your of the four months we had. The re-
covery period for our depleted team

everywhere wanted to be part of took a long time. What came out of

this global day with us—a day that
everyone was invited to. Over the
audience to Plan
course of two months, we built
more social media strategies (for and Personalize
example, the 24 days leading up to
Character Day each highlighted a their events.”
different character strength) and
we kept our communities (Facebook, email, Twitter) engaged with
developments, updating them with behind-the-scenes action and the
growing list of participants.
5) CommuniCate the Plan
Whenever you are doing something new—like creating a global
day around an eight-minute film—plan time for a lot of explanation.
We provided a clear “menu” of options for how big or small each par-
ticipant’s event could be, including online discussion materials, sug-
gested formats for schedule, and lesson plans. Some schools decided
one school-wide event was best, while others hosted individual events
in each classroom simultaneously. Provide tools and resources, but
give free reign to your audience to plan and personalize their events.
We also encouraged schools to share their ideas with each other to
help out those that needed more guidance.
After two months of outreach, we had over 1,500 schools and
organizations committed to joining us on Character Day. Having
far more participants than we’d expected was a wonderful problem
to have, but our small team of four definitely needed some help. We
brought on an additional part-time person to help with the social
it, though, was thousands of people
who attended screenings discussing
character, and millions of new people
in our social media world (Char-
acter Day had 11.9 million Twitter
impressions), each of those people
spreading the conversation about the
importance of character building.
We’re already gearing up for Character Day 2015, improving
upon the concept and making it even easier for more schools around
the globe to participate. This time, the day is set for September (the
beauty of creating your own “day” is you can change the date), which
is a better time for most school systems and would have the most
impact. We’ll give schools the choice to show any of our six cloud
films (or all of them), which all celebrate character in one aspect or
another. We’ll also be providing hard copies of the resources and films
for schools that don’t have Internet access. These are all things we’ve
gathered from feedback from participants. Here’s to thinking big and
letting conversations ripple globally! MM
Tiffany Shlain, filmmaker and founder of the Webby Awards, has re-
ceived more than 60 awards for her work, including a recent Emmy
nomination for her AOL original series The Future Starts Here (the
second season of which launches on October 23, 2014). Sawyer
Steele is an Emmy-nominated producer and writer who has made
several films with Shlain, including the Sundance award-winning
feature documentary Connected. Visit moxieinstitute.org to experi-
ence their campaigns firsthand. @tiffanyshlain, @sawyersteele

MovieMakeR.CoM
 maRketplace call FoR entRies
cameRas & eqUipment Call for entries: Hudson Valley, Catskills,
Berkshires and NYC filmmakers. The
Red Hook HaRvest sHoRts Film Festival is accept-
ing entries now thru October 1. We present
pg
94 general audience short films of all types, in-
cluding an afternoon of films for kids. Travel
money provided to participating filmmak-
ers. Details at redhookfilmfestival.com.
scReenwRiting Zed Fest HoRRoR Film Festival is held every No-
vember in Burbank, CA. Our festival focuses
on films from all over the world made by
independent production companies, with a
supernatural or horror twist to them. Our
goal is to encourage and support filmmak-
ers who refuse to let their lack of money get
in the way of their visual expressions. For
more info and to submit to this year’s film
festival, please go to zedfest.org. Email: info@
zedfest.org Mail: Wendy Medrano/ Zed Fest,
MovieMaker P.O. Box 11293, Burbank, CA 91510
Marketplace taos sHoRtZ Film Fest is again searching for
outstanding short films. Call for entries is
have a tale to tell? A secret to reveal? A truth
that screams to be heard? If you think you
have what it takes, submit your film. Festival
dates: March 19-22, 2015. taosshortz.com
The atlanta Film Festival—one of only two
dozen Academy Award-qualifying festivals
in the U.S.—has been recognized as one of
MovieMaker’s “50 Film Festivals Worth the
Entry Fee.” “The Accountant” won the Acad-
emy Award for Best Live Action Short Film
in 2002 after qualifying at the 2001 ATLFF.
Regular Deadline: September 26, 2014.
atlantafilmfestival.com/2015-submissions
The tRibeca Film Festival (April 15-26, 2015)
provides an unparalleled festival experience
for a wide variety of storytellers. For the
chance to unveil your latest work at Tribeca,
submit your film or transmedia project
beginning September 15. For more informa-
tion, deadlines, and online entry form, visit
tribecafilm.com/festival/submissions.

For more information, contact: now open! Taos Shortz was selected as one call FoR entRies & Festival annoUncement listings

800/ 677-4424 of the “50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry

or marketplace@moviemaker.com
Fee” in the Spring edition of MovieMaker
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stellar shorts film fest in the country. Do you
are $99 for the first 50 words, and $.25 per additional
word. sUbmit to: MovieMaker magazine, attn: call
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monica, ca 90404 email: fests@moviemaker.com

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 “ThaT Door is
pg
96
open! ”
RobeRt Duvall lays Down the law
E
arlier this year at SXSW, MovieMaker caught up with
Robert Duvall, who was looking forward to a good
barbeque with “crazy Texas ranger” friends before pre-
miering his latest performance in A Night in Old Mexico.
The actor looked back at his incomparable career and
shared his philosophy on the state of the film industry.
Andy young, MovieMaker MAgAzine (MM): What do you look for in a project?
RobeRt duvAll (Rd): The character. Who’s directing. Who am I
gonna end up fighting with [laughs] and is the script good? But usually
I start with the character.
MM: What traits do you look for in a director you want to work with?
Rd: How much are they gonna leave you alone? I worked with an
old-school director once who said to an actor, “When I say ‘action,’
tense up goddamnit!” You just go with the flow and see what happens.
If it’s too harmonious it can be boring. The positive
by Andy Young. and negative can lead to a better end result.
MM: How do you generally prepare for a role? Do you rehearse?
Rd: I rehearse sometimes. I like working with Billy Bob Thornton
and he always says “Rehearsal’s for pussies. Two takes!”
MM: Why two?
Rd: The bigger the project and budget, the more they milk every
shot, and it gets tiresome. Take after take, angle after angle. I don’t
understand needing 60 or 70 takes. If they think they know what
they’re looking for, they don’t know it when they find it. After two or
three, that’s when you find it. I’ve seen movies like The Shining—that
movie’s a joke. It’s a joke when you milk something like that.
MM: What’s your favorite part of the moviemaking process?
Rd: Even though it can be laborious, I love going on location and
shooting. I love to travel and meet people. I started in theater but you
have to do the same thing so many times a week. I said to [Marlon]
Brando once that he should do Othello and he said “Bo-ring!”
Sometimes you have good camaraderie with other actors. Jimmy
Caan, Bill Murray, they’re great guys to work with—the two funniest
guys. And Robert Downey, Jr.
MM: Do you do anything unusual to prepare?
Rd: Each part is different. When I did The Great Santini I got up
very early, went with the drill instructors to train people, and hung
out with the marines a lot. For Wrestling Ernest Hemingway, where I
played a Cuban barber, I would only eat Cuban food.
When I played Stalin, that was a real challenge. I sat down with an
actor from Armenia who said, “To play Stalin, you’ve got to remem-
ber the East.” That meant nothing to me, but then it came to mean
something—poisons, potions, mystery.
MovieMAKeR.CoM
Photograph by Daisy Saulls
MM:
duvAll hAs been noMinAted six tiMes
Who’s a foR An ACAdeMy AwARd, winning onCe
moviemaker you
learned something from?
Rd: Ulu Grosbard. We’d done American Buffalo and a few other
plays on Broadway and then we did True Confessions with [Robert] De
Niro. He was a mentor to me. The good ones like him, Francis Ford
Coppola and Robert Altman, they let the performance come from
you. They hire you for what you can do, talk about it from there, and
get the performance.
We’re far apart in many ways, myself and Ken Loach. But when I
saw the movie Kes… I knew it was fiction, not a documentary, but he
melded the two. When people say, “Was Cassavetes your hero?” I say,
“No, Kenneth Loach.”
MM: Do you ever try to boost morale on set?
Rd: On Godfather II, the actor Michael Gazzo was drunk all day
long and we couldn’t get his scene. We had three shots to get before
the sun set, and we got ’em! We moved quickly, and sometimes it’s
better to move fast. Even a big film like that became like a small film.
MM: Moviemaking has changed so much over the course of your
career. When you think about moviemakers starting out today and
the new challenges they’re facing, what advice do you have for them?
Rd: That door is open! As you’re starting out, try to get with a
group rather than just go it alone as an individual. There’s so much
competition now. Someone said there were 4,000 independent films
made last year, and only three percent got distribution! It’s crazy.
Anybody can pick up a camera in any country now and make a
movie. Hollywood is still the mecca, but can you name me any Hol-
lywood director that’s ever made a movie like My Life as a Dog? The
studios, all the suits around you, they’re meddling. The money’s here,
too, but you’ve got a lot of bullshit in Texas... MM
Robert Duvall stars in The Judge, opening in theaters on October
10, 2014, courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures.
www.uat.edu/majors

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