Part 2 of the Interview by John Gaspard

This is part 2 of an interview I did with John Gaspard awhile back for his blog Fast Cheap Movie Thoughts (http://fastcheapmoviethoughts.blogspot.com/)

What's the smartest thing a filmmaker can do before starting their feature? What's the dumbest?

Spend time in pre-production! Too many filmmakers think if you’re not shooting you’re not making a movie. I spend 3 – 4 months easily in pre-production. I try to work everything out long before I start shooting. I rehearse for weeks, just like I’m doing a play. I want all of the actors to know their parts and their characters long before we start shooting.

I only write for locations I know I can get, and I don’t write scenes I know I can’s shoot, (like car chases).

I continue to write throughout this period as well. On Birddog I started pre-production with draft 11 of my script and still made changes throughout the process. On all of my films I don’t even think about shooting until I have done a ton of drafts. I have people I trust read my scripts and get lots of feedback. Your odds of making a good film increase if you have really worked the script over and over. If you have done the work to have a good script the odds get better that you’ll make a good movie. You can still make a bad movie from a good script though, this isn’t a science.

I think you just really need to take your time in pre-pro, don’t rush it. Since I never have any money the better organized I am the more efficiently I work and the smoother my shoots go.

As far as the dumbest, I think that is to hurry up everything so you can start shooting long before you’re ready. And using your credit cards. Using friends who aren’t actors in your films. Your friends aren’t good actors no matter what you think. Get good actors. I think there are lots of dumb things you can do if you don’t take your time.

What's the best advice you ever got about filmmaking?

You need to be a shameless self-promoter and self distribute your work. We always hear those bullshit lines; I make my films by any means necessary! Well why aren't you getting your films out by any means necessary? Why are you sitting on your ass waiting to see if you got in to some film festival? Why aren't you burning DVDs and selling them at screenings? Why aren't you promoting your movie on the internet? You gotta get the word out, and you have to do it yourself. It has to do with getting your films seen. If no one sees your movies how are you going to build an audience? I tour, I teach and I have developed a fan base. One person at a time! Has it been easy? No. It's not supposed to be. At then end of the day all you have is your work and if no one knows about it or you, whose fault is that?

Finally, which current filmmakers (independent or otherwise) inspire you?

I will watch anything that John Sayles does. Same with Jim Jarmusch although I thought that Broken Flowers sucked! I like Danny Boyd’s work, Brian Johnson, Beth Harrington, John deGraff, lots of people that most people have never heard of. Janet McIntyre is a filmmaker to watch, she makes docs.

I watch lots of different types of films so I am inspired by films more than I am filmmakers. I still try and watch lots of docs and foreign films to get a different point of view of the world.

I actually think I am more inspired by writers and musicians than I am by filmmakers. I am inspired by people who don’t give a shit what others think, they push forward and make the things that they want to make. I like things that are passionate in some way or another.

I don’t have a television so I read more than most people and I love to visit museums. That is the way I have always been…

Did I answer the question?

Part One of an interview I did for John Gaspard @ Fast Cheap Movie Thoughts

This is Part One of an interview I did with John Gaspard awhile back for his blog Fast Cheap Movie Thoughts (http://fastcheapmoviethoughts.blogspot.com/)  It's a good site, check it out.

Why are you angry?

I'm angry for a lot of reasons.  I'm pissed that good films can't get distributors because they don't have stars.  I am angry that all sorts of Hollywood 5 and 10 million dollar pictures are called "independent" when they're not.  I'm angry because a lot of doors have been closed to Real Independent Filmmakers and very few filmmakers seem to care.  I see filmmakers give their movies to distributors for nothing, no advance.  If you don't get an advance you'll probably never see any money!

I see too many people wanting to be filmmakers for the wrong reasons, to make lots of money and to be famous.  And filmmakers aren’t working together to help each other.  So many independent filmmakers from the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s were going to change the system, and now they are part of it.  They are more interested in money and being critical darlings then fighting the system the way they once were.  They have been sucked in to the system and most went down without a fight.

What's wrong with independent film today?

The independent film industry is no longer even remotely independent. It's been mainstreamed by
Hollywood and is now simply another over-hyped product. Like commercial radio, pop music and Starbucks coffee, the industry has become a homogenized mess of conglomerates owned by a
handful of extremely powerful corporations. It begs the question: Independent from what?

We need to take the word "Independent" back!

Indie has become a marketing phrase. I have a tough time sitting through a ten million dollar "indie" movie. I want people to recognize that "indie" doesn't mean stars and all of that other
crap. WE are Independent Filmmakers" and WE make movies whether WE have a deal or not. I want to see more theaters and media art centers providing places for us to show our work,
instead of just giving us lip service about how they support independent film. I am fed up with these "independent" film festivals that show all these movies with big names in them.

Real Independent Films are still being made; they just don’t have access to audiences.  I always say that independent filmmaking is a live and well, it’s independent distribution that is dead.  You have to play by the industry’s rules to get your film seen if you want a decent sized audience.

I opt to do things differently.  Like early punk bands we have to find our audiences and cultivate them.  That’s why I spend half the year on the road touring and showing my films.

I've told filmmakers forever to never put their films on credit cards. Give me your best argument against that habit.

I’ll use my own experience for this one.

I spent a ton of money on my first feature, Birddog.  A lot of people told me they would help me get distribution when I made my first feature.  I believed them and I probably shouldn't have.  I was the Sound Designer on films like Good Will Hunting, My Own Private Idaho, Far From Heaven and Finding Forrester.  I had my "indie street cred" but that didn't seem to matter ultimately.  I had a screening for friends in LA and everyone liked the movie, then they told me how hard it was to get a distributor and they all walked away.

No one helped.  So I arranged screenings for distributors, I screened in LA, New York, Toronto and London.  We also had it at the IFFM.  The distributors all said the same thing, "We really like this movie but we can't distribute it because it has no famous stars in it".  I told them it was an independent film and they said that was fine, but if you make an "independent" film you still need a big star in it.

Anyway, I ended up owing a ton of money to the IRS...  Since all of these people had said they were going to help me find a distributor I took all of the money I should have paid in taxes and used that to fund the film.  When it didn't get picked up ...  I still owed the money.  It took my lawyer and I seven years of dealing with the IRS to finally get everything straightened out.  Ultimately I had to sell my home of twenty years and just about everything I owned.    It was hell!

I gambled and I lost.  I understand that.  I listened to certain people that I shouldn't have trusted.  Ultimately it was my fault.  I made the decisions and I paid the price.  I don't want others to go through what I did.

There is no guarantee you will get a distributor, (if you want one), and most people end up paying off their movies working jobs that they hate at 30% interest.

Don’t use credit cards or go way in to debt; if you do you’ll be one of those people.

I'll post Part 2 later in the week.  Check back.

Chicago, good blogs and other stuff

February 21, 2010

I am in Chicago and I just finished up speaking at the SEA (Self Employed Artists) Conference. It was great I had standing room only for one of my workshops and the other one was pretty full. A great conference and a great group of people, I am glad they invited me. I look forward to coming back next year.

I will be in Chicago all week doing guest lectures at Columbia and Northwestern. It should be fun.

I am booking for the Spring and still have a few holes in my schedule. Contact me at angryfilminfo@aol.com and let’s see what we can work out.

Here is a sample from my book The Angry Filmmaker Survival Guide Part One: Making The Extreme No Budget Film.

“When I first got into the business, my accountant gave me some very prudent tax advice in November: "tell your clients not to pay you until after the first of the year. Then take out a loan for 90 days and invest in equipment. Then after the first of the year, you can pay off the loans with the money you're owed. Take the tax deduction for the previous year, and you'll be in good shape." It made sense to me and everyone else I talked to
because we all went to art school! I almost went bust because of that advice!

Right after I bought all of that equipment, business dropped off severely. The film business can be seasonal, especially if you are outside of LA. In Portland, it usually dies off around Thanksgiving and doesn't start picking up again until mid- to late February. Sometimes it stays busy through the end of the year, but don't count on it.

A lot of the corporate and commercial people who hire us need to get things done and money spent before the end of their fiscal year. Then they take the holidays off. Why not? They have steady salaries. After the first of the year, they need to put together budgets and plan for the rest of the year. This is a cycle I have seen over and over. There have been exceptions to this, but rarely.

By the time I got paid on what I was owed, I had other debts that accumulated, and guess what, gang? Banks will not loan you money when you need it! They only loan you money when you have money. (Don't get me started here, I hate bankers.)

Anyway, I spent nine months in hell trying to pay my bills, and I had a bunch of equipment that suddenly felt like a burden.

The upshot of all of this is:

DON'T LISTEN TO BULLSHIT MONEY PEOPLE!”

The Angry Filmmaker Survival Guide Part One: Making The Extreme No Budget Film. It’s full of things to help you make your film. So why haven’t you bought it!

Go to my site, (www.angryfilmmaker.com) and buy it for a mere $13.50 + $3 S&H. (It is still on special) You’ll feel better about yourself in the morning.

Go check out some of my friends blogs, there is some pretty cool stuff in them…

John Gaspard - http://fastcheapmoviethoughts.blogspot.com/
William Akers - http://yourscreenplaysucks.wordpress.com/
Nic Brown - http://bmovieman.com/default.aspx
Jon Ashby - http://www.filmrogue.com/

I’ll add more next time, but if you’re not reading these guys you’re not learning anything.

Don’t forget to check out my tour sponsors, Show Biz Software, (www.showbizsoftware.com), Pollard Design (www.pollarddesign.com), Zoom Creates (www.zoomcreates.com), and Cheezy Flicks (www.cheezyflicks.com ). If you haven’t checked out their sites and their services, you better.

Film Slug, (www.filmslug.com) will be up and running soon, but more about them later…

As always, feel free to link to my site and you can subscribe to my blog. So what are you waiting for?

Talk later.

Kelley

www.angryfilmmaker.com

It's good to be home & other stuff

November 23, 2009

"What kind of software do you use?" is the most frequently asked question and possibly the stupidest one that I've ever heard! Software doesn't write your story, you do. - - from The Angry Filmmaker Survival Guide Part One

That one should pretty much explain itself, shouldn’t it?

Also … Stop watching movies! You can only learn so much from movies. Read books to learn how to tell stories! Visit museums and look at paintings if you want to learn composition and lighting! And Live Life!!! We don’t need anymore lame ass movies about making movies, THEY’VE BEEN DONE TO DEATH! We also don’t need another Spielberg, Lucas, Cameron, Bay or Tarantino. We are still stuck with the originals and their stuff is boring! And no more Young Hot Vampire Shit either! It’s boring.

I have been home for a couple weeks and have been doing some gigs at the local schools here which has been nice. I’ve also been working on a few things on my editing system, you’ll know about those soon enough.

I have been showing up on blogs and podcasts so I haven’t been totally out of the loop.

I just picked up a great quote from a fellow I admire and respect, here it is.

"Read this book and you will not only SURVIVE but you will SUCCEED. One of the best books on making your way through the independent filmmaking jungle with justifiably-angry filmmaker Kelley Baker as your top-notch guide: Funny, profane and committed to telling the unblemished truth. Don't make your next movie until you've read this terrific book."

John Gaspard
Author, "Digital Filmmaking 101," "Fast, Cheap and Under Control," and "Fast, Cheap and Written That Way."

So what else is in my damn book!

1. The Independent Film world is full of liars.

2. Sweetening is what you do to ice tea! We do not put sugar on our audio, ever!

3. Important Law in the Hollywood Film Business: No one ever gets fired for saying "NO!" They only get fired for saying "yes" and costing the company money

The Angry Filmmaker Survival Guide Part One: Making The Extreme No Budget Film. It’s full of things to help you make your film. So why haven’t you bought it!

Go to my site, (www.angryfilmmaker.com) and buy it for a mere $16.95 + $3 S&H.

So buy it already.

I would really appreciate it if people who have purchased my book could go to Amazon.com and write a review. Please tell your friends about the book, but don’t let them buy it on Amazon, send them to my site. I make more money that way.

On to other stuff.

Don’t forget to check out my tour sponsors, Show Biz Software, (www.showbizsoftware.com), Pollard Design (www.pollarddesign.com), Zoom Creates (www.zoomcreates.com), and Cheezy Flicks (www.cheezyflicks.com ). If you haven’t checked out their sites and their services, you better.

And I’m welcoming a new Sponsor, Film Slug, (www.filmslug.com) but more about them later…

As always, feel free to link to my site and you can subscribe to my blog. So what are you waiting for?

Talk later.

Kelley

www.angryfilmmaker.com

End of the Tour, Blogs & other stuff

November 9, 2009

I am just finishing up the tour and Moses and I are tired. Sorry I have been slow when it comes to blogging it seems like I always get this way at the end of a 10 week tour, and yes, it has been 10 weeks.

I have been to a few new places this time around and made some new friends. Check out the University of Central Florida’s film program blog (http://ucffilm.blogspot.com/) I spent some great time there and met some great students. Thank you Jon Jones and Lisa Mills!

I also was interviewed by John Gaspard, a filmmaker after my own heart when it comes to No-Budget Films. Check out my interview at http://fastcheapmoviethoughts.blogspot.com/. It is a great blog; you all should visit there often.

I am in San Antonio right now consulting on a couple of films for a friend of mine. Moses and I are also trying to relax a bit before we start the long trek home.

Here is a sample of a few things from my book The Angry Filmmaker Survival Guide Part One: Making The Extreme No Budget Film.

1. "What kind of software do you use?" is the most frequently asked question and possibly the stupidest one that I've ever heard! Software doesn't write your story, you do.

2. If you piss off your crew you'll never really know it until you're back in the editing room. That's when you will see things like the boom, or mic shadows, or that the focus is soft.

3. The worst thing that can happen on a set is that someone gets hurt. Safety is a huge concern. You know what your Mom always said, "it's all fun and games until someone gets their eye poked out.”

4. No one ever thinks about post! Like once you get through production the rest of the film will take care of itself?

5. The studio/distribution people will tell you that you need a star, don't believe them. They're lazy.

The Angry Filmmaker Survival Guide Part One: Making The Extreme No Budget Film. It’s full of things to help you make your film. So why haven’t you bought it!

Go to my site, (www.angryfilmmaker.com) and buy it for a mere $16.95 + $3 S&H. You’ll feel better about yourself in the morning.

“Your book should be handed to every kid starting film school or every kid that says "Screw film school, I'm going to make a picture. NOW."

Jim LeBrecht
Berkeley Sound Artists (and all around good guy)

I would really appreciate it if the people who have purchased my book could go to Amazon.com and write a review. I could use a lot more. And please tell your friends about the book, but don’t let them buy it on Amazon, send them to my site. I make more money that way.

On to other stuff.

Don’t forget to check out my tour sponsors, Show Biz Software, (www.showbizsoftware.com), Pollard Design (www.pollarddesign.com), Zoom Creates (www.zoomcreates.com), and Cheezy Flicks (www.cheezyflicks.com ). If you haven’t checked out their sites and their services, you better.

And I’m welcoming a new Sponsor, Film Slug, (www.filmslug.com) but more about them later…

As always, feel free to link to my site and you can subscribe to my blog. So what are you waiting for?

Talk later.

Kelley

www.angryfilmmaker.com