Crafting Your Personal Film

What is an option agreement and how do indie producers legally control a screenplay without buying it upfront? In this episode, Tom breaks down film option agreements, $1 options, term lengths, writer payments, and how rights revert if a movie doesn’t get made. A practical, no-no ... Show More

Thinking about attending the European Film Market (EFM) in Berlin? In this episode, I break down how EFM compares to Cannes and AFM, why it’s considered the most professional film market, and why filmmakers with finished projects and real credits get the most value from it. If yo ... Show More

Film distribution windowing is changing fast. In this episode, Tom Malloy breaks down modern release windows — theatrical, transactional VOD, subscription streaming, and AVOD — and explains why the old rules don’t always apply anymore. Using real-world examples like Netflix films ... Show More

Today we speak to Matthew Gentile and Matt Allen about the process of filming and editing the film, American Murderer. Matthew met Matt in film school, and invited him to collaborate on his first feature film. American Murderer is now available on Amazon Prime. In this episode, ... Show More

It seems that many short films even after they wrap a successful shoot never end up seeing the light of day. And why is that? Because they dry up in the post-production process. Whether it's for lack of money, lack of inspiration, lack of enthusiasm, or just plain destitution at ... Show More

In our very first miniseries, “The Directors,” we talk to filmmakers who have made truly iconic Paramount movies to find out what that process was like, getting all of the details and juicy tidbits that only we can. From Penelope Spheeris to Alexander Payne, it’s an unforgettable ... Show More

In order to make your movie, you need money. So how do you get over that uncomfortable feeling of asking people to invest in your project? And once you have the financing, how do you get over the fact that your movie is not going to be appreciated by all audiences? In today’s ep ... Show More

It seems improbable or impossible to the more seasoned (or jaded) among us. A man, outside of the system and outside of the major cities like New York and LA, built a thriving indie production company with a full growing slate of movies and content... but that's not even the craz ... Show More

Cinematographer Bianca Cline explains how she shot the feature film Marcel The Shell With His Shoes On which is now playing in theaters. In this episode, we talk about… The necessities that stop motion needs Using a rotating camera around the subject Incorporating stop motion ... Show More

Learn how to talk about a movie you saw last night - what it was about, where it was filmed, some adjectives to describe the plot, the way in which it was filmed - it's all in this lesson. If you haven't seen a particular movie, study the questions you'll need to put to someone w ... Show More

What can we, as independent filmmakers, learn from movie franchises with big legacies? How is AI affecting the careers of writers and actors? What is the best way to properly insure film equipment in the event it gets stolen? In today’s episode, No Film School’s Charles Haine an ... Show More

Filmmakers creating trolly news cycles and buying bots to gain online attention… Hollywood myth about keeping your project a secret to prevent it from being stolen... latest cloud storage tools by Blackmagic. In this episode, we talk about… The phenomenon of creating a trolley ... Show More