r/Filmmakers

So I been looking into film schools and I had a conversation with Full sail and they have a certificate program for 7 months that is in my price range but I wanna know if this is a good flim school. I need general opinions before I sign my life away lol

Hi Gothic friends, very happy to announce that I got the chance to make the official ‚Gothic Remake‘ miniature trailer :) I played the original video game as a teenager and now, many many years later, I got the opportunity to be a small part of this project - sometimes dreams can come true! Thanks for watching :)

I’m visiting LA for the winter from Europe, and
curious where to go/what to do to meet film industry people as well and creatives - last time I was there, I just didn’t feel like it had the effortless/organic social groove the way many other cosmopolitan cities do, and I’d like to actually meet people and a sink into the city a bit more this time rather than drifting like an outsider ghost 😅 I guess I am looking for more specifics rather than “west hollywood vs arts district”.

Really appreciate any advice. Thank you 🙏

So I’ve volunteered to be apart of a very small crew (3 people myself included). I’ve only had experiences working on college projects and this is the first time it’s not a student project.

The organisation does know that the crew are all students, so they aren’t expecting top level talent.
It’s also voluntary so none of us are being paid.

There will be 3 cameras 2 of which will be manned and will be used to capture different shots throughout the performance.

The third camera is a set camera and will be unmanned for the most part.

We have no director, so changing and picking shots will be up to me and the other cameraman. We also can’t speak or do any hand signals to let each other know when we are changing shots.

So I’m wondering has anyone any advice for me to go into this with. I’m really nervous about messing this up and making it look like shite and having that reflect back on myself and my crew and my college.

Hello! I’m a 16 yr old in Greece, and my dream is to become a film director. I’ve got many ideas and so I want to know more stuff about film making. I’ve heard some good things about NFTS in England and USC in America that I really want to go, but I don’t trust America right now enough to go for college. I also only know a few languages them of course being Greek and English but I am at a starter level in Italian and have my A2 in French and also know a bit of Dutch aswell.

The problem is that I’ve been getting mixed messages from people that have gone to a film university and said that I wasn’t as worth it or helpful so I don’t exactly know if it’s worth it. If I don’t go to film school I might go to an Art school but I really dont see the meaning behind it since I already am an artist and I see as a waste of time

Hi!

I’m in my 40s, with an established career outside the film industry, and for the past couple of years I’ve been developing an original animated feature alongside that work. I’m now at a point where I’m not quite sure what the most rel
evant next step is. But I'm already getting myself ready for lots of unanswered emails and automated declines.

I'm deliberately not sharing the title, logline or story because I'm not looking for feedback on the film itself or asking anyone to read anything. I'm more interested in hearing from people who have been through development or production and might have some perspective on the situation.

The project has grown into a fairly large development bible. The overall story is structured, including the main character arcs, momentum pressure controls, sequence-level progression and causal chain. There's also a lot of work on the world and its internal rules, visual storytelling and staging, sound/music intentions, themes, audience. I have even made mood reels for the main sequences using other film materials and temp tracks to really show the intent. I've also made shorter documents that extract the important parts depending on who I will be presenting the project to.

Screenplay hasn't been part of this work. A lot of it has been figuring out the story, structure, rhythm, world, characters and how I imagine the film and its concept working visually and emotionally.

That's also why I don't really consider myself a screenwriter. I created the project and want to stay very involved creatively (a bit like a showrunner would in a series), but I don't necessarily want to write the final screenplay alone. Ideally I'd like to work with an experienced screenwriter who could challenge and improve what I've built rather than simply turn my notes into screenplay format.

My goal now is ultimately to find a producer and an animation studio in France, and I'm also starting to identify screenwriters who might be a good fit. I'm not looking to raise money or finance the film myself at this point. What I'm really trying to figure out is how to move from developing it alone to bringing the right professional people into the project.

So I'm curious what people here would do in this situation. Would you approach producers first and potentially find the writer with them? Try to find a screenwriter first? Or is having a screenplay basically expected before approaching producers with a feature like this?

I'm also wondering whether developing something this much before bringing professionals in is generally useful, or whether there's a point where having too much already defined can actually become a disadvantage.

I'd especially appreciate hearing from people who've worked in development or producing, or have seen projects come in from people outside the film industry.

Whoever is making film alone doing all things by themselves is crazy people because sometimes it is so hard and sometimes it is damm easy to do... I make my two short film by myself and release it on YouTube if you guys also do this type of things then share your experience

TLDR: Studio system in india in f*cked

I have been working as a dev exec at a major Indian film studio for more than 6 months now.

My experience has broken something inside me and idk where to go from here.

I’m the first rung of the ladder at the studio so I’m the first one who gets to read scripts when they come in.

In my time I have noticed that the studio is not really interested in developing work or talent. They want everything ready. They don’t want to pay writers to develop upon any material. I’ve had the opportunity to contact some big names among the indian writers and they’ve even submitted good ideas / concepts. They have all been passed on by the studio because they will require development.

They literally expect a complete show bible and a bound script if it’s a movie. Basically they want writers to write on spec. But even then they will not pay them. They will take the project to a streamer (there are only 4 in india: Netflix, Amazon, JioStar, Sony) and if the streamer likes something then and only then will they commission the project.

In my time I have not seen any project get commissioned, no script that’s being bought. The streamers always find a problem with the material (and usually the problem is solvable with development) and reject it.

Moreover, everyone at my workplace is a marketing person or MBA including my boss and my boss’ boss. Nobody comes from a film background or actually even cares if they’re making a good film or not. Everyone just wants to know if the film will sell on the first weekend.

I’m overworked, underpaid and there’s an unsaid expectation to work 24 hrs with no overtime pay. Work life balance is not a thing. Asking for a holiday seems like I’m doing a crime. And btw this was something really new for me: earned leaves. I have to work to earn my holiday. This all is giving me hints of slavery…

I see no future for cinema in india. The studio will survive and even thrive because of all the royalties they continue to get. It feels like that’s becomes their main business, their main source of income.

I want to know how do you keep hope alive. It’s so terrible out here. I came here in the hope that I would pitch them my movie someday but now I’m just hiding the fact that I have even written one because if I do they’ll argue that the movie is there’s since I wrote it while I’m employed with their company.

This is disillusioning me from cinema. The business is actively working against the art and artists, not even trying to support.

Hey everyone, I plan on writing and filming my first feature before the end of the year. Right now, it is still in development. I plan for it to be a psychological horror movie.

I want to know before I finish writing it, what are some things I need to take into consideration to keep it under $1000. I already have a camera and computer ready. I don’t have a crew yet or a cast. Or script lol.

I know location, how many cast and crew members and scenery will be all the difference. I would like advice from everyone on what they did with budget constraints and how they ensured their project got finished!

Also, I do want to focus on shoot days. If someone has any great advice on shoot days and how paying actors/crew members, I would LOVE that!

Thank you so much in advance!