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How to kill your film dead: Terrifying case study and free resource

By on April 24, 2013 in Crowd Funding

Filmmaker Jordan Clarke has mounted an Indiegogo campaign to raise money to create a free legal resource for filmmakers about chain of title. Sounds dull? It is. BUT… without chain of title, your film will remain that thing you show your friends and family, explaining ‘it could have been huge if only I had taken [...]

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Dynamo Player shuts down.

By on April 23, 2013 in Distribution

This morning I got this email from Rob Millis from Dynamo Player with the news they are shutting down. I wrote about the shock waves Dynamo sent through the distribution world a few years ago, after which Distrify and Vimeo also joined the game by offering pay-to-view services. It’s a sad day as Dynamo were [...]

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Who will finance your film and why? Proven strategies to get your film funded and produced.

By on April 22, 2013 in investors

People invest in ambition, integrity, honesty, passion, hard work, experience, planning… do you have it? Getting cash for your movie is not as hard as it first seems, so long as you are reasonable in your proposition, good at networking, can answer a few challenging questions and can also fearlessly convey your passion for the [...]

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Calling all composers – get your music on our screenwriting radio station

By on April 16, 2013 in Screenwriters Festival

We are about to launch an internet radio station dedicated to screenwriting (exact date TBC pending a bunch of tech issues we are ironing out now) – www.RadioLSF.com. The station will feature lots of screenwriting masterclasses and interviews, but we want to break it up with music (tracks ideally between 2 mins and ten mins [...]

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Short Guide To Attending The Cannes Film Festival and Market For The First Time

By on April 13, 2013 in Cannes

As Cannes approaches, I thought I would share my video Cannes Guide for filmmakers and writers on their first trip. The whole experience will be outlook changing for sure and I recommend everyone involved in film attend at least once. Key things you will learn How to get your festival pass How to get screening [...]

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Veronica Mars Crowdfunding: WOW! Take a moment to acknowledge what just happened

By on April 13, 2013 in Uncategorized

Veronica Mars closed their Kickstarter campaign with 91,585 backers and a whopping $5,702,153 pledged. HOLY COW! It’s yet another colossal sign of the cultural and economic revolution into which we are living. Is this bad for the industry as the big players move into indie finance town? Or is it good news? What do you [...]

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Richard Holmes Eight Rules for a ‘tightly resourced film’ screenplay

By on April 10, 2013 in Production

What makes a script that Richard Holmes could produce? Aside from being a great story well told of course… Richard Holmes ‘Tightly Resourced’ Films Screenplay Rules Write a genre film, but give it some kind of original and fresh twist. Write parts that actors would kill to do. Keep it short, under 90 pages. Keep [...]

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UK Indie Film Success Strategy: Tightly resourced productions with dramatic but contained stories

By on April 8, 2013 in Production

Last week I went to visit the set of ‘Keeping Rosie’, the tenth feature film produced by my old chum Richard Holmes. This is his third feature film in as many years, which is no mean feat in the film industry. He seems to have worked out the perfect formula for story scale, size of [...]

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The 2013 Guerilla Filmmakers Masterclass draws closers…

By on April 7, 2013 in Guerilla Film Makers Handbooks, Guerilla Film Makers Masterclass

The Guerilla Filmmakers Masterclass DATE: June June 15th / 16th VENUE:  Regents College, Regents Park, London Price: £85 (inc VAT) with discount code CHRISJONES What’s the secret to making your movie? Believe, learn on the journey and take MASSIVE action NOW. Not tomorrow. Not one day, some day. NOW! We are living into an extraordinary [...]

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Making ‘Ink’ with Jamin and Kiowa Winans

By on April 7, 2013 in Inspiration

Ahead of the next two day Guerilla Filmmakers Masterclass in June, I thought I would share some case studies of filmmakers who had done extraordinary things with little or no resources. ‘Ink’ is one such movie, just watch the trailer above, it’s mind blowing. This interview was taken from the Guerilla Filmmkers Pocketbook (and we [...]

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The BBC College Of Production podcast on ‘budget film making’

By on April 4, 2013 in Film Production, Podcast

A few weeks back I went to the BBC to record a lively debate on the state of British indie filmmaking, with Dominic Brunt and Marc Price. You can listen to the podcast above. Dominic Brunt is a TV actor turned director, whose recent release Before Dawn is receiving critical acclaim and Marc Price hit [...]

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London Screenwriters’ Festival 2013 six months away and two thirds sold out!

By on April 1, 2013 in Screenwriters Festival

Over the weekend I put together this short slideshow from the London Screenwriters’ Festival. And in doing so, I was pretty much amazed and just how far we have come in three years – and now running our fourth festival this October. There is no greater indicator than the fact that we are now at [...]

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Project: Rocketboy… top ten tips for getting feedback on a screenplay

By on March 26, 2013 in Rocketboy, Screenplay

Last week we completed the new draft of Rocketboy, by far the biggest reworking of the script ever undertaken. We sent the script to a handful of trusted people for feedback and we are still waiting from a few to come back. Waiting for feedback and getting feedback can be a nerve wracking experience, so [...]

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How to produce your movie: Ted Hope and Chrisine Vachon at AmericanIndependentsDay.com

By on March 25, 2013 in Guerilla Film Makers Masterclass

When we hosted this workshop with Ted Hope and Christine Vachon on professional producing, we committed to filming and sharing it. It’s in four parts and really quite something. You can watch part one here. If you would like parts two, three and four, head over to www.AmericanIndependentsDay.com and sign up. It’s 100% free. About [...]

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Shooting microbudget on the steets of Brighton with Mark Banks

By on March 24, 2013 in Guerilla Film Makers Handbooks

Last year I became aware of a low budget feature shot in Brighton called ‘Pictures Of Lilly’, and so I asked the director, Mark Banks, to share his insights on his debut production… Over to Mark… Preparation Ache. I don’t think you can over prepare for a shoot – I wouldn’t know though because I [...]

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