Film Strategy

Source: http://www.sequential-one.com/blog/?p=144 My favorite thing about starting a new year is filling out my planner with all the deadlines and screening dates for all the major contests, grant applications, markets and festivals I want to enter or visit.   Doing this hones whatever filmmaking or networking goals I have set for myself and also allows me to plan out my goals for the year to see in an instant what I can realistically aim for and when.  No matter how successful the filmmaker, he or she is caught up in a cycle of developing, writing, producing and selling projects.  Moreso, the hungry filmmaker climbing up that ladder of success.  For the filmmaker at the bottom, knowing the top script contests, film grants, festivals and markets mark one of the key differences between becoming successful or not.   Knowing the top places to target means you are not wasting time chasing fruitless ventures.  So, if you are reading this, it's because you ARE serious about climbin

Master director / master decision-maker: Stanley Kubrick Decisions on acting, cinematography and editing are the main provinces of the director. And rightly so, because those decisions, good or bad, many or few, are what distinguishes the kind of film we see from one director to the next. Still, as important as those decisions are, the director has no decision to make without a script.   Of course, no one needs to be convinced of the importance of the script since that is where it all begins.  The screenwriter writes, rewrites, polishes and submits the script to the producer and director or produces and directs it herself.  As soon as the actual production of it is imminent , practical considerations like budgets, schedules, rehearsals, set and prop designs, etc. come to the fore which affect the kind of film the script will become. But more important than even those, I think, are the considerations of aesthetics and visualizations that the director undertakes before and while