Film Strategy

The Big Lebowski | Ethan and Joel Coen | 1998 | USA | Format: 35mm  | 117 min I have yet to meet someone who doesn't like The Big Lebowski.  It's a funny LA noir with quotable lines and memorable characters.  The kind of legendary cult classic most filmmakers aspire to make.  And so, let's take a look at how it was made... The Big Lebowski Screenplay Screenplay analysis of The Big Lebowski by Screenplay HowTo Another screenplay analysis of The Big Lebowski by ShoreScripts Storyboards from the The Big Lebowski: The making of The Big Lebowski according to  Wikipedia : Development The Dude is mostly inspired by  Jeff Dowd , a man the Coen brothers met while they were trying to find distribution for their first feature,  Blood Simple . Dowd had been a member of the  Seattle Seven , liked to drink White Russians, and was known as "The Dude". The Dude was also partly based on a friend of the Coen brothers, Peter Exline (now a member of t

Back in March, 2014, Participant Media partnered with the USC Annenberg Norman Lear Center's Media Impact Project (MIP) to announce their collaboration in the service of understanding the social impact of entertainment media.  Their efforts would be named The Participant Index (TPI) and would asses the impact of both Participant and non-Participant supported projects across the range of entertainment: narrative film, documentary films, scripted and reality/alternative TV, short online videos, CSR and branded entertainment. The NY Times now provides us with an update  on this latest quest to uncover the holy grail of audience metrics: ...[N]ew measures of social impact will enable sharper focus and rapid course corrections in what have often been guesswork campaigns to convert films into effective motivational weaponry. That approach would apply to a hit like the movie “Lincoln,” which counseled civic engagement, or to a box-office miss like the antifracking film “Promised

The FilmPortal.net announces the list of winners at this year's Cannes : The Jury of this 67 th  Festival de Cannes, presided over by Jane Campion, revealed  this evening the prizes winners during the Awards Ceremony. Lambert Wilson hosted Uma Thurman and Quentin Tarantino on the stage  of the Grand Théâtre Lumière to award the Palme d’or to  Nuri Bilge CEYLAN   for his film  WINTER SLEEP . Sergio Leone’s  Per un pugno di dollari  ( A Fistful of Dollars ) presented  by Quentin Tarantino, was screened at the end of the ceremony. Palme d'or WINTER SLEEP  by Nuri Bilge CEYLAN   Grand Prix LE MERAVIGLIE (The Wonders)  by Alice ROHRWACHER Best Director Award Bennett MILLER for  FOXCATCHER   Jury Prize ex-aequo MOMMY  by Xavier DOLAN ADIEU AU LANGAGE (Goodbye to language)  by Jean-Luc GODARD   Best Screenplay Award Andrey ZVYAGINTSEV and Oleg NEGIN for  LEVIATHAN Best Actress Award Julianne MOORE in  MAPS TO THE STARS  by David CRONENBERG Best Ac

UN CERTAIN REGARD 2014 Un Certain Regard 2014 presented in competition 20 films hailing from 23 different countries. Seven of the works were first films. The Opening film was  Party Girl  by Marie Amachoukeli, Claire Burger and Samuel Theis. Under the presidency of Pablo Trapero (director - Argentina), the Jury was comprised of Peter Becker (president of The Criterion Collection - USA), Maria Bonnevie (actress - Norway/Sweden), Géraldine Pailhas (actress - France), Moussa Touré (director - Sénégal).  The Jury was honored and delighted to have been able to view over ten days so many excellent films testifying to the diversity and vitality of filmmaking in the world today. They were also impressed by the vision and originality of the works presented. PRIZE OF UN CERTAIN REGARD FEHÉR ISTEN / WHITE GOD  by Kornél Mundruczó ( trailer ) ( review ) Rights  sold by the Match Factory to multiple territories JURY PRIZE TURIST * / FORCE MAJEURE   by Ruben Östlund  ( traile

ABBAS KIAROSTAMI AND THE JURY ANNOUNCED THE WINNERS OF THE 17 th  CINÉFONDATION SELECTION The Cinéfondation and Short Films Jury headed by Abbas Kiarostami and including Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, Noémie Lvovsky, Daniela Thomas and Joachim Trier, has awarded the 2014 Cinéfondation Prizes during a ceremony held in the Buñuel Theatre, followed by the screening of the winning films. The Cinéfondation Selection consisted of 16 student films, chosen out of 1 631 entries coming from 457 film schools around the world. First Prize: SKUNK  directed by Annie Silverstein  ( Facebook ) ( Kickstarter page ) the University of Texas at Austin, USA Second Prize: OH LUCY!  directed by Atsuko Hirayanagi  ( Facebook ) NYU Tisch School of the Arts Asia, Singapore Joint Third Prize:  LIEVITO MADRE  directed by Fulvio Risuleo ( trailer ) Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, Italy Joint Third Prize:  THE BIGGER PICTURE  directed by Daisy Jacobs ( trailer ) National Film and Television School, Unite

The Bullitt team More filmmakers should be doing this : Bullitt, a branded entertainment firm the Russos co-founded with Fast & Furious director Justin Lin and producer Todd Makurath... Bullitt works with brands and ad agencies to produce commercials and longform content. The production company is set up as a filmmakers' collective -- its roster includes directors Louis Leterrier and Troy Miller and cinematographer Phedon Papamichael -- and has a strategic partnership with RSA Films, founded by Ridley and Tony Scott. And by this, I mean, form collectives.  Whether in the service of working on advertisements. Or webseries. Or films. Or videogames.  The point is to find other talented creatives and business people who you can vibe with on a strategy and a vision together.  The terms are up to YOU to decide how it can work but having partnerships and collectives helps spread the risk of filmmaking, expands the network of people, experiences and equipment at your disposal

I know it's been a while since I have updated the site but I am still here. I had some personal issues to take care of, primarily, the loss of my mother, earlier this year.  But along with the loss, I am also happy to announce that I am expecting a daughter.  In addition, I am putting the finishing touches on the next step of my evolution as a filmmaker and entertainment lawyer. So stay tuned! Thank you for your support so far. I appreciate the feedback, even when it is not always the kindest. As long as it is useful to filmmakers and helps make the site better, I'll take it. While I plan on resuming the regular posts you are so accustomed to, it will be a little while longer before that happens... in the meantime, don't hesitate to use the production / filmmaker's toolkit for your productions by clicking here .