How to Format a Screenplay (Part 1) A Rite of Passage Formatting a screenplay properly is the very first step into the Agent’s or Producer’s door. It is the secret knock, that if not properly followed, will have your thrown out on your rear, to the side of the street where amateur screenwriters live. Therefore, […]
Cinematographer Tips: How to Become a Cinematographer What does a Cinematographer Do? A Cinematographer (or Director of Photography or DOP), is the “director” over the camera and lighting crews working on a film, television production or other live action piece that requires a camera or multiple cameras. The Cinematographer is also responsible for making artistic […]
Film Scheduling with Gorilla Preproduction Software Doesn’t Have to be Scary… It’s overwhelming… but it doesn’t have to be. For over 15 years Gorilla Film Scheduling software has helped schedule over 50,000 films. We started out as a lighter, more independent-oriented solution to the old standard software, but we evolved… Filmmaking Evolved And we kept […]
Guide to Film Budgeting Creating a Budget is… well, boring I’ve often said that Film Budgeting is the most boring and laborious tasks of preproduction. After all, there’s writing the screenplay, which is creative and exciting. There’s casting actors, which is my favorite part of the process – seeing your words come to life. There’s […]
The Role of Production Designer The Visual Look of the Film The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Shakespeare in Love, and Avatar. What do these films have in common? They all won the Academy Award for Production Design or Art Direction. If it isn’t obvious by these […]
5 Steps to Creating a Main Character Developing the Hero The hero of your story is that character whose motivation drives to plot forward, and his or her drive to succeed in their quest is what makes you (the audience) completely vested in their success. The entire story should evolve around main character (who might […]
The “Other” Characters in Your Screenplay After developing your main character for your story you have to start thinking about the other characters. Each supporting character must add or subtract something to or from the main character. In other words, each supporting character must either try to help or try to prevent the main character […]
Writing Individual Scenes (Part 2) Screenplay Formatting, Part 2 You should also see the first article, How to Format a Screenplay Today there is no excuse for not using a professional screenwriting program, such as Final Draft or Movie Magic Screenwriter to format and write your screenplay. Even still, it is important to understand the proper […]
Download a FREE Crew Deal Memo template Download Free Template What is a Crew Deal Memo? A Crew Deal Memo is, in essence, a contract between the Producer (and/or Production Company) and the hired crew member. The creation and production of a film is a temporary project. Therefore, most crew members will be hired on […]
Download a FREE Crew Deal Memo template Download Free Template Is this really important? Yes! Especially if you are doing a union film. There are strict rules and guidelines on where to position each and every crew title in the films credits. I was watching the Wizard of Oz the other day with my daughter. […]
