From guest blogger Leilani Holmes at the London Screenwriters Festival 2010 The last semiar I did today was Crime Writing with Rick Drew, Daniel Eckhart, Andrew Taft and Barbara Machin. Crime is one of the most popular genres and in the workshop the writers discussed with us why that might be. The overall consensus seemed […]
From guest blogger Leilani Holmes at the London Screenwriters Festival 2010 Tim Clague, Alexis Nolant, Julian Gerighty, Andy Walsh and Rhianna Pratchet held a session this morning on writing for games. I think of all the workshops this is one that shows that there has been a large variety of writing advice taking place in […]
From guest blogger Leilani Holmes at the London Screenwriters Festival 2010 Any festival is really only ever as good as it’s people. And screenwriting is about people, it’s about touching people, watching people, learning about people, and hearing people’s stories. I have to say that one of the things that will always stay with […]
From guest blogger Leilani Holmes at the London Screenwriters Festival 2010 The DISTRIBUTION IN THE UK session with Peter Buckingham and Alex Stolz from the UK Film Council was based upon the factual research the UKFC have done into what motivates audiences to see a film, who watches what, and the things that are most profitable […]
During the making of Gone Fishing, I made lots of new friends during production and also on the festival circuit. One person spanned both, British actress Kerry Finlayson who is also jobbing it in Los Angeles. She quickly became our LA correspondent for Gone Fishing, collecting prints from FedEx and delivering to the Oscars guys, […]
As part of the ongoing push to get ‘Gone Fishing’ out there, Shorts International have listed it as film of the week on their website. Here’s how Elly (pictured here)at Shorts Int. let me know… 'I just wanted to drop you a line to say that we're doing an iTunes pick of the week plug […]
'Not sure if it sent these, I'm piggybacking my internet off a Chinese takeaway in Sydney…' That's how this email just came to me… from James Fair who I reported on some months back. He was planning to shoot, edit and premiere a feature in 72 hours. And he just did it. I asked him […]
For those of you who haven’t ever seen it, we interviewed Chris Nolan and his wife Emma, in the second edition of The Guerilla Film Makers Handbook, after he had made ‘Following’ and while he was in post-production on ‘Memento’. ‘Batman’ and ‘Inception’ were but a twinkle in his eye back then, so it makes […]
As I have been rewriting Rocketboy, I have also been re-reading some of my favourite screenwriting books. I have been looking for tips, tricks, insights and wisdom on the screenwriting concept that writing is rewriting. But it’s also about being tough in those rewrites. Killing your darlings. There are a few very good books on […]
I was recently contacted by a film maker who was doing something that was rather amazing… making a feature film in 72 hours! I asked him to share his thoughts and here they are… I met with Chris Jones in the spring of 2006 for his help with my Film Studies thesis about ‘The Impact […]
I am about to depart for Cannes, but thought I would share with you some feedback for the books that I have just received. We have sold out of the new pocketbooks already, and right now, you can only get them in bookshops (if they have stock) and Amazon and other online retailers (while they […]
It’s only a few days now before our distribution in 2010 workshop – and there are still places left if you want to come. Full details here. And if you want to see Sheri and Jon in action, check out the video above. Dates Saturday, May 08, 2010 at 9:00 AM – Sunday, May 09, […]
Continuing Jon’s tips of the day as we run up to the Distribution on 2010 Workshop on May 8th / 9th. Over to Jon. Jon Reiss’ Tip of the Day 5 – Budget for Distribution and Marketing In order to successfully execute a marketing plan for your film, a budget must be developed in tandem […]
Continuing Jon’s tips of the day as we run up to the Distribution on 2010 Workshop on May 8th / 9th. Over to Jon. Jon Reiss’ Tip of the Day 4 – Setting A Marketing Strategy Depending on the type of filmmaker that you are, marketing does not need to be thought of as catering […]
You will probably know that Jon is the biggest voice in our ‘Distribution in 2010’ workshop at the beginning of May. He has kindly offered to start writing tips for us EVERY DAY! Blimey! Top fella! So over to Jon… Many of you might know me from the book that I have written recently, Think […]
Over the past few days there has been much chatter about a film that was released in UK theatres this weekend. You can watch the trailer here. It’s called ‘Motherhood’, stars Academy Award nominee Uma Thurman, UK star Minnie Driver, and TV show ‘ER’ helmer Anthony Edwards. Here’s the plot outline from IMDB is… In […]
I have been asked by producer fiend of mine, Stephen Follows, to publicise a survey he is conducting in the wake of the NPA collapse. He will share all his findings with anyone who wants to see the data. So if you are a producer, take the short survey. Here is what Stephen has said […]
This weekend, I went back to my home town, Wigan in the North West of England. It was for a family event. While there I spent time with my mum doing some shopping. It was while in ASDA, watching the young people, middle aged people, and older people, slogging their guts out, that I remembered […]
Last month we sold our 1,000th copy of Gone Fishing on DVD (trailer here). So I asked Nick, the buyer to share his thoughts on the film, and his own film making journey. I first became aware of Chris Jones when I purchased the 2nd edition of “The Guerilla Film Makers Handbook. I was 23 […]
Over the last few years I have got to know a film maker down in Australia, Simon VanDerSpoel, who both contributed to ‘Gone Fishing’ and also made a doc called Spitfire Guradians – I recorded a Podcast with Simon about Spitfire Guardians some time back, you can listen here. I also met up with Simon […]
‘Gone Fishing’ Production Manager Stephanie Wrate has helped out in the office on and off over the last year (thanks Steph), and I was delighted to find out that she recently produced her own short film. Here’s what she had to say about the experience. ‘After production managing ‘Gone Fishing’, with Chris and Ivan, I […]
I wanted to share an extraordinary email I just got, all the way from LA… I just wanted to send you a quick email about my experience with the Gone Fishing Online Seminar. I was quite literally stunned by not just the amount of information in the seminar but by the outstanding quality. As a […]
Not surprisingly, it seems Cannes this year is very subdued. All accounts from the people I know who are attending, paint this picture. Producer Ivan Clements is down in Cannes and I asked him for a quick report. Here’s what he said… I got here on Wednesday night and zapped into Cannes Thursday from Juans […]
I have been chatting to Hugh Hancock over email after he took our online masterclass. Hugh is a very interesting chap and an expert in Machinina – what’s that some of you will ask. In brief, it’s making animated films inside a real time rendering 3D engine such as a computer game engine (often hacking […]
Some time ago I asked if any of our 175 Associate Producers would like to attend a film festival on behalf of Gone Fishing (I have run out of money!). Of course there would be no expenses or flights, but certainly a ripping time and life experience to be had. From my home town, Wigan […]
