Did you know that ‘The King’s Speech’ was nearly made on a budget for £1m as a multi part TV series for the BBC? That was just one of the amazing stories Gareth told us all at the opening to The Guerilla Film Makers Masterclass when he and writer David Seidler came to speak to […]
In life I find we come to believe that there is a certain and fixed way that things are done. A prescribed way to success. Sure there are deviations and back doors, but fundamentally, there is set process and track to take. After ‘The Kings Speech’ has taken over a half a billion dollars, and […]
FREE EVENT FOR London Screenwriters Festival 2011 delegates and The Guerilla Film Makers Masterclass delegates. Only a few years ago, Gareth Unwin was a struggling film maker, working on low budget films and shorts as a first assistant director. And on Feb 27th, he picked up the Oscar for Best Film, as producer of ‘The […]
Welcome to American Independents Day in London, April 10th (at Regents College, Regents Park). PLEASE FORWARD THIS EMAIL / LINK TO EVERY FILM MAKER YOU KNOW… A one day workshop with two of the biggest names in US Indie Film, Ted Hope and Christine Vachon. OK yes, we know, it’s SHORT notice. And yes it’s […]
Last year I was Associate Producer on Stuart Hazeldines ‘EXAM’, a taught thriller set in one room. And yesterdays Oscars announcement was extraordinary news for one of our team… Stuart put it best on the Exam Facebook page… 'As EXAM blazes a trail across the worlds cinema screens it's important to remember that not all […]
Note – this is the introduction video to the workshop (clip from the actual course below) I am running a special offer to help get your film made now… and not just made, but made to world class, career launching heights. You may know that a few years back my short film ‘Gone Fishing’ was […]
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, […]
So apparently I am both an Oscar nominated director and Sir Michael Grade agrees with my views on the British Film Industry. All beamed out to millions of viewers this morning on Sky News. Very entertaining! I did the interview yesterday literally at a moments notice (to be clear, I was in fact Oscars shortlisted […]
It’s Oscars time. Last year, I had just got word from the Academy that ‘Gone Fishing’ was shortlisted, which I blogged about here. Last year the shortlist was kept secret, but this year it appears to be public (you can see the complete list on the Academy website here). And there is just one short […]
Occasionally, I have written a blog that, as soon as is posted, I have had to pull. This is one such blog I wrote last December at the Bahamas Film Festival, when I got an email from the Oscars saying we were shortlisted… I have included the entire blog entry (we were told to pull […]
Yesterday, I got an email from an Australian film maker who is now in the running for the Oscars, just as I was this year with Gone Fishing. As I have had a numbe5r of querries this week regarging the Oscars, I thought I would share his thougts and my response. Here’s his email… My […]
I am still suffering with my tooth abscess, getting only a few hours sleep a night, and only getting a few hours relief four times a day as I get the sweet spot with the pain killers, before the pain returns. Of course this would all happen over a bank holiday! (and I am writing […]
The Online Guerilla Masterclass about the making of Gone Fishing is currently being updated with the extra new sections on festivals, sales, marketing, awards and beyond. Anyone who enrols now for £69.99 will get these extra sessions for free (after these new sessions are live, the price will go up). I just wanted to share […]
The Oscars are over and Spielzeugland (Toyland) won best short film. It’s a story about the holocaust which by all accounts is very powerful, and of course, it’s subject matter is always going to play well to Hollywood folk. Slumdog swept the board, and I am particularly delighted that my old film school buddy, Chris […]
No other film award creates careers overnight like an Academy Award… As you may know, some time ago we set out to make an Oscar contender with our 35mm film ‘Gone Fishing’… Last December we got the email from Academy to let us know we were in the official shortlist of ten movies, and the […]
Over the last 8 hours, I have received an enormous amount of texts, calls and emails. They were from across the whole planet, some from cast and crew, some from friends, other from people who have been following our adventure, and a surprising amount from professional film makers, writers and directors. So many emails in […]
After watching live around the globe, many of us dashed to our computers to get to Oscars.com… If you don’t know by now, Gone Fishing was not nominated. We were in the official shortlist of ten films from which the five nominations were drawn. But the judges placed us somewhere between film number six and […]
It’s 3.00 am in LA and the Oscars are announced in 2 ½ hours from now. I am feeling rather calm all things considered. What will be, will be I guess. I have had a cacophony of text messages ringing in my ear all night, from well wishers and nervously excited collaborators too. The same […]
I am sat here at Terminal Five, Heathrow airport and about to board a plane for LAX. Officially, I am flying over to attend the Santa Barbara Film Festival where Gone Fishing is playing. Unofficially, I am also going to LA to be as close to the Oscars as I can get, for the nomination […]
I have been watching a lot of the Oscars short film winners and nominees from the last few years. They are available to buy on DVD and I also believe via iTunes, though I haven’t checked that yet. I just wanted to see what they were really like, in terms of quality, style, feel etc. […]
Dear everyone… it’s GETTING VERY REAL! Here’s what we just received from the Oscars people… ** High Priority ** ** Reply Requested by 9/12/2008 (Tuesday) ** Congratulations! I am pleased to inform you that your Live Action Short film, Gone Fishing, has advanced to the second round of voting from which the nominees will […]
The print has arrived at the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences. Right now, Gone Fishing is being considered for an Oscar nomination…WOW! And there is still so much work to do. But for now, thank you Kerry for yet again stepping into the breach. You have made a big difference to everyone involved […]
I just got an email from Derry at Network Ireland (who we are going to sign with to represent the film for sales). We have been discussing the Oscars tactics and here’s what he has come back with… I have been doing business with another distributor who has had a few recent Academy Award nominees […]
HOLY TOLDEO BATMAN… Just say it out load, 'we are sending our movie to the Oscars!' Yes I know we are not nominated and only 'in consideration', but… ' we are sending our movie to the Oscars!' Phew! Let me take a moment. So the print for Gone Fishing is now packaged up and will […]
Today is the day. I am filling out the application for the Oscars 2009, for ‘Gone Fishing’. Once it’s sent off, not much will happened for the next three weeks or so, but then, a whole new PR machine will begin to roll out, both here and in LA. I will be in touch about […]
