by Michael Chasin Screenwriting Mentor, IAFT/Miami You’ve completed your feature. Your friends and family love it—but film festivals and distributors don’t (yet). Is there a future for your feature? A next-step option could be to four wall your film. Four walling—as the name implies—is the renting of the four walls of a…
film review by Michael Chasin Screenwriting Mentor, IAFT/Miami Movies are about heroes. Heroes—give us reasons to care about them. Heroes—are placed in impossible situations. Heroes—display courage in defeating their more powerful opponents. Captain Phillips is about the 2009 hijacking of an American merchant ship by Somali pirates, with Phillips portrayed by Tom Hanks. Phillips…
IAFT Producing Mentor Sean Akers served as co-producer on the recent Robert Redford/J.C. Chandor picture, ALL IS LOST. We sat down with him for a recent talk about how he got his start in the business. IAFT: You’re from Pennsylvania originally. What led you to want to be a producer? SA: I don’t know that…
by Michael Chasin Screenwriting Mentor, IAFT/Miami As much as it’s movie making, it’s also movie marketing—and as any marketer knows, the success or failure of a product often rests on—its name. Great product names are selected—or invented—to describe what the product is about. PayPal, Post-its, Band Aides, Photoshop, TurboTax—are all names that explain the…
You don’t have to be a young tech guru to understand how new equipment and the internet are upending the way movies and shows get made. Used to be there was only a few folks held the reins and pulled the levers. Nowadays regular Joes are seizing control. Scores of self-sufficient media wizards are out…
IAFT mentor Sean Akers has a film coming out this weekend in theatres. ALL IS LOST, written & directed by J.C. Chandor, starring Robert Redford, and co-produced by Sean, made a real splash in a number of festivals and has been getting all kinds of excellent notices. Chandor’s previous movie was the superb Margin Call in 2011,…
a review by Pete Wassell IAFT/Los Angeles Before I go into my analysis of Only God Forgives—the latest Nicholas Winding Refn/Ryan Gosling production, the duo’s second venture—I want to give you some context for my viewing of the film. I started it late one night about 3 weeks ago. It was around 12:30, I…
RSVP for our next Complimentary Filmmaking Workshop on May 15th. Thursday. 5:00pm – 7:00pm IAFT Mentor: Joe Romersa Introduction to Post Production, Editing Sound and Video In this workshop, Joe Romersa introduces you to using Avid Media Composer and Pro Tools. You will: – see how sound and video editing works – explore ADR and Foley…
Did you grab our 3 DVD set on Industry Deal – Congrats! You can purchase the $6 Shipping & Handling here.
by Michael Chasin Screenwriting Mentor, IAFT/Miami Before the tent-pole budgets, trailers, and cutting-edge technology, A-Lister filmmakers were Z-Listers. Being on the Z-List has nothing to do with notoriety, but has everything to do with making a film on a zero budget. Demonstrating the artistic talent and management skills to make an entertaining film…
