by Michael Chasin Hollywood is swimming—in screenplays. It’s reported that the Writer’s Guild of America registers 50,000 screenplays—a year. Plus there are screenplays—filed with the U.S. Copyright Office. Plus there are screenplays—not registered at all. So when added all together—there is an ocean of screenplays. And with each script at about one hundred pages…
by Michael Chasin Screenwriting Mentor, IAFT/Miami Film—as all art—can be not only about entertainment—but also about exposing its audience to new perspectives and ideas. I tried to keep this in mind when I was invited to serve on the Advisory Board of the new Miami International Science Fiction Film Festival (MiSciFi). While I was greatly…
by Frederick Bailey IAFT/LA The young man sits on the couch, looking relaxed and confident. “Hello, my name’s Cristian Madero,” he says. “I own and operate CMDelux Films, and I’m a graduate of IAFT.” He’s a very enterprising young man. He founded his video production company in 2013, the same year he graduated with…
OPEN DOOR SEMINAR ON FILM PRODUCTION INSURANCE by Frederick Bailey Digital Film Production Mentor, IAFT/L.A. Production Insurance is something professional filmmakers have to deal with on a regular basis. IAFT has scheduled a Presentation on Production Insurance with Luke Gelineau who specializes in Entertainment Insurance for United Agencies in Burbank. Let me tell…
IAFT Mentor David Michael Barrett reports that his new movie, SUCH GOOD PEOPLE, is just about finished in post, after completing principal photography last summer. Barrett (Bad Actress), whose class on Non-Scripted Television is a third-term staple at IAFT, serves as screenwriter/producer on this new take on an old-school Hollywood screwball comedy. Michael Urie (Ugly…
by Michael Chasin Screenwriting Mentor, IAFT/Miami The year’s end serves as a bold reference point for measurement for our lives. Those measurements (figurative and literal) trigger New Year’s resolutions—acknowledgements that we should—or need to—improve how we live our lives. Just as we strive to make our lives better, we have the same…
by Frederick Bailey Directing Mentor, IAFT-LA Reading Michael Chasin’s blog here last week brought to mind those Billy Jack movies back in the ’70s: Billy Jack (1971) and Billy Jack Goes to Washington (1977). Tom Laughlin was writer/director/star. He couldn’t get distribution, so he four-walled it and made a fortune. Which bank-rolled other projects…
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…
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…
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…
