Worry

Worry about making a good film or show first. Worry about profit and fame later.

Passion

Passion: working 12 hours on a show yesterday only to wake up this morning and immediately start reading film articles.

What constitutes a micro or no/low budget film to you?

So what constitutes a micro budget or no/low budget film for you? 

For me, anything sub a million dollars is a no/low budget film. That is where you start to get into the process of not being able to afford gear or crew, or you have to start borrowing gear and having crew work for free.

And a thought while thinking on this: the first film I worked on here in NOLA was a sub million dollar film. And IATSE was upset we were a non union show. And now, and I could be wrong about this, but IATSE won't touch a show with a budget below $2 million. In fact, the only union or guild I think that works on shows below $2 million is SAG. Everyone else I believe prices their crew out of that range which is a shame since 2 of the films I worked on last year had sub million dollar budgets.

Media and Violence

Or what Tarantino should have said:

"Does violence in the media cause violence in the real world?"

"If you take a person, one who doesn't have any psychological issues or problems, and you break that person down mentally and physically; humiliate the person, insult him or her; work the person until they break down; then start building the person back up, teach him or her weapons and tactics; then yes, violent media can be used to reinforce what you have done. It won't cause the violence, it will only act as an enhancer. The military calls this training boot camp. The civilian world calls this severe bullying or a break down in civility. Violence in media alone does not cause a sane person to act violent. There are exceptions, as always, for those with mental disorders; but those are the exception, not the rule. So no, violence in the media does not cause people to be violent on its own. It must be combined with a breakdown, on purpose or by neglect, of the actor of violence."

2013: New Year's Morning

New Year's Morning.

House is still asleep.

I am up looking at filmmaking sites.

Obsessed. #TeamNOLAFilm

Some thoughts on production workers

If you just chase jobs from city to city, you aren't a filmmaker, you are a film worker. And you aren't helping to create a film culture anywhere.

Also, if you complain on Facebook that there is no film/tv production work, but you refuse to work on indie films or shorts orno budget shows, then I have to say I am tired of you.

Film workers need to work on no budget indies and shorts. Those filmmakers are our future.

Stories, Roundtables, White Males

So I just got done watching the Directors' Roundtable from The Hollywood Reporter. And i absolutely love that THR does these. But something I have notice about this one and the Writers' Roundtable is that they are very white male centric. I really wish the Directors one had had Katheryn Bigelow.

So my question is are we, meaning filmmakers and film workers and film/tv production people, telling the stories that need to be told? Are we telling relevant stories? Are we allowing and helping others to tell their stories?