4Filmmaking - Blog

Filmmaker or Business Person? Common Misconception #1

The Prof — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 04:44:20 +0000

If you are an independent filmmaker you probably see yourself primarily as a creative person. The major skills you focus on developing are around screenwriting and directing and you aren't probably very interested in developing business and marketing skills. Big Mistake! Orson Wells once famously said many years ago that filmmaking is 2% about [...]

Film Festivals – Who Needs Them?

The Prof — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 06:05:26 +0000

Now that your film is finished the next step is to submit it to film festivals, Sundance in particular, and wait for the distribution offers to come pouring in. Right? WRONG! First of all, "getting into Sundance" is not a distribution strategy. Lot's of great films don't get accepted to the Sundance Film Festival so [...]

India Photography Tour – Filmmaking Adventure

The Prof — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 23:12:26 +0000

This isn't exactly about filmmaking but still something I think many of my visitors might be interested in. To be a good filmmaker requires understanding and having experienced the world. Nothing is quite as experiential as a visit to India. I'm posting this to help out a neat friend of mine who has organised a [...]

Need a Film Idea? Look At Yourself

The Prof — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 18:40:03 +0000

I always encourage young filmmakers to avoid a lot of film making courses and just start making films as the fastest way to learn. The problem is they never know what to make the film about. Then they typically attempt to do a slight variation on the latest science fiction or action adventure epic they [...]

Online Film Schools – A Good Option For Learning?

The Prof — Wed, 18 May 2011 03:36:43 +0000

Is an online film school a good option for learning filmmaking? This is an important question because no matter where you are in your filmmaking career there is always a lot more you can learn. When the great screenwriter William Goldman (Butch Cassidy, Princess Bride, Misery, etc.) first attempted to turn one of his novels [...]

The Scandal of For-Profit Colleges And Film Schools

The Prof — Sun, 08 May 2011 20:00:35 +0000

Last week a cooking school in San Francisco agreed to refund up to $20,000 in tuition to each of more than 8,000 students who were led to believe they would get high-paying jobs as chefs after they graduated. You're wondering why I'm writing about a cooking school on a blog about filmmaking. You came here [...]

U.S. Colleges For Film

The Prof — Mon, 02 May 2011 22:36:47 +0000

Master List Of U.S. Colleges For Film I've just updated my master list of film making schools to include some thoughts about the effectiveness of getting a filmmaking degree from one of these film schools. There seems to be more and more doubt amongst the people I've spoken to lately about the effectiveness of [...]

Is A Degree In Film Worth Anything Today?

The Prof — Sun, 01 May 2011 21:08:20 +0000

Why Do You Want A Degree In Film? I just added an article to the 4Filmmaking.com lessons about the value of a degree in film. Click on over to have a read. As film schools crank out graduates with degrees in film faster and faster I hear more and more industry insiders saying they think [...]

Film School In New York? – How NY Film Schools Stack Up

The Prof — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 21:43:53 +0000

NY Film Schools - Any Better? Last post I wrote about Los Angeles film schools and I feel I should give equal time to the NY film schools situation. Doesn't seem a lot better. Although NYU's film program brags about some impressive graduates the percentage who end up in satisfying careers in filmmaking seems to [...]

Film Schools In Los Angeles – Excessive Failure Rate?

The Prof — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 00:32:15 +0000

Top Film Schools In Los Angeles The two highly acclaimed Los Angeles film schools, at UCLA and USC, turn away most applicants each year for lack of room to handle them all. But what of the candidates that are successful at getting in? The dream of Hollywood fame and fortune is so strong that none [...]