Around the Block: Doug Block's Doc Blog

What I've Been Up To This Past Year

dbblock — 2012-10-19T16:25:34-04:00

Hard to believe it's been almost a year since my last post. It's not just a matter of being up to my ears in new projects. Between Facebook, Twitter and The D-Word, I tend to feel like I'm getting word out. Or at least whatever word seems necessary to get out when one's in the thick of production, which means...

This Week on The D-Word - Crowdfunding with Jennifer Fox and Katherine Nolfi

dbblock — 2011-10-24T17:55:05-04:00

Earlier this year, when a broadcast pre-sale fell through at the last moment, acclaimed filmmaker Jennifer Fox suddenly needed to raise $50,000 for her newest documentary feature, MY REINCARNATION. She and her team, led by associate producer Katherine Nolfi, turned to Kickstarter and ended up raising $150,456, more than any other completed film in the history of the crowdfunding platform....

Producing 201 - Werner Herzog: "Be the hornet that stings"

dbblock — 2011-10-21T11:47:24-04:00

Filmmaker Marcelo de Oliverira has been posting at length about his experiences at the Werner Herzog Rogue Film School on the invaluable Scottish Doc Institute blog, and it makes for great reading. Here are some of my favorite takeaways: Sound is critical: "He continued over the course of the morning to delve into the importance of a director paying attention...

Producing 201 - Producing is About Agreement

dbblock — 2011-10-18T15:50:53-04:00

I never went to film school, so when I started making my first film (The Heck With Hollywood!) I kind of made things up as I went along. It's called learning by trial and error, while doing everything possible to avoid the error part. It soon became apparent that much of producing boils down to a few simple things. Treat...

Producing 201 – The Five Biggest Mistakes a Producer Can Make (#5)

dbblock — 2011-10-12T16:45:00-04:00

The last on my list of big-time mistakes is geared to documentary filmmakers. I'll just say, going on a shoot without these is simply a recipe for disaster... Mistake #5 - Not bringing release forms. Or bringing them and not getting them signed. The first part is simple and should be drilled into your brain. When you pack for a...

Producing 201 – The Five Biggest Mistakes a Producer Can Make (#4)

dbblock — 2011-10-05T16:58:09-04:00

This mistake costs friendships. It certainly cost me one, so lesson learned the hard way. Mistake #4: Not getting clear, signed agreements with your key partners. This is especially important for producing partnerships on low-budget films. And even more important if you're producing with a friend. People bring different assumptions and expectations to a film. They have different ideas about...

Producing 201 - Sage Advice From Marjan Safinia

dbblock — 2011-10-03T13:11:14-04:00

I'm briefly interrupting my list of five biggest producing mistakes to post a short interview with my friend, The D-Word co-host and producer extraordinaire Marjan Safinia. Marj packs more good doc filmmaking advice into 4 minutes than I previously thought humanly possible. A mini-master class and great stuff!

Producing 201 – The Five Biggest Mistakes a Producer Can Make (#3)

dbblock — 2011-09-30T13:57:49-04:00

If you ask commissioning editors, grants panelists and other lucky blokes who get to sift through countless funding proposals for the most common mistake they come across, this one would probably top them all: Not having a high enough budget. Producers, particularly first-time ones, consistently undermine themselves by asking for too little money. And usually far too little. Why? Because...

Producing 201 – The Five Biggest Mistakes a Producer Can Make (#2)

dbblock — 2011-09-29T12:50:26-04:00

Thanks to the affordability of digital camcorders, along with the sad fact that it often takes years for documentary filmmakers to scrape together their funding and shoot their stories, most end up accumulating hundreds of hours of footage along the way. Which means you're inevitably in for a very long edit period. Which all-too-often leads to mistake #2: Hiring your...

Producing 201 – The Five Biggest Mistakes a Producer Can Make (#1)

dbblock — 2011-09-28T13:44:38-04:00

Actually, there are dozens of mistakes I could label as “biggest” if I put my mind to it. I began drawing up a list and here are the first five that came to me. They’re certainly biggies. 1. Submitting your film to an A-list festival before it’s ready. Every year at this time, producers scramble to finish their films for...