“It is a collective act of almost unprecedented community spirit, a fundamental statement of how we stand together as a species. The many act to protect the few – an almost tribal, communitarian instinct that is all too rare in modern life.”

It kind of feels like we’re living through the First Act of an end-of-the-world movie. As we all know, the coronavirus crisis is sweeping the globe. Countries close their borders – cities go on lockdown – and governments and businesses scramble to respond. Some people stockpile essentials, while hospitals prepare for the worst.

It seems surreal. Even unprecedented. Experts draw comparisons between the coronavirus pandemic and World War II, in terms of the scale of the crisis and its impact on the economy and our ways of life.

If you’re anything like me, then you’ve been confused, overwhelmed, and maybe even disheartened by what’s happening in the world. But that’s not where I want us to focus today, friend.

Many of us are in quarantine right now, right? We’re working from home in our pajamas and yoga pants, trying not to obsess over the coronavirus headlines dominating the 24-hour media cycle. And so we scroll our social media feeds for cat memes, indulge Wikipedia rabbit holes, and chip away at those book, film, and TV backlogs. In practicing social distancing, we hang out with friends and family virtually, too. Cue the watch parties and Nintendo tournaments! (No? Just me? I’ll crush you in Super Smash Brothers; bring it on).

What we can learn from Shakespeare.

The point is this: As we juggle myriad responsibilities and adapt to a new normal, weirdly, we have more time to fill.

So we’re faced with a call to action.

It’s long been thought that Shakespeare turned to poetry when the bubonic plague struck London in the 16th century. And when theatres were shuttered in 1606, he wrote King Lear, Macbeth, and Antony and Cleopatra.

Look, you don’t have to compete with the Bard, here. But you do have an opportunity to use this time productively… To beat procrastination and start telling the story only you can tell.

For my part, I’m beginning to write a new feature film screenplay. You could do the same. Or why not produce a single-location short film? Embrace the fact that you’re stuck at home, doing what you can to help contain the coronavirus, and rally the director inside of you!

If you need help getting started – or maybe just some good old-fashioned camaraderie and accountability – know that we’re here for you.

Because you can go from consumer to creator.

Lights Film School is and always has been a remote company, ever since we launched back in 2007. Right from the beginning, our indie Filmmaking Program was purpose-built to provide an online education at-your-own-pace.

Which means our virtual doors are open to you throughout these uncertain times, wherever you are in the world. So that you can not only consume but also contribute to the stories, messages, and digital content that people everywhere are hungry for, now more than ever, as they hunker down at home.

More broadly, let’s do our best to focus on and be a part of the Good, friend! To recognize and participate in this moment of “shared, galvanizing national spirit that has existed in perhaps only a handful of epochal years before”.

As described by The Atlantic in the US:

“We are witnessing people everywhere, acting mostly independently but all together, shutting our country down – a move that ensures millions will face a massive incalculable economic hit – to give the weakest among us a better chance against the novel coronavirus. We are each sacrificing our daily routines – our gyms and coffee shops and offices – to keep health care professionals from becoming overwhelmed.

 

‘Flattening the curve,’ a phrase few of us had heard of a month ago, has arrived as an urgent national mantra akin to Rosie the Riveter’s ‘We Can Do It.’ This call to arms that reminds us how those on the front lines – the vulnerable (and equally scared) doctors, nurses, EMTs, paramedics, and other health care professionals – benefit when all of us do our own little bit, and, in turn, how helping those first-responders gives the inevitable patients, whoever they may end up being, the best chance of survival.

 

It is a collective act of almost unprecedented community spirit, a fundamental statement of how we stand together as a species. The many act to protect the few – an almost tribal, communitarian instinct that is all too rare in modern life.”

“Our belief in, and our need for, each other.”

I came up with the title of this blog post – “We’re All in This Together” – a few days ago, while reflecting on the fallout of the pandemic so far.

I was both surprised and delighted, then, to discover that the sentiment’s caught on culturally… “We’re All in This Together” is also the title of one of late-night talk show host Stephen Colbert’s quarantine monologues!

“Everywhere you look, people are looking after each other,” Colbert points out. “Getting food or cleaning supplies for their neighbors, regardless of what that neighbor’s politics are. Democrat, Republican, socialist – it doesn’t matter right now. We can still disagree about many things, but this crisis has driven home – literally, home – the truth that this is one great nation, united by our belief in, and our need for, each other.”

A need that extends far beyond America’s borders, to every country and person on Earth.

So never forget, friend: You can help meet that need.

Because you are a filmmaker. A storyteller. You can provoke, inspire, and make a difference.

Get those creative juices flowing. Be excellent to each other. And stay safe!

Wishing you health, compassion, and inspiration,

 Michael, with

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“You should do whatever keeps your creative juices flowing. Whatever gets your draft done. Trust yourself, and own your unique creative process.”

If you want comprehensive insights into the indie filmmaking process, then you’ve come to the right place! We’re proud of the depth of teaching you’ll find around our blog for ambitious storytellers here at Lights Film School.

Today, though, I’ve got something a little different for us.

Instead of diving deep into the nitty-gritty, let’s borrow a phrase from our cinematography friends and “zoom out”.

Because I want us to get a bird’s-eye view of the screenwriting process from start to finish, so that new screenwriters can feel confident as they begin to write their movie scripts. This teaching also may serve as a roadmap for screenwriters with more experience. Sometimes when I feel stuck, I find it helpful to “zoom out”… To remind myself that I’ve been down this road before, and am on track!

So, let’s embark on a bit of an adventure, shall we?

When you set out to write a screenplay, what does the path ahead look like? Where exactly does it lead you…?

Let’s find out!

Do note that, by and large, we’ll discuss screenwriting in context of a spec script, here. A movie script written for hire often has a timeline and/or workflow prescribed by whoever’s in charge.

But now, without further ado:

Your screenwriting journey begins with an idea…

Ideas come from many places. They find their way to us in many forms.

Sometimes they arrive well-defined, with an already fleshed-out structure, compelling protagonist, and worthy antagonist all raring to go.

Other times, an idea occurs to us as more of an amorphous concept… A world we want to develop, character we want to get to know better, or issue or theme we want to investigate through a story for the screen. It reveals itself to us slowly, in fragments.

Either way, this early on, many writers choose to explore. And so they kick off the prewriting process.

Prewriting looks different for different people:

Some love to tease out ideas freeform. There are those who prefer to try full scenes on for size. Others create outlines and plot their entire film in an organized fashion. You could even go so far as to develop an actual treatment!

…And carries you to a First Draft of your movie script!

Once you’ve done your prewriting, it’s time to dig into the first draft of your movie script.

A screenplay has a very specific format that follows a very specific set of rules. You can learn more about those here. Also, traditionally, a screenplay is structured into three “Acts”. Which means you need to understand not only how to format a screenplay, but also how to apply the principles of classical storytelling – something we cover clearly and extensively in our indie Filmmaking Program.

Even for those of us who have a solid foundation in both the theory and technicalities of screenwriting (anyone else ever get the urge to write things like, “INT. LIVING ROOM – DAY” when composing an email to a friend?), the nitty-gritty of the drafting process varies from person to person.

For example, some writers write out of order. Others write strictly in order, one scene at a time. There’s no “right” way to do this. You should do whatever keeps your creative juices flowing. Whatever gets your draft done. Trust yourself, and own your unique creative process.

Whatever your method, I’ve got a few pointers for this leg of the journey, though:

Just. Keep. Going.

Have you heard the old adage, “Writing is rewriting”?

Your movie script will improve exponentially the more you revise it, especially after a first draft.

In fact, some writers feel that it doesn’t actually matter how good or bad the first draft is, so long as it gets done. Just beat that inertia, and get it all down on the page! You can’t fix a house if it isn’t built yet.

But like everything else, this isn’t a “one size fits all” approach.

I once attended a writing seminar where a woman got downright offended by the idea of throwing caution to the wind, trusting the draft to get better later. “That just doesn’t work for me,” she said. “I want it to be good NOW.”

Fair enough.

But in my experience, it’s wise to acknowledge how perfectionistic tendencies can paralyze you… If you stop yourself for fear of your movie script not being perfect, then you risk delaying your first draft. Or even missing out on ideas that could be discovered in a rewrite. Do what you can to get out of your own way, whatever that means for you.

Build a routine.

We’re big on routine here at Lights Film School. Routine helps you get into a groove, keep up momentum, and get things done.

So set writing goals for yourself: “I’ll write (x) hours each day”; “I’ll write (x) number of words, pages, or scenes each session”; whatever makes sense for you and your schedule. Because by and large, regular writing is the best – only? – way to get a really big project done!

Just keep swimming going.

Yeah, I said this already. But I want to make sure it really sinks in for you.

Look, writing a screenplay can feel super daunting. There almost certainly will be days you get stuck. You might even want to give up.

Don’t give up.

This is where zooming out can help us!

When you feel hopeless, look back at the ground you’ve already covered. Appreciate how far you’ve come in the screenwriting process! Remember how excited you were, say, all the way back when you were doing your prewriting? Allow yourself to relive those emotions.

That excitement is not insignificant, friend.

Even if you’re not feeling it right now, keep going. Because you’ll get there again.

Write a second draft of your movie script. Get a second set of eyes.

When you finish the first draft of your movie script, you’ll reach a crossroads:

You can start rewriting, or you can get feedback right away.

Oftentimes, it’s wise to do at least a little bit of rewriting, since a first draft tends to be rough around the edges – and since you only get one shot at a first impression, after all!

One technique I find helpful is to do several passes looking at only one aspect of the script each time. So for example, I’ll do a pass where I focus on the protagonist’s dialogue and fine-tune it to ensure that it’s true to her voice. Then I’ll do another pass where I pressure test all of the scene descriptions, to ensure that they’re clear and concise.

By breaking down the work into a series of laser-focused drafts, I can evaluate the script’s individual elements with fresh perspective, and ensure that they’re the best possible versions of themselves.

When you feel confident in the quality of your draft, you should seek input from readers. If you’re not ready for that just yet – meaning, if you know what needs to be done with your draft before you give it to other people for their perspective – no worries. Do that first.

But eventually, it will be time to loop in a second set of eyes.

What is a “reader”, anyway?

A reader is someone you trust creatively – a colleague, a friend, a classmate – who’s willing to read your movie script and provide feedback.

We’ve covered how to get notes on your script in the past, but briefly, what you want to do first is help the reader understand what sort of feedback you need. For example, you could ask:

• What did you find compelling?
• Were there parts that dragged?
• Was it clear that [character] is the protagonist? What made it clear to you?
• What would you define as the protagonist’s goal?
• When did you feel like we were moving from the end of the first Act into the second Act?
• Was it clear that [character] is the antagonist? What made it clear to you?
• How would you describe the central conflict of the story?

Such specific questions can help you focus the conversation around feedback that will be helpful and constructive.

Here’s why feedback matters.

It also reminds both you and the reader how the primary purpose of the feedback is to help you gauge the degree to which your writing reflects your intentions. Especially with first drafts, the creative vision you have in your head isn’t necessarily clearly expressed on the page.

So much of screenwriting is about communicating your vision to someone else – and eventually, to many other people! – so that they can bring it to life. You want what you envision to match what they envision based on your words. A reader helps you find out whether or not that’s happening.

Approach a conversation with a reader with curiosity, and as best you can, try not to take anything personally.

If what they see on the page isn’t what you’d hoped they’d see, don’t worry. Though it may feel like the end of the world, it’s not. Sure, it’s a bummer, but it’s also an opportunity to address problems!

So that the next time a reader dives in, your vision will be more clearly expressed.

Go back to the drawing board.

Armed with your readers’ feedback, it’s time to go back to the drawing board. Chances are you won’t have to start from scratch! Instead, at this stage, you’ll discern which notes to implement, and how.

After you implement the feedback, you’ll put the new draft of your movie script out to readers again. And you’ll keep drafting as necessary, until the screenplay is where you want it to be.

Here, I’ll issue one small warning: Beware of overwriting.

I composed a memoir essay the other day, and I could feel myself going overboard. I was killing simple, effective sentences for more poetic ones. I was just not letting up and kind of ruining a good thing.

I’ve realized that sometimes I’ll do that when I’m trying to put off submitting a work, or when I’m just in the right (wrong?) writerly mood.

My advice on drafting – particularly after the first few drafts – is to do what’s necessary to arrive at a solid script, without overcooking it. Because you might undo some of your earlier inspiration and brilliance.

Your 3 ways forward.

With your finished draft, you’ve reached another crossroads. It’s time to decide what happens next. A screenplay is just the first step toward getting a film in front of an audience, after all!

At risk of over-simplifying, there are three distinct paths before you:

• Independently produce your film.
• Try to sell the movie script to a studio or production company.
• Get an agent or manager to represent you; ie., sell the script to a studio or production company on your behalf.

Why would you choose to bring in an agent or manager if you can just sell the script yourself? Well, it’s tough to go it alone. Agents and managers have connections to the people who do purchasing. I’ve written about this in the past in one of our deep dives.

What happens after a movie script goes into production?

If your movie script goes the way of being sold and produced – congratulations! – it has a whole new journey ahead of it. One that, unless you’re directing, producing, or otherwise involved in actually making the film, may not involve you. But fear not, there are plenty of norms in place, here. For example:

• Oftentimes, once a script gets optioned, it undergoes more revisions, since there are more players and money involved. You may do this, or a ghostwriter may be brought in.
• After your script’s revised and considered “locked”, it will be turned into what’s called a “shooting script”. The main difference between the script you wrote and the script that’s used for production is how it’s notated. For example, numbers will be assigned to scene headings. This labeling system makes it easier for the film crew to budget, schedule, and prepare.
• Typically, the screenwriter’s not on set day-to-day. Making a movie is an incredibly collaborative process, with each professional involved bringing a new layer of expertise and depth to the project. At this point, usually, the screenwriter’s job is over. They’ve cast the vision and set the foundation for everyone else.

Paths of Glory

It’s worth mentioning that you could choose to submit your script to screenwriting competitions, film festivals, and fellowships. All three could help you build credibility, connections, and momentum. In some cases, you could walk away with a monetary reward.

For example, if your screenplay gets named “Best Screenplay” by a reputable competition, then you have an accolade you could include in a query letter to an agent, manager, or producer, helping you stand out.

Many screenwriting competitions are conducted online and don’t involve an in-person component. But if you find a film festival with a screenwriting program, then it’s all about the networking.

The people you meet at a festival are likely to have similar interests. And since festivals tend to attract directors and producers especially, as a screenwriter, you could have a great opportunity to meet filmmakers eager to help you take your script (and/or future scripts) to the next level.

Fellowships often offer prize money you can use to fund your writing career, along with meetings with industry professionals. They can be extremely competitive, precisely because they can open so many doors.

In Conclusion

And that brings us to the end of the road today!

With any luck, I’ve helped you get the lay of the land, friend. The screenwriting process can feel overwhelming, but I hope you’re armed with direction and a sense of the journey ahead.

All you need to do is take the first step, and then keep on walking. Keep going.

You’ve got this! If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to let me know in the comments below. I’d love to lend some further inspiration!

 Lauren McGrail, with

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Join our online film school. It exists to help you learn the art and craft of filmmaking on your schedule, without getting lost or overwhelmed. Transform your passion into practice, champion your message, and become the filmmaker only you can be.

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“I think an interview, properly considered, should be an investigation.”

I’ve spent the past few years moonlighting as a local reporter.

My background’s in screenwriting, so it’s a job I came to kind of accidentally (someday I’ll write a book about it)! But in any case, I’ve learned a great deal – especially about the importance of a good interview.

Meanwhile, documentary filmmaking is a world I know well.

As a teacher with Lights Film School, I’ve had the opportunity to guide students from their first documentary proposals to finished products. And I’ve also found myself a collaborator with and champion of a particular documentary filmmaker, Garret Harkawik, to whom I happen to be married!

In 2011, Garret began making short documentaries, many of which are interview-driven. The more I’ve worked in my newspaper gig, the more insights I’ve gleaned into Garret’s films, and the more we’ve begun to discuss where our work intersects and where it differs.

And when it comes to interview techniques, I’ve found there’re far more intersections than differences.

Naturally, we’re here today to discuss documentary filmmaking. That is the heart of this piece.

But as I’ve grown and done my own research into the art of the interview, I’ve learned that there are a surprising number of interview tenets that hold true across mediums – film, television, journalism, podcasts, you name it.

Why interview someone in the first place?

A documentary interview can serve multiple purposes:

It may be an opportunity for an expert to share scientific, historical, or other information so as to educate the viewer and support a point. It may reveal someone’s feelings or reflections on an experience that’s significant to the bigger picture. It also may be an opportunity for someone to share their side of a story, if you’re presenting contrasting views.

Whatever the purpose, depending on the style of documentary you’re making, interviews will be central to your film. And it most likely will be YOU who conducts them. Which probably means you’re asking questions like, “How do I actually do this? How can I make sure I get a good documentary interview?”

In answer, I’ve drawn on my reporting background, teaching experiences, conversations with Garret, and advice from other professionals to provide a well-rounded overview of how to do a documentary interview. My hope is that you’ll feel empowered and excited to get started on the process!

To get the ball rolling on our conversation, let’s break down interview best practice into three points, beginning with:

1. BE PREPARED for your documentary interview

When it comes to a documentary interview, there are two elements to preparedness:

The first is your camera and gear. The second is the interview itself.

Regarding your camera and gear, it’s usually a good idea to check out the space where you’ll be conducting the actual interview.

As Garret says, “Knowing where you’re going to shoot and what the challenges are, that part is just like any other location shoot. What is the sound like? Will it be noisy? Will there be natural light that’s going to change? If your interview may last two or three hours, the light will be different. Pick a location where you’re not worried about that or sound.”

If you’re controlling the light, a whole new world opens up to you!

A 3-point lighting setup is traditional, combining key, fill, and back lights. You could go for a soft and gentle appearance or something much more dramatic and contrasty… It depends entirely on your vision, the location, and your tools.

Whatever your lighting arrangement, keep track of “eye line”, which is where your interview subject is looking. Nine times out of ten, it should be consistent throughout the whole interview. Are they looking at you? At someone off to the side? Into the camera? Check in with this from time-to-time to make sure that it doesn’t change.

Garret also notes the importance of confirming that you have enough media to store your footage. “Pick a camera that will let you shoot non-stop,” he advises. You want to avoid swapping out cards every few minutes, since that can really interrupt the flow for an interviewee.

In terms of sound, you want to ensure a clean, high-quality signal. But also choose a setup that won’t impede your subject. “If you have them wired to a lav that runs into a soundboard, if they want to get up and walk around, it’s a whole production,” Garret shares. “Using a boom on a pole or a wireless lav is easier.”

In terms of the documentary interview itself, arrive prepared, knowing what you want to talk about!

This applies across mediums. Whether you’re interviewing someone for a news article, podcast, or something else, you should have some familiarity with their background and relevant topics.

How to make the most of your limited time

In my own experience, when I’m working on an article, I typically get just ONE SHOT to sit down with a subject. In that time – usually anywhere between a half-hour and two hours – I need to learn everything I can from that person, as it relates to my article.

So if I’m meeting John Doe to discuss his experiences as a state legislator, I need to spend the time I’m given asking him about – and being genuinely curious about! – his time as a state legislator.

And naturally, to make the most of the time we have together, I need to go in prepared. This often means considering any of the following:

• Why am I interviewing this person? What unique perspective can they offer?
• What do I need this person to explain?
• If I’ve done a pre-interview, what have they already told or revealed to me that I want to get them to tell or reveal again, this time on-camera?
• What facts do I need to come away understanding or capturing?
• If the purpose of the interview is to have the subject recall something that happened in the past, how much of that event do I need them to recall?
• How do I want them to reflect on the event? If it’s a historical topic, perhaps I want them to provide context. If it’s a personal topic (or if they lived through the historical event), perhaps I want to capture their feelings.

Personally, I find it very helpful to develop a list of specific questions that I plan to ask. Of course, the questions vary greatly, depending on who I’m interviewing and for what purpose! Here’s the key point, though:

That list of questions is just a jumping off point.

In other words, I’ve never conducted a good interview that relied solely on my prepared questions.

My best interviews happen when I’m fully present with the subject. Yes, we’re having a conversation about a specific subject in their life. But if I stay too tied to that subject and my questions, I miss a lot. I have to truly listen to what that person is saying, and improvise questions based around that.

Which brings me to what I believe to be the most important aspect of the art of the interview:

2. BE CURIOUS during your documentary interview

I used to be terrible at making conversation.

I was at an awkward family barbecue about ten years ago, and I found myself talking to the husband of the friend of a family member. We were many degrees removed from really needing to take a serious interest in one another, but there we were.

Neither of us was particularly good at making small talk. Eventually, I remarked that it was a beautiful day out. A minute later, his wife came over to offer him a drink, and he said, “Oh, thank God! Someone’s here. We were starting to talk about the weather.”

Arguably that guy was worse at making conversation than me. I mean come on, who says that? But since I started doing interviews for the newspaper a few years ago, I’ve definitely become an increasingly good dinner party guest. I also kill at wedding cocktail hours, wakes, funerals, and awkward family barbecues.

Why?

Because good interviewing relies on curiosity, and so does being a good conversationalist.

If you know how to get someone talking about themselves, and you know how to be — not act, but BE — genuinely interested in what they’re saying, then you’ll never find yourself talking about the weather again.

Oh, and your documentary interviews will improve exponentially!

Keep an ear open

One of my favorite TV writers, Emily VanDerWerff, interviewed American journalist Dan Rather about interviewing (metaaaaa)! I was exhilarated to find that Rather’s views on interviewing 100% line up with my own:

“The keys to doing a good interview are … the first three things are preparation, preparation, and preparation. Once you get past those three, the other key is to be a good listener. Often, the best questions come not from what you have prepared to ask, not from your list of questions in your notebook, but from listening to the interview subject very carefully and picking up questions from what your interview subject says.”

Bryan Glazer – a famous film producer who often collaborates with director Ron Howard – also wrote a book on curiosity. It’s called A Curious Mind, and in it, Glazer recounts his 30+ years of curiosity.

Over the course of his career, Glazer conducted what he calls “curiosity interviews” with people he found interesting. “The technique is the same – asking questions – regardless of the subject,” Glazer writes. “But the mission, the motivation, and the tone vary. The curiosity of a detective trying to solve a murder is very different from the curiosity of an architect trying to get the floor plan right for a family’s house.”

He goes on to claim that regardless of subject, regardless of who’s doing the asking, curiosity can serve nearly anyone well:

“One thing I know about curiosity: it’s democratic. Anyone, anywhere, of any age or education level, can use it.”

Or take it from Errol Morris, regarded by many as a master of the documentary interview:

“I think an interview, properly considered, should be an investigation. You shouldn’t know what the interview will yield. Otherwise, why do it at all?”

Follow your curiosity! Be open to where it may lead.

3. BE YOU throughout your documentary interview

So, be PREPARED. Be CURIOUS. And be YOU.

YOU are the one conducting the documentary interview, after all. Since an interview is essentially a conversation between two people, that means you comprise 50% of the atmosphere and play a large role in driving the results.

You set the tone for the interview.

If you want it to be serious, you should be serious. If you want it to be fun, loose, and free-flowing, then you should be all three of those things. Your subject’s tone likely will reflect yours.

Remember, too, that you can edit yourself out.

My reporting work winds up in print, so these days, I don’t have to deal with putting my voice out there for others to hear. But one of the most painful parts of beginning to interview people was hearing my own voice in my recordings. It’s taken me a long time to accept that I am not the story, and I don’t really need to be too concerned with how I sound in playback.

Some documentary filmmakers choose to include their own voices and selves in their documentary films. That’s their style; that’s fine. Others prefer to cut an interview into a film in such a way that it doesn’t seem like there’s anyone there at all asking questions. Also fine.

It all depends on how you want to tell your story. You may not love how you sound in playback, but please let that go when you’re doing the interview. You are not the subject!

Assuming it’s ethical and respectful, whatever you need to do and say in the moment to get your subject to open up, you should do. The best interviews are the ones in which both the interviewer and interviewee become unaware of the artifice of the interview.

In other words (and to reiterate), your documentary interview should be, more or less, a conversation.

Think about post-production

Even so, one of Garret’s most important tips for conducting documentary interviews is to keep an ear open for how your subject’s answer can be edited. Encourage them to answer questions in ways that will make sense if you were to cut out the question.

So for example, if you ask someone their favorite color, encourage them to answer with, “My favorite color is green” instead of just “green”. This will lend a lot of flexibility in the edit.

And finally, don’t forget that visuals matter in the medium of film! When you’re choosing a location, consider how you can reflect your subject in that location. If you’re interviewing a veterinarian, then it could make sense to interview them in their office or at a dog park instead of, say, a nondescript shopping mall.

Also think broadly around what elements of their life and surroundings you may be able to bring in and use as props. How can you help your viewer understand your subject more deeply? How can you manifest them in the environment? Basically, how can you leverage the power and subtlety of visual storytelling to convey meaning in your film?

In Conclusion

What do you think? Have you ever conducted a documentary interview? What are your favorite techniques? We’d love to hear about your documentary filmmaking experiences in the comments below!

Also, if you’re looking for examples of fantastic interviews in films and television to inspire you, a few come to mind, in no particular order:

Check out Errol Morris’ classic The Thin Blue Line; anything by Werner Herzog, who often inserts himself into his films; Joshua Oppenheimer’s chilling documentary, The Act of Killing; and The Jinx. Yes, that last one’s a television series, but it’s worth investigating, since it concerns the relationship between the subject and the interviewer.

Happy watching!

 Lauren McGrail, with

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Want to learn more about the art of doing documentary interviews?

Then join our online film school, complete with a comprehensive filmmaking course. It’s the training you need to learn how to create professional narrative and documentary films using the equipment you already have, wherever you live, with guidance, community, and resources at a fraction of the cost of traditional film school.

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“Isn’t it interesting how the more you write, the more you’re willing to throw away?”

A few months ago, I got an email from someone in my town whom I’d never met.

“I have a story I want to tell,” he wrote. “Can you help me?”

He’d read an essay I’d written, and he said that – since I was a writer who clearly had an idea, and then put it into print – maybe I’d have some advice. I was unsure of what I had to offer, but I agreed to sit down with him. We met at a coffeeshop in town, where he told me about his idea.

“So, what do you think?” He asked.

I told him I thought it sounded interesting, that I knew of at least one local publication for which it probably would be a good fit, and that I thought he should write it. Some silence lingered.

“Well, what should I do, then?” He asked.

“Write it,” I said.

…Like it’s that simple.

I should know better. I’m a writer myself. How many times have I had a good idea that I don’t commit to? Or one that I do commit to, but never actually sit down to develop seriously?

I mean, in one sense, it is that simple. To write something – to turn a concept into a story, using the medium of the written word – all we really need to do is sit down and put it on paper.

But to just say it cavalierly like that… It’s a bit like me saying, “To be healthy, all you need to do is sleep at least eight hours a night, eat a diet that is high in whole grains and plant food with lean protein mixed in, and while you’re at it, make sure you find work that both soothes your soul and affords you the opportunity to provide for your family. And oh! Don’t forget to exercise for at least an hour a day, and make sure 30 minutes of it is cardio.”

Hah!

Yes, all we have to do is “write it”. But actually doing that is not as obvious as it sounds. Which is why sometimes we need a kick, some inspiration, or even a little direction. Today, we’ll provide a healthy dose of each, motivating you to take your idea and turn it into a full-blown story for the screen.

(Oh, and PS – that guy who asked me what to do next? We talked some more about how he could dig in, and he did. His piece was published! )

1. Nurture the Spark of Your Idea!

Is there anything better than a fresh, new idea?

It arrives full of energy and possibility… A spark eager to channel through you, get onto the page, and premiere for the masses!

Oftentimes, it’s wise to act on an idea when you first receive that spark. Early on in the creative process, a full-fledged plan of attack isn’t strictly necessary, so you can get started relatively quickly and easily.

Begin by indulging the idea in a looser sense, exploring it in whatever form feels right. That could be a free-wheeling journaling session, a running list of everything interesting and important to you about your idea, or even the beginnings of specific scenes that pop into your head.

Whatever form your idea takes, nurture it! Brainstorm! Don’t cramp your idea with questions of workflow and structure, unless those questions help you develop it. At this point, the goal is to keep up momentum and gain some perspective, bringing your idea into sharper focus.

You Have Arrived

You’ll know you’re ready to start developing your idea more formally when you arrive at a sort of impasse. You have a very clear picture of your idea, and you can either dive in and get to work, or you can be like the rest of us and put off the work by finding something else “you need to do first”.

Let me let you in on a little secret, friend:

There isn’t something else you need to do first! The instinct to keep brainstorming is sometimes procrastination in disguise. If you have a good handle on your idea, then it’s time to move forward.

2. Take Your Idea to the Next Level with the Pre-Writing Process

One question in particular spans the chasm over Development Hell. It acts as a bridge between the brainstorming and more formal planning stages:

“What’s the right medium for this idea?”

Since you’re spending some time with our blog here at Lights Film School, I think it’s safe for me to assume that you have some interest in expressing your idea as a screenplay – and ultimately, a film! Do bear in mind that different ideas manifest in different ways, though. Sometimes, a novel, stage play, video game, etc. may be a better fit for an idea.

Your choice of medium will prescribe some useful conventions and best practices for your next steps. Together, they will help you shepherd your idea across the threshold of “concept” into full-fledged “story”.

Let’s Unlock the Potential of Story Structure in Screenwriting

When you’re writing a film, “story” revolves around “structure”. Structure is what lends shape to your idea.

You probably will want to plan its key components. For example, a protagonist with a goal; an antagonist to oppose the protagonist; a resulting conflict; and – depending on the length of and your vision for the film – a three-act arc with a clear beginning, middle, and end.

We teach our students all of this through our online film school, but our blog is a helpful resource for everyone :

• How to create a strong protagonist
• How to create a strong antagonist
• 3 rules of screenwriting (and when to break them)

There are a lot of moving parts, here, so you may want to create a detailed outline of your story’s structure before you draft the actual screenplay.

A Couple of Useful Prewriting Tools: The Outline and Story Synopsis

An outline answers important structural questions. What happens in your screenplay? In what order do those events happen? What gets established in Act One? What catapults us into Act Two? What obstacles are overcome throughout Act Two, driving us to the climax and onward into Act Three’s conclusion?

In addition to an outline, a synopsis can be a useful tool! It can help you distill the essence of your story. If you “get lost” at any point in the writing process, you can always come back to the synopsis to remind yourself what it’s about.

Beginning with your brainstorming when you first had the idea – onto the more formal planning stage, turning concept into story with the aid of an outline and synopsis for your screenplay – everything you’ve done up to this point counts as “pre-writing”. It’s everything you do before you actually Write The Thing.

About that… Look, I know it’s hard. I know the feeling you’re getting in your throat.

But remember all of that pre-writing you did? This is where it pays off. You have a clear picture of your idea. You’ve translated it into a story suited to your medium of choice. You know the plot. You know the characters. You are ready. Sit down and write.

Let the hate ideas flow through you!

Okay, you’re not tapping into the dark side of the Force, but the principle is the same. Thanks, Emperor Palpatine! A word of caution, though (and not about the perils of the Dark Side):

3. Please Don’t Be Too Precious…. Write!

When we’re writing, it’s easy to be a bit precious with ourselves and feel that every word we commit to the page needs to be perfect. And that if it isn’t, we’re bad and we suck and we should just stop writing.

Not true.

Writing a screenplay – or a novel, or a stage play, or a video game, or a school paper or personal essay or news article or recipe, for Pete’s sake! – requires one thing, at least at first: that you write.

Write, write, write.

I was recently talking to a mentor of mine about how the paid, assignment-based writing I’ve been doing is having a positive effect on my other writing. It keeps me “in shape”, so to speak. Even if I’m not working on my novel or a screenplay that day, my mind is still exercising. I’m still expressing my thoughts with words. And he said, “Isn’t it interesting how the more you write, the more you’re willing to throw away?”

He didn’t mean the more I’m willing to pour a bunch of beautiful, brilliant writing down the drain. He meant that the more I write, the more I condition myself to write, the less I’m attached to every single word.

Why You Need to Train Your Creative Muscles

In other words, I’m being less precious with myself.

I’m letting myself explore with words – AKA, I’m letting myself write! – and therefore, I’m letting myself dig through what’s there and extract the really good stuff, while leaving the other stuff behind.

Before, back when I let myself treat writing like it was an event – “I’m going to write today” – back when I did it infrequently, every word was more valuable, because it required more struggle to get down on the page.

Whatever medium you’re creating in, one of the best things you can do is build a routine. This can really help when it comes to taking your idea and turning it into a story, from first word to final cut. Becoming less precious, and more productive.

Because truly, seriously, the only way to do it?

Get started. Be consistent. In the words of author Stephen King:

“When asked, ‘How do you write?’ I invariably answer, ‘One word at a time,’ and the answer is invariably dismissed. But that is all it is. It sounds too simple to be true, but consider the Great Wall of China, if you will: one stone at a time, man. That’s all. One stone at a time. But I’ve read you can see that motherfucker from space without a telescope.”

In Conclusion

So just to recap, here are three steps to follow when you have an idea for a screenplay, that intermediate medium on the way to a film. In fact, in a zoomed-out sense, the steps are deceptively simple:

1. Indulge your screenplay idea. Get it down on paper in some form; make it real. Journal, create lists, write scenes, sketch pictures, draw Venn diagrams… Do what you need to do to pounce on the energy of the spark and start bringing your idea into sharper focus!
2. If it feels right to you, do some prewriting to help push your screenplay idea from concept to story. Assuming you’re laying the groundwork for a film, keep an eye open for the elements of traditional story structure. Develop “roadmaps” like outlines and synopses to help guide you through the writing process (we’ve linked some resources below to help you with this).
3. Write the screenplay. Write, write, write, write, write. Build it into your routine. And also:
4. Write!

If this resonates with you; if you have some tips and inspiration of your own to share; or even if you just have questions, we’d love to hear from you in the comments below!

 Lauren McGrail, with

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For guidance in getting your idea out of your head and onto the screen, join our online film school, complete with a comprehensive filmmaking course. It’s the training you need to learn how to create professional narrative and documentary films using the equipment you already have, wherever you live, with guidance, community, and resources at a fraction of the cost of traditional film school.

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“The key is not to prioritize your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.”

I’ve been out of film school for 10 years… Almost 11. Writing that makes me feel a bit old ??, but it also means that at this stage in my life and career and those of my film school cohorts, it’s fairly clear to see who is going to be writing or making films (or working in the film industry in some other capacity) for the long haul, and who is not.

Want to know how?

The people who are going to be involved in the film industry are still doing it.

The people who aren’t? They aren’t, barring some sort of future change.

One of the questions we get asked a lot here at Lights Film School – by aspiring screenwriters, producers, film directors, editors, you name it – is, “How do I make it in the film industry? How do I make sure my career has staying power?” And although there’s no surefire way to do it (for most things, if there were step-by-step instructions, we’d all have an easier time) – the answer, having witnessed many of my friends just go through a decade of being out of school and trying to make it, is…

Drumroll…

If you want your career to have staying power, you have to have staying power.

That means short term, project by project, but it also means long term.

The trouble with film school…

To be clear, I love film school. Formally studying a craft offers immense opportunities for rapid growth.

For example, you learn about cinema traditions and conventions; stylistic and technical foundations; and you’re encouraged to grapple with bigger, more philosophical questions, like what kind of films you want to make, what type of artistry you’re attracted to, and what you personally want to achieve as a filmmaker.

Film school also makes it easier to leverage two resources that are completely invaluable: time and focus.

I recently shared insights into how to become a more productive filmmaker, where I pointed out that in order to move our projects forward, we need – and I mean NEED – to dedicate time to them on a regular basis. It’s like going to the gym to get and stay in shape. I’ve since come across a great quote that’s related to my earlier musings and appropriate for our conversation here, too:

“The key is not to prioritize your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.”

Let’s unpack that a bit. For me, my schedule includes many things. Freelance writing deadlines, school appointments for my toddler, friends and family commitments… The list goes on, as it does for all of us, right? Oh, and I also have my own creative endeavors (I’m currently developing a novel). Guess what all too often gets pushed to the bottom of my list first?

That’s where this quote comes in.

It asks me not to prioritize my schedule, but to schedule my priorities. That means I need to put my novel on the calendar. 10 AM on Monday: time to write. 10 AM on Tuesday : time to write. 10 AM on Wednesday: time to write. If someone wants to schedule a call for that time? Sorry, I have an appointment at that time (my appointment to write).

The beautiful thing about when you’re deep into film studies – whether you’re physically attending a university, or you’re connecting with people around the world through, say, our online film school here at Lights Film School – is that while you’re engaged in the learning process, in order to be successful, you must schedule time and focus for your craft. In fact, unlike me, it’s not “another thing to juggle”. Writing your script, making progress on your film project, all of it is a part of the work of being in school!

It literally is your schedule.

“Hmmmmm”, you may be thinking. “This section is entitled ‘the trouble with film school’, and you’ve just spent a lot of time telling me what’s so great about it.” True! I told you I was a fan. ?

Okay, so actually, the problem isn’t with “film school” per se. It’s with a lack of film school.

Allow me to explain. I don’t mean people who haven’t had the inclination or opportunity to experience film school. I mean when you have – been in it with all that focus and all that promise and all that inspiration and excitement for your future! – and then suddenly, you’re out of it.

Suddenly you’ve finished your instruction, you’ve got your final project under your belt, the film industry feels “way out there”, and now you’re staring at a big heaping pile of “Now what?”

Ooof.

For many film school graduates, this is a real crossroads, and this is where the seeds for the “Who’s making films ten years later?” scenario I described get planted.

Those who continue to make art for the sake of doing it… Not necessarily because it’s an assignment that’s due, or because a studio has paid them to do it? They’re the ones who tend to start off on the right foot in this post-film-school world. And they’re the ones who, ten years later, have a classmate basically subtweeting them through an entire blog post, winking in their direction and saying, “You. You’re the ones who are still at it in the film industry. Good job, friends.”

To be clear, if you haven’t been to film school, the same principle applies. You’ve got to muster time and focus to actually keep at your craft and get the ball rolling on your film industry career.

You get good at what you spend time doing.

We artists tend to refer to our projects as “work”, because, well, they are. But much of society tends to refer to “work” as “the thing you do to make money.” As artists and humans, we need both kinds of work. If we stick with it, eventually we can find ways to meld the two into one thing, so that our “work” is also our “work.”

Here’s the thing, though. When I and my classmates got out of college, a lot of them came up against an obstacle of how to immediately meld the two kinds of “work” together.

In many cases, that proved impossible. The people who are still making films, or engaging in film in some way, today are the ones who saw the forest for the trees in that scenario and said, “I’m going to get a job of some sort doing something related to film, and in the meantime, I’m going to continue to work on my own projects.”

What kinds of jobs in the film industry did those classmates of mine have? To list a few, real examples, friends of mine got jobs as:

• Assistant sound technician
• Child wrangler on a kids’ TV show
• Casting assistant
• Assistant at a talent management firm, talent agency, or entertainment law office
• Production assistant
• Editorial assistant
• Screenwriting coach
• Screenwriting competition judge

What do all of these jobs have in common? They all got my friends in real-world situations that put them in touch with people who were making a living in the film industry, and they all helped my friends better understand the field that they essentially want to have management-level positions in.

Let’s pause there for a moment.

I’ve noticed that among many filmmakers, because we have a passion to express ourselves so strongly, we feel – sometimes deeply – that we want people to see our work right now. And while I agree (and will argue strongly, in short order) that we need to be making films and getting our work out there, I do notice an expectation sometimes from students and other new filmmakers that they should be skyrocketing right to the director’s chair as soon as they’ve completed their studies.

Can you imagine another industry in which that expectation would seem reasonable, such as a law student coming out of school and expecting to be made partner at a law firm? Or a brand new teacher coming out of college and expecting to be named principal?

In most industries, it takes a lot of work beyond school, beyond that internship or handful of gigs, learning the ins and outs to really earn one’s place at the top.

The director of a film, whether it’s an indie or a big Hollywood production, manages a lot of people. There’s often a lot of money on the line. That person needs to know their stuff, and have proven that, before the responsibility of such a weighty film industry job would be bestowed upon them. Get to know the backgrounds and bios of your favorite filmmakers, and you’ll find this to be a throughline more often than not (although the specific routes professionals take are unique and sometimes circuitous).

I’m really not trying to be a downer here. I very much hope that you aren’t reading these words and saying, “Well great. So I went to school and now I can’t just be a director.”

Not. The. Case.

You can be a director, and you are, so long as you’re practicing your craft.

But the people who wake up in the morning and go to the big film sets with the big budgets? Most were directing for a long time before they became household names. While they were in film school and from the minute they got out of it (or independently on their own the whole time), they were making their films. Regardless of deadlines, regardless of pay, they were expressing themselves, making movies, and getting them in front of audiences through film festivals and other channels. They were putting in the work.

By the way, I should mention that going after a traditional film industry job isn’t the only path you can take as a professional!

For a lot of people, getting a job on, say, a film set either isn’t feasible – because they don’t live in a place where the film industry tends to shoot movies or television shows – or because they simply don’t want to. Not everyone’s interested in learning how to rig a light, frame up a shot, or operate a boom pole, you know?

That’s fine. You can, and should, still be dedicating yourself to your craft if you want to build a filmmaking career of any sort. The most important thing you can do is the work, in the context and at a level that’s interesting to and attainable for you. Remember Malcolm Gladwell’s 10,00 hours rule. You get good at what you spend time doing.

Set quantifiable, realistic goals.

Of course, your network plays a role in growing your career – the “who you know” – but regardless of whether or not you’re not in a position to actively foster film industry relationships, it’s always a good idea to develop the skills you’ll need for when you do meet the right people at the right time. Be it in person through a university or a gig, or online through a community like Lights Film School.

Whatever the case, like I’ve shared before, you need to make quality, consistent time for your work. Depending on what your other “work” (?) is, that may mean waking up early to write every day and using your vacation time to make movies (I have two film school friends who do this – it’s how they use all of their vacation time!). The truth is, making it in any form of art takes a great deal of dedication. It means making your passion part of your job, even though, a lot of the times, people aren’t paying you to do it (yet).

If that all feels big and daunting, let’s break it down a bit.

Just like any long-term goal, sticking with your art means making small goals, achieving them, and making more. I have an acquaintance who is a playwright who makes writing goals for herself. She recently posted online that she’s written over 50 plays since graduating. Fifty! And she’s won a lot of attention for them, too. Know how? She makes goals for herself as to how many fellowships, festivals, and other accolade-granting endeavors she’s going to submit her work to on a monthly basis.

And then she sticks to those goals. They’ve become a habit. A mindset.

The thing about consistency is that it adds up.

Maybe you make a goal to write a 10-page screenplay each month for the next six months. At the end of those six months, you’ll have 6 finished short film scripts, and you’ll have 60 screenplay pages written. That’s a lot of work to show for yourself! Enough so that if a potential collaborator were to ask to see some of your writing to get a sense of whether or not you’d be a good artistic fit for one another, you’d actually have options for what to send. Pretty cool, right?

That classic film industry question, “What are you working on now?”

In addition to having options, it’s really great to have an answer to the question you will inevitably get in most conversations you’ll have at festivals or in otherwise film-focused settings: “What are you working on now?”

Particularly when you’re talking to someone like a manager or agent, they want to know that the thing they just saw isn’t all you’ve got. They want to know you are a focused, dedicated artist who is engaging consistently with your craft.

Your smaller goals can be anything that you think will help you meet a larger goal. For example:

• Maybe you want to have a feature-length film written by this time next year. Great! So, how many pages do you have to write per month? And how many pages does that mean per day?
• Maybe you want to write, produce, direct, edit, and sound design a short film in the next year – the whole deal, from end to end. Great! So, when do you have to have the script written by in order to make your short film in time, so that you’ll have enough leeway to cut it by a year from today? Record the date and work your way backwards. How long will it take to edit? Make estimates for every step of the filmmaking process.
• Maybe you want to think bigger. “In ten years, I want to have made 5 feature films.” Okay, great! But break that down. When is your first script going to be written by? When are you going to figure out how to finance that film? How are you going to take the time you need to make it? Most goals are doable if you are practical about how to go about them. If you have an aspirational goal like this one, that is awesome and I believe in you and know you can do it. But definitely start making a plan, today, for how you are going to make it happen.

As this list illustrates, goals come in different shapes and sizes. The most important thing about them, though, is that by having goals and engaging in them, we’re engaging in our work. Goals help us create time and focus – those two irreplaceable things that contexts like film school give us.

The absolute most important thing you can do to be closer to where you want to be long term in the film industry is to keep plugging away at those short term goals. This work is cumulative. The more you make, the more you’ll have, and the better you’ll get.

The benefits of sticking with it are real.

Yeah, but seriously, does “sticking with it” really work?

It certainly has for many artists, of many different ilks! Some time ago, we highlighted a captivating video essay that showed how Vincent Van Gogh followed his passion for art as a passion, as opposed to just a means to an end of fame:

“Vincent Van Gogh, TS Eliot, Julia Margaret Cameron, Emily Dickinson, Claude Monet, Elizabeth Gilbert, Naguib Mahfouz… Artists who grasp that “the doing itself is the reward”. The activity is done for its own sake; not in expectation of some future consequence.”

Inspired? Check out the video essay in its entirety, entitled “Painting in the Dark: The Struggle for Art in a World Obsessed with Popularity”:

What do you think?

What attainable goals do you plan to set for yourself as a filmmaker? What kind of bigger goals are you reaching for, and what smaller goals can you set within them to help you get there? We’d love to hear about your journey in the comments below!

 Lauren McGrail, with

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For help learning what you need to know to get into the film industry (and then acting on that knowledge!), join our online film school, complete with a comprehensive filmmaking course. 

It’s the training you need to learn how to create professional narrative and documentary films using the equipment you already have, wherever you live, with guidance, community, and resources at a fraction of the cost of traditional film school.

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“Creative work is not a selfish act or a bid for attention… It’s a gift to the world and every being in it. Don’t cheat us of your contribution. Give us what you’ve got.”

There’s a scene in the show Mad Men that sticks with me.

A new manager is in the office, and he’s looking for efficiencies. He complains to Don Draper that the writers are all just sitting in their offices doing nothing. Don shrugs and says something to the effect of, “They’re writers. That’s what we pay them for. To lay on the couch until the next idea comes.”

I’ve scoured Mad Men tribute blogs to find the exact quote, but I’ve not been able to track it down. Probably because, for most people, there are dozens of more compelling Mad Men quotes that speak to the human condition!

But for me, there’s something that really strikes at the heart of human creativity in that exchange. As a creative myself, I can’t seem to shake it.

For sure, it makes me nostalgic for a time when you could be a creative person who’s asked to sit and think and “be creative”. Romanticized notions aside, even the most creative jobs today tend to involve a lot of correspondence and computer usage. When you were doing that kind of work “way back when”, there were fewer distractions. No emails to answer; no smartphone notifications; no compulsion to scroll through Instagram, Facebook, Twitter; no instant news updates (and no blog posts about how to get yourself creatively disciplined ?).

There was just you and the empty air and the ideas drifting by, waiting for you to seize them.

That’s no longer the world we live in, which is why the Mad Men exchange in question inspires me. For me, it’s a call to action to create the space I need to think and be creative, even though such space is harder to come by in our society.

In my case, that means turning off the internet for a set block of time each day, and using that time to do what Don’s staff of writers did: stay productive; foster the arrival of the next idea; make the next bit of progress on a project.

I don’t necessarily have to lie contemplatively on a couch. I could be writing the whole time, working hard to keep pace with my thoughts. The only thing I can’t be doing is procrastinating by, say, click, click, clicking away at the myriad of distractions that are available to us in this digital, very non-Mad Men world we’ve found our way to.

As a fellow creative and Lights Film School teacher, I hear a lot from writers, filmmakers, and other artistically-inclined people who struggle with time management. How do we make progress on our work? The answer is deceptively simple: by dedicating time to it. But that, my friend, can be easier said than done. Effective time management and sustainable self-motivation are two of the biggest challenges facing creative professionals on a daily basis.

The struggle is real.

What I want to do today is demystify the struggle for us by examining it from two angles. We’ll (1) reveal the traps we sometimes fall into while doing creative work (and how to avoid them), and (2) share some strategies for how to lead a productive and healthy creative life.

It’s my hope that you’ll come away from this feeling a little less alone when it comes to things that trip you up – that you’ll feel energized and ready to get into (creative) shape, so to speak.

So: here’s to building momentum on our creative endeavors this year!

Here’s why you need to show up for your work.

Personally, when we talk about committing to creative work, I naturally gravitate to writing, since that’s my craft. To be clear, though, the art of setting aside time and making space is one that’s relevant to nearly every creative pursuit. For filmmakers, that can include:

• Writing and rewriting a script.
• Reading a friend’s script and providing notes.
• Pre-production work for an indie film, including budgeting, developing a shooting schedule, finding locations, casting actors, shot listing and storyboarding, etc.
• Production! Actually shooting something.
• Editing.
• Sound design.
• Scoring and composition.
• And any number of related tasks!

It doesn’t matter whether you’re an aspiring filmmaker just starting out or a super-established one gearing up for the next project: the thing about being a productive independent artist is that it takes a lot of gumption to make sure you’re showing up for your work every day.

Notice the key word, here: your work.

Colloquially, people talk about “showing up to work every day” a lot, right? It’s often used in context of complaining about “the Day Job Slog”. Showing up for your work is a different beast altogether, though. For many, showing up for a day job is the only way to get paid and thus afford life. But showing up for your work is the only way to give that project you care about life. Your work literally can’t grow unless you show up for it. And if you don’t, it’s just sitting there, lonely, waiting ?.

Ask yourself honestly: are you okay with that?

To quote Steven Pressfield‘s book The War of Art – a kick in the butt every creative professional should read! –

“Creative work is not a selfish act or a bid for attention on the part of the actor. It’s a gift to the world and every being in it. Don’t cheat us of your contribution. Give us what you’ve got.”

Bring on the weight training! ??‍

As with nutrition and sports and many things health-related, actively choosing to make progress on a creative endeavor requires regular exercise.

If you’ve ever started exercising after a period of lethargy, then you know those first few days are really tough. Thankfully, the more you do it, the easier it becomes, the more the process starts to feel attainable.

It’s the same with creative work. The first day you sit down to write after not writing for awhile? Streams of beautiful words may not exactly be pouring out of you. The fifth day in a row, though? You’re going to feel less winded. Those words probably will start to come a little more naturally.

…Assuming, of course, that you actually use the time well.

It’s alarmingly easy to sort of fool yourself into thinking that you “did the work” of being creative, that you were super productive, when what you were reeeeally doing was wasting time in front of the computer. Sort of like how you can feel good about your “progress” when you go to the gym even if you don’t touch any of the exercise equipment. Unfortunately, neither creative schedules nor workout schedules build true momentum through osmosis!

But to go back to that Mad Men moment – imagine the scene in today’s day and age. The manager would have walked past Peggy Olsen’s office, and he would have seen her sitting behind a laptop, clicking away. He probably would have assumed she was busy at work… SMASH CUT TO the Instagram Story on Peggy Olsen’s screen (been there ??‍)!

Computers can give the appearance of working – project a strong impression of “busyness” – even (and most insidiously) to oneself. But arguably, the sitting and thinking that the writers were doing back in Don’s day actually may have been more productive, since there were fewer distractions competing for attention.

In other words: Don’t get stuck in the Dark Playground!

As Tim Urban explains it, “The Dark Playground is a place every procrastinator knows well. It’s a place where leisure activities happen at times when leisure activities are not supposed to be happening. The fun you have in the Dark Playground isn’t actually fun because it’s completely unearned and the air is filled with guilt, anxiety, self-hatred, and dread”:

Basically, getting into creative shape takes some real self honesty. If you set aside two hours to be creative each morning but spend an hour and a half of that time on Instagram, then you need to be honest with yourself about the fact that you did not actually live up to your goal that day.

And then you need to show up the next day and try again.

But what if I was on Instagram to do research for my project?

Okay, fair. I’m not about to claim that the entire internet is evil, or that it can’t help you with your creative endeavors! Maybe you’re using a social network to learn about a subject relevant to your creative project, or simply to get inspired. Great! Just be honest with yourself… Don’t lie about the quality of the time you’re putting in. You’re only cheating yourself if you convince yourself you were productive when you weren’t.

Hanging out in the proverbial gym, watching other people train and channeling the vibe, is not going to build your muscles. Only hard work will do that! Again, if you want to get into creative shape and master the art of self-discipline, then you have to commit.

That said, it’s worth highlighting that research can take many forms. Reading books, watching films and videos, browsing magazines… These are all legitimate avenues of information, depending on the task at hand. If you’re writing about someone who speaks with a particular dialect due to where they live, then watching YouTube videos of people from the same region could count as research – and thus, time spent working toward your goal.

Again, just be aware of when you’ve crossed the line from “this is helpful to know” to “this is procrastination in disguise“.

Strategy A: Set aside time.

Here are some fairly straightforward ways to hold yourself accountable to building focused creative working time into your day regularly:

• Set aside a specific time, on specific days, to write or otherwise pursue creative projects. This doesn’t have to be for the rest of your life, but while you’re figuring out what works well for you, I’d recommend giving it a try and really sticking with it. For example, “Every day for one workweek, I’m going to get up an hour earlier than usual, and I’m going to use that hour to write.” At the end of the week, evaluate how much you’ve accomplished, and figure out if it was worth it. Chances are you’ll look at the pages of writing you’ve created, or the configuration of video clips in your editing timeline, and you’ll realize that that never would have happened without the hour you set aside. If that doesn’t work for you, no worries! Try new routines until you find one that sticks.
• Build creative work into your to-do list. I work from home, which means that I don’t have somewhere I need to be, which means that I don’t necessarily need to do my writing before the rest of my day starts. I can be flexible with when I do it – for better or worse. When I’m not in a mode of setting aside a specific time each day for creative work, I find it can be helpful to put it on my daily to-do list, and to make sure I’m not doing whatever tasks are beyond it on that list before I’ve completed the time I want to give to myself. (For what it’s worth, for me personally, setting aside a specific time of day still works best). Lights Film School teacher Michael shared something with me on this topic that really struck me, too: “I had a screenwriting professor who encouraged us to ‘hold that time as sacred. Treat it as seriously as you treat other priorities in your life.'”
• Make a progress chart. Maybe every day isn’t doable for you. That’s okay; we can work with that! Simply pick days that are doable, and make yourself a chart that has each of those days represented on it. On the days you successfully give yourself the amount of creative time you intended, put an “X” in the box. It may surprise you to discover how motivating and rewarding the simple act of ticking off a box can be!

Please, please be patient with yourself!

These examples are all built around setting aside time for creative work, and then routinely doing the work. Such an approach to self-discipline builds the habit. And once you have a healthy habit in place, you can start to foster an attitude of patience.

In my years of working with new writers, I’ve noticed that some feel as if everything they write should be ready for prime time right away. I have a completely un-researched hypothesis that this belief may have its roots in how society tends to communicate these days. In our digital world of social media and breaking headlines, it’s easy to feel compelled to share content immediately, right? “Instant” is literally built into Instagram’s name. Have a delicious dinner? Snap a shot and put it online. An interesting thought occur to you? Throw it up on your blog or share it on Facebook and watch the Likes pour in.

Immediate feedback – immediate validation – immediate gratification.

But the reality is that much creative work tends to require patience, commitment, and – yes – time. As Don Draper’s staff understood, many ideas need room to breathe. Naturally, not all of them will see the light of day, and that’s okay. It’s too much pressure to put on yourself – not to mention, wildly unrealistic! – to expect everything you create to be good to go right off the bat. That’s what revisions are for.

So give yourself the gift of time. Your creative work deserves nothing less. In the words of Tim Urban again, Progress = Pace X Persistence!

Strategy B: Set specific goals.

Again, for some, setting aside a specific amount of time doesn’t work as well. Some people find it more helpful to set specific goals each day – for example, writing a particular number of words or pages, or editing up to a certain point in your film. If this is you, go for it!

At risk of sounding like a broken record, our digital age is full of distractions. But it’s also given birth to some pretty neat apps that can help you achieve your goals. I personally like Ulysses, which lets you set a deadline for yourself and tells you how many words you need to write per day to hit that goal. Scrivener is another piece of software that allows you to set writing targets. For screenwriting, one of our favorite solutions here at Lights Film School, CeltX, facilitates the same. Meanwhile, The Most Dangerous Writing App is fun for free-flowing brainstorming – if you stop writing, your progress gets erased! ??

You don’t need a purpose-built tool to set a goal, of course. Word counts, page counts… These are things you can track manually, too.

Either way, if this goal-oriented approach speaks to you, the only word of caution I’d offer is that if you wind up exceeding your goal on any given day, you don’t decide to give yourself the next day off. Remember, leading a healthy creative life is just like physical training. If you take a day off, it’ll be harder to come back the next day.

Unlock the potential of Nothing in life and your creative work.

Let’s take a moment to acknowledge the power of Nothing… Both the ideas that can come when we let ourselves experience nothingness, and the sensation of wanting to run for the hills when we stare at our screen and see that we’ve written… Well, Nothing!

I often feel an urge to use the distractions of the digital age to fill the Nothingness… To keep busy those spaces which, in bygone years, were quiet factories of thought and ideas. This is why I find it so important to unplug during my dedicated creative work time. I’d encourage you to try and do the same.

But even as I stand up on the highest mountain and shout that my “unplugged” time is very important, I’ll be the first to tell you:

It. ?? Is. ?? Hard. ??.

I’m no different than anyone else. When I feel like I don’t know what to write next, I feel anxious about it. Clicking over to email or social media or whatever is a welcome relief from the blinking cursor that’s staring me in the face:

When I do unplug, I still sometimes find that anxious twinge in my core whispering in my ear: “Y’knoooooow, it’d be a lot easier to scroll through social media than sit here and think right now, amiright?”

But the truth is, I’ve almost never found the answer by indulging such distractions. Instead, I’ll find the answer by staring out the window for a few beats or whatever. Go figure.

Of course, I’ll also find answers through other avenues of inspiration! Sure, sometimes that’s the internet (again, be honest with yourself). Recently for me it was an encounter at a museum. I had a creative breakthrough when I came face-to-face with a sculpture that took my breath away. If I’d been laser-focused on, say, hitting a word count that day – in other words, if I hadn’t made the time to intentionally pursue inspiration by visiting that museum – then I may not have made that breakthrough.

I suppose what I’m saying is that sometimes, the most productive thing you can do is Nothing. As Pooh puts it in the film Christopher Robin, “Doing nothing often leads to the very best of something.” So take your eyes off the screen and stare out that window or get out there and visit that museum!

Here are some of the many ways you can invite more creativity into your life. If you’re mid-project and on a hunt for inspiration, keep your project in the forefront of your mind and actively invite the activity to reveal things to you:

• Stare out the window.
• Visit a museum.
• Go for a walk. Or more generally, get outside! Science proves it’s healthy. Plus, it breaks up your routine and gets you away from technology, helping you unplug (I dare you to leave your phone behind!) Being outdoors can really boost your creativity… Think how much open space your ideas have to fly around out there.
• Hang out in the park and observe passersby.
• Go out to eat. Extra points if you pick somewhere you’ve never been before, and double-extra points if you also choose something to eat that you’ve never tried before. Trying new things – especially things that are out of your comfort zone – helps grow the part of your subconscious that’s receptive to and flexible with ideas, including in context of creative work.
• Grab a coffee, beer, etc. with someone you find particularly inspiring. That doesn’t necessarily mean you put them on a pedestal or think everything they do is amazing. What I mean by “inspiring” in this context is “someone with whom you can share ideas freely”. For example, I have a friend with whom I have sort of a magical chemistry. She and I riff off of one another with ease and come up with all sorts of zany ideas and ways of looking at things together. If I’m feeling creatively stuck, having coffee with her often frees me up without us even ever having to talk about the thing I’m working on creatively. The air between us is just creative, and I leave feeling artistically inspired.
• Look at art, read literature, listen to music, play a game… And of course, watch movies! All of these activities have the potential to introduce you to a new way of seeing – to spark a moment of emotional or creative awakening that will benefit you and your project. However, with this one more than the other things on this list, I feel like it’s important to remind you to be aware of when you’re using these things to open your mind versus when they’re an insidious means of procrastination. Watching a film with an open, creative, productive mind is a very different experience from zoning out binge-watching a show on Netflix. Art created by others has a ton to teach us about being artists – we just have to, as always, be honest with ourselves about the manner in which we’re indulging.

So what do you think?

How do you build momentum and stay productive? What kind of creative routines and strategies work for you? And what do you do when you need inspiration? We’d love to hear about your creative process in the comments below!

 Lauren McGrail, with

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Want to learn more about productivity? Feel like you need guidance and accountability in your creative journey?

Then join our online film school, complete with a comprehensive filmmaking course. It’s the training you need to learn how to create professional narrative and documentary films using the equipment you already have, wherever you live, with guidance, community, and resources at a fraction of the cost of traditional film school.

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“The dramatic effect of a film was found not in the content of its shots but rather in the edits that join them together.”

Have you ever wished you could change the way someone was feeling, or the way someone perceived something, as if by magic? Film editors do this every day, only they’re not casting spells… They’re simply applying a principle known as “The Kuleshov Effect”.

To understand The Kuleshov Effect, we need to establish the historical context of its discovery. The man behind the principle, Lev Kuleshov, was born in January 1899. As a child, his favorite food was… Just kidding. We don’t need to go that far back. To borrow a term from the VCR age, let’s fast-forward, all the way to Kuleshov’s work as a Russian and Soviet film theorist!

He directed his first movie in 1917, worked with a documentary crew covering the Russian Civil War from 1918 to 1920, and headed the first Soviet film courses at The National Film School, where he became a leader in Soviet Montage Theory.

Kuleshov was fascinated by the power of film editing to manipulate emotion. He put a lot of thought into the juxtaposition of shots, epitomized in a short film demonstration known today as “The Kuleshov Effect”. Kuleshov intended for his short film to show how an audience’s perception of something onscreen changes, depending on what they see in relationship to that thing.

Specifically, he showed a single shot of a man, purposefully expressionless, intercut with three other shots: a bowl of soup, a girl in a coffin, and a woman lying on a couch:

Kuleshov alternated the shot of the expressionless man with these three shots. Although the shot of the man was unchanged each time it appeared onscreen, the audience’s perception of his expression changed. When paired with the soup, the audience saw hunger. When paired with the girl in the coffin, the audience saw sorrow. When paired with the woman on the couch, the audience saw lust.

By pairing the image of the man – essentially a human “blank slate” – with each of these images, Kuleshov manipulated the audience’s idea of and reaction to what they were seeing, simply by implying that the man was “looking at” whatever was shown. In other words, “the dramatic effect of a film was found not in the content of its shots but rather in the edits that join them together.” Michael Toscano elaborates, revealing how profound this discovery was:

“Kuleshov was right to emphasize the power that editing has over motion pictures, even to the point of bending the inner ‘reality’ of shots. What stunned Kuleshov was the incredible flexibility of the medium, and, with that in mind, the power it granted him to provide moving pictures with new contextual meanings. Such authority over meaning strikes us as obvious today, but at the time the ‘photographic’ image was held to be a totally faithful, ‘concrete,’ inviolably ‘true’ artifact, free of the shortcomings of subjectivity.”

Kuleshov’s legacy isn’t his contributions as a filmmaker so much as his groundbreaking contributions as a film theorist. Many of his students – including Sergei Eisenstein! – applied and built upon his principles, making films which today are regarded as classics.

Alfred Hitchcock and The Kuleshov Effect as “Pure Cinematics”

Legendary film director Alfred Hitchcock went so far as to call The Kuleshov Effect “pure cinematics”. In this interview, Hitchcock goes one step further than Kuleshov did in his short film, by assigning a change in expression to the man.

The implication? A “blank slate” is not required for an audience to attribute different emotions to a character onscreen! Again, it’s all about what the character is looking at:

A great example is Hitchcock’s own classic, Rear Window, a film about looking. Justin Morrow explains it well:

“Stewart’s character, a photographer, is a voyeur by profession; in the film’s story, he is a voyeur, peeking through his window into people’s private lives; in the framing of the shots, Hitchcock always makes sure to keep his POV shot aligned with Stewart’s eyeline. Rather than an objective POV shot, we are seeing what Stewart sees, so we as audience members become even more voyeuristic than we already are (because movies are nothing if not exercises in voyeurism, in looking into other people’s lives).

 

Hitchcock’s technique was so effective, that, in an interview, Stewart later claimed not to remember playing the role the way he had seen it on-screen. The fact was, Hitchcock’s manipulation of the Kuleshov Effect was so masterful that he could alter the montage and create completely different meanings. So what Stewart was looking at during filming (or what he was supposed to be looking at) may very well not have been what he thought he was supposed to be looking at. Which is all kinds of weird.”

The Kuleshov Effect Is Everywhere!

When you stop and think about it, you’ll realize that The Kuleshov Effect is fundamental to the language of film.

Consider the reaction shot, a staple of traditional “continuity editing”, in which shot transitions are de-emphasized so as to create the impression of continuous, chronological time. A reaction shot shows a character looking at another character or subject, usually offscreen in another shot/in reflection in the same shot. Either way, that character or subject informs the character’s reaction in the reaction shot, revealing something about them and the story.

This video essay about the reaction shot essentially showcases The Kuleshov Effect, with examples from more modern films to illustrate:

“Pure cinematics” is all well and good, but The Kuleshov Effect can do far more than serve as a pillar of film language. For example, in Denis Villeneuve’s 2016 Arrival, The Kuleshov Effect actually plays a role in driving home the film’s themes. 

Consider this a SPOILER ALERT! In order to show how The Kuleshov Effect functions in Arrival, we need to unpack the story. You’ve been warned! Arrival opens with flashes of the protagonist Louise’s life. Through what we see, we understand that Louise is a mother in mourning, having lost her young daughter to cancer. As the story continues, we learn that Louise is also a linguistics expert who gets recruited by the government to assist in communicating with aliens.

Eventually, the aliens teach Louise that time can be experienced non-linearly. She grasps this and realizes that she and her coworker on the government’s mission, a physicist, will fall in love and have a daughter. This daughter will die of cancer as a child. What we see at the beginning of the film is not the past – it’s actually the future. And it’s a future that Louise accepts, despite knowing what will happen. ?

Samartha Ingle argues that our misperception of the film’s opening is actually The Kuleshov Effect at work:

The movie opens with a montage of Louise and Hannah at the end of which we see that Hannah dies of cancer. With this information we read the next scene incorrectly. We misinterpret Louise’s disinterest as sadness.

 

And we constantly see Louise through this lens throughout the film until it is revealed that the events in the first scene have not occurred yet. Thus completely shattering our previous conception of Louise’s character and we suddenly see her in a whole different perspective. Also, the movie ends with a vision in which Louise witnesses scenes similar to the montage we see at the beginning. This solidifies the narrative’s theme of time and our perception of time even more. Masterfully achieved through clever editing and excellent acting.

Let that sink in.

The Kuleshov Effect reaches even beyond filmmaking… In fact, it could be argued that the memes we see all over social media and around the internet are The Kuleshov Effect in action! When you make a meme, you’re basically taking content that was produced for one purpose and meaning and assigning it a new purpose and meaning, often for comedic effect.

Let’s take this guy blinking. I’m sure you’ve seen him around:

Different people have used this guy blinking to express different feelings about a range of topics.

For example, Ava DuVernay used it when President Trump made a remark about Sweden having troubles it seemingly didn’t have. Here, we read this guy to be in disbelief. Almost like he’s saying, “I’m sorry, what now?” Stephen Colbert used this same GIF to express his discontentment with the Trump administration. Here, we read the blinking guy as annoyed – like he’s saying, “How could you have thought that?” And in a third example, Twitter user @eskbl uses the GIF to express confusion and overwhelm. This was the tweet that really went viral and catapulted Blinking Guy to the heights of meme fame.

Bottom line? Depending on the context Blinking Guy is paired with, we read his feelings differently.

Thanks to The Kuleshov Effect.

What Do You Think?

Can you recall a film that moved you with a clever juxtaposition of shots? Or have you juxtaposed shots yourself as a filmmaker, perhaps combining unrelated images to create a memorable reaction?

Either way, we’d love to hear about your encounters with The Kuleshov Effect in the comments below!

 Lauren McGrail, with

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Want to learn more about The Kuleshov Effect and film editing as a whole?

Then join our online film school, complete with a comprehensive filmmaking course. It’s the training you need to learn how to create professional narrative and documentary films using the equipment you already have, wherever you live, with guidance, community, and resources at a fraction of the cost of traditional film school.

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Looking back at the year that was.

2018 started with a bang… Not only in the form of the fireworks that lit up the skies of New York City, where I rang in the New Year, but also in the form of Change, which has been Lights Film School’s constant companion since January.

For starters, our online film school’s longtime Screenwriting Instructor, Lauren McGrail, transitioned into her new role as Lead Content Contributor. This affords Lauren more time to spend with her growing children – I don’t have any myself, but apparently toddlers are both a joy and a handful!

It’s also an opportunity for followers of our blog to learn from Lauren’s unique teaching and film industry experiences.

Together, Lauren and I published an average of two posts per month, amounting to 24 pieces of new content in 2018. If you’re familiar with our blog, then you know how much love we pour into each and every one of our posts, ensuring that they deliver valuable teaching and inspiration. This year, we covered everything from casting to directing improv, from creating press kits to working with publicists, from writing loglines to treatments and much, much more.

As always, the goal of our blog is to provide genuine, in-depth training to indie filmmakers around the world – for free.

Part and parcel of this mission involves building community through the magic of the internet. We addressed this by implementing a new, more interactive commenting system on our blog. To make it even easier to explore specific topics, we hand-picked related posts for four years’ worth of posts. And finally, to keep things looking pretty, we went through our archives and brought all of our old posts up to Lights Film School’s latest design standard.

So that’s the latest with the blog. Within our flagship online film school, Lauren’s role transition gave me the opportunity to step into the shoes of “Screenwriting Instructor”, which plays to my personal interests and strengths. 

It also obliged us to find a new Directing Instructor. Noah Wagner, a fellow NYU Tisch alum, rose to the challenge! He’s now sharing his talent and professional experiences at HBO, BBC, NBC, and elsewhere with our students.

Speaking of our students, they’re benefiting not only from added perspective but also from a whole new learning platform introduced this year. Some quick background: in April 2017, we launched a learning platform built over many months from the ground up. It was more intuitive, interactive, and beautiful than its predecessor, but we outgrew it more quickly than anticipated.

So, this past July, we migrated to Teachable, a leading online course development platform.

What does that mean? Well, it’s now easier for students to find the content that matters most to them, thanks to simplified and streamlined site navigation. Students have a much clearer idea of where they are in their studies, since progress tracking has been revamped. And our instructors can focus more time on teaching, since Teachable is helping with the technical side of running our online film school!

In fact, there’ve been a lot of improvements to the technical side of Lights Film School this year. Our systems are even more stable, secure, and transparent. We’re especially excited about the implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the EU, an encouraging step forward in privacy law designed to give control to individuals over their personal data.

I spent quite a bit of time in and around the EU this year, actually.

In the fall, I took a few weeks to hop across the pond and visit Jenn, Lights Film School’s support ninja and an adjunct instructor, who lives amidst the apple orchards and pastures of Kent, England. As many of you know, our team is fully distributed, meaning we work together remotely aside from our occasional reunions!

As fellow Americans, Jenn and I made time to explore English landmarks. We toured the Palace of Westminster before Guy Fawkes Night, marveled at Canterbury Cathedral, and wandered around the prehistoric ruins of Stonehenge. At Dover Castle along the White Cliffs, we gazed up at a Roman lighthouse, lost our way in the corridors of an 11th century fortress, and delved deep into tunnels used during the Second World War. 

It was an eye-opening experience that really put things in perspective for me, especially since the US is such a comparatively young country. I’ve left the UK with a deeper understanding of the history of western civilization, which will inform my own filmmaking in the years ahead.

Naturally, Jenn and I also took some time to celebrate the numbers! For example, since April 2017 – when we officially switched the Lights Film School community over to Slack, a messaging platform for teams – our students and teachers have exchanged more than 10,000 messages. That’s literally thousands of conversations with hundreds of people, friends!

Projects get shared, inspiration flows, and professional relationships bloom. It makes me so incredibly happy to see how successful the revamped community component of Lights Film School has been so far.

In that spirit, I’m setting New Year Resolutions and pressure testing Lights Film School’s projected 2019 roadmap. In fact, we’ve already started experimenting with live webinars, an extension of our obsession with building a genuine international community online. There’re a lot of other things we’re cooking up, too, to be introduced and announced in due time. Stay tuned!

On a personal note, though, I’m planning to return to Southeast Asia in 2019. My journey as a business owner and digital nomad came into its own in that part of the world, and I’m sitting here smiling to myself as I think back on it.

Fellow digital nomads from all walks of life, sunsets over the ocean, the irresistible call of different cultures and countries to explore… I’m hoping to rediscover a sense of camaraderie and adventure, some of which got buried by the busyness this year.

We’re very much a bootstrapped team here at Lights Film School, operating under many of the same constraints that indie filmmakers face. Thus I wear many hats: instructor, manager, content contributor, social media curator, vision-caster, etc., to say nothing of my own creative projects outside of LFS.

The long and short of it is that I feel pulled in approximately 1,000,000 different directions, and this year more than most, the strain took its toll on me physically and psychologically. One of my New Year resolutions is to take better care of myself, so that I can take better care of others, including all of our amazing students and fans around the world. ?

So from me to you and on behalf of all of us here at Lights Film School, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I’m looking forward to supporting you in your filmmaking journey as this year closes and a new one begins!

With love,

 Michael, with

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Want to experience Lights Film School firsthand and connect with our amazing community?

Then join our online film school. It’s the training you need to learn how to create professional narrative and documentary films using the equipment you already have, wherever you live, with guidance, community, and resources at a fraction of the cost of traditional film school.

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? Filmmaking gifts to suit every budget.

I studied filmmaking in college, so perhaps it’s no surprise that my life is filled with filmmakers. My husband is one, as are many of our best friends… Suffice it to say that between all of the birthdays and seasonal holidays, I’ve spent a lot of time over the years hunting for the best gifts for filmmakers!

For example, one year I found a super cool F-stop watch at a gift shop. But by and large, gift shops don’t usually have a “For the Established or Aspiring Filmmaker in Your Life” section. So what to do?

Well, Michael and I have put our heads together here at Lights Film School to curate 10 gift ideas for that future Spielberg in your life. If you’re one yourself, then these should do just fine in rounding out your birthday list, letter to Santa, or whatever the occasion may be. They span the spectrum of budget, so there’s something here for everyone!

1. Break Out the Books!

In my house, books are a family favorite especially around Christmas time. They’re not too expensive, easy to wrap, and depending on the book, entertaining and useful. There are approximately 1,000,000,000,000 filmmaking-related books out there, but we’ve rounded up 22 of the best, so that you don’t have to guess at which ones are worth the time and money.

So, here are 10 books on filmmaking that are especially great for beginners. For fascinating insights from industry greats, check out these 7 selections, comprising personal reflections, meditations on craft, and of course, firsthand accounts of the actual filmmaking process. And finally, consider these 5 must-read filmmaking textbooks covering the fields of directing, cinematography, and sound, every one of which is a no-nonsense, clear-cut “how to” manual.

Each and every book included on these three lists has the Lights Film School stamp of approval. For as little as $10, you can give the gift of knowledge and inspiration!

2. A Subscription to WriterDuet Pro

Way back in history when I was in college (and had to walk uphill to school, both ways), Final Draft was just about the only screenwriting software in town. It was a program you had to install on your computer, and it was not cheap. It also operated much like Microsoft Word and really was used by only one person at a time.

Today, things have changed. Final Draft has grown by leaps and bounds, and although it remains the industry standard, there are a lot of alternatives out there. One such alternative is WriterDuet. It’s particularly well-suited for real-time collaborative workflows, and thanks to cloud storage, accessing your work on different devices is a breeze. A subscription starts at $6.60/month, but your first three scripts are completely free. No page limit, no time limit, no limitations on export and import. This one’s for the screenwriters out there!

3. An Adobe Creative Cloud Membership (or Other Editing Software)

Speaking of software, an Adobe Creative Cloud membership will gift the filmmaker in your life access to Adobe Premiere Pro, a versatile non-linear editing platform that’s all but filled the shoes of Apple’s Final Cut Pro 7, which was a fan favorite among indie filmmakers many moons ago.

Of course, there’s other professional editing software out there: notably Final Cut Pro X (299.99 one-time), Avid Media Composer (subscribe or buy), and more recently, the upstart DaVinci Resolve Studio ($299 one-time). The cool thing about Creative Cloud, and why we’ve highlighted it, is that you get a lot more than just Premiere. Starting at $52.99/month, membership opens the door to Adobe’s full suite of interconnected tools useful for filmmakers, including After Effects and Photoshop, among others.

4. The Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K

Now we’re cooking with gas! Retailing at the time of this writing for $1,295, the recently-released Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K features fantastic image quality and color science at an insanely competitive price. Icing on the cake? It includes DaVinci Resolve Studio, which usually costs $299 on its own, rendering this a far-reaching gift for filmmakers.

Although we aren’t about to dub Blackmagic’s Pocket Cinema Camera 4K the “best” camera on the market – Lights Film School students and longtime LFS fans will recall we believe there is no “best”, so much as there is “best for your unique use case and circumstances” – we just can’t ignore the bang for your buck, here. You keep well below the $2,000+ price tag associated with so many other relatively affordable indie film-friendly cameras, like the Panasonic GH5S and Sony a7SII.

5. Lenses for Your Smartphone

If the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K feels too extravagant, it doesn’t mean that your filmmaking-loving loved one is out of luck in the cinematic achievements department! As we’ve discussed before, many indie filmmakers are turning no further than their pockets for film equipment. Phone cameras have come a long way since the days of pixelated flip-phone images.

Such a long way, in fact, that there are now special lenses for phone cameras that help you achieve higher-quality, more artful still photography – and yes, video! In particular, Moment offers a great range of lenses, including a wide 18mm lens, a tele 58mm lens, an anamorphic lens, a macro lens, and a superfish lens.

Moment lenses are another Lights Film School team favorite. Michael, who travels a ton, uses them all the time and recommends starting with the $99 18mm lens. “It really takes your mobile photography and video work to the next level,” he says. “You can get two times more picture in there.”

6. Ye Olde Trusty Tripod

A tripod is arguably one of the first and most important tools the beginning filmmaker should attain. It’s a tried and true stabilization system, and although you can rent tripods from most film gear rental shops, it makes a lot of sense to own one, too.

“A tripod is not just a support for when the light goes low, requiring you to use a lower shutter speed,” the photo-video equipment company Manfrotto explains. “It may also be your friend when, for creative reasons, you want to open your aperture, add a strong neutral density filter or get a shallow depth of field. It definitely is essential when you want to use a slower shutter speed, to capture a slice of time in a single frame.”

When you’re in the market for a video tripod system, you should know that there are the legs and the fluid head, which can be bought separately or together. You’ll need both pieces to get up and running.

Generally speaking, we’re big fans of Manfrotto and Gitzo tripods. Michael’s taken his super-light Gitzo Mountaineer around the world, through all sorts of weather and shooting conditions. A more popular option is the Manfrotto 504HD System retailing around $650. Expensive? Quite. But nowhere near the OConner Ultimate 2575D, a mainstay on film sets that costs around $18,000!

If you’re looking for an affordable option, the Velbon Videomate 638 for small camcorders and DSLRs is a good place to start, coming in at around $99. And then of course there’s the versatile GorillaPod family, starting at $14.95. Granted, it’s important to note that not all tripods are created equal! They come in ranges of sizes with ranges of features, including differences in leg flexibility, head motion, load-bearing capacity, weight, and more. That’s why you can spend as little as $14.95 or as much as $18,000 for the same kind of tool.

When it comes to image stabilization, there are handheld tools to behold, too. The DJI Ronin-S, a 3-axis gimbal stabilizer for DSLR and mirrorless cameras, can help you get smooth video on the move for a cool $749. For around $140, the DJI Osmo Mobile 2 is an outstanding smartphone gimbal that can come in handy for smartphone cinematography and/or location scouts.

7. An External Audio Recorder

Increasingly, video cameras are outfitted with higher-quality sound capture capabilities and external microphone connections. However, many filmmakers still prefer to rock a dual system sound setup, in which audio is recorded separately from video. This can help ensure high-quality audio and/or provide a sound backup, in case the on-camera sound system should fail for some reason.

Sometimes it’s okay to record sound after the fact. But in other instances, doing Automatic Dialogue Replacement (ADR) just isn’t ideal, for performance or other reasons. I remember once when I was working in talent management, a studio called to schedule ADR with an actor. The actor called my office, panicked: “I have to do this in ADR? What happened? It’s my most emotional scene! I was crying!” Turns out, the sound had been lost.

For external sound recording, consider the Zoom H4N Pro, the successor to the indie film-friendly, much-lauded Zoom H4N. Retailing for around $200, it’s a relatively affordable addition to the indie filmmaker’s toolkit. If there’s a little more wiggle room in your wallet, then for ~$150 more, you could pick up Zoom’s flagship model, the H6, boasting interchangeable mic capsules, physical knobs, and a host of other professional features.

If an external recorder isn’t on your filmmaker’s wish list, you still can help them out in the sound department! For around $200, the Rode VideoMic Pro+ is a fantastic onboard shotgun microphone to get reference or even primary audio.

8. A Copy of Any Film from Sight & Sound‘s “Top 50 Greatest Films of All Time” List

Sight & Sound is the magazine of the British Film Institute. As legendary film critic Roger Ebert describes, Sight & Sound “has been conducting its poll every 10 years since 1952. Because it is world-wide and reaches out to voters who are presumably experts, it is by far the most respected of the countless polls of great movies – the only one most serious movie people take seriously.”

Here at Lights Film School, we’re big believers in the power of watching movies to inspire and improve your filmmaking. What better case studies than the 50 greatest films of all time? The most recent list can be found here.

9. A Subscription to the Criterion Collection’s New Streaming Service

Speaking of the greatest films of all time, The Criterion Collection is launching a new streaming service in the spring of 2019! Everyone who subscribes early gets access to special features and discounts. Fans of Criterion may know that FilmStruck, a WarnerMedia-owned classic film streaming service that hosted The Criterion Collection, was discontinued. At first it was unclear what the fate of The Criterion Collection would be, but a few weeks ago, Criterion announced its own independent streaming service.

Criterion has been a mainstay in my circle of filmmaking family and friends over the years. In college, we’d rush to the since-closed Borders, Books, and Music every time there was a sale on Criterion Collection DVDs. In fact, on a recent trip to the mall, my husband made a special trip to Barnes and Noble for the same purpose! But for so many people, physical media is becoming less and less the norm. We all stream, and as we continue to move further away from physically owning things, it becomes more and more important to find ways to create access to libraries and collections of the classics.

To echo the words of A-list directors who rallied in support of FilmStruck, before Criterion’s new streaming service was announced:

“In an era of huge corporate acquisitions of cinema by communication companies – in a business that may render billions of dollars off a medium like cinema, we believe this is a gesture that is needed – a minuscule show of goodwill towards the preservation and accessibility of a tradition and a rich history that would benefit the public.”

Support the cause and sign up here to give the gift of cinema history!

 

10. Enrollment in Lights Film School!

As someone who’s been working with Lights Film School for over a decade, I am continually inspired by the level of creativity, talent, and ability that is present in our entire student body and faculty, worldwide. Lights Film School offers the opportunity for aspiring filmmakers to connect with one another and get a high-quality, personalized education no matter where they live.

In my time as a Lights Film School teacher, I’ve been able to connect personally and deeply with students from literally every corner of the globe. Across those interactions, I’ve always been astounded at how deeply creative and scholarly conversations can be, even when you’re not face-to-face. Not to mention, how impressively in-depth the Lights Film School curriculum is!

Enrollment in Lights Film School may be just the step your loved one needs to take his or her filmmaking aspirations from dream to reality. It equips students with knowledge, practical skills, and connections that are invaluable. Join up here.

So, what gift are you leaning toward? Have you ever received a film-related gift that upped your game? Something we haven’t included here? Definitely share your gift ideas for filmmakers with us in the comments below. We’d love to hear your experiences and recommendations!

 Lauren McGrail, with

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Want to learn more about filmmaking gear and worthwhile resources?

Then join our online film school, complete with a comprehensive filmmaking course. It’s the training you need to learn how to create professional narrative and documentary films using the equipment you already have, wherever you live, with guidance, community, and resources at a fraction of the cost of traditional film school. Hope to see you there!

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What are you grateful for?

Plymouth, New England, 1621. You rub warmth into your arms. There’s a chill in the air, but it’s made bearable by the smell it carries: wild turkey roasting, cooked by your fellow pilgrims who gather to celebrate a bountiful harvest.

Thanksgiving, long an American tradition, has strong historical and cultural roots, but it’s found its way to other countries over the years. At its best, Thanksgiving evokes a spirit of peace and gratitude that reaches across borders. It’s an invitation to pause and appreciate the people, places, and experiences life gifts us.

Today, we’re extending that invitation to you, whatever your background! Here are five short films, hand-picked to inspire meaningful reflection on the beauty and relationships in your life – and in those of your fellow humans. They don’t all feature turkey (fear not, one does!), but they’re guaranteed to leave you feeling content and, if you’re open, full of love.

1. Giving Is the Best Communication | TrueMove H, 2013

A powerful – and positive – piece of advertising about how giving can change people’s lives.

This moving short film is also an incredibly effective ad for a cell phone company in Thailand. There’s no product placement or overt sales pitch; just a raw, three-minute story spanning thirty years. Giving Is the Best Communication creates an emotionally positive association with the brand that could sway consumers in the market for a new carrier or mobile device.

According to internet lore, some believe that the short was based on the life of a real man, Dr. Prajak Arunthong, but his existence is the stuff of urban legend. True or not, TrueMove H’s tale of kindness and paying it forward has resonated with more than 26 million people worldwide since its debut in 2013. Never underestimate the effect your actions can have on others, be they family, friends, or strangers!

2. SOAR: An Animated Short | Alyce Tzue, 2014

“A cross between Miyazaki and Pixar, SOAR is an award-winning 3D animated movie about a young girl who must help a tiny boy pilot fly home before it’s too late.”

SOAR was the Gold Winner of the 42nd Student Academy Awards, a finalist in the BAFTA US Student Film Awards, and an Official Selection of several prestigious film festivals, and for good reason. It’s a whimsical, beautifully-animated film about a girl struggling to launch her toy airplane, when a tiny pilot crash-lands and needs her help getting back up into the sky. The resolution gave me goosebumps – I especially loved the little wink the tiny pilot gives his human companion when he flashes his hand before a star!

Animation style and technique notwithstanding, SOAR is notable for its expertly-structured story. It hits many of the basic beats of a feature film, but in just six minutes! Actually, after first watching the film a few days ago, I put it on again to show my daughter and was shocked by how quickly the time flew by on a second viewing. It accomplishes so much in such a tiny package (kind of like that tiny pilot!), and it speaks beautifully to what we can achieve when we work together.

3. 3000 Miles | Sean Wang, 2017

“On July 5th, 2016, I moved across the country to work and live in New York City for one year. This is a personal documentary of my year, chronicled by voicemails left by my mom.”

A Vimeo Best of the Year pick, 3,000 Miles plays with the conventions of documentary storytelling by layering a year’s worth of sights and sounds representing the filmmaker’s first impressions of New York City. These are set to voicemails from his mother who lives 3000 miles away, recorded over the same period.

The result is a stirring short film that embodies the love and connection one can feel for and to home, juxtaposed against the excitement of falling in love with an entirely new place. Having moved away from home to NYC myself, I felt nostalgic for the thrill of discovering New York City, and also for that comforting familiarity of family. Although they weren’t there physically with me on that journey, they were always with me in spirit.

There’s probably someone in your life who’d appreciate hearing from you – your mom, a different family member, a friend you’ve lost touch with. Reach out. Make the connection. Life is too short not to show that you care, whether that person is three or three thousand miles away.

4. Small Little Things | Jared Hogan, 2014

“Set in the stark backdrop of an American suburban winter, Small Little Things follows the story of two teenagers as they meet and fall in love. A dreamy, surreal portrait of young love, shifting between fantasy and memory.”

Small Little Things – a 2014 Official Selection of the Raindance Film Festival (among others) – takes the viewer on a journey through a young couple’s relationship, experimenting with temporality and using imagery to evoke the emotions of each phase of their love. It shows how individual moments in a narrative can be strikingly beautiful, even if that narrative doesn’t necessarily have a happy ending.

I especially appreciated the specificity of the imagery here: hands on a steering wheel, breaths misting in the air, the flicker of a smile… Everything shown here could be construed as common or mundane, but through gorgeous cinematography and a thoughtful interaction of images, Hogan has created a poignant portrait that feels both completely specific and entirely relatable.

Remember to relish the “small little things” in life!

5. TURKEY | Harvey Benschoter, 2013

“The holidays can be very stressful in the 70s or 80s or whatever.”

And now for something completely different! This experimental short film uses 70s-era magazine clippings to paint a frenzied picture of Thanksgiving preparation through the eyes of a housewife. It’s a lot fun! The visual medium of collage immediately recalls the calm, picture-perfect “everything is great here” magazine styles of the 60s and 70s, which clashes with a feeling of mounting pressure – first at the grocery store and then at home. Benschoter used a combination of Photoshop and After Effects to create the film’s unique aesthetic.

For anyone who’s ever run around like a chicken – er, turkey – with its head cut off while trying to prep for Thanksgiving dinner, this short film will hit the spot!

In Conclusion

In so many different ways, these short films give us a glimpse into how people can touch one another’s lives.

As the holiday season gets underway, that’s something that we’re thinking about a lot here at Lights Film School. Collaboration is the name of the game in the film industry. Each year, we’re thrilled by what our students are able to achieve with their teams, and grateful for their commitment to helping each other grow and develop in our online community. THANK YOU so much to our LFS family!

What are you grateful for? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below!

 Lauren McGrail, with

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For more curated film breakdowns and to connect with our international community of filmmakers, join our online film school, complete with a comprehensive filmmaking course. It’s the training you need to learn how to create professional narrative and documentary films using the equipment you already have, wherever you live, with guidance, connections, and resources at a fraction of the cost of traditional film school.

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