The cheerful subversive's guide to independent filmmaking / Dan Mirvish.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Mirvish, Dan, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Motion pictures--Production and direction.

Motion pictures.

Independent filmmakers.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (279 pages)

Edition:

Second edition.

Place of Publication:

New York ; London : Routledge, [2021]

Summary:

In this fully updated second edition, award-winning film director and Slamdance Film Festival co-founder Dan Mirvish gives you soup-to-nuts, cradle-to-grave advice on every aspect of the filmmaking lifestyle and craft. He drops advice on playing the Hollywood game, and shows you how to finance, cast, shoot and show your indie feature, documentary, episodic series, short film, student film, web video or big-budget blockbuster. Once labeled a "cheerful subversive" by The New York Times, Mirvish shares lessons he's learned personally from film luminaries Robert Altman, Christopher Nolan, Emma Thomas, Steven Soderbergh, Rian Johnson, Whit Stillman, Harold Ramis, Lynn Shelton, John Carpenter, Ava DuVernay, the Russo Brothers, Bong Joon-ho, Sean Baker andmore. This revised edition includes brand new chapters on filming during a global pandemic finding investors and crowdfunding backers whether and where to go to film school how to get a big Hollywood agent self-distributing your film, even to airlines casting an Oscar-winner as your lead actor and turning your garage into a 1980s New York subway Visit the extensive companion website at www.DanMirvish.com for in-depth supplemental videos, behind-the-scenes footage from Dan's films and bonus materials.

Contents:

Cover

Half Title

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Preface

Starting on the Page

Write a Brilliant Script!

Umm, What to Write?

Adapt or Die

You're No Genius

Playing Around with George Clooney's Happy Ending

Books Are Just Screenplays with Adjectives

Develop a Relationship with the Original Author

Use Their Experience to Your Benefit

Connect with the Material

Don't Call It "Opening Up"

Location, Location, Location

Editing: Macro and Micro

Putting the "Move" in "Movies"

Use Your Source Material's Pedigree

Don't Apologize for Your Source Material

Try This on for Size: Improvise!

Buying a Script on the Open Market

Choose a Castable Script

POEM: THAT'S GREAT, KID

To Lab or Not to Lab

Lawyer Up!

Chain of Title Isn't Just an R&amp

B Song

Report Card: Title, Copyright and Clearance

Mining for Gold: Discovering the Lost Jules Feiffer Script

NAME DROPPER: ROBERT ALTMAN

Finding the Money

Staffing Up: Your First Round of Collaborators

Producing a Producer

Interns and a Clean Garage

Terrorist Filmmaking

There's No Business like a Show Business Plan

Project Summary

Project History

Key Production Team

Synopsis

Director's Statement

Casting

Why Support Independent Film?

Product Integration and Branded Sponsorship

Financing Options

Budget Considerations/Options

Distribution Potential

Distribution Scenarios

Contact Info

Disclaimer

Remember, It's a Visual Medium

Storyboards

Lookbooks and Decks

Pitch Cinema

Subtitles

Takin' Care of Business

Rin-TIN-TIN

Putting the Love in LLC!

Wonderful Waterfalls

Making Sure You're Not a Flimmaker

Registering with the State

The New Pizza King of omaha

EDGAR, EDGAR, Give Me Your Answer Do.

Boiler-Rooms and Shriners

Casting Your Banker

How to Find Money

The Big List

It's ALL Crowdfunding

Putting in the "Camp" without the "Pain"

Hey Buddy, Can You Paradigm?

Fiscal Sponsorship

Horse, Wine and Boat People

Asking Your Family

Why Your Friends Will Give You Money

Putting Social Media to Work

Picking Perks and Avoiding a Zazzle Frazzle

Heart of Glass: The MirvishScope Saga

Deconstructing the Cult of Galileo

Frankenlens and Mir(vishScopes)

Tripling our Kickstarter Goal

Waste Not, Want Not

It's Curtains for the MirvishScope!

Making Product Placement Work for You

Cash and Carry

Break Down, Go Ahead and Give It to Me

A Clear and Present Necessity

Selling Out, Even if You Don't Get Paid for It

Killing Two Birds with One Stone

Casting and Pre-Production

Casting Your Movie with A-List Actors

Assemble a Casting Team

Aim High

Go to New York

Be Bi-Coastally Curious

Don't Have a List!

Develop Relationships with Agents Yourself

Play the Agency Game

Bait and Switch

Set a Start Date

Make It Real

Casting an Ensemble

Start Date or Perish

Take Advantage of Others' Misfortune

Oh, and What if You Don't Have Famous Actors?

Billing, Credits and Favored Nations

Lights, Camera, Cinematographer!

Good vs. Nice

NAME DROPPER: RIAN JOHNSON

They're like Actors with Cameras

It's Who They Know

Crewing Up Inclusively

POEM: DIGITAL, SCHMIGITAL

Are They Still Called Films If They're Digital?

Film's Zombie Resurgence

NAME DROPPER: CHRISTOPHER NOLAN AND EMMA THOMAS

Counting Cameras

Moving Mountains: Location Scouting and Production Designers

POEM: DIGITAL PERVERSION

Bump Up the Credits

Finding a Crew with Donut Group Therapy

Color Schemes and Tone Meetings

Rehearse

What's My Motivation?.

Trust Your Scripty

Be Prepared

Filming Begins

Production Tips, Protocols and Practices

Dress the Part

Safety, Safety, Safety

Your First-Day Disasters

Blocking Your Scenes (or Herding Cats)

NAME DROPPER: HAROLD RAMIS

Overlapping Dialogue

SIDE BAR: THE SOUND OF MUSIC

Encourage "Chemistry" among Your Cast

Behave like a Big Budget Production

Have Faith in Editing

Say Anything

Methods to Their Madness

Does It Take a Video Village to Raise a Film?

Hello, My Name Is Josh

Find the Goat

Ready, Aim, Fire!

Two Takes Ahead

Ready for Your Close-Ups?

Arrive Early, Bring Donuts, Wear Tape

Hair, Makeup and Harmony

Making Your 12-Hour Day

Feeding the Beast

How to Shoot a 1988 NYC Subway Scene in a Culver City Garage … On Film

Panic in Culver City

80s Hair, Whooshing Babies and Putting the "Super" in Super16

Kingdom of the Crystal Sync

Making an Epic EPK

NAME DROPPER: JOHN CARPENTER

Devious Use of the EPKorner

Still the One

Getting Your Kill Shots

Point and Shoot

To Infinity and Behind-the-Scenes

Covid 18½: How to Shoot a Film in a Global Pandemic

70s, Steaks and Swingers

The DGA, the CDC and the ABCs of Shutting Down

The Show Must Go On

Failure Is Always an Option

Finishing with Abandon

Editing like an ACE

Editors Are like Bass Players

Finding Fresh Eyes

Cut Yourself

Quick Tips on the Art of Editing

Start Strong

Stick Your Landing

Don't Let Your Post Supervisor Escape to Madagascar

Teasing Out Your Assistants

Post Production as an Exercise Regime

Getting a Little Testy

VFX: It's Not Easy Being Green Screened

Color Me Blue

Sound and Fury

The Breakfast (Nook) Club

Temp Decomposing

Song Sung Blue

Festing in Style

Toronto, Toschmonto: Time for a Festival Plan "B".

It's Just as Well. Your Film Wasn't Finished!

It's All about Sundance Anyway!

To Get Distribution!

SIDE BAR: PRODUCER'S REPS VS. FOREIGN SALES AGENTS

Don't Buy into the Premiere Arms Race

Play Them Off against Each Other

Volume, Volume, Volume

Get Reviews

Meet Your Audience

See the World!

They're "Romantic"

Meet New Money

Entertain Your Old Money

Shoot More Extras

Meet Other Filmmakers

Keep Your Actors Happy

How to Avoid Going Broke Applying to Film Festivals

Be Selective and Avoid Scams

Make It Personal

Offer Your Premiere Status

Offer Up Talent

Ask for a Waiver

Don't Ask for a Waiver

Aim Foreign

Submit Vimeo Links

Meet Festival Directors at Other Festivals

Bribes and Blackmail

How to Start Your Own Film Festival: The Birth of Slamdance

Sundance or Bust

Anarchy in Utah

Prospecting for Screening Rooms

Time for IndieWood

NAME DROPPER: STEVEN SODERBERGH

Our Napoleon Complex

Masters of the Universes

Go to Park City Anyway

Roadtrip!

Virgin Secrets, Beaver Eats and Heber Kolaches

Condos, Aunt Judy and the Big Bad Wolves

POEM: SLAMDANCE 25

Distributing and Beyond

Distribution Nuts, Bolts and Screwed

Getting a "Real" Distributor

Service Deals, Aggravators and Hybrids

A DIY Case Study: From Raw Steak to Raw Deals

Something Rotten If You Don't Get Theatrical

Beam Me Up, Scotty!

POEM: THE REVOLUTION

The Mile High Club: Ins and Outs of Airline Distribution

The Gatekeeping Cabal

All about the Timing

This Film Has Been Modified

Doc, Doc, Goose

Swimming with Turtles

Top Sexy Things You Get to Do When You Think Your Film Is Finished

Deliverables

E&amp

O Insurance

Repair Relationships

Promote Your Friggin' Movie

Extras! Extras!

Crowdfunding Perks

Taxes

Accounting

K-1s.

Write Checks

Residuals

CAM-a-lot!

Archiving

Escaping Your Distributor

Dissolving Your Entity

Rinse, Repeat

Aarghh! How to Beat Film Pirates at Their Own Game

The Whack-a-Mole Takedowns!

Make Money from the Pirates

The Fakeout!

Using the Pirates to Screw Your Distributor!

Embracing the Pirates!

Cancelling the Advertisers

Make Piracy an Essential Element of Your Release Strategy

Use the Pirates to Pimp Your Merch

Use Piracy to Charge for Product Placement

When in Doubt, Create Your Own Oscar

Go Team America!

Big in Germany

Race to the Academy!

We Wuz Robbed

You Can Win an Oscar!

NAME DROPPER: BONG JOON-HO

POEM: THE STAGES OF SUCCESS FOR A FILMMAKER

Moving On Up

Getting a Big-Time Hollywood Agent or Manager

How to Take a Big Hollywood Meeting and/or Become an Episodic Director

Recut Your Reel

Redo Website

Update Your IMDb and Wikipedia Pages

Make a List

The Shadow Knows

Inclusion and The Perks of Being an Insider

How to Get the Meetings

NAME DROPPER: JOE AND ANTHONY RUSSO

Research the Shows and the People

Go Early (for Smooth-Jazz Friday)

The Pre-Meeting Meeting

Check for Breaking News

Do You Take the Water?

Pre-Caffeine and Prop Coffee

Choose Wisely Where to Sit

Wear or Do Something Memorable

Tell Funny Stories about Yourself

NAME DROPPER: LYNN SHELTON

Ask Them Personal Questions

Get Something Out of Each Meeting

The Parking Garage Meeting after the Meeting

Deciding on Film School vs Life

Sustaining Your Lifestyle as an Indie Filmmaker

Get a Film Job

Get a Non-Film Job

Become a Filmtrepeneur

Real Estate

The Ivy Halls of Academia

POEM: BOOK IT, DANNO!

Epilogue

Appendix: Secret List of Film Festivals Worth Considering

Index.

Notes:

Includes index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

1-00-309931-9

1-003-09931-9

1-000-40308-4

9781003099314

OCLC:

1252417430