This is an open question! It takes a lot of creative hard work to write a high-stakes scene or even an entire movie… but the amount of money paid out is enormous in this case. And this is even more true for the director of the film. The film studio, Fox, can command tens of […]
Yes, and here’s why. Produce (an in-house term created for the production side of a production company) is sometimes called “team” or “team management,” as in producing the movie together with a director, producing the soundtrack, being “team producer/sound designer,” or being “team director.” The word production, however, can have a different meaning: an individual […]
If you want to become an award-winning filmmaker you need to follow three keys: 1. Study as much as you can. 2. Get the right type of funding. 3. Keep moving forward with the knowledge that, with a smart group of collaborators, you can do it. The key to the whole project is in keeping […]
I wrote my first script as a junior in high school, which was called ‘A Little Bit O’Too Much’. It didn’t really go anywhere except that other junior wanted to take it out of his junior year (because he didn’t want to go to prep school) but he was really cool with it. I’ve made […]
How to deal with producers who try to put their own stamp on what everyone sees or experiences (or at the very least, try something different)? In addition to the general producer style rules above, I will highlight an important set of producer guidelines I would like to discuss in depth below, as they appear […]
Short films are easy to make, because most of the cost of producing a film lies in the editing of a piece of film, not in the cost of shooting a film. Most short films are made at low cost to produce and distribute, and are then able to make money because there are not […]
Is it worth $100K or $100M per film? A: We’ve tried to answer this through our own research. Last year, we put over 3,700 people through our internal salary calculator. Our highest paid filmmakers are some of the best and most sought-after Hollywood writers, directors, producers and actors today. This year, we also looked at […]
“I think you will find out. When you do math in your animator’s head and you do it on the line, it is a lot more natural. You feel like you didn’t do anything wrong.” -Miles Jone, Pixar Head of Animation We use math in two directions: One direction uses visualizations to help us visualize […]
What does it mean for a new director like myself, who is trying to earn my living? I have been in the film industry since I was 16; I have been working towards getting work for over 20 years. I worked full time on the Star Trek, which is the most successful film franchise of […]
It’s very difficult to plan. We’re constantly taking things at the beginning that look great and putting them into a frame that really doesn’t show the full potential that the actor has. It’s very difficult to be realistic about what you can do. You’re constantly trying to think of how best to take things, how […]