Great Filmmaking Advice

Phil Cooke recently posted some advice for filmmakers that everyone wanting to make movies should read. Here’s an overview of his list of 10 Really Bad Ideas About Making Movies. Warning: some of these statements may turn your preconceived perceptions upside-down.

  1. You think having a star connected means you have a great movie.
  2. You try to network with the stage speakers at conferences. Network with your peers.
  3. You have the money “committed,” (not in your wallet), but no distribution plan.
  4. You have a great story, but don’t know what to do with it.
  5. You have a great idea, but want someone else to do something with it.
  6. You think “The Passion of the Christ” is a business model for moviemaking.
  7. You believe making a family film will guarantee a profit.
  8. You think a producer/director/actor will read your screenplay unsolicited.
  9. You believe God told you to make a movie, but you want someone else to do it.
  10. You believe if you could just get to the top guy (Ralph Winter, Scott Derrickson, Michael Landon, Jr., Phil Cooke, Brian Bird, etc., etc., etc.), you’d have it made.

The bottom line? If it’s your vision, your story, and your idea, YOU need to do something with it!

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This entry was posted on Friday, August 22nd, 2008 at 4:05 pm and is filed under Thoughts on Movie-Making. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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4 Responses to “Great Filmmaking Advice”

  1. Leslie I T Assih says:

    Allow God to work with you, enjoy the process of the film journey (seriously it is a journey) and never set out to make money in the first instance but rather attract your audience or discover them and then everything else will fall in line. Start small, grow it and let it go and see what happens. Get connected with other existing filmmakers (no matter what level they are at) where possible, it will shave off years of hard experience.

    August 28th, 2008 at 1:34 am

  2. Jeff Peterson says:

    5 and 9 I can relate to. I get a lot of people wanting me to make their movies for them or turn their ideas into a script. I let them know I don’t have any money to make their film and I have several scripts I wrote already and they should write their own script or film their own movie. It’s never received very well. I always give them good advice on how to do it themselves. Most are never heard from again. Lot’s of people take this as a blow off. But, my thinking is the filmmaking equipment is cheap now and we can make films without big Hollywood budgets or famous actors. God has given us the tools, now we just need to put in the hard work and it is hard work.

    August 29th, 2008 at 12:01 pm

  3. Gretta Lewis says:

    I am not sure if this is the place to ask this question, but I figure it can’t hurt. Does anyone reading this know, how people get involved in making independent movies? I’m mostly curious about working with an independent movie company (not starting my own :-) -yet). If anybody could help me I would SO appreciate it!

    October 15th, 2008 at 6:17 pm

  4. Angela Walker says:

    Hi Gretta,

    Most people wanting to work in indie movies start out with their own ideas & productions. Since you’re not ready for that, I’d suggest checking out some film forums for possible contacts. It’s all a business of who you know!

    There is a pretty active Christian Filmmaker Forum group on Yahoo.

    Also check out another organization called International Christian Visual Media for connections. It’s getting out there, meeting people and Nike-ing it (just doing it!)

    Best of luck to you!

    October 16th, 2008 at 10:37 am

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