Monday, August 24, 2009

Blog 1: Making Movies the Hard Way


To begin with, I was pretty apprehensive about starting a blog on how I plan to make a movie. Samuel French has dozens of books just on this subject (right next to the hundreds of books on screenwriting) and what could I possibly add.?

But I wanted to share the ups and downs of looking for money for a movie and figured that this might be the best place to do that. Some people might get a kick out of it, some might not care, others might find a little encouragement.I’m not an Academy winner or flavor of the month (although a short I filmed and co-produced made it to the Academy finalist list) rather, I’m a working writer, producer and director like so many others.

The blood of this industry.

The reason for this blog comes from several places and all are connected to one, the world of movie-making. I invite you to follow the process from screenplay to the development and funding and, hopefully, to the production itself. I wanted to call the blog Making Movies the Hard Way because, put simply, there is no easy way. Ever.

Along with the business, technical and artistic sides, I will also talk about the people; the talented, the untalented, the crazy ones and the rare angels and saints. And since I have been in this process more than once in my 30-plus years in the business, my friends assured me I could keep you entertained.

Easy to say for them, they get to watch me run and fall and get up and fall again in one of the worst recessions in a long time. I will post new blogs Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and anytime if something good comes up like someone writes me a check for $400,000, or maybe $50.

So hopefully you’ll stick with me until the end, wherein I actually get it made. If I get it made. And that’s a hell of a big “IF”.

You know the odds.

5 comments:

  1. Hey Jim
    I'll be watching your blog and cheering you on.....
    Best
    Debbie

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jim,
    Thanks for sending me your first blog.
    I am very much looking forward to following your trials and tribulations.
    Good Luck !
    Tony

    ReplyDelete
  3. Jim,

    At last I have received your blog and I think it's absolutely wonderful that someone of your advanced years has managed to conquer the intricacies and technological fiddling of the modern computer whilst still not needing spectacles to do so and so I say - God bless your eyes and eye sight and I wish you luck raising money for such a good script – of course I miss typed that the first time and it looked like a food script which, I suppose, was a Freudian slip on my part because that's what it is; a script to put food on your table and hopefully mine as I still have my own eyes set on the role of the teamster.

    The madman Richard Branson is charging $200,000 a head to shoot people up to stratosphere in New Mexico and I believe he has a waiting list –now if there is such a waiting list and there are individuals who are prepared to spend such an amount of money on a puff smoke there will be investors for your movie – your task is to find them!

    Good luck and laisser le bon temps rouler!

    Chris.

    ReplyDelete
  4. It's good to see another Prairie spawn in action. I already enjoy your blog and look forward to future posts.
    Shauna Osatchuk

    ReplyDelete
  5. What is the movie about??

    ReplyDelete