Filmmaking / Directing

Hi, Gareth Taylor. Hope you're doing great and you connect with members in Australia and New Zealand!

highly recommend checking out the facebook group Australians in LA (we all go back and forth) and maybe join the Australians in Film group in LA to get to know a few people who can intro you to folks back home? If you're going in May - Screen Forever conference is DEFINITELY worth going to - it's run by SPAA and is in early May on the Gold Coast.

Oh yeah, Dwayne Williams. Psychological Horror is really scary too. Yeah, I think a Cyberpunk theme can portray Horror as effectively as older settings. I think a Cyberpunk dystopia and things like body mods look creepy.

Dwayne Williams I love genre bending in projects because when it’s done with intention, it can elevate horror by adding emotional layers, unexpected turns, or deeper philosophical stakes. A well-blended psychological or sci-fi element can make a horror story feel more grounded or even more disturbing. That said, if the mix isn’t cohesive, it can definitely dilute the tension. For me, it all comes down to how well the elements serve the core fear.

@Ashley agree. Blending of genres can heighten or dampen the horror element. Depends on how successful the fusion. I’ve turned off films initially having total investment of my time until some scenes turned farcical. However others kept my attention cos seeds were laid that acted as a cool diversion or gave comedic respite. With some franchises their audiences expect tongue in cheek behaviour but I hate it when a serious intellectual horror suddenly turns unexpectedly bonkas. Cross pollination of genre is an art in itself, otherwise a film can become as the Yorkshire saying says in UK. “Neither nowt nor something!”

Ashley Renee Smith and Debbie Croysdale, I completely agree—genre blending, when done with intention, can truly elevate horror, adding depth and unexpected layers. Do you think there's a genre that can't effectively portray horror, or one that hasn't been thoroughly explored yet?

@Dwayne Great question, I feel nothing is impossible regards to blending horror in all genres but I’m no fan of horror comedy. Dark humour seeded well in selected scenes can serve as payoffs/reveals/twists/jump scares/shock horror etc but if done in continuous over kill it can become farcical. However with a sitcom aimed to make audiences laugh at jokes I reckon this scenario could be explored more. Who is the target audience and what do they/we find funny in the horror? Sorority & Slasher are sometimes called horror comedy but I find them “Niche” cos those worlds have their own rules and fans have certain expectations. Often no jokes nor dramatic irony.

Likewise!

Hello, everyone. I'm Dele Fadahunsi from Lagos, Nigeria. I've produced and directed lots of brand communication videos and events, but now working on my first movie -- a cybercrime thriller (we've come a long way from Nigerian prince emails!)

The story starts out in Atlanta, and my grand vision is for the film to attract a global audience. So I'll be spending the month of June travelling across the US, looking for investors, distributors, actors and production partners to make it happen.

See how badly I need this class!

Christopher - I'm trying to log into the class at 8:53 PDT, and no luck. Can you get a link to stage 32 support on this glitch. I emailed them yesterday. Oh well ??

I'm assuming there will be a video link I can access next week - go on with the class if there's a hassle on my end. Carry on !! :)

Christopher, I never got a link to join. Finally found the link, waited to be let in to class for a half hour. PLEASE SEND ME A LINK!!! No-one to help me get into your class so I am very annoyed at this point. All I get is adds for more classes and never got an email with a link. Please send em a link ASAP today for next week's class. Sincerely disappointed Janice Carlberg!

I’m a big fan of keeping organized folders too, Ashley Renee Smith. I only use computer folders, but your comment got me thinking about doing both. Digital and hard copy.

Great, Mike Boas. Do you make a binder for your animation productions? Or is it easier to keep digital folders for those?

I think that's something filmmakers should keep in mind, Vital Butinar. How much power a data storage system uses. And if they even need data storage systems because like you said, "with fiber being what it is these days, you can hardly tell the difference between something on your workstation and on the storage system."

Maurice Vaughan that's true, but at the same time Ashley Renee Smith mentioned using googles cloud systems. I always keep reminding myself of one things, "there is no cloud, it's just someone else's computer" and that kind of stuff keeps me up at night if my stuff was stored somewhere else. Yes the accessibility is great, but as it was shown more than one time, things can just go missing and with the amount of data that we generate you have to think about it and backing it up otherwise stuff goes missing.

No binder for my animation work. it’s mostly people working in different locations, so it’s all managed with google sheets, pdf files, frame.io, and Dropbox.

Great topic, Willem Elzenga. "To me storytelling is something natural which came through all the stories I have digested in my life." Me too. I put stories and experiences from my life in my scripts, and sometimes I don't realize it right away. I thought of a sitcom idea that's about an experience in my life. I just have to figure out the story. Thanks for the pdf.

I'm of the belief that storytelling is innate in humans and therefor a necessity for humnakind. Joseph Campbell's The Hero With A Thousand Faces explores this beautifully and is the basis for The Hero's Journey (which Stage 32 has amazing education on). That's why even way back in the day, some hunted dinosaurs and some guarded the cave and some drew on the wall - society needs those who "draw on the wall". Incidently, studies found that in those old caves, the drawings were usually in the most acoustically vibrant parts of the caves so enhancing the story telling experience has always been a part of it. That's why I love stories and storytellers and how this community on Stage 32 brings storytellers together.

I don't know the hard mechanics about storytelling but I think of it as an art that's as natural to us as breathing. One of my teachers at uni said that it's so natural to us that we've been processing stories since we were babies, we just did it without words.

I’m fascinated by the ancient Navajo who handed down stories whilst sat in circles & the art of prehistoric cave dwellers @ Sam mentions to Shakespeare, onto more recent writers and today’s authors. Stories are part of the fabric of every day life giving substance and meaning over mere survival. Teller and audience interact evoking human feelings psychological and physical. Story is not necessarily planned, structured or epoch. EG Someone on the tube may just recall their day but it’s a recollection from their unique viewpoint. Hard to imagine a world without story whether truth or fiction. It’s a tool to educate, cause question and entertain.

Hi, Dwayne Williams. I've been making pitch decks for a while. I make pitch decks for my spec projects and pitch decks for writers, producers, and directors. Here's some tips for making a great pitch deck for your spec projects:

– Make the cover page eye-catching.

– Make the pitch deck visual (pictures and graphics), not heavy on text.

– Put the logline close to the front so it doesn't take the person reading your pitch deck long to find it. You want the person to know what the story is right away.

– Put an Overview/Rundown page in your pitch deck (close to the front). Things like what type of script your project is (feature, TV, etc.), the genre(s), budget range, etc. go on this page.

– Only make bio pages for the key characters. You usually don't need bio pages for other characters.

– Don't make the pitch deck too long. I try to keep my feature pitch decks 10-15 pages long. My TV pitch decks are longer, but I still try not to make them too long.

– If you’re pitching an unscripted show and you have a sizzle reel for it, put the link to the reel in your pitch deck.

Michelle Alexandria taught a webinar on Stage 32 I suggest checking out (www.stage32.com/webinars/How-to-Put-Together-a-Perfect-Pitch-Deck-for-yo...). Michelle knows her stuff about pitch decks. I've worked with her on pitch deck jobs.

Maurice Vaughan My guy, appreciate you! How do you feel about AI-generated photos?

No problem, Dwayne Williams. I don't use AI-generated photos. I'm completely against using them, but some people use them for pitch decks.

Maurice Vaughan I understand you're against using AI-generated photos, which I respect. What alternatives do you recommend for creating visuals for pitch decks?

I recommend Canva's photo gallery, Dwayne Williams. I also recommend ShotDeck, Unsplash, and Pexels.

Banafsheh Esmailzadeh I would tend to agree with you, but in the other hand it's also wrong because art is kind of what makes a civilization worth existing if you think about it. It's literally all around us, maybe not everything is great but then again nothing is.

Well I'm fortunate to live with an artist that hasn't sold out yet she still sells a lot of her sculptures and is able to make a living. It might take some time in between but she needs time to create in between. Interesting is art a business or is business something that happens parallel to art. :)

Vital Butinar oh 100%, we as humans need art in order to survive. It's just unfortunately kind of a paradox when it comes to making business out of art; you can be an absolute genius and everyone loves your work but for one reason or another, you're not making money. On the other hand, you can create slop that everyone hates but it gets you money.

I think it's safe to say none of us like this but that's just reality. Art kinda gets the short end of the stick a lot of times even though it's incredibly important.

You are fortunate and I'm glad she's doing well, and hope she continues to flourish. I think art and business are two separate things but not mutually exclusive; it just happens that not everyone can have a happy union of both and we all want to be the ones who do.

Banafsheh Esmailzadeh oh you put that really nicely and I agree. It's really interesting how in most businesses if people like what you make then you're successful on many levels, one of which is financial. But not with art, like you said and it's funny because I know a camera tech that we work with, that makes a lot of money working on creative projects but hasn't got a creative bone in his body.

Anyway for myself I honestly don't care, as long as I get to live normally pay the bills and do what I love doing that's enough for me. But getting there is a bigger problem. Well at least we got rid of rent now, even though my car just turned 25 years old. I asked I cop a couple of years back when it turned 21 if it could drink alcohol now. :)

Funny, I call myself a filmmaker not because I head up many personal projects, but because I do so many film-work jobs. Screenwriting, animation, editing, mixing, color, sound recording, directing, producing, assistant-director. I'm a jack-of-all trades, but I don't want to have a hyphenate a mile long.

Having never made over $35,000/year working a regular job (9to5), when I try and create films to make, I try and put myself into the budget for what I'm worth from the beginning. Screenwriter's used to get 4% of the budget until they became fish in a barrel. As a director/ screenwriter, I'll put myself in for about 6% of the budget. If I were working for someone for hire, depending on the budget and length of the shoot, I would ask for what is appropriate with $35,000 as a goal. Anything less than that and I'm looking for the next job while I'm shooting the current one. That's my philosophy anyway. It's all about how you structure deals and what you spend during the downtime.

This video is still talking about the old way of doing things and as long as they stick to the old way of doing things, they will fail. Were these films actually entertaining? There was nothing in the trailers that made me want to watch either The Brutalist or Anora. I never even heard of them until they were announced as Oscar nominees. Even after I did research on them, I still had no desire to leave the house to see them on the big screen nor do I care about seeing them on streaming. I guess the promotional tours didn't do much to get me excited about these movies. Who's failure is that? Is it the director's fault? I've never heard of him so it can't all be put on him. The distribution company makes no promises to as how much of an impact they will have influencing the general public to go see a film, but they'll squeeze every last penny out of their P&A spending to almost insure a film loses money. Are Adrien Brody, Guy Pierce A-List actors? The film reportedly only cost $10M dollars and those two couldn't pull in crowds. Worldwide it made $45M but after the theaters get their cut and the distribution company pays off their P&A bill and takes their cut and after the investors get their initial ROI percentage back, what's anybody left with? How many minutes are people spending on streaming this film?

Maybe it's just time for a different approach to promoting a film..

You're welcome, Sherri ZImmerman. That's beautiful. Did you make it?

EXCELLENT article... KUDOS MARCO!!

This is an incredible topic, I'm so intrigued! Thanks Maurice, going to check out!

You're welcome, Sydney S. You're right. It's an incredible topic! I'm gonna try it with my next script.

Such an inspiring and actionable idea and touches the core of who we are as creatures all living together in nature, even if we build buildings and subways around us. The core of emotional living and story telling. Bravo!

Dan MaxXx Good question. It depends... Traditionally, every budget would have line-items for those specific jobs, right? Now if it's an IA/Union pic, of course that individual would be compensated for ea. job that they do via the dedicated guild/union and would cover at least the minimums which could be negotiated. Think of Steven Soderbergh or even Sean Baker - especially now. They don't get scale wages. BUT, if you're working on an Indie that's non-IA, I would presume you have the line items built in for the jobs as well, and you should be compensated for ea. in line with the budget. I'll share an exert from my book What You Don't Learn in Film School below describing how I dealt with that in my early days of getting private equity, when forced to wear way too many hats, as its a great often asked. I hope this clarifies for you...

From Chapter 4 ~ GREEN MEANS GO. YOU KNOW THAT, RIGHT?

What should I pay myself? This is a question I am often asked by independent filmmakers once they get their money and my reply is always the same; you really need to consider what is right versus what is fair and lean toward what is right. I can assure you the investors will be wondering what you’ll be making as a salary and if and when they ask, you better be straight with them.

Some investors take the approach of, “I am investing in you, so you better put every dime on the screen and not be lining your pockets,” or they can take the approach of, “I don’t care if you keep all of it and spend one dollar to make the movie, as long as I get my money back.” For me, it’s paramount to put everything on the screen as we’re working in low-budgetville and want our end product to look as good as it possibly can. There is no one size fits all when figuring out how much money should go to what. I am addressing your fee now, as it will most likely become an issue with your investor and ultimately your team when negotiating their salary or the costs allocated to their departments. This will only keep you up at night as you toss and turn wondering if you’re in the right or not.

PARAGRAPH OMITTED FOR POST

If you’re a complete filmmaker, meaning your hand is in the writing, producing, directing and possibly the editing of your picture, I think considering you landed the money and will be working on this project for several months, maybe you can be a bit more liberal in determining a fee for yourself. In the ‘real world’ it’s not uncommon for someone to take a 2-5% finder fee on money they raise to make a movie, on top of the hefty producer fees and such that come with bigger budgeted films. But since we’re making a non-union movie, you’ll save a lot in those areas. However, always keep in mind there will be many costs that come up unexpectedly (sounds fun, right?), so regardless of what you’re paying yourself, it’ll be on you to cover those costs when they surface.

For example, copying scripts for table reads, the costs of printing sides each day, gas for your PA’s and the unexpected bill from your starlet who needed a second $120 manicure or an unnecessary spray tan on her off day adds up - and at record speed - so I advise you to always underpay yourself up front. Get through the complete delivery of your film and see what’s left when all is said and done…then and only then assess if there’s a finishing bonus you can pay yourself if appropriate. Have an upfront conversation with your investors letting them know what rates are fair for the jobs you’ll be doing and what you’ll be budgeting for yourself. They should be understanding, considering you won’t be out earning a real living while doing this and you shouldn’t go broke in the process.

In the end, I truly believe it’s really how you present things. I’ve had investors or their legal reps ask me what my fees would be. On a $500k movie I have had no problem looking them in the eye and telling them what I was getting paid. Only once I was met with a cocked brow questioning my self-imposed value and I replied with confidence, “WGA minimums for just the script in this budget range hover around $48k. I wrote the script which I’ll be producing and directing, too. I’ll also be supervising the editorial or cutting the picture myself, as well as every other aspect leading up to the film’s delivery. This will take close to a year out of my life. I am not getting paid the going rates for all the responsibilities I will have nor will I be taking on any other projects of any magnitude or substance until we deliver this film on time and on budget.”

I never heard another word about my rate from that day forward.

First , thank you Stage 32 for putting this webinar on. Secondly, thank you Shane Stanley for leading it. If one ever wished to sit down and spend an hour and a half of being mentored by a hugely successful writer, director, and filmmaker, THiS was it! Not only did we learn key elements and fundamentals, but left with a deeper desire and confidence within ourselves. Mr. Stanley met us where we were and talked to us, no ego or talking at us. I look forward to more webinars from him in the future. If you haven’t purchased his book, What You Don’t Learn in Film School, run don’t walk for it holds keys he talked about plus more. Shane Stanley is the real deal. Continued success and we all will dream that bigger dream now.

Welcome, Elle! So great to have you here! Your energy and passion for filmmaking are amazing, and it sounds like you're building something really special in the Eastern Cape. Love that you’re polishing up your Stage 32 profile—can’t wait to see more of your work! If you ever need anything, I’m on the education team and happy to help email me at edu@stage32.com !

Linda Harrison wow, thank you so much for that kind and thoughtful comments. They truly are why I do what I do. Wishing you the very best in your career and endeavors. Best of luck!

This is such a fantastic and timely post, Shane. It’s incredibly validating to watch someone like Sean Baker break down those perceptions in such a powerful way. Your point about using pseudonyms on IMDb is really interesting. I didn't realize there had been such a push for that.