Category Archives: film school

Can you tell a good story statistically?

Statistics are useful for many things. Getting insurance for instance, or doing a health and safety report. If you know that ten percent of all shots attempted on a certain kind of ladder result in accidents, it may be an … Continue reading

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Seven films where the main character is not the arching character

A naughty little boy once said the rules are made to be broken. Well, one of the unwritten rules of the movies, or stories for that matter, is that the main character (or hero) must undergo change.  This change is … Continue reading

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How crowdfunding is changing the way we make films.

Big budget movies have long been about gimmicks.  Since the success of Star Wars, it seems that nearly every children’s movie starts with how well the character would play out as a toy. But the micro-budget movies we grew up … Continue reading

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What should be taught at film school, or, would you hire a film grad?

If you’d ask me if you should go to film school, I’d say no.  If you ask me whether I regret going to film school, I’ll also say no. If you ask me if I’d hire a film school grad, … Continue reading

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Crowdfunding Project: Dara Says

Dara Says is a Romantic Comedy set it Wales. Working on this film for the past six months has been fun and funny. When I wrote the script a few years ago, I didn’t feel like the character at all.

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Support Your Local Film Society

With the recent closure of Jessops, independent film professionals have a sense of their own mortality. Not very long ago, Jessops was something we took for granted. You could walk in, look at the cameras, try out a lens, and … Continue reading

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2012, the worst year for movies ever?

From applying to film school to networking with filmmakers, it seems the new standard question is “which movies moved and inspired you.” Trying to pick a movie from any given year is usually difficult because out of 800 or so … Continue reading

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Review: Taxi Driver (1976)

Taxi Driver was the first movie I wrote about for film class. Today, Taxi Driver does not seem like the same film I reviewed all those years ago as a first year in film school. There are so many things … Continue reading

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The creativity of writing a budget

Creative accounting is wrong, but it’s not wrong to be creative when accounting. We were putting together some numbers for a project, and the budget started looking, well, bloated.  We hoped to keep total costs down below a certain threshold.  … Continue reading

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Why screenwriters should grow spines

William Goldman shares two important lessons in Adventures of the Screen Trade.  First, he claims that Nobody Knows Anything.  Then, he contradicts himself with his strongest piece of advice : Protect Your Story’s Spine To The Death. Yes, Goldman whines … Continue reading

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