American Cinema Blog

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the opportunity to expand our Film Industry Bash‘s to other geographic locations has been an eye-opening experience. This past week, we broke the seal on Austin, TX. In case you are unaware, Austin is a force to be reckoned with as it quickly gains recognition as one of [...]

I’ll be honest, it took me some time to buy into the whole “green” movement. It just seemed so drastic and sudden that I couldn’t help but be mildly skeptical of people’s genuine motives. Out of nowhere, people are carrying groceries in burlap sacks and using light bulbs that make your kitchen feel like an [...]

This is the first in a series of case studies I plan to do on creative independent film marketing. One of our esteemed ACEFEST Judges, Brant Sersen, wrote and directed a star-studded film entitled ‘Splinterheads‘ this past year. For their theatrical premiere in New York City, the ‘Splinterheads’ took over Union Square for the entire [...]

Way back when Americans still idealized the future with promises of floating fast cars, robot butlers and conveyor belt trips to the market, they assumed cinema would change with the rest of the world. And it certainly has! Look at James Cameron’s recent award vacuum, ‘Avatar’ or the green screen testament ’300.’ There is no [...]

Every indie filmmaker has the dream of being that ‘it’ director with that huge breakout film at Sundance. You know the film, you’ve seen it a bunch of times over the last 15 years. It’s shot with loving care by a dedicated crew of visionaries on a shoestring budget supported by credit cards, video store [...]

This just in – without major studio distribution and a $100 million marketing campaign, your film has no chance against Hollywood blockbusters! SHOCKING! Actually, that’s common sense. So how do you generate interest in your film screenings and DVD sales? Viral media.

May I be so blunt as to officially pronounce the contact form deceased? This may all be my perception but I usually have a good handle on these matters. As our submissions come in for this year’s Call for Entries, filmmakers often supply a website to learn more about them and/or their project. Having visited [...]

Sounds obvious, right? Of course you’ll save some money for post! You need a rough cut. You need a fine cut. You need color correction, motion graphics, effects and titles. You need audio cleaning and mixing. Then, when the show is all done, everything looks and sounds great; you are thrilled to see your script [...]

Everyone knows the key to distribution and industry exposure is to submit your film to festivals. What everyone doesn’t know is how to present your submission to festival programmers. I’m going to give you some insider tips to getting your entry from envelope to big screen.

I can’t say I’ve ready every single filmmaking book in the history of literature but I do boast a very extensive personal collection and feel quite confident dispensing this advice. After reading an absurd amount on the subject, there are a few titles that stick out above the rest – seemingly impossible to improve upon. [...]