IFH 126: Should You Own Your Own Film Gear? - Ask Alex

Today on the show we have returning champion Linda Nelson from Indie Rights. Linda and her partner Michael Madison have been a shinning light for filmmakers in the dark world of film distribution. With the distribution landscape changing almost weekly, I wanted to bring Linda on to shed some light on the ever shifting marketplace.Nelson Madison Films/Indie Rights was founded by Michael Madison and Linda Nelson because they believed that the future was bright for independent artists and that there was a better way to produce and distribute movies.  They have been in business since 2000, when they produced their first film, NSYNC BIGGER THAN LIVE a Giant Screen Movie that played to sold-out crowds worldwide.Known for innovation.  SHIFTED, their first digital feature,  was the first movie on Amazon’s UnBox (the predecessor of Amazon Video)  and was used by Amazon to promote their platform for over five years. Partnerships were forged early on with the leading digital platforms including Amazon, Google, Cinedigm, MGo and Adrise, and these partnerships ensure that Indie Rights can offer the very best audience opportunities for their own films, as well as the more than 300 other filmmakers they work with.We discuss the realities of film distribution, what filmmakers need to know, and what is selling today. We also throw a cold-bucket of water on filmmaker so they can snap out of delusion and better position themselves for success.Enjoy my eye-opening conversation with Linda Nelson.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/indie-film-hustle-a-filmmaking-podcast--2664729/support.

4 Feb 20211h 58min

I can't be more excited about the conversation I'm about to share with you. Today on the show we have filmmaker and indie film legend Albert Hughes. Albert, along with his brother Allen began making movies at age 12, but their formal film education began their freshman year of high school when Allen took a TV production class. They soon made the short film The Drive-By and people began to take notice.After high school Albert began taking classes at LACC Film School: two shorts established the twins' reputation as innovative filmmakers. Albert and his brother then began directing music videos for a little known rapper named Tupac Shakur. These videos lead to directing their breakout hit Menace II Society (1993), which made its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival and grossed nearly 10 times as much as its $3 million budget. Albert followed up that success with Dead Presidents (1995).On the streets, they call cash dead presidents. And that's just what a Vietnam veteran (Larenz Tate) is after when he returns home from the war only to find himself drawn into a life of crime. With the aid of his fellow vets, he plans the ultimate heist -- a daring robbery of an armored car filled with unmarked U.S. currency!Albert continued displaying his highly stylized and visual filmmaking with From Hell (2001) starring Johnny Depp and The Book of Eli (2010) starring Oscar winners Denzel Washington and Gary Olman.The Book of Eli has the distinction of being the first studio feature film shot on the RED Camera. In the example below, you can see how Albert pushed the camera to its limits with the ground-breaking color grade he gave the film.Most recently Albert brought to the screen the epic film Alpha (2018). The project was shot on the Arri ALEXA 65 for a truly larger than life experience.An epic coming-of-age adventure set in the last Ice Age. A young boy becomes unlikely allies with a lone wolf, enduring countless dangers and overwhelming odds to survive the harsh wilderness and find their way home before the deadly winter arrives.My conversation with Albert was EPIC. We began the episode aiming for our standard 60-90 min run time but we were having such a good time talking shop we just kept going. The final episode clocks in around 3 hours and it was, by far, one of the best times I have ever had on the Indie Film Hustle Podcast.Two filmmakers talking shop and telling stories. We discuss his public beef with Tupac, his rise after the breakout success of Menace II Society, how he navigated the shark-infested waters of Hollywood, working on big-budget studio films, his creative process and Albert even throws in a story about how he stood up to Harvey Weinstein while the disgusting predator was still a power-player in the business.Do yourself a favor and listen to the entire episode. There are knowledge bombs drop throughout!Enjoy my EPIC conversation with Albert Hughes.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/indie-film-hustle-a-filmmaking-podcast--2664729/support.

2 Feb 20213h 22min

We all need a kick in the butt sometimes on our filmmaking or screenwriting journey. This show will do just that. Never stop chasing that filmmaking dream. Keep on hustling.Proud Member of the IFH Podcast Network (ifhpodcastnetwork.com)Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/indie-film-hustle-a-filmmaking-podcast--2664729/support.

1 Feb 20214min

Today on the show we have filmmaker and author Josh Folan. He's a writer/director/editor/producer/actor – though not necessarily in that order – that began professionally making things people watch on screens in 2005, prior to which he studied finance at The Ohio State University.Filmmaking highlights since founding NYEH Entertainment in 2008 include 2018 Hamptons/Woodstock/Napa selection Ask For Jane, 2017 SXSW audience award winner The Light of the Moon, 2015 Slamdance selection BODY, 2015 Raindance selection The Lives of Hamilton Fish, 2016 SOHO Int’l selection and 2017 Queens World best screenplay nominee catch 22: based on the unwritten story by seanie sugrue,His new book, Still Filmmaking, the Hard Way, is a detailed recounting of the step-by-step process of the development, production, and distribution of three micro-budget feature films with one critical commonality – producer and fifteen-year independent filmmaking veteran Josh Folan.Josh walks the reader through each and every painstaking step of the making of three sub-$250,000 USD films featured in the case study – Ask For Jane, Love Is Dead!, catch 22 – while explaining, scrutinizing, and contrasting the experience in a voice intended to entertain, not lecture.The experience of producing sixteen feature films and a bevy of short, episodic, and commercial projects inform the words herein, across which countless mistakes and learning experiences were had by the author. Still Filmmaking, the Hard Way offers readers the opportunity to learn this laundry list of lessons at a tiny fraction of the cost of crippling your own film’s micro-budget.Enjoy my conversation with Josh Folan.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/indie-film-hustle-a-filmmaking-podcast--2664729/support.

30 Jan 20211h 9min

Today on the show we have director, Youtuber, and founder of the legendary Filmmaker IQ John Hess. I have been a huge fan of John's for quite some time. The videos he creates for Filmmaker IQ are, by far, some of the best and most informative film education on Youtube.Here's John's explanation of Filmmaker IQ is. Filmmaker IQ (which also goes by the aliases Who?, FilmmakerIQ.com, and FIQ to evade debt collectors) is worshiped by no less than five monotheistic religions on Earth despite their petulant childish behavior, persistent meddling in the space-time continuum, and clear bipolar disorder. FIQ is the largest black hole of film knowledge in the universe.With over 3.4 billion courses on subjects such as Ways to successfully acquire both armrests at a movie theater, Why do all the evil people in Star Wars have a British accent? and Martin Scorsese’s Eyebrows. FIQ’s video lectures are hailed by educators, non-educators as well as people who are against the concept of education on moral grounds.John and I geek out over cameras, post, and filmmaking in general. If you haven't watched his videos you are missing out. They are a must for any serious filmmaker. Enjoy my conversation with John Hess.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/indie-film-hustle-a-filmmaking-podcast--2664729/support.

28 Jan 20211h 18min

Today on the show we have director Raja Gosnell. He directed comedy classics like Big Momma's House starring Martin Lawrence, Never Been Kissed starring Drew Barrymore, and Yours, Mine & Ours starring Dennis Quaid.Raja is best known as the director who brought not one but two beloved children's cartoons to the big screen, Scooby-Doo and The Smurfs. We also discuss the original vision that Raja and writer James Gunn had for Scooby-Doo. Let's say we finally understand why Scoob and Shaggy always had the munchies.He also directed the relatively low-budget runaway hit Beverly Hills Chihuahua. Raja's films have grossed almost $2 billion at the worldwide box-office.Raja wasn't always a director, he started his film career as an assistant editor in the late 1970s. His first credit as a film's main editor was the romantic comedy The Lonely Guy (1984), for director Arthur Hiller. During the 1980s, Gosnell served as editor in films directed by Tom Laughlin, David Worth, Bob Dahlin, Bert Convy, Christopher Leitch, Annabel Jankel, Rocky Morton, Phillip Schuman, and Chris Columbus.For Chris Columbus he edited the comedy film Heartbreak Hotel (1988), which features a 1970s teenager kidnapping singer Elvis Presley, to bring home as a gift for his mother. During the 1990s, Gosnell would serve as editor in several more films by Columbus.The 1990s started with Gosnell working as an editor in two high-profile projects: Pretty Woman (1990) by Garry Marshall, and Home Alone (1990) by Chris Columbus. Both turned out to be among the major hits of the year 1990. He then worked in the Columbus films Only the Lonely (1991), Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992), Mrs. Doubtfire (1993), and Nine Months (1995).Raja and I discuss his remarkable career as an editor, why he jumped to directing, and why he choose to do the thing everyone says not to do direct children and animals. I had a ball talking shop with Raja.We also discuss his remarkable new film Gun and a Hotel Bible, which he co-directed with Alicia Joy LeBlanc.Based on an award-winning play, GUN AND A HOTEL BIBLE is the story of a young man on the verge of a violent act (Pete) and his encounter with a personified hotel bible (Gideon). Can Gideon sway Pete before Pete pulls the trigger?Enjoy my conversation with Raja Gosnell.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/indie-film-hustle-a-filmmaking-podcast--2664729/support.

26 Jan 20211h 14min

We all need a kick in the butt sometimes on our filmmaking or screenwriting journey. This show will do just that. Never stop chasing that filmmaking dream. Keep on hustling.Proud Member of the IFH Podcast Network (ifhpodcastnetwork.com)Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/indie-film-hustle-a-filmmaking-podcast--2664729/support.

25 Jan 20212min

In my on-going series on COVID film production, I speak to creator/showrunner Colleen Krantz. She is the creator of the new series Complete Bull. The show is about a young animal scientist who must decide if she will join her family’s livestock insemination business in her fighting-to-stay-alive Midwest hometown, even as the community is torn at the seams debating whether to become a “receiving community” in the government’s forced relocation of first-generation immigrants.When she was shooting her show her production was one of only 24 SAG productions filming in the entire country. In this conversation, we discuss how she had to rewrite the script to include some nontraditional filming locations, how she dealt with negative attitudes from old-school Hollywood people because she was filming in a rural area, and what techniques she used to keep herself and her cast/crew safe during production.One of my favorite parts of the conversation is when we discuss how she was chewed out by an actress's manager, and I quote:“ You have no business trying to do this from the middle of Iowa.“I hope listening to Colleen's story can help you run a safe film production during these crazy times. Enjoy my conversation with Colleen Krantz.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/indie-film-hustle-a-filmmaking-podcast--2664729/support.

23 Jan 202153min