Filmmakers of many stripes all dream of the same thing: theatrical distribution. The thing they never consider is whether it is right for their situation. Rather than seeking the ephemeral validation that you movie's name in lights offers, consider the downsides to...

Filmmakers often make the mistake of doing too much planning and not enough doing. A certain amount of studying can help make a filmmaker better, but knowing too much can sometimes become a hindrance. With no knowledge of how other people make films, an...

Most filmmakers do not have money to throw at advertising their film. Even if they did, they would soon find ads are not that effective. Many look at media relations (aka press relations, PR) as free advertising, but it is more complex than that idea implies. The media...

Films have been made the same way for a long time. Since 1926 the combination of sight, sound, and general running time have become a de facto for feature films that most aspiring filmmakers aim for. The days of movie theaters being the only place to see films are over...

Filmmakers have often been afforded the luxury of only having one version of their film released. There are the anomalous films like Star Wars that have had multiple versions released long after the original and sometimes there are the movies with both a studio...

A common way for filmmakers to get into the movie game is with a short film. Many figure they can make a short film and then make it into a feature-length film, but a short film is not like a feature film only not as long.

Many indie filmmakers hold on to the hope of film critics being champions of their films and thus helping them find an audience. It is true that critics will often take on a pet film each year that they will talk about incessantly and sometimes bring the attention due it.

Indie filmmakers tend to disregard any Hollywood practice as shallow and never look into it further. Hollywood does a lot of things indie filmmakers should disregard but that doesn't mean they should not dig deeper to see what the intent is and whether...