Raindance

Producing a film has never been simple. Today, however, producers face an entirely new landscape. That's why we have put the Producers' Accelerator Bundle together to give you a masterplan for getting your movie onto the screen. You still need to develop the idea, secure the rights, prepare the budget, raise the finance, organise the production, and find an audience.

The quickest way to lose a cinematic point of view on a branded film is to treat the brief as a shot list. The client needs the facility, the product, the team, an interview and the logo. You can photograph every one of those things beautifully and still end up with a film that nobody remembers. I work across music videos, commercials and institutional films, and the difference between those worlds is smaller than it first appears.

Hi, my name is Rebekah Louisa Smith and I am a Film Festival Strategist. I help filmmakers get their films seen in film festivals around the world by creating for you the right type of strategy and recommending the best-suited festivals to submit your film to. I've helped thousands of filmmakers worldwide get their films seen & win over 3,000 awards. Below is a blog I've written that offers 6 important ways to create your film festival strategy.

Every filmmaker has a project that refuses to leave them alone. It might be a screenplay sitting unfinished on your laptop. A documentary idea you have been researching for years. A short film that needs a producer. A feature you cannot quite finance. Or perhaps it is a web series that you know could find an audience-if only you could work out what to do next. The problem is rarely a lack of passion. The problem is momentum. Independent filmmakers usually work in isolation.

Reliable scheduling and availability poll apps help film teams find a time that works for everyone. They make it easier to plan rehearsals and meetings without endless texts and calls. Leading platforms include WhenAvailable, Doodle, When2meet, Crab Fit, and Xoyondo. In this guide, I'll explain what an availability poll is. I'll also compare the top five scheduling and availability poll apps to help you choose. What is an Availability Poll? Availability Poll: Everyone marks when they are free.

You probably don't notice the wallpaper when you're watching a great film. Or the shape of the dining table. Or the fact that one character's apartment is filled with warm wood while another lives surrounded by cold concrete and glass. That's the point. Because the best production design never asks for that kind of attention. It just shapes the way you feel about a story before anyone has spoken a single word.

Every New Year's Eve millions of people design their future film career. They set themselves ambitious goals: Write my screenplay. Direct my short film. Produce my debut feature. Get into a festival. Find an agent. Build a career in film. By February, many of those ambitions have quietly slipped away. Not because people aren't talented. Not because they don't care enough. Usually because they simply don't know what to do next. Does this strike a bell with you?

Not long ago, distribution was the finish line. How film distribution has changed. You wrote the screenplay, raised the money, made the film, premiered it at a festival and hoped a distributor would take it from there. If they said yes, your film found an audience. If they said no, your options were painfully limited. Today, that world has almost disappeared. The internet, streaming platforms and social media have transformed the way audiences discover films.

Perspective. That's what filmmakers are really after when they put a scene on a rooftop. Because a rooftop doesn't just change the view, it changes the viewer. Just think about what happens the moment the characters reach the top. They push open the heavy door, step into the open air, and suddenly the world feels different. The traffic is still there. The deadlines haven't disappeared. The problems are waiting downstairs. But from up here, they seem to have shrunk. Nothing has changed except perspective.

Today Elliot Grove & Suzanne Ballantyne received their British Citizen Award Medal of Honour for Services to the Arts, their daughter Désirée Ballantyne-Grove collected on behalf of Suzanne Ballantyne. For more than thirty years, Elliot and Suzanne have helped thousands of independent filmmakers find their voice. This award is recognition that independent filmmaking matters. Elliot spoke on getting this award: Receiving the British Citizen Award is an enormous honour.