In the long process of producing my recent short film, I learned a LOT I want to share with you all. So, this month’s issues of Friday Film Notes will be covering the different challenges of producing films today. Let’s start with the obvious elephant in the room – financing – because if we had infinite money, none of the other producing issues would even matter! This issue of Friday Film Notes is sponsored by: Audiio Finding the right music for your edit used to take…
First off, apologies for the radio silence last week – you’ll see why later in this issue. Last Tuesday night, over a year after my writing partner and I first had a meeting about turning Oliver Brody into a short (and 11 years after the character first was put on paper)… …we successfully wrapped The Lost Fortune of Oliver Brody 🥲 Today, I’m pulling back the curtain on the 2nd phase of shooting to share what went right, what went wrong, and some of the things people never…
Last week was one of the most unforgettable times of my life – we flew (& drove) our tiny but mighty team out to rural Washington and shot for 4 days, capturing some amazing moments. Incredibly, nothing went tits-up out there. The movie gods seemed to be smiling down on the project – we didn’t even get a drop of Seattle rain the whole time. But that doesn’t mean it was easy… Here’s a quick break down of the shoot day-by-day – full BTS videos will come soon(ish!). This…
I’m in the final stages of prepping my big short film, The Lost Fortune of Oliver Brody. We start shooting Monday up in Washington state. So in lieu of a typed-out newsletter, I shot this video update that gives you a glimpse into what the week before a big out-of-state shoot feels like for a director/producer. Much more to come. Can’t wait to get out there. If you want to support me and this film, check out the Instant Short Film Blueprint, which is my 2 hour long…
Two weeks out. That’s when we start rolling on The Lost Fortune of Oliver Brody. It’s hard to believe, especially with how many things are still left to do. But even with the usual pre-production chaos, I’m feeling confident. ✅ The script works. ✅ My lead actor is dialed in. ✅ My DP and the rest of the crew are rock solid. I know this is going to be a good film. But here’s what’s been keeping me up at night: I don’t want “good.” The gap nobody talks about I think…
It’s been a busy week prepping my new film so far, but I’ve made a lot of progress. So for this issue, I’m going to give you a little pre-production slice-of-life. Think of it like a ride-along for a typical few days of prepping a film. Strap in. This issue of Friday Film Notes is sponsored by: Milanote Milanote has totally transformed how I prep my film projects. Its intuitive, visual interface makes it easy to brainstorm scenes, track timelines, and collaborate with…
Toni and I stepped out of the bustling market, and into a little camera shop I’d visited the last time I was in Australia a couple years ago. She needed some film for her 35mm camera, and I wanted to look at all the old cameras inside. We went to check out, when the young guy behind the counter paused and said: “Oh, I love your YouTube channel.” Me: “Whoa, no way!” Him: “Yeah, wait… what are you doing here?” Great question. It was a weird moment because I hadn’t…
Over the past few weeks I’ve been traveling almost non-stop for family events, location scouting, and the NAB conference. After these were done, I had planned to buckle down and get this upcoming short film ready to shoot by June 2nd. I could really feel the clock ticking, we were weeks away and still had a LOT of details left to sort out. With so much of my time, energy, and money invested in this project – the last thing I wanted was a sloppy shoot. And then we…
This week Toni and I attended NAB – a huge trade show in Las Vegas for all things media and broadcast. There were hundreds of booths from familiar and new companies in the video, audio, and software side of what we do. Also attending were creative professionals, including readers of this newsletter (😍), and some fellow YouTubers. It was my first time going to NAB and I had no idea what to expect, but here some learnings I walked away with… This issue of Friday Film…
Last week, me and my DP/producer Casey flew up to Washington for our second (and final) location scout for my next short film, The Lost Fortune of Oliver Brody. Our earlier Lake Tahoe scout was a bit too rushed and ultimately proved fruitless. But this time we needed to find the place. Not inspiration. Not possibilities. Solutions. So we could lock the locations, figure out the logistics, and start budgeting. So the attitude going into this trip was: This is where…