Archives 2018

This week we wanted to share our experience participating in a video contest. These types of contests are generally open to the public and can be a great way to test your production skills in number of areas such as budget, schedule, cinematography and creativity. Incentives for participating in these types of contests include cash prizes, merchandise and of course bragging rights. To see a full list of video contests available at any time visit onlinevideocontests.com.

While we’ve participated in competitions before, this was our first video contest that carried a $10,000 grand prize. One of our hurdles  was that we didn’t find out about it until 2 weeks prior to the submission date. If two weeks sounds like a lot of time, it isn’t. Think about making a video for $10,000, how much time would you need to plan, shoot and edit that video?

The good news for us is that we’ve been working as a team for years so dividing up tasks and streamlining our process. Our reasons to participate in this contest were not just about the possibility of winning a prize. We do them to sharpen our skill set or push us to do something more creativity and adhering to parameters like you would if you were doing commercial video production for a client.

Genie Garage Door Video Contest Submission

The video was submitted on February 4th, 2018 and we’d love feedback from other filmmakers. What would you have done? How could you improve this video? Leave us feedback in the comments.

The Parameters

While some may feel like parameters are a hindrance to creativity, I would suggest that parameters spawn creativity by making you think clearly about achieving certain objectives or goals. Here are the requirements for the Genie Garage Door video contest we entered.

ENTRY, VIDEO AND FINALIST VIDEO REQUIREMENTS & CONDITIONS: All Entries, Videos and Finalist Videos must comply with the following minimum guidelines to be eligible: (this is just a summary, there were 25 conditions that had to be met)

• Video and Finalist Videos must feature or describe a Genie Garage Door Opener and/or its features or capabilities.
• Video and Finalist Videos must include a standard size single or double residential garage door that is compatible with any Genie Garage Door Opener models
• Entrant must have express written permission from the owner of the garage to use the owner’s property in the Video/Finalist Video.
• Individuals other than the entrant may not appear in the Video or Finalist Video, without express written permission.
• The maximum file size is 150MB for videos submitted to the Contest Website. Video/Finalist Video must not exceed 90 seconds in length.
• Entry and Video/Finalist Video cannot contain or depict visible phone numbers, website links, street addresses, e-mail addresses or license plate numbers.

Discussion Highlights

• Pre-Production including scripts
• Casting for the role quickly
• Selecting a location
• Three different set designs
• Creating a shot list
• Getting voice over work completed
• Editing and throwing out the script
• Submitting a completed video

Special Thanks

• Actress Rand Sloane – http://www.imdb.com/name/nm7249700/
• Voice Over Actor Todd Myers – https://www.quadrant904.com

Tom Jennings is an award winning documentary filmmaker and journalist. Tom has written, directed and produced more than 400 hours of programming on a variety of topics including politics, religion, history, crime and sports to name a few. His documentaries have been seen on channels like National Geographic and The History Channel.

The best way to sum up our interview with Tom was that it was like taking a masterclass in documentary film making. We reached out Tom’s production company 1895 Films to talk about his latest release on Netflix, Diana: In Her Own Words that was produced for the 20th anniversary of Princess Diana’s passing. The journey of producing a documentary of this magnitude is a true test in problem solving and ingenuity that every filmmaker should take notes on.

Tom stresses you need to love what you do to be a documentary filmmaker. There are growing numbers of documentary television programming but Tom think it’s probably easier to sell a reality show. Don’t ever give up. If one network doesn’t want your story, maybe you can tailor for someone else. Sometimes you just have to step up and figure out how to make things work the best you can.

Keep Up with Tom Jennings Online

Website: http://1895films.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/1895filmsCA/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/1895films

Tom Jennings Interview Highlights

Life as a Journalist

• Before becoming a filmmaker, Tom Jennings was a journalist in Washington D.C.
• Having moved to Los Angeles, Tom ended up covering the O.J. Simpson criminal trial and got burned out
• Cable television networks were taking off and needed writers to write non-fiction television with Discovery and History
• Writing led into producing which led to directing
• Tom sold his first project in 2004 to the Discovery Channel and had his own company since then

Learning to Make Documentaries On His Own

• Tom didn’t go to film school and had no film background
• His education came from being in the field and learning from the crew
• “People like to talk about what they do if you show a genuine interest in what they do.”
• This is how he learned how to put non-fiction documentary television together
• Tom admits he would have failed film theory classes but he knows how to get the right material in the can to make for a good documentary

Selling His First Documentary About Roanoke Island

• Tom’s first project was for the History Channel about the lost colony of Roanoke Island
• This was at the time when networks like History were interested in cool stories
• Today, having a cool story doesn’t cut it. There has to be something new, information that was never known before
• By complete luck, every year in the town of Roanoke Island actors recreate the story in a play
• Tom was able to get the actors to participate in the documentary and the rest is history…pun intended
• Tom also notes, recreations can be poorly done if you’re not careful
• For his first film, Tom had interviews, a great mystery and on top of it these great images to go with it

Diana: In Her Own Words

• This film commissioned by National Graphic is now available on Netflix
• It’s a difficult type of programming to do in film making because there are no interviews or narrator
• Archival footage and audio was the only content used to make Diana: In Her Own Words
• The archive they got for the Diana story was from author Andrew Morton who wrote Diana: Her True Story
• It consisted of private interviews of Princess Diana through tapes that were made for Andrew Morton through a mutual friend
• When they approached Andrew Morton about the tapes Andrew’s response was get in line
• Tom explained this would be a film about Diana, narrated by Diana which was something that had never been done before
• There were many rules put in place by Tom and his team to in regards to the use of imagery when talking about particular time periods

Watch Diana: In Her Words

Telling A Story With Archival Footage

• Depending on the source material available, every production is different
• For Diana: In Her Own Words, there were 7 hours of audio that they mapped out as storyboards
• They listed all of the story beats she talked about at length or momentary asides
• There were 140 story cards stuck on a board at that time
• Tom and his team knew they had to tell the broad strokes of the story people knew about Princess Di
• Then they found the stories they knew people had not heard before
• The story works so well because Tom purposely chose story beats where they could find footage of the event

Winning an Emmy for Best Documentary Research

• Whether its a feature film or a documentary, filmmakers always need to think outside the box
• The Challenger story had been told many times before but not in this way
• Tom received 30 beta tapes from the NASA archive and having gone through 28 of them they found gold of Christa McAuliffe rehearsing her lesson plans aboard The Challenger
• When they called NASA to tell them what they had found, NASA had no idea that footage existed because nobody else had gone through the tapes before
• Remembering Christa McAuliffe was from New Hampshire, Tom called a local radio station who had kept all the footage of her training and their news director was actually on the launch pad broadcasting live
• All of this added to the most unique coverage of the events of the Challenger disaster in decades which ended up winning an Emmy for Best Documentary Research

The Lost Tapes Series

• Watch the Lost Tapes Series on The Smithsonian Channel
  • The Lost Tapes: Malcom X
  • The Lost Tapes: Patty Hearst
  • The Lost Tapes: Son of Sam
  • The Lost Tapes: LA Riots
  • The Lost Tapes: Pearl Harbor
  • Challenger Disaster: Lost Tapes
• Tom goes in depth on making the series from production schedule to business of running a production company
• When you have a small production you have to go from concept to delivery
• The networks know what they want and when they want it. If you want to keep working with them you have to deliver

Getting Around Licensing for the King of Pop

• Tom produced a show for Investigation Discovery on the death of Michael Jackson
• It’s difficult on a budget to license images or music of Michael Jackson
• It’s frustrating to know you’d only get the same content as everyone else
• They shot interviews and b-roll of locations but they wanted more
• Tom hired a Michael Jackson impersonator and shot them for hours in shadow to beef up the footage

Landing a Job with Robert Redford

• Tom was fascinated by the Lincoln assassination and John Wilkes Booth when he was a journalist
• Most people don’t know the story stretches over 12 days where John Wilkes Booth was on the run
• He pitched the story to the History Channel and it was created in HD with a ton of reenactments
• 2 years later he received a call from Rober Redford’s production company about a movie called The Conspirator
• He was asked to make the documentary version for the DVD The Conspirator: Mary Surratt and the Plot to Kill Lincoln

This week’s guest on the Imperfect Podcast is Jenny Frankfurt who is the founder of the Finish Line Script Competition currently in its third year. The Finish Line Script Competition is based on the premise that rewrites are essential to be a successful writer. The panel of judges provides development notes when requested in order for writers to rewrite and resubmit new drafts for free throughout the entire script competition.

Rather than submitting your script and hoping for the best, the Finish Line Script Competition acts as a partner to up and coming writers with feedback from their mentors that have worked in every aspect of the film and television industry. The competition essentially echoes the reality of the business. Writers that work for a studio or even sell a feature film based on their script will go through a number of rewrites based on criticism and feedback.

The Finish Line Script Competition is essential for any writer that wants honest feedback and takes their craft seriously enough to bring it to the next level.

Follow Finish Line Script Competition

• Website: http://finishlinescriptcomp.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FinishLineScriptCompetition/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/FinishLineScrip

Who is Jenny Frankfurt

• A literary agent and manager with her own company, Highstreet Management based in Los Angeles for many years
• Jenny went to NYU Film School but mainly about writing on the job
• Reading countless scripts and books she would break down scripts for talent agents
• All that experience led her to know what worked and what didn’t work

The Finish Line Script Competition Is Born

• After burning out on management Jenny wanted to continue working with writers
• There are many script competitions out there but they don’t provide notes until the very end
• Jenny wanted to do something that hadn’t been done before which included the rewrites and feedback from mentors
• Through her contacts she knew she access to a lot of talent to create the panel of mentors which proved to be valuable
• As a reader for other competitions she would often say “If only this person had gotten really good notes before entering the competition.”
• As writers submit new drafts they continue to work with the same script consultant on their rewrites

How Did You Get The Word Out About The Finish Line Script Competition

• Budgets were small and they used Twitter and Facebook to start spreading the word its first year
• Because of its unique twist and 25 mentors on board they received 300 submissions in year one
• In its second year the competition grew by 500%

What Type Of Scripts Are Accepted

• TV Pilots and Screenplays are both accepted
• Writers can submit and not ask for notes for a smaller fee
• Scripts that are over 135 pages there is an additional fee for notes
• Each script is read by 3 people so there’s a balance of taste

Have You Had Any Success Stories From Past Winners

• Last years winner was a TV Pilot called Sugarland by R.B. Ripley
• He’s taken over 30 meetings and now has a producer attached to the script

Who Are The Mentors?

• There are over 30 mentors this year from all over the world that mentor and take meetings with the winning writers.
• Steven Rogers – Writer/Producer of the award-winning film “I, Tonya” starring Margot Robbie and Allison Janney.
• Colin Vaines – Co-producer of “Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool” starring Annette Bening. Previously produced “The Gangs of New York” directed by Martin Scorsese.
• Michael Andreen – Producer, “Master & Commander“, “The Day After Tomorrow“.
• Karen Lunder – Senior Film Exec at Imagine Entertainment, Lunder recently oversaw production on the upcoming “The Spy Who Dumped Me” starring Kate McKinnon.
• Joey Chavez – Sr. VP, Original Programming at TNT (“Animal Kingdom”, “The Alienist”, “Claws”).
• Christine Conley – Director of Development, Working Title Television. Produced “Gypsy”at Netflix & “About a Boy”at NBC.
• Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas – President, Nuyorican Productions & Goldsmith-Thomas Productions who used to be Julia Roberts agent and now producers for Jennifer Lopez and Halle Berry.

Advice to Screenwriters

• This is your calling card and a way for people to know you
• Do you research and put the time in
• Your effort matters including the formatting on the page
• It lets people know you’re taking it seriously and that you put the work in

This week’s guest on the Imperfect Podcast is Kevin Gootee, creator and producer of the streaming series Comics Watching Comics available on Amazon Video. We talk to Kevin about everything from how he came up with the idea for Comics Watching Comics to what it takes to make the show available on Amazon Video. You may be familiar with shows such as Last Comic Standing but Comics Watching Comics takes things in a different direction featuring amateur comedians that Kevin and his panel critique and decide whether or not they have what it takes to make a living as a stand-up comedian.

We dive into what it takes to produce a streaming series for 5 seasons and the process of making it available on Amazon.  Kevin Gootee also has a number of ideas for more series based content that he’ll be unleashing in the near future.

Keep up with Comics Watching Comics

• Website: https://comicswatchingcomics.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/comicswatchingcomics/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/comicswatching
• Follow Kevin Gootee: https://twitter.com/KevinGootee

Watch Season 5 of Comics Watching Comics on Amazon Video

What Is Comics Watching Comics

• Kevin Gootee started out as a stand-up comedian himself
• At an open mic, Kevin couldn’t believe how horrible it was and started texting a buddy about the performance
• In those texts of busting chops the idea for the show was born
• Kevin thinks Last Comic Standing is too nice to the performers and many aren’t newbies as the show might suggest
• Aside from being critical of the comedians, it’s really a show meant to promote comedy

Why Distribute Comics Watching Comics on Amazon?

• It was on YouTube first and then went to Amazon
• The numbers on YouTube were awful and the show has been on multiple streaming platforms
• Once in discussions with Amazon it was a no-brainer to move the show
• His goal is to bring the show to a wider audience
• Production requirements are insane but the most intensive process is close captioning that has to be 100% on point

What Does it Take to Produce Comics Watching Comics

• Kevin maximizes time by shooting 2 seasons in one taping of just the comedians for up to 5 hours
• The panelists shoot on two different days
• The first two seasons were comedians he knew well
• Seasons 2 and 3 he placed ads on Facebook
• For Seasons 5 the show was picking up steam, people were emailing him from across the country to be on the show
• Kevin watches submissions videos and chooses 25 comedians for each season of the show

Who are the Panelists

• The panelists are veteran comedians Kevin chooses each season
• Each new season the fans can choose which panelist they would like to see return
• Panelist Sean Lynch, creator of Celebrity Death Match on MTV, shares his story about Jay Mohr stealing his Super Friends joke in Season 4

The Future of Comics Watching Comics

• The move to Amazon added legitimacy to for the series
• Kevin would love to bring the show to cable or network telivision
• Kevin also has 3 other shows lined up for the future including Comics Watching Football, Licensed to Kill No Odd Job featuring comedians talking about different topics while playing Goldeneye on the Nintendo 64

Have more questions for Kevin Gootee and Comics Watching Comics? Leave them in the comments and we’ll get back to you!

Today’s guest is Robert Sciglimpaglia, an actor and accomplished voice over artist who is also a practicing attorney has been producing his own feature films as an Executive Producer. the past few years. We had the pleasure of meeting Robert at the American Film Market in 2017 where we spoke about film funding and film distribution. What we learn in today’s interview is that there is a delicate balance between financing, casting and distribution that may lead to the success of your next independent film.

In the early days, Robert hosted a local radio program back in the mid 1990’s called “The Law Show”, and more recently, hosted a radio show called “Ask the Lawyer.” Robert’s first venture into the acting field was a show called “American Experience: Hijacked!” which aired nationally on PBS-TV and was narrated by Campbell Scott. Since that time, he has appeared in numerous national projects with many big name stars, both in acting and voice overs. His latest project in post-production is an independent feature film, called One, featuring Lance Henriksen.

Follow Robert Sciglimpaglia’s Independent Film Projects

• IMDB – http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2215197/
• Website – http://www.robpaglia.com
• Twitter – https://twitter.com/robscig
• YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/user/robscig

Breaking into The Film Industry

• After working hard as a lawyer Robert, started doing voice over work about 12 years ago
• He took an adult education class for voice over acting to see if he even liked it
• From commercial work to animation, Robert has tons of street cred as a voice over actor
• Within 6 months of doing voice over work, he was doing on camera work as an actor
• Robert started taking acting classes and still takes classes to this day to perfect his craft
• From there Robert started producing his own films

Landing a Super Bowl Commercial

• Getting a phone call on the golf course led to his role in the Chevy Superbowl ad
• It was originally meant to be a spec ad for the London Film Festival but Chevy liked the ad so much they pulled it for the superbowl
• The commercial was voted as the #21 Superbowl ad in history!
• Robert’s big takeaway from the ad was “Whenever I do a job, I do it 100%. It doesn’t matter what kind of job it is…I want to work those people again.”
• Robert’s 2nd takeaway was “You never know where your project is going to go.”

Selling a Film at AFM (The American Film Market)

• One, a film recently produced by Robert for $50k was brought to AFM to find distribution and he succeeded
• The film features actor Lance Henriksen (Alien, The Terminator)
• Evan Evans also agreed to do compose the film score
• As an attorney, Robert advises filmmakers regularly
• “Figure out where you want the film to go and work backwards”
• Whether its to get financing, distribution or even go to festival know what your goals for the film are
• Anything you can do to generate buzz from getting a named actor for cameos or a composer to score the film
• Genre is something you should research to see what types of films are selling

Getting Film Distribution Contacts

• The most important thing a filmmaker can do is put their project up on IMDB even before you make
• Adler and Associates Entertainment, distributors for Robert’s movie One, found his project because actor Lance Henriksen was attached
• Lance is popular in foreign sales and sci-fi and Robert had worked with Lance before
• Making contacts is more about what you can do for them
• While at AFM Robert also found funding for a second film through Bitcoin Film Funding

Have more questions for Robert Sciglimpaglia? Leave em in the comments and we’ll make sure he gets back to you!

This week’s guest on the Imperfect Podcast is Director, Fran Strine who created the music documentary Hired Gun now available on Netflix. Fran captures the stories of the music industries elite musicians who are only “20 feet from stardom” yet rarely receive credit for their work. Featured in the documentary are Alice Cooper, Rob Zombie, Liberty DeVitto (Billy Joel), Ray Parker Jr. (Ghostbusters), Rudy Sarzo (Quiet Riot), Jason Newsted (Metallica) and dozens more.

Fran Strine talks with us about his passion for music and why telling this story was important. As a touring music photographer for bands like Staind, Nickelback, Shinedown & Seether he lived alongside some of the greatest musicians in the world. From finding investors to shooting 2 years of footage to having the music produced at Skywalker Ranch this interview is both inspiring and educational for filmmakers looking to break into the documentary world.

Hired Gun worked so well as a documentary because someone like Fran was so passionate and dedicated to the story and seeing the vision through to completion. There is no substitute for hard work when it comes to making a documentary of this magnitude and with the caliber of talent that was involved on and off screen.

Watch Hired Gun

Fran Strine Interview Highlights

The Motivation for Filming Hired Gun

• Fran Strine was a touring music photographer for years
• After being on the road for 20 years and ready to take a break, Five Finger Death Punch made him an offer he couldn’t refuse
• When the tour wrapped, Fran was about to turn 50 years old and he decided to take his chances and make a film
• He had no formal training as a photographer or videographer, just a lot of hard work and dedication

Getting started in Film

• Fran was the photographer for the Tattoo the Earth tour in 2000 with a bunch of metal bands
• He happened to bring a video camera with him and started shooting the bands live
• While in Atlanta with Sevendust the head of A&R approached him about doing a Bonus DVD for the making of the album
• Fran took the upfront money they gave him, bought a camera, a Mac and Final Cut for Dummies which is how he launched his film career
• That led to more music videos

Battlefield of the Mind

• In 2012 Fran filmed Battlefield of the Mind
• A documentary focusing on homeless Veterans that suffer from PTSD.
• How can this happen in the wealthiest country in the world?
• What can we do as citizens?
• That’s what this film explores.

Hired Gun: Concept to Production

• Fran had seen 20 feet from stardom and it really touched him
• He knew there was another story there and was aware of the “hired gun” from touring with musicians for 2 decades
• After making a sizzle reel, he found an investor who was a good friend he met through Battlefield of the Mind
• The budget was less than $1 Million
• Production on Hired Gun lasted 2 years while waiting for musicians to come off the road

How Do You Tell A Cohesive Story With So Much Footage

• Fran’s goal was to get the best stories from everyone involved
• The first musician he reached out to was Liberty Devitto because he couldn’t believe his story as Billy Joel’s drummer was real
• After interviewing Rudy Sarzo Fran knew he’d be a big part of the documentary
• In total, 65 musicians were interviewed to make Hired Gun
• Gavin Fisher was the editor on almost 90% of the film

Music Licensing for Hired Gun

• Julie Glaze Houlihan was the music supervisor responsible for clearing the music
• There are two sides to licensing a song
  • Publishing rights that belong to the song writer
  • Master recording that belongs to the record label
• Donald Fagan and Walter Becker gave us permission to use a Steely Dan song however the record label denied us
• Jay Gradon was brought in to re-record the guitar solo from Peg just for the documentary on the same guitar and amps used on the original recording

Assembling the Ultimate Jam Band

• Everyone in the band was interviewed for Hired Gun
• All of the musicians happened to be in town for NAMM that weekend
• One day of rehearsals and 3 days at the studio
• It was a nightmare to assemble but there were no egos and watching it live gave Fran chills

Distributing a Music Documentary

• We didn’t have a distributor going into the world premiere at SXSW
• Vision Films setup Hired Gun a screening at over 300 theaters nationwide
• In August of 2017 we launched on VOD and then received worldwide distribution working with Sony
• The Netflix deal came early on after a screening at the SOHO House

Mixing Audio at Skywalker Ranch

• Spending two weeks in Los Angeles to mix the film was not appealing
• On a whim, Fran sent an unsolicited email to Skywalker Ranch with the sizzle reel and synopsis
• The response from Skywalker Ranch was “Can we submit a bid?” which shows how much they believed in the project

For Fran Strine, he accomplished everything he had hoped for Hired Gun elevating his career to the next level. We wish Fran much success in his future endeavors. Have more questions for Fran? Leave them in the comments and we’ll make sure answers them.