In today’s age, you don’t need to be a sophisticated or particularly wealthy businessman/woman to produce and sell a commercial feature film, and there are countless books out there dedicated to teaching filmmakers the secrets to the craft of independent film-making. Here are a few of my personal favorites. These are books that deal with the specific step-by-step processes involved in writing, planning, producing, fundraising, directing, marketing, and selling movies for a living. However, after reading many of these books myself and then making my own feature film from start to finish, I came to the realization that not many of them gave me the education I needed to survive my own experience. Not many of them delved into “days on set” and they mostly dealt with theory. The ones that were written by actual filmmakers never really covered “the DIY business” element and the commercial aspect of being an independent filmmaker.
This book is all about one thing: preparing you for the experience of making a movie and selling it, whether you sell it to a distributor at a festival or directly to the consumer. Ultimately, the only way to gain real-world experience is by working in the real world and gaining actual experience. But if you educate yourself about the process before jumping in the pool, you’ll have a better chance of making it to the other side. Learning from the experience of others will give you a great deal of confidence, and it will save you money, time, and effort.
“When given an opportunity, deliver excellence and never quit.” ~ Robert Rodriguez
This book covers the most effective DIY approach to writing, directing, producing, and distributing your film to a wide audience, winning awards, getting reviews, getting press, and building the base for your next feature film. It offers valuable insight into the process of making and selling a feature film – from the very start (the idea) to the very end (distribution and foreign sales); from screenwriting to scheduling, pre-production to post-production; from writing checks to dealing with insurance companies, getting permits, solving problems, handling marketing and social media– basically, everything you’ll ever need to know about the process, every lesson I learned along the way, and everything I wish I knew when I was first getting started in this business. If you want to venture into the world of low-budget, independent filmmaking, the information presented in this book will be a life-saver!
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