All posts by David Albert Pierce, Esq.
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Indie Law: Learn Why These Three Types of Attorneys Will Give Your Production a Boost, and How To Pick Them
Selecting an attorney, or attorneys, to work with throughout the moviemaking process is one of the most important decisions you’ll make. Likewise, investing in the right attorney can ultimately net... -
Indie Law: Put the Green in Greenlight With This Guide to the Most Effective Film Financing Tactics
You went to film school, not business school—yet all the sudden you’re confronted by a bevy of fancy financial terms as you... -
Swindler’s List: Seven Tips for Avoiding the Scam in Hollywood
Doyle Lonnegan: Your boss is quite a card player, Mr. Kelly; how does he do it? Johnny Hooker: He cheats. – The... -
Ethical Exploitation: How Moviemakers Can Treat Their Unpaid Interns and Volunteers Better
“Can’t get around the old minimum wage, Mortimer.”- Louis Winthorpe, III (Trading Places, 1983) In theory, an internship is a wonderful thing.... -
Better Safe Than Sorry: Nine Basics Moviemakers Should Cover For On-Set Safety
The industry is fraught with potential hazards for accidents. A select few on-set tragedies receive attention in the media, but even more... -
Cinema Law: How To Tell The Truth Without Paying For It
Adapting a true story for film can be tricky. On the one hand, reality can be extremely powerful—fact is often stranger—and even... -
Max Incentives: Five Best Practice Tips to Get the Most Out of Your Tax Incentives
So you’ve read our Best Places to Live and Work as a Moviemaker in 2016 lists (Big Cities and Small Cities and... -
Cinema Law: Why Moviemakers Should be Very, Very Careful About Equity Crowdfunding
Just days before the American Film Market began last November, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) finally promulgated regulations (after a two-year... -
The Producer’s Sacred Trinity: Three Positions that Separate Filmmaking Success and Disaster
Filmmaking is tough on the producer. When you’re responsible for making sure the entire picture runs efficiently, sometimes you feel more like... -
Staying Clear: How the First Amendment Can Protect Your Documentary
If there’s one thing both Alex Gibney and Scientology should agree upon, it’s the value of the First Amendment: freedom of speech,...
Guide 2019
Summer 2018
Spring 2018
25th Anniversary
Guide 2018
Year in MovieMaker
Inside the Issue: Acting
Sydney on the Map: To Land Breakout Roles, Sydney Sweeney Draws Her Own Maps of the Characters She Inhabits
A reverent initiate of a patriarchal regime; a disturbed young psychiatric hospital ward; a sexually questioning teen with a flair for the dramatic; a mysterious denizen...Inside the Issue: Directing
Think Like A Photographer: Generation Wealth’s Lauren Greenfield Shares How Still Techniques Make Better Movies
The biggest change I experienced when I went from making pictures to making films was the sense of an arc—of creating a story over time, and...Inside the Issue: How To
How They Did It: Casting Unknowns Was Key to Finding the Laughs and Lived-In Feel of Bo Burnham’s Eighth Grade
Before I directed my first film, Eighth Grade, I had heard that 90 percent of directing is casting. I’m sure there are other directors who weigh...2