Attorney David A. Pierce, who writes a law column for MovieMaker and is the counsel for the Slamdance Film Festival,…
Okay, fine: Quentin Tarantino wrote, directed and produced Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood. But if you're an aspiring moviemaker,…
Keep your synopsis short and to the point. More importantly, keep your film short and to the point. Get honest…
The Slamdance Film Festival has helped moviemakers launch great careers — and great relationships. "We're connected, and great things come out…
In his must-read tome Adventures in the Screen Trade, the late, great author William Goldman states: “Writing is finally about…
I met Morrisa Maltz during SXSW in 2016 when she came to a panel on micro-budget filmmaking that I put…
If 2018 was the year Sundance struggled to answer how much of its DNA is market-driven and how much of…
If you’re going to Sundance, you’re going to Slamdance. And if you’re going to Slamdance, you’re going to Sundance. These…
One idea that was very important early on in our film Neptune was the creation of a living mandala. Though…
It’s fall and the leaves are changing color. Dying, some might say. It’s the morning after the opening night party…
The indie moviemaker’s mindset can be almost masochistic in its privation; it lives and dies by that ringmaster’s mantra “the…
Ah, film festivals, the gateway to distribution for an independent film. When I was starting out in the late '80s…
Glena, Allan Luebke's directorial debut, follows 30-something single-mother-turned-cage-fighter Glena Avila, who entered the professional world of MMA to support her…
This is a very big year in Park City, Utah, with Sundance celebrating its 30th birthday and Slamdance its 20th…
If you don't premiere at Sundance, can you still mount a successful festival run? Director Kyle Patrick Alvarez thinks so.…
Two decades into his career, director Marc Forster has 10 films under his belt— 10 diverse, successful, star-studded films. The…
Director, screenwriter, sometimes actor, and all-around major geek Kevin Smith has deep roots in independent moviemaking, filming his first feature,…
It's natural to have high expectations when you're looking forward to a first-time experience. We spent weeks reveling in excitement…
Last month, Josh Gibson went to the Slamdance Film Festival with his short film Kudzu Vine… and came back with…
In 2004, moviemakers Sean Baker and Shih-Ching Tsou made their film Take Out on a budget of $3,000 out of…