What do you stand for? Recently, I dove into a wonderful book called “Start With Why” by Simon Sinek and it has challenged my thinking about ShoHawk. Christopher and I have always wanted to make movies. Ever since we met that’s been our goal, nothing else. What we’ve never fully discussed is, why? I know that’s a silly question. I know if you’re reading this, you probably think we shouldn’t even have to dive into this topic, but it’s incredibly important, and very seldom talked about. Why do we want to make films? What kind of films do we want to make? What stories do we want to tell? In the book Sinek talks about the Golden Circle of how we operate as humans. In this TED talk he dives into the Golden Circle: The three points of the Golden Circle are: Why How What Sinek states, "Everyone know what they do, most know how they do it…but very few know why they know what they do.” Why do you do what you do? Why are you telling the stories you’ve decided … [Read more...]

When we started, we had visions of creating huge movies. Christopher and I dreamed of epic WWII movies, spy movies, super hero movies -- you name it, we wanted to make it. The problem was, our eyes were bigger than our stomach. Even today when I work with clients and creatives, it's always tough to find the right balance of budgeting and creative spark. When you are starting on your first feature, you are most likely going to have low to no budget to work within. Everyone has to start somewhere and shorts don't usually cut it if you're trying to turn a profit and make a name for yourself. Likely, you'll start with a $1,000 to $15,000 film. Christopher and I made The Painted City for $6,000 and he made LIGHT for $11,000. In terms of feasibility, these are not always the easiest stories to tell because they need to have very few settings, very little cast, and simple to execute. Recently, I reviewed the Dov Simens Film Course where he dives into the specifics of no budget … [Read more...]

As the year comes to an end, I thought it would be fun to recap my favorite filmmaking articles and videos from 2015. You may recognize some -- I have linked to some before, but as we move forward into a new year, I like to recap everything I've learned from the previous year. There is an awful lot of junk to sort through every month, so I’ve broken down my favorite articles and videos to help cut through the clutter. This is here to help you find the best from the clutter. :) The Best Filmmaking Videos of 2015  Special Effects Anyone Can Do for Free Children of Men: Don't Ignore The Background The Truth About Filmmaking! JJ Abrams on Film School: "More important you learn what to make movies about, than how to make movies" Why Prep Is SO Important  Christopher Nolan on his first (no-budget) film "Following" + DIY Tips & Tricks 18-Minute Analysis By Christopher Nolan On Story & Construction Of Memento Buster Keaton - The Art of the Gag What not … [Read more...]

One day my phone buzzed at work, it was a message from Christopher, “I found an ad for "The Dov Simens Film Course" school in Movie Making Magazine. I really think we should go....it’s in San Francisco.” Uhhh, what? A ten hour drive for a cheesy film seminar? “You realize we’re both broke, right?” I asked. “Dude, check out these testimonials, though.” He sent me a link the Dov Simens Film Course website with a list of quotes from past students. Whoa...wait...what?! THE Quentin Tarantino? No way. I guess Tarantino didn’t go to film school. But a two day seminar? I felt like I was being sold snake oil, but I kept scrolling. Huh. Really? It felt too good to be true. But there they were, tons of testimonials. Guy Ritchie, Queen Latifa, Christopher Nolan, the list went on. I started clicking through to his videos. It still felt kitsch, but his message resonated with me. “Alright man, I’m in.” What are you going to do? If the class was terrible, at least … [Read more...]

The biggest turning point for me when starting out was realizing I wasn’t alone. As I mentioned in my informational interview post, local associations are the best place to start your journey. The problem for me when I was starting was the cost of joining my local association. It was only a couple hundred dollars per year, but it was still too much since I was fresh out of college and being as frugal as humanly possible. My solution to this problem was volunteering three days a week at my local film office. Lots of local organizations would kill to have a couple extra hands around to help with their events, outreach, and office work. When you volunteer you won’t be doing anything spectacular during your day, but you’ll be given a huge opportunity to interact with people way above your pay grade. Try to volunteer for as many community events as possible. This will get you in a room with a lot of people in the industry for free. It’s also a perfect opportunity to strike up … [Read more...]

Here are my favorite film industry and production articles + videos from around the internet from the last month. There is an awful lot of junk to sort through every month, so I've broken down my favorite articles and videos to help cut through the clutter. Videos This Month I love this video essay on props -- it talks about the hidden powers props provide and how filmmakers can use them to further their story. How everyday objects are transcended by storytelling and can becoming cultural icons.  Like music, color in film plays an incredibly important role. Color has the power to influence how we feel without our even noticing. Film directors have exploited our connection to color for decades. This video explores how our emotions are effected by color, and how filmmakers can use color more strategically. This is a sweet video on how VFX companies Framestore and MPC were tasked with creating the red planet in “The Martian.” From realistic landscape shots of Mars to simulated … [Read more...]

I've talked about different ways to get started with entertainment careers through LinkedIn and informational interviews. I think it's important to talk about what to expect once you actually start. My first day in production was terrifying. I’m pretty sure I threw up. What can I say? I’m a nervous Nancy. I've been racking my brain to think of a good story when I failed my first week, but everyday was a struggle. I really wish I had been more prepared. I’m sure I’ve built up a lot of this in my mind, and no one remembers how terrible I was at first, but that’s beside the point. I literally (yes, that word is overused) remember thinking, “Oh my God, what have I gotten myself into?” Fortunately my excitement powered me through the long days, and I managed to navigate through without anyone confronting me. When I first started, I tried reading up on what it took to succeed, but couldn’t find a whole lot other than The Hollywood Assistants Handbook. Which, to be fair, … [Read more...]

I always had this idea that if I wanted to be a success, I needed to do it myself. I think this goes back to the John Wayne Lone Ranger mentality that successful people do it themselves. The myth of the self made man holds back too many people. If you’re like me, you probably have the same outlook. You think that in order to “make it,” you have no one to depend on but yourself. This simply isn’t true. “A lot of people have gone further than they thought they could because someone else thought they could.” - Zig Zigler If you had asked me in college how to find a mentor, I would’ve given you a long blank stare. I’m not sure I would’ve even been able to tell you what a mentor really is. So if you’re already familiar with mentorship, you’re already way ahead of me when I started out. Think of a mentor as an informal coach. Mentors can come in lots of forms, but they’re always someone at a high level that will be able to give you a ton of value. These are people that have … [Read more...]

Since Christopher talked last week about being his own production studio, I thought it would be important to go step by step through how to start a production company. Before we dive in, I want to tell you that I am not a lawyer or a CPA. We've learned this information over the years from setting up our own companies. You should consult the right people before jumping into anything. If you are itching to get your production company up and running a great legal guidebook for filmmakers is The Independent Film Producer’s Survival Guide, where entertainment lawyers walk through the legality of setting up your production. I’ll be referencing LegalZoom frequently in this post, linking to specific pages so you file your business quickly. Full disclosure as usual, these are affiliate links, but are incredibly helpful to get you started. Some of this stuff can be a little dense, and it can be a lot to take in at once. If you’re reading this for the first time, don’t get too … [Read more...]

The Pixar Braintrust is something I first heard about from Ed Catmull's book, Creativity, Inc. When I first heard about The Pixar Braintust, Christopher and I struggled to find a balance between our creative vision and criticism from outsiders. The idea of The Pixar Braintrust had a huge impact on the way ShoHawk conducted our creative projects -- it helped us define our strengths and weaknesses, which opened our eyes to bigger possibilities within filmmaking. How can we get feedback in a safe environment from advisors we like and trust? The answer is to emulate Pixar’s brilliant feedback system – The Braintrust, which is explained here: THE PIXAR BRAINTRUST, HOW THIS IDEA EFFECTED ME  Hi. My name is Michael Hall and I have a problem. I struggle with criticism. I have a tough time opening up and accepting feedback. This is something Christopher and I have worked on recently, but struggled with for years. When we started, we had a grand plan – we would take the world … [Read more...]