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NOW is a great time to start your fimmaking career

Talented (if not & want to be, you can learn stuff by reading about it & doing it on a small scale - short films)? A filmmaker? Storyteller? Don't have a lot of money or access to a lot of money to blow on film production & distribution? Don't have any indiewood or Hollywood connections? If you said yes to all those questions then you can still launch a filmmaking career by doing the following things, now at a lower cost than ever before: 1) study filmmaking & story telling & life & history well & then write an awesome script for a feature length project that can be produced for no money or very little money. You have plenty of projects for inspiration (any early Jim Jarmusch film, any early Hal Hartley film, Clerks, Slacker, most Woody Allen movies, most Ed Burns movies, She's Gotta Have It, just to name a few), 2) shoot the film on DV or another affordable, high quality video format (& remember to keep your day job during this entire process), 3) make DVDs - 1000 of them can be made for about $1250, or you can make 1 at a time on your computer as orders come in, 4) set up a web site for the film & blog about the film & yourself, 5) submit the film to bloggers & any other interested media people who may talk about your film, 6) start promoting & selling the DVD as soon as possible, mail order is an easy way to go, also local retailers perhaps, also web retailers like Amazon (and even if another company wants to help you distribute your film down the road, it shouldn't be a problem since however many copies of the DVD you sell by that point will most likely be small in number compared to what a professional distributor with wide contacts & access can move), 7) while you sell your first film on DVD through mail-order & promote it through DIY screenings & film fest screenings & look at wider theatrical & home distribution possibilities & other, new alternatives such as internet VOD (video on demand), make your 2nd feature & repeat the getting-it-to-the-market-on-DVD process, 8) keep making & selling movies & quit your dayjob when you have enough money saved up from DVD sales & other filmmaking related revenue streams & when you know you have more - an adequate amount - of $s coming from your film work. There are no more excuses for not making movies if you really want to make them. And if your movies find a big enough audience, you will be able to do just movie making for a living. Even if the movies/DVDs don't sell that well, if you still feel passionate about what you have to say through your movies, keep making them & keep making them available on DVD 'cause, if you are lucky, one or two of those movies may just change someone's life for the better. What happens when DVD goes out of style you say? Don't worry, some other, better format will take its place, thanks to the gods of the open market & capitalism. As long as you can keep making interesting movies, the format that the audience gets to see it in does not matter as much. People are always going to be hungry for good stories.

Christmas Eve controversial, fun discussion - 1 of the best American indie filmmakers - Amir Motlagh

Inside the Arthouse ep 2

Full Movie - SNEAK PREVIEW - Cosmic Disco Detective Rene And The Mystery Of Immortal Time Travelers

NEW - COSMIC DISCO DETECTIVE RENE (2023) - TRAILER!

The Secret Society For Slow Romance (2022) - available to rent as a new release starting January 1

Werewolf Ninja Philosopher at Vimeo VOD

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Info, trailer, clips, opening scene - new feature doc - The Last Days of Joseph Koch Comics Warehouse (2025) - movie coming out on Sun on YouTube!

* Watch movie here (or above at top of page, starting 11 AM EST 7/20 Sun) -  https://youtu.be/De6AXHsD5d0?si=QoqLZAJlJM-NmoBv * Final trailer:  * The subject of the doc - Joseph Koch Comics Warehouse in Sunset Park, Brooklyn - will be open to the public daily 12-7 PM until the end of July. After that, after 35+ years, the warehouse closes. Visit them at:  206 41st Street, 2nd Floor Between 2nd & 3rd Avenue Sunset Park, Brooklyn 718-768-8571 12-7 PM daily, until end of July Website -  https://kochcomics.com/ Lots of amazing deals there (over 300K+ items for $1 they say). On to the documentary - it officially comes out on Sun - on YouTube (but may be available to view earlier). I am wrapping up work on it now.  Will post link at this blog when the movie is out (UPDATE - link - https://youtu.be/De6AXHsD5d0?si=QoqLZAJlJM-NmoBv ). The doc will be 1 hour and 13 mins long - and will feature: - Intro and notes by filmmaker - A tour of the warehouse in its last day...

The case for using AI for indie film reviews (if tech is developed to be able to write good reviews)

Regardless of how it is presented to the public, everything in US film (and probably worldwide) - Hollywood and indie - is about money.  If you have the money, you can make and release films, buy ads in publications, and get reviews.  There are 200+ reviews for a mediocre Hollywood movie now at Rotten Tomatoes site - for the new Fantastic Four movie. At the same time there were less than 10 reviews for an indie movie that was playing at IFC Center in NYC last week. Outside of even IFC runs, there are 100s of indie movies - fiction features and doc features - that come out on VOD and YouTube every week these days that do not get reviewed and do not get any articles written about them. With some effort I and many other indie filmmakers are able to get some reviews for our movies. However, the vast majority of new indie films are not reviewed. Film is art, it is easier to make and release films now than it was in the past, and all films deserve reviews and articles about them. ...

Cosmic Disco Detective Rene (2023) Full Movie + The Last Days of Joseph Koch Comics Warehouse (2025) feature documentary, full movie

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