Case Studies

We break down real productions, episodes, pitch sessions, sizzle reels, scenes, and shots we’ve worked on so you can duplicate our successes…and learn from our mistakes!

Who Doesn’t Love Big Dorks and Indie Spirit?

by

Twitter has been good to us. We’ve funded the release of a film, built an audience for our new podcast, and, most importantly, met many, many amazing people. One of them is Nicholas Brandt, or Super Nick, as we’re fond of calling him. A screenwriter, film lover, and all around amazing dude (who KNOWS how … Read more

Our New TV Special: The Ghost Inside My Child

by

Set your DVRs! Out latest TV special is THE GHOST INSIDE MY CHILD, premiering Friday, November 23, at 10pm 9 central on BIO (The Biography Channel.) It’s about children who have unexplainable memories of dying in a past life. As new parents ourselves, we were both fascinated and a little terrified of the subject matter. … Read more

Camera Mapping Gorgeous Motion Pictures from Still Photographs

by

Awhile back we wrote a post about a technique called camera mapping, which is essentially taking a still photograph and “projecting” it onto 3d geometry to essentially fake motion picture footage. If that sounds a bit complicated, Nick over at Grey Scale Gorilla has a great post on camera mapping explaining how it all works … Read more

Follow Rian Johnson’s Lead to Jumpstart Your Filmmaking Career

by

Rian Johnson sold LOOPER the same way we’ve sold all of our TV shows and pilots…using great tape to generate excitement.

Clip-O-Mania

If you haven’t seen it already, Rian released the “clip-o-matic” tape he put together to help generate interest in his latest box-office hit LOOPER starring Bruce Willis and Joseph Gordon- Levitt.

Have a peek:

Talk about a super-cool behind the scenes look at the birth of a film.

A Tried and True Technique

Clip reels like these are created for every kind of project you can imagine, and the good ones really do open doors.

Read more

Journey Through Fire

by

Vijay Rajan
Vijay Rajan, director and producer of Journey Through Fire.

True documentarians tackle tough subject matter.

Vijay Rajan is doing just that in an intimate, cinematic, and heart-wrenching portrayal of a young woman named Elisabeth in his feature documentary Journey Through Fire.

Read more

Commerical Kings on IFC: Rhett and Link Will Make You Famous

by

Rhett and Link got their own centerfold in this week’s Entertainment Weekly Just 14 days away from the world premiere of our new show Commercial Kings with Rhett and Link on IFC. Making Local Commercials Global The show follows YouTube sensations (and all-round great guys) Rhett and Link as they take the art of local … Read more

Featured Kickstarter Project: Mother’s Red Dress

by

One of our Twitter faves, producer John Paul Rice is working hard to make the social-issue feature film “Mother’s Red Dress.” Heavy Issues The film tackles tough subject matter like abuse, domestic violence and mental illness. No, it’s not the most commercial subject matter out there…and that’s why sites like Kickstarter exist…to help make movies … Read more

Student Makes Hilarious Abstinence PSA

by

UPDATE: Looks like the video is offline, but we’ll see if we can dig it up. One of the great things about touring the festival circuit right now with our film Dying to do Letterman is meeting other filmmakers and great people all over the country. Last week at the Lighthouse International Film Festival I … Read more

Her Letters Trailer

by

Amanda Lin Costa, filmmaker, Her Letters photo credit Emon Hassan Her Letters is an ambitious short film project by one of our twitter faves Amanda Lin Costa. Previously, Amanda gave us an in-depth two part interview on the making of her short film here on the blog, covering the scripting of Her Letters as well … Read more