Joined IndieClub

So tonight I had a crew meeting and then a IndieClub meeting. Met the crew (several from Bicycle Bobby which was nice). Had dinner (Cajun catfish, mmm!). And listened to Jon Keeyes speak about his filmmaking experiences.

Jon Keeyes has made several horror indie feature films and has made a profit on them all. This is very VERY hard to do. But with the right determination, His first film gathered a large enough underground following to make money and then land him directing jobs with production companies that were able to help him with distribution (which often relies in part on the foreign market).

He started off in journalism and as a script reader for large production companies. He had thought about being a writer, his words of wisdom on that were to TRULY learn how to write a screen play (suggested book "How not to write a screenplay"). The script readers will immediately throw away your script if it isn't formatted correctly and if you get past that they will give you 10 pages to prove yourself.

He talked about many aspects of production and really pushed that a filmmaker should learn everything they can to hone their skills and make them their own. It was a great evening.

Afterwards I had a white-knuckle drive home through the end of the tornado weather. Pretty sweet lightning. Hydroplaning sucks. But I made it home alive on the last of my gas (hope I make it to the gas station in the morning).

PS. Newbie actors... I have a request for you: Learn everything you can from books and the like and take film lessons for at least a year and then ask questions. And not to filmmakers but to other actors and acting coaches. I'd be happy to tell anyone about the do's and don'ts of getting into acting for film, shoot me a comment or message.