FEATURED POST
FINDING THE STORY: How Narrative Filmmaker Tamar Halpern Directed Her First Documentary
About Tamar Halpern Tamar Halpern is a writer and director with 9 feature films behind her — all low-budget and produced for less than $1.2 million. She graduated from the USC School of Cinematic Arts with an MFA in 1998, the same year she started...
Read More
RECENT POSTS
RENAISSANCE DISNEY: Lessons We Learned Rewatching The Lion King
The term “Renaissance” has been used by fans to describe the awakening and reinvention that brought public and critical interest to Disney Feature Animation in the 1990s. We started revisiting these innovative filmmaking techniques with Aladdin, and...
TAKE YOUR TIME, DO IT RIGHT
This post is based on material from producer Stu Pollard's popular Film Independent seminars. Visit our new online education portal, lunacyu.com, for more comprehensive film production and financing resources! When it comes to raising money, consider the long game....
MOVING TO LA: 5 Financial Tips for Taking the Leap!
Great news! You’re moving to Los Angeles: the city of angels, the home of Hollywood. A travel destination full of movie stars and glamorous lifestyles, opportunities and challenges. As several friends told us when we planned to move to LA, “You’re...
ORIGINS OF INSPIRATION: 5 Creators and the Films That Inspire Them
What do Scream, Jaws, and Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner? have to do with one another? They all inspired Jordan Peele in the writing of Get Out, the Academy Award-winning screenplay that lent a fresh voice to an ongoing discourse about race in America. That...
ACTING FOR A LIVING: How Daniel R. Hill Books Work
In addition to being well-trained and really good, how can you turn your flair for the dramatic into a regular income? We got such fresh perspective from Daniel R. Hill’s interview, we had to share some of his secrets to working full-time as an actor....
POINTS OF ENTRY: How Our Favorite Filmmakers Got Their Start
Who are YOUR creative heroes? Do they seem to succeed effortlessly, and without much strategy? Do they walk on sparkly clouds of cinematic grandeur, arriving at their red carpet destination with nary a hair out of place? Are they mystifyingly perfect?...
THE ART OF SAYING THANKS: The Power of Gratitude
This post is based on material from producer Stu Pollard's popular Film Independent seminars. Visit our new online education portal, lunacyu.com, for more comprehensive film production and financing resources! We've talked before about the importance of...
HITTING THE RIGHT NOTES: How to Effectively Implement Feedback
As essential as it is to get feedback on your work—from co-creators, production team members, focus groups, etc.—does anyone really enjoy this part of the creative process? Receiving notes the wrong way, or from the wrong person, can frustrate your...
LOVE ON THE BRAIN: Wedding Movies Through the Years
Our indie rom-com Plus One opens today in theatres and on select digital platforms! Maya Erskine (Pen15) and Jack Quaid (The Boys) star as lovelorn friends who agree to partner up in order to survive a hectic wedding season. We think the film is...
RENAISSANCE DISNEY: We Rewatched Aladdin and It Made Us Better Filmmakers
The term “Renaissance” has been used by fans to describe the awakening and reinvention that brought public and critical interest to Disney Feature Animation in the 1990s, starting with The Little Mermaid (1989) and ending with Tarzan (1999). But it...
GOING ALL IN: How Daniel R. Hill Made Acting His Only Job
About Daniel R. Hill Kentucky native Daniel R. Hill is a classically trained actor living in Los Angeles. In addition to portraying Buck Pritchert in Lunacy Productions' 2019 release, Rust Creek, Daniel plays Chad Anderson in the FOX medical drama The...
WIDE VARIETY: The Many Different Uses of the Underappreciated Wide Shot
Shot selection can be one of the director’s best tools for communicating with an audience. It allows her to control what they see (or do not see) and manipulate the emotional impact of the story. And one of the most important and underappreciated shots in the...
WILL THIS FILM FEST CHANGE YOUR LIFE?: 5 Festival Networking Tips
So, you're film is playing at a film festival. Congratulations! We have a couple films on the festival circuit ourselves. The Lunacy films Plus One and The Short History of the Long Road are currently entertaining audiences in New York, Los Angeles, and...
QUALITY WINS THE DAY: Ross Putman Talks About Championing New Voices
About Ross Putman After graduating from USC's School of Cinematic Arts, Ross Putman started his career as a development executive before transitioning to independent film production. The company he co-founded, PSH Collective, went on to produce the...
THE PRECARIOUSNESS OF SELF-RELIANCE: Director Ani Simon-Kennedy Talks About Her Latest Feature
About Ani Simon-Kennedy Raised in Paris and based in New York, Ani Simon-Kennedy is a feature film, documentary and commercial director. Under the banner of Bicephaly Pictures, she collaborates with cinematographer Cailin Yatsko on socially-conscious...
GREATEST HITS
LOW-BUDGET FILMMAKING: How Much Does It Really Cost To Make Your First Feature?
Fellow indie filmmakers continue making micro-budget feature films. Glen Schultz (Red Trail 90) says he did it with $10,000. Mark Duplass (The Puffy Chair) suggests you only need $1,000. Those figures notwithstanding, keeping costs low can set you up to turn a...
RENAISSANCE DISNEY: 5 Filmmaking Lessons from Disney’s Mulan
The term “Renaissance” has been used by fans to describe the awakening and reinvention that brought public and critical interest to Disney Feature Animation in the 1990’s, starting with 1989’s The Little Mermaid and ending with 1999’s Tarzan. No matter...
Z-AXIS MOVEMENT: 5 camera techniques to help you raise stakes, create unease, and more
There are three directions you can move your camera: along the horizontal x-axis (pans and dollies), the vertical y-axis (tilts and booms), and the z-axis (moving forward or back). Used separately or in conjunction, these movements can serve utilitarian purposes,...
BETTER SLATE THAN NEVER: The Importance Of The Slate To An Assistant Editor
“Rushing Ramona” is a 2nd AC (camera assistant) working on a feature in Kentucky. Before each take she updates the slate (also called clapboard, clapperboard, or sound marker) with the appropriate scene and take. She announces the take, claps the “sticks,” and gets...
WOMEN ON THE CUTTING EDGE: 5 Female Film Editors Behind Your Favorite Films
In honor of Women’s History Month your friends at Lunacy will be posting content celebrating the contribution of women to the film industry. We continue this week with a look at female filmmakers who aren't household names but have nonetheless shaped the history of...
