Also this is optional, if you would like to like kinda support me on these platforms. This would make my day

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT6qeey8e/

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DNvRTeXXJR4/?igsh=bHZuMXZlbzhyb2th

Hi guys, first things first, I'm not a screenwriter or a Filmmaker. However, I stumbled upon a story a couple of weeks ago and I can't stop thinking about how much I want it to be made into a film or, even better, a series. It's about Hark Ollufs' story. You probably haven't heard of him, and this is one of the reasons why I think it's such a great story. Compared to a lot of biopics, it would tell the story of the insane life of a simple man, rather than a big-shot historical figure, as we've seen so many times before. This idea has many things that so many people would appreciate. It would be historical and feature different cultures, battles and political intrigue, as well as drama. And it would all be real. If anyone is interested, the whole story can be found on his Wikipedia page because it would be too long otherwise. Sadly, the English version is much shorter than the German one, which goes into far more detail. The story of Hark Ollufs is about a young man from a small northern European island who was a sailor, but was then captured by Algerian pirates and sold into slavery. He became the personal slave of the chief of Algiers, and over time he rose through the military ranks until he became a high-ranking commander. He fought in numerous battles and won them. A lot of crazy stuff happens in between. His family couldn't afford the ransom for years, and when they finally had the money, the wrong man with the same name was released. Ollufs also converts to Islam and travels to Mecca. After many years of hard work, he finally becomes a free man and returns to his small home island a wealthy man. I even have an ending in mind. Ollufs is back on his small island in the quiet of his windy North Sea home in his personal study. He performs wudu with water from a bucket, finds south-east with a compass, pulls out a prayer mat, and then performs the Islamic prayer. You hear the famous 'Allahu Akbar'. The end.

If anyone is as intrigued by this story as I am, read on. I just needed to get it out of my head! Here's the link to his Wikipedia page for anyone who's interested:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hark_Olufs

Hello, colleagues. We would like to ask for your professional support. We are a small team from Ukraine trying to break into the big world of VFX. Like many here, we work day and night, putting everything into our work.

We think we've done a great job: we've transported Will Smith into The Matrix. We would appreciate your honest feedback.

But, to be honest, our main goal is for Will himself to see it. For us, as a team starting out in such difficult times, it would be an incredible moral and professional boost.

If you like our work, please support us by reposting it on your social media. It will take you a minute, but it could change everything for us.
FULL VIDEO

Ok, I've edited the post so that you can see that I am simply asking a question and not "plugging" my project.

Here's the question, nothing more, nothing less.

Is this a good place for aspiring film makers to talk about the projects they are working on?

Can anyone please teach me how to shoot and edit indoor cinematic videos from my mobile without proper lighting? I am ready to pay. Currently If I shoot videos in my mobile in indoor, the video quality is not that good and has lot of noise. Just looking forward to become a content creator.

Equipments I have: - Samsung Galaxy S22 - Tripod - Davinci resolve for editing in laptop.

That's it.

In the next couple of months, I’ll be leaving my hometown behind - not just for a change of scenery, but to chase something bigger. I’m looking to join (or build) a team of content creators who aren’t afraid to be bold, loud, and unapologetically themselves. Ideally, you’re based in or around Manchester, but if the vibe’s right, location isn’t a dealbreaker.

I’m talking about the kind of team that thrives in public - filming skits in the street, interviewing strangers, creating moments that make people stop scrolling. Confidence isn’t optional; it’s the fuel. If you’ve ever felt that rush from turning awkward into viral, you know exactly what I mean.

This isn’t just about chasing clout. It’s about building something that feels like home - a creative collective with hunger, humour, and heart. The goal? To take over social media, one fearless video at a time.

If you’re already creating, let’s talk. If you’ve got ideas but no crew, maybe we’re each other’s missing piece. Drop me a message or comment below - let’s make something unforgettable.

Probably the biggest question of them all…but how the hell do you even start to pursue this career? I have like 3 screenplays written (2 FF and 1 SF) but what do I even do?? Most would just say to sell the screenplays, but I would also like to have some sort of directing and producer credits and experience for them. It doesn’t seem feasible to pitch my screenplays to a company and then beg and somehow convince them to have me sit on the side lines or get taught how to be a director as production/filming goes on. (Unless i am wrong about this lol).

I am genuinely curious what do you actually do to start? I am someone who has no wealth to my name what so ever and essentially no connections.

P.S.: Its worth noting I am from the US. However I dont mind if I get to be a part of any other nations film industry…. This is just something I need to do out of passion.

Edit: I forgot to mention that I can also act, not a professional by any means, but I have done local theatre performances and have had acting classes before.

Hey guys! I recently complete worked on my most recent film and wanted to share it with everyone here. It’s a 46 minute horror film that I filmed in 6 days back in January.

I’d love it if you guys took the time to check it out and share any criticism, praise or anything else you’d feel like sharing. You can also find my other 12 minute short film and my 2 hour feature film on my channel as well!

https://youtu.be/cwKW0sR8uLQ?feature=shared

LaLa Land was a success on pretty much every level. Although there are obvious disagreements due to the story.

Wicked and Cats are recreations of Broadway. And I'm not going to talk about the Disney animation remakes. Joker 2 doesn't count as it is a musical cover film, in my opinion.

LaLa Land had a manageable budget and pulled off an extraordinary feat, but clearly there are more opportunities.

Singing in the rain and 7 brides for 7 brothers are two perfect examples.

Do you have any insight into why there aren't more attempts at original musicals or musical comedies?

i believe movies should have more special effects rather than focusing on character and story… movies get boring otherwise.

I have been an artist and writer my entire life and my process has always been “vibe” based. Like I will listen to music and allow thoughts to flow, and something interesting naturally comes out.

I run a small media start up, we have around 50 artists(and writers), and because scale is so small I can allow them to just work as they please. Not making it a traditional corporate job.

And it has all worked well so far, but I have noticed that as it’s becoming bigger. Process is becoming procedural. Like this free flowing attitude won’t work if investments and many jobs are at stake.

Last year I was in Thailand and stumbled on shooting of “The White Lotus”, and they were working with such tight schedule and movement.

Like everything from backgrounds artists to every movement is rehearsed to beat.And they do it all day, for months.

I just fail to comprehend how such a tight procedure create genuine emotions and impact in scenes. There is literally no room improvisation or individual expression. The director is managing like 100 main actors and 1000 crew, it has multiple millions riding on it. How will have space in his head to think about colors and music.

We are also raising money to adapt one of our comic books into animated films, and I also have lot of personal ambition for grander projects.

But stuff like this scares me, because I just don’t understand in a process like this how is one supposed to make it feel authentic.

https://youtu.be/Iib_Vd3b0S0

I've always wanted to test a Medium format Sensor for a short film, so I've made

Shot on a GFX 100II with a single light.
Lenses: Canon FDs and Laowa 12mm + Diaptors & 1/2 mist filter.

Hi! I’m 18 and I have an original story idea that I want to develop into a full script or treatment. I’m looking for a co-writer to collaborate with me.

Important: • I don’t have money to pay upfront. Any profits from this story (sales, adaptations, royalties) will be split 50-50. • I will provide a story treatment, character ideas, and main plot points. • All original ideas and ownership belong to me. The story is already documented, timestamped, and saved — it cannot be stolen. • I will share only general story and characters first, not full dialogue or secret twists. • If you are looking to steal ideas or take advantage, please do not contact me. Only serious writers who respect co-writing and ownership should reply.

If you’re interested, please reply or message me, and we can discuss collaboration safely.

I've always loved making films, animations etc. but one thing that bugged me is it became more about raising money, networking and managing a crew of people than it did simply putting pictures together in sequence.

Did anyone else experience this kind of disillusionment with the craft or do you think that the business side of filmmaking has always been a core component?

I still work now as a run and gun videographer/editor/producer "preditor"? I still like to make films for fun but have been so turned off by the politics and economics of the industry. It's been a wild ride going from film to digital to streaming to tiktok etc. and soon the VR/AI revolution that's going to change it all again. I love making AI films as it feels purer form of creative expression so perhaps it will swing back in favor of the creator vs. the businessman.

Hi! I’m a Latino film producer based in LA since December 2023. I’m producing my first feature-length documentary film and I’m in need of advice regarding music rights.

The project is a Spanish language, 90 min, LGTB-themed documentary filmed in a 4K bmp camera. Its budget is around $200k

Making the film has been absolutely wonderful (in both personal and professional terms), we have attend many national and international prestigious film labs and WIP and we also got chosen for big grant here in the U.S…

But as we advance into the final versions of the cut and the premiere (ideal) date gets closer (March-June) we have to dwelve into the music rights / film distribution problem: the cut version that we are currently working features 2-3 famous songs (in a diegetical manner btw) that I don’t even know how much would they cost me to get or if it be of any use in licensing them.

I’d like to ask you what criteria do you apply as movie producers when defining what music licenses you should go for? Or even before… should I really aim for licensing original music if I’m working on such a little budget film? Would it be appropriate to make such an investment (I guess -not sure tho- that the music rights for this film may represent from 20% up to 50% of the final budget of the film) if I’m not sure If the film really has its own global commercial potential? I think I can get a latam film agent to board on it (of course no MG) but I’m not pretty positive about a truly global one.

Thank you in advance for any insights shared and feel free to ask me anything

Hello !

First I would like to warmly thank everyone on the Filmmakers subreddit for their support on the film. I feel like I learned a lot and it was the opportunity to receive encouraging criticism, share advices and discuss the place of CGI in the film Industry.

Some of you asked how SINGULARITY was done, so I made a little behind-the-scenes to explain a bit more of the process that led to the film. I tried to cover most subjects - but didn't get too technical. So, if there's anything I missed, please ask! I'll be happy to answer to every question. 

Have a great day,

Milo

Producer here. I did a previous post on some data that I've been tracking and got quite the response! So I wanted to keep up the trend of sharing data being gathered. I'll be aiming to share some data every couple of weeks on here based off different trends being seen or crazy news coming. I started this journey to help solve my own pain point of finding new buyers, sales agents, producers etc to be reaching out to with projects.... it's taken me down quite the rabbit hole. Mainly tracking main industry sources such as Deadline, Variety, Hollywood Reporter, IndieWire, C21, etc. so take what you you will from the data!

Here are a few things that stood out from the last 60 days:

1. Genre momentum:

• Drama and Thriller dominate, but no surprise there.
• Comedy has quietly surged which is awesome to see, being a comedy fan, especially ensemble or character-driven comedies.
• Horror is still hot, but mid-budget horror ($5–25M) is where buyers are most active now. The “cheap horror” myth doesn’t line up with the data. Perhaps though that's because they are mentioned less, so my app doesn't pick it up as much, but this is the data I'm finding.
• Romantic Comedy has made a surprising comeback, with multiple buyers circling it in trades. I have a zombie-romcom film I'm working on so this is also great data to see!
• Documentary is stronger than expected, particularly true-crime and social-impact.

​

Drama            ████████████████████████████████ 312
Thriller         ███████████████████████████      268
Comedy           ████████████████████             201
Horror           ██████████████████               176
Documentary      ██████████████                   142
Action           █████████████                    127
Romantic Comedy  █████████                         89
Science Fiction  ███████                           77
Animation        █████                             52
Family           ████                              41

Drama (312 mentions)
Thriller (268 mentions)
Comedy (201 mentions)

Data represents buyer interest over the past 60 days

Top 3 Genres:

Drama (312 mentions)
Thriller (268 mentions)
Comedy (201 mentions)

\Data represents buyer interest over the past 60 days*

2. How deals are actually flowing (pathways being tracked!):
One thing I realized is I needed to also track pathways. A system to see if there is a way to build out scenarios or options on reaching certain buyers. Obviously this is a heavily gatekept industry but as the data continues to mature I'm starting to see some really cool insight and helpful info! One thing that jumped out: hardly anything goes direct to a streamer. Most projects take 2–3 “hops.” A few real examples from the last couple months:

1. 🎬 Festival (Cleveland Int'l) ═══▶ 🤝 Sales Agent ═══▶ 📺 Distributor

2. 🏗️ Producer (5&2 Studios) ═══▶ 🏢 Amazon MGM Studios ═══▶ 🎥 Prime Video

3. 📋 The Black List ═══▶ 🏗️ Producer (Jax Media) ═══▶ 📺 Fox

4. 🎓 NYU Purple List ═════════════════════════▶ 🔥 Netflix

5. 🏛️ Village Roadshow ═══▶ 🏢 Sony Pictures ═══▶ 🎬 Studio Release

6. 🎭 Agency Rep (Brillstein/Paradigm) ═══▶ 🏢 Studio ═══▶ 📱 Streamer

Most Common Endpoints:

Streamers (Netflix, Prime Video) - 3 chains
Traditional Studios - 2 chains
Network TV (Fox) - 1 chain

Shortest Path: NYU Purple List → Netflix (direct!)

So if you’re banging your head against the wall trying to cold-pitch Netflix… it’s probably not the project or script (although of course no one takes unsolicited content so that's always a given). The trade data shows those “bridges” (producers, agencies, festivals, lists) are what get projects through the door. And yes... way easier said than done! But still some interesting nuggets of info.

Takeaway (grain of salt):
These are just a few insights I pulled from the data, but based off the response of my last post (good and bad ha!) I want to keep sharing insights and hopefully they're of use to some people in this tricky industry we're all crazy enough to be in.

• Genres cycle faster than the chatter makes it seem.
• Buyers are far more specific than “we’re looking for drama.”
• The actual pathways almost always involve a bridge.

Curious what others here are seeing. For those of you who’ve gotten traction lately, was it through a rep, a festival, a producer partner, or something else? Would love to know! Also LET ME KNOW what data you would want a deep dive on for the next Industry Pulse. Budgets? Exec Movements? Sub genres? Let me know!

I am a professional illustrator working with indie filmmakers around the globe. Supporting small artists with reasonably priced, yet high quality promotional materials is what I’m all about. I can also design concept art, studio logos, t shirts, blu ray jackets or whatever you may need. Let’s chat!

Hi! I’m making my first short film and I have this elevator shot I want to use. The problem is that at the end of it, you can see my reflection. I have almost no experience in VFX, so what would you suggest as the easiest fix? Thanks for any ideas or help!

I recently upgraded my lighting setup to improve my social media reels and want your thoughts. I film with my iPhone (planning to upgrade from 12 Pro Max to 16 or 17 Pro Max, likely 1TB). I mostly film myself, demos of products, acting, reviews, and UGC for companies, so my setup is focused on iPhone reels and social media content.

Full gear list:
You can see everything I have here: Amazon list

New gear:
Main light: Godox SL150R RGB
Softbox: Triopo 90cm
Background lights: 800D (ordered 2, thinking maybe 1 is enough, should I sell the other?)
Side lights: 2x GVM 50SM

Older gear / previously used lights:
- 3x LED lights I used before these new lights: https://amzn.to/3HMsjkq  wondering if I can use these as a reflector instead of the YN300
- Collapsible background (white/black): https://amzn.to/41l6Y8o  considering upgrading to a 4.9'x6.6' diffuser background for RGB color changes
- Outdoor RGB lights for wall effects: https://amzn.to/45zI1bK

Other considerations:
- I still find filming with my iPhone back camera harder for my eyes to look into the right spot yet I got a back monitor.
- I want a stand for my main light with softbox, like a boom arm style.
- Reflector options I’m considering: YN300 or the U-type reflectors. or using my older 3 LED lights if it works for that
- What from what I have should I use as gear for on-the-go for UGC or social media content?

Questions:

1. Should I keep both 800D background lights or just 1 or none?
2. Can I use my older 3 LED lights as a reflector instead of the YN300? Do I keep these or sell some or all? https://amzn.to/3HMsjkq
3. Would a diffuser background with RGB lights look better than my wall or current collapsible background with the RGB lights?
4. Any tips for which of the 2 mentioned iPhone's to get?

This was quite an investment, so I’m hoping the quality shows. I’d love advice on making the setup efficient and effective, especially for social media content creation.

Thanks in advance!

I shot this film on a Canon 60d many many years ago. Fell out of post production until a year ago. When I decided to finish the film. I used alot of roto to the right look with 8bit footage shot by shot after VFX. VFX was done with nuke and after effects. Also a lot of other tricks to up the quality of the film.

It was done with friends and family with little to no budget. Let me know what you guys think? Areas i could improve with the trailer?

Hello,

I opened a recording studio and I bought some cinema gear. I bought a Squib Fx and now I need to sell because I never used it in 5 years it is brand new.

hey! i'm new to this subreddit! i have a question, i'm from Spain and i'm thinking about writing a script, it takes place in Colorado so should I write it in english or spanish? And when it's done, is it a good idea to start a gofundme to collect some money to be able to make it?