I saw Emily Carver comment about music and having the right music for a film in one of my posts. I actually just saw this interview where Kevin Costner talks about picking the right music and how he stood up for Whitney Houston in "The Bodyguard" when it came to "I Will Always Love You" and I thought I'd share it here. I thought it was a great insight when it comes other music and film. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFqoh9_M2KA

I finally had time to talk to @Emily Slaughter Carver about her experience with Filmmaker Fast Track. For context, she joined about 16 months ago and wrote and shot her feature film in about 5 months. Here's what she said:

I see a lot of posts like: “Need gear, funding” Here’s where understanding basic sales and marketing will help your career in the long-run. If your goal is to truly make the project you need to think like a salesperson. Include all the information your dream collaborator would need to make a confident decision to work with you. How does it benefit them? If you don’t know the answer to that question, do some research to find out. Nobody is going around offering their hard-earned money/gear/time to projects they don’t fully understand and believe in. This is the importance of a pitch deck, and why it’s an industry standard. It gives the reader the first tangible impression of the look and feel of the film. WHAT’S IN A PITCH DECK? Cover Photo (movie poster) Logline Synopsis Budget Shooting Locations Character/Cast list Comparable Films Project Timeline Key Talent and Statements from each (producer/director/writer etc) Contact info Take the time to put these together for each of your projects. It shows seriousness and understanding of the process of getting a film made. Here’s one of the best examples out there: Stranger Things https://screencraft.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/StrangerThings_Bible.pdf

First? Some Context: The issue most filmmakers think they have is funding. They’ve written a script, but don’t know the next step. The problem they actually have, is a concept that requires a budget they haven’t earned. Because scripts often aren’t written with budget in mind, most scripts - particularly *first time writers* - are too expensive and complex to get funded or bought. Your NUMBER ONE GOAL is to get your first film MADE. You’re probably thinking - “duh, captain obvious. But HOW?” Step 1: identify who’s making your movie: 1. Myself 2. Another filmmaker (get specific about who) 3. A Studio (e.g. Netflix or similar) Step 2: Ask yourself, what does the filmmaker need to make this? 1. If it’s you, remove or scale down anything you can’t immediately source for less than $100. Actors, locations, crew, FX. This will drive your budget to as little as possible. 2. If it’s another filmmaker, research what they’ve made. Make sure your project doesn’t have elements they haven’t included in their previous work. (e.g. VFX, Name actors, choreography, etc) This will show you’ve done your research, and give them as many reasons to say “yes” as possible. 3. If it’s a Studio, you’ve got your work cut out for you, especially if you’ve never gotten something over $500k funded. Here’s what you’ll need. A. A solid script with at least one - “recommend” or “consider.” This is when a big agency or screenplay competition scores your script highly against the current industry “mandates” as well as structure, characters, and story. B. A high end pitch deck - get this professionally done. If you want millions for your film, you need to package it as high-end as possible. Google Studio Pitch Deck Examples, and include everything you see in the deck. (Montauk aka Stranger Things is a great example) C. Line item budget - get a Line Producer to create a complete budget for your film. (Extra points for factoring in “soft money” like state tax incentives). D. Attached Talent - (Actors/directors) Talent should be listed in the Top 5000 on IMDbPro (otherwise don’t bother). You can reach out via DM, Email, Agents, Managers. They will vet the script and assess whether their talent would be interested and available.)

Question: does anyone have recommendations for films that use very little dialogue and tells more of a story thru camera work and music? Doesn’t need to be a full film like this but one that uses this technique well in certain scenes?