You may want to start out by producing your own film, if you are up to the task. It is a great burden to take on a project, especially when you are new to the business. If you can accomplish this, you will have a film you can show to display your commitment to a film making career.

Once you decide to produce your own film, you will need the resources to make your movie. A film grant is one way to get the funding for your film, but it can be difficult to get this type of grant. You will need to know how the process works when applying for a grant. There are different types of film grants, money, equipment, room and board, film, music, producing, screen writing, directing or a combination of any or all of the above.

Each grant giver has certain guidelines you must meet to qualify for their grant. Quite a few of them want you to produce a documentary of some type. Many of these grant projects have been given awards and are shown on television because they are so inspiring.

The purpose of these grants are designed to help film makers who are unable to get other funding. Others do not have the money to get into a good film school, but they have the talent. These grants create great film makers as well as wonderful films. Some grants allow film makers to get regular funding in the future, after they have shown what an excellent film maker they are.

When a grant funder is considering a project to give to, they look for the passion the film maker has for the project. This is the most important point of consideration when reading a grant application. The film maker will carry this passion and dedication throughout the film making process, no matter how long it takes to finish the film.

The Guerilla Filmmaking Grant was designed to encourage creative, resourceful filmmaking for artists working outside of the “Hollywood industry”. Twice a year they award $1000 to produce, shoot, and edit a feature length film. The film maker has control over the look, feel and content of the film. A DVD release of the movie is included. The film maker keeps all rights to distribution. They also include Marketing Advice to help the film maker distribute and sell the movie. All film rights are retained by the film maker. Anyone in the world that is thinking of producing an English language feature film may apply for this grant.

You need to go to http://www.mediadarlings.org/filmgrant/ to check out the entire grant process of this grantor. You will find all of the information you need, and all of the guidelines you must go by to apply for this Guerilla Filmmaking Grant. If you have any questions you can contact them.

There are many places an independent film maker can apply for. Just type filmmaking grants into your favorite
search engine and you will see what I mean

You need to practice caution when thinking of investing in film making. Many people who are quite financially successful, often loose their investment, when putting their money into film making. Investing in film making is exciting and glamourous, but not every film becomes a hit, and a flop can mean a huge loss for you. Never invest in anything, unless you can afford to lose the amount you have invested with minimal damage to your finances.

The winners in the film making business have proven that they are successful, and are already completely financed. These film makers have many years of experience in the film making field. While it is possible to invest in film making and make money, it isn’t very easy. There are several people out there who are waiting to give you poor advice and take your well earned cash.

A few quick tips to set you on the right track:

1. 30% to 40% in equity should be enough to make most films if others will agree with the idea.

2. Keep the budget low, foreign should cover at least 50%, 70% would be even better.

3. Search for a script carefully and take your time, don’t grab the first script that interests you. You need to make sure film makers will agree with the use of the script.

4. You will need to take care of distribution with your own money, distribution is where you can make a good deal of money from your investment.

5. If you invest more $5 million or more, you will be able to buy into more than one film.

6. Never put up more than 50% of the total amount it will take to make the film, the producer should be able to drum up the rest, if they can’t- withdraw now.

7. Do not look at hit movies made by major motion picture studios as a guide. You will be working with independent film makers, and there are big differences.

Do your homework and become knowledgeable about the workings of independent film making. Know the film trends that work and what is popular, and what trends will be expected to last for a year or more. Has the film maker worked in the industry at all, if so to what extent is his expertise?

While investing in film making can be quite lucrative, you should believe in the film project and the ability of the film makers before you invest a dime. Meet with them to see how professional they are and what their goal is when it comes to the film project at hand. How excited are they about the project? Do they seem like the go-getter type that will be able to see the film making project through to completion? Are they opposed to you visiting the set once in a while to quietly see how the film is progressing?

These are all things you should check out before you decide to invest in film making. There may be other issues you will be concerned with, make sure you write them down while they are fresh in your mind and bring them with you to the meeting. There is never a guarantee when it comes to investing in anything, but if you believe in the project and are satisfied with the film makers there is a good chance you will see a profit.

The films that are being released this year are a sign of the upcoming trends in Hollywood, especially as those trends relate to what what movie reviews will tell us.

Major trends include sequals, flicks that keep that great flick’s story going. So you can prepare for even more follow ups in the remainder of 2009. Films released in recent years will not be the only ones that will become sequals. This includes films that originally were released before or in the 1990s. (more…)

Being a location scout would seem to be the most fun out of all the jobs offered in the filmmaking industry. It seems that it would be a dream vacation to travel and see if a location checks out or not. Believe it or not, headaches abound in securing a location to shoot.

There are many more details involved in securing a location to shoot a film than simply finding the location. There are permission and releases to be obtained from everyone involved. Proof of liability insurance and authorizations of access to the location may need to be obtained. The scout will convince the owner that having a 150 person crew camped out on their front lawn it going to be good fun.

Previously it might have pacified the local authorities if you gave them some small compensation, like a good bottle of whiskey, but these arrangements are no longer available. Now you must have official permission from the local authorities to use certain locations for filming. These releases must be paid for and put on file so that they can be accessed during the shoot. Once the location scout has secured the location they become the location manager. This means they are responsible for parking access and accommodations for he cast and crew.

Sometimes unusual arrangements are made in order to use a location. Stephen King’s “Rose Red” was filmed at Thornwood castle in Lakewood, Washington. This castle was brought over from Europe, brick by brick, and rebuilt on she shore of American Lake by Chester Thorne. Chester Thorne was one of the founders of the Port of Tacoma. Initially while it was a good location, the castle needed to be returned to its old grandeur. The production and location managers struck a deal to refurbish the castle.

The result was that almost $800.000 of renovations were preformed on the castle. The restoration work done to the castle can be seen at Thornewood castle’s website. The work done was in exchange for the use of the location once it was finished. The owners of the castle in exchange for the use of the location received $800,000 in renovations. I am sure they thought it was good deal. This case exemplifies the lengths to which producers will go to in order to secure a good location.

Location scouting was previously done at a time when the digital technology was not available to the location scout. Scouts were required to travel to the actual location and they usually ended up using Polaroid shots for their reference. Now there are location agencies that can give you virtual tours of locations and the scouting can truly be done online. All you need to do is put in a request for locations on the Internet and you will find scads of listings for location scouting agencies.

Now for those of you that are producing your own independent films, you will have to use your wits to secure your locations. If you are using your own house or apartment it will be no problem but if you are using a location that doesn’t have general public access you will need to secure releases from the owners of the facilities you want to use.