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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.

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

My first introduction to film in school was during a film analysis class, although technically, it was classified as a philosophy class.  The professor was quite pompous and made a big deal out of discussing how to actively view a film.  No speaking was allowed, and we were to take notes while viewing.  He was a little like the Movie Nazi.  We discussed film theory and the power of the director in the making of a film at great length.

As a cultural phenomenon, film traces the human need to tell stories back to our oral traditions.  Aside from recording history, we all want to be entertained and we all want to hear a good story.  If you are going to make a film, you have to have a great story and then be willing to run with it.  Talk it up to everyone you know.  Enlist the help of others and win them over to the cause of your film.  Give your film a catchy name–one that will pop out of people’s mouths.

Promote your film shamelessly before you ever have anything in the can.  Sell T Shirts with your film logos and sell bumper stickers.  Make a website and develop a fan base.  Start a blog and be just as edgy and out there as you can, but make sure that people have your film’s name on their lips, regardless of how good <or bad> it is.

I have a friend who produced a film about her high school experience 10 years ago, and this summer it will be distributed.  She developed a website, sold things from her film promotion stock, and made a very good fan base for herself before the film was even edited. Her fan base, through the purchase of T-shirts and other promotional items, paid for various things throughout production of the film. She managed to get it made and now her film has been picked up for distribution 10 years later.

To be a filmmaker is to have a big picture mentality on a small picture budget.  It is tough to stay true to the storyline when you have a bottom line that is keeping you from the production. One of the reasons you want to talk your film up is that, in the beginning, you will need to find a crew.  Usually you will have to use talent that is willing to work for nothing (or next to nothing).  You may have to act in your own film as well….and write, direct it, and edit it.  Do what you have to do to get the film “in the can” and ready to edit.

You will have to develop tunnel vision with the project.  If you have a day job, get used to the idea that you may have to take an extra job for a while to buy a camera or other necessary equipment for shooting.  If you have the good fortune to still be a student you have great resources for equipment.  If you are not a student, then maybe you can decide to go back to school and study film.  You will have at your disposal some of the best resources an aspiring filmmaker can have.  Film programs at universities have awesome loan programs that are a hidden resource.

At college, while you can take film equipment out on loan, you may also have access to edit bays and sound booths.  In some cases, they are available 24 hours a day.  Students are up all night anyway, right?  Also, when forming a production crew, students provide good talent for your film when you are in need of actors.  You may want to take turns crewing for your friends’ films, and they, in turn, will act in yours.  Do what you can to build a crew, gather the bare minimum of equipment needed to shoot, and develop a shooting schedule.  Once you have the crew and the guns to shoot, everything starts to gel.  Press onward.

In the years following the rise of the various social revolutions that took place in this country and abroad, the making of film changed vastly from the old world of film studio dominance to the exciting world of independent film.  In the 50’s, 60’s and even 70’s, independent film was synonymous with Underground film, art film, and foreign film.
Simply defined, a film that is independent is a film made outside of the umbrella of the studio without the funding or distribution options offered.

Producing a film independently has become quite popular, and this is due to the public no longer being satisfied with the Hollywood formula.  The audiences of today have become much more sophisticated and expect something different and new every time they sit down to watch a film.  The old Hollywood formula just doesn’t cut it anymore for entertainment.  It has been too predictable for film buffs.  We look for cutting edge, quirky and groundbreaking films.

However, the most important aspect of independent film is that anyone with a song in their heart and the burning desire to make a film can now do so.  We have the new technologies to thank for this as well as the public’s yearning for raw footage with a gritty storyline.  So this means you can achieve your dream of making a film, and you don’t have to be a big film studio to get it made.  It also means that you have the joys of the financial headaches and creative challenges.

There are three main phases of making a film:  pre-production, production, and post-production.  There might also be a 4th phase:  distribution (if you’re lucky).  The longest phase of making a film is pre-production.  This is also the most important part of the production, because it is what makes the film.  Without good planning it will be difficult to get anything off the ground.

While you don’t really need one, it is good to have a script.  So in the beginning you have to have a story, a concept, or an idea.  Once you have one, you can move on to all other modes of production planning.  Of course, there are several ways you can tell your story, but in filmmaking there are two main classes of film.  These would be the short film and the feature length film.  It is usually better to start off with a short film rather than a feature length film, and if you are a film student, you rarely have time to produce feature length films.

A professional screenplay is typically scripted for a run time of 90 minutes in three acts.  Each act is approximately 30 pages long, and each page is the screen equivalent of one minute.  This is a timing consideration that is more typical of the American film industry than it is of the rest of the world film making community.  European films have less restrictions concerning film length.  Rather, they have the tendency to let the film unfold and tell itself, allowing however much time it takes to tell the story.

Once you have written your screenplay, if you have no immediate plans for production it is best to write a treatment, which best describes the film in a nice neat three-page write-up.   These three pages represent one act of your screenplay in a treatment, and is the format commonly acceptable to shop your screenplay.  Very often, this is all that gets read, and can make or break your screenplay’s acceptance.  However, for the independent filmmaker, all you need is a working script and you are on your way!