Nobody enjoys doing a survey. Well, there are a few exceptions. However, those are odd cases. I once conducted a phone survey on health care with a woman who insisted that yes, she wanted to answer the survey questions, but I'd have to hang on...
Young people don't know nuthin'. Gee, I feel so much better having said that. Doesn't mean anything, but it is sweet music to these old ears. Especially after going through the Empire magazine list of the 301 greatest films. This list was voted on by their...
Winston Churchill once said, “There is nothing wrong with change, if it is in the right direction.” Of course the issue of “right direction” is an imponderable. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the indie film business. All of the standard rules of the...
And on the seventh day, God rested. He kicked back and relaxed. Maybe went to a movie. At least that is the hope of an increasing number of people in the film industry. The religious movie is back. Sort of. The issue is extremely split and...
In the past year, I have seen the hoary old question of film versus television come up in a variety of contexts regarding indie cinema. To be honest, I thought that the whole issue was a no-brainer. But people still ask. Should indie filmmakers be...
Science has an important place in the study of movies at virtually every stage of the film-making process. But movies are also about illusion, a shadow box of dreams. Perhaps that is why a lot of the science that gets applied to film is sometimes...
Having spent many articles pounding on the issue of metric measurement and film finance and production, I need to take a moment to admit that not everything is about measurement. I have to make this admission. Otherwise, I end up sounding like one of those...
The first step toward metric measurement with issues concerning the film business is determining what elements within the process can be quantified. In other words, what can be measured, and what sort of parameters are you using for these measurements. Easier said than done. The film-making process...
It's always the same set of questions. Is there any way to tell if a movie is going to be good? How can we tell if a film will be successful at the box office? How can we tell if a movie is worth investing...
Every year I have to take a moment to remind folks of some very basic rules. Real simple rules that are easy to forget. Unfortunately, there are legions of people out there hoping that you do forget. That's why the rules are always worth repeating. Especially...