Top Ten Tips For Filmmakers

For all the filmmakers out there in need of professional advice, here are Film London's top ten tips for making it in the industry:

1. Choose your project VERY carefully. Are you prepared to dedicate the next 3 years of your life to it? No matter the sacrifice, no matter the lack of money, no matter the odds against.

2. Likewise choose the team you journey with just as carefully. Assess the same questions above. Divorce is messy and painful, and often not an option.

3. Will it define who you are as a filmmaker? Or is it just a cheap stepping stone? If so consider the odds against making that second step…

4. The “in memoriam” test…If you die making this film, know that it will most likely be dedicated to you in the credits. Will you be proud or will you be blushing in the afterlife?

5. Start at the finish, and work backwards. Who is going to watch the film? How is it going to get to them?

6. Prepare and practice your pitch pt 1. Who are you pitching to? What do they want? What do you want?

7. Prepare and practice your pitch pt 2. Why does this film NEED to be made? Why it has to be YOU who makes it? Why does it need to be made NOW.

8. Is this a film that is compromising itself in order to be made for less? Use the constraint of a microbudget is an opportunity to make something better.

9. Has the script embraced the realities of the shoot? Location, budget, schedule?

10. Micro-budget does not mean cheap. The story should be big even if the budget is small.