Today on the show we have veteran cinematographer Jayson Crothers. Jayson had shot two dozen independent features before he joined the NBCUniversal hit show Chicago Fire in 2013. After serving as the 2nd unit DoP for 38 episodes during seasons 2 & 3 he was asked to helm the show. Serving as the sole DoP from seasons 4 to 6, he shot 74 episodes of the series for Dick Wolf. He also did additional photography for the backdoor pilot of Chicago Med.In 2019 Jayson photographed three features - the...
Nov 28, 2024•1 hr 22 min•Ep. 395
My guest today has done it all. He’s gone from cinematography on small-budget indie films to $200 million-plus projects which is literally goals for many in this line of business. Director and cinematographer, Shane Hurlbut's thirty-plus experience and success as a storyteller is categorically innovative to the craft and inspiring for other filmmakers.Shane's latest film Love Hard is set for digital release via Netflix this November. This romantic comedy is about a young woman in Los Angeles who...
Nov 21, 2024•1 hr 26 min•Ep. 394
Today on the show we have Oscar® nominee Jeff Cronenweth A.S.C. Cronenweth worked as a loader and 2nd assistant before graduating high school, and then enrolled in film school at USC where he studied cinematography. Among his classmates were John Schwartzman and Robert Brinkmann, as well as [director] Philip Joanou.After graduation, Cronenweth resumed working with his father, joining a core camera team that included operators John Toll and Dan Lerner, and 1st assistants Bing Sokolsky and Art Sch...
Nov 14, 2024•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 393
David Klein, A.S.C. (born December 1972) is an American cinematographer known for working with director Kevin Smith on the films Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Clerks II, Zack and Miri Make a Porno, Cop Out, Red State. Klein, a member of the American Society of Cinematographers, was the director of photography for True Blood on HBO and for Homeland on Showtime. Klein was hired for the latter position beginning with Homeland's third season, taking over cinematographer duties from Nelson Cragg who...
Nov 07, 2024•1 hr 24 min•Ep. 392
Award-winning director of photography Erik Messerschmidt, ASC has a natural eye for arresting and spellbinding images, thriving in a role that allows him to combine his love of art, craft and science. Recently, he lensed Devotion for director J.D. Dillard, based on the real-life story of a Black naval officer who befriends a white naval officer during the Korean War, with both becoming heroes for their selfless acts of bravery.He also is currently shooting Michael Mann’s biographical film Ferrar...
Oct 31, 2024•1 hr 21 min•Ep. 391
Oct 24, 2024•1 hr 28 min•Ep. 390
Today on the show we have writer, producer, and director Josef Kubota Wladyka.Josef Kubota Wladyka’s debut feature film, Manos Sucias, won Best New Narrative Director at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival and was nominated for two Independent Spirit Awards, Best First Feature and Best Editing. Josef has also directed episodes of the acclaimed television shows, Narcos, Fear the Walking Dead, and The Terror. Residing in Brooklyn, New York, Josef holds an MFA from New York University's Graduate Film Pr...
Oct 17, 2024•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 389
I am a huge fan of today’s guest. Since seeing one of her first documentaries, I was transfixed by her power of storytelling. Our guest is an Emmy and Peabody award-winning documentary filmmaker, Lynn Novick---a formidable and respected PBS documentary filmmaker with thirty-plus years of experience in the business.Her archival mini and docu-series documentaries bring historically true events to the big screen alongside her filmmaking partner, Ken Burns. You’ve most likely seen some of her landma...
Oct 10, 2024•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 388
Movie piracy has hurt the pockets of every filmmaker. But indie filmmakers are often affected worse. Today on the show we have Evan Zeisel and he has been systematically tracking down piracy sites for years. Ten years ago, Evan made his first feature film and landed a distributor. Within a week of being on its first VOD site, his film was already popping up on numerous piracy sites. He quickly learned through rigorous research to combat piracy and copyright infringement through the Digital Mille...
Oct 03, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 387
Today, my guest is a prolific cinematographer, accomplished photographer, and member of the American Society of Cinematographers, Dean Cundey A.S.C .Dean rose to fame for extraordinary cinematography in the 1980s and 1990s. His early start was working on the set of Halloween. Dean is credited as director of photography on five Back To The Future films and Jurassic Park.The Halloween slasher franchise consisted of eleven films and was initially released in 1978. The films primarily focus on Micha...
Sep 26, 2024•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 386
Today on the show we have writer/director Daedalus Howell. Daedalus' film Pill Head is the definition of being a Filmtrepreneur. So much, in fact, I used his film as a case study in my book Rise of the Filmtrepreneur®: How to Turn Your Indie Film into a Moneymaking Business. The method he used was the "regional cinema model." This model is based around developing, producing and distributing a film project targeted to the niche audience of a geographic area. He essentially made an Art House film ...
Sep 19, 2024•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 385
Today on the show we have writer, producer and director Brad Silberling. I had the pleasure of meeting Brad back in 2005 at my first Sundance Film Festival. He was very kind with his time and gave me some great advice.His feature films include City of Angels starring Meg Ryan and Nicholas Cage, Moonlight Mile, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Dustin Hoffman and Susan Sarandon; Lemony Snickett’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, starring Jim Carrey and Meryl Streep; 10 Items of Less starring Morgan Freema...
Sep 12, 2024•1 hr 21 min•Ep. 384
NFTs are all the rage today but how can indie filmmakers use them to generate revenue? I did an entire episode dedicated to NFT and Indie Films last year and it is, by far, one of the most downloaded episodes ever.Today on the show we have a filmmaker and creator that was able to raise $2 million for a brand new IP using NFTs. His name is Arel Avellino. His brother and him launched an NFT collection called Strange Clan and raised $2 million dollars in sales of the NFTs which has basically helped...
Sep 05, 2024•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 383
Jocelyn Jones was raised in an artist's community on the Hudson River just 30 minutes north of Manhattan. This idyllic hamlet is home to some of the most influential artists of our time and it was here that her interest in art, artists and their process began.She is the daughter of Henry Jones, a character actor whose credits include some 40 films and over 300 televisions shows. Mr. Jones started out as a Broadway actor, most known for "The Bad Seed", "Advise And Consent" and his Tony Award-winn...
Aug 29, 2024•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 382
At sixteen years old, Shane Stanley had already received his first Emmy Award for his work on Desperate Passage (1987) which starred Michael Landon. Over the next few years he learned filmmaking under his father Lee Stanley on what became known as The Desperate Passage Series (1988 to 1995) starring Sharon Gless, Edward James Olmos , Marlo Thomas and Louis Gossett Jr..The self-produced series earned a total of thirty-three Emmy nominations, (winning thirteen) as well as numerous Christopher Awar...
Aug 22, 2024•1 hr 21 min•Ep. 381
Christine Chen is an Academy qualified film producer, director and co-author of Get Reelisms. She fell in love with capturing images and telling stories through film the first time she got her hands on an early addition VHS camcorder in 1993. Christine’s love of film turned into a life-long passion for writing and directing. Christine has a B.A. from Rice University as well as a MBA from the University of Texas McCombs. Christine's films have been showcased at festivals such as Hollyshorts, New ...
Aug 15, 2024•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 380
Jariko Denman was born in Washington DC and, as a military brat, grew up all over the world. In 1997 he enlisted in the US Army. After basic training and Airborne School, he completed the assessment and selection process for the 75th Ranger Regiment and was assigned to the 2nd Ranger Battalion at Ft Lewis, Washington. Jariko went on to serve in the Ranger Regiment for 15 and a half years. Jariko deployed to combat 15 times in Iraq and Afghanistan from 2002-2012 as a Weapons Squad Leader, Rifle P...
Aug 08, 2024•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 379
Vanessa and Joseph Winter are a writer/director duo best known for their critically acclaimed SXSW midnighter “Deadstream,” a horror comedy coming to Shudder in October. They also wrote and directed a segment of the highly anticipated V/H/S/99 which will have its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. Their feature debut, Deadstream, has been getting rave reviews since it debuted at SXSW (it’s at 91% on Rotten Tomatoes). The film is about a disgraced internet personality who ...
Aug 01, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 378
Josh David Jordan is a Texas filmmaker, director, actor and artist. Starting off as an actor, He appeared in several feature films, as well as the sitcom, SCRUBS. He began to slowly transition myself behind the lens. Josh worked on MTV featured music videos for the Polyphonic Spree, Rhett Miller of the Old 97's and many more. After premiering his short film, SAM AND GUS, and winning several film festival awards, along with audience awards, Josh decided to write and direct his first full length f...
Jul 25, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 377
In 2002, Jon Erwin founded a production company with his brother, Andrew. Their first ventures were commercials, documentaries, and music videos. The brothers soon were directing videos and producing concerts and television programs for platinum recording artists such as Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith, Casting Crowns, Switchfoot, Skillet, and others. They received 11 GMA Dove Awards nominations and 3 wins for Music Video of the Year. Jon and Andrew have also produced and directed several documentar...
Jul 18, 2024•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 376
Since he was eighteen years old, Johnny Martin has been solely working in the film and television industry. He began his career as a stuntman, and within a relatively short period of time graduated to being a stunt coordinator and second-unit director. In those capacities, Johnny has worked on over 260 films, TV shows, and commercials, and even won the award for Best Stunt Coordinator of the Year for the film "Gone in 60 Seconds" and later receiving two nominations for an Emmy and one Screen Act...
Jul 11, 2024•52 min•Ep. 375
Today on the show we have head of writer success at Coverfly, Thomas Dever. Thomas has been helping screenwriters for years. I wanted to have him on the show to discuss what he's seeing in the film business, from a street level. Thomas works with all the major agencies, top end producers and managers. If anyone knows what Hollywood is looking or he'd be the one. We also discuss how screenwriters can better position themselves in the marketplace, debunk a few myths many screenwriters believe and ...
Jul 05, 2024•1 hr 3 min
This week I brought on the show, playwright, screenwriter, director, and actor, John Pollono. I wanted to go down the road a little bit about his remarkable journey in the business which expands across theatre and short films. John is one of the founders of the Jabberwocky Theatre Company in 2004 which became the Rogue Machine Theatre in 2008 where he produced his earlier plays. His big break came with his screenplay for the acclaimed biographical drama film, Stronger which premiered at the 2017...
Jul 04, 2024•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 374
Today on the show we have Oscar® nominated filmmaker and screenwriter Joe Wright. Joe has established himself as one of Hollywood’s top directors with his rare ability to captivate global audiences through his extraordinary cinematic craft. Most recently, Wright directed the psychological thriller THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW, starring Amy Adams, Julianne Moore, and Gary Oldman. The film follows an agoraphobic psychologist whose life is turns upside down when a befriended neighbor suspiciously disapp...
Jun 29, 2024•55 min
Cinematographers are really the directors of images while directors are the authors of the performances. Evidently, the collaboration between these two important persons on set with a shared vision and respect influences the work environment and (the ultimate result) the film, a great deal. We’re inspired this week by cinematographer, and author, Jacqueline B. Frost’s book, Cinematography For Directors: A Guide For Creative Collaboration. She compiled her 30+ expertise in cinematography and prod...
Jun 27, 2024•52 min•Ep. 373
Today on the show we have author, filmmaker and screenwriter Mick Hurbis-Cherrier. Mick is an independent filmmaker and screenwriter. His works have been broadcast and shown around the country and have garnered prizes at many festivals including the Black Maria Film & Video Festival, Ann Arbor Film Festival, Athens Film & Video Festival and the Cin(e) Poems National Film Festival. His work has also been featured at the Robert Flaherty Seminar, the American Film Institute’s National Video...
Jun 22, 2024•1 hr 5 min
The film industry had to adjust a lot since the hit of COVID. Thanks to streaming services, the hit wasn’t as volatile as could be. Now that society seems to be reaching the end of the pandemic, the future of the filmmaking and film experience post-COVID has become part of the conversation. To help us explore the subject, I have on the show today, seasoned filmtrepreneur and award-winning producer, Anne Marie Gillen.Anne Marie is the CEO of Gillen Group--- an entertainment consulting firm in Los...
Jun 20, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 372
Today on the show we have filmmaker Cody Meirick. Cody is the director of the documentary Scary Stories, based on the wildly popular book series Scary Stories To Tell in the Dark. We discuss how he leveraged an underserved niche audience, how he piggy-backed off the major studio release of the narrative version and how he was able to get access to the key players in this niche.This past summer Academy Award®-winner Guillermo del Toro and acclaimed director André Øvredal created the hit movie bas...
Jun 13, 2024•47 min•Ep. 371
In the stillness of a serene morning, the light of inspiration dawns upon us as we venture into the depths of human creativity and perseverance. On today's episode, we welcome the visionary documentarian Susan Kucera, whose lens captures the intricate dance of life and the profound undercurrents of our existence.Susan Kucera, a remarkable filmmaker, began her journey at a tender age, filming alongside her geologist father. From her early experiments with a Bolex camera on the Athabaskan glacier ...
Jun 06, 2024•27 min•Ep. 370
We have all wanted to have a killer song we love in one of our films or projects, that perfect song that makes the scene pop off the screen. When you begin to investigate how to get permission for the song you soon discover the maze of red tape and crap you need to deal with in order to have the song in your film.From getting film festival rights to broadcast rights to VOD rights, Music Licensing is a headache and a half. Today on the show with have Chris Small, a music licensing professional he...
May 30, 2024•47 min•Ep. 369
