Recent content by norwest

One thing I like about StudioBinder is that it doesn't assume you already know filmmaking terminology. A lot of free resources jump straight into technical language, but StudioBinder usually explains why something works before showing how to do it. I found the articles about shot lists and...

One area that's often overlooked is the exit strategy. Most co-production agreements explain how partners join a project, but not what happens if one partner can't deliver their financing or decides to leave during development. In my opinion, knowing how the project moves forward after a...

George, I think there's another form of validation that often gets overlooked: validating the people you're about to work with. Due diligence should go both ways. As filmmakers, it's worth researching producers, investors and sales companies before signing anything. Look at the projects...

One thing I've been thinking about lately is that most bad deals in the film industry aren't made because producers don't understand contracts. In many cases, they understand the risks perfectly well. Yet they still sign. Sometimes it's because financing is falling apart. Sometimes it's...

@Max I think there's another aspect of co-productions that doesn't get discussed enough. In a co-production, you're not just sharing the budget or the workload you're sharing decision-making. That doesn't seem like a problem while everything is going according to plan. The real test comes...

Lucas and Samantha both make great points, but I would add one uncomfortable truth: Investors don't invest in scripts. They invest in risk reduction. Many producers ask equity investors to fund 100% of the budget while bringing no tax credits, no pre-sales, no grants and no meaningful risk...

I think one of the biggest mistakes producers make is focusing entirely on the commission percentage while ignoring the actual value being delivered. A sales agent taking 25% who consistently closes deals, collects payments, manages reporting, solves legal issues and keeps buyers active can...

Samantha, I think the line is crossed when minimalism stops looking like confidence and starts looking like evasion. Let me give you a concrete example from my own experience, because this is exactly where most filmmakers shoot themselves in the foot: the Budget & Finance and Comps slides. In...

I think buyers and audiences watch trailers very differently. Audiences ask: (Would I watch this?) Buyers ask: (Can I sell this?) In my experience, the trailer is only part of the picture. The cast, the team behind the film and the overall package often influence buyer interest just as much...

@MICA I think one of the biggest problems right now is expectation management. A lot of these films are being marketed with blockbuster-level intensity, while still fundamentally being niche auteur projects. That creates a dangerous gap between what mainstream audiences expect and what the film...

I think the “rotation” subscription model has become very real now. From the industry side, this is probably one of the reasons platforms are pushing franchise content and event-style premieres so aggressively. Retaining subscribers today feels much harder than it did a few years ago.

A few years ago I heard about a project where a genuinely major A-list actor pulled out only days before production was supposed to begin. I won’t mention countries or names, but serious companies were already involved and the production had already burned through hundreds of thousands of...

AI dubbing probably works best for lower-budget catalog content and fast streaming releases, but premium films still live or die on emotional voice performance. What’s interesting is that tools like ElevenLabs and Deepdub are improving insanely fast, so smaller distributors suddenly have...

I honestly think streaming changed the value of short films more than many filmmakers realize. Most platforms today are built around retention and watch time, which makes standalone shorts much harder to position commercially. That’s probably why we increasingly see ideas that would have been...

Honestly, I think many indie productions today simply could not move at the same speed anymore without certain AI tools. We started using things like Runway, ChatGPT and some cleanup/workflow tools and yes, they can save an insane amount of time during prep and post. But the moment AI starts...