** I wrote this article in 2012 when BIFA and Raindance were a lot younger than they are now. I was going to do a ‘cheat’ and update this – but have decided to let this rant stand as it is. Please enjoy and see if you can add some comments at the bottom. And […]
Unlike Liz Truss’ comically short 44-day service, Raindance Film Festival has been running in full swing for 30 years. The rise and fall of Liz Truss – the shortest ever serving British Prime Minister has several painful lessons filmmakers can learn from. Never before has a political career risen so sharply and fallen so dramatically. […]
I’m “Mad as Hell” and here’s why: The other day I had a script to read and I started pulling out my hair after a few pages because the writer clearly had no idea what a feature film script formatting was supposed to look like. Half the sluglines were missing, the dialogue was all over […]
Having watched over 1,000 feature films a year as the Head of Programming of the Raindance Film Festival, Suzanne Ballantyne writes her observations and advice on how to Fake Being An Indie Auteur ***Read Part 2 of How To Fake Being An Indie Filmmaking Auteur Here*** This is not about how to make Hollywood films, […]
We have rules and we have tools. Writers use story hacks to break the rules. Let me explain: Do we not have rule upon rule? We’ve rules of our buildings, our cities, our nations, our cultures and religions. Are we not taught from the time we can walk that rules are made to be broken? […]
I’ve been doing Raindance for a long time – and I’ve produced 5 features and about 700 shorts since 1992. I have had my fingers burnt a zillion times. Every industry has dirty secrets. But in the run up to this year’s Raindance Film Festival I thought I’d share what I have learned about the […]
Most filmmakers complain about not having enough money. But having too much money can cause what I call ‘deadly wealth wounds’. And the wounds filmmakers suffer have absolutely nothing to do with the often misquoted Biblical verses about wealth and the love of money: It is easier for a camel to go through the eye […]
Why sit around moaning? Starting a self-induced bitching corner is the simplest way NOT to get anything done. And believe you me: there are at least 5 common complaints of filmmakers. There’s no reason to sit on your keister when you’ve got a fabulous film to go make! Don’t let these 5 whines stop you: […]
Maybe you’ve heard the saying that a script is just a blueprint. If so, forget it! The first goal of your script is to be a great reading experience. And you are writing a selling script. Later there will be a production script annotated by the director and others involved in planning the actual production […]
You have a story. It’s compelling. It’s beautiful. It means something. Maybe you wrote it overnight, in a frenzied burst of creativity. Maybe it came to you in a dream. Now, all you need to do is turn it into a legible screenplay – but what does that mean? The Hollywood Standard’s new foreword by […]
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