I am in the process of developing my next film. As I move forward with the project I started reflecting on some things I learned from my previous two films. I’d like to share these lessons with you.

Lesson #1: Don’t put your story in a box.

The second film I worked on with my good friend, Clay Banks “Graves Method” was a fine example of this principle. We had, I believe, a really touching story to tell. The problem was we had to write the script to fit our short shooting schedule and run time. We tried to jam in a mental problem, marriage issues, a deep psychiatrist character and much more into a 10-15 min run time. In the end it was rushed and confusing. There was too much going on “under the surface” stuff that didn’t get a chance to pop it’s head above the water and character relationships that were shallow, to say the least.

The current film I am working on was a promise I made to myself. I told myself the next film festival DVXUser put on I would enter. I checked the website periodically until they announced the next fest: “Loss”. This was a perfect fit as I had seen a video on YouTube recently that really touched me. I won’t be sharing the exact details of the story since it’s still in development but suffice to say it fit perfectly for the festival. The problem was as I began to research the story and develop the concept I realized the 6 minute limit would be very difficult to work with. Bottom line, don’t sacrifice story for time limit. If you have to, extend the production and do another fest.

Lesson #2: Keep it to yourself.

I have the bad habit of giving too many people too much information or access to Read the rest of this entry »