Things I've learned from making my first film, Cowboy Jesus, so far
A videographer with decades of experience, told me that having a script is half the battle. People come up to him and his industry buddies all the time with ideas they want to shoot, but they don't have a script, and he has to reject them because movies aren't manifested by wizards. Movies (just like websites) are made by regular people, without superpowers. That means you can make one, too!
- Treat your characters with dignity by giving them a name, and a personality.
- Know what message you are trying to convey and sharpen the writing around that point.
- See how other scripts are written and copy the format.
- Use the website Celtx to format the script with the proper look, including a title page, and a character sheet.
- Decide on a style you want for the movie.
- Make a budget and try to stick to it.
- Once you have a cast, do table reads over Zoom in Gallery mode and record the table reads from start to finish.
- More lessons to come
If you're still in the first half of the battle, without a script or without much of a script, here are some helpful tips.
After the script, the second half of the battle:
