Indie Film Hustle® Podcast: Filmmaking | Screenwriting | Cinematography | Film School | Film Production | Independent Film

Today on the show we have commercial filmmaking guru and all-around nice guy Jordan Brady. Jordan Brady began as a stand-up comedian touring nightclubs and colleges across America. A 100% self-taught filmmaker, he’s directed four narrative feature films, three full documentaries and over 1200 national & regional commercials and Maria Bamford’s acclaimed Netflix Comedy Special. Click for more about my feature films.Jordan directs advertising campaigns for brands and agencies from all over the world. Given his background, it’s no surprise he has directed comedy giants as Will Ferrell, Kevin Hart, Keegan-Michael Key, Rory Scovel and more. Other notable celebrities include international star Arnold Schwarzenegger and country music legend Brad Paisley, campaigns starring actress Kathryn Hahn for Chrysler and Lamorne Morris for Buick.Equally as nimble with visual effects, he’s shot over 50 sleight-of-hand magic trick spots for Toyota Saatchi Los Angeles that effortless combine in-camera and digital trickery.Not

We have all heard stories of difficult and even dangerous film shoots before but today's story tops them all. In today's episode we welcome filmmaker Jon Egustafsson. This filmmaker was in the belly of the beast as they say. His documentary Wrath of Gods documents one of the most dangerous and difficult film shoots in modern film history.When Canadian director Sturla Gunnarsson and his cast and crew, including Gerard Butler and Stellan Skarsgård, set upon Iceland to film Beowulf & Grendel in 2004, they expected the usual complications involved in making a major motion picture. What they encountered was a ruthless Icelandic winter on a foreboding landscape, financing complications and a bizarre run of bad luck that led some of them to believe they were in an epic battle with the Norse gods themselves.Filmmaker Jon Gustafsson was along for the ride. Hired to play one of Beowulf’s warriors, he’s one set with his camera as the crew battles hurricane force winds and he’s in the backroom as the producers scramb

I believe that most indie filmmakers have a dream of making a feature film, getting accepted to the Sundance Film Festival, and that film would be fought over in a massive bidding war that generates millions of dollars for the filmmakers. I've called this dream the lottery ticket mentally. I always say that someone wins wins the lottery every week somewhere.Well today's guest is that lottery ticket winner. Today on the show we have writer/director Max Barbakow, the filmmaker behind the largest sale at Sundance in history. His film Palm Springs sold for a record-breaking $17.5 million and .69¢. Those last cents is what broke the record.The film stars Andy Samberg, Cristin Milioti, and J.K. Simmons and was acquired by NEON and Hulu at the festival.When carefree Nyles and reluctant maid of honor Sarah have a chance encounter at a Palm Springs wedding, things get complicated when they find themselves unable to escape the venue, themselves, or each other.I've always wanted to know what it was like to be a fly on t

We all need a kick in the butt sometimes on our filmmaking or screenwriting journey. This show will do just that. Never stop chasing that filmmaking dream. Keep on hustling.Proud Member of the IFH Podcast Network (ifhpodcastnetwork.com)

Today on the show we have producer Bradley Gallo. His production company, Amasia Entertainment, behind the upcoming Wild Mountain Thyme, starring Emily Blunt, Christopher Walken, Jon Hamm, and Jamie Dornan.His 2019’s Official Sundance Selection Them That Follow, starring Olivia Coleman, Jim Gaffigan, Walton Goggins, Kaitlyn Dever, Lewis Pullman, Alice Englert, and Thomas Mann is now on Showtime.Amasia has also recently acquired the rights to the Green Hornet franchise.Bradley's other credits include Mr. Right with Anna Kendrick and Sam Rockwell (available on Netflix); The Call with Halle Berry; and Careful What You Wish For with Nick Jonas and Dermot Mulroney.Bradley and I discuss the ever-changing film marketplace, how he is positioning his new project to adapt to the new rules of the game and much more.Enjoy my conversation with Bradley Gallo.

Today on the show we have returning champion Linda Nelson from Indie Rights. Linda and her partner Michael Madison have been a shinning light for filmmakers in the dark world of film distribution. With the distribution landscape changing almost weekly, I wanted to bring Linda on to shed some light on the ever shifting marketplace.Nelson Madison Films/Indie Rights was founded by Michael Madison and Linda Nelson because they believed that the future was bright for independent artists and that there was a better way to produce and distribute movies.  They have been in business since 2000, when they produced their first film, NSYNC BIGGER THAN LIVE a Giant Screen Movie that played to sold-out crowds worldwide.Known for innovation.  SHIFTED, their first digital feature,  was the first movie on Amazon’s UnBox (the predecessor of Amazon Video)  and was used by Amazon to promote their platform for over five years. Partnerships were forged early on with the leading digital platforms including Amazon, Google, Cinedigm,

I can't be more excited about the conversation I'm about to share with you. Today on the show we have filmmaker and indie film legend Albert Hughes. Albert, along with his brother Allen began making movies at age 12, but their formal film education began their freshman year of high school when Allen took a TV production class. They soon made the short film The Drive-By and people began to take notice.After high school Albert began taking classes at LACC Film School: two shorts established the twins' reputation as innovative filmmakers. Albert and his brother then began directing music videos for a little known rapper named Tupac Shakur. These videos lead to directing their breakout hit Menace II Society (1993), which made its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival and grossed nearly 10 times as much as its $3 million budget. Albert followed up that success with Dead Presidents (1995).On the streets, they call cash dead presidents. And that's just what a Vietnam veteran (Larenz Tate) is after when he retur

We all need a kick in the butt sometimes on our filmmaking or screenwriting journey. This show will do just that. Never stop chasing that filmmaking dream. Keep on hustling.Proud Member of the IFH Podcast Network (ifhpodcastnetwork.com)

Today on the show we have filmmaker and author Josh Folan. He's a writer/director/editor/producer/actor – though not necessarily in that order – that began professionally making things people watch on screens in 2005, prior to which he studied finance at The Ohio State University.Filmmaking highlights since founding NYEH Entertainment in 2008 include 2018 Hamptons/Woodstock/Napa selection Ask For Jane, 2017 SXSW audience award winner The Light of the Moon, 2015 Slamdance selection BODY, 2015 Raindance selection The Lives of Hamilton Fish, 2016 SOHO Int’l selection and 2017 Queens World best screenplay nominee catch 22: based on the unwritten story by seanie sugrue,His new book, Still Filmmaking, the Hard Way, is a detailed recounting of the step-by-step process of the development, production, and distribution of three micro-budget feature films with one critical commonality – producer and fifteen-year independent filmmaking veteran Josh Folan.Josh walks the reader through each and every painstaking step of th

Today on the show we have director, Youtuber, and founder of the legendary Filmmaker IQ John Hess. I have been a huge fan of John's for quite some time. The videos he creates for Filmmaker IQ are, by far, some of the best and most informative film education on Youtube.Here's John's explanation of Filmmaker IQ is. Filmmaker IQ (which also goes by the aliases Who?, FilmmakerIQ.com, and FIQ to evade debt collectors) is worshiped by no less than five monotheistic religions on Earth despite their petulant childish behavior, persistent meddling in the space-time continuum, and clear bipolar disorder. FIQ is the largest black hole of film knowledge in the universe.With over 3.4 billion courses on subjects such as Ways to successfully acquire both armrests at a movie theater, Why do all the evil people in Star Wars have a British accent? and Martin Scorsese’s Eyebrows. FIQ’s video lectures are hailed by educators, non-educators as well as people who are against the concept of education on moral grounds.John and I gee

Today on the show we have director Raja Gosnell. He directed comedy classics like Big Momma's House starring Martin Lawrence, Never Been Kissed starring Drew Berrymore, and Yours, Mine & Ours starring Dennis Quaid.Raja is best known as the director who brought not one but two beloved children's cartoons to the big screen, Scooby-Doo and The Smurfs. We also discuss the original vision that Raja and writer James Gunn had for Scooby-Doo. Let's say we finally understand why Scoob and Shaggy always had the munchies.He also directed the relatively low-budget runaway hit Beverly Hills Chihuahua. Raja's films have grossed almost $2 billion at the worldwide box-office.Raja wasn't always a director, he started his film career as an assistant editor in the late 1970s. His first credit as a film's main editor was the romantic comedy The Lonely Guy (1984), for director Arthur Hiller. During the 1980s, Gosnell served as editor in films directed by Tom Laughlin, David Worth, Bob Dahlin, Bert Convy, Christopher Leitch, A

We all need a kick in the butt sometimes on our filmmaking or screenwriting journey. This show will do just that. Never stop chasing that filmmaking dream. Keep on hustling.Proud Member of the IFH Podcast Network (ifhpodcastnetwork.com)

In my on-going series on COVID film production, I speak to creator/showrunner Colleen Krantz. She is the creator of the new series Complete Bull. The show is about a young animal scientist who must decide if she will join her family’s livestock insemination business in her fighting-to-stay-alive Midwest hometown, even as the community is torn at the seams debating whether to become a “receiving community” in the government’s forced relocation of first-generation immigrants.When she was shooting her show her production was one of only 24 SAG productions filming in the entire country. In this conversation, we discuss how she had to rewrite the script to include some nontraditional filming locations, how she dealt with negative attitudes from old-school Hollywood people because she was filming in a rural area, and what techniques she used to keep herself and her cast/crew safe during production.One of my favorite parts of the conversation is when we discuss how she was chewed out by an actress's manager, and I q

Today on the show we have returning champion Kyle Prohaska. Kyle is a Facebook Marketing Ninja. Kyle also specializes in promoting and marketing indie films.He also has created insane followings for his own films. Check out this 1,000,000 follower Facebook page he created for his film Standing Firm. Get ready to take some MASSIVE notes on this special episode. Enjoy my epic conversation with Kyle Prohaska.I wanted to bring Kyle back on the show to discuss a new system he is using to generate real money for filmmakers using Facebook ads. The problem I've always had using Facebook to promote indie films is ROI or Return on Investment. It didn't make sense to me to spend twenty dollars to promote a $2.99 rental or worse a free watch on Amazon Prime.Kyle has figured out a way to not only get a massive ROI on money spent but to also bring awareness to the film. If you are using or are thinking of using Facebook ads to sell your film this is the episode for you. Get ready to have your mind BLOWN!Enjoy my conversati

We all need a kick in the butt sometimes on our filmmaking or screenwriting journey. This show will do just that. Never stop chasing that filmmaking dream. Keep on hustling.Proud Member of the IFH Podcast Network (ifhpodcastnetwork.com)

Today on the show we have returning champion Peter Rader. Peter has been working with his wife Paola di Florio to help filmmakers connect with audiences and generate revenue for their projects.The story of how they self-distributed their run-away hit AWAKE: The Life of Yogananda from booking theaters to SVOD is remarkable. They did it all on their own and the film has been viewed by millions. I wanted to bring Peter back on the show to discuss how they are distributing film during COVID, methods for audience building, social media marketing, release strategy, and much more.Peter has worked as a film and television writer for 20 years. His first script, Waterworld, was produced by Universal in 1995. He has developed numerous projects for other studios, and industry leaders such as Steven Spielberg, Dino De Laurentiis, and John Davis.On today's show, we are discussing the new film Infinite Potential: The Life and Ideas of David Bohm, which his company is helping to self distribute in the hybrid model.“Infinite

I've been getting asked almost daily if filmmakers should submit to film festivals during the pandemic since most festivals are moving online? Well, I went straight to an expert to discuss this.On the show today I have one of the leading authorities on film festivals, Chris Holland from Film Festival Secrets.com. Chris is a 20-year veteran of film festivals, journalism, marketing, distribution and literally wrote the book on the subject, Film Festival Secrets: A Handbook For Independent Filmmakers.If you are a listener of the show you also know that Chris and I created a FREE Podcast Series called the Film Festival Hacks Podcast. Chris and I discuss the pros and cons of submitting to film festivals in today's world, what value film festivals have in the current marketplace, and if festivals can bounce back after the brutal hit they took from COVID.Enjoy my conversation with Chris Holland.

Happy New Year IFH Tribe! We are starting 2021 with a bang. Today on the show with have Zack Arnold, an award-winning Hollywood film & television editor (Cobra Kai, Burn Notice, Empire, Shooter, Glee), member of the American Cinema Editors, a documentary director GO FAR: The Christopher Rush Story, narrated by Mark Hamill), and creator of the Optimize Yourself program and podcast.Zach has been working on the #1 Netflix show Cobra Kai since season 2. If you haven't heard of Cobra Kai here's the skinny.Thirty-four years after the events of the 1984 All Valley Karate Tournament, a down-and-out Johnny Lawrence seeks redemption by reopening the infamous Cobra Kai dojo, reigniting his rivalry with a now-successful Daniel LaRusso.Zack and I talk about Cobra Kai, how he became a healthy editor, what it was like working on some of the top shows on television, and how he retired early from editing, except Cobra Kai, of course, to run his own lucrative online business helping creatives optimize themselves.Enjoy my c

We all need a kick in the butt sometimes on our filmmaking or screenwriting journey. This show will do just that. Never stop chasing that filmmaking dream. Keep on hustling.Proud Member of the IFH Podcast Network (ifhpodcastnetwork.com)

Well, 2020 has been one hell of a year. Our industry has been turned upside down and inside out. The way business is done in Hollywood has been changed forever. There has been so much pain and suffering this year. People lost their jobs.Legendary companies that were thought to be unbreakable filed for bankruptcy. The mear act of being on set became a highly dangerous occupation. So many beloved filmmakers and actors passed away. Film festivals closed their doors. Movie theaters giants shut their doors, some for good. COVID-19 devasted not only our business but the world.2020 just f**king sucked!With all that said I see a light of hope on the horizon. Like every New Years before Jan 1 brings with it a new hope, an opportunity to improve things, and for your life to be better than before. 2021 has a lot of pressure on it for sure. I know so many tribe members have had a rough go of it but the only thing we can do is to take charge of what you can control.You might not be able to control the world, the virus, yo