In Development

I’ll be leading a two-part class on production at the Winnipeg Film Group over the next two Saturdays. There will be plenty of time given to answer specific questions about people’s current and upcoming projects. Hope to see you there!

Class 1 – PRODUCTION PLANNING AND BUDGETING
Saturday February 27  | 1 – 5 pm

You have a great script and want to turn it into a film, but you’re not really sure what steps you need to take to get there. To have a smooth shoot and get all the footage you want and need, good planning is essential!

We’ll look at how certain key decisions will determine your path from paper to screening. We’ll take a sample script and break it down to learn how to figure out how many locations you have, number of days of shooting required, and how to make a production schedule, shot list and call sheet. We’ll also review the roles of key crew.

Learn how to estimate what your costs are going to be for equipment, crew, actors, film/video stock, and post-production. See why a production schedule comes in handy here, and how to make a realistic budget to use in funding applications.

Class 2 – FUNDING, MARKETING & DISTRIBUTION
Saturday March 6  | 1 – 5 pm

If you’d rather not pay for your film solely out of your own pocket, you should be applying for funding. There are several great sources of funding for made-in-Manitoba films. Learn what kind of projects qualify for which funding, when and how to apply for each, and how to make  your application as strong as possible. Bonus: learn how to get funding to get more training!

We’ll also look at what happens after the film is made: how to apply to festivals, the role of a distributor, potential television broadcasters, online marketing and broadcasting, and how to create professional marketing materials to get people excited about seeing your film.

ONLINE REGISTRATION AVAILABLE

• Dates: Sat Feb 27 & Sat Mar 6 (1PM – 5PM)
• Fee: $125/mem | $155/non
• Instructor: Polly Washburn

For more information on workshops, please contact the Training & Outreach Programs Coordinator at 925-3450 or darcy@winnipegfilmgroup.com

Go to the actual LIST.

I half-heartedly tried to keep the list to 50, but the interesting connections between the directors and actors across the list pushing into the next 30 were too interesting to pass up!

There are of course several films sitting near the top of other posted lists that I’ve not seen yet, in particular: Cache, Yi Yi, Dancer in the Dark, Oldboy, Requiem for a Dream, I’m not There, The Beat that My Heart Skipped, Control, Atanarjuat (Fast Runner), Encouters at the End of the World, The Fall, Flags of our Fathers, Le scaphandre et le papillon (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly), Vals Im Bashir (Waltz with Bashir)…

Some others I missed that I still want to take in: Secretary, Grizzly Man, Être et Avoir, Gomorrah, The Gleaners and I, Fugitive Pieces, Ginger Snaps, The Kid Stays in the Picture, Murderball, Persepolis, Once, and several 2009 films.

But really, the list is finite — and rectifiable with another few months of diligent visits to the rental store!

Out of the 2400 potential films I tracked down, I had seen 490, or just over 20%. That works out to nearly one per week. (and I probably watch another couple non-recent films per month as I work my way through the Classics).

So how did I narrow it down to these? The list is made up of a mix of enjoyment experienced, impression made, images of beauty or anguish burned into my head, and awe at cinematic achievement, acting performance, and depth, vision and unique voice in story.

Some numbers for fun:

Breakdown by year:

2000      9
2001      6
2002      11
2003      9
2004      3
2005      8
2006      8
2007      9
2008      10
2009      8

Breakdown by Genre:
24 were action or what I would call drama/action (slow action?), plus 6 more action/sci-fi or action/fantasy
18 were drama/romance
4 dramas about historical events
4 documentaries plus one animation with interviews with philosophers
Only 2 comedies and 2 dramedies
And 20 straight-up dramas

Breakdown by country:

Bra/Fra – 1
Canada – 4
Can/UK/US – 1
Can/US – 2
Chi/Tai – 1
Chi/Tai/HK/US – 1
Den/Ger/Cze – 1
Fra – 1
Fra/Ita – 1
Fra/US/Mex – 1
Ger – 1
Ger/Tur/Ita – 1
HK – 2
Japan/UK/US – 1
Mex – 2
Multi-country – 1
NZ/Ger – 1
NZ/US – 2
Spa/Fra/US – 1
Swe – 1
UK – 4
UK/Fra – 1
UK/Fra/Can – 2
UK/Ger – 1
UK/USA – 1
US/Can/Fra – 1
US/UK – 3
US/Ger – 2
US/Ita – 1
US/Japan – 1

So a total of 45 out of the 80 had some non-American production element. 30 had no US involvement. 17 were in a language other than English, with several more including another language at some point in the film.

Only 33 were in the top 100 US box office for their year, and only 5 were in the top 10: (Dark Knight, Cast Away, Lord of the Rings, Ocean’s Eleven and the Bourne Ultimatum).

Several directors appeared multiple times in the list. Ang Lee and Christopher Nolan with three each, and Alfonso Cuarón, Anthony Minghella, David Cronenberg, Fernando Meirelles, Stepen Frears, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Martin Scorsese, Paul Greengrass, Paul Thomas Anderson, Richard Linklater, Steven Soderbergh and Thomas McCarthy with two each.

I didn’t notice a trend for writers but many of these are director-penned.

As for recurring actor appearances: Matt Damon and Viggo Mortensen appear in four of the films; Gael García Bernal, Tony Leung Chiu Wai, and Benicio Del Toro appear in three films each from the list, and Aaron Eckhart, , Bill Murray, Brad Pitt, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Christian Bale, Clive Owen, Daniel Day-Lewis, Don Cheadle, Elijah Wood, Emilio Echevarría, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jake Gyllenhaal, Heath Ledger, Jude Law, Leonardo DiCaprio, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Peter Mullen, Ralph Fiennes, Ryan Gosling, Scarlett Johansson, Sigourney Weaver, Tom Hanks, Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Michelle Rodriguez, and Will Ferrell appear in two each.

SO? Agree, disagree? Have a link to your own list? Let me know!

For an explanation of how this list was figured out and a breakdown of some of the numbers involved, read this!

There you have it! Agree, disagree? Have a link to your own list? Let me know!

Need help remembering the films of the last decade, check out my mega-list of 2400 films.

Two weeks to go until the start of a new decade. I’m excited to make my list of best films of the decade, but most lists I found didn’t include the indy, Canadian, foreign or documentary movies for me to remember.

So I compiled my own list! (2400 titles in all) I’m posting it in case it helps anyone else remember some of the non-Hollywood films. You can also download the sortable excel spreadsheet (natch).

Let me know if I’ve forgotten any, or if anything is mis-categorized!

Now to the actual work of narrowing down my faves – will definitely post a list of my top 20, or more likely, 50…

Please post a link here to your list! Would love to hear what you loved!

It’s been a lot of fun over the last few days to immerse myself in the creative cauldron that is the Manitoba media creation community. (sounds nice and warm, doesn’t it?)

Last Thursday, New Media Manitoba (with partners the Graphic Designers of Canada, the International Game Developer’s Association, On Screen Manitoba, and Flash in the Peg) hosted an IMAX screening of terrific profiles of a handful of its very talented members. It was awesome as always to discover what people are up to (such as creating apps and games and interactive brand sites and colouring comics and…). Talking with people afterwards, it was clear the profiles were just the tip of the iceberg. (perhaps a more apt Winnipeg metaphor, non?) Congratulations to Blink Works who put the video together.

That video should make Destination Winnipeg very happy. It was fantastic to hear so many people echoing my own feelings that Winnipeg is actually a great place to live and create, with the low cost of living providing the opportunity to take risks and have the time and energy to focus on personal projects.

Friday morning I met up with a gaggle of graphic designers for Winnipeg’s first LikeMind meet-up, spearheaded by GDC Manitoba. The organizers assured me they want to see folks out from all disciplines, so I will help spread the word when the next one is scheduled.

Friday night, the Winnipeg Film Group screened the results of the 90 Second Quickie. The range of themes, formats and styles was impressive, as was the ability to tell an entertaining story in 90 seconds. (Yes commercial-makers, I know, you do it all the time in a third as many seconds…). Outstanding work! And then we ate, drank and were merry at the holiday party.

Yesterday was the Annual General Meeting of On Screen Manitoba. It’s been a hard year in the industry here, as it has been across North America. But seeing the list of projects that have been completed this year (including of course Black Field!), it’s clear that we will definitely keep going. And to do that, I agree with OSM that we need to make more Manitoba-based productions and we need to partner from our friends at NMM and other interactive digitial media creators.

As On Screen Manitoba begins putting more resources into helping its members think about and collaborate on projects for smaller screens (yay, new apps and guidelines are up for Access to Markets and Professional Development!), hopefully the wall between the communities will begin to crumble. We’ll need to respect each others’ strengths and specialties and unique talents. We certainly can’t assume our skill sets will automatically be transferable, but I hope that both communities can be open to people from other disciplines exploring our traditional realm of influence and output, and help each other figure out how we can learn from each other, help each other and collaborate together. I can’t wait for these conversations and resulting collaborations to pick up speed in the coming months and years.

On a similar note, I’ve just taken a role at the Manitoba Writers’ Guild, to get the word out about Guild services and events, as well as member publications and readings. On my not-so-secret agenda will be helping to cross-pollinate writers, screenwriters and writer/directors. Again, let’s tear down any walls that may have been created!

And of course we have the amazing Manitoba music scene to draw on!

So how do we learn more about each other’s work?

• Throughout the year, NMM features the work of members and offers training. Get on their mailing list to hear about upcoming events.
• The Film Group has frequent member screenings at Cinematheque, and offers workshops throughout the year. The e-news posts calls for submission and assistance.
• Video Pool also screens member work and offers classes in video and sound production.
• I’ll be tweet-casting upcoming readings by local writers, and posting a calendar on the Guild website (will post link when it’s up)
• Game On Manitoba has links to and news about the amazingly cool people and projects that are rocking the province
• Listen to MMR to soak in some of the fab local talent
• Come out to LikeMind and other networking events – and initiate new ones!
• Friend each other on Facebook and Twitter, so we hear what everyone’s up to
• Check listings at places like Wpg2Nite and try out events you might not usually go to (and let them know when you’ve got something going on!)

Any other suggestions? Any concerns about the merging of the screens?

I love Karen Walton’s brainchild Ink Canada, a web-based gathering spot for Canadian screenwriters of all levels to mix and mingle.

Through InkDrinks, InkCanada also advocates taking time periodically to step away from the keyboard, get out of the house and meet each other live and in person. It helps to know that there are others in the same city working through similar issues, and it helps to share ideas and resources with each other.

InkDrinks have taken place in Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal and even LA. But never before in Winnipeg! To correct this, with the help of writer-director Danishka Esterhazy, we brought the event to the Peg last night.

We had over 20 people at our very first event. It was a fantastic night. From both a writer and producer perspective, it was great just to find out who is out there writing. Everyone met at least a couple of new folks. We’ll definitely do it again in February or March so if you’re interested in coming out, watch for it on facebook by  joining Ink Canada.

See pictures and attendees of our Winnipeg event at the facebook event site.

I was lamenting a couple of weeks ago that I didn’t have a chance to talk much with my fellow filmmakers about the process of making artistic choices. Looks like that will be turning around. Last night, I met with some great folks from the Winnipeg Film Group, many of whom I haven’t had the chance to work with yet, and I’m excited by the possibilities in our new monthly gathering. If you’re interested in coming out for the discussion and sharing our own work, contact Ryan and Shira who are organizing things.

I’m helping Conrad Hoy make a short film this weekend. So it’s been a few weeks of making plans and visiting sites and grabbing crew. Great to have lots of talented people helping us out – will be fun to be on set again.

Will have to miss day two, as I must take advantage of an amazing opportunity to learn from Patricia Rozema, who will be in town all weekend. Tomorrow night, she’s introducing Atom Egoyan’s The Sweet Hereafter, which I’ll have to miss as we’ll be shooting in the woods. But then Saturday, I’ll be taking a day-long master class with her. Can’t wait to hear her thoughts on writing and directing, and her artistic choices!

Cinematheque will be showing two of Rozema’s beautiful films this weekend as well: Mansfield Park and I’ve heard the Mermaids Singing. So all in all it should be a most excellent weekend of film!

Spent an interesting afternoon talking with IT teachers from across Manitoba who are teaching or looking into teaching film in their classrooms.

It was a great chance for me to do some thinking about my own knowledge and opinions regarding filmmaking. Their mandate is to teach the technology of filmmaking – how to use the software and equipment. I titled my talk for them “The Art and Fun of Filmmaking” and tried to provide another perspective – that of examining and making film as an artist rather than a technician.

What makes film so fascinating to me is that intersection between technology and art. I am in awe of each professional involved in making a film – each must be a technician and an artist – the gaffer, the DP, the sound designer, the props master, the make up, hair and wardrobe departments…

We required certain technology to make the earliest films, and technology is changing what stories we tell now — for example James Cameron’s upcoming Avatar with its 3D CGI mixed with “regular” video. According to Cameron, 3D is how all the big movies are going to go now. But there are still stories that can be told on a cheap video camera. The next few years will be a real experiment!

What I talked to the teachers about were the artistic choices – the importance of story, of actors, and the details like what angle to shoot from, how close to be to the actors or the action, the impact of colour and props and sound, and how a story can be told with many other tools besides dialogue. We brainstormed fun projects the students can do to experiment in each of these areas.

It struck me that it’s too rare that I have these conversations with my fellow filmmakers away from the pressures of making decisions on a production-in-progress. The Winnipeg Film Group and Cinematheque are starting a film/maker discussion group and I hope that we’ll be tackling some of these issues.

I am honoured to be one of Jamie Ridler’s first interview subjects in her podcast series Creative Living with Jamie! Jamie is an amazing self-development coach and artist. She offers weekly Wishcasting, monthly Full Moon Dreamboards, a book club, in-person workshops, and electronic resources.

We had a great time talking about creative process and finding harmony between the act of creating and the administrative aspects of getting your creations out into the world, which is a challenge I definitely face in my work as a writer/producer! We also talked about my new blog Be Softer, as I believe being softer with yourself generates space and energy for creativity.

You can listen at her site, or subscribe to the podcast in iTunes or other software.

I’m happy to report that Black Field, the feature I line produced this spring, will premier at the Vancouver International Film Festival next month.

It will screen October 13 at 9 pm and October 14 at 12:20 pm at the Empire Granville.

The current issue of Reel West has Black Field as its cover story. Great pics and quotes from cast and crew.