If you haven't seen The Joyful Vampire Tour of America doc-series yet, it's amazing and insightful. Watch it here. And you can stay up to date with all of Naomi's projects and workshops and such from her website ..read more

My favorite indie film conversation of 2020. Hands down ..read more

Today on Filmmaker Freedom, a super in-depth interview with Marcus Mizelle. Marcus is a multi-talented filmmaker with three micro-budget features under his belt, and that's alongside a prolific career directing music videos, working in the grip department, and being a writer/producer.  And pretty soon, he's launching an entirely new kind of film festival dedicated specifically for us micro-budget folks. It's called the Micro Film Tournament, and it looks pretty rad. Anyhow, this conversation was a blast, and we touch on so many aspects of what it really takes to succeed in this brutal bus ..read more

So, you’ve chosen the perfect niche for your films. And you’ve done the research to ensure it can support you financially. Now what? Well, one option is to just start making films and marketing yourself. Just taking those two prerequisite steps—finding and validating your niche—puts you ahead of 95% of other indie filmmakers in terms of building a sustainable business around your work. But I’d be remiss if I didn’t share the final piece to this niche puzzle—one that’ll help you create and communicate in such magnetic, compelling ways that when you release a new film, the fo ..read more

In the Art of War, Sun Tzu tells us, “victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win." If your goal is to earn a living from your films, this is wisdom to live by. I mean, what if you could virtually guarantee your film would be profitable before you ever wrote a word or shot a frame? What if you knew—with a high degree of certainty—that if you engaged a particular niche, you’d be able to build a sustainable, enjoyable business by producing films for them? That’d be pretty rad, right? It’d take so much of the pressure off when it ..read more

This episode is long. Quite long. In fact, when it comes to choosing a profitable niche audience for your micro-budget films, you’re about to listen to the most comprehensive guide on the internet. Make no mistake, if you want to succeed as an indie film entrepreneur, targeting profitable niches is the single most important skill for you to learn and master. Getting your niche right is the 20% of efforts that drive 80% of results. In other words, you could be a mediocre filmmaker and an amateur marketer, but if you follow through on what’s coming in this article, you’ll still be set up for fin ..read more

Today on Filmmaker Freedom, the only sustainable way for micro-budget filmmakers to win the brutal war for audience attention. This is a war being dominated right now by the likes of Netflix, Disney, YouTube, Facebook, and plenty of others. You might not think you have much chance of competing against companies like this, with their multibillion dollar content and marketing budgets. But when you shift your focus and niche down, you absolutely can. In fact, there’s surprising power and freedom in creating niche media in a world where everyone else is obsessed with reaching bigger, broader, more ..read more

Today on Filmmaker Freedom, how to approach building an audience for your films, and do it in a way that leads to sustainable revenue with minimal work.  That might sound like a hyperbolic promise, but I guarantee you it's not.  There are two foundational missteps that entrepreneurial filmmakers tend to make when building audiences, and these strategic errors limit how much you can earn from your films, while dramatically increasing the amount of work you have to do.  Basically, if you're not careful, you might end doing more work for less money. And that's no bueno.  So to ..read more

Today on Filmmaker Freedom, an interview with Jason Zink. Jason's directed several micro-budget, DIY features, all in the realm of horror and punk rock. His latest is called Straight Edge Kegger, which looks awesome. He's also experienced first hand just how predatory some traditional distribution deals can be. So in our wide-ranging conversation, we go deep on Jason's ethos for making cool, grungy flicks that he and his team can be proud of, what to watch out for when offered distribution, his plan for staging a DIY tour for his current film, and a whole lot more. It's a fun conversation, and ..read more

Today on Filmmaker Freedom, an in-depth interview with Mike Dion. Now, Mike's not a household name in the film community, but to my mind, he's one of the real pioneers of indie film entrepreneurship. In fact, since 2010 Mike's put out a handful of features that appeal to an extremely small, niche audience. But despite the size of the niche, Mike's managed to make a good living for himself—without film festivals, distributors, sales agents, or any middle men whatsoever. Instead, Mike has figured out how to sell directly to fans, put on his own theatrical tours, create cool physical products, an ..read more