The No Film School Podcast

In this episode of Indie Film Weekly, No Film School co-hosts Liz Nord, Jon Fusco,and Emily Buder wonder if DSLR filmmaking is finally dead, and whether Soderbergh's new production model can revive indies. We also discuss a former Google Android exec who extols iPhone filmmaking, Netflix's $20.5 billion in debt, and say a sad goodbye to Pulitzer-Winning writer, director, and actor Sam Shepard. We hear from video essay guru Kogonada about his debut feature ‘Columbus,’ which hits theaters this week. In gear news, Fusion gets a VR toolset and big price break, the TSA adds filmmaker-unfriendly travel rules, and lens mount options grow for the Fujfilm MK zooms. Ask No Film School fields a question about what extent you should involve an author in your film when it's based on their book. As always, we also bring you the latest gear news, upcoming grant and festival deadlines, new indie film releases, weekly words of industry wisdom, and other notable things you might have missed while you were busy making films. You can see all the links from this show in this week’s podcast post at nofilmschool.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Back at Sundance, No Film School's Jon Fusco sat down with a few of the teams behind a few of this summer's best independent films while they were still fresh off their premiere highs. Brigsby Bear, which came out July 28, obtained a $5 million deal from Sony Pictures Classic for Distribution rights. Director Dave McCary and screenwriter Kevin Costello join the podcast to discuss the journey each of them took to get that deal. From stupid YouTube sketches with their comedy group Good Neighbor to Saturday Night Live Digital Shorts and now full-length features, their process is a great model for collaborative filmmaking. Through a lethal combination of non-linear storytelling, gender reversals, and Deliverance type thrills, director Damien Power successfully toys with audience expectations all the way throughout his debut feature, Killing Ground, which we might add took 11 years to make. We discussed how Australia's film scene helps to foster artists who take greater risks, the lengths Power went to to get his film made, and the strategies he put in place to create the script for Sundance's most mind-bending horror film. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Indie Film Weekly, No Film School co-hosts Liz Nord, Jon Fusco, and Emily Buder discuss the new rules for breaking into Hollywood and why "constantly reminding people you exist is now part of the job." We also share what we learned from last week's Comic-Con and the 38th News and Docs Emmy nominations, which were announced this week. We bid farewell to both Adobe Flash and the YouTube editing tool. Our rundown of this week's indie film releases is particularly robust, with no less than six festival favorites hitting theaters. Charles Haine joins us for gear news, including Canon's latest camera fail, and answers an Ask No Film School inquiry about the differences between online and offline editing. As always, we also bring you the latest gear news, upcoming grant and festival deadlines, new indie film releases, weekly words of industry wisdom, and other notable things you might have missed while you were busy making films. You can see all the links from this show in this week’s podcast post at nofilmschool.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

‘Landline’ co-writers, Director Gillan Robespierre and Producer Elisabeth Holm join No Film School’s Liz Nord to discuss how they overcame the typical hurdles to get their second feature made and theatrically released. The pair first collaborated on 'Obvious Child', which premiered at Sundance 2014, where Holm won the Red Crown Producer’s Award, and went on to critical and audience acclaim and theatrical release. They joined efforts again for ‘Landline', which was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance 2017 and opened in theaters last Friday. In this episode, Robespierre and Holm talk about how they avoided the "Sophomore slump", writing authentic dialog and getting equally authentic performances out of your actors, and how filmmaking is like polyamory. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Indie Film Weekly, No Film School co-hosts Liz Nord, Jon Fusco,and Emily Buder discuss George Romero's DIY Legacy, what filmmakers should note about last week's Emmy nominations, and a trio of stories about crucial on-set safety issues. We also share the best advice we've gotten from some of summer's biggest indie directors, and hear from ‘Killing Ground’ director Damien Power about his 11-year journey to get his newly released film made. Charles Haine joins us for gear news, and answers an Ask No Film School question about whether your production company should accept credit cards. As always, we also bring you the latest upcoming grant and festival deadlines, new indie film releases, weekly words of industry wisdom, and other notable things you might have missed while you were busy making films. You can see all the links from this show in this week’s podcast post at nofilmschool.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You may know Steve Ellison better by his beat-making alias Flying Lotus, or perhaps even as Flying Lotus' MC alias, Captain Murphy. Music, however, was not his first love. The director, who now simply goes by "Steve" actually went to film school far before he laid down his first mixtape. Just don't call him a product of the cinematic education system. Steve's debut feature Kuso truly goes against every single rule his teachers may have taught him back in his days as a student. In fact, Steve says he had to consciously take some time off to unlearn film school, where he believes things were taught to be done in a certain, almost factory-like way. He is a staunch believer that if you limit yourself to what you learn there, you may miss out on crucial organic discoveries. Instead, Kuso plays out more like his music: free-form, chaotic, jazz-like. It is comprised of four horrifying shorts, woven together, but separated by a series of animated hip-hop freak-outs that, when put together, form some sort of grotesque psychedelic tapestry. No Film School's Jon Fusco sat down with Steve to talk about what scares him about being a filmmaker, erasing all self-doubt, and jumping into your first project with a punk rock, let's do this attitude.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Indie Film Weekly, No Film School co-hosts Liz Nord, Jon Fusco,and Emily Buder discuss how even indie movies aren't safe from Russian interference, updates in the indie box office, the battle to save net neutrality, and a too-early goodbye to actor Nelsan Ellis. We also hear from director David Lowery about the challenges of making his summer indie hit ‘A Ghost Story.’ Charles Haine joins us for gear news, including RED’s incessant product teases and a TV that might replace movie screens for good. Charles also answers an Ask No Film School question about which affordable monitors to buy. As always, we also bring you the latest gear news, upcoming grant and festival deadlines, new indie film releases, weekly words of industry wisdom, and other notable things you might have missed while you were busy making films. You can see all the links from this show in this week’s podcast post at nofilmschool.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

No Film School's Emily Buder sits down with prolific indie filmmaker Nathan Silver and the stars of his latest movie, Thirst Street, Lindsay Burdge and Damien Bonnard.  Silver has made a movie every year for the past 8 years. Last year, he had the film Actor Martinez at Tribeca. Needless to say, Silver is a staple in the New York indie film scene. In their conversation, they discuss how Silver manages to get his micro-budget projects off the ground, some tips for shooting with limited resources, Thirst Street's distinctive '70s psychodrama aesthetic, and the extreme emotional risks some of the main actors had to take for their roles. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Indie Film Weekly, Emily Buder, Jon Fusco and Charles Haine discuss Hollywood studios' beef with Rotten Tomatoes and what the highest-grossing films of the year so far have to do with it all. They also talk about Canon's latest misfire with the 6D Mark II, Christopher Nolan's 70mm Dunkirk release, and Emily's favorite movie of the year thus far: David Lowery's A Ghost Story.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When Liz Nord spoke with first time Palestinian filmmaker Maysaloun Hamoud back at the Toronto International Film Festival last year, her narrative feature In Between (or Bar Bahar in Arabic) was just about to premiere. As with any new director, she had no idea what the response would be or what the coming year would bring. But her film’s path has been particularly unpredictable, leading to three awards in San Sebastian, Hamoud being hand-chosen by Isabelle Huppert to receive the Young Talents Award at Cannes, and being issued the first religious Fatwa in Palestinian history. In their fascinating conversation, Hamoud shares her methods for trying to make audiences see themselves in her characters, working with non-actors, and what it was like to make the first film of its kind in her community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices