Indiewire recently featured a piece on filmmaker E.L. Katz
E.L. Katz got his start in the industry working as a film and music journalist. After graduating film school he collaborated with acclaimed filmmaker Adam Wingard (You’re Next) as a screenwriter and producer on the award winning indie feature Pop Skull. He spent the next decade working primarily as a screenwriter, before directing his feature debut “Cheap Thrills.” He loves food of all kinds, poorly produced local news programs, art museums, and everything Scandinavian.
Here is the list of 12 tips for first-time filmmakers:
1. A good script is a director’s best friend.
2. When breaking down the script, try to isolate the beats and turns of every scene.
3. Chose an aesthetic or filming approach that you can actually pull off with the time you have.
4. The most important work is assembling the right cast and crew.
5. GO, GO, GO!
6. Even if you think you’ve got the shot, go ahead and get another one anyways.
7. If you film for too long, you’re legally insane.
8. If your shoot is for 14 days, make sure that your cast and crew set aside 15.
9. There is no movie without your crew.
10. FX takes a long fucking time.
11. Don’t drink at the end of the day.
12. Stay positive.
Here is the trailer for Cheap Thrills:
For more information on each of the 12 tips and the rest of the article, go here.