Jeffrey S Karantza's Lounge Discussions

I second what Jeffrey said. Go for it Jack!

GREAT COMMENDS EVERYONE, I HAVE BEEN ASKING THE SAME QUESTION TO MYSELF AND NOW I KNOW, THANK YOU, I THINK I WILL BEST START WITH SHORT INDIE FILMS, WRITING AND DIRECTING

I think it's against the law for a screenwriter to become a director.

Try having an editor as the director... You will have 20 hour days as he shoots every conceivable angle and frame size, so he can chose in the edit room.

I may be a little biased on writers being directors because my process involves a lot of research and development. Some for 10+ years. Down to knowing how these worlds smell. If it was just a money thing, I imagine the experience would be a tad different. I haven't spit one out solely for a paycheck yet, but I'm not opposed to it. Haha.

Not necessarily. Most projects these days , unless articulated by a real pro, tend to be too poorly organized to lead to additional work. I say work with the better organized projects, paid or not. Then you may find additional work through solid pro contacts, at least that is my experience.

No! I am SAG E and IMDB credit and copy will not begin to cover the costs of SAG initiation. Nor my acting classes, nor my headshots, etc. Why has it become acceptable to expect those in the entertainment industry to work for free? Would you work your "day" job for free if your boss begged? No. B/C the landlord requires ACTUAL $. And if my "day" job pays me and I have to take a day off to work on a shoot for IMDB credit, why would I want to do that? Not to mention, that of all those shoots I have worked for free in one form or another, none of those people bothered to pay it forward by recommending me to others. If they want to pay SAG for me to join, then that's something worth considering, but HELL NO! I know what I am worth. I have never had an unpaid project lead to a paid project. Sherri Dahl, do you have actual experience of that, or is that the lie you to tell yourself to justify being free labor. I actually had a person call me whom I had auditioned for (a paying job with his industrial film company) to come be background for free (but copy for my reel). I was so insulted, that was a phone call I didn't even bother to return. You have to know your worth and draw a line somewhere.

I think you have to look at the whole picture. Is it a role that you want enough to do it for free? That would be the biggest question in my book. If it's a good role, and it fits within your schedule, I don't see the problem. Not every production has the funds of a big studio. But again it's on your situation. I've had to pass on some unpaid projects I would have liked to do because of time issues. I bartend to pay the bills, therefore I work most weekends. Unfortunately many projects film on weekends. It's hard to say what will come from any given role, maybe just something extra for your reel, maybe the opportunity to show a different side of your talents than what you are usually looked at.

My self loves the film industry two but its a hard world to survive in and hold ground one has to eat and wages let you do this so pride comes at a price or is it hunger.

Right now at this point in my career I would definitely work for credit as I’m trying to build up my resume. It’s almost like volunteer work always lead to paid employment how I look at it.

:) I used my phone light on a photo gig at one point. Just be prepared for a ton of color correction.

Good to know!

also if you are looking for a soft light to surround your subject you can get a mag light and unscrew the focus lens part and remove it exposing the bulb, just unscrew all the way. It will act like a very bright candle or fill light and give a nice glow effect you can use a filter to get desired temp of light as the bulbs do not get super hot . The light will give almost a globe effect around what ever is close. Depending on how tight you shoot the target it may make a pretty cool looking shot with the light just out of frame. hope that helps

I've used tonnes of little lights here and there. One of the most interesting was https://www.instabulb.com/ A buddy of mine mailed me one. And now I have like 15 of them. Uses the same little peanut bulbs you get in a maglight, and yeah it's nice.

Very interesting article from everyone's favorite TV thriller Breaking Bad, it shows how much light plays a key factor in many scenes of this incredible show. I picked up several pointers & techniques you can use toward any production. http://blogs.indiewire.com/criticwire/in-confessions-breaking-bads-chara...

I think you are correct Craig but sometimes we would like to know the person behind it the personal touch.

Sadly I've had no luck finding a producer for my scripts.

Gary was just in American Hustle with Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper, et. al. He's doing something right and I see him on here every day meeting people all over Stage 32. That's what it's for. I'm proud to have him in my network because I love seeing his career grow.

I haven't had a lot of luck but I have had some. But I have also made some great connections and hopefully one day it will lead to more work. But I am on here everyday looking and meeting.

It's like with all kind of business. If you are regularly present, people will get to know you and will be reminded about you, when the day comes that a project is taking off and they can connect you to the topic. It can take weeks, months, or years. You just got to start somewhere, but also not only at once place like on stage 32. Also on people in your neighborhood and in other networks. But you should also not forget to take the opportunity to join some project, so that you have something to show and to prove that you have an idea about it. When I tried to get my first credits from some short films on imdb, it didn't work. The projects didn't get accepted. A year later my credit as Production Manager turned up on the worst film I helped to produce for a Filmmaking student for his Final Thesis FiIm. Somehow I was Happy to have a credit, but not really this one. The Filming had been a good exercise & experience but not really a good film. Nevertheless I got the idea to get the other better projects up there as a reference too. The Filmmakers weren't really eager to do anything more with their films two years after they had made them. I wanted to get my credits on imdb so I kind of forced them to give their original video material and submitted them to several International FIlmfestivals. For "Border Stories - Illegal Imigration" we got 4 Awards and for "Life Lines" 1 Award and all are up on imdb now. In the meantime I got another project, where we were officially selected for a Festival Tour in 5 German cities and got another Award in Switzerland. Since these are small Festivals and not listed on imdb I managed to get all pictures available for the event, to post some on imdb. There is always a way to make things happen. In most cases you can manage almost everything with hard diligent work.