What Film Schools Don’t Tell You: Your Basic Guide to Making Movies and Finding Good Distribution

Is Film School the only way to learn and get ahead?How can I make a living doing what I love?How can I compete with the big Hollywood Studio system?Must I relinquish ownership of my film in order to succeed?Is there another way?Many Screenwriters have also been asking many of the same questions as Filmmakers.Covid 19, with its army of trapped-at-home fans eager for entertainment, triggered an onslaught of video streaming demand.The playing field is being leveled. An Indie Filmmaker can now see their film right alongside a studio production on the shelf and in the online cart.What hasn’t changed for most is an independent filmmakers ability to recoup their costs and make a living as a working professional.This author tackles each and every question above and profers elegant solutions. He takes you step by step into his movie making mindset and process. From selecting the Genre, Casting and all the other details you want and need to know to a comprehensive discussion on Distribution.For Screenwriters his take on why and how he selects a certain Script is insightful and refreshing. This is not a book on selecting the perfect camera but more on getting started and getting you to see how to break down and tackle your own movie. He offers you a way in.Mr. Schwarze also suggests a money-saving, money-making strategy designed to recoup expenses and generate income to build upon. As generous as he is with all his information, the true mother lode is the way he sees his life in film as more of a Lifestyle choice. He’s playing the long game. His enthusiasm is infectious.I recommend you read this book as soon as possible.

As an independent filmmaker who has had several films sold to Redbox, I read this book feeling like I was reading my own life story. The author is dead on with there comments and observations about how the independent film industry really works. They share my sensibilities and understand that Hollywood itself is a big fairytale. It is filled with con men and Liars who will do everything to discourage you from pursuing your dream and trying to supplant it with their idea of how film should be made. I also intend to use this as one of my textbooks for a course I am teaching this fall. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is tired of the Hollywood runaround and sees their career going nowhere in Los Angeles. The truth is Hollywood is dead, films can be made anywhere if you have the right information and a not obsessed with getting the latest equipment, big names, and having exorbitant budgets which do not reflect the real world. The basic moral of the story in this particular book is that less is more. Good job by the author and I appreciate someone who speaks the same language as I do.

This is a good book for DIY filmmakers starting at square one. I learned a lot from this book. I understand the artistic side of movies and have studied acting and screenwriting, but had not ventured much into the filmmaking/indie directing side of film. This was an eye opener about tasks and downfalls of an indie filmmaker.This book is about doing. It’s full of practical advice and personal stories. It has some hard facts and busts filmmaking, film festival, and distribution myths. It gives warnings about the industry and also advice about what to do instead. I appreciate that.Some books, podcasts, and mentors will go on and on about the perils and hardships of movie making without offering advice on how to survive. Usually I leave feeling overwhelmed and hopeless about the odds and the huge effort needed to succeed. This book didn’t make me feel that way. This book felt like a starting point. You just have to start.

Whether you went to film school or are learning on your own, this book is very helpful for the following reasons:1) Gray Areas - The author really irons out the gray areas of making a film and breaks it down.2) Apps and programs - These helpful tools are broken down for aspiring film-makers to write scripts, break down scenes, etc.3) The Future of Film-Making - The Author gives solid opinions, reasoning and facts on how future film makers as yourself are the future of quality story-telling in the film industry. Robust and bloated Hollywood budgets are diminishing in favor of lower budget films which have a better chance at grossing a solid profit. This further encourages and solidifies the future of small-time film makers as yourself!4) Organization and Simplicity - The author doesn’t slow the process down with jargon or poor organization5) Recommendations - Solid examples of films and books that demonstrate further what the author is trying to emphasize.Definitely worth the money I invested into this book.

Filmmaking is difficult. (In other news, fire is hot.) You really have to have a passion for it. But even those with enough passion to set the world on fire still struggle with the technical aspects of filmmaking. How do I get the best locations? How do I secure distribution, and how do I know what a good distribution deal is? How do I get the most out of this film? Emmy-nominated filmmaker Kelly Schwarze is here with his first book that answers all of these questions and more. His writing style is personable, packing the punch of a witty memoir with the educational framework of a textbook. Most filmmaking books will throw keywords and buzzwords at you all day, but if you don't know what they mean, then what's the point? That's what makes Schwarze's book so special. He not only gives you the pieces, but shows examples of how he puts them together, providing context of how each idea looks and operates in the real world.This book is, as the headline says, an essential tool for any filmmaker, independent or otherwise.

Kelly Schwarze has put together a book that is a must read for any storyteller considering their first film or their tenth, for that matter. Mr. Schwarze has shared a lifetime of experience and knowledge in an easy to understand guide. He cuts to the key kernels of information every filmmaker needs, from the script, through pre-production, shotlists to navigating distribution and the film festival circuit. Harold L. Brown

Zero out of ten. Zero. This really demonstrates how scarce basic writing ability is in Hollywood, and why so many people freak out when someone like Kevin Smith is able to write halfway decent paragraphs of text. Filmmaking seems to be dominated by semi-literates. This is an example (not the only one) of a book that is astoundingly poorly written. There are just a few pages dealing with dollars and cents that have some real utility (and real candor), offering you rough estimates of independent filmmaking costs and projected incomes, but there's no way you can justify the purchase of this book for those few pages.