Updated: Jul 4, 2022
This and all other episodes of the MAKE IT podcast are brought to you in partnership with Women in Film and Television as part of the Voice of the Filmmaker Program. Please help us keep the conversation going.
In this Indie Talk episode, Chris and Nick coin the term, “Non-Priority To-Do List,” they address the ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ lawsuit, share opinions on Matthew McConaughey’s White House speech and discuss Quinta Brunson’s (Abbott Elementary) response to her Twitter critics on refusing to produce a school shooting episode.
About the MAKE IT Podcast
The MAKE IT podcast is a platform for the voice of independent filmmaker. We offer a variety of educational, aspirational, and entertaining content that promotes the success of creatives across the filmmaking community and the film industry.
Our Filmmaker Conversations with filmmaking professionals are dedicated to sharing the advice, knowledge, and insights of experienced filmmakers while exploring what it truly means to be an independent creative in the highly competitive world of filmmaking. Each filmmaker conversation is backed by thoughtful research that allows us to uncover the raw, authentic truths behind each filmmaker's journey.
Through our Indie Talks, we share our thoughts and perspectives on navigating independent film from the perspective of Advisory and Executive Producers. We discuss topics that are relevant to filmmakers across a wide spectrum of filmmaking perspectives, and we do our best to uncover hidden truths and new developments in the film industry. Our goal is to help filmmakers avoid the pitfalls and obstacles on the business side of film so that their filmmaking creativity can thrive.
Our Industry Insights provide bite-sized actionable advice that filmmaking professionals and creatives of all kinds can use to keep their heads up as they continue their filmmaking journeys. With advice sourced from the filmmaking community, we build upon the wisdom of our filmmaking guests to provide our audience with truly aspirational and inspirational content.
The Mistakes in the Making series gives our filmmaking friends an opportunity to speak directly to our filmmaking audience to share a specific lesson they've learned through a mistake they've made. We are firm believers that mistakes can be the gateway to success when we open our hearts and minds to learning from them, sharing them, and using them to Be Better.
The Film Investment series is a conversational series of 52 episodes geared towards the would-be film investor. Each episode, facilitated via a friendly conversation between hosts and friends Christopher Barkley and Jason McConnell, highlights a unique aspect of the film investment process. In addition to being a great resource for film investors, it serves as a reference for filmmakers regarding the many considerations that must be made when seeking film investment.
This and all other episodes of the MAKE IT podcast are brought to you in partnership with Women in Film and Television as part of the Voice of the Filmmaker Program. Please help us keep the conversation going.
Updated: Jul 4, 2022
This and all other episodes of the MAKE IT podcast are brought to you in partnership with Women in Film and Television as part of the Voice of the Filmmaker Program. Please help us keep the conversation going.
In this edition of Industry Insights, Nick expounds upon the sentiments of Director Nick Frangione about getting to the core of the message in your film.
"The biggest creative mistake that I see people make is I feel like they don't get to the core of what they're trying to say."
- Nick Frangione, Director (Buck Run)
About Nick Frangione
In 2021, Freestyle Digital Media acquired Nick Frangione's Buck Run (James Le Gros, Kevin J. O'Connor, Amy Hargreaves, Alicia Goranson, Jim Parrack, Angus Macfadyen, and starring Nolan Lyons) for release on Amazon, iTunes, Google Play, YouTube Movies, Cable, and Satellite On Demand. The atmospheric and delicate drama premiered Opening Weekend at Palm Springs International Film Festival and toured the festival circuit. Buck Run won Best Feature at Flickers Rhode Island International and Fayetteville Film Festival; Best International Feature at Nordic International Film Festival and Santorini Film Festival; Best Actor for lead Nolan Lyons at Breckenridge Film Festival; and the Orson Welles Award for Achievement in Directing at Tiburon International Film Festival.
Critics have called the film "Evocative," "Timelessly Melancholy" (Dennis Harvey, Variety). "Beautifully acted. Very well shot." (Ray Greene, LA Critics Association). "A masterly done meditation on America's working-class dilemma, broken fatherhood, abandonment, and acceptance" (Brazilian Press).
Before Buck Run, Frangione directed Roxie. Tommy Cook of Collider.com said of the film, "Roxie, at its heart, is a tragedy about lives spent reliving the past, an unmasking of the harsh realities of time and aging, on the need for a real connection and how any false one inherently corrupts and leaves you bare. It's a testament to zero-budget filmmaking and how even the smallest of films can possess the greatest of ambitions. It was, by far, the best film I saw during my stay at Sonoma (International Film Festival)"
Listener Reflections
Watch one of your favorite films and identify the use of metaphor and/or symbolism. Does the film use metaphor or symbolism to tell the story or to give the story deeper, more existential meaning?
Actionable Advice
Getting to the core of what you are trying to say means removing the noise from your communication. The concept of noise in communication dates back to information theory in the 1940s. 'Noise' refers to any factor that reduces the chances of successful communication but does not guarantee failure of that communication. There are four types of noise:
Physiological noise: Distraction caused by hunger, fatigue, thirst, or any other factor that affects how we feel physically.
Physical noise: Interference in our environment such as noises, extreme temperatures, or physical disturbances.
Psychological noise: Qualities within us (such as prejudice or defensiveness) that affect how we communicate with or interpret others.
Semantic noise: The noise that exists when the words being spoken are not mutually understood as a result or jargon or unnecessarily technical language.
For filmmakers, the issue is often one of semantic noise. In this case, the message is being lost in unnecessarily nuanced language delivered with an expectation for the audience to use artistic interpretation to decipher the message. The truth is: audiences don’t want to be left guessing because guessing implies uncertainty and uncertainty introduces noise. The more noise that's introduced, the less connected your audience becomes to the core of what you're trying to say.
To avoid introducing noise, consider removing anything that uses metaphor or symbolism to communicate the core message. Though it's ok to use such things to emphasize the message, they should not be used to deliver it. Another way to eliminate the noise is to avoid playing with time. Memory and dream sequences that cut into the current timeline without warning cause the storyline to be fragmented. Though the pieces may all fit together when you look back at the story, you replace emotional engagement with your audience with an intellectual exercise that makes them think when you want them to feel. This doesn’t mean that you can't have those memory and dream sequences; it just means that you should be deliberate about how you move your audience into them as an extension of the experience within the current reality.
The main thing to remember here is that your voice should remain clear and concise throughout your storytelling. Don't get in your own way by trying to be too clever or by expecting too much of your audience. If they don't get it, it's not their fault; it's yours.
About Nick
Nicholas Buggs is a filmmaker, advisor, content creator, author, and advocate of the filmmaking community. As co-host of the MAKE IT podcast and co-founder of Bonsai Creative, Nick works alongside his co-host and co-founder Christopher Barkley to produce multi-media educational and inspirational content. Nick is a firm believer in harnessing the collective power of the community to give each of its members a better chance at success.
This and all other episodes of the MAKE IT podcast are brought to you in partnership with Women in Film and Television as part of the Voice of the Filmmaker Program. Please help us keep the conversation going.
This and all other episodes of the MAKE IT podcast are brought to you in partnership with Women in Film and Television as part of the Voice of the Filmmaker Program. Please help us keep the conversation going.
In this episode, we have a conversation with Director Janlatae' Mullins. We talk about the incredible lengths she went through to pitch Dawson’s Creek, why being seen as a minority creator is so important, how she overcame suicidal thoughts and depression to pursue her filmmaking dreams, and how she identified procrastination as a form of Imposter Syndrome, and her new educational endeavor, The Heartbeat Film Club.
More About Janlatae' Mullins
Janlatae’ Mullins is an award-winning writer, producer, and director. She directs films, music videos, promos, and branded content. Her promo and commercial credits include work with Fox, CMT, Barbie, Amazon Studios, Paramount Pictures, Bravo, Hershey's, Pantene, Nickelodeon, and OWN.
Her short films have won numerous awards including Best Director at The Black Women in Film Festival in 2015, Best Screenplay in 2018, and the grand prize winner for her short film Soul Fire in the Jack Daniels Gentleman Jack Real to Reel Competition in association with BET and Code Black Entertainment. She has also worked with various creatives to help develop projects to pitch.
Janlatae’ is a true believer in the power of collaboration. Her tenacity to run after honest performances and soul-provoking visuals makes her a great choice for any talent-driven narrative or commercial work.
Janlatae’s heart is to empower fellow creators to understand the power of their voice and how it can change the world; to essentially find their heartbeat. She’s currently developing and writing a few TV projects, a series of heartbeat-led creative workshops for creators, and inspiring a movement through emotionally moving content for her digital channel The Heartbeat Network. Janlatae’ is here to remind people that were birthed to start a MOVEMENT.
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About the MAKE IT Podcast
The MAKE IT podcast is a platform for the voice of independent filmmaker. We offer a variety of educational, aspirational, and entertaining content that promotes the success of creatives across the filmmaking community and the film industry.
Our Filmmaker Conversations with filmmaking professionals are dedicated to sharing the advice, knowledge, and insights of experienced filmmakers while exploring what it truly means to be an independent creative in the highly competitive world of filmmaking. Each filmmaker conversation is backed by thoughtful research that allows us to uncover the raw, authentic truths behind each filmmaker's journey.
Through our Indie Talks, we share our thoughts and perspectives on navigating independent film from the perspective of Advisory and Executive Producers. We discuss topics that are relevant to filmmakers across a wide spectrum of filmmaking perspectives, and we do our best to uncover hidden truths and new developments in the film industry. Our goal is to help filmmakers avoid the pitfalls and obstacles on the business side of film so that their filmmaking creativity can thrive.
Our Industry Insights provide bite-sized actionable advice that filmmaking professionals and creatives of all kinds can use to keep their heads up as they continue their filmmaking journeys. With advice sourced from the filmmaking community, we build upon the wisdom of our filmmaking guests to provide our audience with truly aspirational and inspirational content.
The Mistakes in the Making series gives our filmmaking friends an opportunity to speak directly to our filmmaking audience to share a specific lesson they've learned through a mistake they've made. We are firm believers that mistakes can be the gateway to success when we open our hearts and minds to learning from them, sharing them, and using them to Be Better.
The Film Investment series is a conversational series of 52 episodes geared towards the would-be film investor. Each episode, facilitated via a friendly conversation between hosts and friends Christopher Barkley and Jason McConnell, highlights a unique aspect of the film investment process. In addition to being a great resource for film investors, it serves as a reference for filmmakers regarding the many considerations that must be made when seeking film investment.
This and all other episodes of the MAKE IT podcast are brought to you in partnership with Women in Film and Television as part of the Voice of the Filmmaker Program. Please help us keep the conversation going.