The No Film School Podcast

Well, here we are, live from Utah and our first interview out of Sundance is for a film called "Arizona." Bizarre right? Well not nearly as bizarre as the film itself. Set in the midst of the 2009 housing crisis, this darkly comedic story follows Cassie Fowler (played by Rosemary DeWitt), a single mom and struggling realtor whose life goes off the rails when she witnesses a murder. The man who commits the murder (played by Danny McBride) proceeds to take her hostage and she must do her best to escape the grasp of his insanity. The result is a film that quickly alternates between dark comedy and horror/slasher, which makes sense considering the team behind it will be responsible for the "Halloween" sequel coming later this year. But how do you toe that line without lessening the effects of either genre? Director Jonathan Watson has been part of David Gordon Green and McBride's Rough House Pictures since "Eastbound and Down," but this is his first shot at the helm of a feature. To enhance that slasher vibe he employed the talents of composer Joseph Stephens. No Film School's Jon Fusco sits down with the collaborators to talk about how a great score can be used to influence your audience, the typical workflow of audio post-production and how a composer can stand out in the biz. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Indie Film Weekly, No Film School co-hosts Liz Nord and Jon Fusco are headed to Park City, Utah for the 34th Sundance Film Festival. They are joined by NFS Managing Editor Erik Luers to share everything you should know to get ready for the big event, whether you’ll be there in person or not. In gear news, Kodak makes a big gamble on a new version of old tech, and in Ask No Film School, Charles Haine reveals the most useful film production apps on the market. 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

This is the third and final episode of our “Best of 2017”, but honestly, with the quality of advice we received over the course of our interviews last year, we could keep this going forever. All of the excerpts featured in this week’s volume are part of what we here at No Film School like to call “Roundtable” episodes. We’ll try to get at least one or two of these done at every festival we travel to. The idea is really to get a group of filmmakers together and have them discuss their craft together in a forum where everyone can relate to each other and build off of their experiences. A lot of times they will be fresh off seeing each other's work so the questions keep flying and lead to some fantastic stories. We’ve selected three of these episodes to feature today, “What It Takes to Get Your Short into Sundance,” “How to Get Your Midnight Shorts into SXSW,” and “DP Roundtable: The Shots That Almost Killed Us.” For those of you making short films, these clips should be especially helpful. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Indie Film Weekly, No Film School co-hosts Liz Nord and Jon Fusco discuss one of the most memorable Golden Globes ever and other awards season news, as well as the group of industry women coming out *against* the #MeToo movement. Liz answers an Ask No Film School question about holding public screenings before your festival premiere. Charles Haine joins us to preview the new film and video gear being released at this year’s CES, including a very unusual entry from Kodak. 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

It’s officially a new year but we’re still not over how great our podcasts turned out in 2017. Last year, we started doing interview podcasts every single week in addition to our Indie Film Weekly episodes. We’ve had tons of great guests from Sean Baker to Flying Lotus and everything in between. In the first volume of our “Best Of” episodes, we heard from Flying Lotus, Gillian Robespierre, Brett Gelman and more. Today you’ll hear selections from Sean Baker, Ruben Ostlund, Parker Smith and Lloyd Kaufman of Troma Entertainment. Our series will continue next week, as NFS Producer Jon Fusco leads you through more of the best clips from 2017. If you haven’t heard all of our interview podcasts, these are some great examples of the type of information you can expect to come away with after every listen. 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 Charles Haine discuss rumors of a major merger that could change the industry as we know it, and results of the 2017 box office returns. We also say a sad goodbye to ‘Black Swan’ production designer Thérèse DePrez. In gear news, we reveal the most rented items on ShareGrid last year. Charles also answers an Ask No Film School question about how to choose vintage lenses for your next project. 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

Well, it's been quite a year. Here at No Film School, we started doing interview podcasts every single week in addition to our Indie Film Weekly episodes. We’ve had tons of great guests from Sean Baker to Flying Lotus and everything in between and we’re all really proud of the type of resource this podcast has become. Before we conduct each interview, we'll take the time to remind our guests that this will be a different sort of interview than the other ones they’ve been doing on the press junket or at the festivals. We’re not just interested in hearing about what makes their movie great. Rather, we want to frame these episodes as educational gems, with takeaways from their experiences that every one of our listeners can put into practice. In that sense, we really think we’ve succeeded. If you went back and listened to every single one of our interview episodes that came out this year, we're confident that you’ll come out with more than enough information to get yourself started on making your film. You’ll be all out of excuses. Over the next couple weeks, editor/producer Jon Fusco will be leading you through some of our best clips of 2017, so if you haven’t heard all of our interview podcasts, these episodes will be a great overview of those pearls of advice that may end up helping you down the road. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This special, year-end episode of Indie Film Weekly reveals the best that 2017 had to offer while you were busy making films. This year was full of controversy and growing pains in the industry, balanced by stellar indie releases, gear innovations, and inspiring filmmaker journeys. In our final episode of 2017, co-hosts Liz Nord, Jon Fusco, and Charles Haine reveal our favorite films, top camera and gear choices, and predictions for the future of the film business. We also discuss our best takeaways from talking to some of the most interesting filmmakers and industry pros on the planet, from DIY maverick Sean Baker to ‘Wonder Woman’ DP Matt Jensen to French new wave and Cannes-winning filmmaker Agnes Varda. 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

In this episode of Indie Film Weekly, No Film School co-hosts Liz Nord and Jon Fusco discuss Louis CK’s ‘I Love You, Daddy’ distribution saga and awards season updates (and upsets) from the Golden Globes, European Film Awards, and IDA Documentary Awards. We also reveal Netflix's most binged shows of 2017, get into a pretty geeky debate about Star Wars, and share tips from filmmaker Ela Thier about how to become your own script doctor. Charles Haine joins us for gear news and answers an Ask No Film School question about scanning photos to use in your film. 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

Directors Nathan Fitch and Daniel McCabe join No Film School’s Liz Nord to share their tips on preparing to film in a conflict zone, both practically and emotionally. Fitch embedded with the US Military in Afghanistan for his film 'Island Soldier', and McCabe filmed amidst various factions of the Congolese civil war for six years for his documentary 'This is Congo’. In this episode, the directors reflect on their experiences and give advice on what gear makes sense to bring into a conflict situation and how to shoot while you’re literally being shot at. For new stories daily on the craft of filmmaking, visit nofilmschool.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices