Reader MailBag — April 9, 2010

Welcome to the DOJO!

From now on, every Friday is going to be Reader MailBag day here at Film Sensei HQ.  That’s right, every Friday your Film Sensei is going to dip deep in to the massive amount of reader email I receive and post comments, questions and critiques from you, my loyal readers.

Today we’ve got a note from a man calling himself Devo from the Seattle, Washington based Booyah Films.  Devo has a couple of quick reviews to help out out indie and guerrilla filmmakers with getting their work out in front of the public.  Take it away, Devo!

Hi Mat.

Love the Film Sensei site – good stuff. I’m a would be indie film auteur myself, check out my first 3-minute short here:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1385504/

I have a couple suggestions for you to review and feature on your site (although I could take a stab at reviewing them):

Celtx – awesome, totally free, script writing software. It also allows you to do index cards (virtual) of scenes, storyboarding, and production scheduling. It supports film, TV, play, and comic formats.

WithoutABox.com – website, lets you submit to multiple (thousands) of film festivals all through one account online.

CreateSpace.com – website, you can send in a DVD master and artwork & they will distribute for you on-demand (when someone orders it). You can set up a site/page through them and also sell your DVDs on Amazon through them.

WithoutABox, CreateSpace and IMDB are all owned by Amazon. I Set up my film in WithoutABox for festivals, set up a DVD Master at CreateSpace (was free at the time), they listed it on Amazon for free and gave me an IMDB page – sweet!

Easy and cheap self-distribution.

Devo
Booyah Films
Seattle, WA

Thanks for the kind words, Devo!  Glad you wrote in.  Celtx is a great piece of free software for writers, producers and directors.  A fantastic alternative to Final Draft or MovieMagic Screenwriter.  Anyone interested in writing a screenplay, doing breakdowns or scheduling a production should check it out.  The website is: http://www.celtx.com/

The Amazon suite of websites for filmmakers (IMDB, CreateSpace and WithOutABox) are all essential places for any indie or guerrilla filmmaker to check out.  I love CreateSpace and have used it a number of times in the past. You can check them out at: http://www.withoutabox.com and http://www.CreateSpace.com

Thanks again for the note, Devo.

That wraps up this week’s Reader MailBag.  Please feel free to drop us a note with any of your own indie filmmaking tips or if you want to talk about something you’ve seen here on FilmSensei.com.  Take care and I’ll see you again next week!

-Mat N, the Film Sensei
Http://www.FilmSensei.com