I'm 17 and just wrapped my first feature

You guys are relentless. My film has social bullying with a girl trying to commit suicide. Even though it's in my film, because of you two, I have a way better understanding of it. I tried to ignore, I tried to be nice, I tried to threaten but nothing worked. Your just two (at least Russo) middle aged men so unhappy with your life and careers you have to attack other people/kids. We know for a fact this isnt the first time Russo. I no longer want to be a part of this site where the mods wont help me or anyone else that might get bullied in the future. I believe in karma. Russo when your kids get picked on or made fun of through social bullying just remember these last 24 hours. What comes around goes around. But even I hope this doesnt happen to your kids. It doesnt feel good. When your film never gets made just remember this. You guys can put me down all you want but you know what- I like my film. I worked hard on my film. I put my life savings into my film. I didnt ask for a dime from anyone. I have nothing to apologize for. In the first two festivals it played in last month I was up for best first feature. I didnt win but that is ok. One of the fests flew me out and put me up so they could have a Q &A with me. This shows at least two other people liked my film. Plus I had many people come up to me and say they liked it. And you what? Even if they didnt like it I still accomplished something you will never do. EVER!

Sweetie- "There's a difference between a threat and "I wish my coward bitch-ass could intimidate" You are super classy. I wonder what makes you so angry with your life that you stoop this low. I hope you feel better about yourself. I have no idea what you mean by this but I'm sure it's another dig somehow at me. 7 years since your last film right? "I hope the wait is a lot less for your next film." I have no idea what that means. I guess if it takes me 7 years (my film took 7 months so nice math from first shot to being completely done) for my next film you will have to wait until I'm 24 to see a second feature.
 
Don't get mad at sweetie, he's done nothing overly mean (by internet standards) and justin Russo loves to be difficult but it's not that big of a deal. I mean Russo, you're pretty vile, but you were in the right by offering criticism. And don't you compare the bullying of one of your characters to people bickering on an indie film forum. Maybe you have experienced bullying in real life, but it sure as hell is nothing like this. Just be happy you're not a YouTuber, have you seen that hate they get? You did a great job, there's room for improvement. You've set your style, you're experiencing the fun of distribution and now that should motivate you to work on your next feature and use the criticism offered by people like Mr Russo to better yourself, or ifnore it and do your own thing.

In short: you did a great job, you can still improve

Jrusso has shown to be a little hostile (just ask sky) but he was offering conctructive citicism and is probably *a little* offended by the address dropping

Let's all play nice
 
Well I dont spend time on the internet. I dont have time. I dont see how people find the time. So this is the first I have experienced it. No, I dont know about youtube stuff or facebook or twitter. I only use it if I have too for business or marketing. Just to be clear I did not post an address. I posted a street with a number. no city or state. It was an old address. Even that has been blown out of proportion.

By the way, of course i can improve. I love constructive criticism. As I have said in the past, I learned a lot from doing this. I will do many things differently next time.
 
You don't understand the phrase, "quit while you're behind" do you?

You are super classy.
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That's a first. I usually appreciate sarcasm, though this has the finesse of the words coming from a prepubescent kid whose balls are aching to drop.

I wonder what makes you so angry with your life that you stoop this low.
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What makes you think this has anything to do with my life? For the most part, I'm happy. I'm not angry with life. Unlike you, I'm not delusional. I don't need to pretend that others must be angry with their own life. You've managed to mildly irritate me and to be honest, I'm holding back since I'm partially worried that if I took the gloves off and speak my mind, you'd go crying to mummy.

What riles me up more than anything are hypocrites, dishonest people and unfair people. That in a nutshell this is how I see you. I don't tolerate fools who don't but think they know better. I don't have the patience to tolerate your bullshit. It'd be different if you could be insulting or were entertaining, but you're far from either.

On one hand, publicly you claim to be bullied while underhandedly threatening a member in private. You picked a fight you were ill-equipped to wage.
 
Just to be clear I did not post an address. I posted a street with a number.
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:lol: Well, to be clear you did post an address. But anyway, let's all move on shall we...

use the criticism offered by people like Mr Russo to better yourself, or [ignore] it and do your own thing.
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:clap: Well said All-Star. It's pretty much that simple.

I watched the nine minutes of film. It was actually quite well done I thought, nothing mind-blowing but some nice shots and no real problems with the audio that I could tell. Better than a lot of junk out there and a good first up effort.
Some of the performances seemed a bit wooden and the dialogue and characters came off as quite contrived IMO, but that is probably to be expected from non-professionals. Structurally you did a good job of establishing your key characters and the world they inhabit, though whether or not anyone cares about these characters or their world is the real question.


Am I going to rush out see the whole film? No.
Do I care what happens next? Not really.
Is the completion of this film a commendable effort on your part none the less? Certainly. More than most are capable of pulling off at your age, or at all. Congrats again.

As for the film sharing some similarities with, or essentially being a poor man's 'Breakfast Club'. So what?
One of my favourite quotes is this one from writer/director Jim Jarmusch;

Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination...And don’t bother concealing your thievery—celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: “It’s not where you take things from—it’s where you take them to.”
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He also gives this advice in the same article:

Don’t let the f%#kers get ya. They can either help you, or not help you, but they can’t stop you.
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;)


Like All-Star said, you are establishing a style and have experienced the trials and tribulations of producing your first feature.

Your work will only improve from here, and this is certainly a great stepping-stone for your development as a filmmaker.

Was the screenwriter a friend of yours? Did he come to you with the script or did you develop it together?
What was the budget overall for the film? (You've probably already mentioned it somewhere in this mess of a thread). Were all the actors paid or just your 'name' actor?
What was the biggest lesson you learned from making the film? Anything you would do differently if you had your time again?

Good luck on the festival circuit. :)
 
Good god, what a bunch of fucking retarded ass bullshit in this thread, from EVERYBODY.

This is clear illustration of one of the reasons I don't frequent this site nearly as much as I once did. It is yet another thing making me regret my paid status as well.

Several years ago, this site was a very good community, lots of in depth discussion, and collaborative learning. Now, ... well. Fuck this.
 
All-Star Productions said:
Don't get mad at sweetie, he's done nothing overly mean (by internet standards) and justin Russo loves to be difficult but it's not that big of a deal. I mean Russo, you're pretty vile, but you were in the right by offering criticism. And don't you compare the bullying of one of your characters to people bickering on an indie film forum. Maybe you have experienced bullying in real life, but it sure as hell is nothing like this. Just be happy you're not a YouTuber, have you seen that hate they get? You did a great job, there's room for improvement. You've set your style, you're experiencing the fun of distribution and now that should motivate you to work on your next feature and use the criticism offered by people like Mr Russo to better yourself, or ifnore it and do your own thing.

In short: you did a great job, you can still improve

Jrusso has shown to be a little hostile (just ask sky) but he was offering conctructive citicism and is probably *a little* offended by the address dropping

Let's all play nice
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I agree with most of what you said, except for the "hostile" part. Complete misinterpretation. However, I'll forgive it.

Clearly, theconnorwilliams has brought the majority of this on himself. In fact, I was being extremely nice in the beginning. Even following up my initial criticism with overly nice, undeserved critiques to ease the pain. Albeit a futile attempt.
 
Came here to give an update on Spoilers. I reread that crap that was said about me and noticed Jrusso is banned. Oh well, moving on. Spoilers has been selected as one of the red carpet premieres in the http://www.rendezvousfestival.org/red-carpet-premieres/ Red carpet events never get old. I will also be out there for a separate Q &A thingy. They had 1850 submissions so I feel honored.

It plays in Reno Tahoe Film Festival that had 400 submissions. This is next week June5-7th.

It plays in the Temecula Film Festival in Ca. June 10th-14th.

There is a small chance I will be at Reno and Temecula as up for a role that starts shooting next week. If I get cast I have to cancel my trip to Florida which would be a bummer. But I also need the money as I'm moving to No. Hollywood this summer. So every dime counts.

It won an Award of Excellence in the San Francisco Film Fest.

As promised to my actors that I hired it is playing in their hometowns this weekend at their local theatres. I am really excited for them to have their moment to shine.

Was the screenwriter a friend of yours? I HIRED HIM OFF OF ELANCE. I STILL HAVE NOT TALKED TO HIM ON THE PHONE OR MET HIM. Did he come to you with the script or did you develop it together? MY IDEA, ALTHOUGH HE HAD A SIMILAR IDEA. HE SENT ME STUFF ABOUT EVERY 25 PAGES.
What was the budget overall for the film? (You've probably already mentioned it somewhere in this mess of a thread). I HAD 10,000 SAVED UP FROM VIDEO CONTESTS,ACTING AND WORKING. I CAME IN UNDER BUDGET BUT WITH SUBMISSION FEES AND TRAVELING IT IS NOW OVER THAT. Were all the actors paid or just your 'name' actor? JUST THE NAME ACTOR. I PUT THEM UP AND FED THEM. THEY CAME FROM NEW YORK,CHICAGO,TEXAS AND CA.
What was the biggest lesson you learned from making the film? THAT I'M NOT AS ORGANIZED AS I THOUGHT. I WILL HAVE MANY INTERNS FOR MY NEXT FEATURE. ONE FOR FOOD. ONE FOR PROPS, ONE TO RUN LINES, ONE FOR SCHEDULING. Anything you would do differently if you had your time again? I TRUSTED AN ADULT TO CHECK DAILIES AND LOG FOOTAGE. I WILL DO THAT NEXT TIME. I WILL ALSO TAKE TIME OFF OF WORK. I WORKED 6-7 NIGHTS OF THE 15 DAYS WE SHOT.



Good luck on the festival circuit.
 
I WILL HAVE MANY INTERNS FOR MY NEXT FEATURE.
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Be careful of what you call an intern. There's been a fair bit of hoo-har lately. A studio recently lost a court case over the use of interns replacing actual jobs.
 
Just following up on the intern point - Sweetie has a good point regarding them being problematic recently, assuming that you mean unpaid. Several studios (and other companies) have been successfully sued for using unpaid interns to replace paid workers. You might be able to fly under the radar for another movie, but the problem that (I think) you'll find is that the more success you have, the more likely it is that you'll get caught when you bend/break those kinds of rules.
 
"Looks okay for your age, but you really should stop riding the "age" train. You added it in your trailer very shamelessly.
Hahahaha. That was funny as hell"
Yeah two guys on here were to me and I asked them to stop and tried to ignore them but they sucked me in. It was a lesson learned. Finding out they were twice my age was very weird. One is banned now.

I'm 18 now and no one cares. :/ For acting 18 is so much better than 17 as we all know. I just graduated from HS Saturday and it feels awesome that nothing is stopping me from pursuing my dreams. Well, one thing is and I'll get to that.

"You might be able to fly under the radar for another movie, but the problem that (I think) you'll find is that the more success you have, the more likely it is that you'll get caught when you bend/break those kinds of rules." As I mentioned previously I won 60 grand worth of rental equipment supplies as long as I shoot my next movie in Texas. I thought i would shoot another movie this summer but I dont want to. I want to go to LA and just audition. But the next film will be SAG with some well known actors I now know if it all plays out. So I will definitely look into that. Thanks for the heads up.

Some people told me to go with my age some were against it. I can tell you now so many doors have opened up because of my age. I'm glad I did run with it.

I want to finish out the festival circuit with Spoilers this year and then I will start selling online at the very least. I'm trying to figure out what else I should/could do. I just inked selling it here in Idaho in a grocery chain so that is sort of cool.

Well I'm moving to No. Hollywood this summer but Film School may now be in the picture. It never was and never was the plan. But I have been offered a scholarship that seems like I cant refuse. The plan was to move to LA and make it as an actor (there was no backup plan) and network for my next film. I have to let the school know this week.

Whats up with LA prices to live? Wow. It's shocking. How do people live down there? It's so expensive. I was not prepared for that at all. Picking up as many shifts at Pizza Hut as possible. Hope to book a couple things here shortly. Callback tomorrow or today with the time it is.
 
Make sure you show em that swaztika, you'll be straight in. Tell em Mel Gibs is your home boy.

The 8 minutes of footage I saw was enjoyable.

You're obsessed with your age, mate just relax. 17/18??? You're making all the old folks feel bad
 
Your character should have made out with the Muslim girl at the end. That would've been an awesome plot twist. Keep it in mind for your next film
 
theconnorwilliams said:
......

Whats up with LA prices to live? Wow. It's shocking. How do people live down there? It's so expensive. I was not prepared for that at all...............
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'Everyone' wants to be there, so they can ask almost any price.
Along the coastline it's also very expensive.

It seems you have a luxuary problem now: choosing to go to filmschool or not.
Follow your heart :)
 
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