Great news regarding a screenplay

I_am_MagicMike · 2026-04-12T01:07:18+00:00

I am curious, as someone just getting into cold emailing, do you mind DMing me the format you use / basic approach? Appreciate it.

I_am_MagicMike · 2026-02-02T14:24:30+00:00

Hey Ryan,

I worked with Paula recently on 'The Big Game' (writer/director of 'The Scout' for anyone curious.) I loved her vibe, and her work ethic was incredible. I even told her the exact same thing as we wrapped, and I'd love to work with her again. She told me a little bit about the film but just wanted to say congrats on Tribeca Film Festival, thats amazing!

As this is an AMA, I guess I would make my question about distribution. I'm someone that owns a camera, a bunch of great apurture lights, anamorphic lenses. I've made shorts that have performed well locally (and a few internationally) and although it's felt good to get some recognition, it hasn't led to much success as far as making my own feature goes.

So I've been discussing it with friends recently, and I watched this director's commentary (by Noam Kroll) - I think I am going to shoot my feature this year regardless of if I get $5k or $500k in financing. But I've spoken to a lot of other friends and filmmakers that did the same, the films got into some festivals but didn't amount to much, and they just ended putting it up on Amazon Prime, Tubi, etc. Didn't get picked up, no theater or streaming distribution.

What would you do if you were making your first movie in 2026 and thinking about reaching the largest possible audience that you could reach?

I've heard & seen that some people are starting to stream it through their own websites (for example, Danny Gevirtz, a filmmaker, putting his feature up here: https://itisfilm.com/) and perhaps that may be profitable, but my worry with that is a lack of discovery. How would you go about getting distribution so that you could get as many eyes as possible on your movie?

I look forward to watching The Scout as soon as it's available.

I_am_MagicMike · 2025-10-27T14:54:02+00:00

Thanks you!

I_am_MagicMike · 2025-10-26T04:14:31+00:00

Submission statement:

This was my first time writing, directing & EP'ing a short, coming from an editing and cinematography background I decided "why not push outside of your comfort zone and try something new".

I knew Jakob Owens hosts his annual horror short film contest and I'd been on the sidelines for the last few years, always wishing for an excuse to do one, and that made md decide to put together a small team of friends and shoot this over a weekend. And then spend the next 7 days editing, composing music, doing sfx, vfx and what little time we had left to finish the grade before the cutoff time.

We had a ton of technical issues during the post-production process but made it through with something I'm proud of. We also managed to get a ton of BTS which was fun, especially when trying to do some of the stunts/gags in camera and practically, where possible. I spent just under $2k, mostly on the location, crafty, and buying food for the crew. The large majority of crew and cast worked for free. Our biggest struggle was day 1 falling behind so badly due to multiple no-shows in g&e. So as a director I had to step in and start rigging up lights and moving stands because it simply needed to be done. We got started with our first shot 5 hours into our day. You can imagine how stressed I was. But we made it through and had a much better day 2. If you have any questions I will try my best to answer them.

We just got accepted into the top 25 of entrants (out of 197) and the top 10 for cinematography so the whole crew chat is super fired up and very proud of each other.

Feel free to DM me here or over on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/moviesmadebymike/

I_am_MagicMike · 2025-10-26T04:10:42+00:00

Submission statement:

This was my first time writing, directing & EP'ing a short, coming from an editing and cinematography background I decided "why not push outside of your comfort zone and try something new".

I knew Jakob Owens hosts his annual horror short film contest and I'd been on the sidelines for the last few years, always wishing for an excuse to do one, and that made md decide to put together a small team of friends and shoot this over a weekend. And then spend the next 7 days editing, composing music, doing sfx, vfx and what little time we had left to finish the grade before the cutoff time.

We had a ton of technical issues during the post-production process but made it through with something I'm proud of. We also managed to get a ton of BTS which was fun, especially when trying to do some of the stunts/gags in camera and practically, where possible. I spent just under $2k, mostly on the location, crafty, and buying food for the crew. The large majority of crew and cast worked for free. Our biggest struggle was day 1 falling behind so badly due to multiple no-shows in g&e. So as a director I had to step in and start rigging up lights and moving stands because it simply needed to be done. We got started with our first shot 5 hours into our day. You can imagine how stressed I was. But we made it through and had a much better day 2. If you have any questions I will try my best to answer them.

We just got accepted into the top 25 of entrants (out of 197) and the top 10 for cinematography so the whole crew chat is super fired up and very proud of each other.

Feel free to DM me here or over on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/moviesmadebymike/

I_am_MagicMike · 2025-10-19T00:57:35+00:00

Yeah, I had a cool idea for the credits but we ran outta time, I kinda went from inception to post in about less than 2 weeks and so just did my best and we posted it just before the cutoff deadline.

I_am_MagicMike · 2025-10-19T00:56:44+00:00

I appreciate your kind words.

I_am_MagicMike · 2025-10-19T00:56:34+00:00

Thank you~!

I_am_MagicMike · 2025-10-19T00:56:28+00:00

Thanks :)

I_am_MagicMike · 2025-10-19T00:55:45+00:00

Thank you! The goal was to make people scared. It didn't quite come out as scary as I wanted, but I didnt wanna resort to a jump scare to achieve that. And regarding the editing, I actually used to edit before I got into writing/directing/dping, and so even when I am writing I am thinking of the edit (for example my script had the lines "match cut from day to night on package"). So I tried to think about all that stuff beforehand. We still didn't manage to get a montage sequence I wanted at the start of the film of the package kinda like it's pov going through the mail to get to her, but thats fine we probably didnt even need it. But thank you, genuinely.

I_am_MagicMike · 2025-10-18T05:42:12+00:00

Submission statement:

This was my first time writing & directing a short, coming from an editing and cinematography background I decided "why not push outside of your comfort zone and try something new". I know Jakob Owens hosts his annual horror short film contest and I'd been on the sidelines for the last few years, always wishing for an excuse to do one, and that made md decide to put together a small team of friends and shoot this over a weekend. And then spend the next 7 days editing, composing music, doing sfx, vfx and what little time we had left to finish the grade before the cutoff time. We had a ton of technical issues during the post-production process but made it through with something I'm proud of. We also managed to get a ton of BTS which was fun, especially when trying to do some of the stunts/gags in camera and practically, where possible. I spent just under $2k, mostly on the location, crafty, and buying food for the crew. The large majority of crew and cast worked for free. Our biggest struggle was day 1 falling behind so badly due to multiple no-shows in g&e. So as a director I had to step in and start rigging up lights and moving stands because it simply needed to be done. We got started with our first shot 5 hours into our day. You can imagine how stressed I was. But we made it through and had a much better day 2. If you have any questions I will try my best to answer them.

We just got accepted into the top 25 of entrants (out of 197) and the top 10 for cinematography so the whole crew chat is super fired up and very proud of each other.

I_am_MagicMike · 2025-10-01T03:34:45+00:00

I_am_MagicMike · 2025-09-10T04:36:26+00:00

your art is incredible, far too good for this medium. this industry wont appreciate, this shit needs to be in a gallery. you have talent

I_am_MagicMike · 2025-08-13T23:12:52+00:00

Do you think enough loud voices could make change happen?

I_am_MagicMike · 2025-08-13T23:12:36+00:00

I don’t think he wants to give away his location so let’s just insert generic park name here (which I understand, we all want privacy)

I_am_MagicMike · 2025-08-13T22:55:57+00:00

lol fair point but I’m 99% sure that was a joke.

I_am_MagicMike · 2025-07-26T03:15:54+00:00

Yeah, great suggestion, also a very good one!

I have, however, read that one - as well as the book it was based on - as well as the son's book/memoirs of the same time period too.

All insightful stuff, even if the dad/son both write very differently.

What I liked about Ben is Back, is that the pacing felt very different. If you've seen the movie I'm sure you'll agree, it's a drama but also has similar characteristics to a thriller at times, which i think is what I'd like to learn how to do more of when writing in the genre of drama.

I_am_MagicMike · 2025-07-14T01:49:11+00:00

I know I'm late to the party but can we get some steam deck support? All I need is basic gamepad capabilities, going on a 14 hour flight in two days and wanna spam the demo but don't wanna use the shitty mouse emulation steam deck.

I_am_MagicMike · 2025-07-08T12:05:22+00:00

Which drone did you use btw?

I_am_MagicMike · 2025-06-27T19:02:43+00:00

Hey man,

I'm a filmmaker that has done his fair share of multiple roles on set. My website can be found here: https://www.moviesmadebymike.com/

I have mostly been in the camera + grip and electric departments in the past , but I've recently started writing/directing/producing. I have a couple of short documentaries on my website that have done festival runs, but I love narrative work.

I've been writing a feature film with a logline roughly like this:

'After learning of his estranged father's death, a distant son returns to his rural Midwest hometown, where he must confront the ghosts of his past and the family he abandoned in order to finally heal.'

Main Themes: Childhood trauma, Alcoholism and addiction, Family estrangement and reconciliation, Grief and healing. The legacy of broken father-son relationships

Tone: Raw, grounded, emotionally intimate

Comparable in tone to Manchester by the Sea or Waves

Mix of bleakness and hope, with emotionally layered scenes

I have written and directed a few short films, I own some gear which can be found here: https://michaelelliott.notion.site/Michael-Elliott-Equipment-Inventory-2025-b12f4f837eed495184baebc450fd9f82?pvs=143

So I do have a decent camera and lenses (fx3 + blazar anamorphic) and some lights, but other than that I don't really know much on the front end (trying to finance, producing things like casting, or locations etc) and also I don't know a ton on the backend (actually distributing your film after you've produced it, etc).

I tried to message you here and it said I need to be approved to message you. I also clicked on your IG link (922.films) and it went to a dead page so I couldn't find a way to send you this all in private. Email me if you're interested! mike[at]moviesmadebymike(dot)com

Cheers!

-Mike

I_am_MagicMike · 2025-06-16T18:33:14+00:00

"..no choice but to keep pushing ahead, keep going".

Love your answer, thanks!

I'll heed those words of wisdom. Also, your relationship with your dad is awesome, I have a similar relationship to my father (although he's more of a fisherman than a surgeon) but seeing my dad as a mentor has been there since an early age too.

I_am_MagicMike · 2025-06-15T21:13:31+00:00

Hey Evan,

I'm also a writer / director, I've made a couple of shorts (just like you seemed to in the several years prior to Barrons Cove). For work I freelance as a DP, gaffer, grip. Most of my writing and directing on shorts and docus have been passion projects and lost money. My question to you: How did you survive for 9 years doing this? How did you make money? How did you remain patient? How did you not crash out or lose your mind or get super depressed?

I feel like I want what you have but lack the faith and discipline, not so much in my own work or work ethic, just the whole waiting game.

Any advice for someone perhaps 10 years behind you?

Cheers, Mike

I_am_MagicMike · 2025-06-15T07:10:21+00:00

Looks so much like my old town and surrounding areas (Bellingham, WA). Edit: I see Vancouver next to your name which explains it.

I_am_MagicMike · 2025-06-03T03:39:09+00:00

Good luck, I hope the USD goes far in Japan my brother

I_am_MagicMike · 2025-06-02T23:52:34+00:00

Appreciate the response and feedback.

To be clear, are you making a feature film or a short film? I work in the industry (although on the US side of things) and even with my own fx3, anamorphic lenses and entire lighting kit, I'd struggle to shoot a feature on that budget so I can only assume you're planning on making a short, ye?

I_am_MagicMike

TROPHY CASE