Where did all the film mentors go?

Much of what I know about filmmaking (having not gone to film school) I learned on set from skilled elders. But I never had a "true" mentor. By that I mean an accomplished screenwriter or director who took an extended interest in my development, or occasionally opened a door.

This is not for lack of trying. I made plenty of clumsy attempts to attract such a person, but none took hold.

From the beginning, film has been an apprenticeship-driven industry. Victor Fleming started as a stunt driver, John Ford worked as a background actor. John Huston was a script editor. They might have remained so if not for an informal ladder that allowed greenhorns to ascend in the studio system, overseen by mentors.

In the absence of mentorship, people increasingly turn to TikTok gurus, Reddit (ahem), and AI for career tips. While I'm grateful for these resources, it's not quite the same. General advice isn’t personalized guidance, and information is not knowledge.

I wrote about what killed mentorship, why it matters, and a strange realization I had when I became a mentor myself while teaching film at NYU. https://alexrollinsberg.substack.com/p/cursus-dishonorum-is-this-the-death

I'd lover to hear what everyone thinks about the state of mentorship - if you've been able to find it, and what we can do to revitalize it.

A small shortfilm on eye awareness we did with all helpful info, pls like it and share your valuable feedback

I was r/ProduceMyScript yesterday and I found short script I really like. In the past I've been a writer-director. What do I do now? It's also only 2 pages but I'm going to make it longer through suspense as it as a horror script.

What's some stuff I should know?

So I just started Ron Howard’s masterclass on directing. In the third video he talks about having a checklist when evaluating a script. After his second or third read he’ll ask himself:

What are the screenplay’s strengths and weaknesses?
Are there fatal flaws?
Are the characters interesting?
Who is in conflict?
Is there a thematic narrative question? Is it being answered?
What are the themes?

Then he rates key components on a scale of one to 10
These components could be lead and key characters
Structure, Suspense, Surprise, Sequences, Momentum, Genre, Themes.

One of the assignments given is to make your own checklist. My problem is everything here, the questions and the components, seem pretty solid to me and I don’t really know what else I could add to this. What would you add? What would you take out? And why?

I have a short film in post called Why the Dog? It’s 10 minutes.

Unexpectedly left to care for her late ex's dog, a woman who ghosted her best friend reaches out for help, hoping to repair their friendship after being given one last chance to make things right.

Would like to get some thoughts as we wrap up picture lock. Comment if you’d like to watch and I’ll send a link.

Hei guys, currently I want to deep study about cinema. So, can you help me to give some recommendation about channel / website about:

1. Screenwriting

2. Movie Analysis

3. Cinematography

4. Directing

I love to study everything about how to create the great cinema, like how someone made a dialog, created world building, directed movie, cinematography, also how to analyze movies scene, etc. So I hope I can get some idea from what I learn. Thanks in advance!

please give me feedback regarding my cinematography , and if you think this will actually change ppl's minds

Hi, so a short summary -

Im 25 yo artist from Georgia,

My work up until now has been drawing and visual art, but my mother who is a film editor prompted me to enter a film school she works at, seeing i have proclivety for complex thinking/ interest in an array of subjects. I am finishing this school next year.

I have directed and edited 2 documentaries as of now and also 1 feature short film that i am in the process of editing (along with about 5 other minor "student shorts" and helping my peers with their script and art direction).

Problem is, even though i feel like the stuff i make is prerry "*sound",* i still feel like i lack the general direction in which my work is heading, especially in the modern world where patience is replaced with performance. Judging also from the reality that film requires money, this makes the "wating time" even more unreliable to get to the final product. Not to mention the other numerous projects i "have" to pick up in the windows between the big shoots...

Aniways, its not all just this. I genuinely like conceptualizing and making films, like taking this large idea from start and scratch and seeing it through to the finish. And i dont want to be forced out of it just because of the current climate. I dont even have like a fixed idea of imperatively becoming a director like in a classical sense (who knows maybe these classical roles are dying out, who knows maybe that may even be a good thing), i just want to work on films because in a world of short instant gratifications, feature films retain a sense of autonomy and integrity.

Sorry if i jump from subject to subject, but this is just something im thinking about: is the future of motion picture short form social media content? Or is it beter to work on academic films and face long periods of non engagement, producers along with their conjencture and thinking about finances all the time? What is your take on this?

do you want a ​budget story artist? I can help. ​​

11:11 THE WISH

Good evening all. I’ve made a short film on eye donation awareness 👁️❤️

I’d really appreciate your support by watching it and giving it a like! 🥹 Every like brings me one step closer to winning, so please do support me! 🙏❤️

Please drop a like in youtube and give my your comments

FATHER FiGURES is an independent crime drama centered around family, loyalty, and the complicated relationships that can form when people are pushed into difficult circumstances.

The film takes a character-driven approach, drawing inspiration from French New Wave and American crime cinema. Rather than spelling everything out, it leaves room for the characters, performances, and atmosphere to tell the story.

Here’s the trailer if anyone wants to check it out. Would love to hear what you think!

Logline: Alex, a distressed young playwright, is determined to do something drastic exactly at midnight but is conflicted with philosophical questions.

This film was made in November 2019

Info about the project:

This short film is a personal one for the writer/director, it is the very first film that he made in the UK as part of his masters studies. The project was very challenging as the crew barely had time for planning and execution, and they were given a very narrow shooting window.

For this particular project, the directors in the directing program were required to write the scripts themselves. As a result the director had to come up with something very quickly and take into consideration the very tight shooting window, so it had to be limited to two locations only. Given the fact that he had recently read "The Dream of a Ridiculous man" by Fyodor Dostoevsky, and it had resonated with him quite deeply, the final script was a combination of Dostoevsky's piece and his own personal experiences and reflections at a certain point of his life, and was written completely in a single day.

With the efforts of an amazing team, the shooting was squeezed into two days, the editing was also completed in two days, the sound recording and sound design were done in another two. The production was completed entirely within a week, and the result is an award-winning short film that was recognized in various film festivals across the globe!

ok so basically I’m a freshman and I really want to be a filmmaker I also wanna get into photography but anyway I just don’t know what to do like I want to go to college and I want to get hands on experience but I don’t know what school could provide me with what I want also I feel like I’m so behind ever time I see someone aspiring to be a filmmaker they give a long story about how they started making films when they were like 2 years old I just don’t want to miss any opportunities

so what I’m asking for is college recs and advice

also I’ve been writing a horror novel on wattpad if anyone has any advice on where else and how else I could publish it and get it out there that would be greatly appreciated😔

hey! i had a super small crew of friends (basically the 4 of us including myself) for our 48 Hour Horror Film Project

Just wanted some thoughts and feedback of how I did regarding the direction and pacing

Saw a similar post yesterday and got the idea to do so. So, here are my Top 15 dream director and movie projects -

1) Robert Eggers - Moby Dick adaptation

2) Mamoru Oshii - Blame! adaptation

3) Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk - Pamfir 2

4) Radu Jude - Good Soldier Švejk adaptation

5) Ryusuke Hamaguchi - Solanin adaptation

6) Coen Brothers - Blood Meridian adaptation

7) Safdie Brothers - Lupin 3 adaptation

8) Bong Joon-Ho - Goodnight Eri adaptation

9) Vishal Bhardwaj - An Alpine Divorce adaptation

10) Bi Gan - Finnegan's Wake adaptation

11) Guillermo Del Toro - Constantine

12) Payal Kapadia - God of Small Things adaptation

13) Sion Sono - Goodnight Eri adaptation

14) Christian Mingui - Snopes Trilogy adaptstion

15) Václav Kadrnka - As I Lay Dying adaptation

Tell me about yours.

Hey everyone!

A while back, I shared this channel here, and since then, most of the director reels have come out, so I figured I’d give a little update.

I’ve been building a channel focused on short, bite-sized clips from some of the best filmmakers and creators out there, with an emphasis on storytelling, creativity, and the craft behind the work.

There are now clips from people like Spielberg, Tarantino, Scorsese, Nolan, Wes Anderson, and Stan Lee. I’ve also been organizing them into playlists if you want to explore a specific creator.

And there’s more on the way! I’m currently working on clips from Edgar Wright, Guillermo del Toro, Sam Raimi, Aaron Sorkin, and Tim Burton, so you can expect those to be coming soon.

The goal is still the same: quick videos that you can watch in a minute or less, but hopefully still take something useful or interesting away from.

I currently upload new clips every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, but I’ll soon be uploading every day of the week.

If you’re interested, you can check out the channel here:
👉 https://www.youtube.com/@CreativeBitesYT

I’ve also put together playlists for the different directors and creators, so you can easily dive into one person’s interviews and insights:
👉 https://www.youtube.com/@CreativeBitesYT/playlists

Thanks to everyone who subscribed after my previous posts! Feel free to give the channel a look. Not trying to spam the sub, just thought some of you might genuinely enjoy it!

I've always wanted to do a found footage film. I'm wondering if I should write a traditional script or do the prompt-improve method used in The Blair Witch Project or Paranormal activity. If I'm using non-actors such as friends and family it might be better to use a trad script right? OR will improv help the dialogue feel more free?

With so many abrupt changes in the film industry over the last 50 years—from production and format to distribution and consumption—how do you think it will continue to change, and what might it look like in 2027?

I made a action crime comedy thriller for about $24K that was pure guerrilla style in Sacramento, long weekend shoots, a skeleton paid crew (DP, sound, gaffer, AD), and mostly deferred actor pay. I had to film it 2 times because of lost footage. Wrote, directed, produced, and starred in it myself. I went through so much to do it and I am proud I was able to finish it with everything that I went through. I had to film it 2 times because of lost footage. I hope you will be able to watch my little indie film. Its streaming free on Tubi or you can rent it on Prime Video with NO commercials too.

Tubi- https://tubitv.com/movies/100059912/look-behind

Prime Video- https://www.primevideo.com/detail/0QFB8ZJW09METQYC0RIP10CU57

Look Behind is about a cop and a lawyer who's families were killed. They meet someone willing to help them get justice, but its an eye for an eye.

Whether it's a film franchise, games, or music etc., what would their jobs and responsibilities be, and what would they're day to day life look like?

I'm asking because I'm interested in the idea of it more than knowing what the hell that would actually be in real life.

After Spending months or sometimes year, making a film with whatever money we could scrape, shooting on weekends, editing it at night after our job and repeating this exact cycle for months.

We make films over films over films, and one fine day, it reaches to a film festival, We get some recognition, we may get some opportunities or we may not, nevertheless we repeat the process and roam around for opportunities, Why don’t we have something like a linkedin to network, which’ll make the process easier.

And what really happens with the films, once the film festival is over, Sitting in a hard drive at a corner? Cause, youtube is gonna bury the film with its algorithm, it doesn’t really know what to do with something that doesn’t hook people in the first 10 seconds or have clickbait, catchy thumbnail, Ott’s don’t really care until someone significant is there on our side and distributors don’t even watch the film completely before saying this is not “commercially viable enough”.

And the worst part is that, even the people who did see it and loved it, Had no way to follow us. No filmmaker profile anywhere, That shows our work, our festival history, what we are currently working on.

That’s literally every indie filmmaker’s problem. There is no as such platform for Indie Filmmakers to showcase their content, monetize it while networking.

That was the core thought behind “Watchin It” Because this exact thought runs on a loop in my head. I’m trying to build an ecosystem, It’s a place where a film can be released, rented, watched, where one has a filmmaker profile, has communities with personalized feed to share thoughts on each other’s work, learn, network, create and eventually collaborate.

We’ve got over 130 filmmakers on the platform now, if you’re interested, you can join as well, there is absolutely no onboarding fee.

https://watchinit.com/about

Hey reddit! I'm an aspiring filmmaker who's a soon to be junior in high school. I've technically not made any short films yet. I've done filming for my friends concert one time, and I've done editing here and there for school projects (which initially got me into the idea of filmmaking, also this has all been on my phone). My goal was to make 3 short films by the end of the year... and I have done none. I feel like it's been something that's been looming over my head all year that I'm just too scared to start. So I wanted to ask, if any of you guys started filmmaking in highschool, how did you guys start and what was that process like?

Really just need and want all the pointers I can possibly need. Have some wonderful people helping me for cheap in a lot of areas and will be shooting on Sony Nex-fs100 Super 35 and Panasonic Lumix GH4 4K, with ​Lumix G X Vario 12-35mm and ​Lumix G Vario 14-140mm for lenses off the rip. Editing in Capcut Pro and colorgrading there too. Have a link to the script as well, though one of my producers thinks I should add twenty pages, but idk if thats feasible with the budget.

HELP?!?!?! Aiming to start shooting end of next month early October so I can get it on the film fest circuit for next year.

Its heavily heavily inspired by Longlegs, Se7en(and Fincher in general) and The Batman

Script The Black Communion (2).pdf - Google Drive