Indiewire Browse the indiewire network

Hope for Film

Ted Hope is an independent film producer. He's produced over 60 films. This is his blog.

Categories

Monthly Archives

Most Comments

Hope for Film

What's The First Best Lesson You Learned About The Film Business?

  • By Ted Hope
  • |
  • June 25, 2011 3:00 AM
  • |
  • 10 Comments
In Graham Taylor's rousing cry for more entrepreneurialism in the film biz (aka LAIFF Keynote), he stated: "my 1st important lesson in Hwood: the most dangerous thing in this biz is apathy & cynicism" . That got me wondering. I tweeted: "What's the best first lesson you learned about the film business?" I got a lot of good responses. These are some of those:
Read More »
More: Crowdsourcing , Inspiration

Guest Post: Bob Persons "Herzog Astrology"

  • By Ted Hope
  • |
  • June 21, 2011 3:00 AM
  • |
  • 7 Comments
There are a lot of barriers to entry in the film business. Gender,race, and class get a lot of attention (but still not enough to facilitate significant change... yet). For many reasons, indie film is also looked at as the domain of youth. We hear all kinds of stories of Sundance whiz kids bursting on the scene. But what about those of later years, who have lived some serious chunks of life before stepping behind the camera? Can something be done to encourage more work from an older sector? What would that yield?
Read More »
More: Aesthetics, Inspiration, First Features, Guest Posts

WME's Graham Taylor's Prescription For The Evolution Of Indie Film

  • By Ted Hope
  • |
  • June 19, 2011 1:16 AM
  • |
  • 1 Comment
Thank you Graham for an inspiring keynote speech at the LAIFF yesterday. Very tweet-worthy. And a welcome reminder of what matters and how to keep going. With flair and style no less. Wish I could've been there. You definitely made a list for folks to put up on their wall by their desk (reproduced below for easy clipping).
Read More »
More: Inspiration, Speaking Engagements, Sustainability, Producing

Guest Post: Kit Carson "On David Holzman"

  • By Ted Hope
  • |
  • June 7, 2011 3:00 AM
  • |
  • 3 Comments
I moved to NYC almost three decades ago, but the coolest and most forward thinking movie then had gotten here almost a decade earlier. DAVID HOLZMAN'S DIARY is often described as America's answer to Godard -- and they are talking his early films when they say that. It's such a fun, smart, provocative film that we needed to wait forty years for history to catch up to it.
Read More »
More: Let's Make Better Films, Inspiration, First Features

Guest Post by Jennifer Fox: "Change Or Die: How 22 Years On One Film Lead To Desperate Measures

  • By Ted Hope
  • |
  • May 20, 2011 3:00 AM
  • |
  • 0 Comments
I have been producing for about 25 years now. I have routines, methods, and even rituals that help me get done what I have to get done. But if there is one thing that is constant in the film/media biz it is change. If we don't remain eternal students, we don't evolve and grow. Both our art and our business requires that we sometimes abandon all we have learned and take new approaches. We have to learn new tricks and embrace them with the love of a true amateur.
Read More »
More: Collaboration, Crowdsourcing , Financing, Social Media, Tools, Inspiration, Documentary Film, Guest Posts

Guest Post by Jon Fougner: Cinema Profitability Part 4

  • By Ted Hope
  • |
  • May 14, 2011 3:00 AM
  • |
  • 2 Comments
This is Part 4 of Jon Fougner's guest series on Cinema Profitablility - today he focuses on the marketing.
Read More »
More: Inspiration, Guest Posts

Guest Post: Ava DuVernay "What Color is Indie?”

  • By Ted Hope
  • |
  • May 4, 2011 3:00 AM
  • |
  • 30 Comments
Back in January I heard of Ava DuVernay for the first time when the NYTimes ran a story on her new distro initiative. I thought "wow, there's a good idea, that can be replicated in many forms." It lifted my spirits, but then the assault of super-abundance of everything pulled my attention elsewhere. Recently, my attention got pulled back when a Twitter conversation turned it to the overtly white male dominance of the "indie scene". Fortunately, I was put in touch with Ava, and she guest posts today with some of experiences in DIWO distribution.
Read More »
More: Audience, Issues & Actions, Inspiration, Discovery

"An Amazing Time To Be A Storyteller"

  • By Ted Hope
  • |
  • April 30, 2011 1:30 AM
  • |
  • 1 Comment
Lance Weiler was the Keynote speaker at the Darklight Festival recently. He shares his journey into transmedia and why he is so optimistic about the world before us. It is nothing short of a state of the union address on Transmedia -- both how we got here and where we are. It includes a pretty solid survey of transmedia projects. Check out his video below if you are one of those types who actually want to know the world you are living in (and not just the one that once was).
Read More »
More: Inspiration

Guest Post: Sam Rosen & Nat Bennett "Getting Un-Stuck and Making it Work"

  • By Ted Hope
  • |
  • April 29, 2011 2:58 AM
  • |
  • 2 Comments
Today's guest post comes from two emerging filmmakers, Sam Rosen and Nat Bennett, who had a screenplay that caught my eye back when. Now they have their first film in the Tribeca Film Festival. Their path to getting it made revealed some lessons, ones that are applicable to all of us. You can boil it down to don't wait or seek permission; find good collaborators and get going. But it always more than that too -- and they know that.
Read More »
More: Collaboration, Inspiration, Guest Posts

Guest Post: David Van Taylor "R.I.P. Ricky Leacock... Long Live 'FILM TRUTH'?"

  • By Ted Hope
  • |
  • April 14, 2011 3:00 AM
  • |
  • 0 Comments
What is it that a camera sees? Do we need to accept and conform to the dominant storytelling paradigms, or is there actually more that we can be striving for? Perhaps no life and work embodies these questions as well as Ricky Leacock. Filmmaker David Van Taylor guest posts today with an examination of him and these issues, and the difference between documentary and essay film. There is a lot that can be said about these subjects, certainly enough for a six hour documentary AND many blog posts.
Read More »
More: Aesthetics, Inspiration, Documentary Film, Guest Posts

Hope on social

Latest Tweets

Follow us

Blog Roll

Around The Network

the network

indiewire

categories