Chris Jones's Blog, page 11

Watch The Complete Impact50 Awards from Create50

Ahead of the Impact50 re-launch on Dec 18th (and you will likely see lots up changes going on across the site right now), I thought I would share the video of the whole show for The Impact50 Awards at the British Screenwriters Awards 2018. It really was a night to remember and a very special opportunity to put the best of Impact50 in front of the Industry.

Onwards and upwards!

Chris Jones

My movies www.LivingSpiritGroup.com

My Facebook www.Facebook.com/ChrisJonesFilmmaker

My Twitter @LivingSpiritPix

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Never To Late and the Casting Process…

Next week we release the short film Never Too Late in time for Christmas. It’s a wonderful little festive gem than explores the need for physio over the colder seasonal months, especially for the older people in our lives. The story evolved from the idea, what would happen if Father Christmas needed physiotherapy?

And we have made a film I am very proud of and cannot wait to share.

Ahead of time, here is a short behind the scenes of the whole casting process.

Looking forward to the release!

Onwards and upwards!

Chris Jones

My movies www.LivingSpiritGroup.com

My Facebook www.Facebook.com/ChrisJonesFilmmaker

My Twitter @LivingSpiritPix

Sign up to my mailing list for updates on

events, books and free film making tools

How You Can Make Money With Your No-to-Lo Micro-Budget Film

by Brian Barnes

As seriously independent micro-budget filmmakers we need an edge.  Any little thing that will make our projects more likely to survive and thrive in the big, cruel marketplace that is feature film distribution.

In pursuit of that edge, before making my first feature film, I did my due diligence and performed as much market research as I could.  I attended the Cannes Film Market a number of times and spoke to as many distributors and sales agents as I could in order to determine what kind of films tend to sell, if made by an unknown with no money and no known cast.

Anybody who has ever spoken to any kind of distribution professional will nod in recognition when I say that I was advised to make a “horror, sci-fi, action or thriller”, as they sell the most easily in the marketplace when you have no budget, no known cast and no track record in feature films.

Accordingly, I made my debut feature, no-budget psychological thriller ‘The Redeeming’.  The film was picked up by the first distributor I approached, in a deal that took less than 5 minutes to agree.  Thereby proving what I had been told about the ease of selling the in-demand genres.

[Sidebar: A few years ago, the real problem for these kinds of tiny films was getting distribution.  That problem no longer exists.  The issue now is marketing and publicity.  We can get our films out there, but it’s still tricky to make our potential audiences aware of our films without having to spend lots of money on advertising and public relations.  Anyway, that’s another matter for a later discussion.  Let’s just assume that you can find a way to connect with your audience.]

In today’s film marketplace, our indie no-to-low budget films make the vast majority of their incomes from the VOD (video-on-demand) platforms.  It would be really helpful, therefore, if we could get hold of some VOD numbers of the general market to help us determine what works and doesn’t work in the marketplace.  Unfortunately, the big players – Amazon, Netflix and iTunes – don’t reveal any figures publicly.

Fortunately, I have a very good relationship with our distributor and, as part of our arrangement, they give me their market intelligence.  Real numbers from the VOD coal face.  The true edge that we all need.

These numbers are impossible to get in any other way, and I am forbidden from divulging them under the terms of our distribution contract.  These data reveal some truly astonishing facts.  They completely blow the genre ideas above out of the water.  The market is completely different from what most distributors would have you believe.

But I can’t tell you any of the details.

However, I can tell you a few things around what they say.

I can tell you for instance, that our distributor has given me data on worldwide performance of 708 low-to-no budget films.  Their estimated budgets range from US$10k to US$500k.  I can reveal that the bottom 450 of these films are making NO MONEY AT ALL.  In other words, 65 percent of these films are making no return whatsoever on their investments.  Only the top 70 or so of these films are making any kind of real money.  That is, only about 10 percent are making any real returns for their investors.

On the other hand, I can say that we are the top performing British film this distributor represents, coming 45 places in the world rankings above the next British film.  We are their 31st highest earning film worldwide, so we are comfortably in the top 5 percent of films overall.  We make over 90 percent of our income from Amazon Prime US.  Your film has to work in that market to make money, as it’s the only VOD platform that has serious cash up for grabs by micro-indie filmmakers.

I’m not allowed to say how much we are making, but let’s just say it averages about 3 percent of our budget back each month.  It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realise that we’ll be in profit by about 2020.

I estimate that the distributor’s top performing film is making roughly 10 percent of their budget back each month.  They have been number 1 in the world for over a year and are therefore almost certainly in profit already.

So, what can we say about the kinds of films that are successful?  I have compiled below a chart of the top 40 films in this distributor’s catalogue.

The big surprise is that the top performing genre is actually DRAMA.  And there is a lot of growing evidence to support this idea.  The spec sale market is moving towards drama scripts; drama is the top performing genre on Netflix and terrestrial TV at the moment, so why shouldn’t it also be the case for micro-budget films too?

Look at the genres in this list.  Drama absolutely dominates, accounting for fully half of the films in the top 40 based on their IMDb genre, and 8 out of the top 10 Amazon genres.  Interestingly, the IMDb genre is decided by the filmmaker, but the Amazon genre is decided by the streaming platform staff themselves.  Notice how drama appears more in the Amazon top 10 list than the IMDb one.  Could this be because the Amazon bigwigs know that drama sells better, so they are more likely to describe films in that way?

Why would drama sell better?  My hypothesis is that, since most views of these films are on VOD platforms, and most people are used to watching some kind of TV that way, they are looking for “TV style content” on the VOD platforms.  So, drama wins, as it’s perceived more as a TV genre.

But, we’ve always been told by the distributors that “drama needs stars to sell it”.  These micro-budget films all have “nobody” in them, and yet they are selling.  No-budget films seem to buck many of the usual trends.

So, my topline suggestion is that your best chance of making money with a no-budget feature film is to make a drama, and you should be aiming your no-to-low budget project at the US VOD platforms.  Especially as this article says that the US (the leading VOD market) is one of the great consumers of drama.

But, there are so many other patterns and trends that I see in the full “private” data, which further prove that micro-budget and no-budget films really are a special case in the market and do not follow the main market patterns.  For example, I’d love to share the insight I have gleaned on casting.  And it’s probably not at all what you might expect to hear – in fact, it pretty much contradicts the findings of this article, which is based only on publicly available data for bigger budget films.  Or I could discuss my observations on whether your IMDb rating has any sway on how well you do.  Or there’s a bunch I could reveal about the top performing subject areas for your film, including key character tropes to include for success.  But my NDA (non-disclosure agreement) prevents it.

However, as a consultancy service, I’m happy to discuss these areas more concretely on a one-to-one basis, so drop me a line if you want to learn more and do a “market check” on your proposed project.

Brian Barnes is a London-based director whose debut feature film ‘The Redeeming’ was released in early 2018 on worldwide VOD platforms.  The film peaked at number 6 on the Prime US thriller chart and was the number 1 thriller on Prime UK for 6 weeks.  The trailer has now been watched well over 150,000 times.  Brian’s short film ‘The Urge’ won a Best Film award under jury president Timothy Burrill (producer of Roman Polanski’s ‘The Pianist’).

The art of anxiety by Tracey Flynn… aka how to face the blank page

I love my job. 

I’m a semi-abstract expressionist artist. That means that I create paintings and illustrations that don’t look like reality, but you can kind of tell what it is.

I love to create a painting for someone that expresses something they didn’t feel able to express for themselves. It’s a wonderful moment when a client sees their painting for the first time, they make a connection and they can’t hold back the emotion.

I love the conversation I have with the canvas as I paint.  I work out my frustrations with the world; some I didn’t know I had before I picked up the brush. I love that I get paid to turn some raw, unassuming materials into a colourful, soul-lifting image that I could lose myself in.

Yes, I love my job, but…it’s hard. Not like brain surgery is hard, but like breathing is hard if you actually concentrate on doing it and tell yourself you’ll die if you don’t get it right. Sometimes it’s not a wonderful conversation I have with the canvas, it’s a full-on fight.

I haven’t always been a professional artist.  I’ve been a fashion and textile designer, Easter egg decorator at a certain high street chocolatier, a radio presenter and producer, a documentary filmmaker and a screenwriter.  I’ve never understood, as someone with anxiety and a fear of judgment, why I would become a professional creative and put myself in a position where I repeatedly invite judgement, often daily. The self-imposed torture doesn’t make sense.

Four years ago, I quit screenwriting as my anxiety became so acute that I couldn’t work and I sought counselling. She suggested I find a task where I didn’t have pressure to create. I knew instantly she was not the right counsellor for me and understood less than I did. To avoid or blame creativity for my problem seemed absurd!

I pulled myself out of that black-hole depression by drawing continuous-line doodles. It was my way of reconnecting with the world; to stop, look and appreciate; to see order, strength and accomplishment; admire marks made by others and to take my place in amongst it all.

Doodles became sketches for paintings, a print shop on Etsy.com and the growing business I have today, including design projects, exhibitions and four-figure sales.

I have to create. It is how I engage with the world. I love my new job, but the anxiety hasn’t gone away.

In his book “Fearless Creating”, psychologist Dr Eric Maisel suggests that anxiety is integral to the creative process and we cannot be productive without it.  I’m beginning to understand what he means as I become more aware of my practice. Maybe I was so crippled by mine in the past because I’d not yet learnt how to work with it.

As creatives, we’re always striving to inhabit “the flow”; the mystical moments when all the stars align and the work is creating itself.  For me, I’ve noticed a pattern of calm and wildness that leads to somewhere better. It is my favourite place: Bold Town.

Unfortunately the road to Bold Town is unpleasant.  It feels like the worst day ever.

I had one of those days today. It was horrific for about two hours and then wondrous bliss!

I’m working on a painting for exhibition, which means it’s not a commission, but a calling card; a passion project that tells people what kind of artist I am.  Although it’s a piece that I can experiment with, there is pressure in the ultimate goal and I’m forever mindful of it.

I started off strong in the past week, but today, I hated it. Then I hated myself. I felt the rage rising. I took it out on flies that dared to cross me; (there are quite a few in my garden studio); I threatened to ditch this piece of s**t; I questioned my ability; I’m very unkind to myself in these moments. What on earth makes me believe I can do this?!  What is ultimately just one painting, turns into the demise of my whole career!

In my wrath and dejection, I’m not yet aware that magic is about to happen. I come to a crossroads: I could throw the canvas out, but the thought of wasting expensive materials makes me choose the other road. I have nothing left to lose. An alternative tool or material brings uninhibited energy and transforms the ordinary into something unexpected.

And just like that…

I AM IN BOLD TOWN.

In Bold Town there is no self consciousness, no restraint. There is abandon and risk-taking; no second guessing, no judgment.  There is freedom. There is true creativity. I make my best work in Bold Town.  The more often I visit, the less painful the journey as I grow to recognise the route.

In talking to other creatives, I’ve noticed that we’ve often battled throughout our lives to communicate in the traditional way: through conversation. We’ve always felt, on some level, misunderstood. Therefore we strive to find a way that works for us. We’ve discovered along the way that making something scary, funny, yummy, thought-provoking or moving works to make people listen.  Ultimately we all want to be heard.

When I was younger, I struggled to attract attention with my voice.  I couldn’t verbally raise a question, offer a solution or comfort, yet a piece of artwork could gain the attention of a whole room without me even being there. Through art [whichever discipline we choose] we’re communicating, telling the world what kind of people we should be.

I want to be connected, joyful, respectful of the past and, above all, bold. Therefore, I am learning, I must embrace the anxiety.

Discover more about Tracey Flynn’s art at artbyflynn.com

Search Art by Flynn on etsy.com

Follow her on Instagram @artbyflynn_uk

Meet The Nativity Wins ‘Best Festival’ Film at 22nd Jerusalem Awards at BAFTA

Last night the team behind Meet The Nativity took the stage to accept their award for their hard work in making the time travelling Christmas rom-com that went viral last Christmas.

The four part webisode series took the offbeat premise of ‘what would happen if you discovered the actual first century nativity taking place the bottom of the garden?’

The whole team was both surprised and delighted to get the award as competition was clearly very tough.

You can watch the first episode below, and watch out this Christmas for a re-run!

Onwards and upwards!

Chris Jones

My movies www.LivingSpiritGroup.com

My Facebook www.Facebook.com/ChrisJonesFilmmaker

My Twitter @LivingSpiritPix

Sign up to my mailing list for updates on

events, books and free film making tools

LSF Live! Brand New Live TV show for Screenwriters next Thursday!

Join us next Thursday night at 7.00pm UK time for our first LIVE TV show, just for screenwriters. There will be tons of insight from some of the biggest names who have visited the London Screenwriters’ Festival as well as lots of opportunity to join the conversation through the chat widget.

The show will be broadcast on Facebook at…

https://www.facebook.com/londonswf/

You can watch on your desktop, phone or tablet.

Expect insight, tips and a little chaos!

See you online… Thursday, 7.00pm UK time…

https://www.facebook.com/londonswf/

Chris Jones

www.LondonSWF.com

Frank Spotnitz on the Writers Room Dynamics and 10 Pieces Of Supernatural Advice

Twenty-Five year television veteran Frank Spotnitz is a big believer in luck. He was lucky that his parents never supervised their son’s voracious and indiscriminate consumption of 60s and 70s television, allowing him to build up a vast catalogue of narrative strategies in his mind. He was lucky that Chris Carter hired him for his first job, and lucky that he thrived in the brutal do-or-die X-Files environment. He was lucky that he signed on to Man in the High Castle, based only on a remembered fondness for the book in his college years. If he had re-read the novel, he might have passed on attempting such a mind-bendingly difficult adaption. And he was lucky that this vastly expensive and controversial show was taken on by Amazon who happened to be in the market for a piece of TV action that would get them noticed.

But of course, when you listen to Spotnitz talk about his world — as those of us who attended his interview at the London Screenwriters’ Conference’s Breakfast Club were privileged to do — clearly this is not a man who simply got lucky. We were in the presence of a great talent: a story teller who is not only a master of structure but has an angel ear for dialogue and a peerless facility for communicating big ideas while still managing to entertain. An obsessive, who constantly rewrites, and who focuses on the little details, such as whether the cars in the parallel (but skewed) world of Man in the High Castle would sport “optimistic fins”.

It was a smashing Breakfast Club get-together. Great venue (who knew there was such a pretty academic outpost hiding in the park?) and I enjoyed the inclusion of actors acting out three scenes from the X-Files. One would have to write copious pages to cover the wealth of insights articulated by Spotnitz in the space of that one session. Here are ten which stood out for me.

The Writer’s Room

Probably because of my background in books, I have always been equal parts intrigued and dismayed by the idea of having to enter the scrum of a writer’s room. As a novelist, you are used to being edited, but you firmly remain the queen of your mouldy castle. But after listening to Spotnitz enthusiastically making the case for the power of collaboration, I am having a rethink about my preference for the author-driven UK television model.

Collaboration, for Spotnitz, is where the magic happens. And he talked about the pain and the gain of being overwritten. The kind of writer he looks for is the kind who hates being overwritten, but then listens and learns and has the humility to accept that the rewritten script can be smarter and better.

Serialised Television Is A Boxing Match

I was fascinated to learn that Amazon has a tool for measuring “viewer engagement”: how much time does the viewer spend actually watching the television screen as opposed to texting, visiting the loo, opening the fridge. The surprising result is that with shows that go really fast, viewer engagement is less. Spotnitz uses a boxing metaphor to explain the pacing of a serialised TV episode. Start with slow punches and then speed up to throwing punches in bunches towards the end. This is how you hook the viewer into entering the “just-one-more-episode-before-I-go-to-sleep” binge mode.

Don’t Be In Such A Hurry

Spotnitz points out that in a serialized story, you are only “going to pass this point in your characters’ lives once” – so the writer should take care to mine that moment fully and not place his foot on the plotting pedal so hard that he skips moments of characterization, emotional drama and texture.

Don’t Give Away Everything At The Beginning

Spotnitz often fights network and studio executives who expect expansive exposition in the opening episodes. Spotnitz believes in giving the audience only what they need – even slightly less than what they need — so they’ll keep watching. Make them want to know, and then tell them.

Aim To Entertain

The streaming environment allows for an intellectually challenging, sophisticated show like Man in a High Castle. Even so, Spotnitz strongly believes in his aim to entertain. Yes, he wants to make you think, but to do so he needs to entertain you first, because if you are not entertained and moved emotionally, you will not continue to watch — no matter how profound the ideas.

Writing Is External Therapy

What Spotnitz likes about being a writer is that by figuring out his characters and what’s true about them, he is learning something about himself and the way in which he sees the world. One such insight: you must do the right thing if you want to live with yourself. But don’t expect the world to reward you for it. You will be punished.

Another: The truth is out there but it cannot be grasped. We look into the skies and try to understand the mysteries of the universe, knowing we will never find it.

Streaming Audiences Are Sliced Into Many Micro-Segments

Spotnitz makes the salient point that the big, popular audience which used to watch network television is now the least well-served. Which is why it is important for him to still do a show like Ransom, his CBS hostage negotiating drama, which is targeting the kind of audience that used to wait for their crime-of-the-week drama.

Aim High. No, Not That High. Higher.

The image that will stick with me is of Spotnitz hand-chopping the air above his head and making the impassioned argument that this lofty altitude – this rarefied air where you’re attempting to write the best thing ever – is what we, as writers, must strive for.

A lot of writers, he says, look at what’s out there and say: I can write that. But this should not be the target. The target should be much, much more ambitious. Because if what we write is only OK, then we are blurring the focus of our collaborators and we will end up with mediocre fare.

Persistence Is More Important Than Talent

Mr. Spotnitz. We really hope so…

When Luck Comes, Make Sure You’re Ready

…and that when luck arrives, we’ll be ready for it. Of course, we will be. We want to believe.

Natasha Mostert is an award-winning novelist who segued into scriptwriting after two of her novels were optioned. She is a member of the WGAW.

If you would like to know more about the London Screenwriters’ Festival click HERE.

Shooting Killer Action Scenes With a Crew Of Three… Filmmaking for the Crack!

Guest post by Jude Poyer, images by Tom Cheshire

Playing to your strengths and embracing your limitations helps get your film made, and making it fun.

My name is Jude Poyer, I’m a stunt coordinator and action designer from London, England, and I’m an action movie addict.

Less than two weeks ago, before we’d even started shooting “Drug Den Master”, I never imagined being asked to write a blog entry about it.  “Drug Den Master” was a low budget passion project. Two stuntmen friends and I conceived it as a love letter to the kinds of movies we grew up watching. Any exposure I might get out of it as an action director, or the boys as fight performers, was secondary. We wanted to have fun, and hopefully reach a few folks who would be entertained too.

Wham! Bam! Thank you Van Damme!

This wasn’t intended for festivals. This was destined for Facebook & YouTube, so the mission brief was different from something with higher aspirations. It needed to be short (under 3mins 30), pacey, and considering it would most likely be viewed on phones & laptops, didn’t justify a lengthy post-production. So it was shot, edited, coloured and online in under a week.

This was self-funded, and not for profit.  The budget was low. The main expense was renting the location. Other spends were costumes (Primark) and props like crack pipes (Amazon) and a medical spine (Ebay). We couldn’t afford, nor did we want a large crew. Action tends to require lots of camera set ups. A large crew would have slowed us down. Most of the time, just the 3 of us were on set. Some of the time a friend, Chris G.R. Webb was able to help out with general mucking in, as well as performing as a punching hand and bicep double.

I’m no DOP. Operating camera myself without an AC would mean some shots would likely turn out soft or poorly exposed. The three of us decided to embrace the budgetary & technical shortcomings. We weren’t trying to emulate a James Cameron movie. This was paying homage to kung fu movies of the late 70s, which were often cheaply made, and shown in fleapits on damaged prints, with dodgy subtitles and/or comedic dubbing.

The Martial Art of the Cut (or avoiding Kung Fu Master shots)

My two performers are professional stuntmen. Both have worked extensively in Asia. Andrei is a member of the British Stunt Register. In addition to movies, Craig performs motion capture for best-selling video games. My background as a stunt performer, now coordinator, started with 8 years in Hong Kong.

We all are fans of the Hong Kong approach to action, which is to avoid master shots and coverage. Editing can be an art where the “form” is found during the editing process, but in our humble opinion, for stylised martial arts action it’s usually far better to “shoot for the edit”, Hong Kong montage style.

Previz and final shot… Preparation!

Every edit, camera move, angle, lens choice, speed and shutter angle is motivated and planned for to serve the action.  I find this approach almost always leads to more dynamic, exciting action. It’s also much easier for the performers to work this way.

Rather than have to perform a long piece of choreography over and over for multiple angles, they know that each “bite size” piece of action for a particular shot is all they will need to perform, so long as the last move overlaps with the first move of the next shot. They are required to remember less choreography, and can perform with more precision, speed and energy, knowing how to “sell” it for that particular angle.

We actually rehearsed and blocked most of the choreography for “Drug Den Master”, some time ago, in a sports centre. On that day I shot previz of much of the key action.

Previz is such a useful tool for planning action. I could try different angles, lenses and speeds, and edit the best version possible. This previz was the blueprint we followed once on location. Previz eliminates the time wasting practice of “will that work…?” or “what if we tried…?” once you are properly shooting.

The Karate (camera) Kit

Most of the short was shot on a Black Magic Ursa Mini pro in Prores 444. I’m a big fan of the Ursa’s Film picture profile, which requires little grading to provide pleasing, filmlike images.

The “flying needle POV” and a couple of other shots were captured on a Panasonic GH5s on a Feiyu Tech A2000 gimbal.  A handful of longlens  shots & crash zooms required tripod use, but the majority of action was shot handheld, often using a Fig Rig. Last year I had the pleasure of working as Fight Coordinator on “Apostle”, the new film from director Gareth Evans (“The Raid” movies) and saw firsthand how well-suited to action the Fig Rig can be. It’s not a replacement for a Steadicam or a gimbal, it has its own look and uses, and can make handheld shooting not look like you are emulating Paul Greengrass’ shakycam effect.

No Rush Hours

I felt we could have shot the short in 2 days, but in the UK on professional movies constantly we experience not enough time is allocated to properly execute fight scenes. We wanted the luxury of not feeling rushed or compromised, so booked the location for three days. When we filmed, our pace was steady, but never hurried. Often, after several setups, we’d stop so the guys could rest and I could assemble the edit.  By the end of day 2 we had a finished assembly. So on day 3 we only shot a few hours,  having the luxury of reshooting a couple of shots we thought could be executed better, & adding an extra shot which helped a piece of action flow. If you can, I’d strongly suggest editing action as you go, & allocate time to minor reshooting and pickups. That final half day we also had a friend, Tom Cheshire, take some behind the scenes shots & posed photos.

So by day 3 we already had a 95% complete edit, which was done in Adobe Premiere Pro on a Dell Precision mobile workstation (laptop). Over the next day or so, I worked on little tweaks and adjustments to the edit points and adding the sounds. All of the fight noises and foley came from the movie “Drunken Master”. A recent bluray release contained the M&E mix on one track, and that was a very useful resource. Voices came mostly from an old English dub of the film.

Splice & Dice

I’d always planned to deliver the movie in 1080p HD, with a “letterbox” mask, so edited in a Full HD 24fps timeline.  We shot in 4K though, as the extra resolution made reframing in post and getting 2 frame sizes from one setup possible. The idea of moves in post or “punching in” 50% might offend some cinematography purists, but time constraints mean sometimes you do in post what you can’t do on set. As far as I’m concerned, with shots lasting a second or two, a minor drop in resolution is OK, so long as it makes for a better action experience.

Colour grading was done in Premiere. The damaged film effects were achieved using the Magic Bullet Misfire effect plugin, and by overlaying videos found on Youtube of dust specs against black which, was keyed out.

The final piece of the puzzle was a VFX shot of Andrei’s under-the-influence eyes and veins bulging. Andrei worked on this effect himself in After Effects and Mocha, delivering the rendered shot as a TIFF image sequence. Once this was dropped into the timeline, I left the computer to render and export overnight.

Kung Fu Hustling

The finished short was uploaded to Facebook a week after we started shooting with no significant push. We’ve been bowled over by the number of shares, likes and comments. It seems to have resonated with a lot of people (mainly men who rented kung fu and action movies on VHS in the 80s & 90s). It’s very gratifying to see our silly little short being enjoyed.

If you’ve got this far, thank you for reading.  We hope you enjoy the short too.

Jude Poyer

For more info, please visit: https://www.facebook.com/drugdenmaster

For more about my work: http://www.reelpowerstunts.com

Watch the Behind The Scenes From The President Speaks Shoot in the Oval Office

Last Friday we shot the opening scene of The Impact, written by Joe Eszterhas and starring Olivia Williams. We shot in an extraordinary White House Oval Office reconstruction in Norfolk at RAF Coltishall in the sets owned by October Films.

We are SOOOO excited to share this short film about the shoot with Olivia Williams, and even more excited to share the short film once edited and graded. It’s rather special. Expect goosebumps!

This new Presidential scene will be an extraordinary opening for The Impact50 and the cast and crew have truly elevated the whole project, along with all the filmmakers whose films are now coming in daily.

It was a long day, starting at 4am and ending at midnight for me, but what a rush to direct in such an iconic location and with such worldclass talent.

I am particularly delighted with the opening shot, a cinematic and stylised long dolly backwards in ultra slow motion as the president takes onboard that the planet has less than two hours left. It should set the scene with some gravity for the films that follow.

Of course this being the White House set, everyone HAD to have a selfie behind the desk, Omar winning the prize for best photo.

Overall an enormously successful day.

Please do consider contributing to the Crowdfund, it REALLY will make a HUGE difference. And thank you in advance.

Contribute HERE.

More news to follow very soon.

Onwards and upwards!

Chris Jones

My movies www.LivingSpiritGroup.com

My Facebook www.Facebook.com/ChrisJonesFilmmaker

My Twitter @LivingSpiritPix

Sign up to my mailing list for updates on

events, books and free film making tools

The Impact50 Trailer Has Been Launched… Get involved and make your micro-budget apocalyptic short

The Impact50 Trailer Has Been Launched… Get involved and make your micro-budget apocalyptic short.

Watch the trailer here for the crowd created feature film project #Impact50, about what would happen in the last few hours of humanity before an asteroid impact.

And if you are a filmmaker, there is still plenty of time for you to get involved and have YOUR work showcased in this revolutionary global project.

Why get involved?

Impact50 is a global filmmaking initiative designed to showcase the best emerging screenwriters and filmmakers.

By featuring lots of short films, no single filmmaker has to carry the burden or production of an entire feature film, but can benefit from all the experience, connections and exposure this project offers.

The screenplay leg is now closed with the 2,000 scripts being whittled down to the selected 55. You can read them all HERE and select one you want to make.

You should of course read the rules and guidelines too HERE.

Optioning a script costs £7 and you MUST upload something BEFORE the closing date of May 31st. There will be an additional month to finalise an edit and upload your final cut / sound mix / grade etc. Start the process HERE.

Last time we did this project (50 Kisses) we ended up being the second biggest UK feature in the week of release and found ourselves in the Guinness Book Of Records! The awards and premiere was a night to remember also.

So what to do?

First, rustle up some kit, crew and actors and make space over a weekend in the coming weeks.

Second, choose a script and option it HERE.

Then make it.

Finally, upload an edit to the site. Get feedback. Re-edit and watch some other films and offer feedback there too.

There really is NOTHING stopping you from getting involved in this global epic movie.

Looking forward to seeing your film and shaking your hand at the premiere!

Chris Jones

www.Impact50Film.com