It was right at the beginning of this year that I first discovered the blog, Fast, Cheap Movie Thoughts. What really hooked me was that it was similar to my goals with my Cinematic Acrobatic interview series in having other filmmakers talk about their work and experiences - these people just happened to be industry professionals.
It continues to be a great resource and a fun read for anyone interested in the realities of making a movie commercially.
What I really enjoy about Fast, Cheap Movie Thoughts is that the people who are talking about their work are tackling a variety of different projects and genres. With comments from writers, directors, cinematographers, etc. I hadn't heard of the majority of the people, but I could recognize some of their work. In fact, the real charm of the blog is that these aren't discussions with Spielberg or Scorsese, these are true behind the scenes/indie filmmakers/industry workers who talk about the industry (often) from a point of struggle and sacrifice just to find more work, complete what they're doing, or to choose between the mainstream job or passion project.
That isn't to say that these people aren't as talented or skilled as the 'big' names, the blog just puts them in a context that makes them easy to identify with - the 'real people' behind movies not the celebrity persona's. The entries come off as real conversations and not promotional puff, which is a nice change from anything you'd come across in Entertainment Weekly.
For an informative and fascinating sample of different filmmaking backgrounds and stories, check out Fast, Cheap Movie Thoughts. And on a sidenote, the blog was ranked as one of the 50 best blogs for filmmakers by Moviemaker Magazine.
My friend Tyler Cyrenne has regularly showcased my videos on his blog and I thought it was about time I returned the favor and showcased a few of his. With an equally passionate view of filmmaking, Tyler and I have often challenged each other and used competition to improve our projects. Film school saw many 3am meetings at Mac's to discuss how our assignments were unfolding.
In addition to the several shorts that he's helped me with (Buick to the Future Series, We Two Kings) he responded to be part of the 2nd issue of my column, Cinematic Acrobatic. His interview can be read here. Without a doubt, getting to know Tyler through film school resulted in a lot of good memories and projects that we still joke about today.
Check out his blog, Don't Make Charlie Angry and view a few of my favorite Angry Charlie videos below.
In the midst of developing my portfolio site there was a lot of additional work that went specifically into how I was going to promote it. At work I spent a lot of my breaks writing out descriptions and phrases that I thought would fit into a promotional video or as part of posts here. The portfolio site is now up and running (although I'm still tweaking a few pages) but I thought it would be interesting to share one of the rough notes I'd written about the site during its early stages.
I'm finding that a lot of my new approach is as much a lesson in marketing as it is about actually producing videos. No surprises there, but for those doing the same thing I thought I'd share some of my own thought process and rough ideas. And yes, a promo video for the new site is in the works. I'm finding I'm in competition with my previous achievements, using them as a marker for how I can one up myself. This mindset is clear in my note below and a lot of the promo stuff I share.
CLICK NOTE TO ENLARGE
It was right at the beginning of this year that I first discovered the blog, Fast, Cheap Movie Thoughts. What really hooked me was that it was similar to my goals with my Cinematic Acrobatic interview series in having other filmmakers talk about their work and experiences - these people just happened to be industry professionals. 
