Casting

In her role as managing director of the Illinois Film Office, Betsy Steinberg spends a lot of time talking with filmmakers on both coasts and overseas. “In Chicago, and around the state, the abundance of looks is never-ending,” she says. “Every filmmaker says it is the most under-photgraphed place in the movies.”

From New Hampshire’s “no filming permits” policy to Michigan’s 42 percent tax credit, states are fighting to stay competitive with low-cost international filming locations — and each other. For filmmakers, this means a slew of incentive programs that might make financing your next film a bit easier.

In my first two installments of my Film Journal for The Independent, I wrote about the philosophy behind the $200,000 independent film. In this installment, I will talk about laying the groundwork to make our film at this budget, the period known as pre-production, and how the making of Losing Control reinforced the film's theme that faith is more valuable than proof.

Ever wonder what, exactly, independent filmmakers – both aspiring and established – should be reading?

Sometimes you have to take 10 steps backward in order to move one giant step forward. That’s exactly what writer/director Shana Feste did with her directorial debut, The Greatest, a story that combines grief, pain, love and reveals the emotional suffering of a couple who tragically looses their teenage son in a car crash.

He’s most recognized for his menacing role as Ethan Rom on Lost, most respected for playing the cheated-on, threatening husband in In the Bedroom, and most pitied as an innocent victim in The Grudge.

What happened at AIVF over the last 30 years?

I first became aware of AIVF when Martha Gever was editor of The Independent. I marveled at this national organization that put out each month a magazine chock full of weighty, intellectual and critical articles on film and video.

Producer Sandra Katz has tried for three years to raise money for Nothing Men, a film by first-time director John Serpe. “It’s a vicious cycle,” she says. “You can’t get all your financing until you get a name actor, and you can’t get a name actor until you get your financing.”