Just Screen It
Colin Stryker
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Top 10 Just Screen It Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Just Screen It episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Just Screen It for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Just Screen It episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
So Many Great Distribution Stories with Paul Osborne
Just Screen It
01/29/24 • 77 min
Today I’m talking with Paul Osborne, who’s been making and distributing his films since the late 2000s and still going strong today. Paul has so many great stories to tell here, with a really wide variety of distribution experiences that span so many of the changes the industry has gone through over the past two decades. One of those films includes his documentary about the realities of the film festival circuit called Official Rejection, and we get some great stories about playing that movie about the festival circuit on the festival circuit. Paul brings such a wealth of experience to bear in this conversation, from self-distributing theatrical to experiences on the festival circuit to DVD releases and streaming platforms ... it’s a long one but I promise you it’s worth.
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From Slamdance to Watergate with Dan Mirvish
Just Screen It
02/27/23 • 55 min
Today I bring you my conversation with Dan Mirvish. Many of you may know Dan as one of the co-founders of the Slamdance Film Festival, founded in 1995, as an alternative to Sundance for first-time filmmakers. Dan’s first feature was entirely self-distributed, but since then Dan has made several more films, including his most recent 18 1/2, a thriller/comedy about a White House transcriber who stumbles upon the missing 18 1/2 minutes of tape from the Nixon/Watergate affair, which she tries to leak to a reporter. While Dan has found distribution for most of his films, as he points out in the interview, the line between self-distribution and traditional distribution isn’t always so clear cut. Dan brings a wealth of experience to the table, and has some great things to say about how things work in and out of the industry, and also about his own personal experiences promoting his films in both theatrical and ancillary markets.
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Michael Epstein on Distributing His "Weird" Features
Just Screen It
01/15/24 • 63 min
Today I’m speaking with Michael Epstein, a Los Angeles filmmaker with several low-budget and self-described “weird” features to his and his partner’s name. Our conversation covers the beginning of his career, his varied stories and experiences distributing each of his feature films, and his current plans for his latest feature, The Once and Future Smash, and its companion throwback horror film, End Zone 2. Michael’s experience with these films amounts to an overview of the state of low-budget indie film distribution over the past decade, with some hard lessons learned along the way. Michael is wonderfully transparent in this interview, giving us insight into budget and revenue numbers.
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Distributing Six Horror Features with Calvin McArthy
Just Screen It
01/22/24 • 60 min
On this episode I’m talking with Calvin McArthy of Seventh Street Productions. Over the past decade, Calvin and his team have made six low-budget horror features, and still going strong. Calvin takes us through his filmmaking journey, starting out with his roots as an actor, then shifting to behind the camera with shorts and a horror anthology feature. A few films later Calvin formed a relationship with Breaking Glass Pictures, a Philadelphia-based distributor, who continues to put out Calvin’s films to this day with mockbuster titles such as Conjuring: The Beyond, and his latest, Insidious Inferno. Calvin and I discuss a number of topics relevant to filmmakers wrestling with distribution strategies today, including common pitfalls and what to look for when signing a favorable distribution deal.
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Cort Howell on Self-Distributing Mayberry Man
Just Screen It
02/19/24 • 58 min
On this episode I’m talking with Cort Howell, who, along with his brother Stark, decided to self-distribute their film Mayberry Man after a less-than-optimal experience with a distributor on his previous film. Cort Howell has sage advice for any independent filmmaker seeking to navigate that line between finding a traditional distributor - whatever that means in this day and age - and self distribution. Cort takes us through the entire process of making and distributing Mayberry Man, including a highly successful crowdfunding campaign to finance the film, the community-supported production, and his experiences with DVD sales, theatrical showings, and streaming, ultimately capped off by a more traditional deal from a faith-based distributor.
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Distribution Strategies for SkyFly with Gary Smith
Just Screen It
02/05/24 • 57 min
On this episode I’m talking with Gary Smith about his first feature SkyFly, a sports comedy about a group of skydivers who face off with another group of skydivers in a battle for supremacy in the sport of roller hockey. Yep, lots of adventures and hijinks in this one. This episode is a little different from most of my past episodes in that Gary hasn’t yet put his movie out there, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have a ton of sage advice to offer. It’s evident in our conversation that Gary has done a great deal of research into his distribution strategy, and has put a lot of careful thought into his marketing and promotional plans for the film. I love the idea of doing interviews like this because I can look forward to having Gary back on the show in a year, or eighteen months down the road, and see how these plans all worked out for him. Don’t let this forward-looking interview keep you from listening to this one, Gary is very well-informed and has lots of good insights into the world of the indie distribution today.
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Ghost of Wuhan with Ankit Mishra
Just Screen It
10/18/23 • 56 min
I'm back after an unplanned hiatus, bringing you a very interesting interview with Ankit Mishra, all the way from India. Ankit talks about the experience of making and distributing his feature, Ghost of Wuhan, a very personal story about a virologist who, after returning from the lab in Wuhan where Covid was (depending on who you talk to) discovered or created, contracts the virus and embarks on his own journey to figure the disease out - all while suffering its symptoms and maintaining his own sanity, locked up in his home, away from loved ones and friends. As Ankit says in the interview, this is a one-actor film, and in my view a prime example of DIY filmmaking: what filmmakers can do with limited resources and a drive to simply tell a compelling story. Coming to you in October, this interview was recorded in early July.
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Chris Maes on Releasing His Sci-Fi Movie “Hemisphere”
Just Screen It
02/26/24 • 67 min
On this episode I’m talking with Chris Maes about releasing his sci-fi movie, Hemisphere, which was shot mostly in his basement during the COVID-19 lockdown, and is now available on Amazon, Google Play and Tubi. What Chris accomplished here is a great lesson in DIY filmmaking, where Chris conceived the movie totally based on the resources available at the time: a basement he could build a set in, a relatively simple character-based premise, and a small cast and crew. I guess the only exception to that rule was that his movie is actually set in space ... on a space station. But Chris made it work with some clever production design. Chris eventually signed with Indie Rights to distribute his film, but along the way he did some good hard research into his options. In our chat, Chris talks very openly about his decision-making process and the various pros and cons he considered. Although the jury is still out on the ultimate financial success of the film, there’s still a lot to glean here for filmmakers pondering similar decisions.
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The Online Success of “Lexi”, with Victoria Vertuga
Just Screen It
12/26/23 • 61 min
Today I’m chatting with Victoria Vertuga, talking about her mockumentary found footage horror film, Lexi, about a social media influencer who seems to get stalked by some possibly supernatural forces, and the fallout that results. It’s a really cool, creepy, sometimes cringe-inducing movie made on a very very low budget during the pandemic lockdown. Victoria talks openly about her experiences getting Lexi out there to streaming platforms, divulges some real numbers, and has some great words of wisdom for filmmakers out there -- a great episode to close out the year!
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06/20/23 • 79 min
Liz Manashil is, as she reminds me very quickly in this interview, first and foremost a filmmaker. She’s made two feature films, one with more or less traditional distribution, the second with a hybrid distribution strategy, and is on to make her third feature, Best Friends Forever, which she intends to entirely self-distribute. Liz came to my attention through the Making Movies Is Hard podcast, for which she is a co-host, but what really interested me about Liz was the Patreon campaign she is running in support of her third feature. One of Liz's stated goals with this campaign is to document and memorialize the making of her feature, in order to help educate other filmmakers on what it’s like to develop, fundraise for, make, and release an independent feature film. It’s kind of similar to what I’m doing with my web site and my own feature film. Liz is also a sales and distribution consultant for independent filmmakers, she managed Sundance’s Creative Distribution Initiative, and so much more. Liz speaks with remarkable transparency about her experiences, sharing not only her filmmaking journey but how it intersects with her personal and family life, and even her childbearing experiences.
Producer Data: The Numbers Don't Lie (The Truth About Independent Film Revenue)
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FAQ
How many episodes does Just Screen It have?
Just Screen It currently has 47 episodes available.
What topics does Just Screen It cover?
The podcast is about Visual Arts, Podcasts, Arts and Tv & Film.
What is the most popular episode on Just Screen It?
The episode title 'Ghost of Wuhan with Ankit Mishra' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on Just Screen It?
The average episode length on Just Screen It is 62 minutes.
How often are episodes of Just Screen It released?
Episodes of Just Screen It are typically released every 7 days.
When was the first episode of Just Screen It?
The first episode of Just Screen It was released on Feb 23, 2023.
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