Documentary Filmmaking Step by Step - How to get it made
What you'll learn
- You will learn how to make a complete documentary feature or short film, from conception of the idea all the way to delivery and exhibition of the final film
- Examples and insight into the filmmaking process through the unique lens of my own experience making award winning documentaries
- Secrets and "producer hacks" that I've learned along the way and that no one else will tell you
- Where I failed, so you won't make the same mistakes
- Going rates for nearly all crew positions on a documentary feature or short (low/mid/high budget rates)
- As a bonus you'll also get many free templates for you to download and use: contracts, agreements, budgets, schedules, forms
Requirements
- This course is for anyone with a basic knowledge of filmmaking - narrative or documentary
Description
*Updated, 2024, with new assignments and resources*
Get filmmaking secrets, from finding (and securing) financing, through surviving production, through distribution and everything in between from me, Adam Bhala Lough, a Spirit Award nominated, 3-time Sundance Film Festival alum and one of Filmmaker Magazine's Top 25 Indie Filmmakers to Watch.
Who am I?
I'm an internationally acclaimed 14-year vet with four documentaries currently on Netflix and three that were the #1 documentary on the iTunes charts. I've had an incredible amount of success in my career but I have also failed many, many times. You will learn where I failed along the way so you won't make the same mistakes.
I'm also a mentor at the Sundance Native labs and Latino Screenwriting labs and was a mentor at the 2015 SXSW Film Festival mentor sessions so I know how to teach in a concise and clear way.
Why should you take this course and not another?
You will get secrets only a seasoned pro can reveal- from the beauty of not paying insane clearance fees by claiming "fair-use," to how to get into a film festival without any connections. It's all in this 5 hour course.
Other courses give general knowledge of how to make a film from people with very little actual real world experience. This course is taught directly from my experience making eight feature length documentary films, all of which have received worldwide distribution and been translated into many languages.
*Watch some of the documentary short films made by my students at youtube. com/worldcinema:
Rickshaw Girl by Muzahidul Islam Zahin, a filmmaker and activist based in Dhaka, Bangladesh
Kwizera: A Story of Hope Born from Risiliance by Sahil Laul, a filmmaker based in the USA
Who this course is for:
- Beginning filmmakers needing a roadmap to navigate the confusing and often mysterious job of a documentary filmmaker (what is it exactly that we do?!)
- Those who will benefit most from this course will be those getting ready to embark on their first or second short or feature length documentary film
- Veteran documentary filmmakers who want to know my secrets, short-cuts and hacks, learned the hard way from directing 8 feature-length documentaries
Instructor
- 4.2 Instructor Rating
- 766 Reviews
- 14,069 Students
- 1 Course
3-time Sundance Film Festival alum, Spirit Award nominated writer/director/producer and one of Filmmaker Magazine’s Top 25 Independent Filmmakers to Watch, Adam Bhala Lough has dedicated his career to telling compelling stories, collaborating with interesting people and creating authentic work. Over the past 16 years he has made 10 feature length films and documentaries while mentoring younger generations of filmmakers.