The internet is flush with advice to stop waiting - to just go out and make your movie. But given that specifics are rarely provided, and questions of budget slyly sidestepped, such advice can feel more like tone-deaf platitudes. This workshop aims to rip back the curtain completely on the process of no-budget movie making by exploring in microscopic detail the production of the five feature films made by Zach Weintraub throughout the last fifteen years. The intended audience is anyone with an interest in making a movie, whether it's your first or your tenth. The idea is not to provide a prescriptive, one-size-fits-all guide, but rather to share an ethos and strategy that anyone can adapt to their own productions at any level. Not everyone has the same resources at their disposal, but regardless of your situation, there is a path forward. [Note that the focus here will be on production rather than business-y things like audience-building or distribution strategy.]
Meet The Instructor
Zach Weintraub is a DIY filmmaker from Olympia, WA, USA. He studied film production at New York University before moving home to write and direct his first feature-length film, BUMMER SUMMER (2009). His works are collaborations with family and friends, often praised for their resourcefulness, muted humor, and narrative economy in their depiction of subtly shifting interpersonal dynamics. Cumulatively, his films have screened at festivals in more than a dozen countries including Locarno, AFI Fest, BAFICI, and Viennale. In 2013 he was a guest lecturer at the Northwest Film Forum, and was nominated by Seattle’s The Stranger for a film Genius Award. In 2014 he was awarded an Artist Trust fellowship. ASSETS & LIABILITIES is his fifth feature-length film.