Newbies,

The best advice you can get is don't feel constrained by the multitude of rules and regulations that exist in paper, in the public domain, and in the back of your mind when you are constructing your film.

Conventions, on the other hand, are tried and tested. For example, you should strive to write a 90 minute feature, not a 360 minute one. But you don't have to write 90 minutes of forumlaic crap. Of course, you could make yourself quite a few bucks creating forulaic crap - but don't sell yourself and your talent short; you are ALWAYS better than that.

Develop your idea.

Somehow, get it made.

Ask anyone: Ideas are easy to come by. Creative minds get "good ideas" several times a week, or maybe even several times a day. You should jot them all down if you can. But you'll eventually see that an amazing idea you had for a story may have been pretty cool, but it wouldn't carry a 90 minute feature. At best, it could be developed into a decent scene. Piece these ideas together and you have a film.

Write about what you know... Write about what you want to know... or find out about something you don't know and write about that.

There are lots of ideas. Most indie filmmakers are more concerned with style than substance. It's literary fiction vs. best sellers stuff. But you can try and meld Hollywood and the Indie mentality. Critical success and commercial success are usually mutally exclusive (recent notable exception: Lord Of The Rings).

Make an INDIEWOOD flick. That's what real moviegoers love. Don't ever be sentimental; you must earn the emotion from your audience.

I could rant for hours... who couldn't... get out there and make your film.

Merely my six cents' worth.

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