In The Cheerful Subversive’s Guide to Independent Filmmaking, celebrated Slamdance Film Festival co-founder Dan Mirvish offers a rich exploration of the process and culture of making low-budget, independent films. Once labelled a "cheerful subversive" by The New York Times, Mirvish shares his unfiltered pragmatic approach to scriptwriting, casting, directing, producing, managing a crew, post-production, navigating the film festival circuit, distributing your film, dealing with piracy and building a career. Readers will learn how to game the Hollywood system to their advantage, get their films accepted by respected festivals without going broke, and utilize a broad range of media and tactics to promote and distribute their work. A companion website features behind-the-scenes interviews and footage from Dan’s films, and much more. Learn everything you need to know to make, promote, and distribute your independent films, with time-tested lessons and practical advice on scriptwriting, casting and directing A-list actors, financing, producing, managing a crew, editing in post, creating visual effects on a budget, and successuflly navigating the film festival circuit Find out what it takes to become a true "cheerful subversive" and adopt new and innovative approaches to producing your films, discover hidden loopholes in the Hollywood system and festival scene, take advantage of a broad range of media formats to promote and distribute your indie films, and generally make bold moves in service of your creative work, all while staying flexible enough to pivot at a moment’s notice An extensive companion website features in-depth interviews with filmmakers, more than an hour of behind-the-scenes footage from Dan Mirvish’s films, festival resources, and much more

Table of Contents:
Dedication Acknowledgments Preface Section A. – Getting Started Write a Brilliant Script! ***Poem: On Strike Umm, What to Write? Adapt or Die You're No Genius You're in Good Company Playing Around with George Clooney’s Happy Ending Books are Just Screenplays with Adjectives. Develop Relationship with Original Author Use Their Experience to Your Benefit Connect with the Material Don't Call it "Opening Up" Location, Location, Location. Editing; Macro and Micro. Putting the "Move" in "Movies" Use Your Source Material's Pedigree Don't Apologize for Your Source Material Try This On For Size: Improvise! Buying a Script on the Open Market Choose a Castable Script Lawyer Up! Chain of Title Isn't Just an R&B Song Mining for Gold: Discovering the Lost Jules Feiffer Script ***NameDropper Sidebar: Robert Altman There's No Business Like a Show Business Plan Project Summary Project History Key Production Team Synopsis Director’s Statement Casting Why Support Independent Film? Product Integration & Branded Sponsorship Financing Options Budget Considerations/Options Distribution Potential Distribution Scenarios Contact Info Disclaimer Remember, It's a Visual Medium Storyboard Lookbook Pitch Cinema Subtitles *** Sidebar: Famous Director Kickstarter Campaigns Takin’ Care of Business Rin-TIN-TIN Putting the Love in LLC! Wonderful Waterfalls Making Sure You’re Not a Flimmaker Registering with the State The New Pizza King of Omaha EDGAR, EDGAR, Give Me Your Answer Do Boiler Rooms and Shriners Casting Your Banker Hey Buddy, Can You Paradigm? ***Poem: Crowdfund This Staff Up: Your First Round of Collaborators Producing a Producer Interns and a Clean Garage Terrorist Filmmaking The One-Armed Executioner 　 Section B. – Shooting the Movie Casting Your Movie With A-List Actors Assemble a Team Aim High Go to New York Be Bi-Coastally Curious Don't Have a List! Develop Relationships with Agents Yourself Play the Agency Game Bait and Switch Set a Start Date Make it Real Magnetic Balls of Iron Take Advantage of Others' Misfortune Oh, and What if You Don’t Have Famous Actors? ***Poem: Call Backs Directing Famous Actors in a Microbudget Film Cast Well Rehearse ***Namedropper sidebar: Harold Ramis Use Rehearsal Wisely Overlapping Dialogue ***Sidebar: The Sound of Music *** What’s My Motivation? Trust Your Scripty Encourage "Chemistry" Among Your Cast Behave Like a Big Budget Production Block Scenes On Set Use Multiple Takes as Your Coverage Have Faith in Editing Say Something to the Actors Methods to their Madness Lights, Camera, Cinematographer! Good vs. Nice ***NameDroppers Sidebar – Rian Johnson They’re Like Actors with Cameras It's Who They Know Putting the "DP" in iDentity Politics Are They Still Called Films if They’re Digital? Film’s Zombie Resurgence ***NameDroppers Sidebar – Christopher Nolan & Emma Thomas Deconstructing the Cult of Galileo Frankenlens and Mir (vishscopes) Walt Disney’s Secret Optics Bunker Time to Shoot! Does It Take a Video Village to Raise a Film? Bump Up the Credits Finding a Crew with Donut Group Therapy Dress the Part Group Hug, Safety and Prayer to the Film Gods Your First-Day Disasters Hello, My Name is Josh Find the Goat Ready, Aim, Fire! Be Prepared Two Takes Ahead ***NameDropper Sidebar – Alexander Payne Arrive Early, Bring Donuts, Wear Tape Making Your 12-Hour Day Feeding the Beast Making an Epic EPK ***NameDropper Sidebar – John Carpenter Devious Use of the EPKorner Still the One Getting Your Kill Shots Point and Shoot To Infinity and Behind-the-Scenes Making Product Placement Work for You Cash and Carry Break Down, Go Ahead and Give it To Me A Clear and Present Necessity Selling Out, Even if You Don’t Get Paid for It Killing Two Birds with One Stone ***Poem: The Locavore Filmmaker Livin’ La Vida Locavore Keep Your Homebase at Home Cast Locally (sort of) Find Locations Close to Home Drag Your Actors out of Bed No, Seriously, Keep it Really Close to Home If You Travel, Hire Locally Editing, One Pant Leg at a Time Screw the Environment, Do It for Yourself ***Poem – Hack Attack 　 Section C. – Post-Production Editing Like an ACE Editors Are Like Bass Players Finding Fresh Eyes Cut Yourself ***Poem: The Artisanal Filmmaker Start Strong; Stick Your Landing Don’t Let Your Post Supervisor Escape To Madagascar Teasing Out Your Assistants ***NameDropper Sidebar – Jon Bokenkamp Getting a Little Testy It’s Not Easy Being Green Screened Sound and Fury The Breakfast (Nook) Club Temp Decomposing Song Sung Blue 　 　 Section D. – Festivals Toronto, Toschmonto: Time for a Festival Plan "B" It's Just as Well. Your Film Wasn't Finished! It's All About Sundance Anyway! To Get Distribution! ***SideBar: Producer’s Reps vs. Foreign Sales Agents Don't Buy Into the Premiere Arms Race Play Them Off Against Each Other Volume, Volume, Volume Get Reviews Meet Your Audience See the World! They're "Romantic" Meet New Money Get DVD Extras Meet Other Filmmakers ***Poem: Putting the Festiv Back Into Festival How to Avoid Going Broke Applying to Film Festivals Be Selective Make a Personal Connection to the Festival Programmer Offer Your Premiere Status Offer Up Talent Ask for a Waiver Don't Ask for a Waiver Aim Foreign Mail Smart Submit Vimeo Links Hand-Deliver Your DVD Meet Festival Directors at Other Festivals Bribes and Blackmail ***SideBar: Top 24 Sundance/Slamdance Rejection Rationalizations ***Poem: We Are Slamdance How to Start Your Own Film Festival: The Birth of Slamdance Sundance or Bust Anarchy in Utah Prospecting for Screening Rooms The Birth of IndieWood ***NameDropper Sidebar: Steven Soderbergh Our Napolean Complex ***NameDropper Sidebar: Marc Forster Billions and Billions ***Poem: Slamdance at 15 Section E. – Distribution Sexy Things You Get to Do When You Think Your Film is Finished Deliverables E&O Insurance Repair Relationships Promote Your Friggin' Movie DVD Extras Crowd-Funding Perks Taxes Accounting K-1s Write Checks Residuals Archiving Escaping Your Distributor Dissolving Your Entity Rinse, Repeat ***Poem: Don’t Get Distribution Aarghh! 　How to Beat Film Pirates at their Own Game The Whack-a-Mole Takedowns! Make Money From the Pirates The Fakeout! Using the Pirates to Screw Your Distributor! Embracing the Pirates! Slut-Shaming the Advertisers Make Piracy an Essential Element of your Release Strategy Use the Pirates to Pimp Your Merch Use Piracy to Charge for Product Placement What Operas and Sharknado Can Teach Indie Films ***Poem: Analytic Black Hole When In Doubt, Create Your Own Oscar Go Team America! Big in Germany A Tree in the Forest Race to the Academy! We Wuz Robbed ***Poem: Transmedia Verse How to Make Money From an Oscar Nomination The Accountant How to Become a TV Director and Make it in Hollywood Recut Your Reel. 　 Redo Website Update Your IMDb and Wikipedia Pages　 Make a List Whom to Meet With? How to Get the Meetings ***NameDroppers Sidebar: Joe and Anthony Russo Research Their Shows Research The People Go Early　 The Pre-Meeting Meeting Check for Breaking News Do You Take The Water? Choose Wisely Where to Sit Wear or Do Something Memorable Tell Funny Stories About Yourself ***NameDroppers Sidebar – Lynn Shelton Ask Them Personal Questions Get Something Out of Each Meeting The Parking Garage Meeting After the Meeting ***SideBar: The Eight Stages of Success for an Indie Filmmaker Epilogue Index