At Musicbed, we preach the importance of music every day, but sometimes we don’t have to preach at all. There are filmmakers who just get it. The creatives at Blue Ox Films know the weight and importance of music as much as we do, and we had the chance to talk with them about their work on The CW’s All American Stories.
We talk to a lot of talented filmmakers at Musicbed, but not all of them win Oscars. And we all know that you can be a world-class filmmaker and not take home the golden statue—Spike Lee, Alfred Hitchcock, Sidney Lumet, are a few great examples. In other words, not all great filmmakers have won Oscars. But, we can probably agree on something else: All Oscar-winners are great filmmakers.
Sometimes a project is bigger than music or film, and we’re proud that Musicbed was able to contribute to the message in Nike’s “You Can’t Stop Us” spot. The piece is an inspirational examination of the struggles and triumphs we face, and how those struggles and triumphs can also bring us together.
Launching your first feature is no small feat. Some will say the hardest part is finding an idea worth pursuing, or that the real roadblock is convincing other people that your idea is worth pursuing. Others point to the logistics of production as the real challenge. One thing is for certain: well-informed preparation goes a long way towards making the process smoother—helping you bring the film you’ve envisioned to life.
In her now 21-year career as a film director, Sophia Coppola—the daughter of Hollywood mogul Francis Ford Coppola—has staked her claim as one of the great visionary filmmakers of our time. Though often compared to the likes of Wes Anderson and Paul Thomas Anderson, Coppola has carved out a distinct style of her own.
As filmmakers, we all stand on the shoulders of giants. No matter how original or visionary you think your work is, odds are, you’re re-hashing an idea used by a filmmaker (or two) who’ve also borrowed that same idea from another filmmaker’s work a half-century ago.
Drea watches more than 350 films every single year and plays an active role in whether they’re successful or not. She’s well aware of the uphill climb many filmmakers face to get accepted — she said Sundance receives around 14,000 submissions every year and only 100 actually get a premiere. So, in an effort to make that climb a little more friendly, we decided to chat with Drea to put together a rough guide for getting into film festivals.
