Filmmakers Collaborative

09/06/2025

On the latest Making Media Now, we're joined by veteran film and television director Rob Spera.

Rob’s been on the faculty at the American Film Institute for over 20 years. His feature films include The Sweet Life, Fathers and Sons, and the cult classic Leprechaun in the Hood.

His numerous television credits include Criminal Minds, Supernatural, Suspect Behavior, and Army Wives. During four seasons as Resident Director at the Tony award-winning Actors Theatre of Louisville, he directed over 75 productions.

Rob discusses his book called the Film/TV Director's Field Manual: 70 Maxims to Change Your Filmmaking. Rob considers the manual to be an "anti-textbook" meant to be kept in a filmmaker's back pocket on set to provide distilled guidance with far-reaching results.

Host Michael Azevedo is joined by veteran film and television director Rob Spera. Rob’s been on the faculty at the American Film Institute for over 20 years. His feature films include The Sweet Life, Fathers and Sons, and the cult classic Leprechaun in the Hood. His numerous television credits inc...

09/05/2025

FC LUNCHTIME WEBINAR: DISTRIBUTION
Updated Time!!!

Distribution can feel like the most confusing (and intimidating) part of the filmmaking process—but it doesn’t have to be!

Join us for a lunchtime webinar on Distribution!

This will be the first in a three-part series, covering a subject that can be overwhelming to many filmmakers — and crucial to understand, if you want your films to be seen, and make money!

We will kick it off with award-winning documentary filmmaker Kathryn Dietz, who will talk us through how film distribution works, which markets to consider, how to be eligible for these markets, and much more.

In subsequent weeks we will dig down on self-distribution, and how to work with distributors.

Come with your questions and we hope to see you there!

WHEN: September 9, 2025
TIME: 12:30PM-1:30PM
WHERE: via Zoom
FREE for FC Members, $25 for non-members

Distribution can feel like the most confusing (and intimidating) part of the filmmaking process—but it doesn’t have to be!

09/05/2025

The toll of funding losses continues.

"...PBS's chief executive told public television officials Thursday that it was cutting about 15% of its jobs due to the move by Republicans in Congress to eliminate all federal funding for public broadcasting starting on Oct. 1.

Thirty-four PBS staffers were notified Thursday that their positions were being cut. Taken with the loss of a longstanding federal grant for an educational initiative earlier this summer, and the elimination of about three dozen other vacant positions, PBS will have lost more than 100 jobs in all."

After Congress clawed back public media funding, PBS says it's cutting 15% of its staff, or more than 100 jobs.

09/04/2025

"Away from the rides and games of a busy fairground is another world. A group of men, immigrants who work at the carnival, live together in trailers.

The short documentary by Tucker Morrison, Samuel Ott, and Anthony Wilson shows a day in the life of these laborers—brushing their teeth with bottled water as they get ready in the morning, unwinding together with beers and songs in the evening.

In between, they keep the carnival operating, working twelve hours a day for three dollars an hour."

On the last day of carnival season, migrant workers keep the rides up and running for joyful kids, while they mourn lost time with their own families.

09/03/2025

"...Multiplexes in the United States and Canada had their worst summer since 1981, after adjusting for inflation and excluding the Covid pandemic years, when many theaters were closed for long periods.

Is it time for Hollywood to concede that a lot of moviegoers in North America are never coming back? That movie theaters have permanently lost 20 to 25 percent of their customers?

Those questions, which started as horrified whispers in studio hallways last year, have become more openly discussed in recent months."

The movie industry had high hopes that box office sales would return to pre-pandemic levels. It didn’t come close.

09/02/2025

"...The docuseries from Mark Wahlberg‘s Unrealistic Ideas follows the rise and fall of Redondo Beach native Owen Hanson, who went from being a walk-on for the 2004 national championship-winning USC football team to global co***ne kingpin.

'Co***ne Quarterback: Signal-Caller for the Cartel' follows Hanson from modest beginnings to unexpectedly walking on to the powerhouse USC football team to illegal sports bookmaking and eventually smuggling co***ne.

After graduation, with his superstar friends making millions in the NFL, the lure of fast money soon becomes too much to resist. Hanson parlayed his small-time criminality into a risky alliance with a powerful Mexican drug lord, intertwining his quest for wealth with the deadly world of organized crime."

EXCLUSIVE: Prime Video will premiere the three-part docuseries Co***ne Quarterback: Signal-Caller for the Cartel on September 25. The docuseries from Mark Wahlberg‘s Unrealistic Ideas follows the rise and fall of Redondo Beach native Owen Hanson, who went from being a walk-on for the 2004 national...

09/01/2025

"...An investigation into the plight of child care providers in California and ongoing efforts to help them, the film premieres on PBS’ website and app Monday, Sept. 1, and begins streaming on the PBS YouTube Channel on Tuesday, Sept. 2."

Bay Area filmmakers Jen Bradwell and Todd Boekelheide’s “Make a Circle” follows California child care providers, from low pay to union wins, capturing the crisis through tender classroom...

08/29/2025

This documentary is a tribute to all the early childhood educators out there! Your work is undeniably valuable to society! Here’s hoping your pay will one day reflect that!

Make a Circle Film airs 9/1 on PBS and our Making Media Now podcast chat with the husband/wife co-directors is now live on all podcast platforms!

08/29/2025

Sending out big congratulations to everyone behind Gone Guys Film for taking home Best Documentary Feature at the Vermont Film Festival!

AwardsWe are so excited to have awarded the following films special recognition at our festival. Keep an eye on the future of these filmmakers and their amazing work! 2025 Award Winners Best Doc FeatureGone GuysDirector: Chad Ervin Most Vermont-yError 404: Books Not FoundDirs: Lily Doton, William Sm...

08/28/2025

"...After a recent infusion of venture-capital money and a $3.5-billion valuation, its production budgets and commercial ambitions have grown. It now has a music label and an Off Broadway theatre, and has just created a division, A24 Labs, to explore A.I. tools."

The studio is brilliant at selling small, provocative films. Now it wants to sell blockbusters, too.

08/27/2025

Television critic Mike Hale of The New York Times gets it. As does celebrated filmmaker Stanley Nelson: American Experience | PBS has been unrivaled in historical documentary filmmaking since its inception. Through the stories it told--with unflinching precision and a commitment to scholarship--viewers came away feeling more informed and proud to be in a country that valued such storytelling.

"...The loss of new installments of 'American Experience' will not cause the outcry that a sudden interruption in the 'Real Housewives' franchise would inspire. But as an ongoing, serious examination of American history on TV, the show is unrivaled. The documentarian Stanley Nelson, who has produced seven films for 'American Experience,' said in an online statement in response to the hiatus, 'There is quite literally no replacement for this series.'..."

The documentary series “American Experience” begins an abbreviated schedule this week. A victim of the federal funding take-back, it has suspended production and laid off its staff.

08/27/2025

NEW EPISODE: Joining us on this episode are Jen Bradwell and Todd Boekelheide, the married co-directors of Make a Circle Film, a new documentary that offers a rare inside look at the lives of child care providers and early educators — the backbone of a child care system on the brink.

The film premieres Monday, September 1 streaming nationally on PBS.org the PBS app and on PBS TV stations (check local listings) across the country. (Check out the trailer in the Comments)

As Jen Bradwell says: “Make A Circle is a love letter to early educators and a portrait of a child care system in crisis. The film delves into one of the greatest disconnects in American society: the importance of a child’s first five years versus how the work of early care and education is valued.”

Joining host Michael Azevedo on this episode are Jen Bradwell and Todd Boekelheide, the married co-directors of "Make A Circle," a new documentary that offers a rare, inside look at the lives of child care providers and early educators — the backbone of a child care system on the brink. The film p...