Although I appreciate the message of this post, it totally ignores the more interesting aspects of the short, which maybe Mr. Stevens didn't elaborate on when he sent it to NFS. Clicking on the link and checking out his site, the short was shot Night-for-Day. Not that I'm a pro, but I watched that whole short without suspecting that. So, given that, yeah, gear does matter sometimes... I'm not shooting Night-for-Day with my iPhone.

1. What's your biggest psychological barrier when it comes to filmmaking? Although the sample answers somewhat covered it, it's more like "I'm probably not as creative as I'd like to think I am, or I used to be." 25 years at 8-10 hours a day of accounting work will do that. Then when I get home, I don't want to feel like I'm shirking any duties or neglecting my wife by isolating myself to work on something. I am getting better at this however, and the growth of my three kids is playing a huge part in this.

2. What's your biggest technical challenge in filmmaking? As a soon-to-be producer, everything really, since I haven't had any real technical experience. My wife has probably logged my hours in FCP than I have (my son definitely), as well as the camera I bought several years ago. I've got the book knowledge, just not practical experience.

3. What's your biggest logistical challenge? Given the previous answers, I'm going to say "time." Being two hours out of LA, I can probably find some crew and actors once I actually get to that point (real soon, hopefully)... something my involvement in a local film group has allowed me to explore a little. But up to now, time has been at a premium.

4. What's one piece of content that you would like to see on No Film School in the future? I love NFS, and I probably have about 400 links to past articles for me to review at some point in time. I agree with some of the other comments that I'd like to see more in-depth case studies or series of articles around one particular film. I got a lot out of Chris' series on "Cents" and Micah's series on "Menthol," and I appreciated the recent series on "Here Alone" enough that I became a supporter. (Hopefully, we'll see one for "Manchild" pretty soon!) Maybe we can get some more of these ranging from a micro-budget (like mine will be) up to $5 million or so... perhaps reaching out to producers of projects like this (via the trades or AFM listings) in hopes of getting some insights on every step of the process. (I've got about 20 books on my Amazon wish list covering all aspects of production, and one day I'll buy and read all of them... but until then, I rely on sites like NFS and Indiewire.) Specifically, answers to questions like: Which legal entity structure was used and why, what was the deciding factor? What scenes were cut out of the script and why? What were the most important factors for the production schedule and why? Why were certain people cast and what were the deciding factors over the next best candidate (with no names mentioned, obviously)? What were the difficulties or serious problems during production, and how could they have been fixed earlier in the process? Anyway, just all of the details! Even if it's from some of the NFS members (especially from those whose shit doesn't stink, at least by reading their comments), just something in-depth that answers these types of questions.

Thanks for "listening"!

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