The film short I'm co-producing "Accused" is now in post production and during the editing process I've been putting together a marketing plan for promotion, audience building and defining our goals for the project. One thing that has become apparent to me is the need for structuring a "things to do list" in such a way that the basics are locked down, while leaving room for contingencies. In addition, we have been discussing the most effective way in which we can use this production "as a means of advertising", the way that Thomas Mai suggested during my chat with him.

One of the new voices speaking out and being heard about "New World" film marketing and distribution business models belongs to Festival Darlings founder Thomas Mai, who will soon be relocating from Brazil and setting up shop in Los Angeles. A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of receiving an invitation to chat with him on Skype about a couple of projects I'm currently working on and the consulting services that he's offering to filmmakers.

Emerging filmmakers are always looking for new ways to network and build relationship currency with others connected to the entertainment industry.

On Friday night I enjoyed attending a Red Carpet Premiere at the Las Vegas Hilton for a couple of reasons. First of all, it was a theatrical screening of "Reach for Me", a heartwarming independent film starring Seymour Cassel, Adrienne Barbeau, Lacey Chabert, Johnny Whitworth and Alfre Woodard, which has won several awards on the festival circuit. The story deals with the end of days for some residents in a hospice and how one young, vibrant man revives the spirit of an older and bitter one, who had been squandering his time waiting for death.

As I've mentioned before on this blog, staying aware of what's going on in the entertainment industry is essential for any aspiring filmmaker. Knowing what movies are being made and which executives are switching jobs, when they're doing so faster than children playing a game of musical chairs, is important if you want to keep current. Recently I recommended Baseline Studio Systems as a source of intel and I also receive email updates from The Wrap and Nikki Finke's Deadline Hollywood.

Being fairly new to the filmmaking scene and living in Las Vegas, as opposed to L.A. or New York, I must say that I find social media to be an effective and inexpensive networking tool. I launched Filmmakers Notebook in July and with the exception of conferences and seminars I attended in Los Angeles and the people I've become acquainted with locally, I really didn't know anyone in the film world. When you're starting out, this severely limits your ability to find colleagues to collaborate or share ideas with. I've found that social media, particularly Twitter and Facebook , have helped to fill this gap.

Now that we've finished shooting "Accused" and we're in post-production, I have more observations as a first time producer that I'd like to share with you. First of all, when it comes to making a film, expect changes. If you are a producer, your real title should be juggler because the closer you get to the shoot, the more juggling you'll find yourself doing and it doesn't stop there. Regardless of how much planning you do beforehand, something unexpected is bound to happen. You'll lose a crew member, have a location changed or some other curve will be thrown at you. Be prepared to shift gears and adapt or better still have a back up plan. For example, on our production, we lost our script supervisor two days prior to shooting. Since we couldn't find someone else on such short notice, I had to cover. One thing you learn quickly when you're producing a no/low budget movie is that you have to step in wherever and whenever you're needed in order to remain on schedule.

There's an old expression that knowledge is power and I believe that now is the time for indie filmmakers to embrace that adage and learn as much as possible about the business side of the movie industry.

IFP Phoenix host Amanda Melby starts off 2010 interviewing filmmaker of the month Jon Bonnell, who shares his experiences producing and finding distribution for his films.

I've been thinking about Yanagimachi Mitsuo's documentaries recently and decided to re-edit this essay from two years ago.

Although filmmakers of Japan have traditionally addressed national identity in their work it was not until the Japanese New Wave—or Nuberu bagu—that this self-analysis brought the country's cinema to international relevancy, rather than serve to mark it as exotic or inaccessible for most viewers. Events in Japanese society—student movements, political upheaval, globalization, a rift between generations—appeared analogous to those in the rest of the world. Of course issues in each region were not interchangeable, and neither were people's reactions.