Wouldn’t it be easier if the two of us just wrote our movies and filmed them without input from our friends, actors, composers, props people, etc.? Possibly. Maybe it’d be even smoother if one of us wrote the movie and then the other directed it. Less talking, more filming. But then our final product wouldn’t be as rich, and the process, not as fun. We’re more interested in storytelling that is shared.

Since we’re a screenwriting duo, it’s natural that we start with each other. All of our screenplays begin when one of us has a small, creative flash – an image, a concept, a personality with intriguing implications. Once the idea is shared, it enters the world and becomes a dialogue between two. We explore the ideas in depth, create characters, construct scenarios. It is a shared process, dialogic from the outset.

Discussion doesn’t stop once the script is finished. Because we produce our own short films, we get to share and explore the ideas once again – with actors, cinematographers, composers, our friends. It is at this point that the work changes and deepens once more. And the deepening is manifold.

• While making Libidoland, we had many insightful conversations with our lead actress about her experiences as a dominatrix. We learned about both the motivations for doing that kind of work as well as what the clients were into and expected. Most importantly, we talked about the prevalence of different tastes and desires beyond what’s considered “normal,” an issue that lies at the heart of the film.

• While making Sound Sleeper, my sister and I found ourselves laughing until we cried about comical memories from our childhood and comparing them to what our parents remembered. My dad, of course, had no recollection of being the cause of so much nighttime drama.

• While making Snow Bunny, the people who wanted to contribute the most were my nieces who played Mandy and Delilah. Being from a broken home themselves, they immediately understood the tension, the anxiety, and the isolation their characters felt. Both girls brought a lot to their roles – sometimes too much, as my eldest niece sometimes wanted to use the film as a vehicle to vent her anger at her own neglectful parents.

Though these discussions and conversations in the midst of filmmaking are not always whimsical or fun, this is where the true joy of filmmaking lies – in connecting with others and exploring what it means to be human.

The final step, of course, is to find an audience, share our work, and get their thoughts. Although we’ve enjoyed a relatively small audience for our films, an extraordinary amount of discussion has been generated, especially for Snow Bunny and Libidoland. We love that people have a lot of opinions, and we aim in the future to open our world, find a larger audience, and engage with even more people.

So what happens after we get our audience’s feedback? Well, we want to make another movie, of course. Back to the drawing board…

Thanks to Jessica and Julie for joining us today. To find out more about the filmmaking team of King is A Fink visit their website. I also strongly recommend you follow them on Twitter – they’re smart, funny, and understand the art of communication and the tweet.

View their work:

Libidoland

Sound Sleeper

Snow Bunny

What’s EgoFest?

EgoFest is a one day film festival for shorts.  It takes place in Brainerd, MN on February 20th, 2010.  EgoFest was originally a one time festival four years ago.  Since EgoFest was never planned as an ongoing event, everyone had a great time and then went their separate ways.  But in the last year, questions started coming in from our small community about when the next EgoFest was going to happen.  Now you can only say “I don’t know” so many times before you need to honestly look for a better answer.  That answer…  was to bring back EgoFest.  I’m sure there are a lot of people thinking “that’s nice, but there are tons of film festivals all over the place, and some of those are only for shorts, too.”

How is EgoFest different?

Our motto is “EgoFest is Filmmaker Friendly”.  For starters, we have no entry fee.  Submission to EgoFest is free for all the people who have toiled and cried and bled and screamed and gone without sleep for days, you know… filmmakers.  These filmmakers are trusting us with their babies, what more can we ask?  We gladly get the money to put on the festival from other places.  Also, I’ve heard filmmakers say that for them it’s all about the audience, but for the staff at EgoFest, the festival is all about the filmmaker, they are the stars of the show.  We know how hard filmmaking is and how stressful a screening can be.  So we try to do what ever we can to help put your mind at ease and enjoy the festival.

We are available.

We feel one of the most important parts of “filmmaker friendly” is just plain being available.  We have made sure, with the technology today that we can always be reached.  Check out our contact us page .  If you have questions, concerns, or just want to say hi, you can give a call.  I’ll be happy to hear from you.  You can also email, Facebook, or Myspace (if you’re into that).  Or perhaps, my personal favorite, Twitter.

Let’s tweet.

Twitter has become a tool EgoFest can no longer do without.  We can keep in touch with filmmakers all over the globe, and we do, on an everyday basis.  There are many we have met on twitter that support our festival.  Some have then reached out to us outside of twitter. Film Courage (@filmcouage), Film Snobbery (@filmsnobbery) and Video20Q (@video20q)  were kind enough to invite us onto their shows and let us talk about EgoFest.  We have also recieved many entries as a direct result of meeting filmmakers on twitter.  There are entries from Jessica King and Julie Keck (@kingisafink) , John Trigonis (@Trigonis) , 4D4 Films (@4D4Films) just to name a few.  Twitter also happens to be where I met Maria (@Maria_56).

Alright, I’ll wrap it up.

You don’t have to take my word for it, go look around our website (and don’t forget to take a peek at this years prizes) or go on Facebook or Twitter.  Really, I think that if you take nothing else away from this post (which may be easy to do) I simply want you to know that EgoFest is rooting for you.  We want to see you succeed and we will be here to answer filmmakers’ questions, give some advice, get the word out about your film, or what ever we can do to help you in this crazy business.  And that offer stands, whether you send us a film or not.  Us indie film people need to support each other and stand together.

Thanks again Maria!
Phil Holbrook (@Philontilt)

I met Phil on Twitter, he’s a creative filmmaker I admire and respect, and he’s got a damn good sense of humor.  You’ll see what I mean when you view his latest short film  “Honest Work”. – Maria