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Last month we held our annual Film Independent Forum at the DGA complex here in LA. Not only was there great networking opportunities like Industry Connect, screenings like Will & Harper and a 10th anniversary showing of The Babadook, but there were great panels where industry insiders shared their thoughts on the present and future of the art and business of independent filmmaking.

Today we’d like to share with you just some of these conversations. The topics range from the state of indie financing, to adapting stories for our climate impacted future, to taking meetings in your local laundromat. This year also had a special global emphasis, which is especially timely in an era where the next Oscar winner or streaming hit could come from anywhere and be made anywhere.

So many talented people shared their experiences navigating making movies, selling movies and sharing movies across the globe. Take...

Nothing could be more LA than a weekend at the fabulous Forum; the celebrities court-side, the drama(s), and all those players doing it for the love of the game. No we’re not talking about the Winning Time Showtime Lakers, we’re talking the 2024 Film Independent Forum. We’re set for another jampacked year, filled with screenings, panels, workshops, one-on-one meetings and networking receptions. And all of that is jammed into two action packed days. Get your passes right here, right now.

The official schedule can be found here—but we can guarantee another great year of wide-ranging and inclusive conversation about the winning strategies for the art and business of independent film. With panels and networking events like Industry Connect, we’ll help you find the right teammates and creative juices needed to sustain a long-term career in the filmmaking arena.

“This year’s Forum will explore our...

To celebrate its Netflix streaming debut on Friday, September 27, road trip documentary “Will & Harper” will screen at the Directors Guild of America in Los Angeles and cap off the first day of the 2024 Film Independent Forum.

Organized by Film Independent, the nonprofit arts group responsible for the Independent Spirit Awards, this annual forum will take place over two days (September 27 through 28) and feature topical discussions with over 40 filmmakers from around the world. This event also provides a space for attendees to network with independent filmmakers and content creators from various backgrounds.

“This year’s Forum will explore our evolving industry through a wider perspective, where the definitions of fiction and nonfiction, big screen and small screen, and domestic and international are being redefined,” Maria Raquel Bozzi, Film Independent’s Senior Director of Education and International Initiatives, said. “We are thrilled to see such a large number of our international...

A star-studded creative team brings the thrilling saga of Stan Siegel to life in The Writer, blending folklore and demonic chaos for a high-octane adventure. Josh Gad's first foray into comics introduces a hero compelled to stop terror in a race against time. Josh Gad, the Berkowitz brothers, Ariel Olivetti, and Frank Cvetkovic deliver a celebration of storytelling with The Writer, weaving personal stories of heroism and humor.

Screen Rant is excited to exclusively announce that actor Josh Gad has partnered with Dark Horse Comics for The Writer, an upcoming comic series. It features an all-star creative team including the actor and singer, as well as creative storytellers, and an artist known for their work on Marvel comics. This fantasy will blend cultural folklore and real-life challenges.

The Writer has the creative team of Josh Gad, Ben Berkowitz, Max Berkowitz, Ariel Olivetti, and Frank Cvetkovic. The series will span...

At Nycc, the third and final season of The All Nighter, by Chip Zdarsky and Jason Loo, was officially announced. The release of issue #11 has been pefectly timed for release on Halloween, and we have preview pages from the new issue, along with an exclusive look at the Harpies character designs!

Chip Zdarsky and Jason Loo, the Eisner award-winning team behind Afterlift, return to the diner—the only one in town open from sunset to sunrise and run by covert vampire superheroes—for the third and final season. Featuring colors by Paris Alleyne, letters by Frank Cvetkovic, and edits by Allison O’Toole, The All-Nighter Season 3 will be released monthly from Amazon’s Comixology Originals exclusive digital content line with issue #11 debuting on October 31, 2023.

“I’m incredibly excited to bring our vampire family adventure to its epic conclusion!” says Zdarsky. "We’ve taken them from flipping burgers to fighting crime and...

The Intruder episode of Wtf Happened to This Horror Movie? was Written by Emilie Black, Narrated by Adam Walton, Edited by Juan Jimenez, Produced by Andrew Hatfield and John Fallon, and Executive Produced by Berge Garabedian.

Slashers, one of the most popular sub-genres in horror. One with hundreds, if not thousands of entries. While it was certainly on the downturn in the late 1980s, it still seemingly had a new title released every week. In 1989 alone, the slasher world saw the releases of A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child, Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland, Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan, Deadly Manor, I Madman, and a whole bunch more. It was a year for slasher sequels with a few originals peppered in. Slashers were big box office and direct-to-video draw in general and studios were churning them out. The slashers were on the prowl and...

Is there anything more satisfying than going to Amazon, typing in the name of an 1980s movie you’ve long wanted to see debut on DVD (or be reissued), and discovering it’s on its way? It just happened to me with 1987′s The Allnighter starring Susanna Hoffs, Joan Cusack, and Dedee Pfeiffer, which hits DVD Aug. 3. I’m pretty sure the jacket says it all, but you can also watch the trailer below. Fun fact: John Terlesky, who played C.J., the hot surfer Hoffs’ character wants to become more than friends with before they graduate college, is now...

I've had my share of all-nighters, and sure, some of them were for a perfectly legitimate reason like studying, but I'll be honest with you: most of them were for reasons that for the sake of propriety, I shouldn't go into here -- and I know I'm not the only one. Who doesn't have a story about that one great night? Or that one party that couldn't be missed? Exactly, we all do, and maybe that's why we all love a good story about some wild and crazy all-nighter.

This Friday, audiences will be treated to another tale full of all-night shenanigans with I Love You, Beth Cooper, which follows a high school nobody who changes everything when he utters those five words during his graduation speech. So just like every 'all-nighter' film to go before it, Cooper is about breaking out of your comfort zone and watching the best...

There are no songs written about the summer of '87, but I remember well. As well as someone who is in her 30's can remember when she was 11, anyway. There were some fine movies out that summer, and when I say fine, I mean "I'm Netflixing this Asap" fine or "this was totally awesome when I was 11" fine. There were the Bangles, the Borscht Belt, big schwartzes, and much more.

5/1 -- The Allnighter: Did someone forget to tell me that there's a romcom beach bunny movie starring Susanna "Manic Monday" Hoffs and Joan Cusack with a Pam Grier cameo? I don't care if it got 0% on Rotten Tomatoes, I am adding this to my Netflix Slumber Party list right now.

5/8 -- Hot Pursuit // River's Edge: Another "I'm so lovable yet dorky" John Cusack vehicle versus Crispin Glover, Keanu Reeves, Dennis Hopper dancing with a blow-up doll, and a dead body?...

By Neil Pedley

As the temperature rises, romance blooms amongst the geriatric set, "Mary Poppins" goes Bollywood, and parents will get their first chance to lay eyes on that which will likely have them driving to Toys "R" Us all summer long.

"Elsa and Fred"

Seeing anyone under 30 fall in love on screen is elusive these days, and so director Marcos Carnevale's gentle and endearing tale of romance between a couple with a real-life combined age of 176 is quite the breath of fresh air. In a role that nabbed several awards in his native Spain, Manuel Alexandre stars as Fred, an embittered widower whose chance encounter with Elsa (China Zorilla), a mischievous Fellini fanatic, leads the pair to Italy to fulfill her dream of reenacting the famous Trevi Fountain scene from Fellini's "La Dolce Vita." In Spanish with subtitles.

Opens in limited release.

"Finding Amanda"

Fans of the small...