Hello everyone. I'm James Edward Holley and I am a filmmaker. But these days, what does that mean exactly?
It seems everyone with a smart phone or a Tik Tok thinks they are a filmmaker. Well, perhaps they are. Who am I to judge? But that isn't the kind of filmmaker I want to be. I don't remember the last 20 second video I watched online but I'll never forget Indiana Jones nearly being rolled over in a cave by a giant boulder. I'll never forget Gary Oldman's character, Stansfield, screaming to bring him "EVERYONE!" in Leon The Professional. Those moments are what I hope to create in my own movies. Moments are memories. That's the goal. Give the audience at least one lasting memory in each act of the script.
If you are a filmmaker in the traditional sense of the term, you may not think a specific scene or moment matters. That it's the whole of the project that should serve as the lasting memory. That's fine. This is art so in no other forum does the phrase "you be you" mean more. However, me being me, I respectfully disagree. If someone is going to take 90 minutes to three hours out of their day to watch one of my movies, I owe them lasting memories. That's how I see it.
So where do we start? That's an obvious question with a slew of potential answers. I currently have four feature film projects in some phase of production and not one came to be the same as any other. In my next submission I'll explain how I got my ideas, how they were cultivated, what I feel I did correctly and what I wish I had known before I started. Until then, Best Regards to you all. I hope you go make something great.
James