Podcast About Filmmaking

Lately, I’ve really been enjoying this podcast called SO YOU WANT TO BE A FILMMAKER? made by Charles Tashiro, an indie filmmaker who also taught at the University of Southern California.

Probably his most popular show in the series is his “That List” show where he points out how many famous filmmakers didn’t go to film school and tries to answer the question of why that is. It is a very long list with some of the most influential, important filmmakers of our time. There were a lot of interesting points in another episode about why he has no nostalga for the days of filmmaking with celluloid. He goes into all the practical concerns and issues that hampered filmmakers then and more about how digital filmmaking really opens up new possibliities for films. After listening to “A Tale of Three Filmmakers” (and suggestions from friends in addtion to this), my eyes were opened a bit more about new media distribution of films. A few days later, I put my film on YouTube and SuperDeluxe and saw first hand the power of word of mouth, via internet.

He’s very entertaining to listen to and I like how you can really hear it in his voice when he’s disgusted or dismayed by something. Even if you don’t agree with his viewpoints, I think you can still get a lot out of it. You can get a hint of this by his description of the show “As more and more people believe they are budding Spielbergs and plunge into the abyss of film making, few stop to think about what they might be getting into.” There’s more passion in his podcast than in most I’ve heard and he doesn’t hesitate to tell it like he sees it in a humorous way. He also has another podcast THINKING ABOUT MOVIES if you enjoy his filmmaking one.