Tricks of your trade.

[Papillon Noir]

Since I've been doing accounting the past few years, I have learned:
Debits on the left, Credits on the right. :D

But, seriously, since this is tax season, here's some advice:

Don't go to H&R Block or any of those tax service places to do your taxes, they cost you $50-$100 and sometimes more for something that you can do yourself for free. Turbo Tax (even worse) you are paying $50 for a program to do your taxes and you still have to do them yourself.

Here are your two FREE options:
1. Go to your library or post office and pick up your tax forms and instructions. The instructions are very detailed and there is a help number that you can call (again for free) and the IRS will walk you through all your forms and answer any question you may have. All you need is a pen and a calculator.

2. Do your taxes online at www.irs.gov. It's even easier than the paper forms and you can still call the IRS if you need help.

Remember, your tax refund is your money. This is money that you earned and that the federal government is borrowing from you. Yes, they take a portion that you don't get back, but the rest they return to you (though without interest).

This is why on your W-2 you should claim a number that will give you the most out of your paycheck, but without having to owe them. A lot of people claim zero (this will have to maximum amount taken out of your paycheck for taxes) so that they get a bigger "refund" at the end of the year. It is better that you have that money and put it in a savings account to earn interest than letting the government have it where you earn nothing.

[Unaboner3000]

Originally Posted by Papillon Noir

Don't go to H&R Block or any of those tax service places to do your taxes....

Wish you would have told me this about a week ago. Too late, the H&R guys got my money. But at least I can tell my friends, when they ask about doing taxes, that "I got people." :D

[Papillon Noir]

Originally Posted by Unaboner3000

Wish you would have told me this about a week ago. Too late, the H&R guys got my money. But at least I can tell my friends, when they ask about doing taxes, that "I got people." :D

See, you should have waited until April 15th. ;)

[Roderick Usher]

Hollywood...it an't a business, it's a club.

Studio Execs, Producers, Agent and Managers in Hollywood are in collusion and have created a closed system in order to control the "talent" i.e. writers, actors, directors. There is a belief that artists can't be businessmen, so they need someone to hold their hand through the legal crap.

You cannot submit material (or your reel) to the Producers and Studio Execs without a representative and you can't get a rep unless you have a credit. It is this closed system that justifies the otherwise useless position of Manger/Agent.



another one

If you have an idea for a movie and then the movie gets made, you have not been ripped off. I hear this over and over from "writers" who only come up with ideas but never commit anything to the page. Creative synchonicity is real and happens all the time. If you have an idea, chancers are there are at least a dozen others who have had the same idea. That's how you get two Asteriod films ion one year or two volcano films etc.

[bwind22]

Originally Posted by Roderick Usher

Hollywood...it an't a business, it's a club.

Studio Execs, Producers, Agent and Managers in Hollywood are in collusion and have created a closed system in order to control the "talent" i.e. writers, actors, directors. There is a belief that artists can't be businessmen, so they need someone to hold their hand through the legal crap.

You cannot submit material (or your reel) to the Producers and Studio Execs without a representative and you can't get a rep unless you have a credit. It is this closed system that justifies the otherwise useless position of Manger/Agent.

So how does a rookie with no credits, get credits? I know it's extremely difficult to accomplish, but there MUST be some ways to get 'in the club' for someone with no credentials or else there'd never be a new writer. If you don't mind me asking, how did you get people to start looking at your scripts? (Or if that's too personal, how have you seen other fresh faces actually break through the barrier and sell a few scripts or land a big role? ) I know Josh Hartnett didn't really know anyone when he went out there (My mom & his grandma were co-workers). He went into a cattle call audition for H2O and after a couple readthroughs, he was calling home telling people he was pretty sure he had the part. I don't even know if he had an agent at that point or not, but if he DID have one, how would he have gotten one without prior credits to his name?

another one

If you have an idea for a movie and then the movie gets made, you have not been ripped off. I hear this over and over from "writers" who only come up with ideas but never commit anything to the page. Creative synchonicity is real and happens all the time. If you have an idea, chancers are there are at least a dozen others who have had the same idea. That's how you get two Asteriod films ion one year or two volcano films etc.

I always thought that was 1 company trying to rush out a sub-par movie that is similar to an upcoming blockbuster from another company in hopes of tricking moviegoers (or renters) in to mistakenly grabbing or seeing the wrong films. I've even noticed several instances that the packaging looks really similar. But you're saying it's far less sinister than that and it's really nothing more than 2 writers and 2 different companies that all have the same idea at one time? I wish I could think of some examples, but I usually don't bother with the ones that look like a cheap imitation. Oh, oh, oh... I got one... Right after Swingers came out on video, some obscure Emilio Estevez flick went straight to video with a nearly identical package with a red & yellowish background and a sharp dressed guy holding up a martini glass. It seemed like their only purpose was to try to trick people into thinking they were renting Swingers.

[bwind22]

See what I mean? That looks like deceptive packaging/advertising to me.

[Roderick Usher]

[QUOTE=bwind22;564726]So how does a rookie with no credits, get credits? I know it's extremely difficult to accomplish, but there MUST be some ways to get 'in the club' for someone with no credentials or else there'd never be a new writer. If you don't mind me asking, how did you get people to start looking at your scripts? [QUOTE]

As an actor you might be able to get into a cattle call, or hack into "breakdown services" the company that lists all the casting calls for each week. But even then you usually have to pretend to be your own agent on the phone to book the gig. I got an acting agent after auditioning for (and landing the role in) RENT

As a writer, you need to send query letter after query letter to low level agencies and managers. If someone actually reads you, they might take you on. After you have one, you can get the attention of a better one. But I got my manager through a screenplay competition.

I always thought that was 1 company trying to rush out a sub-par movie that is similar to an upcoming blockbuster from another company in hopes of tricking moviegoers (or renters) in to mistakenly grabbing or seeing the wrong films.

Tha marketing department will absolutely try to trick viewers, and some movie companies out there rush crappy version of mainstream movies (Snakes on a Train, anyone) but there is a tremendous amount of creative synchonicity. There can be a half-dozen scripts about the same subject floating around at any given time.

Coincidentally this is why most producers won't accept unsolicited scripts. Say some writer sends in a script about...oh I don't know... "A prison Island where inmates must battle to the death" to a production company that is already developing the same or similar concept. Even if they never read the other script, there is a writer out there who thinks he's been ripped off and will try to file a lawsuit.

It is this kind of action that keeps the circle closed. I just sent a Bigfoot script to my buddy at Disney, who told me they have a Yeti script in development. He even gave me a few set pieces (which were rather similar to mine) to let me know that he has no intention of ripping me off and that any similarities would be purely coincidental. It happens all the time.

[Horror_Writer]

As it has been said with books--there really are no new ideas out there--just new ways of telling the same stories.

[bwind22]

Originally Posted by Horror_Writer

As it has been said with books--there really are no new ideas out there--just new ways of telling the same stories.

Whoever said that lacked an imagination, in my opinion. There's plenty of new ideas out there, they just need to be thought of.

Jeepers Creepers, Idiocracy, Crank, Saw... They are starting to be copied already, but those were all pretty fresh ideas when they came out and those were all in the last few years.

[Papillon Noir]

Originally Posted by bwind22

Jeepers Creepers, Idiocracy, Crank, Saw... They are starting to be copied already, but those were all pretty fresh ideas when they came out and those were all in the last few years.

Incidentally, Idiocracy has got to be one of the funniest and most clever movies I have ever seen. It was really creative. My friends and I joke about Starbucks and Fuddrucker's all the time. Unfortunately, no one seems to have heard of this movie.