If you are at all involved in the film world you’ve probably noticed that over the last couple of years, conversations about AI tend to fall into a few different camps. Aaaaand, similar to our political environment, the conversation can seem somewhat polarizing at times. There are filmmakers who have fully embraced it and are using it every chance they get. There are filmmakers who won't touch it under any circumstances and are VERY vocal of their disdain for it. And then there are plenty of...

An EPK can sound more official than it feels when you are making an independent film. Electronic Press Kit. Press kit. Festival kit. Distribution materials. Whatever name gets used, the purpose is pretty simple: give people the information they need to understand the film, talk about the film, and decide whether the film fits what they are looking for. That’s it. Not glamorous, but VERY useful. When I rebuilt the EPK for HAPTIC, I tried to stop thinking of it as a marketing document and start...

Festival strategy can get abstract fast. People talk about “getting into the right festivals,” “building buzz,” and “landing distribution” as if there is one clear path every independent film follows. The reality is much more complicated. A festival run is a combination of programming, audience, timing, relationships, and a little bit of luck. Every film enters that ecosystem differently, with different strengths, different goals, and different challenges. As I move HAPTIC through this...