Making Your First Feature Film ─ Lessons I Learned the Hard Way

The tools for independent filmmaking are more accessible today than ever. Yet there is much more to successfully creating a film than access to equipment and software. Chronicling the making of his premier feature film, A Convenient Truth (2015), the author describes the practical preproduction steps needed take a film project from early concept to the first day of photography—details most filmmaking guides don’t include. A scene-by-scene breakdown describes the transferrable lessons learned during the production and postproduction phases. Filmmakers’ options for what to do after completing their first feature are also covered.

Dominick Bagnato is a screenwriter and director based in New York City.