by Debbie Burke
Holly Soriano is an independent film producer in Billings, Montana who’s creating a course about what they don’t teach you at film school but should.
For several weeks, I’ve been a beta tester for her zoom classes in screenwriting and film production.
Holly Soriano
Holly is zany, fanciful, and funny (she does standup as a side gig) with a passionate interest in mental health issues. Her full-length feature comedy My Apocalyptic Thanksgiving stars a hero with special needs. Her upcoming production is about a woman sent to an eastern Montana psych ward where she finds a fairy godmother who will grant her Three Wishes.
Holly has an MFA in screenwriting, studied with screenwriter Corey Mandell, and worked in the film industry in Los Angeles before coming home to Montana.
Her teaching style is whimsical. For example, her Power Point slides feature colorful aliens playing the roles of hopeful writers, melodramatic directors, and dream-crushing marketing executives.
Holly is quick to point out that Hollywood is not the center of the universe. The growing indie film industry demonstrates that good movies can be made anywhere and don’t necessarily require monster budgets.
Just as indie publishing democratized books, indie films leveled the playing field for movies. Before then, Holly says there was a class structure where actors and directors were at the top and those behind the scenes doing the actual work were looked down on.
She pokes fun at divas, striking a nose-in-the-air pose, flipping her hair, and proclaiming, “I’m an ar-teest!”
While writing a book is largely a solo effort, movie making is a collaboration among multiple contributors with different skill sets.
In the 16 shorts Holly has made, she learned how to do every job on the set. She understands where each piece fits into the puzzle and how they all work (or don’t work) together. Her mistakes teach lessons to make the next film better.
Short films (40 minutes or less) are an excellent training ground for filmmakers.
Thinking like a producer, Holly says, makes a writer realize, “Every line in a screenplay costs money.”
She says, “Films can be made cheap, or fast, or good, but not all three.”
In another example of threes, she explains: “Films are made three times. The writer writes one movie. The director writes another movie. The post-production editor looks at thousands of hours of uncut footage and asks, ‘how can I make this mess into a movie?'”
Raising money is always the big question.
Holly suggests first to put together free resources, like your own working knowledge, no-cost locations, and friends and family willing to help.
You can apply for grants available through state film commissions, charitable foundations, or educational institutions. State film commission offices may support a short that promotes recreational or cultural activities in your area.
Partnering with a nonprofit aligned with the film’s subject is another option. For example, Easterseals runs a Disability Film Festival where four of Holly’s shorts were shown.
An “angel” might be an A-list actor who sponsors the film. That is usually an actor seeking interesting, unique parts to stretch their talents beyond typical roles.
Once you make a movie, what do you do with it?
Theatrical release used to be the main option but no longer. Today films can be distributed through TV streaming services, Spotify, YouTube, libraries, on planes and cruises, etc.
During screenwriting class sessions, Holly emphasized the importance of stakes. Put the hero in a moral dilemma to reveal their character. Force them to make difficult choices. What are the consequences of their actions?
The screenplay for a feature film used to be 120 pages. Now it’s 105 pages or fewer, a reflection of rising costs and shorter attention spans of the audience.
While conflict is important, Holly advises not to have conflict for the sake of conflict. Don’t throw in a random fistfight just because you think it’s time for an action scene. Be sure conflict serves the story.
Interiority is different in films than in books. In books, the author goes inside the character’s head to express their thoughts, feelings, doubts, and fears. Movies are visual. Emotions need to be shown by actions that represent the feelings.
In addition to regular class sessions, Holly also met with each of us individually to discuss our projects. For the others, she reviewed their story outlines or scripts. In my case, she graciously took extra time to read the first book in my thriller series, Instrument of the Devil. She encouraged me to complete Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat beat sheet to help me translate literary to visual.
In the book Instrument of the Devil, the hero Tawny is introduced at home. Holly suggested a film version could instead open with a shot of the massive, imposing Hungry Horse Dam. Tawny’s broke and visits the dam hoping to get her former summer job back. Soon after, she becomes ensnared in a terrorist cyberattack on the electric grid.
Brilliant idea, Holly! That makes a much more visually dramatic first scene and ties in perfectly to the story.
Holly also thinks Nicole Kidman may want to play Tawny, the 50-ish widow, because Nicole believes there should be more stories featuring mature female leads.
Holly, from your lips to Nicole’s ears!
We met one-on-one several more times and Holly converted me from I’m really not interested in making movies to Wow, this is challenging and fun!
Thank you, Holly!
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Learn more about Holly, her projects, and upcoming classes at her website and her production company Darkness and Joy.
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TKZers: Have you written screenplays? Have you considered adapting your story for the movies?
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Please check out Instrument of the Devil and let me know if you think it has movie potential.
