NATPE

The National Association of Television Program Executives hosts a conference in Las Vegas every January. This is where all the big-wigs go to buy and sell TV shows and movies. Stacey Parks has a blog with some tips for attendees (scroll down to the Sunday Jan. 14 post). It costs around $1000 to attend, so I probably won't be going next year, but who knows? The thing I like the most was her use of the word "their" in the below sentence:

...so you may get lucky and get to talk to some companies while their standing their at their booth.

In her defense, she used it correctly in the rest of the blog.
The NATPE site has videos from this year's conference for sale at their store for $29.95.

9-27-07 Update: The tips can now be found here (with the same typo). The link above doesn't work. She's now associated with filmspecific.com.

Free Stuff

Indie filmmaker Paul Zadie has a list of free resources for filmmakers. Most of the forms are useless for day-to-day video work, but the software, storyboard sheets, and screenplay templates could be pretty useful. (Warning: He uses those annoying Snap previews on all his links):

Being an indie filmmaker is pretty tough sometimes. The tools required to get the job done can be a little bit pricey, so here’s a list of software, screenplay templates, storyboard sheets and production forms for your use. The important list here is the forms. Keeping proper records and getting the required releases is a must if you are making a film. From pre-production to post-production, forms are some of the most valuable tools in independent filmmaking. Feel free to download these forms for use on your project. They are all in MS Word format. If you do not own Microsoft Word, you can check the software list below for free, open source alternatives.

More Online Resources

Sonnyboo.com, the site of micro-filmmaker Peter John Ross, has a few pages of free downloads for filmmakers (also relevant to video producers). He features music, articles, forms, and a video tutorial, all free for the clicking. There's also a page of stations and shows looking for short films. Some of the information seems a little dated, and some of the article links just go to the Amazon page for his book, but there's plenty of good stuff. If you like what you find, splurge and buy his book about filmmaking or the DVD of his short films.