DIANE BELL is a screenwriter and director. Her first feature, OBSELIDIA, premiered in Dramatic Competition at Sundance, where it won two awards, and went on to be nominated for two Independent Spirit Awards. Her second film, BLEEDING HEART, a drama starring Jessica Biel and Zosia Mamet, premiered at Tribeca. Her third feature, OF DUST AND BONES, is currently in festivals. She has written numerous commissioned and optioned scripts, including two with renowned director John McTiernan, director of Die Hard and Predator, and participated in the Sundance Screenwriters Lab. In addition to writing and directing movies, Diane teaches workshops on screenwriting and filmmaking, both in person and online, and is the author of Shoot From The Heart,  a guide to successful indie filmmaking, now available from Michael Wiese Productions. Follow her on Instagram @dianebell for daily inspiration and advice on her weekly #filmmaker2filmaker Instagram Live sessions and connect via her website, www.dianebell.com.

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Order Diane Bell's book Shoot From the Heart here.

Dave Watson: First congratulations on the book. How did it come about?

Diane Bell: Making my second film, Bleeding Heart, was a really tough process with a lot of battles over creative control. For a while, I felt depressed about filmmaking - the struggle didn't seem worth it.  But then I reflected on the experience that I had making my first movie, Obselidia, which was one of the richest, most fulfilling experiences of my life and resulted in a movie that won awards at Sundance.  I had an epiphany - we're all taught to believe as aspiring filmmakers that we make movies like Obselidia, a micro budget movie made for $140,000, in order to make bigger-budget films, that somehow making "bigger" movies is the goal. And I realized that is a lie - the process is the same whether you make a movie for $100,000 or $1 million. The biggest difference is that everyone gets paid more! The goal is to make the movie you want to make; to be empowered in your choices and never so desperate that you give your power away. To be able to make movies again and again on your own terms.  

Once I realized this, I started to teach workshops, in which I shared exactly how I made Obselidia, with the aim of inspiring and empowering other filmmakers to make successful indie films.  The book came out of the workshops, and I'm thrilled that now anyone can get this information if they dream of making movies.  

DW: You quickly move from having a singular script to locking down a schedule and budget. Did this book start out as a practical guide?

DB: Absolutely. The aim of the book is to provide anyone who wants to make a movie with a clear and actionable plan so they can do it and do it well.

DW: Why is it so important to find a line producer?

DB: A line producer will create a schedule and budget for your film and these are the necessary and essential foundations (along with your script) for making a standout film.  Without a realistic, smart schedule and budget, you don't have a chance of making a good movie, no matter how good the script, so it's essential to get these right.


DW: There are so many film festivals. How do you choose which ones to enter once you've completed a film? Are audience or distributive prospects the main factors?

DB: Do your research. Talk to other filmmakers. Have your dreams and go after them, so totally submit to Sundance even if it seems like the longest shot in the world - my first film got selected there from the slush pile, so it can happen. Then follow up with strategic submissions to festivals that deliver movies to your tribe.  Know though that festivals aren't the be all and end all - you can release your movie without festivals, you just need to be smart about how to build the audience for it. 

DW: You grew up in many parts of the world. Was film an early interest of yours?

DB: I always loved movies for sure, doesn't every kid?  When I was thirteen and living in Australia, I used to write down every movie I watched and rate it out of ten. It's quite funny to see that I thought Hitchcock's The Birds was only a seven, whereas the second Rambo was an eight! Terrible taste. But to be honest, I was more into literature and books. I dreamed of being a writer. It wasn't until I was at university and discovered arthouse cinema that I really fell in love with movies and realized that the language of cinema could be as rich, or richer, than the books I loved. It was the films of Bresson, Bergman, Tarkovsky, Ozu, Truffaut, and Fellini that totally changed my life.

DW: What's next? 

DB: I'm planning to launch an online course early next year based on my book, but going much deeper.  I'm totally committed to inspiring and empowering aspiring filmmakers, because I know to me it seemed so impossible for so long to actually make movies (I didn't direct my first one until I was thirty-seven).

Also I'll be releasing my new film Of Dust and Bones and I'm very excited about that.

DW: What's it about?

DB: It's about a woman who lives a reclusive life in the desert and what happens when a man comes to visit her uninvited.  It's a slow burner (there's no dialogue for the first 40 minutes), and it wrestles with some tough subjects: grief, guilt, violence, privilege, the ongoing war in Syria and our unwillingness to look or to try to help.  So it's a real light-hearted crowd pleaser...!

I'm also writing a new script right now.  I'm still in the first draft, but I haven't been so excited about anything for a long time.  Sometimes I think that being a filmmaker is like being  a serial monogamist - every time you start a new project, you think it's The One.  And then it turns out not to be The One, and it disappoints you somehow.  So you have to keep going.  But this one...perhaps I'm a hopeless romantic, but this one could really turn out to be The One.  And I always say, if I ever make a perfect movie, that will be it.  I'll never have to make another one.

DW: What's your favorite cinematic moment? This can be a scene, individual shot, emotional moment in a film growing up or one you saw this last year.

DB: Damn, that's a hard question, because there are SO MANY.  But a moment that springs immediately to mind, perhaps because it's December and I just re-watched it, is from It's a Wonderful Life. It's when George Bailey is running down the main street of Bedford Falls and after being suicidal, he's now overjoyed to be alive; he even shouts out,"Happy Christmas you old Buildings and Loans!"  I cry every time I see it.  And I've seen it every single year for over twenty years.  It's the only moment I know in a film that makes me cry because I'm happy, which is endlessly fascinating to me. It's easy to make people cry because they're sad, but because they're happy?!  It's exquisite. That is something to aspire to in filmmaking for sure.

Clip: It's a Wonderful Life

Founder and editor of Movies Matter, Dave Watson is a writer and educator in Madison, WI.