WHAT IS THE INDEPENDENT FILM SCHOOL?   In 2006, after playing a key role in various writing groups, I invited folks to an impromptu screenwriting workshop. Eight people showed up. Word got out about my knack for training writers and within two years, several hundred writers had been to my workshops. As I went on to direct and produce as well (mostly by necessity), my workshops organically developed in the same indie-spirit direction. In 2009 I added producing and directing workshops, and those saw the same success. I currently teach my workshops under the alias of The Independent Film School. All workshops offered under this alias are personally taught by me. I'm a perpetual student and workshop junky myself. Each of my workshops is as clear and accessible a presentation as I can create, of the best tools that I encounter in the world. I spend more time making films than teaching, so I get to continually modify and develop my favorite tools, combine them across disciplines, and invent new ones. My tools are the result of applying what I learn to my own work, and observing their effects on my students. My guiding principle has been to create the workshops that I wish I had gotten to take. I think back to my own beginnings as a filmmaker and I create the workshops that I wish that young woman had gotten to attend: ones that are packed with concrete information, and are super supportive and encouraging. My life would have been very different if I had gotten the encouragement that artists need. My workshops are a gift to this young woman, a token of my appreciation that somehow, against all odds, she managed to believe in herself just enough, and reach out for help just enough, to be able to keep going. It's been a highlight of my work to discover that my gift to myself has automatically become a gift to so many of my peers as well. Scroll down this page for a few words on my missions statement, opportunities, networking, and my approach to teaching. Thanks for reading! Ela

Ela Thier directs her student film, a musical adaptation of "Plato's Symposium", 1991

Directors & Actors workshop, 2010

MISSION STATEMENT I’m a filmmaker because I have two long-range goals: My first long-term goal is to do my part in transitioning our society from one that is centered around profits, to one that is centered around human needs. My second goal is to enjoy my life. Making films brings me closer to both of these goals. Teaching and benefitting from the wisdom and experience that my students brought with them, woke me up to the fact that I'm just one member of an entire cadre of filmmakers whose work is aimed to better the world, and to enjoy it. Big-money studios have no choice but to churn out films that they think might profit, rather than films that they find meaningful. What studio heads don’t understand is that honest and uplifting films about human caring are the most commercially viable ones, because audiences are hungry for a reminder of what’s truly possible in life. If you look at the biggest hits in recent years, from Bridesmaids to King's Speech, from Little Miss Sunshine to Brokeback Mountain, films that rock the box office are films about human caring. Mean-spirited stories, scary films that discourage us, images that exploit and disrespect women, all these are marketed as sexy. I think that genuine human caring and empowerment is the new sexy. My mission is to become just one part of an entire wave of filmmakers and artists who share these goals.

OPPORTUNITIES The first YouTube video that I ever watched was the Free Hugs guy, who is now at 71.5 million views, and this doesn’t count all the versions and free-hug sequels that came afterwards. That’s more views than most big-budget, star-powered, Hollywood movies get. Today’s technology has made two things possible that were not possible just a few years ago:   1) The internet has made distribution more democratic. post a compelling piece on YouTube and even 10,000 views, a modest number, still means that you got a wider audience than if your film rocked the festival circuit. Reaching audiences has never been easier. 2) Given today’s digital film technology, it is possible to create studio-quality images with little to no money. There are now cameras that are affordable to people like you and me (or to friends of people like you and me), that can create professional-looking, distributable films. Ironically, the advent of digital film has made audiences (and distributors) a lot more forgiving when it comes to the look of a film. The film Once looks like a badly-made home video (not intentionally), and the film took indie theaters by a storm and even won an Oscar for one of its songs. I saw it in the theater twice, and I don’t see most films in the theater even once (pun intended!) That was before I went ahead and bought the film on dvd.  Whenever I get nervous about a soft shot, a grainy image, or a less-than-perfect dolly move, I think about Once and remind myself that the quality of a film is in the story telling.

Camera workshop, May 2011

Ela Thier's screenwriting workshop. Photograph by Guy Shahar, 2007

ASSISTED NETWORKING The word “networking” is industry jargon for “making friends”. You can’t make movies without making friends with other people who want to make movies. When people show up to my class, half of what they get is what I have to teach, and the other half are the opportunities to forge relationships with people in the room. Unfortunately, most people are as shy as I am. It’s not easy to start up a chat in the elevator and ask someone if they want to meet up some time (yikes!) That’s why I’m very hands on in guiding people towards each other. A large number of our activities in workshops are focused on folks getting to work with other folks. Often my highlights from a class are the collaborations that emerge. My classes are also the bulk of where I do my own networking. My own films would not have come to fruition without the talented and hard-working people that I’ve met in my own classes.

HOW I TEACH Every artist, myself included, needs someone who believes in them. We need someone who holds high expectations of us, who gets excited about our work, who pushes us to do more than we thought we could, and who reminds us to be pleased with ourselves and quit being hard on ourselves, when we push too hard on our own and forget to have fun. A good instructor has two jobs: the first is to communicate practical tools as clearly and accessibly as possible. The second is to create the conditions that make it possible to learn. How does one create a fruitful learning environment? Think back to your early school days: when a teacher liked you, you did well, you felt confident, you became interested in the subject. When you felt disliked by the teacher, you also felt bad about yourself and didn't do as well academically.   I think writers and filmmakers thrive in my classes because I genuinely love and respect every person who walks through my doors. The combination of being loved while receiving excellent training is what will ultimately create the best writers and filmmakers we could hope to have.

Ela Thier demonstrates a "deep staging" shot, using miniature stand-ins, 2011