B E H I N D   T H E   S C E N E S : 
T H E   D I R E C T O R ' S   I N T R O D U C T I O N

You have Steven Soderbergh, Richard Linklater, Kevin Smith, Darren Aronofsky. Then you have Robert Rodriguez, the prodigy of the last decade. Blair Witch hits theatres in 1999. Big studios love it. Crowds are pleased. Grosses over 140 Million. December 2003, the Panasonic camera I use in Moonshine comes out, retailing $3495.00. I don't rent one because I can buy one. The digital revolution won't be 1 year or 2 years from now because it was yesterday. Today, Michael Mann shoots digital, Open Water rocked the box office. Today some pimply girl in Ohio with a digital camera is about to make the next Raging Bull. Give her 3 years til she's the next Scorsese.

Media on the internet is sky-rocketing - and the mid-sized film studios are beginning to fall. Warner Independent Pictures just closed - and one of the head honchos Mark Gill gave a speach. In it, he said: "Of the 5,000 films submitted to Sundance each year -- generally with budgets under $10 million -- maybe 100 of them got a U.S. theatrical release three years ago. And it used to be that 20 of those would make money. Now maybe five do. That's one-tenth of 1%. Put another way, if you decide to make a movie budgeted under $10 million on your own tomorrow, you have a 99.9% chance of failure."

Mark Gill has half of the story, but he's missing the insane beauty of it all. The new studios are at home, one click away. This is the democratization of film - and really, truly, for independent filmmakers this is a dream come true. Now, we all have a voice! And that little Ohio girl is working her fingers to the bone. She's making it happen. Why? Because she knows that the only thing between her film and an audience of millions is...an upload.

WARNING: The following recipe can be dangerous when ingested:  Entire box of commitment, A scriptful of life, 1 big jug of sweat, a crewful of brains, and 1 stubborn man to say "Action." Stir mixture in a small town and cover. Chemical reaction takes 1 month. Remove seal and enjoy Moonshine.

Introducing the Ultra-low Budget Filmmaking section of the Official Moonshine website. I dedicate this section to all the people who find a way to do the impossible, to the little girl in Ohio, and to the cause of ultra-low budget filmmaking.

                                              - Roger  E. Ingraham