Gorilla Film School

My name is Brian Bowers and I just wanted to take a minute to thank you for stopping by to check out Gorilla Film School.

If you’re like most independent filmmakers, you probably didn’t go to a traditional film school. You’ve probably been learning things on your own, by making films through trial and error, or by trying to study some of the more than 400,000 filmmaking tutorials that can be found on YouTube alone.

Maybe you haven’t made a film at all–maybe you’d really like to get started but just aren’t sure how, or are so overwhelmed with all the filmmaking information floating around on the internet, that you just don’t know where to get started.

Was your film or acting school education a waste?

Maybe you even WENT to film school–you learned the theory, you learned film history, you maybe even got to work on a few projects while you were in school. But then you got out into the world and discovered that the reality of being a filmmaker is much, much different than they made it out to be in film school.

If ANY of these scenarios apply to you, then you’re in the right place.

I’ve worked almost my entire life in the entertainment industry, everything from acting in theatre, commercial, and film, to working as a talent agent at one of the largest SAG-AFTRA franchised agencies in the region, to owning my own photography studio and media production company. I’ve spent the last dozen years (at the time of this video) working in the film industry, as a producer and helping to run the global operations of the world’s largest timed film competition, the 48 Hour Film Project, and consulting for any number of different film festivals.

Every year I watch thousands of films, and work with hundreds and hundreds of filmmakers from all over the world. I’ve seen tons of filmmakers making the same sorts of mistakes over and over again. And I’ve seen a smaller number of filmmakers who are able to consistently create engaging, creative, cinematic, story-driven films over and over again.

I’ve been able to see what’s working and what’s not working when filmmakers create their films. And what I’ve learned is that the filmmakers who are able to create these high quality films over and over again have one thing that the less successful filmmakers don’t. And it isn’t a big budget, it isn’t expensive equipment, and many times, it isn’t even years of experience making films.

What do the best filmmakers have that other ones don’t?

The most successful and prolific filmmakers have a completely different way of thinking than everyone else. They don’t just think about the technical aspects of the film, or the blocking, or even just about the story–they have a way of putting all of these elements together into one cohesive creative projects. They don’t just think like a filmmaker, or a screenwriter, or a cinematographer–they think like an artist. This is something that isn’t taught by 95% of the film schools, courses, or tutorials out there. And it’s the only thing that we teach at Gorilla Film School.

If you want to learn the technical skills to create a film, you don’t need me, or anyone else for that. There’s hours and hours and hours worth of free material on YouTube. But if you want to learn WHEN and WHY you might want to use these skills, and how to do it in a way to tell your story on film, then you’re in the right place.

Make sure you sign up for the email list, because that’s where the magic happens, so to speak.

When you sign up, I’m going to start sending you short emails almost every day. And the reason for this is simple–if you want to become a creative, prolific filmmaker, and learn this way of thinking, then you’re going to need to start developing your own daily creativity practices. These are very short emails, and each one will have some sort of tip, or story, or a short lesson that will help make you a better filmmaker. I can promise you they are nothing less than entertaining.

Now, each of these emails is ALSO going to promote a course or service or some sort of paid product. And the reason for that is also very simple–there’s only so much help I can give you in these short daily emails. If you want to really learn something in any sort of depth and detail, it’s usually going to require some sort of commitment of time and money.

Gorilla Film School is NOT for everyone

If any of what I just said above bothers you, please DON’T sign up for the email list. There are plenty of resources available on the website for free if you hunt around. But I can tell you that if you can’t take 3-5 minutes a day to read an email designed to make you a better filmmaker, then you’re probably not as serious about filmmaking as you thought. And that’s totally fine–I know hundreds of filmmakers who just make a film every once in a while for fun, because they love doing it, and I support that 100% . But if you’re a filmmaker who is committed to becoming better at their craft, I can help you do that, if you’re willing to spend the time and effort to implement what I tell you to do.

So I hope that’s the kind of filmmaker that you are, and if so, I’m excited to be able to help you along on your journey. Sign up on this page, and then we can get to work.

Regardless of why you’re here or how you ended up on this website, I want to thank you for checking things out, and wish you luck with your filmmaking endeavors.

Welcome to Gorilla Film School!