Notes From The Process Maryann Koslowski L et me take you back to one of the first big music videos I every produced with KJ Creatives, the Juice James Millz-on-the-way heist extravaganza. To this day, I consider it one of my favorite videos we’ve ever done.. and also one of the biggest “girl, what were we thinking?” Moments of my early career. The plan: -A yacht -A jet-ski -Two different mansion locations -A warehouse finale -No budget -All in one day I mean seriously…

Notes From The Process S ome people think the key to making good films is having expensive gear. And listen, if you’re a nepo baby, congratulations, I’m jealous, enjoy your Blackmagic you got as a beginning camera. But the rest of us? Community is the secret recipe. When you’re starting out, most of the time you don’t have $10k cameras or massive light kits. What you do have are people: your friends your classmates, your collaborators, who care just as much about creating as

Notes From The Process MaryAnn Koslowski P roducing taught me that the big picture matters just as much as the tiny details, and honestly, sometimes even more, When you’re focused on one role — camera, grip, production design, directing, editing — you’re naturally tunnel-visioned. You care about your job, you want your part to be perfect. But sometimes that means you forget how everything fits together. As a producer you don’t get to forget. You’re constantly holding the enti

Notes From The Process MaryAnn Koslowski L et me tell you something that will save your life as a filmmaker: pre- production is not optional. I know TikTok makes it seem like you can just show up with a camera, yell “action” and boom — a masterpiece. And for certain projects, sure, you can just run-and-gun it. But even then, you need to plan where you’re going, what camera you’re using, if you’re alone or with someone, all of that is pre-production. When you’re building somet

Notes From The Process Maryann Koslowski I f there’s one hill I’ll die on in the creative world, it’s this: collaboration will always take you farther than trying to do it all yourself. I get it, sometimes it feels easier to keep everything in your own head. You convince yourself you’re the only one who “gets it”, and the idea of explaining your vision feels like a group project nightmare waiting to happen (college scarred too many). But here’s the truth no one tells you when