Good Morning #TeamNFOTD - I see we are starting off 2020 with dissension amongst the board members. As the CEO/Founder/President/GrandPoobah of NFOTD - here are my current rules and regulations:

The goal is to watch one new film per day. No penalties nor shame for not reaching 365. New = you’ve never seen it. Film = narrative or documentary. You must watch it in its entirety. No FF.

#NFOTD was created in 2009. Since then, much has changed in the film industry & how I originally thought the nfotd practice would serve me as a filmmaker. This evolution yielded a few amendments:

Short films could count for a #nfotd. I personally count three shorts as one nfotd. I find watching a 10m short “cheating”. But I’ll allow th members to decide how to interpret short films.

I don’t count concert films, music videos nor comedy stand up as a #nfotd unless there seems to be an artistic element to it. Something I can learn from. For example: I approved both Lemonade and Homecoming for nfotd.

When I created nfotd the goal was really to become a better filmmaker, storyteller and DP. I wanted to offer visual options to my directors. Go beyond US film tropes. However now I DP mostly television.

A couple of years ago, I decided to include television, limited series as my #nfotd. I learn a great deal from them. I don’t include sit coms, network shows, shows like Dateline, cooking shows ... I do include crime doc series like Making a Murderer or shows like Watchmen.

In order to get the full effect of what the Showrunner, directors, producers, writers intended of a show - I decided I’d have to watch every episode for it to count as nfotd. It’s a lot of tv watching but that’s what keeps the practice rigorous for me.

One of the many things doing nfotd has taught me is some films resolve themselves at the end. What seemed boring ends up being brilliant. I must finish it to truly learn and evaluate. Same holds true of some tv series.

As members of #TeamNFOTD it’s ultimately up to you how to take the practice and make it your own. NFOTD is open source. Take the hashtag and add a letter to suit your needs. I love when folks add reviews, video clips, live tweet etc. Enjoy!

Bottomless mimosas and lemon cranberry scones in the conference room!