Bri Castellini

Bri Castellini

Writer || Director || Podcaster || Human Bulldozer

Editorial

As a freelance writer with bylines all across the internet, I tackle subjects of queer representation, highly actionable indie film production advice, crowdfunding, marketing, and baring my soul and former mistakes as learning opportunities. If you want to just read my reviews and recommendations of romance novels, you can find those here (new posts every Friday!).

Medium

Pipeline Artists

Seed&Spark

  1. 15 Tips for Creating Rewarding Crowdfunding Incentives (10/22/21)
  2. Answering Every Single Common Crowdfunding Question (9/16/21)
  3. How To Write (And Use) An Outreach Plan (9/1/20)
  4. Incorporating Activism and Education Into Your Incentives (8/25/20)
  5. Managing Self-Doubt in Crowdfunding And Marketing (8/5/20)
  6. Maintaining Momentum During Your Crowdfunding Campaign (7/21/2020)
  7. How To Raise Over 100% Of Your Crowdfunding Goals (7/14/20)
  8. Should you have personal or project-specific social media? (7/7/20)
  9. Every Cent I Spent of My $700 Crowdfunding Goal (6/25/20)
  10. The Lowdown on Loans (6/16/20)
  11. How To Make Live Events Part of Your Crowdfunding Strategy (6/1/2020)
    1. Event ideas for Filmmakers
    2. Event ideas for Musicians
    3. Event ideas for Theater
    4. Event ideas for Podcasts/audio
    5. Event ideas for Novelists/writers
  12. How To Interview Your Audience Before Crowdfunding (5/19/20)
  13. Motivating Your Teammates During Crowdfunding (5/8/20)
  14. Audience Building While Social Media Cleansing (5/1/20)
  15. Writing Great Crowdfunding Emails (4/21/20)
  16. Drop “donate” from your crowdfunding vocabulary (4/16/20)
  17. Can I Crowdfund If My Friends Are Broke? (4/14/20)
  18. Building Your Email List for Your Crowdfunding Campaign…and Career (4/8/20)
  19. Audience building with a bit of help from criminal psychology (4/3/20)
  20. Crowdfunding for Venues and Festivals (3/31/20)
  21. Telling Your Story With Your Story Section (3/30/20)
  22. Where you build, your audience will follow (3/27/20)
  23. How to be creative without being productive (3/24/20)
  24. Crowdfunding for an Art Residency due to Social Distancing (3/20/20)
  25. Coronavirus Crowdfunding Tips (3/19/20)
  26. Making a perfect crowdfunding pitch video (3/11/20)
  27. Aligning Your Incentives With Your Career Level (2/18/20)
  28. What’s up with updates: How to use them to reach your crowdfunding goal (2/10/20)
  29. Cracking Crowdfunding: The Elusive $25 Incentive (12/17/19)
  30. How a series creator used social media to build an audience (11/17/17)

Tubefilter

  1. What’s The Point of Web Fests? (8/27/19)

The Financial Diet

  1. Here’s How Much My Award-Winning Web Series Cost Me To Produce (4/24/17)

The Bridge

  1. You Have Never Seen A Channel Like BRIC TV (4/7/17)

Stareable

  1. How Long Should You Be Promoting Your Completed Series? (8/14/19)
  2. How Long Should You Be Promoting Your Completed Series? (8/14/19)
  3. The 5 Biggest Mistakes New Creators Make, and How To Fix Them (4/29/19)
  4. 10 Simple Steps To Making The Perfect Marketing Plan, Part 2 (4/15/19)
  5. 10 Simple Steps To Making The Perfect Marketing Plan, Part 1 (4/9/19)
  6. How To Cut A Killer Trailer For Your Web Series (3/25/19)
  7. Why You Need To Connect With Fandom Leaders, and How To Do It (3/18/19)
  8. 5 Tips For Engaging, Enjoyable Live Streaming (3/11/19)
  9. 6 Ways To Make Money With Stareable Enrich Even If Your Show is Over (3/7/19)
  10. 7 Ways For Filmmakers To Create More Sustainably (2/25/19)
  11. 4 Easy Livestream Ideas To Promote Your Web Series (2/18/19)
  12. How To Write a Kickass Newsletter Fast and Easily (2/11/19)
  13. 7 Simple Ways To Get Cast and Crew To Help With Marketing (2/4/19)
  14. The Filmmaker’s Guide To Tidying Up (inspired by Marie Kondo) (1/28/19)
  15. How To Network and Collaborate (Successfully!) Online (1/21/19)
  16. 11+ Interactive Storytelling Ideas You Should Try This Year (1/14/19)
  17. How To Be An Amazing Communicator (1/7/19)
  18. How To Send Great Emails That Actually Get A Response, Part 2 (12/17/18)
  19. How To Send Great Emails That Actually Get A Response, Part 1 (12/10/18)
  20. 5 Tips For Making Excellent, Eye-Catching Thumbnails (12/3/18)
  21. What To Post On Social Media When You’re Out Of Ideas (11/28/18)
  22. Why Hosting a Table Read Will Make You A Better Screenwriter (11/26/18)
  23. The Biggest Mistake Indie Filmmakers Are Making (11/12/18)
  24. 19 Fun Holiday Marketing Tips For Your Web Series (10/29/18)
  25. How To Be A Great Leader (10/23/18)
  26. When and Why to Say Yes to a New Project (10/15/18)
  27. How To Hire The Best People For Your Web Series Every Time (10/8/18)
  28. The Definitive Guide: How To Kill Your Darlings (10/1/18)
  29. What Is The Goal Of Your Web Series? (9/24/18)
  30. The Most Important 3 Things You Need Prioritize During Production (9/17/18)
  31. 16 Questions You Need To Answer To Define Your Audience (9/10/18)
  32. How To Authentically Engage In A Community (For Real) (9/3/18)
  33. 5 Social Media Tactics You Need To STOP To Be Taken Seriously (8/20/18)
  34. How To Edit A Great Web Series Without Formal Training (8/13/18)
  35. How To Be A Successful Filmmaker AND A Depressed Person (7/2/18)
  36. How To Work With Friends in 6 Simple Steps (6/25/18)
  37. How To Be A Public Figure, Part 2 (6/18/18)
  38. How To Be A Public Figure, Part 1 (6/11/18)
  39. 10 Things You Can Do For 10 Minutes To Promote Your Web Series (6/4/18)
  40. 4 Work/Life and Work/Work Balance Mistakes I’ve Made As An Indie Filmmaker (5/29/18)
  41. How To Write Your Script So People Want To Work With You (5/21/18)
  42. How To Make Your Key Art Pop (5/14/18)
  43. The Ultimate Guide To Brainstorming Your Web Series (4/30/18)
  44. 4 More Mistakes I’ve Made As An Indie Filmmaker (4/23/18)
  45. How To Make (And Use) A Call Sheet (4/16/18)
  46. Every Mistake I’ve Made As An Indie Filmmaker, part 1 (4/9/18)
  47. How To Schedule Your Web Series Shoot (4/6/18)
  48. 8 Simple Tricks to Make Your Web Series More Cinematic (3/26/18)
  49. How To Ask For Help in 6 Easy Steps (3/19/18)
  50. You Are Not A Failure (3/12/18)
  51. 7 Ways to Make Your Second Season Better Than Your First (3/5/18)
  52. 5 Easy Ways to Level Up Your Filmmaking By Yourself (2/26/18)
  53. Best Practices for Using and Promoting Your Stareable Show Page (2/19/18)
  54. How To Find Funny in Darkness: the Journey of ‘Binge’ (2/12/18)
  55. How To Write a Shot List in 5 Easy Steps (2/5/18)
  56. How to Easily Close Caption Your Series With YouTube (1/29/18)
  57. 7 Time Management Tricks Every Filmmaker Should Know (1/22/18)
  58. How To Find Crew When You Don’t Know Other Filmmakers (1/15/18)
  59. Case Study: How To Keep Your Web Series Production Cheap and Efficient (1/8/18)
  60. 4 Free and Simple Marketing Hacks For The Lazy Filmmaker (12/11/17)
  61. How To Not Fight On Set (12/4/17)
  62. ‘teenagers’ Enters its Final Season All Grown Up: An interview with creator M. H. Murray (11/29/17)
  63. I Hate Marketing: A Complete Guide To Supplemental Content (11/15/17)
  64. I Hate Marketing: Finding Distribution For Your Web Series (11/6/17)
  65. I Hate Marketing: How To Hack The Holidays (10/30/17)
  66. I Hate Marketing: SEO Will Revolutionize Your Indie Series Discoverability (10/32/17)
  67. I Hate Marketing: You’re Doing Film Festivals Wrong (10/16/17)
  68. I Hate Marketing: How To Make (And Use) A Press Kit (10/9/17)
  69. How To Find Success in Independent Television: Interview with the executive director of ITVFest (10/4/17)
  70. I Hate Marketing: 18 Unique Things You Can Post To Social Media (10/2/17)
  71. A Conversation with the Co-stars and Creator of Conversations in LA (9/27/17)
  72. I Hate Marketing: Which Social Media Platform Should You Start With? (9/25/17)
  73. Script Supervisors- What Do You Do Again? (9/20/17)
  74. I Hate Marketing: How To Set Yourself Up For Success (9/18/17)
  75. From Small To Silver Screen: An interview with the co-creators of IFC’s Frank & Lamar (9/13/17)
  76. I Hate Marketing: An Introduction (9/11/17)
  77. Brian Jordan Alvarez on Friends, Love, and the Future of Caleb Gallo (9/6/17)
  78. How To Make A Budget (9/4/17)
  79. How To Break Down A Script In 4 Easy Steps (8/30/17)
  80. Editors- What Do You Do Again? (8/28/17)
  81. Production Assistants (PAs)- What Do You Do Again? (8/21/17)
  82. The Genius Behind ‘Stupid Idiots’ (8/16/17)
  83. Production Designers- What Do You Do Again? (8/14/17)
  84. 15 Ways To Fake A Professional Production (8/9/17)
  85. Gaffers and Grips- What Do You Do Again? (8/7/17)
  86. 5 Ways To Fake Production Quality Without A Budget (8/2/17)
  87. Sound Recordists- What Do You Do Again? (7/31/17)
  88. Directors of Photography- What Do You Do Again? (7/24/17)
  89. How To Turn Your Web Series Into A Full Time Job (7/19/17)
  90. Assistant Directors- What Do You Do Again? (7/17/17)
  91. How To Long Distance Produce Like A Pro (7/12/17)
  92. Producers- What Do You Do Again? (7/10/17)
  93. The “Tokens” Take Their Turn (7/5/17)
  94. Directors- What Do You Do Again? (7/3/17)
  95. Women Who Love And Make Porn (6/28/17)
  96. 4 Reasons Line Readings Make You A Bad Director, and 5 Tricks To Try Instead (6/26/17)
  97. When Texting A Celebrity Goes Horribly Wrong (6/21/17)
  98. 5 Writer/Actors On Kissing People As Work (6/20/17)
  99. Austin Has Hipsters Too (6/14/17)
  100. All About Locations (6/12/17)
  101. The Feels for “The Feels” (6/7/17)
  102. Parasitic Puppets and Magic Abs (5/31/17)
  103. The Audience Speaks Back: An Interview With Teen Web Series Fans (4/26/17)
  104. How To Write (and Use) a Press Release (4/19/17)
  105. Fake It While You Make It (4/5/17)
  106. Best Practices for Marketing Your Web Series on Social Media (3/8/17)
  107. Fan to Filmmaker: A Teen Creator’s Journey (3/6/17)
  108. Building a Multi-Dimensional Web Series Universe (3/1/17)
  109. All My Friends Are From Twitter (2/8/17)
  110. Literary Inspired Web Series: A Celebration (2/1/17)

NetTVNow (site closed, links expired sadly)

  1. All of the Hats (5/1/17)
  2. Budget? What Budget? (4/13/17)

TVWriter.com (site closed, links expired sadly)

  1. So You Want To Create A Web Series (weekly column)
    1. Step 1: Writing It (3/7/17)
    2. Step 2: Pre Pre-Production (3/16/17)
    3. Step 3: Money (3/22/17)
    4. Step 4: Hiring Crew (3/29/17)
    5. Step 5: Casting (4/5/17)
    6. Step 6: Contracts (4/12/17)
    7. Step 7: Pre-Production (4/19/17)
    8. Step 8: Production (4/26/17)
    9. Step 9: Production Problems (5/3/17)
    10. Step 10: Post Production (5/10/17)
    11. Step 11: Marketing Pre-Release (5/18/17)
    12. Step 12: Release Strategies For Your Web Series (5/24/17)
    13. Step 13: Make The Most Out Of Film Festivals and Networking (5/31/17)
  2. What I’ve Learned As An Indie Producer (4/6/17)
  3. I’m In My Head (4/13/17)
  4. 6 Things I Wish They’d Taught Me In High School (4/28/17)
  5. Face Person (6/7/17)
  6. The Indignance of “Indie” Film Festivals (6/16/17)
  7. Writer? (6/20/17)
  8. What Else Do People Do Again? (6/28/17)
  9. Marlon Brando Was A Dick (7/7/17)
  10. The Bechdel Test Is The WORST (7/14/17)
  11. Dream Bigger (8/18/17)
  12. How to GET FIT While Making Your Indie Film (9/8/17)
  13. Alison Sumner and the Unreliable Narrator (9/29/17)
  14. Men Are Trash (video) (11/2/17)

Interrobang

  1. Curtis Armstrong To Write Memoir About Being a Nerd in Hollywood (1/5/16)

Pacific Magazine

  1. 100 Yards of Memories (2/14/14)
  2. Football Throwback (3/4/14)
  3. Step Up (3/13/14)
  4. Fighting for Community (3/15/14)
  5. To The Moon and Back (5/7/14)
  6. The World For A Song (5/22/14)

The Pacific Index

  1. Student gives advice on freshman year, orientation (8/28/12)

Decorabilia

  1. How To Deal With Judges (1/13/11)
  2. The Burden of Proof (1/10/11)
  3. Generic Case Ideas For the Juvenile Justice Resolution (1/6/11)
  4. Objectivism: a controversial criterion in LD (1/4/11)
  5. AP Psychology is the only reason I’m good at debate (1/3/11)

The Knitting Ranch

  1. Guest Post: Having a Doll of a Time (7/25/11)
  2. Guest Post: Crocheting, Debating, and Clear Thinking (7/17/11)

Publishing Credits

  • Kudzu Review– “Brains” (Short fiction) (Summer 2014)
  • National Undergraduate Literature Conference– “Super” (Short fiction) (Spring 2013)
  • Pacific Literature by Undergraduates Magazine (PLUM)– “The Survival Sluts: Sex-Positive Female Characters in Margaret Atwood Novels” (Literary analysis) (Spring 2013)
  • Interface– Don’t Forget To Be Awesome: An In-Depth Exploration of Nerdfighteria (Academic essay) (Spring 2014)

Here is the presentation I did on the above Interface essay:

Quick facts:

  • Bachelors of Arts in Creative Writing from Pacific University with a minor in editing and publishing
  • MFA in Writing and Producing for Television from Long Island University-Brooklyn
  • Blogger for 20 years
  • Commentary and web editor for my high school newspaper
  • Fiction editor at the Silk Road Review
  • Writing tutor for two years in college
  • Participated in competitive speech and debate for 6 years (2 in high school, 4 in college)
For link purposes.