About Bob Degus
I've spent forty years in Hollywood on both sides of the camera — as a director, a producer, a studio executive, and for thirty years, a voting member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
In that time I've watched more than 3,000 short films. I know what gets noticed. I know what gets passed over. And I know that most filmmakers who get passed over had no idea why.
The Hollywood Film Coach exists to change that.
Where my short film passion comes from...
My relationship with short films goes back to the beginning of my Hollywood career, when I ran production at Chanticleer Films.
Over the years there, I helped produce more than 40 short films — work that generated five Academy Award nominations during the period I oversaw the program. Two of those films I produced personally. One of them starred a young, unknown actor named Brad Pitt.
That experience taught me something I've never forgotten: short films are where filmmakers find their voice. They are the purest form of the craft — and when they work, they can launch careers.
From Chanticleer I went on to serve as a production executive at New Line Cinema, where I oversaw more than 25 feature films — including Austin Powers, Friday, and Set It Off. Later, as a producer, I brought Pleasantville to the screen, a film that earned three Academy Award nominations.
But through all of it — the studio years, the features, the festivals — I never stopped thinking about short films. Because short films are where it all begins.
What thirty years as an Oscar voter taught me...
For thirty years I've sat in screening rooms evaluating short films for the Academy. I've seen every kind of story told every kind of way. And what I've learned — what you simply cannot learn any other way — is the difference between a film that moves people and a film that doesn't land the way its maker intended.
That gap is almost never about budget. It's almost never about equipment. It's about story, structure, and the handful of craft decisions that separate a good short film from an award-winning one.
I've also had the privilege of mentoring emerging filmmakers through the Academy's Gold Rising program. Watching talented people unlock their potential with the right guidance is, honestly, one of the most rewarding things I do.
Why this, why now?
The insider knowledge that shapes award-winning short films has always existed. It just lived in screening rooms and production offices that most filmmakers never get access to.
The Hollywood Film Coach is my attempt to change that — to make that knowledge available to any filmmaker with a story to tell, wherever they are in the world.
If you're making short films and you want to make better ones, you're in the right place.