Let’s Have a Meeting

If you are making your film yourself without the benefit of traditional backing you will probably find yourself writing, producing and acting in your own film. But that is not to say that you won’t need help. You will have to be completely active in all phases of the production. Such are the joys of the independent filmmaker. However, you will need help. You will need other actors, sound people (someone has to hold that boom), camera operators, and so on.

If you are in school studying film you have a perfect group of people to draw from to get your film made. It is a “you scratch my back, I scratch yours” situation. Students help each other to get their films made. Each of us has a specific talent and we can contribute that to the production at hand. If you are not in school you may have to convince your friends to help you with your film. It shouldn’t be too difficult because it is exciting to be involved with making a film.

Of course, you can’t get all the help you need from you friends and family. You will have to go with associates that have the same desire to make a film that you do. This means you have to find social events that allow you to network with others that have a similar interest in a film. Networking is going to be important from start to finish with the production of your film. It would be wise to make a business card with your contact information on it, maybe even make your own website.

Make contact lists of people you might be able to gain assistance from in the various fields of expertise. It doesn’t matter if this is your first film or you 21st. You may begin to use the same people as you learn whom you work best with. Some of the disciplines you may need are: electricians, carpenters, camera operators, audio engineers, make-up artists, set designers, locations scouts, script supervisors, costumers, publicists, and finally craft people for your food service.

Once you make a list of these contacts remember to keep careful track of them. Make copies of contact lists stored in a number of places. It will make you crazy if your computer crashes and all the info for your crew is on it, so make backup contact lists.

You may learn to live without some of these positions on the production of your film, but chances are you will be picking up the slack for that position. You may find yourself directing a film and doing make-up or wardrobe at the same time. Multi-tasking is the name of the game and you get better at it as you go along.

Many new filmmakers are actually in film school and they use what and who they have available to them. This means working with people that may be a little flaky in their punctuality. However, each filmmaker has their own film that they want to make and they will give you good work with the expectation that they will get it in return on their film.

Again, one thing you might consider is this; if you are not in film school perhaps you should go. In film school, you have the equipment and facilities made available to you as long as you are a matriculated student.  My school had a $900,000 per year budget for equipment for students to use. We had sound mixing booths and editing suites available to us 24/7.

Once you have people that have agreed to work with you on your film you can set up production meetings in order to plan for the actual production or shoot. The success of your shooting schedule will depend on how effectively you have planned the shoot in your production meetings. Make notes prior to your meeting to make sure all necessary business is covered. Try to make the meeting stay focused on the business at hand instead of visiting and shooting the breeze with everyone attending the meeting.

If you have people working for you and they are doing this out of the goodness of their hearts, it is always necessary to keep them fed and watered. It is the least you can do for another artist so make sure you always have food and beverages available for your crew at meetings and during the production.

It is advisable that you keep liquor out of these meetings as it undermines the professionalism of your group and impedes the flow of work. This is not to say that the group may not ever celebrate by having a drink or two together, but it is hard to keep the crew focused if drinking is allowed during shooting. On studio shoots it is absolutely forbidden due to Union rules and insurance requirements for continued coverage.

Once you have a crew assembled then post your first production meeting. In your meeting, tell your group what your vision of the film is and open a discussion about how they can help to make that happen. Assign crew positions and make a shooting schedule. Then split your group into 2 separate groups, crew and actors. Schedule readings of the script so everyone gets to run through their lines and so you can give them your direction.

The actors must have an opportunity to meet with the director to determine what is expected from them once the camera is rolling. This will help your actors to arrive prepared and ready to work without you having to stop them as much for direction. Next a separate meeting should be made with your crew. You will need to discuss equipment, location, set design, sound, lighting, and any other production issues that may come up.

You will need story boards and a shot list sheets to hand out. Have your crew study them with enough time available for the shoot to bring up any obstacles that need to be cleared for the shoot. Schedule enough time on rehersals and fittings to be approved by the director prior to the shoot.

Whoever has worked on scouting the location needs to speak to everyone about the logistics of the location you will be shooting the film at. The location will need to be accessible prior to the shoot so that light readings can be taken and electrical requirements can be determined.

There are books out there that are written that could be used as guides for picking the right location. Refer to them please as this is an area that is going to be totally foreign to you if you are in any way creative.  You have to make sure details are arranged like parking being arranged, access to unload equipment, restroom access, food craft area set- up, signed releases, maintenance of the location, location clean-up etc. ad museum.

In my case, I had a group of buildings that were houses from the 40’s that were abandoned and in a state of complete disrepair.  They were cool and very spooky looking. I didn’t want to go in them I just wanted to shoot on the street in front of them. I procrastinated and they tore them down.  The boy was I upset about that.

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