Friday, August 12, 2011

Multi Tasking


            With the never ending stream of projects and oddities that I seem to be perpetually swimming in, I have decided that it would make more sense to cover everything I do in this blog rather than just the one specific project.
            The scooter documentary will still receive full coverage as it progresses. But, I will now be covering every other facet of my preoccupation at the same time. This should lead to a far more entertaining experience for everyone. It will also provide a deeper look into the weirdness that effects everything I work on.

Road Rash

They say an image is worth a thousand words.

Yeah. That pretty much speaks for itself. And, what is says is,"ouch".
    But, far be it from me to complain about a little bit of road rash. This may slow down my typing for a little while, but it won't slow down my life. It's not my camera hand. That's all that really matters.                                                       

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Budgeting


            Accounting is an art form entirely in it’s own right. Most people in the creative fields approach it with a mixture of fear and awe. This is why the people who know how to create and maintain a budget are generally the highest paid people in a production company.
            However, if you are working on your own independent production it becomes your responsibility to draw up the budget proposal before anything else can begin to happen. Sadly, that’s where a lot of otherwise good ideas fall apart.
            The good news is that there are a variety of services and products that can help. Obviously the best method is to simply hire an accountant. But, if you’re working on an independent production that might be too expensive. Your second option is to research products specifically designed to help you. One of the best I’ve seen is Movie Magic Budgeting. You can find it at http://www.entertainmentpartners.com/Content/Products/Budgeting.aspx
            Your third (and cheapest) option is to do everything on your own. For a producer who has never dealt with accounting before that can be worrying. Have no fear! You are not alone.
            There are some amazing resources available to people with the determination to teach themselves how to cover all the bases. Of these, the best resource I have found is provided by Dependent Films. On their page titled Tools & Utilities for Filmmakers the have provided templates for almost every possible piece of documentation you will need during your production.
            As it just so happens, I have replaced several of my own templates with ones that I found on their site. And, as for this particular documentary, I just need to polish off a few final details and my budget proposal is complete. Hooray! One step closer to actually picking up my camera.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Crew

            The people who work for you are like kids riding in the back of your car. Sometimes they’ll make you question their sanity. But, no matter how good or bad they are it’s still your job to get them where they’re going, because you’re the one in the drivers’ seat.
            It is a well-known fact that hiring the best people is the way to make the best product. But, hiring is still an area where the well-known rules tend to slip by.
            The two biggest issues are hiring your friends and hiring talented people who think that they are too good for the job. The issues with both of these problems are covered extremely well in an article on Wild Sound that can be seen HERE.
            The problem with talented people working a low budget production is that they tend to forget that they are still employees, even if they are working below scale. The best way of dealing with this group is to make sure that you don’t coddle them at the very beginning. If you treat them like they are doing you a favor by showing up they will exploit you at every opportunity.
            I rarely recommend taking the dominant male monkey approach, but when you are dealing with a huge ego holding up your production the only way to get back on schedule is to put them in their place. Either establish the nature of the working relationship up front, or be prepared to fire them. They need to know that they are NOT indispensable.
            As far as your friends go, don’t do it. They may be talented and hardworking, but that will end the second you have them on the payroll. Friends are never afraid of getting fired. And worse, when your friends are on set it makes it incredibly difficult for you to maintain a professional attitude. You can’t play boss to someone who saw you drunk that one time in school when you got dumped. You can’t fire the person who drove you home after your car broke down.
            You can never maintain any serious level of authority over your friends. They just know too much about you.
            With all of that in mind, I am now attempting to put together a crew roster containing people that I have never worked with before, and have no solid references for outside of their portfolios. This, again, is something that you should avoid. But, hey. This blog would get pretty of boring if I didn’t take a few risks.