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.                                                       

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.

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.

Viability

     I just read an article by William Gazecki posted on DVFormat.com. The article can be seen here. In this article Mr. Gazecki claims that documentaries don’t make money. But, they are a good way for filmmakers to practice and stay active.

     I couldn’t disagree more. Even if you discount the vast number of pure documentaries that turn a profit and can be found on sites like The Documentary Blog, there are still the “common” documentaries.

     By “common” I am referring to the made for television documentaries that can be found on The Discovery Channel or the BBC. These productions are absolutely required to turn a profit, or they do not get made at all.

     Going a step further we can even include Reality Television. While it may be abhorred by the artistic elements of the industry the fact remains that Reality Television is, in it’s essence, a form of documentary production. And, more importantly, it makes a lot of money while turning its subjects into celebrities.

     Mr. Gazecki made his error in reducing the entire medium into a single concept. The truth of his statement would only exist if it were rephrased, “Documentaries don’t make money unless they are entertaining”.

     This is the case with my current production. This documentary is founded on the idea of entertainment, and will be completed for the purpose of profit.

     If you can give the audience something they want to watch then you will have no problem turning a profit.

Fear

The hardest thing about production work is that the 10% of the population who want to be in front of a camera are the few people that you don't want anywhere near your production. The other 90% of the people who would make for an amazing production are terrified of having a camera aimed at them.
That's what directors are for, and why they get paid so much. A directors' main job is to help get talented people past their fear of the camera lens so that they can put forth a quality performance.
The biggest challenge for the producer is trying to get those people in front of the camera in the first place so that the director can do his job.
That is now the biggest challenge facing this documentary. Trying to get people to set foot in front of a camera. It seems most people would rather deal with hand to hand combat rather than face the small piece of glass we call a lens.
But, as all things, this too shall be overcome. That is what a production is all about. Defying the odds, and making things happen.

Working Title

A working title is what you call your project until you have secured every possible form of legal ownership over the final title. The working title for this documentary is "Attitude not Required".
The purpose is to focus on the people and culture of modern scooter clubs in America such as Three Mile Island Scooter Club, Rabble Rouser Scooter Club, and the Harrisburg Hooligans.
With the expanding popularity of scooters it seems a timely project with a rapidly growing audience among those who are just beginning to ride.

Money

When you go looking for investors for your production you should always have a comprehensive budget prepared in advance, as well as a complete production book that will explain to potential investors exactly what kind of product you intend to sell.
That being said...
I have an impromptu meeting with a potential investor lined up on short notice. And, I have nothing prepared to show them. This is going to be me flying by the seat of my pants. I'm not expecting much, but it should be interesting to see how far I can go with nothing more than a verbal description of my initial concept.