Archive for January, 2007

I’m sitting at my desk here at our production office. It’s our first week in the offices, and now it’s Friday. I sat down here Monday morning thinking to myself, “I need to blog everyday this week to document my experience.” That was Monday, and now it’s Friday. It’s been busy!

On Monday, we started our auditions. After receiving a few hundred headshots, we narrowed it down to 20 or so candidates for each role. We had them come in and read for the various roles. I, personally, didn’t sit in the auditions. And you may be wondering why the director is not sitting in on the auditions. Because we’ll be having call backs. Our casting director, Nikki, is the first line of defense. During the callbacks, I’ll be directing and more of part of the auditions. That’s when we’ll decide who is cast.

Later in the week, we pressed through more crew hires–script supervisors, sound people, post production supervisors, first AD’s. The interviews were good. Lots of good talent here in Dallas. We should have our final crew decided upon this week, especially since we start the script breakdown next Monday.

Also, we received our polished rewrite yesterday, and it’s looking really good. Leilani did a great job. We have to go back and tweak a few things. The science of the story needs to be reviewed. As an engineer (and big sci-fi fan), I’m a bit of stickler when it comes to the science of the story.

All in all, things are moving along nicely. Great people are coming on board.

As we start this production, it’s important to me that everyone be on the same page–not just from a production point of view, but from a personal and relational point of view. We have certain expectations that we will expect from everyone working on the project. So, I created this document to outline and communicate those expectations.

Introduction
We’re making a movie. And, as we make this movie, it’s going to be an exciting time of creativity and craft, persistence and perseverance, intensity and elation, hard work and great rewards. For a short few weeks, a small band of people will join together with one vision and one focus to accomplish the goal of making a movie. Yet, as we work towards that goal, it is imperative that we do not compromise integrity, relationships and excellence. To work together with the utmost efficiency and excellence, those working on this project must agree to the following production principles:

Relationships
This production is about people–not the fictional people in the story, but those who bring this story to life. It’s about you, the production cast and crew. Since people are the most important element of this project, everyone will be treated with respect. Everyone is equal in value and purpose, and everyone will be treated as such. Failure to treat people with respect will be dealt with quickly and accordingly.

Attitude
Negative, degrading, hindering attitudes will not be tolerated. Either you’re a problem-maker or a problem-solver. As we start this production, you will experience problems. That’s the nature of filmmaking. Successful teams are about finding creative, cost-efficient solutions. We make it work. We optimize the compromise and make it happen. But, we don’t complain. We don’t gripe. We don’t feed the problem–we feed the solution. So, don’t come to me or your manager with just a problem–come with your problem and some ideas for a solution.

Creativity
The spirit of independent, low-budget films is simple–find creative solutions to tell a great story. It’s about taking $1 and making it look like $5 on the screen. Acting, lighting, sets, camera, makeup, wardrobe–everything must be done creatively and efficiently.

Excellence
You are part of this team because you are good at what you do. We call upon your excellence and experience to do the best work you can do on this project. If you want to give less than 100%, then find another project to work on. We expect your best, because we’re giving our best. We don’t expect perfection. Humility and teachability are essential. Ask questions, learn, experience and enjoy this exciting time of production.

As pre-production draws near, I’ve got three things to focus on:

1. Casting
2. Locations
3. The Story

1. Casting
Casting can be key to a successful film, and it takes time. You have to find that balance between price, experience and recognition. Name talent is that one element of film production that can sky rocket your budget, but it’s also that key element that can secure distribution for your film. I’ve heard that when talking with distributors, the first question is always, “Who’s in you film?”

The big question is: do you spend lots of money to secure a name talent, let your production value suffer a bit but have a strong potential for distribution? Or, do you go with no name talent, put the money back into your production, and reduce your chances for profitable distribution? What’s behind door number 3?

2. Locations
For those of you who have read the story know that locations are very important for this script. We have two weeks scheduled to shoot at one location, a house. And, the house is so important to the story. We can’t just use any house–we need the perfect house. Carolyn Hodge has come on board as our locations person, and she’s is spending her days right now driving, scouting and snapping pictures.

3. The Story
We’ve decided to polish the script a little more. We’ve brought on a lady in LA who does script rewrites for Revolution Studios. We’ve given her all of our ideas and thoughts and released to start re-writing. We’re looking forward to reading her ideas and seeing the story come alive.

As I write this, I’m currently staying in a cabin in Pagosa Springs, Colorado. My family and I make the snow trek once every year, and this year is no different. I wanted to spend some time away before production kicks into high gear.

You know, people talk about how they want to get away from the stresses of work and take vacations to relax. It’s funny, but I love production. The challenge, the adventure, the problem solving. All this is very exciting to me. Yeah, it’s got its stresses, but nothing like the stresses from corporate world. It’s one thing to be stressed and hating it. It’s another thing to be under stress, but loving what you do.

So, here’s how I’m spending my vacation: getting up early in the morning. (I’m still on Texas time). Then, working through the barrage of emails: locations, equipment, insurance, casting, etc. Then, when the sun comes up, we hit the slopes. Woo hoo!

Back to the cabin for a nice relaxing dinner, some more productions emails, a few casting decisions and then a nice evening with the family playing games and reading. Now, that’s a vacation!

Eric Whitney joins our team for Production Design. Eric comes with 22 feature films under his belt. We look forward to drawing from his experience and expertise in the film industry.