My life up to now. Part 8: Imagine yourself producing a feature film

"We should produce my script." The words came out of Robin's mouth like an over-cranked slow-mo shot. I studied each word like it was a rare animal species at the edge of space, so rare that I thought I would never hear those words. So foreign. What did that sentence actually mean? How would that even be possible to produce a feature film? Was she in some kind of hyper shock? Was she even making sense? And then it hit me. We had been relying on others to make our dreams come true. Why not just make our own dreams come true. Let's take others out of the equation and lead our own charge. How hard could it be!? Weeks later in 2005 we set out to produce our first feature film called "The Water's Edge". We were so sure this would work that we maxed out our credit cards to pay for equipment, locations and food, convinced a crew to work for free and then started having production meetings. At this point we were completely on autopilot as something in us just took over and it all began to unfold right in front of our eyes.

This film was an incredible learning experience for Robin and I. In my opinion, movies are 51% visual and 49% sound. I might have heard that somewhere but regardless, I 100% agree. When we shot The Waters Edge, we didn't respect that. We were so focused on the visuals that sound took a red-headed step child back seat. We didn't realize it while shooting but we sure paid for it in post production. I'd like to think that our sound was the reason we didn't sell the film (yet, more on this in a different post), but there were plenty of other problems with it! Also, our locations hated us because we always shot longer than we told them we would. In some cases, they kicked us out way before we were actually finished. This really all boils down to proper scheduling. When your location has a good view and idea of how long you're going to be there, well in advance, they know what they are getting in to. Another bit of advice, schedule an extra day at that location for contingency even though you don't plan on using it! Doing that will keep them happy especially if you cut out a "day early".

Another huge problem was that Robin and I thought we could just do everything ourselves. Have you ever heard of the term "Jack of all trades, master of none"? Well, we were pretty much the poster children of that phrase. The following is a list of crew positions I have been on any one movie set, pre-production, production and post. (in no particular order)

Catering, Driver, Production Assistant, 1st AC, 2nd AC, Craft Services, Boom Operator, Sound Recordist, A Camera, B Camera, Jib Operator, SteadiCam Operator, Director of Photography, Director, Producer, Grip, Gaffer, Casting, Special Effects Supervisor, Picture Editor, Sound Editor, Compositor, Animator, Composer, Dailies Editor, Colorist

This might sound impressive but it's actually a travesty. Before I get ahead of myself, I will state that I do not regret my time doing all of these things because it taught me several things in the process. One, it taught me what I am good at and what I am not. Two, it gave me an appreciation for all of those roles and an understanding of how they work and what they do.

If you are a filmmaker trying to make your way in the world, starting with nothing, I believe one of the toughest hurdles you have facing you is trusting other people. And when you are first starting out, you have very good reason not to trust them. A. When you have no money, your crew works for free, offering them nothing but a resume. When someone works for free, there is a good chance that at some point in your project, they feel like they would be having more fun doing something else. At that moment, your film is at risk. Have you ever tried to fire someone who was working for free to begin with? It's hard! Sure it can be done, but its just weird. B. You are putting in your own cash. Maybe even selling plasma to cover two days worth of pizza to feed your crew (come on… it happens). When you are putting up your livelihood, you have a supernatural guard-dog care about how things are done which makes it hard to not do it yourself. C. Guess who works for free on your projects? Your friends. Guess who's not a filmmaker or an actor/actress? Your friends. (There are exceptions here, of course, but the exceptions are few and far between).