When making a movie there are five basic stages…
Development: This is actually where the short story, story, or first draft of a script is written. Cheapest stage out of all of them but it can take years to get right.
Pre-Production: Budgeting, Scheduling, Casting, Securing of Locations, Gear, Storyboarding, etc…
Production: The best and worst part for most people involved. You actually begin shooting the film. If you’ve set it up right and hired good people it can be a wonderful experience. But if it’s done poorly then it will be one of the worst experiences ever.
Post-Production: This is the stage that feels like it should be relatively inexpensive and quick, but it can sometimes cost 2-3 times as much as the actual production stage hour for hour. In addition to that it easily takes just as much time if not more depending on audio effects, fixing dialogue recordings and music.
Marketing and Distribution: Sometimes this process can start as early as the Development stage by the securing of a distribution contract with a major studio. But often times it starts during the end of the Post Production stage. There are a couple basic formulas for how this works that a good marketing department will apply and hold onto with a clenched iron fist. It looks like an Ad Libs form they just fill out with timelines and people to contact. They make a press packet and start sending them out. Festivals are on their lists as well as the submission fees, and bid charts for pick ups based on last years going rates for those types of films.
Now for the five basic problems…
Aesthetic: “It looks like shit,” muttered the Cinematographer. Unfortunately it quite often does.
Budgetary: “Uh… Yea, we don’t have anymore money.” Movies have a tendency to bleed money, especially during the production and post-production phases.
Relationship: “He’s fucking the main actress, and now they don’t want to be in the same room together, let alone make out for scene 16.” Happens.
Scheduling: “We can’t shoot scenes 54, 85 because there isn’t enough time.” Time literally is your enemy.
Technical: “Sounds not recording.” You’ll actually hear this from the audio mixer that just spent the last two hours trying to chat up every actress on set about how many years he has had in the industry and how talented he is. Never fails. Unfortunately you almost always have to pay top dollar to get a low quality audio mixer because of what a high opinion they have of themselves. Good sound mixers are worth their weight in gold.
You can either be a troubleshooter or a panicshitter. I didn’t make those phrases up.
Use your brain and solve these problems, preferably before they ever happen.
For examples of all these stages and problems I’ve decided to put together a somewhat fictional account of an amalgam of directors, producers, and writers that I worked with back in California.
The Title and Label for it will be Goat Hunters and the main character will simply be known as The Producer.
