The Thrill of Making Movies
The Thrill of Making Movies
The Thrill of Making Movies
The thrill of making movies is exciting and nerve-racking. Each step from movie idea to securing meaningful film distribution can be a roller coaster ride of emotions. There are moments where I feel completely in control and other times when the ride gets bumpy. Right now I’m coproducing a dark twisted movie titled Psoro with U.K. based LiarDice Films and Graphic Delusions.
This has been a great learning experience for me working with people outside of the U.S. film scene. The production has also spread to Albania and Milan. Psoro is an indie driven film fueled by collaboration from many dedicated and talented people.
The filming done outside of the U.S. is a wrap and in post-production. Next week the thrill of making movies comes to Southern California to film the final scenes for Psoro.
Going over a film schedule, shot sheets and storyboards is exciting. Being prepared makes it easier to smooth out production problems that always happen when you’re making movies. The nerve-racking part is keeping all the moving pieces together to finish the movie on time and within budget. With many indie film budgets there is little room for too many costly production hiccups.
Indie films have to be produced with creative solutions to fix production problems seamless as possible. There is never extra money to throw at problems to fix them. You have to be able to roll with the punches and keep filming.
Time and money are always short on an indie film set. I wonder if other filmmakers feel excitement and nervous energy as the film dates approach. During production planning I can find different things to worry about from wardrobe to film gear problems.
I once had a camera break on set and that was the only one we had to film for the day. The production team had to rush to rent one while losing precious time. On another shoot an actor failed to show up for their scenes without any warning.
They disappeared on some kind of spur of the moment sabbatical. We were basically screwed and had to work around it by writing new scenes on set that could be shot without the actor.
I go to bed thinking about these scenarios sometimes, especially as Psoro filming in Southern California is slated to start next week. That’s the producer in me thinking about the film budget invested and tight schedule we have for Psoro.
I’m glad my mind changes when I get on set. The nervous energy burns away and I focus on staying in the present moment to tell a story that is entertaining for movie viewers best I can.
The cool part of Psoro is that it is an ego-less indie filmmaking collaboration. The director of Psoro is U.K. filmmaker Wayne Daniells. My role has been very flexible and creative. I’m the lead screenwriter and one of the producers.
In indie film fashion I am directing and overseeing the Southern California filming of Psoro. Our modest movie budget doesn’t leave room for Wayne to fly in from London to be on set to direct the Southern California scenes himself.
Instead we have put together shot sheets and storyboards so he could have input on what we are shooting in Southern California. Wayne is a filmmaker that pays attention to the details of a movie shoot down to the smallest prop. Our collaboration has had a good chemistry.
We’re realistic about making movies and understand once filming starts I will be making some calls that won’t always follow the shot sheet or storyboard. That’s where trust and collaboration come into play during producing a movie. LiarDice Films, Graphic Delusions and Slice of Americana Films have really pulled together every step to see Psoro become a reality. This is indie filmmaker Sid Kali typing FADE OUT