There will be Moments of Chaos Producing Movies
There will be Moments of Chaos Producing Movies
Expect there to be moments of chaos producing movies. Moments of chaos can happen at any stage from finalizing a shooting script to wrestling to finish a movie in post-production.
There will be Moments of Chaos Producing Movies
It is easy to fall prey to thinking like Henry Ford who helped with the development of the assembly line technique of mass producing cars.
There are successful indie production companies that use this technique for producing movies like an assembly line.
Usually these type of indie production companies grind out movies that have titles that are similar to studio budget releases very quickly targeting a studio budget movie theater release with their direct to video or VOD release.
It is not a bad business model, but the assembly line film production does not work for all producers leading to chaotic moments.
I like to think of producing movies as a true people business. All of us in the entertainment industry have flaws and make mistakes during production.
Forgetting that people are not perfect can hurt a movie production because it causes unwanted stress that can cloud your judgment creating more chaos.
Producers that accept perfection from cast, crew and their post-production team are not being realistic. Nothing is perfect like the old saying goes.
Manners and patience are two important traits that can help a movie producer from becoming overly stressed out.
Honestly, I do not feel any movie big or small is worth a person hurting their physical health and mental health.
Anger and frustration are extremely negative vibes that will not help solve a production problem.
It only increases tension between the creative team and everyone involved with the project.
Being respectful to cast, crew and your post-production team will help reduce chaos and having manners will normally result in people really working hard.
There will always be rude and pushy in life and any business you are in. If you can minimize negative personalities the better it is for the project and your overall well-being.
Every movie producer knows there needs to be realistic deadlines to finish a movie, but unrealistic deadlines will set-up a movie to fail because tempers will flair and people will quit the project.
I read The Power of Now and there was a good point I can only paraphrase. The acceptance of a problem is not giving up, but being practical and accepting what is.
For me it related to a term used in movie contracts called force majeure which basically means an unexpected and disruptive event that may operate to excuse a party from a contract.
An actor could have to jail time during filming, a storm can shutdown filming, a key crew member like your director of photography could have a death of a loved one happen and host of other things in life can chaos producing movies.
There is no point fighting against it and getting mad. Acceptance to me means that you take a breath and see if there is solution to the problem.
If there is not a solution right away have patience that the movie simply will not be done as quickly as you hope and you have to wait out the storm calmly.
In movie production there are a lot of moving parts that deal with people. At the indie film level many people have other commitments because indie productions can only pay so much.
It is not like a studio budget film where an A-List is paid well enough to be committed to the project.
Actors in indie movies often have other jobs to pay their bills and sometimes their employers will schedule them to work on a day you scheduled to film.
If it comes to paying the rent and feeding a family most actors understandably put their regular job first. Who can blame them?
Indie producers also encounter personal problems that have to put a production on hold.
It could be divorce, the loss of a child, a medical problem and other things. In those times producing a movie will be put on hold until they can return or find someone to step in their shoes.
The point of this post is to not forget the human side of making movies. This is indie filmmaker Sid Kali typing FADE OUT