Time + Money + People = Producing College Film

I know I'm not the only one that has really started to reflect on the crazy realization that this will be the last film that I make while at Ithaca College.  There have been some stellar ones, some average ones and some projects that we just don't talk about. I'm probably not the only one who didn't wind up doing what they thought they would be doing at the tail end of four years.  As a freshman, I thought it was going to be directing.  I'm not the type of person who likes getting caught up in the hands-on details of things.  Rather, I prefer to think as big picture as possible.  Somewhere between sophomore and senior year, directing became producing because I fell in love with it in a way I never did with directing.  Before I get stuck in nostalgia, or something far worse, I'll cut to the chase about what I've figured out about producing thus far...

Producing film (and TV), at least in college, can be boiled down to the management of three resources. These three resources will always be in significantly shorter supply than you'd like AND, as the producer, you will be the one held responsible if any of them are mismanaged. 

Time is one of the three things that is mine to handle.  This one is arguably the most difficult to get a hold of at the college level, and I'll venture a guess that the real world isn't all that different.  Long before I was at Ithaca College, I stage managed a number of theatrical productions back home.  Somewhere along the line there, time management became a part of my brain that doesn't shut off, ever.  When I am asked to produce a film, the first thing I do is read the script, duh. The main two time factors that I am crunching in my head as I read are: "How long is it going to take to shoot this?" and "How many weeks of preproduction do we need to get it ready to shoot?" (the third is post-production, but this usually doesn't take long to calculate).  To be honest, I'd say that the first question is usually much easier to answer for me.  If I get a good enough sense from the director as to the vision, I can usually ballpark a good schedule based on a few things: "Day/Night Shooting", "Elaborate Set Ups/Stunts", "Script Length", "Number of Characters", "Complexity of Action/Background Action".  

Right off the bat, some of these are going to be much easier to understand than others.  When the directors come to you with a script for a musical with five different dance numbers, you know those are going to each take at least two, if not three hours to shoot based on complexity. If the directors want to shoot on Cayuga Lake, you know that too will take some extra time. If there is a need for day4night or night4day, then your set ups will take significantly longer. Now the tricky thing about the way to schedule these is that while there are guidelines, there is no true right answer, and that is frustrating as all get out. My solution is that I take my time, and never go it alone. Any time I schedule a film shoot, it is with the AD, Line Producer and Director (and often DP). There is no sense  making a schedule that your crew will kill you over. More on people later! As for trying to assess the amount of preproduction needed, at the college level this is tricky.  It is tricky because of schedules.  We aren't professionals yet, and unfortunately we aren't paid to exclusively do this.  This means that when I plan preproduction I need to look at the schedules of the Director, Producers, Director of Photography and the Production Designer more than anyone else.  What other films are they making? How many classes are they in? Are they working part time jobs? Any other extra curriculars? Once you take all of their commitments into account, you then need to see where priorities lie.  Unlike scheduling shoots, planning preproduction has a much, much looser formula; this is not something I have ever been thrilled about.  I used to believe that it was always best to throw time at preproduction, but my opinion on this has changed.  If your team has all the team in the world, they lose their sense of urgency.  Well that certainly won't be a worry on this one. Five weeks until production!

Money is usually the next biggest hurdle to have to jump through.  Much like time, this management is also broken in to two main parts: budgeting and fundraising.  Not only am I the final say on how we spend our money, but I am also responsible for getting us the money to spend.  This may be one of of my favorite parts of the job.  Managing a budget starts with reading the script, marking it up and assessing what the needs will be from each department.  The highest costs are always going to be production design and camera department, at least on student film.  Ideally you would want to use as much of PPECS's equipment as possible, but there are some things they just don't have; this is where rentals come in, and they ain't cheap.  Creating the world for the film to take place in is not a time for short changing, and production design should never be underestimated.  Once the DP and Production Designer are hired, I then compare my notes with theirs to verify that my estimates are fairly on track.  The same can be said of every other department and its keys.  It is especially easy when I am the key to parts of the budget, like PR. Once the estimates are pretty locked in, I input them into a Google Sheet, which tracks our departments' estimated budgets in comparison to their actual expenditures.  As preproduction continues, it is important to keep each department in the black, as there will be unexpected costs in production (which I try to build contingency for). 

Fundraising is the other side to the coin.  Indiegogo is not a perfect platform but it does manage to get the job done! If you want a fast way to get in touch with friends, family, family friends, to communicate your need for their support, then it is perfect.  There are some serious limitations to it though.  The platform was initially created for film fundraising but it is actually the most difficult type of fundraising to do on Indiegogo.  Tech fundraisers can promise prototypes or other fancy forms of swag that filmmakers just can't.  At the end of the day, this leaves film Indiegogo pages (those of the non-famous variety, for an example of the successful ones check out Con Man) struggling to break what I like to call the "middle class ceiling".  If you are coming from a middle class background, your ability to fundraise on Indiegogo is going to tap out somewhere just above $5000, in all likelihood (that's a team of roughly three students and this is just my observation).  This leaves you looking for slightly deeper pockets.  This can be other connections such as alumni, businesses or grant applications.  I am currently in the process of designing some literature which I hope to turn in to a few thousand dollars, fingers crossed.  Really it comes down to getting the money, however you can, even if that means taking a water balloon full of hot sauce to the face. 

People wind up being the resource that is the easiest to find at the college level, and it doesn't take a lot of brains to see why.  This school is full of some of the most intelligent and gifted people I have ever met.  The tricky thing that I am starting to realize as a senior is that I no longer have anyone older than me to recruit for films.  For the first time, I have to hire on people in to major roles that are one or two years younger than me.  Admittedly this took a little getting used to, but age really is just a number, and not always an indicator of skill level.  

Some positions will always be more difficult to fill than others.  Finding good production designers, gaffers and producers is always the most difficult thing to manage, for a variety of reasons.  Production design is one of those jobs that takes a hell of a lot of effort, but arguably the least glamorous of the most difficult jobs; it also takes someone who is both detail oriented and able to see the big picture.  Gaffers just seem to not exist all that much from a "I can create a beautiful look" for this scene level.  Honestly I think this has more to do with our education than anything.  Cinema majors get a decent grounding in this, while TV/R majors can expect very little in lighting aesthetics (not to say that we don't make good grips, we kill that game).  

As for producers, well we have the job that almost nobody wants.  We have to be able to constantly ask for things to get done, without being a nag. We have to deliver bad news in the best way. We have to be able to stay friends with our peers, while also having to supervise their work. We are the organizers, the brainstormers, the hand holders, the blame takers, the huggers and the ones who get to lose sleep over it all; we are the crazy ones. We have the job that most people find either too boring or too much work. I have heard a number of times from others that we don't make art, because we don't touch cameras, write scripts, use paint, or call action. It took a long time to realize this isn't true.  True, there really isn't much art in the excessive amount of paperwork I have to do.  You have to look broader, from development to distribution, we connect everyone and everything. If you look for our art in the film you won't find it, because you aren't looking in the right place. Our art is in the film production itself. We line it all up. I don't play an instrument...

4 Tips for Writing Directing and Producing a Short Film

Writing a great script for a short film is hard. Most people feel like you have to lengthen the script to create an in depth story, which isn't true. To make the most of your limited pages and minutes use these ideas:

1. Create complex characters. 
Before or during writing, ask yourself some questions about your characters. Asking questions like "What was the worst moment in your characters life?" might seem silly, but it could lead you to some very interesting conflicts and plot points in your story. If anything questions like this will help you to make a world around your character it makes sense for them to exist in.  Here are some character questionnaires to start with.

2. Don't neglect your set. 
Though most of us are just happy to get a location to shoot in, remember that the location of your film can be a goldmine for planting character information and foreshadowing. Avoid exposition through dialogue by leaving a characters room a mess with clothes and make up before a date, or show the room as immaculate if your character is very controlling.

3. Make dialogue that sounds real. 
People in the real world don't talk in full sentences, they sometimes stutter, pause, misspeak, use contractions. Read your dialogue out loud while writing. Do you believe someone would actually say it? Don't waste time with lengthy dialogue when you could convey the same idea visually.

4. Be confident.
Throughout this process realize that this is your vision and you are going to have to work hard to bring it out to the world. Be your own best advocate. Be confident that your idea is great and that it can impact something, and people will be willing to help. No one wants to work on a film that even the creator isn't excited about.

Boys of 213

I will be taking a break from writing about the usual juicy drama's that catch my eye on television and focus on a show that's a little more close to home.  Over the past semester I have been hard at work producing my very own ICTV show: Boys of 213.  Even though filming only began January 29th 2013 the show has been in the works since over a year ago.  (March 2012 to be specific) and has literally been my baby over the past year.

My co-producer and I were driving back from Connecticut to Ithaca, when we started discussing ICTV and what kind of show we would want to produce if we could.  I had already been thinking about this and came up with an idea to write about our lives.  I'm always told to "write what you know" so I figured it was only the smart way to go.  After discussing a few characters, more interesting plot lines, and a central theme....we had a show.  The next day we sat down and wrote 10 pages of episode 1.  The creative juices started flowing and before we knew it we were casting.

The show is about 3 very unique boys who, due to a housing mixup, end up living together in a 2 person dorm room their freshman year of college.  The boys are: sarcastic and playful Noah, snobby and dim-witted Wesley, and quirky socially awkward Liam.  The three boys get into trouble and find themselves among a crazy cast of characters.  The show is a single camera sitcom, which we use a Cannon 5D Mark 2 to shoot.  A unique feature of our show is that it's shot in a mocumentary style similar to The Office and Modern Family.  We thought this popular format would work well to create the realistic, and intimate comedic feeling you will get with our characters.

Another feature of our show is the dorm room set.  My co-producer lives very close to Ithaca and was able to pull together his resources over the winter break to construct our very own set that we put together each week in studio A of Park.  Luckily we have a dedicated and hardworking cast and crew to help us every week not only construct the set but decorate it as well.  We shoot it very similarly to a multi-camera sitcom because we don't include the 4th wall of the set - so it's like we're really peering into the dorm room of the three boys.

This semester has been a most difficult one but will prove most rewarding.  After many issues with scheduling and actor's outside conflicts, lighting corrections, music recordings, etc. I have learned to love producing. I think audiences will really enjoy the characters and stories we tell, and can really relate to the situations.

Boys of 213 will premiere in the Park School Auditorium on April 26th at 8:00PM an then every day on ICTV of that week at 10PM.

My Kevin Costner Obsession

My dad doesn't always watch movies... But when he does, he watches Kevin Costner movies.

As a kid growing up, I didn't have the attention span to make it through a single one. I have recently made it my mission to watch all the movies he has ever produced, directed, and/or starred in, though. This may take me a while, as his movies all seem to be approximately 4 hours long. 

If you looked at ratings by Rotten Tomatoes, Kevin Costner has definitely had some big hits, and some even bigger misses. However, I find that some of the movies with the lowest ratings seem to be some of my favorites. For example, The Postman. Rotten Tomatoes critics gave it a whopping 9%, but I prefer to call it a masterpiece. Costner both directs and stars in this movie, where a makeshift postman reunites a post-apocalyptic America by delivering mail. Maybe an odd concept to wrap one's head around, but I dont want to spoil the movie for those who may actually read this post and have the intrest of watching it. 

Kevin Costner's typical style defies Hollywood norms. He makes movies as long as they need to be, rather than editing them down to a more appealing length for the general public. In some cases, his movies turn out twice the length of a typical feature film. Another rule he seems to break is to choose factual details rather than bending the truth to make more drama and/or action, shown best in his movie entitled "Wyatt Earp" that shows the life of the horse thief turned lawman of the Wild West. This is a risky style to follow, but I like how different he is and I havent come across a Costner movie that I wholeheartedly disliked. His differing style that leads to spectacular movies (in my opinion) is my inspiration for breaking the rules, and finding something outside of normal that is still appealing to at least a small portion of viewers. 

I encourage you all to IMDb Kevin Costner and watch at least one of his films. 

-Scott Walle

Late Night with Conan O'Brien writers

Late Night with Conan O'Brien is my favorite late night show ever ( conan's new shows haven't been as good as late night). Anyway one of the things I find interesting about the show is the writers and how they make bits for the show. Most of the bits are shown after the monolog and before or in between the guess and are only a few minutes long. What is cool about them is that once a writer has an idea in a full script format s/he is in charge of making the bit, so they take on the role of producers, directors , writers and some times actors. I guess this is kind of like what we do in class but they do it in one day. Not all of the bits are great, and in class most of our's aren't going to be movie quality but its like the writers say "It's a volume business" and the important thing is to make as much as you can so that you can get your style down. Heres a link to some of the writers talking about some of their failures.

That scary post-graduation question...

In class today we talked about what we ultimately see ourselves doing post-graduation. As a Junior, this isn't very far away and that post-graduation question always sounds somewhat scary. I don't really think about it too much but when I do this is what I come up with. When I first graduate I'm expecting an entry-level position as a PA but down the road I see myself producing. My ultimate goal would be to somehow combine my love of broadway with video production by video packages for broadway.com. Although this is the dream as of now, it may change as I continue to explore what it is I like about television and hopefully intern in LA.