Writing, directing, producing and staring in your first film might be a bit too much. But do it anyway. (Part II)

In a previous article, I have written a bit about the process of writing and learning about the basics of filmmaking. Once again, I shall write about learning. This time about the pre-production process.

The two people you have to have on your team

After the coffee with Jess (Director of Photography) I had several other meetings with other DOP who were interested in the project. The problem was that I have already made up my mind about who the DOP will be and I went into the other meetings with very high expectations and hopes that they would approach the film in a similar fashion as Jess had. They haven’t. And that is completely fine, because they all had very good points and I’m sure they were really interesting people, well prepared for any other job. The meetings had a very similar pattern which consisted of some drink, talking about experience and everyone was giving me advice on what to do. Except one person — this person would come in, sit down with me and asked me about my vision and how I want things to go. He also explained to me very clearly that I am the director and my word is the final one. Though I had already made up my mind about who the DOP would be, I knew I wanted this person on the project one way or the other. So I decide I would be straight with him and told him that I already have a DOP to which he said that he’d be more than happy to be part of the film in other role. And that’s how I met my Assistant Director, Honza Sedláček. We had several glasses of wine and talked about life, about his interest in post-apocalyptic subculture and a small city outside Prague build by like-minded people and in post-apocalyptic fashion. All-in-all a wonderful meeting!

(I met with Honza yesterday for some beers during which he has confessed that when we met, I was drinking wine and though he is a beer man, he wanted to present himself as a distinguished one so he order wine as well…)

Jess and Honza — that’s the two! Now, there was another element that made a big difference in the entire process — COVID. Unfortunately, the big wave hit at the very same time when I had these meetings and Czech Republic soon went under lockdown during which filming and meeting was practically impossible. The pre-production was therefore postponed and everything was suddenly uncertain.

The actors, the shots and the film

This film is about three friends and their relationship. I had taken a big risk and decided to shoot with actors with no or very little experience — those would be my friend Jirka and Lukas. They both agreed to do it, but both warned be about their limits. I personally have experience with acting from both Czech Republic and United States where I have taken acting lessons, but I have never been in a role of director. It was a first for everyone and we had to figure it out together. I decided to teach the guys most of what I know about acting in very intense and frequent rehearsals which had to take place online at first. Once the COVID restrictions were released and the dates of production set, we started rehearsing twice a week for three hours. Now, keep in mind that these are people with day jobs and personal lives. They have sacrificed their time to the film for which I am incredibly grateful. The job they have done was simply amazing — coming from no experience in front of camera to actors in a period of barely three months is a job well done.

At the same time, Jessica and I agreed that she would be the DOP on the film and we started meeting very frequently as well to figure out the screenplay, individual shots, locations, budget and basically the entire production design. As I was teaching the guys about acting, Jess was teaching me about filmmaking. Most of what I have learned was from her and those meetings. It couldn’t have been easy for her to explain everything to me, so I tried and learned, research certain topics before we’d meet just to have an idea of what we are talking. We skipped the usual process of storyboard creation and simply used scenes from various films to paint the basic visual look of the film. If there wasn’t one, we drew one on the spot. It was simply amazing! One café, several meetings and a structure of the film was born.

Production manager and designer — invest in them

Now, all this seems as if it was going very smoothly, but trust me when I say it wasn’t. As we were speaking about everything that needed to be done, I was realising that it’s becoming a bit too much for one person. Jess suggested a production manager who would handle the organisational things, therefore I wouldn’t have to worry about them on the set. Chance would have it that Honza was working for a production company and offered their services. I accepted a meeting with them during which I was directly told that I cannot handle this all on my own. I agreed and we have decided on a deal where they would provide services connected with catering, extras and most importantly — editing.

I need to stop here because I’d rather not go into details about our further co-operation so I will only say this — invest in a good production manager who will be able to make your life on set easier. Because it must be really nice to have that.

One way or the other, everything started to take shape and it all seemed very real. That’s because it was. One problem though — budget.

There is no easy way to say this…

Films are expensive. As we were discussing all the necessary things that needed to be done during shoot, we also discussed their cost. And that cost was rising with each new idea. During one meeting we only talked about budget and I was writing down everything for which I needed to pay. There were obvious things, such as salaries for the crew, equipment, locations, transportation, etc. But every now and then a new expense has been added. Only about a week before the shoot I was told that a food needs to provided. Well, of course! I know that… But truth be told — I didn’t.

So, there is no easy way to say this, but write down a list of every expense to that last penny and that start collecting those pennies everywhere you can. Do you have friends and family who would support you? Great! Go for it! Do you have clients or people for whom you have worked in the past? Great, ask them too! Though it may feel very frustrating and bit of embarrassing to ask people for money, there is no way around it and hear this — it’s part of the job.

Fortunately, I was able to collect pretty big sum for the film and covered all the expenses. There is one thing I’d also recommend at this point — put in your own money. Not only does it cover part of the entire budget and you can cross thing of the list, but with my own money invested I understood the value of the entire operation and it also shows the people who are considering to chip that you care about the project, that you believe in it and that you are willing to take the risk.

To sum up

This feels like a great place to stop the article and summarise what we’ve learned — find good people who love film at least half as much as you do, ideally more. Be careful, choose wisely, because they are about to become part of your team, your film family. And most importantly — they are there to help you. So listen to them, learn and make sure that you don’t put every single responsibility on your back. There is only a certain amount which the back can carry.

Stay tuned for Part III!