We thought posting information on how we made our film might be helpful to other first-time filmmakers. The content below contains information on what we did to make our film, not necessarily what you should do. All projects are different. And we definitely made a few mistakes along the way that we learned from.
As graduate students in American University's Producing for Film and Video program, we took 10 courses to complete our master's degree. Three of them stand out as being the most helpful in the making of Toxic: Legal Aspects of Communication, Production Planning & Management, and Short Dramatic Film Production. We supplemented what we learned with additional reference materials (scroll to the bottom) and talking to various vendors and professionals in the field.
In many of the documents attached, we've highlighted areas in red that you can customize for your project. You should have all your contracts, releases, etc. reviewed by a legal consultant before you use them (just as we were advised to do). A3 Productions is not responsible for what you choose to use and customize for your project (or how you choose to use them).
1) Development: what story are you going to tell?
2) Pre-production: how are you going to tell it?
3) Production: making your story.
4) Post-production: editing and enhancing your story.
Script:
Arelys Carballo wrote The Grapes in the Fall of 2002. A3
Productions started development of what would become Toxic in July
2003. From development through production, we experienced eight script revisions
before we locked the script, and one revision during production. And once
in post-production, we made additional changes by rearranging scenes.
Budget:
We've simply used a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet to maintain our budget.
It has worked just fine for our low-budget project. Other software exists
to develop and manage budgets and schedules. Check out ShowBizSoftware
and Gorilla 2.2. But if you think
Excel will suffice for your project, here's a template you can start with.
You'll need to know formulas, how to link one worksheet to another, etc. Note:
This is not Toxic's budget, just a template.
Funding:
We did an incredible amount of research on how to fund our project with
grants. We found very little out there for student narrative short films.
In the end we applied for the following:
1) University Film & Video Association
Carole Fielding Student Grants (which we did not get)
2) Eastman Kodak grant (which we did get). Eastman Kodak provides film to
various film schools and they in turn manage the application process. (American
University students, keep on the lookout for this in January 2005.)
Starting a Production Company:
We did something not a lot of student projects do. We actually started
a Limited Liability Company (a type of corporation) for our production. Because
we had a significant number of cast and crew, plus major locations (specifically
Ronald Reagan National Airport), we started the LLC so that if anything went
wrong during our production, claims would be brought against the company and
not us directly.
www.dc.gov has information and a simple checklist to follow on how to start a business in the District of Columbia. An abbreviated list is below. Selections in bold are what we chose for TOXIC THE MOVIE LLC:
1) Determine the business type. ( service , retail, or manufacturing)
2) Determine ownership structure (sole proprietorship, LLC , partnership,
corporation)
3) Define the business ( domestic or foreign)
4) Obtain federal tax identification number (this is free; contact the US
Internal Revenue Service 1-866-816-2065)
5) Register with the District of Columbia. Physically go to:
Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs
Business and Professional Licensing Administration
Corporations Division
941 North Capitol Street, NE
Washington, DC 20002
Take your Articles of Organization and
a check for $150. You will leave with a notarized certificate validating your
company is in compliance and that it exists.
As of this writing, film production companies do not have to have a basic business license in the District of Columbia. And if by chance you want to register the business trade name, that cost as of this writing is $50.
Production Schedule:Having a schedule is imperative for any project. Keeping it updated and distributed on a regular basis helps keep everyone on the same page about goals. Attached is a schedule we created in Microsoft Excel. It worked fine for our small production. However, both pieces of software mentioned above have scheduling options. Although the file attached below was updated during production, we thought it would be a good idea to introduce it at this stage of the project. The last tab in the file titled ãSummaryä has links to the other tabs so it automatically updates when edits are made.
Production Insurance:
We purchased short-term production insurance for Toxic. We found
there is a significant price jump between a 1–12 day production and
13+ day production. Keep your rental period under 12 days for better rates.
And make sure you include the days you pick up and drop off equipment when
counting. Because we borrowed and rented equipment from many people, and had
locations that required minimum coverage in certain categories (especially
Ronald Reagan National Airport), we made sure we were fully covered. Here
are a few companies to check out (we went with the first):
Arts & Entertainment Insurance
• 1-800-676-9374
Film Emporium
ð 1-800-371-2555
Supple-Merrill & Driscoll, Inc.
ð 626-795-9921
Cast & Crew Calls:
We organized all cast and crew calls ourselves. We posted messages everywhere
and received outstanding response. We believe most people responded to postings
on the Women in Film & Video listserv,
the American University listserv, and craigslist.com.
But here is a complete list of where we posted:
Blackfilmmakers (Yahoo! Group)
DC Film Video (Yahoo! Group)
Women in Film & Video
American University graduate student listserv
craigslist.com
Spanix.com
Latinos in the Industry
Association of Hispanic Arts
Indieclub.com
Maslow Media Group Inc.
Mandy.com
We held casting across two days (a Saturday and Sunday), and scheduled appointments ahead of time instead of having people just drop in. Which means doing legwork ahead of time: reviewing headshots, making calls, etc. Most auditions were on Saturday. Callbacks were held on Sunday (which also included a few first auditions).
As for crew, we held a meeting that same Sunday after casting was over. So many people showed up! It was great to meet people in person and talk about the project and socialize a bit. Most of our crew came from that initial meeting.
For both cast and crew, we asked folks to complete the forms below so we could start our record keeping.
Independent Contractor Agreement/Deal Memo:
We used this type of agreement for all cast and crew who joined us. It
is based on a template provided in our Legal Aspects of Communication course.
We customized it for our production. Producers, protect yourself and your
project! Obtain signed agreements. That way there is no question later about
what was promised between parties, be it salary, schedule commitment, etc.
Independent Contractor Agreement/Deal Memo
Releases:
Again, Producers, protect yourself, your project, and all those working
with you. Obtain signed releases whenever necessary. Here are three we used:
Location
Release
Appearance
Release
Art
Release
Location Scouting:
Lesson learned: Aim high! We almost chose not to pursue Toxic as
our thesis because we thought nailing an airport would be impossible. And
we had to have an airport—a national or international airport—to
do the story justice. Believing we were being "realistic," we spent
a ridiculous number of hours looking at small, regional airports. We thought
our chances were better there. But we were not satisfied. So one day we mustered
up the courage to call Ronald Reagan National Airport. You know. Just to see
what they'd say. It ended up being the easiest location to lock. Yes, a bit
of paperwork and insurance coverage. But in the end, we got exactly what we
wanted. Plus we met and worked with the nicest people on their staff.
Location scouting is critical to a successful shoot. It is best to take the entire gang with you: director, DP, sound mixer, camera operator, grip, and production designer. Take lots of digital photos and video if you can. Digital is easier to share via e-mail or online photo libraries. And visit locations more than once, and at different times of day. As your schedule changes, you'll need to know the locations like the back of your hand. And really talk to the people who are most familiar with the location: the owner, frequent customers, etc. Not only will you get the information you need, but you'll also develop good relationships with people who, if they trust you, will be confident you'll treat their place with respect.
Equipment:
Oftentimes vendors have different student discounts for rental equipment
as opposed to supplies (c-stand vs. strike tape). Be sure to ask about the
various discount rates.
Lighting & Grip Equipment vendors to check out:
R&R Lighting Co. Inc.
The Washington Source
Notes here are harder to make because every production is different. So much is dependent on how much money you have. Below is what we did to give ourselves a little peace of mind.
As with many independent films, equipment comes from everywhere. Make a comprehensive list of your equipment (who gave it to you, what it included, etc.), and take pictures of it so you can document the condition and know how the owner likes it packed up. One of the worst things you can do is return equipment in a different fashion than it was provided.
Call your vendors at least 24 hours ahead of time to confirm your orders.
Rent a production van/truck. Try to keep all of your equipment in one place so you're not running around looking for something just to find out Joey has it in his car and he's not working with you that day.
Feed your crew good food! Light breakfast that can be eaten while folks set up (danishes, doughnuts, breakfast bars, coffee, juices) and a good, hearty lunch. Keep snacks on hand between meals (fruit chews, candy, mints, trail mix, chips, etc.) We chose to cater lunch because of our larger locations. We also wanted the luxury of someone coming with the food, then taking it away.
Set up a mini production office: laptop, printer/copier, stapler, markers, etc. Script changes could be done and printed on the fly, updated call sheets distributed at the end of the day, logs printed out, etc. Here are script supervisor, sound, and camera logs:
Camera
Log
Sound
Log
Script
Supervisor Log
Editor
Log
Communication is key. And call sheets, imperative. Try to distribute them at the end of a shooting day for the following day. If not, then e-mail it. And always include the contact sheet (which you started developing from the cast and crew forms completed during the calls). Here is a sample of our call sheet (which is part of the schedule attached above) and our contact sheet:
And lastly, relax. Go with the flow. And be confident that you did enough in pre-production to ensure everyone has what he/she needs to do their job. But you have to put in the work during pre-production.
The Independent Filmmaker's Law and Business Guide: Financing, Shooting, and Distributing Independent and Digital Films (author: Jon M. Garon; ISBN: 1-55652-472-2)
Film & Video Budgets, 3rd Updated Edition includes Digital Video (authors: Deke Simon and Michael Wiese; ISBN: 0-941188-34-5)
Independent Feature Film Production: A Complete Guide from Concept Through Distribution (author: Gregory Goodell; ISBN: 0-312-18117-5
The Filmmaker's Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide for the Digital Age (authors: Steven Ascher and Edward Pincus; ISBN: 0-452-27957-7)
Filmmakers & Financing: Business Plans for Independents, 3rd edition (author: Louise Levison; ISBN: 0-240-80432-5)
Feature Filmmaking at Used-Car Prices: How to Write, Produce, Direct, Shoot, Edit, and Promote a Feature-Length Movie for Less Than $15,000 (author: Rick Schmidt; ISBN: 0 14 02.9184 9)
Producing & Directing the Short Film and Video: 2nd Edition (authors: Peter W. Rea and David K. Irving; ISBN: 0-240-80394-9)
Making a Winning Short: How to Write, Direct, Edit, and Produce a Short Film (author: Edmond Levy; ISBN: 0-8050-2680-0)
The Ultimate Film Festival Survival Guide: 2nd Edition (author: Chris Gore; ISBN: 1-58065-032-5)