Chapter 10

Principal Photography

NOW THE FUN BEGINS

This is my favorite part. I love being on location and having the hustle and bustle of production going on around me. All that work – developing the screenplay, raising the money, working with the director, organizing the table reads, doing the casting, working with the line producer on the budget and schedule, and all the other million details – was worth every minute to get to this moment. This is what it’s all about. Being able to hire an entire crew and have incredible talented actors on the set is a dream come true. To be the one responsible for giving these creative people the chance to be fully self-expressed and have their own dreams come true is magical.

The schedule on these low-budget films was 14 days, so I needed to be in top form to stay a step ahead the entire time. I recommend that you really watch your diet during this time. Stay away from heavy foods and sugars. You really do need to be more alert and present than you’ve ever been, so there is no room for being tired or sluggish. I am about 70 percent raw vegan, but in the case of Portal – especially with a 6:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. schedule – I decided to do 100 percent raw. You don’t have to be that strict, but do pay attention to your diet during this time.

Also, tell friends and family that you are on location and that unless there is an emergency, they should wait until the film wraps to contact you. Remember that you are the one setting the tone on set, so being relaxed, calm, and centered will be important. If you’re anxious and stressed, it will show and will affect the space. You are going to have a number of responsibilities during principal photography, and you want to handle all of it with grace and ease. Are there going to be fires to be put out and breakdowns from time to time? Of course. But when you are centered and confident, you will handle the breakdowns effortlessly and with alacrity.

FIGURE 10.1

So let’s get you prepared for principal photography. This chapter covers the areas that you, as the producer, need to focus on during this stage.

KNOW HOW TO READ YOUR CALL SHEETS, DAY OUT OF DAYS, AND SHOOTING SCHEDULE

I realize that creating the call sheets, Day Out of Days, and shooting schedule is not your responsibility, but you want to be able to understand them. If you don’t know how to read these items, then have your line producer or 1st AD sit with you during preproduction (or even earlier) to go over them in detail. Basically, your call sheet is a daily schedule that is given to the cast and crew with all the details of where and when regarding the production. It also includes information like cast and crew contact info, the exact schedule for the day, which scenes will be shot, and more.

Take a look at the call sheet that I’ve included here for Seance (figure 10.1) and you will see the amount of detail it provides.

The Day Out of Days is pretty self-explanatory. It list the actors and gives each one a number and it clearly spells out the days in which each actor is working. Notice the SW, H, and WF in the headlines. The SW means start work, the H is hold (which means that the actor is not working that day), and the WF is work finish.

SHOOTING SCHEDULE

The shooting schedule is self-explanatory as well, but it is still wise to go over it with your 1st AD at this stage so you are clear on how to read it. Figure 10.3 shows a shooting schedule page from Séance.

It’s important to understand that the date noted refers to the information above the date, not below it, as you would expect. So on the Séance schedule in Figure 10.3, when it refers to the 6 and 3/8 pages to be shot on Monday, May 22, it is referring to the scenes listed above the date: scenes 10, 15, 17, 22, 36, 38, 74, and 80. You’ll notice that the page number of the script is noted to the left of the scene number. Also, the numbers in the righthand column are the numbers that refer to the actors who are needed for that scene. So in scene 10, for example, the actors in that scene (as you will see from the Séance Day Out of Days, figure 10.2) are Lauren, Sid, and the Girl.

DAILIES

Watch the dailies! Let me say that again: watch the dailies. The dailies (or rushes as they are called in some countries) are the unedited footage that was shot yesterday and although you may be busy with lots of things to do, it is important to take some time in your first few hours on set to sit down in a quiet room and watch the dailies. And be conscious while you’re watching them. Look for potential problems so that you can catch them early in the shoot and early in the day. Also, you should pick a few great scenes to cue up to show investors when they arrive on the set.

FIGURE 10.2

FIGURE 10.3

On my first couple of films, I was so busy putting out fires and handling a ton of issues that I barely had time to watch the dailies, and, as it turned out, there were problems. But by the time we got to post, it was too late to rectify. It’s your film, your baby; you are the one that is 100 percent responsible, so you have to be aware of exactly what is happening at all times, and that includes knowing what the shots you did yesterday actually look like on screen. How many takes does it look like you really have? Are they all consistent? Is the script supervisor doing his or her job? Is your director really getting enough transitional shots? Are you happy? You don’t get to complain in post if you haven’t taken the time during the shoot to sit down and watch the dailies. It’s hard to know what’s missing if you don’t know what you have.

VIDEO VILLAGE

One of the most important (and fun) jobs for you during this time is being at video village. This is where the monitor is set up and where your director, DP, and script supervisor are situated during the shoot. Talk to your sound supervisor during preproduction and make sure that he or she has multiple headsets for you and for your visiting investors. Watching the monitor at video village is so important. I know it is a director’s medium, especially during production, but as the producer, you should know exactly what is being shot. It’s entirely your responsibility. You are the one who’s going to be answering to your investors and your distributors.

I am not saying that you will be telling your director and DP what to do or how to shoot the film. I am just saying that you want to be aware of exactly what is being shot, so being at video village as much as possible is an important part of your job during this time. Even when you have to leave video village, have your headset turned on as much as you possibly can. You want to know what is happening on set, and you can’t always be there, so having your headset on will certainly help keep you informed.

Also, as I mentioned in Chapter 9, make sure that your production designer has a number of director’s chairs so that you will have your own chair and additional chairs for visiting investors. I know the budget is low, but it is important that you have these two items – headsets and director’s chairs – planned and ordered well in advance. You don’t want to be scrambling for chairs in front of the people who gave you money.

Another advantage to being at video village is getting to know your script supervisor. He or she is a critical player in the look of your film. When you get to the editing phase and realize that of those four takes, only two are usable – and they are the two that are your least favorite – the process is a lot more difficult. That is what happened to us on one particular film. The script supervisor was not great; for example, she didn’t pick up on the fact that the actor waved with her left hand in two of the shots and her right in the other two shots. It becomes a nightmare for the editor and director – and eventually for you, the producer – because the look of your film suffers. I really didn’t know just how important it was to have a fantastic script supervisor until I was sitting with the editor in post. Don’t learn this the hard way. Be at video village, watching the monitor and getting to know your script supervisor and his or her ability to do the job.

KNOW YOUR SCRIPT

Know your script inside and out. There are times when you may need to make a quick decision about cutting a scene; at these times, you want to be thoroughly aware of what you can cut without affecting the flow and integrity of the story. Or you may be caught off guard and have extra time. When Kate and I were shooting Candy Stripers, we found out by surprise that the effects make-up schedule for the alien scene was going to take something like six hours! We assumed that it would take three. First lesson is to never assume. We should have asked our make-up effects artist well in advance. So here we were on the set with an additional three hours!

Kate, who was directing the project, got together with the DP and 1st AD and reworked that day’s scheduled shots. They moved the scene with the monster make-up later in the day and proceeded to set up tracks along the hospital hallway and create some fantastic shots dollying the camera along the hallway, getting every possible angle; they also got some great close-ups for transitional shots that would be needed during editing. So know your script and be able to make decisions on a dime.

YOUR EDITOR

You have already had meetings with your editor during soft prep or pre-production. He or she starts work on day 2 of principal photography. Don’t try and save money here. We’ve made that mistake before, and believe me, this is not the place to cut corners. You really want the editor there and beginning the assembly of the film. More than anyone, the editor will be aware of what is not working and – just as important – what’s missing. Stay in communication with him or her throughout the entire production.

STAYING ON TIME: YOUR 1ST AD

Our 1st AD on Portal, Frank Caridi, defines his job as “the master of the schedule. You have to have control over the set and you have to coordinate the action as it’s happening. We made a commitment to 12-hour days and we have a monetary commitment to stay on budget, and a commitment to our actors. So as the 1st AD, I need to make sure that the director and the DP and everyone understand that what I’m saying isn’t because I’m the bad guy, but rather I’m helping us coordinate our effort to meet that commitment.” Also, Frank is a big advocate of preparation. He believes that “what you do in prep has a magnified exponential effect on what happens when you’re shooting. Creative solutions are always good to find before you start shooting.”

WRITING CHECKS

As I mentioned earlier, at this budget we couldn’t afford a payroll company for the non-SAG actors or for the crew. So, at the end of each week, Mike would give me the list of people and their salary. I would sit in the production office we had on location (with my headset on) and write the checks. It took me about an hour. I gave them to Mike when they were complete and he hand-delivered them to everyone shortly before we left for the day.

STILLS AND PRESS RELEASE

From day 1 of principal, you will begin to have stills. And because a good deal of your time will be spent at video village and there will be plenty of downtime between scenes, I recommend that in the first few days of shooting, you write a press release. I had already created contacts when I sent off emails during preproduction inviting to the set the representatives from Fangoria magazine, fangoria.com, and other horror/thriller sites and magazines that were popular. As soon as I had some great stills and a press release, I sent them off to my contacts. Within days, we were on the front page of some of the top horror sites, and it looked fantastic. I continued to send a few stills and press updates as we went through production. It was great press for us and good press that I could use later when I was approaching sales agents. And, if I were shooting these films today, these are items that I would be including in my movies’ website, You Tube channel, and other social media platforms.

Also, ask your cast if they have their own websites and who has their own publicist. In the case of Séance, we had a great international TV star, Adrian Paul, and he gave me the name of his publicist. I sent the press release to him, and within days he had taken the info and created an amazing press release of his own and posted it on Adrian’s site. I copied that for my files. Of course, if you are thinking of self-distributing your film, this type of press is gold, and it’s actually critical that you make a point of doing this. You will need as much exposure as possible to help facilitate sales of your movie when you’re ready to deliver.

On one of our bigger films, we hired a publicist and she was on set with us quite a bit setting up interviews for our stars with the local radio, newspaper, and TV stations. It was all great stuff to have for the EPK and for film delivery, and of course it provided great footage for when those films came out. But in these lower-budget films, you will no doubt be the one writing the press release and getting it off to the proper sources.

Any time we received any press, I forwarded it to our investors right away. The feedback I got from them was lovely. It made investors – especially those who couldn’t make it to the set – feel like they were involved in the production.

TREATS

I know what you’re thinking. Treats! On this budget? I don’t care what your budget is: you have to put some money aside for treats for your cast and crew. In fact, the lower the budget, the more important it is to treat and acknowledge people. Everyone is putting in more than 100 percent and working long hours. Please don’t take that for granted. I am not saying that you have to spend a ton of money. I would keep it all in proportion to the fact that you are doing a low-budget indie film. Remember in Chapter 4, when I was explaining the different categories of the overall budget, how I broke it down into the film budget, operating expenses, executive producer fees, and delivery? Well, the treats come out of your operating expenses.

Be creative here and have some fun with this. During the shoot of Candy Stripers, it was extremely hot here in the San Fernando Valley. It was over 100 degrees every day of the shoot. So one day during lunch, we ran across the street to the Food for Less grocery store and bought a really big bucket, filled it with ice, and bought more than 100 ice cream drumsticks and popsicles. We brought them in just as everyone was finishing their lunch and put it on the table. A few people actually cried, they were so thrilled. Everyone thanked us a million times, saying how much it meant to them. It was a drumstick, for goodness’ sake! But the point was that we had bought them a treat and that was what mattered. The whole thing cost around $50. It wasn’t even about the treat itself – it was the fact that we were thinking about them and that’s what was important.

We did a few more things during that shoot. One day we went back to the same store and they had all the pies on sale, so we bought a bunch of pies and jars of whipped cream. Once again, everyone was thrilled. On another day when we all knew we were going to go into overtime, my husband went to an office supply store and bought some color ink for his printer and some poster paper. He made everyone a copy of the Candy Stripers one-sheet poster that we had created for our business plan. We gave one to everyone (cast and crew) at the end of the night, and it was like giving them a big check. They loved it, and everyone started running around getting each other to sign their copies. Once again, the whole cost was low – around $100 – but the impact was gigantic.

One night, we planned for a bigger expense and ordered the Chinese food truck to arrive as a late-night treat. It was a great surprise, and people loved it. That was around $400, but once again, it was well worth it. People were working so hard and deserved these little bonuses.

On Séance, we had a friend who was an amazing massage therapist come in and set up her massage table. When people had breaks, they were welcome to have a free 10- to 15-minute massage. She wasn’t at all expensive for us because it was a win/win situation: we had her on the set and she got to pass out her business cards to (very happy) future clients. This was a big hit!

One of the treats that I remember on Portal was Halloween candy. We were shooting in late October, so on a few of our late nights we went to the drugstore and bought Halloween candles, lanterns, buckets, and tons of candy. We decorated the tables before dinner and it was great fun.

During the filming of Jericho Mansions (a bigger-budget film), a couple of the people from the crew approached me with a request. We had had some lumber left over after all the sets were built; I could have returned it and gotten some money back, but a couple of the guys asked if they could have it. They were planning a surprise for the cast and crew and they wanted the lumber for that surprise. I could have said no and gotten a bit of extra money for the lumber, but this crew was amazing. I had never seen people work so hard, and they were all so committed to doing a great job. I said yes, and on Monday morning, when I got to the set, I saw that they had built what they called “The Grip-A-Go-Go Lounge.” Everyone had brought their musical instruments, and every night from then on they all got together from 11:00pm (when we wrapped) for a couple of hours to jam and sing. The phenomenal talent among them was incredible and the morale and level of impeccability on set was outstanding every single day.

In addition to our own ideas for treats, we also made a point of noting cast and crew birthdays that might be happening during our shoot. We would be sure to pick up a cake and candles and surprise them during dinner. All of this means being conscious, considerate, appreciative, and thoughtful. Just because you may be crazed and putting out fires does not let you off the hook. This is all part of being a producer. It’s your job.

PUTTING OUT FIRES

Speaking of putting our fires, let’s talk for a bit about that topic. Am I preparing you for a smooth, fun, exciting shoot? Absolutely. However, even with all this great information on producing your indie film and even after learning from my mistakes, I guarantee that you will have a few fires to put out during your production. Hopefully, there will be 90 percent fewer fires because of this book … but a few nonetheless.

The trick is to be awake and aware enough to know there’s a fire – and then to handle it immediately. On one of my earlier films, I had some pretty serious conflicts going on between the director, the line producer, and the DP. It was like oil and water, and it started in preproduction. At first I thought it would all get better when we started principal photography. Well, it got worse. And it created a lot of anxiety on the set. It affected the space so badly that everyone was affected, causing communication breakdowns through the entire crew. It spread like wildfire.

I had to make an executive decision quickly; I decided to take some of the money from the wrap party budget and planned a party for the end of our first week of shooting. The night was a huge success. I stayed away from the party for the first few hours, and by the time I walked in, everyone was having a ball. They were all dancing and having a great time like nothing had ever happened. That will not be the answer to every communication breakdown, but I knew in this case it needed something pretty special and it worked. Your job as producer has many titles: therapist, babysitter, creative genius, fairy godmother, acknowledgement maven, and more. Embrace them all and enjoy them all.

PLANNING YOUR WRAP PARTY

Another responsibility you will have during production is planning for your wrap party. This part is fun. Here are a few things to keep in mind to ensure that it goes smoothly, is a big hit, and doesn’t cost much. As I mentioned earlier, I really don’t think the wrap party should be included in your film budget. By opening the business savings account and putting all the investors’ checks in that account until the money was needed on the first day of preproduction, I was able to make $835 in interest. That is where the money for the wrap party should come from. If you don’t have the business savings account, take the money from the funds you set aside as operating expenses. That is what we did on Portal, and it worked fine.

Keep in mind that clubs and restaurants are often quiet on a Monday or Tuesday evening and would love to have you use their facilities. I like to book the wrap party immediately following production because people often have to move on to other projects, and I really want to have everyone enjoy the completion and acknowledgement that takes place at the party. I usually took care of booking the location for the party during week 1 of principal photography. Once the place is confirmed, I have the invitations made up. In the case of Candy Stripers, I just used the poster we had created for the business plan, put the information on the poster, and had them printed in postcard size. Toward the middle of the second week (we were shooting for only 14 days!), I gave everyone the invitation and emailed the invitation to all of the investors as well. Figure 10.4 shows that invitation.

FIGURE 10.4

Kate and I made the decision to give everyone two drink coupons for wine and beer only. I didn’t want to be responsible for or concerned about drinking and driving, so I decided to limit the amount of alcohol we provided. Also, I wanted to keep the budget for the party at a reasonable price. The club we chose was spacious, with both indoor and outdoor areas, which was perfect for the time of year we were shooting.

Kate and I dressed up, met people at the door as they arrived, and handed them an envelope that had their name typed on it and contained the drink coupons. When the investors arrived, we did the same but told them that if they (and their guest) wanted additional coupons, they had only to ask.

The club had multiple televisions, and our stills photographer had taken well over 500 stills, most of which were really fun behind-the-scenes shots of everyone. He made disks with the stills on a loop, and they played on the TVs the entire time. Everyone loved it. The club had an excellent sound system and people danced all night.

I had done some research looking for great restaurants in the area that catered; I choose a Thai restaurant that delivered some wonderful dishes in our price range. The food was a huge success. Candy Stripers had 33 speaking roles and a big crew and a surprising number of investors who wanted to attend the party, so I knew I would have to spend some money, but I was really careful about where it went. For example, the bartender worked very hard, and of course I would be expected to add the tip onto the bar bill at the end of the night when the coupons were added up. To help with that, we wanted our guests to be generous with tips as well, so we took the scariest still shots from the film and had them blown up to 8½ × 11 and put notes on them like “this could happen to you if you don’t leave a tip” and placed a few different notes around the bar. It was really fun. I still left a big tip for the bartender, but I knew that others had chipped in as well.

Kate and I made a point of moving around the party and thanking and acknowledging people throughout the evening. The party went on until 2:00 a.m. – when they finally kicked us out – and then it moved to one of the actor’s homes and went on until daylight.

GOING THE EXTRA MILE

By “going the extra mile,” what I mean is simply this: you want everyone around you to go the distance – everyone working long hours, a crew that’s brilliantly creative, and actors whose performance will win you accolades at the film festivals. You will need to remember that you are the one setting the stage, creating the tone, and specifying how high the bar should be raised. You demand 200 percent from them; you’d better be willing to do the same.

During the filming of Undertaking Betty, we had some pretty intense, difficult dance scenes for our leads. We had hired Peter Darling (Billy Elliot) to do the choreography, but what is the point of great choreography if your two lead actors aren’t exactly Fred and Ginger on the dance floor? Brenda Blethyn was fairly confident, but Alfred Molina needed some help (and he was the first to admit it). We were working six-day weeks, so the only time to schedule dance lessons was Sunday morning. It was their only day off each week during a six-week shoot. However, both of them jumped at the chance to have lessons to make sure the scenes were perfect (and watch the movie – the scenes are perfect!). Kate and I were exhausted. In fact, “exhausted” does not even begin to describe it. It was a long, tough shoot. Yet no one on set ever knew it. We never even used the word “tired.” Not once. And early each Sunday morning, we were up and waiting for Brenda and Alfred to arrive for their dance lesson with Peter, and we stayed with them during the entire lesson.

One night, while we were shooting a scene on location in Portal that required mealworms (really gross-looking little worms that look like maggots), our line producer went beyond the call of duty. We needed to have these little worms wiggle around the floor to look really creepy. What we hadn’t planned for and didn’t know was that maggot-type worms don’t wiggle on a cold floor. They just become totally still. Not a good thing in a horror film. So now that we’d learned that lesson, we needed more worms. Making the floor warmer was easy; getting more worms was a whole other story. It was 11:30 p.m., and we all started brainstorming ideas. One of our actors went online and found out that the local Walmart sold meal worms in their fishing department. Go figure! Kate, Mike, and I all looked at each other like, this is impossible, right? Just getting there before they closed at midnight was crazy, right? But everyone was looking to us to see what we were going to do. The scene was okay the way it was, but it was just okay. It wasn’t perfect. So Mike said, “I’m going to Walmart to get the maggots.” Everyone cheered, and he jumped on his motorcycle and off he went. He ended up getting stopped by a policeman for speeding, and after explaining our dilemma to the cop, even he got excited about us getting our gross little mealworms in time. So he let Mike go without a fine and gave him directions to Walmart. Mike got there at 11:55 p.m., bought the maggots, and returned to the set and to a standing ovation.

When I asked Kate what stood out for her regarding going the extra mile, here is what she wrote:

CHILDREN AND ANIMALS

First of all, if you can avoid using them, please do so. Both are a bit of a problem, and at this budget level, you don’t need the problems or the expenses that come with them. However, in many cases, there’s no choice. It’s part of the script – and it may be an important part of the script. In the case of Séance, the main focus of the story was our little girl ghost. And the script also called for a parrot. Thank goodness it wasn’t a talking parrot.

In the case of children, it is very important to check with your local guild and get the guidelines on using children in film. The number of hours they can work will differ dramatically from those of the rest of your cast. That is why twins are so often cast. Also, you are required here in the United States to have a teacher on set with them every day, even if you’re shooting in the summer. At the time we were filming Séance, that cost added an extra $250 per day.

When it comes to animals, it can be pretty scary. Is the animal going to behave like you want it to? You can’t afford numerous takes in an already tight schedule. And they can be expensive as well. I asked Kate to share what she remembered about casting our parrot in Séance.

FIGURE 10.5

Also, having a parrot in our script meant contacting the American Humane Association well in advance of principal photography. We were required to send them the script for approval and get them a copy of the schedule so that they could plan to have a representative from their organization on the set during the days that we were shooting the parrot. Then, after the film was complete, we needed to get a letter from the American Humane Association saying that the parrot wasn’t harmed during the shoot. That letter was required as one of our delivery items.Figure 10.5 shows the letter we received on Séance requesting a copy of the film so that they could verify and confirm that “no animals were harmed.”

Once again, if you do your research and follow guidelines, all of this will be easy – a little more work and a little more costly, but pretty effortless when you know what you’re doing.

INVESTORS

During preproduction, we invited our investors to come out during production. We sent them the schedule and suggested days that would be the most fun and entertaining. So now that we were in production, we needed to find out from them exactly if and when they were coming. There are a couple of things I did to made sure they felt involved and had some fun. Because I started my day watching the dailies from yesterday’s shoot, I made a point of choosing some great scenes to set aside to show investors.

No matter how confined our location was, I made certain that there was a room set aside to show the dailies that was separate from any rooms used by the cast and crew. That way there was an opportunity for me to show the dailies to the investors and have some privacy to talk to them as well.

In addition, I had director’s chairs set up for them at video village, which was always a big treat. I had their headsets ready and made sure that I introduced them to the director and DP as soon as they arrived so that they would be comfortable sitting at video village if that was something they wanted to do.

In some cases, the investors wanted to be an extra in the film, which was something we had worked out in advance. One of my investors lived in the area; he brought his son, and they are in multiple scenes in Candy Stripers. They had a blast and were on set quite a bit during the shoot. Another investor came out from Denver with her daughter, and while her daughter was an extra nearly every day on the film, our investor helped us out in the costume department. We put a lot of our investors to work, and they loved it.

Keep in mind also that if you have a name actor – as we did in Séance and in Portal – some of your investors will certainly want their picture taken with the actor. One of our investors came with his wife and sons from halfway across the country and got their picture taken with Adrian Paul. It was great fun.

Because we were shooting at a hospital on Candy Stripers, we asked the people in charge if we could use the huge welcome sign in front of the hospital to headline our investor’s name. So when an investor was coming, we would find out what time their plane arrived and send one of the PAs to pick them up. When they arrived, we would send the PA, Chris, down to take their picture in front of the gigantic sign that now had their name on it. Within a few hours, the photo would be emailed to them. It was a lot of fun and they truly appreciated it – and it didn’t cost a cent.

It’s important to remember to email your investors a few great stills every couple of days. And when you get any of your press releases and stills posted on genre websites, be sure to forward them that information as well.

INTERVIEWS FOR POSTPRODUCTION POSITIONS

During production, I made a point of researching the postproduction positions. I knew that I would need a composer, a sound designer, and a color correction expert. Researching, interviewing, and choosing the postproduction team is the job of the producer, especially when you can’t afford a postproduction supervisor. I didn’t sign their deals at this stage, but I did start asking around and doing the research.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Acknowledgment is something that is sadly missing these days. I make a point of acknowledging people every day. It is so important. At these budget levels, your cast and crew are working crazy hours, putting their heart and soul into the job, and so often this hard work goes unnoticed. That’s just not right. You, as the producer, need to be responsible for making sure this happens.

I know you’re busy, and maybe it’s your first film and you have enough to handle. Too bad. No excuses here. Make a note of it in your agenda if you have to, but do it – even if you just pick a different department each day and make a point of looking at the work they’ve been doing and acknowledging them for their talent and commitment.