Night Exteriors

Particularly in independent films, night exteriors are expensive and everything to be exposed and captured by the camera, from actors’ faces, sets, and backgrounds, must be lit. In real life, night is predominately lit by moonlight. (In urban centers, there is also ambient artificial light such as streetlights, illuminated signage, and buildings.) To re-create moonlight, you need a big light source placed high in the sky, which requires a large, powerful light, lifted either on a Condor, crane, scaffolding, or on a sturdy light-stand on top of a truck, or on top of a building. Renting and transporting the equipment needed to create moonlight source is an additional production expense. The cost of manpower to transport and operate the equipment, build the scaffolding, hoist the light, and then light everything on the set that is to be seen by the camera is an additional production expense. Transporting the necessary equipment to and from set includes several expenses: vehicles, drivers, and additional fuel for the generator to power the lights necessary for night exteriors, and sometimes an additional generator are extra expenses. Generators require operators. Lights require cable. Cable requires manpower to run the heavy electrical cable from the power source to the large lights on Condors or rooftops, all of which are additional production expenses.

The biggest production cost of all is time, and the expenditure of time in all of the pre-planning and additional equipment and manpower necessary for shooting night exteriors may simply not be possible on a low-budget film. Another factor with filming at night is turning your crew around from shooting days to shooting nights. Almost like jet lag, people’s biological clocks are affected, sleep is disrupted, and work and enthusiasm suffers when people are tired and on a short, sleep-deprived schedule. I, of course, am not suggesting that writers never allow themselves to write night exteriors, but I am suggesting that knowing the production and budgetary limitations, based on the ingoing monetary worth of a proposed project, will allow screenwriters to write for production realities and not to “over-write” a script that simply cannot be made for its value in the global marketplace.

A writer who is aware of market trends and desires and market values will more aptly be able to anticipate and create solutions to reduce production costs when and where necessary. Of course most scripts and films have some nights or night transitions, but we as writers often need to think outside the box in how to accomplish this without compromise to an audience. Using a night exterior stock shot for establishing a nighttime location, and then cutting to a night interior, is a simple way to achieve a night scene or scenes without additional production expense. Night interior sets are controllable by simply blacking out windows, glass doors, or skylights if it is daylight outside, with any variety of material and shooting day for night easily and cost-effectively.

Another way to provide for cost effective night exteriors in independent and lower-budgeted films is to find and write for a night location that has a great deal of ambient light, such as a brightly lit downtown complex, a train station, or a brightly lit street. The Las Vegas strip or amusement parks are both good examples that not only provide vibrant ambient light sources but also a myriad of colorful light, which looks fantastic on film. In locations such as these examples, sets with tremendous production value are already lit without the necessity of the production supplying big lights and equipment with all the associated costs, and simply using some small, battery-powered lights, such as small fluorescent or LED kits can add fill light to better illuminate actors’ faces for tighter shots.

Limit Locations and Company Moves

When writing for a lower-budget film, I always suggest structuring the story around a small number of major locations, which require fewer company moves. A company move is when the entire crew, with all vehicles and equipment, as well as actors, hair, make-up, and wardrobe trailers, and personnel pack up and transport the entire film company from one location to another. Once the company arrives at the next location, the entire circus (as film companies are often known), have to be parked, unloaded, the generator placed in a location that isn’t obtrusive for recording sound, electric cable run, equipment set up, sets lit, actors’ trailers, along with hair, make-up, and wardrobe trailers set up and functioning, all before shooting can resume. This can take hours or even sometimes half a day, which is a loss of production time during your finite schedule and robs time from actually shooting the film.

Consolidating and limiting the number of locations saves time and money, since the number of company moves will be limited. The most cost-effective production plan is to write with a main location in mind, where the majority of the action takes place. Then incorporate a few other locations that are easy company moves and don’t take vast production time to move and set up again. Staying at one location for a longer period of time will also generally allow a producer to negotiate a better location rate, rather than staying shorter periods of time in multiple locations at most often higher individual rates per day. These are considerations that need to be factored into the screenplay as you are developing it.

By example, on a small picture I directed and produced, the script, which I developed with the writer, called for an all-American home with a white picket fence, as well as a few other locations such as an office, a smaller house, and a couple of retail locations. I found the perfect house on a beautiful residential street in Los Angeles and fortuitously, it was a half a block from a major cross street. I found a parking lot at the intersection of the two streets, which I rented and set up a central base camp so that equipment was both out of camera view when filming exteriors of the house, but also was easily accessible when filming not only at the house, but also at other scripted locations, all of which I found in a very close proximity, without having to move vehicles and large equipment. This plan was also cost-effective as trailers, trucks, and equipment were dropped off there at the beginning of production and picked up at the end of filming and returned, thus eliminating multiple drivers and transportation personnel throughout the production period, who would have otherwise been paid and fed each day to sit there. Fuel cost savings were substantial as well on this low-budget picture.

To recap the above cost-effective screenwriting suggestions for films that have budgetary constraints: limit locations to one cinematically impressive major location, such as a mansion, headquarters, office, school, or the like, with no more than three other locations or company moves, which saves time and money.

Limit Speaking Roles

Many writers write characters and dialogue without any awareness of how each speaking role impacts the budget of a picture. Every SAGAFTRA (the professional actors’ union) actor who is hired for a speaking role costs the production the current union scale plus pension, health, and welfare contributions, plus 10% agency fee (paid the agents of scale actors), as well as payroll fees. So that the writer understands the budgetary impact these costs have to a movie, I will further illustrate the SAGAFTRA rates as of July 2015 under the various collective bargaining agreements.

• Ultra-low-budget agreement for budgets under $200,000:
  • Day rate: $125

• Modified low-budget agreement for budgets under $625,000:
  • Day rate: $335
  • Weekly rate: $1,166

• Low-budget for budgets under $2.5 million:
  • Day rate: $630
  • Weekly rate: $2,190

As mentioned above, these rates don’t include pension and health benefits, which are paid to the union on top of the actors’ rate, nor do they include 10%, which is paid to the actors’ agents. Also, these low-budget agreements require that productions under these contacts must shoot in the U.S., which precludes a producer from coupling these rates with a foreign subsidy to assist in the financing of a picture. Further, actors’ salaries must go through a payroll company, which becomes the employer of record and provides workman’s compensation insurance. Payroll costs may slightly vary from company to company, but as of writing this book, in California the combined payroll tax, withholdings, and costs are approximately 18.77%.

As of the SAG-AFTRA collective bargaining agreement commencing as of July 2014 the percent pension, health, and welfare contribution rates to SAG-AFTRA, which are paid on top of the contract scale rates are/were as follows:

• Performers—17.3% (9.69% pension, 7.31% health, 0.30% IAC)
• Background actors—17.0% (9.69% pension, 7.31% health, no IAC)
• Residuals—17.0% (9.69% pension, 7.31% health, no IAC)
• Supplemental home video residuals—13.5% (7.69% pension, 5.81% health, no IAC)

To calculate an example for one speaking role (actor) for one day, I will use the modified low-budget agreement rates for a picture budgeted under $625,000:

Every dollar a producer pays to a scale actor for an eight-hour day costs the producer more than $1.46. This does not include additional expenses per performer for meals, travel, hotel, and living expenses, if applicable; nor any overtime, forced calls (if the actor works the next day, which is a huge premium paid to any actor who isn’t given 12 hours from dismissal from set before his set call the following day), mileage expenses, looping (post-production voice replacement or additional lines), and personal wardrobe rental and cleaning allowance.

Please note that almost all films shoot at least twelve hours, plus lunch and due to short shooting schedules, almost always eight-hour days will not be enough time for an actor with an average amount of work on any given day, so there will undoubtedly be additional costs.

Per the SAG-AFTRA modified low-budget agreement, daily overtime for the Day Performer’s rate above eight hours and through the twelfth hour of the performer’s day “shall be paid at time and a half the straight time rate” (see www.sagaftra.org). (Daily overtime beginning with the thirteenth work hour shall be paid at double the straight time rate.) $335.00 divided by 8 equals $41.87. Time and a half per hour equals $62.81, plus the increase in pension, health, and welfare contributions, $11.50 for wardrobe allowance, increase of the agency fee, and increase in payroll taxes and fees. Not including mileage money that may be payable to the actor, depending on distance to the location, below are the costs for each actor hired on a day-player contract based on an average twelve-hour day.

The above breakdown is the realistic cost for one actor for one twelve-hour day, unless there is overtime, a meal penalty, potential costs for a second meal, or forced calls. On top of these costs, residuals need to be calculated on every performer, so the actual daily costs, plus residual costs, plus potential over-run costs are more than triple the published eight-hour day rate. These potential significant financial impacts on a film are vital knowledge for all writers who are writing for the market value of a potential screenplay and film.

On smaller independent films, I suggest limiting speaking roles (meaning characters in the script that have dialogue) to a cast of eighteen to twenty actors for all of the financial reasons we’ve just covered.

Constrain speaking roles to major characters and those necessary to advance the plot.

Eliminate gratuitous one-liners from characters such as cab drivers, bank clerks, baristas, or any variety of other incidental potential scripted roles that can be consolidated or omitted. For example, if you are writing a scene at Starbucks, there is no reason for the barista to say, “What can I get you?” The principal actor may just as easily walk to the counter and say, “I’d like a grande, double chocolate chip cream Frappuccino, hold the whip.” In post-production, in a shot over the barista’s shoulder, off-screen lines may be added, “What would you like?” or “Can I have a name”? The barista would still appear onscreen, but without onscreen lines, thus being a non-speaking extra and eliminating the union expenses for principal performers as outlined above (not to mention ongoing residuals).

Working With Minors

Children, infants, and teenagers are often a part of a storyline but carry with them inherent expenses that may be untenable depending on a film’s budget. A multitude of restrictions, costs, and limitations accompany hiring minors, and a writer should be aware of these when constructing a script with a specific budget and schedule in mind, if there are child characters in the screenplay, and how to construct their usage judiciously. Using California as an example for some of the work rules, limitations, and expenditures, below is an outline of some regulations concerning minors as specified by the actors’ union:

Prior to age four, Young Performers may work under SAG-AFTRA contracts without joining the union, but (after one allowed union employment without joining under the Taft Hartley Act) they must join the guild in order to work on future SAG signatory pictures. Every minor working in California, regardless of age, must obtain an Entertainment Work Permit from the State of California Division of Labor Standards, which currently is free and is generally valid for six months. On January 1, 2000, changes in California law affirmed that earnings by minors in the entertainment industry are the property of the minor, not their parents. Since minors cannot legally control their own money, California law governs their earnings and creates a fiduciary relationship between parent and child. This change in California law also requires that 15% of all minors’ earnings must be set aside in a blocked trust account, commonly referred to in California as a Coogan Account. (The California Child Actor’s Bill, also known as Coogan Act or Coogan Bill, is a law applicable to child performers, designed to safeguard a portion of their earnings for when they enter adulthood.) The parent is responsible to pay all expenses relating to the minor’s employment, including any taxes that may be owed after withholding, or on gross earnings received without withholding. These and other professional expenses (headshots, resumes, acting lessons, commissions, union dues, and other career-related costs) may be paid from the unblocked portion of the minor’s income. However, the parent still has a legal responsibility to pay all personal expenses of the minor. Parents must open a Coogan Account to receive the blocked portion of income that employers are required to set aside. A Coogan Account is a special blocked trust account found at a bank, credit union, or brokerage firm that receives the 15% of minor’s gross wages required to be withheld by the producer and deposited within fifteen days of employment.

On set, a minor may not share a dressing room with an adult performer or a member of the opposite sex. The parent should be within sight and sound of the minor at all times, including time spent in hair, wardrobe, and makeup. If the child is to be driven to another location or another part of the set, the parent must travel in the same vehicle. The parent’s responsibility on the set is to assure the safety and well-being of their child.

SAG contracts govern minors’ work hours everywhere in the United States, unless stricter laws apply in a particular state. Each contract also defines restrictions and requirements per age group as well as their work allowable hours. These can vary from one contract to the next:

• Minors may not work before 5:30 a.m. or after 10:00 p.m. on evenings preceding a school day (work days must end by 12:30 a.m. on non-school days).
• The minor’s final work day must be concluded at least twelve hours before the beginning of the minor’s next regular school day.
• On a school day (determined by the calendar of the district where the child resides), school age minors must receive at least three hours of instruction. (Maximum allowable hours and times of instruction vary by grade level.)
• Minors through age fifteen must be accompanied at all times by a parent or guardian. Minors age sixteen or seventeen may work without a parent or guardian but are entitled to have a parent or guardian present.
• The parent or guardian is entitled to be within sight and sound of the minor at all times.
• Minors who are high school graduates are exempt from the child labor laws and may work on the same basis as adults.
• School age minors: On a school day, school age minors may work as follows:
  • Ages six to eight—four hours (maximum of eight and one half hours on the set)
  • Ages nine to fifteen—five hours (maximum of nine and one half hours on the set)
  • Ages sixteen and seventeen—six hours (maximum of ten and one half hours on the set).
• On days when school is not in session, school age minors may work an additional two hours a day.
• On all days, the minor must have at least one hour of rest and recreation and one half-hour meal break.
• By prior arrangement with the studio teacher, up to two hours of school may be banked (stored) to offset additional work hours on other days; there must be at least one hour of school on each day the minor’s regular school is in session.
• Pre-school age minors: Minors who are six months through five years old do not attend school on the set, even though they may attend pre-school or kindergarten on a regular basis.
• Work hours are as follows:
  • Ages six months to two years—two hours (maximum of four hours on the set).
  • Ages two years through five years—three hours (maximum of four and one half hours on the set). Minors six months through five years old must have at least one hour of rest and recreation.
• Minors two to five years old may also have a half-hour meal break.
• Infants fifteen days to six months of age may only be on the set between the hours of 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. or 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
• No infant born prematurely may work until he/she would be at least fifteen days old if born at full-term.
• Ages fifteen days to six months—twenty minutes (maximum two hours on the set).

Consider that underage performers also have two jobs: being an actor and being a student. The producer is responsible for hiring the studio teacher and complying with education requirements, SAG contract and labor law requirements, work conditions, hours, health, and the safety and well-being of the all of the minors employed on the production. Teachers are called studio teachers or set teachers and are provided from the first day of employment, whether school is in session or not. They are responsible for the education of the minor, but are not responsible for enforcing health and safety. Set teachers must be certified by the state in which they are employed and must hold the required teaching credentials of that state. The producer is responsible for hiring the studio teacher and complying with education requirements such as hours, health, and safety of the minors employed. Although compulsory education requirements vary from state to state, in California, school absences for work in the entertainment industry are only excused for a limited period of time (up to twenty-five days per year) and independent home schooling is not legal. Home schools must work under the jurisdiction of the local school districts in which the minors reside, and out-of-state home school arrangements are not automatically recognized. In many jurisdictions, minors may need their schools’ cooperation to maintain their work permits.

In California, a minor may not attend regular school on a workday, even if the work is scheduled after school (in New York they may).

Stunts and safety are always a factor. Whether or not an activity is a stunt depends on what it is, where it is, how it’s done, and who is doing it. SAG contracts provide that any actor who performs a stunt is entitled to a stunt contract in addition to the regular contract. For minors, ordinary activities such as riding a bike or a skateboard, climbing a tree or a fence, and even walking along a high wall could be deemed a stunt. Even passive activities such as riding in a speeding car with a stunt driver can be considered stunts. Stunts require stunt doubles or photo-doubles for something as simple as riding in a car with a stunt driver, which are all additional union scale expenses with all of the additional associated costs we’ve covered above.

If a minor is guaranteed three or more consecutive days of employment, whether the minor actually performs or not, the producer will provide a teacher on the set. If on any of the guaranteed days of employment the minor is not required to report to the set, the minor may elect to return to his/her regular school. However, the minor may choose to continue education on the set whether performing that day or not.

If a studio teacher is employed on any day that minors are working, all minors employed on that day will be eligible to be taught according to their regular school schedules. All minors will be taught if they are actually on the set, whether or not their contracts would otherwise qualify them for education.

While the studio teacher has the primary responsibility for supervision of minors on the set, if the minor is under the age of fourteen, the producer is required to designate one member of the production staff to coordinate all matters relating to the minor’s employment.

Emancipated minors have rights that vary from state to state. In California, for example, emancipation by itself does not allow minors to work as adults. Emancipated minors must comply with the laws of the states in which they are working.

Consider that a child between the ages of six and eight may only work for four hours, with a maximum of eight and one half hours on the set. This allows for hair, make-up, and wardrobe time, on-set school requirements, rest and/or recreation time requirements, at least a half an hour for lunch, but a maximum of four hours of actual rehearsal and shooting time with the child. Also, a dedicated school room, frequently a dedicated dressing room, rental, transportation and fuel costs for additional trailers and the vehicles to tow them, scheduling challenges due to working hour limitations, often stunt and/or photo doubles, parents on set, and meals for all of the additional personnel are just a few of the financial impacts that a production may incur when hiring minors, which the screenwriter should be aware of when constructing a script for a film with budgetary limitations. For screenwriters, limiting or consolidations of scenes in which a child actor appears is the pragmatic solution when a child is key to a storyline.

Working With Animals

Animals can often be a part of the storyline. Anytime an animal actor is on the set, the animal’s handler must be there, which is an additional expense. Animals have to be transported. Some must be penned or caged on set. They require food, a driver and vehicle, fuel and often a trailer to transport them, wrangler or handlers on set, horses require grooming and tack, plus there are all of the additional union and payroll expenses per additional person hired to accommodate an animal or animals, as wranglers are part of the Teamsters union. This is a major reason that Westerns are so expensive to produce. Also, no animal should be approached without the direct supervision of its handler to ensure the pet is not a nuisance or danger to anyone on the set as the company could be liable for any injuries caused by the animal. Animal behavior is unpredictable, particularly in unfamiliar surroundings, and precautions should be taken when working in or around fire, smoke effects, water, or machinery.

Residuals

In the 1980s, SAG and AFTRA members went on strike in a fight to force producers to pay residuals (or reuse fees) when films would play in supplemental markets, such as videocassettes and pay TV. In today’s world, however, only a small percentage of films are actually made for or receive a theatrical release, and all other films scramble for any and all other potential revenue from every possible non-theatrical and new media sources, so they are, in fact made for the supplemental markets (unless they are made for TV movies, in which case those films would be produced under a SAG-AFTRA TV contract). Residuals are based on formulas that take into account such things as the collective bargaining agreement in place during the year of production, the budgetary tier of the production, the time worked and amount earned by the performer on the production, and the media in which the film’s initial release is intended. Put another way, residuals are compensation paid to performers for the reuse or ancillary market exploitation of a theatrical motion picture, television program, industrial film, commercial, experimental, or new media project beyond the initial release or exploitation for which it was intended.

For TV programs, residuals become due when the picture is released to other markets than the primary market for which the picture was made, or when it has aired more times than the number of runs covered by the applicable TV contract. For theatrical films, theoretically residuals are compensation paid to performers for use of a theatrical motion picture beyond the use covered by initial compensation and become due once the movie appears on DVD, other electronic forms of distribution such as VOD and pay per view, pay or free television, and other forms of new and emerging media. However, the unfair reality to all producers and financiers is that residuals become due and payable long before the budget of the picture has been recouped, thus putting the producer or financier further in debt.

Furthermore, residuals are payable for all performers hired under a principal performer agreement whose performance remains in the final product, as well as background “extras” who have been upgraded to a principal performer, as well as to professional singers, stunt performers, stunt coordinators, pilots, dancers (who are employed under a Schedule J contract), and puppeteers.

An Example of When Theatrical Film Residuals Become Due for Various Media

Made-for-theatrical films are then released to:

• Network primetime—thirty days after initial broadcast, then quarterly when the producer receives revenue
• Free TV, non-network—four months after initial broadcast, then quarterly when the producer receives revenue
• Supplemental markets—four months after initial exhibition, then quarterly when the producer receives revenue.

As you can see, there are many complicated rules and formulas regarding actors’ compensation and residuals, as well as quarterly reporting obligations to the guild that all producers who are signatory to a guild contract must comply with on an ongoing basis as long as the film is in any sort of release, in perpetuity. This is a huge responsibility and a lifelong obligation, unless the film itself is sold outright and the buyer executes a Buyer’s or Distributor’s Assumption Agreement with the union.

Reduce or Eliminate Distant Locations

SAG defines a distant location as “any place that cannot be reached from the producer’s studio within twenty-four hours of travel by ordinary means or outside the Studio Zone” (see www.sagaftra.org). The Studio Zone, often called the Thirty-Mile Zone or TMZ, differs in size from city to city and is defined as the territory within a set radius from an established central point. This central point also is different from city to city. In Los Angeles, for example, the central point is the intersection of Beverly and La Cienega boulevards. Travel and living expenses occur any time an actor or crew member works on a distant location.

Depending on the SAG collective bargaining agreement to which the film is signatory, actors usually travel in the best airline class available or receive mileage payments if the location can be driven to. They also require hotel accommodations and per diem (cash for meals) for every day they are on location. Crew members require virtually the same, although crew on low-budget films (aside from sometimes the director) generally will travel coach and stay at more reasonably priced hotels than most actors will. Meals or money for meals still need to be provided for all, and actors’ meals or per diem rates are prescribed by SAG under the terms of their contract. Star actors routinely receive much more lavish per diem, hotel, transportation, and perks than do non-star actors. Travel and living expenses are a simple calculation of meals, hotel rates and taxes, air and transportation, and other related travel expenses for the number of people traveling times the number of days spent on location.

When writing for a budget or an identified market value, understanding production budgetary and schedule limitations will greatly help the screen-writer more readily discern what is and what is not realistic when conceiving story and plot.

Reduce the Number of Shooting Days

The most cost-effective measure for any film is to limit the number of shooting days to those that are absolutely necessary to complete production of any film. For every day of first unit production (as opposed to second unit production or pick-up shots, which generally will involve only a small crew and bare-bones equipment), expenses include the entire cast and crew, as well as locations, equipment, and all other daily production costs on a prorated daily basis.

During development and writing of any script that is being written for a pre-determined market value or budget level, know exactly what scenes are essential to tell your story and what may be extraneous and expendable. (It is subsequently incumbent upon the director to know which shots in each scene in the script are essentially required editorially in order for him or her to complete the film and tell the story visually as he or she envisions.) The biggest potential cost savings for any film comes when it is still on paper and the screenwriter can eliminate extraneous scenes or modify and simplify those that may need to be envisioned in a different or more cost-effective way.

Rethink and Modify Costly Sequences

In independent filmmaking, cost is always a factor and a concern. If you, as a writer, have written an action sequence with an exciting car chase, this may be completely unfeasible for the budget and schedule restrictions of your movie. Anytime cars are careening in and out of traffic, and possibly smashing into other cars, it is a time-consuming and costly sequence to choreograph and shoot, as well as a logistical challenge for a film of any budget. On a low-budget film, it would be prohibitively costly to purchase, rent, damage, or demolish multiple vehicles; hire drivers to transport vehicles, as well as stunt drivers to execute the precision driving and crashes safely; and pay an insurance premium for potential personal injury and property damage. Sometimes just the additional fuel costs may be a prohibitive factor. Car chase sequences also require policemen to close off streets that are being filmed and to keep the public, both pedestrians and drivers, out of harm’s way. Car stunts require paramedics to stand by in the case of injury, firemen as well as a large water truck in case of fire, and multiple stunt drivers and photo doubles (all of whom require hair, makeup, and wardrobe to match the actor they are doubling), who are hired to professionally pull off the dangerous stunts in the chase sequence and keep the actors safe. These are considerations that never occur to most writers.

The same intensity, excitement, and emotional impact might be achieved by transposing a car chase to an action-packed foot chase, for instance, through alleyways, fire escapes, rooftops, backyards hurtling fences and avoiding vicious dogs, or a multi-tiered warehouse, with interesting shapes and design. Under this scenario, actors who, for the most part, can do their own running and, perhaps, other reasonable, non-life-threatening stunts with more limited need for stuntmen and photo doubles. I always cite the foot-chase that director Joe Carnahan staged in the film Narc. It is as exciting as a great car chase and more unique as well as cost-effective.

Recap

When conceiving and writing your screenplay, if the market value of your film dictates a budget that precludes an expensive sequence, then envision and creatively construct exciting sequences, while maintaining the integrity of the picture and its dramatic beats, however curtailing extraneous production costs. Studio movies have more latitude, with funding from the parent public conglomerates, and don’t have to think in such small ways about cost-effectiveness. Today the market is more difficult and costs have escalated across the board, so for the cognizant screenwriter, understanding the budgetary constraints that he or she is writing for, and knowing how to construct scripts within the financial box we are all given, is an invaluable skill set.