Cross-Posted from Hope For Film:
It’s a pretty rare thing that a director has the opportunity
to watch other directors at work. As a crew-member, I had a front row seat to almost
every aspect of the job, pre-production through post. I never worked on a film that didn’t teach me something—whether it fell
in the “to emulate” or “to avoid at all costs” column. These lessons helped
me direct actors, assemble good crews, communicate effectively, have realistic
expectations, and generally feel at home on a film set.
A little about me: In the past four years, I have directed
three features (The Off Hours, Eden and Lucky Them) and been a co-, exec-,
consulting, or straight-up producer on four others (The Catechism Cataclysm, Your Sister’s Sister, Koinonia and The Greens Are Gone). This recent
uptick in creative productivity comes after a decade spent working
below the line—first as a director of photography, then briefly an editor,
then a 1st assistant director. Admittedly, much of the time I spent
crewing was also spent longing for the day when I would be helming my own
projects, but luckily I wasn’t so busy moping around that I missed out on all
there was to absorb from working on other people’s films.
1. Give them what they need so that they can
give you what you need.
Crews and actors don’t work in a vacuum. There is a
collective goal in play at any given moment on a set, and in order to achieve
that goal, people need information. The
system is highly interdependent. Logging time on a variety of sets allows
you to learn how departments run, what details people need to operate at their
peak, and how to communicate that without pissing anyone off. The better you
get at giving people what they need, the more you’ll find that they’ll provide
the things that you need.
2. Watch and learn.
An underappreciated benefit of serving as an AD is that you
have a front row seat to basically every aspect of the filmmaking process. You
can listen in on conversations between all the key collaborators and watch what
unfolds afterwards to see which methods of communication were most effective. I
learned a lot from my vantage point, but here are a couple huge generalizations
I noticed regarding communication: Actors
respond to clarity, crews respond to decisiveness, and everyone responds to
respect.
3. Hire people you trust, then trust them.
There are few things more annoying then being micromanaged.
It undermines one of the most critical elements of a harmonious, productive
environment: trust. If you don’t
trust someone, don’t hire that person. Once you have lined up your team, give
them some autonomy. When people feel ownership in the creative process they are
more invested and their work reflects that.
4. You can create and curate your community.
When I began working in the industry, I ran face-first into the
age-old clash of production vs. crew. This is the notion that there are
opposing sides on a set, both of whom feel the other is taking advantage of
them. As an AD, you are right at the heart of this battle. The only way to I
found to fight this ideology was to disprove it, production by production,
individual by individual. Good
communities are built. It takes a commitment to fostering communication and
open dialogue about what is working and what is not. It takes admitting you’re
wrong once in a while and changing your ways. It takes the strength to address
things directly and without emotion, with the common goal of making the set
into a place where you want to be. Added benefit: once you know your community,
you can curate your own sets to ensure the people you bring into your sacred
production bubble are people who share your filmmaking philosophy.
5. Try to relax.
Over the years, I worked with many first time directors and
found a pretty consistent common denominator lurking behind all bad choices:
fear. Fear is the enemy of creativity. Feeling
out of one’s element can be a huge distraction. Immersion helps. Working on
a lot of sets helps you get comfortable in that environment and frees you up to
focus on what you should be focusing once you are at the helm.
6. Treat people as collaborators, not
employees.
Many directors and producers emanate the vibe that their
crews should be subservient and/or grateful to be there. Pro tip: this approach
does not instill dedication or passion for the work. Instead, it fosters a
sense of obligation and erodes any sense of the communal creative experience
that leads to great films.
7. The vibe on set translates to performances.
Imagine an environment where you are at your most productive
and creative—somewhere you can truly bare your soul. Are there people yelling,
texting and insulting each other all around you? I didn’t think so.
8. Set boundaries.
There are a lot of bitter people who work in film. Understandable—it’s
easy to become bitter when you feel people are constantly working you to the
bone and not appreciating your many sacrifices. The best way I’ve seen to
sidestep this common trend is to set
boundaries early and clearly. You may worry that you’re not being a team
player, but I’d always rather have someone tell me up-front that they’re
feeling taken advantage of than see it come out in the form of anger after the
fact.
9. Barriers won’t just go away because you
don’t like them.
It’s the nature of independent film that compromises have to
be made. I’ve seen a lot of directors refuse to bend—cling to some unrealistic
ideal until the very last second and then sulk when they inevitably must
scramble to find another way. Look at the parameters of your schedule and your
budget realistically as early as possible and figure out how to work within
them while still protecting the heart of your film. If you don’t choose your own compromises others will impose them on you—and
you probably won’t like their choices.
10. No one is there to sabotage your film.
Something a lot of people seem to fail to comprehend is that
everyone on set is there to get a film made—ideally a great one. When your AD or
line producer asks you for information, they aren’t conspiring against you.
They are trying to help make your film happen. Hiding information does not serve you. Be transparent. No one knows what you need unless you ask for it. You
may hear no, but at least then a conversation can begin about how to achieve it
some other way. You’re a director, be direct.
11. People want to work on good movies.
Contrary to popular belief, when the script is bad the crew
knows it. And when they don’t feel any connection to the material, the job
becomes about the paycheck. Most people got into this business in the first
place because they love film. A good
script—one that has been properly developed and made to be the best it can
be—gives everyone a reason to show up
each day and believe that they are part of something special. Not to
mention that the better the script, the more access you have to those who are
talented enough to be discerning.
12. Money is not the only resource.
My producers and I spent many years trying to raise money
for The Off Hours before it dawned on
us that it wasn’t the only path to getting the film made. We had all worked on
the crew side for years and we had garnered a lot of goodwill in our community.
You can’t just expect everyone to bend over backwards to fulfill your vision,
but there are endless ways to make helping you something that helps them too—allowing
them to step up to a key role, giving them good material for their reel,
sponsorship possibilities, or even just the promise of you hiring them again in
the future on a fully budgeted production. Find
the win-win.
13. Don’t burn your investors.
A lot of things that happen on other people’s sets don’t
have a direct impact on other filmmakers. Actors or crews have a bad experience
and they attribute it to a specific production or set of people. Not so in the world of film finance. If
those brave people who are willing to enter the risky world of indie film
investment encounter a production that loses them thousands or millions of
dollars, especially through negligence or poor management, they aren’t about to
stick around and watch it happen again.
14. Feedback is good.
People who seal themselves away to complete their
masterpiece will almost always end up with something that could’ve been way,
way better. Seek out and embrace the
opinions of others, ideally others who have no reason to please you or be kind.
Wouldn’t you rather hear it from that random dude in a small screening room when
you can still do something about it than read the same opinion printed in
Variety for the whole world to see?
15. Things don’t sell for as much as you think.
I have been fortunate enough to share condos at film
festivals with filmmakers who have sold highly buzzed-about films. What I
learned: price tags are lower than you read about. It’s not the 90’s anymore. Reset your expectations and be aware of the
market you are entering. This realization allowed us to finally move forward
and make The Off Hours at a budget
level that was much, much more responsible than the idealized version we had
initially envisioned. Just because it’s what you want to make it for doesn’t
mean it’s what you should make it for.
16. Don’t burn bridges.
If you think there’s someone on your set who won’t affect
the outcome of the project, or who will never end up in a position of power over
you, who you can abuse with impunity, you’re wrong. You just are. You will be working with these people the
rest of your career, if you’re lucky. Don’t be a dick.
17. People who succeed usually deserve it.
There are exceptions to this, of course, but generally speaking
the people who succeed in the world of independent film work really, really
hard. This goes for crews, actors, directors and producers alike. Working on other people’s sets is a
reminder that nothing comes easily, but the opportunity to spend your days
pursuing something you’re truly passionate about is worth fighting for.
BIO: Megan is a working filmmaker and a work in progress.
Her latest film Lucky Them (starring Toni Collette, Thomas Haden Church, Oliver
Platt and Johnny Depp) is available everywhere with a WiFi connection via VOD. Her
film Eden
(sometimes known as Abduction of Eden)
is available online
as well, and The Off Hours can be found through the film’s site. She also has a blog.
