The Team Approach

By Mary J. Schirmer

Independent filmmakers tend to work in groups. The person with the initial idea for a movie gathers other people who want to help with the project. Sometimes these people are already friends, and sometimes they're talented strangers willing to work together.

In either case, beware.

You don't have to look any farther than the trades to find examples of professionals suing each other-- for breach of contract, for theft of intellectual property, for not paying up, etc.

How can you stay out of federal court?

Get solid contracts BEFORE YOU PROCEED.

Every film or video project is all exciting and fun at the beginning. Cast and crew are pumped at the very idea of working at a task they love.

Sooner or later, though, reality sets in, especially if everybody's working on deferred pay. It's suddenly less glamorous to give up every weekend with no end in sight. It's tedious to be on the phone all the time, sometimes giving up opportunities to work on paying jobs. People start to feel like unpaid volunteers, and they start to show up late or not at all.

All of a sudden, that beautiful new baby that is your film project is keeping you up all night, squalling, and you don't know what's wrong.

The small, core group of folks, the independent producer and his or her closest sidekicks, need to stay focused. It's incredibly important for them to not only appear to be organized but actually to have things under control to the extent possible.

Don't call people to the set if you don't already have lights and sound worked out at that location. Actors forget their lines and start to play. Crew members find other ways to amuse themselves, like reenacting last night's ball game. Equipment gets broken or walks away. Cell phones start ringing. People head for restaurants or bars, or they fall asleep.

Don't waste time on the set lining up shots that you should have thought out ahead of time. Even Steven Spielberg storyboards every shot. I repeat, every shot. Now there's an organized director/producer.

Don't forget to include the screenwriter on set. I just had the experience of being overlooked when the "big scene" of an industrial video was filmed. The director-- a friend of mine!-- asked innocently, "Didn't you get the e-mail?" Well, no, I didn't, or I would have been there. Didn't he notice I wasn't there? I was home-- why didn't somebody call me? I'll never know. And I'll never forget that, either.

You want to keep your filmmaking friends. You all have to help each other. You want to all still be speaking to each other at the premiere, don't you? 

Have fun.

Mary J. Schirmer is a professional writer who writes screenplays and teaches screenwriting. Her e-mail is awarenessprod@yahoo.com.

To read past "Film Fuss" columns, click here.

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