Filmmaking lessons I learned from SoCal Film Group

I posted this in another forum, but it seems appropriate to post it here, since this is where I learned all this fun stuff.

-----------------------------------

So I've been participating in making short films for a few years now. I've been an active crew-member on a couple dozen shorts, of which I've produced 7 (working on #8 now). Many have had festival screenings, and most have been generally well-received. So I feel like I've learned a tiny bit about what it takes to make a movie, at least on this microscopic scale.

Here's a few lessons I've learned along the way:

Lesson One- "If you think it might be a problem, it is a problem."

There are no free rides in movies, everything has to be taken seriously and everything has to be addressed completely. Everything you think you can be slack about will come back to be an issue- actors, script, locations, gear, crew, money, food...all of it. At least one member of your team must be hyper-paranoid, worrying about and planning for all aspects of the project. If someone isn't dedicated to worrying, you will run into problems which could have been avoided (you will also run into problems which couldn't be avoided, see Rule Two).

Lesson Two- "It's not just how well you plan, it's also how well you adjust when your plan fails."

And your plan will fail. An actor won't show (or will vanish permanently). A crucial piece of gear will break when you're hours out into the desert. It will rain. You won't have time to get all the shots you've planned for the day. All of this (and much, much more) has happened on projects I've been on. You've got to be able to adapt your plan and keep things moving no matter what happens. You plan for everything you can think of, you make contingency plans for everything you can think of, and you keep the flexibility to do something different when all that falls through. If you can't shoot this scene in this way, what can you do and how can you do it? The show must go on, so what's your plan now?

Lesson Three- "A good script is 90% of a successful short."

I've seen shorts that have turned out better than my reading of the script, but I've never seen one that turned out better than the script itself. In other words, I've lacked the imagination to properly visualize some scripts, but I've never seen a finished short overcome the actual flaws of the original script. The saying that it's just as much work to make a bad movie as it is to make a good movie is definitely true, so you need to be sure you're making a good movie. A good script is the only way to do that. Don't waste anyone's time by making a movie before the script is ready.

Lesson Four- "A good cast is the other 90%."

The best script in the world is vulnerable to a bad cast. I couldn't deliver a line to save my life, and there are people calling themselves actors out there who are worse than me- I've seen 'em in auditions. These folks can make anything look bad. Conversely, really good actors can bring a movie to life. They can almost leap off the screen, and can involve the audience in a way that bad or even average actors simply can't. But it's not just quality. You've also got to cast for the role, making sure a particular actor matches that particular role. I've seen good actors in the wrong roles, and they drag movies down almost as much as a bad actor would. And at the entry-level (where I've been working), you've got to make sure your actors aren't total flakes. Do they show up on time? Do they keep you in the loop when their availability changes? Do they get along with everyone? Do they make the set a better place to be? Are they totally invested? All of these things matter, especially since these are the people who will be representing your work to the public, they're the ones the audience sees. The audience can smell bad or uncommitted actors the same way dogs can smell fear. Don't let that happen!

Lesson Five- "Delegate delegate delegate."

This is the most recent discovery I've made. Don't be afraid to delegate responsibility. Bring in the specialists, let them do their best to help you get your vision on screen. However good you are, you're not as good at everything as the people who devote themselves to specific areas. You might well be a good writer/director. Maybe even a good editor or DP. But you won't be able to fill all those roles as well as someone who is only thinking about the problems related to those fields. And you won't be a great costumer. Or makeup artist. Or sound designer. Sure, you *can* do all those jobs, but couldn't a specialist do them better? Specialization exists for a reason, and it's foolish not to take advantage of it. It's more work to coordinate the various departments, that's for sure, but I think it almost always pays off. Besides, as you move up, this is what more and more of the job involves.

And lest I forget-

Lesson Six "There's nothing in the world I'd rather do."

Anyway, that's my view from the ground level.