SCFG FAQ

Here's a work-in-progress FAQ, which will evolve as more Questions become Frequently Asked.


How did the initial group get together?

The group was formed from all long-term members of the screenwriting website Wordplay. The site's founder, Terry Rossio, had been telling Wordplayers to make our own movies for some time, and everyone thought that was a good idea, but no one actually got off their asses to do it. Then Ryan Polito sent Steve Barr an email with an idea to gather together some like-minded WPers and form a creative collective. They came up with a list of eighteen people, and invited them to a meet-&-greet. Sixteen showed up, twelve were interested.

Is there a membership or subscription fee?

Yes. $50 to join, and $25 per month. Which isn't really very much, and doesn't buy a lot. But then again, our biggest expense is paying for insurance. The ExecProd for any given project foots the bill for that project - the group just supplies the equipment and volunteer crew.

Is there a leader/chairman/benevolent dictator?

We have an executive board (President, VP, Secretary, Treasurer), but they don't meddle in the actual filmmaking. We also have a new membership committee, which interviews people who want to join. Talent and experience are important, but the main criterion is: Do you play well with others?

I see you have the group's philosophy up there large on the home page. Is it the philosophy that helps keep everyone pulling the same way?

For many of us, it's a film school. For others (who are more skilled) it's a way to make "calling card" movies, in the hope of getting meetings around town. So far, we've been able to support people from both of those camps.

How do you decide whose project to make?

Originally, since we had a backlog of scripts, we voted on which projects to make first. These days, whomever has a script just has to schedule around whomever else is filming in any given month.

What if some of the group don't like the idea/script/project?

Notes and feedback on the projects are encouraged, but the ExecProd can choose to ignore them all if he wants. Most of us will work on any script, whether we think it's good or bad. That's because we're a "sweat-equity" collective, so if I work on your short whether I like it or not, I can expect you to work on my short whether you like it or not. Those few people in the past who were always "busy" when a poorly-written project came around quickly found that they had problems staffing their own projects.

How do you fund the projects?

We're very non-bureaucratic. The writer becomes a de facto Exec Producer, and is responsible for paying for the budget.

What do you shoot on?

We shoot on DV, and currently own two Panasonic DVX100s. We recently bought a cool prototype adapter that allows us to use 35MM still-photo lenses, to create a filmic depth of field.

Do you have to rent equipment?

Terry Rossio loaned us about $20,000 worth of Microdolly grip equipment, which has been hugely helpful. One of our members is a professional boom operator, and has a lot of sound equipment. Another is a freelance director/producer/AD for TV sports, and has a lot of lighting and grip equipment. We've only had to rent equipment a few times, and that falls under the Exec Prod's responsibilities.

Who acts in your productions?

Over the years we've developed a small repertory of sorts, with maybe half a dozen versatile actors we know we can count on. Most of our actors, though, we get from auditions. We use Breakdown Express to post breakdowns, and then accept electronic submissions of headshots/resumes from actors who want to audition for us.

Do you pay your actors?

Nope. They typically work for a copy, credit, and meals.

How do you manage the catering?

Since we're not paying anyone to be there, we try to feed them really well. The food budget is usually the biggest expense on our projects. Exactly how craft services is handled is up to the ExecProd -- sometimes they'll arrange for someone to cook for us; sometimes they'll buy decent fast food. The cliché meal is pizza, so we try to only have pizza once on any given project.

When do you shoot? And for how long?

We tend to go in peaks and valleys of activity, because we all have our own lives to lead.

Our scripts have ranged from 3 pages to 33 pages, and from simple Master/OTS/OTS coverage of conversations to complicated fight scenes that take forever to film. It all depends on the project and the director.

Is there a maximum length allowed?

Officially, no. But just from societal pressure (read: us bitching at the person who wants to hog all that time), most people keep the projects down to a weekend or two of work.

Is there a limit to script length?

There's no limit on the length of scripts, but rather on the length of principal production. Two weekends of shooting (plus maybe a skeleton-crew pickup day) seems to be the upper limit.

Also how do you deal with finding locations?

This is currently our biggest challenge. In L.A., everyone who has a location wants lots and lots of money to shoot there, plus liability insurance of at least $1,000,000. We can't afford that much, and so we've had to scramble around a lot for locations we can use on the sly, as it were. It's a pain in the ass. Most of us are pretty aware of the locations we have available to us, and we adjust our scripts to take advantage of the places we know we have access to. But it's still a problem, and probably the next big hurdle we have to tackle.

We've been very lucky to have the support of the North Hollywood Masonic Lodge. We've filmed over a dozen shorts in and around their building, and we hold our auditions there.

Dov SS Siemens' advice is, if you're going to make a short why not make a feature?

For most of us, making feature films is the goal, but the group isn't designed to make features.

What seems to be happening is that smaller groups of SoCal members are meeting on the side, to put together business plans and such for making features separate from the group as a whole. They know they can count of the rest of the group to help out when they can, but it wouldn't be fair for them to hog all the production time for a long-form project.

What do you edit on?

Five or six of us have fast Apples with Final Cut Pro on them. Also, one of us is a pro editor, and has access to a bunch of Avids and color-correction stuff, as long as we only use it sparingly.

How can I join the SoCal Film Group?

We recently decided that we need to have a moratorium on new membership for at least six months. It's possible that we will accept new members on a referral basis, but our small membership committee was getting deluged with applications, and we didn't want to grow too big too fast. So, for now, the official line is that we're not accepting new members; we'll reevaluate that stance in 2007.

In the meantime, here are a couple of very good film organizations that can give lots of assistance (and assistants) to independent filmmakers: Group 101 and The Filmmakers Alliance. We heartily recommend them.

If you have any other questions, please contact us at Barr@socalfilm.com