Jeremy Profe

I thought I’d take a moment to talk about one of the often overlooked aspects of independent film making. Pre-production can turn into a void. If you loose too much momentum, it can be a bottomless pit. At the moment, I stand at the precipice.

This is no one’s fault, it’s just the natural state of film making. The script is done. I have producer approval. We are partially cast. We should be ready to roll into casting for the lead character, scouting locations, ect… but we cant. The damnable reality of film making is that success breeds it’s own problems.

My producers have made something of a splash in directing and producing music videos. Due to this success they are in post-production hell at the moment. For anyone who has never edited a film, you should know that editing is the  most vital part of film making. The story that the audience will eventually see is not told in the script, or on the set, but in the editing room.

Unfortunately the edit is such a time consuming endeavor that we have collectively decided to wait for a “locked picture” on their last video before we go much further in pre-production.

These kinds of issues can manifest in a plethora of ways be it finances, locations, or key cast and crew being otherwise committed. If you find yourself in such a situation in early production it could seem maddening to wait, but I assure you, it’s not nearly as bad as proceeding without key people, money, locations, ect… You don’t want to finish your film and think “it would have been better if…”

I just got word that my first film An Anomaly of the Theory was accepted into the New Hope Film Festival. I am really excited about this festival because of how they position themselves relative to other festivals in an increasingly crowded market. As they state on their withoutabox.com listing:

“Our artistic standards are extremely high and neither budget nor name recognition will be a determining factor—the art must shine through. The best films will be selected, period.”

It’s nice to be acknowledged as an art film because narratives are often considered “too mainstream” to be art.

I haven’t posted anything on here since I sent out my second draft for notes. So I’ll try to cover a how the writing process works in some detail today.

Once a script is written the author sends it out to producers, consultants, friends, ect… for notes. “Notes” is just a nice way of saying constructive criticisms. These notes can address any element of the script; story, pacing, structure, grammar, character, and so on. Regardless of what it addresses the important thing is that it cover’s not only what is wrong but why.

An unhelpful note might say:

Scene 6 needs to be bigger

Which is still fine if Scene 6 is a shootout, then you can assume bigger means more guns, and more explosions. If Scene 6 is a dialogue scene with 2 characters that could mean more characters, higher emotions, more grandiose subject matter, or a total rewrite.

A great note will read:

Page 1, when Luke says “Are you going to be ok?” it suggests doubt in his mind. That doesn’t seem very supportive. Something like “You’ll be fine” might expresses his confidence in her. 

Notes can be painful because of your parental attachment to your work. You have to suppress the urge to take all these criticism’s personally. You also have to decide if the notes ring true. It is a delicate balance between being true to your characters and your story, and being a prima donna about your work. There are times when I will have to get the same note 2 or 3 times before I finally let go and make the change.

Fortunately, with each draft you tend to get less and less notes until everyone can agree that it’s ready.

Since I last wrote on here I have gotten back 2nd draft notes, written a 3rd draft, and gotten notes on that. I’m preparing to write a 4th and hopefully final draft.

I plan to keep everyone in the loop on the process as it develops.

Finished a 2nd draft of my new short Parting Ways yesterday. It went out to the producer and some friends for more notes.

I’ve decided to use tumblr to walk through how a short film gets made. A step by step for anyone interested.