Tricks of the Trade

When producing a low-budget independent film, there are many simple tricks that I’ve learned and used in an ongoing effort to maximize production value for the lowest possible cost. I’ve seen low-budget producers have shirts made with recognizable network news logos on them, which usually get them and a small camera and sound crew into certain areas without scrutiny. I’ve also seen producers print up business cards that gain them access under certain “perceived” auspices as well.

In “Fast, Cheap and in Control” (Daily Variety, February 6, 2008), David Frankel wrote:

That was a pretty astute obsveration for a journalist back then, and it is even more applicable today.

Production Staff and Pre-production

Pre-production is one of the most important facets of the production of any picture. It is the planning stage, where decisions are critical, and you’ll be forced to live with those decisions throughout the course of the production.

Pre-production is when crew, actors, and hair and makeup personnel are hired; locations are scouted and chosen; extras recruited; production legal work is performed; union signatory agreements (where applicable) are executed; and camera, grip, lighting, electric, sound equipment, dollies, cranes, Steadicam, trucks, wardrobe and cast trailers, picture cars or other specialty vehicles, and all other equipment are rented. All of these items are based on you, the constraints of your production budget, and your schedule. It is during pre-production when you negotiate your post-production editorial and lab deals, as well as your total post-production sound package, all in accordance with your delivery schedule, which must meet both foreign and domestic distributors’ requirements. (As mentioned earlier, Appendix J provides a sample delivery schedule that should generally serve both foreign and domestic delivery requirements for a non-theatrical independent feature film.)

Protect Yourself from Personal Liability

In the earliest stage of pre-production, you will set up the production entity, which will comprise not only the company namesake for the picture, but the entity that will enter into agreements with vendors, cast, crew, and union collective bargaining. Make sure that you do not have personal liability in the production entity. Do not use a DBA, which stands for “doing business as.” This is only a name and it leaves you personally liable, without the layer of protection afforded by a corporation or limited liability corporation (LLC). In other words, a DBA is no more than a fictitious business name acting on behalf of the individual, and you should never assume personal liability on a motion picture. Always protect yourself.

Hire Motivated Multitaskers

When crewing up for an independent film, you generally get people on the way up or on the way down in the film business who are willing to work for lesser rates than they would receive on a higher budget union production. Find and hire people who can multitask, such as a combination line producer/unit production manager who can work with you to create and hone the budget, and stick to it. The producer and line producer will work with a first assistant director to create and hone a schedule, and together they will oversee and administrate the entire below-the-line of the production. Find a solid production coordinator who can be the fulcrum of communications from the office to the set, and who is also skilled and efficient with paperwork. This person should be able to create wrap files in accordance with your delivery schedules, which will be essential for your ultimate delivery of the picture, which in turn triggers payments. They will also be responsible for interfacing with SAG or any other guilds in terms of providing the required paperwork and compliances, as well as with accounting and payroll. I heard the CEO of the Container Store speak recently, and I concur completely with his philosophy regarding employees:

• One average person = three lousy people
• One good person = three average people
• One great person = three good people

If your budget can afford it, find a good production accountant who can work alone on a small show. If it is a very complicated production, he or she should have an assistant who has accounting knowledge. I’ve produced some very low-budget movies without an accountant, using one of my personal assistants or one of the production personnel to do basic accounting runs on Quicken or Quick Books and pay all vendors by interfacing directly with the payroll company. The payroll company calculates cast and crew salaries based on time cards and union pension, health, and welfare rates, where applicable; it also pays all other independent contractors.

Payroll

Find a payroll company in your area that will not only process payroll for employees which becomes the employer of record and provide workers’ compensation insurance for those employees. If someone is an independent contractor or has a loan-out corporation (one that is owned by one or more artists and provides services to a third-party production company, often for tax reasons or to avoid personal liability), run that person’s checks through payroll as well, so that he or she is covered by workers’ compensation insurance. If you are shooting in a state that offers subsidies and your film qualifies, many payroll companies will have offices that meet the local requirements.

Production Office

On most low-budget features, the production office serves as the communication and information hub, from pre-production, through the duration of production, and up to at least a week or two after wrap. As discussed earlier, production offices are generally cheap, no frills, temporary workspaces. Some producers and filmmakers on very small films use their homes as their production offices. On very low-budget productions, I have often closed the production office at the start of shooting (saving at least a month’s rent) and set up a room in a trailer or honey wagon as a mobile production office for the duration of the shoot. In that event, I have allowed the production accountant, if there is one, to work from home. They interface by phone and email and make the occasional payroll run in person to the set for the payment of invoices and cast and crew payroll.

When searching for a space to set up a production office for a single film, look for short-term, temporary space and negotiate. Do not just accept terms that a landlord or realtor may try to dictate. Insist on a month-to-month rental and make sure that there is ample parking for crew and staff. Also, try to find an office space that has reasonable nearby parking for production vehicles or trailers if you need a place to park them during prep, production, or wrap-out. If a production office offers additional services, such as telephones, internet, or reception, weigh those costs against what it may cost you to put in similar services yourself for three to four months.

SAG, the Thirty Mile Zone (TMZ), and Locations

The Studio Zone, as we saw in Chapter 10, is the territory within a set radius from an established central point which differs from city to city. In Los Angeles, SAG principal performers may be required to report anywhere within the Studio Zone, provided that, when the place of reporting is somewhere other than the producer’s studio, they are paid mileage (thirty cents per mile, based on the distance from the studio to the place of reporting and back, except for certain types of television shows). However, mileage is waived if the place of reporting is within a ten-mile radius of a point designated by the producer, as long as that point is within the Thirty Mile Zone (TMZ).

If the place of reporting is outside of the TMZ and not at the producer’s studio, SAG performers are deemed to be “on location.” If they are required to stay on location overnight or must travel overnight to reach the location, this is considered an “overnight location.” On overnight locations, the producer is required to provide transportation from the hotel to the shooting location and back, and they must pay the actors for the travel time.

Alternatively, the producer may have performers report to a location within the Studio Zone and then shuttle them to a location outside of the zone. In this case, mileage is not paid, but the performers’ workday commences as soon as they board the shuttle bus and ends only when they are dropped back at the “report to” location.

Negotiate with SAG as to the physical designation of your production office. SAG has been known to designate a location as a production office hub arbitrarily, and producers should always contest such a designation if it imposes an unfair radius on the production. For instance, in Dallas, Texas, SAG has designated the Las Colinas Studios in Irving as the hub of the radius for the TMZ. I’ve shot numerous films in Dallas, and my production offices have always been in downtown Dallas, about fifteen miles from Las Colinas, which would limit my radius in moving further away from Las Colinas to only fifteen miles. I have regularly contested this with SAG and the guild has always allowed my downtown production office to be recognized as the hub of the TMZ. Waxahachie, Texas (which I often use for rural and small-town locations), is just within the TMZ from downtown Dallas. Had I naively accepted SAG’s arbitrary designation of Las Colinas as my production office, Waxahachie would be a distant location requiring travel and living expenses for the entire cast and crew, rather than having them simply report to the location each morning and go home each night. In general, never accept what people dictate to you without negotiating, questioning, asking, and thinking outside the box to bend rules, which have usually been made arbitrarily.

Overtime

As we covered briefly earlier, the general acceptable crew deal for low-budget productions is twelve hours plus lunch, with an occasional, but not unreasonable, amount of overtime. If overtime is occasional and not excessive, generally a low-budget, non-union crew will let it slide. However, if it becomes excessive, recurring, or abusive, you should be prepared to pay. A fair formula is to prorate the daily rate into an hourly rate for the crew members and pay them overtime accordingly, with a reasonable increase for the extra hour(s). For example, if a crew member’s day rate is $250 for twelve hours, which breaks down to $20.83 per hour, I might pay $30 for an overtime hour.

Local Rules

Learn the local rules, which vary from state to state and sometimes even from city to city. It’s always prudent to do research before deciding to shoot in a particular city or state. Below are a few examples, for illustration.

Tennessee is a right-to-work state and offers subsidies. However, Memphis is a quite strong union city, while other areas of the state generally welcome non-union productions. Another example is New York City, where no permits are required as long as a camera platform does not touch the ground or pavement. So, theoretically, one could shoot freely without ever securing a permit by using nothing but a Steadicam or a handheld camera.

Always do your due diligence in the region, city, or state where you intend to shoot, and you might come across other local quirks or nuances that could help (or hinder) your production.

Buy and Return

Another common cost-cutting practice for the independent filmmaker is to buy and return merchandise, if it is in pristine condition. Many indie producers buy props and wardrobe items, use them gently, carefully repackage them, and return them after filming. As an example, on a recent production, we shot a sequence in a large conference room, which had overhead fluorescent lighting. To give the scene a moodier, more somber look, the director of photography and I went with classic bankers’ lamps with tinted glass shades. We needed fourteen to cover the expanse of both sides of a massive, U-shaped conference table, and they were prohibitively expensive, given the film’s very small production budget. So we bought them, carefully unpacked them, shot the scene, carefully repacked them, and returned them for a full refund.

Hair and Makeup

Hair and makeup can be critical to any production, particularly if there are wild hairstyles, if it’s a period piece, or if there is any sort of special effects makeup. When I was shooting a world premiere movie for the Syfy Channel in Louisiana (mentioned in Chapter 9), we had to create a look for an indigenous Amazonian tribe, very much in the vein of the tribe in Mel Gibson’s film Apocalypto. So makeup was a critical element in the design of the film. On a contemporary-era film, where nothing extraordinary with hair and makeup is required, actors’ hairstyles just need to maintain continuity from scene to scene, and makeup is often used simply to balance the skin tones and assist the director of photography with lighting. Of course, hair can grow over the course of a production, so keeping length consistent is a key job for the hairdresser. Female actors also frequently change their hairstyles—up, down, bangs, no bangs—so keeping the styles consistent while also keeping the actresses happy is critical, particularly when shooting scenes out of sequence.

Almost all films are shot out of sequence. Imagine you’re shooting an action film. For a fight scene, a bruise or scar might be logical or scripted for one of your key actors. When the scar appears, it’s critical to keep it consistent thereafter. Or, if there is a time progression, you must consider what the scar would look like as time goes on. Finally, if you shoot scenes prior to the appearance of the scar, it better not show up before it is supposed to. As you can see, when shooting out of sequence, makeup artists must keep a close eye on continuity.

Grip and Electric

Grip and electric equipment are indispensable components of any feature film. On a movie set, there is a hierarchy within the crew that goes from the producer to the director, who delegates his or her cinematic vision to the director of photography, who delegates to the gaffer, who delegates to the key grip. It’s almost like the chain of command in the military.

The grip department’s main function is to use the tools at its disposal efficiently to control the light in such a way that it enhances what the gaffer (the head electrician) is trying to accomplish when creating the “look” that the director and director of photography desire. When we talk about the “look” of a film, we’re basically describing the visual tones. A director and director of photography may decide that they want a high contrast look, desaturated, a warm or cool visual look and style. The various tools grips use to accomplish these effects include flags, scrims (nets on wire frames of different densities that, when positioned in front of a light, reduce the exposure according to the density of the net), diffusions, and gels. For example, if the director of photography wants to drop the F-stop, or the exposure level, a single scrim reduces the exposure level by one stop, a double scrim by two stops, and so on. You can even have half-scrims that cut the light off one part of the set but not elsewhere. Meanwhile, solid flags completely cut the source light, and diffusions and gels soften and change the texture and the look of the light. All forms of equipment that serve as platforms for lights, whether they are hanging lights or lights on stands or scaffolding, are the responsibility of the grip department.

Almost any time the camera is moving, it’s on some type of dolly. The camera dolly is a very complicated piece of equipment, a moving platform that fluidly transports the camera without bumps and allows the lens height to raise and lower, often simultaneous with movement. The key grip has responsibility for moving the camera dolly through the shot. Today a Steadicam—essentially a mechanical harness worn by a camera operator, with an arm that holds the camera on a gyro mount and allows it to move fluidly—is common on almost every film, although the movement is not as elegant as with the stable fluidity of a dolly shot. Assisting and securing the Steadicam operator during a shot is another responsibility of the grip department, as are cranes and jib arms, which serve as long, counterweighted extension arms for the camera. Today’s jib arms have “hot heads,” which allow the camera operator to control the camera and operate focus, zoom, and iris remotely.

As we have seen, the look of a film is determined largely by the lighting, and movie lights usually require far more power than a normal household circuit can accommodate, so film productions almost always carry generators. On a low-budget film, these may range from 250 to 1500 amps. The gaffer generally determines the size of the generator(s) that the production will need, based on the size and power requirements of his lighting package. The general mathematical equation for amperage calculation is 8.3 amps to every 100 watts.

As mentioned above, the gaffer is the head electrician, so they are in charge of realizing the director of photography’s lighting plan from scene to scene and shot to shot. The grip and electric departments work together closely, and other crew electricians maintain the generator, run cables from the generator to the lights, and follow the gaffer’s instructions to the letter.

The gaffer will always try to have the generator as close to the set as possible without disrupting production sound, because distance in electricity is critical. As the length of cable from generator to lights increases, more power is needed. For example, if you are shooting in the desert and it’s an environmentally sensitive area that requires the generator to be placed a mile from the set, substantially more power will be needed, because voltage drops with distance, hence the need for a bigger generator. A larger power plant is more expensive and uses more fuel, and long cable runs demand more than the average cable rental as well as extra time and manpower.

You should always try to get the “Neiman Marcus look at a Target price.” If there is cognitive collaboration between the director, the director of photography, and the gaffer, they can always find ways to make the most of limited funds and resources by using available light, light-emitting diodes (LEDs), smaller tungsten lights, and smaller lighting packages in general, as well as limiting or eliminating shots that require large power consumption. In low-budget filmmaking, look for a director of photography and a gaffer with reputations for working within the parameters that the production can afford.

The director of photography, gaffer, and electric department can use many different types of lights—from tungsten or incandescent to hydrargyrum medium-arc iodides (HMIs), fluorescents, and LEDs. When discussing the spectrum of light, we are actually referring to different color temperatures. Tungsten lights project a warm temperature. HMIs, which are more powerful and costly, were developed from the old-school arc lights that were used in the golden years of Hollywood. The latter were huge lights with two deep-carbon probes that were moved in and out by an operator to control an enormously bright arc of light, almost like a welding arc. This spectrum of light was close to that of sunlight. Today, HMIs are used to recreate both daylight and moonlight, but they are a more expensive option.

For a typical low-budget film, you might use a three-ton or five-ton grip and electric package on one truck. (There are ten-ton packages, big forty-footers, and on bigger-budget movies there may be a forty-foot semi-rig just for grip equipment and another just for electric!) A three-ton grip and electric package is common on a low-budget movie. The smaller truck will contain an efficient amount of tungsten and HMI lights and stands, as well as a fairly standard grip package. Good rental houses have everything arranged so that each item has a place, and the equipment is very easily loaded and unloaded from the truck.

Shooting with Multiple Cameras

When shooting with two cameras, it is important to choose angles that are dynamic, distinctly different, and will cut together editorially. If you are shooting with two cameras facing each other on a 180-degree axis, when those are intercut editorially, the eye line of one or the other angle will not be correct. I shot a film once with a Chinese director of photography who claimed that, in China, there was no line. (Here, “line”—also known as “axis of action,” “continuity line,” or “180-degree line”—refers to an invisible line that runs through a scene, often between two key actors. The camera can shoot from any position within one side of that line, but it must never cross it. This convention ensures that the shot will have consistent spatial relations and screen directions. If the camera “jumps the line,” the 180-degree rule will be violated and continuity will be impacted.) He uniformly placed two cameras in positions where the eye lines were con-sistently incorrect on one angle or the other.

Often directors who are accustomed to working with two cameras will set one camera for a master shot and another for a close-up, one camera from a high, wide angle and the other from a low angle with a tighter, longer lens, or vice versa. When shooting multiple actors, two cameras can be quite beneficial: for instance, when shooting either a wide shot and a close-up simultaneously, or two close-ups at the same time. There are instances, however, when two cameras can become cumbersome, so it is important to know when to retire one of them for a particular shot or sequence. Your director of photography will generally let you know if the lighting, space, or angle is feasible to get usable and well-lit shots with two cameras.

Print and Pickup

Often, due to a variety of factors—including time constraints, actors’ performances (or lack thereof), actors “going up” on (misspeaking or forgetting) their lines, or if a camera move is particularly complex or time-consuming—a good producer and/or director will print and pick up. By this, I mean that the shot, camera move, or performance is good up to a certain point, and the director (either instinctively or as instructed by the producer) will print the take and then pick up the scene from that point onwards, knowing editorially that there will be intercuts to bridge the two takes. Printing and picking up long or complex scenes obviates repeating difficult camera moves, saves time as the scene does not have to be shot again from the beginning, and saves film stock, developing, and processing costs (if you happen to be one of the remaining few who shoots on film). For a long or complicated scene, or one that has a large amount of dialogue that the director may want to stage in different areas, he or she may divide the scene into segments, cutting after each segment and picking it up from the next camera position, camera move, or actor’s change in action. (An example of a change in action is when an actor falls out of frame from a punch. The director may then cut and pick up from a new angle, with the actor falling into frame.)

If, as producer or director, you have unlimited time, funds, and resources, shoot as much as you want. But in the independent world and in television, where time is money and resources are limited, print and pickup is a valuable tool.

Loss and Damage

Loss and damage insurance, referred to in the industry as L&D, is prevalent on almost every film. HMIs can be very expensive: for example, a broken lens for a 12k HMI costs about $3000 for the lens and $2000 for the globe if it breaks or blows. We talked about the importance of production insurance in Chapter 9, but even with insurance there may be a deductible of between $2500 and $10,000 per incident. On one of my low-budget productions, the driver lost control of the grip and electric truck on an icy mountain road and crashed. The truck was totaled, as was all of the grip and electric equipment contained within it. That’s why insurance is critical.

Every filmmaker should cultivate a good relationship with a solid equipment rental house and the people who run its day-to-day operations. They are your lifeline during production if equipment malfunctions, if there are broken or blown-out globes in lights that are imminently needed, or if any number of other issues arise. Remember that good relationships with filmmakers are also important to the rental houses. They are hoping that the filmmaker will continue to make movies, and that the relationship will be mutually beneficial over the long term, with the filmmaker remaining loyal to the rental house because the rental house continues to provide exemplary service with a smile.

Your department heads must manage their crews with a responsible eye on taking care of and returning all production property in good condition. Crews are notorious for being less than careful or attentive with grip and electrical gear, walkie-talkies, props, and wardrobe, to name a few categories. By contrast, camera crews have such respect for cameras, lenses, and related equipment that they tend to care for their gear meticulously—they are generally much more responsible than any other department.

Vehicles and Transportation

Often, on low-budget pictures, there is neither money nor line item for picture vehicles (cars that actors drive as their characters’ vehicles). If the vehicles are not involved in stunts, a great money-saving device is to borrow actors’ or crew members’ personal cars.

As far as equipment goes, as we have seen, low-budget films generally combine grip and electrical equipment on one truck, and the generator can often be towed behind it. There is almost always a camera truck, too. I have frequently rented a small cube van for this purpose, which can also accommodate the sound cart. And I often use another cube van for the art department and set dressing. If budget allows, there is usually a hair and makeup trailer as well, sometimes referred to as a “combo,” which is towed by one of the other vehicles. On non-union, low-budget pictures, key crew members generally drive their own department vehicles; on a larger union show that is signatory to the Teamsters, dedicated drivers would be hired. On some low-budget films, I have been able to negotiate just two Teamster drivers—usually for the honey wagon and the camera truck—and the union has allowed crew members to drive the other vehicles. Such deals have to be negotiated from picture to picture.

Whether union or non-union, the transportation department determines where best to park the vehicles so that they are close by but out of frame for any planned exterior shots. The transportation department also works with the key grip and the gaffer to determine the best position for the generator in terms of accessibility and shortest run of electrical cable and whenever possible shielded behind hard surfaces, such as a wall or a building, so that generator noise is not heard on the soundtrack.

Security

At the end of each shooting day and on intervening off-days, if the crew and equipment are not returning to a secure studio location, hundreds of thousands of dollars of equipment and vehicles might be left unattended. So productions must invest in a nightwatchman or a security guard to safeguard that there is no vandalism, loss, damage, or theft.

Shooting out of Sequence

Almost every film I’ve ever made has been shot out of sequence (the exception was The Boys in Company C). For instance, you might shoot the beginning of the movie and the end of the movie on the same day, because they both take place in the same location. We discussed earlier that consolidating or being creative with scheduling is one of the most cost-effective ways a producer can make a movie. We also mentioned that shooting out of sequence creates continuity issues for almost every department—from wardrobe, props, and set dressing to hair and makeup. The script supervisor oversees continuity for the entire film, but actors have specific responsibility for continuity of their characters and performances: they should remember the physical moves or gestures they have used throughout the printed master shot and then match those moves or gestures in each subsequent shot, such as a close-up. A loosely used term, “matching” is critical for editorial continuity, and synergy among cast, camera, and script supervisor is vital. The director of photography and the gaffer are responsible for lighting continuity from scene to scene. Even the transportation department has a responsibility for continuity involving picture vehicles.

Meals

Food is always an issue. An old adage in film production is that “a crew works on its stomach,” meaning that money is well spent on providing ample and good-quality food for your crew. During production, food is divided into two general categories: on-set meals and craft service.

Seek Local Hires

Whenever possible, hire locally. To reiterate, every time you hire someone outside of your city, zone, or region, you incur additional expenses of mileage, airfare, rental cars, drivers, hotels, and per diem (meals expenses). Generally, $50–65 a day for most cast members’ per diem is acceptable, but stars may get $100 or more, even on a low-budget feature. The latter also usually get rental cars, paid for by production, as well as ground transportation to and from airports and to and from the set. These costs can add hundreds of dollars per day, per person for the full duration of a production. Multiply this by the number of non-locally hired actors and/or key crew members and thousands of dollars might be added to your production costs. So choose local cast and crew whenever they can be found.

The Editor and the Director

The editor is the creative technician who pieces together the raw footage each day during production, and constructs every scene in the motion picture in accordance with the desire of and the design created by the director and the director of photography. He or she assembles the dailies (every shot from every scene filmed on a given day), including master shots, close-ups, over-the-shoulder shots, inserts, and various other angles, into edited scenes. Likewise, scenes are ultimately cut together in linear fashion to create a full assembly of the picture. An editor’s assembly is usually an intentionally long cut of the picture, which includes almost everything shot during the production period. This gives the director the maximum amount of options when he or she comes into the editing room to work alongside the editor to accomplish the director’s cut.

During this latter stage, the director will work collaboratively with the editor to fine-tune the cut of the picture, hopefully to the running time required by the producers and/or distributors. If the picture is non-DGA signatory, the director can be dismissed at this point, if the producer so desires. However, if it’s a DGA-signatory picture, the director has creative rights that the guild has negotiated and established over several decades. Those rights ensure that the guild-signatory director is allowed to be present throughout the post-production process.

So, your contract and whether your director is union or non-union will determine how much flexibility and control you, as the producer, will have during the post-production period. If the director is non-union, you may wish to keep them on board and provide editorial notes for the type of picture that you know you have to deliver to the marketplace. If they prove resistant to your guidelines, you can always exercise your right to dismiss them and recut the picture to deliver the film that has been sold to the distributors.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve hired a director to do a specific genre picture only to find that they are trying to make an “arty” film which they believe will gain them a reputation as a “serious director.” If they are non-union, I always dismiss them after shooting and recut the picture so that it satisfies what the studio or other distributors expect and require. In another instance, on a DGA picture, an abusive, disgruntled director of some note attempted to subvert my post-production process. I called the DGA and asked a representative to visit the editing room during the sound mix to keep the director in check. (Under DGA creative rights, I was allowed to do my cut and sound mix and make other final decisions, but the director was allowed to be present at each step of the post-production process and opine in his angry and volatile way.) Of course, the whole situation was vastly uncomfortable, and although I was a member of the DGA for many more years, thereafter I would never hire a union director who might subvert or impede the post-production process. If I, as the producer, am the employer or financier, or if I am responsible to the financier, I prefer not to put myself into a position where I can’t completely control the completion and delivery of the picture: A dictatorship—not a democracy!

Music and the Composer

The composer creates the musical score for a motion picture. Music is one of the most important components of any film. Inappropriate or bad music over any scene can ruin otherwise great work; conversely, exceptional music can substantially enhance mediocre work. Music can evoke great emotion and change the entire experience of the audience. Composers create the composed score, meaning the non-vocal underscore of the film, and often also supply songs that may be used as source music (such as when a song is playing on the radio in the background of a scene) or as source score (when a song is played as though it’s part of the score, not in the background).

A film score is usually original music written to accompany a specific film, and as the director and composer “spot” through the movie, they decide which scenes or sequences would benefit from a musical underscore, and which can play “dry” (without music). The score comprises a number of compositions, usually orchestral, instrumental, or electronic, which can range from something as simple as a low, sustained note or chord or percussion rhythms, to a fully orchestrated piece, which are collectively called cues. These are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film and are designed to enhance the dramatic or emotional impact of a scene or sequence. Scores can be electronic or orchestral, and performed by an ensemble of musicians, a full orchestra, a band, soloists, a choir, or even a single vocalist. They are recorded by a sound engineer.

One film comes to mind—The Firm, starring Tom Cruise, in which the entire score, as I recall, was composed and played on a single piano, although there were source cues from popular music groups as well. Source music is preexisting music that can be heard in the scene, as opposed to the score or the underscore. Source cues may range from music emanating from a radio or in an elevator to performers (like a band) actually playing one of their songs on screen. These songs are usually not considered elements in the film’s score, although they do form part of the soundtrack.

On one of my movies, there was insufficient time for the composer to gather or create and record any source cues. So, over a weekend, my music supervisor and I went into his recording studio, where we wrote and recorded several original songs that we then placed in the picture for free. However, we have received royalties on them ever since.

Scores encompass an enormous variety of styles of music, depending on the genre of the film and the director’s creative vision. Some now feature both live instruments and electronic sounds, whereas others use digital samples to imitate live instruments. Advances in composition software have enabled some composers to create and perform entire scores on their own, without the need to hire any other musicians. There are also many royalty-free and zero-fee online music sources. However, as an independent producer, if you can afford to pay even a small amount to an aspiring composer for an original score, and you are able to negotiate and retain the publisher’s share of the royalties, you will have an additional worldwide revenue stream as soon as the film starts to play on television. The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) and Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) are the two leading U.S. performing rights organizations for songwriters, composers, music publishers, and music rights management. They both collect license fees from businesses that use music and distribute royalties to songwriters, composers, and music publishers. (A sample composer agreement can be found in Appendix S.)

Extras

Extras, also known as background players or background actors, are generally nonspeaking persons who appear on camera. In films or television shows, you might see them in restaurants, walking on streets, in crowd scenes, in office buildings, or in any other on-camera, nonspeaking situation in which people should appear. Also known as “atmosphere,” they give real-life credibility to scenes in every movie.

In a low-budget theatrical contract, the Screen Actors Guild requires that the first thirty extras each day must be SAG extras. SAG extra rates in a Studio Zone such as Los Angeles are for eight hours, plus fringe, payroll tax and payroll fee, and overtime (time and a half), calculated for all hours worked beyond eight. So, for a twelve-hour day, every SAG extra will cost you over $300. Once you have reached the stipulated thirty SAG extras, you may hire non-union extras. However, under the SAG Ultra Low Budget Agreement, you may hire all non-union extras. Extras casting services provide both SAG and non-SAG extras and are easily found locally. Almost all city or state film commissions will have local listings, and many will offer a creative directory for local extras casting agencies.

I filmed the movie Half Past Dead 2 in Los Angeles completely non-union except for the SAG, but I still paid an exorbitant premium as a result of that guild’s union extra rules. We shot various sequences of a prison riot over a four-week stretch, which required numerous extras and background stunt performers on a daily basis—a huge expense for a low-budget film. However, this was a calculated decision, since I had found a women’s prison in eastern Los Angeles that provided everything I needed in one location for the entire film. Basically, I paid for the union extras in order to eliminate the greater costs associated with drivers, fuel, and several company moves.

In a right-to-work state such as Texas, non-union extras cost around forty dollars per day, depending on how they are hired, hours worked, and where you are shooting. To be clear, in a right-to-work state, although you may be SAG signatory for actors, you can still hire non-union extras without violating your collective bargaining agreement. As noted above, thirty SAG extras might cost you over $9000 per day, while thirty non-union extras might cost as little as $1200 per day. So, when budgeting a production that requires a large number of extras, you must consider the financial impact of union versus non-union.

Producers Set the Tone

A producer should be a charismatic leader who possesses the ability to rally cast and crew, but should also be clear and decisive and not victimized by anyone. (A good director should also possess these characteristics.) If there is a troublemaker on set or in the office, the producer should dismiss him or her and find a replacement at the earliest opportunity. Everyone is enamored with the idea of working in production, but most people don’t realize what hard and unglamorous work it is. Only when this reality hits home do some people discover that they simply do not have the aptitude, work ethic, or desire to make it in the film industry. If one of your employees has reached this realization, it is in everyone’s best interests to let them go.

It is always preferable to have a good working relationship with your director. However, many directors view the producer as the enemy, the cop, the warden, the monitor, or the person who stops them exercising the full breadth of their creative vision. Do not buy into this. They work for you. Hone your skills as a producer/filmmaker and be prepared to step in and take over, if necessary. Dictate to the director what needs to be done to complete a day’s shooting or even the entire film. You are not trying to win a popularity contest. If a director consistently subverts you or undermines the type of film you are meant to deliver, make a directorial change. If your production is signatory to the DGA, make sure you comply with the guild’s succinct guidelines regarding how to do this.

Make sure you deliver the film that the marketplace expects and desires, and that your buyers want. It is your job to protect and serve your investors, your distributors, and your audience. As I mentioned above, directors will often attempt to subvert the genre film that you hired them to make and will try to shoot an artsy film instead. If the buyers and the marketplace happen to want an art film, your script is perfect for an art film, and your investors have agreed to finance an art film, then let them get on with it.

However, if the buyers, distributors, and/or investors are expecting an action film or thriller, don’t allow your director to manipulate and undermine what you’ve been charged with delivering. Watch the dailies religiously! For each scene, make sure the director is getting proper “coverage” (sufficient wide shots, close-ups, master shots, and other angles, so that when all are edited together, the result is a visually pleasing scene that tells the whole scripted story and includes all of the scripted action), that the key events are highlighted cinematically, that the performances are appropriate, and that the genre is served.

Be assertive from the beginning. Most directors do not understand the business or the marketplace. Don’t wait until two weeks into production before putting your foot down. Do it on day two, if necessary, as soon as you’ve seen the first day of dailies. If the director is not serving the project in a way that you believe it should be served, give him or her specific instructions. Dictate shots and coverage, if necessary. Wherever you feel they are needed, insist on pickup shots. (These are usually shot after the main action. Often filmmakers will look at a cut of the fully edited film and then list any pickup—or insert—shots they feel are necessary to complete the movie or heighten a specific moment cinematically. Inserts shots are usually close-ups that draw attention to a specific action or detail that has already appeared in a wider shot. Examples in a car chase sequence might be close-ups of hands on the steering wheel, a foot on the accelerator, a tight shot of the speedometer, the car’s spinning tires, or a hand on the gear shift.) If the director resists, don’t hesitate to replace them.

Real Producers Are Filmmakers

Low-budget films that make money are the producer’s medium. Low-budget art films that lose money are usually the director’s medium. Occasionally the two mesh and work synergistically towards the same goal, but all too often they come into conflict, with covert agendas that ultimately subvert the film and its commercial viability. In general industry vernacular, the term “filmmaker” refers to the director or the writer/ director. But I believe that the multiskilled producer is also a filmmaker. Just as some directors—such as Steven Spielberg and James Cameron—have become brands, talented men from whom the audience knows what to expect, there are equivalent branded producers, such as Jerry Bruckheimer, Scott Rudin, Brian Grazer, and George Lucas. When an audience sees one of their names on the credits of a film, they expect high quality or a certain engaging genre. Be a producer/filmmaker. Know every aspect of film-making and trust your creative instincts.

After Wrap

The final paychecks for all crew and cast should have been issued within one week of completion of principal photography. SAG will issue a penalty if any actor has to wait longer than this to be paid. On most low-budget pictures, the production office should be closed by the end of the second week of wrap (the second week following the completion of principal photography). All items to be returned to stores or vendors should have been delivered, final paychecks for vendors issued, and an entire wrap binder—in duplicate, containing everything necessary for the delivery of the picture in accordance with the delivery schedules—delivered to the producer by the production coordinator.

There will always be nuisance items—things that have been overlooked, neglected, lost, or stolen; checks that may need to be reissued; and myriad other problems that will fall into your lap after everyone else has left. Be prepared to handle these, and keep a contact list of all crew, cast, vendors, and personnel to follow up and ask any questions that might shed light on a problematic situation. If there are any loss or damage claims during the wrap period, they should be settled by this time as well.

When the general public hears the words “film company,” it immediately puts out its hand, in the assumption that movie productions are always awash with cash. Cry poor. In the independent world, there are no deep pockets. Rarely, if ever, is there any studio or network involvement during production. Tell everyone, “There is no money.” Negotiate every claim to secure the best deal you possibly can.