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Advice/Finding Crew/Etc

Timewarp Adventures

Timewarp Adventures

As posted about elsewhere but intro thread was (quite rightly, actually, and apologies) trimmed down.

But I do need to consider how to find a crew for my insane project.

(hesitant dithering)

I want to try to make a half-hour pilot show regardless. Someone I know sent me a mail the other night advising me that seeking approval is a folly. I don't think it's quite that simple (for instance, even finding one camera operator would be impossible if everyone hates my stuff and it is, in fact, junk) (I don't think it is but negative feedback/vibes makes me question myself hard). It's a nice idea but reality is a bit more grey.

I sure as hell better not post any vague, first-draft snippets again. The bullet-hole in my foot is killing me already.

Any advice? Sorry for being a bit wolly and uncertain at the moment. It'll pass.
 
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You can find and/or post on mandy.com for crew & talent. Craigslist can also be useful to find crew & talent. Also, you can search projects in your area using Indiegogo & Kickstarter, find a film project that looks decent & message the creators and ask them if they are interested in collaborating on another project. I do this all the time! It's a great & easy way to find motivated filmmakers in your area.
 
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I'll tell you both sides of the equation but I can't morally tell you which one to choose. 1) if you are honest in your posting for crew and you detail your uncertainty, you will turn people off. Most crew people aren't interested in working on something that's gonna suck or be poorly run. 2) If you are silent about your weaknesses, then you will get MORE people showing interest in helping you because they will be unaware how hesitant you are.

It's a moral choice. I personally vote that you show absolute respect to your potential crew and try to be honest, but that's just me. Sometimes a female leader can attract crew if she appears somewhat vulnerable, but that's rare. Vulnerability is not an ideal trait for most leaders.

If you can't pay much, then you have to be really good at allowing crew members to be very involved creatively.

As for HOW to deal with your disappointment, look, we ALL go through this. And the higher up you get in this business, the worse you can feel when a film or show fails. So, the first step is to accept that fact that what you're going through is extremely normal for an artist. I agree that you should stop posting incomplete stuff, but I suggest you never back down from getting brutal feedback. If you're diligent, you can make almost all feedback serve your growth. Just keep reading books, watch tutorials, watch a lot of TV, and practice. Practice writing, shooting and editing. And make sure that your goal is for perfect strangers to love your work. You're going to fail a lot in the beginning, but, if you have just a smidgen of talent, you will get better.
 
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I'm not sure where about in the UK you are but I can definitely help you by explaining how to find cast and crew and putting together a production. Just let me know and I'll give you the details.

But, before you do any of that, you really need to make sure you have a finished script which is properly formatted. Unless you've worked with them before, no crew member is going to attach themselves to a project that hasn't been scripted yet. If you contact anyone, they will want to read a script to give them an idea of how the project will be made and what sort of pedigree it's being based on. I don't know what happened with that sample you posted, or who emailed you about it, but the moment I saw it (I didn't even read it) I just groaned a little and wished it was properly formatted. I know that sounds like a really bad thing to admit but it will happen time and time again until you've got the script properly written.

But, if you feel like you have all of that patted down, then, yes, I can help you with ways to get your project off the ground.
 
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Confidence, kid, confidence; never let them see you sweat.

As a writer and director you don't necessarily have to know anything else. Your job is to be a great communicator with your audience and with your cast & crew. You must communicate clearly and concisely to you cast and crew your vision for the project, and infect them with your enthusiasm and your belief in the projects ultimate success.

So, do you really have to know in detail cinematography, sound and all of the other crafts that go into making a film? No, but you at least have to speak the language; you must communicate clearly and concisely with your cast and crew, remember? You can't say "I'll know it when I see it/hear it;" you won't have the time or the budget. You must KNOW!!!

So you say to your DP "The character is feeling... I want something that tells the audience that..." etc. That's the DPs job, to get the look/feeling/mood that you want. S/he may also have suggestions on how to accomplish what you desire, as will wardrobe/MU, set design and the other crafts; and enhancing that in post will be your editor and sound designer, who will also have ideas. Some of these ideas may at first hearing seem completely contrary to your vision, but you must consider them all the way through before you reject them; that's why you hired them, because they are the experts. The biggest problem you will run into is "Yes, I can do that, but not on this budget." And that is the biggest reason to rely on their judgement.

Anyway, enough drivel from Uncle Bob. As always I suggest that you get out there and work on other projects as a PA, go'fer or whatever job you can. Watch others direct; you will learn as much (if not more) from their mistakes as you will from their successes. And you will learn the "languages" of the various crafts.
 
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Yeah, thanks for feedback. It's not that I'm falling apart totally but I guess loss of faith periods are normal. Ish. I was wired creatively the other day. Someone batted negativity at me and it felt particularly unpleasant.

Nick, I do have someone advising me on script format but I can always use more input. There were some specific styles I used from a BBC sample boilerplate I had ages ago. This other guy has no issues with that aspect, but in particular he thinks I clump my descs up too much which would confuse anyone but me. This is less of a problem on the one (third draft) script I have here, but tends to be very bad on rough notes (extract posted was first-draft rough notes, for better or worse) as my initial focus, at least, is on dialogue. I LOVE dialogue and, if I'm not delusional, think I do that pretty well if I'm focused. Also he thinks my descriptive language leans towards passive and vague (for instance, on some notes last night I wrote 'a sort of P.O.V. shot' -- he says, 'WHY sort of?!' -- I said, 'er, I dunno!'). It's a bad/curious habit.

I have written a lot of scripts, but most of them had little to no formatting because, I wasn't going anywhere with them so it was just for my own amusement. It's only in the last year I've been addressing this in a more serious way. On a raw level anyone can write a script, obviously. And (hopefully) learn to write kick-ass dialogue that way. The rest of it is more technical and I'm still adjusting to that stuff. If you PM me or something I could give you an e-mail. I'm totally open to all kinds of advice.

Bob, thanks! One plus for me, I think... the technical details, I need to learn... having ideas and knowing what I want, I'm more clear about. For instance, I also have this independent *feature* idea I'd like to go for next year, and I did work with my actor a bit on that. Honestly, only half an hour down the pub! But he has zero experience and needs to do an American accent. In 30 minutes I did get him to the point where he was only screwing it up about 50% of the time! :) So my communication can't be all bad. My visualising is strong too, at least I think so. But technical chapter-and-verse -- I need to learn more.
 
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LOL. Just a word precessor and adding formatting manually. Not ideal, I realise. BTW, aside from scripting issues per se (passive descriptions, etc) -- honestly, finding a consensus on *appearance* of scripts is rather difficult. Even just on the Beeb site. For instance--

http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/send-a-script/formatting-your-script

If you look at the 'BBC Taped Drama' sample (which I used as a guide for format of ep one script because it seemed as good as anything else) and compare it with pretty much all the actual, produced scripts on there -- amongst which there is a lot of divergence anyway -- they're actually VERY dissimilar. So it's like they have a sample guide that basically looks nothing like any of the real scripts.

Confused? Well, I am. And unsure what to gather from it.
 
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You need to download CeltX (it's free) and start working on putting together a script that's properly pitchable. Read through other scripts (the BBC's guidelines are going to confuse you more than anything) and then CeltX will make things much easier for you.
 
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Been discussing it all again with someone tonight. I think I'm getting a better handle on it. Hate to look like a witless boob. Ruins my cool, aloof posturing totally. :b But it's all useful. Obv don't want scripts no one but me can follow... good progress.
 
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Updating on this, I guess I'm fortunate enough to have a *few* people involved at this point. Including someone working on a couple of practical FX needed. Hoping to see some sketches on this soon. Also a couple of incidental roles cast, and there's a small role I'm doing myself. The thing is the main two actors, which it would hinge on.

Obviously I believe in the thing. I think anyone who sees it... well, some people will dislike it for sure. (True of everything.) Impressions right now -- not surprising -- is that women seem to react better to it. Men tend to dissect the plot a lot more. Believe me, I dislike stereotypes as much as anyone, but you have to consider stuff staring you in the face. It may be a skewed demographic too, as I know a lot of geeky types and they tend to be plot-obsessed anyway. I'm not. I'm coming from the 'plot/concepts/etc serve the characters not vice versa' place. I had an interesting collision on this not long ago but this probably isn't the place to get into detail about it...

I had estimated a 6-7 days shoot and someone else told me six days. And they have better experience, i.e. some vs my none in a practical sense.

I've spent a theoretical £8500 approx of what might be 10-12k. That aspect seems to stack up pretty well.

Main obstacles are getting the dough and the two actors I want (or, if not, damn good substitutes)...
 
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First production design received last night, BTW! I guess that officially cements it as an actual collaborative effort rather than me brain-storming solo! Kinda cool.

Also have registered production Website domain (site is half-finished) -- it's enough of a shoestring that hosting may have to wait a bit longer, but.................. progress.
 
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