Bailed crew/cast

dlevanchuk

dlevanchuk

Kind of hilarious how half of crew surprisingly remembers their aunt/cousing birthday 4 hours before the shoot...

statistic of "half of your crew won't show up" never fails :lol:

Good thing I was prepared for it...
 
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From the title I was thinking may some of the crew and cast got put in jail and you had to bail them out. Ha.... I guess my imagination is going wild. Maybe over a drunken bar fight from the night of partying before the shoot or after the shoot. Put in the drunk tank to sober up. Or it could have been for using fake guns in public and making the cops come out thinking it was real or something like that.

Sorry to hear so many bailed on you. Glad you had a backup plan.
 
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Yep, volunteer friends/family/acquaintences tends to be about 50% no-show, in my experience. Cest la vie.

Glass half-full! Half of your friends showed up! And if it wasn't for them, we wouldn't be making movies! :)

Thankfully, I no longer have to deal with this expectation of people no-showing. It's all about finding a group of people who take their craft seriously. The catch-22 is that you've got to make a few solid films, before you can attract these people, by proving that you are also very serious about your craft.

All in due time, brother. You're making awesome movies, it's only a matter of time before your network expands to include people you can rely on. Cheers!
 
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just returned from the shoot of a short movie "Zanthora, Last Human Warrior Princess".

Zensteve - of course they re unpaid. That's the only way i practice lol I wrote up the movie on friday, during lunch time, and grabbed bunch of co-workers to shoot on our day off..

Rockerrockstar - haha, luckily i'm not that crazy yet, and not pushing the rigid bar of the law!

CF - Thank you for encouragement and a compliment! That is true, with time I will have a good solid list of actual people who are interested in their crafts, and wanna be's..



All in all, even though we had few people missing - today's shoot was the most fun I've ever had on the set. Cheesy sci-fi props, and beers made the night.

Time to let the brain relax, and start editing tomorrow.

Can't wait for the finished product!
 
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"It's all about finding a group of people who take their craft seriously. The catch-22 is that you've got to make a few solid films, before you can attract these people, by proving that you are also very serious about your craft."

QFT

It's the reason my shorts are actually becoming LESS expensive. Initially I had to pay almost everybody, now I can get a higher level of free work because I have a resume of completed projects. People know I'm not just some yahoo with a camcorder. I deliver decent quality completed films.
 
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I try to avoid unpaid crew whenever possible, but when I do use them, I do this,

I fire anyone (from a volunteer job) that misses a shoot with a lame excuse.

Attitudes are contagious, and I don't need anyone around that thinks we are just screwing around. One grip that had worked with me for years had been sceduled to show up for a shoot for weeks, then texted me 2 hours before the shoot to say that a friend had called him wanting to go to Great America last night, and now he was too busy to show up.

I just terminated him from the project permanently in 5 seconds. A person that puts their own recreation ahead of the welfare of the team is garbage, and should be disposed of.

The problem is that to get free work, people act like it's a recreational thing, and so others follow that lead and prioritize it as no more important than a trip to the bar. You have to communicate to your crew that a lot of time,effort, and money went into what you're doing, and that when people don't make an honest effort, it penalizes those that do.
 
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I'll also add I have mandatory pre-production meeetings for both cast and crew, a couple of them. This gives you a good chance to get a look at their ability to get to a set place at a set date and time. Fail on the meetings, and you're fired. Better it happens in pre-pro than during production.
 
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This happened on my last shoot too. I had several actors begging to be in the film. So, I made all the agreements with their agents and even talked to them personally the night before the shoot. They never showed up and never even bothered to call. They are now permanently removed from my list of future actors.

In my view, whether it's a paid job or not, you should have the common courtesy to communicate properly. I go out of my way to make filming a pleasing experience for my cast and crew, but if you can't show me even a little courtesy, then I have no use for you.
 
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That sucks I guess, good thing you had a Plan B! :)

It's not a problem I've ever had. I guess that's because I'm tended to use paid professionals and film school classmates but even a couple of weeks ago when I shot The Samurai with Phil I only had a couple of days to get a sound guy in. I was really keen to get someone willing to do it for free and so, on the day, I was really nervous that he wouldn't show up. But he did! So things can occasionally work out!

Glad that the shit isn't blocking the toilet :)
 
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I've been in the business for 6 years as a freelance sound mixer.

Bottom line is, when you are NOT paying people, there is no real obligation to show up. Especially if the crew member in question got a call from the local union and took a paid gig instead. A courtesy call to the other production informing them ASAP is all a crew member can do in that situation.

This happens all the time. It's nothing personal. Making demands and telling people to show up to production meetings all the time ( I've been there ) when it starts to interfere with paid work is not a good way to retain good talent.
 
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soundman said:
I've been in the business for 6 years as a freelance sound mixer.

Bottom line is, when you are NOT paying people, there is no real obligation to show up. Especially if the crew member in question got a call from the local union and took a paid gig instead. A courtesy call to the other production informing them ASAP is all a crew member can do in that situation.

This happens all the time. It's nothing personal. Making demands and telling people to show up to production meetings all the time ( I've been there ) when it starts to interfere with paid work is not a good way to retain good talent.
Click to expand...


It's called having a stellar work ethic
It's called keeping a commitment
It's called not burning bridges
It's called having respect for other people

I try to pay when the budget allows. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. If the person knows going into the project that it's not paid, agrees to the terms and conditions, then he/she should honor their word, show up and work hard. (Something people this generation no longer do). It should be stated upfront that if a paid gig comes along he/she will take it. Simple as that. Have some respect. Not everybody is trying to rip people off by not paying them.

Sometimes people think they're worth more than they actually are.
 
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DeJager said:
Sometimes people think they're worth more than they actually are.
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A lot of times a no budget project thinks it's worthy of more than it is. I use mostly unpaid crew, and have also worked on plenty of unpaid projects. While ultimately it's nice to be able to give notice, if I get called up in the morning and offered $200 for a days work when I am supposed to work that same day for free, I'm going to go with the paying gig. I'll call and inform the no budget producer/director/whoever, but it's pretty much a common sense deal. I'll never lie to anyone, and pretty much everyone I've done free work for knows my policy. I don't expect any more from my unpaid crew members, and always have contingency plans in place. While I like to help out local productions whenever possible, working for free doesn't pay for a roof over my head.
 
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I actually turn down paid work for volunteer work. Many times I don't even think twice about turning down the paid work. For me personally it is all about who would I rather have in my box of connections. Would I rather have a production company who clearly doesn't know what they are doing, slapped the production together, and probably won't last pay me $450 for the day? Or would I rather work for free on a shoot for people who are very honest and very professional, who have spent the past 4 months doing pre-production to get ready for that shoot? For me the choice will be the same every time. Why? Simple. While I may not get paid for that one day of work in the long run those guys I help out are going to get better paying gigs because their product and attitudes are in line with who more clients want to work with, then the production crew who simply says yes to everything and throws a piece of junk together at the last minute.

This is something I learned early in my career. And it has bled over to my work. There was a question at the beginning of this asking how many times crews have bailed for a production. For me, I have never had a single crew member bail on me for a free shoot. Why has no one bailed? Because when I go into my productions I make sure that not only I have the highest level of professionalism going in but everyone around me has the same attitude and drive. I take the time to plan everything out and I go through everything with the crew. Lay it all out. Be completely honest. This has worked for me for years. One of my first lessons I learned on a set was "If you want to be treated like a professional then you need to act like a professional."

*Steps down off his soap box*
 
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Ok,

I am VERY professional when it comes down to the work. I'm never late, my gear is fully functional and I bring a good attitude to set.

I don't do freebies anymore and if I do, I have a reason ( testing new gear, techniques etc etc ). It's an insurance risk to take gear out in the 40-50k range and not get compensated for it. What happens if it gets stolen? Or some dummy actor de wires themselves and damages a $400 lav mic? I eat it.

What pisses me off even more on freebie shows is the scheduling. They call you at dawn and you haven't even hit record on your recorder by dusk because they are too busy screwing around with the lighting. How professional is that? and when they do get to do the dialog scenes, it's rush rush rush. Not to mention the " great location " they scouted ( without me because I wasn't being paid to go ) was next to a freeway that had cars racing down it every 30 seconds. ADR city baby!
 
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soundman said:
I've been in the business for 6 years as a freelance sound mixer.

Bottom line is, when you are NOT paying people, there is no real obligation to show up. Especially if the crew member in question got a call from the local union and took a paid gig instead. A courtesy call to the other production informing them ASAP is all a crew member can do in that situation.

This happens all the time. It's nothing personal. Making demands and telling people to show up to production meetings all the time ( I've been there ) when it starts to interfere with paid work is not a good way to retain good talent.
Click to expand...

No, that's not all you can do. Another possibility is to SHOW UP. When I tell people I'm going to do something, I really like to do it. Like Tony Montana would say, all you have in this world is your balls, and your word, and you shouldn't break them for nobody.

As far as taking a paid gig is concerned, dude, I understand where you're coming from, completely. We gotta pay rent. Honestly, during a slow Summer at work, I'm literally check-to-check right now, so I get it -- you gotta take the paid gig.

However (and this is a big however), you must communicate the possibility of this, in advance. Tell the producer that you'd love to work on their project, but inform them of your financial situation, and that if a last-minute-gig arises, you'll have no choice but to take the paid gig. This communication will allow the producer to prepare for a back-up plan.
 
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