How do I avoid this production problem?

H

harmonica44

My plan was was to make a few no budget shorts, then make a short film, and send it into film festivals. After a few months or perhaps years of doing that, I wanted to make a feature. My DP though, has dropped out of making practice shorts with me and may very well not want make the actual short film later. My sound guy seems like he wants to drop out too now. The thing is when you have people working for free on the their craft, it's almost impossible to get people to work together to actually make something. So what do I do? I already bought all the equipment for the short film, and the feature later on. But now I have no one to work it.

I could always hire a cameraman and a soundman but that could eat into my microbudget. How do other people where I live, get their friends to work with them on making features, when no one wants to work for free. It seems money and a contract are the only motivation. The other problem is I have shopped around and there are hardly any cameramen or soundman in my city, and the ones that are always working on bigger higher paying projects. I feel I might have to have someone come in from a different city, but right there, the price goes up.

At this point I feel that if I can't make any no budget shorts for practice, then I will have to skip right into making the feature, with the money I have, and hire people, without having had any practice at directing or editing yet. Sure I could take my equipment and shoot random shots and edit those, but it's not the same as practicing with a crew. Especially other cameraman, editors and soundman who know a lot more about what they are doing than me. But it seems that there is no other option then to skip straight to the feature otherwise. So how do other people get locals to work for very low pay and get them to actually commit to a project, and get everything done on time? What's the secret?
 
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Oh yeah. Cool. Well once I'm done the script, I can show it around to get people more into wanting to work to make a movie out of it. I do believe it's as good as my friends, have said, or at least it has an idea that's never been done before. However should I shop it around before or after I have had enough practice filming? If I do it before, and people are interested, I will have to tell them that I feel I am not ready, and could use some people to practice with me to work on your craft. Or will that not make a good impression?
 
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That was the initial reaction until I showed a short to my now partner "Roo" who has worked on every production since. A finished piece that is watchable (even if not all that professional) is a huge motivator by showing that you actually mean what you're saying.
 
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Well yeah, I wrote a good short in my opinion, but it was hard since it's hard to come up with a good story, that is over before it starts. Once I get enough practice and the right people I would get it made. It was said before that if I show my script around that could get people interested in wanting to work with me to make it. I already wrote a script, should I shop that around, this early in the game, without hardly any experience so far?

I can't shoot that script though, because it's too high budget for me, and I wrote it without budget being as much of a factor. But will showing it around help?
 
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