budget How much to do these?

Hello everyone,

First, the good news - some of my students have passed their bar exams and will be staying on as lawyers in my firm, even as the next group of students take their place. I have at least one more goal in Canada, for which I've got no results despite years of trying, and I've given myself five years to accomplish it - if nothing happens by then, I may retire; if something does happen, I may continue for 10 - 20 years, to finish my journey.

With this in mind, believe it or not, I'm thinking of filming some short scenes, just to get it out of my system. I've been typing about this for over 15 years, so I want to see if I really want to be a filmmaker after I retire from law. If not, I can still talk about it, for the time I'm around, and read and write books.

I'm therefore wondering if the experts can give their thoughts on this. I have the following scenes that have been buzzing around in my head.

Leisure Man

Years ago, I started a thread about people eating while talking to others, which is rude, because the others are not eating with him. Members of this forum hae suggested that is a sign of power, to show that those others have to organize their schedule around the person having his meal. From this, I have taken a character from the William Holden movie, "The Counterfeit Spy" where the British spymaster is eating breakfast and is a bit pompous.

Leisure Man would be a spy master, and there would be three scenes of him eating breakfast, dinner, and at a sauna/spa. In each scene, this pompous ass would be talking to others, and, when all three scenes are viewed, the audience would see he's talking on both sides of his mouth (contradictory statements). This would indicate hgw spooks use deception and falsehood to the outside world, though he is a dedicated professional. A few years ago, when I was at the AFM, I did a scene with someone who worked in the industry, and I found that to be an emotionally-powerful experience, so I would like to go through that again. I'm thinking of casting the proverbial British nobility or a Boston Brahman for Leisure Man.


Creator

This would be a conversation where a ship's captain would meet and talk to a representative of a highly advanced alien species. Again, I discussed this years ago, where he would be transported to a white space - which the alien says is null space - and discuss the nature of creation as well as the nature of God. In a different scene, that captain would have a further encounter with that alien, when they meet at a garden planet, which was paradise.


Enemy General (EG)

I haven't fleshed out this character. There would be at least one scene, where EG would be at the end of the war, sending out orders with his adjutant for their troops to hold the line. A soldier from the other side would then step into the scene, salute and apologize, saying that EG was now a prisoner. EG and the adjutant look around to see that they're surrounded, so they raise their hands. This is taken from a real scene in WW2, when a German general was captured even as he was directing the defensive forces.

In a follow up scene, the EG would realize they've been captured by juniors, so he keeps complaining as to how they're not fully trained. This is taken from an episode in Young Indiana Jones, where Indy and his colleague capture General von Lettow-Vorbeck, who rants and raves at them.



I am willing to pay standard rates for these read throughs. I'm also wondering, since these are just rehearsals, if one actor can play all of them, to be more cost efficient. I've never done this before, so I would welcome ideas and price quotes. Thank you very much.
 
Solution
@directorik, I should apologize, not you, because I'm confusing the two. I'm thinking of short scenes with little or no props - like the improvs at the theatre that would be filmed.

I understand an actor would be $150 - $250 per day. What about a crew to shoot, say, two or three actors rehearsing for one day, and, if it becomes two days, would it be double or less than double.
A day rate is just that. No discounts for more days.

Figure the crew rates at between $100/day to $500/day. It depends (have
I used that before?) on their crew position. And how many you need for a
shoot like this depends on several factors - something I have written about
often. What you want to do could cost $2,500 or $7,500. It could also be...
First, I'm told to film anything, even if it's horrible; then I'm told that filming what I want to film would be a waste of time. So I'm not the only one contributing to the loop.

No, you're not. We are all contributing to your 15 year long loop.

Because you are not a film maker you misunderstand much of what you're told.
I know, because you misunderstand most of what I tell you. Then you talk to
others and misunderstand them because you are asking (and getting) advice
from film makers.

Yes, filming something (even if it's horrible) is great advice. Pointing a camera
at a few actors reading lines isn't – from a film makers POV – filming. You will
learn nothing from filming a read-through – even if you call it a rehearsal. You
will learn a lot for making a short film.

See you back here in April.
 
@directorik, not quite April.

You may know of the ST: TNG episode, "Cause and Effect", where the ship was caught in a time loop. They got out of the loop when Data realized, in the second-last iteration, what was going on and send a message to himself in the next iteration, so he could take action to break out of the loop. So there is an intervening factor that can do it.

The intervening factor in our loop is my mentor. As discussed, he reviewed my drafts for a story line, and he said I could be onto something. He says that a short film can be made on the introductory part of the story and used as a proof of concept, which can then be pitched at the AFM this year. He's going to be the producer, and I will be the writer-EP. He agrees we will have to get a DP and script editor (which he is but will not be one for this project).

I'll be flying back today, returning to Miami next week to discuss further. That face-to-face meetings may have broken out the loop.
 
Until we see video proof (counselor) it's still The Loop!
Please refer to me as "Counsel", not "Counselor" - the former is the term for a lawyer, and the latter is the term for someone trained in psychology, typically with a masters, who helps those with mental problems.

In any case, since the board has been engaged in talking, three battle fleets have attacked enemy facilities in Alpha Centauri, Orion, and Sirius. They're now regrouping with the main forces to prepare for a follow-up assault. The first round is ours.

😛
 
^
Real footage of @directorik looking for you after the first day of shooting
There you go - we have done some filming.

Why can you - and everyone else - pull bits and pieces from Youtube or even use emojis, but I can't film simple scenes without being accused of wasting my time ...... after being told repeatedly to film something, anything.

Is there a double standard here?
 
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Why can you - and everyone else - pull bits and pieces from Youtube or even use emojis, but I can't film simple scenes without being accused of wasting my time ...... after being told repeatedly to film something, anything.

Context. No-one's stopping you from filming simple scenes ... but you're not filming them. Instead, you're planning a no-props, no-costumes, no-context "rehearsal" that's going to cost you (and others) time and money, without any clear objective.

As a lawyer, you must surely have been in a room many times watching people sitting a table, talking and/or reading from a prepared text. Some of them will have rehearsed their lines, some will improvise on a theme. There might even have been arrangements in place to record audio or video.

In what way is this proposed read-through any different to those previous read-throughs? What do you expect to learn from the experience? More specfically, what do you expect to learn about the film-making process from this exercise?

There's no double standard: the person who finds and posts a contextually relevant clip or emoji is delivering something to their target audience. Actually delivering, not talking about it.
 

This would be a more fitting video for @directorik and me. I've been wanting to do a video about the loop between us.

What sticks in my mind about the two of us is our first meeting, when we had breakfast - I asked if he would be willing to take part in my film project, and he said, "You bet!"

As we walked out, I should have said that this could be the start of a beautiful friendship. Again, this scene could be a 20-second movie, but, again, whenever I propose something, the forum regulars tell me I'm wasting my time ...... then tell me to film something, anything ...... then tell me that I'm wasting my time.

 
You can either:
1. Film a table read - literally actors sitting around a table reading a script.
or
2. Film a staged reading - actors hold the script, have stools or similar from which each stands up when they are actually reading, and "act" with their voices.
or
3. Do what I described last Thursday (Jan 9), which I'm copying below.

#'s 1 and 2 bear no resemblance to a movie shoot, although they are often used when writers & directors are PREPARING to shoot a movie.

#3 would give you a sense of what it's like to shoot a movie, on a simplified and low budget basis.

You can do ANYTHING you want. Or nothing. The difference is what you accomplish from what YOU choose to do.

I can't believe I'm actually commenting but...

Go through what you've written and turn a (small) sub-set of it into a 3-4 page short screenplay with a beginning, middle, and end.
2 or 3 characters, one location, and all of the action taking place in continuous time (no jumps to 3 days later etc).

Cast it. Find a location to shoot it. Decide who will direct it. Assemble a (very) small but knowledgeable crew. Rent any needed lights, camera, sound equipment, etc.

Shoot it.

Have an experienced person edit it with your input and have a good sound person do some solid post work.

Finalize it with a bit of music and maybe a poster.

Then, share it with us and anyone else who you'd like to show it to.

That will give you a real if abbreviated taste of what it's like to make a movie.
And you'll have something to show for it at the end.

There's literally NO reason why you can't do that.
 
Why can you - and everyone else - pull bits and pieces from Youtube or even use emojis, but I can't film simple scenes without being accused of wasting my time ...... after being told repeatedly to film something, anything.

Is there a double standard here?
You might want to check all my posts before you accuse me of that, as I never uttered "waste of time" nor did I even ever discourage. See below:
He wants you to do something without asking if you should. No really this is what he wants. Something. Anything. The read-through with a cameraman and actors to see if you like filmmaking may not even sound like the best idea but at this point we just want to see you do it. We don't want to suggest you do anything different because it will just hold this up. So yes, please proceed and post back with the results. I think @directorik will approve this message,
And half of the memes are Just Do It memes because that's the part you don't seem to get. And again you try to twist people's words so you can procrastinate and blame others for the procrastination.
Because you are not a film maker you misunderstand much of what you're told.
I know, because you misunderstand most of what I tell you. Then you talk to
others and misunderstand them because you are asking (and getting) advice
from film makers.

Yes, filming something (even if it's horrible) is great advice. Pointing a camera
at a few actors reading lines isn't – from a film makers POV – filming. You will
learn nothing from filming a read-through – even if you call it a rehearsal. You
will learn a lot for making a short film.

See you back here in April.
The post above explains The Loop. And here we are again. At the beginning. 😂
 
Okay there I got it out of my system. Last you'll hear from me about this for at least 6 months.
Good idea.
Leaving See Ya GIF by MOODMAN
 
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