I'm still pretty new at directing and producing and all the many hats rolled into one. After writing for years, I decided to do a web series (which I mentioned on another thread) last summer and directed one episode. I've treated the whole experience as a start-up.
Now, after a year and major cast changes, we're still stuck on one episode. We recently started to shoot more episodes with an eye towards premiering in Novemeber, but at times, I feel like I'm losing the faith of the cast and crew. I've had two people quit because they felt like they had to cut back somewhere. And my goal from the start was that if the actor had a paying gig come up and had to leave the production, I wasn't going to stand in the way of that. I think we'd all like to get paid doing this. But I kind of don't like the idea that my production is lower priority, but I have no choice really. I can't afford to pay anyone, so everyone is volunteering with their own time and money. However, I strongly feel with the right amount of promotion and marketing, the show can do well. Not a lot of people saw the first episode, but from what I've heard, people really dug it. And just last week, one of my actors told me that he went to Kinko's to get his script copies and the girl who printed them out read them and really liked the idea.
What can I do to keep my cast/crew still interested in the concept? I'm having trouble getting a crew because, again, I can't afford to pay anyone. How do I get people interested in the concept?
Is it standard protocol to put out some kind of speech or manifesto (a la Jerry Maguire) to say that we're going to do this?
Am I making too much of this?
Now, after a year and major cast changes, we're still stuck on one episode. We recently started to shoot more episodes with an eye towards premiering in Novemeber, but at times, I feel like I'm losing the faith of the cast and crew. I've had two people quit because they felt like they had to cut back somewhere. And my goal from the start was that if the actor had a paying gig come up and had to leave the production, I wasn't going to stand in the way of that. I think we'd all like to get paid doing this. But I kind of don't like the idea that my production is lower priority, but I have no choice really. I can't afford to pay anyone, so everyone is volunteering with their own time and money. However, I strongly feel with the right amount of promotion and marketing, the show can do well. Not a lot of people saw the first episode, but from what I've heard, people really dug it. And just last week, one of my actors told me that he went to Kinko's to get his script copies and the girl who printed them out read them and really liked the idea.
What can I do to keep my cast/crew still interested in the concept? I'm having trouble getting a crew because, again, I can't afford to pay anyone. How do I get people interested in the concept?
Is it standard protocol to put out some kind of speech or manifesto (a la Jerry Maguire) to say that we're going to do this?
Am I making too much of this?