What is the most frustrating aspect of being a filmmaker?

J

jamiejohnson37

Hey guys,

I appreciate all the excellent feedback from the last thread. I just had one other question.

What is the most frustrating aspect of being a filmmaker? What would you as a filmmaker consider the most frustrating part of the business, or at this point in your film making career? If you could change one thing about the industry, what would it be?

Thanks all,

Jamie
 
The couple of directors I've worked seem to be the most frustrated with time management, especially when they set up an ambitious shoot schedule for the day and then get nowhere near the mark they were looking to hit.
 
I sometimes do things the hard way, and end up after much frustration a much easier way I could have done things (rendering in wmv....SIGH!:rolleyes:)
 
At the no-budget level, volunteers can be a major headache. It's one thing if you're doing a small shoot, with just a couple of your closest friends. But if you plan something larger, with extras, etc., you better expect some no-shows.
 
Budget limitations, because everything comes back to that. Not being able to shoot another take of a scene, or that extra coverage of a scene, or get the right actor, or have the right light, or the right lens. Every problem I have could, in the end, be solved by money.
 
Pitching ideas to assistants (or even less then) who really can't do a thing with your material. How bad is it? I knew one person who really didn't know a thing about screenwriting, wrote two horrible scripts (and I mean laughable bad) and then found out they were sitting in to listen to pitches at one of those pitch fest things. I could only think, if those people only knew how they were throwing their money away.
 
Dealing with people who want to do it all. Writers who want to direct. Directors who want to set up the shots. DP's who want to direct. PA's who want to direct. Editors who want to shoot. Script supervisors who want to direct. Grips who want to DP. A person who wants to write, direct, DP, produce, edit, and do score. Those make for some frustrating sets.

No offense but for any of you out there who are trying to do it all, take a step back and look at big picture productions. They don't have one person doing it all. They have a crew. Find one and love it like your own.
 
Frustration.

Delaying the shoot, either due to budget concerns or runaways actors or crew. We seem to have a way of discovering 'diamonds in the ruff', so you gain confidence in the potential, in your potential at assembling the small family that will surround you for the next couple of weeks. Then your actress is whisked off to Israel for a feature with a budget that leaves yours cowering with wet pants.

This has happened on three occasions, the spine of our skeletal crew is prodded and tested, but you just ride it. I'd hate to be the guy who takes their break in the industry away from them, wave them goodbye and get the hell back to work.

We now name a 'drop-out' by the names of our previous evacuees.:lol:
 
Because your movie gets passed on from you to the sales agent, then to the distributor. It becomes a very long process. When the sales agent gets your film, they start from scratch, they start thinking about how they are going to sell this thing. Then when they finally sell it,(which could possibly take anywhere between 3 months to 3 years) then the distributor goes through the same process. Then they have to manufacture the product. The filmmaker is just anxious to get his film out, but the entire sales process takes "forever". It's hard for the filmmaker to fully focus on their next project because they need the audience feedback to improve their work. The entire time, you're just speculating.
 
I get frustrated with hagglers.
I'm an artist so of course it's quite offensive when I state a price and someone counters. Want less quality? Get the kid down the street. I don't like people wasting my time.
 
grinner said:
I get frustrated with hagglers.
I'm an artist so of course it's quite offensive when I state a price and someone counters. Want less quality? Get the kid down the street. I don't like people wasting my time.
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Oh, I agree with this one.

Its like: I'm already giving you a deal. Stop trying to talk me into doing this for $100 when I should be charging you at least that PER HOUR.

-- spinner :cool:
 
everything.
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+3

Making a movie is a massive undertaking, and one unexpected thing can compromise the whole production. Then once you get it done you find out about perils of the business end of it. Finally you realize that being a small fish in the big sea of filmmaking is not such a bad thing.
 
Brooksy said:
Dealing with people who want to do it all. Writers who want to direct. Directors who want to set up the shots. DP's who want to direct. PA's who want to direct. Editors who want to shoot. Script supervisors who want to direct. Grips who want to DP. A person who wants to write, direct, DP, produce, edit, and do score. Those make for some frustrating sets.

No offense but for any of you out there who are trying to do it all, take a step back and look at big picture productions. They don't have one person doing it all. They have a crew. Find one and love it like your own.
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This.

It's one thing to have aspirations for your career. We all start somewhere, but when you're crew you should be doing your job - not trying to be smarter than the guy/gal doing their job. This t-shirt sort of sums it up:

ssc-dowork.jpg


RE: Producer/Writer/Director/Lead Actor types who want to go the 'auteur' route. Unless your last name is Wells or Eastwood, just stop. Pick one of those at a time and get good at them. It's fine to explore, but don't try to be everything at once unless you are very very very good and very experienced.
 
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