Well, Everything looked rather promising at the start of the week. Had some meeting lined up, had places to see, and answers to get. The outcome was not quite what I planned. Kind of a week filled with hits and misses.
First the misses. Never got the Production Designer out to look at the locations. Didn't even get a chance to meet with him. However, I did speak to him and he has agreed to be the Production Designer. So we'll add that to the hit column. He will be back in town on Monday and I'm sure we'll discuss things then.
Next miss, and the bigger of the two, missed out on a chance to meet with the executive producer and get some answers to some questions. I was really hoping to get things moving on this front as I want to get started on crewing up, casting and production office space as soon as possible. Had two meeting scheduled, but got calls at the last minute both times to cancel. I guess it's just one of the pitfalls of having a real Producer help you out on your short film. I was looking forward to a little conversation at the contract signing today, but she was a no show there too. Oh well, she's busy dealing with a real network show, and this is a favour, so I'll wait my turn. The week's not over yet, there's still Friday.
So now for the hits.
Got some feedback from my mentor today. He likes how I'm going about doing this thing, but doesn't have any feedback on the script yet. Needs a little more time to let it sink in. That's Cool. I got a little time.
The next hit was the contract signing. Went according to script. I was ushered into a boardroom with my mentor and the other 4 winners and their producers and mentors and got some information on what was next. Get your casting done sooner than later, don't burn locations, start filming sooner than later. Yada Yada Yada. Didn't learn as much as I had hoped, and forgot to ask all of the questions I had forming in my head over the past month.
Mental note.... write things down.
Was a little disappointed with some of the things revealed at this meeting though.
I thought the Post production assistance would have been a little more than what was offered. I mean getting $1200 worth of assistance for the editing part of things is great, but how far does that really go? After looking a the rate sheet, it looks like I'll get between 4 and 10 hours of service for my $1,200.00 credit. Is that enough to get this done? Have I grossly under-budgeted my post production costs for this project? (mental note #2 - get a post production supervisor).
And at first, I thought the whole idea of post production sound costing $2,500.oo was outrageous. That is a lot of money. BUT... after looking at what I get for my $2,500.00, That looks like a great deal. Definitely a hit! I end up with a complete sound services for only $2,500.00! That's sound design, ADR, foley, re-recording and mixing! That is awesome! Although free would be better, $2,500 is a great deal (and I budgeted $3,000.00, so I'm ahead of the game). If the movie sounds awful, everyone will be distracted by the sound problems and no one will remember what happened in the movie. Trust me on this, sound is important, and can not be taken lightly. (I speak from experience - it can't be fixed in post).
Also the level of enthusiasm at this meeting was a little low. It seems like I was the only one excited about this thing. Maybe it was no big deal for these guys. Maybe it was the weather. Oh well.
And something to look forward to - We get to go on a field trip! A little tour of the post production houses in the middle of January. Sounds like fun! Must remember to write down questions to ask post production guys.
One other thing that was hammered into our heads throughout this meeting was the message of "don't wait until later in the year to shoot your short"! Much reference was made to a KickStart production waiting until the last minute to get things done (see post "Thinking Out Loud") and the very real possibility that this group may not get things done by their deadline. Curiosity got the better of me, and I asked what happens if they don't deliver by the deadline? Then, as I was told, there would be some money demanded back from the producers. Needless to say, someone's in trouble.
(UPDATE: Still nothing filmed and Still NO Locations Manager - I've beat this dead horse enough, No More on this subject)
So while I didn't get to do everything on the list this week, I now have a timetable on when the money comes, and what I'm responsible for. My other producer is getting into the swing of things. He seems to have the ball and is running with it. He's started getting things ready for casting, has great ideas on how to make the script better and is pushing to get this done on time. An April release seems like a real possibility, and yes it seems like we will in fact hit the ground running on January 5 (that's when I get the first draw-down of funds)
So maybe it is the week that was.
Me sleepy now...Bedtime?
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