Conceptualizing

Spring is almost here! I'm definitely glad to see this winter say "au revoir." It's been a rough one.

Things at Ningen Manga HQ have been busy as Cindy and I get ready for a jam packed 2009. Women's Studies inches ever close to it's fall DVD release. I'm hoping to have some announcements about that within the next few months. We've also got some exciting things brewing with NMP's new mascot, Helena, Hussy of Horror.

The big project we've been working on is preparation on our second feature film. While we're still not ready to make an official announcement, a lot has been happening behind the scenes. Personally, I'm very excited about this new script. It's a great step forward from Women's Studies, and I think it's going to really challenge NMP's production crew.

Over the past couple months, I've had the great pleasure of working once again with Rich Aidley, an artist based in the UK. Rich worked on the concept art for Women's Studies which was a big part of helping to get the film on it's feet from both a production and design point of view.

How's the process work?

We start out with script pages. I send Rich a copy of a sequence from the script I'd like to see conceptualized. After some back and forth, we settle on a part of the scene which we think will make the best art piece. (Click on the page to actually read the text.)



Then Rich draws up a series of thumbnail sketches for me to choose which "shot" I like best.



I choose shot #1.



Based on that thumbnail, Rich draws up a larger version of the shot in pencils, then inks and colors it. (For details on that process, check out this great video on his blog.) When all is said and done, we end up with the below picture. Click on it for a bigger version!



And what is this mysterious scene about? To find that out, you're simply going to have to come back for a future blog . . . though if you dig around Ningen Manga's various websites, you may find some clues.


(All content on this page is (c) 2009, Ningen Manga Productions.)

48 Hours of Madness

This past weekend, Ningen Manga Productions participated in the Washington DC 48 Hour Film Project, a competition where filmmaking teams are given a genre, prop, character, and line of dialogue and have to make a film containing those elements in a 48 hour period. Sounds like madness? It is.

Because of Women's Studies, I hadn't intended on NMP doing the 48HFP this year. However, Cindy convinced me that a) It would be a good chance to field test the Women's Studies gear and crew in a time sensitive situation and b) that it would be a good creative outlet that would be a hell of a lot of fun, and notch up our enthusiasm for Women's Studies. I'm happy to report she was correct on both counts.



I have to say, it really is a fantastic crew of creative individuals Cindy and I have assembled. This weekend wasn't easy by any means, but it was never problematic. The personalities mix well and any obstacle was met head on and dealt with quickly and smoothly. We all seem to communicate well and are on the way to building the kind of trust that's integral to a project the size of Women's Studies.



Anyway, the 48 Hour Film Project . . . So our genre was drama, which is good because it's really open ended, but also bad because, well, it's really open ended. The night before when brainstorming more difficult genres like sci-fi, I had come up with this idea about a guy who buys a robot and wants it to love him. I told Cindy about it and she really liked it. The next night after we drew drama, she was like, "We should do that robot thing."

So, I did. Friday night, I wrote a thirteen page script which was great, the problem being, your 48HFP film can be no longer than seven minutes long. Following the "one page of script = one minute of film" rule, we were six minutes over. So, we chopped. A group of mass murderers (Aaron Shirley, Kurt Gustafson, Jim Housell, and my own wife) proceeded to kill my darlings and got the script down to a leaner eight-and-a-half pages.

Deadline was 7:30pm, Sunday evening. The clock was ticking. We slept for about four hours. The next morning, we got up bright and early, caffeinated heavily, and drove to our first location, an office building.

A quick word about the the Ningen Manga gremlins. They like to make their presence felt. It's not a Ningen Manga Production unless there's some weird unexplainable technical snafu during the first set-up. This time, it was a weird audio issue with the DV Rack monitoring system we were using. We worked it out, but I'm getting gremlin repellent before the first Women's Studies shoot.



After we finished the office shoot, we headed back to our second location, the basement of my house, shoveled down some pizza, and began to shoot the core of the movie. Around this time, we hit a strange sort of serenity that was magical. For whatever reason, any pressure from the time crunch I felt disappeared and we started moving at a steady pace yet still had time to explore the ideas we wanted as well as get the shots and sound right. It was pretty cool.

Around 1:00am we wrapped inside and headed outside to shoot our big emotional climax. It was chilly, even with the lights, but we got the best shots we could considering how dog tired we were. At 4:00am, we headed over to my brother-in-law's house, woke him up. (He had no idea we were coming.), and shot our final scene.

If you think we then started editing, you're crazy. We had BEEN editing since we started shooting. Aaron Shirley had been working in tandem with us. We'd shoot some footage, dump it to him to edit, and then shoot some more. The rough cut of the film was finished about thirty minutes after we shot the last scene.



Aaron and I spent the next four hours tweaking and shaving, as well as finding the right rhythms and tone. It was a lot of ideas we were trying to shove into a short film, maybe too much, but it was too late for such considerations now. We were less than twelve hours away from the deadline.

Around 11:00am, we got the final picture lock FTPed to the sound and music guys. (Our Composer, Ryan Sayward Whittier, had been working on music since Friday.) They scrambled to match up the recorded sound, put in sound FX, sweeten the mix, and set it all down.

At 5:00pm, we left with the sound mix, raced back to the editor and slapped it together. There was a moment of panic when we had trouble burning out the whole thing to DVD. It worked out, finally, and Cindy drove us into DC at a speed of roughly a trillion miles per hour.

Thankfully we got our film in on time, with eighteen minutes to spare.

The film is called Posi+ive. It takes place in a not-so-distant future where a ban on sex and marriage is placed on HIV positive individuals. In response, a biotech industry selling life-like robot "Companions" has arisen. The story follows Ian, a positive, who purchases a Companion and tries to love her, hoping she will have the capability to love him back. We'll have it online to view after the official screenings.



It was a fun weekend. I'm still recovering from the effects of sleep deprivation, but I wouldn't think of taking it back for a second. Otherwise, I wouldn't have this picture of Women Studies's own "Judith," Tara Garwood, pinching the mystical nipple of Venus.



(A big thanks to Kirk Lambert for not only being part of our 48HFP team this year, but taking all the great pictures you see in this blog.)

A Day in the Life

"I read the news today, Oh Boy . . ."

(What Beatles album is that from? Oh my God/dess, I'm only 31 and going senile! Is it Sgt. Peppers? It is, right?)

Saturday marks the first big "all hands" meeting for the Women's Studies cast and crew, and Cindy and I are scrambling to get as much done as we can.

Things are going quite well. So well, in fact, that I wish Cindy and I could hire a third co-producer to take some of the workload off our shoulders. For the record, we don't have the funds, so unless you're willing to do a lot of unceremonious grunt work for free, don't even bother sending a resume. Besides, we have a pretty good system in place. Lots of work, but we're getting things done.

It's late and if I don't hurry this up, Tuesday will be over and it'll be the Wednesday blog which would make me sad since I've prided myself on not missing one so far. To that end, I'm simply listing off my to-do list for tomorrow which in a verite, "slice of life" manner, might be sort of interesting to the layman (or woman).

Then again, maybe I'm making excuses for not having much of a blog this week. The fact is simply that everything is pretty "nuts and bolts" right now, and not the glamorous filmmaking life that everybody keeps telling me independent filmmaking is. And really, by writing a blog about the things I have to do tomorrow, I'm killing two birds with one stone.

In the morning I have six phone calls to make: Four to potential locations, one to a potential script supervisor, the last to the insurance company who's covering the Women's Studies production. Depending on how these phone calls go could define the rest of my day, but let's assume that nothing from them needs any immediate action.

Afterwards, it's off to two locations we've already secured; one for the "initiation scene," the other a very cool field of flowers for a Melissa/Iris scene. Once there, I'll take pictures for our location photo log. On the way back, I'll check the company mailbox to see if the editing software and/or hardware pieces we ordered last week have arrived.

The afternoon will get me back to "the office" where I'll answer email and dig into various items of busywork including dealing with anything from the morning's phone calls. I'm also in the midst of prepping invites and schedule for a day player audition being held in two weeks. After I've had enough of that for awhile, I'll call Aaron the DP and we'll hopefully come to a consensus on a lighting kit we're wanting to order.

By that point, it'll be the evening and I'll take a bit of a break before coming back to "the office" before bed to maybe play around with storyboards or character notes for Saturday's meeting. Or maybe I'll just watch the new Harry Potter trailer over and over until I pass out from excitement.

If I actually get all that done, it'll be a good day. Hell, if I get half of it done, it'll be all right. Rereading it all just makes me want to go to bed, which I'm going to go do now.

"You Don't Want No Drama"

I was sent this video of Alanis Morrisette singing "My Humps" and I'm totally obsessed with her version of the song.

And it's crazily apt because that fickle mistress Women's Studies, she's got me spending all my money on her, and spending time on her. (She's make making me work. Making me work, work. Making me work.)

A few points of interest:

--Crew: We hired our editor, Jim McGivney, who will be in charge of piecing together this crazy vision of mine. In addition to cutting together Ningen Manga Productions' short films First Session and Under the Bed, Jim's a filmmaker in his own right. More on his sweet Irish arse can be found at his MySpace page. (He's the one who sent me the above video. Damn him.) In addition, we've been interviewing other crew members and trying to work it all out.

--Gear, gear, and more gear . . . We're talking through and purchasing the various HD systems that will be working on the Women's Studies set, which I hope to keep as paperless as possible. Tapeless too, since the camera we're shooting with uses P2 capture technology. Therefore ours will be a set full of laptops. One for capturing, one for tweaking scopes, exposure, time-code, and monitoring, and one for all our production documentation. That doesn't include Sound Master Sean Russell's audio rig which is a totally different, yet awesome, beast. (More on Sean and sound will be featured in a blog later this month.) In the middle of the month we're having a big, long studio test of the production gear to work out any bugs.

--Locations: We've got a few locked in, are in talks for others, and the search goes on for others still. The progress here has been amazing, especially after I put out a semi-public call for some of our harder to find locales. The lesson? Never try to do it all yourself.

--Casting: We've had some private auditions for the remaining roles of "Zack" and "Sharon." (Not "private" like that. Get your head out the gutter.) We're having more in the next couple weeks. May will see our last big audition to fill out supporting and day player roles.

Some small "second-unit" shooting will begin in June and we're currently on target for principal photography to start in July.

Well, as long as I stop babbling and get back to work.

Greenlight!

No real blog this week because so much is happening all at once right now.

Women's Studies has the official greenlight to begin principal photography in July of 2007. We at Ningen Manga Productions are extremely excited to be able to make this announcement. Productions details as well as casting and location news will be eeking out over the next few weeks and months, some here in the blog, some over at our webiste, www.WomensStudiesMovie.com. Stay tuned.

In the meantime, I'll leave you with a picture of me and "Jason" himself, Kane Hodder, that was taken this past weekend at the Horrorfind Covention in Baltimore, Maryland. Some of you may find the fact that the Friday the 13th movies are such a huge influence on me kind of scary and sad, but I wear my love of those films as a badge of honor. Still, meeting the guy who scared the hell out of me when I was a kid was a wild experience. I almost wet myself. In fact, I think I did a little.

Budgeting for Booze

Slowly and surely, the engine of Women's Studies is starting to burn faster and cleaner. Full-fledged pre-production is starting to rev up. If all stays on course, we should be making some major announcements soon.

There's been a shifting of focus here at Ningen Manga HQ from the business/legal aspects of production to more practical filmmaking concerns. I for one am happy that we're finding the ability to move into this direction. To me, the place where business and actual production start to marry is in the budget.

In independent film, the usual response when asked about budget is "What budget?" Trust me, I understand that sentiment. I've worked on and produced my fair share of "no-budget" films. However, with a feature, a budget starts to become a necessary evil. Really, there's nothing evil about it. It's just that most filmmakers hate dealing with budgets, present company included. Still, though it's usually a producer's job to keep track of the budget, the director is almost universally the one to get blamed if a film goes over budget. Therefore, it's a good idea for a director to know how to deal with them.

It could be said that film is recorded theatre. At it's most basic level, theatre is composed of four elements, actors, ideas, a place to perform, and audience. If you have these things, you can create theatre. Film can be similarly broken down, and when you're looking at budget it's good to consider four basic groups: personnel, equipment, locations, and script. Basically, to create a budget, you split these four groups down into smaller and smaller sub groups, all along the way figuring out a) what things are going to cost and b) how long you're going to need to use it.

I'll run through a quick, vague example.

Since I wrote the script, that one's pretty easy. Cost of script: $0. Wow, isn't making a budget easy?

Equipment. Let's see. I'll need a camera to shoot it on. And I'll need some stuff to record sound on. You know, microphones, maybe a mixer, definitely a boom pole. Editing equipment! I need that too.

Wait, let's just focus on one thing. How about that camera? We'll need lenses. And a tri-pod. Ooo, and I want a crane shot so we'll need a crane. Oh my god, I almost forgot media to record to! Does this camera use tapes or some weird new digital capture thingy? How much are those again? Hey, we're going to need cables and stuff to plug all this shit in. Wait, there's outdoor shots so we're going to need batteries, maybe even a generator. Oh shit, we'll need lights so we can see what we're shooting. And a gel kit for the lights to add color, also a dimmer board so we can control the lights. Gaffer tape! I always forget gaffer tape

Does anybody know how much all this stuff costs? What? I have to look it up myself? Shit. Well, I better get this list organized then.

CAMERA DEPT.
Camera
Lens kit
Tri-Pod
Crane
Media (tapes or digital capture)
*Incidentals

LIGHTING
Basic lighting kit
Specialty lights
Gel Kit
Dimmer Board
*Incidentals

ELECTRIC
Cables
Generator
Batteries
Gaffer tape
*Incidentals

(*Always have a little extra money ready for shit you've forgotten about. Trust me. You've forgotten something.)

Now, I took equipment and broke it down into three basic categories: Camera, Sound, and Editing. Then I broke Camera Dept. down into three more categories: Camera, Lighting, and Electric. From there, I listed things that would be needed that will probably cost money. Each of those items could be broken down even further if I wanted. For example, I could list off each cable type and how many I'll need. Does that seem anal retentive? Take a look at a budget for a big Hollywood film. (Actually don't, there's probably some pretty interesting bookkeeping going on with some of these films, though I'm sure very penny spent on every cable is accounted for somewhere.)

To figure out what things cost, you have to do the research. You're either going to rent or buy. If you're buying, you budget in only the purchase cost. If you're renting, you need to know the rental cost (either per day or per hour) and how long you're going to need it for?

How do figure out how long you'll need it for? Funny you should ask since that's just the cluster-fuckery of shite I'm currently buried in.

It's in that script. You know, the only thing that costs $0. First you have to break it down. (See this blog.)

Once the script is broken down, you and your DP decide exactly what the specific needs for an individual scene may be. For example, you may decide that you need to shoot three days in one location, but only need the crane for one. However, you need the tri-pod for two and the dolly for two, but on two different days. Wait though, that's scheduling, not budgeting . . . though it is sort of is budgeting too. Isn't it?

Booze. We budgeted for booze, right?

Business Time

So, I almost forgot abut the blog this week. I know. I know. You feel betrayed and neglected. How could I disregard your feelings in such a manner? I guess I'm simply an insufferable prick.

I want to take the time and squelch two rumors. The first is that I never had sex with a transvestite named Simone in Bali. We just had a few drinks, he/she and I shared a laugh, and maybe made out a little bit. Money might have been exchanged too, but I was too drunk to remember.

The second is the notion that Women's Studies is on it's death bed. In fact, it's still very much alive and well, and the project is slowly but surely moving forward. Between the lack of hard news and my announcement that I was writing the Deadlands 2 screenplay a couple weeks ago, more than one person asked me if the project was a no-go. "Posh," I say. "Pish-posh-pa-doo!"

I know I say, "Things are moving behind the scenes," quite a bit. Those privy to Hollywood-speak may choose to interpret this to be producer bullshit along the lines of "I've a variety of projects in development" or "I'll call you and we'll get things rolling." However, it should be taken into account that I'm a terrible liar. Really, I'm honest to a fault. It's actually cost me friendships. While it's been said that honesty is the best policy, I think Forrest Gump's mama was probably right when she told him that a little white lie wouldn't hurt anybody.

"Things are moving behind the scenes" is me-speak for, "There are various negotiations going on that would be unethical of me to talk about in public," which means they involve money and/or people's reputations or involvement in the project.

Now, I'm not trying to build up any big, sexy secrets here. I'm just saying that there are aspects of the production that I don't talk about publicly because it would be unprofessional to do so. At the stage of development Women's Studies is in right now, we're simply doing a lot of "wheeling and dealing."

For example, while I do a lot of "Filmmaking 101" type articles in this blog, one thing I don't talk about is how I've gone about raising money for the project. I have this policy to protect both our investor's privacy and the integrity of Lady Killers, LLC, the business entity financing the project. (I also have the policy for a shitload of legal reasons.)

Again, there's no dark secret here. Our method of raising funds is no ancient, black, Masonic ritual in the least. It's just our business and no one else's. I would tell anyone interested in learning how feature films can be financed to pick up John W. Cones aptly titled book, 43 Ways to Finance Your Feature Film.

Also, it would be imprudent and unprofessional of me to announce any cast members or locations that we're in talks with before a deal is made. First, the deal could fall through and then I look like an idiot. Secondly, acting like a pretentious dick and telling everyone that "OMG, Britney Spears is going to be in our movie," before Britney has actually agreed to be in our movie could cause Britney to question the professionalism of the people she's considering working with.

(For the record, we HAVE NOT and WILL NOT be talking to Britney Spears about appearing in Women's Studies. It was an outrageous example used in a desperate attempt to be funny.)

If all of this sounds unsexy, welcome to show business. Yeah, I know. I thought it was going to be all cocaine and hookers too, but that's just Hollywood-Speak.

Are You In Good Hands?

Note: Great Society has posted the final part of my "Horror 101" essay. Can you pass the quiz at the end?

# # #

Cindy Marie Martin injured her shoulder and I have this weird throat thing going on so I guess now is a good time to talk about insurance.

I want to start out by saying that no one should trust ONLY my insurance advice. I worked with a qualified lawyer to help decide the types of insurance Women's Studies would require and why. Any would-be filmmaker would be advised to do the same.

The concept of insurance tends to freak out some filmmakers, but it's pretty easy to deal with. Film insurance works just like car, life, or home insurance. If your car is insured and you get in a car wreck, the insurance company will pay for most of the damage to your or another car. If you're not insured, the money comes out of your pocket. So, if there's some cataclysmic screw-up on your film that requires damages to be paid, you're personally responsible for them unless your film is insured.

On the low-budget level, there are basically two types of insurance to be worried about:

Production Liability Insurance - This covers things like injuries on set or damage to a location or property being used for a film. A lot of locations won't even consider letting you shoot there if you don't have production insurance. Same with that guy whose vintage 1956 Chevy Bel Air you want to use in your movie. He'll sleep a little bit better knowing that if something happens to it, it'll be paid for. (You will too.) Rates for liability insurance vary depending on the script and budget. If you have lots of stunts in your film, you'll probably have to pay a higher premium.

Errors & Omissions Insurance - E&O insurance is necessary for a lot of reasons, but the main one is to cover legal fees and damages if any lawsuit is brought forth against the production concerning libel, slander, and/or clearance issues. For example, say you accidentally get a Marlboro logo in your film, and the film gets successful. Well, Marlboro will come at you with a lawsuit saying that you didn't pay them a licensing fee to use their logo. E&O Insurance would keep those damages from coming directly out of your pocket.

Or maybe one of your characters has a line of dialogue that says, "You drive as badly as Paris Hilton sucks dick." Well, if your film is successful, Paris and her little dog might not be too happy about what you said. And trust me, she's got the money to sue you for it. Having a lawyer go over your script and your final print to catch these types of things can help you avoid these lawsuits, but you'll still require E&O Insurance. Most distributors won't even begin to negotiate a deal without it.

Filmmakers freak out and say, "I can't afford insurance!" Trust me, you can afford it a lot more than you can afford to go up against Paris Hilton's legal team. Conventional wisdom states that whatever your budget is, 3% of it will go towards liability and E&O insurance, and the quotes I've gotten have reflected that.

Unless you live in New York or L.A., finding a company who handles production insurance can be tricky. However, just call up your local home or life insurance broker. They should be able to refer you to someone who does. Keep in mind that insurance requirements can also vary from state to state.

Get insurance. Otherwise your chances of getting of your film out there are about as good as the way Paris Hilton sucks dick.

WANTED: Lazy Unambitious Daydreamer

A sort of off-topic blog this week as I'm finishing the script breakdown, working on securing locations, and getting stuff for and from my Art Director and Director of Photography. Rest assured that plenty of work is being done on Women's Studies. It's just kind of boring to talk about.

# # #

I belong to roughly twelve million filmmaking list-servs, online groups, and message boards. I find them useful for trading tips, networking, and most importantly, learning from the experience of others. Recently, I've run across a lot of postings from independent filmmakers in which the lack of common sense blows my mind. These kind of clueless posts have always been there, but they seem to be in an abundance of late. Below is a recreation that incorporates ideas from many of them.

"Hey, I just finished my first full-length script and it's awesome! I just know it'll be a huge hit and is totally worth investing in. I think I know the answer to this already, but are there any organizations or groups that finance independent filmmakers, or do you have to go through private investors? Anyway, if there's anybody out there who wants to invest in a low budget film, hit me up with an email.

"Also, though I know a lot about how to cast, shoot, and edit a film, I know nothing about PRODUCING a film! Really, I know how to do all the fun shit in the filmmaking process. Yet when it comes to the tedious, frustrating, nuts and bolts production work necessary to actually get a film production off the ground, I just don't know how to do it. So, I'm looking for an experienced producer to help get the project up and running."

Now, I don't want to sound like an elitist here (though I'm probably going to), but unless the author of this kind of post is fifteen years old, they need to be taken out to a vacant lot and beaten severely. Actually, even if they're fifteen, they still need a good swift kick in the ass. Maybe my strong reaction is because I'm smack-dab in the middle of the real production work that goes into making a film happen. However, the lack of patience, knowledge of the industry, and work ethic being exuded by these would-be filmmakers makes me want to reach through my computer screen and throttle them.

I certainly don't think I'm any sort of filmmaking genius or guru. Far from it. I've only produced two short films and worked on a half dozen others in various capacities. At the same time, I've learned to cultivate the three traits which I believe are necessary in order to produce and complete a feature film. Notice I don't say "secure distribution" or "garner accolades and awards." That's because work as hard as I do, shit like that is out of my hands.

1) Patience . . . In my experience, nothing great happens overnight. I've been writing scripts for twelve years. (Twelve years!?! Damn, I'm getting old!) While I'm no William Goldman, I'm confident enough in my knowledge of story values and character building and my ability to translate that to the page to know whether on not what I've written is at least decent. I'm not saying Johnny Filmmaker's first script is horrifyingly bad. However, he should go through a solid revision and drafting process as well as take some time to step away from it to know for sure.

Now, should he do like I did and wait ten years to try and make his first film? Of course not. While I spent much of that time writing scripts, working on theatre and film projects, and learning more about the craft of making movies, there was also just a lot of getting wasted and saying, "Man, someday, I'm going to make a fucking movie and it'll RAWK!" There's a fine line between taking the time to do it right and simply fucking off. The key is knowing (or finding) where that line is.

Also, take the time to learn the ins and outs of filmmaking and the industry built up around it. Which leads me to:

2) Knowledge of the Film Industry . . . There actually are organizations and institutions, including the federal government that give grants and funding for filmmakers to make certain types of films. However, there are a lot of rules to receiving these grants and the type of film Johnny Filmmaker is making may or may not fit their criteria. What Johnny needs to do is take the time to research these grants and see if his super-awesome action script is eligible for any of them. If not, then he needs to turn his attention to the commercial film market and research the various ways these films can be funded, produced, and made. He should research the distribution system and decide what form of distribution suits the type of film he's making, it's budget, and it's target audience. Then he should research companies that fund, produce, and distribute these types of film. OR he can decide to do it all independently, and should then research the various methods in which this can be done. Did I mention there are about a thousand other things Johnny should try to learn about?

Learn about the movie business. I know I said I've learned patience, but when it comes to wannabe filmmakers who haven't taken the time to learn about the industry, I simply have none. There's absolutely no excuse, especially if the sentence "All I want to do is make movies" ever comes out of their mouth. There's literally hundreds of books written on the subject. The internet is strewn with articles and websites devoted to independent filmmaking. Work on other filmmaker's films. Hands on experience is ten times better than any book. Also, go to film screenings and network with other filmmakers. Ask questions. Trade war stories. NEVER think you know it all. You don't. There's always more to learn. Be the eternal student, never content with your current level of knowledge.

3) Work Ethic . . . So, let me get this straight, Johnny Filmmaker. You've learned how to shoot, direct, and edit a film, and in all that experience, you didn't learn anything about producing a film? I find that a little hard to believe you self-centered, unmotivated, lazy shitheel. It seems that you want all the fun and glory and none of the hard labor. Now, while I think I'm a semi-talented guy who has had a few lucky breaks, I've also simply worked my ass off to accomplish what I have so far.

I know that studio films employ a variety of producers who do all the work in the trenches necessary to getting a film made; negotiating contracts, fielding resumes, hiring crew and cast, location hunting, budgeting, script analysis, storyboarding. However, they have the money to pay those people to do it. In the independent world, all that production work falls on the filmmaker.

I myself can't understand how anybody would want to do all the production work themselves and then let somebody else direct the film. To me, that's like spending money on an expensive date, taking the time to dance and romance her, then taking her back to your place and letting your roommate fuck her. If your roommate isn't willing to do the hard work, he doesn't deserve to get laid.

Also, when you do the production work yourself, you learn. I've had people approach me and ask, "Hey, can I use your business plan/budget/script breakdown as a template?" Yet, if I let you just copy what I've done are you really going to understand what it means? Things in my plans may not work for your film. Research itself is time-consuming and can be hard work, but ultimately it'll make you a better filmmaker. You may not think it when you're in the thick of a morass of jargon you don't understand, but trust me. The work is worth it.

I've been working on Women's Studies for fifteen months now. If I wanted to, I could ditch the project and simply make half-a-dozen short films without breaking a sweat, and when the going is tough (as it is now) it's tempting. But there's a fourth trait that I believe is key to making a successful filmmaker, and that's perseverance. Besides, if it's worth doing, it shouldn't be easy.

You hearing me, Johnny?

"And Now It's Time For a Breakdown."

Allow me to suck any hint of glamour out of independent filmmaking.

My main task these days is a preliminary script breakdown of Women's Studies. Less a director's task than a producer's, breaking down the script entails taking each individual scene (All 143 of them) and dividing each into categories based on elements within the scene. This breakdown will be used to decide everything from shot composition to design, continuity to scheduling. While vitally important to have done, breaking a script down has it's tedious aspects.

How does it work?

Let's look at an individual scene from the script:

32. EXT. IRIS'S PARENT'S HOUSE - DAY

Iris, carrying an unwieldy bag, meets Mary halfway up the walk. They hug, happy to see each other.

IRIS
Hi, Mary.

MARY
It's good to see you. You look great.

IRIS
Thanks. You too.

MARY
I was going to say "hi" to your folks if that's okay.

IRIS
They're real busy. Let's just go.

Iris hurries past Mary to the car where Beth and Zack wait.

MARY
It'll only take a minute.

IRIS
Some other time maybe. We should leave.
(beat)
Please?

Mary looks at the house, shrugs, then walks with Iris back to the car.

CUT TO:

Looks simple, right? But once we start to get into individual elements, we see there's a lot going into this simple scene.

First, I'll start with location: EXT. IRIS'S PARENT'S HOUSE - DAY. "EXT." denotes an exterior, or outdoor, scene. "Iris's Parent's House" is the setting of the scene (Different from a location, which I'll get into in a minute.). DAY is the time of day of the scene. Most scripts only differentiate between "day" and "night." I've always be a "morning," "afternoon," "evening," and "night" guy, though for the breakdown, I only use "morning" and "evening" (or dawn and dusk) if it's very specific to the scene.

One of the reasons I picked this scene to use as an example is that it's a location we already have. "The Lake House" is my location tag for the "Iris's Parent's House" setting. There are other scenes that take place in this setting.

Another example of why the setting/location distinction is important, the campus exteriors and interiors are likely to be shot at two completely different locations. So, while there are two settings both labeled "Dormitory," they'll be shot at two separate locations. As you can see, later when I'm creating a schedule, this distinction becomes important.

Secondly, there are two cast members with dialogue in this scene, Mary and Iris. However, in a previous scene, we've established that Beth and Zack are waiting in the car, so they'll need to be on location as well. Technically, they're extras in the scene. However, since they're main characters, I categorize them as cast members rather than categorize them as extras. Again, when I start scheduling, this will become important as Zack and Beth are characters who will need to be on location multiple days.

Also, though it hasn't been decided at this point, costumes, hair, and make-up necessities will eventually be noted on the breakdown sheet as well. Having the cast members labeled let's us know that we'll have wardrobe and make-up for four cast members.

Next we note props. In the above scene, there are only two: Iris's unwieldy bag and Mary's car. Ah, but Mary's car isn't to be categorized as a prop. Rather, it's categorized as a vehicle. This is important since a car isn't something you can just shove in somebody's trunk. (Actually, for Women's Studies, the vehicle designation is more important in scenes which take place in a car. It lets us know that we'll need a trailer and a car rig for the camera.)

Thankfully, there are no special FX, stunts, weapons, or special equipment for this scene. Once Cinematographer Aaron Shirley and I decide how the shot is going to be composed, the camera equipment and crew needed for the scene will also be noted on the breakdown sheet. Then we'll take Aaron's storyboards and this breakdown sheet and create a daily schedule and call sheet for this scene. Since it's a one-day shoot, there will only be one call sheet and one breakdown sheet. If a scene spreads over two days (as many will), there would then be two separate breakdown sheets and eventually two separate call sheets.

On set, we'll have a line producer and/or Assistant Director (AD) who will be using these sheets to tell me and everybody else what we're working on that day and what to prepare for the next day. However, by preparing the breakdown myself, I'll hopefully have a good idea what's happening even before the AD tells me which will keep things moving. Remember this is independent film, and every second counts.

Right Place, Right Time

A couple of quick items before I get into the meat of this week's blog:

First, back in the September 19, 2006 blog entry (Death and the Horror Film) I posted an excerpt from "Horror Movies 101," a four part essay originally published on the webzine, Great Society. During a big technical mix up they had last year, those articles along with others were accidentally removed. However, the Great Society management has been kind of enough to offer to republish the "Horror Movies 101" piece, and will do so over the next couple of weeks. The first part is already live. Click here to read "Horror Movies 101: Intro and Evolution (Part 1 of 4).

Secondly, I realized this week that I had about a dozen un-moderated comments from the past two months of blogs that I hadn't dealt with. So, if you were wondering why I was being such a jerk and not posting your comments, the truth is that I'm not that snooty. Flaky maybe, but not snooty. Anyway, all those backlogged comments are now live. I'll be sure to keep up with the comments now, so by all means, keep them coming.

Thank you for your attention. We now continue with your regularly scheduled blog.

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"Shh. Be Vewy Quiet, I'm Hunting Wocations."

To me, location is where the real process of filmmaking begins. Once you know where you're going to shoot, things like scheduling, shot composition, and technical requirements can start to be looked at. For my first film when I couldn't find the space I wanted, I literally had a set built in the basement of my house. How's that for obsessive?

From a location point of view, Women's Studies is challenging in that the script requires multiple locations, 56 to be precise. That's a lot for any film, but with a low budget one like ours, multiple locations can be a real headache. We don't have the funds to pay large location fees. Plus, searching for and securing locations takes time. It's not dissimilar from fundraising in that it requires lots of phone calls, follow-ups, and patience. Also like fundraising, despite all your efforts and hard work, you have no guarantee that anything is going to come through.

The good news is that over half of the Women's Studies locations are within the boundaries of the fictional "Ross-Prentiss Women's Academy." Therefore, my attitude has been to try and find a location that can serve the multiple functions of a campus. While finding these locations has been easy, getting permission to film on them has been something else entirely.

When discussing this problem, a few of my friends have been like, "Dude, just sneak in somewhere and do it. Who's going to know? Guerilla filmmaking! Yeah! Down with the oppressive corporate octopus!"

Yes, yes. Damn the octopus. Here's the problem with guerilla shooting:

First, I don't know where you live, but in my country, trespassing is illegal. As much I want to get this movie made, I'd rather not to go jail to do it. (Though think of the publicity.) And as grand poobah of this crazy, little tribe, it'd be my neck in the hangman's noose. Even assuming I'm a total ninja and we don't get caught shooting the film, not having the permission could kill any distribution deal Women's Studies may or may not get offered.

One of our selling points to distributors is that fact that Ningen Manga Productions is taking care of all clearance issues on Women's Studies ahead of time. The short and skinny of this is that a distributor won't have to shell out the cash and manpower to make sure everything in the film is allowed to be there. They don't want anybody coming out of the woodwork saying, "Hey, they shot on my farm/used my music/featured my logo on that guy's T-Shirt without my permission! Give me some money!" Clearance issues can be deal-breakers especially with the more established distributors. Smaller guys often don't care, but again, if the film starts to get some success, people may come around looking for lawsuit dollars.

Is it an unlikely scenario? Sure, but what harm is there in insuring that it's an impossible scenario? I'd like to be able to tell a potential distributor, "Everything is in order. All you have to do is review the documents."

The last problem with just showing up and shooting is that a location has to be more than just where the action takes place. I'm a big believer that environment is a character in the show. I want to be able to tap into every resource a location has to offer, so I can make the best film possible. This isn't done by sneaking around, but by working with the people who live in and use the location. They can point out nuances that I may miss.

The ideal "Ross-Prentiss" location will be one that's isolated, foreboding, yet beautiful. It'll have a sense of being old and mystical, almost as if the place itself is alive somehow. I know it's out there, and it can't wait for us to get there. Finding it is just a matter of time.

Dealing With the Devil

After ten years of being a "company" in name only, Ningen Manga Productions, LLC has finally been incorporated. That's right, after years of talking about how we're all being swindled by "the man," I've become "the man." This means I can get rich walking over the dwindling middle class. Plus, I'll get away with it because the government thinks it's good for the economy. So let's bomb those fuckers and steal their oil! Yeah! More tax breaks for me!

"I have seen the enemy, and the enemy is me . . ."

Dear Goddess, what have I become?!?

In all seriousness, incorporating is a milestone for me and Ningen Manga Productions, not to mention more than practical on an independent project as ambitious as Women's Studies. The LLC not only protects Cindy and I financially, it legitimizes us and our vision in the eyes of the professional community. A small thing you may say, but when you're trying to get a good deal on a camera dolly, a little legitimacy can go a long way. And honestly, the only things that have really changed are the title and the fact that we're filing our taxes a bit differently. In scope and practice, Ningen Manga has been a business for well over a year now.

A long time ago (though maybe not as long as I'd like to admit), I was one of those pretentious assholes who railed against "the death of cinematic art" and the horror of "selling out." Then I realized that film by it's very nature is an "art form" married to business and has been since it's inception. The expense involved in supporting the cinematic creation process requires that money be a factor. There's no way around it. Does that mean latching on to a trend and trying only to create something that "sells?' Of course not. However, it does perhaps require the creators to find themes and elements in their vision that are universal enough to appeal to a wide audience.

The line between artistic integrity and commercial viability is a scary tightrope to walk, and I still get nervous looking down because there's no net, only a long drop into what suspiciously looks like a lake of fire. Still, I understand that show business is just that: show "business." So, I deal with the devil, compromise myself as little as possible, and try to do it in a way where I can still look at myself in the mirror because I believe in what I'm doing.

By the way, it's not about the money, not deep down in the secret place I don't show anyone else. The money is really only a means to an end. Do I want this effort to be financially worthwhile? Sure, but in the final outlook it's not what really matters. Anyone who's just in it for the money is doomed to failure from the starting line. However, that line of thinking doesn't get you very far with fundraising. So on some level, it has to be about the money. I can't just say that I think Women's Studies is marketable. I have to believe it, and I do.

And you know what? There's nothing wrong with trying to create something that lots of people will like. I mean, isn't that the point? To tap into those emotions and ideas in the human experience that are universal?

The scary flip side is that maybe greed is a universal emotion too. My biggest fear is that the money need may somehow overtake the creative need. If you prick your finger with the devil's quill pen, does the wound ever heal?

Wow. That kind of sounds like a pretentious asshole talking, doesn't it?

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Just to make it official, the production blog will be updated every Tuesday. The next couple weeks should see some exciting announcements about cast and crew for Women's Studies. Also, when we launch our new website sometime in September, there will be a couple of very cool surprises, so keep checking back.