MAKING A FILM

"Anyone who can make a film, I already love."

John Cassavetes said that, and I get it.

THE HILLS ARE ALIVE

I'm working on some sound editing. I've divided the film into 51 parts (no particular reason, that's just the number of parts) and have started building the sound. Who is going to spend 12 hours a day for 51 days working on my sound for free? Probably only me.

THE FACTS (wouldn't have it any other way...well, maybe one other way where I'm given millions of dollars to spend wisely).

The amount of sheer will that goes into writing 250 drafts of a feature film script, throwing out your favourite parts not once, but hundreds of times...then auditioning 200 people, casting...planning...begging for locations...shotlisting and storyboarding (75 % of which will be thrown out on the day), and then guiding a feature film crew through shooting a film, over a month, sometimes from 8 at night until 8 in the morning...paying for everything yourself on credit cards...sitting in front of a computer for months editing and mixing...I can see what Cassavetes was saying.

If you've believed...if you've created a feature film from out of the ether. If you've scrambled and clawed and screamed and begged and did it because you had a story to tell and not because you think movie sets are cool. I love you too.

It's become much more difficult for me to watch an independently produced/written/directed film and to be critical. When you understand exactly how much work goes into it.

Alternately, it's become increasingly easy to watch films that have larger budgets (anything over 100,000) and be more critical. When you understand exactly how inflated these budgets are and how the majority of them are the result of over "noted/covered" scripts and cautious formulaic committees...these people pay to keep the evil machine running.

THE SAD TRUTH

Give me a million dollar budget and I'll make it look like ten million (that's modest...probably forty million, but let's not get arrogant). I'll take...five and we'll shoot for making it look like twenty-five, how's that?

Back to the headphones.

T