Contrast and Compare

New information means having to select one thing over another; it is important to contrast and compare variables with your team. Solid decisions are made by first asking questions.

Locations are an important building block for the entire film. How does the look of the location suit the film and is there enough physical space for cast and crew to eat, rest, prepare, park? Discuss with your core members whether a particular location is luxury or necessity and how it serves the story—could the same emotional and plot goals be served in a different location?

Compare one location to another in terms of:

• Parking (space, availability, cost, access for large vehicles, security)
• Proximity to public transportation
• Sufficient space for equipment
• Power, electricity available, room for generator
• Hard/easy to find and get to
• Potential holding area
• Noise (planes, dogs, horns, train tracks nearby, sirens, traffic, dance clubs, zoos, school marching band practice, humming light fixtures, AC, fountains, church bells and clocks that sound the hour) and neighbors?
• Bathrooms (close, far, clean, quantity, size, public—Starbucks, McDonalds,
• Library, Hotels or will you bring facilities like honeywagons)
• Safety of neighborhood (check local police records)
• Food, access to food, place to eat
• Cell phone reception
• Physical space for cast and crew to eat, rest, prepare
• Proximity to printer/copier/production office, FedEx Kinkos to run off call sheets, schedules, script change, or other required paperwork
• Can the location serve for 2 or more sets? (Outdoor and indoor can be in different physical locations)
• What (bizarre, disruptive) calendar or community events are going on during the shoot that may derail the schedule? (Street fairs, parades, political marches, public demonstrations)

When planning to shoot someplace unfamiliar, do some sleuthing with a local connection through the film commission. Ask about rush hour, times and direction, upcoming events, races and parades (closing bridges and rerouting traffic), holiday celebrations (security and noise levels, tourists). Some of which you may be able to use in your shoot itself, with some quick thinking and a clever team. But check them out. In NYC, events at the U.N. make shooting on the lower east side nearly impossible and LA traffic at the 101/405 interchange makes people late. Even a local arts festival can wreak havoc on your schedule. Look into the future by using resources like current and last year’s newspaper event listings, Chase’s Calendar of Events, Meetup.com. In international territories you need to be aware of local customs, like a periodic call to prayer over loudspeakers, transit strikes, or regional celebrations.

Night versus Day: Group exterior night scenes together, either at the end of the week, over a weekend, or for an entire week of night shooting. Avoid scheduling a night shoot followed immediately by a day shoot.

Base camp: In addition to a headquarters and information center online (whether a web-site or through your scheduling/budgeting software), hold regular production meetings. Create communication and accountability loops so you can see the progress that others are making. As the chief administrator of the film, one of the most important roles is to process and move information where it needs to go. Get everyone in your team used to the idea that you want to see what’s going on, you trust them to do their jobs and you want to see how they’re doing it so you can improve yours.

Expect to be present at everything and when that’s impossible, see the evidence from:

• Auditions, rehearsals, camera tests
• Shot lists
• Camera, floor diagrams
• Notes from Tech scouts of locations
• Excel lists of equipment, props, prices, rates, due dates, terms
• Seeing into the future sometimes means asking the right questions. What revisions do you plan to make to the script? (This may save you scheduling and budgeting effort if the producer and director plan to cut out a significant, or expensive, section of the story.)
• Passing someone in the hall is an opportunity to find out information. an Voilà! Instant production meeting. Constantly.

Lock It Up

Locked Script. Once a script is locked, no more (major) changes will be made and you can refine the schedule, select a start date for production, post and completion, then build a budget with concrete numbers.

Locked Budget. Without a firm financial commitment, it’s possible that you can lose the crew and vendors interested in working on your project, so keep good records of alternate choices. Stay abreast of the status of the project from the producer, director, and financiers and what conditions will it take for them to decide on a final figure, start date, final script.

Shooting Schedule. Once script, schedule and budget are locked, you have defined targets to aim at. Work with the AD to prepare paperwork, outlining each day’s activities during the shoot. A shooting schedule shows all the details of each shooting day, cast names and ID #’s, props, page count. In duration a shooting schedule can be as long, or longer, than the script itself, due to the amount of detail. The shooting schedule is distributed only to key folks, department heads, at the production meeting to analyze the game plan for each scene. It’s more detail than most crew and cast require and a whole lot of paper, so it isn’t distributed carelessly.

To view in Movie Magic Scheduling:

Fig. 8.1 File/Print

Fig. 8.2 Reports/Shooting Schedule

Fig. 8.3 Sample Shooting Schedule

As your team grows, relay and establish communication systems as appropriate. Sharing a production calendar on the Internet is one way to keep everyone up to date. Update it with important reminders, meetings and task milestones. Google (and others) offer shared calendars and documents, providing an online space for progress and shared production knowledge. Other Internet production tools for collaboration include Scenechronize, Gorilla, Celtx, Scenios, Basecamp, Yamdu, Studio binder, Dropbox, Google Drive, social media platforms or the film’s website.

Working backward is one of the best ways to arrive at a practical schedule. When you know the date for the film to be completed, count backward. Discuss with your team the ratio of preproduction to production and production to post. A rudimentary schedule like this can help keep everyone on point.

Travel: Be practical. People need time to arrive, set up, breakdown and wrap, deal with jetlag. If you travel for 9 hours, it may be unrealistic to shoot 10 hours that same night. Plan ahead when shipping any production equipment. Unfamiliar equipment needs more time to operate, set up.

Table 8.2

Do it right the first time: As much as possible, plan to make the day = shoot the scheduled amount of pages. Plan to shoot out, or wrap out a location, portion of a location (interior, side of the room, exterior, etc.) and move on. Plan your schedule and budget so that you don’t double any efforts. No double moves, double work (extra props and wardrobe ok). However careful the plan and its execution, reshoots may be needed—make sure crew and actor contracts (and the schedule and budget) allow for that possibility.

Questions About Eighths

Keep to the rule of only 8 eighths per one page as much as possible. When in doubt, simple scenes are fewer eighths; complex scenes are more. If something really funky comes up that is an exception, you can have more than 8 eighths. Think about it for a moment, then decide what makes sense to you. Logic and common sense, then make a decision and move on.

Insert shots, montage or cutaway shots may be extremely short—even if it takes up a quarter-inch of a page, it is officially an eighth. In one script page comprised of 13 short scenes, each scene is considered an eighth. Once in a while a page will have more than 8 eighths, so go with it and make sure to change it in your scheduling program.

For example, the following page, as divided, has 11 eighths. It could be divided differently; scene 5, a series of yoga poses performed by one person, is a fairly simple scene and the argument could be made that it only needs to be 1/8 long—with each pose as a scene part—decide then check in with your Director and AD.

Fig. 8.4 Irregular Eighths Sometimes Happen

A scene that spans one page or longer is converted to 1 page (+ additional eighths). For example, a scene lasting 13 eighths (one full page plus 5/8 of the next page = 1 and 5/8).

Scenes less than 1 inch long = 1/8. If you are using a ruler, do not include the slug line when measuring; start with the action description or dialogue right below.

Script Inconsistency and New Versions

Script inconsistencies usually arise when the script didn’t have scene numbers locked, or page numbers locked. Your original marked script and breakdown sheets (whether electronic or paper) serve as a touchstone to go back to when uncertainty arises, so keep them in a safe place with an obvious name (ScriptTitle_OriginalBreakdown_14Jan2017.pdf or whatever you prefer). Inconsistencies can build into problems. If you suspect something is out of whack, ferret it out and fix it. Inconsistencies in set names and character names also create problems; have another production office person take a look.

Create a production bible—whether it lives on a computer, or in a 3-ring binder with paperwork divided into tabs for the script, breakdown sheet, contracts, call sheets, production reports, day out of days reports, maps, contact information for all cast and crew, account numbers, passwords, user names, phone numbers for primary team members, emergency contact information, press kit information, synopsis, bio, cell phone and walkie-talkie lists, logs for travel, releases, blank company letter head, shipping labels, mailing information.

Honing Your Scheduling Skills

When just starting out, you may want to practice with a few short scripts. Offer to create schedules for free, to friends, on a film-community website, or in the low-no section of craigslist, mandy.com (and similar sites). The requests will come in by the dozens. Break scripts down, then schedule them with a set amount of time (reasonable) to do it—without interruptions, you should soon be able to break down a feature-length script of 100 pages in a few hours. When you’re learning, you can do it for free and many filmmakers will appreciate it. Start with short screenplays then build up to longer ones.

Many free scripts from completed feature films are available online (www.script-o-rama.com and www.simplyscripts.com), break them down and schedule them. Watch the film and research the budget and grosses online on boxofficemojo.com and the-numbers.com. Test the assumptions you made about the screenplay (bearing in mind it probably changed during the process) against the resulting film. It is a tremendous amount of work and a great learning experience. You may want to start with sex, lies and videotape, as opposed to Star Wars. This is a less fulfilling process than working on a real production but builds scheduling muscles. Practicing builds experience and the more often you do it the faster and more automated the process will become.

To really gauge the effectiveness of the schedule you’ve created, ask Assistant Directors—especially, but also UPMs, Line Producers, Directors and Producers, to look at your work. These personnel see many schedules and can give you practical tips and offer helpful suggestions. The next best way to test any schedule is to then work on making the film you scheduled with your team!

Location, Location, Location

Locations are important and can be expensive and difficult to find. On low budget films, the PM may be charged with finding locations.

A location scout searches out the perfect locations for a film, a “reel” estate broker. Anyone can be a location scout, but someone who does it for a living will be familiar with types of location, saving you weeks, or months, of searching for the right place. If you can’t afford a location scout, you can hire someone who’s eager to drive around, take pictures of potential locations, make calls and search the Internet—or you can do it yourself. Contact the film commission where you plan to shoot and ask if they have a location database.

A location manager manages the locations after you’ve found them. The location scout and manager may be the same person, acquires appropriate releases and permits and makes sure proper insurance is in place. Location-based questions:

• Is parking available for cast, crew and equipment vehicles?
• Is it near bathroom facilities (a public park or a local restaurant)?
• Is it in a quiet location (away from traffic, train tracks, factories and fountains)?
• Is there available electricity to plug in your lights? (If not, you’ll need a generator)
• If you’re shooting out of town, are there overnight accommodations nearby?
• Is there air-traffic noise if the site is en route to the airport?
• Do you have space to set up a picnic area to feed your cast and crew?
• Can you get permission to shoot there? Do you need a permit? Can you afford to film there?
• Does using the site require the hiring of a police officer to stop foot or street traffic?
• Is there a photocopy store nearby?
• Cell phones reception?

Finding the perfect location that works as a few different sets is ideal. You can film the exterior of a house and then use a different house’s interior. Once you have located primary locations for the most important scenes (the most frequently used) in the screenplay, try to find secondary locations as close by as possible.

Digital Format

A quick note about the digital format—what is great about shooting digital is that it is relatively inexpensive to shoot. The tendency is to shoot and shoot and shoot, which sounds great—the editor will have a lot of footage to choose from—but the flip side is that the assistant editor and editor (and director) now have a lot of footage to choose from, look at, take notes, choose this take over that one, space for it on the hard drive of the editing computer, rendering time to upload it to the computer (unless you’re shooting P2 cards).

Shooting on P2 cards is like videotaping direct-to-computer data files (eliminating the need to transfer from tape format into computer). In digitally editing, it is instant transfer of the footage into your editing system, DaVinci, Premiere, Final Cut or Avid, rather than having to go through the real time capture process—literally playing the footage into your computer editing system.

Shooting solid-state memory cards (or sticks) has advantages over tape, it lacks the moving parts of a tape cassettes (less breakable), or the fragility of tape. However, as with every format, there is a downside. The number and size of cards is considerably more expensive than tape and once you capture that footage in the computer, then record over that footage, the original recording is gone—which can be a scary thought.

Every format has its pros and cons, together with the producer, director, editor and DP, explore what those are and the goals for the project. What makes life easy in production may make life difficult in post production (or the opposite) and it is vital that you plan for both.

Getting around: Rent SUV, Van or Cars: For smaller shoots, you may not need a production truck. It is easier to drive and park smaller vehicles and it requires less gas. Make sure your driver knows the local road rules—in NYC you can’t turn right on red (it’s an expensive ticket) or drive trucks on the West Side Highway (another expensive ticket). Local film people can be great to have working with you.

Travel with the bare minimum of people: only key crew need travel for a doc, hiring local helpers means you don’t have to pay for their lodging and travel and that person will know the area. If you need only B-Roll—hire a local to do it and have them send you the tapes or email the footage. Prior to interviewing subjects (friendly not hostile) ask if they can arrange to send you photos, do they have home video you could use? If they do allow you to use personal imagery, scan, copy and get it back to them safely, quickly (with a thank you note).

Public Domain, free isn’t always free. When incorporating clips, music, art logos from others, make sure to clear them, or consult an entertainment attorney to verify whether material is in the public domain, or can be considered Fair Use (see Chapter 7).

Music can get expensive and requires help from an attorney so that the production obtains the correct rights. There is a distinct difference between a Synchronization License and a Master License, requiring two separate negotiations. If you need the master rights, you must always secure the synch rights along with it. However, you may choose to rerecord the song to your specifications, in which case you will only be required to obtain the “Synch” rights.

1. Mechanical License Contract—you want to recreate a song to use it in a film

   providing permission from a copyright holder to a non-copyright holder of a musical work to reproduce a specific musical for albums, soundtracks, authorizes the manufacture and distribution of records, compact discs and cassette tapes for a specific copyrighted musical composition.

2. Synchronization License Contract—to match pre-recorded music with visuals

   licensing musical works and the synching of the song with visuals—in a movie, video, or other multimedia production.

3. Master Use License Agreement—use a song someone else recorded in your film

   Master Use Agreement is a general permission contract for a film maker to use a previously recorded piece of music in a film. This agreement must be used in conjunction with the synch license agreement. Specifically, the Master Use Agreement is used for a previously recorded piece of music, not an original work created specifically for the film.

Checking Your Numbers

Double checking your numbers is advisable as it’s easy to get lost in the myriad of details. To double check a budget, it is a good idea to get out of your software, by printing the entire budget out and comparing the top sheet with individual accounts. Keep your calculator handy, calculate and compare one section to another. Reading on paper helps to see differently and inconsistencies or strange figures can pop out. To double check rates for entire units and specific services, you can check with colleagues who perform that duty with whom you have a friendly working relationship. Creating a pie chart of major categories—Above the Line, Below the Line and Other can give you a visual in order to give yourself a reality check. Also, it may seem obvious, but talking through portions of the budget with your producer, accountant and director post production supervisor help to stay on track.

Currency Conversion

Fluctuating currency rates pose problems when creating and modifying film budgets, whether production costs will be billed or paid out in foreign currencies, or paying in multiple currencies. If the production is working with a production services company in that country, they can help you navigate this arena. If not, it’s a good idea to establish a ground zero for the currency exchange rate to be used throughout creation and modification of the budget.

Select a source such the Wall Street Journal or Forex (www.usforex.com/exchange-rate), writing the exact rates you are using in the budget line items, or adding a Note in the Account where you need the conversion, with the date and source so that it can be verified and found easily again. As film incentive programs continue to drive production, more than ever filmmakers are seeking to shoot in territories with the best incentives. This leads to billing or payments in foreign money. A consideration related to that are costs—the costs of transferring money internationally, commissions and transfer fees add up quickly, as well as time issues.

There are services that can help you maximize your exchange rates, lock them in, as well as keep your costs lower in this arena, such as Smart Currency (smartcurrencybusiness.com) and Cambridge Global Payments (cambridgefx.com). If you are considering shooting in several countries, which could require currency exchange, talk with a bookkeeper and production accountant with experience in this arena.

Working in multiple currencies is an advanced function in budgeting and there are many excellent tutorials on the subject if you want to learn this in-depth once you are ready. For example, if you want to add an additional currency in Movie Magic Budgeting, go to the tool bar, Setup-Currency.

Fig. 8.5 Setup Currency

From the Quick Pick dropdown, find your currency, or begin typing in underneath default description. Note that whatever currency is selected, that is your default currency, in this case, U.S. dollars. Once you add a new currency, you type in the exchange rate, in the far right column, Rate, then click, “Ok”.

Fig. 8.6 Add New Currency

To apply the new currency, change the blank currency column within a detail level to the new currency, as below and the program converts that number.

Fig. 8.7 Apply Currency