ASK & DISCUSS INDEX

9 years, 10 months ago - Paddy Robinson-Griffin

The only(?) thing to watch with agents is 'Most Favoured Nations' terms, it sounds so innocuous, but is toxic - it means if actor A gets a private driver, so do the rest. One gets Starbucks coffee, so do the rest. One wants Starbucks, one wants Costa, and you potentially have a bunfight on your hands. You get the idea! Agents often try to slip the term in to contracts to show their talent how important they are. Some agents are genuinely lovely humble people, some are total dicks.

Production designer - if you have a sensible budget I can give you a name or two. PM me if you want them.

9 years, 10 months ago - Dan Selakovich

I keep thinking about this, so damn you Chris! I've got shit to do!

My friend, Kerry, did a green screen picture called "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow." Everything but props was built in the computer. When he made a trailer of the film to get funding, he used old photographs as background plates. He had a treadmill in front of a green screen set up in his apartment for years to get walking shots with his actors. He was the first director to make a entire movie from green screen. Well, actually, blue screen in this case.

Perhaps this is something you could do. Need a specific type of wall paper? Go to a shop, and take pictures. Need an old elevator? Seems you could find that in London. You could piece together the perfect look. You could change the look of your film to your heart's content.

9 years, 10 months ago - Chris Bogle

It's just so damn frustrating. TBH the American thing is a bit of a red herring, I think I've latched onto that somewhere in a conversation with a designer and it stuck. It just has to be dark and depressing and old. The problem I have is that there are just no hotels that look as shabby as I need. And the challenges of shooting in a hotel, as you highlighted are significant.

But, the more I think about it, the more it could be ANY bedroom in the world, just dressed. Put some cladding on a big sheet of ply behind an old iron frame bed and it's not far off. Old carpet, orange print curtains.

Sorry thinking 'out loud' here.

9 years, 10 months ago - Chris Bogle

Yeah, I was kinda toying with it as my Dad lives out there so I'd have a base, but not knowing the industry and having no contacts would be tough.

I'm shite with a hammer Dan hehe, can barely hang a shelf. Yeah 6K is about what the going rate is to create a 'room' from scratch. Was told today by someone else that they made a small bathroom for a commercial and it was 3K.

See the post below though. I think I'm getting hung up on a fully built set when I could possibly do this in a big room and just dress it. What I'm really worried about though is screwing up the design and limiting my angles. I did the production design for my last short, minimal as it was, but there were so many places we just couldn't put the camera because things outside the set came into view. My DP went nuts.

9 years, 10 months ago - Chris Bogle

@Chris Bogle I guess things a pro designer would just know about.

9 years, 10 months ago - Paddy Robinson-Griffin

This is the eternal problem for translating a story to screen. Writers are encouraged to imagine creatively and 'sets' cost nothing on the page. EVERY film involves compromise - your idea is bigger than your budget, so one shrinks or the other grows!

Shooting in the USA you have all the problem of shooting in the UK plus local problems around kit, crew, taxes, flights, hotels. Canada is similar, but a bit less unionised/flexible. We shot there for a week, some good sexy shots in Montreal with some high-value action vehicles, but it still cost around £100k.

Are your cast American? Does the motel really need to be American? Are there other America-specific plot-points? Or are you just looking for something that you've seen before on movies (and in that case is going to be a studio set anyway!)? Does the story completely fail to work with a Travelodge? Can you rewrite the story so it *does* work with a Travelodge? Does it make sense for a Brit to spend a mint on getting to look like something the Americans do well and cheap? For them, shooting on the streets of Oxford is a huge cost and dream ticket, but you could do so with relative ease. Check in with your motivations.

You can always save money if you do everything yourself in a farmer's barn (and ilk), what it all comes to is just how much that look is what you want regardless of all other technical parameters (which take a financial hit, so you may not be able to afford the lighting team you need...), or whether you write around the obstacle. This happens on EVERY film, though, so you have decisions to make, priorities to set. Only you will know what's most important!

9 years, 10 months ago - Paddy Robinson-Griffin

@Paddy Robinson-Griffin Another option, of course, is save your £10k and write a whole new script where you can spend cannily to get more value from your cash!

9 years, 10 months ago - Chris Bogle

It's getting depressing. Series of conversations with some really top PDs who've all said that:

1. Location is out - what I'm looking for is too specific to America and won't find it in the UK.

2. Set design and build, looking at about 6K, i.e. 60% of my budget.

I have two questions. At what point do you stop spending time trying to make a round thing fit a square hole?

Assuming I did keep on trying, what are the implications of shooting in the States - other than my airfare etc? I imagine they are many and varied, but it feels like a last ditch option.

9 years, 10 months ago - Chris Bogle

Looks like I may have a good space Paddy, big old hall that's been used for things like Iron Chef so it's rigged for power. I'm hoping that shooting December is gonna work in my favour with facilities being quiet.

Started casting today, lovely conversations with agents which I wasn't expecting TBH. (Was expecting sucking of teeth). Next job, find a good prod designer! Thanks again Paddy!

9 years, 10 months ago - Dan Selakovich

Set build if you have the space. I don't think it will cost too much (especially with a 10k budget). A hotel can be just as expensive or more to rent as a build, and the headaches will be endless. Plus, you want something really specific, so a build would just be easier. Even if you need a grand staircase in the background, just green screen that shit.

For a short of mine, I got sick and tired of not being able to find a bar for a decent price, and just built one in the sound mixer's living room. It turned out better, and I didn't have a tight schedule and all night shoot hanging over my head.

Having said all of that, I live in Los Angeles, where nothing, and I mean NOTHING, is free or even cheap.

9 years, 10 months ago - Dan Selakovich

Really excellent points, Paddy. Plus if you need to fly a wall (move it to get the camera where you need it), you can.

9 years, 10 months ago - Paddy Robinson-Griffin

Hmmm- third attempt in 3 days at posting this answer...excuse me for lack of florid detail this time round!

Studio options-
Film/TV - dearest but has everything you need incl lights
Stills - may be noisier but cheaper, still have power options
Music/rehearsal - smaller but cheap. Very quiet and have power, zero lamps though.
Farmers barn - potentially noisy, no power, but cheap. Remember generators need to be silenced, and a big enough generator for most lighting set-ups (HMI's, say) will not be easily towable and need refueling.

Flats - rent from a theatre or pay some theatre carps (or one carp and some trainees) to make them for you. Allow maybe £30/piece for materials, and remember windows and doors.

Set dressing - try the local tip for dead TV's, old beds, etc. You'll need to be pals with the tip guys anyway as you will generate waste, and that's a part of the build costs.

9 years, 10 months ago - Chris Bogle

Yeah, I hear you. I actually wrote it to be contained and easy to shoot. :)

9 years, 10 months ago - Paddy Robinson-Griffin

If you can, build. The biggest difference is that if you need a cable through a wall, you can have it. If you need a radiator a foot to the left, you can pick it up. Want night? Got night. Want dawn? Got dawn. Builds do cost money, as does the studio to build in, but you get *SO* much more shooting time because you can control everything. Typically on location I expect 1.5-3 minutes a day, studio you can do 10 minutes if you work at it, because you are not constantly interrupted. And you get the look you wanted!

9 years, 10 months ago - Chris Bogle

Yet again thanks guys. You've helped me make a decision I think - also the amount of time spent finding the right location could be spent in making a set. It worries me infinitely less than filming in a hotel with guests and noise to worry about.

9 years, 10 months ago - Dan Selakovich

6k? Would like to see how they broke that down. If 3/4 of it is labor, how are you with a hammer?

Going to a different country for a short is probably madness. You won't get the tax credits that a feature would. But, you could probably get a location for the cost of housing your cast and crew in the same hotel where'd you'd be shooting. Especially off-season somewhere in the middle states. Forget the east and west coasts. Everything costs here. Regardless, that is unbelievably risky.