The Digital Filmmaking Handbook

Seventh Edition (Digital)

Sonja Schenk

Ben Long

Foreing Films Publishing | 2021

The Digital Filmmaking Handbook, Seventh Edition (Digital)

Sonja Schenk and Ben Long

Foreing Films Publishing

General Manager: Rainer Plain

Proofreader: Lori Meyer, Steve Solano

Interior Layout Tech: FF Inc.

Cover images: Jason Hampton, Paquita Parks, William MacCollum, Bonné Bartron

Chapter head images: Jason Hampton (Introduction, 6,7,8), Paquita Parks (Ch 5), William MacCollum (Ch 9, 10, 11, Glossary), Bonné Bartron (Ch 3)

All uncredited photos: Ben Long and Sonja Schenk

© 2021 Foreing Films Inc.

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2021939125

ISBN-13: 978-1-733-15021-7

ISSN: 2690-0424

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Introduction

What This Book is About

New in This Edition

What Equipment Do I Need?

Initial Problems to Solve

The past few years are marked by a seismic shift in the cultural landscape: an interest in the artistic output of previously ignored groups. This transformation is the direct result of the transition to an intricately networked world that began decades ago with the so-called desktop revolution. When the gatekeepers of the 20th century lost their power, doors opened to new voices.

But new opportunities present new challenges to all filmmakers. If everyone can self-distribute with the click of a mouse, how do you get anyone to notice your work? The answer is always the same: great and innovative storytelling.

Humanity’s need for media-based narrative goes back indefinitely. There have always been people who created stories and believed in them so passionately that they felt a need to communicate them to many others, en masse. In the past, they were cave painters and builders of megaliths, today they are filmmakers, writers, and producers-this book is for them.

What This Book is About

Digital video is everywhere these days-on your television, your computer, your game console, and your smart phone. And the ways to acquire it abound: camcorders, cell phones, the built-in camera on your computer, and point-and-shoot cameras that just happen to record 4K or better. What used to be the rarefied territory of film geeks is now the norm.

There’s a reason for that: the collaboration, imagination, and work involved in crafting even a short film are extremely enjoyable.

This book will teach you everything you need to know, whether your aim is to create a feature-length movie, an industrial or corporate production, or a short film or music video simply for your own enjoyment.

No single volume can address the tremendous amount of training and expertise that is required to master all of these disciplines. However, we have tried to fill you in on the questions you will need to ask yourself and others, and the major problems and issues you will have to solve, at each stage of your production. So even though this book doesn’t cover, for example, 3D animation, our post-production chapters should at least bring you up to speed on the issues you can expect to face when trying to create visual effects. These questions should help you interface better with the artisans and craftspeople who do have the skills for these various disciplines and point you in the direction of further self-education if that’s your intention.

This book is organized into three parts, just like the process of making a film:

Pre-Production (Chapters 1-4) is when you will make all the decisions necessary to start shooting: producing, writing, understanding the basics of digital media technology, planning, scheduling, storyboarding, location scouting, and production design.

Production (Chapters 5-11) covers the principal shoot of your project: working with actors, lighting, choosing then using the camera, framing and content, recording sound, a special chapter on advanced shooting situations, drones, multiple cameras, VR, and live virtual production-and of course, directing and managing the set.

Post-Production (Chapters 12-18) covers the editing and finishing of your project. We’ll give you an overview of the post process, offer a guide to setting up workstations and equipment, discuss organizing and managing media, and detail the process of editing, sound design, color grading, titles, special effects, and both DIY and high-end delivery of the finished product-everything from streaming video to festivals to a projected digital cinema screening in a theater.

Finally, although we assume no formal training in video or film production, we often use film and video production terms. You’ll find definitions for these in the glossary. Chapter 3 is a digital video primer that contains everything you ever wanted to know about the files that add up to a final film. Consider it a reference for technical questions you may have at any point in the process. We positioned it early in the book to give you a grounding in technology that we’ll discuss in the chapters that follow it.

This book covers the entire process of making a movie. Top: The crew of indie feature Jackson’s Hole. (Photo: Wonder Eye Productions/Jackson’s Hole) Center: Director Bola Ogun (right) and 1stAD Shawn Pipkin-West on the set of Big Shot for DisneyPlus. (Photo: Photo: Shawn Pipkin-West) Bottom: Doc feature director Christo Brock and associate producer Laura Aguirre supervise a color-grading session for their movie Brewmance. (Photo: Brocklamation Films)

Apps We Like

We’ll use this phone icon to quickly inform you about apps we recommend. Most of the apps we recommend have pro versions and usually these are worth the extra cost.

What to Watch?

We’ll use this monitor icon when we have movie viewing suggestions for you. Think of these suggestions as the best homework assignments ever.

New in This Edition

Every time we revise this book, we take the opportunity to step back and look at the big picture. What has changed in the entertainment industry since the last edition?

In a word? Image quality. Okay, that’s two words, but explaining how to achieve the best image quality has been one of the driving concerns of this book since the first edition back in 2000. And while it is still important, over the last twenty years things have changed radically because the image quality of modern digital cinema cameras and video formats is now very good. So the quest for attaining film-like imagery, the dangers of poor-quality video, the fear of seeing something tiny blown up on a massive screen and turned into a pile of mush-all that has dropped away. You can get fantastic image quality from cameras that cost under $1000 and if you spend more, quality only gets better.

In this edition, we have broken out some large chapters into smaller, separate chapters: producing, writing, planning, and directing actors are all topics that stand alone now. In doing so, we took a more nuanced look at some of the nuts and bolts of filmmaking–the role of the producer, the tasks of the screenwriter, and the challenges of the director. Given that many independent or new filmmakers will wear all those hats on the same project, we think it’s important to not assume that a separate producer or writer will do that work. We’ve also broken out the camera and shooting material into three chapters: understanding the camera, filming techniques, and advanced shooting. To understand the technology that underlies all the above, we’ve done a major overhaul of Chapter 3, Digital Video Primer, with a focus on how digital video technology ultimately serves the filmmaker-a bit more of the why instead of just the what, including a teeny bit of relevant art history.

Is it shorter? No, we’ve redesigned the book and made the pages a bit larger, so the result is fewer pages but the same amount of content. This was done in part to keep the price low because we’ve (finally!) switched to full-color images. Having better quality, color images also made it possible to incorporate more still images from classic films and to add key diagrams and illustrations where appropriate.

Finally, we know that experience is the best way to learn, so we’ve provided exercises and tutorials throughout the book. And at the end of each chapter, we’ve added a special section called Problems to Solve, which features a list of questions and suggestions that can be used as exercises or assignments.

The Digital Filmmaking Handbook Presents

With this edition, we’d like to introduce you to our new companion book series, The Digital Filmmaking Handbook Presents. We’re creating a set of single-topic books that pick up where The Digital Filmmaking Handbook leaves off, tackling each topic exclusively, in-depth, and as always, from the perspective of working filmmakers. The flagship of the new series is Premiere Pro for Filmmakers by Sonja Schenk, which takes you through every step of the film editing process using Adobe Premiere and related Creative Cloud apps. Look for two new titles in the near future: Editing for Free with DaVinci Resolveand Mastering the Short Screenplay. When appropriate we’ll use this arrow icon to guide to other books that are relevant to the topic at hand.

What Equipment Do I Need?

This book assumes you will be using a Macintosh or Windows-compatible computer. Some familiarity with your operating system of choice is required, as well as a video camera of some kind. Guidelines for selecting equipment are provided throughout the book. We also assume that you are familiar with some basic computer terms, such as RAM, megabytes, gigabytes, and so forth. A glossary is included in the back of the book.

Media Downloads

Look for this filmstrip icon to indicate that there is media for you to look at or download from the companion website. The tutorial media for this book can be found at thedigitalfilmmakinghandbook.com under the Book Resources menu, organized by chapter.

VR Info

Look for this icon to identify special tips for virtual reality projects.

Initial Problems to Solve

If you’re seriously thinking of embarking on a digital filmmaking production, you’re about to begin a big process. The more you know before you start, the more smoothly things will go for you.

Before you dive in, consider these questions:

What equipment do you already own or have access to that you can use to make your film? Think about this carefully, as some older equipment-both computer and video equipment-might be more of a hindrance than a help. Film productions don’t last forever so borrowing and renting equipment is always worth considering.

How much time and money do you want to spend ? When estimating time and money, remember that post-production can often cost as much or more than production and it takes a lot longer.

Last but not least, what is your final goal? Are you making your first short film, a pilot for a potential streaming series, or your directorial magnum opus? If you don’t know the answer yet, don’t worry. Chapter 1, Producing is all about getting your project off the ground.

Filmmaking is a challenging, exciting, and always instructive process. We wish you the best of luck in your filmmaking endeavors. Now, it’s time to get started!

1

Producing

What Does a Producer Do?

What Kind of Movie Should You Make?

Developing a Project

Preliminary Budgets

Introduction to Financing

Forming a Production Company

Producing Problems to Solve

So let’s start with the obvious question: What is a producer? Answer: A producer is someone who initiates a film project.

Some producers do this by developing ideas and then passing them on to writers. Others take their own scripts to directors in the hope of getting them made. And others are directors, who shepherd their film from concept to opening night and beyond.

In other words, producers are filmmakers.

When you think about producers you probably conjure an image of one of those caricatures of producers that Hollywood loves so much-you know, the spluttering, red-faced, cigar-chomping abuser screaming in someone’s face about money. We won’t say that this caricature has no counterpart in real life. But that is a very specific type of producer-the financier.

Figure 1.1 Top: Classic Hollywood producers abound in David Fincher’s Mank, a movie about the making of the seminal film, Citizen Kane. (Photo: Netflix)

Figure 1.2 Bottom: A behind-the-scenes photo of the real Citizen Kane production, directed by Orson Welles. (Photo: RKO Pictures)

What to Watch: Mank and Citizen Kane

Hollywood famously loves movies about itself but however exaggerated or romanticized, films about filmmaking contain truths that speak to people who make movies. As you embark on your movie-making experience, it’s worth taking a look at some classic depictions of the much-maligned film producer: Mank, The Kid Stays in the Picture, Swimming with Sharks, The Player, Barton Fink, 30 Rock, and Bombshell are just a few examples, often based on real people. And while you’re at it, Mank (Figure 1.1) is about the making of Citizen Kane and you should watch that too (Figure 1.2).

There’s a reason most of the films mentioned above are set in the past-such producers are relics of the old studio system, a world as hierarchical and stratified as the military. Today’s film industry is still stratified, but you won’t encounter it until you get into the higher levels (and budgets) of mainstream Hollywood. Sure, there can be jerks on an independent film set, but the biggest difference between an industry producer and an indie producer is that, at the level of independent films, student shorts, and other passion projects, the filmmaker wears many hats-producer, writer, director, post supervisor, and so on.

For this chapter, put on your producer’s hat and let’s get started.

What Does a Producer Do?

Producer is probably the most confusing job title in the entertainment industry because there are so many different types of producers. But they tend to fall into three basic categories:

Creative producers are film-makers. They initiate projects. Sometimes they write them and sometimes they direct them. They make decisions about everything from story to casting to marketing. In a series, the term producer can be someone who takes on the role that most people would consider to be the director’s job, and they might also write some or all of the scripts. The series equivalent of writer-director is known as the showrunner, and that person usually has the title of executive producer. There can be upward of five executive producers on a TV show, but typically only one or two of them are creatively running the show. (Figure 1.3)

Financial producers are what most people outside the industry think of when you use the term producer. That is, rich investors. When Sonja was a creative producer, she would have to explain constantly, I’m not the money person. But movies don’t get made without money, and financial producers are very important. They either invest personally in the project or help find investors and raise money in other ways. These types of producers are also credited as executive producers, so you can see why people get confused.

Managerial producers keep film projects on track. They are responsible for hiring, making deals for salaries and credits, breaking down scripts, creating and adhering to budgets, and just about anything else you can think of that’s required in the day-to-day running of a film set or post-production process. They tend to get credited as unit production managers (UPMs), line producers, or sometimes supervising producers.

This chapter is primarily about creative producing, but we’ll touch on financial and managerial producing as well. As a filmmaker, the work you do to produce a film and get it off the ground is a major undertaking. And it starts with narrowing down your options.

Figure 1.3 Creative producers on the set: (Top) Producer-director Juri Koll filming Jackson’s Hole (center, left of camera). (Center) Producers Laura Aguirre (far left) and Sean Huntley (second from far left) shooting the documentary Who Do You Protect? (Bottom) Actor-writer-producer Drew Anthony in character for Hell CA (bottom). (Photos from top: WonderEye Productions/Jackson’s Hole, Max Blecker/The Future Left, Bonné Bartron/Angry Puppy Productions)

What Kind of Movie Should You Make?

The first step in producing is deciding what type of film you want to make. Any idea that makes you think, That would be a great film! is a potential jumping off point. But then you have to figure out what type of film it should be. Until recently, filmic projects were defined by how they got distributed: television series, theatrical features, webisodes, etc. Today, it makes more sense to talk about them in terms of length and content because you might find multiple distribution platforms for your project.

Feature Films

Whether you like it or not, at the time of this writing, scripted feature films are still what many people think of when you say you are a filmmaker, and these projects still hold a high-status position in Hollywood, even if other forms of entertainment have chipped away at their cultural dominance. What does that mean for you? It means that if you are a director, having a feature film credit is guaranteed to open doors. The same goes for writers, cinematographers, actors, editors, composers, graphic designers, visual effects artists, the list goes on. Making a feature requires great resources, especially if you are going to do it independently.

To qualify as a feature, a film usually has to be at least 75 minutes in length but that varies. Who decides what length qualifies as a feature film? Film festivals, networks, and theater owners-the people who control whether your film will be seen. The standard length for a comedic feature film is 90 minutes, dramatic films are often closer to 100. And if it’s a very elaborate production that’s meant to be Oscar bait, it can often be as much as 120 minutes.

Beyond the extremely broad categories of comedies and dramas, there are genres-film noir, buddy pics, horror films, rom-coms, satires, sci-fi, superhero movies, musicals-there are many, many genres and they fall in and out of fashion.

So what is your project? If it’s a feature, what is its genre? Can the story be told in an hour and a half? If you’re not sure, read on because there are many other options…

Series

A century ago, when film was invented, the dominant form of narrative was the novel. But feature films are notoriously unable to capture the breadth of a novel. Due to time constraints, they offer a simplified version and often what gets sacrificed is depth of character development and complexity in the plot, such as side narratives or subplots. Novels also excel at revealing a character’s internal state, something that is very difficult to do in cinema.

Today, series have swooped in and taken up the mantle of long-form storytelling and the most popular among them have dropped the old-school TV network model where every week something sorta similar and sorta different happens (a new murder!). Instead, we get complicated narratives that unravel over eight to thirteen episodes, offering more complex plots and sometimes deeper characterizations. Because of this, series are more popular than ever. These long-arc series aren’t limited to scripted entertainment, some of the biggest successes have been unscripted true crime series, like Tiger King and Making a Murderer.

Most series have either half-hour or hour-long episodes, and just like feature films, the shorter series tend to be comedic while the longer ones tend to be dramas. In the U.S., the length of an episode is not a true 30 or 60 minutes, due to the insertion of commercials. Half-hour shows are about 21 minutes long and hour-long shows are about 42 minutes. This varies by network and even though many streaming services do not have ads, the shorter lengths prevail (to open up the option of broadcast distribution later). With series created outside the U.S., you’ll find full 30- and 60-minute episodes and you’ll notice that they seem a lot longer.

The series equivalent of the indie feature is the pilot episode, which is the first episode of a new series. In a perfect world, all pilots would be pitched, ordered in advance, and paid for by a network. But that’s not always the case, especially for an innovative series. Instead, producers take a gamble and shoot their own pilot episode. It’s called a pilot because it flies out ahead and leads the series-unless it crashes and burns. If the series gets sold and produced, the pilot might end up airing as the first episode. In other cases, the pilot does its job of selling the series but then gets remade with a different cast, bigger budget, and other important changes.

Many people consider the current era to be a golden age for series. If your idea is too long and too complex for a mere 90-minute feature film, a series could be the way to go.

Documentaries

The filmmaking equivalent of non-fiction or journalistic writing, documentaries today have a huge audience. Some of the most exciting and controversial films of the last twenty years have been documentaries. Films like Citizen Four, Supersize Me, and An Inconvenient Truth have had a demonstrable effect on our perception of the world around us. Documentaries are shot in a way that is very different from scripted films, but they share many of the same creative challenges-structuring a story, crafting a style in terms of how the film is shot, refining the structure in the editing room, designing the sound, intensifying emotions with music, and enhancing the film with graphics. All of these things are as necessary for documentaries as they are for scripted films. Like a good biography, just because a documentary is real doesn’t mean it’s not art. Documentaries can be any length or format.

What to Watch: Short Films

The first films that most directors make are short–under ten minutes. A feature film is such a big undertaking that it’s impractical to start there. And if you’re studying film in school, your assignments will likely all be short films. Most major film festivals have shorts programs and the Academy Awards has several short film Oscar categories, so if you’re looking for short films to watch, those are good places to start. Travon Free wrote and directed the 2021 Academy Award–winning short, Two Distant Strangers (Figure 1.4).

Figure 1.4 Two Distant Strangers by writer-director Travon Free won the Oscar for best live action short film in 2021. (Photo: Dirty Robber/Now This)

Short Films

For many, a short film is the ideal first film project. It has all the elements of a full-length feature film, but on a much smaller scale. You’ll learn about every stage of the process, from screenwriting to shooting to editing and finishing, but because of scale, the task won’t be quite so overwhelming, and it definitely won’t be as time-consuming and expensive. If you’ve never made a scripted film of any kind before, this is the way to start. But do your homework first. There is an audience for short films in festivals and on the web. Typically, short films are under 30 minutes in length, but many people believe shorts are best when they are below 10 minutes. After all, the average half-hour series only has about 20 minutes of actual content, so if your short is longer than that, it starts to not feel short. Making a great short film is like writing a great short story, it’s a different animal than a full-length movie and has its own unique challenges.

Thanks to streaming via the internet, many shorts today are often episodic, not standalone one-offs. Any marketing person can tell you that the amount of effort spent marketing recurring content isn’t that much greater than what is required to market a standalone film, yet the pay-off for recurring content can be much bigger. Serialized content gives you the ability to build an audience at the same time that you develop your idea, your brand, and, if you are new to filmmaking, your voice. Better yet, there are no real rules. That’s because it doesn’t cost much to make these videos (it can cost a lot but it doesn’t have to). You can write, direct, and star in your own project and no one has any say over what you do and don’t do. Be aware, of course, that this is a double-edged sword. While those gatekeepers can feel like barriers they also serve an important role filtering out weak content and impractical productions. When you’re on your own it can be easy to head in directions that don’t actually work-creatively or otherwise. What’s more, you won’t have anyone to lift you up above the hoard of other filmmakers. So, working on your own is both easier and harder at the same time.

Even Shorter Films

People are making films with their phones. Their audience is found on TikTok, Instagram, and other social media sites. In a way, this is an entirely new genre-more than a photograph, less than even the shortest short film, often entailing only one shot and nothing in the way of traditional filmmaking technology. Smart phones offer both the means of production and the means of distribution, all in one tiny device that goes everywhere you do. Everybody can make movies at this level and there are people out there who have thousands, and even millions of followers for these works. That’s a whole new way to find an audience-one that can rival the size of most feature films and many TV shows.

Virtual Reality Projects

Virtual reality has been around for about twenty years, but only recently has it started to achieve critical mass. Filmmaker Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu broke new ground at Cannes with his documentary-like VR exhibit, Carne y Arena (Flesh and Sand), where viewers experienced a seven-minute immersive film about migrants trying to get across the U.S. border. With its potential to more thoroughly immerse an audience member in a fictitious space, next gen filmmakers are looking to VR. Is it going to be a fad that will fade, like 3D movies a few years back? Maybe, but VR is a new format that will require innovations in storytelling. The code on this one hasn’t been cracked yet, but it’s clear that a lot of people are investing a lot into the future of VR.

Other Types of Projects

In addition to the types of films mentioned above, there are corporate, industrial, and promotional films. These types of projects may not be what you dreamed of when you decided to become a filmmaker, but let’s face it, they are plentiful, and they almost always involve receiving a paycheck for your work. What’s more, they’ll require the same skill set and problem-solving challenges of any of the other personal filmmaking projects you may be working on. Corporate videos are driven by an agenda that is usually given to you by your boss(es). They have a narrative, but it’s usually about a product or a business or an event, rather than a character.

Promotional Media

Every filmmaker who reads this book will find they need to create at least one promotional video short related to their project to release on the web, whether it’s a trailer, a clip reel or teaser, or straight-up advertising videos. They too require all skills and technologies covered in the rest of this book.

Developing a Project

It’s a little odd to talk about developing a project and writing a project in two separate chapters. But that’s because we’re indie filmmakers-everything we’ve written, we also developed. But in the tradition of Hollywood, those are two separate jobs. So what comes first, chicken or egg? Before we answer that, let’s back up a bit. What, exactly, does development mean?

The short answer is that development is the work you do before you dive deep into a project. That could mean research into a story idea that you’re going to write yourself, it could mean finding a writer to write the screenplay of an idea you’ve had, or property that you’ve bought the rights to. (Writing screenplays yourself is covered in the next chapter.) It could also mean the process of finding potential talent to attach to your project-actors, directors, etc.-to make it more attractive to investors.

In other words, developing a project means doing the homework to put together an interesting package that-be it a film or series-that you can get funded.

Here are some of the ways that projects get developed…

Pitching

In order to get to a produced film or series, you will have to pitch your project every time you want someone to get involved, whether they’re a potential writer, director, actor, or backer. Before you start to talk to investors, actors, or key crew members, you should perfect your pitch so as to present your project in the best possible light. You may have to alter the pitch for different audiences, just as you might tailor a resumé for a specific job.

Most people you will pitch your project to won’t have time to read the whole script, even if it’s not feature length. And in fact, you may find it valuable to pitch your project before the script is even written. Therefore, your pitch should be a short and engaging written or verbal presentation that conveys both a sense of the story and the visual elements you will use to tell the story.

Verbal pitch Your energy and enthusiasm for the project are the keys to a successful verbal pitch. Practice on friends if you’re feeling timid or insecure. Remember that you are not only trying to convey what a great project you’re producing, you’re also trying to convey your own dedication to the project.

Log line You should have a catchy one-sentence description of your story for both verbal and written presentations, sometimes called an elevator pitch. This is the short answer to the question What’s it about? If your prospect seems interested, you can launch into your longer description. This is similar to a grabber, the line used in publicity and advertising materials. See Chapter 2 for more on writing log lines.

Written synopsis or treatment A synopsis should be one or two pages, a treatment 20-30 pages, depending, of course, on the length of your project. Both should cover the entire story and convey the mood or tone of the project. These will also provide a great roadmap for whoever writes the screenplay.

Coverage Try to get feedback on your script, aka coverage, from a professional reader. Hopefully their response will be positive and you can include it as part of your pitch. The more prestigious the letterhead on the coverage (i.e. a major studio), the better. This will show that even if your script isn’t suited to be a major studio project, it’s a good script.

Audio/visual materials Some people go as far as shooting a trailer for their film before they actually shoot the movie, others create fake movie posters or newspaper ads for the project. There are a lot of options here and much will depend on the sort of project you are trying to finance.

Market research Any facts and figures on similar projects will be of interest to investors.

Budget summary You’ll find more about budget summaries later in this chapter.

Resumés of key participants in the project Filmmaking is a team effort and showing off the strengths of your team is a great way to build confidence in your project. In addition to actors and the director, you may want to include the cinematographer, editor, and other key crew members.

All of the assets just described constitute your package. And if you’re unfamiliar with any of these writing terms, we cover them in the next chapter.

Contracting a Screenplay

Writing is not for everyone. And even if you love it, it’s very time-consuming. So it may not be practical to write a screenplay yourself. Whatever the reason, you can, of course, hire a writer. Or perhaps you know someone who’s written a great script and you want to produce it.

Whatever the case, if you find yourself needing to go elsewhere for a script, there are a number of things to consider.

Hiring a Writer

When selecting a writer, your first concern should be their writing skill. Don’t hire someone without looking at their previous work and don’t bother looking at anything but previously written screenplays. Writing for the screen is very different than writing for the stage or writing prose. Similarly, try to look at pieces that are similar in tone and presentation to your own project. Just because someone has written a great dramatic epic doesn’t mean they’re going to be able to write your romantic comedy script or martial arts movie.

Also, spend some time talking to your writing prospects. See if you have the same vision of your project and make sure that they’re someone you feel you can work with. Depending on your project, the writer you choose may be involved through the entire production. Since this is someone you’re most likely going to be spending a lot of time with, you need to be sure you’re comfortable working with them.

Once you’ve chosen a writer you’ll need to negotiate a contract. If the writer is a member of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) then you’ll have to start your contract negotiations with the standard Writer’s Guild of America contract. If your writer is not a member of the WGA (or if you can’t afford the WGA contract) then you’ll have to negotiate a contract of your own.

Beginning producers (and writers) should remember that the writer’s job does not begin and end with the screenplay. Before the writer begins the actual script, you’re going to want to spend time with them developing the story. After this may come a treatment, then a first draft, then more drafts, then a polish (a final pass to tighten up dialogue). After you’ve heard the script read by your cast, you might realize there are weaknesses in dialogue or story that will need to be rewritten. Similarly, once you’re actually on the set shooting, you may find more that needs rewriting. The writer’s contract (as well as the production’s budget) needs to account for all of these contingencies.

As an example, Tomorrow Never Dies, the MGM/UA Pictures James Bond movie starring Pierce Brosnan, was originally a story about the fall of Hong Kong. After the movie was already in production the studio realized that the release of the picture would coincide with the return of Hong Kong to China. Deciding that this was potentially a bad PR move, the studio ordered a complete rewrite of the script even though the cameras were already rolling. It’s a credit to the skill of screenwriter Bruce Feirstein that the final script-written under tremendous time pressure-worked very well and was able to incorporate material that had already been shot.

Purchasing a Script

If you know someone who has already written a good script, you might want to consider buying it. Or you might consider purchasing the rights to an existing story, novel, or journalistic article for adaptation into a screenplay.

When considering a finished screenplay, you have two alternatives: to buy the script outright, or to buy an option to develop the script. An option means that you have, for a limited amount of time, the exclusive rights to develop that script into a feature with the option to buy the script before the option agreement expires. If it does expire, you can choose to renew the option, if all parties agree, which usually requires another payment to the author.

The price and duration of the option is negotiable and there’s no rule that says an option has to cost anything at all. You might be able to convince a writer that the time you’ll spend trying to develop the project is worth enough for the option. If you do pay cash, the amount of the option is paid against the final cost of the script. So, if you agree to option a script for $5000 with an eventual purchase of $50,000, you’ll owe the author $45,000 for the final script.

As with a writer’s contract, your purchase or author’s contract should specify the writer’s role and payments in detail as well as specify the rights you’re purchasing (motion picture, sequel, television, cable, video, merchandising, etc.).

Buying a Story

There are a zillion stories out there and you can read a lot of them on the internet every day. If one of those stories strikes you as being a good subject for a film project, then you can option the rights to that story and set about developing it into a screenplay. Obviously, if you read a compelling story about the Grand Canyon, you don’t have to option the rights to the Grand Canyon. However, if you read a compelling story about two one-armed xylophone players getting lost in the Grand Canyon, and you want to develop that specific story, then you’ll probably need to consider buying an option from the journalist who wrote the story. To be safe, consult an attorney with experience in this area of copyright law.

Adaptations

Creating films and series from popular novels is all the rage—Bridgerton, The Queen’s Gambit, Snowpiercer, Outlander, the list goes on. In fact, series of novels are especially well-suited to series, giving fodder for multiple seasons. Beyond saving time in terms of creating a story from scratch, they also serve up two things that Hollywood seems to value above all else: a track record and a built-in audience (Figure 1.5).

Figure 1.5 Bridgerton is one of many recent series that are adapted from novels. (Photo: ShondaLand)

Packaging

Once you’ve got your script ready to go, the next step is to attempt to package your project. This means attaching actors, a director, and any other key players: a band if it’s a music video, a visual effects artist if that’s a key element, a director of photography, a composer, and so on. The more successful and well-known the people in your package are, the better your chances of finding investors for your project.

There is a tricky side to packaging however: if you create an undesirable package, for example by making a firm commitment to an unknown lead actor, it’s possible that a key financial player may decide to pass on your project, no matter how appealing the rest of the package is. The suggested approach is usually to walk the fine line between attaching talent to your project and making a legally binding commitment with them. It’s best to be up front and let your collaborators know that everything is still up in the air until you secure your financing. Most experienced people will understand your position.

Casting Directors

A lot of people are surprised that a casting director often comes in early in the game. If you’re trying to package your project, a casting director is the best way to go if you want to attach a known name to your script. Some casting directors will (rarely) agree to waive their fee, others will accept a percentage deal. Most likely, though, they’ll want a pretty good chunk of change. You’re paying for their contacts and access to people who are usually very hard to get to, and if this is within your means, it’s probably worth it. After all, how many times have you watched some unheard-of film because so-and-so was in it? Having a famous name attached to your project is the easiest guarantee that you’ll get a distribution deal of some sort. This is why big stars get paid so much money. The same holds true for famous bands in music videos, famous keynote speakers in corporate presentations, and so on. Unfortunately, there’s no such thing as a band casting director, but bands, authors, and keynote speakers usually have managers, publicists, and other agent-types who perform a similar role for them.

For those who’ve already committed to the guerrilla-style film, the casting director could still be an ally. A lot of casting directors represent less-famous people or young actors that have a lot of promise but no big credits yet. The casting director wants to get exposure for their clients and might be willing to help you cast your film for less than the going rate if you’re willing to work with their second- and third-tier talent. This doesn’t mean these actors are without talent, they’re simply waiting for their big break just like you.

If you are convinced that you have neither the time nor the money to woo a casting director, take heart. Many successful independent films do not have famous actors in them: Winter’s Bone, Memento, and Swingers, to name a few, may have created some new stars but their successes were not due to big-name lead actors. In fact, many famous actors got that way thanks to independent films, and many already-known actors have earned artistic credibility by appearing in no-budget or low-budget movies.

The Short Form

After finishing a screenplay for his big-budget, special effects-heavy feature Starship Troopers, director Paul Verhoeven was having trouble convincing the studio that it was possible to create realistic giant bugs. To ease their minds, Verhoeven and effects supervisor Phil Tippett spent six months producing a 2-minute bug test. The short, a simple scene of a futuristic soldier being chased and killed by two giant bugs, convinced the studio to green light the picture.

Trailers, Teasers, and Other Sample Videos

Often, you’ll be asked to prove that your project is worthwhile in the form of something tangible before you can find funding for it. That usually means a short video such as a trailer, teaser, or sample scene. At this point in your production, you’re looking to acquire money, not spend it, so the goal is usually to spend as little as possible. But sometimes you may need to raise money in order to put together your pitch videos so that you can raise money-a type of investment that’s known as seed money. If you use your seed money to create a trailer, it’s typical that this trailer won’t end up as the real trailer for the film. Especially since you may not have actors or any footage to use for it. Instead, you’ll use whatever you have-still images, footage cribbed from other movies, voice-over and titles-to convey what’s compelling about your project. Since this trailer isn’t going to get distributed, you don’t need to worry about acquiring the rights to use video clips or music. Another option, if you do have actors attached, is to film a sample scene, assuming your film has a scene that is compelling enough to sell the rest of the project. And similar to trailers, you don’t need to commit to using actors who will end up in the final film at this point. When it comes to this sort of pitch material, there are no rules. You need to make something that will intrigue film execs and other investors. It could be a slideshow, animation, whatever works. It’s generally advisable to make something that’s short and emailable, so under 10 MB. We recommend something that’s 30 to 60 seconds long, because it’s really just a commercial for your film and a lot of people won’t watch more than the first minute.

Figure 1.6 A sample budget top sheet for a $580K film with known actors.

Preliminary Budgets

Just as your story gets revised from the initial outline to the first draft of a screenplay to the final edit of a finished film, budgeting for a film isn’t a one-and-done task. You’ll shape and revise it as you go, making changes as your project evolves. Maybe you started out as a run-and-gun indie but then you scored by casting an A-list actor which inflated your budget and your ability to raise money along with it-win/win. You’ll need to revise your budget to reflect the new reality.

At this point in the filmmaking process, you should be looking at creating a preliminary budget, one filled with ballpark figures and best guesses at how it’s all gonna play out. This early budget won’t have much in the way of details; it’s too soon for that. Instead, you’ll need to figure out the big picture (What kind of movie is this?) so that you can determine the cost of production. One common way to get a preliminary budget is to work backwards. Figure out the type of actors you are likely to get, the amount of money you hope to raise, and make sure it works with the type of film you are making, then set a goal and devise a top sheet that fits that goal. But beware of one major thing: the budgets of Hollywood are a matter of much public scrutiny. Any wise investor is gonna know if your numbers are unrealistic.

Indie feature budgets tend to fall into three categories: no budget, ultra-low budget and the bottom end of low budget. You should determine where you want your project to fall before you start creating a budget.

No-budget budgets The history of independent productions is rife with examples of creative financing. From directors selling their bodies to science (Robert Rodriguez, El Mariachi), to directors charging productions on their credit cards (Robert Townsend, Hollywood Shuffle). Fortunately, with modern video technology, you don’t necessarily have to resort to such extreme measures because your budget can be fairly small. Typically, low-budget indie productions will start with whatever they have-often just a few thousand dollars. If you fall into this range, you’ll most likely be using a small cast and crew, many of whom might be working for free or for deferred payment. You’ll be backending your expenses in hopes of finding a distributor to pay for finishing costs.

Ultra-low budgets Typically, ultra-low budget projects range from $100,000 to $1,000,000. Producers can afford to pay key crew members and actors. If you can afford it, you may want to hire more people and equipment to make your production take less time.

Low budgets If you’re lucky enough to have access to a million dollars or more, then you’re in the realm of the low budget producers. For this kind of money, you’ve probably got an all-union crew complete with drivers and caterers. In Hollywood, low budget means a total budget of $500,000 to $1,000,000. In other words, their idea of low isn’t very low. But this is partly because these figures include the costs of paying union actors and crew members; that is, doing everything by the book. Budgets go even higher when you factor in publicity. Independent producers can get away with much less.

Creating a Budget Top Sheet

Final, detailed budgets are very long, so they are summarized with a top sheet (Figure 1.6). In the case of a preliminary budget, your goal is to create a top sheet without necessarily doing the rest of the work. (Like we said, too soon.) It really helps to know what things cost so if you don’t have that kind of experience and knowledge, asking for help from a seasoned financial or managerial producer is the way to go.

Why do you need a budget top sheet? It’s what you’ll give to people as you try to generate interest in your project. You might need it for grants, to present to investors, and just to have some numbers at the tip of your tongue when you get asked the inevitable, What’s your budget?

People who understand film financing will look at your budget in terms of the content and genre of your film. Your movie will need a budget that is in accord with the amount of money it is likely to earn if you want to attract investors. For example, ultra-low budget horror movies with no-name casts and first-time directors are known to consistently generate profits. But if you say your no-name horror film needs a budget of two million dollars, you’ll have to justify that high figure somehow-a remarkable concept, marketing tie-ins, etc. Just as you need to know the going rate for line items in the budget, you’ll also need to know the going rate for film genres, actors with varying levels of fame, added value for films based on popular books, and so on.

Apps for Producers

After finishing a screenplay for his big-budget, special effects-heavy feature Starship Troopers, director Paul Verhoeven was having trouble convincing the studio that it was possible to create realistic giant bugs. To ease their minds, Verhoeven and effects supervisor Phil Tippett spent six months producing a 2-minute bug test. The short, a simple scene of a futuristic soldier being chased and killed by two giant bugs, convinced the studio to green light the picture.

Just as producers wear many hats, there are many software-based tools that producers find useful; here are a few to consider:

Spreadsheet software, such as Microsoft Excel, Apple Numbers, or Google Sheets.

Task management software, such as OmniFocus.

Calendars,especially ones shared with others on the film.

Project management software, such as Microsoft Project, Movie Magic Scheduling, Jungle Software Gorilla Scheduling, or Celtx Pro.

Document organization such as DevonThink Pro and Claris FileMaker.

Outline creation software, such as OmniOutliner.

Online document sharing, such as Google Docs, Dropbox, etc.

Accounting software, such as Intuit QuickBooks and Movie Magic Budgeting.

Film-oriented document templates We’ve got some scheduling forms the Chapter 4 book resources page of our website and others are often available for free via schools, indie filmmaking websites, etc.

Introduction to Financing

The words financing and budgeting strike terror deep in the hearts of many would-be directors. This is the part of video and filmmaking they would gladly hand off to somebody else. But while financing and budgeting might sound like uncreative areas filled with cold facts and hard figures, this is far from the truth. Good financial planning requires a lot of creative thinking and problem solving and is essential to the success of every digital video project. The quality of your planning can make or break your project.

There are two ways to produce your project: guerrilla-style and traditional Hollywood-style. A guerrilla production means you do everything as cheaply as possible: avoid paying for shooting permits, equipment, cast and crew salaries, and so on. But even the guerrilla filmmaker should know some financial and legal basics to protect themselves and their project from lawsuits and other financial pitfalls.

In the traditional Hollywood-style production, the director/producer forms a company for the sake of producing the film. This means creating a corporation or limited partnership, developing a business plan or prospectus, and pitching the project to investors, corporations, or non-profit funding organizations. Usually this type of production requires the services of several professionals, including entertainment lawyers, producer’s reps,casting directors, accountants, writers’ agents, distributors, development executives, and completion bond companies. Guerrilla-style is a lot simpler, and therefore more challenging.

Ways to Finance Your Project

There are many ways to finance your film and most productions will use a combination of them:

Self-financing Credit cards, trust funds, hard-earned savings, etc. This option is usually limited to smaller-scale, very low-budget projects, and also esoteric projects that are hard to finance through traditional means.

Grants Grant money is a great resource if your project fits the goals of the granting organization. For example, just because you qualify for a grant for female directors, your film about a male prize fighter might not fit the goal of the grant provider. Be sure to do your homework about the organization and the specific grant. Learn about the awardees from previous years and try to determine if the organization will be interested in your type of project. Since there’s often an application fee and a rather lengthy application process, assessing your chances of winning the grant can save you some wasted time and effort. Lots of grant writing resources are available both in print and on the web.

Corporate underwriting Many corporations are willing to underwrite projects that they feel are worthy. Because it helps them improve their image, some of the bigger companies even have money set aside for this kind of underwriting. Moral qualms aside, there’s a lot of potential money here and your project might be ideally suited to a particular company. Usually, this avenue is limited to documentary and/or promotional projects.

Investors You may have heard the urban myth-like stories of a feature film being funded by a group of dentists who banded together and financed a million-dollar movie, remained hands-off during the production, and then sat back and watched as the film went on to earn amazing returns for all involved. Investing in a feature film is a risky venture but many people will do it for the fun and glamour of it. Having private investors requires a lot of professionalism but the fact that you are working with other people’s money can add a degree of positive responsibility that is often missing in self-funded and sometimes even grant-funded projects.

In-kind donations Beg, borrow, but don’t steal (posting bail can quickly eat up your budget!). Depending on your project and your connections, getting free equipment and labor can be easier to get than you might think. In addition, local film commissions can often be very helpful in arranging donated locations and permits. Film commissions can also help you make contact with local businesses, investors, and talent.

Crowdfunding By now, we’ve all been hit up by Kickstarter and GoFundMe campaigns ad nauseum, but these platforms are a viable way to raise money for your film, especially if you have generous friends and family. But be aware that successful crowdfunding campaigns involve a lot of work-producing promotional content, coming up with merch and other items to offer in exchange for donations, sticking to a schedule with goals and deadlines, and committing to aggressively reach out and find new donors as your campaign runs its course. Many people start strong and peter out, because let’s face it, it’s grueling and you won’t be able to do much else along the way. So don’t schedule a crowdfunding campaign during pre-production or your shoot.

Competitions Another form of grants are the various screenplay competitions that are staged every year. With prizes ranging from $5,000 to $20,000, winning such a competition can be a great way to raise money, make valuable industry contacts, and get some good publicity that can be used to further other fundraising efforts. Be sure to read the fine print when applying. In addition to application fees and deadlines, you’ll want to be clear about who maintains ownership of the winning screenplay.

Depending on the size of your budget, the nature of your project and such practical concerns as your experience and industry connections, you’ll probably find yourself mixing and matching many different fundraising strategies. Be creative! There’s no one way to finance a film and, in the end,anything goes.

Ask and Ye Shall Receive?

For his independent feature Pi, Darren Aronofsky raised part of his budget by simply asking everyone he knew for fifty bucks. Then he asked some of his principal cast members to do the same. The lesson here is that there’s no set way to raise money for your feature, and as we’ve seen in the past, a Hollywood-scale budget isn’t always necessary for success.

Financing as You Go

For most low budget, independently financed projects, financing will be an on-going effort. You’ll raise seed money to get your project off the ground, raise money for the principal shoot, raise some more for post, and still more to finish it.

Financing a big project this way can take years. When Spike Lee made his first feature, She’s Gotta Have It in 1986, he was coming off the heels of a project that got permanently stalled because it didn’t have enough money. Determined not to make that mistake again, he decided not to start his next project until he had at least $45,000.

If you already know that you’ll be financing as you