So you’ve finally come out of the pack and decided to make your first film. Congratulations!
Even if it’s a small piece, you will most definitely need people to help you. In fact at least half of a director’s work is managing people.
The first impulse is to look to your circle of friends for collaborators, and it’s both natural and good to do so.
A warning; your best and most film-fanatic friends might not make the best collaborators. I have learned this through a lot of sweat and blood and felt compelled to pass on some characteristics of good collaborators, based partially on John August’s excellent Professional Writing and the Rise of the Amateur.
In doing so I assume that you already possess these qualities yourself, or are working very hard to gain these virtues.
You are going to demand a lot of time, effort and respect to make your film, and should exemplify the qualities you expect in others.
John August writes that his five qualities of professionalism are:
- Presentation, a.k.a. “Giving a shit”
- Accuracy
- Consistency
- Accountability
- Peer standards
I highly suggest you read his article. If you need help getting organized, try Getting Things Done by David Allen. It can be a little kitschy, but it is very effective.
I’m looking at these qualities from the perspective of the no budget, first-time short film director and am basing this partially on a difficult collaboration I had with a good friend.
You are starting to cast your film, prepare a schedule, storyboards, perhaps even a budget and have one or many good friends helping you.
These are some negative qualities (hope to god they’re not habits) that should be commented upon, criticized in a straightforward and impersonal manner, and eviscerated.
1. Lateness
Many people work very hard for no money on short films. They should not be made to wait. I have done so often, and it is a painful and disappointing way to spend your time. If someone is running late they should know it and call in advance with an estimate of how late they will be. Make judgments based on how accurate their estimates are.
Talk to someone about their lateness the first time it happens. Make sure that they know it is unacceptable. Be friendly but firm.
If someone is more than a half-hour late more than three times, get rid of them. This is something I wish I had been able to do. Friendship and serious work do not always go hand in hand, and you only have to experience it once or twice to see how quickly one will corrupt the other. Believe me. People have different methods of working, but they have to be at the same place at the agreed upon time to make films.
2. Excuses
These are not only for lateness. They are for forgetting things, losing things, misscheduling, and the host of other problems that beset the no-budget short film. This falls under accountability. We all make mistakes, and as a first-time director you will too. Admit them. Lame excuses break trust. Have a talk with the person, if they can’t change, find someone who can.
3. Bad Criticism
Constructive criticism is a good thing. You should seek out as much as possible for your scripts and storyboards before you’re on set.
Criticism also has a time and a place, and it is not on the set in front of everyone. If a collaborator is openly critical in a demeaning or uncalled for way, take them aside and talk to them. If it continues you know what to do. The balance of trust in a first time director is tenuous enough to begin with.
4. Lack of Respect for People and Equipment
Undue criticism is not the only form of disrespect. While there is a lot of disrespect for people in film, there is also disrespect for equipment. The cheapest, oldest camera is still your means to bring your story to the world. Learn everything about it and learn to love it. As Mike Figgis writes in his excellent Digital Filmmaking;
The first thing a soldier is taught is how to dismantle his gun and put it back together – make sure it’s clean, make sure it functions – because that’s the thing that will save his life. You don’t want your gun to jam. You don’t want your camera to jam either. If something goes wrong with it, you want to know how to fix it or adapt it. That’s why i say it’s always important to own your own camera, because you have a different relationship to it.
Respect for you, who are probably financing the film, is respect for your equipment as well. No camera no film. Broken camera no film. Respect it.
These are just a few of the qualities I have often found lacking in my collaborators and myself. I have tried to improve with each film as I hope those who I work with do as well.
As a director you lead by example. If people know that you’ll be on time and prepared, they will be too. If they’re not, talk to them.
Every time you’re late or make an excuse you break a small part of the trust that is essential to all human relationships. If people seem unable to change, find a replacement. You will save yourself frustration and friendships.
John August writes;
You don’t get to pick when you’re going to be professional, and when you’re going to be amateur.
In fact, he concludes
You don’t get to be an amateur at all.
Do your best to be a professional. People will respect you for it. No one is perfect, but we can always try a little harder to make this crazy job a little easier and more enjoyable.
Pay attention, work hard, be on time, be respectful and expect the same from everyone you work with. Chaos will always be there in the outside world waiting for you. Save the chaos for creative problems, there will be enough of those.
Good Luck!
