Film Directors - 'Direct the Money'
Most Film Directors have elected to stay away from film budgets
and production costs. The heavy grinding SHOULD be left to
accountants — BUT, the Film Director is at the helm of
a big money-burning machine. At his service -at least, at
face value- is a team of film production experts (the Line
Producer, Unit Production Manager, the AD team, Production
Accountant,etc.) all there to assist the Film Director.
The Film Directors make it their business to understand the
basic functions of on-set filmmaking, without being able to
fully light a set, or operate a crane, or focus a steadicam.
The Film Director's job is to produce his/her vision of the
script - on time and on budget.
As a Film Director you need to get a degree of familiarity
with the money flow, especially with the budget creation and
the weekly ‘Report Card’ - the film production's
weekly Cost Report that's sent to every Studio exec, every
Bond Company, every financier associated with the film production
in any manner. Find a comfort level where you can, AT THE
VERY LEAST, KNOW WHAT TO ASK. Know how to formulate the questions—you’ll
impress the money belts off Studio Executives.
Picture the following scenario:
You’re the Film Director of an Independent Film Production.
You’ve shot the exteriors called for in the script and
you’ve seen the dailies; however, you KNOW that there’s
a better shot of that exterior in Oklahoma that would give
the perfect hook to the opening of your film.
You know that you can convince the producers of this on a
creative plane. But, you also know that most producers will
shudder at the task of dropping that bombshell on the financiers/Bonding
Company that you need to dip into the closely guarded Contingency
funds. (Oh, did I tell you that we’re going to Okl…)
1. How do you pose solutions to those added costs?
2. What’s the right way to approach the game of cost
trade-offs?
3. It’s always going to be a challenge to present this
kind of choice – but, a very doable challenge if you
know how to translate your needs to cost trade-off’s
by using my Walk The Talk ideas.
Usual Way:
As the Film Director you sincerely express your view that
the Oklahoma shot would be a perfect opening for the movie.
What kind of response do you think you’ll get? Here’s
the most likely, from my experience:
Film Producer/Bonding Company Rep – This will put us
over-budget by $130,000. I’ll talk to the… ‘whoever’
– (it’s a stall for sure).
Walk The Talk Way
Alternative: Film Director – The cost of shooting 1 day
of exteriors will not require a full crew in Oklahoma. I’ve
called the Film Commission there (see my web site for internet
links to all Film Commissions and major Unions) and they have
assured me that there are plenty of local crew available to
work at a very decent rate. I estimate it should cost about
1/2 of your estimate, say about $75,000 (see Figure 17.2,
Table 3 in my book) to give us a bit more than we absolutely
need. I can get that back over the next 5 days here in New
York. You see, I’ve rehearsed the next five days with
my very experienced cast and there’s no way that we can’t
complete the scenes scheduled in 10 hours a day instead of
the budgeted 13 hours a day. And, as you all know, that last
2 hours in New York costs about $10,000 a day (see Figure
15.1 in my book).
Alternative: Bonding Company – Oh. Have the accountant
make a schedule of the costs and we can check them. (That’s
a Financier’s last stand – it’s up to the accountant
to verify your estimates.)
Film Directors deserve all the help they can get. Some Directors,
through the school-of-hard-knocks, have developed a ‘knack’
for conceptually streaming their creative ideas through a
‘what’s the cost?’ process. But that process
is all too often tainted with blame on ‘the blue suits’
and ‘the money guys’ and ‘all they’re
interested in is the money’, etc. It’s also often
based on misinformation, biased toward a predetermined decision.
Take my word for it; unless you, as the Film Director, can
be familiar enough with the language of money in film production,
you’re up the proverbial creek.
The purpose of these articles is to give you a familiarity
with talking and thinking like those who do the budgeting.
These articles stick just to the budget ‘talk’ that
you really need to know, without becoming a budget technician.
If you want the full information simply click this link Walk
The Talk.
'Walk The Talk means knowing
how to 'Direct' the money.
Here are the article titles:
1. MAKING IT! In Film Production
2. Introduction to 'Directing the Money'
3. Translating Ideas Into 'Money Talk'
4. Your Participation In Above-the-Line Budgeting
5. Your Participation In Below-the-Line Budgeting
6. Your Report Card - The Internationally Recognized Cost
Report
7. Presentation of the Weekly Cost Report – It’s
As Important As the Dailies
When you read my articles, print them out. Make your own examples.
Reread them. Send me your questions if you get stuck. You'll
find that you'll be way out in front of the pack!
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See my web page Book Info to
get the full information.
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